Renegades of Gor (3 page)

complaints.

It is interesting to not that this “delicacy,” this pretentious frailty, or what

not, and such “complaints,” usually disappear as soon as they have been

enslaved. That is probably because they are then where they belong, in their

place in nature. Too, looking up from their knees at their master they may

realize he has little patience for such things. Similarly, circumstances can

apparently make a great deal of difference. For example, it has been noted that

the same person who makes a disgusting spectacle of herself as a free person

traveling one way on a leather-slung fee cart is likely on the return journey,

if then a slave, perhaps tied in a sack, or placed hooded, and bound, hand and

foot, on the floor of such a cart, between the feet of the passengers on

opposite benches, is likely to remain orally continent, even desperately so. If

she does not, of course, she, within the sack or hood, heard the consequences of

her own actions, after which she is likely to be kicked or struck while still

inside the sack, or beaten while still in the hood, after which the sack might

be hung over the back of the fee cart or she herself bound vulnerably on her

stomach, her upper body over its rear guard (pg.20) rail. Afterwards, too, of

course, eventually, she will clean both herself and the sack, or hood,

thoroughly, before crawling back into the sack, to again become its prisoner, or

having the hood again drawn over her head and having it fastened on her. She

seldom had the same accident twice.

To be perfectly fair, however, most Goreans, and not just free women, will

prefer the simple, jolting progress of a springless wagon to the often more

rapid progress of a leather-slung fee cart. In the flash of lightning in which I

had seen the “grease bucket” on its hook I had also seen, under the same wagon,

ahead of that to which I clung, two children in a large, suspended hide. They

were peeping out, frightened. Their eyes were very large. Such hides are not

unusual under Gorean wagons. It is unusual, however, to carry children, or any

passenger, or even a slave, in them. They normally serve to carry fuel, which is

collected here and there along the route. The children were there now,

doubtless, to shelter them from the storm.

In the next flash of lightning I did not see the children any longer. They had

apparently decided to pull their heads in, I did not much blame them. I recalled

the brigands, now in the custody of the driver and his fellow, those who had

been of the wagon of “Septimus Entrates.” Perhaps that had been the driver’s

name, or the name of the owner of the original wagon, that which had fallen into

the brigand’s trap, where the stones had been removed, that which had slid into

the ditch and overturned. Its axle had been broken. I had not, as far as I could

recall, heard the name before. It was an unusual name. It suggested the sorts of

names not uncommon in many of the Vosk towns, however, names reflecting the

cultural mixtures of many such places, reflecting influences as diverse as those

of the island urbarates, such as Cos and Tyros, on one hand, and those of the

southern cities, such as Venna and Ar on the other.

The brigand’s loot wagon substituted for their own incapacitated vehicle the

fellows, their load transferred, had continued on their way. They had seemed

like good fellows. I recalled that the brigands, after having descended to prey

upon them, had been prepared to withdraw, hearing that the wagon carried a Home

Stone. Those with a Home Stone in their keeping are commonly formidable

adversaries. Few men (pg.21) will knowingly interfere with the progress of such

a person, let alone threaten or attack them. Warning them that he carried a Home

Stone indicated that the driver suspected their intentions. It had been that

announcement, too, which had encouraged me to enter into the matter. I wondered

if the driver had actually been carrying a Home Stone or if his assertion had

been merely a trick to discourage predation. At any rate the driver and his

fellow were now better off than they had been. they had an extra tharlarion,

three extra purses and three fellows, hurrying behind them, naked and bound,

ropes on their necks, whom they could now sell to the master of a work chain,

perhaps for as much as a silver tarsk apiece. Hopefully, if the driver and his

fellow wanted to get the brigands to such a master, they would have them hooded

by the time it grew light. If they were recognized they might be treated to

summary justice.

It had been a narrow thing a few Ehn ago, back on the road. I did not think a

little hard labor would hurt the brigands. There were one or more work chains, I

knew, in the neighborhood of Venna, to the south. She was repairing her walls. I

had heard as I had come north, that Ionicus of Cos, the master of several such

chains, was currently buying. Such chains, incidentally, are regarded as

politically neutral instruments. Thus, Venna, an ally of Ar, might employ such a

chain, even though its master was of Cos. I supposed that if the Cosians did not

mind, there was no point in Venna, who could use cheap labor, becoming exercised

about the matter either.

It is not universal, but it is quite common, incidentally, for Goreans to strip

prisoners. There are various reasons for this. It humiliates the prisoner, and

pleases the captor. It shows the prisoner that he is now in someone else’s

power. Too, it makes it difficult to conceal weapons. Too, there is no generally

utilized type of clothing or garb for prisoners on Gor, few “prison uniforms,”

or such. Accordingly, the marking out of prisoners, identifying them as

prisoners, the alerting of others as to their status, etc., which in one culture

might be achieved by such garb are often, on Gor, achieved by the absence, or

near absence, of clothing. The nudity, or semi-nudity, of the prisoner is likely

to alert all who observe it to his status. Too, even if the prisoner should

escape his bonds, (pg.22) he then faces the additional problem of locating

clothing, and of a suitable type. It might also be mentioned, of course, that

most Goreans do not approve of criminals. Accordingly, they have no objection to

depriving them of clothing, and such. It says to them that they have been

caught, and may now expect to be treated as they deserve.

