by John Norman
"You have been found guilty of treason against your city, and are under sentence of impalement, " said Aemilianus. "Do you gainsay either of these assertions?" "No," she said.
Aemilianus turned to Marsias, who lay nearby, wounded, reclining on one elbow, on a pallet. "Marsais," said he, "have you the strength to carry out the sentence?"
The man nodded.
"Do you, Lady Claudia," asked Aemilianus, "regret your treason?" "Keenly," she said.
"For you were apprehended," he said.
"Yes," she said. "But it goes much beyond such simplicities."
"Speak," he said.
"I have learned," she said, "in the cell, and in the arms of a man, what I am, truly. I forsook the softness and the reality of my being for ambition and cruelty. I had not understood earlier what it was to be a woman, or the joys, and meaning, of service and love. I sought power when I, rightfully, should have been subject to it, reveling in helplessness, submission and love. I did great wrong in seeking, one such as I, to interfere in the destiny of states, which is not my province. I have brought pain to myself and others. I am pleased only that my acts, as far as I know, had no consequences seriously deleterious to my city or her citizens."
"You accept the justice of your impalement?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, "as I am a free woman. But I think it would be more appropriate if I were fed to sleen."
"Such things are for slaves, he said.
"Yes, Commander," she said. "Look over there," he said, indicating the former Lady Publia, chained and prone. "That is a slave," he said.
"Yes," said Lady Claudia.
"Are you like her?" he asked, scornfully.
"Yes," she said.
The former Lady Publia, so helpless, looked at her, gratefully, with tears in her eyes.
"No, you are not," said Aemilianus, "for you are free."
"But I envy her," said Lady Claudia. "She is at least free to be what she is, and wholly, but I am not."
The slave, frightened, moved a little in her chains. The links made a tiny sound on the deck, near her ankles. Looking about, I saw that more than one man would have been interested in having her.
"Has a suitable spear been prepared?" asked Aemilianus.
"I have seen to it," said Marsias.
"Let her garments be removed," said Aemilianus.
It took but a moment to pull the rags back, and down, from her body. It would take another moment or so to remove them completely, for them to be cut or torn from her, as they were now held on her by the chaining of the sirik, that of her wrists. Men's eyes glistened. I heard soft whistles, the intakings of breath, small, almost inadvertent gasps, and other tributes, somewhat more vulgar, things such as small clicks and the smackings of lips, to her beauty, noises which would generally be expected to great the revelation of he beauty of a slave, rather than a free woman. She blushed, and yet was proud. I am sure, of her beauty. She did have superb slave curves. I did not doubt that what she would bring a good price in a slave market. Her entire body gloriously made clear a luscious hormonal richness and an exquisite femininity. She was a beautiful woman. The rags then had been cut from her and thrown to the side. She knelt then before us, beautifully. Many men, including myself, struck our left shoulders in applause.
There was little doubt that Aemilianus himself was impressed with her.
I think that any man might have been impressed with her, whether he found her a free prisoner on the deck of the Tais or in some slave market, chained on a bench, awaiting a buyer. "You could have been a bred slave," he said.
"In a sense I am a bred slave," she said, "for I am a woman."
"The spear is ready," said a man.
"Let her chains be removed," said Aemilianus, "and her hands tied behind her. Use a belly thong."
With the belly thong, presumably her hands would be tied closely, tightly, at the small of her back. This is an excellent, general tie. It is seldom, however, if ever, used in impalements. Apparently Aemilianus had call for the tie, in this context, as an act of mercy. He did not want her to be able to get her fingers on the spear which, in their futility and helplessness, might delay, or deepen or prolong the agony of impalement.
"May I speak?" I inquired.
One fellow, with a thong, and the key to the Lady Claudia's locks had already stepped forward. When I spoke, he halted, and stepped back. I assumed he would remove the Lady Claudia's wrist rings first, then affix the belly thong on her, fastening her hands behind her back, tightly, and then, and then only, remove the ankle rings and the collar, the remainder of the sirik. Such, at any rate, would have been a common Gorean manner of proceeding.
