Norman, John - Gor 19 - Kajira of Gor.txt

by Kajira of Gor [lit]

  from my presence. How pleased I was, too, to see the awesome strength of men

  serving my purposes.

  I lay on my back, on the great couch, in the hot Corcyrus night.

  Some things I did not understand. Even Susan, who knew much more of Gor than I,

  did not understand them.

  In my audiences, and public appearances, for example, and even in the court, I

  appeared without the veils common to tile Gorean free woman. I knew the veils,

  and Susan had instructed me in their meanings, arrangements and fastenings, but,

  publicly, at least, I seldom wore them. This omission seemed puzzling to me,

  from what I had learned of Gor, particularly in the case of a free woman of so

  lofty a station as a Tatrix, but I saw no real reason for objecting,

  particularly in the warm weather of Corcyrus. Indeed, Susan’s being so

  scandalized, and her reservations about sending me forth unveiled from my

  quarters, she once of Cincinnati, Ohio, seemed to me exquisitely amusing. I did

  try to explain the matter to her, as Ligurious had explained it to me, when I

  had asked him about it. The important difference between myself and other free

  women, of high station, was precisely that, that I was a Tatrix and they were

  not. A Tatrix, Ligurious had informed me, has no secrets from her people. It is

  good for the people of a Tatrix to be able to look lovingly and reverently upon

  her. “Yes, Mistress,” had said Susan, her head down. I had wondered if Ligurious

  was being candid with me. At any rate, there was little doubt that the features

  of their Tatrix had now become well known in Corcyrus, at least to many of her

  citizens. Indeed, only this morning I, unveiled, in a large, open, silken

  palanquin, borne by slaves, Ligurious at my side, had been carried through the

  streets of Corcyrus, behind trumpets and drums, flanked by guards, through

  cheering crowds. “Your people love you,” had said Ligurious. I had lifted my

  hand to the crowds, and bowed and smiled. I had done these things with

  graciousness and dignity, as I had been instructed to do by Ligurious. It had

  been a thrilling experience for me, seeing the people, the shops, the streets,

  the buildings. It was the first time I had been outside the grounds of the

  palace. The streets were clean and beautiful. The smelt of flowers was in the

  air. Petals had been strewn by veiled maidens before the path of the palanquin.

  “It is good for you to appear before the people,” bad said Ligurious, “given the

  trouble with Argentum.”

  “What is the trouble with Argentum?” I had asked.

  “Skirmishes have taken place near there,” be said. “Look,” he said, pointing,

  “there is the library of Antisthenes.”

  “It is beautiful,” I said, observing the shaded porticoes, the slim, lofty

  pillars, the graceful pediment with its friezes.

  “What is the problem with Argentum?” I asked.

  “This is the avenue of Iphicrates,” I was informed.

  The people at the sides of the street did not seem surprised that my features

  were not concealed by a veil. Perhaps it was traditional, I gathered, as I had

  been informed by Ligurious, that this was the fashion in which the Tatrix

  appeared before her people. At any rate, whatever might have been the reason,

  the people, reassuringly, from my point of view, seemed neither scandalized nor

  surprised by my lack of a veil. If anything, they might have been saluting me,

  as though for my courage.

  At one point the retinue passed five kneeling girls. They were barefoot and wore

  brief, sleeveless, one-piece tunics

  Their heads were down to the very pavement itself. They wore close-fitting

  -metal collars and were chained together, literally, by the neck. I gasped. “Do

  not n-find such women,” said Ligurious. “They are nothing. They are only

  slaves.” I was shaken by this sight. My heart was pounding rapidly. I could

  scarcely breathe. It was not outrage which I felt, interestingly, nor pity. It

  was something else. It was a state of unusual sexual excitement, and arousal.

  “Smile,” suggested Ligurious, himself lifting his hand graciously to the crowd.

  “Wave.”

  I controlled myself, and then, again, favored the crowd with my attentions, with

  my smiles and countenance.

  At one time, later, we passed by a set of low, broad, recessed-from-the-street,

  cement steps or shelves. Behind these levels, these shelves or steps, there was

  a high cement wall.

  There were several women, perhaps ten or eleven, on these steps or shelves. Most

  were white but there were at least two blacks and, I think, one oriental. Each

  was naked, absolutely.

  Too, chains ran from heavy rings to their bodies, to perhaps a lovely neck, or a

  fair wrist or ankle. They were fastened in place, literally, on the cement

  shelves. As the retinue passed, they oriented themselves to the street and

  knelt, their h ads down to the warm cement. There were more rings than there

  were women on the shelves, and there were rings, too, set at various heights, in

  the wall behind the shelves. These rings, too, however, like many of the shelf

  rings, were not being used. There was ail apparatus at one side, like a canopy

  wrapped about poles, but it, too, was not now in use.

  I looked at the women, naked, kneeling, their heads down, chained on the

  shelves.

