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

Norman, John - Gor 25 - Magicians of Gor.txt Page 53

by Magicians of Gor [lit]

  “You will obey,” I informed her.

  “Yes, Master,” she said. “Your slave will obey.”

  21 I Receive the Report of a Slave

  “I am terrified, Master!” said Lavinia.

  I thrust her into our small room, in the insula of Torbon, on Demetrios Street,

  in the Metellan district, and closed the door behind us.

  “How went it?” I asked.

  “I am frightened!” she said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “How dare I be seen before him,” she asked, “As what I am now, a slave!”

  “You will be in the modest livery of a state slave,” I said, “nor even belled.”

  “I am frightened,” she said.

  “Put off the cloak,” I said.

  She put to one side the cloak which she had clutched about her, concealing her

  garment of white wool and the collar on her neck. To be sure, her exposed calves

  and bared feet had left no doubt in the streets as to her status.

  “I would not even dare to lift my eyes to his, to look into his eyes,” she

  moaned.

  “You must do so, if he commands it,” I said.

  “Yes, Maser,” she said, in a misery.

  “But it may not be necessary,” I said.

  “Yes, Master!” she said.

  “Change your clothing,” I said, “quickly.”

  She drew off the modest garment of white wool, and, then, (pg. 358) just for an

  instant, perhaps hardly even aware of it, she stood before me, naked, and looked

  at me.

  “Vain slave!” I laughed.

  She blushed, and quickly put down the garment of white wool, and fetched the

  gray garment of the state slave.

  I smiled.

  Well had she displayed in that brief moment her master’s property.

  In an instant she had drawn down the tunic of the state slave over her head and

  was smoothing it down about her hips.

  I regarded her.

  She stood before me.

  “Excellent,” I said.

  She smiled.

  I then fetched the collar, designed to resemble a state collar, from the flat

  leather box. I went behind her and locked it on her neck, above the Appanius

  collar. She now wore two collars. I then removed the Appanius collar from her

  neck. In this way there was no moment in which she was not in at least one

  collar.

  “Do you know what time it is?” I asked.

  “No,” she said. “I hardly know what I am doing, or where I am.”

  “Kneel,” I said.

  Chronometers exist on Gor, but they are rare and valuable. Marcus and I did not

  have any, of intent, at the time, among our belongings. They would not have

  seemed to fit in well with our guise as auxiliary guardsmen. In many cities, of

  course, including Ar, time tends to be kept publicly. Official clocks are

  adjusted, of course, according to the announcements of scribes, in virtue of

  various astronomical measurements, having to do with the movements of the sun

  and stars. The calendar, and adjustments in it, are also the results of their

  researches, promulgated by civil authorities. The average Gorean has a variety

  of simple devices at his disposal for marking the passage of time. Typical among

  them are marked, or calibrated, candles, sun dials, sand glasses, clepsydras and

  oil clocks.

  She was breathing deeply.

  I sat down, cross-legged, opposite her.

  “Master, too, seems apprehensive,” she said. “Forgive me, Master.”

  “Catch your breath,” I said.

  “Thank you, Master,” she said.

  She had not neglected to have her knees in proper position. She was, after all,

  before a free man.

  (pg. 359) We must soon to the theater of Pentilicus Tallux, the great theater,

  which was more than two pasangs away.

  “I am frightened,” she said.

  “How went it?” I asked.

  At this point the eleventh bar rang.

  “It is only the eleventh bar,” she said, gratefully.

  “Yes,” I said.

  She closed her eyes in relief.

  “You are frightened, aren’t you?” I said.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  She was entitled to be frightened, I supposed. She was, after all, only a slave.

  “Why are you frightened?” I asked.

  “Because of he before whom I must shortly appear, and as only a slave!”

  “Ah, yes,” I said. I myself would have thought her terror might more plausibly

  have been motivated by what had occurred earlier this morning.

  “Tell me of what occurred in the Central Cylinder,” I said.

  “It was much as you had anticipate,” she said. “I approached the Central

  Cylinder. I knelt before the guards, my head down. The capped message tube even

  touched the stones. I looked up. I made known my errand, that I bore a private

  message emanating from the house of Appanius for the Ubara. They read my collar.

  It seemed then surely that I was a girl of Appanius. The guards were skeptical

  that I would be admitted. However, to their surprise, I was to be permitted to

  enter the presence of the Ubara.”

  “That the message might emanate from a particular person in the house of

  Appanius, and presumably not Appanius himself, who would not be likely to have

  any direct business with the Ubara,” I said, “was what gained your admittance.

  The Ubara would suspect, and perhaps even hope, from whom the message might

  come. Too, of course, that the message was considered “private” would tend not

  only to confirm her suspicions, but to excite and intrigue her.”

