Dancer of Gor

26 Mercenaries

"Pietro Vacchi!" exclaimed Aulus, drawing back his tharlarion. "I should have known it would have been you!" I was terrified at his stirrup, the chain on my neck. It was like being tethered at the side of a mountain of scales and muscle. These beasts are unexpectedly agile for their size. Very little I would think could stand against their charge, lest it be a terrain of pits, a forest of peeled, inclined, sharpened stakes. The handful of riders had approached us on the Viktel Aria, they moving north. Only a few yards from us had they halted, wheeling their mounts. The very earth on which we stood had shaken. It had been, I suppose, a joke, that we must wait to see if we were to be struck, trampled, or impaled on their spears. Aulus had retained his composure well, I though, considering the provocation. Actually we were not far at all from Venna, only a few pasangs. They had ridden north, it seems, to meet us.

"my old friend, Aulus!" called the fellow. He held his seat well on the gigantic, impatient, hissing beast. He had bright, dark eyes, and curly black hair. in his ears were rings. His beard, too, was curly and black, even ringleted. In it ribbons were tied. Across his back was slung a shield. Beside him, in a saddle sheath, reposed the butt of a lance. His hand was on the shaft. "It seems you have been recruiting again," said Aulus.

"Surely recruiting is no activity unfamiliar to your employer, the good Ionicus of Cos," he said.

"What have you against Ionicus of Cos," asked Aulus.

"Nothing," said the fellow. "Indeed, I remember him with fondness, for I once labored on one of his chains."

Aulus" s tharlarion was now quiet. I therefore knelt beside it, on the stones of the Vitkel Aria, the chain lopping up from my neck to his stirrup. I was naked. "Those I recruit come willingly to my service," said the fellow. "Doubtless those you recruit can say the same."

I looked up at the bearded fellow. He was a man of incredible vitality. Accordingly I spread my knees more widely before him.

"Doubtless," grinned Aulus.

"Had it not been for a captain recruiting, long ago, like myself," said the fellow, "I might still be on his chain."

"I am empowered to negotiate on behalf of my employer, Ionicus," said Aulus. "It is for that reason that I have brought coins with me, those in the wagon behind, under his guard of twenty men."

"Perhaps I will take the coins, and be on my way, keeping the chains," said the fellow.

"You may do so, of course," said Aulus, "but I think that that would not do your reputation, even such as it is, my friend, much good, nor, more importantly, would it be likely to be likely to expedite any future dealings with Ionicus of Cos, or others like him."

"You are a clever fellow, Aulus," he said. "You could ride with me." "I have taken fee," said Aulus.

"But with Ionicus of Cos!" cried the fellow, suddenly, angrily. The knuckles of his hand were white on the shaft of the lance.

"The fee has been taken," said Aulus, quietly.

I saw the fellow" s hand relax. He leaned back. He grinned, his teeth very white in the curly, ringleted blackness of that beribboned beard. "You are more of a mercenary than I," he laughed.

Aulus shrugged.

"Yes," he said, "you could have ridden with me."

"You have all five chains," asked Aulus.

"That is a pretty slave at your stirrup," said the fellow.

I quickly put my head down.

"Look up, child," he said.

I did so.

"Kneel straight," he said. "Put your head back."

I obeyed.

"Yes," he said, "she is pretty."

"Yes," said Aulus.

"She has her knees nicely placed, too," he said.

"She is that sort of slave," said Aulus.

I blushed, but I knew that before a man such as that before me now, on the tharlarion, my knees belonged apart, widely apart.

"She is a three-tarsk girl," said the fellow.

"She cost Ionicus five, and a tarsk bit," said Aulus.

"And a tarsk bit?" asked the fellow.

"Yes," said Aulus.

"Then she was a lure girl," he said.

"Yes," said Aulus.

"Is she negotiable?" asked the fellow.

"All slaves are negotiable," said Aulus.

"Some of my men are not too fond of lure girls," he said. "I think that I would let you keep her. They might kill her."

I had to keep my head back. I was very frightened.

"That would be a tragic waste of slave meat," he said.

"I would think so," said Aulus.

"What do you call her?" asked the fellow.

"Tuka," said Aulus.

"I have taken five chains," said the fellow. "I spared the guards. You may have them back, if you wish. There were two hundred and fifty men, exactly on the chains. I am recruiting one hundred and seventy-seven of them. Some I am freeing, because they are from Brundisium, whose Home Stone, before my outlawry, was mine. The rest I will sell back to you for, I think, something in the neighborhood of what you paid for them."

"You are turning back the genuine prisoners, of course," said Aulus. "Not all of them," said the fellow. "Some of them can handle weapons. They will stay with me."

"Of what numbers are we speaking?" said Aulus.

"Five were from Brundisium," said the fellow.

"Then," said Aulus, "if you are recruiting one hundred and seventy-seven, and releasing five, from Brundisium, who may, or may not take service with you, then we are talking about less than seventy men."

"Sixty-eight, to be exact," said the fellow.

"Yes," said Aulus. "You have been very zealous in your recruiting, it seems. Can we not do a little better than that?"