  “More slaves,” explained Ligurious.

  Again I fought for breath. I clutched the side of the palanquin to steady

  myself.

  “What is wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Nothing.”

  “It was only an open-air market,” he said, “a small one.

  There are several such in Corcyrus.”

  “A market!” I said.

  “Yes,” He said.

  “But what is bought and sold there?” I asked. I recalled the naked, chained’

  beauties.

  “Women,” he said.

  “Women!” I said.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “I see,” I said. How matter-of-factly he had put thatl Such markets, clearly,

  like other sorts of markets, were a common feature of Gorean life.

  “Bow, and wave,” he suggested.

  Again I lifted my hand to the crowds. Again I smiled forth from the palanquin.

  But I began to tremble. I had seen owned, displayed human females, women who

  were merchandise, women who were literally up for sale.

  “Put them from your mind,” said Ligurious. “They are nothing, only slaves.”

  How terrifying, how horrifying, I thought, to be such a woman, one at the mercy

  of anyone who has the means to buy her. What a horrifying and categorical thing

  it would be, I thought, to be subject to sale.

  “Hail Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrus!” I heard.

  “The people love you,” said Ligurious.

  On this world, I said to myself, a woman could be literally owned by a man. She

  could be as much his, literally, as a shoe or a dog. I fought the feelings

  within me. I strove’ against them. I tried to force the memory of the
women

  chained on the shelves from my mind. I could not do so. I moaned. Then I could

  no longer deny to myself that I was aroused sexually, helplessly and terribly.

  The crowds, from time to time, surged closer to the palanquin. The guards,

  flanking the palanquin on both sides, pressed them back with the sides of

  spears. Among these guards, though he did not have a spear, was Drusus Rencius.

  He had been assigned to me, some weeks ago, as my personal guard. Behind the

  retinue, following it, came soldiers. Some of these had canvas sacks slung about

  their shoulders. From these sacks, from time to time, they would fling coins,

  and bits of coins, to the street. This was, I thought, a nice gesture. The

  people would scramble for these coins. It seemed they found them very precious.

  I continued to smile and wave to the crowd. From time to time, too, I stole a

  glance at Drusus Rencius. He, however, walking beside the palanquin, had eyes

  only for the crowd. Outside, perhaps, I seemed charming and benign. Inside,

  however, almost uncontrollable emotions raged within me. On what sort of world

  was this that I found myself I I had not known a woman could be so aroused!

  Again I looked at Drusus Rencius, and the others, guardsmen of Corcyrus. I

  wondered what it would be like to be owned by a man such as one of those. The

  thought almost made me faint with passion. I had no doubt they well knew bow to

  teach a woman her slavery. I would be kept by them by the lash, if necessary.

  “Is anything amiss, my Tatrix?” inquired Ligurious.

  “No,” I said. “No!”

  Then I continued, again, to smile and bow, to nod and wave to the crowd.

  I hoped that my condition was not evident to the stern, practical Ligurious,

  first minister of Corcyrus.

  His maleness, and Goreanness, too, of course, were felt keenly by me.

  At his least word I would have stripped myself in the silken palanquin and

  presented myself publicly to him for his pleasures.

  Soon the procession began to wend its way back to the palace. One incident,

  perhaps worthy of note, occurred. A man rushed forth, angrily, from the crowd,

  to the very side of the palanquin. Drusus Rencius caught him there and flung him

  back. I screamed, startled. In a moment, the retinue stopped, the man was held

  by the arms, on his knees, at the side of the palanquin.

  Swords were held at the man’s neck. “He is unarmed,” said Drusus Rencius.

  “Down with Sheila, not Tatrix but Tyranness of Corcyrus!” cried the man, looking

  angrily upward.

  “Silence!” said Ligurious.

  “You shall pay for your crimes and cruelties!” cried the man. “Not forever will

  the citizens of Corcyrus brook the outrages of the palace!”

  “Treason!” cried Ligurious.

  The man was struck at the side of the head by the butt of a spear. I cried out,

  in misery.

  “This man is a babbling lunatic,” said Ligurious to me.

  “Pay him no attention, my Tatrix.”

  The fellow, his head bloody, sagged, half unconscious, in the grip of the

  soldiers.

  “Bind him,” said Ligurious. The man’s arms were wrestled behind his back and

  tied there.

  He looked up, his bead bloody, from his knees.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “One who protests the crimes and injustice of Sheila, Tyranness of Corcyrus!” he

  said, boldly.

  “He is Menicius, of the Metal Workers,” said one of the soldiers.

  “Are you Menicius?” I asked.

  “Yes,” said the man.

  “Are you of Corcyrus?” I asked.

  Yes,” said he, “and once was proud to be!”

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “Obviously it was his intention to do harm to his Tatrix,” said Ligurious. “That

  is clear from his attack on the palanquin.”

  “He was unarmed,” said Drusus Rencius.

