Three days after our troubling encounter with Sellius Gavia, Stannis Assante rode into the city of Torcadino.
He was accompanied by the huntresses, Svetlana and Mishka, and a small band of his most loyal men. The news was delivered to me in my sumptuous apartments in the eastern wing of the palace by Gaius Antony.
“The matter is more than a little awkward,” Gaius admitted as he drank a small ka-la-na with me that afternoon. “Obviously, and I must stress this to set your mind at ease, you enjoy a degree of diplomatic protection as you are an ambassador from a city that is soon to be our ally.”
“I should hope so,” I said by way of reply.
A dark haired slave knelt close enough to respond promptly to commands, but not so close that she might intrude in a conversation between men. At the mention of Stannis Assante her body seemed to react. She glanced up in surprise.
“Eyes down, girl,” I reminded her. The girl swiftly lowered her eyes again. She looked beautiful in her brief tunic and steel collar. She knelt in nadu with her thighs open before us for there were no Free Women present who might object. Her hands rested, palms down, on the softness of her thighs. Women are just so incredibly beautiful when they are collared. Steel seems so natural when locked about their delicate throats. And I think they know this when they are finally enslaved.
“But even so, Stannis has been making demands.”
“Surely not,” I said as I sipped my ka-la-na. “Demands of mighty Torcadino? Will the city administration tolerate such a thing?”
“As I said, it is a delicate matter,” said Gaius as he reflected briefly on the practicalities involved.
“If he is making a nuisance of himself, I am sure you could have him arrested?” I suggested. “Is he making a nuisance of himself?”
“He would like to speak to you, Roland.”
“Well, I’m a very busy man. I have matters to attend to in the service of the Lady Laetitia. She longs for her companionship, night and day, now that she has met the noble Sellius Gavia. I believe she was smitten the moment she laid eyes on him,” I lied.
“That is as it should be,” remarked Gaius. This was just protocol conversation. Gaius knew precisely what kind of man Sellius Gavia was, and he knew that I knew, too. “The man claims you have his companion – a woman named Livinnia.”
I glanced at my slave. Her eyes remained downcast, but her body seemed to tremble again as the name of Stannis’s free companion was mentioned. Her skin and hair was softly perfumed. Her features were artfully made up with slave cosmetics. The tunic she wore was of the softest slave silk, through which I could see the impression of her nipples. Such soft silks are not worn by a slave when she is going about her household chores. Then, a coarser, more hard wearing and practical rep cloth tunic is appropriate, but when serving drinks to a house guest I expect my slave to change into diaphanous silk. I want my guests to be happy when they visit me.
“Well, you can put him straight on that matter. I do not have a free woman named Livinnia, or any free woman for that matter.”
Gaius glanced momentarily at my slave. She looked beautiful in her steel collar and brief silks.
“I understand your slave is branded now?” said Gaius as he sipped his own wine.
“It is the law in Torcadino,” I said. “I would not disrespect the laws of Torcadino.”
The slave seemed to stifle a light sob as her fresh brand was mentioned. It had been done the day after Laetitia had met Sellius Gavia. The slave had screamed as she had been strapped to the branding rack. She had watched, helplessly, for twenty ehn as the branding iron had been heated to a white hot temperature in plain sight of her. She had begged, offered me the world and more, but the law is the law.
“You are a slave, Nia,” I had said. “You enslaved yourself. It was all very legal. Slaves must be branded within the walls of Torcadino.”
And so she was.
Kayra had wanted to attend the branding, but I had suggested that wasn’t a good idea. The branding of a slave can be a traumatic sight for any Free Women to watch. After all, every slave was once a Free Woman herself. Better that Kayra wasn’t there. She might find the scene unexpectedly troubling.
“Furthermore,” I went on to say, “I have it on particularly good authority that the Lady Livinnia no longer exists, from a technical and legal point of view. Were you to request copies of the papers from the Cylinder of Records, I suspect you would find she has been enslaved. The Free Woman therefore no longer exists. No one has her.”
