The next night, I again looked upon Sheera. Without speaking, she opened her
arms, and sought me, pressing her body, kneeling, to mine, her lips to mine.
The following night, the night before we would make landfall in Laura, when I
had finished with her, she lay on her belly on the planks, her head in her
hands, lifted, on her elbows. Her hair was forward. She was breathing deeply.
Even in the flickering light I could see the beautiful mottlings on her body, on
the sides of her breasts and body, red and white, still rich and subtle in her
hot, blood-charged skin. The chain dangled to the floor, where it lay, half
coiled near the ring. The fruit of her body hung free, and lovely. The nipples
were still arch.
She turned her head toward me, and looked at me, through her hair, with glazed
eyes.
She put her head down.
I knelt behind her, and above her, on one knee, and, with a snap, fastened the
slave collar on her throat.
She did not protest. She knew that she had yielded to me, as a slave girl to her
master.
I took her by the shoulders, and turned her on her back. her entire belly and
breasts, like much the rest of her body, was rich with the beautiful mottlings.
I touched the nipples. How beautiful there were, large, delicate, sensitive now,
almost painfully swollen with blood. I kissed them. She reached for me again,
lifting her head, the chain at her neck, lips parted.
When I again noted the lamp, it had burned low.
I rose to my knees, and looked down upon her. I saw my collar locked at her
throat.
“Greetings, Slave,” I said.
She looked up at me.
“Tomorrow,” I said, “we make landfall in Laura. I will then release you from the
hold.”
I bent to her throat, there was still fastened the golden chains and claws that
she had worn when she had met us, long ago, at the exchange point, which she had
worn when she had been purchased, which she had worn in the hold. I removed the
chains and claws. She did not protest. Then I bent to her left ankle and removed
the anklet of threaded shells. She did not protest. She was no longer a panther
girl.
“When I release you tomorrow from the hold,” I asked, “which garment shall I
bring you?”
She turned her head to one side. “The garment of a female slave,” she said.
Rim and I, and Thurnock, moored at Laura, in the stern castle, studied a rough
map of the territory north and east of that rustic town.
On the map, as nearly as we could, we traced, with various straight lines, what
we would take to be the path to Verna’s camp and dancing circle.
“Somewhere in here, I said, pointing with a stylus, “they must lie.”
“why not follow the tree blazings, and such?” asked Thurnock.
“If the girls Tana and Ela knew so well the route to the camp and circle,” said
Rim, “others, too, must know of it.”
“Further,” I said, “it is my understanding that Verna expects Marlenus of Ar to
pursue her. It is doubtless important to her that he do so, to accord with her
plans, those plans by means of which she hopes to take vengeance upon him for
her former capture and humiliation.” I looked at Thurnock. “It is quite
possible,” I said, “that she would even permit such information to fall into his
hands.”
“That she might know his approach route, and perhaps ambush him,” said Rim,
running his tongue over his lips.
“Yes,” I said.
“We would not care,” said Rim, “to fall into her trap.”
“But Marlenus,” said Thurnock, “He is a great Ubar. Surely he will be wary?”
“Marlenus,” I said, “is a great Ubar, but he is not always wise.”
“Marlenus,” said Rim, “doubtless believes himself to be the hunter. He expects
panther girls to feel from him and his men. He expects difficulty only in
managing their capture.”
“The tabuk he expects to net,” I said, “are not unlikely panthers, she-panthers,
following him, intent upon their own hunt.”
“Aiii,” said Thurnock.
“Yes,” I said.
“On the other hand,” said Rim, “Verna does not know of us. We have with us the
element of surprise.”
“I do wish,” I said, “to approach the camp from some direction other than the
blazed trail. On the other hand, I am not interested in storming it with slave
nets.”
“Do you expect to deal with panther girls?” he asked, smiling.
I put down the stylus on the map. “I am a merchant,” I said.
“How shall we proceed?” asked Thurnock.
“We shall make a base camp, in accord with our putative interest in obtaining
the skins of sleen,” I said. “Then, selected men will enter the forest, but as
though they did not know the location of Verna’s camp and dancing circle. We
must then make contact with some members of her band. Either they will contact
us, or we them.”
“It is not uncommon for panther girls to first make contact,” said Rim, smiling,
“with a hunting arrow in the back.”
“We shall release, suitably braceleted, a slave girl, to make contact with
them.”
“They will hunt her, and capture her,” said Rim, smiling.
“Of course,” I said.
“Then the girl,” said Rim, “will give them our message, that we would negotiate
for female slaves they may have in their camps.”
“What girl, braceleted, could live in the forests?” asked Thurnock.
“No girl, braceleted,” I said, “can live long in the forests. That will be an
incentive to the girl we release to see that she swiftly falls to Verna’s band.”
“Yes,” said Rim, “and if she fails to find Verna’s band, she, braceleted, will
be forced to return to us.”
