Guardsman Of Gor

Chapter 3 — THE CHAIN HAS BEEN BROKEN IN THE NORTH

The long galley, some eighty feet Gorean, sped toward the chain. Its bow as lifted, unnaturally, from the water, did not even touch the water.

"Superb!" cried Callimachus, commending the enemy.

"What is it?" I called up to the stem castle.

"They have redistributed the ballast," called Callimachus. "Splendid!"

The vessel continued to approach the chain. I could hear the stroke of the hortator's hammer even on the _Tina_. Such a speed could be continued for only a few moments. I saw more of the hull, and its keel, dripping, lifting out of the water.

"Are they mad?" I called.

"It is their intention to ride over the chain," said Callimachus.

I clutched the rail, in wonder. Every bit of sand in the lower hold must have been thrust to the stern of the vessel. Gear, too, and catapult stones, had been slid to the stern deck. Even the crew, other than oarsmen, their weapons ready, had congregated there.

Then the concave prow of the vessel had cleared the chain. There was a great scraping as the chain tore at the keel. Then the galley, half on the chain and half off, moved eccentrically, teetering, like a ship caught on a bar, stranded and buffeted, assailed by conflicting currents.

"Out oars!" called Callimachus. "Ready!"

We saw another galley from the west, too, its prow high, speeding toward the chain.

The first galley, its oars stroking, slashing at the Vosk, its hull twisting, careened forward and to the side.

"It will clear the chain!" I cried.

"Two points to port!" cried Callimachus. "Stroke!" His officer, by hand signals, conveyed his message to the helmsmen and oar master at the stern.

"It is clearing the chain!" I cried.

Already the _Tina_ was speeding toward the intruder. I flung myself to the deck. We took her in the starboard bow, as she slid, grinding and splintering, from the chain.

"Back oars!" called Callimachus.

The impact had slid me back on the deck for a dozen feet.

"Back oars!" called Callimachus.

The _Tina_, shuddering, backing, with a splintering of wood, freed her ram.

I, crouching, peered over the side. The forward deck of the enemy was already awash.

I saw men there, in water to their knees, clinging to rails. The catapult on the enemy's stern castle had broken loose from its large, rotating mount. Its ropage hung down, dangling in the wind. The strands seemed narrow, from the distance from which I viewed them. The largest, however, would be some four inches in diameter. I saw a man leap from the stern castle into the water.

"Look!" cried out a man, in misery. He was pointing to starboard. The second enemy galley had ridden over the chain.

"The first of the Voskjard's ships has crossed the chain!" cried another.

We saw other galleys, too, approaching the chain.

"Another has crossed!" cried a man, pointing to starboard. Beyond that ship we could see another galley, too, but this one was striking at the chain.

The _Mira_ was hastening to engage the galley which had ridden over the chain.

The _Mira_ made good her strike. There was a cheer from our vessel. The starboard rudder of the enemy galley had been torn away in crossing the chain. The galleys of the Voskjard, like most Gorean ships, were double ruddered.

"Hard to starboard!" cried Callimachus.

As we came about a pirate galley knifed towards us.

"To starboard!" cried Callimachus. Then he cried, "Oars inboard!"

Her ram missed us. Her port shearing blade tore at our strakes.

"Oars outboard!" called Callimachus. "Come about!"

The two ships had slid past one another. As the ships passed I had looked into the eyes of a pirate. He had not been more than five feet from me.

"Two more ships are over the chain!" called the officer with Callimachus, pointing to port.

"Ships of Port Cos are approaching!" cried another man. There was a cheer on our vessel. Ten such ships were at the chain. Twenty others lay to in the waters near the south guard station, which post was held by Callisthenes. These ships, those of Port Cos, were our hope. It was only these, we feared, who might be able to match the forces of the Voskjard in even combat. The ships of Ar's Station could bring numbers to bear in our favor, but we did not regard them, ship for ship, as the match of either a galley of the Voskjard or of Port Cos. The naval tradition of Cos is an ancient one, and many of the officers of Port Cos were native Cosians, mercenaries or veterans of the Cosian navy, on detached duty to the colony, that the interests of the mother island might be defended on the Vosk.

"There is a ship of Ar's Station!" called out the officer on the stem castle.

There was a cheer at this cry.

We had now come about, but already the galley which had nearly torn us open was facing us.

"She has quick lines," said a man.

"Why has she not attacked?" asked a man.

"She is waiting for support," said a man.

"No," said another. "If we move to the chain, she can ram us amidships."

"She is defending her sisters," said a man.

"We can no longer protect the chain," said another.

But then we saw the galley swinging to starboard. Another galley, one flying the pennons of Port Cos, was speeding towards her.

There was another cheer from our men. "Back to the chain!" called Callimachus, elated.

"Another has slipped over!" cried out a man, angrily, pointing over the bow.

It was free of the chain. We could not catch her. She slipped behind us on the waters of the broad, muddy Vosk.

"How many have passed the chain?" asked a man, glumly.

"Who knows?" asked another.

Here and there, at the chain, again and again, pirate galleys were striking at the great links, and then backing away, and then again, patiently, renewing their attack.

"Doubtless they are hammering at points where they know the chain was weakened in the night," said a man near me. He had been with me in the longboat last night.

"Yes," I said: "Look there!"

I pointed to one of the truncated pylons rising out of the river. It had been splashed with yellow paint.

"Catapults!" called Callimachus.

