"Come now, my guests," called Belnar, cheerily, "return to your places. The best of the evening's entertainment is yet to come!" There was then a returning to places among the banquettes. Naked slaves again scurried about, hurrying in their perfume and steel collars, bringing wine, delicacies and assorted exquisite viands, zealous to please masters.
"Where is the Lady Yanina?" inquired Belnar of Flaminius, irritatedly.
"I know not, Ubar," admitted Flaminius.
"She is late, quite late," said Belnar.
"Yes, Ubar," said Flaminius.
"She should have been her by now," said Belnar. "She should have been here long ago."
"Yes, Ubar," granted Flaminius.
"I know you have an eye for her beauty," said Belnar to Flaminius. "I trust you have not had her taken to a villa outside the walls, where she awaits you now in chains and a collar?"
"No, Ubar," said Flaminius.
"She might be quite attractive in such," said Belnar.
"Yes, Ubar," said Flaminius.
"You have not had her enslaved on the evening of her triumph, have you?"
"No, Ubar!" said Flaminius.
"I am joking," said Belnar.
"Yes, Ubar," said Flaminius, uneasily, wiping his brow.
"Citizens of Brundisium, and guests," called Belnar, rising to his feet, "I would have preferred for the Lady Yanina, that distinguished citizens of Brundisium, know to you all, that true servant of our palace and state, that lovely courtier, my trusted agent, my beautiful operative, to conduct the next portion of the evening's entertainment, for the triumph implicit in this moment is in a special sense hers. Yet, alas, she is detained! Unfortunately, as the evening now arrives at its climax, we must proceed without her."
There were some cries of disappointment, of protest.
"Shall we wait longer?" asked Belnar.
"No," called several men. "Proceed," called others.
"Let the trunk be brought forth, and placed upon the platform." said Belnar.
Some men, from a room to one side, carried out the large trunk which had once reposed in the storage wagon of Boots Tarsk-Bit. In that wagon Boots kept many things, such as souvenirs, costumes, and props. In it he also kept much of the paraphernalia associated with his illusion and magic. IT seemed like an ordinary trunk and, indeed, if desired, could serve as one. It was, of course, the trunk in which I had been placed earlier, that in which I had been transported to Brundisium, that from which I was to be produced, that from which I was to be presented, a completely helpless, chained prisoner, by the Lady Yanina to her ubar, Belnar of Brundisium.
"In this trunk, sacked and shackled, at our mercy, lies an enemy of Brundisium, an arrogant fellow who dared to displease our throne, a captain and slaver of Port Kar, one of whom you hay have heard, the supposedly mighty, and redoubtable Bosk of Port Kar!" called out Belnar.
At this point there were applause and shouts of encouragement.
"Taken by the Lady Yanina!" cried out Belnar.
Here there was laughter, and more applause.
"After, it might be mentioned," added Belnar, "he managed somehow to escape from others." At this point Belnar cast a good-humored glance at Flaminius. Flaminius smiled wryly, accommodatingly. There was laughter. His right fist clenched. To be sure, this was to be an evening of triumph for the Lady Yanina. Her conquest this night was not to be merely over me, a fellow named Bosk, merely a fellow from another city, but more importantly, I gathered, over Flaminius, her rival, as well. I recalled her words to me earlier, in the camp of Boots Tarsk-Bit. "Because of you," she had said, "my fortunes will be made in Brundisium. Because of you I will climb there to hitherto undreamed of heights." I still could not understand my importance to those in Brundisium.
"I am pleased with the Lady Yanina," called Belnar to the crowd.
There was applause.
"It is my intention to reward her richly," said Belnar. "She will know my generosity. She will be rewarded in gold, in power, in privilege and position!"
"Belnar the Generous!" called out courtiers. "Belnar the Great!" cried others. Belnar lowered his head modestly, waving his hand in a half-hearted plea for order. Much applause, too, greeted his assertions. Many of those present stood, applauding and calling out their congratulatory remarks. Courtiers, I gathered, might be quick to commend generosity on the part of their superiors. Flaminius, I noted, did not join in this acclaim. As generous as Belnar might be with those who served him well, I did not doubt but what he might be correspondingly merciless with those who did not succeed in pleasing him.
"I wish only," said Belnar, "that the Lady Yanina was here, that she might be present on this night of her triumph."
There were again sympathetic noises from the crowd. Most of those present, however, I think, were probably just as well pleased that the Lady Yanina was not in evidence. She was, after all, in a sense, one courtier among the others, and thus, in a sense, was doubtless in rivalry with many of them, not just Flaminius. It is one thing to praise the generosity of a ubar and quite another to be genuinely enthusiastic over the exaltation and promotion of a possible competitor. Too, Belnar was obviously enjoying himself. Had the Lady Yanina been at his table, he would have had to share this moment of triumph, the absence of which eventuality, despite his apparent desires and protestations, it might be suspected he did not regret.
"Let the trunk be opened!" called out Belnar. "Let Bosk of Port Kar, helpless and a fool, taken by the Lady Yanina, be displayed for our amusement!"
Two soldiers went to the trunk. Its key hung on the outside of it. One of them thrust the key into the first lock. "Hurry, Lads!" called Belnar. Then the key went into the second lock. In a moment the heavy lid was freed and lifted. Men stood up, to see better. Within the trunk there was a sack. It was a large sack. It was of stout, heavy leather. Something was in it. It was tied shut at the top. "Make haste, Lads!" called Belnar. "We're waiting!" The soldiers lifted the sack. It now stood upright within the trunk. Something was within the sack. There was no doubt about that. But it did not seem large enough to be a man, let alone one such as Bosk of Port Kar. It was much too small, much too slight. Too, the captive's body, even concealed within the confines of the sack, did not suggest the form of the male. There was clearly the hint of delicious curves. The soldiers looked at one another. Men exchanged glances. The hall was silent.
"Open the sack," said Belnar.
Swiftly one of the soldiers tore away the knotting at the opening of the sack. This was not the same sack in which I had originally been placed, of course, but another, left in the trunk, which had been hidden beneath the first. The first sack had had a cunning opening concealed beneath a double seam, an opening through which a performer might exit or enter, as he pleased. The second sack, on the other hand, was a common slave sack, of a sort commonly used on Gor for the transport, security and punishment of slaves. It was stout enough to hold a strong male. The tenant's occupancy in such a device, incidentally, as the tenant, bound and gagged, soon comes to realize, is going to be determined not by his own efforts, but rather, purely, by the convenience, and pleasure, of others.
"Hurry!" cried Belnar.
The soldiers tore open the sack and pulled it down from the head and shoulders of its occupant. The occupant was hooded. "It is a female," said a man. The sack was then thrust down about her hips. She was naked. she threw her head back in the hood. Her hands jerked wildly at the slave bracelets that confined her wrists behind her back. She did not wear the heavy trick manacles, seemingly suitable for men, in which I had been placed earlier in Boots's camp. I had shed them moments after being placed in the first sack. Rather she wore ordinary slave bracelets, which would serve their purpose well, that of confining females. They were, however, I though, rather attractive. I had picked them out before leaving Boots's camp. She also wore, though they could not now be seen, as she stood in the trunk, a set of linked ankle rings. These, too, were not portions of Boots's props but practical custodial hardware, rings of a sort common on Gor for the chaining of women, generally slaves.