Rogue of Gor

by John Norman

  "The gate is soon to be closed," said the pirate. "Be ready." It takes less time to close the gate than open it, but that, too, because of the weights involved, the windlass stress and the need to control the windlass, requires a considerable effort. To make the gate fall with extreme swiftness, incidentally, as was done when my galley was shattered, it is necessary only to disengage one of the counterweights. The polelike spokes, of course, by which the windlass is normally turned, or managed, should be freed of the windlass before this is done, a disengagement which is effected by loosing the pin-and-lock devices and withdrawing the poles from the windlass. If this were not done the poles would spin wickedly, turning with the rotating windlass. This eventuality would be extremely dangerous, of course, to anyone within the compass of the poles' movement or who might be, as we were, chained to the poles themselves. There are two counterweights, as I have mentioned, which partially balance the weight of the gate. The disengagement of one is quite sufficient to permit the gate to rattle viciously downward. If both were disengaged the gate itself might be severely damaged.

  "Be ready!" called the pirate.

  I looked upward, the collar slipping on my neck. A golden shaft of light filtered downward, falling gently into the chamber. In it there danced a myriad specks of golden dust. It was very beautiful. I also noted that the window was too narrow to admit the egress of a man.

  "I fooled Policrates himself," I mentioned to the fellow next to me, "when I brought the topaz to him. He did not know me for an impostor, any more than the dolt, Kliomenes."

  The fellow looked at me, blankly.

  "Liar!" screamed the pirate. "I have warned you about your lies!"

  The whip fell again and again on me. "Persist in these lies," cried the pirate, "and I will bring the matter to the attention of Kliomenes himself!"

  "Forgive me, Captain," I said, as though frightened. But I had also gathered from his remark that my conjecture that Policrates was not now in the holding was correct. Surely if Policrates had been in the holding he would have threatened me with his name and not that of Kliomenes, since I had expressly mentioned Policrates and he stood higher in the holding than Kliomenes. Kliomenes must now, I gathered, be in charge of the holding. This, I felt, was in the best interests of my plan.

  "Lower the gate!" we heard a man call. "Lower the gate!" Then, far above us, and to the right of the windlass chamber, angry, entering out onto a small balcony extending into the chamber, a balcony reached through a guardroom, we saw a pirate. "What is going on down there?" he called.

  "Nothing!" called the pirate who had been striking me.

  "Did you not hear the signal?" called the man on the balcony.

  The pirate with us glared at me, in fury. He loosened the holding pawl. Immediately we felt the stress in the windlass poles.

  "Pay attention, you fool," called the man on the balcony. "Listen! Get the gate down!"

  "Lower the gate!" cried the pirate with us, angrily. "Hurry, you fools!"

  We felt the bars pulling against our arms and, slowly, with effort, as the weights ascended, permitted the descent of the gate.

  Then the gate was down.

  I met the eyes of the pirate. He looked at me, in fury. I looked down, as though frightened.

  But I was not displeased with the occurrences of the day.

  32

  My Plan is Successful;

  I Take my Leave from the Holding of Policrates

  "Let them be whipped," said Kliomenes, "both of them."

  Kliomenes reclined in the curule chair of Policrates, holding his court.

  Mira and Tala, the blond sisters from Cos, kneeling naked before the chair of Kliomenes, their hands bound behind their back, their necks joined by a length of binding fiber, cried out with misery. They had failed to sufficiently please Jandar, one of the minor captains in the holding of Policrates. Each, in the opinion of Jandar, had not tried hard enough to outdo the other in addressing themselves to his pleasure. Perhaps the fact that they were sisters had to some extent inhibited them, each fearing to appear the most lascivious slave before the other. Yet, of course, such inhibitions, under any circumstances, are not permitted to slave girls. They would get over them, or die. Too, I suspected that Jandar had not handled them well. If he would have handled them with adequate skills I had little doubt that each, indeed, would have striven desperately to outdo the other, each trying to be the favorite. Properly handled he could have had them in moments at one another's throats, as competitive love slaves.

