Hunters of Gor

by John Norman

  "She attempted to serve as a slave," said Marlenus, "to put us off our guard."

  "Then you think," I asked, "that tonight she will attempt an escape?"

  "Of course," said Marlenus. "And I expect that by now she has left the camp."

  I looked at him, astonished.

  "I gave orders for her departure not to be noticed," smiled Marlenus.

  "It is dark," I said. "She will have a long start."

  "We can get her back when we wish," he said. "I have arranged for the girls of Hura, more than a hundred of them, to be in the forests about the camp. If they do not pick her up, I shall go forth in a day or so and retrieve her myself."

  "You seem confident," I said.

  "There is little possibility of losing her," said Marlenus. "I had her bedding, a blanket, changed this morning. She thinks that she washed her blanket but I substituted another, an identical one, from another girl."

  "Tonight," I said, "she would not have slept on the cleaned blanket."

  "Of course not," said Marlenus.

  "And," I said, "in Laura there are trained sleen."

  "Yes," said Marlenus. "And given the scent of her blanket there will be no difficulty in picking her up, even if we begin to search days from now."

  The sleen is Gor's most perfect hunter.

  "Even," said Marlenus, "if we did not have the blanket the smell of the shelter in which she slept last night should be sufficient for the sleen."

  "You are thorough," I said.

  "More thorough than you understand," smiled Marlenus. He went to a heavy chest at the side of the room and, with a key hung at his belt, unlocked it. He drew from it some bits of scarlet slave silk. "I had her put these on yesterday," he said. He grinned. "One of my men, unknown to her, pretending to be a merchant, arrived in the camp. He pretended he wished me to buy a consignment of pleasure silk for use in my pleasure gardens. He seemed anxious that I buy. He begged that Verna, who stood nearby, be permitted to display the product, so that I might better judge its sheen and quality. I consented, and ordered her to do so. I pretended to purchase several rolls. When she removed the silks we put them to one side, as though for washing." He laughed. "Of course," he said, "when she was gone I locked them in the chest."

  I thought of the fierce sleen, with their fangs and blazing eyes, long-bodied, six-legged, like a furred lizard.

  "She has no chance of escape," I said.

  "She thinks, however," said Marlenus, "that she has an excellent chance. She does not know of Hura's band. She thinks her bedding has been cleaned. She knows of no clothing, unwashed, which remains behind her. She will fear only that sleen, if we used them, might pick up her scent from the shelter in which she slept."

  "She will think, then," I said, "that she has a chance, perhaps an excellent one, with her lead and the darkness, of escaping."

  "Yes," said Marlenus.

  "But she has no chance of escape," I said.

  Marlenus nodded his head. "That is true," he said. "She has no chance of escape."

  "Ubar," said a voice. It was one of the guards.

  "The girl, Verna," he said, "has fled."

  "Thank you, Warrior," said Marlenus, dismissing the man. Then Marlenus turned to me. "You see," said he, "the game is already begun."

  I nodded.

  Marlenus looked about himself. He saw, to one side, the large board of one hundred yellow and red squares, the tall weighted pieces.

  "Would you care for a game?" asked Marlenus.

  "Tomorrow," I said. "It is late now, Ubar."

  He laughed. "Good-night," he said.

  I turned and left. I looked back once, to see Marlenus regarding the board, intently, it placed now before him on the table. He was moving pieces, trying combinations, lines and permutations.

  I thought of Verna fleeing through the night forest, swiftly, silently, wary, excited, elated, heart beating.

  I looked again to see the Ubar in his tent, his fist beneath his chin, regarding the board of the game.

  Verna was a lovely tabuk. Unknown to herself she was still on his tether.

  * * * *

  Scarcely had Marlenus flung his Ubar's Tarnsman to Ubar's Builder's Seven when we heard the cry at the gate.

  It was a hot afternoon, late in the afternoon. It was the day following Verna's flight.

  We rose together, and went to the gate, and had it opened. We saw Verna immediately. There were two short choke straps on her neck, each held by a different panther girl. Her wrists had been bound behind her back. Further, at two places, across her shoulders and belly, her arms, with coils of binding fiber, very tight, were pinioned. She knelt between her two captors. There were several more girls, armed, behind her.

