"Was the strange crossbow taken to the Sardar?" I asked, referring to the rifle in that fashion.

"Yes," said Hup.

"What will be done with Philemon in the Nest, when they have learned what they wish from him?"

"I do not know," said Hup. "Perhaps he will be kept as a slave."

We were now passing along a carpeted corridor, rather more plain than many. I noted the doors here were secured only with signature knots. They were perhaps the doors to the compartments of slaves, housing little more doubtless than a straw mat, a washing bowl, and a small box in which might be kept some slave livery and perhaps simple utensils, a plate and a cup.

I glanced at the knots on the doors, as we passed them.

Soon we had emerged in the great domed chamber set with lights and stones in which, on a high, stepped dais, sits the marble throne of the Ubar of Ar. Warriors saluted as I entered, lifting their swords from their sheaths. I lifted my hand, returning the salute. The room was filled with men in the robes of many castes, both high and low. On the throne itself, in the purple robes of the Ubar, regal, magnificent, sat Marlenus, Ubar of Ar, Ubar of Ubars. At his side and about the steps in rough garb, stood Warriors who had been with him as long ago as his exile in 10,110, who had fled with him to the Voltai and shared his outlawry, and how shared the glory of his restoration. There were, I noted, no Initiates in the room. I gathered their influence in Ar was at an end, at least in the court of the Ubar. Marlenus lifted his hand to me. "Tal," said he.

"Tal," said I, "Marlenus of Ar."

I then stood to one side, Hup at my side, to behold the doings of the Ubar's court.

Many were the honors and awards bestowed by Marlenus on faithful retainers. Many were the new appointments to posts of importance in the city.

I recall certain matters more clearly than others. Saphronicus, former Captain of the Taurentians, and his high officers, and Seremides of Tyros, who had replaced Maximus Hegesius Quintillius as leader of the forces of Ar, were at one point brought forward, chained. Kneeling on the tiles before their Ubar, they pleaded no mercy nor were they given any. They were ordered to Port Kar, in chains, to be sold to the galleys.

I saw Flaminius, at one point, standing before the throne of the Ubar. The Ubar gave him pardon for his actions on behalf of the House of Cernus, and he requested permission to remain within the city. He would return to his research.

At one point, to the shouts and delight of the men of the Ubar some two or three hundred girls were ushered quickly into the room of the court. They wore the brief gray livery of the state slave of Ar, slashed to the waist, knotted with a gray cord; about their throats was locked the gray metal collar of Ar's state slave; they were barefoot; on the left ankle of each was the gray metal band, with its five gray bells, worn by the female state slave. Their hair, in state fashion, had been cut short, shaped, and combed back around the head. The wrists of each were confined behind her back with gray slave bracelets. They were chained in long lines by the collars, five-foot lengths of chain being used, with a snap at each end fastening to a given collar, each collar, save for those terminating a line being fastened on two sides.

"Here are the most choice of the female slaves of the House of Cernus," said Marlenus, expansively gesturing to the two or three hundred girls.

There was a cheer from the many partisans of Marlenus in the room.

"Pick your slave," said he.

With great cheers the men hurried to the girls, to pick one that pleased them.

There were shouts of pleasure, and screams, and protests, and cries and laughter, as the men clapped their hands on wenches who struck their fancy. When the men had taken their pick the girls were released from the common chain and the key, that which served to unlock collar, bracelets and anklet, was given to he who had chosen his prize. Scribes at nearby tables endorsed and updated papers of registration, that the ownership of the girls be legally transferred from the state to individual citizens.

There was silence in the room when one girl, alone, was brought forth. She was attired as were the others, in the brief livery of the state slave of Ar. Her wrists, like theirs had been, were confined behind her back. The belled anklet was the only sound in the room as she came forward, trembling. She walked between two Warriors. Each held a five-foot chain leash that was snapped on her gray collar. When she had reached the tiles before the throne of the Ubar, she knelt, head down. The Warriors, holding their leashes, stood on each side of her.

"Slave," said Marlenus.

The girl lifted her head. "Master?" she said.

"What is your name?" asked he.

"Claudia Tentia Hinrabia," she whispered.

"You are the last of the Hinrabians?" asked Marlenus.

"Yes, Master," she said, her head down, not daring to lift it, to gaze into the terrible countenance of Marlenus, her Ubar.

"Many times," said Marlenus, "your father, when Administrator of Ar, by stealth and openly, sought my destruction. Many times did he send Assassins and spies, and tarnsmen, to the Voltai, to find me and my men, and destroy us."

The girl trembled, saying nothing.

"He was my enemy," said Marlenus.

"Yes, Master," she whispered.

"And you are his daughter," he said.

"Yes, Master," whispered the girl. She trembled in the chains of the state slave. The Warriors seemed very tall and powerful beside her. She suddenly put her head down to the tiles.

"Shall it be torture and public impalement for you?" asked Marlenus.

She trembled.

"Well?" asked Marlenus.

"Whatever Master wishes," she whispered.

"Or perhaps," said Marlenus. "It might be more amusing to keep you as a Pleasure Slave in my Pleasure Gardens."

The girl dared not lift her head. "Whatever Master wishes," she whispered.

"Or should I free you?" asked Marlenus.

She looked up, startled.

"That you may be kept locked in a compartment of the central cylinder, not as slave but prisoner, a high-born woman, to be mated in the future as best accords with the politics of Ar, as I see fit?"

There were tears in her eyes.

"That way," said he, "a Hinrabian might at last well serve the interests of Ar."

"That way," whispered the girl, "I would be more a slave than a slave."

"I free you," said Marlenus, "but I free you that you may be at liberty to go where you will, and do what you wish."

She looked at him, suddenly, her eyes wide, startled.

"You will receive a pension from the state," said Marlenus, "ample to the needs of a woman of High Caste."

"Ubar!" she cried. "Ubar!"

He now spoke to the guards with her. "See that she is in all things treated as the daughter of a former Administrator of Ar."

Claudia, weeping, was conducted from the hall.

Following this more business was conducted. I remembered among this business arose the matter of more than one hundred exotic slaves from the House of Cernus, the white-robed girls who had been raised without the knowledge of the existence of men.

"They know nothing of slavery," said Marlenus. "Let them not learn now."

The girls would be treated gently, and brought well into the world of Gor, with as much tenderness as so harsh a society permitted, being freed and domiciled individually with Gorean families, whose households did not contain slaves.

I had been given the thousand double tarns of gold for the victory in the Ubar's Race. I saw Flaminius briefly in the room of the court. Eight hundred double tarns I gave to him that he might begin well his research once more.

"Press your own battles," said I, "Physician."

"My gratitude," said he, "Warrior."