John Norman Gor 24 Vagabonds of Gor

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.Its channels change almost overnight.There is often very littlevisibility in it, for more than a few feet ahead, for the rence.Its sluggish,muddy waters vary from channels deep enough to float a round ship, to washesof a few inches deep.Its average depth, at this time of year, after thespring thaws upriver, is three to five feet.There are many sand bars in it.On one such bar I and some fifty or sixty men now camped.Their small craftwere drawn up about the bar.In the first night, ten nights ago, several ofthese had been lost.The number and configuration of the sand bars, in virtueof the currents, is subject to frequent rearrangements, their materials beingoften sweptaway and redistributed.After that first night, the small craft had been tiedtogether, some of the ropes fastened ashore, to stakes.My bound ankles werefastened by a short rope to one of these stakes, my neck, by a rope, toanother. Fellow, I called.The soldier looked over at me. Am I the only prisoner in the delta? I asked. I do not know, he said.Marcus and I had been kept separate even from the time of our capture.I had,however, known his location at least, until we had arrived, after severaldays, in the temporary camp of Ar, then west of Holmesk.We were then putapart, I caged, and he taken somewhere else.I assumed he had been taken tosee Saphronicus, or at least conducted into the presence of appropriateofficers, this in accord with the expressed inten-tions of our captor, theleader of the patrol encountered near Teslit."I was brought to the camp of Ar, I said, with my fellow, a lad from Ar�sStation. Your officer? he asked. My fellow, I said. Spies, both of you, said he, grimly. What became of him? I asked. What do you suppose became of him? he asked. I do not know, I said. He was a spy, said the fellow. Do you know what became of him? I asked. I suppose he was castrated, tortured and impaled, said the fellow. He was of Ar�s Station, I said, colony to Ar, and of ancient and honorablefamily. Of high family? he asked. Of the Marcelliani, I said. Perhaps, then, said he, he was merely scourged and beheaded. Is that known to you? I asked. No, he said. You do not know where he is, then, I said. No, he said. I have been brought to the delta, I said. Why? That you may see the unavailingness of your lies, he said, that you may seeus close with the sleen of Cos, that you may see the slaughter of yourfriends, your paymasters, that you may see wreaked upon them the vengeance ofthe state of Ar! Glory to Ar! Glory to Ar, repeated a nearby fellow.The low, spread-ing, sloping mound ofPage 50ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlsand, that bar in the delta, was crowded. How many Cosians have you taken? I asked. We will soon close with them, he said, angrily. Yes, said another fellow,listening. Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, said another. Yes, maybe tomorrow! said the fellow near me. Sleep now, said one of the fellows in the vicinity.The men were thensilent.I lay there for a time, looking up at the sky.I once saw, outlined againstone of the moons, membranous, clawed wings outspread, the soaring shape of thegiant, predatory ul, the dreaded winged tharlarion of the delta.It is,normally, the only creature that dares to outline itself againstthe sky in the area.I tried not to feel the tiny feet on my body.Towardmorning, somehow, I fell asleepChapter 6 - ForwardOne of the men behind me, with the paddle, cursed.Our knees were in water.The bow of the rence craft, still dry, nosed through reeds.Other craft, too,were about. Surely we must be upon the sleen of Cos by now! wept a man. Hold! called a voice, ahead.A gant suddenly fluttered out of the reeds, darting up, then again down, away. There is a body here, in the water, said a fellow ahead, to the left, on anarrow raft. A Cosian? asked a man, in a rence craft nearby. No, said the man.We approached.The officer�s boat, too, the fishing craft, propelled by poles,approached, he and others, as well.In the marsh water, half submerged, its face down, floated a body. It is one of our fellows, said a man. Cosians did this, exclaimed a man. It is unlikely, I said. Who then? asked a fellow. Consider the wounds, I said.There were three of them, in the back. He was struck three times, said a fellow. No, once, I said. There are three wounds, said the man. Consider them, I said, the rectlinear alignment, their spacing. A trident, said a man. Yes, I said. The three-pronged fish spear. That is not a weapon, said a man. It may be used as such, obviously, I said. And in the arena, it is, said a fellow.He referred to one of the armamentswell known in the arena, that of the fish-erman, he who fights with net andtrident.There are a number of such armaments, usually bearing traces of theirorigin. Surely here, in the delta, there are no arena fighters, said a man.The body was pulled up, onto the raft. But it is by means of such weapons, I said, that fishermen often fight.Indeed, it is from that practice, im-proved and refined, and made more deadly,that arena fight-ers have taken their example. Rencers? asked the officer, of me. Undoubtedly, I said.Rencers live in the delta.They inhabit rence islands,huge floating rafts of woven rence.As the rence rots at the bottom, it isreplaced, more rence being added to the surface.The sand bars, as I havesuggested, are unsuitable for permanent locations.And, indeed, the renceislands, inhabited by the rencers, as they float, are movable.An entirevillage thus, on its island, may be shifted at will.Needless to say, thismobility can be very useful to the rencers, enabling them, for example, toPage 51ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlseek new fishing grounds and harvest fresh stands of rence, theirmajor trading commodity, used for various purposes, such as the manufac-tureof cloth and paper.It is also useful, of course, in withdrawing fromoccasional concentrations of tharlarion and avoiding undesired human contacts.The location of such villages is usually secret.Trade contacts are made bythe rencers themselves, at their election, at established points.Suchvillages, given their nature, may even be difficult to detect from the air. Do you think there are any about? asked the officer. I do not know, I said. There might be.There might not be. They could be anywhere in the rence, said a fellow, uneasily. True, I said.To be sure, I doubted that there were any in the vicinity.Troops of Ar, in their numerous craft, some men even wading, were all about. Why would they have struck this fellow? asked a man. Who knows? I asked.Actually I had a very good idea what might have been the case. Consign the body to the delta, said the-officer.The body was rolled fromthe raft, into the water. Forward, said the officer.Chapter 7 - Glory To Ar There! cried a fellow. The rence is broken there!There was a cheer from the several craft about us.This cheer was echoed, fromflotilla to flotilla, of the small craft behind us, as well as to the sides. They cannot be far ahead now! cried a man.Eagerly the men of Ar then pressed through the break in the rence.Those behind, in their numbers, for pasangs back, may have thought the enemyhimself had been sighted.By late afternoon, however, nothing more had been seen. I am hungry, said a man.The fin of a marsh shark cut the water nearby.Men thrust it away with thebutts of their spears.A wading fellow discarded his shield [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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