Kajira of Gor (11 page)

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.

“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

small and weak.

“What is wrong?” I asked, angrily.

“It is nothing,” he said.

“Whatl” I demanded.

“It is only that I had expected, from what I have heard, that Lady Sheila would

be somewhat different than I find her.”

“Oh,” I said.

He continued to look at me.

“In what way?” I asked.

“I had expected Lady Sheila to seem more of a Tatrix,” he said, “whereas you

seem to me to be something quite different.

“What?” I asked.

“Forgive me, Lady,” be smiled. “If I answered you truthfully I would fear that I

might be impaled.”

“Speak,” I said.

He smiled.

“You may speak with impunity,” I said. “What is it that I seem to be to you?”

“A female slave,” be said.

“Oh!” I cried, in fury.

“Does Lady Sheila often go unveiled?” be asked.

“Yes,” I said. “A Tatrix has no secrets from her people. It is good for her

people to be able to look upon their Tatrix?”

“As Lady Sheila wishes,” he said, bowing. “May I now withdraw?”

“Yes!” I said. He had seen me without my veil. I felt almost naked before him,

almost as though I might truly be a slave.

“I shall be at your call,” he said. He then withdrew.

I twisted on the couch and turned again to my back. I looked up at the ceiling.

The effects of the wine I had had for supper were still with me. I think it may

have been drugged.

It was not easy to sort things out. I had had a strange dream, mixed in with

other dreams.

“I am the Tatrix of Corcyrus,” I had said to Ligurious, in the palanquin. “Of

course,” he had said.

How can I be the Tatrix of Corcynis, I asked myself. Does this make any sense?

Is it not all madness? I could understand how women could be brought to this

world to be put in collars and made slaves, like -Susan, for example, and

doubtless others. That was comprehensible. But why would one be brought here to

rule a city? Surely such positions of privilege and power these Goreans would

reserve for themselves. The more typical position for an Earth girl, I suspected

to find herself at the feet of a master. I wondered if I were truly the Tatrix

of Corcyrus. Surely I had seldom exercised significant authority. Too, at times,

my schedule seemed a bit erratic or strange. At certain Alin I was expected to

be in the public rooms of the palace and, at others, even at the ringing of

palace time bars, for no reason I clearly understood, I was expected to be in my

quarters.

“Certain traditions customarily govern the calendar of the Tatrix,” Ligurious

had informed me. At certain times I bad been conducted to my quarters I bad

thought that sessions of important councils had been scheduled, councils at

whose sessions it would be natural to expect the presence of the Tatrix. The

matters to be discussed in certain of these meetings, however, I had learned

from Ligurious, were actually too trivial to warrant the attention of the

Tatrix. Thus it was not necessary that I attend. In certain other cases, I was

informed, the meetings had been postponed or canceled. Protocols and customs are

apparently extremely significant to Goreans. What seemed to me inexplicable

oddities or apparent caprices in my schedule were usually explained by reference

to such things. It is fitting that the proprieties of torcyrus be respected by

her Tatrix, even when they might appear arbitrary, had said Ligurious.

I looked up at the ceiling, in the hot Corcyran night.

Was I the Tatrix of Corcyrus?

Susan, I was sure, believed me to be the Tatrix. of Corcyrus. So, too, I was

confident, did my bodyguard, Drusus Rencius, once of Ar.

Too, I had not been challenged in the matter in my audiences, my public

appearances, or even in court. By all, it seemed, I was accepted as the Tatrix

of Corcyrus. Ligurious, first minister of the city, even, had assured me of the

reality of this dignity. And had I wished further confirmation of my condition

and status surely I had received it earlier today, from the very citizens of

Corcyrus itself. “Hail Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrusl” they had cried.

“I am the Tatrix of Corcyrus,” I had told Ligurious. “Of course.” he had said.

Inexplicable and strange though it might seem, I decided that I was, truly, the

Tatrix of Corcyrus.

I closed my eyes and then opened them. I shook my head, briefly. The effects of

the wine I had had for supper were stin with me. I think that it might have been

drugged. What purpose could have been served by such an action, however, I had

no idea.

I bad had a strange dream, mixed in with other dreams.

I whimpered on the great couch, lying in the heat of the Corcyran night.

I was Tatrix.

How extraordinary and marvelous this was! Too, I was not insensitive to the

emoluments and perquisites of this office, to the esteem and prestige that might

attend it, to the glory that might be expected to be its consequence, to the

wealth and power which, doubtless, sometime, would prove to be its inevitable

attachments.

In office, clearly, I acknowledged to myself, I was a Tatrix.

I wondered, however, if there was a Tatrix within me, or something else.

I forced from my mind, angrily, the memory of the girls in brief tunics, chained

by the neck, kneeling down, heads down, in the street. I forced from my mind,

angrily, the memory of the women in the market, naked, chained in place,

awaiting the interest of buyers.

I twisted on the great couch, in misery.

Nowhere more than on this world had I felt my femininity, and nowhere else,

naturally enough, I suppose, had I felt it more keenly frustrated. I wondered

what it was, truly, to be a woman.

I had had a strange dream. I had awakened into it, or had seemed to awaken into

it, from another. In the preceding learn I had been on my hands and knees on the

tiles of a strange room. I was absolutely naked. There was a chain on my neck

and it ran to a ring in the floor. Drusus Rencius, standing, was towering over

me. He carried a whip. He was smiling. I looked up at him, in terror. He shook

out the long, broad, pliant blades of the Whip. It was a five-stranded Gorean

slave whip. I looked at the blades, in terror. “What are you going to do?” I

asked. “Teach you to be a woman,” he said. I had then seemed to awaken into

another dream. In this one was Ligurious. I felt portions of the coverlet being

wrapped about me, between my shoulders and thighs. My arms were pinned to my

sides, within the coverlet. I whimpered. It seemed that I was only partially

conscious. Then I became aware of someone else in the room, bearing a small,

flickering lamp. Ligurious held the coverlet with his right hand, holding it

together, holding me in place, helplessly within it. With his left hand, it

fastened in my hair, he pulled my head back painfully. This exposed my features

to the lamp. I sobbed, responding to this domination.

“Do you see?” he asked. “Is it not remarkable?”

“Yes,” said a woman’s voice. I gasped. It was as though I looked upon myself.

She, as I had, earlier in the day, wore the robes of the Tatrix. She, too, as I

had, wore no veil. In the madness of the dream, in its oddity, it was surely I,

or one much like myself, who looked upon me. How strange are dreamsl

“I think she will do very nicely,” said Ligurious.

“fbat, too, would be my conjecture,” said the woman.

Ligurious moved his right hand, grasping the rim of the coverlet, tight about my

breasts.

“Do you wish to see her, fully?” he asked. I whimpered. I realized he could

strip the coverlet away, baring me in the light of the lamp.