Vagabonds of Gor

40 News from Torcadino; I am Expected

"Have you heard the news?" a fellow was eagerly asking another, outside, in the main paga room. The music had stopped. A dancer had fled back behind a beaded curtain, dismissed by the czehar player, he who led the musicians.

"No," said the other.

Men gathered about, and I joined them, confident of the nature of what was to be reported, yet not informed as to the details.

"Dietrich of Tarnburg has withdrawn from Torcadino!" said the fellow.

"Impossible," said another.

"Myron has Torcadino encircled with rings of iron," said another. "The main force of Cos on the continent is at Torcadino."

"When did this occur?" asked a man.

"Weeks ago," said a man.

"Have you heard of it?" asked the fellow who had been so eager to communicate.

"Two days ago," said the fellow who had mentioned the weeks. "News has apparently been suppressed."

If this were true, it was not surprising. I could well imagine Myron being somewhat reluctant to have it broadcast about that his supposedly helplessly trapped quarry had somehow slipped out of his grasp. Indeed, men might have died in his attempt to contain this intelligence.

"Is it dangerous to speak of it?" asked the first fellow.

"I would not think so now," said the fellow.

"I have heard something of this just this evening," said a man. "It is all over the city."

"I have come from Ven," said another. "It is known there."

"I have heard nothing of it," said one of the patrons. "Speak, I pray you."

Various of the fellows looked around. In the group there were fellows from Brundisium, oarsmen, merchants, mercenaries, Cosian regulars, others. All seemed eager to learn what might have occurred. I did not see any Cosian officers present, or anyone who looked as though they may be interested in arresting the transmission of this matter.

"I will speak what I have heard," said a man, "if no one objects."

"No one objects," said a fellow, looking about.

"It must be understood clearly," said the man, "that what I speak now is spoken generally, and spoken by hundreds of others, and thus, if any breach of security is involved in this, it is not one for which I am responsible. Further, I am not intentionally breaching any confidence, nor, as far as I know is security even involved in this matter, at least now. Further, I do not vouch for the accuracy of what I have heard, but merely repeat it, and only at the earnest instigation of others. Indeed, I mention it openly only in order that we may scoff at it, none of us extending to it serious consideration. Indeed, it is so absurd that it cannot be true. I am, thus, merely for our amusement, speaking what is clearly false."

"Speak," said a man.

"Speak!" said another.

"Dietrich has escaped Torcadino!" he said.

"With his men?" asked a fellow.

"With men and slaves," said the fellow.

"Impossible," said a man.

"I agree, totally," said our narrator. He was, I suspected, a scribe of the law. Certainly he seemed a circumspect fellow.

"How is this supposed to have happened?" asked a man.

"Information became available in the Cosian camp near Torcadino, conveyed by a supposed deserter, a fellow named Mincon," said our narrator, "of a secret escape tunnel being dug under the walls to the north, a low tunnel, like a counter-mine, over eleven pasangs in length, which had taken months to dig, a tunnel which presumably would open far behind the besiegers. Even the day on which the escape was to be made was known. It was understood, too, that Dietrich himself, with some close followers, would have tarn wire opened near the Semnium and leave the city that same night."

"I did not think a few men, on tarns, would have difficulty escaping the city," said a man.

"Still there are tarn patrols," said another, "and cavalries ready for prompt pursuit."

The night came," said our narrator, "and, precisely as Myron's informant, Mincon, had assured him, a dozen tarns took wing from the roof of the Semnium. Cos was waiting for them, of course, and the pursuit was instantaneous. The tarns aflight from the Semnium roof were fine tarns, naturally, and for Ahn they eluded their pursuers. Yet the pursuers had been prepared for this and had extra mounts in their train, changing to fresh tarns every Ahn. Meanwhile, Myron, at Torcadino, girded himself for battle and led most of his men near the point at which the tunnel was to open. There, in encircling trenches, they concealed themselves. They would permit the forces from Torcadino to emerge and then, in virtue of their superior strength, on open ground, annihilate them. Few, proportionally, would be able to escape back through the tunnel, and, of course, as they might strive to do so, in panic, screaming, hacking at one another, and such, further slaughter, and then of a simple sort, could be wreaked upon them.

Those who managed to escape back through the tunnel could then be dealt with at their leisure, as they would then be too few to resist even a modest set of coordinated assaults. Indeed, one might then have expected the fugitives to surrender, throwing themselves upon the mercy of Cos. Wisely, of course, Myron also left many troops about the city, and in special strength near the gates, lest Dietrich attempt to outwit him, by sallying forth and breaking free."

"Myron is a fine Polemarkos," said a man.

"Yes," said another.

I agreed with these estimates. Myron had weaknesses as an officer, and as a man, but he was, in my opinion, an excellent commander. Now, of course, he was dealing with a Dietrich of Tarnburg.

"What happened then?" asked a man.

"By morning," said our narrator, "the escaping tarns had been apprehended, but in their saddles, bound and gagged, were Cosian prisoners."

"What of the forces in the city?" asked a man.

"Flames were seen coming from Torcadino. Their source was unknown. It was later determined that these were the results of the destruction of the Cosian siege materials, the war engines, the wagons and supplies, which had been captured in Torcadino."

