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the chains of a slave, branded, before their council. Doubtless they would
first bring him so through the streets, between jeering throngs, chained to
the back of a tharlarion wagon, white-silk maidens of Tyros dancing beside
him, casting love blossoms upon him. Marlenus would doubtless make great
holiday in Tyros.
But men in slave chains cannot move rapidly, even under the whip.
I expected that the men of Tyros would be eager to hurry their captives to the
sea.
But first, I expected, panther girls would choose to exact their dues.
This night, I conjectured, was reserved for the cruel rites of the panther
girls.
I had returned to where I had left the four paga slaves, bound.
I had tied them in a secluded place, in pairs, standing back to back. Each
pair was bound in the same fashion. Two girls, stood, back to back, under a
branch which was over their head. The left wrist of the front girl was
crossed, over the branch, with the right wrist of the back girl, and their two
wrists were then tied together, over the branch. Then, of course, the right
wrist of the front girl was crossed over the branch with the left wrist of the
back girl, and was similarly fastened. The left ankle of the front girl was
then tied to the right ankle of the back girl, and the right ankle of the
front girl was lashed to the left ankle of the back girl. The other pair, of
course, was fastened identically. From the slave silk of two of them, torn
into strips for strap and wadding. I had improvised gags. I did not wish them
to make outcry.
I looked upon Ilene. She was beautiful. I removed her gag, and kissed her. She
looked at me, startled. I had no time to use her. I thrust the wadding again
in her mouth, and fastened it tightly in place with the slave silk.
 You gags will remain fixed, I told them. I had them put them again in throat
coffle, as before, their wrists bound behind their backs.
Their gags, for the time being, would remain fixed. We were now in the
vicinity of the enemy. The slaves would be silent.
men of Tyros and the panther girls of Hura s band, and the trail, too, of the
wretches, chained, they drove between them.
Again, not speaking I strode from them. Again they followed, swiftly.
I returned to the camp of Marlenus, and easily picked up the trail of the
It was night
I stood on a strong branch, against the trunk of a tree, some forty feet above
the ground.
I could survey the entire clearing.
It was the clearing that would be used at Hura s circle of conquest.
It was also the night camp of the men of Tyros.
There were several large campfires in the clearing. Among them, staked out,
were the men of Marlenus. A man of Tyros had a hide drum and, at one side of
the clearing, was pounding out a monotonous, repetitive preparatory rhythm.
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Panther girls, proud in their skins and gold, with their light spears, strode
about. I could see, too, the yellow of the men of Tyros. The reflections of
the firelight, intermingled with the intense, soft black shadows, illuminated
the trunks of the surrounding trees, and their lower leaves and branches.
standing together, conversing. I could have felled them with arrows. I did not
do so. I had other plans for them.
the men of Tyros. He lifted his yellow helmet from his head and wiped his
brow.
The night was hot.
Another is to reduce him to helplessness and impotency before his men. I
elected the second.
They carried it by means of two metal bars thrust through it, the bars held by
gloves. From the brazier there protruded the handle of a slave iron.
I saw, within the circle, at one point, long-legged Hura and blond Mira, At
one side of the clearing I saw Sarus, Captain of the Rhoda, leader of
There are various warrior strategies. One is to first slay the leader.
I saw two men of Tyros bringing forth a brazier, filled with glowing coals.
From the shadows then was dragged forth, chained, a large man, strong,
struggling. He was thrown to his back on the grass, between four stakes. He
was beaten back, when he tried to rise, with the butts of spears. His foot
manacles were unsnapped and his two ankles were bound, widely apart, to two of
the stakes. When his wrist manacles were removed it took four men to press him
back. Then his left wrist was bound to one stake, and then his right wrist to
another. His wrists and ankles had been tied widely, painfully, apart. He
struggled, but was helpless.
Marlenus of Ar had been staked out.
The tempo of the man with the drum increased. I could see the shadows of tents
beyond the clearing. Individuals, panther girls and men of Tyros, not, idly,
some still eating food from the supper fires, entered the conquest circle.
The brazier, fierce with heat, stood not two yards from Marlenus of Ar. Its
coals were poked and stirred with one of the metal bars. Then one of the men
of
Tyros lifted the iron, glowing redly, from the fire. Its marking surface, its
termination, soft and red in the night, was in the form of a large, block
letter in
Gorean script, the initial of Karjirus, a common Gorean expression for a male
slave. A female s brand is smaller, and much more graceful, usually being the
initial, in cursive script, of Kajira, the most common Gorean expression for a
female slave. Some cities, Treve, for example, have their own brands. The
Wagon Peoples, too, each have an individual brand for their female slaves. The
Tuchuk brand, tiny and fine, is the paired bosk horns. Tana, the paga slave in
Lydius, wore it. The brand of the Kataii is that of a bow, facing to the left;
the brand of the Kassars is that of the three-weighted bola; the brand of the
Paravaci is a symbolic representation of a bosk head, a semicircle resting on
an inverted isosceles triangle. Another common expression for a female slave,
incidentally, the initial of which, in cursive script, is sometimes used to
mark a girl, is Sa-for-a, which means, literally, Chain Daughter.
The man with the leather glove thrust the iron back in the fire. It was not [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]