24 — THE COURT OF THE UBAR
In the central cylinder of Ar, that in which the Ubar has his palace and holds his court, in a room assigned to me, I drew upon my body the tunic of a Warrior.
It was fresh and clean, bright scarlet, pressed with hot, round irons warmed over fires. I buckled about my waist the belt and scabbard. They were of new leather, black and shining, with embossings of brass. But it was my old sword, the fine, familiar steel, remembered even from the siege of Ar, many years before, that I dropped into the scabbard. Sitting on the edge of the stone couch I bent down to tie my sandals. Hup was sitting cross-legged on a chest across the room, his chin in his hands. There was much sun in the room.
"I am the agent of Priest-Kings in Ar," said Hup. "From the beginning I have followed your movements in the city."
"You are also of the party of Marlenus," I said.
"He is my Ubar," said Hup. "I have been honored to participate in his return to power."
"I wonder if the Priest-Kings are much pleased by that turn of events?"
"They are realists," said Hup.
"With Marlenus on the throne," I said, "Ar will be dangerous."
Hup smiled. "Ar is always dangerous." He scratched one ear. "Better Marlenus than Cernus, surely," said he.
"True," I laughed.
"It has taken years for Marlenus to return," said Hup. "Many things were essential. In the time of Kazrak there was little that could be done. Kazrak, though uninspiring as a Ubar, and worse, not of Ar, was nonetheless an estimable ruler, an honest man, an intelligent, brave man, who sought the good of the city."
"And Marlenus?" I asked.
"With all his faults," said Hup, "he is Ar itself."
I thought of the magnificent Marlenus, swift, brilliant, decisive, stubborn, vain, proud, a master swordsman, a tarnsman, a leader like a larl among men, always to those of Ar the Ubar of Ubars. I knew that men would, and had, deserted the Home Stone of their own city to follow him into disgrace and exile, preferring outlawry and the mountains to the securities of citizenship and their city, asking only that they be permitted to ride beside him, to lift their swords in his name. Marlenus was like a god and a beast among men, inspiring the most fanatic loyalties, the most intense of enmities. There are few men such that other men would fight for the right to die for them, but Marlenus, arrogant soldier, laughing Warrior, was such a man. Marlenus, I knew, could never be second in a city. He had now returned to Ar.
"With the departure of Kazrak and the appointment of Minus Tentius Hinrabius as Administrator of the City," Hup continued, "the return of Marlenus became practical." He rubbed his nose and looked at me. The left eye was the larger one, and green. The right eye was normal, save that it, unlike its fellow, was blue. "By this time we already had a network of agents in the city, both free and slave. Some of these you perhaps know."
"The slave Phais," I said, "and the girls of the Street of Pots, were of your party."
"Yes," said Hup, "and most useful. Slave girls, as is not the case with free women, may go almost anywhere in the city, gathering information, carrying messages. Few suspect that a collared wench may be on important business. Even if apprehended they seldom suffer more than a lashing while serving the pleasure of those who have apprehended them. Phais once so suffered at the hands of Vancius, of the guards of Cernus. I think that Marlenus will give him to her."
"Poor Vancius," I said.
"Doubtless the girls of the Street of Pots will be given some male slaves," said Hup.
I did not envy them.
"Our most important single source of information," said Hup, "was the girls of the baths, particularly the Capacian. There is little in Ar that is not known in the baths. These girls were invaluable, both in the acquisition of information and in the arrangement of contacts. It was through the girls of the baths that the plans for the uprising were transmitted to those who would follow Marlenus."
"Was a girl named Nela," I asked, "of the Pool of Blue Flowers, among the agents of Marlenus?"
"She was chief among them," said Hup.
"I am pleased," I said.
"She, with the others of the baths, who worked for Marlenus have already been freed," said Hup.
"Good," I said. "I am much pleased." I looked at him. "But what of those girls who did not work for Marlenus?" I asked.
Hup looked puzzled. "They still wear their chain collars," said Hup, "and serve in the baths as slave girls."
"In the guise of Murmillius," I said, "Marlenus of Ar, as things went from bad to worse in the city, in the midst of corruption and crime, gathered about himself a following."
"He gave the men of Ar," said Hup, "something to identify with, a hero, mysterious and overwhelming, a hero to sway their imaginations. He won the love of the city."
"And the Steels," I said, "the new faction, had their role to play in bringing about the downfall of the influence of Cernus, and later, his downfall as Ubar."
"Of course," said Hup. "Through the Steels we wished to have a faction that would, like Murmillius, in the Stadium of Blades, sway the imagination of men, and win the allegiance of thousands of those of Ar. It would be an independent faction, a new faction, cutting through and across the loyalties and politics of the older factions. Further, it would be the means of defeating the Yellows.
As we thought, when it became clear that the Steels truly threatened the Yellows, Cernus' secret faction, his interest and allegiance would become clear. His betrayal of the Greens and his secret endorsement of the Yellows, which could only be for purposes of mercenary gain, was made clear in the events of the race of the Ubar.
This secret interest and allegiance, regarded as treachery, as perfidious, by the racing crowds of Ar, alone would have served to turn men against him. His true faction interests were revealed, infuriating all those in the Stadium, and perhaps mostly those of the Greens and the Steels. Then Marlenus, as Murmillius, entered the Stadium of Tarns, followed by his hundreds, followed by their thousands. Men had been turned against Cernus in both the Stadium of Blades and in that of Tarns, and in both by the cruelty and treachery of the man they had honored as Ubar. These things, together with the dissatisfaction of men with the governance of the city and the safety of their homes, coupled with the memories of Ar's greatness when Marlenus had worn the medallion of supreme office, of Ar's splendor when she had stood in his day feared, foremost, magnificent and glorious among all the cities of Gor, all these things turned the tides of power to our ends."
"To those of Marlenus," I said.
"His ends are our ends," said Hup. "The ends of Marlenus are the ends of Ar." Hup looked at me. "Marlenus," he said, "is the city. He is Ar itself."
I said nothing.
I remembered the daughter of Marlenus, Talena, from long ago.
Nothing more was known of her in Ar than had been known in Ko-ro-ba, or in the very Nest of Priest-Kings itself.
Hup leaped from the chest.
"Come," said he, "let us go to the court of the Ubar."
I looked at him. "The Ubar," I said, "may hold his court without me. I must soon be on my way from Ar."
I had little wish to share now the glories of Marlenus, or whatever rewards he might, in his generosity, choose to shower upon me.
I was sad.
Marlenus had been kind to me. Yesterday evening, a guard presented himself in my room.
"I bring you a girl," had said the man, "who would tie your sandals, who would serve you wine."
I had sent him away, not even looking upon the girl. The bright sunlight in the room, the scarlet of my tunic, the new leather, the metal embossings, seemed nothing to me. I wanted to be alone.
The cause of Priest-Kings had been advanced; the restoration of Marlenus to the throne of Ar had been accomplished. But beyond this there was little in which I could rejoice.