by John Norman
They looked at one another, frightened. The fellow with whom I had grappled, who had called himself Bertram of Lydius, would have been fully capable of dispatching them both with ease.
"That would have put the badge of authenticity on the supposedly accidental discovery of the carving," I said.
They looked at one another.
"That you were not killed by one of the skill of the assailant," I said, "makes clear to a warrior's eye that you were not intended to die. And why not? Because you were confederates of Kurii. A twofold plan is thus manifested, a trap and a lure, but a lure which is obvious and explicit, not so much a lure as an invitation." I looked at them. "I accept the invitation," I said.
"Are you not going to kill us?" asked the merchant.
I went to the front of the booth, to the front margin of its selling area, bordering the walkway, and thrust back a shred of dangling canvas, it sewn to a broken pole, and then turned to regard them.
I lifted the carving, which I had rewrapped in its fur. "I may have this?" I asked.
"It is for you," said the merchant.
"Are you not going to kill us?" asked the fellow in blue.
"No," I said.
They looked at me.
"You are only messengers," I said. "And you have done your work well." I threw them two golden tarn disks. I grinned at them. "Besides," I said, "violence is not permitted at the fair."
5
I Take my Departure from the House of Samos
"The game," I said, "was an excellent one."
Samos rose to his feet, storming with rage. "While you sported at the fair," said he, "here in Port Kar catastrophe has struck!"
I had seen the flames in the arsenal as I had returned on tarn from the perimeters of the Sardar.
"He was mad," I said. "You know this to be true."
"Only he could have so approached the ship, only he could have done this!" cried Samos.
"Perhaps he was not satisfied with the design," I suggested. "Perhaps he feared to paint the eyes, perhaps he feared to commit his dream to the realities of Thassa."
Samos sat down, cross-legged, behind the low table in his hall. He wept. He struck the table with his fist.
"Are you sure it was he?" I asked.
"Yes," said Samos, bitterly. "It was indeed he."
"But why?" I asked.
"I do not know," said Samos. "I do not know."
"Where is he now?" I asked.
"He has disappeared," said Samos. "Doubtless he has thrown himself into the canals."
"It meant so much to him," I said. "I do not understand it. There is a mystery here."
"He took fee from Kurii agents," said Samos.
"No," I said. "Gold could not buy dreams from Tersites."
"The ship," said Samos, "is destroyed."
"What remains?" I asked.
"Ashes," said he, "blackened timbers."
"And the plans?" I asked.
"Yes," said he, "the plans."
I nodded. "Then it might be rebuilt," I said.
"You must take the Dorna," said he, "or the Tesephone."
"It makes little sense to me," said I, "that Tersites would fire the ship."
"It is the end of our hopes," said Samos, "to meet Half-Ear at the world's end."
"I have spoken to you of that matter," I said.
"Yes," said Samos, bitterly, "I have seen your carving. Can you not recognize that as a ruse to mislead you northward, while Kurii pursue unimpeded their fierce schemes at the world's end?"
"Perhaps," I said. "But I sense that there is an honesty in this, as of the cruel sport of war. I think I sense the nature and being of this Zarendargar."
"Kurii," said Samos, "are without honor."
"There is a brotherhood of professional soldiers," I said, "which I suspect crosses the boundaries of species."
"We have only one choice," said Samos. "You must take another ship, the Dorna or the Tesephone, or you may take my flagship, the Thassa Ubara."
"But there is little hope," I smiled, "that such ships may reach the world's end."
"None have hitherto done so, or have done so and returned," said Samos. He looked at me. "I do not, of course, command that you undertake such a journey."
I nodded.
No sane leader could command this of a subordinate. A journey so far and terrible could be undertaken by none but volunteers.
"I am sorry about the ship," I said, "and I do not understand what has happened there, but I had previously determined, my dear Samos, that in any case I would venture not to the west but the north."
Samos looked at me, angrily.
"I hope, of course," said I, "to discover one day what occurred in the arsenal."
"I can command you," said Samos, "as one loyal to Priest-Kings, to remain in Port Kar."
"I am in my way a mercenary," I said. "I command myself. I choose my wars. I choose my loyalties."
"Would you betray Priest-Kings?" asked Samos.
"I will keep faith with them in my own way," I said.
"I order you to remain in Port Kar," said Samos, coldly.
I smiled at him. "That is an order you have no authority to issue," I told him. "I am a free soldier."
"You are a brigand and an adventurer!" he cried.
"I am curious to see the north," I said.
"The ship may have been destroyed by Tersites, in fee to Kurii," snapped Samos, "precisely to prevent you from reaching the world's end!"
"Perhaps," I admitted.
"That is where Zarendargar waits for you!" said Samos.
"We think of the world's end as lying betwixt Tyros and Cos, at the end of a hundred horizons," I said, "but who knows where a Kur would see it to be." I rose to my feet and strode to the map mosaic on the floor of the great hall. I pointed downwards. "There," I said, "may well be what a Kur regards as the world's end." I indicated the frozen north, the polar sea, the ice of the lonely pole. "Is that not a world's end?" I asked.
