The Siege of Faltara

The planet Fillippi produces the much-prized antigravity substance levitron. The corrupt ruling family Contortus, ruling as a brutal dictatorship with slaves and troops drugged by menoma, have incurred the antipathy of the Empire, who send an agent provocateur to Fillippi to foment a revolution. The planet has a strange political system where trial by combat is used, and the agent, Mart, finds a minor family willing to front the challenge to the leadership - Balto Fangano. The challenge is a joust from the backs of the six-legged, three-humped, camel-like tafpa. Meanwhile the puzzle of how the pudgy, infantile boy ruler manages to defeat so many athletic challengers remain - is it drugs or something else?