Nomads of Gor (66 page)

         
Kaiila were stabled there.

         
Directed by Tuchuks we soon made our way to the throne

         
room of Phanius Turmus, where, to my surprise, a banquet

 
was in progress. At one end of the room, on the throne of

 
the Ubar, a purple robe thrown over his black leather, sat

 
dour Kamchak of the Tuchuks, his shield and lance leaning

 
against the throne, an unsheathed quiva on the right arm of

 
the throne. At the low tables, perhaps brought from various

 
places in the palace, there sat many Tuchuk officers, and

 
even some men without rank. With them, now freed of

 
collars, were exuberant Tuchuk girls bedecked in the robes of

 
free women. All were laughing and drinking. Only Kamchak

 
seemed solemn. Near him, in places of honor, at a long, low

 
table, above the bowls of yellow and red salt, on each side,

 
sat many of the high men of Turia, clad in their finest robes,

 
their hair oiled, scented and combed for the banquet. I saw

 
among them Kamras, Champion of Turia, and another, on

 
Kamchak's right hand, a heavy, swollen, despondent man,

 
who could only have been Phanius Turmus himself. Behind

 
them stood Tuchuk guards, quivas in their right hands. At a

 
sign from Kamchak, as the men well knew, their throats

 
would be immediately cut.

  
Kamchak turned to them. "Eat," he said.

 
Before them had been placed large golden dishes heaped

 
with delicacies prepared by the kitchens of the Ubar, tall

 
precious goblets filled with Turian wines, the small bowls of

 
spices and sugars with their stirring spoons at hand.

 
The tables were served by naked Turian girls, from the

 
highest families of the city.

 
There were musicians present and they, to the best of their

 
ability under the circumstances, attempted to provide music

 
for the feast.

 
Sometimes one of the serving girls would be seized by an

 
ankle or arm and dragged screaming to the cushions among

 
the tables, much to the amusement of the men and the

 
Tuchuk girls.

  
"Eat," ordered Kamchak.

 
Obediently the captive Turians began to put food in their

 
mouths.

 
"Welcome, Commanders," said Kamchak, turning and re-

 
garding us, inviting us to sit down.

  
"I did not expect to see you in Turia," I said.

 
"Neither did the Turians," remarked Harold, reaching over

 
the shoulder of one of the high council of Turia and taking a

 
candled verr chop.

 
But Kamchak was looking away disconsolately toward the

 
rug before the throne, now stained with spilled beverages,

        
cluttered with the thrown garbage of the feast. He hardly

        
seemed aware of what was taking place. Though this should

        
have been a night of triumph for him, he did not seem

         
pleased.
                                   
l

        
"The Ubar of the Tuchuks does not appear happy,"

        
observed.

          
Kamchak turned and looked at me again.

          
"The city burns," I said.

          
"Let it burn," said Kamchak.

          
"It is yours," I said.

          
"I do not want Turin," he said.

          
"What is it you seek?" I asked.

          
"Only the blood of Saphrar," said he.

           
"All this," I asked, "is only to avenge Kutaituchik?" `

        
"To avenge Kutaituchik," said Kamchak, "I would burn a |

        
thousand cities." ;

          
"How is that?" I asked.

          
"He was my father," said Kamchak, and turned away.

        
During the meal, from time to time, messengers, from

        
various parts of the city, and even from the distant wagons, 0~

        
hours away by racing kaiila, would approach Kamchak,

        
speak with him and hastily depart.

        
More foods and wines were served, and even the high men

        
of Turia, at quiva point, were forced to drink heavily and ~

        
some began to mumble and weep, while the feasters grew, to -

        
the barbaric melodies of the musicians, ever more merry and,

        
wild. At one point three Tuchuk girls, in swirling silks,

        
switches in their hands, came into the room dragging a

        
wretched, stripped Turian girl. They had found a long piece

        
of rope and tied her hands behind her back and then had

        
wound the same rope three or four times about the girl's

        
waist, had-securely knotted it, and were leading her about by

        
it. "She was our mistress!" cried one of the Tuchuk girls;

        
leading the Turian girl, and struck her sharply with the -

        
switch, at which information the Tuchuk girls at the tables

        
clapped their hands with delight. Then, two or three other

        
groups of Tuchuk struggled in, each lending some

        
wretched wench who had but hours before owned them.