  "Should this complaint be brought again to my attention," said Kliomenes to the girls, "I shall have you cast naked into the jaws of tharlarion."

  "Yes, Master!" said Mira. "Yes, Master!" said Tala.

  "Take them away," said Kliomenes. The two girls, by the binding fiber which tied them together by the neck, were pulled, half choking, to their feet, and dragged from his presence.

  "Why have I been brought here, Captain?" I asked the pirate at my side, who had conducted me to the tiles of the hall. It was he who was commonly in charge of the workers at the windlass.

  "Kliomenes is holding court," he grinned.

  "But I have done nothing," I said, as though frightened.

  "We shall let Kliomenes be the judge of that," he said.

  "Please, no, Captain," I said.

  "Be silent," he said, grinning.

  "Yes, Captain," I said. The collar and chain which had fastened me to the windlass pole had been removed from my neck, but I wore still, on my wrists and ankles, the other chains from the room of the windlass.

  "What is next?" inquired Kliomenes.

  "The disposition of loot," said a pirate.

  He thrust five, low, flat coffers of coins across the tiles, and put beside them a tangle of jewelry and a bowl of pearls.

  "And there is this, too," said the man. He thrust forward a chained girl. Her ankles were joined by some two feet of graceful chain, and her wrists, too, were linked by some two feet of chain. This type of chaining is not so much to confine a girl as it is to have her in chains, and display her. This type of chaining is very beautiful. The primary bond on such a girl, of course, is her slavery itself. On Gor what stronger bond need a girl wear?

  She stood before Kliomenes, graceful in the chains.

  "Is she pretty?" asked Kliomenes.

  Her head was covered with semi-transparent, scarlet cloth, the central portions of such a cloth which had been cast over her, a large cloth, which fell to her calves. It was held on her by being tied under her chin and about her neck with a soft, braided scarlet cord. I could see the lineaments of her body beneath the semi-transparent cloth. She was left-thigh branded, the common Kajira mark, that mark which can grace the thigh of any girl, from the most average of slaves to the prizes in a Ubar's Pleasure Gardens. And, indeed, does that mark not tell us that they are all, in a sense, from the homeliest pot girl to the embonded treasure of a Ubar, only common kajirae?

  The pirate behind the girl, who had thrust her forward, unknotted the cord from her throat, that which held the cloth over her head and kept it fixed, too, upon her body. She could probably see somewhat through the cloth, but not well. There seemed something familiar about her. The pirate drew the cloth away from the slave. He dropped it behind her. She knelt. I stepped back. It was she who had once been the Lady Florence of Vonda. I knew her now, of course, as Florence, who was, or had been, the slave of Miles of Vonda. To be sure, she was delicious loot.

  "You may do obeisance, my dear," said Kliomenes.

  The girl rose to her feet and went to Kliomenes. She knelt before him, on the dais, and put her head down. Gently, softly, she licked and kissed his feet. She then rose again to her feet, backed away, and then, on the tiles, again knelt. She put the palms of her hands on the tiles, and lowered her head to the tiles. Then she straightened up, her back straight, assuming the position of the pleasure slave, though keeping her head bowed, deferentially.

  "She is pretty," said Kliomenes.

&nbs
p; "Yes," said the pirate.

  "Girl," said Kliomenes.

  "Yes, Master," she said, lifting her head.

  "How were you taken?" asked Kliomenes.

  "By force, Master," she said. "My Master, Miles of Vonda, took ship from Victoria, in the Flower of Siba." I knew the ship. Siba is one of the Vosk towns. It lies to the east of Sais. "He was bound for Turmus. He took two slaves with him, myself and a male slave, he named Krondar." Miles of Vonda, in my opinion, had been rash. I had suggested my reservations concerning traveling on the river in these troubled times to Florence, when I had spoken to her in the tavern of Tasdron. She would, doubtless, in turn, have conveyed these reservations to Miles of Vonda. But, it seems, the proud Vondan had ignored them. Doubtless he had ignored the advice of others, too, in this matter. In the river towns the dangers of these times were common knowledge. Little else, these days, it seemed, was spoken of in the taverns, in the markets, and on the wharves. "We were attacked by two ships west of Tafa," she said. "One, as I understand it, was the galley Telia, captained by Sirnak, of this holding, he who has just presented me, and other loot, before you. The other was the galley Tamira, captained by Reginald, he who is in the fee of Ragnar Voskjard."

