Smugglers of Gor

Chapter Twenty-Eight



“Your little vulo has flown far,” said Axel.

“She is not my vulo,” I said, “merely a little beast, pursued for pleasure.”

“What will you do with her, when you apprehend her?” inquired Axel.

“I assume her tunic has a disrobing loop,” I said.

“I gather she will learn what it is to be caught, her neck enclasped in a collar,” he said.

“Beware,” I said, “there are leech plants.”

“I see them,” he said. “There is little danger if one is aware of them.”

“Hold your sleen,” I said.

“Steady, steady, Tiomines,” he said. The chain leash was taut.

“Do not let him proceed,” I said.

“He will not do so,” said Axel. “Sleen find such things aversive.”

“The trail leads here?” I said.

“Apparently,” he said.

There was a rustling in the growth, and two strands, thick and fibrous, began to inch toward us, pods lifted, swaying, like the heads of snakes.

Axel backed away a little, shortening the leash.

“They are ugly things,” he said.

I drew out my sword and slashed down at the vine to the right, severing it a hort behind its pod. Immediately the vine shook, and began to withdraw, trailing a fresh, light, green exudate, concealing itself amidst the leaves of its fellows.

I sheathed the sword and pried open the pod, revealing the two curved thorns.

“Blood,” observed Axel.

“Steady your beast,” I urged, for the sleen had lifted its head and gathered its legs under it. I feared it might lunge at me.

Axel took the opened pod, and held it near the snout of the sleen, which began to growl, and lash its tail.

“Your beast seems pleased,” I said.

“The blood,” he said, “is like paga, like sunrise.”

“The trail leads away,” I said.

“Proceed, Tiomines,” said Axel, and the beast, tugging at the leash, snout to the ground, with renewed zest, addressed himself once more to his work.

How stupid, I thought, was the meaningless quarry. It did not even know enough to avoid leech plants. It was, of course, only a barbarian. But its eyes were deep, its lips soft, and its flanks of interest.

I recalled it from an emporium on another world, from long ago, where I had first seen it, arrayed in its clumsy, barbarous garments. It looked much better in a collar and slave tunic.