"Of course," said Aemilianus.
"In the cell, yesterday morning," I said, it seemed a long time ago now, "I gathered that my fate was not to be inextricably linked to that of Lady Claudia, that you had perhaps not convinced yourself, and quite properly, of my guilt in the matter of espionage."
"true," said Aemilianus. "I was not sure of you, what you were, or why you did what you did. There are still many things I do not understand, for example, about the military actions, and inactions, of the past months."
"Much would become clear," I said, "if you were willing to entertain the possibility of treason in Ar, treason in high places, treason of profound character and enormous scope."
"Only days ago," said Aemilianus, "that would have seemed unthinkable." "But it is not so unthinkable now?" I asked.
"No," said Aemilianus. "Clearly Ar's Station was abandoned, and presumably therewith the Vosk, and its basin, surrendered to Cos."
"My general sympathies," said Calliodorus, "as will be understood, are with Cos in these matters. Certainly I have no love for Ar. But if Cos thinks to hold sway upon the river I think, then, she has not reckoned with Port Cos, nor with the river towns themselves. We on the river will welcome neither the septered emissaries of Lurius of Jad nor Marlenus of Ar. Too, in the Vosk League, to which Port Cos is party, we have the nucleus of a vehicle for our alliance, a vehicle for common action if not common governance."
"Ar looks not with favor upon the Vosk League," said Aemilianus. "She sees in it the possibility of another Salerian Confederation."
"She did not admit Ar's Station to join the league," said Calliodorus. "It was thought by many in Ar, seemingly Marlenus among them," said Aemilianus, "that entry into the League would appear to accept the principle that Ar was but one power among others on the river, and not the sole mistress of the waterway, as she would be. Cos may have acted more judiciously in the matter, thinking that Port Cos might dominate the league, and that she, in turn, might exercise her own control over it, and that she, in turn, might exercise her own control over it, through the might of Port Cos."
"If such were her intent, and I do not doubt it," said Calliodorus, "she misjudged the interests, the pride and temper of Port Cos. Though we have close ties, historical, cultural and political, with Cos, we are, unlike Ar's Station, a sovereign polity in our own right. We are in all ways institutionally and legally autonomous."
"Yes?" said Aemilianus, returning his attention to me.
"It had not pleased me," I said, "that this woman," and here I indicated the Lady Claudia by placing my foot against her, and thrusting her forward, so that she fell to all fours in he chains on the deck, "was to be impaled." "It was the justice of Ar's Station," said Aemilianus.
"look upon her," I said. "Does not impalement in this case seem a waste of slut?"
Lady Claudia, a free woman, gasped, so spoken of. Yes, too, she shuddered with pleasure in her chains, realizing that she had been found worthy by a man to have so familiar, vulgar, and exciting an expression, and doubtlessly appropriately, applied to her.
"The question," said Aemilianus, "is not so much the suitability of the female for "helpless-slut' status as one of justice."
"I determined then in the cell," I said, "to take action, not merely, of course, for her sake, but for mine as well, as I could not know for c
ertain what you would eventually decide in my case, nor could I count on being released from a burning citadel by Cosians. After all, they might not take more interest in their enemies' criminals, and such, than in their enemies themselves. Also, Lady Claudia was to be well fed that morning, and so this put sustenance in my way, of which I took advantage. Indeed, I perhaps ate better than any in Ar's Station that morning.
"Your action on behalf of Lady Claudia," he said, "was very nearly successful. Had it not been for the timely arrival of our friend Calliodorus, and certain mysterious others, she might now be in the chains of Cosians rather than in those of Ar's Station. But, as it turned out, Calliodorus, and others, did arrive, and she did not escape. We are prepared to overlook your attempt to abet her escape, serious though this is, in view of your action on the wall, and elsewhere."
