Conspirators of Gor

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Lord Grendel!” I exclaimed.

He lifted his head, behind the heavy bars, but did not otherwise acknowledge my outburst.

A Kur guard crouched, as though somnolent, a few feet behind me, near the gated portal through which I had been admitted to the place of cells, the prison area, bearing the tray of food and drink. It was my first visit to this place.

“What are you doing here, Lord Grendel?” I asked. “The Lady Bina is in this place. Others, too. Where have you been? What has happened to you? I do not understand. I am sure the Lady Bina would desire to speak with you. I have seen the blind Kur in a feast room, but not you. How is it you are here?”

I heard sounds of Kur from the guard. They had a hint of menace about them. Though the guard seemed quiescent, even distant, I knew that those huge shaggy forms, sometimes almost like an enormous ball of muscle and fur with eyes, could spring alive in an instant, raging and snarling.

With an easy movement, and an extension of his long arm, the guard, turning about, unhooked a translator hanging on its chain of iron links from a peg on the wall behind him.

Again I heard some sounds in Kur, to my ears still little more than a bestial rumbling, reminiscent of sounds which one might expect from something like a larl, or sleen, but, oddly enough, different, seemingly articulated. Shortly thereafter, I heard, in Gorean, “You need not speak to him, kajira. He cannot understand you, he has no translator.”

“Yes, Master,” I said. “Thank you, Master. Forgive me, Master.”

The tray I bore was heavy.

The guard, who now had the translator slung about his neck, presumably that it might be convenient, as I was about, reached back and, with a small mallet, removed from a peg, struck a hanging bar, which emitted a sharp, clear note, in response to which signal a second Kur shortly appeared at the portal and, the gate open, entered. He carried a large bow-like device, with four tiered, horizontally placed quarrel guides, each guide containing its missile. There were four triggers on the device. The slotted quarrels were heavy, and of iron, almost like short javelins. The four cable tensions, tiered, were such that I supposed few but a Kur could have readied the weapon. It seemed to me a terrible weapon, one which might splinter beams, perhaps shatter rocks, but, also, I supposed that it complied with the weapon laws of the Priest-Kings. It was, in its way, a form of complex crossbow. It would have been difficult for a human to lift, and, if it were not mounted, to fire.

The guard, backed now by the second Kur, the armed Kur, motioned that Lord Grendel should retreat to the rear of his cell, which he did. The gate to the cell was then opened and I entered, bearing the tray. I put it down on the floor toward the center of the cell. Lord Grendel’s eyes watched me, closely. I knew he required no translator to understand me, and I knew, too, he could speak, in his way, Gorean. Clearly these things were not understood by the guard.

As I was preparing to withdraw, Lord Grendel said something in Kur to the guard.

The guard stood at the gate to the cell. I tried to slip past him, but was prevented from doing so. “Master?” I said.

“The prisoner would be groomed,” said the guard, by means of the translator. “Do you know how to groom?” he asked.

“Please, let me go,” I said.

“Human females on the steel worlds,” he said, “are often kept as pets, and groom their masters. I see no reason why a kajira, who is even less than a pet, might not do so, as well.”

“I am afraid,” I said.

“Do you not groom your masters?” he asked.

“We attend to them in all the ways of the slave,” I said. “We may dress them, tie their sandals, bathe them, and such.”

“It is an honor for you to do so, is it not?” he asked.

“Yes, Master,” I said. “It is a great honor and privilege for a slave to be permitted to serve her Master.”

“How much more so then,” said he, “for you to serve a Kur.”

“Let me go!” I begged.

I was thrust back in the cell.

“Groom him,” said the guard.

“How is this to be done?” I asked.

“You will be instructed,” he said.

He then backed through the gate and swung it shut. I ran to the gate and extended my hands and arms through the bars. “Please let me out!” I begged. “Let me out! Do not leave me alone with him! I am afraid!”

“I hope,” said the guard, “that the meal you brought is sufficient for the prisoner. Otherwise you may be eaten.”

“Let me out!” I begged.

I trusted this was a joke on the guard’s part, but I was not altogether sure of it.

“If you groom well,” said the guard, scratching at his side, “I may permit you to groom me, as well. On this world we miss our pets.”

He then spun about, hopping a little, which I took to be a sign of amusement. Shortly thereafter, the prisoner’s meal having been brought, and delivered, he, and his fellow, the large bow cradled in his arms, took their leave.

I hurried to Lord Grendel, and knelt before him. “Master,” I said.

“You are a clever slave,” he said. “You did well. I will be able, I am sure, to request your presence from time to time. You will be my eyes and ears.”

“I am only a slave,” I said.

“But a very pretty one,” he said.

“How would Master know?” I asked. He was, after all, a beast.

“I am part human,” he said. “You must forgive me. I cannot help that.”

“Can you see me, as a human male might see me,” I asked, “and have emotions, feelings, desires, such things?”

“Of course,” he said.

“I am afraid,” I said.

“Do not be afraid,” he said. “Why should I not be able to see how attractive you are, and how stimulating is your body?”

“Master!” I protested.

“Stimulating, indeed,” he said. “I expect that it, stripped and exhibited, well posed, well presented, would bring a good price off the slave block.”

