Players of Gor (56 page)

"Yes, Ubar," said Flaminius.

"She should have been her by now," said Belnar. "She should have been here long ago."

"Yes, Ubar," granted Flaminius.

"I know you have an eye for her beauty," said Belnar to Flaminius. "I trust you have not had her taken to a villa outside the walls, where she awaits you now in chains and a collar?"

"No, Ubar," said Flaminius.

"She might be quite attractive in such," said Belnar.

"Yes, Ubar," said Flaminius.

"You have not had her enslaved on the evening of her triumph, have you?"

"No, Ubar!" said Flaminius.

"I am joking," said Belnar.

"Yes, Ubar," said Flaminius, uneasily, wiping his brow.

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"Citizens of Brundisium, and guests," called Belnar, rising to his feet, "I would have preferred for the Lady Yanina, that distinguished citizens of Brundisium, know to you all, that true servant of our palace and state, that lovely courtier, my trusted agent, my beautiful operative, to conduct the next portion of the evening's entertainment, for the triumph implicit in this moment is in a special sense hers. Yet, alas, she is detained! Unfortunately, as the evening now arrives at its climax, we must proceed without her."

There were some cries of disappointment, of protest.

"Shall we wait longer?" asked Belnar.

"No," called several men. "Proceed," called others.

"Let the trunk be brought forth, and placed upon the platform." said Belnar.

Some men, from a room to one side, carried out the large trunk which had once reposed in the storage wagon of Boots Tarsk-Bit. In that wagon Boots kept many things, such as souvenirs, costumes, and props. In it he also kept much of the paraphernalia associated with his illusion and magic. IT seemed like an ordinary trunk and, indeed, if desired, could serve as one. It was, of course, the trunk in which I had been placed earlier, that in which I had been transported to Brundisium, that from which I was to be produced, that from which I was to be presented, a completely helpless, chained prisoner, by the Lady Yanina to her ubar, Belnar of Brundisium.

"In this trunk, sacked and shackled, at our mercy, lies an enemy of Brundisium, an arrogant fellow who dared to displease our throne, a captain and slaver of Port Kar, one of whom you hay have heard, the supposedly mighty, and redoubtable Bosk of Port Kar!" called out Belnar.

At this point there were applause and shouts of encouragement.

"Taken by the Lady Yanina!" cried out Belnar.

Here there was laughter, and more applause.

"After, it might be mentioned," added Belnar, "he managed somehow to escape from others." At this point Belnar cast a good-humored glance at Flaminius. Flaminius smiled wryly, accommodatingly. There was laughter. His right fist clenched. To be sure, this was to be an evening of triumph for the Lady Yanina. Her conquest this night was not to be merely over me, a fellow named Bosk, merely a fellow from another city, but more importantly, I gathered, over Flaminius, her rival, as well. I recalled her words to me earlier, in the camp of Boots Tarsk-Bit. "Because of you," she had said, "my fortunes will be made in Brundisium. Because of you I will climb there to hitherto

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undreamed of heights." I still could not understand my importance to those in Brundisium.

"I am pleased with the Lady Yanina," called Belnar to the crowd.

There was applause.

"It is my intention to reward her richly," said Belnar. "She will know my generosity. She will be rewarded in gold, in power, in privilege and position!"

"Belnar the Generous!" called out courtiers. "Belnar the Great!" cried others. Belnar lowered his head modestly, waving his hand in a half-hearted plea for order. Much applause, too, greeted his assertions. Many of those present stood, applauding and calling out their congratulatory remarks. Courtiers, I gathered, might be quick to commend generosity on the part of their superiors. Flaminius, I noted, did not join in this acclaim. As generous as Belnar might be with those who served him well, I did not doubt but what he might be correspondingly merciless with those who did not succeed in pleasing him.

"I wish only," said Belnar, "that the Lady Yanina was here, that she might be present on this night of her triumph."

