'That Cos was our friend,' said the man.
'How many were there?' I asked.
'Only a few, I think,' said the man.
'Scouts, or skirmishers,' I said to Marcus.
'It would seem so,' he said.
'What shall we do now?' asked a man.
'We will wait her,' said a man, 'until the gate opens.'
'It is only an Ahn until dawn,' said a man.
I looked out into the darkness. Out there, somewhere, were Cosians. I then looked at the fellow who had recently joined us. He was sitting by the tiny fire now, trembling. He was perhaps cold. His fist was clenched. In it, I gathered, was a silver tarsk.
'I do not think Ar will choose to defend itself,' I said.
'I do not think so either,' said Marcus, softly.
'Doubtless that is why there were no recruiting tables,' I said.
'Undoubtedly,' he said.
6 The Public Boards
Marcus and I turned to the street for a moment, to watch a company of guardsmen, at quick march, hasten by, their bootlike sandals, coming high on the calf, resounding on the stones.
'Ar will defend herself to the death,' said a man.
'Yes,' said another.
I looked after the retreating guardsmen. I doubted if there were more than fifteen hundred such in the city.
'There is no danger,' said a man.
'No,' said another.
'The tarn wire will protect us,' said a man.
'Our gates are impregnable,' said another. 'Our walls cannot be breached.'
'No,' said another.
How little these fellows knew of the ways of war, I thought.
'Here it is,' said Marcus, calling back to me, 'on the public boards.' The public boards are posting areas, found at many points in Ar, usually in plazas and squares. These boards were along the Avenue of the Central Cylinder, and were state boards, on which official communiquA©s, news releases, announcements and such, could be posted. Some boards are maintained by private persons, who sell space on them for advertising, notifications, and personal messages. To be sure, many folks, presumably poorer folks, or at least folks less ready to part with a tarsk bit, simply inscribe their messages, in effect as graffiti, on pillars, walls of buildings, and such. Too, posters, and such, usually hand-inked, are common in public places, usually put up by the owners or managers of palestrae, or gymnasiums, public baths, taverns, race courses, theaters, and such. Sales of tharlarion and slaves, too, are commonly thusly advertised. Heralds and criers, too, and carriers of signs, are not unknown. Some proprietors rent space in their shops or places of business for small postings. So, too, similarly, some homeowners who live on busy streets charge a fee for the use of their exterior walls. There are many other forms of communication and advertising as well, such as the parades of acrobats, jugglers, clowns, animal trainers, mimes and such, and the passage of flatbedded display wagons through the streets on which snatches of performances, intended to whet the viewer's interests, are presented, or, say, slaves are displayed usually decorously clad, in connection with imminent sales at various markets and barns. The viewer, or the male viewer, at any rate, understands that the decorous attire of the imbonded beauties of the moving platform is not likely to be worn in the exposition cages or on the block. There is a Gorean saying that only a fool buys a woman clothed. On these platforms the women are usually chained only by an ankle, that there will be but little interference with their movements and their appeals to the crowds. On the other hand, some owners, who prefer more obvious restraints for their women, who are, after all, slaves, use flatbedded wagons with mounted slave bars of various sorts, sometimes with intricate chainings or couplings. Similarly, stout, multiply locked cage wagons may be used for a similar purpose.
'I see,' I said, reading the boards.
'I have heard,' said a man, near me, speaking to another, 'that many other free women, like Talena herself, have offered themselves as slaves, that the city be spared.'
'There is nothing to that effect here on the public boards,' said the other fellow.
'True,' said the first.
'Read to me,' begged a fellow looking up at the boards. 'I cannot read. What does it say?'
'Greetings from Lurius of Jad, Ubar of Cos, to the people of Glorious Ar,' read a man, rather slowly, pointing to letters with his fingers, which led me to believe that his literacy was not likely to be much advanced over that of the other. To be sure, I myself did not read Gorean fluently, as the alternate lines changed direction. The first line is commonly written left to right, the second from right to left, and so on. Cursive script is, of course, at least for me, even more difficult. In particular I find it difficult to write. In defense I might point out that I can print Gorean fairly well, and can sign my name with a deftness which actually suggests to those who do not know better that I am fully literate in the language. In further defense I might point out that many warriors, for no reason that is clear to me, seem to take pride in a putative lack of literacy. Indeed, several fellows I have known, of the scarlet caste, take pains to conceal their literacy, seemingly ashamed of an expertise in such matters, regarding such as befitting scribes rather than warriors. Thus, somewhat to my embarrassment, I found I fitted in well with such fellows. I have known, incidentally, on the other hand, several warriors who were quite unapologetic about literacy interests and capacities, men who were, for example, gifted historians, essayists and poets.
'Know, people of Glorious Ar,' the man continued to read, 'that Cos is your friend.'
'Does it say that?' asked a man.
'Yes,' said the fellow, determinedly. He then continued to read. 'Cos has no quarrel with the people of Ar, whom it reveres and respects. The quarrel of Cos is rather with the wicked and corrupt regime, and the dishonest and ruthless policies, of Gnieus Lelius, subverter of peace, enemy of amity between our states. It was only with the greatest reluctance and most profound regret that Cos found herself, after all avenues of conciliation and negotiation were exhausted, forced to take up arms, in the name of free peoples everywhere, to resist, and call to account, the actions and policies of the tyrant, Gnieus Lelius, enemy to both our states.'
'I did not know Gnieus Lelius was a tyrant,' said a fellow.
'That is absurd,' said another.
'But it is on the public boards!' said another.
'It must be true,' said another.
'Who made these postings?' asked a man.
'The members of the palace guard, the Taurentians themselves,' said another. 'They must then be true,' said another.
'No,' said a fellow. 'All that is being done here is to inform us of the message of Lurius of Jad.'
'True,' said another, relievedly.
'Read on,' said a man.
'Now, with sadness, given no choice, with the support and encouragement of all the world, now allied with me, I, Lurius of Jad, who would be your friend and brother, have been forced to come before your gates. The Priest-Kings are with me. My arms are invincible. I have conquered in the delta. I have conquered in Torcadino. I have conquered but three day's march from your very gates.
Resistance to me is useless. Yet, although Ar, under the tyranny of Gnieus Lelius, has been guilty of many crimes and my patience had been sorely tried. I am prepared to be merciful. I offer you the alternatives of annihilation or friendship, of devastation or prosperity. Make your decision not rashly, but with care. Do not force me to give Ar to the flames. Rather let us live in peace and brotherhood.'
'Is there more?' asked a man.
