"In the sanguine prosecution of your espionage, sleen," smiled the officer, "I wager you did not expect to find yourself as you are now, at our mercy, serving us, yoked in the delta."
"I would speak with you," I said.
"You look well, in our service, sleen," said he.
"I would speak with you, privately," I said. "It is urgent."
"Such a request is to be forwarded through channels," smiled the officer.
The fellow behind me on the raft, he acting as my keeper, laughed.
"Where is Saphronicus, leader of the forces of Ar in the north?" I challenged.
"In the rear," said the officer.
"Have you reported to him, or to any who have?" I asked.
He looked at me, puzzled. "We have our standing orders," he said. "Communication is difficult in the delta."
We, as I understood it, were in the center. There were also columns on the left and right, the flanks.
"I submit," I said, "that Saphronicus is not in the delta!"
He looked at me, angrily.
"Where is the army of Cos?" I demanded.
"Ahead," said the officer. "We are closing."
"I submit—"
"Gag him," said the officer, angrily.
The fellow behind me left the raft, swiftly, plunging into the water. In a moment I felt rags thrust in my mouth, and then tied there, the cloth binding drawn back between my teeth, deeply, then fastened tightly before the yoke, behind my neck.
The officer then turned away.
Scarcely had he done so, however, than shouts were heard from the right. In a moment we heard men crying out that a great victory had been won on the right. There were cheers about. It seemed the delta itself rang with their sound.
"There!" said the officer, turning to me, leaning on the railing of the barge. "There, you see? Victory itself, won with the steel of Ar, has gainsaid your seditious intimations!"
The men behind me cheered.
The fellows poling the barge then moved it forward.
I stood in the water, stunned. I could not believe this. I could not understand what had occurred. Could my conjectures, my suppositions, my suspicions, be so profoundly awry?
"Pull!" said my keeper. "Pull!"
One of the two poles used by the fellows on the raft dug into my back forcing me forward.
"Pull!" commanded the keeper.
I then, in consternation, put my weight against the traces and, after a moment, my feet slipping in the mud, felt the raft move forward. I had not struggled forward for more than a few feet when I realized, with a sinking feeling, what must have happened.
12
It is Thought That There are the Cries of Vosk Gulls
"There is one who would see you," said my keeper.
I looked up from the sand, where I lay, gagged, tethered between two stakes, my hands manacled behind my back.
"Clean him up," said a fellow, one I had not seen before.
"Brush his hair, wash him, quickly," said another, also a fellow I had not seen before. "Make him presentable."
My ankles were freed. The rope on my neck was removed for the moment it took them to kneel me, and then it was restored, now measured to my kneeling position. Sand and mud were wiped from me. My hands remained manacled behind my back. My hair was brushed.
"Remove his gag," said one of the men. "Leave its materials on the neck-rope, where they may be easily replaced." This was done.
"Do you want a cloth for his loins?" asked my keeper.
"That will not be necessary," said the other man.
"What is going on?" I asked.
"You are to be interrogated," said one of the men.
"Is he securely manacled?" asked a voice. I was startled. So, too, might have been any who heard such, here in the delta. It was a woman's voice!
"That he is, Lady," said one of the two men.
She approached daintily, distastefully, disdainfully, across the wet sand, in her slippers. They were probably quite expensive. I think she did not want to ruin them.
She regarded me.
She was small and her figure, obscured to be sure under the heavy fabrics of the robes of concealment, surely uncomfortable, and seemingly incongruous, in the delta, seemed cuddly. She was veiled, as is common for Gorean women in the high cities, particularly those of station. In some cities the veil is prescribed by law for free women, as well as by custom and etiquette; and in most cities it is prohibited, by law, to slaves.
"Withdraw," said she to those about. "I would speak with him privately."
My keeper checked the manacles on my wrists and the length, stoutness and fastening of the neck-rope. Then he, with the others, withdrew.
She lifted the hems of her robes a tiny bit, lifting them a bit from the wet sand, holding them in one hand. She did not, I gathered, wish them soiled. She seemed haughty, displeased, disdainful, fastidious. Doubtless there were places other than the delta which she would have preferred to frequent, such as the arcades, the courts and shops of Ar. I could see the toes of her embroidered slippers.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked.
I looked beyond her, out, back past torches. Now that I was on my knees and the men were to one side, I could see the lines of the barge, purple and gilded, near the bank, that with the golden cabin, covered with golden netting.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked.
I saw that she did not raise the hems of her robes more than a hort or two, scarcely enough to lift them from the sand. The soldiers of Ar, regulars, were closely and exactly disciplined. Yet I suspected that she had enough woman's sense not to reveal her ankles among them. They were, of course, men, and Gorean men, and had been long from a woman.
"It seems you have been gagged," she said, looking at the binding, and the sodden wadding, wrapped about my neck-rope.
