There was suddenly a scuffle near the far ramp and a guardsman seized a woman who had suddenly turned about and attempted to run.
"Bring her forward," said Talena.
The guardsman, who now had her well in hand, holding her from behind, by the upper arms, literally lifting her off the surface of the platform, carried her forward, before Talena. The woman's small bared feet were five inches off the wood. She was held as helplessly as a doll. The guardsmen then put her down. "Strip her," said Talena.
This was done, and the woman was flung to her knees before the Ubara of Ar. "Mercy, my Ubara!" cried the woman, lifting her hands, clasped, to Talena.
"What is your name, child?" asked Talena.
"Fulvia!" she wept. "Fulvia, Lady of Ar!"
"We are all ladies of Ar," said Talena.
"Mercy, Ubara!" she wept, lifting her clasped hands. "Spare us! Spare your sisters of Ar!"
"Alas, my child," cried Talena, "we are all guilty. All of us are implicated in the iniquities of the infamous Gnieus Lelius. Why had we not adequately opposed him? Why did we follow his heinous policies?"
"You opposed him, beloved Ubara!" cried a man. "You tried to warn us! You did what you could! We would not listen to you! It is we, the others, who are guilty, not you!"
This sort of cry was taken up elsewhere in the crowd, as well. There were numerous protests concerning Talena's apparent willingness to accept, and share, the guilt of Ar.
"No," cried Talena. "I should have acted. Rather than witness the shame of Ar. I should have plunged a dagger into my own breast!"
"No! No!" cried men.
"It would have been a tiny, if futile, symbolic gesture," she cried, "but I did not do it. Thus I, too, an guilty!"
Roars of protest greeted this remark on the part of the Ubara. I saw several men weeping.
"You chose to live, to work for the salvation of Ar!" cried a man.
"We own everything to you, beloved Ubara!" cried another.
"And now," said Talena, "in spite of all, and the most outrageous provocation, our brother, Lurius of jad, Ubar of Cos, has spared our city. The Home Stone is safe! The Central Cylinder stands! How shall we make amends to our Cosian brother? What gift would be great enough to thank him for our Home Stone, our lives and honor? What sacrifice would be too much to express our gratitude?"
"No gift would be too great!" cried men.
"No sacrifice would be too great!" cried others.
"And now, my child," said Talena to Lady Fulvia, "do you begin to understand why you have been requested to come here this day?"
Lady Fulvia, it seemed, could not speak. She looked up, frightened, at her Ubara.
"Surely you regret the crimes of Ar," said Talena. "Else why would you have come here, as a penitent?"
Lady Fulvia put her head down.
The women, of course, had been ordered to report. Indeed, they had been ordered to report yesterday afternoon to the great theater, from whence, to their surprse, they had been transported in cage wagons, actually locked, to the Stadium of Blades more than a pasang away. Beneath the stands of the Stadium of Blades were numerous holding areas, suitable for wild beasts, dangerous men, criminals, and such. In such areas, the women, having been checked, arranged and counted, were incarcerated for the night. They had also, at that time, been given the robes of penitents, that they might spend the night in them. They had then, this morning, been transported to a location on Gate Street, in the vicinity of the Plaza of Tarns. Some women who had failed to report to the great theater were brought later that evening to the Stadium of Tarns by guardsmen, both regulars and auxiliaries. I myself, with some other auxiliaries, had brought in two of these women. One we had had to tie and leash, almost like a rebellious slave girl, save that slave girls are seldom rebellious more than once.
"Surely you wish to do your best to expiate the crimes of Ar?" said Talena to the kneeling woman.
Her interlocutor was silent.
"Are you not eager to atone for the crimes of Ar, to make amends for her inquities?" asked the Ubara, kindly.
Lady Fulvia was silent.
"Do you not wish to do what you can to set these things right?" asked the Ubara. Silence.
"Speak, you slut!" cried a man from the side, angrily.
"Please!" cried Talena, holding forth her hand. "Desist, noble citizen! You speak of a free woman of Ar!"
"Yes, my Ubara," said Lady Fulvia.
"You do not wish to be selfish, do you?" asked the Ubara.
"No, Ubara," she wept.
"And is this sacrifice we ask of you, in the name of the city, and its Home Stone, any more than that which I myself was prepared to make?"
"No, my Ubara," wept the Lady Fulvia.
Talena, with a small, reluctant, almost tragic gesture, indicated that lady Fulvia might be taken to the side.
"Next," called a scribe.
The small wrists of Fulvia, now kneeling near me, her knees about at my chest level, on the platform, were locked in manacles. In another moment she was pulled down the ramp and knelt before me. She seemed numb, in shock.
"Wake up," said a fellow.
"The cut of the whip is excellent for waking them up," said a man.
I added her to the chain with a joining rope.
She looked at the ring, and the chain to which she was now attached.
"And when they awaken they find themselves in their place," said another. "Yes," said another.
"Stand, move," said the auxiliary opposite me.
"I would like to have her," said a fellow.
"She will go to a Cosian," said a fellow, bitterly.
"I wonder if the women of Cos are so desirable," said another.
In my opinion, though I did not speak, not having been addressed, they were. I had, from time to time, used, rented or owned various women of Cos, or former women of Cos. I had found them superb. Phoebe, of course, had been Cosian. What the women of Ar and those of Cos have in common, of course, despite their numerous political, cultural and dialectical differences, is that they are all females. Stripped in a slave market it is hard to tell the difference, one from the other. But this is true of all women. Any woman, properly mastered, makes an excellent slave.
"No," said Talena, again. She had now, in the three or four Ehn which had passed since the selection of the Lady Fulvia, rejected four women. I gather that this may have been to compensate, before the crowd, for the selection of the Lady Fulvia, to indicate that in spite of the Lady Fulvia's concerns and protests, how very few women, actually, all in all, were being selected.
Talena seemed then prepared to dismiss another woman, for she had her hand half lifted, as though, with the customary small gesture, to do so, when one of her counselors, a Cosian, near her, in the uniform of a high captain, bent quickly toward her, his eyes glinting on the female in question, she standing before the Ubara, the robes of the penitent about her ankles. I saw the female stiffen, suddenly, almost in disbelief. At the same time a guardsman seized her from behind by the upper arms. She moved a little bit but found herself helpless in his grasp. Then, as she gasped, her arms were pulled back a little, rather behind her, this accentuating her figure.
"You are chosen," said Talena.
The woman uttered a small noise, as of disbelief or protest, but was quickly conducted to the place of manacling.
In what the Cosian had said to the Ubara I had made out the expression "slave curves'.
Manacles were put on the woman.
I saw the Cosian's eyes still on her as she was manacled. I suspected she would not long remain on the chain, after I had added her to it. When she was before me, having descended the ramp and being knelt in place, I considered her. Yes, she had excellent slave curves. She would doubtless soon learn that those curves were such as would be muchly exploited by masters. Then I had added her to the chain, and she had been ordered to her feet, and moved to the next position. "No," said Talena, again and again.
I began to suspect then that the quotas, whatever they might be, had perhaps been reached for the day. But then another woman was selected, and subsequently manacled and, in due course, added to the coffle.