Tal Goreans,
Greetings visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column.

Jason Marshall is making a fair go of things as a free man on Gor, albeit a low-status one; he has a regular occupation as a dock worker, the respect of his peers, and the gratitude of a wealthy merchant after helping him with a thief. One thing only has he royally loused up, and that is his relationship with Beverly Henderson. After a search that was short and fruitful, he managed to buy her, and then spent several chapters repeatedly refusing to enslave her though she begged him fervently. This has led to her flirting in low dives with river pirates and, we may be certain, to the collar for which she yearned. Now if we wish to find out what Jason is intending to do about this, and what nefarious business the Vosk river pirates are up to, we must turn for a third time to Rogue of Gor.

Chapter Twenty-one

Jason is comforting himself with Peggy, once a hat-check girl in an Earth restaurant and now a paga slave in Tasdron’s tavern in Victoria. He is put out over his failure to keep Beverly from being carried off by pirates, but Peggy assures him that the matter is well known and no-one thinks ill of him for failing to stand up to an expert swordsman when he would have stood no chance in such a fight. Indeed, his courage in even attempting to stand up to Kliomenes and all his cutthroats has earned him respect, and there is talk of having guardsmen in Victoria and placing Jason at their head, though he thinks this laughable. Peggy further reads his mind, that he is thinking of gaining entry to the stronghold of Policrates, Kliomenes’s boss, and warns him not to think of it. The other matter occupying his attention is Glyco, the wealthy merchant mentioned above, who has been deep in conversation with Callimachus the alcoholic. Rumour has it that Glyco is an important agent of Port Cos; but no-one knows what his business may be.

Brooding over Beverly, Jason hears of Peggy’s own desperate love for a master she dare not approach, lest he or her present owner be displeased; and it is plain that Jason for his own part greatly desires Beverly as his slave, and has held back only out of a misplaced sense of respect. They console each other further in the furs, to their mutual enjoyment, until Jason is disturbed by the ringing of the alarm bar outside. He does not know what the matter is as yet, but he is determined to go and see. Unfortunately, none of the tavern customers are disposed to go with him, and Tasdron himself advises him not to involve himself. Being Jason, he ignores this advice.

Chapter Twenty-two

At the wharves, a few dozen river pirates are dictating terms to all of Victoria’s manhood, who, leaderless and lacking organisation, cannot bring themselves to fight. This is over the city’s refusal to pay tribute to the pirates, as a result of which much punitive looting and pillaging is going on. Of course the usual slaving is being perpetrated, and watching this, Jason finally feels his doubts concerning Beverly drop away from him: she deserves the collar, and he to be her master. But there are one or two matters to be attended to first. Angrily he leaves the wharves, annoyed by the failure of its citizens to mount effective resistance to a vastly outnumbered pirate band.

In the back alleys of Victoria, Jason happens upon Callimachus, intent on flinging himself on his sword over what is being done to his city and his own impotence to prevent it. It is clear that one man at least did respond to the alarm bar’s ringing, but when he reached the wharves Callimachus found himself too far gone in drink to do anything about it. Jason tries to engage Callimachus’s enthusiasm, but Callimachus has none left and only resents Jason’s interference with his suicide attempt. He accepts Jason’s plea that he owed Callimachus so much for his own life, but is intent only on where his next drink is coming from.

Jason deduces that Glyco’s business with Callimachus has been some plan for reducing the pirate menace, but it is plain that Callimachus is no longer in a condition to be of any use. Indeed, when he intervened to save Jason from Kliomenes, Policrates himself could have told his lieutenant that there was nothing to fear from the drunken Warrior, and withheld only perhaps out of a reverence for days gone by in a shared youth.

Finally Jason gives in. As all Callimachus wants now is a drink, Jason goes and buys him a bottle of paga, which he hands over with apologies for presuming to criticise an invalid. It dawns on Callimachus that Jason pities him, the one forbidden emotion on Gor and the supreme insult however well-intentioned, and he finally becomes enraged enough to cast the drink from him and remember the Warrior he once was, in an echo of the time Tarl Cabot recollected his honour at the climax of Hunters of Gor. At once he realizes that Jason has deliberately provoked him into the only reaction that could have caused him to swear off the bottle, and he is not slow to acknowledge his debt. Jason’s plan begins with getting Callimachus to teach him how to use a sword.

