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

by Marauders of Gor [lit]

  eagerly inquired into; a garment "cut in the fashion of Ar" may sell for more

  than one of better cloth but less "stylish"; "as it is done in Ar" is a phrase

  often heard. Sometimes I had little objection to the spreadings of such

  fashions. After the restoration of Marlenus of Ar, in 10,1 19 Contasta Ar, from

  the founding of Ar, he had at his victory feast decreed a two-hort, about two

  and one half inches, shortening of the already briefly skirted garment ofthe

  female state slave. This was adopted immediately in Ar, and, city by city,

  became rather general. Proving that I myself am not above fashion I had had this

  scandalous alteration implemented in my own house; surely I would not have

  wanted my girls to be embarrassed by the excessive length of their livery; and,

  in fact, I did the Ubar of Ar one better, by ordering their hemlines lifted by

  an additional quarter inch; most Gorean slave girls have lovely legs; the more I

  see of them the better; I wondered how many girls, even as far away as Turia,

  knew that more of their legs were exposed to free men because, long ago,

  drunkenly, Marlenus of Ar, at his victory feast, had altered the length of the

  livery of the female state slaves of Ar. Another custom, long practised in the

  far south, below the Gorean equator, in Turia, for example, is the piercing of

  the ears of the female slave; this custom, though of long standing in the far

  south, did not begin to spread with rapidity in the north until, again, it was

  introduced in Ar. At a feast Marlenus, as a special treat for his high officers,

  presented before them a dancer, a female slave, whose ears had been pierced. She

  had worn, in her degradation, golden loops in her ears; she had not been able,

  even, to finish her dance; at a sign from Marlenus she had been seized, thrown

  to the tiles on which she had danced, an* raped by more than a hundred men. Ear

  piercing, from this time, had begun to spread rapidly through 136 the north,

  masters, and slavers, often inflicting it on thei glrls. Interestingly, the

  piercing of the septum, for the in sertion of a nose ring, is regarded,

  generally, a great dea more lightly by female slaves than the piercing of the

  ears Perhaps this iS partly because, in the far south, the fre~ women of the

  Wagon Peoples wear nose rings; perhaps i iS because the piercing does not show;

  I do not know. Th~ piercing of the ears, however, is regarded as being the epito

  me of a slave girl's degradation. Any woman, it is said, with pierced ears, is a

  slave girl. "You insult me," said Hilda the Haughty, "to present me with such

  miserable merchandise ! Is this the best that great Ar can offer ? Had I been of

  Ar I might have been angry. As it was I was somewhat irritated. The perfumes I

  was displaying to her had been taken, more than six months ago, by the Forkbeard

  from a vessel of Cos. They were truly perfumes of Ar, and of the finest

  varieties. "Who," I asked myself, "is Hilda, the daughter of a barbarian, of a

  rude, uncouth northern pirate, living in a high wooden fortress, overlooking the

  sea, to so demean the perfumes of Ar ?" One might have thought she was a great

  lady, and not the insolent, though curvacious, brat of a boorish sea rover. I

  put my head to the floor. I grovelled in the white and yellow siLk of the

  perfumers. "Oh, great lady," I whined, the finest of Ar's, perfumes may be too

  thin, too frail, too gross, for one of your discernment and taste." ~ ~ ~ Her

  hands wore many rings. About her neck she wore, looped, four chains of gold,

  with pendants. On her wrists were bracelets of silver and gold. "Show me others,

  men of the south," said she, contemptuously. Again and again we tried to please

  the daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar. We had little success. Sometimes she would

  wince, or make a face, or indicate disgust with a tiny motion of her hand, or a

  movement of her head We were almost finished with the vials in the flat, leather

  case "We have here," said I, "a scent that might be worthy of a Ubara of Ar." I

  uncorked it and she held it, delicately, to her nostrils. "Barely adequate," she

  said. I restrained my fury. That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred

  flowers, nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers

  of Ar. It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an

  extract from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from

  a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale,

  the result of the inadequate digestion of cuttlefish. Fortunately, too, this

  calculus is sometimes found free in the sea, expelled with feces. It took more

  than a year to distill, age, blend and bond the ingredients. "Barely ade~uate,"

  she said. But I could tell she was pleased. "It is only eight stone of gold,"

  said I, obsequiously, "for the vial." "I shall accept it," said she, coldly, "as

  a gift." "A gift !" I cried. "Yes," said she. "You have annoyed me. I have been

  patient with you. I am now no ~onger patient!" "Have pity, great lady!" I wept.

