"It will be only a matter of time," said Marcus, "before weapons will be altogether illegal in the city."
"Except for those authorized to carry them," I said.
"Cosians," he said.
"And such," I said.
"You noticed how he inquired into our employments?" said Marcus.
"Of course," I said.
"Soon," he said, "there will be regulations about such things, and papers, and permits, and ostraka, and such."
"I would suppose so," I said. To be sure, I had an idea that an employment, and in the fee of Cos, might fit in with my plans, and perhaps those of Marcus, as well.
"It will be worse than under Gnieus Lelius," he said.
"Yes," I said. I supposed that Gnieus Lelius was now on his way to Cos. Perhaps he was already there.
"Perhaps Milo can save Ar," he said.
"Do not be bitter," I said.
I myself had rather enjoyed the pageant glorifying Cos, or, as it actually turned out, Lurius of Jad. The production had been well designed, well staged, brilliantly costumed, and impressively acted. Indeed, it is hard to get a thousand actors on a stage without being impressive in one way or another. Too, I had to admit, in spite of misgivings on the subject, that Milo was a handsome fellow, and certainly played a part well. It was somewhat ironic to see Lurius of Jad, whom I had once seen, a corpulent slug of a man, portrayed by such a godlike fellow as Milo, but then that was probably in the best interests of the drama's intent, and artistic license, as I understand it, permits such occasional thespic peccadilloes.
"I think that drama must have lasted five Ahn," said Marcus.
"Probably no more than three," I said. "Did you enjoy the fellow who played the wicked, conniving Gnieus Lelius?"
"Of course," said Marcus. "I had not realized thitherto that even a demented sleen could be so wicked."
"You just did not have your mind on the drama," I said.
"That is perhaps true," said Marcus, perking up.
"You just did not realize that Phoebe could be so fetching, completely concealed," I said.
"But underneath the sheet naked," Marcus reminded me.
"You could not wait to get her home," I said.
"Perhaps," he said.
No sooner had he had Phoebe inside the door to our room in the insula than he had torn the sheet and veil from her and flung her on her belly on the straw-filled mat, then leaping upon her with a cry of joy.
"Do you think others knew she was naked?" he asked.
"From the glances, and expressions, I think a free woman to two suspected it," I said. One had sneered "Slave!" to Phoebe, to which Phoebe had put down her head saying, "Yes, Mistress." There had been little difficulty, of course, in folks knowing that Phoebe was a slave, given, for example, that her primary covering was a sheet and that her feet were bared. Too, during intermissions Marcus knelt her at his feet, with her head down.
"Let them crawl naked before a man, fearing his whip," said Marcus.
"Free women?" I said.
"Well," said Marcus, irritably, "collar them first."
"I would hope so," I said.
To be sure, it is pleasant to have free women in such a predicament. It helps them to understand that fate which is to be shortly theirs.
"I do not like Milo," said Marcus.
"You are angry because he is such a handsome fellow," I said.
"The drama was a poor one," said Marcus.
"Not at all," I said.
"It was a waste of money," said Marcus.
"Phoebe liked it," I said.
"What does she know?" asked Marcus.
"She is a highly intelligent, well-educated women," I said.
"A slave," he said.
"Now," I said. Many Goreans enjoy owning highly intelligent, well-educated women. It is pleasant to have them at your feet, yours, begging, eager to please you, knowing, too, that if they do not, they will be punished. To be sure, thousands of sorts of women make excellent slaves, each in their different ways. It had cost three full coppers for our admission to the pageant, and one of those was for Phoebe. The first performance of the pageant, several days ago, had been attended by Talena, the Ubara. I had not been able to obtain admission ostraka for that performance, as it was apparently restricted. I had lingered by her path to the theater, with others in a crowd, but I had been able to see only her palanquin, its curtains drawn, borne not by slaves but by stout fellows apparently of the staff of the Central Cylinder. The palanquin, too, was surrounded by guardsmen, either of Ar or Cos. It interested me that the Ubara, so popular in the city, presumably, should require so much security. Behind the palanquin, on tharlarion, side by side, had ridden Seremides, formerly high general Ar, now, in peacetime, first minister to her majesty, the Ubara, and Myron, the polemarkos of Temos. Seremides, to be sure, now as captain, high captain, retained command of the palace guard, the Taurentians. There were probably some twenty-five hundred of these fellows in the city. I had not seen Talena when she had left the palanquin, for she had done so within the theater's outer concourse, hidden from the street. That she now wore the garments of Cos I had heard, but I had not seen her in them.
We could now hear the flute music quite clearly.
"There!" I said, startled.
I had not realized that so much had been done since my last visit to this area. I hurried forward, to the Wall Road.
A gigantic breach, over four hundred yards in width, had been made in the wall. The bottom of the breach was still some forty or fifty feet high. The edges of is tapered up to the height of the wall on each side, in this area, some hundred to a hundred and twenty feet Gorean above the pavement. The breach swarmed with human beings. Stone after stone was being tumbled down from the walls, to the outside of the city. These, I had heard, on the other side, were being lifted to wagons and carted away. On the walls were not only men of Ar, and male youth, but women and girls, as well.
I stood on the Wall Road, back near Harness Street. Here I was about a hundred feet back from the wall. In moment or two Marcus was again beside me, and Phoebe behind him, on his left. The girl normally heels a right-handed master on the left, that she not encumber the movements of the weapon hand.
"Much progress had been made since last we came here," I said.
"About the walls, here and there, thousands apply themselves," he said.
This was not the only breach in the walls, of course, but it was that which was nearest to our lodgings. Here some hundreds, at least, were laboring. Others, of course, on the other side of the wall, would be gathering up tumbled stone, loading it and removing it from the area. The walls of Ar, in effect, had become a quarry. This would, I suppose, depress the market for stone in various cities, perhaps even as far away as Venna. There were many uses for such stone, but most had to do with materials for building, paving and fill. Much of the stone would be pounded into gravel by prisoners and slaves far from the city. This gravel was used mainly for bedding primary roads and paving secondary roads. There were, at present, nineteen such breaches about the city. These breaches, multiplying the avenues of possible assault on the city, were not randomly located. They were set at tactically optimum sites for such assaults and distributed in such a manner as to require the maximum dispersal of defensive forces. The pursued objective, of course, was to multiply and join breaches, until the razing of the walls of Ar was complete.
"Although I hate Ar," said Marcus, "this sight fills me with sorrow."
"You hate not Ar," I said, "but those who betrayed her, and Ar's Station."
"I despise Ar, and those of Ar," he said.
"Very well," I said.
We continued to regard the work on the walls.
Here and there upon the walls, among those working, were silked flute girls, sometimes sitting cross-legged on large stones, above the heads of workers, sometimes moving about among the workers, some strolling, playing, at other times turning and dancing. Some were also on the lower level, even on the Wall Road.