John Norman Telnarian Histories 01 The Chieftain

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one point supported by the guard at his right. She was familiar with
Pulendius, of course. Who would not be, in her sector of Terennia?
He was fabulously rich, of course, with his enterprises, his lands, tilled by
some four thousand coloni
. He had much power. He must have many enemies. Guards were almost always with
him, large, alert, agile men, skilled, ruthless men, gladiators, it was said.
She looked back, down at the tablecloth, at crumbs there, at crumpled napkins,
at rings of kana there. She saw the napkin which had covered Pulendius's fist
when he had struck down, shattering the delicate bowl.
How vulgar he had been!
Pulendius had his weaknesses, of course.
Kana was one, obviously. His zeal for the arena and its sports was doubtless
another. She knew he maintained a school for gladiators, a school in which men
were trained in the use of weapons, both common and exotic.
The men of Pulendius, as well as Pulendius himself, seemed quite different
from most of the men she had known.
How uneasy she felt in their presence. And how disturbing had been certain
sensations.
She recalled the guard, he who had been behind Pulendius, and to his right.
Her fingers went uneasily to the golden necklace so closely encircling her
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throat. The tips of her fingers just touched it, barely, timidly.
She thought again of the guard.
Suddenly, angrily, she snatched up her small white purse and, with both hands,
held it closely, tightly, against her.
How the guard had looked upon her!
She had never been looked upon in that fashion before!
How she despised him, how she hated him, that calm, half-naked giant who had
dared to look upon her in that fashion.
And he had viewed her with contempt!
"I do not want to be whipped," she thought, and then again, startled at such a
mad thought, she sought to hurry it out of her consciousness.
How dared he to have looked upon her so?
What right had he to do so, he, only an ignorant, illiterate lout, only a
beast trained for the arena?
She was of high birth, of the patricians!
"But perhaps he would not regard me as being worthy of being whipped," she
thought, and this thought disturbed her, and frightened her, and then again,
such a mad thought, she rejected it, confusedly.
She saw the pourer of kana sorting plates on the table, preparing it for
clearing.
"You," she said.
The pourer of kana looked up, startled.
"Come here," she said.
The pourer of kana came to where she stood.
"What is your name?" said the officer of the court.
"Janina, milady," was the response.
"Speak clearly," snapped the officer of the court.
"Janina, Mistress," said the girl.
"Are you accustomed to standing in the presence of free persons?" asked the
officer of the court.
"Forgive me, Mistress," said the girl, and swiftly knelt before her.
"
Is such a lapse not cause for discipline?" inquired the officer of the court.
"It is the will of the masters, Mistress," she said. "In deference to the
feelings of certain passengers, little attention is to be drawn to my true
condition in public."
"So you pretend to be a servant?"
"I serve, Mistress. But I do not pretend to be a servant. I would not dare to
pretend to be so high."
"I have seen your behavior in the lounge," said the officer of the court.
"Yes, Mistress," said the girl.
"In public."
"Yes, Mistress."
"It is different in private, I take it," said the officer of the court.
"Yes, Mistress. In private, the fullness of my slavery is revealed."
"And what does that mean?"
"That I am a slave, Mistress," said the girl, trembling.
"And what does a slave do?"
"She strives to please, and obeys," she said.
"And you can be bought and sold," said the officer of the court.
"Yes, Mistress."
"You are the sort of animal that can be bought and sold," said the officer of
the court.
"Yes, Mistress," said the girl.
"You are a pretty animal
," said the officer of the court.
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"Thank you, Mistress," said the girl.
The officer of the court turned about, angrily. Then she turned about, again,
to face the pourer of kana
. She looked down upon hen angrily.
"You are an exquisite, extraordinarily attractive slave, Janina," said the
officer of the court.
"Thank you, Mistress," said the girl. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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