Chapter Twenty-three

We jump forward to a crucial stage in Jason’s plan. He is now in the holding of Policrates, having gained entrance there by masquerading as the courier of Ragnar Voskjard, the other great pirate chief on the river. This he has managed by having fortuitously gained possession of the secret sign of the pirates, a great topaz. Since both Policrates and Kliomenes have seen him before, Jason goes masked, which Kliomenes objects to but Policrates accepts as only logical. Kliomenes however hazards a guess as to who Jason really is, and demands a passage at arms to prove that Jason is not in fact Jason the brawler of Victoria. Here is where Callimachus’s teaching comes in. Though by no means a swordmaster as yet, Jason does have skill enough to maintain a defensive posture for as long as it takes to convince Policrates, at least, that Jason is not Jason of Victoria.

In his assumed identity as the Voskjard’s representative, Jason negotiates the pirate alliance, and then retires from the feast, pleading weariness. Policrates hospitably offers him the services of a slave, and Jason, having seen Beverly among the serving slaves, asks for her to be sent to him blindfolded (in case he should wish to unmask in private).

Chapter Twenty-four

What follows is interesting, as Jason must maintain his anonymity by silence as well as the blindfold. In spite of this he succeeds very well in impressing his mastery upon Beverly, at last putting her where he has muchly wanted her for as long as he has known her, even on Earth. He uses her ruthlessly several times during the night, all without one word spoken on his part, allowing Beverly to babble away and confirm her own slavery beyond all doubt or question.

The use he puts her to is evidently exactly what she craves, as in the morning she is helplessly declaring her love for him and begging him to ask for her as a gift from Policrates. The pirate who comes to fetch her remarks on the change overnight, transforming her from an enslaved female to a female slave. At this point, however, Jason is satisfied to leave her behind and be about his business.

Chapter Twenty-five

Back in Victoria, Jason is in on a secret meeting in Tasdron’s tavern with Callimachus. They are to bring together Callisthenes, of Port Cos, and Aemilianus, of Ar’s Station, both semi-autonomous outputs of their parent states and both, despite the existing war between Cos and Ar, studiously ignoring hostilities with each other. Callisthenes is a former associate of Callimachus, who took over his old position when Callimachus became a drunkard. Both have, in the line of duty, acted counter to the other’s personal interests in the past, but Callimachus does not resent Callisthenes for doing his duty and is confident that the sentiment is mutual.

In order to get everyone round a table, Tasdron, Callimachus and Jason send out Peggy, in the guise of a “coin girl” (in other words, a street prostitute), with orders that Jason has confided to her but not, as yet, to us. She seems to pay extra attention when looked upon by Callimachus; but we don’t have much time to reflect on this, as she is sent out without further delay.

Chapter Twenty-six

As the meeting is not yet due, Jason goes to stretch his legs, and while he’s about it he meets up with, of all people, Florence, his former mistress. She is now the property of Miles of Vonda, who bought her from Tenalion the slaver for a hundred pieces of gold (thus earning the slaver a fat profit). She is very beautiful, happy and fulfilled in her slavery, under the adoring but uncompromising mastery of Miles, who had long desired her; and she serves him perfectly and fears only that she may displease him and be sold. Unfortunately Miles is also a victim of war and fallen upon hard times, with only a small amount of portable wealth and the fighting slave Krondar to his name. Jason meets Krondar, who originally kneels to him as a free man, not recognising him; but they have a bond of blood between them and Jason remembers their splendid fight, and so does Krondar.

At this point Miles appears and is indignant that Jason, even though now a free man, should have “accosted” his slave. A crowd gathers and Jason grows fearful, not that Miles will harm him (for though Miles is a fair swordsman, Jason has been learning rapidly) but that the crowd will hurt Miles, since Jason is popular these days. With a few diplomatic words he convinces Miles only to slap and spit on him instead, and Jason tolerates this, for he is not unfond of Florence’s new master and willing to put up with a little discomfort for the sake of everyone coming out of it alive and well. Besides, as he remarks to his friends, Florence is a slave any man could be jealous over.

