Authors: John Norman
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Fiction, #General, #Fantasy, #Adventure, #Erotica
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.