  "You were to escort the Tamira back to the vicinity of the chain," said Kliomenes, regarding the pirate who had presented the loot before him. "How is it that you dallied en route to engage in more prosaic transactions?"

  "It was gold lying on the sand, fruit ripe to be plucked," shrugged the pirate.

  "The Tamira is carrying the signs and countersigns, as you know," said Kliomenes.

  "They are safe," the pirate assured him.

  "What is the Tamira?" I asked the pirate next to me.

  "The scout ship of Ragnar Voskjard," said he. I had assumed this must be the case. I myself, in my unsuccessful ruse, betrayed, presumably by the Earth-girl slave, Peggy, had posed as a commander of scout ships, supposedly sent ahead by the fleet of Ragnar Voskjard. Now, it seemed, so soon, the actual ship, or ships, though it now seemed there was only one, had appeared, conducted its business, and was now returning westward on the river, presumably to rendezvous with the Voskjard. That a single ship had been involved suggested a certain complacency on the part of the western pirates. Had they truly so little to fear?

  "The chain has not yet been cut?" I asked. I gathered that it had not been cut from the nature of the conversation I had heard. On the other hand, it seemed puzzling to me how the Voskjard's scout ship could have appeared in these waters if the chain had not been cut.

  "No," said the pirate next to me.

  "How could she have crossed the chain?" I asked.

  "A single ship, posing as a merchantman, not inspected, it was not difficult," he said.

  "The chain was opened for her?" I asked.

  "As it is for honest ships," said the man. He grinned.

  "She experienced no difficulties?" I asked.

  "We have friends at the chain," said the pirate.

  "I see," I said.

  "She will return, as she came," he said.

  "I see," I said. Inwardly I was furious. How futile, how ineffective, was the expedient of the chain!

  Kliomenes regarded the flat coffers of coins on the tiles before his dais, the jewelry, the bowl of pearls, and the girl.

  "Is this," he asked, "truly an equal division of the spoils of the Flower of Siba?"

  "We have something of the better of it, in my opinion," said the pirate before the dais.

  "I see," said Kliomenes.

  "Not much of great value is currently moving on the river," said the pirate. "Men are frightened. Most of the loot is being kept in the towns."

  "Once joined with the Voskjard," said Kliomenes, "we can fetch it forth from the towns, as it pleases us."

  "True, Captain," said the pirate.

  Kliomenes smiled, addressed as Captain, though within the holding of Policrates.

  "Put the coins, the jewelry, the pearls in the general coffers," said Kliomenes.

  The pirate before the dais signaled to some men and they removed the coins, the jewelry and pearls from before the dais.

  "And what of this?" asked the pirate before the dais, taking the girl by the hair and forcing her head up and back, bending then her body back, so as to reveal the bow of her enslaved beauty.

  Kliomenes regarded the girl, musingly. "The values of many things," he said, "seem patent, but not the value of a slave." He gestured that the pirate should release her, and he did so. The girl then knelt, looking at him. "Are you only beautiful, my dear?" he asked.

  She put down her head, sobbing.

  "Keep her in the holding," said Kliomenes. "I myself shall assess her tonight."

  The girl, then, in her chains, was dragged sobbing from his presence.

  Kliomenes then looked at me, and I was thrust forward, stumbling, toward the dais. Unbidden, I knelt. There was laughter from the pirates in the room. I was the last item on his agenda for the morning. He had saved me for last.

  "I should have slain you long ago, in the tavern of Tasdron, in Victoria," said Kliomenes.

  "Forgive me, Captain," I said, head down.

  "I understand that you are a braggart, and a liar," said Kliomenes.

