Kajira of Gor (50 page)

inquired Miles of Argentum.

“That is no friendship, beloved Miles,” said Drusus Rencius, “which can be

jeopardized by truth.”

“That is the woman whom I saw in Corcynis when I carried there the scrolls of

Argentum,” said Miles, pointing to me. “That is she who was on the throne. That

is she whom I captured after the fall of the city. That is she whom I had locked

in the golden cage!”’

“I do not dispute that,” said Drusus Rencius.

“You grant, then, my case,” said Miles.

“No,” said Drusus Rencius. “I do not dispute that you saw her in Corcyrus, that

you later captured her, that you had her placed in a golden cage, and such

things. What I dispute is that she was the Tatrix of Corcyrus.”

“The captain from Ar,” said Miles, “has apparently taken leave of his senses. He

is being foolish. Would he have us believe that the true Tatrix was off

somewhere, polishing her nails perhaps, while someone else was conducting the

business of state in her place?”

There was laughter. Drusus Rencius clenched his fists. He was a Gorean warrior.

He did not take lightly to being mocked and chided in this fashion.

“My second witness,” said Miles of Argentum, “is the woman who served her

intimately in her own quarters, who bathed her and clothed her, and combed her

hair, who was to her as her own personal serving slave, now one of my own

slaves, Susan.”

Susan was summoned forward. How exquisite and beautiful, and well displayed she

was, in the trim, tiny tunic that was the uniform of the girls of Miles of

Argentum. We now wore the same collar. He owned us both.

She knelt before him, his.

“Is that the woman whom you served In Corcyrus?” Miles asked her, pointing to

me.

Susan came over to me. “Forgive me, Mistress,” she said.

“Do not call me Mistress, Susan,” I said. “I am now as much a slave as you.”

“Yes, Mistress,” she said.

“Is that the woman whom you served?” asked Miles.

“It is, Master,” she said.

The members of the high council and many of the guests looked about at one

another, nodding.

“As this girl is the property of Miles of Argentum,” said Claudius to Drusus

Rencius, “you may move that her testimony be discounted or be retaken, under

torture.”

In Gorean courts the testimony of slaves is commonly taken under torture.

Drusus Rencius looked across the room to Miles of Argenturn.

“I will withdraw her testimony,” said Miles of Argentum. “If she is to be

tortured, it will be at my will and not that of a court. In this, however, I

make no implicit concession. I maintain that the truth which she would cry out

under torture would be no different from that which you have already heard

freely spoken.”

“Well done, Drusus Rencius,” said a man, admiringly.

I saw that Miles of Argentum did not wish to have Susan subjected to judicial

torture, perhaps tormented and torn on the rack, even though it might validate

her testimony and strengthen his case. But she was onl~ a slave! Could it be be

cared for her? I suspected it was true. I suspected that the little beauty from

Cincinnati, Ohio, in his collar, had become special to him, that she was now to

him perhaps even a love slave.

“I do not ask that her testimony be discounted or withdrawn,” said Drusus

Rencius, “only that it be clearly understood.”

There were cries of astonishment from those about the tables.

“Susan,” said Drusus Rencius.

“Yes, Master,” she said. “Do you think this woman is wicked?” he asked.

“I think she can be nasty and cruel,” she said, “but, in a collar, she will

doubtless be kept well in her place.”

“From what you know of her,” he asked, “do you think she could be guilty of the

enormities and crimes commonly charged against the Tatrix of Corcyrus?”

“No, Master,” she said, happily.

“Mistresses sometimes have different relationships to their serving slaves, or

friends, than they do to others,” said Ligurious. “It is well known that great

crimes can be committed by individuals who are, to others, kindly and

affectionate.”

“And,” said Drusus Rencius, “that a man who is a wrathful master to one woman

may be little better than the obsequious pet of another.”

“Perhaps,” said Ligurious, angrily.

