Madison tried to see through the hole in the axe.

A boy in the audience said, "I don't believe it," in a passion-choked voice.

"Those grooms are holding him like a statue!" said his companion, wide-eyed.

Too-Too's horizontal face held a knowing smile.

The crowd was wide-eyed and panting.

Madison, staring, flinched at a scream of ecstasy from the son of Snor.

A moan went through the hall. It had the tension of sexual yearning in it, desire that throbbed as heavy as the music beat.

Teenie leaped down off the platform and sprang up the steps to her throne. The spotlight followed her and she stood, arms raised on high. The music was louder, heavier. She began to sway to the rhythm of it, scepter raised on high, golden crown flashing.

Her golden robe fell from her and she stood there swaying while the phallic symbols writhed upon her.

"Vassals and courtly gentlemen!" she cried. "Hear my Royal command! HAVE AT IT!"

They gave a thankful shout! Behind the ropes they fell upon one another like wolves in heat. The music and marijuana and the tableaux, the pulsing colored lights, had driven them mad with lust that no longer could be restrained.

The air above the roped-off areas was a sudden explosion of castoff jackets and other clothing.

The floor behind the ropes began to sink and with it went the sound of savage music and the lights, the stacks of sweetbuns and sparklewater and the cries of the boys.

A second floor slid over and the crowd was gone.

Madison knew his time had come.

The servants were rolling the platform away-Too-Too and the lordling had scampered off into the orgy and behind the ropes had begun to hug and kiss. The big board went and then the throne.

The musician balcony was sliding back into invisibility, for the same piece they had been playing had melted undetectably into recordings which still thumped very faintly from the floor below.

The lights in the room went back to normal. The marijuana smoke was sucked away by ventilators. A fresh smell like violets gently replaced it.

Madison cowered in his chair under the watchful eye of Hammer. Little sparks ran up and down the blade of the electric axe. Madison cringed back to keep it from touching his chains.

There seemed to be a gathering of the staff. Men and women in clothes that might be worn by cooks and chambermaids and technicians were drifting in. Even the musicians that had played joined the collecting throng. There seemed to be more than a hundred of them, including the seneschals, heralds and guards. Even the old gardeners came in: one of them had a bou­quet of massive flowers.

Madison wondered if they were all there to attend his trial. It made him acutely uncomfortable. Maybe they loved the sight of blood!

Teenie had been talking to some artist-looking fellow and they were now both laughing. Somebody had taken away her golden cape and replaced it with a plain red cloak that hung about her.

She started to walk toward the staircase that led upward. Madison felt a sudden surge of hope. She seemed to have forgotten him entirely: at least with luck he'd live another day. He tried to make himself very small so as not to attract her attention.

The staff had formed two lines now and Madison understood that they were not there to witness his demise. This must be some sort of a nightly informal rit­ual. Earlier moments might belong to the great Lords, but this was their little gathering, no more than a wishing of good night as they sent her off to bed.

A portly old man, coated in many golden frogs like an officer, probably the major-domo of the place, approached her as she strolled between the two rows of servants. He dropped to his knee and the whole staff instantly knelt. She stopped. He grasped the hem of her robe and pressed it to his lips. Speaking to the floor, he said, "Your Majesty, your staff wishes to thank you for letting them enjoy themselves doing their jobs."

Teenie looked all around at them, beaming and pleased. "Oh, dear trusted people. You are so sweet to be among. I thank you." And she began to name different sections of the staff, thanking each personally. Then she cried, "I love you all!"

They gazed at her with adoring eyes. The major-domo was about to say something else when a squabble broke out. Six women who, from their uniforms, were maids, were hissing and snarling at each other.

An old woman, stern and beautifully uniformed, was at them at once, speaking to them sharply for causing a disturbance. The major-domo went over to them.

It developed that they were having a dispute as to which two of the six should take the night watch and put Teenie to bed. It was quite bitter. It seemed that some of them had been switching watches. The major-domo pointed with authority at two of them whose watch it really was: they would take it! This pair stood promptly taller, their faces very proud. And then they suddenly stuck their tongues out at the other four and raced upstairs to get Teenie's bath ready. The abashed four, who had sought to interlope, looked at Teenie and knelt with both knees on the floor with a trace of fear. She smiled at them and they let out a sigh and then smiled back. It struck Teenie funny and she threw them a kiss and began to laugh. The whole staff began to laugh. Then, "Long Live Your Majesty!" they cried.

Teenie opened her mouth to tell them all good night when the guard captain in flashing silver caught her attention and pointed way over to the wall where Madison cowered.

(Bleep) that guard captain, choked Madison. Teenie had obviously forgotten all about him, for now she frowned and looked toward him as though she had noted some unwanted bug. The staff looked toward him as well and glared: evidently his crime of provoking their darling Queen Teenie had circulated through the whole, vast palace.

The guard captain and Teenie engaged in a whispered conversation. Then, with two guards flanking her, she followed the captain over to where Madison sat.

"They reminded me," said Teenie, in English, "that I have several dress fittings in the morning and gardening in the afternoon. They couldn't find time to fit in a trial, so we'll have it now. Guilty or not guilty?"

"Of what?" wailed Madison.

"In the confines of a palace, unless he is dealing with a person of higher rank," said Teenie, "the nobleman has the power of life and death over offenders to his property or person."

"I didn't offend you!" cried Madison in English. "I was just trying to get your help! You NEED me!"

She turned to the guard captain and, in Voltarian, she said, "He pleads guilty as charged. Enter it in the palace records."

"TEENIE!" cried Madison, "You MUST listen...."

"I don't have to listen to you," she said in English.

"You're guilty as hell and you know it. You never even lifted a finger to stop that (bleep) Gris. You got yourself into this mess because you didn't play ball with me." She shifted to Voltarian, "I therefore pronounce the prisoner guilty and the sentence is to be carried out without fail."

The guard captain nodded.

Madison said, "You haven't said what the sentence is!"

She was speaking in English again. "Well, Maddie, I get all heated up conducting these classes; they sometimes bring me to the brink of (bleep) and I ache. I've always wanted to break that fixation you have on your mother. So you're sentenced to coming up to my bed­room and (bleeping) me until I'm all limp and satisfied."

"OH, NO!" screamed Madison, and cringed back so hard his chains rattled. Then he thought in quick streaks of blue light and inspiration hit him. "Look," he said, "right down under that floor there are 250 boys! I can still hear the music pound! Any one of them would– – "

"Maddie," she said sharply in English, "you got your wires crossed. The moment I start (bleeping) one of those pages, the rest would be so jealous of him they'd slaughter him! Besides, I'm making them into perfectly good catamites and it would ruin them."