Vagabonds of Gor (25 page)

"You challenge the competence of Saphronicus?" he asked. "No," I said. "I think he is a very able commander."

"I do not understand," he said.

"Surely it is clear," I said.

"You do not think Saphronicus is in the delta," he said.

"No," I said. "He is not in the delta."

"You could have learned that only from a spy," he said.

"True," I said. "I had it from a spy."

"You, too, then," said he, "are, as charged, an agent of Cos."

"No," I said.

"Where lies your allegiance?" asked he.

"I am of Port Kar," I said.

"There is no love lost between Ar and Port Kar," he said.

"We are at least at war with Cos," I said.

"We will continue to move westward," he said.

"It is a mistake," I said.

"Our orders are clear," he said.

"What of the rencers?" I asked.

"I do not understand their apparent numbers," he said. "A village was destroyed, only a village."

"They have apparently been gathered for some time," I said.

"But why?" he asked.

"You are in their country," I reminded him.

"But surely they understand we seek only to close with Cos."

"As I indicated earlier," I said, "they will find that very difficult to believe."

"Why?" he asked.

"Do you really not suspect?" I asked.

"Why?" he asked.

"Cos," I said, "is not in the delta."

"Impossible!" he said.

"Perhaps there are some Cosians in the delta," I granted him. "I do not know. Perhaps enough to leave sign, enough to lure Ar further westward. It is a possibility."

He regarded me.

"But have you," I asked, "who are the commander of the vanguard, you who are in the very best position to do so, detected any clear evidence as yet of even so minimal a presence?"

"There has been broken rence," he said.

"Tharlarion can break rence," I said.

"The expeditionary force of Cos," he said, "entered the delta. We know that."

"I do not doubt it," I said. Ar, too, of course, would have her sources of information, her spies. Her gold could purchase information as well as that of Cos. "What I do suggest is that the columns of Cos did not remain in the delta, but, after perhaps a day or two, after having clearly established their entry below Turmus, withdrew."

"Absurd," he said.

"Do you really think Cos would choose to meet you in the delta?"

"They fled before us, in fear of their lives," said he, angrily.

"I was with the expeditionary force," I said, "for several days, until north of Holmesk. I assure you their march was leisurely."

"Then you are Cosian," he said.

"I was there with a friend," I said, "one who was seeking to be of service to Ar."

"The Cosians must meet us," he said, angrily.

"They will meet you," I assured him, "but when they wish."

"I do not understand," he said.

"They will meet you when you attempt to extricate yourself from the delta," I said.

"They are ahead of us," he said. "No," I said.

"Lies!" said he.

"Perhaps," I said.

"Would that we might meet Cos soon!" he said.

"In a sense," I said, "you have already met her."

"I do not understand," he said.

"The delta itself is her weapon," I said, "and the rencers."

The captain stood up. He looked down at me. "Your supposed conjectures," he said, "are the vain lies of a squirming spy, attempting to divert from himself the legitimate wrath of outraged captors. Your supposed speculations, moreover, are absurd. Perhaps if you had given them more thought, you might have come up with something more plausible. Too, I find your impugning the integrity and honor of Saphronicus, general in the north, to be odious and offensive. Your insinuations, moreover, on the whole, are preposterous. If true, they would suggest treason of almost incomprehensible dimension."

"There is treason, in high places, in Ar." I said.

"To what end?" he asked.

"To political realignments," I said, "to the supremacy of Cos."

"And Saphronicus is involved?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. I did not wish to speak beyond this. There was one whose name I sought to protect.

"Absurd," said he. He lifted his hand, summoning my keeper. "Replace his gag," he said.

The keeper removed the wadding and binding from my neck rope.

"Captain," said a fellow, approaching. "We hear something now, a sound from beneath the water."

"Its nature?" asked the officer.

"It is hard to tell," said the fellow. "It is like a clicking, a cracking."

"It is done with rocks!" I said.

The officer looked at me, sharply. "It is what I said!" I said.

The informant looked at me, puzzled.

"Is it far off?" I asked.

"It is hard to tell," said the man. "I think so."

"Is it rhythmical?" I asked.

"It is regular," said the man.

"Bring in your defense perimeter," I said to the officer.

"You jest," he said.

