The Reign of Wizardry Read Free Page B

had accepted capture with a curious andalmost alarming indifference.
    The trader proved a rich prize. It was laden with gold and tin from the mines on the far northern rivers, and amber and hides and furs. In a narrow pen on the foredeck were three huge wild bulls from the plains of Thessaly. And lying fettered in the cabins were twelve strong youths and twelve tall, graceful girls, all blond-haired people of the north.
    Besides theslave girls, there was another woman found unfettered in the Hittite captain’s cabin—such a woman as none of the pirates had ever seen. Her skin was the color of gold, her dark smoldering eyes almond-shaped and queerly slanted.
    She was dragged out upon the deck with the rest, to await her lot in the partition of the loot. As the pirate smiths drew her hands behind her and riveted slave fettersto her slim yellow wrists, she stood tall almost as a man, looking past her captors with a proud contempt.
    “She’s a queen!” whispered Cyron. “There was never such a woman!”
    He joined the eager pirates that ringed her, staring with an unfeigned admiration. Pillared elaborately upon her proud head, her hair was black and lustrous. Her golden throat and her arms gleamed with jewels of green jade.A torn gown of sheer crimson silk hid few curves of her tall yellow body.
    When the one-eyed Tirynthian, who was also the cook, had done hammering the last rivet, he pushed her roughly. She fell, and her bare yellow knees were bruised on the deck. But she uttered no cry of pain, and in spite of the fetters she came back to her feet with a sinuous grace. Her long burning eyes came slowly to one-eyedVorkos.
    “You are now the masters!” She spoke the Cretan tongue, with a limpid singsong accent. “But I am Tai Leng, a princess of far Cathay. I have a talisman of vision, and now I see the angry hand of Minos hanging like a black cloud over you.”
    Her smoldering eyes swept over the pirate crew, and her proud, yellow shoulders made a little careless shrug. “Before the sun is set,” warned her silkentones, “the greatest of you will be a prisoner in the power of Crete.”
    The one-eyed Tirynthian retreated uneasily, muttering that she was a sorceress and ought therefore to be burned alive. But Cyron hastily objected that no woman so beautiful should be wasted, even so, and the division of the spoil went on.
    This partition was made by a method the pirates had devised. White shells were countedout to each man, according to his rank and valor. Then the metal ingots, the slaves, and the other lots of plunder, were auctioned off for shells.
    The golden woman went high. Gothung, the blond steersman, organized a group of men to make a collective bid. Cyron offered all his share of shells, a heavy golden belt, anda fine silver bracelet. Finally, adding his precious purple cloak, he boughther.
    While the auction was still in progress on the trader, Theseus took the Hittite captain and his men aboard the pirate, and set them safely on the headland as he had promised. Still he was puzzled about the captain. His beady eyes had watched the division of his cargo with apparent unconcern. And they flickered now and then, Theseus had noticed, ever so briefly toward the southwest.
    Southwestwas the direction of Knossos.
    When Theseus went back aboard the prize, he found Cyron standing on the foredeck, staring anxiously in the same direction. The bearded pirate turned with a start.
    “Captain Firebrand!” His voice was hoarse. “It is time for us to go. For I have spoken with the yellow girl I bought. And she laughed at me and promised me that tonight will end her captivity. The magicof Minos will rescue her, she says.”
    His voice dropped apprehensively. “The wizards of Knossos, the yellow girl says, have seen all that has happened. Minos will send a fleet, she says. Through the power of the Dark One, he will make a fair wind to speed the fleet. And he can even make a storm, she told me, to drive us back into the