Rogue of Gor

6. I Hear of the Markets of Victoria; I will Travel There

Women are almost always auctioned naked. That way a man can see what he is buying. I turned away from the block in the barnlike structure in Fina, one of the many towns on the Vosk. I heard the auctioneer's calls fading behind me. I thought he wold get a good price for the pretty brunette. She was one of the last items of the evening. Before she had been dragged to the surface of the black, I had examined the remaning girls in the ready cage. She whom I sought was not among them.

Outside the barnlike structure I was stopped by tow guardsmen. "You are Jason, the brawler?" asked one. "I am Jason," I admitted. "You will leave Fina by tonight," advised the guardsman. "Very well," I said.

It had been my intention, anyway, to leave Fina before moring. This had not been the first time, incidentally, that guardsmen had suggested that I leave a town. It had happend once before at Tancred's Lansing.

Several days ago I had departed from Lara.The troops from Ar, tarnsmen, had not burned Lara. Inded, perhaps surprisinigly, they had done little but clear the town of river pirates and, here and there gather in a bit of loot and some women, mostly female refugees from Vonda who fell into their hands.Their action, however, the strike to Lara, had caused considerable consternation among the forces of Lara, marching toward Vonda.

Things, in this sense, had worked out well for the men of Ar, for the troops of Lara had, in consternation, hesitated in their march northward. They were not, hhus, involved in the action which took place shortly afterward northeast of Vonda.In this action, however, the forces of Port Olni had been, unexpectedly abetted by troops from Ti under the command of Thandar of Ti, one of the sons of Ebullius Gaius Cassius. The battle had been shart but indecisive. At nightfall of the second day both armies had withdrawn from the field. Ar's committed infantry had been outnumnbered byt its mobility and its support of their tarn cavalry had compensated to some extent for its lack of weight as a striking force.Thander of Ti, interestingly, had not challenged Ar in the skies, but had deployed the mercenaries of Artemidorus of Cos in actions against Ar's supply lines.

Eventually, after several days of uneasy encampments, the haruspexes of Port Olni, Ti an dAr, meeting on a truce ground, had determined by taking the auspices, read from the liver and entrails of slaughtered verr, that is was propritious for both armes to withdraw.In this sense, no honor, on either side was sacrified.The readings on these auspices had been challenged only by haruspexes of Vonda and cos.It was generally understood, or felt that neither the Salerian Confederation nor the city of Ar desired a full-scale conflict.Vonda, it was clearly understood, conspiring iwht Cos, had initiated hostilities.In burning and sacking Vonda, Ar had, for most practical purposed, satisfied its sense of militry propriety. Similarly, in stopping the advance of the troops of Ar, the Salerian Cnfederation could feel that it had maintained its own respect.

The trarnsmen of Artemidorus, incidentally, had not molesteed the slave wagons moving soutward.The drivers of these wagons, with their escorts, ahd only thrown back the canvas to reveal tha they carrried chained women.The tarnsmen of Artemidorus, then, had flow past, overhead, heedless of the uplifted hands and cries of the woman. There is a general Gorean feeling that if a woman has fallen slave, she may remain a slave.The women were then silenced with whips.

I think there is little doubt that the cessation of hostilties in the north was in no little art a function of the generosity of the men of Ar, a not impolitic generosity in my opnion, in sparing Lara the fate ofVonda.

They had demonstrated that the could have destroyed Lara, but they had not seen fit to do so. This was taken as an expression of disinterest on the part of Ar in all out warfare with the Salerian Confeeration. Also, of course in the future, this action might tend to divide the confederation in its feelings toward Ar.When it had become clear, incidentally, that Ar had for most practical purposes, spared Lara, the troops of Lara, not bothering to join with those of Port Olni and Ti, had returned to their city. There would now be sentiment in Lara favoring Ar. This would give Ar political leverae at the confluence of the Olni and Bosk, a strtegic point if Cos should ever choose to move in force eastward along the Vosk. Lara was the pivot between the Salerian Confederation and the Vosk towns.

"Hurry!" called the guardsman. I lifted my hand, acknowledging that I had heard him and continued my pace toward the wharves of Fina.

For several weeks, I had moved from one river town to the next, examining slave markets and attempting to obtain information on the whereabouts of the pirate, Kliomenes.Understandably I encountered few willing informants. Many people, I was sure knew more of this fellow then they admitted. His name, and that of his captain, Policrates, were apparently feared on the river. These river pirates were not, it must be understood, a few scattered crews of cutthroats. Various bands had their own strongholds and ships. It was not unusual that a single captain had as many as three or four hundred men and eight to ten ships. Similarly there were relationships among these bands, division of territory and alliances. They were a power on the river.

I had gone from Lara to White Water using the barge canal, to circumvent the rapids, and fron thence to Tancred's Lansing. I had later voyaged down reiver to Iskander, Forestport, and Ar's Station.Ar's Station incidentially is near the site where there was a gathering, several years ago, of the horde of Pa-Kur, of the Caste of Assassians, who was leading an alliance of twelve cities, augmented by mercenaries and assassins, against the city of Ar.This war is celebrated, incidentially, in the Gorean fashion, in several songs. Perhaps most famous among them are the songs of Tarl of Bristol.

