'And I am the Tarasman?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Marlenus.
'And who,' I asked, 'is the Spear Slave?'
'Does it matter?' asked Marlenus, sifting several of the Spear Slaves through his fingers, letting them drop, one by one, to the board. 'Any of them will do.'
'If the Assassin should take the City,' I said, 'the rule of the Initiates will be broken, and eventually the horde with its loot will scatter, leaving a garrison.'
Mintar shifted comfortably, settling his great bulk more deeply into the cushions. 'The young tarnsman plays the game well,' he said.
'And,' I went on, 'when Pa-Kur falls, the garrison will be divided, and a revolution may take place.'
'Led by a Ubar,' said Marlenus, looking fixedly at the game piece in his hand. It was a Ubar. He smashed it down on the board, scattering the other pieces to the silken cushions. 'By a Ubar!' he exclaimed.
'You are willing,' I asked, 'to turn the city over to, Pa-Kur — that his horde should swarm into the cylinders, that the city may be looted and burned, the people destroyed or enslaved?' I shuddered involuntarily at the thought of the uncontrolled hordes of Pa-Kur among the spires of Ar, butchering, pillaging, burning, raping or, as the Goreans will have it, washing the bridges in blood.
The eyes of Marlenus flashed. 'No,' he said 'But Ar will fall. The Initiates can only mumble prayers to the Priest-Kings arrange the details of their meaningless, innumerable sacrifices. They crave political power, but can't understand it or manipulate it. They will never withstand a well-mounted siege. They will never keep the city.'
'Can't you enter the city and take power?' I asked. 'You could return the Home Stone. You could gather a following.'
'Yes,' said Marlenus. 'I could return the Home Stone — and there are those who would follow me — but there are not enough, not enough. How many would rally to the banner of an outlaw? No, the power of the Initiates must first be broken.'
'Do you have a way into the city?' I asked.
Marlenus looked at me narrowly. 'Perhaps,' he said.
'Then I have a counter plan,' I said. 'Strike for the Home Stones of those cities tributary to Ar — they are kept on the Central Cylinder. If you seize them, you can divide Pa-Kur's horde, give the Home Stones to the contingents of the tributary cities, provided they withdraw their forces. If they do not, destroy the Stones.'
'The soldiers of the Twelve Tributary Cities,' he said, 'want loot, vengeance, the women of Ar, not just their Stones.'
'Perhaps some of them fight for their freedom for the right to keep their own Home Stone,' I said. 'Surely not all of Pa-Kur's horde are adventurers, mercenaries.' Noting the Ubar's interest, I went on. 'Besides, few of the soldiers of Gor, barbarians though they might be, would risk the destruction of their city's Home Stone — the luck of their birthplace.'
'But,' said Marlenus, frowning, 'if the siege is lifted, the Initiates will be left in power.'
'And Marlenus will not resume the throne of Ar,' I said 'But the city will be safe.' I looked at Marlenus, testing the man. 'What is it, Ubar, that you hold dearest your city or your title? Do you seek the welfare of Ar or your private glory?'
Marlenus leaped to his feet, hurling the yellow robes of the Afflicted from him, drawing his blade from its sheath with a metallic flash. 'A Ubar,' he cried, 'answers such a question only with his sword! My weapon, too, had flashed from its sheath almost simultaneously. We faced each other for a long, terrible moment; then Marlenus threw back his head and laughed his great lion laugh, slamming his sword back into its sheath. 'Your plan is a good one,' he said 'My men and I will enter the city tonight.'
'And I shall go with you,' I said.
'No,' said Marlenus. 'The men of Ar need no help from a warrior of Ko-ro-ba.'
'Perhaps,' suggested Mintar, 'the young tarnsman might attend to the matter of Talena, daughter of Marlenus.'
'Where is she?' I demanded.
'We are not certain,' said Mintar. 'But it is presumed that she is kept in the tents of Pa-Kur.'
For the first time Kazrak spoke. 'On the day that Ar falls, she will wed Pa-Kur and rule beside him. He hopes this will encourage the survivors of Ar to accept him as their rightful Ubar. He will proclaim himself their liberator, their deliverer from the despotism of the Initiates, the restorer of the old order, the glory of the empire.'
Mintar was idly arranging the pieces on the game board, first in one pattern and then in another. 'In large matters, as the pieces are now set,' he said, 'the girl is unimportant, but only the Priest-Kings can foresee all possible variations. It might be well to remove the girl from the board.' So saying, he picked a piece, the Ubar's Consort, or Ubara, from the board and dropped it into the game box.
Marlenus stared down at the board, his fists clenched 'Yes,' he said, 'she must be removed from the board, but not simply for reasons of strategy. She has dishonored. me.' He scowled at me. 'She has been alone with a warrior — she has submitted herself — she has even pledged to sit at the side of an assassin.'
'She has not dishonored you,' I said.
'She submitted herself,' said Marlenus.
'Only to save her life,' I said.
'And rumor has it,' said Mintar, not looking up from the board, 'that she pledged herself to Pa-Kur only that some tarnsman she loved might be given a small chance of life.»
'She would have brought a bride price of a thousand tarns,' said Marlenus bitterly, 'and now she is of less value than a trained slave girl.'
'She is your daughter,' I said, my temper rising.
'If she were here now,' said Marlenus, 'I would strangle her.'
'And I would kill you,' I said.
'Well, then,' said Marlenus, smiling, 'perhaps I would only beat her and throw her naked to my tarnsmen.'
'And I would kill you,' I repeated.
'Indeed,' said Marlenus, looking at me narrowly, 'one of us would slay the other.'
'Have you no love for her?' I asked.
Marlenus seemed momentarily puzzled. 'I am a Ubar,' he said. He drew the robes of the Afflicted once more around his gigantic frame and picked up a gnarled staff he carried. He dropped the hood of the yellow robe about his face, ready to go, then turned to me once more. With the staff he poked me good-naturedly in the chest. 'May the Priest-Kings favor you,' he said, and, inside the folds of the hood, I knew he was chuckling.
Marlenus left the tent, seemingly one of the Afflicted, a bent wreck of humanity pathetically scratching at the earth in front of him with the staff.
Mintar looked up, and he, too, seemed pleased. 'You are the only man who has ever escaped the tarn death,' he said, something of wonder in his voice. 'Perhaps it is true, as they say, that you are that warrior brought every thousand years to Gor — brought by the Priest-Kings to change a world.'
'How did you know I would come to the camp?' I asked.
'Because of the girl,' said Mintar. 'And it was logical, was it not, to expect you to enlist the aid of your Kazrak, your sword brother?'
'Yes,' I said.
Mintar reached into the pouch at his waist and drew forth a golden tarn disk, of double weight. He threw it to Kazrak.
Kazrak caught it.
'I understand you are leaving my service,' said Mintar.
'I must,' said Kazrak.
'Of course,' said Mintar.
'Where are the tents of Pa-Kur?' I asked.
'On the highest ground in camp,' said Mintar, 'near the second ditch.and across from the great gate of Ar. You will see the black banner of the Caste of Assassins.'
'Thank you,' I said. 'Though you are of the Merchant Caste, you are a brave man.'
'A merchant may be as brave as a warrior, young Tarnsman,' smiled Mintar. Then he seemed somewhat
