Savages of Gor coc-17 Read online

  I heard the tiny wheel scratch at the flint. I did not take my eyes from thethings at the far end of the room, on the floor, half hidden by a large table,the area open behind them leading to the ruined tarn cot. It is not wise to lookaway from such things, if they are in the vicinity, or to turn one's back uponthem. I did not know if they were asleep or not. I guessed that they were not.

  My hand rested on the hilt of my sword. Such things, I had reason to know, couldmove with surprising speed.

  The wick of the fire-maker was now aflame. Samos, carefully, held the tiny flameto the wick of the now-unshuttered dark lantern. It, too, burned tharlarion oil.

  I was confident now, in the additional light, that the things were not asleep.

  When the light had been struck, with the tiny noise, from the steel and flint,which would have been quite obvious to them, given the unusual degree of theirauditory acuity, there had been only the slightest of muscular contractions. Hadthey been startled out of sleep, the reaction, I was confident, would have beenfar more noticeable. I had little doubt they were, and had been, from the first,clearly and exactly aware of our presence.

  "The fewer who know of the warrings of worlds, the better," said Samos. "Littleis to be served by alarming an unready populace. Even the guards outside do notunderstand, clearly, on what business we have come here. Besides, if one had notseen such things, who would believe stories as to their existence? They would beregarded as mythical or stories of wondrous animals, such as the horse, the dogand griffin."

  I smiled. Horses and dogs did not exist on Gor. Goreans, on the whole, knew themonly from legends, which, I had little doubt, owed their origins to forgottentimes, to memories brought long ago to Gor from another world. Such stories, forthey were very old on Gor, probably go back thousands of years, dating from thetimes of very early Voyages of Acquisition, undertaken by venturesome,inquisitive creatures of an alien species, one known to most Goreans only as thePriest-Kings. To be sure, few Priest-Kings, now, entertained such a curiositynor such an enthusiastic penchant for exploration and adventure. Now, thePriest-Kings had be- come old. I think that perhaps one is old only when one haslost the desire to know. Not until one has lost ones curiosity, and concern, canone be said to be truly old.

  I had two friends, in particular, who were Priest-Kings, Misk, and Kusk. I didnot think that they, in this sense, could ever grow old. But they were only two,two of a handful of survivors of a once mighty race, that of the lofty andgolden Priest-Kings. To be sure, I had managed, long ago, to return the lastfemale egg of Priest-Kings to the Nest. Too, among the survivors, protected fromassassination by the preceding generation, there had been a young male. But Ihad never learned what had occurred in the Nest after the return of the egg. Idid not know if it had been viable, or if the male had been suitable. I did notknow if it had hatched or not. I did not know if, in the Nest, a new Mother nowreigned or not. If this were the case I did not know the fate of the oldergeneration, nor the nature of the new. Would the new generation be as aware ofthe dangers in which it stood, as had been the last? Would the new generationunderstand, as well as had the last, the kind of things that, gigantic, shaggyand dark, intertwined, lay a few feet before me now? "I think you are right,Samos," I said.

  He lifted the lantern now, its shutters open.

  We viewed the things before us.

  "They will move slowly," I said, "that they may not startle us. I think that we,too, should do the same."

  "Agreed," said Samos.

  "There are tarns in the tarn cot," I said. I had just seen one move, and theglint of moonlight off a long, scimitar like beak. I then saw it lift its wings,opening and shutting them twice. I had not detected them earlier in the shadows.

  "Two," said Samos. "They are their mounts."

  "Shall we approach the table?" I asked.

  "Yes," said Samos.

  "Slowly," I said.

  "Yes," said Samos.

