Raiders of Gor (32 page)

“Helmsmen,” said I, “take your course now for the treasure fleet of Cos and

Tyros.”

“Yes, Captain,” said they.

“Half-beat,” said I to the oar-master.

“Yes, Captain,” said he.

Matters had proceeded as I had expected at the treasure fleet. Of the forty tarn

ships in her escort, thirty, lured away, had pursued my ships far from the

critical points. I myself had damaged or destroyed four of these ships. and had

removed a fifth from the theater of action. As my other eleven ships, one by

one, began to return to the treasure fleet, the story was similar with them.

Some of the enemy ships, however, in turning back from the chase, had been able

to regroup and somewhere, abroad on Thassas, there was doubtless a fleet of some

ten enemy tarn ships, still a possible threat. They had not yet returned to the

treasure fleet. The others had been damaged or destroyed, or driven away. At the

treasure fleet itself, while most of her escort pursued my diversionary ships,

the other eighteen vessels in my fleet had fallen, suddenly, silently, on the

ten tarn ships left behind with the treasure fleet. Using, on the whole,

elementary triangle, tactics, wherein an attack by two ships, from different

quadrants, is made on a single ship, which can face but one of the attackers, my

ships had, in a short time, less than an Ahn, destroyed seven of the ten

ream-ships left behind at the treasure fleet. Two had been permitted to escape,

and one lay, even now, penned in among the round ships. Some of the round ships,

intelligently, had scattered, but, of the thirty originally in the fleet, there

were now twenty-two ringed with our vessels. And another was soon herded in by

one of my ram-ships, which, in returning to the fleet, had picked it up.

I was in no particular hurry to move against the captured round ships. They were

mine.

I was more interested in the seven round ships that had fled.

Accordingly, as soon as a sufficient number of my ships had returned to the

treasure fleet, I set about organizing a pursuit of the missing round ships. I

communicated with my other ships by flag and trumpet, some of them conveying my

messages to others more distant. I dispatched ten tarn ships abroad in search

patterns, hoping to snare some of the seven missing round ships. Five of these

search ships I sent in a net formation toward Cos, supposing this the most

likely, if not the most wise, course that would soon be taken by the majority of

the escaping round ships. My other five search ships I sent in sweeps away from

Cos. If the endeavors of these various ships, after two days, were unsuccessful,

they were to return to Port Kar. This left, after the last of my orginal eleven

ships had returned, tweny of my ships with the treasure fleet, more than enough

to counter any returning enemy tarn ships.

I ordered the mast raised on the Dorna. When the mast, with its sail fastened to

its yard, had been set in the mast well, and stayed fore, aft and amidships, I

climbed to the basket myself, carrying the glass of the builders.

I looked upon my twenty-three round ships, and was not unsatisfied.

Round ships, like ram-ships, differ among themselves considerably. But most are,

as I may have mentioned, two masted, have permanent masts and, like the

ram-ships, are lateen rigged. They, though they carry oarsmen, generally slaves,

are more of a sailing ship than the ram-ship. They can, generally, sail

satisfactoryily to windward, taking full advantage of their lateen rigging,

which is particularly suited to windward work. The ram-ship, on the other hand,

is difficult to sail to windward, even with lateen rigging, because of its

length, its narrowness and its shallow draft. In tacking to windward her leeward

oars and rowing frame are likely to drag in the water, cutting down speed

considerably and not infrequently breaking oars. Accordingly the ram-ship most

commonly sails only with a fair wind. Further, she is less seaworthy than the

round ship, having a lower freeboard area, being more easily washed with waves,

and having a higher keel-to-beam ratio, making the danger of breaking apart in a

high sea greater than it would be with a round ship. There are in the building

of ships, as in other things, values to be weighed. The ram-ship is not built

for significant sail dependence or maximum seaworthiness. She is built for

speed, and the capacity to destroy other shipping. She is not a rowboat but a

racing shell; she is not a club, but a rapier.

