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"Ali," I said. I should have guessed that.
Kailiauk is the easternmost town at the foot of the
Thentis mountains. It lies almost at the edge of the Ihanke, or Boundary. From
its outskirts one can see the markers, the feathers on their tall wands, which
mark the beginning of the country of the red savages.
"I trust that you do not desire to kill him,"
said the man.
"No," I smiled.
"You do not wear the garb of the dark caste, nor do you have the black dagger
painted upon your brow."
"I am not an Assassin," I said.
"Grunt is a peculiar fellow, and secretive, but, I think, inoffensive."
I do not wish him harm," I said. "And I thank you for your help."
"Are you on foot?" asked the man.
"Yes," I said. I had sold my tarn two days ago and begun to make my way
northward on foot. The
Kurii from whom we had obtained the story hide must, in turn, have obtained it
from an operative somewhere in this area. I thought to attract less attention
on foot than as a tarnsman.
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"If you wish to contact Grunt, I advise you to do so promptly. It is EnKara,
and he will soon be entering the Barrens.
I attempted to press a tarsk bit into his hand, but he pushed it back.
"I have done nothing," he smiled.
"My thanks," I said. I turned to go.
"Fellow," said he.
"Yes?" I said, turning again to face him.
"A slave wagon is leaving on the north road at noon," be said. "it could take
you as far as Fort
Haskins."
"My thanks," I said.
"It is nothing," he said.
I glanced again at the two blond slave girls. I
glanced first at the one kneeling by the wall, her wrists bound to the ring
behind her. In her bonds, she had learned she was a woman. It is difficult for
a woman, stripped and bound, and owned by a man, not to be aware of her
femininity. These symbols of, and expressions of, nature, are not hard to
read. She understands them, and fully and well. I glanced then to the other
girl, she lying by the wall, looking at me, the chain on her neck.
Her psychophysiological distress, that of a slave girl, was clearly almost
intolerable. Perhaps her master would give her to one of his attendants for
the night. The desperation of her needs might then, for a time, be assuaged,
until, in a few Ahn, irresistibly and compellingly, they would again arise
within her. I glanced then again to the first girl. I smiled. She, too, once
properly branded and collared, would come to know such needs. She, too,
internally and subjectively, would come to know what it was, fully, to be a
female slave.
"I wish you well," I said to the man.
"I wish you well," he said.
I then turned, and left.
SAVAGES OF GOR
Chapter 4
WE SEE SMOKE;
WE ENCOUNTER SOLDIERS
I thrust my shoulder against the giant wooden wheel of the slave wagon.
I heard, ahead, the crying out of the driver, the snapping of his long whip
over the backs of the two draft tharlarion harnessed to the wagon.
"Pull, lazy beasts!" he cried.
Knee deep in the mire I thrust, slipping, against the thick wooden wheel.
The wheel moved and the wagon, groaning, creaking, lurched upward and
rolled forward.
I waded about the wagon and then attained the graveled surface and, running,
caught up with the wagon, and drew myself up to the wagon box, beside the
driver.
"Why do you wish to find Grunt?" asked the driver, a young man with shaggy
hair, cut short across the base of his neck.
"I am searching for something which may be in the
Barrens," I said.
"Stay out of them," warned the young man. "It can be death to enter them."
"Grunt comes and goes, as I understand it," I
said.
"Some, merchants and traders, are permitted, by some of the tribes," said the
young man.
"Of all," I said, "I have heard that he is most welcome in the Barrens, and
travels furthest within them."
"That may be true," said the fellow.
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"Why is that, I. wonder," I said.
"He speaks some Dust Leg, and some of the talk of other tribes," said the
fellow. "Too, he knows sign."
"Sign?" I asked.
"Hand talk" said the young man. "It is the way the red savages of different
tribes communicate among one another. They cannot speak one another's
languages, you know." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]