Read Online The Ringworld Throne by Larry Niven - Free Book Online Page B

were not eating. Vala was terribly relieved, even as she resisted the impulse to shy back.
    Likely enough, none but Valavirgillin had ever seen one of these. Some were reacting badly. Chit remained in the door, on guard, facing away. Spash was on her feet, not cringing, but it seemed the limit of her self-control. Silack of the Gleaners, Tegger, and Chaychind all cringed away with wide eyes and open mouths.
    She had to do something. She stood and bowed. “Welcome. I am Valavirgillin of the Machine People. We’ve waited to beg your help. These are Anakrin and Warvia of the Red Herders, Perilack and Manack of the Gleaners, Chitakumishad and Sopashintay of the Machine People—“ picking them out as and when she thought they had recovered their aplomb.
    The Ghoul male didn’t wait. “We know your various kinds. I am—“ something breathy. His lips didn’t close completely. Otherwise he was fluent in the trade dialect, his accent more like Kay’s than Vala’s. “But call me Harpster, for the instrument I play. My mate is—“ something breathy and whistling, not unlike the music that was still playing outside. “Grieving Tube. How do you practice rishathra?”
    Tegger had been cowering. Now he was beside his mate, instantly. “We cannot,” he said.
    The Ghoul woman half hid a laugh. Harpster said, “We know. Be at ease.”
    The Thurl spoke directly to Grieving Tube. “These are under my protection. My armor may come off, if you can speak for our safety. After that, you need only have care for my size.” And Waast only smiled at Harpster, but Vala could admire her for the nerve that took.
    The Gleaners were in a line, all four standing tall. “Our kind does practice rishathra,” Coriack said.
    Vala longed for her home. Somewhere she would have found food for her mate and children, and as for her love of adventure, a person could set that aside for a time ... too late now. “Rishathra binds our Empire,” Valavirgillin told the lords of the night.
    Harpster said, “Truth was that rishathra bound the City Builders’ empire. Fuel binds yours. We do practice rishathra, but not tonight, I think, because we can guess how it would disturb the Red Herders—“
    “We are not so fragile,” Warvia said.
    “—and for another reason,” Harpster said. “Do you have a request to make of us?”
    They all tried to speak at once. “Vampires—“
    “You see the terror—“
    “The deaths—“
    The Thurl had a voice to cut through all that. “Vampires have devastated all species in a territory ten daywalks across. Help us to end their menace.”
    “Two or three daywalks, no more,” Harpster said. “Vampires need to reach shelter after a raid. Still, a large territory, housing more than a ten of hominid species—“
    “But they feed us well,” Grieving Tube said gently, her voice pitched a little higher than her companion’s. “The problem you face is that we have no problem. What is good for any of you is good also for the People of the Night. The vampires feed us as surely as the lust for alcohol among your client species, Valavirgillin. But if you can conquer the vampires, that serves us, too.”
    Did they realize how much they had revealed in a few breaths of speech? But too many others were speaking at once, and Vala held silence.
    “For your understanding,” Grieving Tube said, “consider. Manack, what if your queen had a quarrel with the Thurl’s people? You might persuade us not to touch any dead who lie near the Thurl’s walls. Soon he must surrender.”
    Manack protested, “But we and the Grass Giants—we would never—“
    “Of course not. But Warvia, you and the old Thurl were at war fifty falans ago. Suppose your leader Ginjerofer had begged us to tear apart any Grass Giants who came to kill their cattle?”
    Warvia said, “Very well, we understand.”
    “Do you? We must not side with any hominid against any other. You all depend on us. Without the People of the Night, your corpses lie