John Norman: Players of Gor

"The dating of this occurrence seems unclear," I said.

"It was apparently not recent," said Samos.

Presumably this had happened after the time I had gone to Torvaldsland, or, I suppose, I would have heard of it while there. Interesting stories move swiftly through the halls, conveyed by merchants and singers. Too, such a story would be widely told, on supposes, at a Thing-Fair. I went to Torvaldsland in the Rune-Year 1,006. Years, in the chronology of Torvaldsland, are counted from the time of Thor's gift of the stream of Torvald to Torvald, the legendary founder and hero of the northern fatherlands. the calendars are kept by Rune-Priests. That would have been 10,122 C.A., or Year 3 of the Sovereignty of the Council of Captains in Port Kar. I suspected, though I did not know, that the events recounted by Yngvar had occurred from four to five years ago.

"It was probably a few years ago," said Samos.

"Probably," I granted him.

"The ship was probably a ship of Priest-Kings," said Samos.

"I would suppose so," I said. It did not seem likely that a Kur ship would move openly in Gorean air space.

"it is an interesting story," said Samos.

"Yes," I said.

"Perhaps it has some significance," said Samos.

"Perhaps," I said.

I recalled, long ago, in the Nest, when I had seen the dying Mother. "I see him, I see him," she had said, "and his wings are like showers of gold." She had then lain quietly on the stone. "The Mother is dead," had said Misk. Her last memory, interestingly, it seemed, had been of her Nuptial Flight. There was now, doubtless, a new Mother in the Nest. Yngvar and his fellows, unwittingly, I was confident, had witnessed the inauguration of a new dynasty among Priest-Kings.

"Have you heard anything from the Sardar?" I asked, again.

Samos looked down at the board. I did not press him. His reticence to respond directly puzzled me. If he had heard something, of course, it was perhaps none of my business. I had no intention of prying into his affairs, or those of Priest-Kings. Also, of course, perhaps he had heard nothing.

"You are not playing your usual game," I told him.

"I am sorry," he said.

A new girl, Susan, was now dancing. She who had been the Lady Rowena of Lydius was o her belly on a table, clutching its sides, her teeth gritted. Tula was being handed from man to man. Some of the other girls, too, were now being used by masters. And others were licking and kissing at them, and whispering in their ears, begging for attention.

We played another pair of moves.

"What is bothering you?" I asked Samos.

"Nothing," he said.

"Is there much news?" I asked.

"Tarnsmen from Treve had raided the outskirts of Ar," said Samos.

"They grow bold," I said.

Cos and Ar are still at odds," he said.

"Of course," I said.

"The building of ships in Tyros continues," he said.

"Chenbar has a long memory," I said. Much of the naval power of Tyros had been destroyed in the battle of the 25th of Se'Kara. This had taken place in Year One of the Sovereignty of the Council of Captains, in 10,12 °C.A.

"On Cos, as our spies have it," said Samos, "there is much training of men, and a recruitment of mercenaries."

"We could strike at the shipyards of Tyros," I said, "ten ramships, a thousand men, a picked force."

"The yards are well fortified," he said.

"Do you think Cos and Tyros will move?" I asked.

"yes," he said.

"When?" I asked.

"I do not know," he said.

"It is interesting," I said. "I cannot see Port Kar as a great threat to them. The power of Ar in the Vosk Basin would seem a much greater threat to their influence, and their sphere of trade."

"One would think so," said Samos.

"Matters are complicated there now, of course," I said, "by the formation of the Vosk League."

"That is true," said Samos.

"What is the nature of the training being given the men on Cos?" I asked.

"Infantry training," he said.

"That is interesting," I said. it did not seem likely to me that infantry, at least in its normal deployments and tactics, would be successful in an assault on Port Kar. This had primarily to do with her situation, in the northwestern portion of the estuary of the Vosk, the waters of the Tamber Guld and Thassa before her, the vast, trackless marshes of the Vosk's delta behind her.

"Can it be," I asked, "that Cos is planning to challenge Ar on the land?"

"That would be madness," said Samos.

I nodded. Ar is the major land force in known Gor. The Cosian infantry, meeting her on land in open battle, in force, would be crushed.

"It seems clear then," said Samos, "that they are planning on using the infantry against Port Kar."

I nodded. Cos would never challenge Ar on the land. That was unthinkable.

"That is what is bothering you?" I asked.

"What?" he asked.

"The possibility that Cos and Tyros may move against Port Kar," I said.

"No," he said.

"What is bothering you?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"Are you disturbed by the proximity of the Waiting Hand?" I asked.

This is a frightening and difficult time for many Goreans.

"No," he said.

"Let us stop playing and adjudicate the game as a draw," I suggested.

"No," he said. "It is all right."

I moved my Ubara's Builder to threaten his Ubar. This movement of the builder produced a discovered attack on his Home Stone by my Ubara's Initiate. He interposed his own Ubar's Builder, which I then took with the Initiate, a less valued piece. The Initiate's attack, of course, continued the threat on the Home Stone. he then took the Initiate with his Ubara's Builder, and I, of course, removed his Ubar from the board with my Ubara's Builder.

Samos turned to Linda. "Dance," he said. She leaped to her feet and hurried to the center of the tiles. Susan, then, was pulled by the hair to the place of a keleustes, on who marks time, usually on a pounding block or a ship's drum, for oarsmen. In some navies, and on ships of some registry, the office of the keleustes is referred to as that of the horator. He reports directly to the oar-master. The oar-master, like the helmsman, of which two are generally on duty at any one time, most Gorean ships being double ruddered, reports to the captain.

We watched Linda dance. It seemed she had eyes only for Samos. Her fingers played teasingly with the disrobing loop at her left shoulder.

"Strip, slave," said Samos.

She drew the disrobing loop. There was Gorean applause. She danced well. There was little left in her now of the Earth female. How happy and fulfilled she was on Gor. To be sure, she was only a slave.

I returned my attention to the board, as did Samos.

"It is capture of Home Stone in four," I said.

He nodded. He removed his Home Stone from the board, resigning.

He lifted his head, regarding Linda. "She is pretty," he said.

"Yes," I said.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

She writhed well, the Gorean slave.

"Why did you invite me this night to your holding?" I asked. "Surely not to play Kaissa?"

He was now resetting the pieces. He would take Yellow this time.

"Ubar's Spearman to Ubar Five," he said.

This move attacks the center and opens a diagonal for the Ubara. It also makes possible a positioning move, matching him positionally in the center, stopping an advance on that file and securing the same advantages for the Ubara and Ubar's Tarnsman. This is one of the most common opening moves in kaissa.

We played twice more that night. I won both games easily, the first with a battering ram of Spearmen and Riders of the High Tharlarion on the Ubar's side, and the second with a middle-game combination of Ubara's Scribe, Ubara and Ubar's Tarnsman. It was now late. Linda lay curled on the tiles near Samos. She was naked, save for her collar. She was beautiful and curvaceous. She was his.