  We then, very slowly, approached the table. Then we stood before it. I could seenow, in the light of the lantern, that the fur of one of the creatures was adarkish brown, and the fur of the other was almost black. The most common colorin such things is dark brown. They were large. As they lay, together, the crestof that heap, that living mound, marked by the backbone of one of them, was afew inches higher than the surface of the table. I could not see the heads. Thefeet and hands, too, were hidden. I could not, if I had wished, because of thetable, have easily drawn the blade and struck at them. I suspected that theposition they had taken was not an accident. Too, of course, from my point ofview, I was not displeased to have the heavy table where it was. I would nothave minded, in fact, had it been even wider. One tends to be most comfortablewith such things, generally, when they are in close chains, with inch-thicklinks, or behind close-set bars, some three inches in diameter.

  Samos set the lantern down on the table. We then stood there, not moving.

  "What is to be done?" asked Samos.

  "I do not know," I said. I was sweating. I could sense my heart beating. Myright hand, across my body, was on the hilt of my sword. My left hand steadiedthe sheath.

  "Perhaps they are sleeping," whispered Samos.

  "No," I said.

  "They do not signal their recognition of our presence," said Samos.

  "They are aware we are here," I said.

  "What shall we do?" asked Samos. "Shall I touch one?"

  "Do not," I whispered, tensely. "An unexpected touch can trigger the attackreflex."

  Samos drew back his hand.

  "Too," I said, "Such things are proud, vain creatures. They seldom welcome thetouch of a human. The enraged and bloody dismemberment of the offender oftenfollows upon even an inadvertent slight in this particular."

  "Pleasant fellows," said Samos.

  "They, too," I said, "Like all rational creatures have their sense of proprietyand etiquette."

  "How can you regard them as rational?" asked Samos.

  "Obviously their intelligence, and their cunning, qualifies them as rational," Isaid. "It might interest you to know that, from their point of view, theycommonly regard humans as sub rational, as an inferior species, and, indeed, onethey commonly think of in terms little other than of food."

  "Why, then," asked Samos, "would they wish this parley?"

  "I do not know," I said. "That is, to me, a very fascinating aspect of thismorning's dark business."

  "They do not greet us," said Samos, irritably. He was, after all, an agent ofPriest-Kings, and, indeed, the first captain of the council of captains, thatbody sovereign in the affairs of Port Kar.

  "No," I said.

  "What shall we do?" he asked.

  "Wait," I suggested.

  We heard, outside, the screaming of a predatory ul, a gigantic, toothed, wingedlizard, soaring over the marshes.

  "How was this rendezvous arranged?" I asked.

  "My original contact was made by a pointed, weighted message cylinder, foundupright two days ago in the dirt of my men's exercise yard," said Samos.

  "Doubtless it was dropped there at night, by someone on tarnback."

  "By one of them?" I asked.

  "That seems unlikely," said Samos, "over the city."

  "Yes," I said.

  "They have their human confederates," he said.

  "Yes," I said. I had, in my adventures on Gor, met several of the confederatesof such creatures, both male and female. The females, invariably, had been quitebeautiful. I had little doubt that they had been selected, ultimately, with thecollar in mind, that they might, when they had served their purposes, be reducedto bondage. Doubtless this projected aspect of their utility was not made clearto them in their recruitment. She who had once been Miss Elicia Nevins, now theslave Elicia in my holding, chained now nude by the neck to my slave ring, hadbeen such a girl. Now, however, instead of finding herself the slave of one ofher allies, or being simply disposed of in a slave market, she found herself theslave of one of her former enemies. That, I thought, particula
rly on Gor, wouldgive her slavery a peculiarly intimate and terrifying flavor. It was an Ahn orso until dawn now. Soon, doubtless, she would be released from the ring. Shewould be supervised in relieving and washing herself. Then she would be put withmy other women. She then, like the others, after having been issued her slavegruel, and after having finished it, and washed the wooden bowl, would beassigned her chores for the day.

  We heard, again, the screaming of the ul outside the building. The tarns in thetarn cot moved about. The ul will not attack a tarn. The tarn could tear it topieces.

  "We have been foolish," I said to Samos.

  "How so?" asked Samos.

  "Surely the protocols in such a matter, from the point of view of our friends,must be reasonably clear."

  "I do not understand," said Samos.

