"You own lions?" inquired Tarzan.
"Certainly," replied Gemnon. "I am a lion man and must own lions. It is a caste obligation. Each lion man must own lions of war to fight in the service of the queen. I have five. In times of peace I use them for hunting and racing. Only royalty and the lion men may own lions." The sun was setting behind the mountains that rimmed the western edge of the Field of the Lions as a slave entered the apartment with a lighted cresset which he hung at the end of a chain depending from the ceiling.
"It is time for the evening meal," announced Gemnon, rising.
"I have eaten," replied Tarzan.
"Come anyway; it may interest you to meet the other nobles of the palace."
Tarzan arose. "Very well," he said and followed Gemnon from the apartment.
Forty nobles were assembled in a large dining room on the main floor of the palace as Gemnon and Tarzan entered. Tomos was there and Erot and Xerstle; several of the others Tarzan also recognized as having been seen by him before, either in the council room or at the stadium.
A sudden silence fell upon the assemblage as he entered, as though the men had been interrupted while discussing either him or Gemnon.
"This is Tarzan," announced Gemnon by way of introduction as he led the ape-man to the table.
Tomos, who sat at the head of the table, did not appear pleased. Erot was scowling; it was he who spoke first. "This table is for nobles," he said, "not for slaves."
"By his own prowess and the grace of her majesty, the queen, this man is here as my guest," said Gemnon quietly. "If one of my equals takes exception to his presence, I will be glad to discuss the matter with swords." He turned to Tarzan. "Because this man sits at table with nobles of my own rank, I apologize for the inference he intended you to draw from his words. I hope you are not offended."
"Does the jackal offend the lion?" asked the ape-man.
The meal was not a complete success socially. Erot and Xerstle whispered together. Tomos did not speak but applied himself assiduously to the business of eating. Several of Gemnon's friends engaged Tarzan in conversation, and he found one or two of them agreeable, but others were inclined to be patronizing. Possibly they would have been surprised and their attitude toward him different had they known that their guest was a peer of England, but then again this might have made little impression upon them inasmuch as none of them had ever heard of England.
When Tomos arose and the others were free to go, Gemnon conducted Tarzan to the apartments of the queen After returning to his awn apartments to don a more elaborate habergeon, helmet, and equipments.
"Do not forget to kneel when we enter the presence of Nemone", cautioned Gemnon, "and do not speak until she addresses you." A noble received them in a small anteroom where he left them while he went to announce their presence to the queen, and as they waited Gemnon's eyes watched the tall stranger standing quietly near him.
"Have you no nerves?" he asked presently.
"What do you mean?" demanded the ape-man.
"I have seen the bravest warriors tremble who had been summoned before Nemone," explained his companion.
"I have never trembled," replied Tarzan. "How is it done?"
"Perhaps Nemone will teach you to tremble."
"Perhaps, but why should I tremble to go where a jackal does not tremble to go?"
"I do not understand what you mean by that," said Gemnon, puzzled.
"Erot is in there."
Gemnon grinned. "But how do you know that?" he asked.
"I know," said Tarzan. He did not think it necessary to explain that when the noble had opened the door his sensitive nostrils had caught the scent spoor of the queen's favorite.
"I hope not," said Gemnon, an expression of concern upon his countenance. "If he is there, this may be a trap from which you will never come out alive."
"One might fear the queen," replied Tarzan, "but not the jackal."
"It is the queen of whom I was thinking."
The noble returned to the anteroom. He nodded to Tarzan. "Her majesty will receive you now," he said.
"You may go, Gemnon; your attendance will not be required." Then he turned to the ape-man once more.
"When I open the door and announce you, enter the room and kneel. Remain kneeling until the queen tells you to arise, and do not speak until after her majesty addresses you. Do you hear?"
"I hear," replied Tarzan. "Open the door!"
Gemnon, just leaving the anteroom by another doorway, heard and smiled, but the noble did not smile. He frowned.
The bronzed giant had spoken to him in a tone of command, but the noble did not know what to do about it, so he opened the door. But he got some revenge, or at least he thought that he did.
"The slave, Tarzan!" he announced in a loud voice.
The Lord of the Jungle stepped into the adjoining chamber, crossed to the center of it, and stood erect, silently regarding Nemone. He did not kneel. Erot was there standing at the foot of a couch upon which the queen reclined upon fat pillows. The queen regarded Tarzan from her deep eyes without any change of expression, but Erot scowled angrily.
"Kneel, you fool!" he commanded.
"Silence!" admonished Nemone. "It is I who give commands."
Erot flushed and fingered the golden hilt of his sword. Tarzan neither spoke nor moved nor took his eyes from the eyes of Nemone. Though he had thought her beautiful before, he realized now that she was even more gorgeous than he had believed it possible for any woman to be.
"I shall not need you again tonight, Erot," said Nemone. "You may go now."
Now Erot paled and then turned fiery red. He started to speak but thought better of it; then he backed to the doorway, executed a bow that brought him to one knee, arose and departed.
As Tarzan had crossed the threshold, his observing eyes noted every detail of the room's interior almost in a single sweeping glance. The chamber was not large, but magnificent in its conception and its appointments. Columns of gold supported the ceiling, the walls were Tiled with ivory, the floor a mosaic of colored stones upon Which were scattered rugs of colored stuff and the skins of animals.
On the walls were paintings, for the most part very crude, and the usual array of heads, and at one end of the room a great lion was chained between two of the golden Doric columns. He was a very large lion with a tuft of white hair in his mane directly in the center of the back of his neck.
From the instant that Tarzan entered the room the lion eyed him malevolently, and Erot had scarcely passed out and closed the door behind him when the beast sprang to his feet with a terrific roar and leaped at the ape-man. The chains stopped him and he dropped down, growling.
"Belthar does not like you," said Nemone who had remained unmoved when the beast sprang. She noticed, too, that Tarzan had not started nor given any other indication that he had heard the lion or seen him, and she was pleased.
"He but reflects the attitude of all Cathne," replied Tarzan.
"That is not true," contradicted Nemone.
"No?"
"I like you." Nemone's voice was low and caressing.
"You defied me before my people at the stadium today, but I did not have you destroyed. Do you suppose that I should have permitted you to live if I had not liked you? You do not kneel to me. No one else in the world has ever refused to do that and lived. I have never seen a man like you. I do not understand you, I am beginning to think that I do not understand myself. You have piqued my curiosity, Tarzan."
"And when that is satisfied you will kill me, perhaps?" asked Tarzan, a half-smile curving his lip.
"Perhaps," admitted Nemone with a low laugh. "Come here and sit down beside me. I want to talk with you; I want to know more about you."