Authors: John Norman
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Fiction, #General, #Fantasy, #Adventure, #Gor (Imaginary Place), #Cabot; Tarl (Fictitious Character), #Outer Space, #Nomads, #Outlaws
Gor," said she.
"And his name?" I asked.
"Tart Cabot," she said.
"He is a fortunate fellow," I remarked, "to have two such-
women."
"They are jealous of one another," confided the girl.
"Oh?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, "each will try to please her master more
than the other, that she will be his favorite."
I kissed her.
"I wonder who will be his favorite?" she asked.
"Let them both try to please him," I suggested, "each
more than the other."
She looked at me reproachfully. "He is a cruel, cruel
master," she said.
"Doubtless," I admitted.
For a long time we kissed and touched. And from time to
time, during the night, each of the girls, Vella of Gor and the
little barbarian, Miss Elizabeth Cardwell, begged, and were
permitted, to serve the pleasure of their master. Yet he,
unprecipitate and weighing matters carefully, still could not
decide between them.
It was well toward morning, and he was nearly asleep,
when he felt them against him, their cheek pressed against his
thigh. "Girls," mumbled he, "do not forget you wear my
steel."
"We will not forget," they said.
And he felt their kiss.
"We love you," said they, "Master."
He decided, falling asleep, that he would keep them both
slave for a few days, if only to teach them a lesson. Also, he
reminded himself, it is only a fool who frees a slave girl.
In the dampness and darkness long before dawn the forces
of Kamchak, crowding the streets of Turia in the vicinity of
Saphrar's compound, waited silently, like dark shapes on the
stones; here and there the glint of a weapon or accouterment
could be made out ~ the fading light of one of the flying
moons; someone coughed; there was a rustle of leather; I
heard to one side the honing of a quiva, the tiny sound of a
short bow being strung.
Kamchak, Harold and I stood with several others on the
roof of a building across from the compound.
Behind the walls we could hear, now and then, a sentry
calling his post, answering another.
Kamchak stood in the half darkness, his palms on the wall
running about the edge of the roof of the building on which
we stood.
More than an hour ago I had left the commander's wagon,
being roused by one of the guards outside. As I had left
Elizabeth Cardwell had awakened. We had said nothing, but
I had gathered her into my arms and kissed her, then left the
wagon.
On the way to the compound I had met Harold and
together we had eaten some dried bask meat- and drank
water, from one of the commissary wagons attached to one
of Hundreds in the city. As commanders we could eat where
we chose.
The tarns that Harold and I had stolen from Saphrar's
keep several days ago had both been brought into the city
and were nearby, for it was thought that such might be
needed, if only to convey reports from one point to another.
There were also, in the city, of course, hundreds of kaiila,
though the main body of such mounts was outside the city,
where game could be driven to them with greater ease.
I heard someone chewing nearby and noted that Harold,
who had thrust some strips of bask meat from the commis-
sary wagon in his belt, was busily engaged, quiva in hand,
with cutting and eating the meat.
"It's nearly morning," he mumbled, the observation some-
what blurred by the meat packed in his mouth.
I nodded.
I saw Kamchak leaning forward, his palms on the wall
about the roof, staring at the compound. He seemed humped
in the half darkness, short of neck, broad of shoulder. He
hadn't moved in a quarter of an Ahn. He was waiting for the
dawn.
When I had left the wagon Elizabeth Cardwell, though she
had said nothing, had been frightened. I remembered her
eyes, and her lips, as they had trembled on mine. I had taken
her arms from about my neck and turned away. I wondered
if I would see her again.
"My own recommendation," Harold was saying, 'would be
first to fly my tarn cavalry over the walls, clearing them with
thousands of arrows, and then, in a second wave, to fly
dozens of ropes of warriors to the roofs of the main buildings,
to seize them and burn the others.
"But we have no tarn cavalry," I noted.
'That is what is wrong with my recommendation," granted
Harold, chewing.
I closed my eyes briefly, and then looked back at the dim
compound across the way.
"No recommendation is perfect," said Harold.
I turned to a commander of a Hundred, he who was in
.
charge of the men I had trained with the crossbow. "Did
tarns enter or leave the compound last night?" I asked.
"No," said the man.
- "Are you sure?" I asked.
"There was moonlight," he said. "We saw nothing." He
looked at me. "But,', he added, "there are, by my count
some three or four tarns from before within the compound."
"Do not permit them to escape," I said.
"We shall try not to do so," he said.
and were nearby, for it was thought that such might be
needed, if only to convey reports from one point to another.
There were also, in the city, of course, hundreds of kaiila,
though the main body of such mounts was outside the city,
where game could be driven to them with greater ease.
I heard someone chewing nearby and noted that Harold,
who had thrust some strips of bask meat from the commit
sary wagon in his belt, was busily engaged, quiva in hand,
with cutting and eating the meat.
"It's nearly morning," he mumbled, the observation some-
what blurred by the meat packed in his mouth.
I nodded.
I saw Kamchak leaning forward, his palms on the wall
about the roof, staring at the compound. He seemed humped
in the half darkness, short of neck, broad of shoulder. He
hadn't moved in a quarter of an Ahn. He was waiting for the
dawn.
When I had left the wagon Elizabeth Cardwell, though she
had said nothing, had been frightened. I remembered her
eyes, and her lips, as they had trembled on mine. I had taken
her arms from about my neck and turned away. I wondered
if I would see her again.
"My own recommendation," Harold was saying, "would be
first to fly my tarn cavalry over the walls, clearing them with
thousands of arrows, and then, in a second wave, to fly
dozens of ropes of warriors to the roofs of the main buildings,
to seize them and burn the others.
"But we have no tarn cavalry," I noted.
'Chat is what is wrong with my recommendation," granted
Harold, chewing.
I closed my eyes briefly, and then looked back at the dim
compound across the way.
"No recommendation is perfect," said Harold.
I turned to a commander of a Hundred, he who was in
.
charge of the men I had trained with the crossbow. "Did
tarns enter or leave the compound last night?" I asked.
"No," said the man.
- "Are you sure?" I asked.
"There was moonlight," he said. "We saw nothing." He
looked at me. "But,', he added, "there are, by my count
some three or four tarns from before within the compound."
"Do not permit them to escape," I said.
"We shall try not to do so," he said.
Now, in the east, as on Earth, we could see a lightness in the sky. I seemed to be breathing very deeply.
|
Kamchak still had not moved.
I heard the rustling of men below in the streets, the
checking of arms.
"There is a tarn" cried one of the men on the roof.
Very high in the sky, no more than a small speck, speeding
toward the compound of Saphrar from the direction of the
Nil,
tower I believed held by Ha-Keel, we saw a tarn.
"Prepare to final" I cried.
"No," said Kamchak, "let it enter."
The men held their fire, and the tarn, almost at the center
of the compound, as far from our encircling positions as