  She looked up, angrily. Her head was high.

  A dark-haired, tall girl strode forward.

  "Greetings, Hura," said Marlenus.

  "Greetings, Ubar," said the woman. I saw that Mira stood behind her. Mira was much pleased.

  Verna was clad only in the bit of yellow slave silk she had worn when she escaped. It was half torn from her. Shreds of it were held by the binding fiber on her body. She was barefoot. There were many scratches on her legs and body. About her neck, and shoulders and arms, and back, she had been switched.

  "We have caught an escaped slave," said Hura.

  Verna struggled in the bonds.

  "A branded girl, collared," said Hura. She struck Verna in the shoulder with the butt of her spear, that of a free woman.

  Hura reached to Verna's collar. She dug her fingers between the neck and the steel and jerked it, twice. "The collar of this slave girl," she said, "says that she belongs to Marlenus of Ar."

  "That is true," said Marlenus.

  Hura laughed. She was a tall, long-legged girl, rather hard looking, not unbeautiful. She seemed strong. I did not trust her. She spoke loudly. Her laugh was not pleasant.

  Marlenus was looking down on Verna, bound kneeling at his feet. She looked up at him, boldly, angrily.

  "It is true," said Marlenus. "This is one of my girls."

  "I am not one of your girls!" screamed Verna. "I am not one of your girls! I am Verna! Verna, the outlaw woman! Verna, the panther girl!"

  "She is pretty, isn't she?" asked Hura.

  "A lovely girl," said one of the panther girls, holding one of the choke straps.

  "Slave silk befits such a pretty little bird," said another girl.

  Verna struggled in her bonds.

  "Do not injure your pretty body," warned Hura. "You will be less pleasing to men."

  "She-sleen!" wept Verna.

  "Doubtless," said Mira, "she would be even prettier in cosmetics and earrings."

  "Traitress!" screamed Verna. "Traitress!"

  "Slave girl," said Mira. "Slave girl!"

  "She fled from us last night," said Marlenus.

  "We have caught her," said Hura.

  "I will give you a steel knife," said Marlenus, "and forty arrow points for her."

  "Very well," said Hura.

  The knife and the arrow points were brought, and Hura took them.

  The choke straps were removed from Verna's throat. With her foot, spurning her, Hura thrust her to the ground at the feet of Marlenus. She lay on her left shoulder, looking up at him.

  "Next time you may not be so fortunate, Marlenus," she said.

  "Get up," he said.

  She struggled to her feet. He took her hair in his hand and bent her over, her head at his waist, holding her as one does a female slave.

  "You, Hura," said Marlenus, "and your lieutenant, Mira, may watch, if you wish."

  "We would be honored, Ubar," said Hura. She, and Mira, followed Marlenus, he holding Verna as a slave girl, within the stockade. I followed them. Behind us the gates were swung shut and locked.

  "I do not care if you beat me," said Verna, in pain. "I have felt the whip."

  But Marlenus dragged her past the whipping post. I could see that this frightened her.

  Marle
nus stopped at the side of his great tent, in an open space.

  "Summon the camp," he said. "Bring, too, the slaves."

  He forced Verna to her knees beside him. He removed his hand from her hair.

  Soon the camp had gathered around, huntsmen, tarnsmen, retainers, slaves. Watching, too, circled about, were Verna's girls, in their panther skins, chained together by the left ankle. There was no one in the camp who was not present. Present, too, of course, were Hura and Mira, Verna's enemies. When we had all gathered about, there was a silence.

  It was in the late afternoon. A bird cried in the distance. There was not much stir in the air. It was hot.

  Verna looked up at Marlenus, proudly, defiantly.

  "Remove her bonds," said Marlenus.

  She looked at him, startled. A huntsman, one of Marlenus' retinue, cowled in the head of a forest panther, stepped behind her. With his sleen knife he freed the girl's arms and hands.

  She still knelt, apprehensive.

