"Some of these lads, former "Cosians" and others," I said, "are apparently little better, still, than vandals, but, others, interestingly, it is rumored, track troop movements, shadow Cosian patrols and record the rounds of watchmen, reporting to the Delta Brigade."
"If so," said he, "that is a dangerous game for boys. I do not think Cos, in spite of their youth, will hesitate to impale them or have them at the ends of ropes."
"Others set themselves to different tasks," I said, "such as the supervision and protection of their own neighborhoods."
"A hopeful sign," said he, "if Ar, if only in her youths, should once again begin to look after herself."
"There is the Delta Brigade," I said.
"We are not of Ar," he said.
"But others, whosoever they may be, must be," I said.
"Cos cannot be ignorant of these many changes in Ar," he said.
"It seems she pretends to official ignorance," I said.
"That cannot long continue."
"No," I said.
"And it she who holds the sword," he said.
"Gross Lurius of Jad, Ubar of Cos, and many of his ministers," I said, "are doubtless in favor of wielding it. Until now they have doubtless been restrained only by the general effectiveness of their political warfare, the policies of spreading guilt, confusion and self-doubt in the enemy, pretending to be not the foe but the concerned friend and ally."
"Let those beware," smiled Marcus, "who are invited to dine with sleen."
"There is a crowd ahead," I said, "at the public boards."
"They seem angry," he said.
"Let us see what is afoot," I said, and together we hurried forward, toward the boards.
14
In the Vicinity of the Public Boards
Before the boards, rather in a circle before them, there was a crowd. Whereas there may have been unwelcome information on the boards, the immediate attention of the crowd was not at this moment upon them.
"Here is the insolent slut!" cried a fellow.
We pushed in, toward the center of the circle.
"Make way," I said. "Guardsmen! Guardsmen!"
Men cried out with anger, but drew back.
Marcus and I had our armbands, those of auxiliary guardsman, a band of red beneath one of blue, Ar under the supervision of Cos.
"Cosian sleen," I heard. But the fellow did not make himself prominent.
"One side!" I said.
I glimpsed the face of a girl, white and frightened, in the center of the crowd. She was standing, being held by two fellows, one wrist in the care of each.
To one side, quite close, there knelt four other girls, three in tunics of the wool of the bounding hurt, one in silk.
"Guardsmen!" I repeated, angrily, and forced myself forward.
The face of the standing, captive girl manifested sudden relief.
"Would you not know?" said one of the men, disgustedly.
One of the kneeling girls, too, cried out with joy.
"We are saved!" said another.
"What is going on here?" I demanded, not pleasantly.
"First the curfew," grumbled a fellow to another.
"Then the forbidding of the delka," said another.
"Now this!" exclaimed another.
I resolved I must learn more of what was on the boards. Marcus could read them much more rapidly than I.
"Release me," said the standing girl, angrily. The two fellows who had seized her wrists let them go, and she rubbed her wrists, as though to push away even the memory of their grip.
"Greetings, and welcome, noble guardsmen of Cos!" said she, delightedly. "I think you have arrived just in time!"
The other four girls made as though to rise, righteously, but a glance from Marcus put them back instantly on their knees.
This, I think, was not noticed by the girl who was standing, who was, I take it, a sort of leader amongst them.
"What is the difficulty?" I asked.
"We caught her drinking from the top bowl of the fountain," said one, pointing to a nearby fountain.
"You are not kneeling," I said to the girl in the center.
"I am a woman," she said, "why should I kneel?"
This seemed to me a strange response. I would have supposed it an excellent reason to kneel, being in the presence of men, if one were a woman. If she were a free woman, of course, fitting or not, there would be no legal proprieties involved. A free woman, as long as she remains free, can stand to the fullness of her short, graceful height before men.
"What is your status?" I asked.
"Slave," she said, tossing her lovely head, her hair swirling.
To be sure, my question was somewhat rhetorical, as her neck was appropriately banded.
I considered her.
She met my eyes for a moment, and then, angrily, looked away.
She was rather modestly garbed, I thought, her tunic coming to her knees. Too, it was not belted. This was presumably to conceal her figure. On the other hand, I conjectured that beneath that garment, woven of the wool of the bounding hurt, her figure might not be without interest. She wore no makeup. She had been given sandals. I considered her mien. I did not doubt but what she had a weak master.
"As you are slave," I asked, "how is it that you are not kneeling?"
"A strange question," she said, "coming from a guardsman of Cos."
"Yes," said a man, angrily.
"Tell me of your master," I said.
"He is liberated," she said, "and of the times! He knows my worth!"
"You would not be insolent in Cos, or Anango, or Venna!" said a man.
"I am in Ar!" she laughed. "Cos' Ar!"