“That is true enough” agreed Gaius, “but this is Stannis Assante.”
“Is Stannis Assante above the law?” I enquired.
“Of course not. He is not even a citizen of Torcadino.”
“He is allied with Argentum, I believe?”
“That is so.” Gaius gazed at my slave again.
“And Argentum is soon to be your enemy?”
“The emphasis here is ‘soon to be’ and I would add, ‘as things stand’, as an appropriate conjoining phrase.”
I smiled, for I knew what he was alluding to. “Desperate Argentum continues to make overtures to mighty Torcadino?”
“They are indeed countering the offer made by the Tatrix of Corcyrus. They feel that Torcadino would benefit more in the long run through an alliance with Argentum. They too have a young daughter going spare, as it happens.”
I wasn’t too concerned about this, for I had spoken with Adam and Adam had pointed out a few things to me. An alliance with Argentum would be an alliance of equals, and what Torcadino was looking for really was an alliance with a city where Torcadino could be the undisputed ‘top dog’. Corcyrus would be heavily reliant on Torcadino as the years progressed and so Torcadino could gradually dictate terms as she saw fit. An alliance with Argentum might be short-lived, for Argentum wouldn’t really need Torcadino once Corcyrus was defeated on the battlefield. Torcadino would then be faced with a stronger Argentum who now had a vassal state once again bordering Torcadino’s territory. And, interestingly, Sellius Gavia seemed keen on the idea of an alliance with a Tatrix, as opposed to a Ubar. He had been asking many questions about Aliyyah Mercator, it seems.
“I’m sure she’s lovely,” I said. “The daughter of Argentum’s Ubar, that is. May I ask how old?” I already knew the answer.
“Nine years old, but wiser than her years, I’m told.”
“Nine. Well, there’s that, I suppose,” I said with a grin. Gaius smiled, too. He knew as well as I did that Argentum wouldn’t secure an alliance with Torcadino, but the way politics worked was it was always in Torcadino’s interests to have a second offer floating about. The Tatrix of Corcyrus might then, in her desperation, agree to even more terms that favoured Torcadino.
“I think we will be allies soon,” I said, raising my glass.
“I am sure you are right,” agreed Gaius. “But in the meantime it seems that Stannis Assante also holds the position of Ambassador to our city, and so also enjoys a degree of diplomatic immunity, as you do. I fear arresting him on some spurious charge is out of the question. Not that I truly considered it in the first place.”
“Unfortunate. I suppose he will make himself scarce as soon as the companionship is formalised? Once the Lady Laetitia is appropriately bedded and the sheets are stained red and displayed in front of the palace steps?”
“I suspect he will be on the first kaiila out of the gates,” suggested Gaius. “Diplomatic protection ends once war is declared.”
“So, in the meantime I’ll just sit here in the palace surrounded by your fine soldiers. I don’t see a problem?”
“Alas, it appears that Stannis Assante has met with his Grace, Sellius Gavia.”
“Oh.” This didn’t sound like good news.
“Our Grace has suggested that it might be better for both parties if you were to at least meet with Stannis and hear his grievances?”
“When you say ‘suggested’?”
Gaius smiled. No more needed to be said there.
“I would receive him in the palace?”
“Of course,” said Gaius, as if that wasn’t even in doubt. “Formal protocol would be expected from both of you.”
“I see. Supposing I thanked his noble Grace, Sellius Gavia, for his timely and welcome intervention, but regretfully replied that my duties with the Lady Laetitia leaves me with no time to meet with Stannis?”
Gaius simply looked at me.
“When do you want to arrange the meeting?”
“Well, that’s the thing,” said Gaius. For the first time he seemed almost apologetic. “He’s waiting outside.”
Fuck.
----------------------------
Three days ago I had escorted a tearful Kayra from the audience room following her introduction to the Ubar’s second born son.
“What am I to do?” she said as soon as we were out of earshot of the Torcadino men. “Sellius Gavia is a monster. How can I live like this?”
