“It will be brief,” said Julian, angrily.
Otto noted a bronze, representing Orak, the king of the gods, in the Telnarian pantheon. Orak was standing, looking outward, a great spear grasped in his right hand, its butt on the ground. At his feet, beside him, facing in the same direction, kneeling naked, collared and in chains, her head lifted, as though she might have just been addressed, was an image of Dira, the goddess of slave girls.
Many slave girls, he knew, prayed to Dira, that she might help them to be more pleasing to their masters.
To be sure, she could not always hear their prayers for sometimes she must be attending to her own masters.
Often she was busy, bearing wine and such.
Too, more than once she had been punished by Orak or others, even she, for having failed on some occasion to be fully pleasing.
Even the fair back of Dira, it seems, had felt the lash.
Sometimes the fault was for having interceded for an unworthy slave girl.
It is little wonder she had her devotees.
“Stop here,” said the servitor.
At the purple-hung doorway there was a detection device, through which, slowly, Julian, Otto, and the servitor passed. Apparently its operator, at the desk console, screened from those at the device, did not detect anything calling for attention. No alarm, incidentally, would sound if there were some difficulty, for that might alert the individual, or individuals, at the device. Any difficulty would be registered by a silent, visual signal, read by the concealed operator. A variety of expedients, depending on the device, might then be activated, ranging from destructive beams to the sudden descent, traplike, of plastic cages.
Otto brushed away a fly, back, away from his head.
“Enter,” said the servitor.
The two great doors, with the purple hangings, swung back, and Otto saw, before him, at the end of a long carpet, on a dais, in a great room, four individuals on tall, solemn thrones.
“The empress mother,” whispered Julian, “the emperor, and the two sisters of the emperor.”
There were several other individuals, as well, within the chamber, which was lofty, and lit from windows high in its dome, through which light, in shafts, swarming with dust, fell. Otto’s attention was first, however, taken by the figures on the dais.
“Julian, your cousin, your majesty,” said the servitor, “and guest, one Ottonius, an auxiliary.”
“Have you brought me a toy?” asked the boy on the throne.
“No,” said Julian, angrily. He then addressed himself to the empress mother. “We have been waiting long,” he said.
The servitor gasped, as did several others in the room.
“There is no toy?” asked the boy, turning on the throne, looking at one of the men near the foot of the dais.
“Your majesty,” said the man, drawing from his dark robes a small globe, filled with numerous, tiny, brightly colored particles.
“See?” He turned the globe about, and the particles within it changed their position, seeming to float and swirl, and fall about, in a thousand manners.
“Give it to me!” said the boy, and, in an instant, it was within his grasp.
“You see, your cousin Julian loves you,” said the darkly clad man. “He brought you a toy.”
“No!” said the boy. “It is from you! It is from you, Iaachus!”
“You are right, your majesty,” said Julian, angrily. “It is from your dear Iaachus. I did not bring you a toy.”
“You should have brought him a toy,” said the empress mother, a stern, short, dour woman, with a wrinkled face, oddly contrasting with the stiff richness of her robes. “You know he is fond of toys.”
The emperor’s sisters exchanged amused glances.
The empress mother’s throne was just slightly behind that of the emperor, on the emperor’s right.
“Pretty!” said the emperor, turning the small globe about in his hands.
The emperor, Otto guessed, was some fifteen or sixteen years of age.
He had a sallow complexion, and there was something at the side of his mouth, which seemed to be saliva.
“I have come here on imperial business,” said Julian, addressing himself to the empress mother, “a business which, I believe, has been made clear to you in advance.”
Otto looked about the room. There were some well-armed guards in the room, but most of those present seemed to be civilians, of great wealth and station. This he conjectured from their garments and adornments. None of their apparel, of course, matched the richness and ornateness of that of those on the dais, that of the empress mother, that of the emperor, that of his two sisters. The women looked spoiled and pampered. The men looked bored and weak. He did not think the women would know how to give a man pleasure, but he supposed they could be taught, if necessary, with the whip. He was much surprised at the appearance of the men, that they should be counted among, as he supposed they were, the aristocracy of the empire. How different they were from the aristocracy of the barbarians, powerful men, hungry men, covetous, lustful, jealous, possessive, greedy, ruthless, ambitious, warlike, inured to hardships, accustomed to danger, eager for gain, zealous for adventure. I see now, thought Otto, how it is that men such as these need their armies and navies, others to do their fighting for them. Some, he thought, could not even lift the two-handed sword which, in the hands of a strong man, with two blows, could cut a horse in two, or the war ax which might with five blows shatter foot-thick timbers and the bar behind. The only man, other than the guards, who seemed to command attention, and awareness, was the darkly clad figure called Iaachus. His intelligence, Otto conjectured, would be extremely high. His influence, Otto suspected, would be considerable.
“Yes,” said the empress mother, “your request has been considered.”
The name of the empress mother was Atalana.
“Favorably, I trust,” said Julian.
The emperor continued to play with the toy, fascinated by the continually shifting variegations of its interior.
The name of the emperor was Aesilesius.
“Pretty, pretty,” said the emperor.
“Yes,” said the empress mother.
“I am awaiting your decision,” said Julian.
Otto, standing behind Julian, his arms folded, considered the women in the room. He found them, pale as they were, of much greater interest than the men. Many were doubtless wives of senators, for most here would surely be of the senatorial class, but his attention was drawn more to the younger women. Some might be daughters of others in the room, but several, he supposed, would have some other function, such as that of serving as attendants to, or companions to, the empress mother, and the sisters of the emperor. They would be, in a sense, I suppose, to have recourse to a familiar expression, ladies-in-waiting. The eyes of some of these rested upon him. It was seldom, he supposed, that they had seen one here who was so far removed from their own class and kind. But he sensed, too, in the eyes of several of them, he was regarded with more than mere, or idle, curiosity. Perhaps they were curious to know what it might be like, to be in the arms of such a man, pressed helplessly to him, knowing that they would be used to quench, if only for a time, a passion greater than any they had ever known. Perhaps they wondered what it would be like to stand before him, in his tent, awaiting his pleasure, and then being commanded to divest themselves, completely, of those impediments to his assessment. Perhaps they wondered what it would be like to be examined by such a man, frankly, intimately, turned about, and posed, considered. Perhaps they wondered what it might be like to belong to such a man. Some of the women in the room wore simple, long gowns, white and woolen. They were sleeveless gowns. The feet of these women were bare. They, he did not doubt, though they wore no obvious sign of bondage, were slaves. He saw the parted lips of some, as they gazed upon him. Another, surreptitiously, thrust a bit to one side the strap on her gown, that at the left shoulder. It was the signal of a female in heat. He was familiar with it from the house of Pulendius. They were doubtless starved for the touch of masters. He did not doubt that beneath their simple gowns, commonly on the left thigh, beneath the hip, there would be a brand. He then let his eye rove to the two sisters of the emperor. Both were older than the emperor, who had perhaps been born late in the mother’s life. One was perhaps twenty-five and the other twenty-three. The older one was taller, and blond. Her throne was the farthest to the left, as one looked toward the dais. The younger sister was shorter and dark-haired. Her throne was just to the right of her sister’s throne, as one would look toward the dais. The name of the older sister was Viviana. The name of the younger sister was Alacida.