"Hold!" I said angrily to the men, holding them back.
"Let her be punished!" said a fellow.
"No!" she laughed. "You do not dare touch me now! There are guardsmen of Cos present! I am safe!"
Inwardly I smiled, wondering what her attitude might be, had she found herself anywhere but where she was, and in the presence of the power of Cos, in the form of Marcus and myself. What if she had found herself, for example, tied with wire in an alcove in Brundisium, almost concealed in ropes on a submission mat in the Tahari, wearing a body cage in Tyros, bound to a wheel in the land of the Wagon Peoples, shackled on a sales platform in Victoria, fearing the auctioneer's whip, or prone and chained on one of the swift ships of the black slavers of Schendi?
"Is it true that you have drunk from the higher bowl of the fountain?" I asked.
"Yes!" she said.
"How is it that you have done such a thing?" I asked. Slaves, of course, like other animals, are expected to drink from the lower level of a fountain, and, generally, on all fours.
"My master permits such things!" she said. "He is noble and kind!"
"A weakling and a fool," said a man. "I know him."
"He conforms to the proprieties of the new Ar!" she cried. "And he celebrates them! He grabs me modestly. He accords me sandals! He respects me!"
There was laughter.
"He accords me an allowance, and my own hours, and my own room!" she said.
"And does he require your permission before he puts you to use?" I asked.
"Of course," she said.
There was a reaction of amazement from the men present.
"And does he receive this permission when he wishes it?" I asked.
"Sometimes," she laughed.
"I can well imagine his anxiety," I said, "as to whether or not it will be granted."
She laughed. "Glory to Cos!" she said.
But neither Marcus nor myself, nor any other there, echoed this sentiment.
"You are not always in the mood?" I said.
"Of course not," she said.
"Sometimes you are weary," I conjectured, "or are afflicted with a headache?"
"Yes," she laughed. "But I do not need an excuse!"
"I see," I said.
"Sometimes," she said, "I deny him, to win my way, to punish him, to teach
him a lesson." She laughed, and threw a meaningful look at the other girls kneeling near her. One or two of them looked up at her, smiling.
"I understand," I said. "Does your master trouble you often in this regard."
"Not so much now," she said, angrily.
"You are aware that he can sell you," I said.
"He would not dare to do so," she said.
"But you know he has this legal power?"
"In a sense," she said.
"In the fullest of senses," I said.
"Yes," she said, drawing back a little.
"And you know that he can do with you as he pleases?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"And that you are dependent upon him, even with respect to your very life?"
"In a sense," she said.
"Actually," I said, "and in the fullest of senses."
"Yes!" she said.
"Interesting," I said.
"Do you forget the proposed laws of respect!" she said.
"They were never enacted," I said.
"They should have been!" she said.
There was an angry mutter in the crowd.
"My master," she said, "is a kind, liberated, noble, enlightened master! He accepts such laws, or laws much like them, as much as if they had been proclaimed by the councils and promulgated by the Ubara herself!"
"The actual words of the Ubara," I said, "or at least as reported on the boards, were to the effect that slave girls should be obedient and try to please their masters."
"It is well," said a man, "or Ar would have gone up in flames."
"I do not know of such things," she said.
"Are you pleased with your master?" I asked.
"He is noble and kind, and liberated and enlightened," she said.
"You seem deprived, and unfulfilled."
"I?"
"Yes," I said. "Are you content and happy?"
"Of course!" she said, angrily.
"How long have you been a slave?" I asked.
"Two months," she said.
"How came it about?" I asked.
"I was taken in the suburbs," she said, "by mercenaries, collected with others. The levy was unannounced."
I nodded. There had been many such, the soldiers appearing with their ropes, often late at night, bursting into houses, bringing their catches forth, in various states of undress and nightwear, to the waiting wagons.
"You have had only one master?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "He was one who had sought my hand in the free companionship but whose renewed suits I had consistently scorned."
"And now you are his slave?" I said.
"Yes," she said.
"Or he is yours," laughed a fellow.
"If you say so," she said.
Again anger coursed about the circle.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"Lady Filomela," she said, "of Ar."
"You are a slave," I said.
"Filomela, then," she said, "of Ar."
"Of Ar?" I asked.
"Simply Filomela then," she said, angrily.
"And you may be given any name your master pleases," I said.
"Yes!" she said, angrily.
"Why are you not happy?" I asked.
"I am happy!" she cried.
"I see," I said.
"I am going now," she said.
"Really?" I said.
She turned about, to leave, but the men did not move to let her pass. Then she turned about, again, to face me.
"May I go now?" she asked.
"Come here," I said.
She regarded me.
"Now," I said.
She did not move.
I snapped my fingers.