“I did not know this sort of thing,” I said.

“What sort of thing?” he said.

“How you might see me, or others,” I said.

“You did not anticipate it?” he said.

“No, Master,” I said.

“You are quite fetching as you are,” he said, “your lineaments scarcely concealed, your neck in a collar.”

I began to tremble.

“That you are pretty, that you might be of interest to men, was important from the beginning to the Lady Bina,” he said, “who thought it might occasionally be found useful, for her purposes. Renting you out, or such. Now it seems I may rejoice in your charms, for I might, too, find some application for them.”

“I do not understand,” I said.

“Where men are,” he said, “kajirae are welcome.”

“Master?” I said.

“You, and through you, Jane and Eve, too, may prove useful.”

“I am afraid,” I said.

“You remember how to groom me?” he asked.

“Surely Master,” I said, “from the domicile, in the house of Epicrates, before contact was made with the blind Kur.”

“That was largely to leave my scent upon you,” he said, “which was done that my fellow, who was blind, would know a Kur scent, and follow you, and, of course, not be likely to kill you. Now, of course, it will be necessary to give you some training, as an actual Kur pet, the biting, the nibbling, the use of your teeth, the swallowing of lice, and such.”

“I could pretend that,” I said.

“With me, yes,” he said, “but with others, not so.”

“Others?” I said.

“My brethren,” he said, “miss their pets and the services performed by them. The kajirae here are for the men, and that has been made clear to my fellows, which intelligence does not please them.”

“I see,” I said.

“I trust it will not come to that,” he said. “But if they know you groom me, it may be easier for you to move about, amongst them. They are likely to think no more of you than the speechless Kur pets with which they are familiar.”

“‘Speechless’?” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “Who would teach an animal to speak?”

“I see,” I said.

“The Lady Bina was once such a pet,” he said.

“She speaks well, beautifully,” I said.

“I, and others, taught her,” he said.

“She can even read Gorean,” I said.

“She is quite intelligent, and quite beautiful as well,” he said.

“‘Beautiful’?” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“I cannot understand Kur,” I said.

“Much might be gathered by what you see,” he said.

“I do not know where the Lady Bina is being kept,” I said. “I think she may be with Astrinax. Our men may be domiciled separately, kept from one another. I am not sure. Perhaps they have liberty. I do not know. Jane, Eve, and I are mere kajirae. Little, if anything, is told to us.”

“We must learn what is going on in this place,” he said.

“Many areas are closed,” I said. “I think it will be impossible.”

“You saw the weapon borne by the second guard,” he said.

“Yes,” I said. I shivered.

“Thus,” he said, “Priest-Kings are still feared. Thus, there may be time to intervene.”

“In what?” I asked.

“That we must learn,” he said.

“I saw the blind Kur in the feasting room,” I said. “He was put apart from the others. Food was thrown to the floor, which he must strive to find.”

“His name,” said Lord Grendel, “is,” and then followed a syllable or two which was unintelligible to me.

“I cannot say that,” I said.

“They have given him no name for humans?”

“No,” I said.

“I feared so,” said Lord Grendel. “They are most likely done with him.”

“Jane knows of him, saw him in the feasting hall, and such,” I said. “She calls him Tiresias.”

“Let us so refer to him then,” said Lord Grendel.

“It is an ancient name, from Earth, she told me. From stories one supposes, but from a city which did exist, Thebes, the name of a blind soothsayer.”

“Very well, then,” said Lord Grendel, “Tiresias.”

“How is it,” I asked, “that he is free, and you are encelled?”

“Betrayal,” said Grendel. Then he said, abruptly, “Groom me!”

I heard the outer gate opened. Lord Grendel gathered me into his arms, and I thrust my face into his fur, biting and nibbling.

I lifted my face from the fur, to look through the bars. The two guards were there.

“Groom well, little kajira,” came from the first translator, “and perhaps you will not be eaten.”

I thrust my face again into the fur.

I then heard from a second translator, apparently back a little farther than the first. “Enjoy the tiny, furtive, crawling things.”

“Crack them between your teeth,” came from the first translator.

“Are they not delicious?” came from the second translator.

Shortly thereafter I heard the gate closed.

“They are gone,” said Lord Grendel.

I was terrified.

“You did well,” said Lord Grendel. “If we were home, I would cast you a pastry.”

“Tell me of your doings, Master,” I said. “How is it that you are here?”

“We must inform one another,” he said. “As you know I wished to save Tiresias, as we shall call him, and, too, end his killings in Ar. Accordingly, we brought him to the house of Epicrates. I wished to return him to his fellows, but not leave the Lady Bina unattended in Ar. She was reluctant for a time to leave Ar, but then, rather surprisingly, she found the journey congenial.”

“She expects, somehow,” I said, “with the help of Kurii, to become the Ubara of all Gor, an idea undoubtedly suggested to her, implanted in her, in your absence from the domicile, by Tiresias, an idea congenial to her naive and unrealistic ambitions.”

“Actually,” said Lord Grendel, “it is not as unrealistic as you might think. If Kurii should win Gor, they might indeed make her the Ubara of the planet, but, of course, they would not do so. They would no longer need her. She then, with other humans, would be enslaved or eaten.”

