Kajira of Gor

6 The Sirik

"There are places you have not taken me in Corcyrus," I reminded him. "Perhaps," he granted me.

"There was a place two days ago," I said, "which we passed in the afternoon." "Surely you heard the music which was coming from within?" he asked. "Yes," I said. It would not be easy to forget that music, so melodious, so exciting and sensual.

"A girl was dancing within," he said. "It was a paga tavern."

"You did not let me enter," I said.

"Such girls often dance in little more than jewels, or chains," he said. "It is better, I think, too, that free women not see how they look at men and bow they move before them."

"I see," I said. "And bow do men find such women?"

"It is in the best interests of the woman," said be, "that the men find her pleasing, very pleasing." see," I said, shuddering. I wondered if I could be pleasing to a man in that way, dancing before him, and then, later, if he had paid my owner my price, in an alcove. Most girls in such a place, I had heard from Susan, but generally not the dancers, came merely with the price of the drink itself. I supposed that if one were a dancer, and was then serving in an alcove, an additional price having been paid for one's use, one would have to strive to be particularly good. Gorean men, I was sure, would see to it that they got their money's worth. "Sometimes I feel sorry for slaves, mere slaves," I said.

"Do not," lie said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"As you suggest," he said, "they are merely slaves."

"Of course," I said, bitterly.

"Does Lady Sheila identify with slaves?" be asked.

"No," I said. "Of course nott"

"Good," lie said.

"Why is it good?" I asked.

"It is said," he said, "that she who identifies with slaves wants the collar on her own neck."

"No!" I cried.

"It is only a saying," he said. "Another such saying is that she who identifies with slaves is a slave."

"Absurd!" I said.

"Doubtless," lie said.

"But if I were a slave," I said, poutingly, "I suppose I would have to obey. I would have to do what I was told." I stood quite close to him. I was quite small compared to him.

His size and masculinity made me feel weak.

"Yes," he said, looking down into my eyes. "In such circurnstances, you would have to obey. You would have to do what you were told."

I turned away from him, suddenly, frightened, and looked again out over the wall, toward the fields. The tarns, now, were again on my right.

"It is fortunate that I am not a slave," I laughed.

"Yes," he said.

"Soldiers, too, are to obey, are they not?" I asked.

"Lady?" he asked.

"Hereafter," I said, "when I wish to go somewhere, or do something, I shall expect you to respect my wishes."

"If Lady Sheila is dissatisfied with my services," he said, "she need only call this to the attention of Ligurious, first minister of Corcyrus. A replacement, perhaps one more pleasing to her, may then be assigned."

"N"ile you are assigned as my guard," I said, "you will obey me. I shall decide if, or when, you are relieved of your duties, or even if you are to be discharged entirely from the service of Corcyrus."

"Yes, Tatrix," be said.

"Your services are not entirely displeasing to me," I said, "but it is my intention to see that they are improved. I am Tatrix of Corcyrus."

"Yes, Tatrix," he said.

"Should I wish to enter a paga tavern, for example," I said, you will accompany me."

"In most paga taverns," he said, "free women are not permitted. In some they are."

"I see," I said. To force an entry to such a place, I then understood, might necessitate an altercation, one perhaps ensuing in the exposure of my identity as the Tatrix. A common free woman, for example, might simply be forbidden to cross certain thresholds.

"Too," he said, "even if commanded, I could not knowingly lead you into danger, for example, into certain sections of the city at night. It is my duty to protect the Tatrix, not to place her in jeopardy."

"You are an excellent guard, Drusus," I said. "You are right, of course." "I could take you to a tavern in which families are served," he said. "It was not such a tavern I had in mind," I said.

"Oh," he said.

"Slaves can enter taverns, can they not?" I asked.

"If on an errand, or in the company of, a free person," he said.

"There seems little concern for their sensibilities," I observed.

"Sometimes," said he, "they are even taken to such places by their masters, that they may see the paga slaves, and the dancers, and thus learn from them how to serve even more deliciously and lasciviously in the privacy of their own quarters."

"What if I were clothed as a slave?" I asked.

"It is unthinkable!" he said.

I was pleased that this thought, obviously, had touched a nerve in him. I wondered if he had speculated, privately, on what I might look like clad as a slave, or perhaps, in chains, not clad at all. Many men had probably wondered what I looked like, naked. I had always been rather jealous, rather privat~, about my body, though. I had never had a master who might simply order me to strip. I had been seen naked, of course, by the men in my apartment, when they bad removed the towel from me. I remembered how casually and efficiently they had handled me, how I had been injected with the contents of the syringe, how I had been secured with leather straps, helpless aqd gagged, in the heavy metal box, with air holes.

"Too," he said, "in so public a place you might, unveiled as is a slave, be recognized. Your resemblance to the Tatrix., at least, Would surely be noted." "You are right again, of course," I said. He was.

He was silent.

"Drusus," I said.

"Yes," said be.

"I would like to see a slaver's house, inside. I would like to see the "pens."' "Such are not fit for the sensibilities of a free woman," he said.

