Rogue of Gor (37 page)

"Jason," I reminded him.

"Yes," said Callisthenes. "Jason, from the docks."

"Yes," I said.

"I would have been here earlier," said Glyco to Tasdron, "but I could not readily find Callisthenes."

"I was about my duties," said Callisthenes.

"Your shoulder," said Tasdron.

"It seems injured."

"I fell," said Callisthenes.

"Is there anything we can do for-you?" inquired Tasdron.

"It is nothing," said Callisthenes. He then looked about, from one of us to the other.

"What is afoot here?" he asked Callimachus. "Is it true that you have some news of the topaz?"

"We shall explain all shortly, I trust," said Callimachus.

"What is the delay?" asked Callisthenes.

"We are waiting for one more person," said Callimachus.

"Who?" asked Callisthenes.

"One whom it is important that you meet," said Callimachus.

"Very well," said Callisthenes.

There was a tiny knock on the door leading to the central room of the tavern.

"Enter," said Tasdron.

Peggy, a tray balanced in one hand, opened the door. "Masters," she said, lowering her head.

"Serve," said Tasdron to her.

"Yes, Master," said Peggy.

"Sit," invited Tasdron, and we took places about the low table, sitting about it, cross-legged. Callisthenes put his helmet beside the table, and threw back his cloak. His tunic bore the insignia of Port Cos. Peggy knelt before the table and began to place the cups, the vessels and plates on the table. One plate was of meat, another of breads, another of sliced fruits, the fourth of nuts and cheeses. Each of us, with our fingers, would eat as we wished from the common plates. She had brought, too, paga, Cosian wine and water.

"She is a pretty slave," said Callisthenes.

We looked at her. She wore the bit of yellow silk. There were slave bells on her left ankle. The collar was lovely on her throat. Her long, blond hair was loose about her shoulders.

"She is an Earth girl," said Tasdron.

"Interesting," said Callisthenes.

Peggy set forth the food and drink deferentially, and in silence.

"We will need another cup, for our friend," said Tasdron, "and yet another, for our other guest, who has not yet arrived."

"Yes, Master," said Peggy.

"I trust," said Tasdron, looking at his slave, "that he will arrive."

"I trust so, my Master," she whispered, trembling. She then rose to her feet and, taking the tray, with a rustle of bells, frightened, almost fled from the room.

I smiled. It would certainly be in her best interest for Aemilianus, Captain in Ar's Station, to have accepted her invitation to our meeting. If he did not do so, she would doubtless be whipped, and well.

"Who is this mysterious guest, whom we are expecting?" asked Callisthenes.

"One whom it is important that you meet," said Calli machus.

"Very well," smiled Callisthenes.

There was then a knock on the alley door, a firm knock. It was struck three times.

We glanced at one another. Glyco pulled his cloak about him, concealing the white and gold of his robes. Callisthenes, too, seeing this action, drew his cloak about himself, concealing the insignia of Port Cos. Tasdron rose to his feet and went through the door, and down the corridor to the alley door. The rest of us, too, rose to our feet.

In a moment Tasdron had reappeared in the room.

"Enter," said Tasdron.

A tall man, carrying an unmarked helmet, entered. He threw back the hood of a long, brown traveling cloak he wore. I detected the sound of a sheathed blade beneath the cloak. He closed the door behind him, and regarded us. His hair was brown, and cut short at the back of his neck. He was smoothly shaven. His jaw was square, his eyes clear.

"I am Tasdron, proprietor of this tavern, who has invited you here," said Tasdron.

"I am Jason," I said. "I commonly work on the docks in Victoria."

"I am Glyco, of the Merchants," said Glyco.

"I am Callimachus," said Callimachus, adding, "of the Warriors."

"I know of only one Callimachus, of the Warriors," said the man, "one who was once a captain in Port Cos."

"Who is he?" inquired Callisthenes of Tasdron. His voice had not been pleasant. We were all on our feet. I noted the right hand of Callisthenes had slipped within his cloak, to the hilt of the sword which hung there.

The right hand of the newcomer, too, was then on the hilt of his own weapon.

"We are all folk met in the throes of a common plight," said Tasdron.

"Who is he?" asked the newcomer, of Tasdron, nodding toward Callisthenes.

There was a small sound at the door, and the newcomer, instantly, backed against the wall, watching us.

Peggy entered, with the extra cups.

Tasdron sighed audibly.

Peggy, the two cups on a small tray, turned about, seeing the newcomer.

Swiftly she knelt before him, putting her head down. I saw that she remembered well what he had done to her.

"The slave," said the man.

"Yes," said Tasdron.

"I see that I am in the right place," said the man.

"Yes," said Tasdron. Then he said to Peggy, "Serve."

"Yes, Master," she said. She rose to her feet and then went to the low table and, kneeling there, put the cups on the table.

"Was she good?" asked Tasdron.

"Yes," said the man. "She was paga hot."

Peggy put down her head, reddening. The properties of slaves are discussed openly by masters.

"For what have I been invited to this meeting?" asked the man.

"That we may be of mutual assistance in a project of great common interest," said Tasdron.

"Who is he?” asked the man, gesturing with his head toward Callisthenes.

"Who is he?" asked Callisthenes, menacingly, of Tasdron.

I tensed. I saw the hand of Callimachus move subtly toward his sword.

"Who is he?" asked the newcomer, indicating Callisthenes.

"Let us be patient," said Tasdron.

"I am Callisthenes, Captain of Port Cos," said Callisthenes.

"I am Aemilianus, Captain in Ax's Station," said the newcomer.

