Zork (9) by Peony D Beckside

 

Zork
Peony D Beckside

In appreciation of, and with thanks to John Norman for creating the wonderful world of Gor, in which this story is set.

Illustrations by Arizona Wanderer

  

Chapter Nine: The Fork In The Road

 

Narrative of Grunthon

 

Half a day north of Jorts Ferry the track forks.  Cadmus speaks.

“Tharna or Ko-Ro-Ba?  Any preference, Zork, Grunthon, Clystemous?”

Zork comments.

“I trust you Cadmus to find the best route.”

What is he talking about!?  Ko-Ro-Ba was destroyed by the Priest Kings.  ‘No stone may stand on another, No two persons of Ko-Ro-Ba may stand next to one another’.  That is what the Initiate had said when he passed on the news of the city’s doom.  I had loved the city, the place of my upbringing.  I had been granted the honour if kissing the Home-Stone, thus confirming my allegiance to the city.  Even though the Caste of Metal-Workers is not one of the high castes, I had served in one of the city’s Militia, having made my own weapons.  I had left in tears having no clue as to where I would go, what I would do.

Zork (8) by Peony D Beckside.

 

Zork

Peony D Beckside

 

In appreciation of, and with thanks to John Norman for creating the wonderful world of Gor, in which this story is set.
Illustration by Arizona Wanderer

 

Chapter Eight: A Boat Of Our Own

 

Zork (7) by Peony D Beckside

 Zork

Peony D Beckside
Images by Arizona Wanderer

 

In appreciation of, and with thanks to John Norman for creating the wonderful world of Gor, in which this story is set.

Chapter Seven: Torcadino

 

With luck we may arrive at Torcadino tomorrow.  Cadmus worries about how to explain me, how to get the men of Torcadino to let us into the city.  He tells me that we are in need of supplies.  We are.  This close to such a major city, game is scarce.  There are villages where I might take an animal to eat, but the word would soon get around that there’s a great beast, me, loose in Torcadino’s heartland.  We could circle the city, but again there’s the issue of supplies.

Anthropologist of Gor Book 1 Preparations (5)

 Diary of Dr Claudia Skimmerhorn, Head of Anthropology at Queens College City University of New York

Saturday Morning, Jan 7, 2017.

I got home very early this morning, before seven o’clock. I wanted to be home before Clara woke up, but as I write this, after showering and breakfasting, she is still sleeping like the teenager she is. When I got home to our pre-war apartment that I had inherited from my grandmother was neither trashed nor suspiciously clean. I took that to mean that Clara had not had a wild party even though I had been out all night. Because her boyfriend, Tyrone O’Neill was back at boarding school, I assumed that she had stayed away from most risky behaviors. She is very much in love with that boy who I know will break her heart. He has that ‘good guy’ affect which means he is either a sociopath, or worse, a genuinely nice young man for whom she will do foolish things and in the end disappoint her. Most men are disappointments to women in the end; usually because we expect too much of them.

The Paga Diaries (52) by Arizona Wanderer

 52.  Melancholia

I spent a sleepless night in Mirus’s guest room, alone with my questioning thoughts.  I have to admit to myself that I am in the grips of melancholy, not being able to shake from my thoughts the current position I am in.  I missed Mena.  It was hard for me to accept that she was gone.  I spent a lot of time thinking about her.  Had she been stolen, or had she escaped?  Was she complicit in the theft?  Did the thieves find nothing to take and left her there alone, where she decided to take the gems they did not find and make it look like they had?  Did she then take the gemstones and gold for herself, leaving the room on her own thinking that the wealth would secure her freedom?  How would a slave that possessed gold make herself free?  Would she obtain robes of concealment to cover her brand and collar, and then use the money to pose as a Free Woman?  She had friends when she was free, would those friends help her now that she was a slave?

Zork (6) by Peony D Beckside

 

Zork

Peony D Beckside

Images by Arizona Wanderer
 
In appreciation of, and with thanks to John Norman for creating the wonderful world of Gor, in which this story is set.

 

 

Chapter Six: The Ferry

 

The female puny one that Cadmus calls Kiki is no longer afraid of me.  Sure I can make her afraid again, but that will make her less efficient in keeping Cadmus and Grunthon happy.  Yes, she would make a lovely meal, but she is the property of Cadmus.  Whilst the concept of ‘ownership’ is different for us, there is dishonour in destroying something that belongs to another unless one is provoking that Kur.