position, their heads at the hips of free men, held there by the hair, these slaves’ hands fastened, too, behind their backs.
I did not doubt but what these fellows would derive much pleasure from the slaves.
Obviously one of the principal utilities of the female slave is the enormous pleasure which one will see to it that he obtains from her.
How marvelous is the property female!
I passed a post.
“How goes the night?” I inquired.
“Well, commander,” I was told.
At least one of the five was a spy, it seemed, and, perhaps, too, of the dark caste.
I wondered from what source Lord Nishida derived his information. He, too, doubtless had spies. I wondered if he thought me a spy. I wondered if one or more of the five were a spy, or one an assassin, truly, or if I had been told that merely to produce some effect in me. If so, what effect? How would he know that one or more of the five was a spy, or that, amongst the five, there might be an assassin? Might this be conjecture on his part? Might it not even be the result of some aberration, or paranoia? But I did not think Lord Nishida insane. He seemed one of the most coldly sane individuals I had ever met. In a way he reminded me of Pa-Kur, once master of the Assassins, save that Pa-Kur was not such as to be distracted by flowers, by poetry, the servings of tea, by
I encountered another sentry.
The night it seemed, was going well.
I thought of the assassins of the medieval Middle East. The caste of assassins was quite different. They were not dupes, fools, madmen, too stupid to understand how they had been manipulated by others, young men drunk with the wine of death, who think they will somehow thrive in the cities of dust. Against such mindless puppets, such naive fools, such lunatics, manipulated by those who send them forth, sitting safe in their mountain fastness, safe in their lair of prevarication and deceit, it is difficult to defend oneself. But the Gorean Assassin, he of the Black Caste, is not a naive, twisted, deluded, managed beast serving the purposes of others, but a professional killer. He wishes to kill and vanish, to live, to kill again. Otherwise he is no more than a clumsy oaf, a failure, having accomplished no more than might have a desperate, simple, misguided fool. If he himself dies, he has botched his work, he has failed, he has shamed his caste.
“Hold!” said a voice, at the edge of the camp, where the track begins, which leads to the plaza of training.
I stopped, and held my hands away from my body, and blinked a little against the light of the lifted, now- unshuttered dark lantern. There were three there. There might be others, in the shadows, with bows.
“How goes the night?” I asked.
“Commander,” said a voice.
“Well,” said another, “it goes well.”
I lowered my arms.
“I would proceed no further, Commander,” said one, “until light.”
“My thanks,” I said. “I shall free the blade.”
“Two might accompany you,” said one of them, “one with a lantern.”
I slipped the blade free from the sheath. The shoulder belt, if over one’s shoulder, may be instantly discarded. This may prove an important wisdom in a perilous situation. A scabbard, hooked to a buckled waist belt, or slung across the body, might be seized in combat, discommoding its wearer, perhaps pulling him off balance, or into the blade of a waiting knife. But the belt on the shoulder is easily shed. If one is in a territory thought safe, of course, the scabbard belt is not unoften slung across the body, looped from the right shoulder to the left hip, if the swordsman is right-handed, and, naturally enough, looped from the left shoulder to the right hip, if the swordsman is left-handed. Both modalities facilitate the swift, across-the-body draw. This arrangement provides a convenient, secure carry.
“Remain at your post,” I said.
“Enemies, Commander,” said one, “may linger.”
I thought this possible, but unlikely.
Few, I thought, would care to linger in our precincts, risking discovery by
Would they not now, scattered, defeated, haggard, desperate, frightened, half-starved, have sought flight?
Too, they might well fear larls.
Certainly some of these large, dreaded, clawed, fanged, fearsome beasts occasionally roared within the forests. These were, doubtless, given the latitude, the larls of Lord Nishida, which might well still be in the vicinity, frequenting their former haunts, making their rounds as though the encirclements of wands was still in place.
“Take a lantern,” pressed one.
“Shuttered, it is a burden,” I said. “Unshuttered, it illuminates a target.”
“Take a buckler,” said another.
“Darkness,” I said, “serves well as shield.”
There is a saying among warriors that he who attacks a shadow plays with death.
“We have caught the scent of a sleen,” warned another, who was Pani.
Such beasts were in the forest.
“Then you have little to fear,” I said. “The sleen to fear is the one of whose presence you are unaware.”
The sleen, as most predators, whether panthers, larls, or such, will stalk in such a manner as to approach the prey from downwind, from the direction toward which the wind is blowing. In this manner the scent of the prey is borne to them, and their own scent is carried backward, away from the prey. To such animals scent not only detects prey, but can be informative as to its distance, movements, numbers, and sex. Some predators, interestingly, will favor male prey over female prey, particularly in times of estrus. The favoring of male prey, it is conjectured, tends statistically, over time, to increase the number of prey animals. To be sure, risks are involved, as the male animal is usually wary, alert, aggressive, large, and armed, so to speak, wickedly horned, sharply hoofed, and such.
I wondered if something similar might not be the case with humans. Is it not the female who is most commonly seized and coffled, who may, in time, breed sons for her master? To be sure, it is the female who is desirable, and the male who is dangerous, the female who longs for and is fulfilled in her bondage, and the male who longs for, and is fulfilled by, the female at his feet. And so for the female the collar, and for the male the whip.
“These two will accompany you,” said the command sentry.
“No,” I said.
“I insist,” he said.
“Why?” I asked.
“It is dangerous,” he said.
“I will take those two,” I said, indicating two others.
“As you wish,” he said.
“You will all remain at your post,” I said.
He seemed puzzled.
“All,” I said.
Perhaps I had spent too long with Lord Nishida. That two had been singled out, without consultation, to accompany me, suggested that I might be set upon in the darkness. The readiness of the command sentry to furnish two others without demur, however, reassured me that his offer had been solicitously motivated. It seemed unlikely that an entire guard group would have been recruited to set upon me in the darkness. If that were the case, why would they wait? Too, who would know I would make the rounds at the third watch?
The command sentry stepped back. “Yes, Commander,” he said.
I then turned about, and addressed myself to the track leading to the training area. I did not, of course,
