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

by Marauders of Gor [lit]

  collar for all the jewels on Gor!" I held her. In time, she slept. I, too, then,

  slept. It wa t~vo Ahn before dawn. In one Ahn Ottar and the Forkbeard would be

  up, arousing the men. The serpent, the afte noon before, had been readied. This

  morning, at daw~ the serpent would leave the small wharf, dipping oars, gli ing

  through fog on the inlet, the result of the cooler la winds moving over the

  somewhat warmer water ol the e croaching Torvaldstream. Ivar Forkbeard, not

  wisely perhaps, was determined to attend the Thing. He had there, his opinion,

  an appointment to keep, with Svein Blue Toot a great Jarl of Torvaldsland, who

  had outlawed him. Chapter 10 A Kur will address the Thing Roped together by the

  wrist, on the turf of the thing-fair, we grappled. His body slipped in my hand.

  I felt my right wrist drawn back, at the side of m head, his two hands closed on

  it. He grunted. He was strong. He was Ketil, of Blue Tooth's high farm, champion

  of Torvaldsland. My back began to bend backward; I braced myself as I could,

  right leg back, bent, left leg forward, bent. The men about cried out. I heard

  bets taken, speculations exchanged. Then my right wrist, to cries of wonder,

  began to lift and straighten; my arm was then straight, before my body; I began,

  inch by inch, to lower it, toward the ground; if he did retain his grip; he

  would, at my feet, be forced to his knees. He released my wrist, with a cry of

  fury. The rope between us, a yard in length, pulled taut. He regarded me,

  astonished, wary, enraged. I heard hands striking the left shoulders; weapons

  struck on shields. Suddenly the champion's fist struck toward me, beneath the

  rope. I caught the blow, turning, on the side of my left thigh. There were cries

  of fury from the watchers. I took then the right arm of the champion, his wrist

  in my right hand, my left hand on his upper arm, and extended the arm and turned

  it, so that the palm of his hand was up. Then, at the elbow, I broke it across

  my right knee. I had had enough of him. I untied the rope from my waist and

  threw it down. He knelt on the turf, whimpering, tears streaming down his face.

  The hands of men pounded on my back. I heard their cries of pleasure I turned

  about and saw the Forkbeard. His hair was wet; he was drying his body in a

  cloak. He was grinning. "Greetings, Thorgeir of Ax Glacier," said i. "Greetings,

  Red Hair," said he. Ax Glacier was far to the north, a glacier spilling between

  two mountains of stone, taking in it's path to the sea, spreading, the form of

  the ax. The men of the country of Ax Glacier fish for whales and hunt snow

  sleen. They cannot farm that far to the north. Thorgeir, it so happened, of

  course, was the only man of the Ax Glacier country, which is usually taken as

  the northern border of Torvaldsland, before the ice belts of Gor's arctic north,

  who was at the thing-fair. "How went the swimming?" I asked him. "The talmit of

  skin of sea sleen is mine!" he laughed. The talmit is a headband. It is not

  unusual for the men of Torvaldsland to wear them, though none of Forkbeard's men

  did.. They followed an outlaw. Some talmits have special significance. Special

  talmits sometime distinguish officers, and Jarls; or a district's lawmen, in the

  pay of the Jarl; the different districts, too, sometimes have different styles

  of talmit, varying in their material and design; talmits, too, can be awarded as

  prizes. That Thorgeir of Ax Glacier had won the swimming must have seemed

  strange indeed to those of the thing-fair. Immersion in the waters of Ax Glacier

  country, unprotected, will commonly bring about death by shock, within a matter

  of Ihn. Sometimes I wondered if the Forkbeard might be mad. His sense of humour,

  I thought, might cost us all our lives. There was probably not one man at the

  thing-fair who took him truly to be of Ax Glacier; most obviously he did not

  have the epicanthic fold, which helps to protect the eyes of the men of Ax

  Glacier against extreme cold; further, he was much too large to be taken easily

  as a man of Ax Glacier; their diet does not produce, on the whole, large bodies;

  further, their climate tends to select for short, fat bodies, for such,

  physiologically, are easiest to maintain in the therostatic equilibrium in great

  cold; long, thin bodies, of course, are easiest to maintain therostatic

  equilibrium in great heat, providing more exposure for cooling. Lastly, his

  coloring, though his hair was dark, was surely not that of the far north, but,

  though swarthy, more akin to that of Torvaldsland, particularly western

  Torvaldsland. Only a madman, or a fool, might have taken seriously his claim to

  be of the Ax Glacier country. Much speculation had coursed among the contest

  fields as to the true identity of the smooth-shaven Thorgeir. Prior to his

  winning the swimming he had won talmits for climbing the "mast", a tall pole of

  needle wood, some fifty feet high, smoothed and peeled: for jumping the

  "crevice", actually a broad jump, on level land, where marks are made with

  strings, to the point at which the back heel strikes ther earth; wlking the

  "oar", actually, a long pole; and throwing the spear, a real spear I am pleased

  to say, both for distance and accuracy; counting the distance and the accuracy

  of the spear events as two events which they are, he had thus, prior to the

  swimming, won five talmits. He had done less well in the singing contest, though

  he much prided himself on his singing voice; he thought, in that one, the judges

  had been against him; he did not score highly either in the composition of

  poetry contest nor in the rhyming games; "I am not a skald," he explained to me

  later; he did much better, I might mention, in the riddle guessing; but not well

  enough to win; he missed the following riddle; "What is black, has eighty legs

  and eats gold?"; the answer, though it might not seem obvious, was Black Sleen,

  the ship of Thorguard of Scagnar; the Forkbeard's answer had been Black Shark,

  the legendary ship of Torvald, reputed discoverer and first Jarl of

  Torvaldsland; he acknowledged his defeat in this contest, however, gracefully;

