Soon I heard a roisterous peasant singing. Thurnus, whatever might have been his virtues, was not skilled in melody. 'It is Thurnus!' I laughed. 'Yes,' Clitus Vitellius. 'Do not give me to him again!' I begged. 'Do not fear, little slave,' said Clitus Vitellius. He leaped to his feet and he and Thurnus, who was carrying his great staff, met, embracing, among the tables.
In moments they had come to our table. Thurnus was already drunk, I thought. It seemed strange to me that they had met here, though I knew that they were friends. Thurnus, clearly, was in Ar on some business. 'Greetings, little Dina,' he roared. 'Greetings, Master,' I said.
He looked powerful and hardy, and was much pleased with himself. I knew the drought had been broken. The fields, I suspected, were doing well.
I wondered on what business it was that he had come to Ar. It was in the Fall now.
I noted Bran Loort peering out from the kitchens, but he then withdrew, his face in misery. He dared not be seen in this place, performing the chores of a churl. He had been of the peasants. I recalled the dishonor and agony in which Bran Loort had been banished from Tabuk's Ford. Rather than permit himself to be seen in tavern work by Thurnus, Caste Leader of Tabuk's Ford, I thought he might choose death.
I looked to Slave Beads. She was busily engaged in serving Thander of Ti, of the Salerian Confederation, and four of his men. When in Ar, negotiating commercial arrangements between Ar and the Confederation, it seemed he regularly patronized the Belled Collar. There was a girl there to whom he had taken a liking. Her name was Slave Beads.
'Sul paga!' cried Thurnus, pounding on the small table with his great staff.
'Be quiet,' said a fellow at a nearby table. He was drinking with some five companions.
'Sul paga!' shouted Thurnus, pounding on the table.
'Be silent!' said some fellow at another table.
'Sul paga! Sul paga!' cried Thurnus. The great staff banged on the table.
Busebius rushed to the table. 'Master,' said he, 'we have many pagas, those of Ar and Tyros, and Ko-ro-ba, and Helmutsport, and Anango, and Tharna!'
'Sul paga!' shouted Thurnus. Several men about, at various tables, regarded him, most unpleasantly. I had worked in the Belled Collar, and, later, in the Chatka and Curla, in Cos. It did not require a great deal of experience to sense that Thurnus must soon be quiet or there would be trouble.
The pagas mentioned by Busebius were all, of course, Sa-Tarna pagas, of various sorts and localities, varying largely in the blend.
'Sul paga!' demanded Thurnus. Sul paga, as anyone knew, is seldom available outside of a peasant village, where it is brewed. Sul paga would slow a tharlarion. To stay on your feet after a mouthful of Sul paga it is said one must be of the peasants, and then for several generations. And even then, it is said, it is difficult to manage. There is a joke about the baby of a peasant father being born drunk nine months later.
'Sul paga!' shouted Thurnus.
'Silence!' cried a brawny fellow, some two tables away.
'Please, Master,' said Busebius, 'we do not have Sul paga here.'
Thurnus rose to his feet, his face a maze of conflicting emotions, disbelief and incredulity chief among them.
'Sit down!' cried one critic.
'Eject him,' cried another.
'No Sul paga?' said Thurnus.
'No, Master,' said Busebius.
'Then I shall sing,' said Thurnus.
I thought this a splendid threat.
