Norman, John - Gor 25 - Magicians of Gor.txt

Norman, John - Gor 25 - Magicians of Gor.txt Page 21

by Magicians of Gor [lit]

  “She will train speedily and well,” said another.

  “I would like to get my hands on her,” said a fellow.

  “She will go to some Cosian,” said another.

  The woman was then drawn to her feet by an auxiliary guardsmen and conducted

  down the ramp.

  The auxiliary guardsman on the other side of the ramp, then, who was working

  with me, said to her, “Kneel, slut.”

  She knelt.

  “You were rich, were you not?” he asked her.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Yes—what?” he said, angrily.

  “Yes, I was rich!” she said, frightened.

  “Do not strike her,” I said to the fellow. “She is not yet a slave.”

  “She is a slut of Ar,” he said.

  “Yes,” I said.

  He lowered his hand.

  “Wrists,” I said to her.

  She lifted her chained wrists, and I attached her to the coffle with a joining

  ring.

  “Why is he angry with me?” she asked.

  “It might be wise to accustom yourself, even though you are legally free now,” I

  said, “to addressing free men as “Master” and free women as “Mistress.”

  “He is only an auxiliary guardsman,” she said.

  “He is a man,” I said, “and you are female.”

  “Yes!” she said.

  “You see the fittingness of it?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  (pg. 140) “You used such expressions on the platform,” I said.

  “But to my Ubara,” she said, “and to men of high station.”

  “Accord such titles of respect to all free persons, even the lowliest of free

  persons,” I said, “for you will be more beneath them than the dirt beneath their

  sandals.”

  “Forgive me, Master,” she said to the other fellow. “Forgive me, Master!”

  He regarded her, his arms folded, somewhat mollified.

  “It seems the slut of Ar learns rapidly,” I said.

  “Get up,” he said to her. “move!”

  “Yes, Master,” she said. Then she looked back. “Thank you, Master,” she said.

  The line moved to its next position.

  I them put the next woman on the chain, and she, too, was ordered to her feet,

  and moved to the next position.

  “Nor she,” said Talena of another, who had been announced. “Nor she,” said she

  of another.

  As I have mentioned, there were scribes on, or near, the dais with Talena. Lists

  were being kept, and referred to. One list, for example, had the names of the

  women upon it, in the order in which they ascended the platform. It was from

  this list that one of the scribes announced the names. Another list, presumably

  a duplicate list, was kept as a record of the results of Talena’s decisions. The

  most interesting lists, however, seemed to be lists referred to as the various

  names were called. There were at least five such lists. Three of them, I think,

  are worth mentioning. One of these was held by a member of the High Council.

  Another was held by a Cosian counselor. Another was held by one of Talena’s

  aides, at her side.

  There was suddenly a scuffle near the far ramp and a guardsman seized a woman

  who had suddenly turned about and attempted to run.

  “Bring her forward,” said Talena.

  The guardsman, who now had her well in hand, holding her from behind, by the

  upper arms, literally lifting her off the surface of the platform, carried her

  forward, before Talena. The woman’s small bared feet were five inches off the

  wood. She was held as helplessly as a doll. The guardsmen then put her down.

  “Strip her,” said Talena.

  This was done, and the woman was flung to her knees before the Ubara of Ar.

  (pg. 141) “Mercy, my Ubara!” cried the woman, lifting her hands, clasped, to

  Talena.

  “What is your name, child?” asked Talena.

  “Fulvia!” she wept. “Fulvia, Lady of Ar!”

  “We are all ladies of Ar,” said Talena.

  “Mercy, Ubara!” she wept, lifting her clasped hands. “Spare us! Spare your

  sisters of Ar!”

  “Alas, my child,” cried Talena, “we are all guilty. All of us are implicated in

  the iniquities of the infamous Gnieus Lelius. Why had we not adequately opposed

  him? Why did we follow his heinous policies?”

  “You opposed him, beloved Ubara!” cried a man. “You tried to warn us! You did

  what you could! We would not listen to you! It is we, the others, who are

  guilty, not you!”

  This sort of cry was taken up elsewhere in the crowd, as well. There were

  numerous protests concerning Talena’s apparent willingness to accept, and share,

  the guilt of Ar.

  “No,” cried Talena. “I should have acted. Rather than witness the shame of Ar. I

  should have plunged a dagger into my own breast!”

  “No! No!” cried men.

  “It would have been a tiny, if futile, symbolic gesture,” she cried, “but I did

  not do it. Thus I, too, an guilty!”

  Roars of protest greeted this remark on the part of the Ubara. I saw several men

  weeping.

  “You chose to live, to work for the salvation of Ar!” cried a man.

  “We own everything to you, beloved Ubara!” cried another.

