Vagabonds of Gor (76 page)

Those who managed to escape back through the tunnel could then be dealt with at their leisure, as they would then be too few to resist even a modest set of coordinated assaults. Indeed, one might then have expected the fugitives to surrender, throwing themselves upon the mercy of Cos. Wisely, of course, Myron also left many troops about the city, and in special strength near the gates, lest Dietrich attempt to outwit him, by sallying forth and breaking free."

"Myron is a fine Polemarkos," said a man.

"Yes," said another.

I agreed with these estimates. Myron had weaknesses as an officer, and as a man, but he was, in my opinion, an excellent commander. Now, of course, he was dealing with a Dietrich of Tarnburg.

"What happened then?" asked a man.

"By morning," said our narrator, "the escaping tarns had been apprehended, but in their saddles, bound and gagged, were Cosian prisoners."

"What of the forces in the city?" asked a man.

"Flames were seen coming from Torcadino. Their source was unknown. It was later determined that these were the results of the destruction of the Cosian siege materials, the war engines, the wagons and supplies, which had been captured in Torcadino."

The seizure of these materials in Torcadino, which had been serving as a Cosian depot for the invasion force, had been the prime objective of Dietrich in taking the city, he hoping then to forestall the Cosian advance and give Ar time to prepare itself for war. As it had turned out, however, Ar had sent her major forces northward, had failed to relieve the siege at Ar's Station, and then, supposedly pursuing the Cosian expeditionary force in the north, which had destroyed Ar's Station, had come to disaster in the delta. These things would not have been possible without treachery in Ar. Indeed, one of the traitors, a lovely traitress, now lay chained in an alcove in this very tavern. Dietrich had hoped to give Ar time to arm, that she might counterbalance the forces of Cos, thus preventing the ascendancy of a single mighty force on the continent, an eventuality which, in his opinion, would have threatened the existence of the free companies, among which was his own, one of the largest and finest.

"But what of the tunnel?" asked a fellow.

"What of Dietrich, and his men?" asked another.

"All night Myron and his men waited," said our narrator, "and the next morning, and the next day, but still the tunnel did not open."

"Why?" asked a man.

"For an excellent reason," said our narrator, "it did not exist."

Men looked at one another.

"Myron, convinced that the tunnel existed, decided to open it himself, and from among his own engineers brought in miners and sappers. For two days they probed and dug, but, of course, found nothing. Meanwhile the smoke billowed from Torcadino."

"Doubtless the informant, this Mincon, was boiled in oil," said a man.

"He had disappeared," said the narrator.

"Of course," said a fellow.

"Myron, leaving observers at the supposed site of the tunnel, returned in great anger to his headquarters. He then sent scouts to test the defenses of Torcadino. Small groups of them scaled the walls without meeting resistance. Later, a larger force, entered into the city, opened the gates. Myron entered, and found nothing. Torcadino was deserted."

"What of Dietrich and his men?" asked a man.

"Gone," said the narrator.

"Impossible," said a man.

"Much was the fear among the men of Myron," said the narrator.

"I can imagine," said a fellow, uneasily.

"Some wondered if they had been gone for months, others if they had ever been there. Some speculated that they had drunk mysterious potions, rendering them invisible, others that they had been wafted away by Priest-Kings."

"But someone must have set the fires in Torcadino," said a man, "on the night the tarns took flight, on the night Myron waited in vain to the north."

"Of course," said the narrator.

"Continue," said a man.

"Days later," said the narrator, "two soldiers with clubs, hunting urts for sport, followed a large urt into a basement where it seemingly disappeared. They discovered a hole and, probing about in it, discovered the concealed opening to a tunnel. It had been caved-in, from the inside. This tunnel led not to the north of Torcadino but to the south. Myron had men follow it and it led for pasangs south, until they found its southern termination, again caved-in and concealed, this time, of course, from the outside. It was dug out and discovered to open in the vicinity of the aqueducts formerly used to bring water north to Torcadino from the Issus."

"It was by means of those aquaducts that Dietrich originally entered Torcadino!" said a man."Over the very heads of Cosians!" said a man.

"But their northern terminations had been destroyed by Dietrich himself, to prevent others from availing themselves of the same ingress to the city," said a man.

"Yet he made use of them later," marveled a fellow.

"Yes," said the narrator. Using the aquaducts, wading in them, with men and slaves, he moved as though invisibly toward the Issus. There, as investigation revealed, his command had apparently been ordered to scatter. Certainly five thousand men could not be easily concealed from the might of Cos on the continent."

