 TrustThese are the relevant references from the Books where Trust is mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban I received a question which simply asked, "Are there quotes on or about trust in the books?" Normally I would have rejected such a ridiculously generic request. But the person caught me in an exceptionally good mood that day and I figured all the effort to search, catalog, code and upload was worth a place here at ~The Gorean Cave~. So, here is every time the word trust (or variations thereof) is found within the series. You may use the information as you see fit. I did all the heavy lifting. As always, you will need to get out your own copy of the book and read the surrounding words to understand the context. Click a heading to jump down to that listing. Trust Trusts Trusted Trusting Trustingly Trustfully Trustworthy Entrust Entrusted Entrusting Distrust Distrusted Trustless Untrustworthy Mistrust Mistrustful
Helplessly, she se-emed to stammer some incoherent word of gratitude and turned trustfully to me, putting her arms around my waist as though for additional security. "You will understand," I said, "that I can no longer trust you." "Of course not," she said. "I am your enemy." "Accordingly I can take no chances with you." "How can I trust you?" I asked, weakening. "You can't," she admitted. "For I am of Ar and must remain your enemy." There was a sound at the entrance of Kazrak's teat. I darted back into the shadows. My weapons had been removed while I slept, foolish and trusting in the hospitality of Tharna. I faced the guards unarmed. Yet the officer must have read defiance in my eyes because he signaled his men, and three spears dropped to threaten my breast. "Can I trust you?" I asked. "Yes," she said, not meeting my gaze, "you have the word of the Tatrix of Tharna." We brought the tarn down on the walls near the gate. I freed the bird. There was no tarn cot at hand in which to enclose him, and moreover, even if there had been, I would not have trusted him to the tarn-keepers of Tharna. I did not know who was and who was not in rebellion. Perhaps mostly I wanted the bird to be free in case my hopes met with disaster, in case the Tatrix and I were to perish in some back street of Tharna. There is an expression in their language which translates into English as 'Nest Trust', however, and seems to play something of the same role in their thinking. The notion of friendship, it seems to me, has to do with a reliance and affection between two or more individuals; the notion of Nest Trust, as nearly as I can understand it, is more of a communal notion, a sense of relying on the practices and traditions of an institution, accepting them and living in terms of them. Suddenly Sarm's antennae pointed at Misk. "You should have anesthetized it," he said. "Perhaps," said Misk. For some reason this hurt me. I felt that I had betrayed Misk's trust in me, that I had behaved as a not fully rational creature, that I had behaved as Sarm had expected me to. Occasionally after we got to know one another better, he would even allow me to groom him, and the first time he allowed me, with the small grooming fork used by favored Muls, to comb his antennae I knew that he trusted me, and liked me, though for what reason I could not tell. I would learn later however that this simple fact was indeed almost incomprehensible to Priest-Kings, and that Misk, though he readily accepted it as a fact in his mind, could not bring himself, so to speak, in the furthest reaches of his heart to acknowledge it as true, for were not both he and Sarm of the Nest, and would not such an action be a violation of Nest Trust? "Let there be Nest Trust between us," I said. "But you are not of the Nest," said Misk. "Nonetheless," I said, "let there be Nest Trust between us." "Very well," said Misk, and he bent forward, extending his antennae towards me. I wondered for a moment what was to be done but then it seemed I sensed what he wanted. I thrust the torch I carried into a crevice in the wall and, standing before Misk, I raised my arms over my head, extending them towards him. With extreme gentleness, almost tenderness, the Priest-King touched the palms of my hands with his antennae. "Let there be Nest Trust between us," he said. "Yes," I said, "let there be Nest Trust between us." It was the nearest I could come to locking antennae. "Misk has had time to speak to you," said Sarm. "What did he say?" "There is Nest Trust between us," I said. "Nest Trust with a human?" asked Sarm. "Yes," I said. "There is Nest Trust between myself and Misk," I said. "There can be no Nest Trust between a Priest-King and a human," said Sarm. "Then why do you not kill me?" "I do not wish to do so," I said. "Besides, there is Nest Trust between us." He extended his antennae toward the two Muls but they withdrew in shame. "No," said Mul-Al-Ka, "we are only Muls." "Let there be Nest Trust between a Priest-King and two Muls," said Misk. "There can be no Nest Trust between a Priest-King and Muls," said Mul-Ba-Ta. "Then," said Misk, "between a Priest-King and two of the human kind." Slowly, fearfully, Mul-Al-Ka and Mul-Ba-Ta lifted their hands and Misk touched them with his antennae. I still had not determined to my satisfaction that she might be fully trusted, much to her distress, and I would take no chances with her for I knew who she was, the bandit princess of the lofty plundering Treve of the Voltai Range. No, I would take no chances with this girl, whom I knew to be as treacherous and vicious as the nocturnal, sinuous, predatory sleen. "Cabot," she begged, "what must I do that you will trust me?" At a gesture from me she rose timidly to her feet. She wiped her eyes and looked at me. "May your girl ask a question, Master?" she asked. "Yes," I said. "Why must I stay here?" she asked. "Because I do not trust you," I said simply. I was forced to remind myself in no uncertain terms of the cleverness of this consummate actress, and how so many men had weakened to her insidious blandishments. Yet I knew that I would not weaken, though I was sorely tempted to believe that she might be trusted, that the feelings she expressed were truly those she felt. There was Nest Trust between us and accordingly, as a warrior and a man, I stood ready to give my life for him. Kneeling before me Vika's shoulders shook but she dared not raise her head to read her fate in my eyes. To be sure, a smaller dome would make the craft more maneuverable in the tunnels, but I think Misk did not trust himself to do battle with his former brethren. He might intellectually recognize that he must slay but perhaps he simply could not have pressed the firing switch of the silver tube. In the War gravitational disruption was now no longer used. It turned out that Misk, not trusting Sarm from the very beginning, had prepared a disruption device which he would not have used had it not been for Sarm's employment of that devastating weapon. But now that Misk's forces possessed a similar weapon Sarm, in fear, set his own similar devices aside. "It is said that there is Nest Trust between you and Misk," he said. "Now we will see if that is truly so." "What do you mean?" I asked. "If there is Nest Trust between you," said Sarm, his antennae curling, "Misk will be ready to die for you." "I don't understand," I said. "His life for yours," said Sarm. "Never," I said. How tender I felt toward the golden giant in that moment as I realized that he, though a Priest-King, had come to give his life for mine, simply because we had once locked antennae, simply because we were friends, simply because there was Nest Trust between us. He stopped and we stopped. I saw that the last ship was preparing to take flight through the hole torn above in the ceiling of the complex. I would have liked to have seen once more the surface of the world, the blue sky, the green fields beyond the black Sardar, but rather I said, "I choose to remain here with Misk, who is my friend." "Very well," said Vika, putting her head against my shoulder. "I will also remain." "Something you have said does not translate," said Misk, his antennae dipping towards me. I looked up into the huge, peering golden eyes of Misk, the left one lined with a whitish seam where Sarm's