The Honorable Barbarian by L. Sprague de Camp Read Free Book Online Page A

is my friend Surya. Wouldst mind if she, too, joined us?"
    "The more the merrier!" cried Rao. "As I was saying, when the demon escaped from the pentacle, the mighty Ghulam . . ."
    The second young woman, similarly clad but in a skirt of turquoise blue, glided up. Soon both were hanging on Rao's words. The latter was into his third mug, so that the words became a trifle slurred. But his narrative aptitude was not affected, and the floodgates of his natural garrulity were opened.
    "And then," he said, "there was the time when the mighty Ghulam and I were prospecting for gems along the banks of the Shrindola, near the site of ancient Culbagarh. We had stopped in a little glade to eat our midday meal, when a tiger came out of the jungle and started towards us, slinking along with its belly dragging the ground.
    "I said to my guru: 'Master, cast a spell, yarely, ere we be devoured!' So he made passes and muttered formulae. The tiger kept right on, aiming for me. When it sprang up in its final rush, I awaited not the order of my going but leaped into the branches of a big banyan tree, which, praise Kradha, grew at the edge of the glade. I never climbed so fast in my life. At that, the brute's claws scored the bark a finger's breadth below my feet.
    "The tiger slid back to earth, roaring with vexation. Then it sat at the foot of the tree, looking hungrily up. Meanwhile Ghulam squatted quietly nearby, eating; the tiger ignored him.
    " 'Master!' I cried. 'What betides here?'
    "Ghulam looked placidly up, saying: 'My boy, I did but cast upon myself a spell of aphanasis, so that the tiger fails to notice me. I lacked time for a more comprehensive spell to protect us both. Find thyself a comfortable seat, and in time the beast will tire of waiting and depart.'
    "That was all very well for Ghulam to say, but after I had waited for over an hour, whilst the tiger showed no inclination to leave, I waxed impatient. I had, moreover, been so busy preparing Ghulam's lunch that I had not had time for mine own.
    "So I complained, louder and louder. Having finished his own repast, my master wiped his mouth and said: 'Oh, very well.' He dug powders out of his knapsack and tossed them on our dying fire, and muttered and gesticulated. Presently there came a crashing, whereat the tiger looked around. Out into the glade stepped a buffalo heifer. This beast took one look at the tiger, uttered a bawl of terror, and fled away into the jungle with the tiger bounding after.
    "Ghulam called up: 'Thou mayst come down now, Rao. Yon simulacrum of a heifer will dance ahead of the tiger for twenty or thirty leagues, or until the tiger run out of breath and quit. We shall see no more of that fellow today, I'll warrant!'
    "And speaking of buffaloes, there was the time we happened upon a herd of wild buffalo unawares. They lined up before us, and some of the bulls snorted, pawed the earth, and lowered their heads. Plainly they were about to charge. I said:
    " 'Cast a spell quickly, Master!'
    " 'No time for that,' quoth he. 'Run at them shouting and waving thine arms!'
    " 'Art mad?' I said.
    " 'Nay; do as I say, and thou shalt see.'
    "So, with much trepidation, I charged the buffalo, shouting and waving. To my surprise, one turned away, and in a trice all were fleeing into the forest.
    "Returning to Ghulam, I asked how he knew this outcome beforehand. He replied: 'In any sizable group, there will be at least one faint of heart, who will flee any wight who rushes upon him. When this one flees, the sight strikes the others with fear; and they, too, run. But attempt not this jape with a single bull. He may not be a coward, in which case thou wilt await thy next incarnation!'
    "And then there was that crocodile that proved immune to spells and illusions. . . ."
    Kerin felt his nose a little out of joint, since both Akkandrines gave their attention to Rao while ignoring Kerin. He blamed this partiality on Rao's richer appearance, since Kerin had not donned his best