Norman, John - Gor 09 - Marauders of Gor.txt

by Marauders of Gor [lit]

  bond-maid the meanest of the free men of the North is her jarl. We heard Aelgifu

  laugh from the mast.The bond-haired girl rose to her feet and surrendered the

  scoop to Gorm, who put it away, and then closed the deck planking. She then went

  to one of the large, wooden, covered water buckets, roped to the deck, and in it

  submerged a water-skin. I heard the bubbling as the skin filled. The men of

  Torvaldsland had not sought the whales. They had meat enough. They had barely

  taken notice of them. It was now late in the afternoon. I noted the blondish

  girl, the water bag now, wet and heavy, over her shoulder, going to the men of

  the Forkbeard, to offer them drink. She was quite beautiful. The men who had

  fished with the net had now cleaned the catch of parsit fish, and chopped the

  cleaned, boned, silverish bodies into pieces, a quarter inch in width. Another

  of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water

  with Sa-Tarna meal, and then stirring in the raw fish. "Let us have another

  game," said the Forkbeard. I set up the pieces. He went to Ael~ifu, who sat

  before the mast, her wr;sts fettered before her, her neck chained to the mast.

  He lifted her black, velvet dress up a little, revealing her ankle. She shrank

  back against the mast. "Tomorrow night," he said, "I will have your ransom

  money." "Yes," she said. With his two large hands, he held her right ankle. She

  could not draw it away. "I am free,' she whispered. Holding her ankle with his

  left hand, he, with the fingers of his right hand, caressed, gently, her instep.

  She shuddered. "I am free," she said. "Free!" "Would you not, my large breasted

  beauty," said he, "like to spend the night with me in my bag of the skin of the

  sea sleen ?" "No!" she cried. "No!' Then she said, "If I am violated he will not

  pay the ransom! Too he will bring with him awoman, that determination on this

  matter be made! Surely you wish my ransom!" "Yes," said the Forkbeard, putting

  down her ankle, "I do indeed want your ransom, and I shall have it." "Then,

  Beast," said she, "do not touch me!" "I am not touching you," said he, and got

  to his feet. She turned away, and would not look at him. But she said to him,

  "Give me a covering for the night, that I may not be wet and cold." "Go lie with

  the bond-maids," said he. "Never!" she said. "Then stay where you are," said the

  Forkbeard. She looked up at him, her hair bedraggled, her eyes flashing. "Very

  well," said she, "I shall endure the night cheerfully. It will be my last in

  your bondage!" The girl who had prepared the bond-maid gruel, had now been

  refettered and placed again in the coffle. The slender blond girl, who had been

  giving the men water from the skin bag, was now given the work of filling small

  bowls from the large wooden bowl, for the bond-maids. She used a bronze ladle,

  the handle of which was curved like the neck and head of a lovely bird. About

  the handle was a closed bronze ring, loose. It formed a collar for the bird's

  neck. The bond-maids did not much care for their gruel, unsweetened, mudlike

  Sa-Tarna meal, with raw fish. They fed, however. One girl who did not care to

  feed was struck twice across her back by a knotted rope in the hand of Gorm.

  Quickly then, and well, she fed. The girls, including the slender blondish girl,

  emptied rheir bowls, even to licking them, and rubbing them with their

  saliva-dampened fingers, that no grain be left, lest Gorm, their keeper in the

  ship, should not be pleased. They looked to one another in fear, and put down

  their bowls, as they finished, fed bondwenches. "Come here, Wench," called the

  Forkbeard. The slender blondish girl quickly approached him, and knelt before

  him on the deck. "Feed her," said the Forkbeard, gesturing over his shoulder.

  The girl rose, and went to fill one of the small bowls for Aelgifu. Soon, she

  brought it to her. As she approached Aelgifu, Aelgifu called out to her, "You

  walk well, Thyri. You walk as a bond-maid." The slender, blondish girl, called

  Thyri, though now, actually, she had no name, not having been given one by the

  Forkbeard, did not respond to Aelgifu's taunt. "Kneel," said Aelgifu. The girl

  knelt. "What have you there?" asked Aelgifu. "Gruel," said the girl. "Taste it,"

  said Aelgifu. Obediently, angrily, the girl did so. "It is bond-maid gruel, is

  it not?" asked Aelgifu. "Yes," said the girl. "Why then," asked Aelgifu, "have

  you brought it to me?" The girl put her head down. "I am free," said Aelgifu.