“Yes,” said Thurnock.
“But I expect,” I said, “that she will have little difficulty in falling in with
Verna’s band.”
“You have in mind a skilled girl,” said Thurnock, “one experienced in the way of
the forests.”
“Yes,” I said.
“But,” said Thurnock, troubled, “have you considered that they, the panther
women of Verna’s band, might keep the girl we have released?”
“I have considered that,” I said.
Thurnock looked at me, puzzled.
“Suppose,” said I, “that the girl released, she who is captured by Verna’s band,
is well know to Verna. Suppose that that girl were a rival to Verna, a personal
enemy, one of long standing.”
Rim laughed.
“What then,” asked I , of Thurnock,” do you suppose Verna, and her band, would
do with her?”
“I see,” said Thurnock, grinning.
“She would be promptly returned to slavery,” said Rim.
“And,” said I, smiling, “we would have made contact with Verna’s band, and we
would get our girl back.”
Thurnock grinned. “But what girl could we use?” he asked.
“Sheera,” said I.
Thurnock nodded, and Rim laughed.
“I thought,” said I, “that it would not be impossible that I might find use for
that piece of property.”
“I gather,”
said Rim, “that you have already found uses for that bit of
property, in the hold.”
“Yes,” I said, “but that is unimportant.” She was only a slave.
“One thing troubles me,” said Rim. “Verna has taken Talena to the forests, to
bait a trap for Marlenus. Why then should she sell her to you?”
“That may be a matter of timing,” I said, “and of information, and prices.”
“How is that?” asked Rim.
I shrugged. “Suppose Marlenus falls to Verna,” I suggested. “Then she would not
need the bait longer, and might, for a good price, dispose of it.”
“Marlenus? Fall to Verna?” asked Thurnock.
“Panther girls are dangerous,” I said. “I do not think Marlenus, who is a proud
man, well understands that.” I looked at Thurnock. “But,” said I, “ the
important thing to Verna’s plan is that Marlenus believe she holds Talena. As
long as he believes that, it does not make a difference whether she does, or
not. So, why might she not, provided the sale is secret, sell Talena to me,
regardless of the outcome of her pursuit of Marlenus?”
“Perhaps she would fear you would simply, for gold, return Talena to Marlenus,”
said Thurnock.
“We shall convince her, “ I said, “ that we are of Tabor.”
Tabor, though a free island, administered by merchants, would not be eager to
affront Tyros, her powerful neighbor. For more than a century there had been bad
blood between Tyros and Ar. A merchant of Tabor, accordingly, fearing Tyros,
would not be likely to return Talena to Marlenus. Such an act might mean war. It
would be far more likely that the girl would be presented to Tyros, the daughter
of their enemy, naked and in chains of a slave, as a token of good will.
The bad blood between Tyros and Ar had primarily to do with Tyros’ financings of
Vosk pirates, to harry river shipping and the northern borders of Ar. Vosk
pirates now little bothered the realm of Ar, but the memories remained. Vosk
traffic, to Ar, which has no sea port, is important. It permits her much wider
trade perimeters than would otherwise be possible. Something similar is true of
the Cartius, far to her south. Unfortunately for Ar, or perhaps fortunately for
the maritime powers of Thassa, it is almost impossible to bring a large ship or
barge through the Vosk’s delta to the sea. Ar remains substantially a land
power, but the river traffic, on the Vosk and, to the south, on the Cartius, is
important to her. Tyros’ financing of Vosk pirates, over the past century, was
an attempt to deprive Ar of the Vosk markets, and make those markets more
dependent on overland shipments of goods, originally debarked at shore ports,
brought to them by the cargo ships of Tyros, and other maritime powers.
“What if you do not convince her?” asked Rim, “that you are of Tabor?”
I shrugged. “If the price is high enough,” I suggested, “Verna may not much care
whether we are of Tabor or not.”
“What, however,” asked Rim, “if she does not chose to sell?”
Rim was standing at the window of the stern castle, looking out.
“Then,” said I, “we shall have no choice but to take Talena by force.”
“What if there is an objection,” inquired Rim, “raised on the part of Verna, and
her panther girls?”
“We have more than enough slave chains for Verna and her entire band,” I said.
Rim was still peering out the window of the stern castle. Then he said, “It is
the Rhoda of Tyros.”
I went to the window, Thurnock pressed beside me.
Turning slowly, sweetly, into the wharves of Laura was the heavy-beamed, large
medium galley, bright with the yellow of Tyros. I saw her yard being lowered,
its sail left slack, to be removed from the yard and folded. On her deck I could
see springals and catapults. Her crew moved efficiently. I heard the beat, over
the water, of the copper-covered drum of the keleustes, marking the time for the
oars.
It was the ship from Tyros which had been moored near the Tesephone in Lydius,
the same which had cast off, following the departure of the Tesephone from
Lydius.
