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.Ileveled the tarn and drew on the six-strap, setting my course for Ar.As Ipassed the cylinder in which Torm kept his scrolls, I was happy to catch aglimpse of the little scribe standing at his rough-hewn window.I now realizehe might have been waiting there for hours.He lifted his blue-clad arm in agesture of farewell-rather sadly, I thought.I waved back at him and thenturned my eyes away from Ko-ro-ba and toward the hills beyond.I felt littleof the exhilaration I had felt in my first soaring venture on the back of thetarn.I was troubled and angry, dismayed at the ugly details of the projectbefore me.Ithought of the innocent girl bound senseless before me.How surprised I had been when she had appeared in the small room outside theChamber of the file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Tarnsman%20of%20Gor.txt (25 of 98)Page 28 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html[1/20/03 3:36:22 AM]file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Tarnsman%20of%20Gor.txtCouncil, after my father! She had knelt at his feet in the position of theTower Slave as he had explained to me the plan of the Council.The power of Marlenus, or much of it, lay in the Mystique of victory that hadnever ceased to attend him, acting like a magic spell on his soldiers and thepeople of his city.Never defeated in combat, Ubar of Ubars, he had boldlyrefused to relinquish his title after a Valley War some twelve years ago, andhis men had refused to withdraw from him, refused to abandon him to thetraditional fate of the over ambitious Ubar.The soldiers, and the Council ofhis city, had succumbed to his blandishments, his promises of wealth and powerfor Ar.Indeed, it seemed their confidence had been well placed, for now Ar, insteadof being a single beleaguered city like so many others on Gor, was a centralcity in which were kept the Home Stones of a dozen hitherto free cities.Therewas now an empire of Ar, a robust, arrogant, warlike polity only too obviouslyinvolved in the work of dividing its enemies and extending its politicalhegemony city by city across the plains, hills, and deserts of Gor.In a matter of time Ko-ro-ba would be forced to match its comparative handfulof tarnsmen 'against those of the Empire of Ar.My father, in his office asAdministrator of Ko-ro-ba, had attempted to develop an alliance against Ar,but the free cities of Gor had, in their pride and suspicion, their almostfanatical commitment to protecting their own independent destinies, refusedthe alliance.Indeed, they had, in the fashion of Gor, driven my father'senvoys from their CouncilChambers with the whips normally used on slaves, an insult which, at anothertime, would have been answered by the War Call of Ko-ro-ba.But, as my fatherknew, strife among the free cities would be the very madness which Marlenus ofAr would welcome most; better even that Ko-ro-ba should suffer the indignityof being thought a city of cowards.Yet if the Home Stone of Ar, the verysymbol and significance of the empire, could be removed from Ar, the spell ofMarlenus might be broken.He would become a laughingstock, suspect to his ownmen, a leader who had lost the HomeStone.He would be fortunate if he was not publicly impaled.The girl on the saddle before me stirred, the effect of the drug wearing off.She moaned softly and leaned back against me.As soon as we had taken flight,I had unfastened the restraining straps on her legs and wrists, leaving onlythe broad belt which lashed her securely to the back of the tare.I would notpermit the plan of the Council to be followed completely, not in her case,even though she had agreed to play her part in the plan, knowing it meant herlife.I knew little more about her than her name, Sana, and the fact that shewas a slave from the City of Thentis.The Older Tarl had told me that Thentis is a city famed for its tare flocksand remote in the mountains from which the city takes its name.Raiders fromAr had struck at the tarp flocks and the outlying cylinders of Thentis, andthe girl had been captured.She had been sold in Ar on theDay of the Love Feast and had been purchased by an agent of my father.He, inaccordance with the plan of the Council, had need of a girl who would bewilling to give her life to be avenged on the men of Ar.I could not help feeling sorry for her, even in the stein world of Gor.Shehad been through too much and was clearly not of the stock of the taverngirls; slavery would not have been a good life for her, as it might have beenfor