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Tarnsman of Gor :: Норман Джон
Страница: 44 из 145"Women are seldom permitted to ride on the backs of tarns," shesaid. "In the carrying baskets, but not as a warrior rides." She paused, and the wind whistled past, a steady sound mingling with the rhythmical stroke of the tarn's beating wings. "You said you were frightened — when you first rode a taro," she said.
"I was," I laughed, recalling the excitement and the sense of danger.
"Why do you tell a slave that you were frightened?" she asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "But I was"
She turned her head away again and looked, unseeing, at the head of the great tarn as he plowed the wind.
"I did ride once before on the back of a tarn," she said bitterly, "to Ar, bound across the saddle, before I was sold in the Street of Brands."
It was not easy to talk on the back of the great taro, with the wind, and, besides, though I wanted to communicate with the girl, I felt I could not.
She was looking at the horizon, and suddenly her body tensed. "This is not the way to Ar," she cried.
"I know," I said.
"What are you doing?" She turned bodily in the straps, looking at me, her eyes wide. "Where are you going, Master?"
The word "Master," though it had come appropriately enough from the girl, who was, legally at least, my property, startled me.
"Don't call me Master," I said.
"But you are my Master," she said.
I took from my tunic the key my father had given me, the key to Sana 's collar. I reached to the lock behind her neck, inserted the key and turned it, springing open the mechanism. I jerked the collar away from her throat and threw it and the key from the tarn's back and watched them fly downward in a long, graceful parabola.
"You are free," I said. "And we are going to Thentis.
She sat before me, stunned, her hands unbelievingly at her throat. "Why?" she asked. "Why?"
What could I tell her? That I had come from another world, that I was determined that all the ways of Gor should not be mine, or that I had cared for her, somehow, so helpless in her condition — that she had moved me to regard her not as an instrumentality of mine or of the Council, but as a girl, young, rich with life, not to be sacrificed in the games of statecraft?
"I have my reasons for freeing you," I said, "but I am not sure that you would understand them," and I added, under my breath, to myself, that I was not altogether sure I understood them myself.
"My father," she said, "and my brothers will reward you."
"No," I said.
"If you wish, they are bound in honor to grant me to you, without bride price.
"I was," I laughed, recalling the excitement and the sense of danger.
"Why do you tell a slave that you were frightened?" she asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "But I was"
She turned her head away again and looked, unseeing, at the head of the great tarn as he plowed the wind.
"I did ride once before on the back of a tarn," she said bitterly, "to Ar, bound across the saddle, before I was sold in the Street of Brands."
It was not easy to talk on the back of the great taro, with the wind, and, besides, though I wanted to communicate with the girl, I felt I could not.
She was looking at the horizon, and suddenly her body tensed. "This is not the way to Ar," she cried.
"I know," I said.
"What are you doing?" She turned bodily in the straps, looking at me, her eyes wide. "Where are you going, Master?"
The word "Master," though it had come appropriately enough from the girl, who was, legally at least, my property, startled me.
"Don't call me Master," I said.
"But you are my Master," she said.
I took from my tunic the key my father had given me, the key to Sana 's collar. I reached to the lock behind her neck, inserted the key and turned it, springing open the mechanism. I jerked the collar away from her throat and threw it and the key from the tarn's back and watched them fly downward in a long, graceful parabola.
"You are free," I said. "And we are going to Thentis.
She sat before me, stunned, her hands unbelievingly at her throat. "Why?" she asked. "Why?"
What could I tell her? That I had come from another world, that I was determined that all the ways of Gor should not be mine, or that I had cared for her, somehow, so helpless in her condition — that she had moved me to regard her not as an instrumentality of mine or of the Council, but as a girl, young, rich with life, not to be sacrificed in the games of statecraft?
"I have my reasons for freeing you," I said, "but I am not sure that you would understand them," and I added, under my breath, to myself, that I was not altogether sure I understood them myself.
"My father," she said, "and my brothers will reward you."
"No," I said.
"If you wish, they are bound in honor to grant me to you, without bride price.