  "Take it away. It is for such as you." The girl did not respond. "When my ransom

  is paid, and I return," said Aelgifu, "there will no longer be dispute as to who

  is the most beautiful in Kassau." "No," said the girl. "But I was always the

  most beautiful," said Aelgifu. The blond girl's eyes flashed. "Take this gruel

  away," said Aelgifu. "It is for bondmaids such as you." The blond girl rose to

  her feet and left Aelgifu. The Forkbeard looked up from his game. He reached out

  and took the bowl from the blond girl. He said to Gorm, "Return her to the

  coffle." He took the blond girl back to the coffle. He made her kneel and again

  snapped on her wrists the iron, single-linked fetters of the north, and then he

  tied her by the neck at the end of the coffle. The Forkbeard was using the

  Jarl's Ax's gambit, a powerful opening. I studied the board with care. Ivar

  Forkbeard approached Aelgifu with the small bowl of gruel. He crouched down

  beside her. "When your father sees you tomorrow night," said he, "you must not

  be weak, but rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed. What otherwise would he think of the

  hospitality I extend to my prisoners?" "I will not eat the gruel of bond-maids,"

  said Aelgifu. "You will eat it," said the Forkbeard, "or you will be stripped

  and put to the oar." She looked at him with horror. "That will not violate you,

  my pretty," said the Forkbeard. In this punishment, the girl, clothed or

  unclothed, is bound tightly on an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward

  the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in

  another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar

  for hours. There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the

  white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar.

  When food is low it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a

  bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least

  pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course, encourages bondmaids to

  vie vigorously to please their masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than

  sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient,

  eager-to-please bondmaid. It is regarded as second only to the five-lash Gorean

  slave whip, used also in the south, and what among the men of Torvaldsland is

  called the whip of the furs, in which the master, with his body,

  incontrovertibly teaches the girl her slavery. "Open your mouth, my

  large-breasted beauty," said the Forkbeard. Eyes wide, she did so. He thrust the

  contents of the small bowl into her mouth. Choking, the proud Aelgifu swallowed

  the thick gruel, that of dampened Sa-Tarna meal and raw fish, the gruel of

  bond-maids. "Tomorrow night I shall have your
ransom," he said. "Tomorrow

  night,?' she cried, "I shall be free of you!" He threw the cup back to the stern

  of the ship, and returned to sit down with me. "I think I may have devised a

  plan," I said, "to meet the JarI's Ax's gambit." ' Good," said the Forkbeard,

  studying the board. We heard sobbing from the bond-maids. We looked and saw the

  slender, blondish girl weeping, her body shaken by sobs, head down. "Be silentl"

  said one of the other girls. "They will beat us!" Gorm was then at her, and

  struck her five times with his knotted rope. The slender blond girl stifled her

  sobs. "Yes, myJarl!" she wept. Then she put her head down, and was silent,

  though her body still shook. The Forkbeard and I returned to our game. Chapter 5

  Feed her on the gruel of bond-maids It was at noon of the following day that the

  lookout cried out, "Serpent to starboard !" The Forkbeard looked up from the

  board, swiftly. The men of Ivar Forkbeard, too, suddenly came alive. They rushed

  to the starboard gunwales. Still they could see nothing. "Benches!" called the

  Forkbeard. Swiftly his men took their places; I heard the oars slide half

  outboard. "Do not disturb the arrangement of the pieces," said Ivar Forkbeard,

  leaving the board. He climbed halfway up the knotted rope, halfway up the mast.