It would have been difficult to bring such a ship this far on the river. Twice
in the Tesephone’s own journey upriver, even with her shallow draft, we had
gently ran aground and must needs use the poles to free ourselves. I was
interested that her captain had brought such a ship to Laura. It was, on the
wharves, attracting attention. The only craft commonly seen in Laura were light
galleys, and the ubiquitous barges, towed by tharlarion treading along the
shore.
“What business has such a ship in Laura?” I asked Rim.
“I do not know,” he said.
“It is not impossible,” said Thurnock, “they are concerned with common trade,
panther hides and sleen furs, and such.”
“No,” I said, “it is not impossible.”
We could now see the crew of the Rhoda casting lines to the men at the wharf.
She would soon be moored.
“Tyros,” said I, “is enemy of Ar. Should Marlenus fall to Verna and her band,
Tyros might be much interested in his acquisition.”
It was perhaps for such a reason that the Rhoda had come upriver to Laura.
It would be quite a coup for Tyros, I surmised, did the great Ubar fall into
their hands.
“Perhaps they are not interested in Marlenus,” said Rim, looking at me.
I regarded him, puzzled.
“Who knows,” he asked, “what may happen in the forests?”
“What shall we do, Captain?” asked Thurnock.
“We shall proceed with our plans,” I said.
“You know what you are to do?” I asked Sheera.
“Yes,” she said, standing before me, deep with the forests.
In the brief sleeveless garment of white wool, my collar at her throat, her hair
bound back by a fillet of white wool, she might have been any slave girl.
“Extend your wrists,” I said.
“You’re not going to bracelet me!” she cried.
If I did so, she would be almost helpless in the forests.
“No!” she cried.
I snapped the bracelets on her. Her wrists were confined some four inches apart.
It would be difficult for her to run, almost impossible to climb.
“Do I mean nothing to you?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“The hold,” she protested.
“It mean nothing,” I told her.
She put her head down, a braceleted slave girl.
Rim and Thurnock were with me, and five men. We had come deep into the forests.
We had brought with us a pack of trade goods, some gold. The pack, and gold, was
now flung to one side. Before that it had been strapped to Sheera’s back.
We would now make camp, putting sharpened stakes about our camp, to protect us
from animals, and the nocturnal attacks of panther girls.
Sheera lifted her eyes. “They may simply slay me,” she said.
“Panther girls,” said I, “are not likely to slay a braceleted slave.”
“I am Sheera,” said the girl, suddenly, proudly. “I am the enemy of Verna. If
she captures me, she may slay me.”
“You are Sheera,” I said. “If you captured Verna, branded and collared, what
would y
ou do with her?”
she looked at me, angrily. “I would return her to slaver,” she said, “and
promptly.”
“Precisely,” said I.
“What if I do not fall in with her?” asked Sheera.
I held the chain joining the slave bracelets. I shook it, that she might well
feel the steel retainers on her wrists.
“Then,” I said, “I expect you will fall in with sleen, or forest panthers.”
She looked at me, with horror.
“Permit me to start now,” she said.
I looked at the sun, and then away. “It is a bit early,” I said, “for a slave
girl to escape.”
“But the sleen,” she said, “the panthers!”
“Kneel, and wait,” I said.
She knelt, braceleted.
I did not expect it would take long for Verna’s girls to pick her up. We had
made no effort to conceal our movements, or trail. I suspected that, already,
they were aware of our presence in the forests. I had seen, an Ahn earlier,
before we had reached this camp site, a tawny movement in the brush, some fifty
yards in front of us, and to our left. I did not think that it was a forest
panther.
The men were cutting and sharpening stakes, and setting them in the ground,
about our camp site.
I looked at Sheera, kneeling in the bracelets.
Then I sat down, cross-legged, and withdrew an arrow, for the great bow, from
its quiver and, with thread and a tiny pot of glue, bent to refreshing one of
the shafts.
Above Laura, north of her, there lie several slave compounds. It had taken the
better part of the morning, but Rim and I, and Thurnock, had found the blazed
tree, blazed with a spear point, several feet high on the trunk. We had then
found the next tree, to establish the line. We had marked the points and line on
our map. On the map, later, in the stern castle, we had traced out, with greater
accuracy than had hitherto had been possible, following the directions of Tana
and Ela, what should be the location of Verna’s camp and dancing circle. Our
original estimate, we were pleased to note, was not grossly inaccurate. We
would, of course, as before, if the need arose, not approach the camp by the
familiar route. If it should prove necessary to storm the camp with slave nets,
we would do so after a secret approach, striking decisively, and fiercely from
an unexpected direction.
Things were going well.
I thought of the slave girl, Tana, paga slave in the tavern of Sarpedon of
Norman, John - Gor 08 - Hunters of Gor.txt Page 10
