Conspirators of Gor

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I clutched the bars of the slave cage in which Desmond of Harfax had placed me. I shook the bars, as I could. “Come back, Master!” I had cried. “Come back, release me, Master!” But he had gone.

He had thrust me into the cage, and then swung shut the gate, securing me within. How helpless one feels in such a cage! I had turned about, quickly, to regard him. He was standing back, contemplating me. The shadow of the bars fell across my body. He was grinning. He liked to see me so, naked, caged. “I hate you!” I said.

“Lie down,” he said. “On your side. Curl, kajira.”

I did so.

“You are a pretty little bundle,” he said. “How high your hip, the lovely curve to your love cradle, your calves, your small feet.”

He smiled.

My eyes must have flashed fire.

“Yes,” he said, “pretty.”

“I hate you,” I said. “I hate you!”

He had then turned away.

It was then that I had risen to my knees, clutched the bars, and called after him, but he had not come back.

He had left me in a cage, a cage, as it had pleased him!

I recalled how he had looked upon me! How boldly! He had looked upon me as what I was, an animal, a pretty animal, which might be bought and sold, which might be done with as a master might please. I held the bars. I pressed myself against them.

I was caged, and helpless.

How strong are men! How they look upon us! How much we are at their mercy! How I hated him! How I wanted to kiss his feet. How I wanted to please him, as a naked slave!

We had not anticipated a Kur revolt, the rising of several of the iron-chain Kurii against the silver- and gold-chain Kurii. Indeed, we had not been clear, for more than a day, what was occurring. We did know that there was skirmishing in the halls, and that some Kurii had attacked others. The humans in the Cave, I am sure, would have been muchly pleased to have remained neutral in such an altercation, as a single human, or even two or three, was a sorry match for a Kur. But, as may often be the case in such affairs, neutrality was not acceptable to committed belligerents. The choice accorded to humans was, in effect, certain death or participation in the conflict, supporting one faction or the other. I suppose this had partly to do with Kur distrust of humans, partly with an unwillingness that some might profit in safety and comfort from the pain and blood of others, and partly with the fanatic conviction of each party in its righteousness, which justified the impressment of reluctant allies. Which side a given fellow found himself on seemed to be largely an accident, a matter of vicinity. Master Desmond, though, with his fellows from the secret meeting, including Astrinax, Lykos, Trachinos, Akesinos, and Kleomenes, had worked his way through to the positions held by the adherents of Agamemnon. The point of this, I gathered, was to gain access to the container so that he might, when the opportunity afforded itself, open it and destroy its contents.

It was four days into the revolt before we learned that the leader of the revolutionaries was Lucius himself, whom many of us had taken to be high Kur in the Cave. His ambition it was, it seems, to replace Agamemnon, and further the schemes which Agamemnon had put in place. It was not a question of overthrowing a state, or relinquishing its intrigues and projected imperialisms, but appropriating a state with its established strengths. He was less interested, so to speak, in overthrowing a throne than in changing its occupant. I had been aware, for some time, of the jealousy, envy, and resentment felt by many lesser Kurii for those placed above them, for whatever reason it might be, intelligence, energy, vision, some conception of merit, success in some form of competition, blood connections, the machinations of politics, the accidents of time or place, or simple fortune. If they could not wear a golden chain why should anyone? Let there be a golden chain for everyone, or no golden chains. I supposed that golden chains, so to speak, would always exist, though perhaps not always be displayed. They did not realize that not every golden chain is visible. The imposition and consolidation of equality requires equality enforcers, and this introduces a new inequality. But that would become visible only when the new establishment was in place. Order is essential; it is only a question as to who will impose it. The mass, manipulated and utilized, aroused and employed, harrowed and bled, when the disruption and killing is done, when the entertainment is over, remains the mass.