Two cloaks, as one, were hurled back. Revealed then in the back room of the tavern were the insignias of Port Cos and of Ar's Station. Two swords, as one, leapt from their sheaths. The girl screamed. I stepped back.

"Port Cos!" cried Callisthenes.

"Glorious Ar!" cried Aemilianus.

But no sooner had the blades crossed then both seemed suddenly, inexplicably, in a flash of sparks, to fly upward. Both men stepped back. Callimachus stood between them. It was his blade which had struck both steels upward.

"You are strong," said Aemilianus to Callimachus.

Callimachus sheathed his steel.

"If you would strike someone, Aemilianus, Captain of Ar's Station, strike me," he said. Then he turned to Callisthenes. "Will you strike me, old friend?" he asked.

Callisthenes hesitated.

"Is this not a trap?" asked Aemilianus.

"Our greatest danger," said Callimachus, "is that we should be as foes to one another."

"Captains," begged Glyco, "put up your steel."

"She lured me here," said Aemilianus, gesturing toward Peggy with the Gorean blade. She shrank back, half naked in the bit of silk she wore. She knew that the slightest touch of that wicked Gorean blade could part her flesh.

"She was merely the instrument wherewith we extended our invitation," said Tasdron.

"Of what city are you?" Aemilianus asked Glyco.

"Of Port Cos," he said.

"And you?" asked Aemilianus of Callimachus.

"I am that Callimachus, of the Warriors, of whom I gather you once heard. Yes, I, too, am of Port Cos."

Aemilianus backed up a step.

"Jason and I," said Tasdron, "are of Victoria. Victoria is neutral ground between Ar's Station and Port Cos. You are both, Callisthenes and you, here met on neutral ground."

It interested me that Tasdron had, without even thinking about it, spoken of me as of Victoria. I, myself, had never given the matter much thought. I supped that I was, though, in a sense, of Victoria It was here, surely, that I was living and working. Yet to live and work in a place, and to be of a place, are, in Gorean thinking, quite different things. I wondered if I were of Victoria. I thought perhaps it was not impossible.

"I am prepared to sell my life dearly," said Aemilianus.

"You are not in danger," said Tasdron, "or, at least, in no greater danger than the rest of us."

"You played your part well, Slave," sneered Aemilianus to Peggy. "Will you receive a candy, lighter chains, a larger kennel?"

She shrank back, putting her hand before her mouth.

"Or will I survive," he asked, "to teach you punishments thought suitable by a man of Ar for a female slave?"

Visibly, the girl trembled.

"We mean you no harm," I said to Aemilianus. "Peggy," I said, "go to the Captain and kneel before him, and bare your breasts to his sword."

She looked wildly to Tasdron, her master, and, interestingly, to Callimachus. She looked to Tasdron, of course, because he was her legal master, her owner. In looking to Callimachus, on the other hand, she had revealed, inadvertently, not even understanding what she had done, that he was in her heart her master, and that she was, in her heart, his slave.

"Do so," said Tasdron.

"Do so," said Callimachus. She was, after all, only a slave.

Peggy rose to her feet and went, head down, to kneel before the startled Aemilianus. Then, at his feet, she lifted her head, and, with her small hands, kneeling straight, parted her yellow silk. She knelt then before him, a helpless slave, as she had been commanded, her breasts bared before his sword.

I saw Tasdron smile. He had not failed to notice that Peggy had glanced, terrified, earlier, to Callimachus. He now realized that one of his girls, Peggy, was, in effect, the helpless love slave of Callimachus. I do not think that this displeased him. Indeed, such information can be of great use in managing a girl.

Aemilianus, puzzled, lowered the point of his sword. He looked at us.

"We mean you no harm," I told him.

“This is not a trap?" asked Aemilianus.

"No," I told him.

"Callisthenes," said Callimachus, turning to the captain of Port Cos, "is it your intention to strike me with your sword."

"No," said Callisthenes. "Of course not."

"Then put up your sword," said Callimachus.

Callisthenes sheathed his sword. A moment later the sword of Aemilianus, too, rested in its sheath.

"Come and sit at the table," said Tasdron. "We have much to discuss."

We all, then, sat about the table.

"Fix your silk," said Tasdron to Peggy, "and go to the side of the room. Kneel there. If we need anything, you will be summoned."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Do you wish her, instead, to remove her silk, and to lick and serve you, as we eat and talk," inquired Tasdron of Aemilianus.

This sort of thing is sometimes done at Gorean suppers. Each male has a naked slave girl who is in attendance on him during the supper. She licks and kisses him, and fetches for him, and may even put food in his mouth. It is not unpleasant to be served by a naked, collared beauty in this fashion.

"We are not to be all so served, I gather," said Aemilianus.

"I do not think that would be wise," said Tasdron.

"Then I shall myself, of course, forgo the pleasure," said he.

"That is best," admitted Tasdron, "for there are serious things of which to speak."

I smiled to myself. It was true that slave girls were often distractive. It is difficult for a man to keep his mind or his hands off them. They are, of course, imbonded, easily the most desirable of women.

"How much does she know?" asked Aemilianus.

"Very little," said Tasdron.

"Keep her ignorant," said Aemilianus.

"Of course," said Tasdron.

I looked to Peggy, at the side of the room, several feet away. She had now closed her silk. She moved slightly, and there was a sound of the bells. Then she knelt very still, that she not attract attention to herself.

"Speak softly," said Tasdron.

"Very well," said Callisthenes.

"Very well," said Aemilianus.

Peggy was very beautiful. She could not overhear our conversations. She would be kept in ignorance. She was a slave.

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