  I stood up. The day was cloudy. The awning had not been stretched this day. It

  lay rolled between the benches. I could see nothing. The bond-maids looked about

  themselves, frightened. Gorm was suddenly among them. He began, one by one,

  fettering their hands behind their backs. When he had done this, he knelt among

  them, crossing their ankles, tying them, too, tightly. If there was to be

  battle, they would be utterly helpless, completely unable to interfere in the

  least way. They would await the battle's result, and their disposition; they

  were females. At the mast, Aelgifu stood, still chained to it by the neck, her

  wrists still fettered before her. "It is the serpent of Thorgard of Scagnar,"

  cried out Forkbeard, much pleased. "Is he an ally ?" I asked. "No," laughed the

  Forkbeard, delighted, "an enemy!" I saw the men of the Forkbeard grinning, one

  to the other. The huge feliow, with grayish face, who seemed generally much in

  lethargy, who had slaughtered with such frenzy in the temple of Kassau, slowly

  lifted his head. I thought I saw his nostrils flare. His mouth opened slightly,

  and I saw his teeth. The Forkbeard then ordered the sail high reefed, set even

  to the spar. "Keep her stern to the wind," he said. The oars slid outboard. Let

  free the ship will swing prow to the wind. "We have time," said Ivar Forkbeard,

  "for another move or two." "I am still attempting to break the Jarl's Ax's

  gambit," I said. "Singer to Ax two is not a strong move," said the Forkbeard.

  Twice yesterday, in long games, until the Torvaldsland gulls had left the sea

  and returned inland, I had failed to meet the gambit. "You intend to follow it,

  of course," said the Forkbeard, "with Jarl to your Ax four." "Yes," I admitted.

  "Interesting," said the Forkbeard. "Let us play that variation." It was a

  popular variation in the south. It is seen less frequently in the north. In the

  south, of course, the response is to the Ubar's Tarnsman's gambit. I could see

  that the Forkbeard, though expecting the variation, given the preceding four

  moves, was delighted when it had materialized. He had, perhaps, seldom played

  it. "The serpent of Thorgard has seen us !" called the lookout, not at all

  dismayed. "Excellent," said Ivar Forkbeard. "Now we will not be forced to wind

  the signal horns across the water." I grinned. "Tell me about Thorgard of

  Scagnar," I said. "He is an enemy," said Ivar Forkbeard, simply. "The ships of

  this Thorgard," I said, "have often preyed on the shipping of Port Kar." "The

  shipping of Port Kar," smiled Ivar Forkbeard, "is not uniquely distinguished in

  this respect." "He is, therefore," said I, "my enemy as well as yours." "What is

  your name ?" had asked the Forkbeard. "Call me Tarl," I said. "It is a name of

  Torvaldsland," he said. "Are you not of Torvaldsland ?" "No," I had told him.

  "Tarl what ?" he had asked. "It is enough that you call me Tarl," I said,

  smiling. "Very well," said he, "but here, to distinguish you from others in the

  north, we must do better than that." "How is that ?" I asked. He looked at my

  hair, and grinned. "We will call you Tarl Red Hair," he said. "Very well," I

  said. "Your city," he asked, "what is it?" "You may think of me," I had said,

  "as one of Port Kar." "Very well," said he, "but I think we shall not make a

  great deal of that, for the men of Port Kar are not overly popular in the

  north." "The men of Torvaldsland," I assured him, "are not overly popular in the

  south." "The men of Port Kar, however," said the Forkbeard, "are respected in

  the north." "The men of Torvaldslahd," I told him, "are similarly respected in

  the south." Gorean enemies, if skilled, often hold one another in high regard.

  "You play Kaissa well," had said Ivar Forkbeard. "Let us be friends." "You, too,

  are quite skilled," I told him. Indeed, he had much bested me. I still had not

  fathomed the devious variations of the Jarl's Ax's gambit as played in the

  north. I expected, however, to solve it. We had shaken hands over the board.

  "Friend," he had said. "Friend," I had said. We had then tasted salt, each from

  the back of the wrist of the other. "The serpent of Thorgard wheels upon us!"

  called the lookout cheerily. "Shall I get the great bow from my belongings ?" I

  asked Ivar Forkbeard. I knew its range well exceeded that of the shorter bows of

  the north. "No," said the Forkbeard. "Eight pasangs away!" called the lookout.