The action is reputed to have taken place in 10,11 °C.A., Contasta Ar, from the Founding of Ar. It was now, in that chronology, the year 10,127.Ar's Station, incidentally, did not exist at the time of the massing of the horde of Pa-Kur. It was established four years afterward, as an outpost and trading station on the south bank of the Vosk.It also commands, in effect, the northern terminus of one of the great roads, the Viktel Aria, or Ar's Triumph, leading toward Ar. This is also the raod popularly known as the Vosk Road, particularly by those viewing it from a riverward direection.West of Ar's Station on the river I had visited Jort's Ferry, Point Alfred, Jasmine, Siba, Sais, and Sulport. I had stopped also at Hammerfest and Ragnar's Hamlet, the latter actually, now, a good-sized town.Its growth might be contrasted with that of Tetrapoli, much further west on the river. Ragnar's Hamlet began as a small village and, from this central nucleus, expanded.Tetrapoli, on the other hand, began as four separate towns, Ri, Teibar, Heiban and Azdal, as legend has it founded by four brothers. These towns grew together along the river and were eventaully consolidated as a polity. The four districts of the city, as might be supposed, reatin the names of the original towns. The expression 'Tetrapoli" in Gorean, incidentally, means "Four Cities" or " Four Towns."

I made my way now towrd the quays of Fina. Here and there men passed me. I was then near the water-front district. I stpped aside as a string of chained girls stripped to the vaist, was herded past me. The were being taken to one of th stout log warehouses, whose doors were marked with the Kajira sign to be held for sale. They were sullen in their chains. Some of them looked at me, wondering perhaps if a man such as myself would buy them. The log warehouses for slaves are commonly doubled-walled and the girls are kept stripped within them, and commonly wear ankle chains, except when the guards wish otherwise.Escapte, for all practical ppurposes, is a statistical impossibility for the Gorean slave girl. Too, the penalties even for attempted escape are often severe. Hamstringing is not uncommon. The hope of the Gorean slave girl is not escape, but to please her Master. I inspected the girls as they passed me. She whom I sought was not among them.

"Passage, Master?" inquired a fellow. "I would deal with others," I told him.

"We are cheap," he called. "Cheap!" "Thank you," I said to him, and continued on. I had discovered in various towns that I was likely to get the best fares at the quays themselves.

On the way down to the river, I passed four of the big warehouses whose doors were marked with the kajira sigh. I saw tiny barred windows high in their outer walls. During daylight hours a small amount of light can filter through such a window and then fall through a matching, somewhat lower winder, to the interior of the holding area. There are similar apertures, too, sometimes in the roofs of such structures. In some of the warehouses, incidentally, those which seem to be but one story high, the logged holding areas are substantially underground, as though in a log-walled, sunken room. Windows are commondly small and from eight to ten feet above a girl's head. The light in such a structure is as besst dim. The floor areas are commonly wood excpet for a central strip of dirt some twenty feet wide. This is primarily for drainage. A network of welded iron bars, set an inch or two beneath the surface, unlerlies the planking of the floor and the surface of the dirt. Straw is scattered at the edges of the room, on the wood. In the log walls, at various heights, but usually less then a yeard from the floor, there occur slave rings. The ground level is commonly reached by ascending a dirt ramp. Such places, as one might suppose, are usually characterized by the smells of held slaves. "Eat!" I heard a man say, from withint one of those structures. Then I heard the lash of a whip and a girl's cry of pain. "Yes, Master!" she cried. "Yes, Master!"

I continued toward the quays. Sometimes I almost dispairedof finding Miss Beverly Henderson. How could one hope to find one girl among thousands, even tens of thousands, scattered throughout the cities and towns, the fields and villages of Gor. Too if she had been transported by caravan or tarn she might, by now, be almost anyware.Yet I was determined to continue my search. I had two things clearly in my favor I knew she had been taken recently, and by Kliomenes, the pirate. My search was thus far from hopeless.I had little doubt but what I might find Miss Henderson, if I could but find it what market or markets, Kliomenes would see fit to dispose of his most recent prizes.

"You there fellow," said a captain, at the quays, "You seem strong. Look you for work?" "I am intending to go downriver," I said."We are bound for Tafa," he said. "We are short an oarsman."

The next towns west on the river were Victoria and Tafa. West of Tafa was Por Cos, which had been founded by settlers from Cos over a century ago. The major towns west of Por Cos, discounting minor towns were Tetrapoli, Ven and Turmus. Ven at the junction of the Ta-Thassa Cartius and the Vosk, and Turmus, at the eastern end of the Vosk's great delta, the last town on the river itself.

"I would go to Victoria," I said. That was the next town west on the river. "You are an honest fellow, are you not?" asked the captain. "I think so, reasonable so," I said warily, "Why?"

"If you are an honest fellow," said the captain,"why would you wish to go to Victoria?" "Surely there are honoest doings in Victoria," I said. "I suppose so," said the captain.

"Is it a dangerous place?" I asked. "You must be new on the river," he said. "Yes," I said. "Avoid Victoria," he said. "Why?" I asked.

"Are you a slaver?" he asked. "No," I said. "Then avoid Victoria," he said. "Why?" I asked. "It is a den of thieves," he said."It is little more than a market and slave town."

"There is an important slave market there?" I asked. "You can sometimes get cheap prices on luscious goods there," he said. "Why are the prices sometimes so cheap?" I asked. "Girls who cost nothing can be sold cheaply," he said. "The marketed girls are then primarily captures?" I asked. "Of course," he said. "I do not understand," I said. "It is well known on the river," he said. "What is well known?" I asked.

"That Victoria is one of the major outlets for the merchandise of river pirates." "I must go there," I said eagerly.

"I am going to Tafa," he said. "I will not put in at Victoria." "Let me row for you to the vicinity of Victoria," I said. "Then put me ashore. I wil find my way afoot into the town."

"It will be useful to have another oarsman," he said, "even as far as Victoria, and we wil have the current with us." "Yes," I said. "Perhaps, too," hesaid, " we could pick up a new oarsman west of Victoria."Perhaps," I said. He looked at me. "You need pay me nothing," I said. "I will draw the oar for free." "You are serious?" he asked. "Yes," I said. He grinned. "We leave withing the Ahn," he said.