its full sails impelled by the gusting winds. For a time, therefore, were the pursuing warriors of the tribe
of Thandar able to perceive, however remotely, the bright red sails of the corsair vessel-tantalizingly
near but elusively distant.
Soon, however, it vanished in the mists which the cold winds of the upper cavernworld roof drove from
the fetid and slimy waves. Nevertheless, by this point, the eagle eyes of the Thandarian scouts and
huntsmen had discerned the direction of its voyage, and the pursuit continued at a relentless pace.
Could Tharn the Avenger have known what was transpiring within the corsair galley, he would have
driven his warriors forward at an even more relentless pace.
For as soon as the captive Cro-Magnon girl had been carried aboard by Achmed the Moor and his band,
the longboats were stored away and the ship itself, weighing anchor, set forth on its voyage to El-Cazar,
and Kairadine Redbeard repaired to his cabin to enjoy the long-delayed consummation of his desires.
The Prince of Pirates had many wives and concubines, but Darya of Thandar was something
refreshingly and deliciously new to his experience. While the women of El-Cazar (with the single
exception of the dancing-girl, Zoraida) were soft and pliable and complaisant, zestlessly yielding to the
demands of their master and monarch, the bronzed and supple teenager had fought him with the ferocity
of an adolescent virgin Amazon. This intrigued the captain of the Red Witch, and goaded his jaded
lustfulness to a pitch of excitement rarely in recent months attained.
Beyond that, the girl was irresistible in her loveliness. My beloved Darya was truly the most beautiful
woman I have ever seen or known-temptingly youthful, with long slender legs, lithe and supple, her
tanned and golden body tantalizingly bare; her face the soft and oval face of a pubescent child, with
sweet full lips the color of rose petals, wide, dark-lashed eyes the innocent blue of rain-washed April
skies, her long curling mane the ripe gold of cornsilk. And her proud, firm, tip-tilted breasts were
flawless in their utter perfection.
As soon as the Red Witch was well under sail, Kairadine Redbeard turned over his quarterdeck to his
first mate, Achmed the Moor, and repaired to his cabin. He entered the long, low-ceilinged room to find
the exquisite Cro-Magnon maid bound and spread-eagled, her slim wrists tethered to the beams of the
ceiling, her legs spread also, with ankles chained to rings bolted to the floor.
The tall, saturnine pirate chieftain looked over her slim nakedness with a slow, deliberate, gloating gaze
before which the helpless girl colored crimson with fury.
But not with shame! For the Cro-Magnons have never developed the pervertedly Puritanical pruderies
which have oppressed us of the western world. In their humid jungles they indifferently bare their bodies
before each other, when necessary, and think little of the exposure. Even when clothed, their garments
are brief to the point of being X-rated: the men generally wear little more than a bit of fur twisted about
the loins and buskins upon their feet, or, at most, an abbreviated apron-like garment upon the loins.
file:///J|/sci-fi/Nieuwe%20map/Lin%20Carter%20-%20...odon%204%20-%20Darya%20Of%20The%20Bronze%20Age.htm (7 of 115)16-2-2006 15:44:58