Rebels of Gor (70 page)

“I am unimportant,” I said.

“Not to the cavalry,” he said.

“Matters pause then,” I said. “The cavalry is not defeated. It is a threat. Yet it is quiescent. What then is the purpose of our discussion?”

“I would like a guarantee of the inactivity, the neutrality, of the cavalry,” he said.

“Do you not have that, in your view, while I am your prisoner?” I said.

“I want more than that, of course,” he said.

“What more?” I asked.

“The cavalry itself,” he said. “I want its eyes, and its wings.”

“Perhaps that would be a suitable subject for a further discussion,” I said.

“No!” said Tajima, shocked.

“Tarl!” protested Pertinax, who had been silent until now.

“Your young friends,” said Lord Yamada, “have much to learn of the ways of the world.”

“True,” I said.

Tajima and Pertinax were silent, darkly so.

“Nothing need be decided on at present, of course,” said Lord Yamada. “But it is my hope that you will all, at your leisure, think upon what I have suggested.”

“We shall do so,” I assured the shogun.

“Meanwhile,” said the shogun, “I trust you have all been well cared for.”

“It would be nice to leave a room, at will,” said Pertinax, “even a pleasant, well-appointed room.”

“Yes,” I said, “I am sure we have all been well cared for.”

“Perhaps you would like a slave sent to your quarters, for your comfort and convenience, and pleasure,” said Lord Yamada.

“No,” we said.

“Lord,” I said.

“Tarl Cabot, tarnsman?” he said.

“We have been your guests for days,” I said. “I do not understand why only now we have been summoned to share tea with you. Our small discussion might have taken place days ago.”

“But it did not,” he said.

“No,” I said.

“Why not, do you think?” he asked.

“There is something special about today,” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Perhaps,” I said, “you have by now offered the truce, and the bounty for surrender, and your overtures have been rejected, as expected.”

“Excellent,” he said.

“Accordingly,” I said, “the projected ultimatum was issued.”

“Yes,” said Lord Yamada.

“Two days ago?” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Then,” I said, “tomorrow is the third day following the issuance of the ultimatum, the day on which the iron dragon will fly.”

“At dawn,” said Lord Yamada, “the iron dragon will spread its wings. The forces of Temmu are trapped in the holding, and the holding will be destroyed.”

“Unfortunate,” I said.

“Most unfortunate,” said Lord Yamada. “More tea?”

“I have rethought the matter of the slave,” I said. “Please have one sent to me this evening. Too, please have her sent naked as that will save time. Too, I like them in collars.”

“It will be so,” said Lord Yamada. “Would you like points inside the collar, or, perhaps, a high metal collar with points on the upper rim, so that she keeps her head up?”

“A simple, plain, comfortable collar will do,” I said, “as long as it is locked on her neck.”

“It will be so,” said Lord Yamada.

“Will you excuse me!” asked Tajima.

“And me!” said Pertinax.

“Of course,” said Lord Yamada. He then glanced to the Ashigaru who were behind Tajima and Pertinax. “Please conduct our young friends to the guards outside, that they may be returned safely, and without incident, to their quarters.”

Lord Yamada then looked at me.

“More tea?” he said.

“Yes,” I said.

Chapter Forty-Nine

I Find a Use for the Pani Pillow;

I Depart the Incarceration Chamber;

I Enlist Allies

I had dined well on roast vulo, rice, and chestnuts.

To one side lay several strips of cloth, which I had torn from a coverlet. The room in which I was incarcerated, with its heavy door and its barred window, was not, on the whole, untypical of Pani taste. It was pleasant, simple, and uncluttered. It contained one screen, by means of which the room might be divided, two chests, against one wall, that to the left as one would enter, for storage, a low, rectangular table, and some woven floor mats. Near the sleeping mat had been one of the heavy, rounded, wooden Pani pillows. I had never become accustomed to sharing my rest with one of these hard, sturdy, but, viewed from a distance, rather attractive, objects. It did not constitute my idea of a pillow. I preferred to leave such matters to the Pani themselves. I thought, however, that I might put it to use this evening.

I had scarcely finished the final chestnut, which I had been saving for dessert, when I heard steps outside the door. When I was visited in my room, usually to be served food, it was brought by a slave, attended by an Ashigaru. It was my hope that a similar arrangement would be in place this evening. When I was conducted outside the room, as was the case for sharing tea with the shogun this afternoon, there were usually six Ashigaru in attendance. That would not do at all, for this evening.

The steps seemed to be those of a single male, which was all to the good. I assumed the promised slave would be at hand, either preceding the fellow or heeling him, depending on his decision. I would not hear the slave, of course, as she would be barefoot. I had not specified the nature of the slave but I hoped she would be a barbarian, namely, a typical Gorean
kajira
, such as was brought to the islands on the ship of Tersites, primarily as gift objects, sales objects, and trade objects. Such would be well aware of her collar, and its meaning. Such would most likely be terrified to disobey a free male, particularly one of her own race, who would see her uncompromisingly as the slave she was. Gorean masters are seldom lenient with their slaves. They may love their slaves, but they treat them as slaves. They never permit them to forget that they are slaves, only slaves. I was not certain how a Pani slave might react. I trusted that not all barbarian slaves had been sent north with the troops. Also, given the shogun’s likely sensitivity to such matters, I supposed he would have had the thoughtfulness to supply me with a barbarian, as my taste ran to such, and, presumably, in his thoughtfulness, one of unusual loveliness. It is pleasant, of course, to have slaves at one’s disposal. What male does not want one or more? On Gor, many males have a clear understanding of what women are for, and how they may be uncompromisingly put to the purposes of their sex.

