Gor #29 - Swordsmen of Gor by John Norman

Author:John Norman [Norman, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Epic, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781617560408
Publisher: e-reads.com
Published: 2010-11-15T02:51:15+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

THE EXERCISE;

WHAT FOLLOWED THE EXERCISE

“One-strap!” I called, and Ichiro, who was behind and on my right, blew the blast on the war horn, and two hundred tarns, with riders, ascended, as one, the forest far below, Tarncamp a clearing below in the forest.

There are six strap positions on the common tarn harness. On the tarn’s collar there are six rings, to which straps are attached, which straps ascend to the saddle, which, too, has six rings, corresponding to the collar rings. The six saddle rings are arranged on a vertical ring. The one-ring is at the top of the main saddle ring, and the four-ring is at the bottom. The two-ring and three-ring are on the right side of the main saddle ring, and the four-ring and five-ring are on the left side of the main saddle ring. Given the correspondences, drawing on the one-strap exerts pressure at the bottom of the tarn’s throat, to which pressure it responds by ascent, and drawing on the four-ring exerts pressure on the ring at the back of the tarn’s neck, to which pressure it responds by descent. Similarly, it may wheel to the high right and the low right, and to the high left and low left, by drawing on the appropriate straps. If one wishes a lateral motion to the right one draws on both the two and three straps at the same time, and if one wishes a lateral motion to the left one draws on the four and five straps simultaneously. Similar adjustments may be made by drawing on the one and two straps, on the three and four straps, and so on, about the ring. A simple knot in each strap prevents it from slipping back through one of the saddle rings.

“Three-strap,” I called, and Ichiro blew the signal, and the flock turned downward and to the right.

“Rings free!” I called to Ichiro, and he blew the appropriate blast, and the flock leveled out in its flight, and continued on the path on which it had been set.

Of great assistance in such matters is the natural flocking behavior of tarns, which consists of three genetically coded behaviors, two of which deal with spatiality and one with velocity. A tarn flock will tend to cohere, to stay together, and it will also maintain a bird-to-bird distance. These spatial habituations are then linked with a tendency to match velocity. In this fashion a flock of birds, even in the wild, will engage effortlessly in what appear to be astonishingly swift and complex maneuvers.

“Five-strap!” I called. “Rings free!” The horn gave forth this command, and the flock descended to the left and leveled in its flight.

I personally preferred solitary tarnflight, and I supposed most tarnsmen would, as there is a wild sense of freedom on tarnback, sometimes almost of exaltation, as one seems one with the bird. One is muchly alive. One becomes almost another form of life, one with the bird, and one with the wind, the clouds, and sky.

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