dariantravels

I had finally uncovered the mystery of all those slaves who populate the cities of Gor, who were kidnapped from Planet Earth and brought to Gor...

For days I had been walking in the Tahari Desert. My caravan had been attacked by Panthers and rebellious Bedouins. We had no escape; there were so many of them, coming from every direction. I watched my men fall, one after another. I had no choice but to play dead. Perhaps it was the only way to escape that carnage. It was very strange that wild panthers had allied themselves with desert men, even those banished from their oases, earning a living by raiding passing caravans.

As I thought this, a sword flashed in the sun and struck me in the side. I fell into the burning sand that morning, pretending to be dead. I had indeed been hit by a scimitar, but my canteen hanging at my side had taken the hit, and I had fallen in the impact. After the howls of those panthers had subsided, some men were checking the fallen, making sure everyone was dead, leaving no witnesses in their path. When they reached me, as they bent down to check on my death, someone shouted to go away, and I was saved.

I don't remember how long I remained in that position, surrounded by the corpses of men who loved me and who had given their lives to defend me. I forced myself and stood up, looking around at that desolation, of fabrics thrown to the wind and open boxes thrown into the sand. There was nothing left to do but take something for my survival and head west. We had left Baku heading for As-Ar, the large city on the edge of the desert, then from there we would set off again for Isfahan. Lady Sabayna was waiting for me. She had returned from the Pani villages of the Sardar and had resumed her work as a herbalist and perfumer in the oasis (city).

That had been the mistake, crossing the Shendi forest. We didn't want to take the mountain trail, it was too tiring, but the result was only the death of my men and my caravan. I would have waited until the sun wasn't too high. I didn't have much water; my canteen was broken by the sword, but luckily, searching among the corpses, I found one. Full, it would have been my salvation in that hell of sand and sun.

I walked away from the sun; it was the only sensible thing to do. Sooner or later I would encounter some oasis or caravan. I walked until late evening, until the darkness covered everything. I had taken some cloths to cover myself, dug a small ditch, and fell asleep. I woke up in the morning, and the sun was already high. I still had a few biscuits in my bag. I ate one, then drank a little water, and I was ready for my journey into the unknown.

I don't know how many hours I had walked, I was dead tired, walking in the sand was an arduous task, but it was the only way to save myself, or die in that desert that had seen me born and grow up, I moved forward slowly, I scanned those sandy dunes in search of something, but everything was the same, sometimes it seemed like I had already been there, but I moved forward, I thought about my life, about my oasis of the seven palm trees, about my loves lived and lost, about my brother Orlando missing for so many years, about my adoptive mother Lady BB Arliss, and about everyone I had met on my travels, it was the only way to keep my brain busy before the scorching sun made me lose track of life. I rested at night, I had eaten another biscuit and drank a little water, my lips were chapped by the sun and thirst, my skin was red and burnt, I fell asleep, I dreamed of the great fountain in the central square of the oasis of the seven palms, I dived in together with the naked slaves who played with each other, and I drank that fresh water that flowed from the depths of the island, I woke up it was almost dawn and I was already sweating, I waited a little longer to regain a little strength and I set off.

After a few hours, something protruded from the sand in the distance, a strange shape like a large iron curtain. The closer I got, the bigger it got. I had seen something similar in old books where the Priest Kings had captured the crew of that strange shape they called a spaceship. It was said that the Goreans, with the help of those priests, had captured the crew that had arrived on Gor from the planet Earth, on the other side of the sun, and that the highly intelligent animal priests had discovered a way to make that machine work and organized an expedition to Earth to capture men and women to populate the Planet Gor. I approached with suspicion, but it didn't seem to be inhabited, there were no shadows or noises coming from inside when I climbed that iron walkway to the front door, I looked out and was amazed by the bright screens in front of the chairs surely used to drive that fantastic and shiny machine, what I was looking for was food, I found in a cupboard some brown substance tablets, my hunger was at its peak I didn't have

There were some anatomical chairs just right for me to rest in, and the inside of that big machine was quite cool. I fell asleep. I don't know how long I slept, but I woke up rested, and those tablets had eased my hunger. There were some cylinders with water inside, and I filled my canteen. Then I went outside and climbed up to the roof. It was quite high, I could see much further. When I reached the top, I looked around, scanning the horizon, and in the distance I saw something that looked like low hills, very high rocks. I decided to reach them. It was definitely a shelter for caravans, and I set off again towards those small hills. After some time, I came into sight of those rocks, and I was greatly astonished to see men dressed in silver robes with strange weapons escorting women towards a cave. There were also women with dark, almost black skin. I had seen some of them in some cities; even Sir Mingh in the city of Falswort had fallen in love with one of them. Others had golden and copper-red hair. I was hiding behind a small dune. I clearly saw slave traders talking to those silver warriors as they took over the chained women. There was definitely something fishy going on, men from Earth selling their women to the merchants of Gor.

When it was all over, the silver men disappeared towards their spaceship, while the slavers set off with those women towards a trail that could now be clearly distinguished. I waited a few hours and followed that trail, and finally I encountered a caravan of real traders heading for the Oasis of the Two Scimitars. They helped me with my now worn-out clothes, they treated my sun wounds, and they took me with them to the city of Ar, at war with Pot Kar, I stayed a few days and then left again.

I had finally uncovered the mystery of all those slaves who populate the cities of Gor, who were kidnapped from Planet Earth and brought to Gor...

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