Barbarian of Gor Chapter Thirty Four

 

Kayra tried to prolong my visit for I think she sensed that the next time I might see her it would be with a brand on her left thigh and hoop rings through her earlobes. So long as I remained beside the kennel bars that moment might be postponed indefinitely. 

 

“Just a few ehn longer, please, Master,” she begged. She reached with her fingers through the bars, but the jailer would not permit me to touch a slave that could not be verified as my property. He struck the bars with a wooden rod, and Kayra swiftly withdrew her hand. “I love you,” she said, as she stared out at me. “There, I’ve said it. I love a man I may never have. A man who…” she hesitated, afraid of what she must say, “I belong to in my dreams, body and soul.”

 

“If she isn’t your property, she certainly wants to be,” said the jailer as he escorted me back along the row of other kennel cages. I knew there was no point arguing with the man that I didn’t want Kayra branded. Until I could prove she was my property I had no say in the matter, and time was running out. With less than six ahn until the metal worker came for her, I couldn’t waste even a single ehn. 

 

I emerged back onto the street and considered my options. 

 

That didn’t take long. 

 

Basically, I was fucked unless I found Adam and Felix. They might know what to do, because God knows I was at a loss to think of anything. All I knew was that it was game over for Corcyrus if Kayra was branded. And game over for me, too. I could hardly go back to the city and face the Tatrix after my monumental mistake. Everything had turned to shit again, and we had been so close. 

 

At least I had a place where I might find Adam: the public gardens of the former Ubar, Aurelius II. I was to mark the base of the Ubar’s statue with a piece of chalk. 

 

I swiped a piece of chalk from a market stall on my way to the gardens. Yeah, just add petty shoplifting to my long list of sins. By the time I reached the central gardens, having had to stop numerous times to ask for directions, the city bells were ringing the eleventh ahn. The gardens were busy at this time of day, and many citizens of the city were walking along the floral paths deep in conversation, or simply contemplating the zen like tranquillity of their surroundings. Others were playing kaissa on stone game boards with the checker board designs painted on the surface. Men would come to the gardens to play kaissa with strangers, enjoying the opportunity to while away an ahn or so away from their free women, in careful contemplation of the grand game’s masterful design. 

 

But I had come with a singular purpose in mind. I walked straight up to the cast iron statue of Aurelius II – his crested helm tucked under his left arm, as he struck his shoulder with the balled fist of his right, as he gazed out into the distance, seeming to watch over his vast city – and made my chalk mark as Adam had instructed. Now I had to wait and that was agonising in itself. Come on, Adam, don’t give up on me; be here, be watching out for me. I sat myself down on a narrow bench and concentrated my gaze on the base of the statue where I had left my mark. 

 

Adam appeared upon the ringing of the twelfth bell. 

 

“Adam,” I said, as I quickly stood up, but I didn’t say anything more as his fist struck me suddenly in the stomach and I went down, rasping for breath.

 

“You stupid fuck,” snarled Adam. I was wheezing and unable to speak, let alone hit back. I lifted myself on one elbow and held out the palm of my other hand to show him I didn’t want to fight. “Stay down Roland, or I’ll hit you again.”

 

“Kayra…” I just about managed to gasp.

 

“Yes, Kayra. Where is she?”

 

I coughed, wheezed, tried to formulate words. “Slave pen… sixteenth ahn…” I wheezed some more.

 

“You can’t fight here,” said a man in the robes of the Builders, tutting and gesturing solemnly with his right hand. “This is a garden of peace and contemplation where men gather to play kaissa.”

 

“My apologies,” said Adam, turning to the man.

 

“If you have a dispute, you should take it to the Anatolian gardens by the wall.”

 

“I will bear that in mind next time,” said Adam with a placatory smile. 

 

Adam then seized me by the neck of my tunic and hauled me to my feet. “Take some breaths and tell me what has happened to Kayra.” He pulled my face close to his. It took a few ehn, but gradually I was able to breathe and talk again.

 

“She’s in the city kennels. She came after me.”

 

“I know she came after you,” said Adam through gritted teeth. “Can neither of you obey simple orders?”

 

“I saw Sally – Miss Sally Reeve,” I said. “I saw an opportunity to…”

 

“I don’t care if you saw the fucking Easter Bunny doing a pole dance.”

 

“She saw us. She was going to signal to her men.”

 

“We knew we were going to be spotted, and we knew she would signal to her men. Didn’t you listen to anything I said, you fucking idiot? I didn’t want to have to fight in the open square just inside of their gates. I wanted to lead our enemies somewhere quiet and secluded where they thought they could kill us. Somewhere I could use my gun without apparently waving a fucking magic weapon around in full view of the superstitious peasants. They weren’t going to attack us in the open square; they were going to follow us at their leisure. But no, you had to kick things off there and then.”

 

“Is Felix okay?” I asked.

 

“Not with you, he isn’t. He wants to give you a good kicking, but I told him I’m going first.”

 

“But he’s alive? Unhurt?”