  “And now,” said Talena, “in spite of all, and the most outrageous provocation,

  our brother, Lurius of jad, Ubar of Cos, has spared our city. The Home Stone is

  safe! The Central Cylinder stands! How shall we make amends to our Cosian

  brother? What gift would be great enough to thank him for our Home Stone, our

  lives and honor? What sacrifice would be too much to express our gratitude?”

  “No gift would be too great!” cried men.

  “No sacrifice would be too great!” cried others.

  “And now, my child,” said Talena to Lady Fulvia, “do you begin to understand why

  you have been requested to come here this day?”

  Lady Fulvia, it seemed, could not speak. She looked up, frightened, at her

  Ubara.

  “Surely you regret the crimes of Ar,” said Talena. “Else why would you have come

  here, as a penitent?”

  Lady Fulvia put her head down.

  (pg. 142) The women, of course, had been ordered to report. Indeed, they had

  been ordered to report yesterday afternoon to the great theater, from whence, to

  their surprse, they had been transported in cage wagons, actually locked, to the

  Stadium of Blades more than a pasang away. Beneath the stands of the Stadium of

  Blades were numerous holding areas, suitable for wild beasts, dangerous men,

  criminals, and such. In such areas, the women, having been checked, arranged and

  counted, were incarcerated for the night. They had also, at that time, been

  given the robes of penitents, that they might spend the night in them. They had

  then, this morning, been transported to a location on Gate Street, in the

&nbs
p; vicinity of the Plaza of Tarns. Some women who had failed to report to the great

  theater were brought later that evening to the Stadium of Tarns by guardsmen,

  both regulars and auxiliaries. I myself, with some other auxiliaries, had

  brought in two of these women. One we had had to tie and leash, almost like a

  rebellious slave girl, save that slave girls are seldom rebellious more than

  once.

  “Surely you wish to do your best to expiate the crimes of Ar?” said Talena to

  the kneeling woman.

  Her interlocutor was silent.

  “Are you not eager to atone for the crimes of Ar, to make amends for her

  inquities?” asked the Ubara, kindly.

  Lady Fulvia was silent.

  “Do you not wish to do what you can to set these things right?” asked the Ubara.

  Silence.

  “Speak, you slut!” cried a man from the side, angrily.

  “Please!” cried Talena, holding forth her hand. “Desist, noble citizen! You

  speak of a free woman of Ar!”

  “Yes, my Ubara,” said Lady Fulvia.

  “You do not wish to be selfish, do you?” asked the Ubara.

  “No, Ubara,” she wept.

  “And is this sacrifice we ask of you, in the name of the city, and its Home

  Stone, any more than that which I myself was prepared to make?”

  “No, my Ubara,” wept the Lady Fulvia.

  Talena, with a small, reluctant, almost tragic gesture, indicated that lady

  Fulvia might be taken to the side.

  “Next,” called a scribe.

  The small wrists of Fulvia, now kneeling near me, her knees about at my chest

  level, on the platform, were locked in manacles. In another moment she was

  pulled down the ramp and knelt before me. She seemed numb, in shock.

  “Wake up,” said a fellow.

  (pg. 143) “The cut of the whip is excellent for waking them up,” said a man.

  I added her to the chain with a joining rope.

  She looked at the ring, and the chain to which she was now attached.

  “And when they awaken they find themselves in their place,” said another.

  “Yes,” said another.

  “Stand, move,” said the auxiliary opposite me.

  “I would like to have her,” said a fellow.

  “She will go to a Cosian,” said a fellow, bitterly.

  “I wonder if the women of Cos are so desirable,” said another.

  In my opinion, though I did not speak, not having been addressed, they were. I

  had, from time to time, used, rented or owned various women of Cos, or former

  women of Cos. I had found them superb. Phoebe, of course, had been Cosian. What

  the women of Ar and those of Cos have in common, of course, despite their

  numerous political, cultural and dialectical differences, is that they are all

  females. Stripped in a slave market it is hard to tell the difference, one from

  the other. But this is true of all women. Any woman, properly mastered, makes an

  excellent slave.

  “No,” said Talena, again. She had now, in the three or four Ehn which had passed

  since the selection of the Lady Fulvia, rejected four women. I gather that this

  may have been to compensate, before the crowd, for the selection of the Lady

  Fulvia, to indicate that in spite of the Lady Fulvia’s concerns and protests,

  how very few women, actually, all in all, were being selected.

  Talena seemed then prepared to dismiss another woman, for she had her hand half

  lifted, as though, with the customary small gesture, to do so, when one of her

  counselors, a Cosian, near her, in the uniform of a high captain, bent quickly

  toward her, his eyes glinting on the female in question, she standing before the

  Ubara, the robes of the penitent about her ankles. I saw the female stiffen,

  suddenly, almost in disbelief. At the same time a guardsman seized her from

  behind by the upper arms. She moved a little bit but found herself helpless in

  his grasp. Then, as she gasped, her arms were pulled back a little, rather

  behind her, this accentuating her figure.

  “You are chosen,” said Talena.