"Yes," I said.
"Susceptibility to the gag is a liability of prisoners," she said, "enforceable at a moment's notice, at the whim of a captor."
"Of course," I said.
"And I," she said, "have the authority, I assure you, to have it replaced on you, perfectly, immediately."
"I understand," I said.
"I am Ina, Lady of Ar," she said, "of the staff of Saphronicus, general in the north."
"I know," I said.
"I am an observer," she said, "on behalf of Talena, Lady of Ar, daughter of Marlenus."
"Once daughter of Marlenus," I said. "She was sworn from him, disinherited, disowned, fully."
"It seems you are familiar with the politics of Ar," she said.
"It seems to me unusual," I said, "that such a woman, disowned, disinherited, surely once sequestered in the central cylinder, in disgrace, should be able to post an observer in the delta."
"Her fortunes rise," she said.
"I gather so," I said.
"You are Tarl, of Port Kar?" she asked.
"Perhaps," I said.
"You will answer my questions expeditiously!" she said.
I was silent.
"Spread your knees!" she snapped.
I did so.
"You are Tarl, of Port Kar," she said.
"I have been known variously," I said, "in various places."
"You are Tarl, of Port Kar!" she said, angrily.
"Yes," I said. I was Tarl, of Port Kar, city of the great arsenal, city of many canals, Jewel of Gleaming Thassa.
"You are a handsome fellow, Tarl," she said.
I was silent.
"But there are many marks on your body," she chided.
"From various things," I said, "from blows, from ropes, from harness, from the slash of rence, from the bites and stings of insects, from the fastening places of marsh leeches."
She shuddered.
"It is difficult to traverse the delta unscathed," I said, "particularly when one is naked, in the water, harnessed, drawing a raft."
"Such employments are suitable for a spy," she laughed.
"Doubtless," I said.
"You look well, naked, shackled, on your knees before me," she said, "spy of Cos."
"Doubtless your robes of concealment are uncomfortable in the delta, given the moisture, the heat," I said.
She looked at me, angrily.
"Doubtless you would be more comfortable, if they were removed."
"Today," she said, angrily, "we have won a great victory."
"Over Cosians?" I asked.
"In a way," she said, petulantly.
"No," I said, "over rencers."
Her eyes flashed over the veil.
"Men of the right flank stumbled on a village of rencers," I said. "That is all." I had surmised this, from the information coming from the right this afternoon.
"Rencers are allies of those of Cos!" she said.
The influence of Cos was strong in the delta, to be sure, there as it was in the western reaches of the Vosk, but I did not think the rencers would be explicit allies of Cos. They, in their small, scattered communities, tend to be secretive, fiercely independent folk.
"The village was destroyed," she laughed.
"I am sorry to hear it," I said.
"That is because you favor Cos," she said.
"Those of Port Kar," I said, "are at war with Cos." To be sure, this war was largely a matter of skirmishes, almost always at sea, and political formality. There had not been a major engagement since the battle of the 25th of Se'Kara, in the first year of the sovereignty of the Council of Captains in Port Kar, or, to use the chronology of Ar, 10,120 C.A., Contasta Ar, from the Founding of Ar. In that battle the forces of Port Kar had defeated the combined fleets of Cos and Tyros.
"Those of Port Kar doubtless have their traitors, as well as those of other cities," she said.
"I suppose so," I said.
"But you may lament for your allies, the rencers," she laughed.
"It was not only they for whom I was sorry," said I.
"For whom, then?" she asked.
"For those of Ar, as well," said I.
"I do not understand," she said.
"Surely there were warning signals, cloth on wandlike rence stems, white, then later red, raised in the vicinity of the rencers' village."
"Such were mentioned in the reports," she said.
"Yet your scouts proceeded," I said.
"Ar goes where she pleases," said she. "Too, such markers could have been set up by Cosians."
"They serve to warn away strangers," I said. "In the vicinity of such markers Cosians would be no more welcome than those of Ar."
"We of Ar do not fear," she laughed. "Too, it does not matter now. Victory was ours. The village was destroyed."
"Was your barge seen in the vicinity of the village?" I asked.
"I suppose so," she said.
"Were there survivors?" I asked.
"I do not know," she said.
I was silent.
"It was a great victory," she said.
I was silent. I had once known some rencers. To be sure, the groups with which I was familiar were far to the west, indeed, in the vicinity of the tidal marshes themselves.
"Concern yourself with the matter no longer, my helpless, handsome spy," she laughed. "It is over. It is done with. It is finished."
"Perhaps," I said.
"Listen," she said. "I hear Vosk gulls, out in the marsh."
"Perhaps," I said.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
I was again silent.
"I have men at my beck and command," she warned me.
"For what purpose have you come," I asked, "to torment me?"
"Spread your knees more widely," she snapped.