  “On a woman’s throat,” said Ligurious, coldly, “a man’s bands need rest but a

  moment for dire work to be done.”

  I put my finger tips lightly, inadvertently, to my throat. I did not doubt but

  what Ligurious was right. Assassination so simply might be accomplished.

  “Why would you wish me harm?” I asked the man.

  “I wish you no harm, Lady,” said he, surlily, “save that you might get what you

  deserve, a collar in the lowest slave hole on Gor!”

  “It is treason,” said Ligurious. “His guilt is clear.”

  “Why, then, did you approach the palanquin?” I asked.

  “That the truth might be spoken in Corcyrus,” he said, “that the misery and

  anger of the people might be declaredt”

  “Prepare his neck,” said Ligurious. A man seized the fellow’s head and pulled

  his hair forward and down, exposing the back of the fellow’s neck. Another

  soldier unsheathed his sword.

  “No!” I cried. “Free him! Let him go!”

  “Tatrix” protested Ligurious.

  “Let him go,” I said.

  The man’s hands were freed. He stood up, startled. The crowd about, too, seemed

  startled, confused. The face of Ligurious was expressionless. He was a man, I

  sensed, not only of power, but of incredible control.

  “Have him given a coin!” I said.

  One of the soldiers, one of those who had had a bag of coins, and coin bits,

  about his shoulder, came forward. He put a copper piece in the man’s hand.

  The man looked down at it, puzzled. Then, angrily, he spit upon it and flung it

  to the stones of the street. He turned about, and strode away.

  I saw another man snatch up the coin.

  There was a long moment’s silence. Then this silence was broken by the voice of

  Ligurious. “Behold the glory and mercy of the Tatrix!” he said. “What better

  evidence could we have of the falsity of the lunatic’s accusations?”

  “Hail Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrust” cried the man who had snatched up the coin.

  “Hail Sheila!” I heard. “Hail Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrust”

  In a moment the retinue resumed its journey back to the palace.

  “Is there anything to what the fellow said?” I asked Ligurious. “Is there unrest

  in Corcyrus? Is there some discontentment among our citizens?”

  “From what city does Drusus Rencius derive?” I inquired.

  “Ar, Lady,” said Ligurious.

  “Our allegiances, I thought,” I said, “are with Cos.”

  “Drusus Rencius is a renegade, Lady,” said Ligurious. “Do not fear. He now

  serves onlv himself and silver.”

  I inclined my head to -Drusus Rencius. He was a darkhaired, tall, supple, lean,

  long-muscled, large-handed man. He bad gray eyes. He had strong. regular

  features. In him I sensed a powerful intelligence.

  “Lady,” said lie, bowing before me.

  He seemed quiet, and deferential. But there was within him, I did not doubt,

  that which was Gorean. He would know. what to do with a woman.r />
  “He is to be your personal guard,” said Ligurious.

  “A bodyguard?” I inquired.

  “Yes, Lady,” said Ligurious.

  I looked at the tall, spare man. He carried - a helmet in the crook of his left

  arm. It was polished but, clearly, it had seen war. The hilt of the sword in his

  scabbard, at his left hip, too, was worn. It was marked, too, with the stains of

  oil and sweat. His livery, too, though clean, was plain. It bore the insignia of

  Corcyrus and of his standing in the guards, that of the third rank, the first

  rank to which authority is delegated.

  In the infantry of Corcyrus the fifth rank is commonly occupied for at least a

  year. Promotion to the fourth rank is usually automatic, following the

  demonstrated attainment of certain levels of martial skills. The second rank and

  the first rank usually involve larger command responsibilities. Beyond these

  rankings come the distinctions and levels among leaders who are perhaps more

  appropriately to be thought of as officers, or full officers, those, for

  example, among lieutenants, captains, high captains and generals. That Drusus

  Rencius was first sword among the guards, then, in this case, as his insignia

  made clear, was not a reference to his rank but a recognition of his skill with

  the blade. That these various ranks might be occupied, incidentally, also does

  not entail that specific command responsibilities are being exercised. A given

  rank, with its pay grade, for example, might be occupied without its owner being

  assigned a given command. The command of Drusus Rencius, for example, if he had

  had one, would presumably be relinquished when be took over his duties as a

  personal guard. His skills with the sword, I suppose, had been what, had called

  him to the attention of Ligurious.

  These, perhaps, had seemed to qualify him for his new assignment. To be a proper

  guard for a Tatrix, however, surely involved more than being quick with a sword.

  There were matters of appearances to be considered. I felt a bit irritated with

  the fellow. I would put him in his place.

  “The guard for a Tatrix,” I said to Ligurious, “must be more resplendent.”

  “See to it,” said he to Drusus Rencius.

  “As you wish,” responded Drusus Rencius.

  Ligurious had then left.

  Drusus Rencius looked down at me. He seemed very large and strong. I felt very