Mercenaries of Gor coc-21

by John Norman

  "But surely it is not anticipated that the governance of Ar will long remain under a regency." I said.

  "Marlenus is expected back soon," said the man.

  "Suppose, however," I suggested, "he does not soon return?"

  "Then there is another possibility," he said, "an interesting one." "What is that?" I asked.

  "A Ubara," he said.

  "A Ubara?" I asked.

  "She who was, until forsworn, the daughter of Marlenus," he said.

  "Oh?" I asked. "Talena," he said. "Have you heard of her?"

  "Yes," I said.

  "Marlenus was dissatisfied with her," said the fellow. "It had to do with some business in the Northern forests. He swore her from him, making her no longer his daughter. For years she has lived in obscurity, sequestered in the Central Cylinder. Now, with the absence of Marlenus, and the generosity of Gnieus Lelius, she is carried once again, in the streets of Ar."

  "I gather that would not be in accord with the will of Marlenus," I said. "Marlenus is not here," he said.

  "Why would one think of her in the terms of a Ubara? I asked. "Sworn from Marlenus, she is no longer his daughter."

  "I am not a scribe of the law," he said. "I do not know."

  "I do not think she has a Home Stone," I said.

  "Gnieus Lelius permitted her to kiss the Home Stone," he said. "It was done in a public ceremony. She is once again a citizeness of Ar."

  "Gnieus Lelius seems a generous, noble fellow," I said.

  "He is a patron of the arts," said the fellow. "He has founded parks and museums. He has won the support of the elite in this fashion. I myself favor him for he has remitted certain classes of debts. This has considerably eased my financial burdens. The lower castes are fond of him for he frequently, at his own expense, distributes free bread and paga, and sponsors games and races. He has also declared new holidays. He has made life better and easier in Ar. He is much supported by the people.

  "You are certain that he is concerned for the welfare of Ar?" I asked. "Of course," he said.

  "Is he difficult to see?" I asked.

  "One does not simply walk up to the Central Cylinder and knock on the door," he said.

  "I suppose not," I said.

  "But Gnieus Lelius makes a point of being available to the people," he said. "That is one reason he is so much loved."

  "Commoners, then, can look upon the regent?" I asked, "other than from afar, as in state processions or at official games?"

  "Of course," said the man.

  I was pleased to hear that. I had urgent letters for Gnieus Lelius and Seremides. I must somehow manage to deliver them. I had feared it might be difficult. I did not wish to deliver these missives into the hands of a subordinate. Who could one trust? Too, I surely had no wish to attempt to cut my way through the corridors of the Central Cylinder to effect a private audience with these fellows.

  "Can they actually speak with him?" I asked.

  "Surely," he said.

  "When, next, do you think he might be holding public audiences?" I asked. "Two days from now," said the fellow.

  "Is it a court day?" I asked.

  "Better than that," he said. "It is one of the new holidays, the day of Generosity and Petitions."

  "Excellent," I said.

  "The audiences are held near the Central Cylinder, on the Avenue of the Central Cylinder," he said.

  "Thank you," I said.

  "Did you wish to speak to him about something?" asked the man.

  "I thought it would be nice," I said, "at least to look upon him." "He is a charming fellow," said the man.

  "I am sure of it," I said.

  "Many minor petitions are granted," he said, "and some of the major ones. To be sure, it depends wholly, at least in the major cases, upon the justice of the petition."

  "I understand," I said.

  "Those wishing to present petitions must take a place on the rope," he said. "What is that?" I asked.

  "Obviously the regent cannot give an audience to everyone," he said. "Those who are granted audiences wear the Gnieus Lelius Generosity Ribbon which encircles them and is tied about the rope, actually a velvet cable, leading to the dais. This helps to keep the line straight and, as the audiences are held out of doors, controls the number of petitioners."

  "I understand," I said. "How does one obtain a position on the rope?" I asked. "Sometimes it is a nasty business," said the man.

  "Good," said Hurtha, approvingly.

  "I suppose it is a good idea to come early?" I said.

  "Some people are there from the fourteenth Ahn the day before," he said. "I see," I said. "Thank you, Citizen."

