Free Rogue of Gor by John Norman Page A

said.
    "I do not understand," I said.
    "It is well known on the river," he said.
    "What is well known?" I asked.
    "That Victoria is once of the major outlets for the merchandise of river pirates."
    "I must go there," I said eagerly.
    "I am going to Tafa," he said. "I will not put in at Victoria."
    "Let me row for you to the vicinity of Victoria," I said. "Then put me ashore. I will find my way afoot into the town."
    “It will be useful to have another oarsman," he said, "even as far as Victoria, and we will have the current with us."
    "Yes," I said.
    "Perhaps, too," he said, "we could pick up a new oarsman west of Victoria."
    "Perhaps," I said.
    He looked at me.
    "You need pay me nothing," I said. "I will draw the oar for free."
    "You are serious?" he asked.
    "Yes," I said.
    He grinned. "We leave within the Ahn," he said.
     
     
    7
    I ARRIVE IN VICTORIA;
    I HEAR OF THE SALES BARN OF LYSANDER
     
     
    "What am I offered for this girl?" called the auctioneer. "What am I offered for this girl?"
    It was a blond-haired peasant girl, thick-ankled and sturdy, from south of the Vosk. She was being sold from a rough platform on the wharves of Victoria. She wore a chain collar.
    "Two tarsk bits," came a call from the crowd.
    I pressed through the throngs on the wharves. The wharves were crowded with goods and men. The masts of river galleys bristled at the quays. There was the smell of the river, and fish.
    "I have heard the topaz is being brought east," said a merchant, speaking to another merchant.
    "It bodes not well for security on the river," said his fellow.
    I thrust past them. Then I drew back, quickly. A brown sleen threw itself to the end of a short, heavy chain. It snarled. It bared its fangs. Such a beast could take a leg from a man at the thigh, with a single motion of those great jaws.
    "Down, Taba," said one of the merchants.
    Hissing, the beast crouched down, its shoulder blades so prominent under its excited, half-lifted fur, its four hind legs still tensed beneath it. It seemed to me not unlikely that it might, if it had such a will, tear loose the very ring in the boards to which it was chained. I backed away. The merchants, paying me no more attention, continued their conversation. "Victoria has refused the tribute," one of them was saying.
    "They think they can find no other markets," said the second man.
    “That is foolish," said the first.
    "They could take their business to Tafa," said the second.
    "Or return it to Victoria, once she is properly chastened," said the first.
    "That is true," said the second.
    "Indeed," said the first, "they cannot permit Victoria this insolence. Her example might be followed by every small town on the river."
    "They will feel Victoria must be punished," said the second.
    "Perhaps that is why the topaz is being brought east," said the first.
    "It would be the first time in ten years," said the second.
    "Yet, it is interesting," said the first, "for I would not think they would truly need the topaz to subdue Victoria."
    "They are strong enough without it," agreed the second.
    "Perhaps then it is only a rumor that the topaz is being brought east," said the first.
    "Let us hope so," said the second.
    "If it is being brought east," said the first, "I think it betokens more than the disciplining of Victoria."
    "I would fear so," agreed the second.
    I then turned away and left the vicinity of the merchants. I had not understood their conversation.
    This morning, before dawn, I had been put ashore some pasangs upriver. I had gone a pasang inland to avoid river tharlarion and proceeded, paralleling the river, toward Victoria. I had come to the town an Ahn ago.
    "Candies! Candies!" called a veiled free woman. She carried candies on a tray, held about her neck by a broad strap.
    "Hot meat!" called another vendor. "Hot meat!"
    "Fresh vegetables here!" called a woman.
    "The milk of verr, the eggs of vulos!" I heard call.
    Another merchant brushed past me. He was followed by a stately