bladed projection had once torn it open in the battle in the Chamber of the Mother. I could not even tell him how I felt about him, for his language did not contain the expression I needed. "I said," I told him, "I choose to remain here with you and I said something like 'There is Nest Trust between us'." "I see," said Misk, and touched me lightly with his antennae. It was a lonely road that I now had to walk, and I wished to set out upon it as soon as possible. I told the Older Tarl and Torm to say good-bye to my father, as I did not trust myself to see him longer, for fear that I would not wish so soon to part from him again. I stood below him, looking up, the wind lifting and tugging at my hair. "I came to see you one last time," he said, "for there is Nest Trust between us." "Yes," I said. "You are my friend," he said. The Wagon Peoples do not trust important matters, such as year names, to paper or parchment, subject to theft, insect and rodent damage, deterioration, etc. Most of those of the Wagon Peoples have excellent memories, trained from birth. "She is Turian?" I asked. "Of course," said Kamchak. "In the cities," I said, "only Pleasure Slaves are so belled, and then customarily for the dance." "Her master," said Kamchak, "does not trust her." In his simple statement I then understood the meaning of her condition. She would be allowed no garments, that she might not be able to conceal a weapon; the bells would mark each of her movements. Besides this, as far as I knew, Misk, who was my friend and between whom and myself there was Nest Trust, was still the highest born of the living Priest-Kings and the final authority in matters of importance in the Nest; I knew that Misk, if no other, would not have wished my death. "For a Turian slave," he added. He fed her another piece of meat. "Tomorrow, Little Aphris," said he, "I will give you something to wear." She looked at him gratefully. "Bells and collar," said he. Tears appeared in her eyes. "Can I trust you?" he asked. "No," she said. If such were to be elected, I trusted, at least for the sake of the Wagon Peoples, that it would not be Kutaituchik. I understood from Kamchak, the Tuchuks, Kassars and Kataii rule out the sacrifice of slaves because their hearts and livers are thought to be, fortunately for the slaves, untrustworthy in registering portents; after all, as Kamchak pointed out, who would trust a Turian slave in the kes with a matter so important as the election of a Ubar San; "I know him in a way," I said. "He followed me in the camp of the Tuchuks and tried to kill me." "I trust," said Saphrar, "that we shall have better fortune." "You were not always a merchant, then?" I asked Saphrar. "Among friends," said Saphrar, "perhaps we can speak frankly, particularly seeing that the tales we tell will not be retold. You see, I know I can trust you." "You are aware, of course," I mentioned, "that the Pleasure Gardens of so rich a man as Saphrar of Turia may contain a large number of female slaves - not all of whom might be trusted to keep silent - and some of whom will undoubtedly notice something as unusual as two strange warriors wandering about among the shrubs and ferns?" "I shop for wealthy women," said she, "for pastries and tarts and cakes things they will not trust their female slaves to buy." "Yes," said Conrad, "most of the Paravaci bosk are now in the herds of the Kataii and Kassars." "Reasonably evenly divided I trust," remarked Hakimba. "On the other hand," she mused, "you might rent a slave for such work." "All right," I said, looking at her. "I will rent a slave." "But you can't trust slaves," said Elizabeth. Tarl Cabot," he said, "you would never make a Tuchuk." "Why is that?" I asked. "You are too innocent," he said, "too trusting." Cernus looked at me. "To speak of what you see is, of course, death," said he. A panel in the side of the black ship slid back and a man's head appeared. I do not know what I expected to see, but I was greatly relieved. My hand was on the hilt of my sword, sweating. "The trip was uneventful, I trust," said Cernus, putting the signal apparatus back in his robes.
"Cernus, and certain others," said he, "can look upon it - they alone." He looked at me closely. "Do not be curious, Killer," said he, "for commonly those who look upon the beast do so only in death." "I trust," I said, "it is safely caged." Ho-Tu smiled. "I trust so," he said. I smiled. "I suppose Caprus is wise to trust no one." "He is playing a dangerous game, Tarl." I reminded myself, again and again, as the month clock rotated, that Caprus was a trusted agent of Priest-Kings, that Misk himself had spoken in the highest terms of him. I must trust Caprus. I would trust him. Yet I could not help my anger. "Ha!" laughed Flaminius. "What a wench!" Then he looked at me, grinning. "I trust Mistress Sura was taught something this evening." Caprus, I said to myself, a good man. Caprus. Thought well of by Priest-Kings. Trusted. Cernus laughed. "And so we arranged to have you arrive in our house, the trusted spy and agent of Priest-Kings, who would thus think themselves moving secretly and intelligently against us. And here, while we have through the months advanced our cause you have stood by, patiently and cooperatively, a dupe and a fool, our guarantee that Priest-Kings would not send another." To the amusement of the crowd it took the whip slave, and two others, to strip the biting, scratching forest beauties. The pair was eventually sold to a collector for ten gold pieces; I trust the security of his Pleasure Gardens is superb, else he might waken to a knife at his throat and the demand for a tarn, and, perhaps eventually, in the rags of a slave, a seat on the bench of a cargo galley. "Very well," I said. "Disarm yourself and surrender. I will see that you are conveyed safe to the courts of the Ubar, where I trust justice will be dealt." I recalled Samos, Yet it was said, by those I trusted, that he had served Priest-Kings well. "Why do you go to Port Kar?" asked Ho-Hak. Again I did not speak. My identity, that I was Tarl Cabot, and my mission, that I served the Priest-Kings of Gor, was not for others to know. Coming from the Sardar, I knew only that I was to travel to Port Kar and there make contact with Samos, First Slaver of Port Kar, scourge of Thassa, said to be trusted of Priest-Kings. I, Tarl Cabot, hating myself, no longer respected or trusted human beings. "Why is it," asked Ho-Hak, "that she who aided you kneels bound at your feet?" "I do not trust her," I said, "nor any of you." "I trust, too," said Chenbar, "that you will not be the last of the captains of Port Kar to pull an oar on the round ships of Cos or Tyros." I had flown the flag of Bosk, from the marshes, boldly, trusting that this incitement would encourage prompt and fierce pursuit. "I trust you will find the accommodations satisfactory," I said. I wondered if I should have trusted the Ubars Nigel and Chung. How lonely it was, to have only one friend. But I had at least one friend, someone who liked me, someone to whom I might talk, someone whom I might trust and in whom I might confide. I looked up at Ute. "You wear the Kajira talmit," I said. "The first girl of the work slaves," said Ute, "had been sold shortly before my capture. There had been dissensions, factions, among the girls, each wanting one of their own party to be first girl. I was new. I had no allegiances. Rask of Treve, by his will, and because, for some reason, he trusted me, set me above them all." I feared he would not, and yet what choice had I. I must trust them. I had no choice. "I trust," said Rim, "that many ships will pass the exchange point, and that you will find your buyer." Sheera, and her girls, watched carefully, not trusting men, and counted the arrow points twice. "I trust," I said to Thurnock, "that your purse is intact." As she danced, I trusted that she would think of me. I looked at him. "Thurnock," I said, "I need a man here, an officer I can trust, one to maintain the camp, one to command shrewdly in my absence." I trusted Rim. I knew him to have a keen eye for female beauty. If he spoke highly of the four paga slaves, they were doubtless splendid specimens of female slaves. "It does not count, I trust," I asked, "being your