by John Norman
"We have more than enough slave chains for Verna and her entire band," I said.
Rim was still peering out the window of the stern castle. Then he said, "It is the Rhoda of Tyros."
I went to the window, Thurnock pressed beside me.
Turning slowly, sweetly, into the wharves of Laura was the heavy-beamed, large medium galley, bright with the yellow of Tyros. I saw her yard being lowered, its sail left slack, to be removed from the yard and folded. On her deck I could see springals and catapults. Her crew moved efficiently. I heard the beat, over the water, of the copper-covered drum of the keleustes, marking the time for the oars.
It was the ship from Tyros which had been moored near the Tesephone in Lydius, the same which had cast off, following the departure of the Tesephone from Lydius.
It would have been difficult to bring such a ship this far on the river. Twice in the Tesephone's own journey upriver, even with her shallow draft, we had gently ran aground and must needs use the poles to free ourselves. I was interested that her captain had brought such a ship to Laura. It was, on the wharves, attracting attention. The only craft commonly seen in Laura were light galleys, and the ubiquitous barges, towed by tharlarion treading along the shore.
"What business has such a ship in Laura?" I asked Rim.
"I do not know," he said.
"It is not impossible," said Thurnock, "they are concerned with common trade, panther hides and sleen fur, and such."
"No," I said, "it is not impossible."
We could now see the crew of the Rhoda casting lines to the men at the wharf. She would soon be moored.
"Tyros," said I, "is enemy to Ar. Should Marlenus fall to Verna and her band, Tyros might be much interested in his acquisition."
It was perhaps for such a reason that the Rhoda had come upriver to Laura.
It would be quite a coup for Tyros, I surmised, did the great Ubar fall into their hands.
"Perhaps they are not interested in Marlenus," said Rim, looking at me.
I regarded him, puzzled.
"Who knows," he asked, "what may happen in the forests?"
"What shall we do, Captain?" asked Thurnock.
"We shall proceed with our plans," I said.
* * * *
"You know what you are to do?" I asked Sheera.
"Yes," she said, standing before me, deep within the forests.
In the brief sleeveless garment of white wool, my collar at her throat, her hair bound back by a fillet of white wool, she might have been any slave girl.
"Extend your wrists," I said.
"You're not going to bracelet me!" she cried.
If I did so, she would be almost helpless in the forests.
"No!" she said.
I snapped the bracelets on her. Her wrists were confined some four inches apart. It would be difficult for her to run, almost impossible to climb.
"Do I mean nothing to you?" she asked.
"No," I said.
"The hold," she protested.
"It means nothing," I told her.
She put her head down, a braceleted slave girl.
Rim and Thurnock were with me, and five men. We had come deep into the forests. We had brought with us a pack of trade goods, some gold. The pack, and gold, was now flung to one side. Before that it had been strapped to Sheera's back.
We would now make camp, putting sharpened stakes about our camp, to protect us from animals, and the nocturnal attacks of panther girls.
Sheera lifted her eyes. "They may simply slay me," she said.
"Panther girls," said I, "are not likely to slay a braceleted girl."
"I am Sheera," said the girl, suddenly, proudly. "I am the enemy of Verna. If she captures me, she may slay me."
"You are Sheera," I said. "If you captured Verna, branded and collared, what would you do with her?"
She looked at me, angrily. "I would return her to slavery," she said, "and promptly."
"Precisely," said I.
"What if I do not fall in with her?" asked Sheera.
I held the chain joining the slave bracelets. I shook it, that she might well feel the steel retainers on her wrists.
"Then," I said, "I expect you will fall in with sleen, or forest panthers."
She looked at me, with horror.
"Permit me to start now," she said.
I looked at the sun, and then away. "It is a bit early," I said, "for a slave girl to escape."
"But the sleen," she said, "the panthers!"
"Kneel, and wait," I said.
She knelt, braceleted.
I did not expect it would take long for Verna's girls to pick her up. We had made no effort to conceal our movements, or trail. I suspected that, already, they were aware of our presence in the forests. I had seen, an Ahn earlier, before we had reached this camp site, a tawny movement in the brush, some fifty yards in front of us, and to our left. I did not think that it was a forest panther.
The men were cutting and sharpening stakes, and setting them in the ground, about our camp site.
I looked at Sheera, kneeling in the bracelets.
Then I sat down, cross-legged, and withdrew an arrow, for the great bow, from its quiver and, with thread and a tiny pot of glue, bent to refeathering its shaft.
Above Laura, north of her, there lie several slave compounds. It had taken the better part of the morning, but Rim and I, and Thurnock, had found the blazed tree, blazed with a spear point, several feet high on the trunk. We had then found the next tree, to establish the line. We had marked the points and line on our map. On the map, later, in the stern castle, we had traced out, with greater accuracy than had hitherto been possible, following the directions of Tana and Ela, what should be the location of Verna's camp and dancing circle. Our original estimate, we were pleased to note, was not grossly inaccurate. We would, of course, as before, if the need arose, not approach the camp by the familiar route. If it should prove necessary to storm the camp with slave nets, we would do so after a secret approach, striking decisively and fiercely from an unexpected direction.
