Free Lin Carter - The City Outside the World by Lin Carter

went into his pitch, praising her beauty and the grace and seductiveness of her body, in a sing-song voice—a ritual he had evidently repeated many times in many wineshops—Valarda retired to oil her body and dust it down with the glittering powder traditionally worn by one of her profession.
    Ryker liked this little, but there was nothing he could do about it. The girl had not "shared a cloak" with him, which would have given him a proprietary right to refuse that she bare herself before the men. So he had to grin and endure it.
    Little Kiki had gone back to their room to fetch down drum and pipe and begging bowl, so Ryker had nothing to do but sit and watch. And drink the strong, sour wine.
    Valarda danced like the pure flame of a candle wavering in the wind, like a plume of golden desert dust floating before the breeze, and, as before, the room grew silent until all you could hear above the squeal of Kiki's pipe and the thump and pitter of the old man's drum was the hoarse breathing of men caught by the throat in the grip of desire.
    She was very beautiful.
    Her dance was a naked and wanton temptation, a thing of sheer lust, the quintessence of animal passion.
    Ryker's throat was dry and his heart pounded painfully, and there was a throbbing in his head that was not caused by wine.
    Her beauty was such that it clenched at his loins, and roused a male hunger within him. It was torture for him to see the allure of her nakedness, and to know that other men felt it, too.
    Houm watched with his head tipped on one side and an amiable, avuncular smile on his fat face. But the hot glitter in his little eyes belied the kindly paternalism in his smile. It was the gleam of greed.
    Two men sat with Houm on his carpeted pallet, and they were men that Ryker had not seen with the caravan before, and that was odd. One was tall and lean and curiously elegant, although wrapped in a disreputable cloak like-a beggar. His features were hard, fierce, aquiline: there was breeding in them, and pride. The other man was small and hunched and spindle shanked, and he hid his face in the shadow of his hooded cloak. Ryker eyed them curiously, wondering where they had been hidden all this while. He could have sworn that he knew at sight every last member of the caravan, even the painted, pampered, simpering boy slave Houm kept apart for his own pleasure.
    Finally he asked Raith about it. The tall guardsman sat next to him, and they had become good comrades ever since Ryker had knocked him down and ended the hazing.
    "They're new," Raith shrugged.
    "What do you mean, 'new'?"
    The warrior shrugged, incuriously. "Came riding in an hour ago, when you were having meat. I was on guard and saw them. Old Houm was waiting for them, I think. At least, he seemed mighty relieved when they turned up, and glad to see them."
    "Do you know who they are?" Ryker asked.
    "I don't know the tall one," admitted Raith. "But the little fellow with him is a Juhangir ..."
    An alert, wary flame leaped up in Ryker's colorless eyes.
    "Named Goro? The one who entertained back at Yhakhah?"
    "That's the one."
    Ryker said nothing, but now he was no longer curious.
    Now he was afraid.
    It took him quite a while to get to sleep that night, with so many small, annoying mysteries on his mind. Finally he did manage to drift off, although his sleep was shallow and troubled by shadowy and ominous dreams.
    An hour or so before dawn he came fully awake, suddenly, tingling all over with apprehension. Something had disturbed his light slumbers. But, what?
    He threw back the fold of his cloak of furs and raised himself on one arm, looking around. The energy gun was ready in his hand.
    But he saw nothing, nothing at all. The bare, empty room of the ancient citadel, rubbish in the corners, the faded hues of curious antique murals—naught else was visible in the dim green glow of chemical flame. The metal pan stood on the floor by the door, shedding its emerald illumination evenly over the room. By