Rogue of Gor

22. What Occurred at the Wharves; What Occurred in the vicinity of the Tavern of Tasdron

"Stand back, lest you be hurt!" cried a man.

I was seized by two men, citizens, and dragged back into the encircling crowd. I was bleeding. My tunic was cut. The sword of the pirate, in a drunken swing, had grazed my chest. Other citizens, with ship poles, of the sort used on Gorean galleys in casting off and thrusting from the wharves, pressed back the crown. I felt the side of the pole against my belly. I was jostled by the crowd. The priate turned away, laughing.

"Where are the guardsmen of Port Cos?" I asked. "Where are the guardsmen of Ar's Station?" There were several guardsmen from each of these towns in Victoria. There was smoke in the air. Five warehouses and some ancillary buildings were afire.

"They maintain their posts," said a man grimly. "They protect their own headquarters."Victoria is not their concern," said a man bitterly.

I watched the pirates, perhaps some 50 or 60 of them, unchallenged, moving between the warehouses and the sharves, where two pirate galleys were moored. Some townfolk at swordpoint, were loading goods onto the galleys. Some of the pirates bore torches."The tribute will be paid by morning," said one of the men near me.

I saw several of the pirates with bottles of paga, swilling from them, as they strutted about, sometimes pausing to cu into a bale of goods or overturn a barrel kicking it open, permitting its contents to run out over the boards.The alarm bar continued to ring futilely. The pirates made no effort to stop the desperate fellow who meaninglessly continued to strike it.

"We outnumber them 50 to 1," I said. "Let me rush upon them. Let us stop them!" They are Masters in Victoria," said a man, "Do nothing rash."

I heard a woman scream and saw her, thrown over the shoulder of a laughing pirate, a brawny fellowk being carried to one of the galleys. "What will be done with her?" whispered a woman, near me, terrified. "If she is beautiful," said a man near us, "perhaps she will be kept to serve in the stronghold of Policrates. If she is not, perhaps her throat will be cut."The woman gasped, her hand at her veil.

The pirate threw the woman to his feet near the neareset galley and there stripped her and handed her to a comrade who stood on board the galley. He put her on the outside of the railing, facing outward, with thesmall of her back tightly against it, her arms hooked over it and behind it, as with the others. He then, with a length of binding fiber, running tight across her body, fastened her wrists together, as he had similarly those of the others. All were well displayed. too the exposition of captures in this way tends to discourage retaliatory missle fire from the scene of the pillaging.

The woman was comely, I did not think she would hae her throat cut. Lusty men have better uses to which to put such women. I did think, however, that they would soon, all the captures, be marked and put in collars.

"If I were you," said the man near the women in the crowd, "I would draw back in the crowd and hide. Then I would flee." "But I am free," she said. "So, too were they," said the man gesturing to the bound woman at the railing of the pirate galley.She shrank back suddenly frightened.

I saw Kilomense, some seventy yards away, directing his men and the enforced laborers, citizens of Victoria, loading the galleys.

"You there, female," called a pirate, his eyes roaming the crowd, "step forth!" The men holding the ship's pole, frightened, lowered it. "Step forth!" said the pirate.

The woman shook her headl prssing back against the men. "Unhood her, face-strip her!" ordered the pirate. "Protect me, save me, please," she begged.

Her hood was thrust back. Her veil was torn away. She was lovely. The price she would bring would be good. I wondered why such a woman would come to the wharves in a time of such danger. Surely she must have understood tha peril to which she would be exposing herself.

"Step forth Beauty," said the priate. Numbly she approached him. I made to move but two men restrained me. Swiftly before us all, in the light of the flames, was the woman stripped by the pirates blade. "Lie down," he said he.She hesitated and looked at him in anguish."Or do you wish to be slit like a larma?" he asked. His sword jabbed into the sweet roundness of her belly.Swiftly she knelt at his feet, her back on the harsh tarred boards.

The pirate looked at us and laughed. "here at my feet, supine, stripped is a free woman of Victoria. Do any of you dispute her with me?" Two men restrained me. No others moved.