There were again sympathetic noises from the crowd. Most of those present, however, I think, were probably just as well pleased that the Lady Yanina was not in evidence. She was, after all, in a sense, one courtier among the others, and thus, in a sense, was doubtless in rivalry with many of them, not just Flaminius. It is one thing to praise the generosity of a ubar and quite another to be genuinely enthusiastic over the exaltation and promotion of a possible competitor. Too, Belnar was obviously enjoying himself. Had the Lady Yanina been at his table, he would have had to share this moment of triumph, the absence of which eventuality, despite his apparent desires and protestations, it might be suspected he did not regret.

"Let the trunk be opened!" called out Belnar. "Let Bosk of Port Kar, helpless and a fool, taken by the Lady Yanina, be displayed for our amusement!"

Two soldiers went to the trunk. Its key hung on the outside of it. One of them thrust the key into the first lock. "Hurry, Lads!" called Belnar. Then the key went into the second lock. In a moment the heavy lid was freed and lifted. Men stood up, to see better. Within the trunk there was a sack. It was a large sack. It was of stout, heavy leather. Something was in it. It was tied shut at the top. "Make haste, Lads!" called Belnar. "We're waiting!" The soldiers lifted the sack. It now stood upright within the trunk. Something was within the sack. There was no doubt about

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that. But it did not seem large enough to be a man, let alone one such as Bosk of Port Kar. It was much too small, much too slight. Too, the captive's body, even concealed within the confines of the sack, did not suggest the form of the male. There was clearly the hint of delicious curves. The soldiers looked at one another. Men exchanged glances. The hall was silent.

"Open the sack," said Belnar.

Swiftly one of the soldiers tore away the knotting at the opening of the sack. This was not the same sack in which I had originally been placed, of course, but another, left in the trunk, which had been hidden beneath the first. The first sack had had a cunning opening concealed beneath a double seam, an opening through which a performer might exit or enter, as he pleased. The second sack, on the other hand, was a common slave sack, of a sort commonly used on Gor for the transport, security and punishment of slaves. It was stout enough to hold a strong male. The tenant's occupancy in such a device, incidentally, as the tenant, bound and gagged, soon comes to realize, is going to be determined not by his own efforts, but rather, purely, by the convenience, and pleasure, of others.

"Hurry!" cried Belnar.

The soldiers tore open the sack and pulled it down from the head and shoulders of its occupant. The occupant was hooded. "It is a female," said a man. The sack was then thrust down about her hips. She was naked. she threw her head back in the hood. Her hands jerked wildly at the slave bracelets that confined her wrists behind her back. She did not wear the heavy trick manacles, seemingly suitable for men, in which I had been placed earlier in Boots's camp. I had shed them moments after being placed in the first sack. Rather she wore ordinary slave bracelets, which would serve their purpose well, that of confining females. They were, however, I though, rather attractive. I had picked them out before leaving Boots's camp. She also wore, though they could not now be seen, as she stood in the trunk, a set of linked ankle rings. These, too, were not portions of Boots's props but practical custodial hardware, rings of a sort common on Gor for the chaining of women, generally slaves.

"Who has put a slave in this trunk?" cried Belnar, in fury. "What joke is this!"

"Where is Bosk of Port Kar?" asked a man.

"Unhood the slave!" cried Belnar.

"I see no brand on her," called one of the soldiers to Belnar. He had just thrust the sack down from her hips, and turned her roughly from side to side, examining her thighs for brands.

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"Unhood her!" screamed Belnar.

The sack was now down about her knees. She was held upright by one of the soldiers. The other fumbled with the straps to her hood, loosening the buckles under her chin.

"Hurry!" screamed Belnar.