  "Put yourself in their place," I said. "They are larger and stronger than we,and quite possibly more ferocious and vicious. Too, they regard themselves asmore intelligent than ourselves, and as being a dominant species."

  "So?" asked Samos.

  "So," said I, "naturally they expect not to address us first, but to be firstaddressed."

  "I," asked Samos, "first speak to such as they, I, who am first captain in thehigh city of Port Kar, jewel of gleaming Thassa?"

  "Correct," I said.

  "Never," said he.

  "Do you wish me to do so?" I asked.

  "No," said Samos.

  "Then speak first," I said.

  "We shall withdraw," said Samos, angrily.

  "If I were you," I said, "I do not think I would risk displeasing them."

  "Do you think they would be angry?" he asked.

  "I expect so," I said. "I do not imagine they would care to have beenfruitlessly inconvenienced by human beings."

  "Perhaps I should speak first," said Samos.

  "I would recommend it," I said.

  "They it is, after all," said he, "who have called this meeting."

  "True," I encouraged him. "Also, it would be deplorable, would it not, to betorn to pieces without even having discovered what was on their minds?"

  "Doubtless," said Samos, grimly.

  "I can be persuasive," I admitted.

  "Yes," agreed Samos.

  Samos cleared his throat. He was not much pleased to speak first, but he woulddo it. Like many slavers and pirates, Samos was, basically, a good fellow.

  "Tal," said Samos, clearly, obviously addressing this greeting to our shaggyconfreres. "Tal, large friends."

  We saw the fur move, gigantic muscles slowly, evenly, beginning to stir beneathit. As they had lain it would have been difficult to detect, or strike, a vitalarea. Sinuously, slowly, the two creatures separated and then, slowly, seemed torise and grow before us. Samos and I stepped back. Their heads and arms were nowvisible. The light reflected back, suddenly, eccentrically, from the two largeeyes of one of them. For an instant they blazed, like red-hot copper disks, likethose of a wolf or coyote at the perimeter of a fire lit camp.

  I could now, the angle of the lighting being different, see them, blinking, asthe large, deep orbs they were. I could see the pupils contracting. Suchcreatures are primarily nocturnal. Their night vision is far superior to that ofthe human. Their accommodation to shifting light conditions is also much morerapid than is that of the human. These things have been selected for in theirbloody species. When the eyes of the creature had reflected back the light, thelight, too, had suddenly reflected back from its fangs, and I had seen, too, thelong, dark tongue move about on the lips, and then draw back into the mouth.

  The creatures seemed to continue to grow before us. Then they stood erect beforeus. Their hind legs, some eight to ten inches in width, are proportionatelyshorter than their arms, which tend to be some eight inches in width at thebiceps and some five inches, or so, in width at the wrist. Standing as theywere, upright, the larger of the two creatures was some nine feet tall, and thesmaller some eight and a half feet tall. I conjecture the larger weighed aboutnine hundred pounds and the smaller about eight hundred and fifty pounds. Theseare approximately average heights and weights for this type of creature. Theirhands and feet are six digited, tentacle like and multiply jointed. The nails,or claws, on the hands, are usually filed, presumably to facilitate themanipulation of tools and instrumentation. The claws, retractable, on the feetare commonly left unfiled. A common killing method for the creature is to seizethe victim about the head or shoulders, usually with the teeth, and, raking, todisembowel it with the tearing of the clawed hind feet. Other common methods areto hold the victim and tear away the throat from between the head and body, orto bite away the head itself.

  "Tal," repeated Samos, uneasily.

  I looked across the table at the creatures. I saw intelligence in their eyes.

  "Tal," repeated Samos.

  Their heads were better than a foot in width. Their snouts were two-nostriled,fattish and leathery. Their ears were large, wide and pointed. They were nowerected and oriented towards us. This pleased me, as it indicated they had noimmediate intention of attacking. When such a creature attacks the ears flattenagainst the sides of the head, this having the apparent function of reducingtheir susceptibility to injury. This is a common feature of predatorycarnivores.