 

“He took a wound. There were four of them and they were very good. Very, very good. We’re only alive because we attacked them by surprise.”

 

“Your gun?”

 

“I didn’t use my magic weapon. You don’t use it in front of witnesses who are going to be alive after the event. Do you understand what incognito means, you fucking moron?”

 

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Adam.”

 

“Be glad I’m not returning to Corcyrus after this is over. Be really fucking glad, Roland, because if I were I’d be telling the Tatrix what a fucking idiot you are.”

 

“I just wanted to help…”

 

“Well I hope you don’t expect a fucking medal for that, because I’m all out of fucking medals.”

 

“They’re going to brand Kayra,” I babbled. “At the sixteenth ahn. And pierce her ears. They won’t give her to me because I don’t have documents of ownership. We haven’t much time.”

 

“It just gets fucking better and better, doesn’t it,” snarled Adam. “I’m fucking amazed you’re even able to dress yourself and brush your teeth in the mornings without special needs help.”

 

“I saved your life, remember, back when you were captured by the huntresses! isn’t that worth something?”

 

“You’re still breathing, aren’t you?” said Adam as he let go of my tunic.  

 

“I’ve had some time to think, Adam, while I was waiting for you. I think I know how we can free Kayra.”

 

“You have a plan? This should be good. Go on.”

 

“I don’t have papers for Kayra, but when we entered Corcyrus the scribe recorded that I had a slave called Kayra. That will be recorded somewhere. We can use that as evidence.”

 

“Great. And, yeah, maybe in a few days’ time the grinding wheels of bureaucracy will do whatever it has to do with those records and you’ll get Kayra back, by which time she has a brand. We’ll done, Roland.”

 

“Well do you have a. better idea?!” I snapped, tired of his sarcasm.

 

“Of course I do. Follow me and don’t do anything stupid for the next couple of ahn.”

 

Adam led me through the streets and into the central quarters of the city where many of the most impressive buildings might be found. In the distance I saw the raised heights of the Corinthian district where the place and various administrative buildings had been built many centuries ago.

 

“We’re going to the palace? The palace of the Ubar?”

 

“We are not going to the palace of the Ubar. That would be a very stupid thing to do, so I understand the attraction for you. If the main gates was where we might expect the primary line of assassins, the approach to the palace would be where Argentum placed its secondary line of assassins.”

 

“Then where are we going?”

 

“We’re going to see Gaius Antony.”

 

“And he is?”

 

“He’s sort of my opposite number in Torcadino, and like me he is something of a pragmatist. Gorean cities are run on similar lines to the countries on Earth. A bureaucratic civil service exists to mitigate the more stupid decisions made by Ubars and Tatrixes. Gaius Antony wants this alliance to go ahead without a hitch because it’s going to be good for both cities, and like me he will turn a blind eye to certain inconveniences.”

 

“You’ve spoken to him?”

“What do you think I’ve been doing since you ran off after Sally Reeve? Sitting in a paga tavern? Of course I’ve made contact with him, and I’ve explained some of what has happened. I’ve also told him that you’re an idiot, so there’s no need to tell him yourself.”

 

“Can we just go back to at least pretending we’re on the same side?” I suggested.

 

Adam stopped on the street and turned to address me again. “And, this is important: Kayra, even though she has worn a collar by way of a deception that was essential for the prosperity of both Torcadino and Corcyrus, she has never, never shown any sign of weakness, understand? The collar hasn’t affected her in any way. She is a proud, brave free woman who is simply doing her duty to her city. She has no feelings, you understand me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Gaius Antony is a pragmatist, and he’s on our side, but that only goes so far. He is Gorean at the end of the day. Kayra has no slave belly. None whatsoever.”

 

“She’s as pure as driven snow,” I agreed.

 

“Don’t forget that.”

 

“Honour is important to Goreans,” I mused.

 

“Honour has its time and place, and this is not the time nor the place.” 

 

We walked on. “She loves me, you know.”

 

“And that is exactly the sort of thing I don’t want you saying, not to anyone, not even me.” Adam looked pissed off.

 

“I thought you should know.”

“Why? So I know she has an appalling taste in men? I don’t care if she’s in love with me, let alone you.”

 

“She isn’t,” I said with a little trace of pride. “In love with you, that is. I don’t think she fancies you at all.”

 

“I don’t care what she thinks of me, or if she’s suddenly turned into a rug munching lesbian. All that matters is her duty to Corcyrus. This is what she was born to do. This is what she will do. All her life has been leading up to the next few days. I will get her safely to her companionship and then I’m through with this. I’m going to find Caitlin.”

 

“It just seems unfair. This is her life. She deserves some happiness.”

 

“For fuck’s sake.” Adam hurried his pace. 

 

We entered a large administrative building and I followed Adam through a number of corridors and up a flight of stairs. He seemed to know where he was going. We passed by a number of ancillary rooms where scribes busied themselves with paperwork. No one paid us any attention. Finally, we entered a large open planned chamber in which Gaius Antony worked during the day. He looked up as Adam entered with me close behind.

