Kortha tried to think, to reason out the danger of the room. But even his giant body knew the lassitude of fatigue. He closed his eyes, trying to sort out facts and interpret them; shaking his head a little, muttering at his tiredness. Guantra had the whiphand, with Hurlgut a cripple and Ilse and Xax no help at all. And he, Kortha! Of what use was he, sleeping like a perfumed harlot on this couch? If he could raise an army, now-- His eyelids blinked against the tiredness beating up from deep within him. Wave upon wave of languor swept to his brain, wrapping it in soft and gentle folds. He closed his eyes. Just for a minute, just until he was refreshed-- Kortha slept. His big body lay utterly relaxed, every muscle inert, like a lazing panther. The room was drugging in its silence. The thick draping seemed to enfold, to cradle. "_Kortha!_" It was a voice like a wind whispering in pines. It soughed across the room, making the man turn lazily in his slumber, uneasy. "Kortha, speak to me. Tell me of yourself. Who are you, Kortha?" The man slept, but his lips spoke, sighing, "I am Kortha the strong. The hard, the cruel." "Ahhh, no. You must forget that, Kortha. True, you are heavily muscled, but so are many men." "I crippled Hurlgut my best friend, in a fit of rage. I am not to be trusted. My temper is the red heart of the living volcano. It can spew destruction." "Forget that you are Kortha. He never existed. You are not that Kortha, but another. Tell me about this best friend, Kortha. Tell me. Tell me." Kortha whispered the tale, shuddering even as he slept. The voice spoke to him, and its softness was the purl of a wave lapping at the shore. "You are wrong. It happened thus--" Kortha half-rose, listening, though his eyes were closed and his breath came evenly. "Repeat after me--Repeat-- "I saw Hurlgut in his tower room. We did not quarrel over politics with Earth. Hurlgut did not call me names, denounce me as 'war-mad' and 'enhanced with my own powers.' The sun formed a pool at his feet, true. But it was the guard--not I!--who leaped, struck swift and sure. I slew the guard, but the damage had been done. "Hurlgut slandered me. He said _I_ did it. I did not. Hurlgut was jealous of my strength on Mars. He thinks I want power on Mars. I do not. Guantra is the one true leader of Mars. It was the guard who crippled Hurlgut, the guard who did it. "The guard did it. "The guard." * * * * * Kortha lay back in his cushions, muttering. The room grew silent once again. Then-- "Kortha!" "I hear." "Tell me of your life, Kortha. All of it. All the deeds of childhood, all the incidents. Tell me of your youth and manhood. Speak to me and tell me." Kortha spoke for hours while the voice listened. When he had done, the voice whispered once again, and its sound flitted through the arras-hung room, susurrating eerily.