  "I was a fool." He grumbled to me. "I should have known!" Though I attempted to

  console him, he remained much put out with himself, and for more than an Ahn

  afterward. In spite of his various losses, he had, even in his own modest

  opinion, done quite well in the contests. He was in excellent humor. Perhaps the

  most serious incident of the contests had occurred in one of the games of bat

  and ball; in this contest there are two men on each side, and the object is to

  keep the ball out of the hands of the other team; no one man may hold the ball

  for more than the referee's count of twenty; he may, however, throw it into the

  air, provided it is thrown over his head, and catch it again himself; the ball

  may be thrown to a partner, or struck to him with the bat; the bat, of course,

  drives the ball with incredible force; the bats are of heavy wood, rather broad,

  and the ball, about two inches in diameter, is also of wood, and extremely hard;

  this is something like a game of "keep away" with two men in the middle. I was

  pleased that I was not involved in the play. Shortly after the first "knock

  off", in which the ball is se
rved to the enemy, Gorm, who was Ivar's partner,

  was struck cold with the ball, it driven from the opponent's bat; this, I

  gathered, is a common trick; it is very difficult to intercept or protect

  oneself from a ball struck at one with great speed from a short distance; it

  looked quite bad for Ivar at this point, until one of his opponents,

  fortunately, broke his leg, it coming into violent contact with Ivar's bat. This

  contest was called a draw. Ivar then asked me to be his partner. I declined. "It

  is all right," said Ivar, "even the bravest of men may decline a contest of

  bat-and-ball." I acceded to his judgment. There are various forms of ball game

  enjoyed by the men of Torvaldsland; some use bats, or paddles; in the winter,

  one such game, quite popular, is played, men running and slipping about, on ice;