"My position on the matter, however," I said, "has not changed." Lady Claudia rose to her knees, and turned, to face me, wildly. The former Lady Publia, the nameless, chained slave lying on her belly, on the deck, turned her head to look at me. Aemilianus' s slave, Shirley, too, regarded me, her eyes wide, frightened. Men stepped back a little, uneasily. More than one loosened the blade in his sheath.
"Do you approve of treason?" asked Aemilianus.
"Not generally," I said.
"Perhaps you approve of it, however," he asked, "in this specific case, in the case of the Lady Claudia?"
"Not at all," I said.
"Surely a polity, even if it be one of pirates, if it is to survive, if it is to protect itself, must establish some forms of justice and law within its own precincts?"
"One would suppose so," I said.
"Even if it is of the rack and spear." "I would suppose so," I said.
"By what title then would you presume to interfere, by that of the sword?" "Please, noble sir," wept the Lady Claudia. "Risk nothing for me, a traitress! You have too much imperiled yourself already on my behalf, so unworthy an object!"
"Were you given permission to speak?" I asked her.
She was silent, startled. She was, after all, a free woman.
"I have no intention of imperiling myself on your behalf," I informed her. She did not speak, confused.
"She looks well in slave chains, does she not?" I asked Aemilianus. "Yes," he said. She was a dream in such chains, and their meaning. It lacked only that she should wear them truly, as a slave."
"The men of Ar's Station," I said, "I would suppose, have no particular interest, personally, in impaling this female."
Several of the men laughed.
"On the high spear of public, legal impalement, of course," I added. There was more laughter.
The Lady Claudia shuddered, understanding what it might be to be at the mercy of men.
I turned to Aemilianus. "What do those of Ar's Station value most highly," I asked, "their justicea€”or their honor?"
Several of the men cried out, angrily. Lest some not understand their fury, let it be said, simply, that they were Goreans. Several hands grasped the hilts of swords.
"Their honor," said Aemilianus, quietly.
"I am not of Ar's Station," I said, "and I have little love for her. Indeed, I do not see why I should, as I was not well treated within her walls. But yet I have served her, and perhaps well. Is that not so?"
"It is so," said Aemilianus. "Indeed, had you not held the wall as long as you did, and the gate, and had you not aided in the evacuation of the landing, and had you not, with others, held the walkway until it could be destroyed behind you, I think there would be few of us here now who would be alive today." "Then perhaps you will not think the less of me if I ask a boon," I said.
"You will not assure us it was nothing?" smiled Aemilianus.
"Was it nothing?" I asked.
"No," he smiled. "It was not nothing."
"I ask a boon then," I said.
"I am surprised that you would do so," he said.
"Think of me then as a mercenary," I said, "and I am speaking of my pay." "We did not contract for your services," he said.
"I know," I said. "This is a matter of honor."
"Speak," I said.
"I ask the commutation of the sentence of impalement in the case of the Lady Claudia of Ar's Station."
"You do not ask for her freedom?" he asked.
"Of course not," I said. "She is guilty."
"You have no objection then," he said, "in view of her guilt, if a terrible and grievous penalty is inflicted upon her?"
"Of course no," I said.
"Even a fate "worse than death'?" he smiled.
"Who speaks of it so?" I asked.
"Do not some free women speak of it so?" he asked.
"And are not those the very women who first bare their breasts to conquerors and beg the privilege of licking their feet?"
"Perhaps, upon occasion," said Aemilianus.
"If it were truly a fate worse then death," I said, "or even so unfortunate a lot, it seems it would be very hard to understand their happiness, their emotional fulfillments, their ecstasies, their willingness to die for their masters."
"Perhaps then," he said, "for all its demands and duties, it is not truly a fate worse then death."
"Perhaps not," I said, "else, after a time, they would not love it so." "Perhaps those who would foolishly call it so do so only in their attempts to dissuade themselves from their desperate fascination with it, and longing for it."
