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To our astonishment, then she, in all her friendlessness, in all her misery and loneliness, lifted her lips to his, with great timidity, that he might, should it please him to do so, again touch them. Again he gently kissed her. I, too, am a slave, she said. My name is Vina. You are worthy, he said, holding her head in his hands, to be a Ubara. And you, she whispered, to be a Ubar. I think you will find, I told her, the arms of the boy Fish more welcome, though on a mat of a slave, than the arms of gross Lurius, on the furs of the Ubar s couch. She looked at me, tears in her eyes. I spoke to the kitchen master. At night, I said, chain them together. A single blanket? he asked. Yes, I told him. The girl collasped weeping, but Fish, with great gentleness lifted her in his arms and carried her from the hall. I laughed. And there was great laughter. How rich a joke it was, to have enslaved the girl who would have been Ubara of Cos, to have put her to work in my kitchens, to have given the use of her to a mere slave boy! This story would soon be told in all the ports of Thassa and all the cities of Gor! How shamed would be Tyros and Cos, enemies of my city, Port Kar! How delicious is the defeat of the enemies! How glorious is power, success, triumph! I reached drunkenly into the bag of gold beside my chair and grabbed up handfuls flinging them about the room. I stood and threw about me showers of the tarn disks of Ar, of Tyros, of Cos, Thentis, Turia and Port Kar! Men scrambled wildly laughing and fighting for the coins. Each was of double weight! Paga! I cried and held back the goblet and Telima filled it. I regretted only that Midice and Tab were not with me to share my trimuph. I stood drunkenly, holding to the table. I spilled paga. Paga! I cried, and Telima again filled the goblet. I drank again. And ten, again, wildly, shouting, crying out, I threw gold to all the corners of the room, laughing as the men fought and leaped to seize it. I drank and then threw more coins and more coins about the room. There was laughter and delighted cries. Hail Bosk! I heard. Hail Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar! I threw more gold wildly about. I drank again, and again. Yes, I cried. Hail Bosk! Hail Bosk! they cried. Hail Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar! Yes, I cried. Hail Bosk! Hail, Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar! Hail Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar! I heard a cry, as of fear, from my right, and I turned to stare drunkenly toward the end of the table. There, Luma, chained at the table, in her bracelets, was looking at me. On her face there was a look of horror. Your face, she cried. Your face! I looked at her, puzzled. The room was suddenly quiet. No, she said, suddenly, shaking her head. It is gone now. What is wrong? I asked her. Your face, she said. Page 136 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html What of it? I asked. It is nothing, she said, looking down. What of it! I demanded. For an instant, she said, I thought-I thought it was the face of Surbus. I cried out with rage and seized the great table, flinging it, scattering dishes and paga, from the dias. Thura and Ula screamed. Sandra screamed, darting away, her hands before her, with an incongruous clash of slave bells. Luma, fastened by the neck to the table, was jerked from the dais, and thrown over the table to the tiles of the hall. Slave girls fled from the room, screaming. Enraged I took the bag of gold, what was left of it, and hurled it out into the hall, spilling a rain of golden tarn disks before it struck the tiles. Then, furious, I turned about and, stumbling, left the hall. Admiral! I heard behind me. Admiral! I clutched the medallion about my neck, with its tarn ship and the initials of the Council of Captains. Stumbling, crying out in rage, I staggered toward my quarters. I could hear the consternation behind me. In fury, I rushed on, sometimes falling, sometimes striking against the walls. Then I burst open the doors of my quarters. Midice and Tab leaped apart. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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