'Sit,' invited Tasdron, and we took places about the low table, sitting about it, cross-legged. Callisthenes put his helmet beside the talble and threw back his cloak. His tunic bore the insigna of Port Cos. Peggy knelt before the table and beagn to place the cups, the bessels, and plates on the table. One plate was of meat, another of breads, another of sliced fruits, ther fourth of nuts and cheeses. Each of us, with our fingers, would eat as we wished from the common plates. She had brought, too, paga, Cosian wine and water.
'She is a pretty slave,' said Calliathenes. We looked at her. She wore the bit of yellow silk.
There were slave bells on her left ankle. The other collar was lovely on her throat. Her long, blond hair was loose about her shoulders. 'She is an Earth girl,' said Tasdron. 'interesting,' said Callisthenes.
Peggy set forth the food and drink deferentially and in silence.'We will need another cup for our friend,' said Tasdron. 'and yet another, for our other guest, who has not yet arrived.' 'Yes Master,' said Peggy.
'I trust,' said Tasdron looking at his slve, 'that he will arrive.' 'I trust so, my Master,' she whispered, trembling. She then rose to her feet and taking the tray, with a rustle of bells, frightened, almost fled from the room.
I smiled. It would certainly be in her best interest for Aemilianus, Captain in Ar's Station, to have accepted her invitation to our meeting. If he did not do so, she would doubtless be whipped and well.
'Who is this mysterious guest, whom we are expecting?' asked Callisthenes. 'One whom it is important that you meet,' said Callimachus. 'Very well,' smiled Callisthenes.
There was a knock on the alley door, a firm knock. It ws struck three times.We glanced at one another. Glyco pulled his cloak about him, concealing the white and gold of his robes. Callisthenes, too, seeing this action, drew his cloak about himself, concealing the insignia of Port cos. Tasdron rose to his feet and went through the door and down the corridor to the alley door. The rest of us too, rose to our feet.
In a moment Tasdron had reappeared in the room. 'Enter,' said Tasdron.
A tall man, carrying an unmarked helmet, entered. He threw back the hood of a long, brown traveling cloak he wore. I detected the sound of a sheathed blade beneath the cloak. He closed the door behind him and regarded us. His hair was brown and cut short at the back of his neck. He was smoothly shaven. His jaw was square, his eyes clear.
'I am Tasdron, proprietor of this tavern, who has invited you here,' said Tasdron.
'I am Jason,' I said. 'I commonly work on the docks in Victoria.'
'I am Callimachus,' said Callimachus, adding, 'of the Warriors.'
'I know of only one Callimachus of the Warriors,' said the man, 'one who ws once a captain in Port Cos.'Who is he?' inquired Callisthenes of Tasdron. His voice had not been pleasant. We were all on our feet. I noted the right hand of Callisthenes had slipped within his cloak, to the hilt of the sword which hung there.The right hand of the newcomer too was then on the hilt of his own weapon.
'We are all folk met in the throes of a common plight,' said Tasdron.
'Who is he?' asked the newcomer of Tasdron, nodding toward Callisthenes.
There was a small sound at the door and the newcomer, instantly, backed against the wall, watching us. Peggy entered with the extra cups. Tasdron signed audible. Peggy, the two cups on a small tray, turned about, seeing the newcomer. Swiftly, she knelt before him, putting her head down. I saw that she remembered well what he had done to her.
'The slave,' said the man. 'Yes,' said Tasdron. 'I see that I am in the right place,' said the man. 'Yes,' said Tasdron. Then he said to Peggy, 'Serve.'
Yes, Master,' she said. She rose to her eet and then went to the low table and kneeling there put the cups on the table.
'Was she good?' asked Tasdron. 'Yes,' said the man. 'She was paga hot.' Peggy put down her head, reddening. The properties of slaves are discussed openly by Masters.
'For what have I been invited to this meeting?' asked the man. 'That we may be of mutual assistance in a project of great common interest.' said Tasdron.
