“That is true!” called one of Lucilius’ cohorts.
“Please,” said the Lady Bina, annoyed.
There was, again, silence.
“Accordingly,” said the Lady Bina, “I have a proposal to make. Unless you are bent on pointless, gratuitous slaughter, which is, of course, your business, man business, I suggest, under the circumstances, you spare these fellows, provided they throw down their weapons, and hasten away, into the darkness.”
“Yes, yes!” cried several of Lucilius’ men.
“Please, at least, consider the matter,” called the Lady Bina.
There was a lengthy pause, and then the voice that had first called out from the darkness, that which had supposedly been associated with the “Sleen of Mintar,” said, “We will consider it.”
At this point, the Lady Bina resumed her seat. “Now, fellows,” she said, “we will wait, and find out whether you will live or die.”
I heard some weapons being cast to the ground.
Something like a quarter of an Ahn later the first voice called out from the right, in the far darkness, from outside the yard. “We have considered it.”
“And what have you decided?” called the Lady Bina, again rising to her feet.
“We are reluctant—,” said the voice.
“But?” called the Lady Bina.
“We accept your proposal,” said the voice.
“You had better,” said the Lady Bina, “as it is the proposal of a free woman. Otherwise you would certainly hear about this.”
I heard cries of joy, and the sound of weapons being cast to the ground.
“No, no!” came from Lucilius’ translator. “Stay! Remain!”
“Open the ring of death!” called the Lady Bina into the darkness.
“It is open,” called the voice from the left, which had supposedly been associated with the guardsmen of Ar, and caravanserai guards.
“Stop, stop!” cried Lucilius, as men rushed about him, in the darkness, hurrying from the yard.
Then he was alone in the yard, save for the Lady Bina, who had resumed her seat.
“You,” snarled Lucilius, the menace clear in Kur, “you unveiled, shameless she-sleen, with one blow of my ax there will be two of you.”
“You have enough difficulty dealing with one,” she said. “What would you do with two?”
Lucilius, with a cry of rage, lifted the ax.
“I would lower my ax, if I were you, fellow,” she said, “for, by now, you might have a quarrel between your eyes.”
Kurik, my master, stepped forth from the shadows, his bow lifted, and aimed.
Lucilius, snarling, lowered the ax, and stepped backward.
“I have a friend,” said the Lady Bina, “who has been looking forward to meeting you.”
“Tal,” said Lord Grendel, appearing out of the darkness, ax in hand. Behind him was Eve. Then Drusus Andronicus appeared from the right.
“You see,” whispered Paula to me, “they did not desert the Lady Bina, they did not leave, they did not flee.”
“No,” I said.
“They are Goreans,” she said, “masters.”
“Yes,” I said, contrite, holding the bars of the cage, half sick, much ashamed of the doubts I had entertained, however plausibly, however naturally. The Lady Bina had been alone. I had not seen the others.
“Would you care to belong to lesser men?” asked Paula.
“No,” I said.
“You will serve your master well, will you not, Phyllis,” she said, “and as the slave you are?”
“Yes,” I said.
“—If he keeps you,” she said.
“—If he keeps me?” I said.
“You have much to atone for,” she said.
“You will not tell him of my doubts,” I begged.
“You will do so,” she said.
“No,” I said.
“Then I will do so,” she said.
“No!” I said.
“It is in your best interest,” said Paula. “Otherwise I would not speak to him.”
“Do not speak to him,” I said. “I will do so.”
“Good,” she said. “A slave is to be completely open to the master. There are to be no secrets between a master and his slave.”
“What will he do with me?” I asked.
“I do not know,” she said. “But he will understand you better, as a weak, shallow barbarian slave, clever and superficial, who doubted her master’s honor.”
Standing in the water, naked, clutching the bars, I felt miserable.
“Honor is important to Goreans,” she said.
“I know,” I said. “I know.”