"Rencers sometimes use such rocks," I said, "struck beneath the surface of the water, the sound detectable by holding the side of the head under water. They can be used to convey signals, to communicate. I do not know their codes."

"We are speaking of simple fishermen," said the officer, "of hunters of birds, of harvesters of rence."

"But the striking is now rhythmical," I said. "It is not now being used to communicate!"

"We have not been troubled with rencers in several Ahn," said the officer. "I think that danger is passed. Indeed, I regard it as quite possible, given the rapidity of our march, that we have passed beyond them. They have perhaps now disbanded, returned to their villages. Surely, by now, they understand we mean them no harm."

"The sounds will now be closer," I said.

"I grant you that they may have observers in the marsh," he said.

"The sounds are regular," I said. "They are not now being used to communicate. They are being used otherwise, to irritate, to drive."

"But nothing can hear them, or feel them," said a man. "They are under water."

"They will be on all sides of the bar," I said. "They are coming closer, they will grow louder."

"They are under water," said the man.

"Bring in your pickets!" I said.

"The spy wishes us to bring in our pickets," said my keeper, to another fellow.

"We are not fools," said a man.

"Are your friends out there?" asked a fellow.

"Or lose them!" I said.

"What of the rencers?" asked the officer.

There was a sudden thrashing out in the water, some yards away.

"What was that?" asked a man.

"Two tharlarion," said a fellow.

"It is nothing," said another.

"Surely you know the hunting of larls, the beating of game," I said.

"Surely," said a man.

"The ring can be pasangs in width," said a man.

"So, too, it is here!" I said.

In such drives, the ring growing smaller and smaller, hundreds of animals can be brought together at a given point. Peasants from different villages sometimes combine forces to engage in this form of hunting. Sometimes, too, animals desired for the arena are hunted in this fashion, usually to be driven, at last, by fire and spears into nets or cages.

"And that is why," I said to the officer, "you do not need to fear rencers now. They are not so stupid as to be within the ring. It is not rencers who are within the ring, it is we who are within the ring! They will come later. Then you will fear them and well!"

"Aii!" cried a man, wading onto the bar, wildly.

"It is one of the pickets!" said a fellow.

To his right, a few feet away, not following him, there suddenly emerged a long-necked tharlarion from the marsh, half out of the water. To the man's left, not following him either, as far as I could tell, there suddenly emerged a short-legged, long-bodied tharlarion. We could see the irregular backs of other beasts here and there breaking the water.

"Bring the pickets in!" cried the officer.

"Bring fire!" cried a fellow.

"No!" I cried. "Not fire!"

The wadding was thrust rapidly in my mouth, and bound in place. I was then thrust back to the sand and, the neck tether considerably shortened, fastened down, between the two mooring stakes. My keeper left me, to rush to the aid of his fellows. I tried to pull free. I could not. My hands fought the manacles, foolishly. I tried to turn my head, to rear up a little, as I could, to watch.

Men were hurrying about with torches, with spears, striking at tharlarion. The shore seemed alive with them, and the marsh. I heard screams coming from all sides of the bar. Nearby several men were thrusting spears into the body of a huge tharlarion. Other fellows were thrusting torches down at others. More beasts clambered from the marsh, driven by those behind them.

The bar seemed alive with men and tharlarion. A fellow might be attacking one beast with a torch while others crawled past him. The beasts swarmed on the bar. Few attacked men, except, here and there, to react, or snap at them. More injuries, I think, were suffered as the result of their thrashing about, the swift movements of those gigantic tails, the strokes of which could break legs, and hurl a fellow yards away, than from the laceration of numerous, white, curved, hook-like teeth, than from the pounding closings of those mighty jaws.

These animals had not ascended the bar in aggression or menace. They had not come to attack. They had not come to feed. They moved about, here and there, twisting, turning, moving in one direction, then turning back, milling, confused, uncertain. Nothing in their experience, any more than in that of the men of Ar, had prepared them for this chaos, this tumult. Surely they, no more than the men of Ar, had anticipated it. If anything, if it were possible, I thought the beasts to be more distressed, agitated or confused than the men of Ar. I lay back, suddenly, as a long, heavy, scaled shape, on short legs, crawled over my body.

"More fire! More torches!" cried a fellow.

I struggled in the manacles, the bonds. I tried to pull free, to rear up. I twisted about. But I remained as my captors had decided, absolutely helpless.