        
These girls they forced to comb their hair and wash their feet

        
before the tables, performing the duties of serving slaves.

        
Later they made some of them dance for the men. Then one

        
of the Tuchuk girls pointed to her ex-mistress and cried out,

        
"What am I offered for this slave!" and one of the men,

        
joining in the sport, would cry out a price, some figure in

 
terms of copper tarn disks. The Tuchuk girls would shriek

 
with delight and each joined in inciting buyers and auctioning

 
their mistresses. One beautiful Turian girl was thrown, weep-

 
ing and bound, into the arms of a leather-clad Tuchuk for

 
only seven copper tarn disks. At the height of such festivities,

 
a distraught messenger rushed to Kamchak. The Ubar of the

 
Tuchuks listened impassively and then arose. He gestured at

 
the captive Turian men. "Take them away," he said, "put

 
them in the Kes and chain them put them to work." Phani-

 
us lilrmus, Kamras and the others were dragged from the

 
tables by their Tuchuk guards. The feasters were now

 
watching Kamchak. Even the musicians were now silent.

  
"The feast is done," said Kamchak.

 
The guests and the captives, led by those who would claim

 
them, faded from the room.

 
Kamchak stood before the throne of Phanius Turmus,

 
the purple robe of the Ubar over one shoulder, and looked at

 
the overturned tables, the spilled cups, the remains of the

feast. Only he, Harold and I remained in the great throne
 
room.

  
"What is the matter?" I asked him.

  
"The wagons and bask are under attack," he said.

  
"By whom?" cried Harold.

 
 
"Paravaci," said Kamchak.

        
Kamchak had had his hying columns followed by some

        
two dozen of the wagons, mostly containing supplies. On one

        
of these wagons, with the top removed, were the two tarns

        
Harold and I had stolen from the roof of Saphrar's keep.

        
They had been brought for us, thinking that they might be of

        
use in the warfare in the city or in the transportation of

        
goods or men. A tarn can, incidentally, without difficulty,

        
carry a knotted rope of seven to ten men.

        
Harold and I, mounted on kaiila, rascal toward these

        
wagons. Thundering behind each of us was a Thousand,

        
which would continue on toward the main Tuchuk encamp-

        
meet, several Ahn away. Harold and I would take a tarn

        
each and he would go to the Kassars and I to the Kataii,

        
begging their help. I had little hope that either of these;

        
peoples would come to the aid of Tuchuks. Then, on the path .,

        
to the main Tuchuk encampment, Harold and I were each to

        
join our Thousand, subsequently doing what we could to

        
protect the bask and wagons. Kamchak would meanwhile

        
marshal his forces within the city, preparing to withdraw,

        
Kutaituchik unavenged, to ride back against the Paravaci.

        
I had learned to my surprise that the Ubars of the Kassars, Kataii and
    

       
Paravaci were, respectively, Conrad, Hakim-

        
ba and Tolnus, the very three I had first encountered with

        
Kamchak on the plains of Turia when first I came to the

        
Wagon Peoples. What I had taken to be merely a group of

        
four outriders had actually been a gathering of Ubars of the

        
Wagon Peoples. I should have known that no four comma n

 
warriors of the four peoples would have ridden together.

 
Further, the Kassars, the Kataii and the Paravaci did not

 
reveal their true Ubars with any greater willingness than the

 
Tuchuks had. Bach people, as the Tuchuks had, had its false

 
Ubar, its decoy to protect the true Ubar from danger or

 
assassination. But, Kamchak had assured me, Conrad,

 
Hakimba and Tolnus were indeed the true Ubars of their

 
peoples.

 
I was nearly slain by arrows when I dropped the fern

 
amidst the startled blacks of the Kataii, but my black jacket

 
with the emblem of the four bosk horns, emblem of the