[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

in which we might wash and dry ourselves before the feast. In this room,
unusual in halls, was a window. I had put my finger against it, and pressed
outward. I was not paned with glass, but with some sort of membrane but the
membrane was almost as clear as glass. "What is this?" I had asked the
Forkbeard. "It is the dried afterbirth membrane of a bosk fetus," he said. "It
will last many months, even against rain." Looking out through the window I
could see the palisade about the hall and its associated buildings. The
palisade inclosed some two acres; within it were many shops and storage
houses, even an ice house; in the center, of course, reared the great hall
itself, that rude high-roofed palace of the north, the house of Svein Blue
Tooth. Through the membrane, hardly distorted, I saw the palisade, the catwalk
about it, the guards, and, over it, the moons of Gor.
In the far distance, the moonlight reflected from its snowy heights I saw,
too, the Torvaldsberg, in which the legendary Torvald was reputed to sleep,
supposedly to waken again if needed once more in Torvaldsland.
I smiled.
I turned to Ivar Forkbeard. I saw that treasures, borne by his men, had been
placed in this side room
He grinned.
The Forkbeard was in a good mood. The last night had been quite a pleasant one
for him. He had handed off Pudding and Gunnhild to his men, for the night, and
had ordered to his furs Honey Cake, the former Miss Stevens of Earth, and the
wench, Leah, the Canadian girl, whom I had won at archery and given to him as
a gift. Honey Cake, like many shy, introverted, timid girls, fearing her own
sexuality and fearing that of men, sensing them in terror as her natural
masters, was the mistress of secret, incredible depths of repressed sexual
emotion and feeling; the Forkbeard, of course, a rude barbarian, was not in
the least concerned with the walls which she had, carefully, over years, built
to conceal her own needs and desires from herself; he simply shattered them;
he had forced her, unable to resist, as only a bond-maid without choice, to
look deeply and openly on her own naked needs and desires; then he had used
her as a slave; she had yielded to him helplessly, wondrously, laughing,
weeping, crying out with joy; the wench, Leah, whom I had won at archery, had
tried to resist the Forkbeard; he had her beaten and thrown back to his furs;
soon she, too, in her turn, was moaning with pleasure; helplessly; she was
responding beautifully to him; by morning both girls, on and about him,
fighting one another, jealous of one another, were begging for his touch; at
dawn he had ordered one of his men, that he might get some sleep, to chain
them prone head to foot, the right ankle of each chained to the projecting
ring on the collar of the other; the Forkbeard did not rise until afternoon;
he was then much refreshed; I
had, in my turn, with several of the other of the Forkbeard's men, enjoyed
Pudding and Gunnhild;
both were superb; toward morning, too, I had felt Olga's small fingers at my
ankle; she was, like several of the other bond-maids, chained by the right
ankle, the chain some eight feet in length, to a stake driven into the earth
near the center of the Forkbeard's tent; she had crawled to the extent of her
Page 121
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
chain, her right leg extended behind her, and had stretched her right hand
toward me; I took the furs to her side, wrapped her within them with me, and
had much pleasure with her;
we fell asleep two Ahn afterwards, she still held in my arms, her head on my
shoulder. When the
Forkbeard himself rose, of course, the camp became quite active, and the
slaves were put about many menial labors; the thrall, Tarsk, was unchained
from Thyri, and set about the sawing of wood;
Thyri herself, her kirtle thrown to her, was ordered to pound grain to make
flour; she could not even look Tarsk in the face, I noted; she looked down,
shyly; from her cries the night before I
knew that she had, behind the tent, yielded to him; the other girls much
teased her for yielding to a thrall; "I would have been beaten had I not
yielded," she said in defense; then she looked down once more, and smiled; she
did not seem discontent.
I saw her, late in the afternoon, unbidden, secretly bringing him water at his
work.
"Thank you, bond-maid," said he.
She put down her head.
"You are pretty, bond-maid," he said.
"Thank you, my Jarl," she said.
He looked after her, as she sped away. He grinned. He then, whistling, worked
with gusto. He did not then seem to me unlike a free man.
"If you are washed and readied," said a young thrall, collared, in a kirtle of
white wool, "it is permissible to present yourselves before the high seat of
the house, before my master, Svein Blue
Tooth, Jarl of Torvaldsland."
"We are honored," had said the Forkbeard. He designated four of his men to
guard the treasures.
file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Norman,%20John%...%20Earth%2009%20-%20Marauders%2
0of%20Gor.txt (90 of 136) [1/20/03 3:30:07 AM]
file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Norman,%20John%20-%20Counter%20Earth%2009%20-%20M
arauders%20of%20Gor.txt
We looked at one another.
"I feel," I said, "as though I were walking into the jaws of a larl." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]