  "They do not respond," said Samos.

  I did not take my eyes from the creatures. I shrugged. "Let us wait," I said. Iwas uncertain as to what alien protocols the creatures might expect us toobserve.

  The creatures stood upright now but they could function as well on all fours,using the hind legs and the knuckles of the hands. The upright carriageincreases scanning range, and has probably contributed to the development andrefinement of binocular vision. The horizontal carriage permits great speed, andhas probably contributed, via natural selections, to the development ofolfactory and auditory acuity. In running, such creatures almost invariably,like the baboon, have recourse to all fours. They will normally drop to allfours in charging, as well, the increased speed increasing the impact of theirstrike.

  "One is a Blood," I said.

  "What is that?" asked Samos.

  "In their military organizations," I said, "six such beasts constitute a Hand,and its leader is called an Eye. Two hands and two eyes constitute a largerunit, called a "Kur" or "Beast," which is commanded by a leader, or Blood.

  Twelve such units constitute a Band, commanded again by a Blood, though ofhigher rank. Twelve bands, again commanded by a Blood, of yet higher rank,constitute a March. Twelve Marches is said to constitute a People. Thesedivisors and multiples have to do with, it seems, a base-twelve mathematics,itself perhaps indexed historically to the six digits of one of the creature'sprehensile appendages."

  "Why is the leader spoken of as a Blood? asked Samos.

  "It seems to have been an ancient belief among such creatures," I said, "thatthought was a function of the blood, rather than of the brain, a terminologywhich has apparently lingered in their common speech. Similar anachronisms occurin many languages, including Gorean."

  "Who commands a People?" asked Samos.

  "One who is said to be a "Blood' of the People, as I understand it," I said.

  "How do you know that one of these is a "Blood," asked Samos.

  "The left wrist of the larger animal bears two rings, rings of reddish alloy," Isaid. "They are welded on the wrist. No Gorean file can cut them."

  "He is then of high rank?" asked Samos.

  "Of lower rank than if he wore one," I said. "Two such rings designate theleader of a Band. He would have a ranking, thusly, of the sort normally accordedto one who commanded one hundred and eighty of his fellows."

  "He is analogous to a captain," said Samos.

  "Yes," I said.

  "But not a high captain," said Samos.

  "No," I said.

  "If he is a Blood, then he is almost certainly of the steel ships," said Samos.

  "Yes," I said.

  "The other," said Samos, "wears two golden rings in its ears.

  "It is a
vain beast," I said. "Such rings serve only as ornaments. It ispossible he is a diplomat."

  "The larger beast seems clearly dominant," said Samos.

  "It is a Blood," I said.

  There was a broad leather strap, too, running from the right shoulder to theleft hip of the smaller of the two creatures. I could not see what accoutermentit bore.

  "We have greeted them," said Samos. "Why do they not speak?"

  "Obviously we must not yet have greeted them properly," I said.

  "How long do you think they will remain tolerant of our ignorance?" asked Samos.

  "I do not know," I said. "Such creatures are not noted for their patience."

  "Do you think they will try to kill us?" asked Samos.

  "They have already had ample opportunity to attempt to do so, if that were theirintention," I said.

  "I do not know what to do," said Samos.

  "The occasion is formal, and we are dealing with a Blood," I said, "Onedoubtless from the steel ships themselves. I think I have it."

  "What do you recommended?" asked Samos.

  "How many times have you proffered greetings to them?" I asked.

  Samos thought, briefly. "Four," he said. "Tal' was said to them four times."

  "Yes," I said. "Now, if one of these beasts were to touch the hand, or paw, ofanother, the hand, or paw, of each being open, indicating that weapons were notheld, that the touch was in peace, at how many points would contact be made?"

  "At six," said Samos.

  "Such creatures do not care, usually, to be touched by humans," I said. "Thehuman analogy to such a greeting then might be six similar vocal signals. At anyrate, be that as it may, I think the number six is of importance in thismatter."