Tal Goreans,

Greetings visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column, as we prepare for our final helping of “Hunters of Gor”. Bosk, having been frustrated in his initial mission to find his long-lost Talena, is now engaging in a very successful campaign of guerrilla warfare against a Tyrosian expedition under Sarus of Tyros that has captured the Ubar Marlenus and his hunting party. At the conclusion of the last instalment he was preparing to deprive his enemies of their lovely and useful allies, the Panther Girls, using some drugged wine and the repeatedly-treachous Mira. Let us find out if his plan has enjoyed success.

Chapter Seventeen

Of course it has. Bosk already has enough newly-captured slaves in his chain that he could have made himself a tidy profit had that been all he was interested in, but he has no objection to adding another fifty-eight to his collection, in spite of the best efforts of one Rissia, who remained behind in the camp when the Tyrosians fled. He uses his previously-collected slaves, including the Earth girl Ilene, to keep his new acquisitions under discipline; and Ilene is mightily relieved that at last there is someone lower in the pecking order than she is, and not slow to beat a Panther or two, including Rissia. In addition to picking up eighty-four new slaves in this campaign, Bosk has whittled down the numbers of the enemy from an impossible hundred and twenty-five to a merely improbable fifty-five. There are besides twenty-one of the Panthers, including Hura, still of the Tyrosian party. All things considered, Bosk has plenty to be cheerful about as he chains up his slaves and prepares to continue on his way.

Chapter Eighteen

Eventually Sarus and his men reach the sea - because, Bosk is at pains to point out, he permitted them to do so - although in order to get there they have had to leave the majority of their male captives behind. This was done mostly in order to hamper Bosk, chaining the men around a large tree where they could not get away and would need protecting. Bosk observes that the female captives of his enemy, by the way, are secured only with binding fibre, and remarks: “How easy it is to control women. How simply they may be secured.”

He reminds us that Sarus, of course, has no idea of the number or nature of his pursuers, and doubtless believes that he has been ambushed by slavers, who now have enough women and, for that matter, men to satisfy their greed; and he has reinforced this belief by giving the Tyrosians a couple of days peace for a change. But he has his own reasons for doing so, as he will soon make clear.

The Tyrosians erect a palisade on the beach and build a beacon fire to mark their position to their ships somewhere out at sea - the Rhoda that was theirs in the first place, and the Tesephone which they stole from Bosk along with his crew (which is one grievance he has against them). Meanwhile Bosk awaits developments; and when slave girls are escorted from the palisade to gather more firewood by night, he is ready for them. The girls, as it happens, are Cara and Tina the thief, and without significant difficulty Bosk disposes of the guard and spirits the two girls away.

Twenty-odd pasangs up the coast, Bosk has his two slaves build a fire. He is surprised by the zeal with which they perform this task, or at any rate says he is, though what he is doing being so obtuse is anyone’s guess. Having built it, he waits for the arrival of the ships. They take a day or two to arrive, which gives Bosk occasion to discuss the comparative seaworthiness and battle-worthiness of the southern warship - the “tarn ship” and the northern Serpent of Torvaldsland; and also to tell us a little about the Torvaldslanders, Vikings in all but name.

Once the ships are within signal range, Bosk lights his fire, so that it will be mistaken for Sarus’s beacon, and then leaves Tina with further orders and lets her be picked up by the Rhoda. He is counting on her ability to keep the crew occupied for a while, and he is not disappointed. While he pursues some unspecified business aboard that ship, Tina gets to demonstrate her ability to please men, which she does; and she is then taken aboard. “She knew what she must do,” Bosk tells us.

Chapter Nineteen

Bosk now faces the enemy in his very lair, being forced to this by an unexpected turn of events. For whatever reason, Sarus has decided to wait no longer for his intended rendezvous, but has had a number of rafts built, and is likely to flee beyond Bosk’s ability to pursue. Bosk demands to see Sarus, and Sarus decides that they will parley in the stockade, which suits Bosk very well. There he is recognised by Mira, who keeps her mouth shut for the time being, and Hura thinks she knows him. He rubs her up the wrong way, quite deliberately, by treating her to a real Master-to-slave kiss, which causes her to squeal for his head; but it’s evident from Sarus’s reaction to her that she can count on little sympathy from that quarter.

Thinking it over, Bosk decides that the fact that Sarus’s mission was ever embarked upon is proof that the political situation in Tyros is not as he last knew it, and he deduces that the Ubar Chenbar has been liberated from Port Kar. Sarus confirms that this is so. A band of mercenaries from Torvaldsland under Ivar Forkbeard accomplished the rescue in exchange for an enormous fee - the weight of Chenbar in sapphires of Schendi. Although Ivar Forkbeard is said to be mad, the size of the fee causes Bosk to suppose that he may not be as mad as all that.

