The refrain ran through my mind. “Do not ask how to live, but, instead, proceed to do so”

But how could I live, I, a cripple, huddled in the chair of a captain, in a darkened hall?

I was rich, but I envied the meanest herder of verr, the lowest peasant scattering dung in his furrows, for they could move as they pleased.

I tried to clench my left fist. But the hand did not move.

How should one live?

In the codes of the warriors, there isa saying, “Be strong, and do as you will. The swords of others will set your limits.”

I had been one of the finest swordsmen on Gor. But now I could not move the left side of my body.

But I could still command steel, that of my men, who, for no reason I understood, they Goreans, remained true to me, loyal to a cripple, confined to a captain’s chair in a darkened hall.

I was grateful to them, but I would show them nothing of this, for I was a captain.

They must not be demeaned.

“Within the circle of each man’s sword,” say the codes of the warrior, “therein is each man a Ubar”

“Steel is the coinage of the warrior,” say the codes, “With it he purchases what pleases him”

When I had returned from the northern forests I had resolved not to look upon Talena, once daughter of Marlenus of Ar, whom Samos had purchased from panther girls.

But I had had my hair carried to his hall.

“Shall I present her to you” asked Samos, “ naked and in bracelets?”

“No,” I had said.” Present her in the most resplendent robes you can find, as befits a high-born woman of the city of Ar. ”

“But she is a slave,” he said. “ Her thigh bears the brand of Treve. Her throat is encircled in the collar of my house”

“As befits,” said I, “ a high-born woman of the city ofglorious Ar.”

And so it was that she, Talena, once daughter of Marlenus of Ar, then disowned, once my companion, was ushered into my presence.