Our eyes met.
I handed the key to Sheera, who knelt beside me. She rose to her feet, to unchain the Ubar.
“No,” said Marlenus. His voice was quiet, and very hard.
Frightened Sheera stepped back. I took the key from her.
I handed the key to Thurnock.:Unchain the Ubar,” I said to him.
Thurnock hastened to unlock the manacles and heavy throat collar which bound the great Ubar.
Marlenus did not take his eyes from me. He was not pleased.
I took the key from Thurnock, and, with it, unlocked the steel which confined Rim and Arn.
I then gave the key to Arn, that he might free the men of Marlenus. The eyes of Marlenus and I met again. “Do not come to Ar,” he said. “I shall come to Ar if it pleases me,” said I.
“Bring clothing for the Ubar,” cried one of his men, as swiftly as he was released.
Another of the men of Marlenus went to the belongings of the men of Tyros, to seize garments.
“The women!” suddenly cried a man. “They flee!”
Hura and her women, and Mira, too, who had, supreptitiously, the attention of those within the stockade being distracted, been nearing the gate of the stockade, suddenly had broken into flight, like a bevy of tabuk, rushing into the darkness.
“After them!” cried Thurnock.
But scarcely had the peasant giant cried out than, from the darkness about the stockade, and toward the forest, we heard the surprised cries, and screams, of startled, unexpectedly caught females. We heard, too, the laughter of me. “Weapons ready!” cried Marlenus.
I placed my blade in its sheath.
We heard the sound of scuffling outside and more laughter.
In a moment, men, those of Marlenus’ men and mine, who had been chained in the forest, appeared at the gate of the stockade. Several held, by the arms, or hair, a stripped, squirming panther girl.
The girls, attempting to escape, had run into their arms.
The men threw their catches, terrified, before the fire. There they huddled, kneeling, holding one another.
“Bind them hand and foot,” I told my men.
They leaped to secure the now-unresisting panther women.
Cara slipped past me to plunge herself, in her sweetness, weeping into the arms of Rim, who crushed her to him.
“I love you, Rim!” she cried.
“I, too, love you,” he cried.
Cara had carried the tools I had stolen from the Rhoda, a heavy hammer and a chisel, into the forest. She had followed the backtrail of the men of Tyros. She had, in a matter of Ahn, found the place where Sarus had left several men of Marlenus, and some of my men, chained. At that point she had, too, encountered Vinca, the two paga slaves, Ilene, and my own slave chain of panther women. Vinca and her cohorts had built fires about the men, protecting them from animals, and had been feeding them and bringing them water. With the hammer and chisel, and rocks, Vinca and the paga slaves, perhaps aided by Cara, would have managed to break or open the hand chains of one of the men of Marlenus, or one of my men. Then he, with his man’s strength, could strike away other chains, and free his fellows. It would have takes Ahns, but once a single man was freed and the tools lay ready, it was but a matter of time until all were freed. As soon as the men of Marlenus, sixty-seven of them, and the balance of my men, eight, had been freed, they had trekked to the beach followed by the women, with the slave chain. As they had come they had broken themselves clubs. They had come prepared, though naked, to make war, though it be with but the branches of trees and stones of the forest. About the wrists of many, though separated, still clung iron manacles; about the throats of many, too, still clung collars of iron, some with dangling, broken lengths of chain.
Their leader lifted his arm to Marlenus, in the salute of Ar.
Marlenus returned the gesture.
Cara, in Rim’s arms, looked at me, and then looked quickly away. She had wished to carry the tools into the forest, but in her own way, free. I had instead, however, tied them about her neck, and bound her wrists securely behind her body. She would, accordingly, if she did not find Vinca and the chained men, perish in the forest. I had given her no choice but, if she would live, to deliver the tools.
“I love Rim,” she had cried to me. “Let me be free to carry the tools for him as a free woman!” But I had bound her as a slave. It was thus, under duress, she had complied with my will. She was slave. One does not trust slaves.
I looked at her. She was lost in her joy of Rim’s arms.
I shrugged.
