22 What Occurred on the Coast of Thassa; It Has Begun

"We were afraid!" cried Boots. "What kept you?"

"Attentions delivered upon a female slave," I said, "having primarily to do with her training."

"Of course!" said Scormus.

"Do we know her?" asked Chino.

"She was once the Lady Yanina," I said.

"Superb!" said Chino.

"She is now mine," I said.

"Excellent," said Chino.

"She is to be delivered to Port Kar," I said, "to my holding, packed in a barrel with parsit fish."

"Excellent," said Lecchio. Rowena and Telitsia clapped their hands with pleasure, delighted that the once-proud Lady Yanina now shared their condition, that of the helpless and abject slaves of strong masters. Bina, I saw, kneeling near Scormus, had eyes only for him. No longer was his use bracelet on her wrist, but his collar was now on her neck. I had little doubt that yesterday morning she would have been whipped, for having spoken without permission, as he had informed her in the hall of Belnar. This morning, however, it did not seem that she had felt the whip, other than, doubtless, the whip of the furs, at the hand of her gifted, imperious master. I had no doubt but what she had now rendered ample proof to him that she was worth far more than the golden tarn disk he h ad arrogantly paid for her. If she had not yet done so, I did not doubt but what he, in the manner of the Gorean master, would see to it that she soon did.

"You escaped from the city without incident?" I asked.

"Yes," said Boots, "and, later, so, too, did Andronicus, with Chino, Lecchio, and Petrucchio."

"Where is Andronicus?" I asked. "Where is Petrucchio?"

"they are at the side of the wagon, over there," said Boots. The wagons of the troupe of Boots Tarsk-Bit were drawn up on the height of a hill, amidst trees, overlooking Thassa. It was now morning. We could see Brundisium in the distance.

"They are all right, are they not?" I asked. I had not seen them. They had not come to greet me.

"Well," said Boots, evasively.

I hurried about the wagons, until I came to that place, near the edge of the trees, on a clifflike projection of the hill, rearing above Thassa, where was the wagon of Andronicus. There I was Petrucchio, lying propped up, amidst bags and blankets. A great bandage was wrapped about his head. He looked in worse condition than he had when he had experienced the thrust of Flaminius. Andronicus was near him.

"Ho!" called Petrucchio, weakly, lifting his hand, greeting me.

"Greetings," said Andronicus.

"Greetings, fellows," I said.

"We would have joined the others, coming forth to bid you welcome," said Andronicus, "but Petrucchio is feeling a bit low today, and I am tending him."

"That is all right," I said.

"Took, we were discussing the movements of the head," said Andronicus. "I believe I may have discovered a new one. Have you ever seen this?"

"I do not think so," I said, startled, "at least not very often."

"It is, at least, one not mentioned explicitly in the texts, such as those of Alamanius, Tan Sarto and Polimachus."

"If it should be accepted as genuine, and win accreditation, being entered into the catalogs," said Petrucchio, "that would come out to one hundred and seventy-four. Although I myself am not strong on theory, I am very proud of Andronicus."

"We all are," I said.

"The theater is not a purely empirical discipline," said Andronicus. "It proceeds by theory, too."

"I am sure of it," I said. "Petrucchio, how are you?"

"Let a great pyre be built," said Petrucchio.

I looked carefully under the bandages.

"Let it contain a hundred logs!" said Petrucchio. "No, a thousand!"

"That is a very nasty bump," I said, replacing the bandages, "but it is nothing serious."

"Oh?" asked Petrucchio.

"Yes," I said.

"I will live?" inquired Petrucchio.

"Yes," I said.

"I suppose it is just as well," mused Petrucchio.

"I think so," I said.

"You must live, dear friend," averred Andronicus.

" Very well," said Petrucchio, convinced.

"Logs are very expensive," said Lecchio.

"How did Petrucchio receive this injury?" I asked. "Did he perhaps slip on the steps of your wagon?"

"No," said Andronicus. "he was struck, unexpectedly, from behind."

"And what craven sleen stuck such a blow?" I asked, angrily.

"Well," said Andronicus, "if it must be known, it was I."

"You?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "He was preparing to set forth for Brundisium again, once more to rescue you."

"Well struck," I commended Andronicus.

"Thank you," he said.

"How did you escape form the city proceed?" inquired Lecchio.

"Very well," I said.

"Splendid," said Lecchio.

"To be sure," I said, "I did not realize the descent on the tarn wire, with the flanged wheel, would be that swift. I struck the wall of a building with great force."

"The most difficult part of the journey, of course," said Lecchio, "would be the section where the tarn wire, from the lower roofs, stretches over to the wall, that section where you could not simply use gravity and the flanged wheel."

"Some might have found it so," I admitted.

"Fortunately," said Lecchio, "it was a matter of only a hundred feet or so."

"A mere nothing," I admitted.

"Did anyone see you?" asked Lecchio.

"I did hear a couple of fellows shouting," I admitted.

"Did you resist the temptation to do a somersault on the wire for them?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"It is probably just as well," he said.

"I think so," I said.

"I am pleased you did so well," he said.

"I fell off seven times," I said. "Fortunately I managed to seize the wire each time. Finally I finished the journey hand over hand."

"You are probably not yet ready to do that sort of thing professionally," he said.

"No," I said. "I do not think so." I was pleased that I had not broken my neck. The descent from the wall, once I had reached it, was simple. I had looped coiled wire about a parapet projection and, protected by the leather gloves, had descended to the ground, some sixty feet below.

"Did you hear what happened to Temenides, and his men?" asked Boots.

"No," I said.

"They were found in the city, with their throats cut," he said. "Apparently their murder was to have been blamed on us, as such a rumor seems to have been intentionally spread. But others, perhaps not privy to the plot, cleared our name, noting the papers recording our departure from the city, papers signed at an Ahn when Temenides and his men were still alive. We found this out through Andronicus. He learned it when he was coming back out of the city, with Chino and Lecchio, with Petrucchio as his supposed prisoner."

"I see," I said. I recalled I had seen Belnar give orders to a fellow upon the departure of Temenides from the great hall. It had been their misfortune, it seemed, to have displeased him. He had, too, it seemed, intended to settle the blame for the projected murder on the company of Boots Tarsk-Bit. This stratagem would permit him not only to take action against plausible suspects, given the hostility between those of Ar and Cos, this perhaps diverting attention from he true murderers, those in the pay of the ubar, but would give him a convenient pretext for ridding himself of possibly dangerous strangers, strangers who might, sooner or later, inopportunely comment on the anomaly of one from Cos, Temenides, am ere player, seated at the high table in Brundisium. Belnar, of course, had not realized that the troupe of Boots Tarsk-Bit would not return to its quarters in the palace but, instead, would immediately flee the city.

"Even though your manes may be cleared," I said, "I do not think I would revisit Brundisium in the near future."