There was a polite knock on the door.

It opened, of course, only from the outside.

“Yes?” I said, pleasantly.

“I bring you a girl for your pleasure, noble one,” said the voice.

“She is, I trust,” I said, “a barbarian.”

“Yes, noble one,” said the voice.

This pleased me.

“Is she beautiful?” I asked. It seemed well to inquire into this.

“Yes, noble one,” said the voice, “as barbarians go.”

“Is she as I specified?” I asked.

“Yes, noble one,” he said.

“Naked?” I said.

“Yes, noble one.”

“But collared?”

“Yes, noble one, she is collared.”

I bent down and picked up the heavy Pani pillow, of hard wood.

I heard the door unbolted, and then heard the two security bars drawn back.

“Lift her in your arms, and carry her within,” I said, “and place her on the sleeping mat.”

I saw the door swung back.

I stepped to one side.

I was sure now the Ashigaru had the slave in his arms. He paused at the threshold, presumably to locate the sleeping mat. There would be no difficulty in this, as I had placed it prominently before the dividing screen.

The Ashigaru, the slave lifted in his arms, stepped boldly into the room and boldly into the heavy block of curved wood that Pani were accustomed, however incredibly, to utilize as a pillow. The slave tumbled onto the floor, startled, crying out, and I administered a second blow to the stunned Ashigaru, this one to the back of the head.

I put aside the pillow and closed the door.

“No noise,” I said to the slave. “Absolute silence, if you would continue to live.”

She nodded, frightened, her lip trembling.

I cast her a swift glance, enough to determine that the shogun had exquisite taste, and was generous. Momentarily, she seemed about to cover her body with her hands, perhaps a reflex dating back to the time of her freedom, but withdrew her hands instantly, and swiftly, unbidden, frightened, knelt in first obeisance position, head to the floor, the palms of her hands on the floor, on each side of her head. As her hair had fallen forward, it was easy to see the collar on her neck, fastened not with a lock but a plug rivet.

“On all fours,” I said to her. “Crawl to the sleeping mat.”

She was then on the mat on all fours.

“
Bara
!” I snapped.

Instantly she assumed the
bara
position, prone, her ankles crossed, her wrists crossed behind her body, her head turned to the left, her cheek on the mat.

So simply a slave may be positioned, to be bound hand and foot.

“May I speak, Master?” whispered the slave.

“No,” I said.

I dragged the Ashigaru away, well into the room, and placed him behind the dividing screen. I did not expect individuals to be about at this Ahn, but it is hard to know about such things. Too, even after I left the room, and resecured the door, with the bolt, and the bars, someone might investigate. If so, the presence if the Ashigaru would not be immediately evident. I was satisfied, given the blows he had sustained, particularly the second, that he would be unconscious for some time. It was the first time, incidentally, that I had discovered a use for the Pani pillow. It served nicely as a club. I now removed the outer garments of the Ashigaru. I was under no delusion that I might be mistaken for an Ashigaru at close range, by either barbarians or Pani, but the case might be otherwise at a distance, and in ill-lit corridors. More importantly, considering my plan, I hoped that, in a certain situation, I might be identified as an Ashigaru simply on the basis of my garmenture. When one is unfamiliar with a life form, or disinterested in a life form, one is unlikely to be particularly discriminating where individuals of that life form are concerned. Who distinguishes one gray urt from another gray urt, and few would pay much attention to the difference between a gray urt and a red urt. They are all urts. I recalled that on the steel world of Agamemnon, I had often, at first, confused one Kur with another. Indeed, it had been difficult for me, at first, to distinguish a male Kur from a female Kur, a difficulty which would be incomprehensible amongst Kurii themselves. It might be mentioned, in passing, that no similar difficulty occurs amongst Kurii where humans are concerned. Any Kur can instantly tell a male human from a female human, in virtue of the radical sexual dimorphism characterizing the human species. After putting the outer garments of the Ashigaru to one side, together with the knife, a
tanto
, which I had removed from his sash, his only weapon, I used some of the strips of cloth torn from the coverlet, and fastened his ankles together, and then his wrists, behind him. I then, with more of the same materials, gagged him. Coming about the screen, the knife, and outer garments, of the Ashigaru in hand, I encountered the slave, still in
bara
, as she had not been given permission to break position. It took only a moment, as she was conveniently placed, to tie her ankles and wrists, and she then lay in
bara
, trussed. I then rolled her to her back, to get a better look at her. She had long, light brown hair, nearly blond. It was now, as I had turned her, about her head and face. I brushed it aside, to better examine her features. I thought, in many markets, she might fetch as much as two silver tarsks.

I then pulled her up by the hair to a sitting position.

“Oh!” she said.

“I remember you,” I said, “from the slave pen. You were rejected as several others, as a serving slave, to serve at the supper of Lord Yamada. You performed the slave girl’s trick, of having your hair about your body, and then bending over to loosen it, and then straightening up, head back, to fling it behind you, thus to startle us with the sudden revelation of your beauty.”

“Yes, Master,” she whispered, looking at me.

“You sought to achieve an advantage over your sister slaves,” I said, “who must display themselves as commanded, uniformly.”

“No!” she said.

“Oh!” she sobbed, cuffed.

“Do not lie to a free man, slave,” I said.

“Forgive me, Master,” she said.

She tried to back away, but could not do so, as my left hand was still in her hair.

“It earned you five lashes, as I remember,” I said.