camp, as part of the realm of Ar?" Hura laughed. She was a tall, long-legged girl, rather hard looking, not unbeautiful. She seemed strong. I did not trust her. She spoke loudly. Her laugh was not pleasant. "I trust," I said, "that you, and men of Tyros, are less mad." But I had bound her as a slave. It was thus, under duress, she had complied with my will. She was slave. One does not trust slaves. I turned my head to one side. Lara was very beautiful. And Misk, the great disklike eyes luminous, peered down at me. His antennae, golden, with their fine sensory filaments, surveyed me. I reached up to touch them with the palms of my hands. "Let there be nest trust! Let there be friendship!" But I could not reach them, and Misk had turned, and delicately, on his posterior appendages, had vanished. Luma no longer wore a collar. After the victory of the 25th of Se'Kara, over the fleets of Tyros and Cos, I had freed her. She had much increased my fortunes. Freed, she took payment, but not as much as her services, I knew, warranted. Few scribes, I expected, were so skilled in the supervision and management of complex affairs as this light, unattractive, brilliant girl. Other captains, other merchants, seeing the waxing of my fortunes, and understanding the commercial complexities involved, had offered this scribe considerable emoluments to join their service. She, however, had refused to do so. I expect she was pleased at the authority, and trust and freedom, which I had accorded her. Too, perhaps, she had grown fond of the house of Bosk. "There is Nest Trust between us," Misk had told him. I recalled that I, in the palms of my hands, had felt the delicate touch of the antennae of that golden creature. "Yes. There is Nest Trust between us," Tarl Cabot told him. That would be the time to imprint them, while innocent and trusting, at the mother's or nurse's knee, with superstitions which might, in simpler brains, subtly control then the length of their lives. He turned to his men. "Let this be a lesson to you," he called to them, "never trust the men of Kassau!" At the oars the men struck up a rowing song. "And what did you do with Gurt and those with him on the Skerry?" I asked. "We left them naked," said the Forkbeard. Then he looked aft, at the small boats falling behind. "It seems these days," he said, "one can trust no one." such an announcement could only bring about the loss of confidence in governments, panic, hoarding, crime, perhaps a breakdown in communication, perhaps anarchy, perhaps a shattering of trust and civilizations themselves. It was strange, as it seemed to me, that it should be so. I thought of golden Misk, the Priest-King, of once, long ago, when his antennae had touched the palms of my uplifted hands, and Nest Trust had been pledged between us. Samos stepped from behind the low tables. He nodded his head to cup companions, trusted men. The social bond of the Priest-Kings is Nest Trust. Yet, in spite of their different evolutionary background and physiology, they had learned the meaning of the word 'friend'; too, I knew, they understood, if only in their own way, love. "Are you not traveling with Ibn Saran?" asked Samoa. "No," I said. "I do not trust him." Samos nodded. "Nor do I," he said. He placed salt from the small dish on the back of his right wrist. He looked at me. His eyes were narrow. "I trust," said he, "you have not made jest of me." I had later sent Tab, one of my captains, a trusted man, to Lydius to buy her, but already had she been sold. "Hamid," said Shakar, not pleased, standing near, "is a trusted man." And he added, "And he is Aretai." "I hope that you will forgive me," said Hassan. "Further, in the light of the fact that you have recovered that in which you were interested, whatever it is, I trust that you will be willing to let bygones be bygones, and permit myself and my friend to depart, returning to us our kaiila, garments and accouterments, and perhaps bestowing upon us some water and supplies. We will then be on our way, commending your generosity and hospitality at the campfires, and will bother you no longer." "Do you not trust me, Tarl?" she asked, softly. "You are a slave girl," I whispered. "Answer." The knife was still at her throat. "Have I not, Lehna," inquired the Lady Sabina, sternly, "taught you proper deportment? Have I not instructed you in dignity? Is this how you betray my trust?" "It is not impossible," said my master. He turned to leave, then turned again to face the kneeling, terrified Slave Beads. "It is my hope, too," said he, "that this beating will prove a useful initiation for you, given your antecedents and nature, into the condition of slavery." He looked at her, sternly. "Yes, Master," she said, looking up at him. "After your beating," he said, "you will be asked again if you desire the touch of men. I trust, then, your answer will be affirmative. If it is not, you will be again beaten, and again, throughout the night." "I trust you find the accommodations satisfactory," she said. "Come nightfall next, we trust," said Borchoff, "his memory will be much improved." He drew forth from his tunic a folded yellow paper, closed with a seal and ribbon. I saw, on the yellow paper, stamped upon it, in black ink, large, the common Kajira mark of Gor. "I have here," he said, "a bill of enslavement, signed by Samos of Port Kar. Examine it. I trust you will find that all is in order." He threw the paper to the tiles. "I trust," I said, "you can make clear the benevolence of your intentions to my men." "I have no slave whip at hand," I said, "but I trust my belt will serve." The intelligent woman is more apt to trust her own intelligence, and intuitions and feelings than the duller woman, who is more apt to be a naive function of the stereotypes and images with which she has been conditioned. "That is lucky," I said. "What of her father? He is inept and weak, I trust." "Do not be bitter, Tarl, who hunts with me," said Imnak. "I talked with Karjuk. It is all for the best." "I trusted you," I said. "If you had not, things would have been more difficult for me," admitted Imnak. "Good," I said. I looked at her. "Would you like to be returned to Earth?" I asked. "Master jests, I trust," she said. "Surely one of the foremost geographers and explorers of Gor," said Samos. "And a highly trusted man." "Trusted?" I asked. "Shaba is an agent of Priest-Kings," said Samos. "Let us have a drink," said Shaba, "to celebrate this long-awaited rendezvous." Then he smiled at me. "You do not fear to drink with us, I trust," he said. "I am sure he does not trust us either," I said. "At least we trust each other." Shaba handed him the notes. "You do not trust our broad-shouldered courier?" he asked. "I trust as few people as possible," said Msaliti. He looked at the notes, very closely. Then he handed them back to Shaba. "I know the seals and signatures," he said. "They may truly be drawn on the banks indicated." "Perhaps it is fortunate for him that he does not fully trust you." "I think I may trust you," he said. "Surely you trust me," I said, as though hurt. "I trust you as my own brother," he said. "I did not know you had a brother," I said. "He once betrayed me," said Msaliti. "I arranged that he appear guilty of a violation of state trust, and had him slain for treason against the Ubarate." "It was a mistake to trust such a fellow," I said. But surely he would not trust me to return the ring to him. The men with him, I suspected, or most of them, were members of his own caste, geographers of the scribes, perhaps, but men inured to hardships, perhaps men who had been with him in his explorations of Ushindi and Ngao, men he trusted and upon whom he could count in desperate situations, caste brothers. I brushed insects away from my face. "Can you not trust me, just a little?" she asked. "I do not choose to do so," he said. "It is strange," she said. "The other girls sleep free beside their master and I, who am so helplessly yours, surely as much a slave as they, am kept in severe constraints." He did not speak. "Why, my master?" she asked. "It pleases me," he said. "How can I convince you of my love?" she asked. "How can I earn your trust?" "Do you wish to be whipped?" he asked. "No, Master," she said. "They seemed