 

“Close the door,” said Gaius Antony.

 

“This is the idiot I told you about,” said Adam as he walked towards the desk. There were a number of chairs there, and Adam took one. It was difficult to tell how senior or experienced Gaius Antony was, for like all Goreans he looked impossibly young. It’s difficult to gauge a Gorean’s age when they all look like extras from Logan’s Run. 

 

“Ka-la-na?” enquired the man.

 

“Bit early, but thanks. We’ve found her.”

 

Straight to business.

 

“And where is she?” asked Gaius.

 

“Public slave kennel. She was picked up yesterday afternoon.”

 

“Ah, unfortunate,” remarked Gaius as he leaned back in his chair. He regarded me for a moment but didn’t say anything. “Unmarked, I hope?”

 

Adam nodded. “We have that. Praise the Priest Kings that the kennel bureaucracy is as slow as anywhere else.”

 

“The Priest Kings be praised,” said Gaius as he reached for a dusty bottle of ka-la-na, produced three glasses, and filled each one with a small quantity of rich red wine. “Gentlemen,” he slid glasses across the desk to the two of us. What the hell, after what I’d been through I could do with a drink. I reached out and took one of the glasses.

 

“it’s a wine from Vonda,” said Gaius. “Such vineyards they have.”

 

And, yeah, it did taste good. “So,” Gaius steepled his fingers under the bridge of his nose. “All’s well that ends well.”

 

“We should probably get a move on,” I said. “They brand her at the sixteenth ahn.”

 

“Scandalous,” said Gaius with a smile. And as if on cue the bells rang the thirteenth ahn. “But I think I can manage to pull levers to have her placed in my custody well before then.”

 

“Perhaps you should do that now,” I said, “just in case they do it early?’

 

“Slave kennels never do anything early,” said Gaius. “They operate like clockwork. Everything at its prescribed time. But, yes, I’ll issue the orders now.” A scribe was called into Gaius’s office. The man stood there as Gaius wrote some orders on a sheet of parchment, then applied some wax, stamped the wax and passed the sealed orders to the scribe. “This is your priority,” he said. “I want the slave in my office within the next two ahn at the very latest. Sooner, if possible.” The scribe nodded and left the room.

 

“Shouldn’t we go with him?” I said. I could imagine all the pitfalls that might occur right about now.

 

“Assassins of Argentum will be looking for you, but not my trusted scribe,” said Gaius as he picked up his own glass of ka-la-na. “No point in painting a target on the poor soul’s back by having you walk beside him. The man’s served me well for many years. It would be a shame to lose him this afternoon. He has a companion and two small children to think of.”

 

Adam smiled at Gaius, as he continued ignore his own glass of ka-la-na. 

 

Yeah, I could see why Adam thought of Gaius as his opposite number in Torcadino. I bet they would be the life and soul of a party together.

 

And so we sat there while Gaius excused himself and worked on some state papers. Adam seemed to be at ease but I was a bundle of nerves, my imagination running wild with all the things that could go wrong at this point, from the mundane like the scribe simply getting distracted by some other work, to the scribe suffering an accident on the way to the kennels, to the kennels now being watched by agents of Argentum who had worked out that Kayra was there, and on the way back to the administrative office the scribe would be attacked, killed, and Kayra stolen. And then of course there was the notion that I didn’t automatically trust this Gaius Antony. For all I knew he was an Argentum sympathiser, and on the payroll of Sally Reeve.

 

“We should have gone with him,” I said to Adam after a while.

 

“Gaius knows what he’s doing,” said Adam. 

 

“I don’t like this waiting,” I said.

 

“Obviously not,” replied Adam. 

 

And then, shortly before the bells for the fifteenth ahn were rung, the scribe returned with a slave, her wrists braceleted behind her back, a leash attached to her collar. She wore a simple tunic and was barefoot.

 

“Kayra,” I said, as the daughter of the Tatrix was led into Gaius’s office. 

 

“You can leave her with us, Pullus,” said Gaius as he glanced up from marking the state papers. “Oh, and, free her wrists before you go.”

 

I could tell that Kayra wanted to rush across the room and embrace me, but she knew she had to control herself while other men were present. She flexed her fingers and rubbed her wrists as she was freed from her bindings.

 

“You’re safe,” said Adam. “It’s all over, Laetitia.”

 

There was a hint of warning in the way he used her former name as a free woman, as if to say, all pretence of being a slave is now over, do you understand?

 

Kayra straightened herself up and blushed a little as she was now in the presence of a man who knew her former identity. Women can suffer being paraded about as a slave provided everyone thinks they are a slave. It is far more embarrassing when they pose as a slave before men who think they are free.

 

“Where am I?” asked Kayra.

 

“This is the honourable Gaius Antony of Torcadino,” said Adam. “He’s my opposite number in the city.”

 

“My dear,” said Gaius with an ingratiating smile. “Such an ordeal you must have endured! The tribulations you have suffered! You are truly a martyr for your city. The Priest Kings be praised. But welcome to Torcadino at long last.”