"You shall not die, but be commended if you do well. Represent Rohbar
in the formal duel he is about to fight."
"As Yandro commands. And his adversary--the man he will fight?"
"Me."
* * * * *
Klob was embarrassed, and so were the others. I spoke sharply. "Am
I the one you take for your war leader? Then obey. This man has
threatened me. I have been placed in a position where I must fight or
be thought cowardly. Come into this passageway."
They followed me. Nobody was in the corridor. I spoke again, and they
released Rohbar. "What weapon?" I asked him.
"Ray-sabers," he growled, and drew his. A touch of his thumb on the
hilt-stud, and it glowed brilliantly.
"I shall be second to Yandro, if it pleases him." That was Doriza, my
appointed aide. But I waved her back.
"Since we fight, partially at least, for you, it is not well that you
take, sides," I reminded. "I need no seconds. If play does not continue
fair, I can change it."
I drew my own ray-saber. My thumb, seemingly wiser than my blank brain,
touched the stud and the blade pulsed out its heat-rays. Those of the
Council who had come along moved back out of the way. Rohbar and I
touched blades, and the fight was on.
From the first, it was no contest.
[Illustration: _And then I, Yandro, was upon the officer._]
Rohbar wore armor, on chest and head, while I fought without. He was in
a cold rage, and I was only puzzled. Despite his lesser height, he had
strangely long arms, that gave him an inch or two of reach beyond mine.
But he was like a child before me. Indeed, I had leisure to observe
myself, to wonder and puzzle over my own skill. I knew this weapon,
that should be strange to me, as if it were born a part of me. Rohbar
slashed and fenced; I parried easily, almost effortlessly. Avoiding an
engagement, I clanged home against his armored flank. He moaned and
swore, for even through that metal protection the heat of the blade
must have hurt him. A moment later I sped a back-hand blow that knocked
his helmet flying. He threw caution to the winds, and charged close. So
sudden was his attack that I was caught almost unawares, and parried
his blade within inches of my own chin. Our blades crossed, close to
the guards, and we stood for a moment looking into each other's eyes at
a bare foot's distance.
"You ignorant fool!" he spat at me. "To be made a tool, and then to
_believe_--"
"Silence, you crawling informer!" bawled Gederr, and his deadly warning
startled Rohbar, who sprang back from me. At the same time I advanced
in my turn, touched his blade as if to engage, then cut under quickly
and came solidly home where the neck and shoulders join.
The ray-mechanism in my weapon hummed and sang. A great red spark
leaped from the point of contact, and Rohbar, stricken with heat and
current alike, spun around like a top. His saber fell, and he went down
beside it. There was life in him, for he struggled up on an elbow,
turning an agonized face toward me.
"You haven't forgotten _that_ skill!" he cried, as if charging me with
a crime. "Have you forgotten anything, then? Are you truly here without
memory, or are you a traitor to--"
Gederr stepped close to him. He leveled a pistol-device, which threw
rays. Rohbar suddenly lacked a head.
"That was the most merciful thing to do," said Gederr, holstering his
weapon. "Send someone to drag the rest of him away." He faced me.
"Yandro will please accept my admiring congratulations. What better
proof of his great gifts and high destiny than this easy conquest
of one who was judged skilful with the ray-saber." He strode toward
the sound of faint music. "Come, you others. The entertainment has
certainly not been spoiled."
* * * * *
I switched off my saber's power, and sheathed it. I had just killed a
man, because I felt I had to, but I had no sense of triumph. I walked
at the rear of the group, Doriza moving respectfully beside me.
"Doriza," I said, "he tried to tell me something. What?"