For a moment he thought she would faint again. Impulse bade him lean close and kiss her cheek. «You see, Valli. I love you. I will not harm you. You are still my mother.»

Valli moaned and lay back and closed her eyes. «I have gone mad. I am being punished for breaking the laws of Zir. I will be chained and whipped and my head will be cut off.»

Blade crouched beside her. «None of those things will happen. I will not let them happen. Now you must lie very still and listen closely and try to understand.»

«I understand nothing,» sobbed Valli. «I am a madwoman.»

Blade patted her hand. «Listen. I have come from a far place, a land of which you in Zir have never dreamed. I am a full-grown man and should have come as such, but a mistake was made and I came as a babe. But this mistake is being corrected-in a month I shall be a man again. Until that time I need you, Valli. I need your protection and your help and your knowledge of Zir. Do this for me and when I have my strength-I have never lost my wits-you will profit by it. That I promise. Anything you desire will be yours-you have only to ask.»

Valli had ceased to tremble. She half opened her eyes and peered up at him. «You are a demon, then? A wizard? A magician?»

Blade laughed. «None of those things, Or all of them, if it will please you. But for now you must think of me as a man in a baby's body. In a month I will be fully grown. It is that month that we must be concerned with-I must survive it. And we must use the time to plan, to scheme, to accomplish matters of which I will speak later. Now, does all this still frighten you? Do you begin to see, to understand?»

Valli sat up. She took his hand and pressed it to her breast and stared hard at him. «I understand nothing. But I am no longer afraid. I must believe what my eyes and ears tell me, and if you say such things are possible I must believe.»

«Then hold me,» said Blade, «and this time do not rock me or croon to me, but listen and answer my questions.»