Players of Gor (55 page)

The man moved the piece.

page 329

"Thank you," said the player.

"I think this fellow may not be such a fool as we thought," said Belnar.

"Nonsense," said Temenides, angrily. "He is a mountebank, a bumpkin!"

"It is warm in here," said the player. He casually opened the light, dark robe he wore. Beneath it, as I had suspected, was the robe of the players, the red-and-yellow-checked robe that marked those of that caste. I think it must have been years since he had worn it openly. There were cries of astonishment. Bina looked at him, startled, her hands twisting in the cruel thongs that confined them.

"He is of the players," gasped a man.

"I had suspected it," said Belnar. "He did not seem truly insane."

"It matters not," said Temenides. "I hold a high board in Cos. I shall destroy him. It means only that the game may be somewhat more interesting than I had originally anticipated."

"Are you truly of the players?" asked the man.

"It is my caste," said the player. The hair on the back of my neck rose up. I think in that moment the player had come home to himself.

"And in what minor ranks of the players do you locate yourself?" asked Temenides, scornfully. Ranking among players, incidentally, resulting from play in selected tournaments and official matches, are kept with great exactness.

"I was a champion," said the player.

"And of what small town, or village?" inquired Temenides, scornfully.

"Of Ar," said the player.

"Ar!" cried Temenides. "Ar!" cried others.

"Perhaps you have heard of it," said the player.

"Who are you?" whispered Temenides, fearfully.

The player reached to the mask, that dark hood, which he wore. He suddenly tore it from his head. Bina closed her eyes, wincing. Many were the cries of astonishment in the hall, from free men and slaves alike. Bina opened her eyes. She cried out, startled, wonderingly. NO longer did the player wear that dark concealing hood. He looked about himself, regally. His visage bore no ravages, either of the terrors of flames or of the instruments of men. ON it there was not one mark. It was a proud face, and a severe one, at this moment, and one expressive of intellect, and power and will, and incredibly handsome. "I am Scormus of Ar," he said.

page 330

"Scormus of Ar no longer exists!" cried Temenides.

"He has returned," he said.

"I cannot play this man," cried Temenides. "He is one of the finest players on Gor!"

"But the game has begun," Scormus reminded him.

"Master!" cried Bina. "Master! I love you, Master!"

"For speaking without my permission," said Scormus of Ar to the slave, "you will in the morning beg for ten lashes. If this matter should slip your mind, you will receive fifty."

"Yes, Master," she said, joyfully.

"Too, if you should speak again, before the conclusion of the game," said Scormus of Ar to her, "your throat will be cut." She looked at him, frightened, lovingly. "See to it," said Scormus to a man. "Yes, Player," said he. He drew forth a knife and went to stand near Bina, a bit behind her. HE drew her head back by the hair, gently, and lifting up her collar slightly with the edge of the knife, with a tiny scraping sound, let her feel the blade lightly, but unmistakably, against her throat, just under the steel edge of the collar. The man then removed the knife from the vicinity of her throat. He thrust it in his belt. He remained standing near her. Bina trembled. Bina was silent. If Bina spoke again before the conclusion of the game, she would be slain.

"The first move was yours," said Scormus to Temenides. "The last move will be mine."

Temenides looked in agony to Belnar for succor. "I cannot play with one such as he," he said.

"Play," said Belnar.

"Ubar!" begged Temenides.

"It is amusing," said Belnar.

"Please, Ubar," said Temenides.

Some men then, near the back of the hall, using poles, brought in a giant vat of tharlarion oil, mounted over a large, flattish, curved-edge iron plate. Fuel in the plate was then kindled.

"Ubar!" protested Temenides.

"Play," said Belnar.

I then took my way quietly from the hall. I had business elsewhere. I would have time. The player would not hurry with Temenides.

17
       
What Occurred in the Prison Courtyard

page 331

In the light of the three moons I made my way across the prison yard, through the sand of the baiting pit.

"Who goes there!" called a voice.

"I did not see you in the hall," I said. "I thought you might be here."

"Who are you?" he called. "Stand back. Do not approach!"

I slipped the robes from my arm where I had been carrying them. "Do you not remember me?' I asked.

"Step from the shadows," he said, backing away. "What is the password?"

"Steel," I said.

He stepped back further.

My sword slipped from the sheath. The sound of such a draw is unmistakable.

He backed further away. "Do you truly think you can reach the alarm bar before I can overtake you?" I asked. His own steel then left its sheath. I stepped from the shadows, toward the center of the sand.

"You!" he cried.

"Yes," I said.

He lunged towards me. The exchange was swift. He was not unskillful. Once he fell, tangled in the chains that had linked the beast to the baiting pole. I permitted him to rise. Then I finished him. I took the keys from his belt.

page 332

18
       
What Occurred Later in the Feasting Hall; I Leave the Feasting Hall

I reentered the hall.

The game, as I entered, moving past the simmering vat of tharlarion oil, was no more than a move from its conclusion. I made my way near the board.

"Never have I seen such play," marveled a man.

"It was not a mere slaughter," said a man, "but a profound humiliation."

"Piece by piece was stripped from Temenides," said a man. "HE now has only his Home Stone, isolated in a gauntlet of enemies."

I looked down at the board. The player need not have done that. Doubtless at a hundred points he could have brought the game to its conclusion, but he had preferred to dally with his opponent, divesting him of material, herding him like a nose-ringed tarsk helplessly about the board.

"Build up the fire beneath the oil," said Belnar.

"Yes, Ubar," said a man.

Temenides was white-faced, sitting before the board.

"Capture of Home Stone," announced the player.

"An excellent game," said Belnar.

page 333

"Thank you, Ubar," said Scormus of Ar. He rose to his feet.

