Caste of Thieves

"Stop, Thief!" cried the portly fellow, his robes swirling. Darting away from him was a small, quick fellow, clutching in his hand a bulging purse, its strap slashed. In the small fellow's right hand there was clutched a dagger.

Men stood aside to let the thief run by them.

"Stop him!" cried the portly fellow, stumbling, puffing, trying to pursue the running man.

I watched, a bale of rep fiber on my shoulder, near the rep wharf.

As the running man approached me I lowered the bale of rep fiber and, as he came within feet of me, suddenly slid it before him. He struck the bale and stumbled over it, rolling on the boards. Instantly I was upon him. He slashed at me, on his back, with the knife and I seized his wrist with both hands and yanked him to his feet. He dropped the purse. I spun him about twice by the wrist and then, with this momentum, hurled him into a tower of nail barrels on the side. They cascaded down. I jerked him back, groggy. He was bloody. There were splinters in his tunic and face. I then, with two hands, broke his wrist and kicked the fallen knife to the side. I then turned him about to face me. He looked at me wildly, clutching his wrist. A bone fragment was jutting through it. I then kicked him squarely and he threw back his head, screaming with pain. I then turned him about again and, holding him by the back of the neck, ran him to the edge of the wharf where, seizing his ankle, and holding his neck, I upended him into the water below. He struck out toward the shore, then clambered toward it, getting his feet under him. He screamed twice more. When he stood in about a foot of water, among pilings, near the next wharf, he struck down madly at his legs with his left hand, striking two dock eels from his calf. Then, painfully, he moved himself up the sand, staggering, holding his legs widely apart.

"Where are the guardsmen, to apprehend him?" puffed the portly fellow, who wore the caste colors of the merchants, white and gold.

"There are no guardsmen in Victoria," I said.

"Two copper tarsks, one to each of you," said the merchant to two dock workers who stood nearby, "to apprehend and bind that fellow!"

Swiftly the two dock workers set out after the thief. Though men stood about none had attempted to steal the purse of the merchant, which lay nearby. Most of those of Victoria are honest fellows.

One of them handed the purse back to the merchant, who thanked him.

"What is your name, Fellow?" asked the merchant of me. "Jason," I said.

"Of Victoria?" asked the merchant.

"It is here that I am now," I said.

He smiled. Drifters among the river towns are not uncommon. They come from all over Gor. "You have had difficulties with guardsmen?" he asked.

"I had some difficulties with guardsmen in Tancred's Landing and Fins," I admitted.

"I am Glyco," said he, "of the Merchants, of Port Cos.

You are a bold fellow. I am grateful for your aid."

"It is nothing," I said.

Whining, the thief was dragged before us by the two dock workers. He was still in great pain. He could scarcely stand. The dock workers had torn off his clothes and, ripping his tunic, had made a rope of twisted cloth, with which they had bound his hands behind his back. They also had him on a short neck leash, also fashioned of twisted cloth, from his tunic. His right hand was bleeding, and his left leg, in two places. The leg seemed gouged. The dock eels, black, about four feet long, are tenacious creatures. They had not relinquished their hold on the flesh in their jaws when they had been forcibly struck away from the leg, back into the water. The thief shrank back from me. The dock workers threw him to his knees before the merchant.

The merchant turned to me. He handed me a silver tarsk from the purse.

"You need give me nothing," I said. "It was not important."

"Take, if you will," said he, "as a token of my gratitude, this silver tarsk."

I took it. "Thank you," I said. Several of the men about, striking their shoulders in the Gorean fashion, applauded the merchant. He had been very generous. A silver tarsk is, to most Goreans, a coin of considerable value. In most exchanges it is valued at a hundred copper tarsks, each of which valued, commonly, at some ten to twenty tarsk bits. Ten silver tarsks, usually, is regarded as the equivalent of one gold piece, of one of the high cities. To be sure, there is little standardization in these matters, for much depends on the actual weights of the coins and the quantities of precious metals, certified by the municipal stamps, contained in the coins. Sometimes, too, coins are split or shaved. Further, the debasing of coinage is not unknown. Scales, and rumors, it seems, are often used by coin merchants. One of the central coins on Gor is the golden tarn disk of Ar, against which many cities standardize their own gold piece. Other generally respected coins tend to be the silver tarsk of Tharna, the golden tarn disk of Ko-ro-ba, and the golden tarn of Port Kar, the latter particularly on the western Vosk, in the Tamber Gulf region, and a few hundred pasangs north and south of the Vosk's delta.

The merchant then looked at the thief. "I will have him taken to Port Cos," he said, "where there are praetors."

"Please, Master," said the thief, "do not deliver me to praetors!"

"Are you so fond of your hands?" asked the merchant. I noted that the thief's left ear had already been notched. That had doubtless been done elsewhere than in Victoria.

"Please, Master, have mercy on me," begged the thief.

"He has had a rather hard day already," I said, putting in a word on the thief's behalf.

"Let us then just slit his throat now," said a fellow standing nearby.

The thief squirmed. "No," he begged. "No!"

"What do you suggest?" asked the merchant of me.

"Give him to me," I said.

