"You might perhaps have joined with those of Cos," had said a fellow, "in the fighting. Why did you not do so?
"The wall needed defending," I has said. "One thing led to another." "Ad you not held the wall as long as you did," had said Aemilianus. "And had you not further delayed Cos at the gate, and on the walkway, the day would have been finished long before the arrival of Calliodorus."
Several men had assented to this.
"It was nothing," I had said.
Back by the port side of the stairs leading to the helm deck, a few feet from where Aemilianus sat, knelt Shirley, his beautiful blond slave. No longer was she so pale and drawn as before. Now she was considerably freshened by rest and food. Her blond hair which had been closely cropped, if not shaved, early in the siege of Ar's Station was now growing out. And, already, with the rest and food, her beauty gave hints of returning to a voluptuousness that brings high prices on a slave block, and can drive a master half mad with passion. Too, looking at her, I realized that Aemilianus, too, must be feeling much better, and much stronger. She was in chains. Though the girl loves the master with all her heart and would never dream of fleeing from him, absurd though such a dream might be on Gor, given the branding, the collaring, the closeness of the society, and such, she knows that she is upon occasion to be put in chains. In this act is symbolized his desire of her, that she is worth chaining and keeping. And in this act is symbolized his power over her. Despite their love, she is still his, and a slave.
Even the gentlest and kindest of masters has absolute power over the slave. She is no less owned by him that she would be by the cruelest brute on Gor. Elated and reassured then is the woman that she is chained, in this finding continuing evidence of her master's desire for her, his passion for her, his prizing of her, his determination to keep her for himself. And for her part, she rejoices that she is helpless to escape him, that she truly belongs to him, that she is truly his, legally and otherwise, and that she must, as she intensely desires to do, continue to live for service and love. It is not merely pleasant to own a slave, to dress her as you please, if you wish to permit her clothing, to have her at your bidding, to do with her as you please; it is exalting. The man who has not owned a slave has no conception of the maximums of sexuality, nor has the woman who has not been owned.
"How is my old friend Callimachus, commander of the forces of the Vosk League?" asked Aemilianus of Calliodorus. The body sovereign in the Vosk League, incidentally, at least as I understand it, is its High Council, which is composed of representatives from the member towns.
This Calliodorus, I gathered, then, whoever he was, would be the appointee of that council.
"Hard at work at his desk, attending to numerous administrative duties," said Calliodorus.
"Doubtless he will also be certain to be publicly visible in Victoria," smiled Aemilianus.
"As would you in his situation," smiled Calliodorus.
"Doubtless he will be astonished to learn of yesterday's action at Ar's Station. "Doubtless," agreed Calliodorus. "We may rest assured, of course, that he will conduct a careful investigation."
Aemilianus laughed.
The results of this investigation, I gathered, might prove to be inconclusive. We heard the sound of chain and saw the "first of the two females to be fetched forth."
It was she in the improvised hood.
She was led forth, before us, in her small steps, by a hand on her left arm. Then she was sat on the deck, before Aemilianus.
She sat there, hooded. I do not think she was sure, actually, where she was, except that she had presumably been conducted further aft, or if anyone were about.
She sat there for a moment, listening. We were silent.
No longer wore she the leather collar, with its leash. No longer were her hands thonged behind her.
But she was in sirik.
The metal collar was fastened on her throat. From it a long chain, dangled downward. To this chain, near her waist, was attached another chain, terminating at each end with a wrist ring, into which rings her wrists had been placed and locked. At the end of the chain dangling from the collar, to which the wrist-ring was attached, was an ankle-ring chain, terminating at each end with an ankle ring, into which her ankles had been placed and locked. The neck chain was rather long and if she were to stand some of it would have lain upon the deck. The device permits of numerous adjustments. As it was now adjusted, her wrists had some twelve inches of play, her ankles some fourteen inches of play. The smallness of her steps had been a function of the current adjustment of her ankle chaining.
She sat on the deck. She felt the ankle rings and the chain between them, and the neck chain, and then, with each hand, she tried to slip the wrist ring from the opposite wrist. She could not, of course, begin to do so. She was exploring the device. Then she put her hands on the neck chain and moved up it, with her fingers, and pulled it against its staple on the collar. Then she felt the staple, jerked the chain again against it, and convinced herself that it was well secured there. Then she felt, wonderingly, the collar itself. It was well on her, and locked. She seemed puzzled, and frightened.
The device had been only put on her a few moments ago. This was the first time, I gathered, that she had worn slave chains.
She probably had no idea how beautiful she looked in them.
Although she could now reach her hood and gag, given the length of the neck chain, which permitted her to lift her chained wrists to her head, she did not, of course, do so. She would not dare to so much as touch them, let alone remove them. She was not unfamiliar with Gorean disciplines.
"Kneel," said Aemilianus, gently.
Swiftly she knelt.
She began to tremble. The chains made small sounds.
I gathered that she did not know before whom she knelt. Also, interestingly, absurdly, it seemed that she was not altogether sure of her condition and status, obvious though it must be to anyone who looked upon her.
Aemilianus made a small sign to Calliodorus.
"You may put your head to the deck," said Calliodorus.
The girl did so, putting her palms to the deck.
"You may raise it," he said.
She raised her head. She was then kneeling as before, amongst us.
"Free her mouth," said Calliodorus.
I crouched beside the girl and undid the hood and pushed it up, and fastened it then as a half hood on her. In this way the effectiveness of the hood as a blindfold had not been compromised, for even an instant. I then untied the gag strips from the back of her neck, and pulled away the gag. I then, carefully, delicately, removed the mass of sopped wadding from her mouth. I put it on the deck beside her, heavy and sodden, with the rest of the gag. In this way these things were at hand, and her mouth might then, at our convenience, if we wished, be restored swiftly to its former condition of helpless closure. "You are not branded," observed Calliodorus.
"No! No!" she cried eagerly.
"Do you wish to live?" he inquired.
"Yes!" she said, fervently.
"Are you, or have you ever been, a woman of Ar's Station?" he asked. "Yes!" she said.
"How, came it then," he asked, "that you were in bonds on the piers, leashed and thonged, hooded and gagged?"
"An escaping prisoner did such things to me," she said. "Hooded, I was not recognized. Gagged, I could not make my plight known."
"Do you know what happened yesterday on the piers?" he asked.
"I have only a very imperfect understanding of what occurred," she said. "Twice on the piers I fainted, and was unconscious. I was awakened by the kicks of free women and conducted helplessly aboard this vessel."
"What do you think occurred on the piers?" he asked.
"Ships came to the piers," she said, "and I think that many on the piers, including myself, were embarked aboard them."
"Cosian ships?" he said.
"I do not know," she said, miserably. "There were Cosian ships about." "But surely you have learned much since you were brought on board," he said. "I was kept with women," she said, "who were ordered to silence." "What do you think was the fate of the women who brought you on board?" he asked.