Hunters of Gor

by John Norman

  "We put them in the hold of the Rhoda," grinned Thurnock. "In the morning doubtless they will be surprised to find themselves in chains. Their heads, too, sore from the paga, will most likely cause them some displeasure."

  There was again much laughter. Marlenus, too, joined in the laughter.

  I was furious.

  "Unchain me," said Marlenus.

  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.

  "Unchain me," said Marlenus.

  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.

  Marlenus and I regarded one another, 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, surreptitiously, 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 men.

  "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!" 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 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 taken 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 the 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 in 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 wishes."

  "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 til
ler.

  "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 the Tesephone, a light galley of Port Kar.

  I had recollected my honor. I laughed bitterly. Little good had it done me. Marlenus' 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.

  I had nothing.

  "Captain?" asked Thurnock.

  I slumped over the tiller.

  22

  There is a Fair Wind for Port Kar

  The wind was cold that swept along the stony beach. The men stood, their cloaks gathered about them. I sat, in blankets, in a captain's chair, brought from the Tesephone. Thassa was green, and cold. The sky was gray. At their anchors, fore and aft, some quarter of a pasang from shore, swung the Rhoda, in her yellow, now dim in the grayness of the morning, and the Tesephone, on her flag line, snapping, an ensign bearing the following device, the head of a bosk, in black, over a field of white, marked with broad stripes of green, a flag not unknown on Thassa, that of Bosk from the Marshes, a captain of Port Kar.

  From the blankets I looked across the beach, to the stockade, which had been that of Sarus. The gate opened and, emerging, came Marlenus, followed by his men, eighty-five warriors of Ar. They were clad in skins, and in garments of Tyros. Several were armed well, with weapons taken from those of Tyros. Others carried merely knives, or light spears, taken from Hura's panther girls. With them, coming slowly, too, across the sand, to where we waited for them, were Sarus and his men, chained, and, bound and in throat coffle, stripped, shivering, Hura's women. Near them, similarly bound and in throat coffle, though still in the skins of panther girls, were Verna's women, who had been captured long ago by Sarus in Marlenus' camp. Grenna, too, who had once been Hura's lieutenant, whom I had captured in the forest, was bound in the same coffle. She wore the tatters of her white, woolen slave garment. Among the men, clad, too, like Verna's women, in skins, were Marlenus' own slave girls, those who had been brought to the forest by him, who, like the others, had been captured at his camp. Their limbs were not bound. About their throats, however, they wore the collar of their master.

  Today the camp would be broken, the stockade destroyed.

  I observed the retinue approaching me.

  It would then be forgotten, what had taken place on this beach.

  I could not move the left side of my body.

  I watched Marlenus and his men, and the slaves, and captives, make their way toward me.

  It was four days since the night of the stockade.

  I had lain, in pain and fever, in my cabin, in the small stern castle of the Tesephone.

  It had seemed that Sheera had cared for me, and that, in fitful wakings, I had seen her face, intent above mine, and felt her hand, and a warmth, and sponging, at my side.

  And I had cried out, and tried to rise, but strong hands, those of Rim and Arn, had pressed me back, holding me.

  "Vella!" I had cried.

  And they had pressed me back.

  I should have a hiking trip, into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I would wish to be alone.

  Not in the arena of Tharna!

  I blocked the heavy yoke locked on Kron, the iron horns tearing at me. The shock coursed my body, as might have the blow of a mountain on a mountain.

  I heard the screams of the women.

  They were Hura's women.

  I reached for my sword, but it was gone. My hand closed on nothing.

  The grayish face of Pa-Kur, and the expressionless eyes, stared down into mine. I heard the locking in place of the cable of his crossbow.

  "You are dead!" I cried to him. "You are dead!"

  "Thurnock!" cried Sheera.

  Then there was the roar of Thassa but not of Thassa but of the crowds in the Stadium of Tarns, in Ar.

  "Gladius of Cos!" I heard cry. "Gladius of Cos, fly!"

  "On Ubar of the Skies," I cried. "On! On!"

  "Please, Captain," said Thurnock. He was weeping.

  I turned my head to one side. Lara was very beautiful. And Misk, the great disklike eyes luminous, peered down at me. His antennae, golden, with their fine sensory filaments, surveyed me. I reached up to touch them with the palms of my hands. "Let there be nest trust! Let there be friendship!" But I could not reach them, and Misk had turned, and, delicately, on his posterior appendages, had vanished.

  "Vella!" I wept. "Vella!"

  I would not open the blue envelope. I would not open it. I must not open it.