Two stones looped into the air and then, gracefully, began their descent toward one of the pirate ships.

Huge spumes of water rose into the air as the great rocks plunged into the Vosk.

"Bowmen!" called Callimachus.

We neared the first of the galleys and flighted arrows toward her.

She drew back.

"There are others," said a man.

We moved along the chain. We came upon the wreckage of a pirate galley, broken in two, deserted. It had broken, attempting to ride over the chain.

"There is a pirate galley behind us, a pasang back, lying to!" called out a man, aft on the stern castle.

"We remain at the chain," said Callimachus.

"It seems to list," called the man. "I think it is crippled."

"We remain at the chain," said Callimachus.

I smiled. He was a good commander. He would not be lured from his post. A ship can be made to seem to list by re-positioning the ballast in its lower hold. If the ship were truly a cripple I did not think it would be lying to. An oared fighting ship is seldom helpless. Too, if the ship were crippled, it posed no immediate threat. And, if it were not crippled, it needed only be kept under observation. Isolated ships can be dealt with on a piecemeal basis. Our duty lay at the chain. He who thoughtlessly abandons his defenses strikes a poor bargain with fortune.

"Look there!" called the officer on the stem castle with Callimachus. He pointed ahead, half a point off the starboard bow.

Callimachus took the glass of the Builders from the officer. "It is the _Sita_ of Point Alfred," said Callimachus, "and the _Tais_ of Port Cos."

"They fly distress signals on the stem-castle lines," said the officer.

"Bring her about," called Callimachus.

"It can mean but one thing," said the officer.

Callimachus snapped shut the glass of the Builders.

I could now hear the sound of the horns drifting towards us.

"Acknowledge," said Callimachus. Flags were run on the stern-castle lines.

I could not interpret the horns.

"What is it?" I called up to Callimachus.

"It had to happen," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"It happened to the north," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"The chain has been broken," he said. I held the rail, looking astern.

The _Sita_ and the _Tais_ were now clearly visible.

"Where are the _Talia_, the _Thenta_, the _Midice_, the _Ina_, the _Tia_?" asked the officer.

"I did not see them," said Callimachus. He handed the glass of the Builders back to the officer. "Do you see them?" he asked.

"No," said the man. "No."

"Quarter stroke," said Callimachus.

"Quarter stroke!" called the officer to the oar master.

"Quarter stroke!" he called to his men.

The _Sita_ and the _Tais_ were now abeam, to port.

We moved southward, along the chain.

Callimachus descended from the stem castle and made his way back, between the benches, to the stern castle. I accompanied him. He carried the glass of the Builders.

"There were seven ships," I said. I stood beside Callimachus on the stern castle.

"Perhaps some survived," he said.

"I see ships," I said, pointing astern. There were specks at the horizon line, marshaled specks.

Callimachus handed me the glass of the Builders. "Ships of the Voskjard," I said.

"Yes," said Callimachus.

"Apparently the Voskjard has more than fifty ships," I said. I had counted at least forty. And there were several others, I knew, here and there at the chain.

"The information of Callisthenes was apparently mistaken," said Callimachus. "That is a sore and unwelcome flaw in our intelligence."

"How many can there be?" I asked.

"I do not know," said Callimachus. "Sixty, a hundred?"

"We can never match such ships in open battle," I said.

"Port Cos must fight as she has never fought before," skid Callimachus.

"They are not hurrying," I said to Callimachus. I had been counting the strokes per Ehn.

"They do not wish to tire their oarsmen," said Callimachus. I handed the glass of the Builders back to him.

"Port Cos is the hope of the Vosk," said Callimachus. "We of Ar's Station and of the independent ships must support her in her battle."

"The odds are overwhelming," I said. "Can she win?"

"She must," said Callimachus.

"At least she is commanded by men such as Callisthenes," I said.

"His twenty ships, summoned from the south guard station, will be crucial," said Callimachus.

"We shall need each of them if we are to make a showing," I said.

"Without them," I said, "it would be a slaughter."

"With them, in spite of the odds," said Callimachus, "the tide might be turned in our favor."

"You seem troubled," I said.

"I am only hoping," he said, "that the chain has not been cut south of us."

"We have protected it as well, and as long, as we could," I said.

"Let us hope that the time which we have invested in that work will prove itself to have been well spent," he said.

I shuddered. "I shall hope so," I said. If our fleet did not have time to group, or if our flank were turned, it would be indeed a tragic day for our forces upon the Vosk. The planks of our fleet might litter the river to the wharves of Turmus.

"Have you orders for me?" I asked.

"Sharpen your sword," he said. "And get what rest you can.

"Yes, Captain," I said. I turned away from Callimachus.

"Do you look forward to the fight?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, not turning to regard him.

"That is interesting," said Callimachus.

"Is it significant?" I asked.

"Perhaps," said Callimachus.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"Do you think you will be able to sleep before the engagement?" he asked.

"Of course," I said. "Why? Are these things significant?"

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I do not know," I said.

"Sharpen your sword," said he, "and get what rest you can."

"Yes, Captain," I said, and then descended the steps of the stern castle. I made my way toward the bow. The rowers were working only at quarter stroke. I sat down near my gear and, for a time, with a stone, whetted the blade on the weapon I carried. When I was finished I set a light coat of oil on the steel, that it might be protected from rust. Then I lay down on the smoothed deck, near the starboard rail, and, near a coil of mooring rope, fell soon asleep.