I was uncharacteristically lost for words. What could I possibly say to the girl that might offer some crumb of comfort? She was damned now to a purgatory at best.
“People change, Lady,” said Adam as he walked beside us. “In time his heart may soften and he may grow to love you.”
“Please don’t think me a fool,” said Kayra. “Don’t lie to me as if I were still a child.”
“Very well,” said Adam, setting aside any such futile hope. “You will endure for the sake of your city, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who will escape the yoke of oppression that will otherwise come if Argentum crushes your armies on the fields of battle. You will endure, Lady, because you are strong, and your life is a price worth paying to save your people. Tell me I’m wrong?”
Kayra cried some more. “You know I will endure anything to save my people,” she said. “I am Corcyrus.”
Adam nodded. “I am very sorry, for what that’s worth.”
“You will tell my mother? You will tell her what has happened? What Sellius Gavia is like?”
“OF course,” lied Adam. He had no intention of returning to Corcyrus. “I will speak to her personally, as soon as I am back in the city.”
Oh, Kayra, I thought to myself. Something about Adam’s composure told me the horrible truth: Aliyyah Mercator, the Tatrix of Corcyrus, was only too aware, already, what Sellius Gavia was like, and still she had condemned her only daughter to this living hell.
“The Tatrix knows, doesn’t she?” I said to Adam as we left Kayra’s apartments. She was now in the tender care of her handmaiden slaves – the same handmaiden slaves who might one day be told to whip their mistress if it amused Sellius Gavia.
“Of course,” he said. I could see he was restless, wanting to move on, and was impatient for the ceremony of Free Companionship to take place. Only then would his duty be concluded and he could search for his beloved Caitlin.
“How could any mother do this to their own flesh and blood?” I was horrified. “I understand the need, but the casual way in which the Tatrix allowed this to happen…”
Adam turned on the balls of his feet and regarded me. Felix had already gone on ahead. “Laetitia isn’t her flesh and blood.”
I was dumbstruck for a moment. “What?”
“When the Tatrix began her ambitious climb to power, when she first understood how far she wished to climb, she knew she would need a child for political reasons, and she knew, ultimately, what would be asked of that child. She didn’t want to subject such things to her own flesh and blood, so Aliyyah Mercator adopted an orphan, red-headed baby girl in her youth. Yes, Roland, she thought that far ahead. Laetitia doesn’t know, and you will not tell her.”
“Aliyyah doesn’t care what happens to Laetitia?” That thought was also horrifying.
“Of course she cares. She raised the child as her own. Aliyyah is not a monster. But Laetitia is not her flesh and blood. I suppose she thought that would make the sacrifice easier when the day came.”
“And is it easier for her?” I said through gritted teeth.
“That’s not for me to say, Roland.”
“You seem very privileged in understanding Aliyyah and knowing her secrets.”
Adam said nothing.
“What went on between the two of you?”
“I’m the Captain of her Palace Guard,” said Adam.
“Does Aliyyah love you?”
“Aliyyah doesn’t love anyone, but she’s very good at making people think she does.”
“You’re not going to tell me, are you, Adam?”
“For once you’re right about something, Roland.”
“But there’s something you need to know, Adam. You don’t know everything about this mission. Aliyyah gave me separate instructions for when we reached Torcadino.” It did sort of please me that the all-knowing Adam wasn’t truly all-knowing.
“And what were your special instructions?”
“Kayra will be subjected to an examination before the companionship. Female physicians will have to certify she doesn’t have natural slave responses.”
“I see.”
“I was to administer a phial of a drug to numb her body. The thing is… when my possessions were taken from me… when I was declared dead… well, I don’t have the phial anymore, and…”
Adam produced a phial from his pouch and held it out to me.
“You found it? You found my things?”
“No. I have no idea where your ‘things’ are. Roland. This is a second, identical phial, to be given to you when you fucked everything up and lost the first one.”
Oh. So Adam did know everything.