"I would like to see them," I said. "That would not be dangerous, would it?" "No," he admitted, reluctantly. Such places, I gathered, might be among the -safest on Gor. I could scarcely conjecture the effectiveness of the security that might be practiced within them, how helplessly the slaves might be confined.

Too, a free person on Gor is almost never in any danger from a slave unless it be a guard slave, and he is attacking its master. In some cities a slave can be slain for so much as touching a weapon. Insurbordination, slaves are quickly taught, is not -acceptable, in any way, to the Gorean master.

"Then," I said, triumphantly, "I shall expect you to arrange a tour." "Are there any particular pens of interest to Lady Sheila?" he asked. "The choice," I told him, airily, "may be yours."

"Did you merely wish to see girls in the grated ts, or chained in their kennels, or at their rings," he asked, or did you wish, perhaps, to gain also an idea of what goes on in such a house?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"How, for example," he said, "girls might be trained."

"That might be interesting," I said, as though considering it, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice. The thought of women being trained, actually trained, as Susan might have been trained, almost made me faint with excitement. I wondered if I might train well. I supposed I might be punished if I did not. Under such conditions I suspected I would train quite well. I would do my best to be a diligent and apt pupil.

"Your presence, of course," he said, "as you may be aware, may inhibit the slaves."

"You are an intelligent man," I said. "Perhaps you can figure out a way to prevent that."

"It might be possible," he said, "in the privacy of the house, where few would know you."

"What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"Do you have pretty legs?" he asked.

"Yesl" I said. I thought I had very pretty legs.

"It might be possible," he mused.

"Tomorrowl" I said.

"So soon?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Why should you wish to see such a place?" be asked. "Why should it be of interest to you?"

"I am merely curious," I said, tossing my head.

"Tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"I shall attempt to make the arrangements," he said.

"Do so," I said. "I shall be totally cooperative." I then heard again that small sound, as of metal, from within his cloak.

"Why did you wait so long to bring me to the height of the wall?" I asked. That small sound of metal had reminded me of his reticence with respect to its origin. That had puzzled me. Too, I recalled his earlier nervousness, though now that had seemed to pass. Too, I had not understood why he had brought me to this particular place on the wall. Its proximity to those fearful tarns, only feet away, had been unsettling.

He shrugged. Too suddenly, it bad seemed, after earlier demurrings, he had brought me to the wall. It had almost been as though he had decided on some action. His nervousness, too, had seemed uncharacteristic. What was there here, other than the tarns, which need not be closely approached, to be nervous about? "You seem strange today, Drusus Rencius," I said. "You seem less communicative than usual. There are many things here I do not understand. I do not know why you hesitated so long to bring me here. It is a lovely view. Then why would you have so suddenly, so belatedly, have found my suggestion agreeable? Had something happened to make you change your mind? Why, too, earlier, did you seem so distracted, as though your thoughts were elsewhere? Too, of all these places on the wall, why did you bring me here, so close to those terrible birds. They frighten me." arn a. poor guard, Lady Sheila," he said. "Too, I am poor company this day. Forgive me. Worse, I fear I am a poor soldier."

"Why should you say that?" I asked. That genuinely puzzled me.

I had long considered bringing you to this place, Lady Sheila," he said, "even before you yourself expressed an interest in the walls, but, again and again, I forced the thought from my mind. This thought I resisted further, even more tenaciously, when you yourself broached it, now and again. Then finally, after much troubled thought, it seemed to me that perhaps it was best that I let myself accompany you here."

"I do not understand what you are saying," I said.

"Here I would be alone with the Tatrix of Corcyrus, near saddled tarns," he said. "It seemed then that I knew what I should do. It seemed then that a given course of action would be appropriate. It would be easy enough to execute. Indeed, I could undertake it now. it is perhaps what I should do. I shall not, however, do it. I contravene no orders. Rather I will let the game take its course."

"You speak in riddles," I chided him.

"Let us now descend from the wall," he said. "Let us now return to the palace." I glanced at the tarns. They were gigantic, fierce birds.

Drusus Rencius stood close behind me. I thought for a moment he might take me in his arms. I felt faint. I wanted him to do so.

"What is that sound from within your cloak?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"Show me," I said. I turned. He held open the side of the cloak, it then like a curtain between me and the city. The parapet was at my back.

There, held by a snap catch against the silken lining of the great cloak, looped, in coils, there hung a set of light chains.

I could not determine the exact arrangement of the chains, coiled as they were. There seemed, however, to be a longer chain, which was a base chain, and two smaller, subsidiary chains. At one end the base chain was attached to a rather small neck ring, but suitable for closing about a woman's neck; at the other end it was attached to one of the subsidiary chains, about a foot long, and terminating on each end with a ring; those rings looked as though they might fit snugly about a woman's ankles; the other subsidiary chain seemed to be placed about two feet or so below the, neck ring; at its terminations were smaller rings, which looked as though they might close snugly, locking, about a woman's wrists.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It is called a sirik," he said.

"Do men carry such things?" I asked.

"Sometimes," he said.

I wondered what chains like that would feel like on my body. They looked very graceful. They were doubtless flattering. Too, they would hold me quite well. "Let us descend from the wall," said Drusus Rencius. "Let us return to the palace."