  The woman uttered a small noise, as of disbelief or protest, but was quickly

  conducted to the place of manacling.

  In what the Cosian had said to the Ubara I had made out the expression ‘slave

  curves’.

  (pg. 144) Manacles were put on the woman.

  I saw the Cosian’s eyes still on her as she was manacled. I suspected she would

  not long remain on the chain, after I had added her to it. When she was before

  me, having descended the ramp and being knelt in place, I considered her. Yes,

  she had excellent slave curves. She would doubtless soon learn that those curves

  were such as would be muchly exploited by masters. Then I had added her to the

  chain, and she had been ordered to her feet, and moved to the next position.

  “No,” said Talena, again and again.

  I began to suspect then that the quotas, whatever they might be, had perhaps

  been reached for the day. But then another woman was selected, and subsequently

  manacled and, in due course, added to the coffle.

  Several other women were then passed over.

  Then a slim woman took her place gracefully before the Ubara.

  “Claudia Tentia Hinrabia, Lady of Ar,” read the scribe.

  A stir, a thrill of recognition, coursed through the crowd. Men pressed more

  closely about the platform. “Claudia!” said men. “The Hinrabian!” said others.

  I myself moved closer to the platform, pressing even against it. Claudia Tentia

  Hinrabia was the daughter of a former Administrator of Ar, Minus Tentius

  Hinrabius. She had figured as a pawn in the dark games of Cernus of Ar, to bring

  down the house of Portus, his major economic rival in the city. Later, the

  machinations of Cernus had brought him even to the throne of the Ubar, which he

  held until his deposition by Marlenus of Ar. Claudia, at the time of the

  deposition of Cernus, had been a slave in his house. Marlenus, upon his return

  to the throne, had freed her, even arranging for her support at state expense.

  For several years, she had been a resident of the Central Cylinder. She was the

  last of the Hinrabians.

  Claudia, with a toss of her hair, freed her hair of the hood. She had long black

  hair, swirling and beautiful. It cascaded behind her. I remembered it that way

  from the house of Cernus, the first time I had seen her. When I had seen her

  later in the house of Cernus, it had been much shorter, as, in the intervening

  time, he had had it shaved off, and then, later, it had regrown somewhat. In her

  freeing herself of the hood she had, too, bared her face. She, as the others,

  had not been separately veiled. I well remembered the dark eyes of the

  Hinrabian, and the high cheekbones.

  She then, gracefully, slipped the robe of the penitent back from her shoulders,

  letting it drop behind her.

  (pg. 145) “Ahhh,” said several men.

  She was slimly beautiful. She stood very straight before her Ubara, it seemed

  defiantly, it seemed insolently.

  “See her,” said a man to others.

  Claudia smiled. She knew t
hat she was unusually beautiful, even on a world where

  beauty is not rare.

  Talena seemed displeased.

  To be sure, if she were stripped and put beside the Hinrabian, I did not think

  she would need to fear, or much fear, the comparison.

  Claudia looked up at Talena, on the dais.

  “You will choose me,” she said.

  “Perhaps, if you are suitable,” said Talena, in fury.

  “You have waited long for this day,” said Claudia, “to have me, the daughter of

  Minus Tentius Hinrabius, in your power, your rival.”

  “I,” said Talena,” “am the daughter of Marlenus of Ar!”

  “You are not!” cried Claudia. “You are disowned. You have no more right to the

  throne of Ar than a sleek, pretty little she-urt!”

  “Treason!” cried men. “Treason!”

  “Your father sent men to the Voltai, to seek out and destroy Marlenus of Ar!”

  cried Talena.

  “I do not deny that my father was enemy to Marlenus of Ar,” said Claudia. “That

  is well known, and so, too, at the time, were many in Ar!”

  “Cernus!” cried Talena.

  “Yes,” said Claudia.

  “To whom you were a slave!” said Talena, scornfully.

  “She-urt!” cried Claudia.

  “Turn about, slowly,” said Talena.

  Men gasped.

  Angrily, Claudia complied. Then she again faced Talena. “I stood higher in the

  Central Cylinder than you,” she said. “I was the daughter of a former

  Administrator of Ar! You were nothing, a disowned disgrace, rescued from the

  norht. They brought you back in a sheet, with not even a tarsk bit to your name,

  and dishonored. No longer had you even citizenship! Because of what you once had

  been, the daughter of Marlenus of Ar, you were permitted to live in the Central

  Cylinder. But you were kept hidden there, sequestered, that you not bring

  further embarrassment upon Marlenus of Ar and the city! Do not compare yourself

  with me. You are nothing! I am the daughter of Minus Tentius Hinrabius!”

  “Do not listen to her, beloved Talena!” called a man.

  (pg. 146) “You are an upstart,” said Claudia. “You are a Cosian puppet!”

  “I am your Ubara!” cried Talena.

  “You are a Cosian puppet!” said Claudia.

 

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