I went to my right then to survey what might be the case on the west. I watched. Then, suddenly the defenders there, holding the west walkway, withdrew. They had been fighting behind a breastwork of fallen bodies, those of both Cosians and defenders. The Cosians seemed for a moment bewildered, but then, with a great cry, swarmed over the bodies in pursuit. Scarcely were the defenders drawn back than the great cauldron of oil now ignited, now aflame, into which the buckets on long handles had been dipped, was overturned with poles and flooded the walkway behind them. The bulk of the Cosians stopped at this wall of flames some forty feet in width. Some, however, raced into it. Of these some perished in the flames. Others, half fire, screaming, turned about, fleeing back to their fellows. Some crossed it, and were cut down on the other side. This retreat, though it surrendered the western walkway, decreased the amount of area to be held, and, with these new numbers, increased the defenders there. The Cosians then within the wall, in the center, were much harder pressed. Some withdrew, even, to the towers, some of which were aflame. I saw the bridges, burned through, collapse beneath some of them, plunging them to the ground. I went again to my left. There, on the east, I saw that the Cosians had gained yards, and that they were now beyond the wire. The defenders, foot by foot, were being pressed back. More Cosians leapt from the bridge of a tower, down onto the bodies and wire, climbing over them, hurrying to join the fray. The east walkway could not be long held.
I went, wearily, to where the roped, ankle-thonged, naked, gagged, hooded slave lay, on the stones. With my foot I turned her to her back. I unbuckled the sword belt from about her, and then, crouching beside her, turned her to her stomach. I withdrew the sheath from between her back and the ropes. It was distended, where it had received the spear, almost to the bottom. I pressed it as flat as I could, with my hands and foot. The blade then, again, but not well, fitted into it. I rebuckled the belt and put it about me, the strap over my right shoulder, the sheath at the left hip, as one wears it on the march. That is a stabler carry. The advantage of the left shoulder carry, the sheath at the left thigh, is the ease of discarding the belt and sheath, thereby ridding oneself of a possible encumbrance.
The young fellow with the crossbow climbed to the upper battlements. He now had only one quarrel left. "The flames on the west walkway are lessening," he said. He looked down at the slave. "She is still alive," he said, puzzled. "Yes," I said. "How can it be?" he asked.
"How do you think?" I asked.
"A trick?" he said.
"Yes," I said.
"But I saw her on the spear," he said.
"She was hung on it," I said, "not mounted up in it, not impaled with it." "Are you going to kill her now?" he asked.
"No," I said, "at least not immediately, unless perhaps she should be in some respect displeasing."
"You speak of her as though she were a slave," he said.
"Are you a slave?" I asked the girl. "Whimper once for "Yes, twice for "no. " She whimpered once.
"Do you desire to please men?" I asked.
She whimpered once.
I patted her. "Show us," I said.
She lifted her behind, piteously, placatingly.
"That is not Lady Claudia!" said the young fellow.
"No, it is not," I said, But I smiled to myself as I said it. Did he not know that Lady Claudia would have been quite as quick, if not quicker to lift herself, hoping to please?"
"Who is it?" asked the lad.
"I have not yet named her," I said.
"Who was it?" he asked.
"Do not concern yourself with the matter," I said.
"Where then is Lady Claudia, the traitress?" he asked.
"I do not know," I said.
"It is as Calendonius said," he said. "You are not Marsias."
"No," I said. "I am not Marsias."
"Who, then, are you?" asked he.
"One whom you have acknowledged as your captain," I said.
"Yes, Captain," said he, lifting his bow in salute.
I issued orders, with the injunction that he should, when they were delivered, return to the upper battlements.
He hastened down the stairs to the right.
I then returned my attention to the slave. I unknotted the thong by means of which her small, fair ankles had been so securely bound, the one to the other. I looped the thong in and about the ropes at her back. At that moment the other young fellow, who had seemed so mature, who was serving as my messenger to the eastern walkway, gasping, ascended to the upper battlements.
"We are giving way!" he said.
I had been waiting for him.
He, too, seemed startled to see the slave. "It is not Lady Claudia," I said. "It is only a nameless slave."
"They are calling up from below," he said, paying the female no more attention. "The gate is being sundered!"
I issued him orders, orders parallel to those I had given the other young fellow, with the injunction that he, too, after their delivery, return to the upper battlements.
I then went to the wall and looked out, once more, on the vast panoply before me, across the burned, leveled ground, at the engines, the troops, the hulks and shells of buildings in the distance. In the eastern part of the city there was still smoke. There had been fires in the city for days. I could even see the outside wall, far off. It seemed a long time ago, now, that it had been breached. I then, slowly, drew down the flag of Ar's Station from the citadel. That would not be done by Cosians. I did not raise another cloth in its place. "We have withdrawn to just west of the west gate stairs," said the young fellow, reporting from the western walkway.
"Take the slave," I said, "and put her on the central walkway, behind the upper battlements. You will find slave rings there, in the wall. Fasten her to one, kneeling, by her leash." Such things are common conveniences in Gorean cities, in public places, and such. Even when the slave it seldom attached to one, she sees them, and this has its psychological effect with her. She knows that they are for the tethering of such as she. Here, within the citadel, of course, such rings, though usually called slave rings, could serve a large variety of purposes. They are not merely for girls chained there on furs in the moonlight, for the use of strollers, off-duty guards and such. They may be used, for example, for such purposes as anchoring war engines, to keep them, in their reaction, from backing off the walkway, restraining guard sleen, and securing prisoners. "The return to your fellows, and watch for my signal. It will be delivered from the central walkway, behind the upper battlements."
"Yes, Captain," he said. "On your knees, woman," he said.
The slave struggled to her knees.:On your feet, woman," he said.
She who had once been Lady Publia rose unsteadily to her feet. It was hard for her to stand. She had not stood for some times, and her ankles, for some time, had been closely bound.
The young fellow, seeing her difficulty, took her leash close to the collar, that he might, if necessary, steady her, and keep her from falling. He then drew her along quickly, she stumbling, after him. he was in age no more than a lad and she was a mature, fully grown, beautiful woman but in accord with nature's decisions, given the differential parameters involved, those of his size and strength, contrasting so markedly with hers of slightness, delicacy, softness, and beauty, he handled her with ease.
I watched then descending the steps to the central walkway. She half fell once, losing her footing, striking against the right side of the stone stairwell, but he kept her upright, his hand then literally about her thick leather collar, and then, in a moment, now again on a short leash, I saw her drawn about the corner, toward the line of rings below and in back of the upper battlements.