friendly fellows," I said. They were, however, I admitted to myself, not the most attractive lot I had ever seen. Their teeth had been filed to points. "I never trust a man," said Ayari, "until I know what he eats." "I do not trust Kajiri," said the first woman. "They can revert. Can you imagine how fearful that might be, if one turned on you?" "I trusted you," I said, bitterly. "What a fool you were," she said. "Yes," I said. It was there that she had laid the snares and set the traps, earning my trust, building up my hopes, which had made me so additionally vulnerable to the humiliations and miseries of my sale. "Master has, I trust," she said, acidly, "read the note which has accompanied me." "I trust you take as good care of my tharlarion as you do of your fighters," said the Lady Florence. "Soon the Mistress will fear to trust her in the stables, where you are," he said. "I trust the guests will arrive safely," I said. "You are now my full and only creditor, Lady Florence," said the Lady Melpomene. "I trust that you will be merciful, and kind, to me." "Later, at the camp," said the leader. Then he again turned his attention to the Lady Tendite. He bowed low before her, in mock courtesy. "I invite you, if you wish, Lady Tendite, to accompany us," he said. "We shall be returning to our loot camp shortly, which is east of Vonda. There you will discover that the women of Vonda are not entirely unknown to us. Many of them have already kindly consented to give us their thighs for branding, their throats for collaring. We trust you will be no less generous." "I trust your room is not in this dismal structure," she said, looking up at a swinging lantern hanging over an inn's threshold. We spoke softly. We sat about a small table in a back room in Tasdron's tavern. Callimachus had kept the repudiation of his dereliction a secret from those in Victoria. When he went about in public it seemed his shoulders were bent, his eyes bleared, his step uncertain, his hand unsure. It was only at times like now, when with trusted men, that he sat, and carried himself, and spoke as a warrior. Victoria knew him still as only a fallen man, one defeated, one lax in his caste codes, one inert and whining in traps of his own weaving. They knew him still, as we had decided fit for our plans, as only a sot and a drunkard. They needed not know that he who had fallen had now risen; that once more the codes were kept with pride; that the cords with which he had once, with such pain and skill, bound himself, he had now sundered and torn from him, like an enraged larl emerging fiercely from a net now too frail to hold him longer. He had recalled that he was Callimachus, of the Warriors, one entrusted with steel, one entitled to wear the scarlet of the proud caste. I did not think it likely that he would forget these things again. "I trust that you will be successful," said Tasdron, glumly. "I have tried to live up to your trust," said Callisthenes. "To the trust of a fallen man, a drunkard?" smiled Callimachus. "We shall explain all shortly, I trust," said Callimachus. "I trust," said Tasdron, looking at his slave, "that he will arrive." Aemilianus spread his hands. "How then," he asked the others, "in so great a matter, can I trust him?" "You yourself are presumably well informed," I said. "I trust so," said Callisthenes. "I trust that you have not slain him," said Policrates, "for doubtless Ragnar Voskjard would not be pleased to hear that." "By trusted warriors," I asked, "who, too, would have had little opportunity to make contact with the enemy?" I looked at him, angrily. "Why can you not see that it was the slave, Peggy, who betrayed us?" I wondered if he cared for her. "The captain of the Tamira," I said, "is an important man, and much trusted by Ragnar Voskjard." I trust that I have not lost my charm for you. "Alas!" said the girl. "What a poor slave I must be! I have been made-up for love, and I have been scented and belled, and my master does not deign to so much as touch me. I trust that I am not fully displeasing to him." I then realized how bravely you had trusted me and revealed this to me. I then put my hand on her. She squirmed. "You seem well informed as to the desires of Masters," I said. "I trust you are similarly well informed as to the desires of slaves." "I do not trust such creatures," said Samos. "Some of them, specially trained," I said, "can understand Gorean." "I trust that you do not desire to kill him," said the man. "No," I smiled. "The slaves, I trust," I said, jerking my head back toward the lovely, bound inmates of the wagon, "are on their slave wine." "Yes," laughed the young man. "You will trust your translations to such a fellow?" I asked. "I trust that their intentions are peaceful," I said. "I trust," she said, "that I shall not be so served in this camp." "I trust he will not want any of them," said Grunt. I suspected that the reason that Hci had never been given the command of a raiding party was not because he was not admired and liked among the Isbu, nor because his trail and war skills were not respected, but because his judgment was not trusted. "I do not trust Yellow Knives," said Hci. "I do not trust the Yellow Knives," he said. "Why?" I asked. "I have never had good relations with the Yellow Knives," he said. "She did not trust them," I said. "Of course she trusts them," said Pumpkin. "They are all wonderful Sames." "Then why are they hooded?" I asked. "Even a Same," said Pumpkin, "might occasionally have a moment of weakness." "I see," I said. "It has been nice speaking to you, Pumpkin. You may now go." "Of course," said Pumpkin. "I trust her. She is a wonderful Same." "Too," I said, "such things as civilization, and friendship and interchanges depend muchly upon trust." Akihoka looked down at the dirt. It was not easy for him, a Kaiila warrior, to comprehend that such a thing, even though it seemed so plausible, might have taken place. It was as though his trust in deep things had been shaken. "I believe you were given a command," I said. "I trust that you do not desire for me to repeat it, as your discharge of the task might well, then, be preceded by a severe whipping." Expected to attend such a council, of course, on the part of the Kaiila, were not only the civil chieftains of the various bands of the Kaiila but their high men, as well, the councils of the various bands, and trusted warriors, and men of probity and wisdom. "You would trust me to be Blotanhunka?" asked Hci. The Yellow Knives, below, looked upward in consternation. I trusted that Canka, on one of the tarns we had purloined from the Kinyanpi, would soon make his appearance. "It is fortunate for Corcyrus, and for peace," said Ligurious, "that he with whom we truly have to deal is not Miles, general of Argentum, but with Claudius, her Ubar. He, I trust, is far less hotheaded. He, I trust, is more rational. He, I trust, may be expected to see reason and acknowledge, however reluctantly, the justice of our cause." "Master understands clearly, I trust," I said, "that that is all I am, that I am only a feast slave." "I think," said Claudius, "in these matters both our fears and our noble, belligerent vanities are out of place. Gods, for example, I trust, do not have need of the silver of Argentum, nor do they have need of fiery ships for plying the long, dark roads between worlds. Gods, I trust, do not leave spoor in subterranean chambers nor deep wounds in remote turfs. These things of which we speak, I think, are things which can eat and bleed." Some knew me as the Tatrix. Some knew her as the Tatrix. That there were actually two women involved was a carefully guarded secret, known only to a handful of trusted followers. There was another, as well, one who must have had influence, one who must have been trusted, one who must have been more highly placed. "Do you trust me?" he asked. "Yes," I said. "Alas," he said, after the second ransacking of his robes, and his third examination of the wallet, "it must be in my quarters, perhaps in the wardrobe trunk. I shall return in a nonce. I trust that I shall not discover that I have been robbed!" "Do you trust him?" asked the officer of one of the guards. "Not I, Sir," responded the guard. "I am sure he trusts me," I