Thurnus, as good as his word, broke into wondrous song. At this point, unable to help himself, one of the fellows at another table leaped bodily upon Thurnus and began. to pummel him. He was joined shortly in this endeavor by several others. Clitus Vitellius, to my surprise, slipped to one side. I crawled between the legs of fighting men. I saw some two men fly off their feet, held up toward the ceiling by Thurnus. Their heads made a dull sound as they were struck together. A slave girl screamed. Then I saw Thurnus go down under a pile of attackers A blur, brown and huge, leaped past me. I covered my head and backed away. I saw Bran Loort seize a man by the collar and loft him into the air, the fellow flying backward, then falling, crashing, skidding across two tables. 'I am done for,' cried Thurnus, from somewhere under the pile. But I saw his hand reach out and seize a paga cup which he drained while men fought over him, struggling to pound upon him, largely striking one another. 'Do not fear, Caste Leader!' cried Bran Loort. He hurled another fellow away, headfirst into a wall. He seized two by the collars, pounding their heads together. I winced at the sound. He spun another man about and the fellow had little time to register the large hamlike fist which rearranged his features. I saw two teeth fly out of the mouth of the next man struck. Bran Loort fought like a madman. 'Do not fear, Caste Leader!' he cried. 'I am here!' Thurnus, by this time, had extricated himself from beneath the pile of bodies and stood to one side, a goblet of paga in his hand. 'He fights well,' said Thurnus to Clitus Vitellius. 'Yes,' said Clitus Vitellius, moving his head to one side to avoid a flying bottle. Then we saw Bran Loort backed against the wall, with what must have been twenty angry men of Ar encircling him. He looked wildly about himself. He saw Thurnus. 'There are only twenty!' called Thurnus. 'And you are of the peasants!' He flung his staff to Bran Loort, who caught it. Out stabbed the staff. A man screamed. About swung the staff and men tried to struggle backward. The staff whirled about, almost invisible, a branch lashed in a hurricane. I saw teeth flying, and blood, and a jaw broken. One man howled with misery, a shin shattered. More than one, I think, must have received a broken leg. The staff punched out, thrusting into another man's stomach. It lashed to the side and I heard ribs crack. Men crept to the side to outflank the young peasant. Thurnus broke a table over the head of one. Busebius was weeping. 'Stop, stop, Masters!' he cried. Then Thurnus and Bran Loort were fighting back to back, the goblet of Thurnus left in the hands of Clitus Vitellius. Bran Loort held the staff and, behind him, using half of the broken table, Thurnus protected him, fending blows and thrusting out, now and again, with the shattered table. At last he split the remainder of the table over the head of a brute who staggered back. Then Thurnus and Bran Loort, the wall at their back, stood side by side.
I heard a sword leave its sheath. Then I heard six swords more leap from the sheaths. I was frightened.
'No,' said Thandar of Ti, standing on a table. He had drawn his own blade. Then, so, too, one after the other, did the four men with him. All were of the warriors.
The men of Ar looked angrily at Thandar of Ti and his men.
'No,' said Thandar of Ti, again.
The sword, too, of Clitus Vitellius, my master, the captain of Ar, had left its sheath. He had placed Thurnus's paga on a nearby table. He stood between Thumus and Bran Loort, and the men threatening them.
'I must agree with my fellow of the warriors,' said Clitus Vitellius. 'It is not proper that you should attack with. steel those who defend themselves with wood.'
'What he says is true,' said a man. 'We are of Ar!' He resheathed his blade.
'Free paga for all!' cried Thandar of Ti.
'And I,' called Clitus Vitellius, 'will fee the second round of cups!'
'Cheers for the peasants!' cried a man, with bloody face.
'Cheers for the peasants!' they cried. Then they surrounded Thurnus and Bran Loort, pounding them on the back.
'I shall not sing,' promised Thurnus.
'Bring paga!' cried Busebius to the girls, who had drawn back, frightened. With a scurrying flight of bells they hurried to their work.
'And what are you doing here, miserable Bran Loort?' demanded Thurnus.
Bran Loort put down his head. 'I have taken service here,' he said. 'I am shamed that you should find me here.'
'Rightfully so,' roared Thurnus. He had retrieved his goblet now, handed to him by Clitus Vitellius, and, throwing his head back, splashed its contents down his throat.
'What are you doing here?' asked Bran Loort. 'Is it not time to harvest the Sa-Tarna?'
'I thought you might have forgotten,' said Thurnus.
