Tal Goreans,
Greetings visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column.

The last volume of Jason Marshall’s adventures ended abruptly with a battle about to begin, the author having run out of book before he ran out of story. He’s only himself to blame for this in your humble reviewer’s opinion, since the book itself was thin enough on plot to have been taken in a bit and allow room for its conclusion. However, since it’s my primary responsibility only to summarise for the benefit of either the uninitiated or those who, like me, delight in reading articles that tell them things they already know, and only secondarily to criticise the author while I’m at it, I had better get on with the task at hand. Jason Marshall was about to experience his first taste of Gorean warfare aboard ship on the mighty Vosk river. He had earlier failed in a cunning plan to penetrate the fortress of the pirate chieftain Policrates, and the finger of suspicion for this failure has been pointed at Peggy, an Earth-girl slave at the tavern where the plans were drawn up. And this seems to have upset Jason’s teacher and battle-comrade Callimachus, the recovered alcoholic Warrior. So to find out how the war against the pirates is to go, we must turn to Guardsman of Gor.

Chapter One

Jason and company are engaged in repelling the ships of the pirate known as “the Voskjard,” and are aided in this by a massive chain laid across the river. The first assault attempts to pass the chain, but the ships making the attempt are baulked by it and exposed to a withering fire from the defenders. The pirates are not so easily deterred however, and soon return for a second assault. Jason gets to witness a ramming attack and then a diversionary assault by boatmen to cover an attempt to cut the chain. These too are beaten off, and Callimachus gives his expert opinion that the pirates will return only after it is dark.

Chapter Two

Patrolling the chain by night, their ship, the Tina, is attacked by boarders, and Jason gets his first taste of combat to the death. He remarks on Callimachus’s evident delight in the Warrior’s dreadful trade, and Callimachus is in no wise ashamed of his own bloodthirstiness but suggests that Jason acknowledge his own. Jason says only that he fights in defence of his cause; but Callimachus remarks that “Causes exist that men may fight.” Indeed, he is alert to Jason’s eagerness for more of the same, and quotes a Gorean proverb: “The sword must drink until its thirst is satisfied.”

Jason goes on boat patrol, encountering more would-be chain-cutters, both in boats and working as divers, and he has soon added to his tally of kills. Still, in the longer term it seems implausible that the chain can be preserved intact.

Chapter Three

Further attempts are made to pass the chain. Some attackers make their ships stern-heavy so that the bows will clear the chain, the idea being that momentum will see the ship safely over. This makes the breaching ships vulnerable to ramming attacks, much the same as tanks in the Normandy bocage were at risk of exposing their poorly-armoured undersides, but for all that, there are too many ships attacking at once for the defenders to take such advantage of all of them. Soon there is a brisk naval battle in progress, and in addition the Tina receives a signal warning that the chain has been breached in the north.

Matters are severe, the more so since the Voskjard seems to have many more ships at his disposal that was suggested by the intelligence available to Callisthenes (a commander of Port Cos and once Callimachus’s comrade in arms, though not, as the reader may remember, without some grounds for bad blood between them, even if none is evident). Indeed, as the situation develops, Callisthenes seems to be the lynchpin of the defenders’ hopes. There being nothing better to do for the present, Jason hones his sword and wisely catches up on his sleep.

Chapter Four

The naval battle continues. Callimachus demonstrates plainly that he is as able and brilliant an admiral as another whom we have encountered, the unorthodox and daring Bosk of Port Kar, and succeeds in holding the defenders’ lines against considerable odds. For all that, the longer the pounding match goes on, the plainer it becomes that the aid of Callisthenes is urgently required; and unfortunately it does not yet seem to be forthcoming. Callimachus is calmly determined, however, to wait for Callisthenes with the same steadfastness that Callisthenes would wait for him, were their roles reversed.

Chapter Five

And as the battle wears on, we get to see the unusual but logical approach taken by the men of Ar’s Station. Their ships are sturdy but unhandy, and easily outmanoeuvred by the pirates who make haste to board them. When they come alongside, though, they are quickly made fast by the defenders, who proceed to disgorge a regiment of heavy infantry, well able to butcher the comparatively ill-trained pirates. “Ar knows what she does best,” an onlooker remarks. Meanwhile Jason remarks the presence of a couple of the Voskjard’s ships, which he considers unusually significant, the Tamira and the Tuka; but he leaves both his audience and his readership to guess what he is driving at. And there is still no sign of Callisthenes.

Chapter Six

Throughout yet another day the defenders stand to, gradually being ground down by superior weight of numbers. When all seems lost, with many defenders sunk and those surviving running out of catapult ammunition, a fresh fleet is sighted where the ships of Callisthenes were expected. Unfortunately it is not their staunch ally but yet another detachment of the Voskjard’s navy, and Callisthenes has either let them down or been bypassed.

Chapter Seven

The battle is now plainly lost, but the attackers are still engaged in mopping up. Sighting the Tamira again, Jason decides to swim over to her. He has an adventure or two by the way, which serve to augment his body-count. There are very few defending ships left afloat, and while these are stiffened by Ar’s heavies, it is plain that simple attrition must wear them down before much longer.

