Magicians of Gor (71 page)

slave,” he said.

“I would generally agree,” I said, “if there is time.” It is a delight, of

course, to have a slave disrobe before one, gracefully, sensuously, displaying

herself, revealing her master’s property to him. Women are excellent at this

sort of thing. They seem to have an instinct, or a natural sense, for it. And I

think that they are not always averse to noting the effects of their unveiling

upon the master, to note how they, in this revelation of their beauty and

loveliness, can drive him wild with desire. In such things I think a slave has

great power. Yet, in the end, it is still she who is owned. In slave pens,

incidentally, girls are trained to disrobe, and, indeed, robe gracefully. Slave

girls are not permitted to shortchange their beauty. They must fulfill its

promise. There is something to be said in favor of the swift disrobing in

certain contexts, of course, aside from its more unusual employments, as in

plans such as mine. For example, a master, whip in hand, may order a slave,

usually a new slave, to disrobe instantly, and then robe, and then disrobe, and

so on. This may be done fifteen or twenty times in a row. This is useful in

teaching her that she in now a slave. It also, of course, gets her used to

disrobing before her master. Another use is when the slave desires to surprise

her master with her beauty, (pg. 417) perhaps before begging use. She might then

utilize a particular moment to disrobe, perhaps one in which he has merely

turned away. When he turns back, she is naked. She then kneels before him.

“Ah!” said Marcus. “What a shame!”

“What is a shame?” I asked.

“The poor fellow will have almost no time with her,” he said.

“Yes,” I said. “Here, if I am not mistaken, come Appanius, and he has men with

him.”

“You will approach him?” asked Marcus.

“Certainly,” I said.

“Hold!” I said, angrily, stepping forth. “Are you Appanius, he of well-known

house of Appanius?”

“Who are you?” said he, angrily.

“By my armband, you see I have authority to stop you,” I said, not pleasantly.

Both Marcus and I, of course, as we usually did, wore our armbands, signifying

our status as auxiliary guardsmen. A major advantage of this, of course, is that

it entitled us to go abroad openly armed.

Appanius lifted his staff, angrily.

I took no note of the raised staff. I could, of course, at that point, have

killed him. They, too, carried staffs. Other than this, however, in accord with

the weapons laws, they were not armed. Two also carried chains.

“You have been questioned,” I reminded Appanius.

He lowered his staff, angrily. “Yes,” he said, “I am Appanius, of that house,

best known for his agricultural enterprises.”

“Do you own a disobedient, wayward slave?” I asked.

“I do not understand,” he said.

“I have a little slut named Lavinia,” I said.

“Lavinia!” he cried, in fury.

“Recently purchased,” I said.

“The lewd little baggage!” he said.

“A fellow, whom I gather from others is your slave,” I said, “had apparently

seduced her.”

“Impossible!” he said.

“You know this Lavinia?” I asked.

“I am sure it is the one!” he said. “I should have sold her out of the city as a

pot girl months ago!”

“They have apparently been seeing one another,” I said. That was true enough, of

course, as Lavinia, in the garment resembling that of a state slave, and in what

seemed to be a state collar, had been in contact several times with the slave,

(pg. 418) carrying verbal messages, and arranging the details of the putative

assignation of this morning. Too, of course, she had been similarly in contact

with the Ubara, only in that role, of course, in a collar purporting to be that

of the house of Appanius.

“I cannot believe that!” said Appanius, angrily.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“You!” he cried. “It was you who sent me the message of this morning?”

“Yes,” I said. “I have followed him. They meet somewhere around here. I am not

sure where.”

“If that is true,” cried Appanius, “I know where!”

“Your slave should be disciplined,” I said.

“It is your slave who should be disciplined!” he said. “Mine is innocent!”

“Mine is only a female slave,” I said.

“Only a female slave! Only a female slave!” he exclaimed. “That is exactly it!

She is a female slave! They are all the same. They are have hot little bellies

and can’t help themselves. They are always licking and kissing and begging! And

that Lavinia is one of the worst! She is a seductrix, I tell you. They are all

seductrices!”

“I have heard that it is your slave who is a seduction slave!” I said.

“Who has said that?” he cried.

“I have heard it said secretly in the city,” I said.

“It is false!” he said. “False!”

“Nonetheless,” I said, “it is your slave who is at fault.”

“No,” he said. “I know your Lavinia. It is she, the lewd little baggage, who is

at fault!”

“She is only a female,” I said.

“But a female slave!” he said. “Whip them and chain them, I say! Keep them in

the kitchens and laundries, in the fields, put to labors as is fit for the

little beasts! Keep them from honest men! Let honest men be protected!”

“At any rate,” I said, “it seems they have been seeing on another.”

“It cannot be!” he said.

“Your slave, it seems, has been carrying on a shameless affair with her.”

“That cannot be,” he said.

“I have seen them,” I said. “He is a big, handsome fellow. Why could it not be?”

“He would not betray me!” he said.

“I do not understand,” I said.

“I trust your little slut is on slave wine,” he said.

(pg. 419) “Of course,” I said. “I have not chosen, at least as yet, to have her

mated.”

“You should keep her shackled,” she said.

“To protect her from your slaves,” I asked.

“Do you know who my slave is?” he asked.

“He is known in Ar?” I asked.

“Somewhat,” said Appanius.

“I am not from Ar,” I said.

“I gathered that,” he said. “Were you from Ar you would know that a slave of my

slave’s quality could not be interested in the least in a meaningless little pot

girl.”

“You are sure of it?” I asked.

“Certainly,” he said.

“Yet you have come here, with men,” I said.

“That his innocence may be proved,” he said.

“Is that why your men carry staffs and chains?” I asked.

“You are an insolent, surly fellow!” he cried.