I, swaying in the basket at the masthead, with the glass of the builders,

smiled.

Penned in among the twenty-three round ships was a long galley, a purple ship,

flying the purple flag of Cos. It was a beautiful ship. And the flag she flew

was bordered with gold, the admiral’s flag, marking that vessel as the flagship

of the treasure fleet.

I snapped shut the glass of the builders and, by means of a slender rope ladder

fastened at the masthead and anchored to a cleat near the mast well below, took

my way down to the deck.

“Thurnock,” I said, “let the flags of division and acquistion be raised.”

“Yes, Captain,” said he.

There was a cheer from the men on the deck of the Dorna.

I anticipated, and received, little resistance from the round ships. There were

various reasons for this. They had been herded together and could not maneuver.

They were slower than the ram-ships and, under any conditions, little match for

them. And their rowing slaves, by this time, were fully aware that the fleet

encircling them was that of Bosk, from the marshes.

Vessel by vessel my men boarded the round ships, commonly meeting no resistance.

The free crews of these ships, of course, were hopelessly outnumbered by my men.

The round ship, although she often carries over one hundred, and sometimes over

two hundred, chained slaves in her rowing hold, seldom, unless she intends to

enter battled, carries a free crew of more than twenty to twenty-five men.

Moreover, these twenty to twenty-five are often largely simply sailors and their

officers, and not fighting men. The Dorna, by contrast, carried a free crew of

two hundred and fifteen men, most of whom were well trained with weapons.

In an Ahn I stepped across the plank thrown from the rail of the Dorna to that

of the flagship of the treasure fleet. The ship itself, by my men, had already

been subdued.

I was met by a tall bearded figure in a purple cloak. “I am Rencius Ho-Bar,”

said he, “of Telnus, Admiral of the Treasure Fleet of Cos and Tyros.”

“Put him in chains,” I told my men.

He looked at me in fury.

I turned to Clitus, who had been on the ship before me. “Do you have the master

cargo list?” I asked.

He presented a folio-sized book, bound with golden cord and sealed with wax,

bearing the impress of the Ubar of Tyros, Chenbar.

The admiral, to one side, was being fitted with wrist and ankle irons, joined by

a length of chain.

I broke the golden cord and the seal and opened the master cargo lists.

They were most excellent.

From time to time, I scanned the lists, there was a cheer from one round ship or

another as her slaves were freed. The free crewmen, of course, were places in

chains, men and officers alike. The distincition of man and officer does not

exist on the benches of a galley.

“Admiral!” said the admiral of the treasure fleet to me.

I glanced to the gold-bordered, purple flag, the admiral’s flag, flying from the

halyard strung between the forward starboard mooring cleat and the height of the

stem castle. “Strike that flag,” I said, “and put there the flag of Bosk, from

the marshes.”

“Yes, Captain,” said Thurnock.

“Admiral!” protested the admiral of the treasure fleet to me.

“Take him away,” I told my men.

He was dragged from my presence.

I snapped shut the book. “If these figured are correct,” I said to Clitus, “as

doubtless they are, we and the Captains of Port Kar are today the master of much

treasure.”

He laughed. “Surely enough,” said he, “to make us all among the richest of men!”

“More wisely spent,” said I, “these goods would go to increase the arsenal fleet

of Port Kar.”

“But surely,” said he, “the arsenal does not require so much?”

I laughed. “The arsenal share,” said I, “is eighteen shares of thirty.” Eighteen

of the ships in my fleet had been arsenal vessels.

I had, by agreement with the council, reserved to myself twelve shares of thirty

divisions, as well as all slaves taken.

“Captain,” said a voice.

“Yes,” I said.

A seaman had approached me.

“The Lady Vivina,” said he, “asks to be presented to you.”

“Very well,” said I. “Tell her that her request to present herself to me has

been granted.”

“Yes, Captain,” said he.