“Aliyyah gave you a second phial? Why would she do that?”
“Why wouldn’t she do that.” He was about to hand it to me, and then changed his mind. “You know what, I’ll just hang on to this until the day of the Companionship. I’ll sleep better not having to worry that you might lose this one, too.”
----------------------------------
I’d forgotten just how big Stannis Assante was. Gorean doorways tend to be larger than ones on Earth, but even so Stannis filled the doorway as he entered. He was accompanied by two huntresses – Mishka and Svetlana – both dressed again in their leathers and furs. Thankfully there were no weapons in sight, except for the weapons carried by the six palace guards that Gaius had placed on duty around the room to soothe my nerves.
“Six spears will be sufficient to keep me alive?” I had asked him.
“Sadly, no, but six spears are enough that Stannis will die soon after you lie dead on the floor.”
“That’s reassuring,” I remarked.
“It’s the least I could do,” said Gaius.
“Almost literally,” I said. We both smiled at one another.
“Captain Stannis Assante, welcome to my humble apartment,” I said as the warrior swept his eyes around the impressive room.
“I remember you,” said Stannis. “I gave you bread, wine and shelter when you needed it. In return you stole my companion. Give her to me.”
“I will always be grateful for your kindness and hospitality,” I assured him. “You are a great man.”
“Where is Livinnia?” he said as he loomed close. A dark haired slave knelt on the tiled floor to one side of us. She wore a steel collar and a silken tunic. Stannis gave her barely a second glance. I hadn’t expected him to recognise Nia, for when a Free Woman is branded and collared, and after she has served as a slave for some time, she is often unrecognisable to men who had known her in the past.
“Svetlana, Mishka, I am pleased to see you are well,” I said as they flanked Stannis. “I freed them as a courtesy to you,” I said to Stannis.
“I am not here for pleasantries,” said Stannis. “Give me my woman.” As he spoke, Stannis failed to notice the shocked surprise on the faces of his two huntresses. They caught sight of Nia in her silk tunic, kneeling submissively with her eyes gazing down at the tiles. They had seen her wearing slave cosmetics before, but even so, back then she had been defiant, proud and she had acted as a free captive. Mishka and Svetlana looked at one another, then at Stannis, and then back at the graceful figure of the kneeling slave, not sure what to say.
“I don’t have Livinnia of the Assante,” I said.
“Do NOT lie to me,” said Stannis. “Men who lie to me rarely live fortunate lives.”
“Cards on the table,” I said, and, as soon as I said that it was obvious that Stannis and the Gorean women were unfamiliar with the phrase. “Let me say some things. Stannis – I have never wanted to dishonour you, but you are a warrior, and your caste have codes. Your woman, and her sisters, they came after me. Let’s be clear, this was war and they would have killed me if they had the chance. By your very own codes, a man is entitled to defend himself, and if a woman comes at a man with blades, your codes are clear that the man can kill her or take her captive. I did not choose the fight, rather, the fight came to me. Your woman hunted me, and she paid the price. That is the risk a woman takes if she wears the hunting leathers of a man and draws steel. What I did falls within your codes, so do not suggest there was any dishonour in what I did.” I turned to look at the huntresses. “Mishka, Svetlana, do you deny you hunted me and my friends? That you would have killed or taken me captive?”
“We would have brought you in chains back to our camp,” said Svetlana. “You would have been stripped and displayed as the captive of women.”
“See,” I said to Stannis. “What was I supposed to do? What would YOU have done? I didn’t want this. But they came at me. And they paid the price. Even so, I freed Mishka and Svetlana.”
“Where is Danata?” said Mishka as she stood there, proud, defiant in her hunting leathers. “Where is our sister, Danata?”
“I sold her to a slaver – Darian Athuk.”
“NO!” cried Mishka. She lunged forward but Stannis’s right hand snapped out faster than I could react, and he pulled her back sharply with a flick of his wrist. On either side of us the palace guardsmen snapped their spear points down and raised their shields.
