Marauders of Gor (5 page)

           
It was bloodied

           
I knew the armlet well. It had been that of Telima, who had fled to the marshes, when I had determined to seek Talina in the northern forests.

           
"Telima," said Ho-Hak.

           
"When did this happen?" I asked.

           
"Within four Ahn," said Ho-Hak. Then he turned to another rencer, one who stood with him. "Speak," said Ho-Hak.

           
" I saw little," he said. "there was a tarn and a beast. I heard the scream of the woman. I poled my rence craft toward them, my bow ready. I heard another scream. The tarn took flight, low, over the rence, the beast upon it, hunched, shaggy. I found her rence craft, the pole floating nearby. It was much bloodied. I found there, too, the armlet."

           
"The body?" I asked.

           
"Tharlarion were about." Said the rencer.

           
I nodded.

           
I wondered if the beast had struck for hunger. Such a beast in the house of Cernus had fed on human flesh. Doubtless it was little other to them than venison would be to us.

           
"Why did you not kill the
 
beast, or strike the tarn? I asked.

           
The great bow was capable of such matters.

           
"I had no opportunity," said the rencer.

           
"Which way did the tarn take flight?" I asked.

           
"To the northwest," said the rencer.

           
I was certain the taern would follow the coast. It was extremely difficut, if not impossible, to fly a tarn from the sight of land. It is counterinstinctual for them. In the engagement of the 25th of Se'Kara we had used tarns at sea, but they had been kept below decks in cargo ships until beyond ther sight of land. Interestingly, once released, there had been no difficulty in
 
managing them. They had performed effectively in the engagement.

           
I looked at Samos. "What do you know of this matter?" I asked.

           
"I know only what I am told," said Samos.

           
"Describe the beast," I said to the rencer.

           
"I did not see it well," he said.

           
"It could only have been one of the Kurii," said Samos.

           
"The Kurii?" I asked.

           
"The word is a Gorean corruption of their name for themselves, for their kind," said Samos.

           
"In Torvaldsland." Said Tab, " that means "beasts'."

           
"That is interesting," I said. If Samos were correct that "Kurii" was a Goprean corruption of the name of such animals for themselves, and that the word was used in Torvaldsland as a designation for beasts, then it seemed not unlikely that such animals were not unknown in Torvaldsland, at least in certain areas, perhaps remote ones.

           
The tarn had flown northwest. It would, presumably, follow the coast north, perhaps above the forests, perhaps to the bleak
 
coasts of forbidding
 
Torvaldsland itself.

           
"Do you surmise, Samos," I asked, "that the beast killed for hunger?"

           
"Speak," said Samos to the rencer.

           
"The beast," he said, " had been seen earlier, twice, on abandoned, half-rotted rence islands, lurking."

           
"Did it feed?" I asked.

           
"Not on those of the marshes," said the man.

           
"It had opportunity?" I asked.

           
"As much or more as when it made its strike," said the man.

           
"The beast struck once, and once only?" I asked.

           
"Yes," said the man.

           
"Samos?" I asked.

           
"The strike," said Samos," seems deliberate. Who else in the marshes wore a golden armlet?"

           
"But why?" I asked. "Why?"

           
He looked at me. "The affairs of worlds," said Samos, "apparently still touch you."

           
"He is crippled!" cried Luma. " You speak strangely! He can do nothing! Go away!"

           
I put down my head.

           
On the table I felt my fists clenched. I suddenly felt a hideous exhilaration.

           
"Bring me a goblet," I said.

           
A goblet was fetched. It was of heavy gold. I took it in my left hand. Slowly I crushed it.

           
I threw it from me.

           
Those of my house stood back, frightened.

           
"I will go," said Samos./ " There is work to be done in the north. I will seek the vengeance."

           
"No, Samos," I said. " I will go."

           
There were gasps from those about.

           
"You cannot go," whispered Luma.

           
"Telima was once my woman," I said. "It is mine to seek the vengeance."

           
"You are crippled! You vannot move!" cried Luma.

           
"There are two swords over my couch," said I to Thurnock. "One is plain, with a worn hilt; the other is rich, with a jewel-encrusted hilt."

           
"I know them," whispered Thurnock.

           
"Bring me the blade of Port Kar, swiftm fit with inhilted jewels."

           
He sped from the room.

           
"I would have paga," I said. " And bring me the red meat of bosk."

           
Henrius and Clitus left the table.

           
The sword was brought. It was a fine blade. It had been carried on the 25th of Se'Kara. Its blade was figured, its hilt encrusted with jewels.

           
I took the goblet, filled with burning paga. I had not had paga since returning frm the northern forests.

           
"Ta-Sardar-Gor," said I, pouring a libation to the table. Then I stood.

           
"he is standing!" cried Luma. " He is standing!"

           
I threw back my head and swilled down the paga. The meat, red and hot, was brought, and I tore it in my teeth, the juices running at the side of my mouth.

           
The blood and the paga were hot and dark within me. I felt the heat of the meat.

           
I threw from me the goblet of gold. I tore the meat and finished it.