Chapter Twenty-seven

While still taking his ease, Jason is accosted on the wharves by one demanding the whereabouts of the topaz. He succeeds in fighting off his would-be robber, the same (as he admits) as the one who tried to steal the topaz from Jason’s home, and Jason strikes him on the shoulder with a heavy stone. He then summons help by claiming that the intruder is a thief intent on pilfering the wharves, and the robber is forced to flee.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Peggy has accomplished her mission, reaching Aemilianus and telling him of the topaz, and has also earned a few coins by the way, though she is ashamed to speak of it before Callimachus, and Jason has deduced why. Soon Glyco arrives in company with Callisthenes. He apologises for the delay, but Callisthenes says that he was busy, on some errand that caused his shoulder to be hurt. Aemilianus arrives a little later and only Callimachus’s intervention prevents Aemilianus and Callisthenes from coming to blows. This achieved, however, they all fall to plotting and planning.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Jason returns to the stronghold of Policrates by ship, intending to gain entry for himself and a picked body of men to hold the sea gate and allow a stronger force to storm the stronghold. It is a bold and cunning plan and has the personal support of Callimachus, though Callisthenes is less interested; he puts his faith for the defence of the river on an anti-shipping chain, presumably unknown to Ragnar Voskjard, that will prevent the two pirate captains from joining forces.

With the aid of certain passwords, Jason does indeed gain entry. But Callimachus is dubious, and this is justified when the sea gate falls again, trapping their raiding force within.

Chapter Thirty

Captured and interrogated, Jason is soon acquainted with the knowledge that he has been betrayed. Oddly, Policrates and Kliomenes seem unwilling to believe that Jason really was the courier of Ragnar Voskjard, though he is quite adamant that this was so. He deduces that the true courier was the man who tried to rob him, and hits on a plan for survival and escape. Under questioning, he pretends to be unable to describe the quarters he was assigned on his earlier visit, and he is mockingly consigned to the dungeons, though not before having received oral sex from Beverly as part of the interrogation (please don’t throw me in that briar bush). Beverly, under cross-examination from her fellow kajirae, affects to despise Jason, but admits that it was the “courier of Ragnar Voskjard” who first truly mastered her.

Chapter Thirty-one

The next phase of Jason’s plan consists of bragging to his fellow prisoners about having fooled Policrates and Kliomenes on his earlier visit. This is overheard by the guards, as he intends, and the guard threatens to bring him to Kliomenes’s attention. Jason plainly doesn't mind this.

Chapter Thirty-two

Shortly afterwards, he is indeed dragged before Kliomenes, who is holding court in Policrates’s absence. Among those brought before Kliomenes is Florence, and she tells of her capture by one of Policrates’s captains. Then it is Jason’s turn, and Kliomenes, whom we know to be a bully, challenged Jason to prove that he is as accomplished a swordsman as the Voskjard’s courier. Pretending terror, Jason is hauled off to the very ramparts for a public slaughtering in front of everyone, even including his fellow captives.

Of course, Jason is skilfully playing Kliomenes for a patsy, and after a few alarms he suckers the pirate lieutenant into getting himself caught with Jason’s sword at his throat. He makes his way to the top of the wall and orders a rope brought, presumably to descend by; but this is also part of the subterfuge, as he knows there would not be time to climb down the rope before it was cut, and instead he dives into the Vosk. Before anyone can mark which way he has gone, Jason has vanished.

Chapter Thirty-three

He rejoins Callimachus and prepares for battle. Obviously their mission was betrayed, and Jason points the finger of suspicion at Peggy, reasoning that the traitor was not himself, nor Callimachus, nor Callisthenes (for whom Callimachus vouches), nor Tasdron, nor Aemilianus. Callimachus seems particularly enraged by this, although there is a battle to be fought before such accounts can be settled. They discuss the numbers of the various forces in the battle, and the strength of the anti-pirate chain mentioned before; but though numbers are nearly equal, the defenders are spread out, and the Voskjard will presumably concentrate his forces. Even as they discuss this, the Voskjard’s fleet appears out of the mist, and battle horns sound.

This brings us to the conclusion of Rogue of Gor, and the author did not quite write “To be continued” at the conclusion of the final chapter; yet such is undoubtedly the case. So for the outcome of the impending river battle, and all matters having to do with pirates, and the eventual fate of Beverly and such minor characters as the slave Peggy, Miles of Vonda and those of his party, I must ask the reader to join me next month, when we shall embark without delay upon the final book in the Jason Marshall mini-series, Guardsman of Gor!

I wish you well,

Socrates