  "No, no, Captain," I said, hastily.

  "He maintains," said the pirate who had conducted me to the room, he normally in charge of the crews of the windlass, "that he deceived both you and Policrates, and us all, by posing as the courier of Ragnar Voskjard."

  "Are you so desperate for status among your fellow sleen," asked Kliomenes, "that you will risk such lies in this place?"

  I kept my head down. I seemed to tremble.

  "You warned him, did you not?" inquired Kliomenes, of my guard.

  "Many times, Kliomenes," said the man. "But even this morning he persisted in these assertions, thinking I was not within that distance wherein I might detect his boasts."

  "I see," said Kliomenes.

  "Too, yesterday," said the man, "he spoke disparagingly of you."

  "What did he say?" inquired Kliomenes, amused.

  "He spoke of you as a dolt," said the pirate.

  There was laughter from among the men present. Now, I noted, lifting my head, that Kliomenes did not seem amused. There was resentment of Kliomenes, and jealousy, and fear, I suspected, in the holding. There were perhaps others present who would not have minded usurping his lieutenancy to Policrates. Kliomenes looked about the room, and the laughter instantly faded. "That is indeed amusing," said Kliomenes, returning his attention to me.

  "Forgive me, Captain," I begged.

  "The courier, or he who posed as the courier of Ragnar Voskjard, though not my equal, was not unskilled with the sword," said Kliomenes.

  "Forgive me, Captain," I begged.

  "Do not slay him, Kliomenes," said one of the men near the curule chair, "for he might be of use in bargaining for the freedom of the true courier of Ragnar Voskjard, who must have been captured by our enemies in Victoria."

  "They would not exchange so valuable a man for this worthless fellow, a dock worker," said Kliomenes.

  "Wait for Policrates," said the man. "Let him make decision on this matter."

  "In the absence of Policrates," said Kliomenes, "I am first in the holding."

  "I do not contest that," said the man, stepping back, angrily.

  Kliomenes again looked at me. "Thus," said he, "if you are truly he who posed as the courier of the Voskjard, you, too, must be not unskilled with the sword."

  "Forgive me, Captain," I begged.

  "Put a sword in his hand," said Kliomenes.

  The fellow near me, who had brought me to the room, withdrew his blade from its sheath. He held it to me, hilt first.

  "No," I said, "no!"

  "Take it," said Kliomenes, evenly.

  I took the blade by the hilt, in one chained wrist. I took care to hold it improperly. I held it as though it might have been a hammer, and too close to its guard, which would,
of course, in actual swordplay, impair its mobility considerably.

  Two or three of the men laughed. Kliomenes then rested back in his curule chair. He had been watching closely. He was a vain and arrogant man, but he was no fool. He had not won his way to the lieutenancy of Policrates by being stupid.

  "Can you not kill me as I am, in my chains?" I asked. "Must you mock me?"

  "Take him outside," said Kliomenes, rising, and stretching.

  "Please, Captain, one favor," I begged, "one favor."

  "What?" asked Kliomenes, puzzled.

  "Do not let those of the windlass room know what was done to me," I begged.

  "Bring them, in their chains, outside," said Kliomenes, to my guard, "that they may observe what is done to this fellow."

  "No, Captain, please!" I begged.

  But, already, two men were pulling me by the arms from the room.

  * * * *

  I blinked against the light of the sun.

  I felt the chains on my wrists and ankles being removed. Armed men surrounded me. In one hand I still clutched, with apparent ineptness, and as though in fear, the sword which I had been commanded to take from the pirate.

  I looked about. I stood on a board walk, some twenty feet wide, which borders the lakelike courtyard of the holding. We were within its high, formidable walls. Wharfed within the courtyard were only some five vessels, and smaller boats. To my right was the large door, of dark iron, leading into the recesses of the holding. Across the courtyard, some hundred yards or so of deep water, I could see the walkway at the foot of the outer wall, and the stairs leading to the parapets. Too, I could see the great sea gate.

  "You will soon see what your braggadocio will gain you," said my guard, whose sword I clutched.