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.The door I thenrealized had been locked on the inside, and could be opened from the inside.There was another wild, eerie cry, an uncanny almost demented roaring noise,and the bolt on the other side was dashed free of the door, and the twoguards, with a cry of fear, hurled the beams in the two brackets, fasteningthe door, which was made to swing outward, shut.The two guards leaned againstthe door.Behind it I heard an enraged, frustrated roaring, weird and terrible; I heardclawing at the wood; I saw the heavy door, as if struck with great force,buckle out against the beams."Go!" screamed the first guard."Go!""Very well," I said, and turned and walked away down the corridor.I could hear the guards cursing, and hear the door being thrust against theheavy beams.Then, when I was far down the corridor, I fixed the bandage againin place, shoved down my sleeve, and looked back.The thing behind the doorwas no longer making noise, and the door was no longer pressing against thebeams;from where I stood I could hear the bolt on the inside being thrust back inplace, locking it from the inside.Then, after a minute or two, I saw theguards remove the beams.What was inside was then apparently quiet.I continued to wander about the House, here and there bumping into inebriatedguards or staff members, who would invariably hail me with "Kajuralia!" towhich greeting I would respond in turn.A given thought kept going through my mind, for no reason that I was clearlyaware of.It seemed unrelated to anything.It was Caprus saying to me, outsidethe Cell for Special Captures, "You, Killer, would not make a Player." Hisremark kept burning its way through my brain.But as I walked the halls it seemed to me that, on the whole, things were notproceeding badly, though I regretted the amount of time lost, apparentlyPage 150 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlnecessarily, in the House of Cernus.Elizabeth, and Virginia and Phyllis, bytomorrow at this time, would be free.And Caprus, now that Cernus was often inthe Central Cylinder, attending to the numerous duties of Ubar of the city,had more time for his work.By Se'Var he hoped to be finished.Caprus, I saidto myself, a good man.Caprus.Thought well of by Priest-Kings.Trusted.Hehimself had arranged for an agent of Priest-Kings to purchase the girls.Caprus who seldom left the house.Brave Caprus.You, Killer, would not make aPlayer.BraveCaprus.I turned suddenly into the kitchen in which the food for the hall of Cernus isprepared.Some startled slaves leaped up, each chained by one ankle to herring;but most slept, drunk; one or two drunk to notice me, were sitting against thewall, their left ankles chained to their slave rings, a bottle of Ka-la-na intheir grasp, their hair falling forward."Where is the Paga?" I demanded of one of the girls.Startled, I saw, now thatshe stood forth from the shadows, that she had no nose."There, Master!" said she, pointing to a basket of bottles under the largecutting table in the center of the room.I went to the basket and took out a bottle, a large one.I looked about myself.There was the odor of food in the kitchen, and of spilled drink.There wereseveral yards of sausages hung on hooks; numerous cannisters of flour, sugarsand salts; many smaller containers of spices and condiments.Two large winejugs stood in one corner of the room.There were many closed pantries liningthe walls, and a number of pumps and tubs on one side.Some boxes and basketsofhard fruit were stored there.I could see the bread ovens in one wall; thelong fire pit over which could be put cooking racks, the mountings for spitsand kettle hooks; the fire pit was mostly black now, but here and there, Icould see a few broken sticks of glowing charcoal; aside from this, the lightin the room came from one small tharlarion oil lamp hanging from the ceiling,near the side where the kitchen slaves were chained, presumably to facilitatethe guard check which, during the night, took place each second Ahn; the otherlamps in the room were now extinquished.I took another bottle of paga from the basket and tossed it to the girlwithout a nose, who had directed me to the paga."Thank you, Master," said she, smiling, going back to her ring.I saw hernudge the girls on the left and right of her."Paga," I heard her whisper."Kajuralia," I said to her."Kajuralia," she said.Again the thought went through me.You, Killer, would never make a Player.You, Killer, would never make a Player
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