I did so.
She laughed.
"As I understand it," she said, "you were, though a prisoner, earlier displeasing in speech."
"Have you the ear of an officer?" I asked, suddenly.
"Perhaps," she laughed.
"Let me then," I said eagerly, urgently, "confide certain things to you!"
"Proceed," she said.
"These things must be conveyed to high officers," I said. "These matters are of the utmost importance!"
"Speak, lying spy," she laughed.
"There is treason of gigantic dimension in Ar," I said. "Some of those most highly placed in the city are party to this treachery, among them Seremides, high general, and Saphronicus, to whose staff you are adjunct. It is for such a reason that Ar's Station was not relieved, but fell. It is for such a reason that Ar remained inactive in the winter. It is for such a reason that her major land forces came north with the Cosians at Torcadino. Now Ar has been lured into the delta! It is no mystery, I tell you, or stroke of unaccountable fortune, that hundreds of craft, of various sorts, were available in Turmus and Ven for the delta expedition. But could this have been the case if Cosian forces had earlier entered the delta, in great numbers, to flee the vengeance of Ar? Would they themselves not have taken such craft, or destroyed them, as they could? Where do you think the sympathies of those in Turmus and Ven lie, with Ar, or Cos? Is it not clear to you that these craft were gathered together, or prepared, for those of Ar, that the craft are almost uniformly in wretched condition, that the wood is old, the planks split, the hulls weakened, perhaps even caulking dug out, or replaced with mud and tar? In many of the rence craft the rence is already half rotted. I do not think that Cos is even in the delta! Surely any intelligent officer must have considered these possibilities! I submit for your consideration that your officer, Saphronicus, himself, is not in the delta!"
"No," she said. "Saphronicus is not in the delta."
"You know that?" I said.
"Surely," she laughed.
"Convey these things, I urge you," I said, "to high officers! Have them, if nothing else, investigated! Ar must withdraw from the delta as soon as possible!"
"I think not," she laughed.
"I do not understand," I said. "Surely what I say is intelligible to you, and plausible."
"Surely," she laughed.
"Present them to officers," I said. "Plead that they be considered!"
"I think not," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"They are the quaint ravings of a spy," she said.
"You do not believe that," I said.
"No," she said. "Of course not."
"Convey them then to officers," I said, "swiftly, clearly!"
"No," she laughed.
I suddenly knelt back. "You!" I said. "You are the spy! You are with them!"
"Yes," she laughed. "I am with them!"
"It is for that reason you wished to interrogate me," I said, "to see what I might know, or have guessed."
"Of course," she said.
"I have been a fool," I said.
"As all men," she said.
"But I think," said I, "that I am not the only fool here."
"How is that?" she asked.
"You are in the delta, too," I said.
"My barge will protect me," she said. "It is known. Cosians have orders not to fire upon it, to let it pass."
"I do not think I would care to trust that information," I said.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You know a great deal," I said. "Your life, in my opinion, is not as safe as you seem to think it is."
"I do not care to listen to such nonsense," she said.
I shrugged.
"But there is another reason I wanted to interrogate you," she said.
"What is that?" I asked.
"I heard from slaves in Ven, serving slaves, collared sluts, who saw you caged, before we came west, that you were an attractive and powerful beast." She laughed. "It seems the sight of you made them juice."
"They know perhaps what it is to obey a man," I said.
"Perhaps," she laughed.
"And you," I said, "do you juice?"
"Do not be vulgar!" she said.
"But perhaps there is less to fear for your life than I thought," I said. "Perhaps there is another disposition planne
d for you."
"What?" she asked.
"The collar," I said.
"Sleen!" she hissed.
"If when stripped you proved sufficiently beautiful," I added.
"Sleen, sleen!" she said.
"Let us see your legs," I said.
She stiffened in anger.
"The robes of concealment must be bulky, hot, uncomfortable in the delta," I said. "The rence girls go barefoot, commonly, or wear rence sandals, and short tunics."
"It is you who are the prisoner!" she said.
"And their slaves are sometimes not permitted clothing at all."
"Sleen," she said.
"Except perhaps a rope collar," I said.
"It is you who are stripped," she said. "It is you who are shackled, who have a rope on your neck!"
"Perhaps stripped, and in chains, in the shadow of a whip," I said, "you, too, could learn to juice before men."
She trembled with rage. I thought she would hurry forward, to strike me, but then I did not think, even shackled as I was, that she cared to approach within the ambit of my neck rope. Then her body relaxed. "Ah," she laughed, "you are clever, for a man. You seek to make me angry."
I shrugged. "They are simple conjectures," I said.
Again she stiffened in anger, but then, again, relaxed. She looked down at me. "What an impudent fellow you are," she laughed. "I think I shall have you beaten."
I was silent.
"Has it been long since you have had a woman?" she asked.
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