said. "Have no fear," I said. "He trusts me. He trusts me like I trust myself." "I trust that all is in order," said the Brigella. "I suppose even in matters this momentous," said Boots, "there comes a time when some exchange of trust is in order." "I do not trust you," said the other. "I have another mode of transportation in mind for you," I said, "a mode which I trust you will find instructive." It sniffed me again, beginning at my feet and then lifting its head until it seemed, again, to look me in the eyes. When it had lowered its head I had lowered the pelt I grasped, holding it about me, that it might be near its nose. When it had lifted its head I had raised the pelt, too, keeping it muchly between us. It did not seem muchly concerned with the head of the urt, which was still, by the skin, attached to the pelt. Its responses in this situation I assumed, I trusted, I hoped, would be activated almost exclusively by smell, and not by the smell of blood, or human, but by the smell of the pelt, by the pack odor. "So far, they seem good," Lecchio muttered, "but many forgeries pass the trust test." He then drew from his pack a glass of the Builders, used for identifying distant objects. "Oh, oh," he muttered, darkly. "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?" "Citizens of Brundisium, and guests," called Belnar, rising to his feet, "I would have preferred for the Lady Yanina, that distinguished citizeness of Brundisium, known 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." If the escape of the prisoners did not seem sufficient for that purpose the sudden knowledge that I was still free in the palace, and mysteriously so, should prove more than adequate to accomplish that end. I trusted that Boots had set up the mirrors outside the hall in the location we had agreed upon. To be sure, if he had not done so, it did not seem likely, all things considered, that he would ever have to fear being reprimanded on the point. "I trust you are all well, and are soon to be about your business," I said. "I trust you are not a brigand," said the driver, not looking at me. Mincon was a trusted driver, and a well-known good fellow. "Trust me," he said. "Must I?" I asked. "I would think so," said Hurtha, righteously, adding "whatever a letter of safety might be." He looked about, with his Alar distrust of bureaucracy and enclosed spaces. "I trust there will be no necessity for me to read such a letter," he said, "as this would be difficult, as I cannot read." Nearby, Hurtha and Boabissia were asleep. Mincon, apparently a trusted agent of his captain, had quarters, or business, elsewhere. "I think I may have a great inheritance," she said. "Perhaps I shall find I own vast estates, that funds in trust have been left for me, that I am of noble family, that I am one of the richest and most powerful women in Ar!" "I trust the regent, your high councils, your military leaders, the general staff, and such, are well informed." If he had flaws as a regent presumably they might be due to his lack of information, or perhaps to a certain unwarranted optimism, or untutored innocence or naivety. Such things are not uncommon among idealists, so tender and thoughtful, so loving and trusting, prisoners of verbalisms, dazzled by inventions and dreams, projecting their own benevolence unto the larl and the forests, skeptical of reality, construing the world in the metaphor of the flower. I was pleased to hear that. I had urgent letters for Gnieus Lelius and Seremides. I must somehow manage to deliver them. I had feared it might be difficult. I did not wish to deliver these missives into the hands of a subordinate. Who could one trust? Too, I surely had no wish to attempt to cut my way through the corridors of the Central Cylinder to effect a private audience with these fellows. There, in one wall, was a long crack. The floor creaked, too, in places, as one trod upon it. I trusted this was merely from the disrepair and age of the boards. Insulae are seldom maintained well. "You came here," he said, "seeking to find out who you were. I trust you now know. Similarly, you came here to find riches, to seek your fortune. I trust you are now satisfied with the riches you have found, slave bracelets and a leash, though, to be sure, they are not yours, and with your fortune, that which you so avidly sought, which proves to be total bondage." "I think I do not trust myself," I said. "Oh?" she asked. I gathered they did not entirely trust the discipline of the guards. I watched in terror as my master, over my body, scratched and pulled, and shoved, at that great head. Clearly he was inordinately fond of that terrible beast, and perhaps it of him. I saw his eyes. He lavished affection upon it. He cared more for it than his girls. I was certain. Perhaps it was the only thing he trusted, other than himself, the only thing he knew that he could rely upon, other than himself, the only thing, of all creatures he knew, who had proved its love and loyalty to him. If this were so, then perhaps it was not incredible that he might bestow upon it a fondness, or love, which he, betrayed perhaps by men, might withhold from others, from men, and slaves. I do not think he trusted himself to be alone with me. "I trust all the coins are accounted for," he said. "I have not yet counted," said Mirus. "I am acting under the orders of Hendow," she said. "Trust me." "Yes, Mistress," I said. How bold she was, I thought, to have used our master's name in that fashion, speaking it unnecessarily, not referring to him in terms such as "the master" or "our master. I looked at him, wildly. He had asked me this in Argentum, before I had deceived him, before he had carried me, trustingly, lovingly, in his arms, back into the alleyway. "I know he is," I said. I looked back, down into the sandy trough. "I lured him in Argentum," I said, my voice suddenly breaking, as I considered the enormity of it, "I lured him whom I knew, he who had been kind to me, he who trusted me, and brought him to chains and servitude, and yet, this afternoon, he saved my life." "It is my fault," I said. "You were beguiled by your affection for me, by your trust in me." "How did you know that you might trust Callisthenes and Sempronius?" I asked. "I think I have some skill in reading men," he said. He then fetched a bit of oil and a sharpening stone from his things and, returning to his place, removed his sword from its scabbard. He then, slowly, patiently, with great care, addressed himself to the blade. Gorean men usually sharpen their own swords. They tend to trust the edge on the weapon to no one but themselves. I regarded the blade with uneasiness, but fascination. I had seen such things at work. Gnieus Lelius had listened to me thoughtfully and patiently. But he would, it seemed, trust to the judgment of his officers. "And his reward then," I speculated, "would be a grateful peck through your veil?" "I am a free woman," she said. "I trust not." "You are a big fellow, too," said the put-upon fellow, looking at me. "I trust you do not want this place." "I trust the tarn gate is open," I said. "He can be trusted," said the man with me. This trust, I gathered, I had earned on the wall, at the gate, on the walkway. Too, I think there was little truly secret about this ship, or the others. There was, incidentally, one flag of Ar's Station on board which had been brought from Ar's Station itself, but that flag, large, rent, faded and tattered, was not the one, or ones, under discussion. That was the flag which had flown at the upper battlements. It had been there, staunch and defiant, throughout the siege. It had been brought to the Tais by the young man to whom I had entrusted it, the friend of the young crossbowman. "Your movements for the most part," said the keeper, "will be slow and sensuous, but terribly meaningful, sexually. These may be mixed upon occasion with sudden, perhaps surprising, movements, almost spasmodic, or spasmodic, in nature. I trust that you understand these things. If there is difficulty in the matter it may perhaps be clarified by the whip." 