I ~ ~be ~ b~ng I~Wered. f ~o not think I had been in it for even an Aim. Surely it Was not yet time for the great feast.

Then the sack was on the floor.

It was opened.

My eyes widened. I could not cry out, gagged. I was drawn from the sack by Drusus Rencius.

Behind him, naked, bound hand and foot, gagged, kneeling, was Sheila, the former Tatrix of Corcyrus.

Drusus Rencius removed my bonds and, lastly, my gag. "Be silent," he said. I nodded, and knelt before him, as the slave I was, before a master.

I then saw him, and not gently, replace the bonds on Sheila, she now on her belly on the tiles, with those I had worn, even to the gag, packed then tightly in her mouth, wet and sopping, and secured there. He then thrust her in the sack, tied it shut and, in moments, had hoisted her high to the ceiling, its enclosed and helpless prisoner.

I reached out, timidly, to touch Drusus Rencius. "May I speak?" I whispered. I did not wish to be cuffed.

"Yes," he said.

"I am not the Tatrix of Corcyrus," I said.

"I am sure you are not," he said. "I have been a dupe and a fool, as I am sure so, too, have been many of us."

"Where is Ligurious?" I asked, frightened.

"He is with his cronies from Corcyrus, those pretending to be envoys from Turia," he said.

"Fortunately they did not see me. I recognized them, of course. Indeed, I have been keeping a close eye on Ligurious ever since I discovered he was in the palace. I saw him, for example, enter the throne room, and saw you enter later. I then, later, saw him leaving the throne room with the other woman, she whom, after he left his quarters, I took the liberty of replacing in the sack where she belongs. He was in his banquet robes when he left his quarters. Accordingly I do not think he will discover her new whereabouts until the sack is opened." "It is intended," I said, "that the cohorts of Ligurious detain Hassan, and prevent him from attending the banquet."

"Hassan, I am sure," said Drusus Rencius, "can take care of himself." I looked at him, wildly.

"Stand," he said.

I did so.

"I believe this is yours," said Drusus Rencius, lifting skimpy tunic which, doubtless hut shortly before, he had moved from Sheila, probably binding and gagging her.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"Put it on," he said, throwing it against my body.

I caught it. "Yes, Master," I said. In a moment I was in It does not take long to don such a garment. I adjusted it my body. Then I straightened up. I saw I was being inspect as a slave.

"Turn, slowly," he said.

I did so, displaying as well as I could one of the property of Miles of Argentum.

"Have you been named?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"'Sheila,' Master," I said.

He smiled. "That would seem appropriate," He said, least from the point of view of Miles of Argentum. That, incidentally, is the name of the slave in the sack. It was on her in Ar by her master, Hassan, the Slave Hunter."

I nodded. I had not known that. He could have named I anything, of course. Daphne, Jean, Wanda, Marjorie, Ta Nose, Excrement, whatever he pleased. It had apparently amused him, however, perhaps as an irony, to put her name back on her, this time, of course, as a mere cognon in bondage, a convenience by means of which to refer to as the animal she now was, a slave name.

"You are very pretty, Sheila," he said.

"Thank you, Master," I said. That was my current sl~ name.

"The other Sheila, too, is very pretty," he said. "It will interesting, tonight, to compare you, when you are both naked and in chains, side by side, presented to Claudius a the high council."

"Doubtless, Master," I said. In such a situation, ni might, I supposed, make their appraisals and deterministic under almost ideal conditions. The conditions would be most as favorable as those of a slave market. We might even be measured and posed. When I was exhibited before him this fashion it was my hope that Drusus Rencius would like what he saw.

33 The Inquiry; The Outcome of the Inquiry; I Am the Slave of Miles of Argentum

The dancers had now scurried away with a jangle of […].

The musicians were quiet. The floor, between the tables cleared. The feast slaves had drawn back, behind the table. At these tables were Claudius, the Ubar of Argentum members of the high council. There were-numerous other dignitaries there, as well, both from Argentum and from cities. Miles of Argentum was there, and Drusus Rencius Ligurious.

Interestingly enough, Aemilianus of Ar, wb(once been my master, was there, and Publius, who had the house master in the house of Kliomenes, in Cos Hassan, the Slave Hunter, I noted, however, was not prt Toward the back of the room, at one of the lesser t there was a hooded guest, a medium-sized man. I dii know who it might be. It was much too small to be Has was naked, in slave chains, behind a beaded curtain. I be produced when Miles of Argentum, my master, wisi Because of my proximity to the narrow, linear space between the beading, I had little difficulty in seeing well in hall. The guests, on the other hand, given the closeness beading and their greater distance from it, could detect presence there only with difficulty, and, even then, probably, they would be able to tell little other than the fact the individual there, as might be discerned from the v~' detectable form, was a stripped or scantily clad female, I bly a slave. "It is now time," said Claudius, the Ubar of Argentum come to the major business of the evening. Let the sack be brought forth."

Two soldiers, from a side room, dragged the golden across the floor and put it before the center table, that table where sat Claudius, the members of the high council and other significant guests. At this table, too, sat Ligurious, Miles of Argentum and Drusus Rencitis.

"This feast," said Claudius, "is one of victory, one of triumph. Months ago the unprovoked aggression of Corcyrus, seeking the silver of Argentum, was repelled. Further, to ensure our security, and to prevent a repetition of this form of aggression, we fought our way to, and through, the gate of Corcyrus itself. There, abetted by the people of that city, we defeated the forces of the Tatrix of Corcyrus and overthrew her tyrannous regime."

There Was Gorean applause at this point; the striking of as the left shoulder with the palm of the hand. Even Ligurious, I noted, politely joined in the applause. "The ties of Corcyrus with Cos have now been severed," said Claudius. "She, now, like Argentum, is a free ally of glorious Ar."

Here there was more applause.

"And fortunate is this for her," said Claudius, "for Ar, as she has demonstrated, stands by her allies"

Again there was applause.

"As her allies stand by her!" he added. There was more applause.

Ar, of course, had substantial land forces. She had, doubtless, the largest and best-trained infantry in known Gor is the land forces of Cos, on the other hand, were probably not it superior to those of a number of Gorean city states, even)e- much smaller in their populations than the island Ubarate. These balances tended to be reversed dramatically in sea he power. Cos had one of the most powerful fleets on Gor. The sea power of Ar, on the "The villainess in this matter, the culprit, the instigator of all these hostilities, was Sheila, the cruel and wicked Tatrix of Corcyrus."

"Yes, yes!" cried several men.

"She was captured in Corcyrus but, en route to Argentum escaped. A great search was organized and conducted. A handsome reward was posted. Still, for months she eluded us Then Hassan, the Slave Hunter, he of Kasra, consented to take up her trail. Her days of freedom were then numbered. In Ar, not two weeks ago, she fell to his bracelets."