The trunk on the stage was the same one in which I had been placed originally in Boots's camp. However, I had made certain adjustments in it. The back and bottom, either of which may open from the inside or outside, depending on whether a wall panel or a floor trap is to utilized in the escape, I had closed with bolts. In this fashion the trunk becomes, for most practical purposes, a normal trunk. This is useful not only when it serves normal purposes of storage and transport, but also, of course, when it is submitted for the inspection of members of an audience. After the inspection it is easy enough, in seeming to do other things, to fix the bolts as one wishes. The bolts, of course, are on the outside of the trunk, so that they may be released by the outside performer. A consequence of this is that the inside performer, if his external confederate should neglect to free the bolts, would find himself kept in the trunk. Naturally, for my purposes, I had neglected exactly this detail. The result, accordingly, was that the trunk's occupant, even had it not been for her other bonds and the sack, would have been confined within it as perfectly as though she might have been a stripped kajira in a slave box.

"Hurry!" screamed Belnar. "Hurry!"

The hood, unbuckled, was thrust up over her head. Her eyes were wild. Her face was red, and broken out. She flung back her head, freeing the damp wet hair about her face.

"Lady Yanina!" cried many voices.

She could not speak. She whimpered. The packing was still well fixed in her mouth. The gag scarf was still tight.

"Ungag the slut!" cried Belnar. Lady Yanina put back her head while one of the soldiers fought with the scarf knots. ON her body there were stripes, ten of them. I had decided earlier, in the camp of Boots Tarsk-Bit, that she would be whipped. I had not found her entirely pleasing. After I had left the trunk, which I had done late after being brought into the palace, this ruse having accomplished my entry into these precincts. I had donned the uniform seemingly of an officer of Brundisium. This had been fashioned from costumes n Boots's stores. I had then, late at night, carrying suitable articles in a folded slave sack, located the quarters of the Lady Yanina in the palace. Her door was pounded on. What could it be? There was some message, it

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seemed, come from Belnar, for her ears alone, something having to do with some emergency, something perhaps requiring immediate consultation, perhaps even a conference of the high council. She hastened to the door to open it, clad only in a light gown. I entered, stripped her and put her at my mercy. IN a few moments I was then again making my way through the halls of the palace, dragging a slave sack by its cords behind me. I took her afar below, to the pens beneath the palace. There I put the stripes upon her. Her cries, muffled by the damp, thick walls, as she twisted at the ring, carried in no clear fashion to the guards. They assumed only that another wench was being disciplined, not an unusual occurrence in such a place. I then conducted her, gagged and hooded, leashed and braceleted, back to the main levels of the palace. In s short while then I had returned to the room off the great hall where the trunk had been left. There I put the ankle rings on her, put her in the slave sack, tied it shut and placed it the trunk, through the rear panel. I then secured the bolts, locking the trunk. Its ostensible locks, with the key hanging in the front of the trunk, had not been disturbed. Things looked the same as they had. To be sure, the trunk now had a new occupant, and one that was now truly its prisoner. I had then, using my assumed identity as an officer, located the room of a fellow from Turia. He also opened the door to me. He was then kind enough to loan me his credentials, by means of which I had obtained entrance this evening to the banquet. He would doubtless be found in the morning by some startled cleaning slave.

"Ubar!" cried the Lady Yanina, the scarf torn away, the heavy, wet packing of the gag pulled with a finger from her mouth.

"Who did this to you?" cried Belnar.

"Bosk of Port Kar!" she cried, pulling helplessly at the bracelets that confined her.

"Where is he!" cried Belnar.

"I do not know!" she cried.

"Fool! Fool!" cried Belnar, in rage.

"He must still be within the palace!" cried Flaminius, leaping to his feet. There was consternation in the hall.

"Go to the quarters of the players!" said Belnar. "Arrest them. They must be involved in this!"

"They did not go toward their quarters," called out a man, near the door.

"They will be fleeing the city!" said a man.

"Stop them!" cried Belnar.

"Wait!" cried a man. "I hear alarm bars."

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He was right. Faintly now, but clearly, now that there was a brief silence in the hall, one could hear the ringing of alarm bars.

"What is wrong?" said Belnar. "What is going on?"