“There are humans here,” I said.

“Mercenaries who know nothing, who do not look beyond their fee,” he said, “or fools who believe they would be enriched by a Kur victory, in a world to be shared.”

“You figure in this somehow,” I said.

“I was prominent in the revolution,” he said. “I am well-known and influential on one of the steel worlds, the steel world of Arcesilaus, Theocrat of the World, Twelfth Face of the Nameless One. That world might be important for supplies and support, and exerting a broader influence on other steel worlds.”

“You could be important, as an ally,” I said.

“Perhaps,” he said.

“They would expect,” I said, “to reach you through the Lady Bina.”

“I have not heard from her,” he said.

“They might expect you to pacify and humor her, to bow to her whims, to cooperate with the plans of these conspirators, to please her.”

“I fear more,” he said, “that they might harm her, if I should be reluctant to cooperate.”

“To avoid that,” I said, “you would do much.”

“Perhaps everything,” he said.

“You were betrayed,” I said.

“The wagon caravan, a small one of three wagons, was organized by the jobber, Astrinax. Tiresias and I, for a time, rode in the third wagon. Later, that we might be able to range more freely, and be less likely to be discovered, we left the wagons, but remained aware of their progress. In a sense I was their guard. Tiresias I kept with me most of the time. A tether would fasten us together. Many nights I made contact with Astrinax, during the night watch. In the mountains I discovered an outlaw band of nine men, and warned Astrinax. It turned out that he had hired, in Venna, two outlaws, in league with that band. In the night, at their camps, it was easy to overhear their speech. I warned Astrinax, and I think he warned two of his hires, Lykos, a mercenary, and Desmond, a Metal Worker.”

“I am not sure that Master Desmond is a Metal Worker,” I said.

“What then?” he asked.

“I do not know,” I said.

“I think,” I said, “they had an overweening confidence in your capacity to attack and destroy the band of the outlaw, Trachinos.”

“It seems, then,” he said, “they were in more danger than they realized.”

“I suspect they did not know that Tiresias was blind,” I said.

“At night,” he said, “it would not have been difficult, in the darkness, moving from body to body. In the day, without suitable weapons, it would have been more difficult, if not impossible.”

“I think they did not understand that,” I said. “I think they thought there were two of you, armed, whole, and dangerous.”

“I would, of course,” he said, “have done what I could.”

“An attack, it turns out, was to have been made, and was signaled, but it never took place. Men and Kurii from here, this facility, destroyed the outlaws.”

“I could not have prevented the attack,” said Lord Grendel. “I was taken into custody, and chained, shortly after returning Tiresias to his fellows.”

“He betrayed you,” I said, “you who had saved him.”

“Do not think ill of him,” said Lord Grendel. “He knew things I did not. I had no idea what was going on in the Voltai. He was thinking clearly. Worlds are at stake.”

“He is not being treated as a hero,” I said.

“He is now useless to them,” said Lord Grendel.

“He has done much for them,” I said.

“He will be put out for larls.”

“I do not understand.”

“It is the Kur way,” said Lord Grendel.

“I think one human, at least,” I said, “had some notion as to what might be afoot, somewhere, if not in the Voltai.”

“Some probably suspect,” said Lord Grendel.

“Master Desmond of Harfax,” I said.

“Interesting,” he said.

“He knew of your existence,” I said.

“Many did,” said Lord Grendel.

“He may have thought you implicated somehow, in something,” I said.

“And would spy upon me?”

“Or others, too,” I said.

“You have often heard, have you not,” he asked, “that curiosity is not becoming to a kajira?”

“Many times,” I said.

“Perhaps there should be another saying, too,” he said, “that curiosity in many places and at many times can be extremely dangerous, to anyone.”

“Do not kill him,” I said.

“Why not?” asked Lord Grendel.

“I want his collar,” I said.

“I must attend to my meal,” he said. “Go to the gate, as though you could not be too near to it.”

I hurried and knelt near the gate.

Shortly thereafter the two guards appeared. I gathered that Lord Grendel had heard their approach.

I put my hands through the bars, pathetically. “Please let me out, Masters,” I begged.

In a short time Lord Grendel had finished what provender had been provided him, and finished the tankard of water which, too, had been on the tray.

“Fetch the tray,” said the first guard, by means of the translator.

“Please do not make me approach him,” I begged.

“Now,” came from the translator.

I crept back and, as though frightened, retrieved the tray, the plate and tankard, and then rose to my feet, and backed toward the gate, which was opened for me, and I exited the cell, following which the gate was again closed.

“Did she groom well?” the first guard asked Lord Grendel. He had apparently left the translator on. It still hung about his neck, on its simple iron chain. Lord Grendel responded, and, a moment later, I heard, “Yes.”

“That is fortunate for you, kajira,” came from the translator.

I was silent.

I wanted to leave the area of cells.

“Perhaps,” came from the translator, “you will sometimes groom me.”

“I would be honored to groom Master,” I said, and then, as I was not detained, hurried past the second guard, with his heavy weapon, exiting through the outer gate.