“Beware, Appanius,” said one of his retainers. “He is of the police.”

“We could make a clear determination on this matter,” I said, “if we could only

locate them.”

“You do not know where your slave is,” he said, scornfully.

“How should I know where she is?” I asked.

“If you kept her at home in close chains, so she could hardly wriggles, and

fastened to a ring, you would know,” he said.

“And so, too,” said I, “you would know the location of yours, if you had kept

him in his cell!”

“It was your mistake,” he said, “to let a slut like Lavinia off her chain!”

“What of you,” I asked, “letting your fellow wander about Ar like a vulo cock?”

“My slave is innocent, honest and trustworthy!” he cried.

“And that is why you have brought men, and staffs and chains?” I asked.

“Sleen!” cried Appanius.

“Caution, Appanius,” said one of his retainers. He was not unaware, as

apparently was his employer, of Marcus, behind them, his hand on his sword.

Marcus, I conjectured, could probably cut through the neck vertebrae of two of

them before they could break. Also he could probably apprehend at least one of

them, assuming they started off in different directions, as would be in their

best interest. I, on the other hand, might hope to catch up to the other one,

after dropping Appanius where he stood. If I had had to wager on the matter I

did not (pg. 420) think any of them would escape. The staff, except in the hands

of an expert, is not a weapon to put against the blade.

“At any rate,” I said, “I trailed Lavinia to this area, and I saw your slave

about, too, and then, somehow, it seemed they disappeared.”

“You did not actually see them together?” he asked.

“No,” I said.

“Then they are not together!” he said.

“I am sure they are together,” I said.

“No!” he said.

“It seems both just disappeared.” I said.

“Do you not think they might be, separately, of course, in nearby buildings?”

asked Appanius.

“How could that be?” I asked. “Slaves do not just walk into buildings without

some business there. Too, folks do not just welcome strange slaves into their

houses, greeting them and inviting them to share their kettles. And I would

assume they had no money to bribe free persons for a room, for their clandestine

rendezvous. Certainly Lavinia had no money.”

“Have you counted your coins lately?” asked Appanius.

“Have you counted yours?” I asked.

“My slave has spending money,” he said.

“Then they could be anywhere.” I said, angrily.

“No,” he said. “He is too well known.”

“Where then?” I asked.

“There is only one place!” he said.

His retainers exchanged glances, and nodded.

“Where is that?” I asked. To be sure, we were within ten yards of it, though of

its front entrance, not its side or back entrance.

“That is,” said Appanius, “there is only one place where my slave might be. I do

not know where your slave is. She, the baggage, the chit, the tart, the wench,

the use girl, might be slutting about anywhere, clutching at someone in a

doorway, writhing on a discarded mat, squirming in an alley behind garbage

containers, moaning in a dark corridor, who knows?”

“I wager,” said I, “that if we locate your slave we will also locate mine.”

“I know where mine would be,” said Appanius, defensively. “He has gone to a

place where he may study his lines in privacy.”

“His lines?” I asked.

“He is an actor,” said Appanius.

“Well,” I said, “if he is currently studying lines, I have little doubt that

they are those of my Lavinia.”

(pg. 421) “Sleen!” said Appanius. The fellows with him shifted, restlessly. Two

of them glanced back uneasily at Marcus, much as they might have at a larl

behind them.

“I think they are together,” I said.

“No!” said Appanius. “That could not be!”

I shrugged.

“Follow me!” he said. He started for the street entrance of the room.

I trusted that Lavinia would have time to throw off her cloak and get at the

disrobing loop on her tunic before the door could be opened. She could then

fling her arms about the slave, protesting her love, and such. I hoped she could

manage to do this believingly.

At the street entrance of the room, however, Appanius stopped. It seemed he was

considering something. “Open it,” I said, “if this is the place.” I certainly

did not want them sneaking about to the rear or side entrance and coming on the

two slaves without warning. That would not give Lavinia time to disrobe. If they

were found yards apart, fully clothed, engaged in exchanging comments on the

state of the theater in Ar under Cos, or something, I might as well forget my

plans. I strode to the door, and raised my fist, to pound on it, and then, an

Ihn or two later, I would kick it in.

“No,” whispered Appanius, seizing my hand. We then, I rather disgruntled,

stepped back a little, a few feet from the door.

“Yes, Appanius,” said one of his retainers. “It would be better to go around the

back. In this fashion one may observe through the observation portals the front

room.”

“Observation portals?” I said.

“Thus,” confirmed the retainer, softly, suavely, “one need not disturb him while

he is reading his lines, as he undoubtedly is, and, more importantly, he will

never know of our coming and going. Thus, he will never suspect that you might

have been jealous, or ever suspected him of any unwonted treachery.”

“Jealous?” I asked. “Treachery?”

“My thoughts, exactly,” said Appanius. The retainer, I saw, was not only a

retainer, but an able courtier. Those fellows have a talent for telling

important people what they wish to hear. To be sure, such fellows have

occasionally been responsible for the downfall of Ubars, and themselves, because

of their desire to protect the throne from unwelcome truths. Serenity has

reigned in more than one royal residence while a country’s borders crumbled. I

myself, however, was about ready to strike the fellow. I was plunged into

despair.

(pg. 422) “Come with me,” said Appanius. “Move quietly.”

“Of course,” I said, through gritted teeth.

I glanced at Marcus.

He smiled.

This made me angry. Did he not realize that my plans might now, in a moment, be

destroyed?

I turned back, to pound on the door, but he took me firmly by the arm and we

followed Appanius and his retainers back down the street, until we turned left,

and made our way through an opening between two buildings.

25
   
Bracelets and Shackles

“So,” shrieked Appanius, “this is how you betray me!”

Lavinia had screamed when the net had descended, and the slave with her had