She bit his arm and, with an oath, he caught her hair and twisted her head back. "Who are you?" he said. "Who are you, eh?"
The girl glowered at him.
Pirum dragged her along. She continued to struggle. Shaking his head, he hit her on the jaw with his fist and caught her before she could fall. Then, swinging her up over his broad shoulder, he stalked through the rushes toward Nadia City.
CHAPTER XVII
_The Prison Without Bars_
No one tried to stop Bram Forest until he reached the very gates of the amphitheater. But there a guard with drawn whip-sword barred the way and demanded: "You don"t look Nadian to me. What delegation are you with, man?"
Bram Forest had no time to parry words with words. He tried to push his way past the guard who, too surprised to thrust with his weapon, used his free hand to grab Bram Forest by the shoulder and spin him around. Bram Forest drove his left fist into the guard"s belly and heard the whoosh of air escaping from his lungs.
That was the last thing he heard for some time. A second guard crept up quietly behind him and struck expertly with the hilt of his whip-sword just behind the left ear. Bram Forest fell as if the ground dropped out from under him.
"By all the fiery G.o.ds of Tarth, will you look at that!" the first guard exclaimed.
The second guard could only gawk, not comprehending.
The unconscious man was growing tenuous.
The first guard in confused alarm, lashed down with the whip-sword.
But its point pa.s.sed through Bram Forest"s now transparent body without meeting any resistance.
"Right through him! Right through him!" cried the guard.
And, by the time he said it, and coiled his sword again, Bram Forest had vanished.
When an urgent message had come for Retoc, the Princess Volna, alone in the royal box, had decided to investigate the matter herself. She had to hurry, though. In not many minutes, Retoc and Bontarc would find themselves face to face on the sands of the amphitheater.
Wouldn"t Bontarc be surprised! Too proud to flee, not swordsman enough to match the mighty Retoc....
"Yes, yes, what is it?" she snapped irritably when she entered the dungeon-like ready-room below the amphitheater sands. She was in a hurry to return to her box, lest she miss the duel between Bontarc and Retoc. Alone in the ready-room was a soldier in the uniform of Abaria.
"Begging your pardon, ma"am," said the soldier. "My message is for Retoc of Abaria."
"And I tell you Retoc of Abaria is not here to receive it." Volna clapped her hands and two of her own guards appeared. "I am the Princess Volna. Well?"
Pirum looked at her, at the armed guards flanking her on either side, at the door through which she had entered, at the ready-room"s second door. "Very well," he said at last, and opened the second door, beckoning.
Volna went to the doorway and looked. She gasped involuntarily, hardly able to believe her eyes. There on the stone floor of a smaller ready-room, only now regaining consciousness, was the Virgin Wayfarer of Ofrid, she who had seen Retoc slay Jlomec, she who had been sent by Volna herself to sure death on the Journey of No Return. Terror gripped her.
"What does this mean?" Volna cried. "Where did you find her? Where, man? Speak!"
"On the river, ladyship."
"On the river? Returning from the Place of the Dead?"
"No, ladyship. Heading toward the Place of the Dead."
Volna went to the girl and stood over her. "You! What"s your name?"
"Ylia," the girl said.
"What were you trying to do, Ylia?"
The girl said nothing.
Volna called to Pirum, who came at once. "Hit her," Volna said.
Grasping Ylia by her hair, Pirum struck her face with his open hand.
Her head snapped back. The mark of his fingers was on her face. She said nothing.
"Hit her again," Volna said.
Pirum struck Ylia a second time. The girl whimpered, but held her tongue. "Where is your friend, that giant of a man?" Volna asked.
Again Pirum hit Ylia when she would say nothing. Finally Volna shrugged. "She"ll talk, given enough of that. What"s _your_ name, man?"
"Pirum, ladyship."
"Very well, Pirum. My guards and I are returning to our seats. There is a duel I wouldn"t want to miss. All Tarth will reap its consequences. Meanwhile, stay with this girl and do what you must do to make her talk. It might be important."
Pirum bowed. "Yes, ladyship," he said, and watched the others depart.
Then, when they were alone, Ylia surprised him by flying at him, nails bared, like a wildcat. He fought off her attack and struck her a savage open-handed blow, and she fell back. At least this, Pirum thought advancing on her, might be an interesting a.s.signment.
"... hit by that cab, mac."
"You all right?"
"He"s getting up, ain"t he?"
"Jeez, I swear," the sweating taxi driver said to the crowd which had gathered about the prostrate man, "he popped up outa nowhere. One second I"m driving along, looking for a fare, the next, he"s standing right in front of me. I almost pushed the brake through the floor, honest, but--"
"Ylia," the stricken man said.
"Hey now, take it easy."
"What he say, anyhow?"
"... be going to a costume ball or something. Lookit that outfit he"s wearing, w.i.l.l.ya? What"s he supposed to be, a man from Mars or something? I read in the papers where Mars was pretty close a while back. My kid thinks there are...."