Savages of Gor (8 page)

"Why have you shown us the pictures?" I asked.

"We wish your help, " said Kog.

"To rescue him from the Barrens?" I asked.

"No," said Kog, "to kill him."

"This is preposterous," said Samos. "This entire story is naught but the fantasy of a savage."

"You will note," said Kog, "that the story is unfolded on this hide."

"So?" asked Samos.

It is kailiauk hide," said Kog.

"So?" asked Samos.

"The red savages depend for their very lives on the kailiauk said Kog.

"He is the major source of their food and life. His meat and hide, his bones and sinew, sustain them. From him they derive not only food, but clothing and shelter, tools and weapons."

"I know," said Samos. "I know."

"In their stories they revere, him. His images and relics figure in their medicine."

"I know," said Samos.

"Further, they believe that if they are unworthy of the kailiauk, be will go away. And they believe that this once happened, long ago."

"So?" asked Samos.

"So" said Kog, "they do not lie on the hide of the kailiauk. It would be the last place in the world that they would choose to lie. On the hide of the kailiauk one may paint only truth."

Samos was silent.

"Beyond this," said Kog, "note that the image of the dark guest appears on the shield."

"I see," said Samos.

"It is a belief of the red savages that if they are unworthy, or do not speak the truth, that their shield will not protect them, it will move aside or will not turn the arrows and lances of enemies. Many warriors claim to have seen this happen. The shields, too, are made of the hide of the kailiauk from the thick hide of the back of the neck, where the skin and musculature are thick, to support the weight of the trident and turn the blows of other tridents, especially in the spring buffetings, attendant upon which follows mate selection.

"I shall accept," said Samos, "that the artist is sincere, that he believes himself to be telling the truth."

"That much is undeniable," said Kog.

"But the whole thing may be only the faithful report of a vision or dream."

"The portion of the skin pertinent to the dream, or vision," said Kog, "is clearly distinguished from the portion of the skin which purports to be concerned with real events. Further, we find little reason to believe that the artist could have been, or would have been, mistaken about the nature of those events, at least in their broad outlines."

"The dark guest may not be Zarendargar," said Samos. "The resemblance may be only a coincidence."

"We do not find that a likely possibility," said Kog. "The distances and the times, and the dating of this skin, the details of the representation, all these things, suggest that it is Zarendargar. Similarly fellows of our species, or their descendants, lapsed into barbarism, seldom roam the Barrens. There is too little cover and the heat in the summer is too severe."

"The story on the hide takes place in the winter," said Samos.

"That is true," said Kog, "but game, in the Barrens, is scarce in the winter. Too, the land is too open, and tracks are difficult to conceal. Our people prefer wintering in forested or mountainous areas."

"They will normally seek out such areas," I said.

"Yes," said Kog.

"It is your assumption, then," I said, "that Zarendargar is in hiding."

"Yes," said Kog, "in the unlikely and dangerous terrain of the Barrens."

"He knows that he will be sought?" I asked.

"Yes," said Kog. "He knows that he has failed."

I recalled the destruction of the vast supply complex in the Gorean arctic.

"I met Zarendargar," I said. "It does not seem to me likely that he would be hiding."

"How then would you explain his presence in the Barrens?" inquired Kog.

"I cannot," I said.

"We have searched for him for two years," said Kog. "This hide is our first clue."

"How did you come by this hide?" I asked.

"It was received in trade," said Kog. "It came, eventually, to the attention of one of our agents. Thence it was transported to the steel worlds."

"It does not seem the sort of thing with which the artist would willingly part," I said.

"Quite possibly not," said Kog.

I shuddered. The artist, doubtless, had been slain, his body left stripped and mutilated in the customary manner of the red savages. The object, then, through trade channels, would have come, I supposed, to one of the high cities, perhaps Thentis, the nearest of the large cities to the Barrens.

"We seek Zarendargar," said Kog. "We are his appointed executioners."

Yet there was something puzzling to me in these matters. I could not fully understand what it was. For one thing, I doubted that Zarendargar was in hiding. Yet, otherwise, I could not explain his presence in the Barrens. Too, I was not fully confident that the artist was dead. He impressed me as a competent and resourceful warrior. The skin, on the other hand, had apparently been traded. I was troubled by these things. I did not understand them.

"His crime was failure?" I asked.

"It is not tolerated on the steel worlds," said Kog, "not in one who is above the rings."

"Doubtless he received a fair trial," I said.

"Judgment was pronounced in accord with the statutes of the steel worlds," said Kog, "by the high council, composed of seventy-two members elected from among the representatives of the thousand cliffs."

"The same council was both judge and jury?" I asked.

"Yes," said Kog, "as is the case in many of your own cities."

"Zarendargar was not present at this trial," I said.

"If the presence of the criminal were required," said Kog, "it would make it impossible, in many cases, to pass judgment."