The seizure of these materials in Torcadino, which had been serving as a Cosian depot for the invasion force, had been the prime objective of Dietrich in taking the city, he hoping then to forestall the Cosian advance and give Ar time to prepare itself for war. As it had turned out, however, Ar had sent her major forces northward, had failed to relieve the siege at Ar's Station, and then, supposedly pursuing the Cosian expeditionary force in the north, which had destroyed Ar's Station, had come to disaster in the delta. These things would not have been possible without treachery in Ar. Indeed, one of the traitors, a lovely traitress, now lay chained in an alcove in this very tavern. Dietrich had hoped to give Ar time to arm, that she might counterbalance the forces of Cos, thus preventing the ascendancy of a single mighty force on the continent, an eventuality which, in his opinion, would have threatened the existence of the free companies, among which was his own, one of the largest and finest.

"But what of the tunnel?" asked a fellow.

"What of Dietrich, and his men?" asked another.

"All night Myron and his men waited," said our narrator, "and the next morning, and the next day, but still the tunnel did not open."

"Why?" asked a man.

"For an excellent reason," said our narrator, "it did not exist."

Men looked at one another.

"Myron, convinced that the tunnel existed, decided to open it himself, and from among his own engineers brought in miners and sappers. For two days they probed and dug, but, of course, found nothing. Meanwhile the smoke billowed from Torcadino."

"Doubtless the informant, this Mincon, was boiled in oil," said a man.

"He had disappeared," said the narrator.

"Of course," said a fellow.

"Myron, leaving observers at the supposed site of the tunnel, returned in great anger to his headquarters. He then sent scouts to test the defenses of Torcadino. Small groups of them scaled the walls without meeting resistance. Later, a larger force, entered into the city, opened the gates. Myron entered, and found nothing. Torcadino was deserted."

"What of Dietrich and his men?" asked a man.

"Gone," said the narrator.

"Impossible," said a man.

"Much was the fear among the men of Myron," said the narrator.

"I can imagine," said a fellow, uneasily.

"Some wondered if they had been gone for months, others if they had ever been there. Some speculated that they had drunk mysterious potions, rendering them invisible, others that they had been wafted away by Priest-Kings."

"But someone must have set the fires in Torcadino," said a man, "on the night the tarns took flight, on the night Myron waited in vain to the north."

"Of course," said the narrator.

"Continue," said a man.

"Days later," said the narrator, "two soldiers with clubs, hunting urts for sport, followed a large urt into a basement where it seemingly disappeared. They discovered a hole and, probing about in it, discovered the concealed opening to a tunnel. It had been caved-in, from the inside. This tunnel led not to the north of Torcadino but to the south. Myron had men follow it and it led for pasangs south, until they found its southern termination, again caved-in and concealed, this time, of course, from the outside. It was dug out and discovered to open in the vicinity of the aqueducts formerly used to bring water north to Torcadino from the Issus."

"It was by means of those aquaducts that Dietrich originally entered Torcadino!" said a man.

"Over the very heads of Cosians!" said a man.

"But their northern terminations had been destroyed by Dietrich himself, to prevent others from availing themselves of the same ingress to the city," said a man.

"Yet he made use of them later," marveled a fellow.

"Yes," said the narrator. Using the aquaducts, wading in them, with men and slaves, he moved as though invisibly toward the Issus. There, as investigation revealed, his command had apparently been ordered to scatter. Certainly five thousand men could not be easily concealed from the might of Cos on the continent."

"They could regroup somewhere," said a fellow.

"When it might prove safe," said a fellow.

"The thing was well planned," said the narrator. "For example, arrangements had apparently been made long in advance for supplies, gear, clothing, tharlarion, and such, to be readied at the banks of the Issus."

"Is it certain that Dietrich took slaves with him from Torcadino?" asked a fellow.

"Yes," said the narrator. "In the tunnel, mixed in with the prints of the men, in the dust, were the numerous prints of small, bared feet."

"I see," said the man.

"The prints of the small feet, however," said the narrator, "were rather deep. What do you make of that?"

"They were bearing burdens," said the man.

"Yes," said another, "the loot of Torcadino."

"Most of them, themselves, would have been a portion of that loot," said a man.

"Yes," said another. This was undoubtedly true. The female makes superb loot.

"Where is Dietrich, and his men?" asked a fellow.

"Scattered to the winds," said the narrator.

"They could be anywhere," said another.

"Even in Brundisium," said a fellow.

"Oh, yes," said another. Brundisium was, of course, as I have indicated, a major stronghold of Cos on the continent. Indeed, it had been the port of entry for the Cosian invasion fleet.

"He is probably back in Tarnburg by now," said another fellow.

"Yes," said another.

"Has Myron been recalled to Telnus in disgrace?" asked a fellow.

"He is the cousin of Lurius of Jad," said another.

"Else he might have been boiled in oil," said another.

"True," said a man.

"Doubtless he would be somewhat interested in learning the whereabouts of Dietrich and his men," said a man.

"I would suppose so," said another fellow.

"Paga!" called a fellow.

"Paga!" called another.

Girls hurried forward to serve masters.

I myself drew apart from the group then and went to the door at the side, that leading to one of the private dining areas. I knocked, lightly.

The door opened a crack, and then, fully, as I was admitted. "Welcome, Tarl," said Mincon, my friend from the Genesian Road, and Torcadino, "we have been expecting you."