'Yes,' responded a man.
'The tarns?' asked Ligurious.
'Yes,' said the man. 'Everything is ready.'
I turned. I saw that the sheet, now, had been drawn completely over the woman, as though thrown over her. As it hung about her, its bern fell midway between her ankles and knees. I was startled. It was almost as though, under the sheet, she might be naked. I gasped. Something was being fastened about her throat, over the sheet, under her chin. It was round. There was a long strap connected with it. It was a slave collar and leashl Ligurious took me by the arm and turned me about, again, facing me toward the door to the great ball.
I did not know who the woman was, but I suspected that she might be she with whom Ligurious had confessed himself to be so smitten, she to whom I apparently bore some resemblance. It seemed odd to me, almost incomprehensible, that Ligurious, a man such as he, who must have had some fifty women at his feet, women such as Susan, women kneeling in terror and awe about him, for he was their total master, should be so much like a callow youth, should -be so weak, with this woman. Did he not know, I asked myself, scornfully, that she, too, ultimately, was only a woman, that she, too, ultimately, needed only the whip and a master?
I was then conducted into the great hall by Ligurious. It was empty. The two great entrance doors, at the far end, were locked from the inside, with the great beams in their brackets. It took ten guardsmen to move those beams. I could not begin to budge them.
'Is there any sign of the men of Cos?' I heard a man ask behind us, from the anteroom.
'They are not locals,' said another man. 'They will not meet Ar on the land.' 'Do the people resist the enemy?' I heard another man ask.
'No,' said another man. 'They abet them.'
I ascended the steps of the dais, conducted by Ligurious.
At his indication I took my place on the throne.
'The doors of the anteroom will be locked behind us,' said Ligurious. 'You will not be able to open them.'
'what is going on?' I asked.
'You will soon serve your purpose,' said Ligurious.
'What purpose?' I said.
'That purpose which we feared might one day have to be served, that purpose, or major purpose, why you were brought to Gor.'
'I do not understand,' I said. I did recall that last night I bad been assured that everything bad been planned for, that all contingencies, according to Ligurious, bad been anticipated. JI I wondered if I still had a role to play in these contingencies.
'You still need me, then?' I said. 'I still figure in your plans?' 'Of course,' be said.
I was relieved to hear this. I was afraid as to what might prove to be my fate if a man such as Ligurious no longer had any particular or special use for me. I was pretty. I could.conjecture what fates might lie in store for me.
'Listen,' said he. 'Do you hear it?'
'Yes,' I said. It was a dull, striking sound, coming as though from a great distance. It had a rhythm to it.
'It is a ram,' said he, 'doubtless slung from a cradle, drawn by ropes, doubtless with a will by citizens of Corcyrus.
'It sounds far away,' I said.
'It is at the outer gate,' he said.
'The citizens of Corcyrus love me,' I said.
'Do not doubt it,' be said. 'I must now take my leave. I fear there is little time.'
'But what of me?' I said. 'I am afraid. Will you come back for me?' 'Have no fear, Lady Sheila,' he said. 'You will be come for.'
'Soon?' I asked.
'Yes,' he said. He then backed down the stairs. He bowed deeply.
'Farewell, Lady Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrus,' he said.
He then withdrew.
I heard a splintering in the distance, and then, in a moment, a new striking, doubtless on the interior gate.
I heard the closing of the anteroom door behind Ligurious, and then the dropping in place of beams, the sliding of bolts. It had been locked from within, from the other side.
I sat on the throne, clutching its arms, alone in the great hall.
13 The Golden Cage; Miles of Argentum Speaks With Me
I clutched the arms of the throne in terror.
Before this I had heard the screams of the crowd outside the doors, their shouting and pounding, then the striking of a heavy beam against the door. Men and women, many in rags, brandishing knives and implements, mixed with soldiers, poured into the great ball. The doors were open, and one bung awry on its hinges. The mob, with the soldiers, swirling about the heavy beam, now dropped, which had been used to breach the doors, flooded toward the dais. At the foot of the dais, shaking fists, shouting angrily, some restrained by soldiers, the crowd stopped.
'Cut her to piecesl' I heard. 'Tear her to piecesl'
'She is 'Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrust' cried men in the crowd. 'It is Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrusl' 'It is shel' 'It is Sheilal' 'It is Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrusl'
I moaned. I was terrified that they should know that.
Miles of Argentum sheathed his sword. He handed his helmet to one of the men with him.
He approached the throne.
'Please, don't,' I said.
Then he jerked away the veil of state from my features. I, though a free woman, had been face-stripped before free men. My face was as bare to them as though I might be a slave. Face-stripping a free woman, against her will, can be a serious crime on Gor. On the other hand, Corcyrus had now fallen. Her women, thusly, now at the feet of her conquerors, would be little better than slaves. Any fate could now be inflicted on them that the conquerors might wish, including making them actual slaves. The hand of Miles of Argentum then brushed back my robes, that my whole head and features, to the throat, might be revealed to the crowd.
'This is the way in which I am more accustomed to seeing you,' he said. 'Greetings, Lady Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrus.' if 'I am Tiffany Collins,' I said, weakly. 'I am from Earth.'
'Your features,' said Miles of Argenturn, 'are surely well known to hundreds, if not thousands.'
'Cut her to piecesl' cried men in the crowd. 'Tear her to piecesl' cried women in the crowd.
'I am from Earthl' I cried. 'I am Tiffany Collinsl'
'Bring forth the palace slave called Susan,' said Miles of Argentum. Susan, from somewhere in the back, was thrust forward. I gasped.
She was absolutely naked, save that she still wore the collar of Ligurious. Her hands were bound behind her back.
In her nose there was a small, circular, wire apparatus which P;j had apparently been held open, thrust through her septum, and then permitted to spring shut. Attached to this apparatus, tied through it, dangling, was a looped thong, about two feet in length. It was clearly a device by means of which a slave, or perhaps any female, might be led.
'You are Susan, are you not,' inquired Miles of Argentum, 'who was as personal serving slave to Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus?'