  "Leave me now," said she. "Go below. Ask there to be stripped and beaten. Then

  swiftly take your leave of the house of Thorgard o~ Scagnar. Be grateful that I

  perrnit you your lives." I hastily, as though frightened, made as though to

  close the flat, leather case of vials. "~eave that," she said. She laughed. "I

  shall give it to my bond-maids." I smiled, though secretly. The haughty wench

  would rob us of our entire stores! None of that richness, I knew, would grace

  the neck or breasts of a mere bond-maid. She~ Hilda ~he Haughty, daughter of

  Thorgard of Scagnar, would kee,~) it for hersel~; I attempted to conceal one

  vial, which we had not permitted her to sample. But her eye was too qwck ~or me.

  "What is that ?" she asked, sharply. ~'It is nothing," I said. "Let me smell

  it," she said. "Please, no, great ladyl" I begged. "You thought to keep it from

  me, did you ?" she laughed "Oh, no, great lady,"-I wept. "Give it to me," she

  said. "Must I, lady ?" asked I. "I see," said she, "beating is not enough for

  you. It seems you must be boiled in the oiI of tharlarion as well !" I lifted it

  to her, piteously. She laughed. My assistant and I knelt before her, at her

  feet. She wore, beneath her green velvet, golden shoes. "Uncork it for me, you

  sleen," said she. I wondered if I had, in my life, seen ever so scornful, so

  proud, so cold a woman. I uncorked the vial. "Hold it beneath my nostrils," she

  said. She bent forward. I held the vial beneath her delicate nostrils. She

  closed her eyes, and breathed in, deeply, expectant Y- She opened her eyes, and

  shook her head. "What is this ?" she said "Capture scent," I said. I held her

  forearms. Ivar Forkbeard quickly pulled the bracelets and rings from her wrists

  and fingers. He then threw from her neck the golden chains. I pulled her to her

  feet, holding her wrists. Ivar tore the golden string from her hair, loosening

  it. It fell behind her, blond, below the small of her back. He tore the collar

  of her gown back from her throat, opening it at her neck. "Who are you ?" she

  whispered. He snapped fetters of black iron on her wrists. They, by the fetters

  and their single link, were held about three mches apart. "Who are you ?" she

  whispere
d. "A friend of your father," said he. He tore away from his 139 ~C~

  body, swiftly, the gown of the perfumers, that of white and yellow silk. I, too,

  cast aside the perfumer's gown. She saw that we wore the leather and fur of

  Torvaldsland. "No!" she cried. My hand was over her mouth. Ivar's dagger was at

  her throat. "While Thorgard roves at sea," said the Forkbeard, ~'we rove in

  Scagnar." "Shall I hold again the via] beneath her nose?" I asked. Soaked in a

  rag and scarf and hel-l over the nose and mouth of a female it can render her

  unconscious in five Ihn. She squirrned wildly for an Ihn or two, and then

  sluggishly, and then fell limp. It is sometimes used by tarnsmen; it is often

  used by slavers. Anaesthetic darts, too, are sometimes used in the taking of

  females; these may be flungj or entered into her body by hand; they take effect

  in about forty Ihn; she awakens often, stripped, in a slave kennel. "No," said

  lvar. "It is important for my plan that she be conscious. I ~elt the mouth of

  the daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar move beneath my hand. The Forkbeard's

  dagger's point thrust slightly into her throat She winced. "If you speak now

  above a whisper," said he, "you die. Is that understood ?" - She nodded her

  head~ miserably. At a gesture from the Forkbeard, I released her mouth. I

  con~inued to hold her arm. "You will never get me past the guards," she hissed.