Chapter Eight

Jason boards the Tamira, knowing her to be the ship of Reginald, and the scout of Ragnar Voskjard. There he encounters a female slave and he takes the time to put her to his whip and his mastery, while securing the ship’s secret papers. The slave, whom he renames Shirley, a degrading Earth-girl name, serves as entertainment while he waits for full dark. Inevitably, Shirley pronounces herself more thoroughly taught her slavery by Jason than any other man in her life, including Reginald, her recent master. Jason takes her with him when he departs, along with the secret papers; and he bids the returning Reginald a cheery goodbye as he goes.

Chapter Nine

Jason returns to the Tina and soon observes that the Tamira has quit the enemy lines in a rash and precipitate attack, no doubt on account of the loss of the secret papers. The situation doesn’t permit this rashness to be taken immediate advantage of, but it will cause plenty of disruption anyway, and that’s no bad thing. Meanwhile he gets on with refloating the Tuka. She spearheaded the Voskjard’s first attack and was damaged and abandoned, but she is not in a sinking condition and can yet be made use of. While she is being refloated, Jason checks her out and discovers a female slave aboard. On listening to her life story, he divines that she is Lola, whom he has had some dealings with before; and he learns that she once, while free, begged the man she loved to enslave her, and fled when she was rebuffed.

A little later, the Tamira shows up again, and Jason sees that she is about to be attacked and sunk. He does not wish this to happen for some reason, and when he sees that he cannot prevent it, he makes haste to swim over to her. There he finds, struggling in the water and close to drowning, Miles of Vonda and the fighting slave Krondar. (He had deduced their presence aboard because he knew that the ship Miles had last taken passage on had been captured by the Tamira.) With not much more ado, he succeeds in rescuing them.

Chapter Ten

The narrative jumps forward a bit, to the arrival of Jason and company at the holding of Policrates. Jason tells us how the last two seaworthy vessels, along with the repaired Tuka, made good their escape by night while the disorganised fleet of the Voskjard dealt with the sudden arrival of a fireship, the Olivia, battle-damaged beyond any other use. Now his reasons for securing the Tuka become clear. She is recognised as a friend by the forces of Policrates, and Jason also has the useful services of Miles, hitherto unknown to those of Policrates, to give the necessary passwords (as Jason or Callimachus might have been inconveniently recognised).

Fortunately it is the lieutenant, Kliomenes, who is in command of the stronghold. He is by no means as smart as Policrates and indeed serves very well as an illustration of the dictum that if you want a thing done you should do it yourself. Jason tried a similar strategem at the conclusion of the previous volume but was betrayed, supposedly by the slave Peggy. This time, though, they succeed in gaining entrance and overpowering the defenders (naturally, most of Policrates’s forces, including himself, are abroad on the river).

Chapter Eleven

Well pleased, and justifiably so, with their work so far, Jason and Miles take some time out to watch the slave girls going about their business. These include Florence, once Jason’s mistress and more recently Miles’s treasured slave; Lola; and another girl whose name is not revealed but whom we would have be be quite muttonheaded not to identify from context as being Beverly Henderson, once Jason’s girlfriend on Earth. But this is not the time for wench sport and the invaders do not even celebrate with a slave-served feast, which is quite a telling indication of the gravity of the situation.

Chapter Twelve

With Kliomenes at swordpoint to convince the forces of the Voskjard that all is well, Jason succeeds in luring them into a trap. Aboard the leading vessel are Reginald and the masked courier with whom Jason had some dealings in the last book. The crews are welcomed ashore and presented with drink, which has been doped with Tassa powder in order to subdue them. When twenty ships are safely secured, the courier makes a reappearance, having discovered the deception and crying the alarm. But the courier himself is caught, and ambushing ships hidden in the marshes receive the signal to engage the rest of the fleet waiting outside.

Callimachus goes to visit justice on the courier of Ragnar Voskjard, furious at the presumed betrayal by the slave Peggy, and yet Jason, only now, points out that she was hardly in a position to obtain any sensitive information. Unmasking the courier, Jason reveals him to be Callisthenes, and anyone who finds this a surprise really has not been paying attention. Callimachus is dismayed at the treachery of his former friend, who betrayed their plans and also withheld his twenty ships from the battle, but he orders Callisthenes led away in chains and admits that he would not have preferred Peggy to have been the traitor after all.

The only blot marring an otherwise perfect day is that Policrates is hard on the heels of the Voskjard, and has not been caught in the trap. True, the stronghold could stand off an attack by ten thousand men; but Callimachus soberly remarks “You do not know Policrates.”

Which brings us to the conclusion of our first instalment of Guardsman of Gor with things looking very well for the good guys - except for that vague allusion to the capabilities of Policrates. But to learn what Policrates can do at this juncture, and whether Jason is going to get his steel on Beverly’s neck after all, and other such questions, the reader must wait until next month, when I urge him to rejoin us.

I wish you well,

Socrates