I reopened the book of cargo lists.

When I lifted my head again I discovered that the Lady Vivina was, and had been,

standing before me.

Seeing me, she started.

I smiled.

Her hand was before her veil. Her eyes were wide. She wore swirling, dazzling

robes of concealment, of purple and gold cloths, brocades and silks. The veil

itself was purple, and trimmed with gold.

Then she caught herself and presented herself before me, as a high-born lady.

“I am Vivina,” said she, “of the city of Kasra of Tyros.”

I nodded my head. “Call me Bosk,” I said. “I am a captain of Port Kar.”

Behind the girl, in robes almost as rich as hers, were two other high-born

maidens.

“I gather,” she said, “I am your prisoner.”

I said nothing.

“You will, of course,” said she, “be severely punished for what you have done.”

I smiled.

“As you know,” she said, “I am pledged to be the Free Companion of Lurius, Ubar

of Cos. Accordingly, my ransom will be high.”

I indicated the two girls behind Vivina. “How many of these are there?” I asked

Clitus.

“Forty,” he said.

“They did not appear,” I said to him, “on the master cargo lists.”

Clitus ginned.

The girls looked at one another uneasily.

“My maidens,” said Vivina, “will also be ransomed, though their ransoms will be

less than mine.”

I regarded her.

“What makes you so certain,” I asked, “that you will be held for ransom?”

She looked at me, stunned.

“Remove you veil,” I told her.

“Never!” she cried. “Never!”

“Very well,” said I. I returned my attention to the master cargo lists.

“What is to be done with us?” she asked.

I turned to Clitus. “The Lady Vivina,” I said to him, “will of course grace the

prow of this ship, the flagship of the treasure fleet.”

“No!” she screamed.

“Yes, Captain,” said Clitus.

Already two men held her arms.

“Take then those that were with her,” I said, “and distribute them to the extent

of their number among our other ships, the twent most beautiful to our twenty

tarn ships now with the fleet, and the most beautiful of the twenty to the prow

of the Dorna, and the other twenty set at the prows of twenty of our prizes.

“Yes, Captain,” said Clitus.

Men laid hands on the two girls behind the Lady Vivina, and they cried out with

fear.

I again turned my attention to the master cargo lists.

“Captain!” said the Lady Vivina.

“Yes,” I said, lifting my head and looking at her.

“I -- I,” she said, “will remove my veil.”

“That will not be necessary,” I said.

I handed Clitus the book of cargo lists and strode to the girl, jerking out the

pins that held her veil, face stripping her.

“Beast!” she cried.

I gestured that the seamen should remove the veils from the two girls who stood

behind her.

They wept.

They were beauties, all.

I looked down into the face of the Lady Vivina, who was beautiful.

“Put her at the prow,” I said to Clitus.

I turned away, taking the book of master cargo lists from Clitus, and again

giving them my attention. The other two girls were taken from my presence. The

Lady Vivina, to one side, was readied for the prow.

Within the Ahn we were ready to sail for Port Kar. I had the admiral of the

treasure fleet, Rencius Ho-Bah of Telnus, in his chains, brought before me.

“I am returning one round ship to Cos,” I said. “You withe certain of the seamen

captured, will sit chained at her benches. Beyond this, I will give you, from

among our prisoners, ten free men, six seamen, two helmsmen, an oar-master and a

keleustes. The treasure from the ship, of course, will be placed aboard other

ships, taken to Port Kar as prizes. On the other had, your ship will be

adquately provisioned and I do not doubt you will make port in Telnus within

five days”

“You are generous,” said the Admiral, dismally.

“I expect,” I said, “when you return to Telnus, should you decide to do so, that

you will make a reasonably full and accurate accound of what had occured here

recently.”

“Doubtless,” smiled the Admiral, “I shall receive requests to that effect.”

“In order that your information my be as accurate as possible, at least to this

point, I inform you that seven of your treasure ships have, at least until now,