them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Ileveled the tarn and drew on the six-strap, setting my course for Ar.As Ipassed the cylinder in which Torm kept his scrolls, I was happy to catch aglimpse of the little scribe standing at his rough-hewn window.I now realizehe might have been waiting there for hours.He lifted his blue-clad arm in agesture of farewell-rather sadly, I thought.I waved back at him and thenturned my eyes away from Ko-ro-ba and toward the hills beyond.I felt littleof the exhilaration I had felt in my first soaring venture on the back of thetarn.I was troubled and angry, dismayed at the ugly details of the projectbefore me.Ithought of the innocent girl bound senseless before me.How surprised I had been when she had appeared in the small room outside theChamber of the file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Tarnsman%20of%20Gor.txt (25 of 98)Page 28 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html[1/20/03 3:36:22 AM]file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Tarnsman%20of%20Gor.txtCouncil, after my father! She had knelt at his feet in the position of theTower Slave as he had explained to me the plan of the Council.The power of Marlenus, or much of it, lay in the Mystique of victory that hadnever ceased to attend him, acting like a magic spell on his soldiers and thepeople of his city.Never defeated in combat, Ubar of Ubars, he had boldlyrefused to relinquish his title after a Valley War some twelve years ago, andhis men had refused to withdraw from him, refused to abandon him to thetraditional fate of the over ambitious Ubar.The soldiers, and the Council ofhis city, had succumbed to his blandishments, his promises of wealth and powerfor Ar.Indeed, it seemed their confidence had been well placed, for now Ar, insteadof being a single beleaguered city like so many others on Gor, was a centralcity in which were kept the Home Stones of a dozen hitherto free cities.Therewas now an empire of Ar, a robust, arrogant, warlike polity only too obviouslyinvolved in the work of dividing its enemies and extending its politicalhegemony city by city across the plains, hills, and deserts of Gor.In a matter of time Ko-ro-ba would be forced to match its comparative handfulof tarnsmen 'against those of the Empire of Ar.My father, in his office asAdministrator of Ko-ro-ba, had attempted to develop an alliance against Ar,but the free cities of Gor had, in their pride and suspicion, their almostfanatical commitment to protecting their own independent destinies, refusedthe alliance.Indeed, they had, in the fashion of Gor, driven my father'senvoys from their CouncilChambers with the whips normally used on slaves, an insult which, at anothertime, would have been answered by the War Call of Ko-ro-ba.But, as my fatherknew, strife among the free cities would be the very madness which Marlenus ofAr would welcome most; better even that Ko-ro-ba should suffer the indignityof being thought a city of cowards.Yet if the Home Stone of Ar, the verysymbol and significance of the empire, could be removed from Ar, the spell ofMarlenus might be broken.He would become a laughingstock, suspect to his ownmen, a leader who had lost the HomeStone.He would be fortunate if he was not publicly impaled.The girl on the saddle before me stirred, the effect of the drug wearing off.She moaned softly and leaned back against me.As soon as we had taken flight,I had unfastened the restraining straps on her legs and wrists, leaving onlythe broad belt which lashed her securely to the back of the tare.I would notpermit the plan of the Council to be followed completely, not in her case,even though she had agreed to play her part in the plan, knowing it meant herlife.I knew little more about her than her name, Sana, and the fact that shewas a slave from the City of Thentis.The Older Tarl had told me that Thentis is a city famed for its tare flocksand remote in the mountains from which the city takes its name.Raiders fromAr had struck at the tarp flocks and the outlying cylinders of Thentis, andthe girl had been captured.She had been sold in Ar on theDay of the Love Feast and had been purchased by an agent of my father.He, inaccordance with the plan of the Council, had need of a girl who would bewilling to give her life to be avenged on the men of Ar.I could not help feeling sorry for her, even in the stein world of Gor.Shehad been through too much and was clearly not of the stock of the taverngirls; slavery would not have been a good life for her, as it might have beenfor them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]