“The next time, I expect,” I said, “It will make its strike.”
“Your ship and the Rhoda will go to Lydius and thence north to an exchange pint!” she cried, “have mercy on a slave!” she shrieked.
I saw the shark turn again, this time from some fifteen yards away. I saw it roll onto its back, its dorsal fin down.
“For what purpose do they proceed to the exchange point?” I asked.
“For slaves!” she cried.
“What slaves!” I cried, hold her by the arms. “Speak swiftly! It makes its strike!” “Marlenus of Ar, and his retinue!” she cried.
I threw the girl behind me, and, with the heel of my sandal, as the shark thrust towards us, with great force, stopped it.
It turned thrashing about in fury.
I took the girl by the hair and, holding her bent over, as one holds a female slave by the hair, waded up the beach.
Her entire body was trembling. She was shuddering, and moaning.
I threw her to the sand with the other girls, and again fastened her, with them, in throat coffle.
“Stand,” I told them. “Stand straight, heads high. Place your wrists behind your back.” I then picked up the slave silk they had worn and, under the throat tether of each, thrust the silk. Then, with the binding fiber I had earlier removed, I fastened their wrists behind their backs.
The Tesephone, most of my men aboard, chained in her hold, was to make rendezvous with the Rhoda at Laura. The two ships would then proceed to Lydius, and thence to an exchange point on the shore of Thassa, north of Lydius. The bulk of the attackers had proceeded through the forest, to surprise the camp of Marlenus. They had taken with them Rim and the four girls. They had doubtless taken Rim, knowing him from Laura as an officer of mine. My men would not have revealed to them who else might be officer. Thurnock, as a common seaman, was doubtless chained in the hold of the Tesephone. That might be desirable. My men there were thus provided with an officer. It is a reasonably common practice to separate officers and men, in order that prisoners have less unity and direction than might otherwise be the case. Rim had been taken northward because he was an officer. The girls had been taken northward because they were lovely. The trip to the exchange point through the forests would be long. Rim, Grenna, Sheera, Tina and Cara were thus with the attacking force. The others, including Thurnock, had been incarcerated in the hold of the Tesephone I stood on the beach, and looked at the ruins of my camp. I saw the long mark in the sand, where the keel of the Tesephone had been dragged down to the water. I, Bosk of Port Kar, was not pleased.
There were some fifty men of Tyros, as a prize crew, with the Tesephone. The crew of the Rhoda herself, though I expected not all of her oars would now be manned, would have been somewhere in the neighbor hood of a hundred. The slave girl whom I had questioned on these matters had conjectured that the attacking force had numbered in the neighborhood of two hundred men. I suspected that some one hundred and fifty, or more, men were now moving towards the camp if Marlenus. They had left eleven men behind at my camp, to pick up any of my men who, unknowingly, might return to the camp. They had not expected any, really, apparently, for their security had been poor. It had cost them. These eleven men I did not leave behind me. It is a Tuchuk custom, not to leave an enemy behind one.
I regarded the slave girls, standing in the sand, in coffle, their wrists behind their backs, bound. They stood very still. They stood very straight. Their heads were very high. I had commanded them to stand so.
I regarded the silks, thrust through the tethers on their necks.
I walked about them. They were beautiful.
“You were party,” I told them, “ to a plot, in which my camp fell and my men, and certain slaves, were taken. I am not pleased. You were instrumental in the success of the plans of my enemies. Without you, their plans could not have been successful.” “Have mercy on us, Master,” whispered one of the girls.
“Posture,” I snapped.
The girls stood perfectly.
“How many of you,” I asked, “are forest girls?”
“We are of the cities,” said the redhead.
I went to her and put my hand at her wrist. “The sleen,” I said, “has sharp fangs.” “Do not take us into the forest!’ begged one.
“You will be taken into the forest,” I told them. “If you do precisely as I say, you may possibly survive. If you do not do precisely as I say, you will not survive.” “We will be obedient,” said the first girl.
I smiled. I might be able to use these slaves.
I took the second girl by the hair. “When did the men of Tyros leave for the camp of Marlenus?” I asked.
“Yesterday morning,” she said.
