'Yes,' said Samos.
We then, very slowly, approached the table. Then we stood before it. I could seenow, in the light of the lantern, that the fur of one of the creatures was adarkish brown, and the fur of the other was almost black. The most common colorin such things is dark brown. They were large. As they lay, together, the crestof that heap, that living mound, marked by the backbone of one of them, was afew inches higher than the surface of the table. I could not see the heads. Thefeet and hands, too, were hidden. I could not, if I had wished, because of thetable, have easily drawn the blade and struck at them. I suspected that theposition they had taken was not an accident. Too, of course, from my point ofview, I was not displeased to have the heavy table where it was. I would nothave minded, in fact, had it been even wider. One tends to be most comfortablewith such things, generally, when they are in close chains, with inch-thicklinks, or behind close-set bars, some three inches in diameter.
Samos set the lantern down on the table. We then stood there, not moving.
'What is to be done?' asked Samos.
'I do not know,' I said. I was sweating. I could sense my heart beating. Myright hand, across my body, was on the hilt of my sword. My left hand steadiedthe sheath.
'Perhaps they are sleeping,' whispered Samos.
'No,' I said.
'They do not signal their recognition of our presence,' said Samos.
'They are aware we are here,' I said.
'What shall we do?' asked Samos. 'Shall I touch one?'
'Do not,' I whispered, tensely. 'An unexpected touch can trigger the attackreflex.'
Samos drew back his hand.
'Too,' I said, 'Such things are proud, vain creatures. They seldom welcome thetouch of a human. The enraged and bloody dismemberment of the offender oftenfollows upon even an inadvertent slight in this particular.'
'Pleasant fellows,' said Samos.
'They, too,' I said, 'Like all rational creatures have their sense of proprietyand etiquette.'
'How can you regard them as rational?' asked Samos.
'Obviously their intelligence, and their cunning, qualifies them as rational,' Isaid. 'It might interest you to know that, from their point of view, theycommonly regard humans as sub rational, as an inferior species, and, indeed, onethey commonly think of in terms little other than of food.'
'Why, then,' asked Samos, 'would they wish this parley?'
'I do not know,' I said. 'That is, to me, a very fascinating aspect of thismorning's dark business.'
'They do not greet us,' said Samos, irritably. He was, after all, an agent ofPriest-Kings, and, indeed, the first captain of the council of captains, thatbody sovereign in the affairs of Port Kar.
'No,' I said.
'What shall we do?' he asked.
'Wait,' I suggested.
We heard, outside, the screaming of a predatory ul, a gigantic, toothed, wingedlizard, soaring over the marshes.
'How was this rendezvous arranged?' I asked.
'My original contact was made by a pointed, weighted message cylinder, foundupright two days ago in the dirt of my men's exercise yard,' said Samos.
'Doubtless it was dropped there at night, by someone on tarnback.'
'By one of them?' I asked.
'That seems unlikely,' said Samos, 'over the city.'
'Yes,' I said.
'They have their human confederates,' he said.
'Yes,' I said. I had, in my adventures on Gor, met several of the confederatesof such creatures, both male and female. The females, invariably, had been quitebeautiful. I had little doubt that they had been selected, ultimately, with thecollar in mind, that they might, when they had served their purposes, be reducedto bondage. Doubtless this projected aspect of their utility was not made clearto them in their recruitment. She who had once been Miss Elicia Nevins, now theslave Elicia in my holding, chained now nude by the neck to my slave ring, hadbeen such a girl. Now, however, instead of finding herself the slave of one ofher allies, or being simply disposed of in a slave market, she found herself theslave of one of her former enemies. That, I thought, particularly on Gor, wouldgive her slavery a peculiarly intimate and terrifying flavor. It was an Ahn orso until dawn now. Soon, doubtless, she would be released from the ring. Shewould be supervised in relieving and washing herself. Then she would be put withmy other women. She then, like the others, after having been issued her slavegruel, and after having finished it, and washed the wooden bowl, would beassigned her chores for the day.
We heard, again, the screaming of the ul outside the building. The tarns in thetarn cot moved about. The ul will not attack a tarn. The tarn could tear it topieces.
'We have been foolish,' I said to Samos.
'How so?' asked Samos.
'Surely the protocols in such a matter, from the point of view of our friends,must be reasonably clear.'
'I do not understand,' said Samos.
'Put yourself in their place,' I said. 'They are larger and stronger than we,and quite possibly more ferocious and vicious. Too, they regard themselves asmore intelligent than ourselves, and as being a dominant species.'
'So?' asked Samos.
'So,' said I, 'naturally they expect not to address us first, but to be firstaddressed.'
'I,' asked Samos, 'first speak to such as they, I, who am first captain in thehigh city of Port Kar, jewel of gleaming Thassa?'
'Correct,' I said.
'Never,' said he.
'Do you wish me to do so?' I asked.
'No,' said Samos.
'Then speak first,' I said.
'We shall withdraw,' said Samos, angrily.
'If I were you,' I said, 'I do not think I would risk displeasing them.'
'Do you think they would be angry?' he asked.
'I expect so,' I said. 'I do not imagine they would care to have beenfruitlessly inconvenienced by human beings.'
'Perhaps I should speak first,' said Samos.
'I would recommend it,' I said.
'They it is, after all,' said he, 'who have called this meeting.'
'True,' I encouraged him. 'Also, it would be deplorable, would it not, to betorn to pieces without even having discovered what was on their minds?'
'Doubtless,' said Samos, grimly.
'I can be persuasive,' I admitted.
'Yes,' agreed Samos.
Samos cleared his throat. He was not much pleased to speak first, but he woulddo it. Like many slavers and pirates, Samos was, basically, a good fellow.
'Tal,' said Samos, clearly, obviously addressing this greeting to our shaggyconfreres. 'Tal, large friends.'
We saw the fur move, gigantic muscles slowly, evenly, beginning to stir beneathit. As they had lain it would have been difficult to detect, or strike, a vitalarea. Sinuously, slowly, the two creatures separated and then, slowly, seemed torise and grow before us. Samos and I stepped back. Their heads and arms were nowvisible. The light reflected back, suddenly, eccentrically, from the two largeeyes of one of them. For an instant they blazed, like red-hot copper disks, likethose of a wolf or coyote at the perimeter of a fire lit camp.