She hurried angrily to stand before me. She was now close to me, and I had good feelings, feelings of energy, possessiveness and manhood, good feelings, powerful feelings, at her closeness, and she, on her part, looked up at me, and then, looking quickly away, trembled a little. Then she blushed. There was some laughter.
"You sense in yourself slave feelings?" I asked.
"No!" she said.
"Turn about, and keep your hands at your sides," I said.
With two hands I brushed her hair forward, putting it before her shoulders. I then checked her collar. It was a standard collar, of a sort familiar in the north, flat, narrow, light, sturdy, close-fitting. I did not bother reading the engraving on the collar, as it would be of no interest, her master being a weakling. The collar was closed at the back of her neck with a small, heavy lock. This is common. It was attractive on her, as such things are on any woman.
"You are collared like a slave," I said.
"I am a slave," she said.
"Clasp your hands on the top of your head," I said.
She trembled.
"Common kajira brand," said a fellow.
"Yes," I said.
"Please," she said.
"You are branded like a slave," I said.
"I am a slave!" she said, angrily.
I permitted the hem of her rather-too-long tunic to fall again into place. She was left-thigh-branded, high on the thigh, a bit below the hip, like most girls.
I glanced to the four other girls kneeling to the side. They were apprehensive, frightened.
"Are you the leader of these others?" I asked her.
"We are friends," she said, evasively.
This was surely not impossible. Slave girls have much in common, such as their brands and collars, their typical garmentures, their entire condition and status, the sorts of labors they must perform, and the problems of pleasing masters. It is natural then, given such commonalities, and abused and despised by free women, that they should often seek out one another's company. It is not unusual to see them together, for example, laundering at the stream side or long basins, or sitting about in a circle, mending and sewing, or polishing silver. Sometimes they arrange their errands so that they may accompany one another. Sometimes, too, in the abundance of free time enjoyed by most urban slaves, they simply wander about, seeing the city, chatting, exchanging gossip, and such. To be sure, it would be remiss not to remark also that, as one would expect, some of the pettiest of jealousies, the most absurd of resentments, the vilest of acrimonies and the most inveterate of hatreds can obtain among these beautiful, vain, vital creatures, who are, after all, only females. This is particularly the case within the same house where contests often rage, sometimes subtly and sometimes not, for the favor of the master, on which contests, needless to say, considerable shiftings in rank and hierarchy may hinge. And there can be intense competitions, it might be mentioned, not only for such treasures as the master's attentions and affections but for articles as ordinary as combs and brushes and prizes which, whatever may be their symbolic value, are often as small in themselves as a sweet or pastry. In this case, however, I suspected this was no typical grouping of slaves, of the normal sort, but a tiny covey of girls either with weak masters or masters whom they suspected might be weak, a natural enough suspicion in an Ar where the men of the city, betrayed and defeated, helpless and confused, were for most practical purposes, at least until recently, prostrate before the might of Cos. If one is in effect a slave oneself it is hard to be a strong master to one's female. It is much easier to rationalize one's weaknesses and struggle to view them as virtues.
"Is she your leader?" I asked one of the girls kneeling to the side, one of those in a tunic of the wool of the bounding hurt.
"Yes," she said.
"No!" swiftly said another, one also in a tunic of the wool of the bounding hurt. "Our masters are our leaders!"
"'Leaders'?" I asked.
"Owners!" she swiftly said.
"What are you?" I asked the first kneeling girl, sternly.
"Properties!" she said. And she added, quickly, seeing my eyes still upon her, "And animals!"
"Yes!" said the girl beside her, she who had spoken second earlier.
"And what are you?" I asked the slave, Filomela.
/>
"A slave," she said, not turning around, standing facing away from me, her hands clasped on her head.
"Turn about," I said.
She obeyed.
"And?" I asked.
She was standing quite close to me, in the posture I had dictated.
"A property," she said.
"And?" I asked.
"An animal," she said.
I looked upon her, savoring her. She looked away. I also observed, carefully, her tension, the tonicity of her body.
Yes, I thought, an animal, surely, and a lovely one. What man, I wondered, would not relish the ownership of such a lovely beast. Surely she would bring a good price in a stock sale. To be sure, she was in need of training, and improvement, but so, too, are many sorts of animals. That is understood. But beasts such as she, so appealing, so beautiful and exciting, so made for a master’s arms, are special, beasts who can speak, and understand, and please, and kneel and kiss, and sing, and work, and love. Surely they are worth the effort. Well do they repay the attention of a husbandman. Properly trained, suitably improved, there is nothing to compare with them.
"Straighten your body," I said.
She did so.
The line of her breasts was lovely under her simple garment.
"You seem uneasy," I said.
Magicians of Gor Page 29