Temenides did not move. He continued to sit before the board. He seemed transfixed with horror.

I had known, or at least suspected, the identity of the player, incidentally, even from Port Kar, when I had first seen him. His limp was distinctive, as well as his demeanor and manner of speech. I had seen him, too, at close hand, long ago, in the hall of Cernus of Ar. His touchiness on the matters of Scormus of Ar and Centius of Cos, and the great match of 10,125 C.A., had also been revealing. Took of course, his play had been brilliant. Too, how many poor players would have had in their possession a Champion's Cup, and that of Ar, that cup which the brigands had found when they had raided the camp of Boots Tarsk-Bit, that which had so fascinated them and which the player had been so anxious to conceal? Yet he had not sold it nor had he cast it from him. Under his dark robes and grim hood, it seemed, in his heart, he had remained always, and as I had suspected, Scormus, of Ar, and a loyal citizen of that municipality.

"Free the slave," said Belnar. "She belongs to Scormus of Ar. He has well earned her."

"Yes," said a man. "Yes," said another.

The fellow who had stood near to Bina during the match, he who would have cut her throat if she had erred in her behavior, speaking before the conclusion of the game, now cut her wrists free of the thongs. She threw herself to her belly before Scormus of Ar, weeping with joy, covering his feet with kisses. "I am yours!" she cried. "I am yours!"

"That is known to me," said Scormus of Ar.

"I love you!" she wept.

"That, too, is known to me," said Scormus.

She scrambled to her knees, clutching him about the legs, looking up at him, weeping. "You paid a golden tarn disk for me," she said. "I am not worth so much!"

"I will let you know in the morning," said Scormus.

"Take Temenides into custody," said Belnar. "Strip him. Bind him. Put ropes on his neck."

Men seized the moaning Temenides and tore away his robes and tied his hands behind his back. Then heavy ropes, suitable for confining him in the vat of oil, were put on his neck. He looked wildly about himself in terror. "Ubar!" he wept.

"I have had the oil heated," said Belnar. "Doubtless it is now, or soon will be boiling. In this fashion the end will come swiftly. We have not forgotten, in the hospitality of Brundisium, that Temenides is our guest."

page 334

"Ubar!" wept Temenides.

"Ubar," said Scormus.

"Yes, Player?" said Belnar. Obviously the player had earned this respect. There are few on Gor who do not stand in awe of the skills of high players.

"As I recall," said Scormus of Ar, "the life of Temenides, my worthy opponent, whom perhaps I treated a bit harshly, being carried somewhat away in the heat of the moment , is forfeit not to you, but to me."

"So it is," said Belnar. "Forgive me, Player. I was thoughtless. I shall have the temperature of the oil reduced, that it may then again be built slowly to boiling. Thus the gradually increasing intensity of your opponent's torments, and their prolonged nature, will be all the more amusing."

"That will not be necessary," said Scormus.

"Player?" asked Belnar.

"Temenides," said Scormus to Temenides, "your life, which was forfeit to me, I return to you, and gladly. Once more it is yours. Take it, and those soldiers with you, mysteriously here from Cos, and depart this night from Brundisium's walls."

"Caste brother!" cried Temenides, gratefully. Some of the men with him then freed him and put his robes about him. He hurried with them from the hall. Belnar looked after them. He spoke words to a menial. The man, too, then left the hall.

"Scormus of Ar is generous," said Belnar.

Scormus inclined his head, briefly. Though Belnar smiled, I do not think he was much pleased with the evening's outcome. He once more looked towards the great exit from the hall, through which, moments before, hurrying, Temenides and some soldiers from Cos had vanished. Clearly Belnar, the ubar of Brundisium, had expected Temenides to best the player, taken then to be a mere low player, a troupe's player, and this had not turned out as he had anticipated. HE was not too pleased with Temenides, I was certain, and, for some reason, he also seemed to find himself uncomfortable, at least at this time, with the presence of Scormus of Ar in his palace. Belnar turned graciously to Scormus. "Player," said he, "honor us by sitting the table of Brundisium's Ubar."

"I thank you, Ubar, but, with your permission, if you see fit graciously to grant it, I would prefer to return to my quarters." He looked down at Bina, at his feet. "There, with chains and a whip, I would like to continue the education of a slave."

"Master," whispered Bina, licking softly at his ankle.

"Of course," said Belnar.

page 335

"Ubar, too," said Boots Tarsk-Bit, "we have traveled far to entertain you, and we are now weary. Please permit us also, myself, my fellows, and our girls, our troupe, to withdraw. We have enjoyed performing for you."

"For a sack of gold, I should think so," said Belnar. There was laughter from the courtiers and guests about. Belnar smiled, pleased at this response to his jest. "You may withdraw," he said.

"Thank you, Ubar," said Boots, bowing low. He then, following Scormus and Bina, followed by his troupe, and the troupe's girls, left the hall. They would not be going to their quarters, of course. They, with their documents of departure, earlier prepared, seen to routinely, and unsuspectingly, by the Lady Yanina, upon the request of Boots Tarsk-Bit, who had a knack for such details, would flee the city. I slipped back among the other guests in the hall. I did not think it would be too long before the alarms were sounded.

"Come now, my guests," called Belnar, cheerily, "return to your places. The best of the evening's entertainment is yet to come!" There was then a returning to places among the banquettes. Naked slaves again scurried about, hurrying in their perfume and steel collars, bringing wine, delicacies and assorted exquisite viands, zealous to please masters.

"Where is the Lady Yanina?" inquired Belnar of Flaminius, irritatedly.

"I know not, Ubar," admitted Flaminius.

"She is late, quite late," said Belnar.