Things were going well.
I thought of the slave girl, Tana, paga slave in the tavern of Sarpedon of Lydius. I wondered how she would relish her new duties. I wondered if Sarpedon would have beaten her, for concealing from him her skills. It was quite probable. She would look well, when not carrying paga, dancing in the sand. A slave girl is not permitted to conceal anything from her master. She is his. She must be completely open to him, in all ways, and at all times. Tana had concealed her skill as a dancer from Sarpedon, her master. Yes, she would have been beaten. Then, that night, as Sarpedon had promised, she would dance.
As she danced, I trusted that she would think of me.
She had made her decision. It had been a brave decision. But it had not been a decision without its risks. She had gambled. She had lost.
I thought, too, of Telima. She, too, had made her decision. Let her remain, if she wished, in her beloved marshes.
I sought Talena.
I smiled.
Talena was not a simple paga slave, as was Tana. Talena was not a simple rence girl, indigenous to the marshes, as was Telima. Talena was the daughter of a Ubar!
It was not simply that Tana was beneath me, a rich man, Bosk, admiral in Port Kar. She, slave, was beneath any free man. She was only kept alive for one purpose, to serve such men, and be pleasing to them. And Telima, though she was very beautiful, was a rence girl. She was of low caste. She was scarcely fit consort for one of my position. But Talena, she was the daughter of a Ubar.
She might, with fitness, sit by my side.
She would be acceptable.
I mused.
In time I might become First Captain in the Council of Captains. And who knew what political occurrences might take place in Port Kar? I was popular in the city. Perhaps in time there would again be a Ubar in Port Kar.
At my side Talena would be the most beautiful, the richest and the most powerful woman on Gor.
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br /> I finished with the arrow on which I was working.
I would rescue her.
We would repledge our companionship. And who knew to what heights I might raise the chair of Bosk? Indeed, with Talena at my side, the daughter of the great Ubar of Ar, my fortunes, in many matters, might be much improved. The companionship would be an advantageous one. She, in virtue of her influences and associations, could bring me much. Who knew to what heights, in time, might be raised the chair of Bosk? Perhaps, in time, it might stand as high, or higher, than the throne of Ar? And might there not come to be, in time, an alliance of Gor's greatest sea power and her greatest land power, and, perhaps, in time, but one throne?
We would make a splendid and powerful couple, the envy of Gor, Bosk, the great Bosk, and Talena, the beautiful Talena, daughter of a great Ubar, his consort.
I rose to my feet, the arrow well refeathered, and set it to one side, across two rocks. In the morning it would be dry and I would replace it in the quiver.
I looked to Sheera.
The shadows were now longer. It was late in the afternoon. She looked at me.
I turned away from her.
It was not yet time for a slave girl to escape.
Things were going well.
I went to inspect the work of the men, setting the sharpened stakes about the camp.
We had made one alteration in our original plans, an alteration to take into account the arrival in Laura of the Rhoda of Tyros.
We had taken the Tesephone from the wharves of Laura, and ascended the river some twenty pasangs. It was there, on the north bank, that we made our camp. Above Laura the river is less navigable than below, particularly in the late summer. The Rhoda, though a shallow drafted galley, was still considerably deeper keeled than the Tesephone. Moreover, it was a much longer ship. The Rhoda would be unable to follow us to our camp. Furthermore, I would post guards, downriver, to warn us of any approach, say, by longboats, from Laura. I had also pointed guards about the camp, in case, as was unlikely, there should be an attempt to make an approach through the forests.
I suspected that these precautions were unnecessary, but I saw fit to decree them nonetheless.
Furthermore, the camp above Laura, on the north bank of the Laurius, provided us with privacy for our business. We might be simply, as far as those in Laura knew, attempting to achieve better prices on sleen fur by establishing this camp. Such things were sometimes done. No one in Laura need know the true object of our expedition.
The riverside camp was not untypical of a semipermanent Gorean naval camp. The Tesephone had been beached, and lay partly on her side, thus permitting scraping, recaulking and resealing of the hull timbers, first on one side and then, later, when turned, on the other. These repairs would be made partly from stores carried on board, partly from stores purchased in Laura. There would also, of course, be much attention given to the deadwork of the ship, and to her lines and rigging, and the fittings and oars. Meanwhile, portions of the crew not engaged in such labors, would be carrying stones from the shore and cutting saplings in the forest, to build the narrow rectangular wall which shields such camps. Cooking, and most living, is done within the camp, within the wall and at the side of the Tesephone. The wall is open, of course, to the water. Canvas sheets, like rough awnings on stakes, are tied to the Tesephone, and these provide shade from the sun and protection in the case of rain.
I was fond of my crew. I would have girls, paga slaves, brought up for them, from Laura.
"How goes the work?" I asked Thurnock.
"It goes well," said he, "my captain."
The men would soon be finished.
The camp of Marlenus, the great Ubar of Ar, I had learned, was somewhere within the forest, north or northwest of Laura. It was quite possibly the same camp he had used several months ago, when, as recreation from the duties of the Ubar, he had gone hunting in the northern forests, a sporting trip in which he had captured a large number of animals, and, as well, Verna, a famed outlaw woman, and her entire band.
