and I lifted my chained wrists to him. He took my hands and turned them over, looking at the snug wrist rings locked on them.
'If I had my tools,' he said, 'I could have these off of you in a matter of Ehn.'
I looked up at him, startled. I knew, of course, that he was of the metal workers.
'But without a key, or such help, you are absolutely helpless in them, aren't you?' he asked.
'Yes, Master,' I said.
He smiled.
'You!' I said. 'It was you who freed me in the camp of Miles of Argentum!' 'Once,' he said, 'you spared my life, in Corcyrus. It seemed only fitting, then, that I might, if it were within my power, grant you some small favor In return.' 'But how could you have gained entrance into the camp,' I said. 'And there were two of you.'
There was another, as well, one who must have had influence, one who must have been trusted, one who must have been more highly placed.
I saw Drusus Rencius looking at me.
'You,' I whispered. 'It was you!'
'Perhaps,' he said.
'But you are an officer of Ar,' I said. 'How could you do such a thing?' He looked at me, angrily. 'I know you,' he said. 'Whatever might be your frailties, your weaknesses, your pettinesses, your cruelties, I could not believe you were guilty of the crimes of the Tatrix of Corcyrus. Such things I could not believe were In you. Thus, I did not free the Tatrix of Corcyrus. Rather, to prevent a miscarriage of justice, I assisted in the escape of an innocent woman. In this sense I could even regard my act as having been performed in the line of duty.'
'You did not know, truly,' I said, 'that I was not the Tatrix, nor that I could not be guilty of such crimes. Indeed, in Corcyrus, you even identified me, explicitly, as the Tatrix!'
His face clouded with anger.
'Your motivations were more complex,' I said, 'and deeper, and more painful and more cruel. I was not within your province to determine my innocence or guilt. That responsibility was that of Claudius, the Ubar of Argentum, and the high council. In no way was it incumbent on you to risk your commission, your future, your honor, your life, on what must at best have been little more than a remote possibility.'
He regarded me with fury.
My heart leapt with joy. 'You love me!' I whispered. 'You love me!' I feared for a moment he might strike me. But he did not do so. I was another man's slave.
'I love you, Master!' I wept. 'I have loved you from the beginning, when I first met you!'
He regarded me, wildly. Then be sneered, 'Lying slave!'
'No, Master!' I protested. 'I love you! I do love you! I love you with my whole heart!'
'What is going on here?' asked Miles of Argentum, coming over.
'Nothing,' said Drusus Rencius
Menicius was smiling.
Miles of Argentum took the key to my chains from the soldier who had held it. He freed me of those stern impediments, so suitable for the confinement of women such as I slaves.
'Slave,' said he.
'Yes, my master,' I said.
'Go to the quarters of my women,' he said.
'Yes, my master,' I said and, tears in my eyes, fled to the quarters of his women.
34 Ligurious Is Served By Two Slaves
I lay naked on the couch of Ligurious, in the palace in Argentum. His touch had already reduced me, more than once, to a quivering slave.
'Wine,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' I said, and struggled up, turning. fetched him the goblet from a small, low table near the couch and, in a moment, after kissing the goblet, head down, kneeling, arms extended, proffered it to him. He sipped a bit of the wine, a Ka-la-na of Ar, and then returned the goblet to me. I kissed it again, and then replaced it on the table. With a gesture he indicated that I might once again crawl onto the couch. This was the last evening Ligurious was to spend In Argentum.
In the morning he was to receive safe conduct from' the city. I had been assigned to serve him tonight, in accord with the generosity of Gorean masters. Another girl, too, was to serve him, but I did not know who she was.
There was a knock at the door.
'Kneel, and grasp your ankles,' he said.
I did so. I was then helpless, bound by his will.
He went to the door and opened it A slave was there. She was. naked., her hands were behind her back. About her neck, tied, was a key, doubtless to her bracelets, and a whip. There' were' two guards at the portal, but they were those who had been guarding it. The girl had apparently come alone through the hails to the portal, obediently, as I had. Ligurious indicated that she should enter. She did, and he closed, and locked, the door behind her.
He freed her of the bracelets and tossed them, and the key, to the side. He then removed the whip from about her neck. He regarded her. Their eyes met.
There was a long moment of silence.
'Kneel, Slave,' said Ligurious, defining the relationship between them. 'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Is that the fashion in which I have my women kneel before me?' he asked. 'Forgive me, Master,' she said, and put her head down to the tiles before him, the palms of her hands flat on the floor.
'Lift your head,' he said. She did so.
'Kiss the whip,' he said. 'Again, lingeringly!'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Now lick and kiss it,' he said. 'Yes, Master,' she whispered.
He then hurled the whip from him. It slid back across the tiles, until it stopped, at the door.
'Fetch,' he said.
The girl, on her hands and knees, went to the whip. She put down her head at the heavy, locked door and picked up the whip, delicately, in her teeth. She then, the whip in her teeth, turned from the door and, head down, on her hands and knees, returned to the center of the room.
'Kneel,' he said, 'in the position of the pleasure slave.' She knelt, then, back on her heels, her knees spread widely, her back straight, her shoulders back, her belly sucked in, her head up, her hands on her thighs. Between her teeth was the staff of the whip.
'Whip,' said Ligurious.
She gave him the whip, extending her head towards him, opening her mouth, letting him take it from between, her teeth. She then, unbidden, resumed the erect, graceful, beautiful position of the Gorean pleasure slave.
He shook out the blades of the whip and dangled them before her eyes.
She swallowed, hard.
'Face that direction,' said Ligurious, pointing.
She rotated her body about a hundred degrees to her left.
'On your belly,' he said.
She went to her belly, her hands at the sides of her head. he changed his position a little. He was now a bit behind her, and to her left. He was right-handed.
She began to tremble.
He looked down at her.