  The Forkbeard was looking about the room. From a sm~ll chest, he took a thick,

  covering cloth, orange. From ~he chest he took a scarf. "There are guari~s," she

  hissed. "You are fools ! You ~vill never get me pa~t the guards!" "I have no

  intention of getting you past the guards~" said Ivar Forkbeard. 1 4() She looked

  at him, puzzled. He went to the high window of her room, high in the wooden

  fortress, on its cliff, overlooking the dark bay below. We could hear waves

  crashing on rocks. - Ivar went to the window. He looked down. Then he cameback

  into the room and took a clay lamp, lit, and went agam to the window. He moved

  the lamp up and down once. I went to the window, holding the girl. Together we

  looked down into the wave-crashing blackness. Then we saw, brlefly, uncovered

  and then covered again, a ship's lantern. Below, at the nineteenth hour, in the

  longboat of Ivar's ship, was Gorm, with four oarsmen. "You have no ropes to

  lower me to your b~at," she said. She lifted her wrists. "Remove, and swiftly,"

  said she, "these dlsgusting fetters!" Ivar ~orkbeard went to the door of her

  room and, silently slipped the two beams into place, in their iron brackets. She

  looked to the floor; on it, scattered, lay her bracelets, her rings, the golden

  chains she had worn about her neck Her throat, where Ivar had torn away the

  coliar o~ the green gown, was now bared. "Do you not want my rings, " she asked,

  "my golden chains my bracelets ?" "It is only for you that I have come to this

  place," he said. He grinned. I, too, grinned. It was mighty insult to Thorgard

  of Scagnar. The golden chains, the rings, the bracelets, stripped from her,

  would be left behind. How could it be made more clear that her captor scorned

  these as baubles, that he had no need of them, and that it had been the girl

  herself, and only she, her body and her person, that had been sought and boldly

  taken. Ivar Forkbeard then bent to the girl's feet and pulled away her golden

  shoes, and, his hands at her legs, she, her eyes closed, ren oved from her, too,

  her scarlet, silken hose, She stood, her arm held by my hand, in the fetters, in

  the dress of green velvet, it torn open at the collar to reveal 141 her throat;

  she had been stripped of her rings, the bracelets, the chains; her hair was

  loose; her hose and shoes had been removed. "Are you going to tie my ankles ?"

  she asked. "No," he said. "You have no rope to lower me," she said. "No," he

  said. She looked at him, puzzled. "I will bring high ransom," she said. She

  looked down at her jewelry on the floor. "I will bring higher ransom," she said,

  "if I am adorned." "Your adornments," said he, "will be simple, a kirtle of

  white wool, a brand, a collar of iron." "You are insane!" she hissed. "I am the

  daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar!" "Wench," said he, "I did not take you for

  ransom." "For what reason then," begged she, "have I been taken ?" "Are you so

  cold, Hilda the Haughty," asked he, "that you cannot guess ?" "Oh, no!" she

  hissed. "No! No!" "You will be well taught to heel and obey," said he. "No!" she

  hissed. He lifted the orange coverlet, to throw it over her head. "I ask only

  one thing," she begged, "should you be successful in this mad scheme." "What is

  that ?" asked Ivar Forkbeard. "Never, never," she said, "let me fall into the

  hands of Ivar Forkbeard!" "I am Ivar Forkbeard," said Forkbeard. Her eyes

  widened with horror. He threw the mantle over her head and, with the scarf,

  turned twice about her neck, and knotted tightly, tied it under her chin He had

  not rendered her unconscious, or gagged her, or tied her ankles. He wanted her

  to be able to cry out; her cries, of course, would be muffled; they would not be

  discernible on the height of the fortress; they rnight, however, be heard by

  Gorm and those in the boat; too, he wanted 142 her to be able to thrash about;