  "You might try the Ally of the Slave Brothels of Ludmilla. That is behind the Avenue of Turia."

  "What?" I said.

  "For lodging," he said.

  "Oh," I said.

  "Do you know where it is?" he asked.

  "I know where the Avenue of Turia is," I said. It is named for the city in the southern hemisphere, incidentally, doubtless as a gesture of amicability on the part of Ar. Stately Tur trees, appropriately enough, line its walks. It is a broad avenue with fountains. It is well known for its exclusive shops. "It is in the vicinity of the Street of Brands."

  "That is the one," he said. The Street of Brands, incidentally, can be a particular street, but, generally, as in Ar, it is a district, one which has received its name from its dealings in slaves, and articles having to do with slaves. In it, commonly, are located the major slave houses of a city. To it, slavers may take their catches. In it, on a wholesale or retail basis, one may purchase slaves. Similarly one may bid upon them in a public auction. The major markets are there. For example, the Curulean is there. One may also rent and board slaves there. It is there, too, in the confines of the houses, that girls are often trained superbly and thoroughly in the intimate arts of giving exquisite pleasures to masters. Too, of course, in such a district, one may purchase such articles as appropriate cosmetics for slaves, suitable simple but attractive jewelry, fit for slaves, in particular, earrings which, in Gorean eyes, so fasten a woman's degradation helplessly upon her, appropriate perfumes, slave silk, and such. Too, it is in such a district that one will find a wide variety of other articles helpful in the identification, keeping, training and disciplining of females, such things as collars, of the fixed and lock variety, leashes, of metal and leather, neck, wrist and ankle, ranging from simple guide thongs to stern control devices, wrist belts and ankle belts, yokes and leg-stretchers, waist-and-wrist stocks, iron belts, to prevent her penetration without the master's permission, linked bracelets, with long chains and short chains, body chains, pleasure shackles, multicolored, silken binding cords, some cored with chain, and, of various types, for various purposes, whips.

  "My thanks," I said. "We will try it."

  "I wish you well," he said.

  "I, too, wish you well," I said.

  He then went about his business. The woman near us, sitting on a blanket on the stones, her basket of suls before her, looked up. "Do you want suls?" she asked. "No," I said.

  "Be gone, then," she said.

  "Come along," I said to my party. I led them east on Venaticus, to the Avenue of the Central Cylinder. It was then my intention to go south on that avenue until I came to Wagon Street, taking it east to Turia. There is more than one "wagon Street" in Ar, incidentally, but the one I had in mind, that which led to the Street of Brands, was the one usually called Wagon Street. The "wagon streets" are generally east-west streets. They are called that, I suppose, because they are open to wagon traffic during the day, and wide enough for two wagons to pass on them. On many streets in Ar wagon traffic is discouraged during daylight hours because of their narrowness. There is little difficulty, of course, with the avenues and boulevards. They are generally wider. Many girls, incidentally, have been on Wagon Street, being brought down it on their first trip to Ar, though perhaps they did not see much of it, their ankles chained to the central bar in the blu
e-and-yellow slave wagons, those delivering them, according, say to the disk numbers on their collars, or the addresses marked on their left breasts, to the various houses on the Street of Brands. "Ah!" said Boabissia.

  "The Avenue of the Central Cylinder," I said. "It is indeed beautiful. We will go right here."

  "I am thirsty," said Hurtha, going toward a fountain. We followed him. There are many among this avenue.

  Hurtha leaned his ax against the fountain and thrust his head half in the water and then pulled it out sputtering. He then splashed water on his face. Then, cupping his hands, he drank. I drank, too. And Boabissia, too, drank, lifting water delicately to her lips. I saw that in our company she had learned something of her femininity. It seemed that she was beginning, timidly and hopefully, to suspect and experience the true nature of her sexuality, that she might now be daring to think of fulfilling her softness and nature, daring to think of what it might to be, fully and truly, what she actually was, a female. She, at any rate, was no longer attempting, grotesquely, and laughably, to emulate the behavior of an Alar warrior.

  "May I drink, Master?" asked Feiqa.