Bosk’s demanding the release of every one of Sarus’s prisoners causes Sarus to observe that the Forkbeard is in fact quite sane, and as they continue to negotiate Hura interrupts with yet another demand to kill Bosk out of hand. This proves to be a case of going once too often to the well - calling Sarus a fool was doubtless imprudent - and she and her band are summarily stripped and bound as slaves. A hasty reaction on Sarus’s part, no doubt, but he has had a trying time lately, and Bosk’s absurd bluffing is probably not improving his temper.

Mira at this point pipes up with the news that Bosk has no men, deciding that it is better to impart this information even though it involves admitting that she has previously met him and thereby revealing her unwilling part in his machinations. Sarus also deduces, after a few words with Mira, that he has no Panther allies either, and is operating alone; and when Bosk’s identity is revealed by Hura, Sarus incredulously reiterates his assessment of Bosk’s mental state. After lashing his erstwhile allies for some more unwise opening of Hura’s mouth, Sarus tells Bosk to consider himself their prisoner; Bosk only repeats his demand for the freedom of Sarus’s slaves, including Marlenus.

Reinforcing Sarus’s opinion of him, Bosk delivers himself of a soliloquy, about how he was once a Warrior of Ko-ro-ba, and how he lost his honour; but, he declares, on such a night as this he sometimes “recollects” it. As Sarus reiterates the numerical realities of the situation, which is a redundant action on his part insofar as we know very well that Bosk can count, Bosk calls on Marlenus to sing the song of Glorious Ar; and as Sarus is driven into a frenzy, Bosk says: “My Home Stone was once the Home Stone of Ko-ro-ba. Will it be you, Sarus, who will come first against me?”

Chapter Twenty

I imagine that most handbooks on military tactics do not adequately address the question of how best to conduct an engagement of fifty-five against one. Bosk has one advantage and one only, that whomever he stabs will be an enemy, whereas his enemies have no such assurance. Did I say one advantage? That is rather to neglect the signal fact that Bosk is an absolute nonpariel among swordsmen; and within the space of a paragraph he has reduced the odds significantly, and taken only a flea bite in return.

Bosk kicks the fire out. He has had the forethought to put on a salvaged Tyrosian tunic, and so is hard to tell from the enemy in the gloom; and, of course, anyone who approaches him in the belief that he is a Tyrosian is not destined to live for more than an Ihn or so after making such a mistake. But he does not merely content himself with cutting up random enemies, but astutely disposes of the only crossbowman with a loaded weapon and also sets Sheera and Verna free. Panicking, Tyrosians rush for the gate, and when Bosk’s spear comes winging out of the darkness, they believe that Sarus has killed one of them pour encourager les autres, which almost brings about a complete revolt.

Later than would have been best for them, the Tyrosians think to release their Panther slaves, but these are of limited use without their bows, which thanks to some quick work by Verna are no longer usable. They soon find they have no other weapons either, and are forced to plead for the protection of the men. Sarus is having all he can do to get them back under control, too, although issuing orders in the name of Chenbar proves efficacious and demonstrates to Bosk how Chenbar’s word stands in Tyros.

Adopting a disciplined defensive posture, Sarus now offers Bosk every prisoner he has, including the Panthers, except only Marlenus. Bosk doesn’t deign to reply, but takes advantage of some more subterfuge to dispose of a few more of his enemies. Finally, with only seven men left alive and capable under Sarus’s command, a tired and bleeding Bosk is brought to bay. Sarus doesn’t attempt a direct assault against a swordsman of Bosk’s renown, but calls for the crossbows to be found. But it is Verna and Sheera who step out of the shadows with these weapons; and when the sound is heard of the two ships finally arriving and Sarus believes he has just been reinforced, Bosk only opens the gate - and admits Thurnock the Peasant, his trusty sidekick.

Chapter Twenty-One

It remains only to accept the surrender of Sarus, free his former prisoners, and divide the spoils. Marlenus congratulates “Tarl Cabot, Warrior”, but Bosk only replies, “I am Bosk of Port Kar. I am of the Merchants”. Sarus, it seems, is willing to kill Marlenus rather than give him up, even at the cost of his own life, but the crossbow-toting Verna prevents him, and earns herself a “Well done, Slave!” from Marlenus.

She turns and offers to shoot him, and he does not flinch nor grant her freedom; and she surrenders her weapon, having no wish to kill Marlenus. He is once more in jovial mood, having come through his peril unscathed, and laughingly demands that Bosk unchain him. First of all Bosk addresses himself to the capable execution of Tina’s duties, both in freeing Thurnock and his men aboard the ship and in moments ago relieving Sarus of Tyros of his keys - she is, after all, a first-class pickpocket - and only then instructs the slave Sheera to unchain Marlenus. Marlenus is coldly furious, enough to frighten Sheera into non-compliance, so instead Bosk directs Thurnock, a free man, to do the necessary.