“Tal,” had said Lord Grendel, who had appeared out of the darkness, ax in hand. Behind him had been Eve. And then Drusus Andronicus had appeared from the right.
“Doubtless you are pleased to see Grendel,” said the Lady Bina to Lucilius.
“Of course,” said Lucilius.
“You might say ‘Tal’ to him,” said the Lady Bina.
“Tal,” said Lucilius.
“Your bowmen are absent,” observed the Lady Bina.
“There is no wagon of Mintar,” said Lucilius. “You are not in league with him. You carry no cargo for Mintar. The emblem on your wagon, the banner, are fraudulent.”
“Quite so,” said the Lady Bina. “And it would be wise on our part to remove the emblem and banner before we exit the caravanserai.”
“You have perpetrated a hoax,” he said.
“A useful one,” she said, “one that served its purpose.”
“I want blood,” he said.
“Do not interfere,” said Lord Grendel to Kurik, with his leveled bow, he, my master, and to Drusus Andronicus, Paula’s master.
“As I recall,” said the Lady Bina, addressing herself to Lucilius, “you wished to meet sweet Grendel, ax to ax.”
“Very much so,” said Lucilius.
“Even without bowmen?” she asked.
“Surely, splendid lady,” said Lucilius.
Eve was trembling in the background.
“But I suggest,” said Lucilius, “if we are to do without bowmen, you might ask that fellow to lower his bow.”
Kurik, of Victoria, lowered his bow.
“And remove the quarrel from the guide,” said Lucilius.
Kurik turned his head, slightly, toward Lord Grendel.
“Do so,” said Lord Grendel.
Kurik then removed the quarrel from the guide.
“Now, if you will, dear lady,” said Lucilius to the Lady Bina, “count to three, slowly, and then we shall engage.”
“Very well,” said the Lady Bina. “—One.”
Lucilius roared with rage and leapt at Lord Grendel, with a mighty stroke of the great ax, but Lord Grendel crouched down and, lifting his own ax, gripped in two hands, or paws, struck upward, bringing the blade of his own ax into play, against the higher end of the shaft of the descending ax, and the head of the shaft, splintered, shattered, spun aside, to the dirt, and Lord Grendel, with the butt of his own ax, struck Lucilius, then unarmed, a heavy blow, against the side of the head, and Lucilius fell to the ground, dazed, hardly aware, I suspect, that Lord Grendel, with his foot, had turned him to his stomach, before him.
“Two,” said the Lady Bina.
Lord Grendel then placed his foot on Lucilius’ back, his ax lifted, pressing him to the ground.
“Three,” said the Lady Bina.
“Mercy, mercy!” said Lucilius.
Lord Grendel then removed his foot from Lucilius’ back, and stepped back.
Lucilius did not dare to move.
“One blow,” said Lord Grendel, “will take the right foot, a second blow the left foot, a third the right hand, a fourth the
left hand.”
“No,” said Lucilius. “Do not! Do not!”
“If you thrust the bleeding stumps, as you can, into the dirt,” said the Lady Bina, “that will slow the loss of blood, and you may live a little longer, to consider matters.”
“Have mercy!” begged Lucilius.
Lord Grendel stepped back, lowering the ax.
“Another wants your blood,” said Lord Grendel, “not I. Indeed, I do not care to stain my ax with your blood, lest the blade be dishonored.”
Lucilius, prone, prostrate, did not move.
“May I go?” he asked.
“But without harnessing,” said Lord Grendel.
“No!” said Lucilius.
Lord Grendel, then, with a grasping paw, or hand, pulling against the leather, lifting it, employing the blade of his ax, cut away the harnessing of Lucilius.
“And now,” said Lord Grendel, “you may hasten, as you are, to Decius Albus and inform him of how your cohorts deserted you and how, despite your vigor and bravery, you were overcome by overwhelming numbers.”
Lucilius, trembling with fear or rage, or both, lay in the dirt, at Lord Grendel’s feet.
“Go,” said Lord Grendel.