  "Certainly," I said. Then, suddenly, angry, scandalized, I seized her by the hair. She cried out in pain, twisting.

  "Are you not a beast?" I asked.

  "Yes, Master!" she wept.

  "And only that?" I inquired.

  "Yes, Master! she cried.

  I then flung her to her knees at my feet, and with my foot spurned her to the stones. She lay there, startled on her side, my pack awry on her back, near the fountain. "Master?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

  "You are a best," I said. "You drink from the lower bowl, like other animals, like sleen and tharlarion."

  "Yes, Master," she said.

  "What a stupid slave," said Boabissia.

  "Forgive me, Master," wept Feiqa.

  I regarded her. She was quite attractive, and she had good legs. There was little doubt of that the way she lay on the stones. She was terrified, the former Lady Charlotte, once a rich, high citizeness of Samnium, now the mere beast, mine and collared, Feiqa. She looked up at me in terror. She had grievously erred.

  "That was good," said Hurtha, wiping his mouth.

  "Master?" asked Feiqa.

  "Tonight," I told her. "You will be whipped,"

  "Yes, Master," she said.

  "A chair, with soldiers, is coming," said Boabissia.

  We saw some folks gathering about to watch, but leaving a path for the movement of the chair and soldiers. It was an enclosed sedan chair, its silken curtains drawn. It was borne on long poles slung in tandem fashion between two tharlarion. The chair and soldiers were making their way north on the Avenue of the Central Cylinder, toward the Central Cylinder. The soldiers were Taurentians.

  "It is a woman's chair, is it not?" asked Boabissia.

  "Yes," I said.

  "Those are palace guardsmen, aren't they?" asked Hurtha.

  "Probably," I said. "They are, at least, of the same sort as the palace guardsmen."

  "Taurentians, they are called," he said.

  "Yes," I said.

  "They look like capable fellows," he said.

  "I am sure they are," I said. The eyes of the soldiers were mostly on the crowd. There seemed little doubt such men formed an efficient guard. The chair, I noted, was not borne by male draft slaves, but was supported by tharlarion. There might be various reasons for this. One might be ostentation, a simple display of wealth, for good tharlarion are generally more expensive than male slaves, particularly draft slaves. But perhaps, even more, the cargo might be regarded as too precious to be risked in the vicinity of male slaves. After all, they are men. Too, perhaps it was felt appropriate, if the cargo was deemed of sufficient beauty, that it even be borne by male slaves. After all, might there not be some danger, as the fair occupant entered into, or descended gracefully from, the sedan chair, that there might be the careless movement of a veil, revealing a bit of throat, or the inadvertent lifting of a robe of concealment, giving them the glimpse of a briefly exposed ankle? "Drink," I said to Feiqa.

  "Yes, Master," she said.

  "Whose chair is that?" I asked a fellow near us, as the chair moved past. "Do you not know?" he asked.

  "No," I said. "We are but newly come to Ar."

  "From Torcadino?" he asked.

  "Yes," I said.

  "That," he said, "is the chair of she who may become the Ubara of Ar." "Talena," said another fellow.

  "What is wrong?" asked Boabissia.

  "Nothing," I said. I watched the chair move down the street, toward the Central Cylinder.

  I looked at Feiqa. She knelt on all fours before the lower bowl of the fountain, her head down, drinking.

  "How could this Talena become Ubara of Ar?" I asked. "I thought she was sworn from the line of Marlenus."

  "She can be given legal entitlement to the succession," said a fellow. "I have heard it discussed."

  "Not as of the line of Marlenus," I said.

  "No," he said. "But one need not be of the line of Marlenus, surely, to rule in Ar."

  "Minius Tentius Hinrabius and Cernus, both, ruled in Ar," said a man. "Neither was of his line."

  "That is true," I said.

  "She is a free citizen," said a man. "Accordingly, she could be given such entitlement."

  "Why not Gnieus Lelius or Seremides?" I asked.

  "Neither is ambitious, happily," said a fellow.

  "But why her?" I asked. "Why not any one of thousands of others?"