  "Who are you?" asked Marlenus.

  "I am Verna," she said, "the outlaw."

  Then, to her astonishment, and that of all those watching, saving the Ubar himself, Marlenus took the key to her collar from his pouch. He opened the collar and replaced the key in his pouch. He then removed the collar from her throat and cast it to one side, in the dirt.

  She looked up at him, puzzled.

  "Hamstring the outlaw," he said.

  "No!" she cried. She leaped to her feet but two huntsmen, cowled in the heads of forest panthers, seized her by the arms. "No! No!" she screamed.

  "May we go, Ubar?" pleaded Hura. Mira, too, wanted to rush to the gate.

  "Remain where you are," said Marlenus. The two women, frightened, did not move.

  "Ubar!" screamed Verna. "Ubar!"

  At a gesture from Marlenus the shreds of pleasure silk which still clung to her were torn from her by two huntsmen, they, too, like the others, cowled in the heads of forest panthers.

  She stood before him, free of his collar, stripped, held by huntsmen.

  Hanging is a not uncommon penalty in the northern forests for outlawry. Another such penalty, not infrequently inflicted, is hamstringing.

  "No, Ubar!" she said. "Please, Ubar!"

  In hamstringing the two large tendons behind each knee are cut. The legs may then no longer be contracted. They are then useless. No longer can the subject walk or run, or even stand erect.

  The subject is, however, not without resource. He can, though it requires strength, and it is awkward and painful, drag himself about by the hands.

  When an individual is hamstrung he is often taken to a city where he is left, that he may, if he can, earn his living by begging. Sometimes tavern keepers gather several such unfortunates together, enslave them, and keep their beggings for themselves. A slave with a tharlarion wagon puts them about the city in the morning and picks them up at night. Sometimes the tavern keepers blind or mutilate them as well, that they be more piteous, and their earnings accordingly increased.

  Verna was looking at Marlenus with horror.

  "Let the outlaw be hamstrung," said Marlenus.

  Two huntsmen threw Verna forward, holding her head toward the ground. Two others held her legs, somewhat higher, stretching them out.

  I saw the tendons, beautiful, taut, behind her knees.

  A fifth huntsman, at a sign from Marlenus, stepped behind the girl. He removed his sleen knife from its sheath. I saw the edge of the blade touch the right tendon.

  "I am a woman!" screamed Verna. "I am a woman!"

  "No," said Marlenus. "You are an outlaw."

  "I am a woman!" screamed Verna. "I am a woman! I am a woman!"

  "No," said Marlenus. "You have only the body of a woman. Inside your body you are a man."

  "No!" she wept. "No! Inside I am a woman! I am a woman!"

  "Is it true?" asked Marlenus.

  "Yes, yes!" wept Verna.

  "You acknowledge yourself a female then," asked Marlenus, "within as well as without."

  "Yes," cried Verna. "I am a female!"

  "Completely?" asked Marlenus.

  "Yes, yes," wept Verna, "I am completely a female."

  "And not a man as well?" pressed Marlenus.

  "I am completely and only a female," wept Verna.

  "Then," said Marlenus, "it seems we should not hamstring you as an outlaw."

  Verna's body shuddered with relief. She shook in the arms of her captors.

  But they did not release her.

  "Then," said Marlenus, "you may be hamstrung for being an escaped slave girl."

  Terror sprang anew into Verna's eyes.

  It was true. The second penalty for an escaping girl, one who has fled before, is not uncommonly hamstringing. I had seen hamstrung girls, begging, piteous in the streets of Ar. It was not a pleasant sight.

  "Hamstring the slave," said Marlenus.

  "Master!" screamed Verna. "Master!"

  Marlenus' hand indicated that the knife, poised, hesitate. The words that she had spoken stunned us, all save Marlenus. She had called him Master.

  The huntsmen held the slave.

  "Please, Master!" wept Verna. "Do not hurt me! Do not hurt me, Master!"

  "The slave begs for mercy," said one of the huntsmen.

  "Is this true?" asked Marlenus.

