Norman, John - Gor 23 - Renegades of Gor.txt

Norman, John - Gor 23 - Renegades of Gor.txt Page 49

by Renegades of Gor [lit]

  “No,” said Aemilianus.

  (pg.382) “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, (pg.383) 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 certain 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.”

  (pg.384) “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 justice—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.”

  (pg. 385) “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 (pg.386) 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?”

  (pg. 387) “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, “—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.”

  (pg.388) “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

  bot
h look quite lovely in the garments of slaves, if they were permitted

  clothing.

  “And then,” said Aemilianus, “if you would, as one of these females was prepared

  to surrender herself to Cosians, and the other served Cosians, in betraying her

  city, see that they come into the keeping of Cosians.”

  “That will be easy to arrange,” said Calliodorus. “There are many Cosians,

  envoys and such, in Port Cos.

  The girls exchanged glances. Their fates were being decided by men, but I did

  not think unjustly.

  “Do you have on board facilities for slaves?” inquired Aemilianus.

  “Below deck,” said Calliodorus, “we have some slave cages.”

  “Excellent,” said Aemilianus. Then he addressed the slaves. “You may perform

  obeisance before masters,” he said.

  Both the girls then bent forward and, putting the palms of their hands on the

  deck, lowered their heads to the boards.

  Aemilianus then nodded to Calliodorus. It was a small gesture. It indicated that

  he, at least at that time, had no further interest in the two women.

  “Take then below decks,” said Calliodorus to one of his men. “Cage them.”

  The fellow, standing behind and rather between the two girls took them each by

  an arm, Claudia by her right arm, and Publia by her left, and pulled them to

  their feet. Then, turning them and thrusting them forward, without relinquishing

  (pg.389) his hold on their arms, he conducted them ahead of him, toward a hatch.

  “The cages,” apologized Calliodorus, “are individual cages, and rather tiny.

  They are, in effect, punishment cages.”

  “No matter,” said Aemilianus.

  “But, of course,” said Calliodorus, “it is probably best for them to begin to

  learn quickly that they are slaves.”

  “Certainly,” said Aemilianus.

  “Doubtless in the morning they will be willing and eager to leave the cages,

  under any conditions,” said Calliodorus.

  “Excellent,” smiled Aemilianus.

  “I would recommend, however,” said Calliodorus, “that the one called Publia be

  taken from the cage for a time this evening, to be given a good hiding at the

  mast.”

  “Of course,” said Aemilianus.

 

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