"Perhaps," I said.
"At any rate," he smiled, "let them not make pronouncements on such matters until they have had some experience of that of which they speak, until they have had for a time, so to speak, the collar on their own necks." "Yet," I said, "slavery is a most serious matter."
"It is," he granted.
Gorean slavery is categorical and absolute. The slave is a property, an animal. She is incapable of doing anything to alter, change or affect her status. She is owned by the master, and owes him all. She can be bought and sold. She must serve with perfection.
Aemilianus looked at the Lady Claudia. "Do you understand the nature of our discourse, of that of which we speak?"
"Yes," she said.
"Good," he said.
She looked at him.
"Claudia, Lady of Ar's Station, free woman," he said, sternly.
She, kneeling before him, regarded him.
"Put your head to the deck," he said.
Men gasped, to see a free woman perform this act. More than one, I am sure, wanted to seize her.
"Lift your head," said Aemilianus.
She did so.
"You have been found guilty of treason," he said, "and sentenced to impalement. By the power that was vested in me I did this. By the same power, I now rescind the sentence of impalement."
"Commander!" she cried, tears in her eyes.
"Do you expect to escape punishment?" he asked.
She put down her head, shuddering.
"Do you know the sort of chains you wear?" he asked.
"Slave chains," she said.
"They look well on you," he said.
She did not speak.
Then, suddenly, in a moment, as of panic, seemingly unable to help herself, she tried the chains, those on her wrists, trying to slip them from her wrists, then jerking them, but they held her well.
"You understand clearly, do you not," he asked, "what in now propose to do?" "Yes," she said, frightened.
"It is my intention," he said, "to sentence you to slavery. Do you understand this, and what it means?"
"I think so," she said, "a€”as far as any free woman can."
"Do you have anything to say before I pass such sentence upon you?" "No," she said.
"I sentence you to slavery," he said, uttering the sentence.
She trembled, sentenced.
"It only remains now," said Aemilianus, "for the sentence to be carried out. If you wish I, in the office of magistrate, shall carry it out. On the other hand, if you wish, you may yourself carry out the sentence."
"I?" she said.
"Yes," he said.
"You would have me proclaim myself slave?" she asked.
"Or I shall do it," he said. "In the end, it does not matter."
"In my heart," she said, "I am, and have been for years, a slave. It is fitting then, I suppose, that it should be I who say the words."
Aemilianus regarded her.
"I am a slave," she said.
Men cried out with pleasure and smote their left shoulders in Gorean applause, gazing on the new slave, looking about herself, frightened, kneeling chained before Aemilianus.
"Bring the other salve here, too," said Aemilianus, gesturing to the former Lady Publia.
In a moment the two slaves, naked, and in their siriks, were before him. Men adjusted the positions of the slaves, rudely, so that they knelt well, back on their heels, their backs straight, their knees spread."
"Calliodorus, my friend," said Aemilianus, "behold two slaves." "I behold them," said Calliodorus.
"Do you find them pleasing?" asked Aemilianus.
"Yes," said Calliodorus. "Both were obviously born for the collar." "This one," said Aemilianus, indicating the former Lady Publia, "at least for the time, we will call Publia." "Who are you?" asked Calliodorus of the former Lady Publia. "Publia!" she said.
"And this one," continued Aemilianus, indicating the former Lady Claudia, "at least for the time, we will call Claudia."
"Your name?" asked Calliodorus of the former Lady Claudia.
"'Claudia'!" she said, quickly.
"It is my request, if it is not too much trouble," said Aemilianus to Calliodorus, "that both of these slaves be taken to Port Cos, and there properly branded and collared."
I smiled. It did not seem likely that in the future there would be any doubts about Publia's status, nor, indeed, that of Claudia either. I though they would both look quite lovely in the garments of slaves, if they were permitted clothing.