The Honorable Barbarian Read Online Free PDF Page B

red-and-yellow turban, a white many-buttoned jacket, slim-legged crimson trousers, and turned-up shoes. As Kerin took a closer look, he was surprised to see that the other young man, save that his hair, beard, and skin were darker, looked much like Kerin himself.
    "Ah, Master Kerin!" said Huvraka. "You are meeting your new shipmate, Master Rao. Like you, he is going to Kwatna and thence, gods willing, on to Kuromon. He is taking the other passenger cabin."
    "I am pleased to meet you," said Kerin in his meager Mulvanian, automatically extending a hand. Instead of clasping it, the other placed his palms together and bowed over his hands, saying:
    "I, too, am pleased. You are speaking my language, I see."
    "A few words only."
    "Like unto my knowledge of your Novarian tongue, eh? I shall see you anon, if the seasickness lets me stir from my cabin. Already my stomach gives signs of discomposition."
    Tide and wind dictated that Captain Huvraka should sail before that day's sunset. As the setting sun shot slanting scarlet rays from behind a bank of cloud, the Dragonet cleared the harbor and headed east across the darkling blue of the sea.
    When Kerin entered the captain's cabin, he found Rao already there. The steward came in with his water and towels. When this chore was over, the steward reappeared with four cups instead of three and another bottle. Rao looked doubtfully at his cup, saying:
    "I know not—it is against the rules of my master's sect. . . ."
    "Oh, come on!" cried Huvraka heartily. "So small a sin will never affect your lot in your next incarnation. Besides, an adventuresome youth like yourself needs worldly knowledge to make his way."
    Huvraka urged Rao some more; Kerin missed some of the speech, the language being still unfamiliar. But at last Rao held out his mug. He took a sip, coughed, and said:
    "Whew!"
    "Oft the first taste doth that," said the captain. "Try some more."
    At length Rao got his cupful down. Kerin asked: "And what, Master Rao, sends you all the way to fabled Kuromon?"
    Rao looked sly. "Aha, would I could tell you! It is a mission of utmost secrecy for my guru—my master."
    "And who is your master, pray?"
    "The mighty wizard and holy ascetic Ghulam. I am his chela, as he was once the chela of the great guru Ajendra. Surely you have heard of him, even in your backward land?"
    Kerin had a sharp retort on the tip of his tongue; but remembering Jorian's lectures on diplomacy, he forbore. Instead he said:
    "I fear the report of the great Doctor Ghulam has not reached my rustic village. Pray, tell me more about him."
    While the steward refilled the cups, Rao launched into a colorful tale of the mighty Ghulam's feats of controlling the winds, healing the sick, foretelling the future, and driving his foes to destruction by sending deadly demons against them. During this recital he drank two more cups of tari. At last Kerin said:
    "If this mission of yours be a matter of such import and stealth, I wonder your master sent you not forth with a bodyguard."
    "In his wisdom he decided that an escort would only draw attention; that the safest course were for me to go alone, slipping quietly along like any ordinary traveler." Rao winked. "Betwixt thee and me, methinks he begrudged the cost of hiring guards; he's a fearful pinchpenny."
    "Is it a mission to a Kuromonian colleague?"
    "Nay, Master Kerin; it is weightier than that. I am to deliver the precious document to His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Dzuchen of Kuromon, and furthermore to pick up that which Kuromon is sending in return to the King of Kings, the mighty Lajpat of Mulvan."
    "Good gods!" said Kerin. "I should think these rulers would have sent whole embassies, complete with ambassadors, secretaries, attendants, and soldiers."
    "Indeed, indeed, some might so think," said Rao, his speech becoming a little slurred. "But the mighty Ghulam told them his scheme was best; he had foreseen its success in the stars. Of course," he added looking owlish, "you know