"Kneel," he ordered the woman. She did so. "He then pressed the point of his blade against her fair thraot. Numbly, slowly lifting her arms, the blade between her arms, her fingers trembling, she tied the bondage knot in her own hair. She looked at him. "Please spare me Master," she said.

For a long moment or two the point of the blade remained at her throat, as the pirate considered the girl's plea. I saw his eyes roam her now-imbonded curves.He laughed.He thrust his blade back in its sheath. She almost fained with relief.

"On your feet!" he said. "Run to the nearest galley! Beg to be displayed there, as the loot you are!"

"Yes Master!" she cried and leaping up, fled toward the galley, a commanded slave.

"We do what we wish with Victoria," said the pirate, "do any of your gainsay me?" None spoke.He then laughed again, and turning about, went back toward the galleys.

I watched the new slave being bound at the railing with the others.

"I say she wanted the collar," said a man. "They they all do," said another.They did not know, of course, a woman such as Miss Beverly Henderson. She could not be a slave. But what, I asked myself, if she were, in her secret heart as Alison in Ar and Peggy in Victoria, both themselves surely slaves, had claimed a true slave? If she were she had made a great fool of me, in pretending to be free, in being often displesasing, in daring to sell Lota, in attempting to betray me to the guardsmen of Port Cos, in disparaging me in the tavern of Hibron. What if she were a slave? Could she be truly a slave? The very thought almost made me wish to cry out with fury and pleasure. If she were a slave, I would find this out. And then, somehow, against all obstacles, I would make her mine, mine own. I would own her, nor would I be gentle with the slave. She owed me much. Yes, I vowed, if she were a slave, I would have her in my collar! And she would soo then well know herself a slave. I would treat her, the desirable little slut, and slave, with a ruthlessness and a power that would become legendary in Victoria!

I could then could no longer deny it. I wanted Miss Beverly Henderson as my slave girl.

"We will pay the tribute in the morning," said another man. "We have no choice," said another. "We should never have entered into difficulties over the matter," said another. "True," said another man.

The smoke stung my eyes. The man had by now stopped ringing the alarm bell. The crowd was mostly silent. One could hear the flames."We have been taught our lesson," said one of the men.

"Policrates owns Victoria," said another. "It is true," said another.

I turned about and left the crowd. I made my way slowly away from the wharves. I began to walk slowly back toward the tavern of Tasdron.Many were the thoughts in myhead.

I had seen a free woman of Victoria stripped with no more mercy than would have been shown a slave. I had seen her kneel naked before a pirate and his blade at her throat with her own hands, tie the knot of bondage in her hair, in full view of her fellow citizens.I had seen the disorganization, the fear, the demoralization of the men of Victoris. I had seen the insolence of the pirates, the burning of buildigs. And the men of Victoria, though greatly outnumbeirng the pirates, had not fought. The tribute would be paid.And too, I had learned and I mused on this, that I wanted to own Miss Beverly Henderson, yes literally own her, as a man on Earth might own, say a tarsk or a pet sleen or, lower than either, as he might own a slave.

"Do not!" I cried. I seized the figure, his body poised, hunched over the sword, its point to his belly, its hilt in his hands, barced against the stones of the dark street. "No!" I cried. I struggled briefly with him. Then with the bottom of my foot I kicked the sword to one side and it slid upward, tearing through the tunic. He dropped to his hands and knees, vomiting and scaambled for the sword, seizing it. He cried out in fury and frustration, the blade now in his hands. He rose to to his feet, reeling. "Who are you to interfere in the matter?" he howled. He lifted the blade and apporached me. I saw it waver. He steaded it, placing one hand upon the other on the hilt. It again lifted. I stood my ground. I did not think he would strike me. Then the blade lowered and the man sobbed, and backed against the wall and lowered himself sitting to its base the sword on the stones beside him. He bent over, his head in his hands."Who are you to interfere?" he wept.

"Surely there are others betten than yourself against whom you might turn your sword," I said angrily.

