part, on the food and water available and on the persistence of the Initiates' attempts to dislodge him. I was confident that there would be cisterns and canisters of water in the palace, and I supposed that Marlenus, as an enlightened precaution, in view of the unstable politics of Ar, would have outfitted his cylinder as a keep, laying in stores of food and missile weapons. At any rate, my plan for the division of the Home Stones had failed, and Marlenus, on whom I had depended, was, in the language of the game, neutralized if not removed from the board.
In despair, Kazrak and I discussed these matters over and over. The probability of Ar's resisting the siege was minimal. One thing at least remained to be done: there must be an attempt to rescue Talena. Another plan entered my head, but I dismissed it as too far-fetched, as unworthy of consideration. Kazrak noticed my frown and demanded to know what I had thought.
'The siege might be lifted,' I said, 'if a force could take Pa-Kur by surprise, a force of some thousands of warriors attacking from the unprotected side of the camp.'
Kazrak smiled. 'That is true. Where will you find the army?'
I hesitated for a moment, and then said, 'Ko-ro-ba, perhaps Thentis.'
Kazrak looked at me in disbelief. 'Are you rid of your senses?' he asked. 'The fall of Ar will be Ka-la-na wine to the free cities of Gor. When At falls, there will be rejoicing in the streets. When Ar falls, the bridges will be hung with garlands, there will be free Paga, slaves will be freed, enemies will pledge friendship.'
'How long will it last,' I queried, 'with Pa-Kur on the throne of Ar?'
Kazrak seemed suddenly to darken with thought.
'Pa-Kur will not destroy the city,' I said, 'and he will keep as much of his horde as he can.'
'Yes,' said Kazrak. 'There will be little cause for rejoicing.'
'Marlenus had a dream of empire,' I said, 'but the ambition of Pa-Kur will yield only a nightmare of oppression and tyranny.'
'It is unlikely that Marlenus will ever again be a danger,' said Kazrak. 'Even should he survive, he is outlawed in his own city.'
'But Pa-Kur,' I said, 'as Ubar of Ar, will threaten all Gor.'
'True,' said Kazrak, looking at me questioningly.
'Why should not the free cities of Gor unite to defeat Pa-Kur?'
'The cities never unite,' responded Kazrak.
'They never have,' I said. 'But surely, if Pa-Kur is to be stopped, this is the time, not after he is master of Ar.'
'The cities never unite,' repeated Kazrak, shaking his head.
'Take this ring,' I said, giving him the ring that bore the crest of Cabot. 'Show it to the Administrator of Ko-ro-ba and to the Administrator of Thentis and to the Ubars or Administrators of whatever cities you can. Tell them to raise the siege. Tell them they must strike now, and that you come with this message from Tarl Cabot, Warrior of Ko-ro-ba.'
'I will probably be impaled,' said Kazrak, rising to his feet, 'but I will go.'
With a heavy heart I watched Kazrak loop his sword belt over his shoulder and pick up his helmet. 'Good bye, Sword Brother,' he said, and turned and left the tent, as if he might have been merely going to the tharlarion corrals or to take his post for guard duty, as in our caravan days. I felt a choking sensation in my throat and asked myself if I had sent my friend to his death.
In a few minutes I gathered together my own gear and put on the heavy black helmet of the Assassin, left the tent, and turned my steps in the direction of the tents of Pa-Kur. I made my way to the interior perimeter of the second ditch, opposite the great gate of Ar in the distance. There, on a hillock overlooking the palisades that rimmed the rampart to the ditch, I saw the wall of black silk that surrounded the compound of Pa-Kur. Inside were the dozens of tents that formed the quarters for his personal retinue and bodyguard. Above them, at several places, flew the black banner of the Caste of Assassins.
I had neared the compound a hundred times before, but this time I was determined to enter. I began to walk with a quickened pace, my heart began to beat powerfully, and I felt the elation of decision. I would act. It would be suicide to attempt to cut my way in, but Pa-Kur was in the environs of Ar, directing the siege operations, and I might, with luck, pass myself off as his messenger; who would be bold enough to deny entrance to one whose helmet bore the golden slash of the courier?
Without hesitation I climbed the hillock and presented myself impatiently to the guards.
'A message from Pa-Kur,' I said, 'for the ears of Talena, his Ubara-to-be.'
'I will carry the message,' said one of the guards, a large man, his eyes suspicious. He regarded me closely. Obviously, I was not anyone he knew.
'The message is for the Ubara-to-be, and for her alone,' I said angrily. 'Do you deny admittance to the messenger of Pa-Kur?'
'I do not know you,' he growled.
'Give me your name,' I demanded, 'so that I may report to Pa-Kur who it is that denies his message to his future Ubara.
There was an agonized silence, and then the guard stepped aside. I entered the compound, not having a settled plan, but feeling that I must contact Talena. Perhaps together we could arrange an escape at some later time. For the moment I did not even know where in the compound she might be kept.