“You know that this is the woman whom you served, Susan,” said Drusus Rencius,

indicating me, “for you are familiar with her, and have no difficulty in

recognizing her. What I am suggesting is that you do not really know that she

was the true Tatrix of Corcyrus. You suppose she was because that is what you

were told, and for certain other reasons, such as others took her also for such,

and you saw her performing actions which, you supposed, only the Tatrix would

perform, such things as holding audiences with foreign dignitaries, and Such.”

“Yes, Master,” said Susan.

“But is it not possible,” he asked, “that she might have been reported to be the

Tat, has, and might have done such things, without being the true Tatrix?”

“Yes, Master,” Susan granted, eagerly.

“Do you regard it as likely, Susan,” asked Miles of Argenturn, “that that woman

was the Tatrix of Corcyrus?”

“Yes, Master,” she said.

“Do you regard it as extremely likely?” he asked. “Yes, Master,” she whispered.

“Do you doubt it, really, at all?” he asked. “No, Master,” she sobbed. She put

down her head,

“Remain here, Susan,” said Miles.

“Yes, Master,” she said.

“I call my next witness,” said Miles of Argentum, “located In Venna by my men,

and brought here, Speusippus of Turia.”

To my amazement Speusippus was conducted forward. He seemed cringing and

obsequious in the presence of such a noble assemblage. No longer, now, did he

seem as detestable to me as he once had. Too, I was now a slave and a thousand

times lower than he. Too, it was he who had taken my virginity. Too, I now

realized that my femaleness had shown his maleness too little respect. I was a

woman. Yet, in spite of that, I had not properly related to him. I had not shown

him the deference which, in the order of nature, it was proper for my sex to

accord to his. He was a member of the master sex; I was a member of the slave

sex.

“You were, several months ago, were you not, found guilty of certain alleged

commercial irregularities in the city of Corcyrus, and banished for a time from

the city?”

“Yes,” said Speusippus.

“As the reports have it,” said Miles, “you were marched naked from the city,

before the spears of guards, a sign about your neck, proclaiming you a fraud.”

“Yes,” said Speusippus, angrily.

“Who found you guilty, and pronounced this sentence?”

“Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus,” said Speusippus.

“Is she who was the Tatrix of Corcyrus in this room?” asked Miles of Argentum.

“Yes,” said Speusippus.

“Would you point her out for us?” asked Miles.

Speusippus, unerringly, came to my side. He pointed to me. “This is she,” he

said.

“Thank you,” said Miles. “You may now go.”

“I had her in my grasp,” cried Speusippus, “but she escaped. The reward should

have been mine!” This reward had originally been one thousand pieces of gold. It

had later been increased to fifteen hundred pieces of gold.

“It is not my fault if you could not hold a slave,” said Miles.

“She was not then a slave,” said Speusippus. Then he turned to me, with hatred.

“But I got something from you, you slut,” he said. “I took your virginity away!”

“Am I to understand,” asked Miles of Argentum, “that you are confessing to the

rape of a free woman, one who was even a Tatrix?”

Speusippus turned white.

“May I speak, Masters?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Claudius.

“After he had captured me,” I said, “I presented myself to Speusippus of Tuna

naked and as a slave, and begged for his use. As a true man he could not do

otherwise than to have me.”

Speusippus looked wildly at me.

“Very well, Speusippus of Tuna,” said Miles of Argentum, “you may go.”

“Forgive me, Master,” I said to Speusippus of Turia. “I muchly wronged you. I

was stupid and cruel. I showed you too little respect. I now beg your

forgiveness, as a woman, now a slave.”

“You seem much different now from before,” he said.

“I have now learned that I am a female,” I said. Then I put my head down and did

obeisance to his maleness, kissing his feet.

He crouched down and lifted my head. He looked into my eyes. “Fortunate is the

man who has you under his whip,” he said.

“Thank you, Master,” I whispered. He then kissed me, rose to his feet and

hurried away.

“Slave!” snarled Drusus Rencius, looking angrily at me.

“Yes, Master,” I said. “I am a slave.”

“Let it be noted,” said Miles of Argentum, “that the witness unhesitantly

identified her as Sheila, the former Tatrix of Corcyrus.”