           
I put over my left shoulder the scabbard strap.

           
"Saddle a tarn," said I to Thurnock.

           
"Yes, Captain," he whispered.

           
I stood before the captain's chair. "More paga,"
 
I said. Another vessel was brought. " I drink," said I, " to the blood of beasts."

           
Then I drained the goblet and flung it from me.

           
With a howl of rage I struck the table with the side of my fists, shattering the boards. I flung aside
 
the blanket and the captain's chair.

           
"Do not go," said Samos. " It may be a trick to lure you to a trap."

           
I smiled at him. "Of course," I said. "To those with whom we deal Telima is of no importance." I regarded him. "It is me they want," I said. "They shall not fail to have their opportunity."

           
"Do not go," said Samos.

           
"There is work to be done in the north," I said.

           
"Let me go," said samos.

           
"Mine," I said, " is the vengeance."

           
I turned and strode toward the door of the hall. Luma fell back before me, her hand before her mouth.

           
I saw that her eyes were deep, and very beautiful. She was frightened.

           
"Precede me to my couch," I said.

           
"I am free." She whispered.

           
"Collar her," I said to Thurnock, "and send her to my couch."

           
His hand closed on the arm of the thin blond scribe.

           
"Clitus," I said, "send Sandra, the dancer, to my couch as well."

           
"You freed her, Captain," smiled Clitus.

           
"Collar her," I told him.

           
"Yes, Captain," he said. I well remembered Sandra, with her black hair, brownish skin and high cheekbones. I wanted her.

           
It had been long since I had had a woman.

           
"Tab," said I.

           
"Yes, Captain," said he

           
"The two females," I told him, "have recently been free. Accordingly, as soon as they have been collared, force them to drink slave wine."

           
"Yers, Captain," grinned Tab.

           
Slave wine is bitter, intentionally so. Its effect lasts for more than a Gorean month. I did not wish the females to conceive. A female slave is taken off slave wine only when it is her master's intention to breed her.

           
"The tarn, Captain?" asked Thurnock.

           
"Have it saddled," I told him. " I leave shortly for the north."

           
"Yes, Captain." He said.

           
Chapter 2
 
                                                                                          
 
The Temple of Kassau

           
The incense stung my nostrils.

           
It was hot in the temple, close, stifling. There were many bodies pressed about. It was not easy to see, for the clouds of incense
 
hung heavy in the air.

           
The High Initiate of Kassau, a town at the northern brink of the forest, sat still in his white robes, in his tall hat, on the throne to the right, within the white rail that separated the sanctuary of Initiates from the common ground of the hall, where those not anointed by the grease of Priest-kings must stand.

           
I heard a woman sobbing with emotion to my right. "Praise the Priest-Kings," she repeated endlessly to herself, nodding her head up and down

           
Near her , bored, was a slender, blondish girl, looking about. He r hair was hung in a snood of scarlet yarn, bound with filaments of golden wire. She wore, over her
 
shoulder, a cape of white fur of the northern sea sleen. She had a scarlet vest, embroidered
 
in gold, worn over a long-sleeved blouse of white wool, from distant Ar. She wore, too, a log woollen skirt, dyed red, which was belted with black, with a buckle of gold, wrought in Cos. She wore shoes of black polished leather, which folded about her ankles, laced twice, once across the instep, once about the ankle.

           
She saw me regarding her with interest, and looked away.

           
Other wenches, too, were in the crowd. In the northern villages, and in the forest towns, and northward on the coast the woman do not veil themselves, as is common in the cities to the south.

           
Kassau is the seat of the High Initiate of the north, who claims spiritual sovereignty over Torvaldsland, which is commonly taken to commence with the thinning of the trees northward. This claim, like many of those of the initiates, is disputed by few, and ignored by most. The men of Torvaldsland, on the whole, I knew, while tending to respect Priest-Kings, did not accord them
 
special reverence. They held to old gods, and old ways. The religion of the Priest-Kings, institutionalised and ritualised by the castle of Initiates, had made little headway among the primitive men to the north. It had, however, taken hold in many towns, such as Kassau. Initiates often used their influence and their gold, and pressures on trade and goods, to spread their beliefs and rituals.. Sometimes a Chieftain, converted to their ways, would enforce his own commitments on his subordinates. Indeed, this was not unusual.
 
Too, often, a
 
chief's conversion would bring with it, even without force, those of his people who felt bound to him in loyalty. Sometimes, too, the religion of the Priest-Kings, under the control of the initiates, utulizing secular rulers, was propagated by fire and sword. Sometimes those who insisted on retaining the old ways, or were caught making the sign of the fist, the hammer, over their ale were subjected to death by torture.
 
One that I had heard of had been boiled alive in one of the great sunken wood-lined tubs in which meat was boiled for retainers. The water is heated by placing rocks, taken from a fire, into the water. When the rock has been in the water, it is removed with a rake and then reheated. Another had been roasted alive on a spit over a long fire. It was said that he did not utter a sound. Another was slain when an adder forced into his mouth tore its way free through the side of his face.