  The earth trembles with the coming of the herds of the Wagon Peoples.

  "Flee, Stranger, flee!"

  "They are coming!"

  "Give him paga," said Thurnock.

  And Sandra, in her vest of jewels, and bells, taunted me in the paga tavern in Port Kar.

  I swilled paga.

  "All hail Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar!" I rose drunkenly to my feet. Paga spilled from the cup. "All hail Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar!"

  Where was Midice, to share my triumph?

  "Vella!" I cried. "Love me!"

  "Drink this," said Arn. I swallowed the liquid, and lay back.

  The wind had been cold, too, on the height of Ar's cylinder of justice.

  And small Torm, in the blue robes of the scribe, lifted his cup, to salute the beauty of Talena.

  "You are denied bread, and fire and salt," said Marlenus. "By sundown you are not to be within the realm of Ar."

  "Victory is ours!" cried my oarsmen, hurling their cups into the air.

  "And men, so long as they shall live, and fathers shall tell sons of fine deeds, so long as that shall the story be told of what occurred on gleaming Thassa on the twenty-fifth of Se'Kara."

  "Victory is ours!"

  "Let us hunt tumits," suggested Kamchak. "I am weary of affairs of state." Harold was already in his saddle.

  I drew on the one-strap of Ubar of the Skies, and the great bird, giant and predator, screamed and, together, we thrust higher, and higher, into the bright, sunlit skies of Gor.

  I stood at the edge of the Cylinder of Justice of Ar and looked down.

  Pa-Kur had leaped from its height. The sheerness of the fall was broken only by a tarn perch, some feet below.

  I could see crowds milling at the foot of the cylinder.

  The body of the master of the assassins had never been recovered. Doubtless it had been torn to pieces by the crowd.

  In Ar, years later, Mip behind me, late at night, I walked out upon a tarn perch, and surveyed the beauties of the lamps of Ar, glorious Ar. I had looked up and seen, several feet above me, the height of the cylinder. It would be possible, though dangerous, to leap to the perch.

  I had thought little of it.

  Pa-Kur was dead.

  "Was the body recovered?" asked Kamchak.

  "No
," I had told him. "It does not matter."

  "It would matter," said Kamchak, "to a Tuchuk."

  I threw back my head and laughed.

  Sheera wept.

  "Put more furs upon him," said Arn. "Keep him warm."

  I recalled Elizabeth Cardwell.

  He who had examined her on Earth, to determine her fitness for the message collar, had frightened her. His clothes did not seem right upon him. His accent was strange. He was large, strong-handed. She had said his face was grayish, and his eyes like glass.

  Saphrar, a merchant of Tyros, resplendent in Turia, had similarly described the man who had enlisted his services in behalf of those who contested worlds with Priest-Kings. He had been a large man. His complexion had not seemed as one of Earth. It had seemed grayish. His eyes had been expressionless, like stones, or orbs of glass.

  Pa-Kur stared down upon me. I heard the locking in place of the cable of the crossbow.

  "Pa-Kur is alive!" I screamed, rising up, throwing aside the furs. "He is alive! Alive!"

  I was pressed back.

  "Rest, Captain," said Thurnock.

  I opened my eyes and the cabin, blurred, took shape. What had seemed a dim sun, a flame in darkness, became a ship's lantern, swinging on its iron ring.

  "Vella?" I asked.

  "The fever is broken," said Sheera, her hand on my forehead.

  I felt the furs drawn about me. There were tears in Sheera's eyes. I had thought she had escaped. My collar still encircled her throat. She wore a tunic of white wool, clean.

  "Rest, sweet Bosk of Port Kar," said she.

  "Rest, Captain," whispered Thurnock.

  I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

  * * * *

  "Greetings, Bosk of Port Kar," said Marlenus of Ar.

  He stood before me, his men behind him. He wore the yellow of Tyros, and, about his shoulders, a cloak, formed of panther skins. About his throat was a tangle of leather and claws, taken from panther women, with which he had adorned himself. His head was bare.

  "Greetings, Marlenus," said I, "Ubar of Ar."

  Together we turned to face the forest, and waited. In a moment, from the trees, emerged Hura.

  Her hands were tied, by her long black hair, behind the back of her neck. Her hair had been twisted about her throat, knotted, and then, with the two loose strands, thick, themselves twisted, looped about her wrists, her hands had been secured. She was stripped. She wore a branch shackle, a thick, rounded branch, some eighteen inches in length, notched toward each end, and with supple tendrils, fitting into the notches and about her fair ankles, tied across the back of her legs.