"He's not in there," I said to the men, gesturing with my head to the pantry from which I had emerged. Then I said to them, "Hurry!"
They hurried on.
I caught sight of a flash of ankle beneath the heavy robes of concealment worn by the women. It was a trim, exciting ankle. I smiled. I supposed they had not been told that when their political and military work for their faction was completed they would be silked and collared and kept as slaves.
Another man hurried by, running a slave girl on her neck chain before him. She was a yellow-collar girl, as Belinda, whom I had earlier had in the halls. had been. She was still in a snatch of slave silk. "She should be secured," I said to the man, sternly.
"She will be," he said.
I heard another man coming, from behind me. I spun about, covering him with the weapon I carried.
"Do not fire," he said. "I am Gron. from Al-Ka section."
"What are you doing in this area." I said.
"I have come to fetch the Lady Rosa." he said.
"In what apartment is she," I demanded.
"Forty-two," he said, "Central Level Minus one, Mu corridor."
"Correct," I told him, lowering the weapon.
He breathed more easily.
"I will fetch her," I said. Indeed, I had need of a wench. "Return to AI-Ka section."
He hesitated momentarily.
"Hurry," I said, angrily. "A condition of possible danger exists."
He lifted his hand, acknowledging this, and turned about. He soon disappeared down the corridor.
I soon determined that I was in Mu corridor, from Gorean markings high on the wall near a point where the corridor branched in two directions. It seemed probable to me that I was on the appropriate level as I had encountered the man at some distance from the nearest stairway.
I saw no others at that time in the corridor. I slid the chain along beside me.
Soon I had come to the steel door marked forty-two. I saw that a branch of the recessed chain track, above, entered the apartment, doubtless so that the Lady Rosa could be served by appropriately secured female slaves. I opened the door and slid the chain, on its track, within the opening. Inside the apartment was luxurious. plush and silked. It was dimly lit by five candles in a tall floor stand. There was much ornate, intricate carving in the room. A woman, startled, leaped up from the large, rounded bed on which she had sat. She wore the robes of concealment. She whipped the silken sheath of a veil across her features.
"You should knock, you fool," she said. "I had scarcely time to conceal my features."
Sbe looked at me, her eyes flashing over the veil. Her features were, even veiled, not particularly concealed. Her face was narrow but very beautiful. She had extremely dark eyes, and dark hair, even bluish black, which, under the hood of the robes, I could see was drawn back about the sides of her head. Her cheekbones were quite high. Her face was regal, aristocratic, and cold. She was angry.
"You are the Lady Rosa?" I asked.
She drew herself up coldly. "I am the Lady Graciela Consuelo Rosa Rivera-Sanchez," she said. "What is going on?" she asked.
"There is an intruder in the complex," I said.
"Has he yet been apprehended?" she asked.
"No," I said. "How long have you been in the complex?"
"Four months," she said. Then she said, "Four Gorean months, not yet completing the fourth passage hand."
"Are you familiar with the chain-and-track system, for controlling the movements of slaves?" I asked.
"Of course," she said.
"At its remotest terminations?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, "but humans are not allowed beyond those points."
I smiled.
"How could an intruder penetrate the complex?" she asked.
"By means of a ventilator shaft," I said. "You speak Gorean rather well," I said, "though with a distinct accent."
"I have been intensively trained," she said.
That accent, I thought, which was aristocratic and Castilian, would not be objected to by most Gorean masters.
"I have high linguistic aptitudes," she said, coldly.
I thought that that was fortunate for her. She would more quickly be able to understand and please a master in the subtleties of his pleasure, once she was totally owned by one. On the other hand, almost any girl, in a condition of slavery, learns quickly. She must. Slave girls are incredibly alert to the subtlest and most delicate nuances of a master's speech. The tiniest inflection can tell her whether her master is joking with her or, if she does not do something differently almost instantaneously, that she is to be mercilessly whipped. Girls in collars strive to learn well the, language of their masters. Differences among them in the swiftness with which the various proficiency levels are attained are functions, generally, of native aptitude and exposure conditions. The slave girl is doubtless, among the most highly motivated of female language students. Yet, if they begin to learn Gorean as adults, or young adults, they will almost always retain traces of their native tongue. I have encountered girls on Gor who spoke Gorean with a variety of Earth accents.
"What does the intruder want in the complex?" inquired the woman.
"At the moment he needs a woman," I said.
"I do not understand," she said.
"Remove your clothing," I said.
She looked at me, startled.
"Or I shall do it for you," I said. "I am the intruder," I explained.
She backed away. "Never," she said.
"Very well," I said. "Lie on the bed, on your stomach, with your hands and legs apart." I drew forth the knife at the belt of the garment I wore. It is not wise to try to tear away the garments of a free woman with one's bare hands. They may contain poisoned needles.
"You're joking," she said.
I gestured with the knife to the bed.
"You would not dare," she hissed.
"To the bed," I said.
"I am the Lady Graciela Consuelo Rosa Rivera-Sanchez," she said.
"If you are pretty enough," I said, "perhaps I will call you Pepita."
"You would take away my clothes, wouldn't you?" she said.
"I am Gorean," I told her. I took a step toward her.
"Do not touch me," she said. "I will do it."
Her small hands reluctainly went to the hooks at the throat of the garments.
"The veil, and hood, first," I said.
She brushed them back, with a movement of her hand, a toss of her head.
"You would bring a high price," I told her. She looked at me in fury.
"Step from your slippers," I told her.
She did so. She was then barefoot.
"Continue," I told her.
Her hands again went to the hooks at the throat of the garments. Angrily, deliberately, she loosened the hooks, one by one.
She pulled the garments down a bit from her throat. Her throat was slender and lovely. It would take an engraved steel collar, bearing her master's name, beautifully.
Her hands were at the two outer robes. She looked at me.
"We do not have all day," I told her.
They fell about her ankles.
"Between the third and fourth robes," I told her, "there is a sheathed dagger, concealed in the lining. Keep your hands away from it."
"You are observant," she said.
A warrior is trained to look for such things.
The third and fourth robe slipped to the floor, about her ankles.
There remained now but the fifth robe, and the light, sleeveless, greenish-silk, sliplike undergown.
Her hands hesitated at the throat of the fifth robe.
"Off with it," I told her.
It, like the others, fell about her ankles.
"Step from the robes," I said.
She did so.
She was yery slender, and exquisite, in the sheath of green silk.
"Do not make me strip further, I beg of you," she said.