'They will have him before morning,' had said a fellow. I trusted he was mistaken. I trusted that Marcus was correct, that there was nothing to fear. "I do not think I would care to trust that information," I said. "I trust you will play your role well," I said. "If you decide on that," he said, "I trust that you will let us know." Labienus, in my opinion, was a fine, responsible, trustworthy officer. Saphronicus had probably wanted a simple, trusting, reliable, tenacious, indefatigable officer in that post, one who would continue to doggedly carry his command deeper and deeper into the delta, regardless of what might appear to be the hazards or untenabilities of the situation. "You trust me?" I asked. "Do not be angry, my friend," I said. "I meant no diminishment either to our trust or your, honor. If an honor has been tarnished here, it is surely mine, not yours." "We must place our trust in the Priest-Kings," said another. "Our lads will protect us," said a man. "A few pitiful regiments and levies of peasants?" asked another. "We must place our trust in the Priest-Kings," said a man. "We must trust in the Priest-Kings," said another. "Yes," said another. "I can remember," said a fellow, "when we trusted in our steel." The girl near the gamblers was apparently not a stake in the game. On the other hand, it is not unusual for female slaves, like kaiila and other properties, to serve as stakes in such games, as in races, contests and such. Indeed, in many contests, female slaves are offered as prizes. I had once won one myself, in Torvaldsland, in archery. I had subsequently sold her to a warrior. I trust that she is happy, but it does not matter, as she is only a slave. I suspected that he was at worst a dupe, a trusting man, perhaps even one of considerable talent, who had found himself, through no real fault of his own, a pawn in games of state, games in which there seemed to be no rules other than survival and victory. Showing his face to the crowd was judicious, I thought. It suggested openness, candor, trust, rejoicing. I trusted that she had not injured her feet. We made them distrust themselves, and taught them to believe that their most basic instincts and elemental insights, the most essential and primitive promptings of their blood, were to be repudiated in favor of self-denial and frustration, in favor of vacuous principles, used by us as weapons against them, in favor of stultifying verbalisms, to cripple and bleed them, and entrap them in our toils. Perhaps, on the other hand, he did not trust them, as they were of Ar. "I trust that they are being well paid," I said. "Otherwise they are certainly being exploited." A fellow flourished a staff. I trusted the crowd would not now close with the mercenaries, for if it did I genuinely feared there would be little but pulp left of them. "Only if later you deem me worthy of such trust," he said. "I do trust you will be nice to me this evening!" said the ponderous fellow to the slim beauty on the palanquin. "So let us trust," I said, "that folks do not abound who can wreak such wonders." The ponderous fellow seized it and shook it vigorously. It was Marcus' sword hand. I trusted it would not be injured. We might have need of it. "I work best with an audience," said the ponderous fellow. I did not doubt it. On the other hand he did make me a bit nervous. I trusted he would not try to make too much of a show of it. The important thing was to get the stone and get it out of the city, and, if possible, to Port Cos. "Then I trust that my estimate of the risks involved is a good deal more accurate than yours." "I trust Master is correct in his assumption," said Lavinia. A few yards away I turned, to observe. Lavinia was where I had left her. She seemed rooted to the spot. Her heart, for whatever reason, I suspected, must be rapidly palpitating. I could see the suggestion of agitation, if not of terror, in the heaving of her bosom. She clutched the note. I trusted that it would not be crushed and soiled in that sweet sweaty little palm of hers. The handsome slave stood in the street, under the trellises, in the light and shade, looking after the slave, wonderingly. In his hand, neglected, was the note. It seemed he could not take his eyes off the retreating figure of Lavinia. Could it be that he found her of interest, and in the most profoundly sexual way in which a man may find a woman of interest, of slave interest? I had not counted on that. I trusted that this would nor disrupt my plans. "That is you holding the back of my knife belt, I trust," said Marcus, not looking about. "I trust that your homicidal urges have now subsided," said Boots. "I trust," said Boots, "that the purse I have received, which was unusually heavy, contains the equivalent of at least a gold piece." "Surely you trust me," I said. "I trust you," said Boots. "It is only that I am wary of your mathematics." "I trust that Lavinia will not be too disappointed," I said. "I trust your little slut is on slave wine," he said. "My slave is innocent, honest and trustworthy!" he said. I trusted that Lavinia would have time to throw off her cloak and get at the disrobing loop on her tunic before the door could be opened. "You will never believe the difficulty I had in escaping from the Central Cylinder!" she said. "It is almost as though I were a prisoner there. Seremides is so careful! His spies are everywhere. Who knows who they are, or which of them is watching you at any given time? Whom can I trust? It is hard to leave without an escort of a company of guardsmen. What do they fear, I wonder. The people love me." "And what of the note you received?" I asked. "I trust that it was destroyed." "Mercenaries, on the whole," I said, "saving some companies with unusual allegiance to particular leaders, such as those of Pietro Vacchi and Dietrich of Tarnburg, are seldom trustworthy, and are almost never more trustworthy than their pay." "It is safe to come in, I trust," said a voice. "I trust you can afford the rent on your single salary," said the voice. I trusted that she had not seen me kissing the stranger. I trusted that Aynur had not seen me kissing him, and as I had, as what I was! I trusted that she had not dallied too long in her obedience. I trusted it was under effective discipline. I trusted, of course, that these rings would hold. I trusted that those who had made this decision, to bring me here, knew their business. I trusted that the men might protect me from her. I trusted she would not fall into the clutches of peasants. I trust that the reader, if this ever finds a reader, or readers, will not be shocked by this sort of thing. "I trust that you will rest well," she said. "You will see, I trust," said one of the fellows in the crowd, "that this coin is turned over to the Priest-Kings, and does not end up in the temple coffers." I trusted the Lady Constanzia, you see, less than I did him. "I trust that master does not object to a left-thigh-marked girl," she said. I trusted she would neither mark nor injure her wrists. Too, I am sure they did not trust the pit master. "I have not betrayed my trust," said the pit master. "He should," said the leader of the strangers. "He once, on a hunting expedition, saved Gito from brigands who were torturing him. He took him, half dead, burned, defaced, into his own house, showered him with gifts, improved his fortunes, treated him as a kinsman. He loved few and trusted few, as he loved and trusted Gito." "You have no objection, I trust," said the leader of the strangers to the officer of Treve, "to the simple removed of your disobedient subordinate from the line of fire?" "I trust we may, from this point further, now, that he is free, and dangerous, have the assurance of your support," said the leader of the strangers. I trust a concern for their safety, or for that of one or more of them, will ensure your diligence as guides. "One would think so," said Terence. "One trusts that it will remain so." "I think you do not understand," said the pit master. "I betrayed my trust, my post, my oath to the city." "I have betrayed my trust, my post. I have betrayed my oath. That is not nothing." But, too, I think they were cruel to her because she had not kept properly the office of the first girl, because she had dishonored her trust, because she had entered into an intrigue, because she had coveted gold, because she betrayed her master. As you are a slave, and