“It’s okay,” I said to the guardsmen. “Mishka… I can understand the reaction. But I’m being honest with you, Mishka. I wouldn’t lie to you. I needed money, and Darian made me a very good offer.”
“Is Danata a slave?!” screamed Mishka.
“By now? Yes.”
The women wailed and would have drawn their hunting knives if they had them.
“This is the final time I will ask,” said Stannis. “Where is Livinnia?”
“Stannis.” Mishka’s voice was emotional as she directed the warlord’s gaze to the small, perfumed, silken slave who knelt submissively with her eyes not daring to look up at free men and women without my permission. And then he knew. A darkness settled on his brows and, as he slowly turned his face back to me, I began to wish there were more armed men in this chamber.
“I am going to kill you now,” said Stannis, “For I have sworn an oath on the Gods of the Turian steppes to slay any man who enslaved Livinnia.” He glanced at the spearmen who were readying themselves for a fight. “The first man who comes at me, I will take his spear and I will kill him with it. I will then kill the other five. Come at me in your own time, or not, it matters little to me.”
Fuck.
“No man enslaved her,” I said, backing away. ‘It’s the truth, Stannis. There is no man you need to kill to satisfy your oath. Livinnia enslaved herself.”
“That is a lie!” roared Stannis. Fuck me, but he was scary.
“It is NOT a lie! You can check for yourself. I have her slave papers. I pulled a new set I had requested from the Cylinder of Records and I waved them in front of me.
“I can’t read,” snarled Stannis.
“Then I’ll tell you what they say – Livinnia of the Assante submitted and spoke the words declaring herself a slave within the tent of Darian Athuk. Her self-enslavement was witnessed and documented. Her papers do not lie. No man did this to her, Stannis. She did it to herself.”
“YOU LIE!” he began moving towards me, and around the chamber the palace guards actually looked scared. This was Stannis Assante after all.
I continued to back away, hoping Gaius would do the sensible thing and call for more men. “ASK HER!” I said. I pointed to Nia. “Look her in the eyes and ask her!”
Stannis paused for a moment and then he walked across the tiled floor, stopped before my slave, placed his hand in her glossy hair and raised her face so that their eyes might meet at last.
Nothing needed to be said. She couldn’t meet his gaze for the shame of what she had done.
“Forgive me,” she said in a quiet voice.
And then Stannis knew. he didn’t even have to ask her to deny it.
The shame was too much for her to bear. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Livinnia of the Assante no longer exists,” I said. “There is no coming back. You know how slave law works. I didn’t do this. Darian didn’t do this. She chose to enslave herself. And now she belongs to me.” I had backed away about as far as I could, giving the spearman enough time to encircle Stannis. He regarded them warily, but didn’t seem in the least bit afraid. One of the spearmen approached perhaps a little too closely. With lightning speed, Stannis reached out, seized the man’s spear, pulled it from his grasp, jabbed the blunt end in the man’s face, and then, with a crack of cheek bone, the man dropped to the floor, screaming. Before anyone might react, Stannis hurled the spear, point first, and it embedded itself three inches deep within a celling beam. I watched as the remaining five spearmen backed a few paces away.
“But I will sell her to you,” I continued. “Make me a fair offer. I won’t refuse it. I have respect for you, Stannis, and I do not want you as an enemy, not here in Torcadino, nor anywhere. You can buy her and you can free her. I’m happy with that.”
Stannis turned his huge shaggy head in my direction once more. His eyes burned with rage.
“Just name a price, Stannis. Whatever she is worth to you. I won’t haggle.”
Stannis glanced down at the lovely slave girl again. She looked so small, so soft, so sensual at his feet. What remained of the former Livinnia of the Assante was consumed right now with shame.
“Nothing,” he said. “I will offer you nothing.”
And then he raised his clenched sword fist and spoke two words that sent a chill down my spine: “Kajira Canjellne.”
In Earth terms, the man had just challenged me to a formal duel to the death for this lovely Turian slave girl.
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