"No, please, Master!" whined the thief to the merchant.

"He is yours," said the merchant.

I yanked the fellow by the neck leash of twisted cloth to his feet. I thrust the silver tarsk into his mouth, so that he could not speak. "Seek a physician," I told him. "Have your wrist attended to. It appears to be broken. Do not be in Victoria by morning." I then turned him about and, hurrying him with a well-placed kick, sent him running, awkwardly, painfully, whimpering and stumbling, from the dock.

"Surely you are a guardsman," said the merchant.

"No," I said.

The men gathered about watched the thief hurrying, bound, away. There was laughter.

"You are magnanimous," said the merchant.

"He was not a woman," I said. "Too, it was not my purse he stole."
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Pages 153 - 156


"Few in Victoria," I said, "are of Victoria, it seems. Yet many reside here. If not men such as we, who, then, is of Victoria?"
"I am sick," he said.
"There was no leadership at the wharves," I said. "Insult was done upon this town with impunity. I saw hundreds of men, fearful, milling about, with no one to lead them. I saw them intimidated by a handful of organized, ruthless fellows, strutting and vain as vulos. I saw free men impressed into the service of loading the goods of the town onto the galleys of the thieves. Men, unprotesting, fearful, saw their properties purloined and burned.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 180


This explains some of the eccentricities of tribal warfare; first, actual war parties, though common, are formed less often than parties for stealing kaiila; in this sport the object is to obtain as many kaiila as possible without, if possible, engaging the enemy at all; it is a splendid coup, for example, to cut a kaiila tether strap which is tied to the wrist of a sleeping enemy and make off with the animal before he awakens; killing a sleeping enemy is only a minor coup; besides, if he has been killed, how can he understand how cleverly he has been bested; imagine his anger and chagrin when he awakens; is that not more precious to the thief than his scalp; in actual warfare itself large-scale conflicts almost never occur.
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Pages 47 - 48


"Thieves, my friend," said Samos, "seldom carry gold on their persons."
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 69


"Ah, yes," she said, "I know you fellows of Port Kar. You are all rogues, all pirates, thieves and slavers.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 88


The hastily opened coffer, which had seemed so momentous, and inaccessible, before, of course, had been only a diversion. The true concealment of the papers, one assuredly calculated to deceive those individuals who might have some just notion of their value, one worthy of Belnar's brilliance, was to have them lying about, almost casually, mixed in, and seemingly belonging with, papers of no great importance. This subterfuge was, so to speak, the disguise of unexpected obviousness. In this manner, too, of course, they would tend to be safe from common thieves, whose investigations presumably would be directed more toward the breaking open of strong boxes and the search for secret hiding places. Given their relative accessibility and their apparent lack of value common thieves would not be likely to find them of interest.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Pages 369 - 370


Never before on Gor, I suspected, had such forces been marshaled. It was an invasion, it seemed, not of an army, but of armies. To be sure, many of its contingents were composed of mercenaries sworn to the temporary service of diverse fee captains, and not Cosian regulars. It is difficult to manage such men. They do not fight for Home Stones. They are often little more than armed rabbles. Many are little better than thieves and cutthroats. They must be well paid and assured of ample booty. Accordingly the tactics and movements of such groups, functions of captains who know their men well, and must be wary of them, are often less indicative of sound military considerations, strategic or otherwise, than of organized brigandage, I did not think that such men would stand well, even in their numbers, against the well-trained soldiers of Ar.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Pages 29 - 30


"Some thief," I said, "one who is highly skillful, one worthy even of the thief's scar of Port Kar, though I doubt he wears it." The thief's scar in Port Kar is a tiny, three-pronged brand, burned into the face over the right cheekbone. It marks the members of the Caste of Thieves in Port Kar. That is the only city in which, as far as I know, there is a recognized caste for thieves. They tend to be quite proud of their calling, it being handed down often from father to son. There are various perquisites connected with membership in this caste, among them, if one is a professional thief, protection from being hunted down and killed by caste members, who tend to be quite jealous of their various territories and prerogatives. Because of the caste of thieves there is probably much less thievery in Port Kar than in most cities of comparable size. They regulate their numbers and craft in much the same way that, in many cities, the various castes, such as those of the metal workers or cloth workers, do theirs.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 239


"He is a thief," I said, angrily.
"I am not a thief," said the fellow.
"He is not a thief," said another man.
"He is a well-known thief from Torcadino," I said.
"Nonsense," said a man.
"Who do you think he is?" asked another fellow.
"Ephialtes, of Torcadino," I said.
"I am not Ephialtes," said the man.
"He is not Ephialtes," said another fellow.
"He has been so identified for me, days ago," I said.
"And who made this identification?" asked a fellow.
"I do not now see him about," I said.
"That is not Ephialtes," said a man.
"Even if it were," said another fellow, "you apparently did not see the theft, and do not have clear evidence, even of a circumstantial nature, that he is the culprit." The fellow who had said this wore the blue of the scribes. He may even have been a Scribe of the law.
"Release him," suggested another fellow.
"I am Philebus, a vintner, of Torcadino," said the man.
"He is lying," I said.
"That is Philebus," said a man. "I have dealt with him."
"Release him," said a man.
I untied the fellow.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Pages 243 - 244