  this, too, would help Gorm to locate her in the darkness. The Forkbeard then

  lifted her from her feet, lightly. He] dress slid back, over her knees. We heard

  her muffled voice 'No!" she wept. "I cannot swim!" ~ The Forkbeard then hurled

  her from the window and sh~ fell, twisting and crying out, some hundred feet to

  the black waters below. With the waves, striking on rocks about, we did not hear

  the splash. We gave Gorm time to find her and fish her out, throwing her in the

  boat and bind;ng her ankles. Then the Forkbeard stood on the sill of the tall

  window, poised, and then he dived into the darkness; after about an Ehn, giving

  hirn time to surface and swim to the boat, I followed him. In less than another

  Ehn, soaked and cold, teeth chattering, I had crawled over the bulwark of the

  longboat and Joined the Forkbeard. He had already stripped and was rubbing

  himself with a fur cloak. I followed his example, and soon both of us were

  warmed and in dry clothes. The Forkbeard then bent to the soaked, shuddering

  captive. He removed one of the fetters and jerked the girl's hands behind her

  back. He then fettered her hands behind her. Her ankles had already been crossed

  and bound by Gorm. The Forkbeard then threw Hilda the Haughty face down in the

  longboat, and, fiom Gorm, took the tiller. She lay lengthwise, head toward the

  stem, between his booted feet "Shhh!" said the Forkbeard. The men rested on the

  oars. We carried no lights. We were much surprised. To one of the wharves-of

  t-he holding of Thorgard of Scagnar, silently, like the serpent of the sea it

  was, carrying two lanterns at its prow, came Black Sleen. We had thought

  Thorgard's roving, his gathering of the harvests of the sea, would have taken

  him much longer. We saw men running down the boards ofthe wharf, carrying

  lanterns. Words were exchanged. I looked up. I could see the window of the

  quarters of Hilda the Haughty, daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar. There was a lamp

  lit still in the ~ room. Apparently she stayed up late. Outside the
door of 143

  the compartment of her five bond-maids, curled sleeping on the floor, on their

  straw-filled mats, chained by their ankles, which area led into her own

  apartment, somnolent and bored, were four guards. Hilda whimpered. The Forkbeard

  kicked her with his boot. "Be silent," he said to her. I saw her hands twist

  futilely in the manacles. She, on her belly, soaked, miserable, lay silent. "Go

  closer," said the Forkbeard. Almost noiselessly oars dipped, bringing us closer

  to the hull of Black Sleen. We saw mooring ropes tossed and caught. The oars

  were brought inboard. The men were weary. We saw shields, one by one, being tied

  over the bulwarks. A gangplank was slid over the gunwale to the wharf. Then we

  saw Thorgard of Scagnar, cloak swirling, in his horned helmet, descend the

  gangplank. He was met by his men, and, high among them, by his holding's keeper,

  and the keeper of his farms. He spoke to them shortly and then, in the light of

  the lanterns, strode down the wharf. The men did not follow him, nor did his men

  on the ship yet leave it. I gasped. I heard, too, the intake of breath of the

  Forkbeard, and of Gorm, and the oarsmen. Another shape emerged from the darkness

  of the ship. It moved swiftly, with an agility startling in so huge a bulk. I

  heard the scrape of claws on the gangplank. It w~s humped, shaggy. It followed

  Thorgard of Scagnar. After it, then, came his men, timidly, those who had met

  Thorgard and those, too, from the ship. A wharf crew then busied themselves

  about the ship. The Forkbeard looked at me. He was puzzled. "One ofthe Kurii,"

  he said. It was true. But the beast we had seen was not an isolated, degenerate,

  diseased beast, of the sort we had encountered at Forkbeard~s Landfall. It had

  seemed in its full health, swift and powerfill. 144 "What has such a beast to do

  with Thorgard of Scagnar ?" "What has Thorgard of Scagnar to do with such a

  beast ?" smiled Ivar Forkbeard. "I do not understand this," I said. "Doubtless

  it means nothing," said Ivar Forkbeard. "And at least it is of no concern to

  us." "I shall hope not," I said. "I have an appointment with Svein Blue Tooth,"

  said Ivar Forkbeard. He kicked the captive with the side of his boot. She

  uttered a small noise, but made no other sound. "The Thing will soon be held,"