"The one hundred and seventy-seven have already taken the campaign oath," he said.

"Then that is that," said Aulus. "What about the five from Brundisium." "They are from Brundisium," he said.

"Of course," said Aulus.

"A silver tarsk apiece," said the fellow.

"That seems high," said Aulus.

"It is an average praetor" s price," he said. To be sure, some serving shorter sentences, would presumably go for less, and some, more dangerous fellows, perhaps, serving longer sentences, might go for more. "Too," he said, "I expect you pay to much, or more, for the fellows you get from illicit suppliers." "True," said Aulus. This was the first inkling I had had of what the fellows I had helped to entrap in Argentum might have brought Tyrrhenius. I, twice, had gone for at least five times as much. To be sure, once was because Tyrrhenius had wanted to pick up a good lure girl and once was because Ionicus, or perhaps his agent, acting on a standing policy, had wanted, as a joke, to put me at the service of men I had trapped. If it were not for such things I did not know what I would be likely to sell for, perhaps two silver tarsks. I did not know. Still I was a dancer, and we tend to bring higher prices. We are useful not only in brothels, cabarets, taverns, public pleasure gardens, and such, but wherever there are strong men, wherever there are men who enjoy seeing a woman move before them excitingly, and beautifully, and as a total female. Indeed, it is said some of the finest and most sensuous dancers are private slaves who perform in delicious secrecy, and totally, for a single master. We, and our uses, of course, may also be rented out for private dinner parties, for banquets and feasts, and such. Some of us, too, serve as imbonded camp followers, and will count as part of the loot should the camp fall into enemy hands. Some of us serve, too, in remote army posts, where we are kept to relieve the tedium of the troops. Some, too, of course, as would be expected, serve in the houses of rich men and even in the palaces of the Ubars, where we commonly dance for them at their suppers, entertaining them and their guests. Dancers have many uses on Gor, both public and private. I suppose this is only to be expected, given the vitality, the masculinity, the strength of Gorean males. Any female taken to Gor, I suppose, must expect to learn at least the rudiments of slave dance. "Very well," said Aulus, "sixty-eight silver tarsks. That is cheaper than going about, trying to replace these fellows in other ways. Too, the Vennans are eager to get on with their work."

I had not heard them say anything about the female work slaves. Surely Tupita, too, for example, would have fallen into the hands of this fellow, this mercenary captain, Pietro Vacchi. As a slave, of course, I did not dare speak. What if they saw fit to have me trampled by one of the tharlarions?

It was getting darker now. I wanted to go back to the camp. I felt very helpless, kneeling there, naked, chained to the stirrup.

"I shall return with you to your camp, to pick up the sixty-eight men," said Aulus.

"Good," said Pietro Vacchi, turning his tharlarion.

I was suddenly plunged into terror.

"You may break position, Tuka," said Aulus. "What is wrong?" "Nothing, Master," I said, in terror.

I did not want to go to the mercenaries" camp. It was not merely that I feared such men but that Mirus, I knew, was from Brundisium. Indeed, he and Hendow, my former master, had grown up together there. They had known one another since childhood. On the last night I had seen him in the tavern Mirus had told me that he and Hendow would die for one another.

I rose to my feet. Only too clearly was Aulus going to accompany the captain to his camp.

"Master," I begged, pressing myself against the side of Aulus" s tharlarion, looking up at him, "please do not take me to the camp of the mercenaries, please! Please!"

"Why?" he asked.

"I fear one who may be in the camp," I said.

"Who?" he asked.

"Mirus, from Brundisium," I wept.

"If he is from Brundisium," he said, "he is probably on his way back there now." I looked up at him, tears in my eyes. What he said, of course, might be true. I did not know.

"Do not be afraid," he said.

"Please, Master," I said. "Do not take me to the camp!"

"Was he on your chain?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"If it were his intention to hurt you," he said, "he could have done it then." "Please do not take me to the camp!" I begged.

"Do you really think I am going to send you back to Venna?" he asked. "Please, please!" I begged.

"I, and many others, Vacchi, will be there to protect you," he said. "Please, Master!" I begged.

"Do not embarrass me," he said.

"Come along, Aulus!" called Pietro Vacchi, looking back over his should. "Bring you men, and do not neglect, too, to bring the wagon, with the coins!" "We are coming," called Aulus.

"Please, Master!" I wept, putting my hands to his boot, "Please, Master!"

Then I saw him draw forth a tharlarion whip. "No," I begged, "please!" the lash cut down at me! I felt its blow. I had been whipped! I covered my head and eyes and, terrified, turning about, rushed to the end of the chain, but there, caught by the collar, pulling against the stirrup. I was brought up short, half choked, terrified. Then he reeled me in, gathering lengths of the chain in his hand. He then, as I stood there, naked, trembling, put the whip again to me, three times, and then another lash, for good measure. I was then sobbing, and weeping, wildly. He then cast loose the chain and moved his tharlarion forward, to ride with Pietro Vacchi. I hastily, whipped, stumbled after him.

"Tonight," said Pietro Vacchi, as though he might not have noted my beating, "you will be entertained as though you might be a Ubar!"