  whether there is any remote connection between this game and ice hockey, I do

  not know; it is, however, ancient in Torvaldsland; Torvald himself, in the

  sagas, is said to have been skilled at it. Ivar Forkbeard, or Thorgeir of Ax

  Glacier, as we might call him, had won, all told, counting the swimming talmit,

  six talmits. He was much pleased. In the morning talmits would be awarded

  personally by the hand of Svein Blur Tooth. "Let us, this afternoon," said Ivar

  Forkbeard, "give ourselves to strolling." That seemed to me not a bad idea,

  unless a better might have been to flee for our lives. In the morning we might

  find ourselves chained at the foot of cauldrons of boiling tharlarion oil. But

  soon I, following the Forkbeard, together with some of his men, pressed in among

  the throngs of the thing. I carried my short sword. I carried, too, the great

  bow, unstrung, with quiver of arrows. The Forkbeard, too, and his men, were

  armed. Blows are not to be struck at the thing, but not even the law of the

  thing, with all its might, would have the termerity to advise the man of

  Torvaldsland to arrive or move about unarmed. The man of Torvaldsland never

  leaves his house unless he is armed; and, within his house, his weapons are

  always near at hand, usually hung on the wall behind his couch, at least a foot

  beyond the reach of a bond-maid whose ankle is chained. Should she, lying on her

  back, look back and up she sees, on the wall, the shield, the helmet, the spear

  and ax, the sword, in its sheath, of her master. They are visible symbols of the

  force by which she is kept in bondage, by which she is kept only a girl, whose

  belly is beneath his sword. Most of the men at the thing were free farmers,

  blond-haired, blue-eyed and proud, men with strong limbs and work-roughened

  hands; many wore braided hair; many wore talmits of their district; for the

  thing their holidy best had been donned; many wore heavy woolen jackets,

  scrubbed with water and bosk urine, which contains ammonia as it's cleaning

  agent; all were armed, usually with ax or sword; some wore their helmets; others

  had them, with their shields, slung at their back. At the thing, to which each

  free man must come, unless he work his farm alone and cannot leave it, each man

  must be present, for the inspection of his Jarl's officer, a helmet, shield and

  either sword or ax or spear, in good condition. Each man, generally, save he in

  the direct hire of the Jarl, is responsible fot the existence and condition of

  his own equipment and weapons. A man in direct fee with the Jarl is, in effect,

  a mercenary; the Jarl himself, from his gold, and stores, where necessary or

  desirable, arms the man; this expense, of course, is seldom necessary in

  Torvaldsland; sometimes, however, a man may break a sword or lose an ax in

  battle, perhaps in the body of a foe, falling from a ship; in such a case the

  Jarl would make good the loss; he is not responsible for similar losses,

  however, among free farmers. Those farmers who do not attend the thing, being

  the sole workers on their farms, must, nonetheless, maintain the regulation

  armament; once annually it is to be presented before a Jarl's officer, who, for

  this purpose, visits various districts. When the war arrow is carried, of

  course, all free men are to respond; in such a case the farm may suffer, and his

  companion and children know great hardship; in leaving his family, the farmer,

  weapons upon his shoulder, speaks simply to them. "The war arrow has been

  carried to my house," he tells them. We saw, too, many chieftains, and captains,

  and minor Jarls, in the crowd, each with his retinue. These high men were

  sumptuously garbed, richly cloaked and helmeted, often with great axes, inlaid

  with gold. Their cloaks were usually scarlet or purple, long and swirling, and

  held with golden clasps. They wore them, always, as is common in Torvaldsland,

  in such a way that the right arm, the sword arm, is free. Their men, too, often

  wore cloaks, and, about their arms, spiral rings of gold and silver, and , on

  their wrists, jewel-studded bands. In the crowd, too, much in evidence, were

  brazen bond-maids; they had been brought to the thing, generally, by captains

  and Jarls; it is not unusual for men to bring such slaves with them, though they

  are not permitted near the law courts or the assemblies of deliberation; the

  voyages to the thing were not, after all, ventures of raiding; they were not

  enterprises of warfare; there were three reasons for bringing such girls; they

  were for the pleasure of men; they served, as display objects, to indicate the

  wealth of their masters; and they could be bought and sold. The Forkbeard had

  bought with him, too, some bond-maids. They followed us. Their eyes were bright;

  their steps were eager; they had been long isolated on the farm; rural slave

  girls, the Forkbeard's wenches, they were fantastically stimulated to see the

  crowds; they looked upon the thing-fields with pleasure and excitement; even had

  they been permitted, some of them, to look upon certain of the contests. It is

  said that such pleasures improve a female slave. Sometimes, in the south, female

  slaves are dressed in the robes of free women, even veiled, and taken by their

  masters to see the tarn races, or games, or songs-dramas; many assume that she,

  sitting regally by his side, is a companion, or being courted for the

  companionship; only he and she know that their true relation is that of master

  and slave girl; but when they return home, and the door to his compartment

  closes, their charade done, she immediately strips to brand and collar, and

  kneels, head to his feet, once again only an article of his property; how

  scandalized would have been the free woman, had they known that, next to them

  perhaps, had been sitting a girl who was only slave; but there were no disguises

  in Torvaldsland; there was no mistaking thatthe girls that followed the

  Forkbeard, or "Thorgeir of Ax Glacier," were bond; to better display his pets,

  and excite the envy of others, the Forkbeard had had his girls drop their

  kirtles low upon their hips, and hitch them high, that their beauty might be

  well exhibited, from their collars to some inches below their navels, and, too,

  that the turns of their calves and ankles might be similarly displayed; I would

  have thought that they might have groaned with humiliation and attempted to hide

  themselves among us, but, instead, ev
en Pudding and Thyri, they walked as proud,

  shameless bond-maid; the exposure of the females navel, on Gor, is known as the

  "slave belly"; only female slaves expose their navels; from a vendor, the

  Forkbeard bought his girls honey cake; with their fingers they ate it eagerly,

  crumbs at the side of their mouths. "Look!" cried Pudding. "A silk girl!" The

  expression "silk girl" is used, often, among bond-maids of the north, to refer

  to their counterparts in the south. The expression reflects their belief that

  such girls are spoiled, excessively pampered, indulged and coddled, sleek pets,

  who have little to do but adorn themselves with cosmetics and await their

  masters, cuddled cutely, on plush, scarlet coverlets, fringed with gold. There

  is some envy in this charge, I think. More literally, the expression tends to be

  based on the fact that the brief slave tunic of the south, the single garment

  permitted the female slave, is often silk. Southern girls, incidentally, in my

  opinion, though scarcely as worked as their northern sisters in bondage, a

  function of the economic distinction between the farm and the city, are often

  worked, and worked hard, particularly if they have not pleased their masters.

  Yet, I think their labors less than those often performed by the wife of Earth.

  This is a consequence of Gor's simpler culture, in which there is literally less

  to do, less to clean, less to care for , and so on, and also of the fact that

  the Gorean master, if pleased with the wench, takes care that she is fresh and

  ready for the couch. An overworked, weary woman, despondent and tired, is less

  responsive to her master's touch; she does not squirm as well. The Gorean

  master, treating her as the animal she is, works and handles her in such a way

  that the responses of his passionate, exciting, hot-eyed, slim-legged pet are

  kept honed to perfection. Some men are better at this, of course, than others.

  There are scrolls, books, on Gor, which may be purchased inexpensively, on the

  feeding, care, and training of female slaves. There are others who claim, as

  would be expected, that the handling of a slave girl, in order to get the most

  out of her, is an inborn gift. Incidentally, for what it is worth, though the

  southern girl is, I expect, worked less hard then the northern girl, who is