Within the first wall of black silk, there was a second wall, but this time of iron bars. Pa-Kur was not as careless about his own safety as I had conjectured. Additionally, overhead I could see lines of tarp wire. I walked about the second wall until I came to a gate, where I repeated my story. Here I was admitted without question, as though my helmet were sufficient, guarantee in itself of my right to be there. Inside the second wall, I was escorted among the tents by a tower slave, a black girl whose livery was golden and who wore large golden earrings that matched a golden collar. Behind me, two guards fell into line.
We stopped before a resplendent tent of yellow-andred silk, some forty feet in diameter and twenty feet high at the dome. I turned to my escort and the guards. 'Wait here,' I said. 'My message is for the ears of she who is pledged to Pa-Kur, and for her ears alone.' My heart was beating so loudly I wondered that they didn't hear it. I was amazed that my voice sounded so calm.
The guards looked at one another, not having anticipated my request. The tower slave regarded me gravely, as though I had chosen to exercise some long- neglected or obsolescent privilege.
'Wait here,' I commanded, and stepped inside the tent.
In the tent was a cage.
It was perhaps a ten-foot cube, entirely enclosed. The heavy metal bars were coated with silver and set with precious stones. I noted with dismay that the cage had no door. It had literally been constructed about its prisoner. A girl sat within the cage, proudly, on a throne. She wore the concealing robes and veils, the full regalia of a Ubara.
Something seemed to tell me to be careful. I don't know what it was. Something seemed to be wrong. I suppressed an impulse to call her name; I restrained an impulse to leap to the bars, to seize her and to crush her to them and to my lips. This must be Talena whom I loved, to whom my life belonged. Yet I approached slowly, almost cautiously. Perhaps it was something in the carriage of the muffled figure, something in the way the head was held. It was much like Talena, but not as she had been. Had she been injured or drugged? Did she not recognize me? I stood before the cage and lifted my helmet from my head. She gave no sign of recognition. I sought for some glimmer of awareness in those green eyes, for the slightest sign of affection or welcome.
My voice sounded faraway. 'I am the messenger of Pa-Kur,' I said. 'He wishes me to say that the city will soon fall and that you shall soon sit beside him on the throne of Ar.'
'Pa-Kur is kind,' said the girl.
I was stunned, but I revealed not the slightest surprise. Indeed, I was momentarily overwhelmed with the cunning of Pa-Kur and rejoiced that I had followed something of Kazrak's counsels of patience and caution, that I had not disclosed my identity, that I had not attempted to cut my way to her side and bring her out by the blade of the sword. Yes, that would have been a mistake. The voice of the girl in the cage was not the voice of the girl I loved. The girl in the cage was not Talena.
Chapter 17
Chains of Gold
I HAD BEEN OUTWITTED BY the brilliance of Pa-Kur. It was with a heart filled with bitterness that I left the compound of the Assassin and returned to Kazrak's tent. In the next days, frequenting the Paga tents and markets, I sought, by cornering slaves and challenging swordsmen, to learn the whereabouts of Talena. But the answer, when I received an answer, whether by virtue of a golden tarn disk or mortal fear, was always the same — that she was kept in the tent of red and yellow silk. I had no doubt that these minions of Pa-Kur whom I either cajoled or terrorized surely believed that the girl in the cage was Talena. Of those actually living in the compound of Pa- Kur, it was perhaps only he who knew the true location of the girl.
In despair I realized I had done nothing more than make clear the fact that someone was desperately interested in the whereabouts of the girl, and, if anything, this information would make Pa-Kur redouble his precautions for her security and doubtless attempt to apprehend the individual responsible for the inquiries. In these days I did not wear the garb of the Caste of Assassins, but dressed as a nondescript tarnsman, wearing the insignia of no city. Four times I eluded special patrols of Pa-Kur, led by men I had questioned at sword point.
In the tent of Kazrak, ruefully I understood that my efforts had been futile and that the Tarnsman of Marlenus, so to speak, had at last — been neutralized. I considered attempting the destruction of Pa-Kur, but this would not only be unlikely of success but would bring me no nearer my goal of rescuing Talena. Yet nothing but the sight of my beloved would have brought me more satisfaction than driving my sword into the heart of the Assassin.
These were terrible days for me. In addition to my own failures, I received no word from Kazrak, and reports from Ar on the stand of Marlenus in the Central Cylinder became obscure and contradictory. As nearly as I could determine, he and his men had been overcome, and the height of the Central Cylinder was again in the hands of the Initiates. If this had not yet taken place, it was momentarily expected.
The siege was in its fifty-second day, and the forces of Pa-Kur had breached the first wall. It was being methodically razed in seven places, to allow for the passage of the siege towers to the second wall. Moreover, hundreds of light 'flying bridges' were being constructed; at the moment of the final assault these would be extended from the first wall to the second, and the men of Pa-Kur would scramble upward toward the looming ramparts of Ar's last defense. Rumor had it that dozens of tunnels, unimpeded, now extended beneath the second wall and could be opened in a matter of hours at various places in the city. The countermining operations of the men of Ar had apparently been desultory or incompetent. It was Ar's misfortune, at this most critical time in its long history, to be in the hands of.the bleakest of all castes of men,