"Only red hunters can live in such a place," whispered Samos.
"And Kurii?" I asked.
"Perhaps," he said.
"And perhaps others?" I asked.
"Perhaps," he said.
"It is my belief," I said, "that Zarendargar waits in the north."
"No," said Samos. "The carving is a trick, to lure you away from the locus of their true efforts, those at the true world's end, there." He indicated the western edge of the map, the terra incognita beyond Cos and Tyros, and the scattered, farther islands.
"A judgment must be made here," I said. "And I have made it."
"I will make the judgment," said Samos. "I am commanding you to remain in Port Kar."
"But I am not under your command," I pointed out. "I am a free captain. Apprise yourself of the articles of the Council of Captains."
I turned and strode to the door.
"Stop him," said Samos.
The two guards, their spears crossed, barred my way. I turned to regard Samos.
"I am sorry, my friend," he said. "You are too valuable to risk in the north."
"Am I to understand," I asked, "that it is your intention to prevent me by force from leaving your house?"
"I will cheerfully accept your word," said he, "that you will remain in Port Kar."
"I do not, of course, accord you that word," I grinned.
"Then I must detain you by force," he said. "I am sorry. I will see that your accommodations are in keeping with your station as a captain."
"I trust," I said, "you can make clear the benevolence of your intentions to my men."
"If the house is stormed," said Samos, "my defenses will be found to be in order. It would be my hope, however, that you would not see fit, under the circumstances, to encourage useless strife. We are both, surely, fond of our men."
"To be sure," I said, "I expect they could find better things to do than die on your walls."
"I ask only your word, Captain," said Samos.
"It seems I have little choice," I sai
d.
"Forgive me, Captain," said Samos.
I turned and seized the crossed spears of the guards, twisting and pulling them toward me, flinging them, they surprised, not swiftly enough releasing the weapons, to the tiles.
"Stop!" cried Samos.
I slipped through the door and, with one of the spears, which I had retained, sliding the shaft through the great handles, closed the door. Instantly they were pounding on it. I seized the mallet of an alarm bar which hung in the hall, and began to pound it madly. It served to drown out the noise. Men's feet began to pound in the halls; I heard the clank of weapons. I hurried down the hall and struck another alarm bar.
A guardsman appeared. "There!" I cried. "In the great hall! Hurry!"
Four more guards appeared.
"Come!" cried the first guard.
They ran down the hall.
Other guardsmen appeared.
"To the hall!" I cried.
They fled past me.
In a moment I was at the double portal, the first barred, of the house of Samos.
"What is it, Captain?" asked one of the guards there.
"I think it is nothing," I said. "A new guardsman, affrighted at a shadow or noise sounded the alarm."
"Is it a false alarm?" said the man.
"I think so," I said.
"Perhaps a sleen is loose," said another guard.
"That would be serious," I admitted.
"Perhaps we should assist," said one of the guards.
"I think you should remain at your post," I said.
"He is right," said another.
"Is my boat ready?" I asked.
"Yes," said one of the guardsmen. He opened the interior gate, and then the heavy iron portal.
"Stop him!" we heard. "Stop him!" These shouts came from down the hall.
"It sounds as though there is an intruder," I said.
"He will not get past us," said one of the guardsmen.
"Good man," I commended him.
"I wish you well, Captain," said the man.
"I wish you well, too, Guardsman," said I. Then I stepped across the narrow court before the house of Samos and down into the waiting longboat.
"To the house, Captain?" asked Thurnock.
"Yes," I said.
6
Two Girls are Made Slaves;
I Proceed Northward to Lydius
I lay on my belly before the small pond, and, with the palm of my hand, lifted water to my mouth.
When I heard the sound of the tharlarion, some four or five of them, I rose to my feet.
"Have you see aught of a sport slave?" she asked.
"No," I said.
She was very lovely and attractive in her hunting costume, brief tunic and long hose, brown, a scarlet cape and cap, the cap with a feather. She carried a short, yellow bow, of Ka-la-na wood, which could clear the saddle of the tharlarion, its missile being easily released to either side. Her black boots, slick and shining, were spurred. A quiver of arrows, yellow, was at the left of her saddle.
"Thank you, Warrior," she said, and wheeled the light saddle tharlarion, its claws scattering pebbles by the side of the pond.
She was with four men, also on upright tharlarion. They followed her as she sped away.
She had had dark hair, dark eyes.
I did not envy the sport slave.
I stood in the midst of fields south of the Laurius river, some forty pasangs inland from the shore of Thassa, some one hundred and twenty pasangs south-southeast of the river port of Lydius, lying at the mouth of the Laurius river, on its farther side. My tarn was foraging. I had brought it inland where game was more plentiful.
I had had at that time no intention of stopping at Lydius. My business lay far to the north.
I did not know how long it would take my tarn to make a kill and return. Usually this can be done within the Ahn. There is little scarcity of game on Gor, save in relatively populated areas. Usually one spots game from the saddle and calls "Tabuk," which is the tarn's hunting signal. I had, however, spotted little suitable game, and so had released the tarn to do his own foraging. When the tarn takes game one may either retain the saddle or not. If there is no press of time I have usually surrendered it, if only to stretch my legs. Too, the feeding of a tarn is not pleasant to witness.
