Then, from among the Sky Warriors, emerged two people whose appearance was very different from those around them. Jan was also surprised to see that one of them was a woman. The man, who led the way, wore a blood red jacket with sleeves that ballooned out all the way to the wrists. The jacket stopped just below his waist and instead of trousers he was wearing what appeared to be very fine, and very tight, white stockings that showed up the musculature of his legs. Jan was sure that the shape of his sexual organs would have been revealed too if they hadn’t been covered by a prominent red pouch made of hard leather. His black hair hung to his shoulders and his long, arrogant face seemed to be covered with a white powder while his lips were the same colour as his jacket.
The woman looked even more bizarre. She too was dressed in red, but her gown was of a type that Jan had never seen before. It was so tight around her waist that Jan wondered how she could breathe. The unnatural narrowness of her waist served to accentuate her hips and her upper torso, of which Jan could see a great deal thanks to the front of the gown being cut so low that it exposed most of her rather prominent breasts. And to add to Jan’s bemusement she saw that under the gown the woman was wearing some kind of restricting halter that pushed her breasts upwards and together.
Like the man the woman also had her face covered with white powder, and her lips painted red, but her hair, which was blonde, was piled high on her head and kept in place by a number of jewelled pins.
It was only when the man began to speak that Jan managed to tear her eyes away from the apparition that was the woman. “I am Prince Magid, the Lord Pangloth’s High Chamberlain,” he announced in a high, reedy voice. “I am here to inform you of the Lord Pangloth’s decision regarding your fate. For daring to rebel against the just rule of the Sky Lord you have, of course, forfeited all the rights the Lord Pangloth generously graced you with. Your community first broke the prime law of the Sky Lords, by making devices capable of flight when you knew that the sky is the sole domain of the Sky Lords and forever barred to you groundlings. And then you dared use these devices against the Lord Pangloth in a treacherous attempt to destroy your sovereign. That the attempt was doomed to failure in no way diminishes the enormity of your crime.
“The other members of your community have already paid the price—now it is your turn. You have two choices: death or slavery for the rest of your life. What is it to be. You have a minute to make your decision.”
There was silence. Jan turned and looked at the others. Of the original twenty only thirteen remained alive. Nine women and four men. Of the seven who had died during the night five had been men. As Jan expected, her accuser was the first to speak. And Jan knew what she was going to say even as she opened her mouth. “I say we choose death,” she said. “For the honour of Minerva’s memory and for our dead sisters.”
“Yes, let it be death!” agreed another woman loudly. Three other women murmured their agreement with less enthusiasm. The four men looked anxious. “Well, what does the daughter of Melissa say?” demanded the woman coldly as she turned towards Jan.
Jan didn’t know what to do. Her wish to die had vanished when she had awoken that morning to the sun’s kiss on her skin, yet at the same time she dreaded the idea of submitting herself to the men of the Sky Lord for even a minute, much less the rest of her life. And then there was her mission to consider. She doubted she had even a small chance of success but now she felt honour-bound to make the attempt.
“Just as I thought,” said the woman when Jan didn’t reply.
“Your time is up,” said the man in red. Two Sky Warriors stepped forward and unlocked the cage door. Others drew their swords. “Out, and announce your decision.”
Slowly they climbed out of the cage and formed a line in front of it on the shouted orders of the Warriors. Jan cast a brief glance back at the seven pathetic forms lying in the cage.
“Well, what is it to be?” demanded the High Chamberlain with his high, strained voice. It was as if he was not used to talking so loudly. “Those who choose death step forward.”
Jan’s accuser stepped forward without even a moment’s hesitation. Four other women followed after only a brief pause. Then one by one, and with obvious reluctance, the remaining four women joined the others, leaving only Jan and the four men standing in the original line. Jan felt humiliated. She wanted to take that crucial step forward but couldn’t.
Her accuser looked over her shoulder at her. She said nothing but the contempt in her eyes was plain. Jan looked down at the floor.
“So many of you eager to die?” asked the High Chamberlain. He sounded surprised. And from the surrounding Sky Warriors came disappointed mutters. Jan guessed they had a financial interest in the outcome. Yet if the Sky Warriors wanted them as slaves why had they been so careless with their lives in the cage?
“Better death than the ultimate dishonour,” said Jan’s accuser. Jan continued to envy her. If she had said those same words she was sure she would have sounded merely silly. “All we ask is that our deaths be clean and that our bodies are not despoiled by your touch beforehand.”
“Your deaths will be clean,” said the High Chamberlain, irritably. “And you won’t be molested. But what of that one? Why does she not share your irrational desire for destruction?”
Jan looked up and saw he was pointing at her. Jan’s accuser glanced at her and said coldly, “She’s our secret weapon. She is going to destroy all of you and your Sky Lord single handed. At least, that is what she told us. …”
The High Chamberlain, his female companion and all the other sky men laughed and Jan felt her cheeks grow hot. She wanted to die—but she didn’t want to enough, she knew shamefully, to step forward and join the others.
When the laughter subsided the High Chamberlain sighed and said, “Very well, let us end this distasteful matter. Those of you who choose death will get back into the cage.”
Jan avoided the eyes of the nine women as they filed slowly back into the cage. The four men also stood with their heads bowed. Then Jan was pulled to one side by a Sky Warrior. He had a large black beard. Jan had never seen a beard like it before. Minervan men rarely grew beards.
There came a whine of machine from overhead and the cage rose a few feet from the floor. As it swayed on the rope there was a rumble and the opening appeared beneath it again. Jan felt even sicker. She knew what was going to happen. So did those in the cage. Some of them began to pray aloud to the Mother God. Jan shut her eyes.
“Daughter of Melissa!”
She opened her eyes and saw her accuser glaring at her through the bars of the cage. “Daughter of Melissa! Why are you so modest about yourself? I’m sure that your masters would be flattered to know that you are—”
The cage dropped. There was no warning. It just seemed to vanish. Jan guessed that someone had simply hacked through the flayed rope. She swayed dizzily and for a few moments thought she was going to pass out but the feeling passed. Suddenly she found herself face to face with the High Chamberlain. Waves of a very strong and sickly-sweet perfume filled her nostrils, making her want to gag. The woman was close behind him, staring over his shoulder at Jan with intense curiosity.
“What’s your name, girl?” he demanded.
“Jan. Jan Dorvin.”
“What was that woman talking about just then?”
Jan shook her head. “I don’t know. She didn’t like me. She thinks … thought I was a coward.”
The High Chamberlain stroked his small, pointed beard thoughtfully then said, “For your sake you had better be a coward. For that way you will remain alive. Commit any act of disobedience and you will immediately share the fate of your late compatriots. Understand?”