he is a free man, you cannot be trusted to identify him. "That I am a slave," I said, "I trust does not make me less attractive." She had learned how to move on all fours, and fetch a whip in her teeth. She had learned how to beg to be beaten, but she trusted earnestly that she would be spared that for which she was trained to beg. "How do your lessons proceed?" he asked. "I trust, well," she said. "But there is something I do not understand." "Yes," she said. "You did not hurt them, I trust." "I trust that Master is not disappointed with the body of an eighteen-year-old slave," she said. That she did so without explicit permission she trusted would not be an occasion for the imposition of discipline. If she managed to elude one master, and were not, when captured, returned to him, perhaps for mutilation and hamstringing, she would soon find herself in the power of another, and doubtless one far less likely than the first to treat her with trust and lenience, to mistakenly indulge her with abusable privileges. "I trust the brigands from Treve bagged little or nothing." "Ina is well-versed in domestic tasks," said Ina. "And others, as well, I trust," said the guard. "In some paga tavern," he speculated. "I trust that you have all been presenting yourselves well." To be sure, many Goreans do not believe that slaves are to be trusted. She closed her knees and went to all fours and crawled after him, not daring to trust her legs, not daring to try to stand. "I trust that my Master, the noble Portus Canio, your employer," said Ellen to Selius Arconious, "does not inquire of me as to your behavior, and if you have been attentive to your duties, for I, as a slave, however reluctantly, knelt down to speak the truth, would have to admit that you have been lax, and that you have a tendency to dally, quite unconscionably." "You may, of course," she said, "look upon me, and frequently, I trust, and I shall find that amusing, for I know that you may not have me. The normal Gorean handshake, it seems, at least those which this slave has seen commonly exchanged amongst free men, is the same as, or rather like, that of Earth, from which world it is doubtless derived, the clasping of two right hands, thus the giving of the expected weapon hand to the other, a grant indicative of respect, trust and friendship, one supposes. I trust she is well mastered, thought Ellen. I will then be drawn from the roster, beaten, and permitted, I trust, to return to the vat of Callimachus. I trust you have not come here for me, for my number is 117, and you will not be able to afford me! "Exploit your beauty," thought Ellen. "You are very beautiful. You know you are. Use your beauty. Use it! Trust in it to compensate for your lack of training, for your lack of skill, in slave dance. I trust, she thought wildly, that neither Mirus nor Selius Arconious are among the buyers. Surely they must not see me so, not exhibited thusly! "Were you poor in the furs?" he asked. "I trust not, Master," she said. "Can one trust one of Port Kar?" asked Selius Arconious. "He is with us, for whatever reason," said Portus Canio. "In Port Kar," said the red-haired man, he like a larl, "there is now a Home Stone." "I did not know," said Selius Arconious. "Forgive me." "You are a trusting fellow," said the spokesman. "There is such a thing as honor," said Portus Canio. Even the free woman, fully clothed, has a sudden sense of her body, naked, within her encumbering robes. And if the free woman can have such a sensation one may well understand, I trust, the radical accentuation of such sensations on the part of a slave, who is purchasable, and who is commonly much exhibited to begin with, often shielded by no more than the single, thin, flimsy layer of a brief rep-cloth tunic. "You do not even care for me, Master!" cried Ellen. She must challenge his affections, appeal to his pity, confuse him, take him off balance, force him to acknowledge his undoubted feelings for her. Surely that would stay his hand! She was certain he had such feelings, for he had permitted her, certainly, in the past few days, to get away with much slackness of service and deference, to behave in ways that are simply not permitted to slaves, and certainly not to those with strong masters. This, it seemed, would be her last effort to turn him from what she feared might be, but yet trusted would not be, his purpose. This stratagem, she was sure, would succeed. "Are you an insolent slave?" he asked. "I trust not, Master," she said. This is then, I conjecture, a first-person narrative expressed largely, humbly, I trust, in the third person. We trust that you enjoyed having your legs tied apart. You will grow used to such things on Gor. When necessary, we shall refer to the Eleventh Face of the Nameless One, not inappropriately we trust, by the name of a powerful war leader and king, Agamemnon. "But we are thinking in terms of silver, I trust." "Yes, silver." "I have been tested with humans," said Grendel. "I am too different. They fear me. They dread me. They do not trust me. They see me as Kur, which I am. So the project was abandoned. I am thus the useless consequence of a misguided experiment. I am the only one of my kind. I am left over. I am a mistake. I am worthless." "Doubtless you have many questions," came from the device. "Many, I trust, have already been answered by our unfortunate Grendel, whose repellant appearance we trust did not overly disgust you, and others by our dear colleague and friend, Peisistratus, of the lovely island of Cos, in Thassa. We shall shortly do our best to satisfy any residue of curiosity which might remain. First, however, allow me to thank you, on behalf of our world, for your efforts, long ago, on behalf of our beloved officer, Zarendargar, efforts which obviously brought you into disrepute with your masters, the Priest-Kings of Gor." But Archon thrust the knife through a broad leather band of the Kur harness, unwilling to trust it again to its strange, recalcitrant sheath, and approached Cabot, and, putting out his arms, embraced him. "I trust you are not disappointed," said Cabot. "Do you think it is wise to trust a human?" asked the machine. "It is hard to tell," said Cabot. "Much might depend upon the human." "I expect to give him my answer soon," said Cabot. "I trust it will be the right answer," said Peisistratus. "I trust she is worked well," said Cabot. "That of enlisting a human leader, one men will trust, a warrior, a seeming champion, a seeming hero, one whom men, properly motivated, will unquestioningly, eagerly follow, one who will lead armies against the Sardar." "I will trust you," said Cabot. "I am a skilled liar," said Peisistratus. "I will trust you," said Cabot. "I trust Master is not impatient with me," she said. "No," he said. "If I were, you would be lashed." "To ascertain your whereabouts," said Cabot, "and that of a free woman whom I fear is not to be trusted." "I trust you are better armed," said Cabot. "I trust that you jest," said Grendel. "The Lady Bina is a free woman." "You do not trust me," said Lady Bina, reproachfully, to Grendel. Grendel looked down, confused, hurt. "If you loved me, as you have claimed," she said, "you would keep me free, and trust me." "If you truly loved me," she said, "you would trust me, and leave me to be as I wish, to do as I wish, and go where I wish." The Lady Bina laughed, softly. "I told the beast that I would not leave my bower, and if he truly loved me, he must trust me." "She told me she would remain in her bower," said Grendel. "I trusted her." "I trust," said Cabot, "to join those who would stand against the Eleventh Face of the Nameless One." cried Cabot, in response, trusting that his companion's hearing, equivalent to that of a Kur, might detect the sound amidst the wash and roar of the storm. "Lord Grendel speculates that Agamemnon trusts that cold is no longer necessary to his plans, and thus, one supposes, that the temperature of the world may be returned to an equable level, one suitable for this season of the cylinder year." Kurii, he trusted, are rational animals and would seldom choose certain death. "She is leading them. They are following her, trustingly. They do not know where they are being taken." And thus Cabot's