"Give me a drink," he said. "How has it come to this," I asked him, "the glory, the codes, the steel?" I want a drink," he said sullenly.

"I have just returned from the wharves," I told him. "Surely you and the others from the tavern of Tasdron did not fail to hear the alarm?"

"There is no business of mine at the wharves." he said. "Yet," said I, "you had left the taavern. Will you tell me you were not bound for the wharves?" I can do nothing," he said. "I could do nothing."Yet sick, your senses swirling you left the tavern," I said. "This street leads to the sharves."

"I fell," he said, "I could not even walk."

"Do you wish to hear what occurred at the wharves," i asked angrily."I am useless," he said. "I could do nothing. I am no good."

"At the wharves," I said,"there were pirates, few more than half a hundred of such men, under the command of Kliomenes, lieutenant to Policarates." "I do not wish to hear of these matter," he said.

"In the view of hundreds of those of Victoria these men, so few of them, burned and looted, laughing and with impunity, as it pleased them. And in the view of hundres of those of Victoria, angry, but inactive and cowering, not daring to protest, were lofty free women of this town publicly stripped and bound, thence to be carried into shameful slavery, to wear their collars at the feet of buccaners."

"Women belong in collars," he said angrily. "And would you then, " I asked, "willingly deliver them, prizes more fittingly yours, into the hands of such men as Kliomenes and Policrates. Are they more men than you, that such buties should kneel at their feet rather than, fearfully, at yours?"

He lowered his hands head again, putting it in his hands. "I would have thought," I said, "that it would be men such as you who might strike terror into the hearts of men such as they, that it would be men such as you whom groveling slave girls, wary of the whip, might fear even more to displease than they."Give me a drink," he said.

"You are then so fond of Kliomenes and Policrates that you are willing, graciously, to surrender to them the woman and other treasures of this town." "I am not of Victoria," he said."Few in Victoira," I said " are of Victoria, it seems. Yet many reside here. If not men such as we, who then is of Victoria?

"I am sick," he said."There was no leadership at the wharves," I said. "Insult was done upon this town with impunity. I saw hundreds of men, fearful, milling about, with no one to lead them. I saw them intimidated by a handful of organized, ruthless fellows strutting and vain as vulos. I saw free men impressed into the service of loading the goods of the town onto the galleys of the thieves. Men, unprotesting, fearful, saw their properties purloined and burned. Flames linger yet on the wharves. Smoke hangs in the air."He was silent.

"We missed you on the wharves," I said."Why did you interfer in my affairs?" he asked."Once," said I, "in the tavern of Tasdron you saved my life. Is it not my right, then to save yours?" We are then even," he said bitterly. "We now owe each other nothing. Go now. Leave me."

"I have seen Glyco,a merchant, a high merchant, of Port Cos, these several days in earnest converse with you. I think, surely, that he, fearing the union of the pirates of the east and west, was entreating you to lend support to some scheme of resistance."You are shrewd," said the man.

"Yet his entreaties, I gather, have proven fruitless." "I cannot help him," said the man.

"Yet that he came to you suggests that your couarge, your brilliance in such matters, have never been forgotten"

"I am no longer who I once was," he said."I gather that you once stood high among the guardsman of Port Cos," I said."Once I was captain in Port Cos," he said. "Indeed it was I who once drove the band of Policrates from the vicinity of Port Cos." He looked up at me. "But that was long ago," he said. "I no longer remember that captain. I think he is gone now.

"What occurred?" I asked. "He grew more fond of paga than of his codes," he said. "Disgraced, he was dismissed. He came west upon the river to Victoria."

"What was his name?" I asked."I have forgotten," he said sullenly. "Had you been upon the sharves," I said, "things might have gone differently." "Why did you not lead them?" he asked angrily.

"I am only a weakling and a fool," I said, "and I am untrained."He said nothing."One such as you might have made a difference." He extended his right hand. It was large, but unsteady. It shook.

