"I have revised the provisions of that agreement, my dear Captain," said Policrates.
"By what right?" asked Ragnar Voskjard.
"By the right of forty ships," said Policrates.
"I shall withdraw to my holding," said Ragnar Voskjard.
"Do so, should it please you," said Policrates.
"I did not come east upon the river to return with empty coffers," said Ragnar Voskjard.
"There is more than enough for all of us in Victoria," said Policrates.
"I shall join you," said Ragnar Voskjard.
"I am first upon the river," said Policrates. "Should you care to contest that, we shall do so, ship to ship."
"I do not care to contest it," said Ragnar Voskjard, bitterly.
"Then I am first upon the river," said Policrates.
"Yes," said Ragnar Voskjard, bitterly, "you are first upon the river."
Chapter 15 — VICTORIA
"It is quiet," said Kliomenes.
He stood upon a wharf in Victoria, to the left of the blade upon which I was bound. Mooring ropes were still being made fast.
"It is as I had anticipated," said Policrates, beside him. Pirates, disembarking from the flagship, filed past them. I heard jokes about the women of Victoria, and how they would please the pirates this night.
"Not even the alarm bar rings," said Reginald, who had been the captain of the _Tamira_.
Other ships, too, were nosing into the numerous wharves lining the water front of Victoria, and were being tied to mooring posts, and to one another.
"Surely they should come forth, with gifts, and their daughters garlanded, with songs of welcome, to pacify us," said Callisthenes.
"Soon their daughters would wear only their garlands and our chains," said Kliomenes.
Reginald laughed.
"They fear even to do that," said Policrates.
I struggled on the blade. Then I felt blood at my back. Then I felt the point of a sword in my side.
"Do not struggle," said Policrates. My fists were clenched. The ropes were hot and tight on my wrists and ankles. I could feel sweat under the coarse fibers, and the rope burns where I had sought to free myself. I could see the blue sky, and the white clouds. Overhead a Vosk gull was soaring in the wind. I winced, feeling the blade enter a bit more deeply into my side. It was Gorean steel. It does not require great pressure to thrust it through a man's body. I then lay back on the blade quietly, bound. "That is better," said Policrates. I felt the point of the blade withdrawn from my side. I heard it enter a sheath.
"Unfortunately we did not meet resistance," said Policrates. "Had we done so it might have been pleasant to observe you on the shearing blade. Tonight, in chains, perhaps we will permit you to serve wine to our newly collared slave girls, the women of Victoria. Tomorrow, as a participant in our naval exercises, in our projected maneuvers, designed to celebrate our victory, perhaps we shall permit you to return to your post upon the shearing blade." I shuddered. "That should be interesting," said Policrates. I then heard him turn away from me, and with him, too, the others. He, and some of the others, I gathered, then strode down the wharf, away from the ship. Some others, at least, however, remained momentarily behind.
"It is quiet," said Kliomenes, uneasily.
"I had hoped there would be resistance," said Callisthenes.
"There has never been resistance in Victoria," said Kliomenes.
"Nor is there now," said Callisthenes. "The people cower in their houses."
"But never has it been this quiet," said Kliomenes.
"And never before," said Callisthenes, "have the cowards of Victoria had this much reason to be so fearful. Policrates is not pleased with them. When the town is suitably sacked, emptied of anything of interest, he will have it burned to the ground."
"It will be a valuable lesson to all the towns on the river," said Kliomenes.
"Yes," said Callisthenes.
"Let us join Policrates," said Kliomenes.
"Precede me," said Callisthenes.
I then heard them, and the rest, leave the side of the moored vessel, moving down the wharf toward the concourse. I sensed, then, that I was alone. In fury, in rage, unobserved, I tore at the ropes. Tears of frustration were in my eyes. Blood ran at my back. I was able to move some inches down the blade, but could not free myself. Again and again, wincing, I tried to pull free.
I could not have struggled in this fashion when under the observation of my captors, of course. I hoped I might be able to loosen the ropes. They were thick, and coarse. They were not binding fiber, designed for the perfect holding of prisoners and slaves, nor chains. Too, they had not been knotted by trained warriors or guardsmen. Too, I was strong. Too, the metal back of the blade, though not sharp, was narrow, and rectangular. I had not been bound to a large, rounded metal ring. I was sure that, given time, I could free myself. Then, angry, miserable, I again hung helplessly on the blade, scarcely moved some inches upon it. I could not free myself. It was hopeless. I was covered with sweat. I had lost blood from the blade at my back. I feared I might bleed to death.
I sobbed in frustration, bound upon the great, curved blade. I had underestimated the skills of my captors. Though the ropes were thick and coarse, they were tight, and well knotted. The pirates had not intended me to escape. Thus, they had tied me well. Such men, I realized, angrily, were experienced in the tying of men, as well as women. Yet they were neither warriors nor guardsmen; they had not used binding fiber; and I was strong. Again I struggled and then, again, ceased struggling, sick, gasping and held.
I had in my struggles, moved my body down some inches on the blade. By lifting my head I could see ahead, painfully, to the concourse. There the pirates, at the edge of the concourse, some hundred yards from the office of the wharf master, set back on the concourse, had gathered, preparatory to their attack on the town. I could see the broad, lateral width of the concourse behind them. It was empty. The docks seemed deserted. Victoria, I then suspected, had been abandoned, left to the wrath of the vengeful reavers of the river.
Chapter 16 — THE LONGBOAT
"Have you a taste, Lads," called Policrates, "for precious wines and delicate viands?"
"That we have, Captain," called a man.
"Have you a taste for well-tooled leather and fine cloths?"
"Yes, Captain!" called men.
"Have you a taste for more gold and silver, and jewels, than you know what to do with?" called Policrates.
"Yes, Captain!" called dozens of men.
"Have you a taste for luscious slaves, to train with whips to your pleasure?" demanded Policrates.
"Yes, yes, Captain!" called hundreds of men. I heard weapons unsheathed and clashed. "Yes, Captain! Yes, Captain!" shouted hundreds of men.
"Then, Lads," cried Policrates, "take Victoria! She is yours!"
Then, at that very instant from atop the frame building housing the office of the wharf master the alarm bar began to ring. I saw a single man on the roof, striking it with a great hammer. It rang again, and again. The pirates turned, startled, puzzled, to regard the source of the sound.
Almost at that very moment, from the seemingly deserted buildings of Victoria, running and screaming, charging, brandishing an incredible assortment of chains, tools and weapons, there issued hundreds of the outraged citizens of Victoria. Archers sprang into view on the roof tops. Showers of arrows sped like dark, linear hail over the heads of the charging citizens, striking into the startled, suddenly reeling, disordered crowds of pirates at the foot of the concourse. But a moment later the charging citizens, like thundering, horned kailiauk, like uncontrolled, maddened, stampeding bosk, pikes and spears leveled, chains flailing, swords flashing, boat hooks, and axes and shovels upraised, struck the dumbfounded, disarrayed throngs of astonished buccaneers.