He whispered, "If you were my friend."
Kortha lifted his big hammer and showed it to Guantra.
"Talk no more of friendship between us, yavit," he said clearly.
But Guantra leaned forward and smiled again. His dark eyes were steady on the big man in the white fur harness, whose sun-browned skin seemed like smooth bronze against the bearskin.
"Zut love me, but you will be my friend, Kortha. Wait! I am sending men for you. You cannot fight me, for all Mars is at my beck. My men will bring you to me, and I will make you my friend!"
He flung back his head and laughed, and his mirth rang loud and harsh in wild, eerie peals. Listening to it, Kortha bared his teeth in a soundless snarl and shook his hammer, and said, "I would sooner be friends with a canalhound. Send your men, but they'll not find me. I'll be away, looking for the shortest route to your throat!"
Guantra grinned, "I'll forgive you that when you're my friend, Kortha. Don't think you can get free of the tower. The controls for those doors are under my fingers. A trusted guard watches the screen here, night and day. He summons me when any enter the tower. He was quite excited upon seeing you. Mars has not forgotten Kortha who reunited the clans.
"How Mars will worship a Kortha come to life! Mars will also worship Guantra who found you and gave you back to her. The crowds will go for you. Kortha the genius. Kortha the man-gorilla. Kortha the great.
"And Kortha will be—my friend!"
It was then that the giant swung the massive hammer against the quartz-crystal screen. It shattered into fragments that sounded like musical glass as they fell to the floor.