"At one time," he said, "I could strike a thousand blows, to the accuracy of a hair. I could thrust a thousand times within the circle of half a hort, but now — now, see what has become of me." His hand, shaking, then fell. He closed his fist and pressed it against the stones of the dark street. He wept. "Policrates could hve killed me in the tavern," he said. "He knew my weaknesss. But he did not do so For the sake of old memories, I deem, vestiges of vanished realities, he spared me."He looked up at me. "We were youths together on the wharves of Port Cost," he said. "East of us turned to the trades of steel, I to that of the guardsman, he to that of the marauder."

"What did Glyco wish of you" I asked."A plan, a rally point, a flag of memory, a leader, an assault upon the stronghold of Policrates."And what did you tell him?" I asked."It would take a hundred siege ships, and ten thousand men to take the stronghold of Policrates," he said.

I nodded. I did not thank his estimates in error. For all practical purposes, considering the forces that could realisticall be marshaled upon the river the stronghold of Policrates was impregnable. I had heard similar asseverations from others. Miss Beverly Henderson and her beauty, the thought crossed my mind, were now locked behind those lofty, dark walls.

"The situation then is hopeless?" I asked. "Yes,hopeless," he said.

"Tomorrow," I said, "the tribute is to be paid to Policrates." The man shrugged. "It is said," I said, "that the priates own Victoria."It is true," he said. "It is true."

"And are there none to gainsay them?" I asked. "None," said he. "What can I do for you?" I asked sadly."Give me a drink," he said.

I turned away from him and walked up the street to the tavern of Tasdron, which was still open, though much subdued. I entered the tavern. I did not speak to anyone, nor did any meet my eyes. I purchased a bottle of page which I then took from that tavern, retracing my steps to the slumped dark figure sitting against the wall. I stopped before himand he lifted his head from his knees, and looked at me, blearily. I handed the bottle to him, which, fumbling, quickly he reached for. He bit and pulled the cork from the bottle. He clutched the bottle with both hands. He looked up at me, sitting by the wall.

"I am sorry, " I said, "to have spoken cruelly to you. It was not my right. It was in anger, in rage, in frustration, that I spoke, I am truly sorry."Do you pity me?" he asked."Yes," I said, "I pity you.

Slowly, by an act of will, in cold fury, movement by movement the man struggled unsteadily to his feet. There was a terrible fury in his eyes, "Pity?" he asked, "Me?"

"Yes," I said, "You have fallen. You cannot help yourself. It is not your fault. I do not blame you."

"Pity?" he asked. "Me?" I know that you have been disgraced," I said. "I know that the scarlet has been taken fro you."No one can take the scarlet from me, once it is granted, unless it be bythe sword." He tore open the tunic he wore, revealing beneath it, dark, blackish in appearance, in the moonlight, the scarlet."This," said he, "can be taken from me only by the sword. Let himdare to do so who will."

"You are finished," I said. "Drink."He looked dismally, angrily, at the bottle clutched in his right hand.

"You have forgotten the name of the warrior," I said, "who was once of Port Cos. He is no more. Drink."

The man then held the bottle near the neck, with both hands. For a long moment he looked at it. His shoulders then hunched forward, and he moaned in pain. Then slowly, painfully, he straightened his body. He lifted his head to the Gorean moons and, in the dark street, in anguish uttered a wild cry.It began as a cry of angish, and pain, and ended as a howl of rage.He turned about and with two hands broke the bottle suddenly into a thousand fragments against the stone. In the darkness he was cut with glass and soiled with scattered paga."I remember him," he said.

"What was his name?" I asked."Callimachus," he said, "His name is Callimachus, of Port Cos."

"Is he gone?" I asked.Then the man with two fists struck against the wall. " No," he said with a terrible ferocity. There was blood on his hands, dark, running between the fingers. "Where is he?" I asked.Slowly the man turned to face me. "He is here," he said, "I am he."

"I am pleased to hear it," I said. I reached down and picked up the fallen blade. I handed it to him. "This, is yours."

He sheathed the blade. He looked at me for a long time. "you have done me service," he said, "How can I repay you?"

"I have a plan," I said. "Teach me the sword.