I examined the panther women, now supine, now tightly bound, before the fire. “There are two others, who are missing,” I said to Thurnock. Hura and Mira were not among the captives.
I looked at one of the men of Marlenus, who had come in from the darkness. He spread his hands.:These are all we caught,” he said. “If there were two others, they must have slipped past us, or eluded us, in the darkness. “I want Hura!” cried Marlenus. “Find her!” His men fled into the darkness.
But I did not think they would be successful. Hura, and Mira, too, were panther girls.
In time, in a half of an Ahn, his men had returned. There was little point in prolonging the pursuit. The two women had slipped away, successfully, in the darkness.
They had made good their escape.
I noted, too, that Verna and Sheera were missing. I had lost blood. I was angry. I seemed very weary. It was little to me that they, too, taking advantage of the confusion, had slipped away.
“Where is the slave Verna!” cried Marlenus.
His men looked at one another.
“She is gone,” said one of them.
I wanted to rest. I had lost blood.
“Captain?” said Thurnock.
“Take me to the Tesephone, Thurnock,” I said. “I am tired. I am tired.” “Where, Bosk of Port Kar,” challenged Marlenus, “is the slave Verna?” “I do not know,” I told him. Then I turned away. It was over now. I wanted only to rest.
“Bring paga and food from the ships!” ordered Marlenus.
Thurnock looked at me.
“Yes,” I said, “let him have what he wished.”
“You will be paid,” said Marlenus, “in the gold of Ar.”
Thurnock helped me to the longboat. The beacon of Sarus was now only reddish stones of wood, like the eyes of beasts, looming in the darkness, lying on the sand.
“We will have a feast!” I heard Marlenus cry, and his men responded with a cheer.
“Chain these men of Tyros,” I heard Marlenus order. I heard chains. “Lie in the boat, my captain,” whispered Thurnock.
“No,” I told him.
“Free the females,” cried Marlenus. “They will serve us in our feast.” I heard the screams of women, as they were freed of their bonds. I knew they would serve the feast in the manner of Gorean slave girls, fully. I did not envy them. I heard the gate of the stockade swing shut. It would be secured, locking them within with the men, their former captives. I heard some of them pounding helplessly at the gate with their small fists. I heard the laughter of men. There was more screaming. I did not envy them.
“Come, Captain,” said Thurnock.
With Thurnock and eight of my men I thrust the longboat back in the water and then, wading, swung it about.
Thurnock climbed into the boat, and leaning toward me, helped me to follow him. My eight men took their oars.
“Lie in the boat, Captain,” said Thurnock.
“No,” I told him. I took the tiller.
“Stroke,” called Thurnock.
The oars cut the water. I leaned on the tiller. The moons broke from the cover of the clouds. Thassa, suddenly, shone with a billion whispering diamonds. Dark, ahead, were the hulls of the Rhoda, a ship of Tyros, and the Tesephone, a light galley of Port Kar.
“Captain?” asked Thurnock.
Behind me I heard from the stockade, the song of Ar’s glories, led in the great voice of Marlenus of Ar, Ubar of Ubars.
There would be a feast. The stockade would be ablaze with light.
I was wet from the salt water, thrusting the longboat into Thassa. My side and my left arm stung with the salt, and felt stiff with the cold, and then, too, suddenly, I felt a warmth, slow and spreading. It seemed welcome. I did not much care. But I knew that it was my own blood.
I heard the screams of women behind me, the laughter of men.
Then again I heard the strains of Ar’s song of glories, led by Marlenus, Ubar of Ubars.
There was a feast. The stockade would be ablaze with light.
I shook my head.
Ahead, dark, were the hulls of the Rhoda, she of Tyros, and he Tesephone, a light galley of Port Kar.
I had recollected my honor. I laughed bitterly. Little good had it done me. Marlenus’s was the victory, not mine. I had only grievous wounds, and cold. My left leg, too, began to feel stiff. I could not move it.
I looked down into Thassa. The glittering surface of the water, broken by the stroke of the oars, seemed to swirl.
