But then it quieted down again, drained by the dark, dull hopelessness within him.
The time for dreams was dead and gone. For all his bravado and boasting he, Jarl Corvett, had failed the man who'd come for him on Horla. By now, at best, Ktar Wassreck lay a corpse in the chill horror of Venus' slan-chambers.
Pain welled up in Jarl, and with it came new sickness. Choking, he buried his face against his arms and cursed the day his mother bore him.
But his mind would not stay still. Drearily, he thought about the others.
About Ungo and Ylana, Bor Legat, Sais....
It only brought new anguish. For he'd failed them, too; failed them one and all ... Ungo, friend of friends, who'd trusted him beyond all others ... Ylana, vision of golden loveliness—betraying her world and her own father just to save him ... Bor Legat of Mercury, murderous and merciless, yet loyal in his twisted way to the raider cause.
And Sais.
Dark Sais, Ktar Wassreck's daughter. Even in this place, Jarl could recapture the fragrance of her hair, the pulsing pressure of her perfect body. She was all woman....
And all Jarl Corvett's.
So he'd brought her down to this wild world and left her to the mercies of Tas Karrel's raider rabble.