  “Yes, Master,” said the girl.

  She had, of course, reported to the guards at the Central Cylinder

  back-braceleted, with the message tube about her neck. In this way, she could

  not have uncapped the tube and read the message. She would presumably be in

  ignorance as to its contents. Indeed, in a sense she was ignorant of its

  contents as Marcus and I, with Phoebe’s expert assistance, as it turned out, had

  composed it yesterday evening, while she had been scouting the public boards for

  us, for any news that might be of (pg. 360) interest. It is best for slaves to

  approach the public boards in the evening or very early morning, when it is less

  crowded in their vicinity. In that way they are less likely to be beaten. She

  did know, of course, its general purport, and its role in our plans. The letter

  itself, of course, had been written by Marcus. I had removed the bracelets from

  her and the thong, the tube attached, from about her neck, of course, when we

  had had our rendezvous, after her departure from the Central Cylinder. I had

  given her the cloak then and we had made our separate ways back to the insula of

  Torbon.

  “Go on,” I said.

  “My bracelets were checked,” she said. “It was found that I was perfectly

  secured.

  “Yes,” I said. Having her back-braceleted, of course, was also a convenience to

  the guards. That would save them putting her in
their own bracelets, before

  conducting her into the presence of the Ubara.

  “Then I was double leashed,” she said.

  “A single metal collar,” I said, “with chain leashes on each side?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  There are several double leashing arrangements, sometimes with two collars, and

  sometimes with a single collar, with leash rings on opposite sides. The collars

  are usually of leather, metal or rope. The leashes, too, are of similar

  materials. Some collars, stocklike, are of wood. The point of double leashing is

  security and control. A prisoner is not likely to be able to pull away from two

  leashes. At least one is likely to restrain him. Similarly, by two leashes, he

  can easily be immobilized, kept in place, held, say, between two leash masters,

  unable to reach either of them, or a third person. In the case of females double

  leashing is primarily aesthetic. Certainly a girl would not be likely, more than

  once, at any rate, to attempt to attack a leash holder, say, to bite or kick.

  That is something she would never do again. On the other hand, in Lavinia’s

  case, clearly the guards would not wish to risk her approaching the Ubara too

  closely, even back-braceleted.

  “I was then conducted by five guards within the double gate of the Central

  Cylinder,” she said. “The leader went first. Two were with me, one on each side,

  each holding a leash. Two followed, with spears. Inside the double gate, I was

  hooded, and then I was led through what seemed to be a maze of passageways, and

  levels, and turnings. Sometimes I was even spun about. I had no idea where I was

  in the Central Cylinder. Then I was told to kneel and my leashes seemed to be

  fastened (pg. 361) down, on either side of me. “Bring me the message from my

  dear friend, Appanius,” said a woman’s voice.

  “What was the voice like?” I asked.

  “It seemed friendly, even kindly, and charming,” she said, “but, somehow,

  underneath, cold, or cruel.”

  “Continue,” I said.

  “I felt the tube being taken in hand, and uncapped, and heard the message being

  removed from it. The leader of the guard, I presume, did this, and then

  delivered it to the woman. For a time I heard nothing. Then she spoke again. “It

  is nothing,” she said, “this little note from my dear friend, Appanius, news of

  a coming play. But leave us now, alone. And before you go, unhood the slave. I

  would see her.”

  I was unhooded.

  “I was kneeling in what appeared to be a private audience chamber. It must have

  been well within the cylinder. It was lit by lamps. The hangings were scarlet

  and magnificent. There was a dais a few feet before me, and on this dais,

  resplendent in robes of concealment, beautifully veiled, on a curule chair,

  there sat a regal figure. I was speechless.

  “ ‘We await without,’ said the leader of the guard. He then, with his mem,

  withdrew.

  “The hood which had been removed from me lay to one side. The message tube, with

  its cap, attached by its tiny thong, was still about my neck.

  “I looked timidly to the woman on the curule chair. It seemed she did not notice

  me. She read the letter in her hands over and over, seemingly avidly.

  “The chain leashes attached to the leash rings on the metal collar I wore were

  fastened to rings on each side of me. I was held in place. I could not rise to

  my feet.”

  “The woman on the curule chair looked down upon me. I put my head down to the

  floor. The message tube then, on its thong, was on the floor as well.

  “ ‘Is that how you kneel before a free woman?’ she asked.

  “ ‘Forgive me, Mistress!’ I wept. ‘The guards were about!’

  “ ‘They are not about now,” she said, ‘and even if they were, it is I who am

  Mistress here, not they.’

  “ ‘Forgive me, Mistress!’ I begged.