  "Yes, Master," wept Verna. "I am yours. I am your girl. I am your slave. I beg for mercy. I beg for mercy, Master!"

  "Release her," said Marlenus. The huntsman resheathed his sleen knife. The others released the girl. She knelt on the ground, her head down, her hair forward, her shoulders and body shaking, trembling with terror.

  The other girls, too, were frightened, Verna's girls, in their panther skins, chained by their left ankle. Hura, and Mira, too, were shaken.

  Verna had been shattered. Her pride, her obstinacy were gone.

  She looked up at Marlenus, as a slave girl looks to the eyes of a master.

  She knew then she was his.

  Without being told, she went to the collar, lying in the dirt, which Marlenus had cast aside. Trembling, she picked it up and knelt before Marlenus. She handed him the collar. There were tears in her eyes.

  Marlenus wiped the collar on his sleeve. A length of binding fiber was brought.

  Verna knelt back on her heels. She lifted her arms to Marlenus, wrists crossed. She lowered her head between her arms.

  "I submit myself," she said.

  The collar was locked on her throat. Her hands were tied.

  She lowered her bound wrists and lifted her head to Marlenus. "I am your girl," she said, "Master."

  Marlenus turned to a subordinate. "Have her cleaned and combed," he said. "And perfume her."

  She put down her head.

  "Then put her in yellow pleasure silk," he said, "fresh silk, and place bells on her left ankle."

  "Yes, Ubar," said the man.

  Marlenus was regarding the slave who knelt before him, her head down.

  "And have her ears pierced," said Marlenus, "and fix in them earrings of gold, large ones."

  "Yes, Ubar," said the man.

  The slave, conquered, did not so much as lift her head. It would be done to her, what her master wished.

  "And tonight," said Marlenus, "when she is sent to my tent, to serve, see that she wears lipstick."

  "It will be done as you say, Ubar," said the man. He looked down at Verna. "Come with me, Girl," he said.

  "Yes, Master," she said, and was led away.

  I recalled the flaminium, in the grip of Marlenus.

  "These other slaves," said Marlenus, indicating Verna's former girls, "take them away."

  Frightened, on their chain, they were herded away. There was not one of them but what knew that what had happened to Verna might have happened to any one of them. I suspected that each of them would be very conscious that night of the ring locked on their left ankle, and the chain that fastened them to the two stakes.

  "May we leave, Ubar?" asked Hura.r />
  Marlenus looked upon Hura and Mira. They were very conscious that they were women who stood among men.

  "Yes," said Marlenus.

  The two women, in their brief skins, hurried to the gate, which was opened to let them pass. Outside, the panther girls were waiting for them. Hura, Mira, and Hura's band swiftly disappeared in the forest.

  They did not remain long in the vicinity of the camp of Marlenus, Ubar of Ar.

  "I think, Ubar," I said, "that I will choose to return to my ship soon, at the banks of the Laurius."

  "You are welcome to leave when you wish," said Marlenus, "but enjoy my hospitality another day." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Do we not have a game on the board?"

  "Yes," I smiled. "We do." I had almost forgotten the game we had scarcely begun, before we had heard the cry at the gate, heralding Hura's return of an escaped slave girl.

  At the entrance to Marlenus' tent, I stopped.

  Marlenus looked at me.

  "Ubar," said I, "if the girl Verna had not cried out for mercy, if she had not wept and yielded herself, completely and utterly, to you as slave, would you have truly done what you threatened?"

  "I do not understand," said Marlenus.

  "Would you truly have hamstrung her?" I asked.

  "Of course," said Marlenus. "I am a Ubar."

  * * * *

  "When you leave," said Marlenus, regarding the board, "it is my wish that you go to your ship."

  It was his move.

  "That is my intention," I said.

  "It is not my wish," said Marlenus, "that you fare forth to an exchange point to set free a former citizen of Ar."

  "I understand," I said.

  "I, as her former Ubar, will treat of that business," said Marlenus. She had much shamed him. I did not envy the girl, Talena.

  "What is your intention with regard to her?" I asked.

  "She will be kept in Ar," he said.

  "I see," I said.