'I have come to report another glorious victory,' said Liarious.
'This one has occurred on the Plains of Eteocles.'
'ne enemy, then,' I said, 'is east of the Hills of Eteocles, it is through the Pass of Theseus.'
'You have been examining maps?' inquired Ligurious.
'I made inquiries,' I said. He saw I could not read. I was illiterate in Gorean. 'I see,' he, said.
I heard men shouting, and the rattle of weaponry outside, down in the courtyard. I hurried to the barred window.
'Those will be guardsmen,' said Ligurious, 'issuing forth to disperse the rabble.'
'Yes,' I said. I could see a double line of guardsmen, with shields and spears, exiting through the gates. In a moment, too, I could see men and woman fleeing across the square.
'Those are small groups of dissidents,' said Ligurious. 'Pay them no mind. You are loved in Corcyrus.'
'Each of our victories,' I said, 'seems to occur closer to Corcyrus.' 'Surely you saw the silver brought in from Argentum?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said. 'It was prominently displayed in the victory parade several weeks ago, that over which we presided.'
'Over which you presided, my Tatrix,' said he, modestly.
'Yes,' I said.
I recalled this parade well. Ligurious had been in the palanquin with me. He had been, in his force and presence, both visible and prominent. I, as earlier, apparently in accord with the public customs of Corcyrus, had been unveiled. My features, it seemed, would be well known to thousands.
'It seems little more silver has been forthcoming,' I said.
Ligurious was silent.
'Did your troops enter Argenturn?' I asked. A
'Our generals did not feet it was necessary,' said Ligurious 'It seems that our first victory, after the seizure of the mines, occurred on the Fields of Hesius,' I said.
'Yes,' said Ligurious.
'Our second occurred on the shores of Lake las,' I said, 'and our third east of the Issus.' This was a northwestward flowing river, tributary to the Vosk, far to the north.
'Yes, my Tatrix,' said Ligurious.
'Now we have been victorious once more,' I said, 'this time on the Plains of Eteocles.'
'Yes, my Tatrix,' said Ligurious.
'They lie within a hundred pasangs of Corcyrus,' I said.
'It is part of a plan, my Tatrix,' said Ligurious. 'We are stretching their supply lines. Then, when we wish, soon, now, we will strike like a tam, cutting them. We will then subject a starving, demoralized enemy to devastating attacks.* Have no fear, Lady. They will soon be helpless. We will soon have them beneath our swords.'
'Are there scarcities in the city?' I asked.
'There are none in the palace,' said Ligurious. 'Did Lady 'Sheila enjoy her spiced vulo this evening?'
'In the city?' I said.
'In a time of conflict,' said Ligurious, 'there are always some privations.' 'Are they minor?' I asked.
'Yes,' he said. 'With your permission,' he said. He then bowed, and withdrew. I watched him withdraw. I wondered what it would be like to have to do obeisance to such a man, and what it would be like to be in his arms.
I then turned again to the barred window. From where I stood, sometimes, I could see tarn wire, as the light struck it, in its swaying movements. It was strung about, over the courtyard, between the palace and the walls. Too, it had been strung elsewhere, I had heard, in the city.
The door opened and Susan entered, and knelt down and lowered her head. It is common for slaves to kneel when entering the presence of free persons. It is common, too, of course, more generally, for them to kneel whenever they find themselves in the presence of a free person, for example, if they are in a room and a free person enters.
'You may finish your work,' I informed the slave, from Cincinnati, Ohio. 'Yes, Mistress. thank you, Mistress,' said the girl. In a moment, then, she was again, on her hands and knees, with water and cloths, her bead down, rinsing and cleaning the files, thoroughly and carefully removing the residue of sticky, half-dried wine from them.
'Susan,' I said.
'Mistress?' she asked, raising her head.
'Did Ligurious speak to you?' I asked.
'Yes, Mistress,' she said.
'You know that tonight you are to- to dancer,
'Yes, Mistress,' she said. 'Before selected guardsmen. The whip dance.' 'It was not my idea, Susan,' I said. 'I did not ask Ligurlous to have you punished. It was his idea. I want, you to know that. I am sorry.'
'It had not even occurred to me that it might have been your idea, Mistress,' smiled Susan. 'You did not even want me punished. Mistress has always shown me incredible lenience. Mistress has always shown me incredible kindness. It is almost as ifa€”'
'Yes?' I said.
'a€”almost as if Mistress has some idea of the helplessness and vulnerability of the slave.'
'And how,' I asked angrily, 'would I, a free woman, have any idea of that?' 'Forgive me, Mistress,' said Susan. 'Of course you, as a free woman, could not!' I was angry. I considered whipping the little, collared slut. She put her head down, quickly, and continued her work, menial work, work suitable for such as she, a slave.
'Susan,' I said.
'Yes, Mistress?' she asked.
'Is it hard to learn the whip dance?' I asked.
'I am not a dancer, Mistress,' said Susan, 'nor are most who perform the dance. It is not even, really, a dance. One simply has one's clothes taken away, and then one moves before strong, powerful men as such men would have a woman move before them. Then when one is sufficiently pleased, he indicates this and you serve his pleasure.'
'How do you know what to do?' I asked.
'Sometimes one tries different things,' she said, 'for example, about or on the furniture, on the floor, about their bodies, at their feet, on your back, on your belly, hoping to find something that they will respond to. Sometimes they give you explicit instructions or commands, as when a woman is put through slave paces. Sometimes they guide you, or help you, sometimes by the whip, sometimes by expressions or cries. At other times the girl listens, so to speak, to the slave fires in her belly, and seems to become one with them and the dance, and then, soon, must beg the brutes, in her dance, and by her piteous expressions and gestures, to relieve the merciless tensions in her body, allowing her to complete the cruel cycle of arousal, allowing her to receive them and submit to them, the masters, in the spasmodic surrender of the helpless slave.'
'But the whip,' I said. 'Do you not fear it?'
'I fear it,' she said. 'But I do not think I will feel it.'
'Why?' I asked.
Susan suddenly looked me directly in the eye. 'I dance well,' she said. I turned away from her. When I looked at her again, she had finished her work. 'Will Mistress be needing me further for this evening?' she asked.
I looked at Susan.
How chaste, how modest, how demure she seemed in her brief tunic, and collar, with her lovely face and beautiful little figure, How dainty, how exquisitel How deferential, how shyl Surely she was a woman's slave, and only that, attentive, knowledgeable, efficient, respectful and selfeffacing.
But a man such as Ligurious had bought her naked off a slave block in Cos. What a sweet, bashful girl she was.
But tonight she would dance naked for guardsmen.