  "The serpent hunts us!" The Forkbeard and I played four more moves.

  "Fascinating," he said. "Four pasangs away!" called the lookout. "What shield is

  at his mast ?" called the Forkbeard. "The red shield," called the lookout.

  "Raise no shield to our own mast," said the Forkbeard. His men looked at him,

  puzzled. "Thorgard is quite proud of his great longship," he said, "the serpent

  called Black Sleen." I had heard of the ship. "It has a much higher freeboard

  area than this vessel," I told Ivar Forkbeard. "It is a warship, not a raider.

  In any engagement you would be at a disadvantage." The Forkbeard nodded. "It is

  said, too," said I, "to be the swiftest ship in the north." "That we will find

  out," said the Forkbeard. "Two pasangs away !" called the lookout. "It has forty

  benches," said Ivar Forkbeard. "Eighty oars, one hundred and sixty rowers." The

  benches on only one side, I recalled, are counted. "But her lines are heavy, and

  she is a weighty ship." "Do you intend to engage her ?" I asked. "I would be a

  fool to do so," said the Forkbeard. "I have with me the loot ofthe temple of

  Kassau, and eighteen bond-maids, and lovely Aelgifu. I would have much to lose,

  and little to gain." "That is true," I said. "When I engage Thorgard of

  Scagnar," said Ivar Eiorkbeard, "I shall do so to my advantage, not his." "One

  pasang!" called the lookout. "Do not disturb the pieces," said Ivar, getting up.

  He said to Gorm, "Take the first bond=maid and draw her up the mast." Then he

  said to two others of his men, "Unbind the ankles of the other bond-maids and

&n
bsp; thrust them to the rail, where they may be seen." Then he said to the rowers on

  the starboard side, "When I give the signal, let us display to Thorgard of

  Scagnar what we can of the riches of the temple of Kassau!" The men laughed.

  "Will we not fight ?" asked the giant, slowly. Ivar Forkbeard went to him, as

  might have a father, and took his head in his hands, and held it against his

  chest. "No battle now," said he, "Rollo. Another time." "No-battle-now ?" asked

  the giant. "No battle now," repeated the Forkbeard, shaking the giant's head.

  "Another time. Another time." There was an agony of disappointment in the large

  eyes of the huge head. "Another tirne !" laughed the Forkbeard, giving the great

  head a shake, as though it might have been that of a pet hound or bear. "A half

  pasang and slowing!" called the lookout. "She will approach astern!" "Swing to

  face her amidships," laughed the Forkbeard. Let them see what riches we carry !"

  The blond, slender girl's wrists were now fettered before her body, and a rope

  attached to the fetters. It was thrown over the spar. Her hands were jerked over

  her head. Then, by her fettered wrists, she moaning, her naked body twisting

  against the mast, foot by foot, she was drawn to five feet below the spar. She

  dangled there, in pain, her body that of a stripped bond-maid, exquisite,

  tempting, squirming, a taunt to the blood of the men of Thorgard of Scagnar.

  That will encourage them to row their best," said Ivar Forkbeard. Then the other

  bond-maids, seventeen of them, were thrust to the rail, and, steadied by the

  hands of rowers, stood upon it, wrists fettered behind them, in coffle. The ship

  of Thorgard was now little more than a quarter of a pasang away. I could detect

  its captain, doubtless the great Thorgard himself, on its stern deck, above the

  helmsman, with a glass of the builders. What marvelous beauties he saw,

  seventeen naked prizes fettered and coffled, that might be his, could he but

  take them, and, dangling from the mast, perhaps the most exquisite of all, the

  slender, blond girl, perhaps herself worth five bond-maids of the more common

  sort. Aelgifu, too, of course, might be seen, chained to the mast, her wrists

  fettered before her. That she was clothed would indicate to Thorgard thal: she

  was free, and might bring high ransom. "Throw the bond-maids between the benches