  "She was of royal family," said a man. "She was once the daughter of Marlenus." "I see," I said. I looked down at Feiqa. "Are you watered?" I asked her. "Yes, Master," she said.

  She looked lovely, on all fours, at the lower bowl of the fountain, where, drinking, as a collared, briefly tunicked beast, she belonged. "Rise," I said.

  "Yes, Master," she said.

  I looked after the chair. But I could not now see it for the folks following it. "Which way are we going?" asked Hurtha.

  "This way," I said. We could go south on the Avenue of the Central Cylinder, some four or five pasangs, and then make a left on Wagon Street, taking it over to the Avenue of Turia. Somewhere in that vicinity, probably in the lower end of the avenue, somewhere in the Street of Brands district, was the Alley of the Slave Brothels of Ludmilla. I would have to ask directions once we were on the Avenue of Turia. I did not doubt but what we could quickly find such an area. It sounded as though it would not be unknown.

  "What is the name of the place?" asked Boabissia.

  "The Alley of the Slave Brothels of Ludmilla," I said.

  "I do not like the sound of that," said Boabissia.

  "I do not think it sounds bad," I said.

  "No," said Hurtha.

  I looked back at Feiqa. She put down her head. She had been careless. She had been thoughtless. Tonight she would be whipped. (pg 272)

  22 The Insula of Achiates

  "The stench is terrible," said Boabissia.

  "Do not throw up," I told her. "You will get used to it."

  "I have told them, time and time again," said the proprietor, testily, carrying the small lamp, "that they should keep the lid on. It is heavy, of course, and so it is too often left awry." With a grating sound, he shoved the heavy terracotta lid back in place, on the huge vat. It was at the foot of the stairs, where the slop pots could be emptied into it. Such vats are changed once or twice weekly, the old vats loaded in wagons and taken outside the city, where their contents are disposed of at one of the carnarii, or places of refuse pits. They are then rinsed out and ready to be delivered again, in their turn, to customers. This is done by one of several companies organized for the purpose. The work is commonly done by male slaves, supervised by free men.

  "Follow me," said the proprietor, beginning to ascend the stairs.

  I followed him. Behind me came Boabissia. Then came Hurtha. Feiqa came last. The staircase was narrow. It would be difficult for two people to pass
on it. That would make it easy to defend, I thought. It was also steep. That was good. It did not have an open side but was set between two walls. That conserved space. It made possible extra rooms. Space is precious in a crowded insula. The stairwell boards were narrow. That was not so good, unless one were on the landing. That would be the place to make a stand. One could not get one's entire foot on them. They were old. Some were split. Several were loose. For a bit we could make our way in the light from the shallow vestibule below, where it filtered in through the shutters of the entrance gate, but in a moment or two, we became substantially dependent on the proprietor's tiny lamp. It cast odd shadows.

  "I cannot stand the smell," said Boabissia.

  "The room is a tarsk bit a night," said the proprietor. "You may take it or leave it. You are lucky we have one left. These are busy days in Ar."

  "We could have had a better place were it not for something," said Boabissia, irritably.

  That might have been true. I did not know. It was hard to say. Several of the insulae we had investigated did not allow animals, which meant, of course, that we could not keep Feiqa with us. Some of them did, however, have some provision for slaves, such as basement kennels or chaining posts in the yard. I preferred, however, to keep Feiqa with us. She was lovely. I did not wish to have her stolen.

  "The insula of Achiates," said the proprietor, "is still the finest insula in all Ar."

  "It is dark," said Boabissia.

  "How far is it now?" I asked.

  "Not far," said the proprietor.

  As we climbed, the landings were frequent. The ceilings on the various levels of insulae are generally very low. In most of the rooms a man cannot stand upright. This makes additional floors possible.

  I put out my hands and touched the walls on the sides of the staircase. They were very close. They were chipped. In places there were long diagonal cracks in them, marking stress points in the structure where the plaster has broken. The insula of Achiates might be the finest insula in Ar, but I thought that it stood somewhat in a condition of at least minor disrepair. A bit of renovation might not have been entirely out of order. The walls, too, were frequently discolored, run with various stains, water stains and other stains.