service in your future ventures.'
Msaliti did his best, not happily, to translate this for Bila Huruma.
I wished to make such declarations for various reasons. First I thought it possible that some of the blacks in the room, besides Shaba And Msaliti, perhaps close counselors of Bila Huruma, might know Gorean. It was important to me to seem to be truly an envoy from Teletus. Secondly, I thought it might be amusing to try my hand at diplomatic bombast. I seldom received such an opportunity, and I have always been impressed by that sort of thing. I gathered, from the looks of those about, that the sort of things I said were the usual sorts of things, mostly vacuous, which are said upon such occasions. This pleased me. Thirdly, I think I might have enjoyed discomfiting Msaliti, hoisting him, so to speak, by his own petard.
Msaliti then signaled to a man who brought forward the gifts for Bila Huruma, in the small coffer.
He acknowledged them, and then they were put to the side. I was informed, through Msaliti, the Ubar speaking, that the greetings of Teletus were accepted, that his ubarate expressed similar greetings to those of the island, that his ubarate appreciated our interest in its future and that his wazir of trade would speak to me within the next ten days. I then, as I had seen others do, smiled and bowed, and, walking backward, withdrew from his presence.
The next envoy was from Bazi. He presented to Bila Huruma four chests of gold, and ten black slave girls, nude, in golden chains.
This did not much please me. I thought that Msaliti might have done better on behalf of Teletus. The envoy from Bazi, I noted, would receive an audience with the wazir of trade within five days.
Shortly after the business with the envoy of Bazi the court of Bila Huruma was adjourned. I think that one of the slave girls had struck his fancy. I hoped that she was well trained. He was a Ubar. He would not be easy to please.
Msaliti and I were then alone in the great, conical-roofed Court.
I sheathed the sleeve dagger which, after the adjournment of the court, the askari had returned to me.
He was beside himself with rage. 'Why did you not kill Shaba!' he demanded. 'That was the plan.'
'It was not my plan,' I said. 'It was your plan. I have a different plan.'
'I will have you immediately returned to the canal,' he said, in rage.
'That will be difficult to do,' I said. 'You have already established, and I am grateful, that I am an ambassador or envoy from Teletus.'
He cried out with rage.
'Surely,' I said, 'you did not think I would be fool enough to do what you wanted. As soon as Shaba was slain you would have had the askaris, at a word, in the heat of the thing, slay me. You would then have me out of the way, who knows about the ring, and free access to the ring itself.'
'You thought I would betray you?' he asked.
'Certainly,' I said. 'You would have, wouldn't you?'
'Yes,' he said.
'I thought so,' I said. 'You see,' I said, 'you do have the makings of an honest, truthful fellow in you.'
I slipped the sleeve dagger loose.
'It will do you no good to kill me,' he said.
'I am just testing the sheath,' I said. I replaced the blade.
'It appears we must work together,' he said.
I again slipped loose the blade. 'Yes,' I said.
He watched the steel. 'What is your plan?' he asked.
'We must act quickly,' I said. 'We do not know how much time we have. Bila Huruma's wazir of trade will doubtless soon detect that I know little of the merchants or affairs of Teletus. We must act quickly.'
'What do you wish to do?' he asked.
'It is simple,' I said. 'Shaba has the ring. Show me his chambers and I will fetch it this very night.'
'Shaba knows you are in the palace,' he said. 'He will surely be on his guard.'
'Then send another,' I said.
'Only we, and Shaba,' said he, 'know of the ring.'
'Precisely,' I said.
'I will show you his quarters tonight,' said he.
'Good,' I said.
'How do I know you will treat me fairly?' he asked. 'How do I know you will not simply vanish the ring?'
'You do not know,' I said.
'Oh, that is a splendid aspect of your plan,' said he, irritably.
'I find it attractive,' I admitted. 'If you wish to essay the quest in the chambers of Shaba yourself feel free to do so,' I said.
'If I should fail,' said he, 'it would mean the end of my position at the court.'
'Doubtless,' I granted him. 'Also, if you should be so unfortunate as to run afoul of Shaba's fang ring it would mean the end of more than your position. It contains kanda, as I understand it.'
'It appears there are few sensible alternatives to your plan,' he said.
'I am the one who is supposed to recover the ring, you know,' I said.
'I know,' he said. 'I know.'
'Surely you trust me,' I said, as though hurt.
'I trust you as my own brother,' he said.
'I did not know you had a brother,' I said.
'He once betrayed me,' said Msaliti. 'I arranged that he appear guilty of a violation of state trust, and had him slain for treason against the ubarate.'
'It was a mistake to trust such a fellow,' I said.
'Precisely,' he said.
'Until tonight,' I said.
'Bila Huruma,' he said, 'is the one who truly stands in the way of obtaining the ring. He is the patron of Shaba, his protector. If Bila Huruma were gone, it would be easy to arrest Shaba and secure the ring.'
'That may or may not be,' I said, 'but obviously Shaba is the fellow with the ring. It is he from whom we must seek that elusive artifact.'
'Shaba may not be willing to surrender the ring,' said Msaliti.
'It is my hope to be able to persuade him to do so,' I said.
'Will you please replace that dagger in the sheath,' said Msaliti. 'It is making me nervous.'
'Very well,' I said. I slipped the steel back in the sheath.
'What did you think of our Ubar?' asked Msaliti. 'He is surely a big fellow,' I said, 'but I scarcely noticed him.' Bila Huruma, indeed, had been an extremely large man, and long armed. He had sat upon a royal stool, of black, lacquered wood, mounted on the crossed, tied, horns of kailiauk. His arms and legs had been bare, and they had glistened from oil. He had worn armlets and bracelets, and anklets, of gold. He had worn at his loins the pelts of the yellow panther. He wore, too, the teeth of his beast as a necklace. Behind and about him had swirled a gigantic cloak of yellow and red feathers, from the crested lit and the fruit tindel, brightly plumaged birds of the rain forest. In making such a cloak only two feathers are taken from the breast of each bird. It takes sometimes a hundred years to fashion such a cloak. Naturally it is to be worn only by a Ubar. His head was surmounted by an elaborate headdress, formed largely from the long, white, curling feathers of the Ushindi fisher, a long-legged, wading bird. It was not unlike the common headdress of the askari. Indeed, save for the length of the feathers and the intricate leather and beading, in which the feathers were mounted, it might have been such a headdress. It made clear that he, the Ubar, Ella Huruma himself, was one of them, himself an askari. His face had been broad, and the eyes widely spaced. On his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose there had been a swirling stitching of tattoo marks, the record of his transition, long years ago, into manhood.
'Surely you must have seen him well,' said Msaliti, 'for you were presented before him.'
'I noticed externals,' I said, 'and I remember the things you told me of his signs of office, but my mind was more on Shaba, and yourself, than the Ubar. I saw him, but I did not truly see him.'
'Your mind was distracted,' said Msaliti.
'Yes,' I said.
