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My heart leaped.
Do not break formation! cried Sarus.
But already two men, eager, blades ready, had sped toward Rim s voice.
It was not difficult, accordingly, to follow them.
He is not here! cried one of the men.
He was mistaken.
Twice my blade struck.
I heard a woman scream to one side. Then she cried, He is here!
Hold formation! screamed Sarus.
They should have understood that the slave girls had been bound and gagged,
and that the women of Hura were within their own circle.
Two men again rushed toward the sound. Again they did not find me.
It was they who instead were found.
I moved my blade back from the body of the second. I saw Sheera slip away in
the darkness.
Keep your formation! cried Sarus.
We must escape! screamed one of the men. He will kill us all!
he ran toward the gate. I caught him at the gate and, with my fist, sword in
it, struck him across the face. He spun back, staggering, turning, and fell at
the feet of Sarus.
He is at the gate, said one of the men. He lifted the torch.
I stood at the gate, sword drawn.
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More torches, said Sarus. More fire.
In a few moments, two more torches had been lit. and, within the circle, lit
by torches, burned a fire.
The men of Sarus broke their circle and faced me.
There were haggard. They breathed heavily. Some were bloodied. There were now,
standing, seven of them, together with Sarus. The man I
had struck lay unconscious before them. Elsewhere two men moaned, somewhere in
the darkness.
I felt my tunic thick with blood at my left side. There was blood from a cut
on my left arm. I could feel it running to my wrist.
At the line of the men of Tyros the torches were lifted.
Greetings, Bosk of Port Kar, said Sarus.
Greetings, said I, Sarus of the island of Tyros.
We have searched for you, he said.
I am here, I informed him.
Sarus turned to his men. Find crossbows, he said. I leaned back against the
gate. I shook my head.
The fire burned higher now.
Sarus and I looked at one another.
I had slain one man with a crossbow. I did not know what had happened to the
weapon. I had not encountered the other man, the other crossbowman.
No quarrels had sped. No man at the line of men of Tyros carried it.
It had been important. But I had failed to locate it, or its bowsman. I had
failed.
Sarus smiled.
You know where he is now, he said to two of his men. Find the crossbows.
They are here, said a voice at my side, that of a woman. it was Sheera.
At my other side stood Verna, she, too, with a crossbow. The women held the
bows leveled.
You have lost, said I to Sarus.
I found the bow, said Sheera, among the bodies.
He who held this bow, said Sheera, lies now wounded in the darkness, struck
by one of his own fellows. The bow fell to one side and it was I who found
it.
Suddenly Sarus laughed. I have not lost, he said. it is you who have lost!
His men gave a ragged cheer. Even the women of Hura cried out.
I did not understand.
Look behind you! cried Sarus. Look behind you, Bosk of Port Kar! It is
over! Over!
If one moves, said I to Sheera and Verna, fire upon him.
The men of Sarus were grinning.
I turned. Through the crack in the gate, at the beach, beside the embers of
Sarus great beacon, I could see lanterns. Two longboats, filled with men,
were being drawn on the beach. Then, in two long lines, lanterns high, men
began to approach the stockade.
It is the men of the Rhoda and Tesephone, said Sarus. You have lost, Bosk
of Port Kar! I turned to the beam which I barred the gate. I sheathed my
sword.
Slowly, foot by foot, I thrust back the heavy beam. It fell from its loop and
slowly, I swung open the gate. The men, with lanterns, stood outside.
A large fellow, clad in the yellow of Tyros, entered. He grinned. A tooth was
missing on the upper right side of his mouth.
Greetings, Captain, said Thurnock.
21 My Business is Concluded in the Stockade
The men of Sarus, one by one, hurled their blades into the earth.
Step away from your steel, ordered Thurnock, gesturing that they
They did so, in the yellow tunics of Tyros, sullen, ringed by the blades and
should stand to one side.
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spear points of my men.
Sarus had not surrendered his weapon. He stood facing us, breathing heavily.
I observed him.
Tina slipped within the gate. She was barefoot and my collar, still, was at
her throat, but she wore a fresh tunic of wool, brief and white, and her hair
was bound back with a woolen fillet. Behind her, blade in hand, that she might
come to no harm was the young Turus, he who had worn the amethyst-studded
wristlet.
You have done well, I told her.
I would, in time, free her.
Turus stood with her, one arm about her.
Hura, and her women, Mira, too, crept miserably to one side, shrinking back
against the palings of the stockade, naked women, ready for the chains and
collars of slave girls. My men eyed them, appreciatively.
Marlenus, Rim, Arn, and the men of Marlenus chained within the stockade, came
forward. They were jubilant in the torch light. Their wrists were still locked
behind their backs. They were still fastened together, chained, by the neck.
Sarus turned from me to face Marlenus.
Marlenus looked at me and grinned, Well done Tarl Cabot, said he, Warrior.
I am Bosk of Port Kar, I said. I am of the Merchants.
I felt weak. The side of my tunic, the yellow of Tyros, was thick and stiff
with clotted blood. I could feel the dried blood on my left arm, rough and
flaking, There were now more torches and lanterns in the stockade, carried by
my even between the fingers, where it had run over my wrist and hand.
men.
Give me that crossbow, said one of my men to Sheera. She surrendered the
weapon.
Slaves are not permitted weapons.
Kneel, I told her. She looked at me and, angrily, did so, at my thigh. She
was only slave.
She had been of assistance, but she was only slave. It was the duty of a girl
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