The fact that I now realized I was subject to theft frightened me, but it, too, like many other things, seemed an attachment of my condition; a simple consequence of what I was. I recalled hearing now, in the house, of "capture rights," respected in law. I had originally thought these rights referred to the acquisition of free women but I had later realized they must pertain, more generally, to the acquisition of properties in general, including slaves. I had not thought much about such things, in a real, or practical, sense, until now, now that I was outside of the house. I tried to recall my lessons. Theft, or capture, if you prefer, conferred rights over me. I would belong to, and must fully serve, anyone into whose effective possession I came, even if it had been by theft. The original master, of course, has the right to try to recover his property, which remains technically his for a period of one week. If I were to flee the thief, however, after he has consolidated his hold on me, for example, kept me for even a night, I could, actually in Gorean law, be counted as a runaway slave, from him, even though he did not technically own me yet, and punished accordingly. Analogies are that it is not permitted to animals to challenge the tethers on their necks, or flee the posts within which they find themselves penned, that money must retain its value, and buying power, regardless of who has it in hand, and so on. Strictures of this sort, of course, do not apply to free persons, such as free women. A free woman is entitled to try to escape a captor as best she can, and without penalty, even after her first night in his bonds, if she still chooses to do so. If she is enslaved, of course, then she is subject to, and covered by, the same customs, practices and laws as any other slave. The point of these statutes, it seems, is to keep the slave in perfect custody, at all times, and to encourage boldness on the part of males. After the slave has been in the possession of the thief, or captor, for one week she counts as being legally his. To be sure, the original master may attempt to steal her back.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Pages 95 - 96


"Yes," said Hendow. "I caught a thief, to whose lair I was led by Borko. He spoke quickly, after only his legs were broken. Tupita stole Doreen, duping her into leaving the house, she thinking she was still first girl, and intended to sell her, using her price to secure tarn passage from Brundisium in the guise of a free woman. She is, thus, a runaway slave. Moreover, I now put sword claim upon them both. Dispute it with me, if you will. I further learned from the thief they were both sold in Samnium. I spared his life, as he was cooperative. He is now doubtless, with his fellows, stealing other women.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 402


Thieves are often dealt with harshly on Gor.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 11


To be sure the general reputation of Port Kar was that of a den of thieves, a lair of cutthroats and pirates. On the other hand, there was now a Home Stone in the city. Some folks might not even know that.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 489


I was well exposed to view, on four sides, given the construction of the cage. To be sure, I might have been even better revealed, had it not been for the bars, which were thick and closely set. There are a great many varieties of slave cages, with respect to the number of occupants for which they are designed, and, within such parameters, with respect to shape, size and materials. I was in a fairly standard, common-model, single-girl cage, one involving a design compromise between display and security, security not from the point of view of containing the occupant, which a lighter cage would be fully effective in doing, but security against being broken into by thieves.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 302


"How can that be?" I asked. "That is not a trading city, some sort of multifaceted commercial metropolis. This is a city of thieves, of raiders and warriors. One does not have free women from foreign cities wandering about above."
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 335


Interestingly they were all free women. At that time I did not realize how unusual that was, not knowing at that time that "slave strikes" are almost always directed against slaves. This was the result, as it turned out, I would later learn, of a special situation. It was a response to a presumed insult on the part of an administrator of a distant city, something to the effect that those of this city, whose name I did not yet know, were at best cowards and petty thieves, capable of no more than making off with an occasional slave.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 420


"One I met long ago, when I was mercenary tarnsman," said Terence. "I was in Port Kar."
"A den of thieves, a lair of pirates," said the pit master.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 637


"Honor," I said, "has many voices, and many songs."
He looked down at me startled. "That is a saying of warriors," he said. "It is from the codes. It is a long time since I have heard it. I had almost forgotten it. Where did you, a slave, hear it?"
"In Treve," I said.
"A den of thieves!" he said.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 711


Few thieves will rob where robbery seems pointless.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 219


"Why do they think the sewers?" I asked.
"Where else?" she said. "Too, some thieves, some well known, in broad daylight, even within view of the praetor's platform, pushing aside a grating, rushed from a sewer, to be shortly apprehended by rings of spear-bearing guardsmen. Shortly were the thieves manacled and neck-chained."
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 254


The usual theft takes place by cutting the strings of the purse or wallet, commonly in a seemingly inadvertent contact or in the press of a throng. Some thieves are trained in this skill from childhood. There is only one city I am aware of in which the caste of thieves is explicitly recognized, which is a port on the Tamber Gulf, bordering Thassa, the sea. Its governance is in the hands of a Council of Captains. It is north of the great port of Brundisium. It is famous for its canals and "Arsenal," which is actually a depot and naval yard. Its name is Port Kar.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 199


Port Kar, I have been told, is the only Gorean city in which there is an officially recognized Caste of Thieves. To be sure, most of the thieving, I gather, is done outside the city, in other cities, Port Kar then affording a refuge to which successful members of that unusual caste may repair to enjoy the profits of their labors.
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 134