Hunters of Gor by John Norman

might be in
    Laura, upriver.
    He sought Verna, for vengeance, because his honor had been challenged.
    I sought Talena, who had once been my free companion, now said to be slave of
    the outlaw girl, Verna.
    I recalled Telima, who, prior to my departure for the north, had returned to her
    beloved marshes. I was angry.
    I must seek Talena!
    Thurnock, at my command, had this morning sold the two panther girls, Tana and
    Ela, at the slave market. It is quite near the wharves in Lydius.
    I did not think it would be easy to find Talena, but I was confident that I
    could do so.
    A leather worker passed me.
    I did not, on nearing Lydius, fly the flag of Bosk, that bearing the head of a
    bosk, black, across a field of vertical green bars, the famous flag of Bosk,
    from the Marshes.
    I did not wish to be recognized. I, and Rim and Thurnock, wore the simple tunics
    of seamen.
    I would call myself Bosk, of Tabor. Tabor is an exchange island in Thassa, south
    of Teletus. It is named for the drum, which, rearing out of the sea, it
    resembles. My business was to go to Laura, and there bargain for a hold of sleen
    fur, which might be taken south for much profit. Some eight to ten bales of
    sleen fur, highly prized, is a plausible cargo for a light galley. That the
    Tesephone, a ram-ship, was engaging in commerce was unusual, but not
    particularly so, especially considering the cargo we were putatively interested
    in carrying. Most commercial voyages, needless to say, are carried out in
    deeper-keeled, broader-beamed ships, the famed round ships of Thassa.
    The representative of the Merchants, to whom I reported my business, and to whom
    I paid wharfage, asked no questions. He did not even demand the proof of
    registration of the Tesephone of Tabor. The Merchants, who control Lydius, under
    merchant law, for it is a free port, like Helmutsport, and Schendi and Bazi, are
    more interested in having their port heavily trafficked than strictly policed.
    Indeed, at the wharves I had even seen two green ships. Green is the color
    common to pirates. I supposed, did they pay their wharfage and declare some sort
    of business, the captains of those ships were as little interrogated as i. The
    governance of Lydius, under the merchants, incidentally, is identical to that of
    the exchange islands, or free islands, in Thassa. Three with which I was
    familiar, from various voyages, were Tabor, Teletus and, to the north, offshore
    from Torvaldsland, Scagnar. Of these, to be honest, and to give the merchants
    their due, I will admit that Tabor and Teletus are rather strictly controlled.
    It is said, however, by some of the merchants there, that this manner of caution
    and restriction, has to some extent diminished their position in the spheres of
    trade. Be that as it may, Lydius, though not what you would call an open port,
    was indulgent, and permissive. Most ports and islands on Thassa, of course, are
    not managed by the Merchants, but, commonly, by magistrates appointed by the
    city councils. In Port Kar, my city, the utilization of the facilities of the
    port is regulated by a board of four magistrates, the Port Consortium, which
    reports directly to the Council of Captains, which, since the downfall of the
    warring Ubars, is sovereign in the city. I suppose the magistrate, who, with his
    papers, met us at the dock, did not believe my story.
    He was smiling, when he wrote down my putative business. He had looked at my
    men. They did not appear to be merchant rowers. They looked much like what they
    were, men of Port Kar.
    We tied up next to a medium-class ram-ship of Tyros. Its heavy beams were
    painted yellow.
    The mate of the ship leaned over the rail. He wore a brimless yellow cap, over
    one ear. “I hear you are of Tabor,” he said.
    “Yes,” said I.
    “We,” he said, “are of Turia.”
    I smiled. Turia is a city of the far south, below the equator. It lies in the
    lands of the Wagon Peoples. There is little water closer to it than a