These remarks, incidentally, pertain primarily to free criminals, and not to

prisoners of war or slaves. The stripping of prisoners of war, if it is done, is

generally a temporary matter, having to do with marking them out, as many Gorean

soldiers, particularly mercenaries, do not have distinctive uniforms, and

preventing the concealment of weapons. Whether the slave is clothed or not is at

the discretion of the master. In the houses of slavers and in slave markets,

beautiful women, for example, are almost always kept nude.

In another stroke of lightning, I caught sight again, of the swinging “grease

bucket,: it filled presumable with tar and tallow, hanging on its strap from the

axle housing of the wagon ahead of me. I thought the brigands, all things

considered, would be just as happy to go south to a work gang. Perhaps, in time,

they would even be released, in two or three years perhaps, when it was thought

they had been exemplary prisoners, hard-working and suitably docile. Because of

the storm, the rain and wind, another method of dealing with such fellows had

not been suggested back there on the road, but it is not unknown. It is

sometimes done as part of what is know as “wagon justice.” I will not go into

detail, but the method involves the tar and tallow, and fire. Goreans, as I have

suggested, do not much approve of criminals.

I withdrew my pack from the wagon beside which I was walking and let it pass me,

and then, following diagonally behind it for a moment, crossed to the left side

of the road. Another vehicle passed me, then, behind me. I looked up. In a new

flash of lightning I saw the stony plateau, surmounted by the inn of the Crooked

Tarn. The wind and rain lashed at the right side of my head and body. I stepped

from the road. There was a graveled wide place here, connected with the inn. It

was at least fifty yards deep and wide, affording room where even wagons pulled

by ten tharlarions might turn. A (pg.23) lantern was hung on a post ahead of me.

I made toward it. In other flashes of lightning I saw roads wending about the

plateau. There would be flat places, where wagons might camp.

I could see several wagons crowded together on the side of the plateau to my

left, the lee side. Some other wagons were more ahead of me, turned away from

the rain. I felt the gravel of the turn yard beneath my sandals. I paused by

some of the wagons. Then I made my way again toward the lantern. It surmounted a

post which was at the right corner of the wagon bridge, over the moat, ascending

toward the inn gate above me. In a flash of lightning, I saw two girls peeping

out from under a tarpaulin on one of the wagons. In the same instant,

frightened, they had seen me. When the sky was again lit the tarpaulin was down.

I had seen little but their eyes, but I did not doubt but what they were

kijirae. They had the look of women who had well learned that men were their

masters. I trod the wet gravel toward the left side of the wagon bridge. I

paused there to look across the moat. It was some forty feet in width. The

ground approaching it sloped down, gently, toward its retaining wall, only some

inches in height, too low to allow a man cover behind it. In this wall, at its

foot, there were openings every twenty feet or so to allow for water from the

outside to drain into the moat. This pitch of the land, too, incidentally, makes

it difficult to drain the moat. It could be done, of course, by men working

under a shed, to protect them from missile fire, arrows, lead sling pellets, and

such, or, say, more safely, and less exposed to sorties, by siege miners,

through a tunnel. Either project, of course, would require several men, be

costly in time and would constitute an engineering feat of no mean proportion.

There are, of course, various other approaches to such problems, for example,

attempting to bridge the moat, perhaps using dugout pontoons, having recourse to

rafts on which one might mount siege ladders, and even attempting to fill it.

Starvation of a garrison is usually ineffective, incidentally, for various

reasons. There is usually a large amount of supplies laid in, often enough for

one or two years, and water is generally available in siege cisterns within, if

not from rain or the moat itself. Similarly, after a time the besiegers tend to

exhaust the food supplies in the countryside and (pg. 24) may well themselves

suffer from hunger before the besieged. Maintaining a siege indefinitely

generally requires an extensive and efficient apparatus of logistics, arranging

for the acquisition, transportation and protection of supplies. To be sure, much

depends on the numbers of the besiegers and besieged, the nature of the

defenses, and such. For example, if the besieged do not have enough men to man

the extent of their walls, their lines must be thinned to the point where in a

multipoint attack penetration is invited. Still, statistically, sieges are

almost always unsuccessful. That is why cities have walls, and such. Usually,

too, within a city, there will be a citadel to which defenders may withdraw,

which is likely to be next to impregnable. They are likely to be safe there even

if the city is burned about them.

If it is of interest, sieges usually do not last very long, seldom more than a

few weeks, before the besiegers, not seeing much point in the matter, and

generally feeling the pinch of short rations, or possibly even because the

captain’s war contract has expired, or the men’s enlistment agreements are up,

will withdraw. Indeed, sometimes the soldiers, particularly if they are levied

citizen soldiers, may wish to return home simply to attend to their own

business, such as gathering in the harvest. More towns and cities, I think, have

fallen to trickery and bribery than frontal assaults. A good besieging captain

is usually aware of the political dissensions with a polity and attempts to

exploit them, a promised consequence of his success supposedly being to bring

one party or another into power. The traitorous party then, and perhaps honestly

enough in its own mind, is likely to hail the conqueror as a liberator.

Dietrich of Tarnburg, one of the best known of the mercenary captains on Gor, is

legendary for his skill in such matters. He has doubtless taken more towns with

gold than iron. The gold expended, of course, may be later expeditiously

recouped from the public treasury, and the sale of goods, such as precious

plate, rugs, fine cloths, tapestries, inlaid woods, silver and gold wire, art

objects, jewels, tharlarion, tarsks, and women. Indeed, such gains may be levied

as a “liberation fee,” which fee it will be then incumbent on the party in power

to welcome with good grace and vigorously justify to the people.

(pg.25) The water in the most, from the inpourings from the land about, the