to suppose I was not now a slave, for in the perfection of the law it was so, but I could run. Laura could run!
I looked beyond the end of the dock. Somewhere out there, in the forest, within the wands, there would be racks of Tur-Pah.
My legs almost failed me. I feared I might fall. Briefly I feared I might faint. For a moment I was terribly afraid. I had heard more than one slave say she would die of fear, even to think of running. I did not understand this. Surely they knew no more than I of such things. What fools they were, such ignorant barbarians! How stupid they were. I had counted the larls. I had even had the presence of mind to put my blanket into the vat for laundering.
I looked back, again, at the ship.
It was quite different from the other Gorean vessels I had seen, which tended to be numerous, graceful, slender, and beautiful, low in the water, long in keel, and narrow in beam, even the “round ships.” And the vessels of war were like knives in the water, swift, low, multiply oared, and concave prowed, armed with deck engines, rams, and crescent-like blades, which might shear away timbers and oars. Many of those were painted green, that they might be difficult to detect on the billows of Thassa, until, mast down and oar-propelled, it was perhaps too late. How different then was the ship of Tersites. Doubtless it was seaworthy, but it was broad and towering, six-masted, and single-ruddered. It would be like a city at sea, a dangerous, armed city, walled with wood, with sails which might challenge clouds. It seemed less a ship than a fortress, or castle, which might for some mad reason have chosen to disguise itself as a vessel. It could house a small army. Rumors had it that she would seek the World’s End. It was easy to see why even sturdy men, harsh fellows, callous fellows, mercenaries, even seasoned mariners, might flee. Parts of some had been returned to Shipcamp, to be held, guarded, under the paws of sleeping larls, until the beasts might once again awaken, hungry. But clearly, I thought, those fellows had not been wise enough to count larls. And perhaps some had escaped. Fewer, I had gathered, had tried to escape from Shipcamp than Tarncamp. I supposed that most of the disgruntled, those which might be the soonest dismayed, had chosen to cross the wands earlier, in Tarncamp. Too, at Shipcamp, there was the river.
How imposing was the ship of Tersites! But how frightening, too, it was, in its brooding size, its vastness, darkness, and mystery. I would never be put on that ship as a slave, another coffled beast, a shapely article on an inventory! How terrified had been several of my chain sisters even to think of being embarked on such a vessel. But they would be, as the lovely, helpless animals they were! But not I! I would not be so treated. I was different. I was from Earth! So let them be chained in their stalls, or holds, to be carried away as the meaningless goods they were, but not I! I would escape!
I then left the dock. I wanted to run, my heart cried out to run, but I forced myself to move unhurriedly, gracefully. I must be only another girl, another slave girl, about the business of her masters. The ground was soft beneath my bared feet. I soon came to the racks on which Tur-Pah, harvested yesterday, had been left to dry. I looked about, carefully. There were no guards about. I then concealed my basket and darted between the wands.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Hold!” cried Tyrtaios.
I stopped, angry.
“What is it?” he called. “Where are you going?”
“I have business to attend to,” I informed him.
“Within the camp, I trust,” he said.
“I fear not,” I said.
“You are not to leave Shipcamp,” he said. “It is unauthorized. It is forbidden. None are to leave Shipcamp.”
“We left two nights ago,” I told him. “Do not attempt to stop me.”
“We are associated,” he said. “It is daylight. You will be seen. It will arouse suspicion. Others may investigate. I might be implicated. The business might be jeopardized.”
“There is something to attend to,” I said.
“The departure of the ship is nearly upon us,” he said. “Already bunks, quarters, are assigned. Men will soon board. Slaves from across the river are being readied. Kennel One, here in Shipcamp, may be boarded tonight.