"John Norman - Gor 15 - Rogue Of Gor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman John)

The girl was naked, save that she wore many strings of jewels and armlets. Too she
wore bracelets and anklets of gold, which had been locked upon her, and were belled. Her
collar, too, was of gold, and belled, She was blond, and it was said she was from Earth. A
single pearl, fastened in a setting like a droplet, on a tiny golden chain, was suspended at the
center of her forehead.
"There has been a major engagement, one long awaited," said the man next to me,
"south of Vonda. More than four thousand men were involved. Fighting was fierce. The
mobility of our squares was crucial in the early phases, separating, to permit the entrance of
charging tharlarion into our lines, then isolating the beasts." Massed men, I knew, could not
stand against the charge of tharlarion, not without a defense of ditches or pointed stakes. "But
then," said the man, "their phalanx swept down upon us. Then did the day seem lost and
retreat was sounded, but the withdrawal was prearranged to creviced ground; to rocky slopes
and cragged, outjutting formations: Our generals had chosen their ground well." I knew, too,
that no fixed military formation could meet the phalanx on its own terms and survive. Different
length spears are held by different ranks, the longer spears by the more rearward ranks. It
charges on the run. It is like an avalanche, thundering, screaming, bristling with steel. Its
momentum is incredible. It can shatter walls. When two such formations meet in a field the
clash can be heard for pasangs. One does not meet the phalanx unless it be with another
phalanx. One avoids it, one outmaneuvers it. "Our auxiliaries then drove the tharlarion,
maddened and hissing, back into the phalanx. In the skies our tarnsmen turned aside the
mercenaries of Ar, temidorus. They then rained arrows upon the shattered phalanx. While the
spearmen lifted their shields to protect themselves from the sky our squares swept down the
slopes upon them."
I nodded. I continued to regard the female before me. It was said she was from Earth.
I lifted my page to my lips, from the low table behind which I sat, cross-legged.
She regarded me, as she danced her beauty before me.
"The field was ours!" said the man. "Vonda herself now lies open to our troops!"
I nodded. I did not take my eyes from the dancer. Her eyes, on me, were sensuous and
hot, those of a true slave. It was hard for me to believe that she was really from Earth.
"The women of Vonda will soon be emptied into our slave markets," said the man.
"It will lower prices," said another, gloomily.
"I have heard," said another, "that forces from Port Olni are marching to the relief of
Vonda."
"Our men will turn northeast to meet them," said another.
"Please, Master," whispered the girl to me. She extended her small hand, still dancing,
as though to touch me. On her wrist was a golden bracelet, belled. I saw the small lock, with
its key socket, on the bracelet. She could not remove it.
"She likes you," said the man next to me, now paying some attention to the dancer.
Suddenly there was the fierce crack of a slave whip and the girl, terrified, scurried from
me. Busebius, proprietor of the tavern, stood at the edge of the sand. "Do you think I have
but one customer?" he called to her. "No, Master!" she cried. There was laughter. Then she
was dancing, too, before others, and among the tables. I watched her. She was a sensuous
dream. It was hard to imagine that she was from Earth.
"There was another dancer here previously," said the man next to me, "one called
Helen. She, too, was an Earth blonde. Alison was purchased to replace her."
"What happened to the other girl?" I asked.
"Helen?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"She was seen once by Marlenus of Ar, who purchased her. She was chained and sent
as a gift somewhere."