Lucilius scrambled up, and on feet and knuckles, fled away, into the darkness.
Eve hurried to Lord Grendel. I observed them embrace.
A bit later, Kurik and Drusus Andronicus approached the slave pool. Kurik carried the key to the locks and Drusus Andronicus held a pair of blankets. We kept our heads down, hearing the movement of the keys in the locks, and the rattle of chain. When the gate was opened, we exited the pool and knelt before our masters, our heads down. How helpless we had been, put to the side, while the free had conducted their business.
Each of us was given a blanket, which we accepted gladly.
I saw Paula cast me a sharp, meaningful look.
“Master,” I begged, “may I speak?”
“Yes,” he said.
The blanket partly about me, I went to the first obeisance position, kneeling, head to the ground, the palms of my hands at the sides of my head.
“When in the pool,” I said, “I thought you and the others had fled, abandoning the Lady Bina. I thought ill of you. I thought you were cowards.”
“That is natural that you should think that,” he said. “What else would one such as you, from Earth, with its ethos of selfishness and gain, with its smug contempt of honor, have thought?”
“Paula did not think it,” I said.
“Paula,” he said, “went for a golden tarsk.”
“I am sorry, Master,” I said. “Forgive me. I await my punishment.”
“No punishment,” he said. “Dismiss the matter from your mind. Besides, not all Goreans are brave, or honorable. And sometimes a man may be brave, and at another time not brave; sometimes a man may be honorable, and at another time not honorable. And how could one know about such things?”
“I thought badly of my master,” I said. “I am not worthy of my collar.”
“That is for me to decide,” he said. “In any event, worthy or not, you are in it.”
It was surprisingly warm under the blanket.
“I suspected as much, of course, that you would doubt,” he said. “The inference is persuasive. You should have told me, of course, as you did. That was proper.”
I glanced at Paula, who smiled approvingly. I wanted her to know that I had openly confessed my doubts to my master. There are, I recalled, to be no secrets between a master and his slave. I felt gratitude, and relief. Then I recalled the wrong I had done to Paula, how I had attempted to steal the affections of Drusus Andronicus, not because I wanted him, but because, in my vanity, I had been jealous of her. I had been punished for that. Even now, when I thought of it, I could feel the fire of the whip.
“Hurry, fellows,” called the Lady Bina. “We must remove the emblem of Mintar from the wagon, take down the banner, change the canvas to brown, harness the tharlarion, be on our way.”
“A free woman speaks,” said Drusus Andronicus.
“They often do,” said Kurik, my master.
I now understood the contents of the one sack, large, and seemingly filled with cloth, which had puzzled me earlier. With so small a change as the canvasing, our wagon, so conspicuous before, would become only another vehicle on the Viktel Aria.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Paula and I sat in the back of the wagon, on a blanket, naked, amongst the boxes, shackled, hand and foot.
We spoke softly, that we not disturb the masters, Drusus Andronicus and Kurik, of Victoria, who rode together on the wagon bench, Drusus Andronicus handling the reins. We felt comfortable, and meaningful, in our chains. We felt, and were, deliciously helpless, and wholly owned. How ancient and deep was our understanding of our sexuality, and how jejune and shallow then seemed to us the engineered distortions and strained falsities of our former world, distortions and falsities dictated by political agendas subservient to one tyranny or another. Why, I wondered, can one not be left alone, to learn oneself and find oneself? Is that so terrible, to be what one is? Some profit, I supposed, from laws that would make nature illegal. Is that not to the advantage of those who fear nature, who regard it as threatening their ambitions? But why should the goals of one be imposed as demands on others? Why is prescription superior to need and desire? If one desires to submit, to kneel, to serve, and love, why should one not do so? Who is to tell us that our blood is mistaken? How empty and ugly is a road to power that would deny one to oneself!
“I feared Lord Grendel and Eve,” said Paula, “but I wish them well.”