Marlenus, I was certain, would be overconfident.
Verna, I was certain, would not be so easily taken a second time.
"Another two stakes, and we are done," said Thurnock.
I looked at the sun, it was now low, behind the trees, well below them. In half an Ahn, it would be dusk.
It was now time for a slave girl to escape.
I looked at Sheera. "On your feet, Slave Girl," I said.
She stood up, her wrists braceleted before her body. She faced me. She wore the brief, sleeveless garment of white wool, her dark hair tied back by the fillet of white wool. She was barefoot. My collar was at her throat.
I realized, suddenly, almost with a start, that she was a quite beautiful woman.
She regarded me.
Her fists were clenched in the slave bracelets. The short chain, joining the bracelets, was taut.
"Is this why you purchased me?" she asked.
"Yes," I said.
She turned quickly, wrists braceleted, and slipped between two stakes, where Thurnock had not yet closed the defenses of the camp. She sped swiftly into the forest.
It was in her best interest, braceleted, to fall swiftly into the hands of Verna's band. Within the Ahn, hungry, nocturnal sleen would slip from their burrows to hunt.
"What shall we do now, Captain," asked Thurnock. He had finished closing the wall, setting the two stakes, sharpened, inclined toward the forests, into place.
"We shall cook some food," I said, "and we shall eat, and we shall wait."
* * * *
About the twentieth Ahn, the Gorean midnight, we heard a sound, beyond our defensive perimeter.
"Do not put out the fire," I told my men, "but stay back from it."
That we kept the fire burning would indicate that our intentions were not hostile, and that we wished to make contact.
We remained back from the fire to make it more difficult for the panther girls, were it their intention, to slay us from the darkness with arrows.
But that was not their intention. Had it been I do not believe we would have heard the sound we did.
It had been the breaking of a branch, to alert us, to permit them to see what our response would be.
But the fire was not covered.
I stood near the fire, and lifted my arms, that they might see I held no weapons.
"I am Bosk, of the Free Island of Tabor," said I. "I am a merchant. I would hold converse with you."
There was only silence.
"We have trade goods," I said.
From the darkness, beyond the perimeter, there stepped forth a woman, boldly. She carried a bow. She wore the skins of panthers.
"Build up your fire," she commanded.
"Do so," said I to Thurnock.
Reluctantly Thurnock heaped more wood on the fire, until the interior of the perimeter was well illuminated in the darkness.
We could not see much beyond the fire.
"Keep the fire high," said the woman.
"Keep it high," said I to Thurnock.
Each of us, now, within the defensive perimeter, between the stakes, was an easy mark.
"Remove your sword belts and weapons," said the woman.
I dropped my belt, with sword and sheath, and knife, to the ground, beside the fire. My men, at my signal, did likewise.
"Excellent," said the woman, from the other side of the stakes.
She looked at us. In the light from the recently built-up fire I could see her more clearly. I saw the brief skins, the bow. She had a golden armlet on her left arm, a golden anklet on her right ankle.
She was truly a panther girl.
"You are surrounded," she said.
"Of course," I said.
"There are arrows," she said, "trained on the hearts of each of you."
"Of course," I said.
"You understand," she asked, "that you might be now, should it please us, taken slave?"
"Yes," I said.
"Of what would you hold converse?" she asked.
"Let us speak," I said.
"Remove some of the stakes," she said, "and we will speak."
I gestured to Thurnock. "Remove four stakes," I said. Reluctantly the peasant giant did so.
The panther girl, her head high, strode into the camp. She looked about herself. Her eyes were strong, and fearless. With her foot she kicked the dropped weapons closer the fire, away from my men.
"Sit," she said to them, indicating a place near the back of the wall of stakes, "and face the fire."
I indicated they should comply with her directive.
"More closely together," she said.
I again indicated that they should comply with her directive.
She had had them face the fire, that their eyes might not quickly adapt to night vision. If the fire were suddenly extinguished they would, for an Ehn, for all practical purposes, be blind, at the mercy of the panther girls. They had been told to sit together that an arrow loosed into their midst could not but find a target.
The girl now sat down across from me, cross-legged, near the fire.
There was another sound from beyond the perimeter. I saw something white move in the darkness, stumbling between two panther girls.
A panther girl holding each arm, she was thrust into the camp. She was still braceleted, of course, but now her hands, in the bracelets, with binding fiber, had been tied close to her belly. Her brief white garment had been torn to her waist. The fillet was gone from her hair. Sheera was thrust forward, and forced to her knees, head down, by the fire. She had been much switched.
"We encountered this strayed slave," said the girl.
"She is mine," I said.
"Do you know who she was?" asked the girl.
I shrugged. "A slave," I said.
There was laughter from girls beyond the perimeter, in the darkness. Sheera lowered her head still more.
"She was once a panther girl," said the girl. "She was once Sheera, the panther girl."
"Oh," I said.
The girl laughed. "She was a great rival to Verna. Verna now takes pleasure in returning her to you." The girl looked at Sheera. "You wear a collar well, Sheera," said she.
Sheera looked at her, her eyes glazed with pain.