"The hospitality of Pietro Vacchi is well known," said Aulus.

I hoped, wildly, that Mirus would not be in the camp of Pietro Vacchi. I hoped he would have already set out for Brundisium. Surely he would not be expecting me to be brought to the camp.

"I have picked up a gentlewoman from Ar," said Pietro Vacchi. "Perhaps you would enjoy enlightening her on what it is to be a female."

"However I may be of service," said Aulus.

"And your little Tuka is a pretty one," said Vacchi.

"She is only a slave," said Aulus, "but she is, of course, yours for the evening."

"Excellent!" said Pietro Vacchi.

I hurried along beside the tharlarion of Aulus, his stirrup chain on my neck. "Ho, Lad!" called Vacchi, holding in his tharlarion. "This is not the way to Brundisium!" he addressed a tall fellow in the shadows, making his way northward on the Viktel Aria.

The figure in the shadows lifted his head.

I had quickly knelt, as soon as the progress of the tharlarion had been arrested, with my head down to the stones of the Vitkel Aria. I did not want to be recognized. The figure in the shadows had been one I could not mistake. The tharlarion began their trek again, southward, toward the camp of Vacchi, the men of Aulus, and the wagon, with its box of coins, following.

There had been no mistaking the figure in the shadows. Too, it had been going north, not west, or northwest, toward Brundisium. It had been going north on the Vitkel Aria, toward Venna, in the vicinity of which lay the camp of the black chain of Ionicus.

I grasped the chain with two hands. I could not get it off my neck.

Surely in the darkness I had not been recognized. Surely I would have seemed then only another slave, only another soft, pretty thing, of no account, kneeling on the road, kneeling in the darkness, its head down, its neck chained to a master" s stirrup.

I dared not look back.

How formidable the figure had seemed, so tall, so broad-shouldered, so purposeful, so menacing, in its remnants of a work tunic. But, now, too, I was sure it was armed. Over its left shoulder, there had been slung a strap, from which had hung a scabbard, the attitude of which had suggested only too clearly that it was weighted with a blade.

"Perhaps, earlier in the evening," Aulus was saying, "before you are ready for her in your tent, you might put her before your men."

"How is that?" asked Vacchi.

"She is not unskilled in the movements of slave dance," said Aulus. "My lads could use a treat," said Vacchi. "Too, I could use ostraka in a helmet for her, with five granting her use. What think you?"

"Excellent," said Aulus. "Your men will be pleased."

I looked back. I almost cried out with fear. The fellow who had been going north was no longer going north. He had changed his direction. He had been moving toward Venna, and the camp of the black chain of Ionicus. But he was now coming south. He was behind the wagon, rather to its right, as I looked back. Indeed, he was only twenty yards, or so, now, behind me.

"Too," said Aulus, "by the time she is brought to your tent she should then be nicely ready."

"Precisely," laughed Vacchi.

I followed the men, on my chain tether. So I might dance? So soldiers might draw lots for my use? So I might serve Pietro Vacchi? But what then? Would the man following not "bide his time" as Tupita had said? Would there not come a time, sooner or later, if he were patient, when he could find me alone? I might even be staked out, my hands and legs widely separated. I had heard mercenaries sometimes enjoyed fastening women down in such a way. But I would be scarcely less helpless if I were in a tiny slave cage, through the bars of which he might thrust with his sword, perhaps a hundred short, sharp times, or, similarly available to him, for whatever he might choose to do to me, chained with my belly to a tree, my ankles and wrists fastened about it.

I looked back in fear.

He was still following!

One stroke of his sword, I knew, if it were his decision to be swift with me, could remove my head.

"I am looking forward to seeing her dance," said Vacchi.

But I did not even know if he would be swift with me.

"Have you used her?" asked Vacchi.

"Several times," said Aulus.

"How is she?" asked Vacchi.

"She is a slave," laughed Aulus.

"Do you recommend her?" asked Vacchi.

"Yes," said Aulus.

"She is a slave?" said Vacchi.

"She is a superb slave," said Aulus.

"Excellent!" said Vacchi.

I hoped tat when the men were through with me, the others, and the master, Pietro Vacchi, that they would put me in a slave pen, preferably with other girls. Surely in a camp of mercenaries they would have other girls. Such should be common in such a camp. They would presumably pick them up here and there, perhaps selling some, and adding others. Perhaps some, more beautiful, or popular, might be kept more or less permanently with the troops. Perhaps some of the soldiers, officers probably, even had their own girls, taken here or there, their own property. They had spoken of a "gentlewoman," though, I suppose, if she were free, she would not be put with slaves, but might sleep chained at the feet of her captor, at least until her thigh made the acquaintance of the brand and her neck of the collar. Hopefully the bars would be sturdy, and closely set. I would want to sleep near the center of the pen. It would be safer there. Perhaps such things, the presence of other slaves, and of bars of iron, could protect me.

I looked back again. Quietly, implacably, he was following.

I had little doubt he would await his chance.

"Well, Tuka," said Aulus, looking down at me. "You are not dallying now." "No, Master," I said.

"One might almost think you were anxious to reach the camp," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.