They had left us, left, too, with the Lady Bina. Apparently they would return to Ar. Few Kurii would dare to roam the streets of Ar at will, and more, I was sure, would fear the ax of Lord Grendel. I did not think they were muchly unsafe. There seemed to be, on their part, on the part of Lord Grendel and Eve, two main motivations for their return to Ar. First, they wished to please the Lady Bina, who was fond of the sights and sounds of Ar, and, second, they wished to provide Lord Arcesilaus, the lord of some metal world, with an eye and an ear, an agent and an informant, in Ar.
One might note, at this point, in passing, that the Lady Bina seemed to regard herself as responsible for Lord Grendel and Eve, that they were somehow her charges, and that she must look after them, while, on the other hand, it seemed, contrariwise, that Lord Grendel, and Eve, were muchly concerned about her, and hoped to look after her, and protect her.
We continued on.
I was pleased that we had the cushioning of the blanket, little as it was.
“At least,” I said, “we are not chained behind the wagon.”
“And the wagon is closed,” said Paula. “No one would know it contains two kajirae.”
“Who would have thought,” I said, “that we, once two women of Earth, our former world, would one day have found ourselves naked and collared, on a far world, shackled, owned by men?”
“I am pleased to be a commodity, a property, an owned beast,” said Paula.
“I, too,” I said. How free, simple, natural, rightful, and fulfilling I found my lot.
Paula moved her wrists and ankles a little, moving the shackles.
I stirred, too, relishing my helplessness. How I delighted in the small sounds of the metal, the rustle of an obdurate linkage. How wonderful felt the weight on my limbs. I supposed few women of my former world realized how reassuring it can be to be chained, how secure one can feel, say, lying in a slave cage, owned.
“We are well chained,” I said.
“When a woman is chained,” said Paula, “she knows she is desired.”
“Why do the men of Earth not put collars and chains on their women?” I asked.
“Perhaps some do,” she said.
“Perhaps,” I said, “they do not
desire them enough to do so, desire them enough to claim and own them, do not want them so much, so fiercely, so uncompromisingly, that they will make them their slaves.”
“When one truly desires an object,” said Paula, “it is natural that one wishes to own it, to protect it, and keep it.”
“I wonder why women respond so, in the collar,” I said.
“Because,” said Paula, “they know they belong in it.”
“What of Lucilius?” I wondered.
“I would suppose he has returned to the keeping of Decius Albus,” said Paula.
Of what use, now, I wondered, could Lucilius be to the intentions and plans of the trade advisor?
“The Lady Alexina,” I said, “was seized by Tyrtaios, the Assassin.”
“No,” said Paula, “the slave, Alexina, was seized by Tyrtaios, the Assassin.”
“What of her?” I wondered.
“I did not much care for her,” said Paula. “Let her kneel to an Assassin, covering his feet with tears and kisses, hoping not to be beaten.”
I sat back, leaning against the side of the wagon bed. I wondered of Gor, the Priest-Kings, and Kurii, the slave routes, the affairs in Ar. I hoped the best for Lord Grendel, his consort, Eve, and the troublesome, wayward, outspoken, opinionated Lady Bina, their mistress, or ward. What of Surtak, and Lyris, and those Kurii who had followed him? What of Lord Agamemnon, so mysteriously absent? What could they mean, that he might be searching for, seeking, or intent upon obtaining a body, or such? What could that mean? Surely it was unintelligible.
After a time, we had been on the road for six days. At nights we had stopped at one camp or caravanserai or another. Sometimes we made our own camp, off the road. Occasionally, when the masters stopped at an inn, they resided within, and we were chained in kennels, in the inn yard. Slave biscuits and slave gruel were furnished, as part of our board. In these days and evenings, frequently, when we were not kenneled, we pleased our masters, in the many ways of a Gorean slave girl.
At one of the caravanserais, returning from the cluster of slaves about one of the wells, I hurried to Paula. “I have heard,” I said, “that the muchly sought, fugitive Ubara, Talena, has been apprehended!”
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