I thought it might be so, from the crumbling of the sand beside the keel track of the Tesephone. I could not then, in all probability, arrive at the camp of Marlenus in time to warn him. I had not expected to be able to do so. Yes Marlenus kept guards posted. He was a shrewd huntsman, and a great Ubar and warrior. Further, he had some one hundred men with him. It puzzled me, somewhat, that the men of Tyros had dared to approach the camp, with only some one hundred and fifty men. The men of Marlenus are, usually, exceptional in intelligence and the use of weapons. This would be particularly so in the case of a picked retinues. The warriors of Ar were among the best on Gor. The warriors and huntsmen of Marlenus retinue, picked men, each of them, would doubtless constitute an incredibly dangerous set of foes.
I wondered if Marlenus required warning, even had I the chance to deliver it. Even granting the men f Tyros the element of surprise and a superiority in number of some fifty or sixty men, their enterprise was not without considerable hazard.
They risked much. They risked much, unless there was more to be considered, more than I had understood.
There must be more.
Then I realized what more there was.
The men of Tyros had planned carefully. I admired them. Their effort would be a concerted one. But where might they find allies in the forests?
Marlenus, it seemed, for once in his life, had miscalculated. I can take any city, he had told me, behind whose walls I can get a tarn of gold.
I walked behind the girls, and then behind the fourth, the slender, black-haired, light-skinned girl I had so terrified in the water. “Do not turn around,” I told her. I slipped the sleen knife from its belt sheath. I did so in such a manner that she should hear the sound. She began to tremble. “Do not turn around,” I cautioned her.
“Please, Master,” she whispered.
I took her by the hair and pulled her head back, and put the steel of the knife at her throat. She saw the blade pass over her head before her eyes. She felt it, like a narrow, obdurate line, on her throat.
“A slave girl,” I said, “should be completely open to her master.”
“Yes, Master,” she whispered.
“What occurs in the forest at the camp of Marlenus?” I asked.
“Am attack!” she whispered.
“By the men of Tyros,” I said, “and who?” I pulled her hair back, exposing her throat more. She felt the blade press.
“Panther girls!” she whispered. “More than a hundred of them! The girls of the band of Hura!” I had known it would be her answer.
I did not remove the knife from her throat.
“Why did you not tell me this before?” I asked.
“I was afraid!” she wept. “I was afraid! The men of Tyros might kill me! The panther girls might kill me!” “Whom do you fear more?” I asked, “the men of Tyros, the panther girls, or your master?” “I fear you more, Maser!” she whispered.
I removed the knife from her throat, and she half collapsed in the coffle. I walked to where she could see me. “What is your name?” I asked.
“Ilene,” she said.
It was an Earth name.
“Are you from the planet Earth?” I asked her.
She looked up at me. “Yes,” she whispered. “I was taken by slavers and brought to Gor.” “Where was your home?” I asked.
“Denver, Colorado,” she said.
“You have told me much,” I said. “It would not be well for you to fall into the hands of those of Tyros, or the hands of Hura’s panther girls.” “No, Master,” she said.
“You will, accordingly, obey me promptly and perfectly in all things,” I said. “Yes, Master,” she said.
“Yes,” said I, “you were not completely honest with me. Accordingly, you will be punished.” “Master?” she asked.
“You will be sold in Port Kar,” I said.
The girl groaned. The others looked fearfully at one another.
“Posture!” I snapped.
The girls again stood, backs straight, heads high. They were very beautiful. In the eyes of Ilene, of Earth, there were tears. She knew that she would be punished. She had not been completely open to her master. It was in Port Kar that she would ascend the block.
I then, speaking no more with them, strode from the beach and entered the forest.
I carried sword, sleen knife, and bow with quiver. I did not bid the wenches to follow me.
They might remain behind, naked and bound, tethered, as prey to sleen or panthers, did they wish. They had served my enemies. I was not much pleased with the. Their safety, or survival, as my actions made clear, was of little concern to me.
“Wait, Master!” I heard.
I did not stop, but continued to make my way through the forest.
I heard them behind me, weeping, piteously, attempting to keep my pace.
14 I Give Evidence of my Displeasure
It was night.
I stood on a strong branch, against the trunk of a tree, some forty feet above the ground.
