Renegades of Gor (57 page)

Station?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Let us see who this woman is,” said Aemilianus, “who has disguised herself as

the former Lady Publia, and who for some reason, it seems, fears to be

recognized.” He made a small sign. A man then, carefully, not hurrying, removed

the veil and turban.

The free woman knelt very straight. She held her head up, her neck in the

closely fitting, now-visible collar, not trying to hide anything.

“Is she recognized?’ asked Aemilianus.

“She is,” said more than one man, grimly.

“I think I understand now,” said Aemilianus, “why you feared to be recognized.”

Lady Claudia was silent.

“You are the traitress, Lady Claudia,” he said.

“Yes,” she said.

“You attempted escape,” he said.

“Yes,” she said.

“But you have not escaped, have you?’ he asked.

“No,” she said. “I have not escaped.” In a way, I thought that this was ironic.

On the piers, had Cosians swarmed over them, doing slaughter, and, where it

pleased them, making slaves, her beauty, which was considerable, bared and

submitted, might have found favor with conquerors. She (pg.379) might even have

been thrown chained to an officer, thenceforth to be his and serve him with

perfection, at least until, say, he might tire of her, and, say, give or sell

her to another. She might even have served in her way as a souvenir to one

fellow or another of the action at Ar’s Station. More mercy might she then have

found in the wielder of a bloody sword on the piers than in the abstractions of

the justice of her own city. The man with the sword is at least swayable; he is

at least human and real.

“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.

(pg.380) “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.

(pg.381)”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.

(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