From a distance, approaching, I could see a small retinue, not more than some fourteen persons.
A free woman, robed in white, veiled, was being carried in a sedan chair by four draft slaves. Beside the chair, on either side, afoot, walked a girl. Each was veiled but bare-armed. From the fact that their arms had been bared to the gaze of men I knew they were slaves.
The journey from Port Kar north had been long.
I felt in a good humor.
Besides the women and the draft slaves, the latter chained by the wrists and neck to the sedan chair, there were seven warriors, six spearmen and their captain.
I walked about the edge of the pond, to meet them. They were approaching the pond, presumably to draw water.
I waited, standing, my helmet over my back, my shield behind my left shoulder, leaning on my spear.
The retinue stopped, seeing me. Then, at a gesture from the robed figure in white, it proceeded again. It stopped some fifteen feet from me.
"Tal," said I, lifting my right hand to them, palm facing the left.
They did not respond.
The captain stepped forth. They did not seem then to me to be pleasant fellows.
"Who are you?" asked the captain.
"One who has greeted you," I said.
"Tal," said he, lifting his hand.
"Tal," I rejoined.
"We have seen nothing of the sport slave," he said.
"I do not hunt him," I said.
"Where is your tharlarion?" asked one of the men.
"I have none," I said.
"Do not block our way," said the captain.
"I mean you no harm," I said. "I greet you in peace and friendship."
"Who are you?" asked the captain.
"I am one who is of the warriors," I said. "And I am a traveler, a visitor now in this country."
"What is your business?" he asked.
"It lies in the north," I said.
"He is a brigand from the forests north of Laura," said the lady.
"No, Lady," said I, deferentially. I inclined my head to her, for she was free, and obviously of high station.
"You have been greeted," she said, icily. "Now stand aside."
I thought her tone surly.
I did not move.
"This is the retinue of Constance, Lady in Kassau, enroute to Lydius, returning from the sights of Ar."
"She must be rich," I said. Surely this was true, for her to travel as she did, not in public caravan.
"Stand aside," said the captain.
"A moment, Captain," said I. I looked to the free woman. "I am a man, dear lady," said I, "and am of the warriors. I have journeyed far."
"I do not understand," she said.
"I assume," said I, "that you will linger briefly here, to fill the flasks of water, if not camp for the night."
"What does he want?" she asked.
"He is of the warriors, milady," said the captain.
"Forgive me, Lady," said I, "but my need is much upon me."
The two slave girls, bare-armed and veiled, quickly glanced to one another.
"I do not understand," said the graceful figure in the sedan chair. She was free.
I grinned at her. "I have food," I said. "I have water. But I have not had for four days a woman."
She stiffened. The night before I had left Port Kar I had had Vella sent naked to my room. I had used her ruthlessly several times, before sleeping and, early in the morning, when I had awakened. "Take me with you," she had begged. "So that you might with another Bertram of Lydius," I asked, "conspire against me?" "He tricked me, Master," she wept. "He tricked me." "I should have you lashed to within an inch of your life, Slave
Girl," I had told her. "I am innocent, Master," she had wept. I had then turned my back on her and left her, naked, chained in the furs at the foot of my couch.
She had once been a female of Earth, a secretary. Then she had been brought to Gor. On Gor such women discover, perhaps to their horror, that they are good for something. They learn what women are for.
But that had been four days ago.
I gestured to the two girls with the free woman. One of them slightly lowered her veil.
"I will pay well for the use of one of these slaves," I said to the free woman.
"They are my personal slaves," she said.
"I will give a silver tarsk for the brief use of one, either that you might indicate," I said.
The warriors looked at one another. The offer was quite generous. It was unlikely that either of the girls would bring so much on the block.
"No," said the free woman, icily.
"Permit me then to buy one," I said, "for a golden tarn."
The men looked at one another, the draft slaves, too. Such a coin would fetch from the block a beauty fit for the gardens of a Ubar.
"Stand aside," said the free woman.
I inclined my head. "Very well, Lady," said I. I moved to one side.
"I deem myself to have been insulted," she said.
"Forgive me, Lady," said I, "but such was not my intent. If I have done or said aught to convey that impression, however minutely, I extend to you now the deepest and most profound of apologies and regrets."
I stepped back further, to permit the retinue to pass.
"I should have you beaten," she said.
"I have greeted you in peace and friendship," I said. I spoke quietly.
"Beat him," she said.
I caught the arm of the captain. His face turned white. "Have you raised your arm against me?" I asked.
I released his arm, and he staggered back. Then he slung his shield on his arm, and unsheathed the blade slung at his left hip.
"What is going on!" demanded the woman.
"Be silent, foolish woman," said the captain.
She cried out with rage. But what did she know of the codes?
I met his attack, turning it, and he fell, shield loose, at my feet. I had not chosen to kill him.
"Aiii!" cried one of the draft slaves.
"Kill him! Kill him!" cried the free woman. The slave girls screamed.
