javelin, which is likely to be socketed in such a way that after a strike the missile cannot be drawn free whole, to be immediately reused, perhaps by an enemy. The head, of course, can be resocketed later. The hunting javelin, on the other hand, can be withdrawn easily from the target, whole, and used repeatedly. There is little danger that the typical target of a hunting javelin will return it to its owner. Javelins, whether intended for sport or war, are quite different from the typical Gorean war spear, which is commonly a weighty, formidable weapon, requiring considerable strength for its apt employment. It is usually thickly hafted, seven feet or more in length, and lengthily and broadly bladed, usually with bronze.
“Would this stop a larl?” I asked.
“A spear would be better,” he said, “if the larl were in flat country, in open country, and anticipated, but the size and weight of the spear impairs its utility as a hunting tool. The javelin is more quickly handled, and is thus more useful at short range. A larl in undergrowth may be difficult to detect, and can come at you unexpectedly, and very quickly. Similarly, given the javelin’s smaller size it is less cumbersome, and easier to take through brush and thickets. Similarly, it is lighter and, if necessary, can be carried at a run, for Ahn at a time. Try pursuing tabuk with a spear. The javelin is less tiring to bear than a spear, and more convenient, in several ways.”
“Still,” I said.
“Much depends on the location of the strike, and its penetration,” he said. “One might kill a larl with a hand knife.”
“Your animal is ready,” I said.
“He has been ready for some time,” he said.
“Let us be on our way,” I said.
Two Pani watched us cross the line of the wands. They made no attempt to stop us.
I had heard several men had been killed near the wands, as the time of launching the great ship grew closer. The Pani did not accept deserters.
We had moved past the wands no more than a few yards when Axel held up the growling, unwilling beast.
“Look,” he said, pointing.
“I see,” I said.
It was a basket, apparently discarded, lying on its side in the brush.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I looked up, into the night sky, and the pouring rain. Then, I struggled to my feet, and looked about myself. I was afraid to move, but was determined to do so. I must avoid recapture at all costs. I did not wish to die under the jaws of sleen, nor writhe bound amongst leech plants, while a thousand eager thorns drew the blood from my body.
I touched the collar on my neck. It was cold and wet. It was locked on me. I was a collared slave girl. I had heard there was no escape for the slave girl on this world, no escape for the Gorean slave girl, and I knew myself a Gorean slave girl.
But I have escaped, I told myself.
My hair was sopped, and hung about my face and neck. I brushed it back, away from my face. We are to keep ourselves well-groomed, I recalled. The masters might not be pleased, I thought. Perhaps I would be beaten.
They will never catch me, I thought.
But how could I elude the masters? I was a slave girl, a Gorean slave girl.
I stood there in the darkness, my feet in the water and leaves, cold and miserable, and now, again, hungry, very hungry, the rain streaming from my body.
I had no idea where I was.
I was fearfully disoriented.
I was frightened.
Then I thought to myself it is foolish to be afraid. Who would know where they were in this dark, cold, fearful place? I was not so lost, really.
It was foolish to be concerned.
I had escaped!
That was what counted.
I had made good my escape!
One need not know exactly where one was. It was not that important. All that was necessary was to continue to move west, away from Shipcamp. To be sure, I was now uncertain of my distance from the Alexandra, and I did hope to return to the river, sooner or later, to cross it, and thence to make my way south.
Things were going well.
I had escaped.
I put my hands out, and, in a moment, felt the bark of a tree, a Tur tree. I wanted the rain to stop, but it gave no sign of doing so.
I was sure that I was now beyond the range of the larls. Too, before I