Magicians of Gor (25 page)

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

inquities?” 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.

(pg. 143) “The cut of the whip is excellent for waking them up,” said a man.

I added her to the chain with a joining rope.

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.

“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’.

(pg. 144) 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 hair, 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 cheekbones.

She then, gracefully, slipped the robe of the penitent back from her shoulders,

letting it drop behind her.

(pg. 145) “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!”

“Your father sent men to the Voltai, to seek out and destroy Marlenus of Ar!”

cried Talena.

“I do not deny that my father was enemy to Marlenus of Ar,” said Claudia. “That

is well known, and so, too, at the time, were many in Ar!”

“Cernus!” cried Talena.

“Yes,” said Claudia.

“To whom you were a slave!” said Talena, scornfully.

“She-urt!” cried Claudia.

“Turn about, slowly,” said Talena.

Men gasped.

Angrily, Claudia complied. Then she again faced Talena. “I stood higher in the

Central Cylinder than you,” she said. “I was the daughter of a former

Administrator of Ar! You were nothing, a disowned disgrace, rescued from the

norht. They brought you back in a sheet, with not even a tarsk bit to your name,

and dishonored. No longer had you even citizenship! Because of what you once had

been, the daughter of Marlenus of Ar, you were permitted to live in the Central

Cylinder. But you were kept hidden there, sequestered, that you not bring

further embarrassment upon Marlenus of Ar and the city! Do not compare yourself

with me. You are nothing! I am the daughter of Minus Tentius Hinrabius!”

“Do not listen to her, beloved Talena!” called a man.

(pg. 146) “You are an upstart,” said Claudia. “You are a Cosian puppet!”

“I am your Ubara!” cried Talena.

“You are a Cosian puppet!” said Claudia.

“Treason!” cried men.

“You even wear Cosian garments!” cried Claudia.

“In this fashion we may demonstrate our respect for Cos, out gratitude to her,

our friendship with her,” said Talena.

“Dance on their strings, puppet!” screamed Claudia.

“Perhaps it is you will dance,” cried Talena, “and as a slave, before my

officers!”

“And I would do so more excitingly than you!” said Claudia.

I rather doubted that. To be sure, Talena was not trained. I supposed that both

might look quite well, in a jewel or two, writhing as slaves before strong men.

“Slave! Slave!” cried Talena.

“Marlenus of Ar freed me of bondage!” said Claudia.

“I am not Marlenus of Ar!” cried Talena.

“He treated me with honor,” she said, “and gave me support and residence!”

“I am not he,” said Talena.

“Nor are you, disowned and disgraced, any longer his daughter!” cried Claudia.

“Treason!” cried men.

Talena turned to the crowd. “Should this woman’s caste, and her lofty birth, and

that she was the daughter of an administrator, permit her to shirk her duties to

the state?”

“No!” cried men. “No!”

“To the state of Cos?” inquired Claudia.

“Treason!” cried men.

“Do you think you should be shown special privileges?” asked Talena.

This took Claudia aback.

“Hah!” cried a fellow. “Look, she is silent!”

Claudia, of course, was of high caste, and a member of the aristocracy. Gorean

society tends to value tradition and is carefully structured. Accordingly, it

would never have occurred to her that she was not, in fact, in virtue of her

position, entitled to customary privileges. Such privileges, of course, in

theory at least, are balanced by duties and demands far beyond those devolving

on others. The Cosians, as many conquerors, made a point of enlisting class

jealousies in their cause, utilizing them to secure their ends, for example, the

replacement of a given aristocracy, or elite, with one of their own, preferably

in as (pg. 147) covert a fashion as is possible. This had to do with structure

in human society, without which such society is not possible.

“Do you think you are better than other women of Ar?” asked Talena.

“I am better than at least one,” said Claudia. “Talena, who would be tyraness of

Ar, save only that her Cosian masters will not permit her such power!”

“Treason!” cried men. “Kill the Hinrabian! Death to her! Let her be impaled!

Weight her ankles!”

“And at night, do you serve your masters in the furs?” inquired Claudia.

It seemed that Talena might swoon at the very thought of this. She was supported

by two of her aides.

“Death to the Hinrabian!” cried men.

A guardsman behind Claudia had his sword half drawn from its sheath.

“No! No!” cried Talena to the crowd. “Do not cry out so, against a woman of Ar!”

“Merciful Talena!” wept a man.

The guardsman sheathed his sword.

The crowd was then silent.

“I regret that I cannot,” said Talena, “despite my love for you, exempt you from

your duties to the state.”

“Hail Talena!” wept a man.

“Nor in this matter treat you differently from other women of Ar.”

“Glory to Talena!” cried a man.

“For I, too, have my duties to perform, for I am Ubara,”

Here the Plaza of Tarns rang with the cheering of men.

“Be done with your farce!” cried Claudia. “Here I am before you, naked and in

your power! Have you not waited for his moment? Is my name not first on your

list? Relish the triumph! Do with me as you will!”

“My decision will be made,” said Talena, “as it would be in the case of any

other woman of Ar. You will be treated with absolute fairness.”

Talena then seemed to ponder the matter of Claudia, assessing her fittingness to

be included among items to be accorded to Cos, in atonement for, and it