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. If she is to be me, said Lady Publia, suddenly, frightened, looking at LadyClaudia, wearing her former rags, veil and scarf,  what then is to be my rolein this farce?While we had been talking I had taken the cloth with Lady Claudia had broughtfrom the side earlier, that which she had cut from the tunic of one of theguards, and had been tearing it here and there, and working with it. Can you not guess? I asked. No! she cried. No! Perhaps, I said.I was now wadding one of the pieces of cloth into tightball.file:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Nor.20Gor%2023%20-%20Renegades%20of%20Gor.html (221 of 399) [1/21/03 7:54:43 PM]23 Renegades of Gor Are you not a Cosian? she asked. No, I said. What is your city? she asked, frightened. Port Kar, I said.She suddenly turned white. Glory to Port Kar, I said. Mercy! she cried. Glory to Port Kar, I said, regarding her, evenly. Glory to Port Kar! she cried, desperately, fervently. Three time, I said. Glory to Port Kar, she cried, thrice.I then thrust the small ball of tightly rolled cloth into her mouth, where,instantly, as it was actually a rather large piece of material, it expanded. Those may be the last word you ever speak, I said.Page 152ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html(pg.250) She looked at me wildly, tears in her eyes, squirming, shaking herhead, protesting, making tiny noises, but I then secured the wadding tightlyin her mouth, with two rolled strips of cloth, pulled back tightly between herteeth, and tied in back of her neck. When the executioner arrives, I said,  who do you think he is going to find,waiting for him?She turned white, squirming, shaking her head. You were not really very pleasing, I said. Perhaps you would like to bemore pleasing now?She nodded, desperately, tears bursting from her eyes. Hold her leash, close to the collar, I said to Lady Claudia, who waswhite-faced, too.This would keep Lady Publia from plunging her head to the floor, at our feet.She threw her head back, in misery.But I pulled it forward, by the hair, and covered it, with a large piece ofcloth from the guard s tunic.I then, with a knife, and a cord of rolledcloth, put through holes in the bottom of the cloth, made it into a roughhood, and tied it on her, fastening it behind the back of her neck. Perhaps if you had been more pleasing, I suggested.She then began hysterically, piteously, to squirm and moan.file:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Nor.20Gor%2023%20-%20Renegades%20of%20Gor.html (222 of 399) [1/21/03 7:54:43 PM]23 Renegades of GorI rose to my feet.I gestured to Lady Claudia to release the leash.It seemedshe could hardly open her fingers but she did so.Lady Publia, as I hadexpected, as soon as the leash was released, put her head, secured in thedarkness of the crude hood, wildly, piteously down, searching, groping, for myfeet, to press her covered, parted lips and stopped mouth against them.Then Itook the leash back between her legs, crossed her ankles, and bound themtogether with it.She was thus, having herself assumed this position, now, atmy convenience, fastened helplessly down, bent over, on her knees.I stood up.I looked down at her.Yes, it was also a position of obeisance. See if anyone is coming, I said to Lady Claudia.She hurried, distraught, to the cell door.In a moment she had returned. Doubtless he will be along presently, I said.Lady Claudia looked down, horrified, at our helpless warder.(pg.251) I crouched down by the prisoner. The spear, as I understand it, Isaid, trying to recall the words of our warder earlier to Lady Claudia,  is asolid piece of polished metal, very long, and less than a hort in width.It istapered to a point, and fits in a mount.Lady Publia, squirmed on her knees hysterically.She uttered tiny, wild,protesting noises.Lady Claudia looked at me wildly, over the veil.There were tears in her owneyes.At that moment there was a hideous impact some forty feet or fifty feet fromus and on the other side of the interior wall to the left, as one would facethe cell door, in what, presumably would have been the cell adjoining ours,there was a bursting inward of brick and stone.In a moment there was a cloudof dust in the corridor, some of which drifted into our cell.I put my armbefore my face.LadyClaudia s veil and Lady Publia s hood doubtless afforded them some protection.We heard a cough in the corridor outside.In a moment a tall fellow entered our cell.He wore a black hood, which, savefor a narrow, rectangular opening for the eyes, covered his entire head.Thehood and shoulders, in particular, were covered with dust.He struck some dustfrom his clothes and body. The wall weakens, he said to me. In a few Ehnthey will be coming again.They are forming.We can no longer keep them back.Page 153ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlTheir enginesfile:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Nor.20Gor%2023%20-%20Renegades%20of%20Gor.html (223 of 399) [1/21/03 7:54:43 PM]23 Renegades of Gor are almost climbing the walls.I nodded. You are Lady Publia, the warder? he asked Lady Claudia. I am, she said, boldly. I do not approve of woman warders, said he. It is a task for men.She tossed her head. Perhaps you regret having accepted the position, he said. Perhaps, said Lady Claudia.At our feet, Lady Publia, kneeling, bent over, small, hooded, the leash tightagainst the back of her neck, unable to raise her head, squirmed and utteredwild, tiny noises.We paid her no attention, as she was the prisoner.Isupposed, however, that perhaps she did, now, upon reflection, regret havingaccepted the position of warder.(pg.252)  You have pretty legs, said the fellow to Lady Claudia.She did not respond. What is your caste? he asked. The Merchants, she said. Why are you not in the white and gold, he asked,  on this, of all days?White and gold, or white and yellow, are the caste colors of the Merchants.She did not answer. You are not even in the Robes of Concealment, he said. They are not appropriate here, she said. You do not wear them because it is not appropriate for them here, he asked, or is that why you are here, because it is not appropriate to wear suchthings here? There are many places where they would not be appropriate, she said. Yes, he said,  for example, on a Cosian sales block. I meant other places, she said. It is true, he said,  for example, in climbing the rubble, carrying stonesto workmen on the walls, in tending the wounded, and such.Thus I wonder whyit is that you chose to be here. It is cool here, she said. And perhaps you could feel more like a man here, he said. Perhaps, she said, as though angrily [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]