"They could regroup somewhere," said a fellow.

"When it might prove safe," said a fellow.

"The thing was well planned," said the narrator. "For example, arrangements had apparently been made long in advance for supplies, gear, clothing, tharlarion, and such, to be readied at the banks of the Issus."

"Is it certain that Dietrich took slaves with him from Torcadino?" asked a fellow.

"Yes," said the narrator. "In the tunnel, mixed in with the prints of the men, in the dust, were the numerous prints of small, bared feet."

"I see," said the man.

"The prints of the small feet, however," said the narrator, "were rather deep. What do you make of that?"

"They were bearing burdens," said the man.

"Yes," said another, "the loot of Torcadino."

"Most of them, themselves, would have been a portion of that loot," said a man.

"Yes," said another. This was undoubtedly true. The female makes superb loot.

"Where is Dietrich, and his men?" asked a fellow.

"Scattered to the winds," said the narrator.

"They could be anywhere," said another.

"Even in Brundisium," said a fellow.

"Oh, yes," said another. Brundisium was, of course, as I have indicated, a major stronghold of Cos on the continent. Indeed, it had been the port of entry for the Cosian invasion fleet.

"He is probably back in Tarnburg by now," said another fellow.

"Yes," said another.

"Has Myron been recalled to Telnus in disgrace?" asked a fellow.

"He is the cousin of Lurius of Jad," said another.

"Else he might have been boiled in oil," said another.

"True," said a man.

"Doubtless he would be somewhat interested in learning the whereabouts of Dietrich and his men," said a man.

"I would suppose so," said another fellow.

"Paga!" called a fellow.

"Paga!" called another.

Girls hurried forward to serve masters.

I myself drew apart from the group then and went to the door at the side, that leading to one of the private dining areas. I knocked, lightly.

The door opened a crack, and then, fully, as I was admitted. "Welcome, Tarl," said Mincon, my friend from the Genesian Road, and Torcadino, "we have been expecting you."

Chapter 41 - SHE WILL SERVE WELL

"May I speak?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. I had drawn the curtains behind me.

"You have been gone long," she said.

"Do you object?" I asked.

"No!" she said. "I must wait, patiently!"

I crouched beside her and removed the small chain that ran across her forehead, with the tiny ornament, the pearl droplet, and put it to one side. I then, too, lifted the necklaces from about her neck, putting them, too, to one side.

"You are stripping me for use?" she asked.

"To some extent," I said. I did not have, for example, the key to her anklet, on which the slave bells were located. Too, it can be pleasant to leave such things on a female in her use, bells, bracelets and such, whatever one pleases.

She looked up at me.

"I am going to remove the slave silk," I said.

"If I cry out too much," she whispered, "thrust it in my mouth."

"All right," I said. Sometimes a girl's hair is used for the same purpose.

I then drew loose the disrobing loop of the silk, at her left shoulder, and drew aside the silk.

"Be pleased," she begged. "Be pleased!"

"I am pleased," I said.

"I am ready," she whispered, intensely. I touched her, gently.

"Ai!" she exclaimed.

"You are indeed ready, female," I said.

"Use me," she wept. "Use me now, now!"

"I think, first," I said, "I will caress you a little."

"Please do not touch me now," she said. "Every bit of me is alive. I do not think I can stand it."

"You do not wish to be touched?" I asked.

"Just use me," she begged. "Just use me!"

"No," I said, "I am going to caress you a little."

"Oh!" she said, touched.

She lay back, in the chains, hot, flushed, tremblingly, piteously.

"It will be done with you as I please," I said, "not as you please."

"Yes, my captor," she whimpered. "Oh! Oh!"

"You leap and squirm well," I said.

She looked at me, resentfully. "Oh!" she said.

"See?" I said.

"Yes, my captor!" she exclaimed.

I then let her subside a little. One can always bring them back to where one wants them.

"Aii!" she said. "Please finish with me!"

"Not until I am pleased to do so," I said.

"It will apparently be as you wish, my captor," she moaned.

"Yes," I said.

"Oh," she said. "Oh!"

"Are you helpless?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, "I am helpless, and in bonds, and you are doing with me as you please!"

"Did you ever suppose you would be chained like this, and responding in a paga tavern, as you are?" I asked.

"No," she said. "No!"