  “ ‘You will kneel before me demurely,” she said.

  “ ‘Yes, Mistress,’ I said. You can now well imagine how modestly and humbly, and

  demurely, I then knelt before her.”

  “I warned you about that sort of thing,” I reminded her.

  “Am I to be beaten?” she asked.

  “No,” I said. “Such knee positions become almost instinctive (pg. 362) in a

  female slave, and I would not wish to complicate your training by punishing you

  for having failed to alter them in a particular case. I do not want your

  dispositions to respond to become too complex, or inconsistent.”

  “Thank you, Master,” she said.

  “Too,” I said, “the guards were men, and had been present.”

  “Yes, Master!” she said.

  “But for your own sake, when you are before free women,” I said, “I would advise

  you to be alert to such matters.”

  “Yes, Master!” she said.

  “Continue,” I said.

  “The woman looked down at me. I scarcely dared look at her. Muchly did I keep my

  head down. I even trembled. You can well imagine how small and meaningless I

  felt there.”

  “Certainly,” I said, “in such a place, in the presence of such a personage, the

  Ubara of Ar herself.”

  “Oh, yes, Master,” she said, “certainly that. But it was not just that.”

  “Oh?” I said.

  “I think it was even more that she was a free woman, and that I was before her,

  only a slave.”

  “I see,” I said.

  “ ‘This note does not come from Appanius,’ she said to me.

  “ ‘No, Mistress,’ I said.

  “ ‘Do you know from whom it comes?’ she asked.

  “ ‘From the beautiful Milo,’ I said.

  “ ‘Do you know its contents?’ she asked.

  “ ‘No, Mistress,’ I said.

  “ ‘Can you read?’ she asked.

  “ ‘Yes, Mistress,’ I said.

  “ ‘But you have not read it?”

  “ ‘No, Mistress,’ I said.

  “ ‘Have you some concept of its contents,’ she asked, ‘any inkling as to its

  purport?’

  “ ‘I fear so, Mistress,’ I said.

  “ ‘Do you know who I am, girl?’ she asked.

  “ ‘The majestic and beautiful Talena,’ I said, ‘Ubara of Glorious Ar.’

  “ ‘He could be slain for even thinking of writing such a letter,’ she said.

  “I was silent.

  “ ‘He has eveb signed it,’ she said.

  “I was silent.

  “ ‘’What a fool,’ she said. ‘What a poor, mad, infatuated fool.’

  (pg. 363) “I was silent.”

  “ ‘How could he do anything so compromising, so foolish, so utterly mad?’ she

  asked.

  “ ‘Perhaps he has been driven out of his wits by some brief glimpse of the
/>
  beauty of Mistress,’ I whispered.”

  “Excellent, Lavinia,” I commended her.

  “ ‘Speak,’ she commanded me.

  “ ‘He has given performances in the Central Cylinder,’ I continued, ‘readings,

  and such. Perhaps in one of those times, due to no fault of Mistress he was

  charmed by her voice, as by the songs of the venminium bird, or again, by her

  grace and manner, the consequences of a thousand generations of elegance and

  breeding, or again, once more through no possible fault of Mistress, perhaps in

  a moment of inadvertent disarray he as so unfortunate as to glimpse a portion of

  her briefly unveiled features, or note a width of slender wrist betwixt cuff and

  glove, or even, beneath the hem of her robes, fearful to contemplate, the turn

  of an ankle?’

  “ ‘Perhaps,’ she said. “And I had no doubt, Master, that the royal hussy had

  seen to it that such signals, such signs, such intriguing glimpses, such

  supposed inadvertencies, and such, had abounded!”

  “In this,” I said, “perhaps she was not so different from you.”

  “Master!” cried Lavinia, scandalized.

  “At least,” I said, “she never knelt at his side, in bangles and slave silk, and

  reached out to touch him.”

  “Had she been in my place, and only a slave,” she said, “she might have done

  so!”

  “Perhaps,” I said.

  “I think so, Master!” said Lavinia.

  “And perhaps have found herself in the fields?”

  “Perhaps, Master,” smiled Lavinia.

  The thought of the regal Talena shorn and in the fields was indeed an amusing

  one.

  “Master?” asked the slave.

  “Continue,” I said.

  “ ‘Do you know that he dedicated the first performance of his “Lurius of Jad” to

  me?’ she asked.

  “ ‘Yes, Mistress.’ I responded.

  “ ‘And he has dedicated many other performances to me, as well,’ she said.

  (pg. 364) “ ‘Yes, Mistress,” I responded.

  “ ‘Hailed as inspired performances,’ she said.

  “ ‘Yes, Mistress,’ I said. Surely, Master , she must understand the political

  aspects of such things!”

 

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