This does not please Marlenus, who was bent upon being unchained by Bosk himself, and takes being unchained by an underling as a deliberate snub, especially as Bosk then personally unchains his allies Rim and Arn. Glowering, Marlenus warns Bosk not to come to Ar, but Bosk only retorts that he will come to Ar if he pleases. This exchange shows Marlenus in a less favourable light than previously, since he is shown to be not quite as jovial as all that when he does not get everything all his own way, and considering the enormous service he has just been done, he ought perhaps to be a little less picky.

But now, as the Panthers attempt to flee, the men Bosk previously liberated arrive, and we learn what his business aboard the Rhoda was (appropriating a hammer and chisel with which they could strike off their chains) and how he provided for them, using Vinca and the other women to do the work of keeping off predators and finding food. Hura and Mira, however, have slipped through the net, and Verna and Sheera are also missing.

Sick, tired and wounded, Bosk cares little for what is going on now. He gives orders for Marlenus to be provided with the food and drink he wishes, in order to celebrate his freedom with a feast at which much back-slapping and talk of Glorious Ar will doubtless go on, and rather less of Bosk’s heroic rescue; and he takes himself off to the ships, still bleeding, and faints over the tiller.

Chapter Twenty-Two

We rejoin Bosk some four days later, having endured a dreadful fever and many hallucinations, including a screaming assertion that “Pa-Kur is alive!” (he is right, for all of me, though we never do find out one way or the other) and a delirious plea for the forsaken Vella to love him. Once he is up and about again, he is carried ashore to be greeted more or less civilly by Marlenus of Ar.

Bosk is in a bad way, blanketed and sat in a chair, unable to move his left hand, arm or leg, and he observes bitterly that it has all been for nothing. He does, of course, have many new slaves; and talking of slaves, Verna has returned with Hura taken captive. Verna now informs Marlenus that she is not a slave, and he orders her uncollared and, in response to her demand, also frees the women of her band. Since they dared to mock her when she was slave, she orders them to be placed in silk and have their ears pierced, and have a try at serving men for themselves. She makes it clear that she both desires Marlenus’s love and does not dare accept it, and when he offers her the Ubara’s throne she will not take it, preferring freedom. Marlenus comes close to begging Verna to stay with him, and she casts him a glance that conveys economically both how much she wishes to hear the words and how much she does not want to see Marlenus beg.

Marlenus steps back from the brink, to their mutual relief, and merely gives her a ring as a keepsake. Exchanging pleasantries such as people exchange when they know they will never see each other again, Marlenus and Verna make their farewells - the man who could master any woman, and the woman whom no man could master. As meetings between irresistible forces and immovable objects go, it passes off quite well.

The various captives and slaves are assigned to their rightful owners, and Arn the outlaw frees Grenna, professing to have no use for a slave, and returns to the forest with his men and with Grenna. Bosk frees Tina in acknowledgement of her valuable service, though she herself points out that nothing is owed to a slave; and he suggests that, Lydius being no home for her any more since she was penally enslaved there, she may care to repair to Port Kar, there to become a Caste-recognised thief. (Leave it to Port Kar to have Gor’s only Caste of Thieves.)

Marlenus demands and is given Mira and Hura, but Bosk refuses to hand over Sarus and the Tyrosians. At first Marlenus thinks only that Bosk intends to execute them himself, and he is outraged to hear Bosk grant them their freedom. He reiterates his earlier order to Bosk, not to come to Ar, and this time Bosk doesn’t even argue; and Marlenus makes his grand exit, free, with his head both unshaved and unbowed, and his honour unbesmirched. Once again, Bosk cannot help wondering a little bitterly if Marlenus is always triumphant.

Freeing Sheera, who declares love for him but points out that it was another woman’s name he cried out in his fever-dreams, Bosk bids farewell to the forests by building an enormous beacon. No-one will see it, but it will be significant that he built a beacon there. He makes arrangements for paying out the treacherous Hesius of Lydius; sees the Panthers of Verna’s band all voluntarily choose slavery over a continuation of their forest life, and muses on the importance to each sex of fulfilling the role that biology has fitted them for; and grants brave Rissia her freedom, which she gladly accepts after giving the spiteful Ilene a good hiding.

Just as they are about to leave, Bosk’s expedition is made to wait as two more Panther girls are brought in. These were the ones who were entrusted with the sale of Talena, which they have now accomplished - and, of all people, it is Samos of Port Kar who has purchased them. Bosk weighs the coins of her purchase in his hand, this being the closest he has come to her in many years, and then bids the Panthers deliver the money to Verna.

And as the ship pulls away from the shore, the beacon blazes, and a crippled Bosk is taken below, we must necessarily wonder both how he has come to be so dreadfully disabled by a few flesh wounds, and what is to become of an all-action hero who is paralysed. We may also wonder how his reunion with Talena will go, since no doubt Samos will see to it that they do indeed meet again. Answers to these questions are not to be found within the pages of this book, though, since we have reached its end; and if we want them answered, we must look into the ninth volume of the Chronicles of Counter-Earth, “Marauders of Gor”, where I urge the reader to accompany me next month.

I wish you well,

Socrates