"No," I said. "No!"
Then I continued, again, to smile and bow, to nod and wave to the crowd. I hoped that my condition was not evident to the stern, practical Ligurious, first minister of Corcyrus.
His maleness, and Goreanness, too, of course, were felt keenly by me.
At his least word I would have stripped myself in the silken palanquin and presented myself publicly to him for his pleasures.
Soon the procession began to wend its way back to the palace. One incident, perhaps worthy of note, occurred. A man rushed forth, angrily, from the crowd, to the very side of the palanquin. Drusus Rencius caught him there and flung him back. I screamed, startled. In a moment, the retinue stopped, the man was held by the arms, on his knees, at the side of the palanquin.
Swords were held at the man's neck. "He is unarmed," said Drusus Rencius. "Down with Sheila, not Tatrix but Tyranness of Corcyrus!" cried the man, looking angrily upward.
"Silence!" said Ligurious.
"You shall pay for your crimes and cruelties!" cried the man. "Not forever will the citizens of Corcyrus brook the outrages of the palace!"
"Treason!" cried Ligurious.
The man was struck at the side of the head by the butt of a spear. I cried out, in misery.
"This man is a babbling lunatic," said Ligurious to me.
"Pay him no attention, my Tatrix."
The fellow, his head bloody, sagged, half unconscious, in the grip of the soldiers.
"Bind him," said Ligurious. The man's arms were wrestled behind his back and tied there.
He looked up, his bead bloody, from his knees.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"One who protests the crimes and injustice of Sheila, Tyranness of Corcyrus!" he said, boldly.
"He is Menicius, of the Metal Workers," said one of the soldiers.
"Are you Menicius?" I asked.
"Yes," said the man.
"Are you of Corcyrus?" I asked.
Yes," said he, "and once was proud to be!"
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Obviously it was his intention to do harm to his Tatrix," said Ligurious. "That is clear from his attack on the palanquin."
"He was unarmed," said Drusus Rencius.
"On a woman's throat," said Ligurious, coldly, "a man's bands need rest but a moment for dire work to be done."
I put my finger tips lightly, inadvertently, to my throat. I did not doubt but what Ligurious was right. Assassination so simply might be accomplished. "Why would you wish me harm?" I asked the man.
"I wish you no harm, Lady," said he, surlily, "save that you might get what you deserve, a collar in the lowest slave hole on Gor!"
"It is treason," said Ligurious. "His guilt is clear."
"Why, then, did you approach the palanquin?" I asked.
"That the truth might be spoken in Corcyrus," he said, "that the misery and anger of the people might be declaredt"
"Prepare his neck," said Ligurious. A man seized the fellow's head and pulled his hair forward and down, exposing the back of the fellow's neck. Another soldier unsheathed his sword.
"No!" I cried. "Free him! Let him go!"
"Tatrix" protested Ligurious.
"Let him go," I said.
The man's hands were freed. He stood up, startled. The crowd about, too, seemed startled, confused. The face of Ligurious was expressionless. He was a man, I sensed, not only of power, but of incredible control.
"Have him given a coin!" I said.
One of the soldiers, one of those who had had a bag of coins, and coin bits, about his shoulder, came forward. He put a copper piece in the man's hand. The man looked down at it, puzzled. Then, angrily, he spit upon it and flung it to the stones of the street. He turned about, and strode away.
I saw another man snatch up the coin.
There was a long moment's silence. Then this silence was broken by the voice of Ligurious. "Behold the glory and mercy of the Tatrix!" he said. "What better evidence could we have of the falsity of the lunatic's accusations?" "Hail Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrust" cried the man who had snatched up the coin. "Hail Sheila!" I heard. "Hail Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrust"
In a moment the retinue resumed its journey back to the palace.
"Is there anything to what the fellow said?" I asked Ligurious. "Is there unrest in Corcyrus? Is there some discontentment among our citizens?"
"From what city does Drusus Rencius derive?" I inquired.
"Ar, Lady," said Ligurious.
"Our allegiances, I thought," I said, "are with Cos."
"Drusus Rencius is a renegade, Lady," said Ligurious. "Do not fear. He now serves onlv himself and silver."
I inclined my head to -Drusus Rencius. He was a darkhaired, tall, supple, lean, long-muscled, large-handed man. He bad gray eyes. He had strong. regular features. In him I sensed a powerful intelligence.
"Lady," said lie, bowing before me.
He seemed quiet, and deferential. But there was within him, I did not doubt, that which was Gorean. He would know. what to do with a woman.
"He is to be your personal guard," said Ligurious.
"A bodyguard?" I inquired.
"Yes, Lady," said Ligurious.
I looked at the tall, spare man. He carried - a helmet in the crook of his left arm. It was polished but, clearly, it had seen war. The hilt of the sword in his scabbard, at his left hip, too, was worn. It was marked, too, with the stains of oil and sweat. His livery, too, though clean, was plain. It bore the insignia of Corcyrus and of his standing in the guards, that of the third rank, the first rank to which authority is delegated.
In the infantry of Corcyrus the fifth rank is commonly occupied for at least a year. Promotion to the fourth rank is usually automatic, following the demonstrated attainment of certain levels of martial skills. The second rank and the first rank usually involve larger command responsibilities. Beyond these rankings come the distinctions and levels among leaders who are perhaps more appropriately to be thought of as officers, or full officers, those, for example, among lieutenants, captains, high captains and generals. That Drusus Rencius was first sword among the guards, then, in this case, as his insignia made clear, was not a reference to his rank but a recognition of his skill with the blade. That these various ranks might be occupied, incidentally, also does not entail that specific command responsibilities are being exercised. A given rank, with its pay grade, for example, might be occupied without its owner being assigned a given command. The command of Drusus Rencius, for example, if he had had one, would presumably be relinquished when be took over his duties as a personal guard. His skills with the sword, I suppose, had been what, had called him to the attention of Ligurious.