“It is noted,” said Claudius.

“He, too,” said Drusus Rencius, “could have been mistaken In this matter!”

There was some laughter from some of the members of the high council, and from

some of the others about the tables.

“I call now my fourth witness,” said Miles of Argentum, “Ligurious, former first

minister of Corcynis. He, if no one else, should know the true Tatrix of

Corcyrus. I now ask him to make an official identification in the course of our

inquiry. Ligurious.”

Ligurious unhesitantly pointed to me. “I know her well,” he said. “That is

Sheila, who was the true Tatrix of Corcyrus.

“Have you further witnesses, General?” asked Claudius of Miles.

“Yes, noble Claudius,” smiled Miles, “one more.”

“Call him,” said Claudius.

“Drusus Rencius,” said Miles.

“I?” cried Drusus Rencius.

Men looked at one another, startled.

“Yes,” said Miles. “You are Drusus Rencius, a captain from Ar, are you not?”

“Yes,” said Drustis Rencius, angrily.

“The same who was on detached service to Argentum, and was engaged in espionage

within the walls of Corcyrus?” asked Miles.

“Yes,” said Drusus Rencius.

“I believe that while you were in Corcyrus,” said Miles, “one of your duties was

to act as the personal bodyguard of Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus.”

“I was assigned the post of guarding one whom I at that time thought was Sheila,

the Tatrix of Corcyrus,” said Drusus Rencius. “I no longer believe that she was

the true Tatrix. I think that I, and many others, including yourself, were eon

fused and misled by the brilliance of Ligurious, Corcyrus’s first minister. She

was used as a decoy to protect the true Tatrix. In effecting this stratagem she

was educated in the identity and role of the Tatrix, in which role, part-time at

least, she performed. The success of this plan became strikingly clear after the

fall of the city. She fell into our hands and, as the supposed Tatrix, was

stripped, chained and caged. The true Tatrix, meanwhile, eluded us, escaping in

the company of Ligurious and others.”

“Ligurious?” asked Miles.

“Preposterous,” said Ligurious.

“Is the woman whom you believed to be the Tatrix of Corcyrus, and whom you

testified in Corcyrus was the Tatrix, before the very throne itself, in this

room?”

Drusus Rencius was silent.

“As you may have noted,” said Miles, “Publius, the liou master of the house of

Klioiiieiies, of Corcyrus, is in the room. I think that he, with the practiced

eye of his profession, skilled in the close scrutiny and assessment of female

can render a judicious opinion as to whether or not she whom you brought to the

house of Kliomenes, she whom you were guarding, is or is not in the room.”

“How did you know of this?” asked Drusus Rencius.

“In the search for the Tatrix,” said Miles, “the records hundreds of slave

houses were checked, to see if a woman her description might have been

processed. In this search, the records of the house of Kliomenes, we found

entries taming to your visit there with a free woman, purportedly Lady Lita.

Descriptions of this ‘Lady, Lita’ were furnished to several members of the

staff. There was no difficulty wi these descriptions. They were splendidly

clear, and useful and intimately detailed, even to conjectured shackle sii.es,

ji as one would expect of descriptions of a female in a slave garment. The

descriptions tallied, of course, with those available of the Tatrix of

Corcyrus.”

“I did not know,” said Publius, rising to his feet, “that was for such a purpose

I was invited to Argentum. As Miles of Argentum knows, I am the friend of Drusus

Rencius will not testify in this matter.”

“You can deny, of course,” said Miles of Argentum Drusus Rencius, “that she whom

you took to the house Kliomenes was the same woman you were guarding as I

putative Tatrix. In that fashion, even if Publius can be encouraged to testify,

his testimony could do no more than confirm that she here chained is the same as

she whom you th brought to the house of Kliomenes. You can still deny ti she who

is here chained is she whom you then took to I Tatrix of Corcyrus.

Drusus Rencius was silent.

“We have, of course, independent identifications.”

“We do not require the testimony of Drusus Rencius in this matter,” said

Claudius.