'Who is he?' asked the man, gesturing with his head toward Callisthenes. 'Who is he?' asked Callisthenes, menacingly of Tasdron. I tensed. I saw the hand of Callimachus move subtly toward his sword. 'Who is he?' asked the newcomer, indicating Callisthenes. 'Let us be patient,' said Tasdron.
'I am Callisthenes, Captain of Port Cos,' said Callisthenes.
'I am Aemilianus, Captain in Ar's Station,' said the newcomer.
Two cloaks, as one, were hurled back. Revaled then in the back room of the tavern were the insignias of Port Cos and of Ar's Station. Two swords, as one, leapt from their sheaths. The girl screamed. I stepped back.
'Port Cos!' cried Callisthenes.
'Glorious Ar!' cried Aseilians.
But no sooner had the blades crossed, then both seemed suddenly, inexplicable, in a flash of sparks, to fly upward. Both men stepped back. Callimachus stood between them. It was his blade which had struck both steels upward.
'You are strong,' said Aemilianus to Callimachus. Callimachus sheathed his steel.
'If you would strike someone, Aemilianus, Captain of Ar's Station, strike me,' he said. Then he turned to Callisthenes. 'Will you strike me, old friend?' he asked.Callisthenes hesitated.
'Is this not a trap?' asked Aemilianus.
'Our greatest danger,' said Callimachus, 'is that we should be as foes to one another.' 'Captains,' begged Glyco, 'put up your steel.'
'She lured me here,' said Aemilianus, gesturing toward Peggy with the Gorean blade. She shrank back, half naked in the bit of silk she wore. She knew that the slightest touch of that wicked Gorean blade could part her flesh.
'She was merely the instrument wherewith we extended our invitation,' said Tasdron.
'Of what city are you?' Aemilianus asked Blyco. 'Of Port Cos,' he said.'And you?' asked Aemilianus of Callimachus.'I am that Callimachus of the Warriors of whome I gather you once heard. Yes, I too, am of Port Cos.
Aemilianus backed up a step.
'Jason and I,' said Tasdron, 'are of Victoria. Victoria is neutral ground between Ar's Station and Port Cost. You are both, Callisthenes and you, here met on neutral ground.'
It interested me that Tasdron had without even thinking about it, spoken of me as of Victoria. I, myself, had never given the matter much thought. I suppse that I was, though, in a sense, of Victoria. It was here surely that I was living and working. Yet to live and work in a place and to be of a place, are, in Gorean thinking quite different things. I wondered if I were of Victoria. I thought perhaps it was not impossible.
'I am prepared to sell my life dearly,' said Aemilianus. 'You are not in danger,' said Tasdron, 'or at least in no greater danger than the rest of us.'
'You played your part well, Slave,' sneered Aemilinaus to Peggy. 'Will you receive a candy, lighter chains, a larger kennel?' She sharnk back, putting her hand before her mouth. 'Or will I survive,' he asked, 'to teach you punishments thought suitable by a man of Ar for a female slave?' Visibly, the girl trembled.
'We mean you no harm,' I said to Aemillianus. 'Peggy, I said, ' go to the Captain and kneel before him, and bare your breasts to his sword.'
She looked wildly to Tasdron, her Master, and intereseting, to Callimachus. She looked to Tasdron, of course, because he was her legal Master, her owner. In looking to Callimachus, on the other hand, she had revealed, inadvertantly, not even understanding what she had done, that he was in her heart her Master, and that she was in her heart, his slave.
'Do so,' said Tasdron. 'Do so,' said Callimachus. She was after all, only a slave. Peggy rose to her feet and went, head down, to kneel before the startled Aemilianus. Then at his feet, she lifted her head, and with her small hands, kneeling straight, parted her yellow silk. She knelt then before him, a helpless slave, as she had been commanded, her breasts bared before his sword.
I saw Tasdron smile. He had not failed to notice that Peggy had glanced terrified earlier to Callimachus. He now realized that one of his girls, Peggy, as in effect, the helpless love slave of Callimachus.
I do not think that this displeased him. Indeed, such information can be of great use in managing a girl.
Aemilianus, puzzled, lowered the point of his sword. He looked at us.
