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.The halls seemed, for the most part, oddly deserted.Occasionally a man ranpast.At one point, crouching down, then kneeling, as wt passed, by hangingsat the side of the corridor, was a slave girl.She was terrified.She woresome twists of silk about her.She wore a collar of a sort, rather high andornate, which is often jeweled.No jewels, however, caught the light as wepassed.They had been, I gathered, pried from their settings.Susan was not with us.I did not know where she was.Apparently she had beenleft behind.I was thrust into an anteroom, one off the great hall.In this room there weresome four or five men and a woman.The woman wore a robe, hooding her, and wasturned away from me.She -was about my height Interestingly she was barefootand the robe she wore came only a bit below the -x.I thought she had nicecalves and ankles.Mine, I thought, might be better, A man, dressed rather inthe fashion of Ligurious and the others, was lifting a sheet about her.She clutched this sheet about her, drawing it even about her head, and holdingit together, before her face, effectively veiling herself with it.She turnedto face me.Then she turned away.Her eye color, I noted, was not dissimilarto mine.Ligurious turned me, so that I faced the door to the great hall, where, on thelofty dais, reposed the throne of Corcyrus. Is all ready? asked Ligurious. 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,Page 102ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlas though thrown over her.As it hung about her, its bern fell midway betweenher ankles and knees.I was startled.It was almost as though, under thesheet, she might be naked.I gasped.Something was being fastened about herthroat, over the sheet, under her chin.It was round.There was a long strapconnected with it.It was a slave collar and leashlLigurious took me by the arm and turned me about, again, facing me toward thedoor to the great ball.I did not know who the woman was, but I suspected that she might be she withwhom Ligurious had confessed himself to be so smitten, she to whom Iapparently bore some resemblance.It seemed odd to me, almostincomprehensible, that Ligurious, a man such as he, who must have had somefifty women at his feet, women such as Susan, women kneeling in terror and aweabout him, for he was their total master, should be so much like a callowyouth, 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 twogreat entrance doors, at the far end, were locked from the inside, with thegreat beams in their brackets.It took ten guardsmen to move those beams.Icould not begin to budge them. Is there any sign of the men of Cos? I heard a man ask behind us, from theanteroom. 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. Youwill 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 assuredthat everything bad been planned for, that all contingencies, according toLigurious, bad been anticipated.JII 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 fateif 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 greatdistance.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 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]