Magicians of Gor

by Norman, John;

  "No," said Talena, "not her."

  A guardsman, on the surface of the platform, before the dais, draped the robe of the penitent about the shoulders of the woman before Talena. He did this deferentially. She was shuddering. Another guardsman quickly ushered her to the rear and down the large ramp at the rear of the platform. She would now return home.

  "No, Talena!" called a fellow from the crowd, a few feet away.

  Talena regally turned her head in his direction.

  "Be silent," said a man to he who had called out.

  "Hail Talena!" called a man from the vicinity of the fellow who had called out before.

  "Glory to Talena!" called another.

  "Glory to Talena!" cried others.

  She then returned her attention to her duties on the platform.

  "How merciful is Talena," said a fellow.

  "Yes," said another.

  At a gesture from one of the guardsmen on the platform another woman in a white robe came forward, leaving the long line behind her, one extending across the platform to the small ramp on the other side, down the ramp, across the far side of the Plaza of Tarns, and thence down Gate Street, where I could not see its end.

  "Lady Tuta Thassolonia," read a scribe.

  Lady Tuta then, unaided, removed her robe and stood before her Ubara. Then she knelt before her.

  Men gasped.

  She knelt back on her heels, her knees spread, her back straight, her head up, the palms of her hands on her thighs.

  "It seems you are a slave," said Talena.

  "I have always been a slave, Mistress," said Lady Tuta.

  Talena turned to one of her counselors, and they conferred.

  "Are you a legal slave, my child?" asked one of the counselors, a scribe of the law.

  "No, Master," said the woman.

  "You are then a legally free female?" asked the scribe.

  "Yes, Master," she said.

  "It is then sufficient," said the scribe to Talena.

  "You are chosen," said Talena, graciously.

  "Thank you, Mistress!" said the woman.

  Cheers commended the decision of the Ubara.

  Another of Talena's aides, or counselors, one in the garb of Cos, then spoke to Talena, shielding his mouth with his hand.

  Talena nodded, and he then addressed himself to the kneeling woman.

  "Rise up," said he, in a kindly fashion, "and do not address us as Master and Mistress."

  She rose up.

  "Do you wish, as a free female, before you join your sisters to our right, to say anything?"

  "Hail Talena!" she cried. "Glory to Talena!"

  This cry was taken up by hundreds about. Then she was conducted to the side, to be manacled.

  "It will be a lucky fellow who will get her," said a man.

  "She is already a slave," said another.

  "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 guardsman 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.

  "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 then put the next woman on the chain, and she, too, was ordered to her feet, and moved to the next position.

  "Not her," said Talena to another woman, revealed before her.

  This other woman was then again granted the modest shielding of the penitent’s garment, which she clutched closely, desperately, about her, and was conducted courteously to the rear of the platform, from whence she was permitted to leave.

  "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 guardsman then put her down.

  "Strip her," said Talena.

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

  "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, am 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 owe 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 down her head.

  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 surprise, 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 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 iniquities?" 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.

  "The cut of the whip is excellent for waking them up," said a man.

  I added her to the chain with a joining ring.

  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.

  It is what they are. It is in their blood. No woman is truly fulfilled until she kneels before her master.

  "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'.

  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 head, 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 ch
eekbones.

  She then, gracefully, slipped the robe of the penitent back from her shoulders, letting it drop behind her.

  "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 that 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!"