"That is true," I said.

"A limitation on judicial proceedings of such a sort would be intolerable," said Kog.

"I see," I said.

"Was evidence submitted in support of Zarendargar?" I asked.

"In a case of this sort, evidence against the court is inadmissible," said Kog.

"I see," I said. "Who, then," I asked, "spoke on behalf of Zarendargar?"

"It is wrong to speak on behalf of a criminal,'' said Kog.

"I understand," I said.

"Due process of law, as you may see," said Kog, "was strictly observed."

"Thank you," I said, "my mind is now satisfactorily relieved on the matter."

Kog's lips drew back over his fangs.

"Even so," I asked, "was the vote unanimous?"

"Unanimity constitutes an impediment to the pursuit of expeditious and efficient justice," said Kog.

"Was the vote unanimous?" I asked.

"No," said Kog.

"Was the vote close?" I asked.

"Why do you ask?" asked Kog.

"I am curious," I said.

"Yes," said Kog, "interestingly, it was."

"Thank you," I said. I knew there were factions among these creatures. I had learned this, clearly, in the Tahari. Too, I suspected some of the council, even if they were not of the party of Zarendargar, would have recognized his value to the steel worlds. He was doubtless one of the finest of their generals.

"There is no division here," I said, "between the political and the judicial."

"All law exists to serve the interests of the dominant powers," said Kog. "Our institutions secure this arrangement, facilitate it and, not unimportantly, acknowledge it. Our institutions are, thus, less dishonest and hypocritical than those of groups which pretend to deny the fundamental nature of social order. Law which is not a weapon and a wall is madness."

"How do we know that you are truly appointed to fulfill the edict of the council?" I asked.

"Do you doubt the word of one who is of the Peoples?" asked Kog.

"Not really," I said. "I was just curious about your credentials."

"You could not read them if we displayed them," said Kog.

"That is true," I said. I was truly amazed at the patience, which the creatures exhibited. I knew they were short-tempered, even with their own kind. Yet Samos and I had not been attacked. They must need something desperately.

"I swear to you on the rings of Sardak," said Kog, putting his paw on the two rings of reddish alloy on the left wrist Of Sardak.

"That is good enough for me," I said, magnanimously. I had not the least idea, of course, of the significance of this gesture on the part of Kog, but I gathered, under the circumstances, that its import must be rather weighty. Sardak was, I was sure, Kog's Blood, or leader. If Kog swore falsely I gathered that it would then be up to Sardak to kill him. Sardak, however, did not move.

"You are doubtless who you say you are," I admitted.

"Even if we were not," said Kog, "we could still do business."

"Business?" I asked.

"Surely," said Kog. "We are met here in the interest of our mutual profit."

"I do not understand," I said.

"Zarendargar is a dangerous enemy to human beings," said Kog.

"He is a proven foe of Priest-Kings. He is your enemy. How fortunate, then, that we may conjoin our efforts in this matter. What a rare, welcome and felicitous coincidence do we here encounter. It is in your interest to have Zarendargar killed, and it is our business to kill him. Let us, thus, pool our forces in this common enterprise."

"Why do you wish our help in this matter?" I asked.

"Zarendargar is in the Barrens," said Kog. "This is a large and perilous country. It teems with red savages. To enter such a country and find him it seems to us useful to enlist the help of human beings, creatures of a sort which the red savages will understand to be of their own kind, creatures with whom they might be expected, for a price, to be cooperative. They are superb trackers, you must understand, and may find the search stimulating. Too, they may wish to rid their country of something as dangerous as Zarendargar."

"They would hunt him down like an animal, and slay him?" I asked.

"Presumably," said Kog. "And, humans, you see, would be useful in dealing with them."

"I see," I said.

"What is your answer?" said Kog.

"No," I said.

"Is that your final decision?" asked Kog.

"Yes," I said.

Kog and Sardak suddenly howled. The table between us flung upwards. Samos and I, buffeted, stumbled back. The dark lantern, scattering flaming oil, struck a wall to the side of the room. "Beware, Samos!" I cried. I stood ready with the sword in the guard position. Kog hesitated, tearing at the boards with his clawed feet.

"Guards!" cried Samos. "Guards!" Burning oil was adhering to the rained wall to our right. I saw the eyes of the two creatures glinting like fiery copper plates. Sardak reached down and seized up the huge spear, which Kog had earlier placed to the side. "Beware, Samos!" I cried.

Guards, with crossbows, rushed into the room, behind us. With a cry of rage Sardak hurled the great spear. It missed Samos and shattered half through the wall some forty feet behind us. Kog hurled the shield towards us and, like a great, shallow, concave bowl, it skimmed through the air, between us, and broke boards loose near the roof behind us. "Fire," cried Samos to his men. "Fire!"