'No,' said the girl. 'I cared for a man.'
I was speechless.
'I once wore the silver mask, Warrior,' said the girl. 'But now I am only a Degraded Woman, for I allowed myself to love.'
'That is no crime,' I said.
The girl laughed merrily. I love to hear the sudden glad music of a woman' s laughter, that laughter that so delights a man, that acts on his senses like Ka-la-na wine.
Suddenly it seemed I no longer felt the weight of the yoke.
'Tell me about him,' I said, 'but first tell me your name.'
'I am Linna of Tharna,' she said. 'What is your name?'
'Tarl,' I said.
'Of what city?'
'Of no city.'
'Ah!' said the girl, smiling, and inquired no further. She would have concluded that she shared her cell with an outlaw. She sat back on her heels, her eyes happy. 'He was,' she said, 'not even of this city.' I whistled. That would be a serious matter in Gorean eyes.
'And worse than that,' she laughed, clapping her hands, 'he was of the Caste of Singers.'
It could have been worse, I thought. After all, though the Caste of Singers, or Poets, was not a high caste, it had more prestige than, for example, the Caste of Pot-Makers or Saddle-Makers, with which it was sometimes compared. On Gor, the singer, or poet, is regarded as a craftsman who makes strong sayings, much like a pot- maker makes a good pot or a saddle-maker makes a worthy saddle. He has his role to play in the social structure, celebrating battles and histories, singing of heroes and cities, but also he is expected to sing of living, and of love and joy, not merely of arms and glory; and, too, it is his function to remind the Goreans from time to time of loneliness and death, lest they should forget that they are men.
The singer was thought to have an unusual skill, but so, too, were the tarn-keeper and the woodsman. Poets on Gor, as in my native world, were regarded with some skepticism and thought to be a little foolish, but it had not occurred to anyone that they might suffer from divine madness or be the periodic recipients of the inspiration of the gods. The Priest-Kings of Gor, who served as the divinities of this rude planet, inspired little but awe, and occasionally fear. Men lived in a truce with the Priest-Kings, keeping their laws and festivals, making the required sacrifices and libations, but, on the whole, forgetting about them as much as possible. Had it been suggested to a poet that he had been inspired by a Priest-King the fellow would have been scandalised. 'I, So-an- So of Such-and-Such a City, made this song,' he would say, 'not a Priest-King.'
In spite of some reservations the Poet, or Singer, was loved on Gor. It had not occurred to him that he owed misery and torment to his profession, and, on the whole, the Caste of Poets was thought to be a most happy band of men. 'A handful of bread for a song,' was a common Gorean invitation extended to members of the caste, and it might occur on the lips of a peasant or a Ubar, and the poet took great pride that he would sing the same song in both the hut of the peasant and the halls of the Ubar, though it won for him only a crust of bread in one place and a cap of gold in the other, gold often squandered on a beautiful woman who might leave him nothing but his songs.
Poets, on the whole, did not live well on Gor, but they never starved, were never forced to burn the robes of their caste. Some had even sung their way from city to city, their poverty protecting them from outlaws, and their luck from the predatory beasts of Gor. Nine cities, long after his death, claimed the man who, centuries ago, had called Ko-ro-ba the Towers of the Morning.
'The Caste of Poets is not so bad,' I said to Linna.
'Of course not,' she said, 'but they are outlawed in Tharna.'
'Oh,' I said.
'Nonetheless,' she said, her eyes happy, 'this man, Andreas, of the Desert City of Tor, crept into the city — looking for a song he said.' She laughed. 'But I think he really wanted to look behind the silver masks of our women.' She clapped her hands with delight. 'It was I,' she continued, 'who apprehended and challenged him, I who saw the lyre beneath his grey robes and knew him for a singer. In my silver mask I followed him, and determined that he had been within the city for more than ten hours.' 'What is the significance of that?' I asked, for I had heard something of the sort before.
'It means one is made welcome in Tharna,' said the girl, 'and this means one is sent to the Great Farms to be a Field Slave, to cultivate the soil of Tharna in chains until ond dies.'
'Why are strangers not warned of this,' I asked, 'when they enter the gates?'
'That would be foolish indeed, would it not?' laughed the girl. 'For how then would the ranks of Field Slaves be replenished?'
'I see,' I said, now understanding for the first time something of the motivation behind the hospitality of Tharna.
'As one who wore the silver mask,' continued the girl, 'it was my duty to report this man to the authorities. Yet I was curious for I had never known a man not from Tharna. I followed him, until we were alone, and then I challenged him, informing him of the fate that lay before him.' 'Then what did he do?' I asked.
She dropped her head shyly. 'He pulled away my silver mask and kissed me,' she said, 'so that I could not even cry for help.'
I smiled at her.
'I had never been in the arms of a man before,' she said, 'for the men of Tharna may not touch women.'
I must have looked puzzled.
'The Caste of Physicians,' she said, 'under the direction of the High Council of Tharna, arranges these matters.'
'I see,' I said.
'Yet,' she said, 'though I had worn the silver mask, and counted myself a woman of Tharna, when he took me in his arms, I did not find the situation unpleasant.' She looked at me, a little sadly. 'I knew then that I was no better than he, no better than a beast, worthy only to be a slave.' 'You do not believe that?' I demanded.
'Yes,' she said, 'but I do not care, for I would rather wear the camisk and have felt his kiss, than live forever behind my silver mask.' Her shoulders shook. I wished that I could have taken her in my arms, and comforted her. 'I am a degraded creature,' she said, 'shamed, a traitress to all that is highest in Tharna.'
'What happened to the man?' I asked.
I sheltered him, she said, 'and managed to smuggle him from the city.' She sighed. 'He made me promise to follow him, but I knew that I could not.' 'What did you do?' I asked.
'When he was safe,' she said, 'I did my duty, giving myself to the High Council of Tharna and confessing all. It was decreed that I must lose my silver mask, don the camisk and be collared, and be sent to the Great Farms to carry water to Field Slaves.'
She began to weep.
'You should not have given yourself to the High Council,' I said. 'Why?' she asked. 'Was I not guilty?'
'You were not guilty,' I said.
'Is love not a crime?' she asked.
'Only in Tharna,' I said.
She laughed. 'You are strange, too,' she said, 'like Andreas of Tor.' 'What of Andreas?' I asked. 'When you do not join him, will he not come searching for you, re-enter the city?'
'No,' she said. 'He will think I no longer love him.' She lowered her head. 'He will go away, and find himself another woman, one more lovely than a girl of Tharna.'
'Do you believe that?' I asked.
'Yes,' said she. 'And,' she added, 'he will not enter the city. He knows he would be caught and, considering his crime, he might be sent to the mines.' She shuddered. 'Perhaps even be used in the Amusements of Tharna.' 'So you think he will fear to enter the city?' I asked.
'Yes,' said she, 'he will not enter the city. He is not a fool.' 'What,' cried a merry young voice, insolent and good natured, 'could a wench like you know of fools, of the Caste of Singers, of Poets?' Linna sprang to her feet.
