"Yes," I said.
"Pass," he said.
In moments we were past the great gate, and blinking against the sun, outside the walls of Torcadino. I looked back. The walls, from this close to them, the fall sun bright on them, seemed very high and formidable. No common scaling ladders could ascend them. Too, numerous, low, horizontal wall slots, some three or four inches in height, through which metal-shod poles, stout metal crescents at their tips, could be thrust, and maneuvered, marked their bleakness. Such poles, with little danger to the defenders, at sufficient heights, where sufficient leverages can be exerted, address themselves to the enemy's ladders. Their effects are often devastating. The slots through which the poles are thrust may serve also, of course, as arrow ports. Individuals behind us were still coming through the gate. I then turned my eyes forward. I could see, some two hundred yards or so away, pennons of Cos, marking presumably the first row of siege trenches.
My hand I inadvertently against the sheath of my sword. It was there that I had concealed the documents I carried.
"You were not searched," said a small fellow, near me. He had a mustache, like string, and narrow eyes. He had a pack on his back.
"Many were not searched," I said.
He then continued on his way, toward the pennons in the distance. "What are we to do?" asked Boabissia, uneasily.
"Keep moving," said a soldier, outside the gate, pointing toward the pennons. Boabissia and I, then, followed by Hurtha and Feiqa, she bearing my pack, set out, with others, toward the pennons. "I think there will be little difficulty in clearing the lines of Cos," I said. "Refugees, I suspect, will be sped on their way. I am not sure what would be the best way to approach Ar. We might reach the Argentum Road and take it east to the Viktel Aria. We would then trek south to Ar."
"That is a longer route, is it not?" asked Boabissia.
"Yes," I said.
"Why take it?" she asked.
"It is not the route we might be expected to take," I said.
"Are you afraid?" she asked.
"I am uneasy," I said.
"Could we not trek directly to Ar, across country?" she asked.
"If I were alone, I would." I said.
"I am not afraid," she said.
"In the open country, there may be sleen," I said, "particularly after dark." "Oh," she said.
"Too," I said, "you are pretty."
"What has that to do with it?" she asked.
"Would you like to be a naked slave of peasants, a community slave, in a peasant village," I asked, "and wear a rope collar, and be taught to hoe weeds and pull a plow, and spend your nights in a sunken cage?"
"No!" she said.
"To be sure, they would probably sell you in a town, sooner or later, when they needed drinking money," I said.
She shuddered.
"I think, however," I said, "we shall take the most direct civilized route from here to Ar."
"Why?" she asked.
"To save time," I said. "Time, I think, is important."
"As you say," she said. "We will take, then, that route called the Eastern Road, or Eastern Way," I said.
"That is the route called the Treasure Road, is it not?" she asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Why is it called that?" she asked.
"Because of the riches, and slaves, and such, often transported upon it," I said.
"I see," she said, uneasily.
"Doubtless you will see many slave caravans," I said, "and, too, perhaps, the girls of poorer merchants, many women being marched on foot, chained in coffle, sometimes gagged and blindfolded."
"Oh," she said, uneasily.
"Splendid!" said Hurtha.
I glanced back at Feiqa, who, bearing my pack, looked quickly down.
"Single file here," called a solider of Cos, near the pennons. "Watch your step."
A long plank had been laid across the first of the siege ditches.
The small fellow with the narrow eyes and the mustache like string was ahead of us. He went across the plank. I then crossed it, too, the plank bending under my weight, and was followed by Boabissia, and Hurtha, and Feiqa.
"That way," said the soldier, pointing.
We were in a few Ehn, over other entrenchments, and were then near the hurdles commanding the interior ditches. Interspersed among these was an occasional lookout tower, composed of poles and planks, the lashed poles supporting a horizontal platform of planks, from which a watch could be kept on the gate of Torcadino. At night fires would be set and lanterns hung at various points about the siegeworks.
"That way," said a soldier, directing us.
We were then within the perimeters of the Cosian camp. Most of the tents were circular, with low, sloping tops. Many were brightly colored, and set with bold stripes, and various striking designs and patterns. Goreans tend to be fond of such things. A Gorean camp is often a spectacular sight, with its arrays of silks and flags, even from a distance. They also tend to be fond of fabrics stimulatory to the touch, spices tantalizing to their taste, strong, powerful melodies, and beautiful females. In this they make clear their primitiveness, and their vitality and health. The streets were laid out geometrically. This is usually done by engineers, with surveying cords.
"Look," said Boabissia.
"I see," I said.
Seeing herself the object of our attention the girl lying on her side in the mud shrank back, pressing her back against the heavy stake, some eight inches in diameter, it sunk deeply in the mud. She did not meet our eyes. She was naked, and dirty. She was chained to the stake by a heavy chain, it looped three times about the stake, tight in a groove, and bolted into place, then looped twice about her neck and fastened there by a padlock. She could not move more than four feet from the stake.
"Girl," I said, to her.
She, addressed, scrambled to her knees. She kept her head down. She whimpered. "She does not speak," said Boabissia.
"She is perhaps under the discipline of the she-quadruped," I said.
The girl whimpered, looking at us, nodding her head affirmatively. Then she put her head down again.
"Oh," said Boabissia. In this discipline the female is forbidden human speech. She is also forbidden human posture, in the sense that she is not allowed to rise to her feet. Her locomotion, unless commanded to roll, or put under similar commands, suitable for a pet, will be on all fours. Her food will be thrown to her, or put in pans on the ground. In either case, she must feed without the use of her hands. She may also, of course, be fed by hand, but, again, will not be permitted to touch the food with her hands. She may be taught tricks. Sometimes these are taught as functions of arbitrary sounds, so that she must learn them as any animal might, without the benefit of an earlier understanding of the words used. If she is slow to learn, of course, she is punished, as would any other animal. When used, too, it will commonly be in the modality of the she-quadruped. This discipline is often used as a punishment, but it may also figure in the training of a new girl. It helps her to understand what she now is, an animal totally subject to her master. After some time, sometimes as little as a few Ahn, in this discipline, she begs mutely, pleadingly, as eloquently as she can, to be permitted to serve her master in fashions more typical of the normal female slave, fashions in which her bondage, because of the greater complexities and latitudes of dutifulness and subservience possible with human activity, speech and posture, for example, dance, beginning at least on her feet, and song, may be even more deliciously complete and pleasing to him. To make certain that there are no possible confusions or misunderstandings involved in such cases the master usually gives the female a brief opportunity to speak, usually only for a few Ihn, in which she must make her pleas, hoping to win his favor. If he is not satisfied with her pleas, of course, she is returned promptly to her former discipline. Too, for wasting his time, she might be exposed to other disciplines, as well, usually the lash.