second experiment came to its conclusion. He had satisfied himself that the Lady Bina, as he had supposed, could not be trusted, and that Lord Grendel, for whatever reason, might die before he would permit harm to come to her. "Is the slave crying?" asked the Lady Bina, amused. "I trust not," said Cabot. Lita's head was down, far down, almost to the floor. "We do not trust you," said Cabot. "I am loyal!" she said. "Perhaps she is not hungry," said Grendel. "That is a joke, I trust," said Cabot. "To perish while grievously outnumbered," said Lord Grendel, "is glorious." "To succeed while so outnumbered, I trust," said Cabot, "would be more glorious still." "I think you will find her an excellent submissive," said Lord Grendel. "I trust so, if she would live," said the Kur. "How long must I wear this bell?" asked the Lady Bina. "You are not trusted," said Cabot. "It has been decided in the camp that you will be belled. It helps to keep track of you." "Surely you know why," said Cabot. "It is another sign that you are not to be trusted. It is an ensign of your treachery and shame." "In that cauldron," said a Kur, "would have been brethren, folk of our camp, who fought with us, our brothers, who trusted the word of Agamemnon." "I trust that all the groups will be contacted," said Flavion. "Surely most," said Lord Grendel. "And those with power weapons?" "We trust so," said Lord Grendel. "Yes," said Cabot, "and I trust you remember all this, should the Lady Bina be snatched from the side of Agamemnon, and come into our power." "I trust, too," said Lord Grendel, "you are aware of certain resonances here which would be savored by Lord Agamemnon." "Forgive me, dear friend," said Statius. "I trust you did not take offense. In a moment of weakness I thought of you more as human, and less as Kur." "Fools, fools," said Lord Grendel. "Piteous, trusting fools!" "It was to you that Lord Arcesilaus entrusted his ring," said Lord Grendel. "No," said Flavion. "You are a trusted confidant of Lord Grendel, and stand high in the camp. I am only a lowly scout." "You do not trust us," said Flavion. "My mistrust, it seems," said Cabot, "is abundantly justified." "You have no intention of acting on the recommendations of Flavion, I trust," said Cabot to Lord Grendel. "I must trust you on this?" In such ways, one trusts, might their risks be reduced. "You would trust us?" inquired the second Kur. "Certainly," said Cabot, "for you are Kur." "Yes," said the first, "we are Kur." "Tonight," said Peisistratus, "we feast." "In the Gorean manner, I trust," said Cabot. "May I trust you?" "My word has been given, and I am Kur," said Flavion. "Shall we meet here, tomorrow, in festive regalia?" asked Lord Grendel. "Such will be provided, I trust," said Cabot. "I am understood to be a slave," she said. "Accordingly I will need to be claimed. I am now ready to be released. I trust you will see to it, and soon." "I find that hard to believe," said Corinna. "Is he readying you for a sale?" "I trust not," said the brunette. "Teach me to better please him!" "I will strive to be pleasing!" she said. "I trust so," he said. I trust this is not surprising, that hardy men, skilled with weapons, who often lived with peril, might have such concerns. The men he had brought into the forest, to abet the mission of Lord Grendel, were thus a tiny fraction of his men; but they were picked men, men muchly trusted, men often relied on. "Cecily," she whispered to herself, "I will tell you a little secret, which, I trust, does not alarm or disconcert you. You wanted to be whipped, Cecily. You wanted him to whip you. Now you know that even if he is not yours, that you are his. There is no doubt now that you are his slave. His whip is over you. It is he who is your master." "Uneasily, I trust," said Cabot, "in terror, lest her secret be discovered." "Trust that you never become the sandal slave of a free woman," said Cabot. "You are looking well, Lady," said Tarl Cabot. "I trust you, too, are well," she said. "We are then in our way, are we not, 'trust brothers,'" he said. "It would seem so," I said. "Then he is not a 'trust brother'," she said. "He is no more a trust brother of mine," I said, "than Myron, polemarkos of Temos." "Yes," I said, and she served me paga, and well. I trusted Constantina was attentive. "You were not to be trusted," I said. "Why should you expect that others were to be trusted?" "I trust," I said, "in the meantime you were comfortably housed." "You have traveled far," I said. "You are, I take it, a loyal and trusted retainer of Lord Nishida. Therefore it seems to me that it would be more appropriate if it was you who presented her to your lord." "I trust," said Miss Wentworth to Pertinax, "you are not toying with contemplating the possible meaning of your bestial strength, that you are not tempted to acknowledge your desires." "I trust that your journey hither was pleasant, and uneventful," said Lord Nishida. "Yes," I said. It would have been considerably less pleasant for the girls, of course, as they had been bound, and hooded, and led on leashes, for much of the journey. "I trust, as well, that your quarters, though regrettably primitive, a consequence of the rude and transitory nature of our camp, are satisfactory." "Thoroughly satisfactory," I said. "I am pleased to hear that," said Lord Nishida. "You have made the acquaintance, of course," he added, "of our trusted and loyal servitor, Tajima." "Yes," I said. "I trust his service was satisfactory." "Eminently so," I said. "You made the selection yourself?" said Lord Nishida. "I would trust it to no other," said the fellow. But, from my training, I knew his every sense was alert, on a knife's edge of cold fire. I trusted that Pertinax would not act. Tajima seemed wholly at ease, even disgusted, certainly indolent. There was insult emblazoned in his very posture. I trusted that Pertinax would not act. Lord Nishida then looked to the blond fellow with short-cropped hair, he in the nondescript brown tunic, who had had little to say, but had been muchly attentive to all that had transpired. In his seemingly slumberous stolidity he reminded me a bit of the inert larls who crouched at the edges of the platform. I trusted they had been well fed. "I entered it myself," said Thrasilicus, "and, as noted, on the very afternoon of the aforementioned business luncheon, following which, you may recall, you attempted to entice me to join your list of clients, that line of naive fellows begging for your attention, those eager to please you, to render homage to your charm and beauty, ready to exchange capital, often not their own, for one of your smiles. My interest in you, and I trust you find this flattering, was immediate. Indeed, as soon as you approached my table, so innocently, so charmingly, like a sleek, predatory little animal, I considered that you would look less well sitting at my table in your carefully chosen chic business ensemble than you would kneeling beside it, on the carpet, head down, naked, in a collar. And after a few moments of conversation I decided I would enter you on an acquisition list, for subsequent harvesting at our convenience. I did so, and, as noted, in the moment your name appeared on that list you were no longer a free woman, but a slave." "I trust, Lord Nishida," said Thrasilicus, "the slave pleases your senses." I trusted that the stable grooms might be enjoying this homely indulgence. I would be curious to know, if he saw fit to call on her, if she would immediately, in his presence, go to first obeisance position. If she did not, I trusted he would use the switch on her, liberally. "Do you think, Master," asked Cecily, "that Master Pertinax will attend on the slave?" "I suspect so," I said, "and I trust he brings his switch." "And after your work," I said, "we will devote the evening to blanket sport." "I trust I will be found pleasing on the blanket," she said. "Some relief is provided, I trust," I said, "for the ferocity of other hungers, as well." In actual warfare, I trusted this civility would not be respected. "I trust you are in no danger of forgetting it," I said. "I trust," I said to Pertinax, "you do not mind that she is red silk, that she is not white silk." Lord Nishida, I had been informed, too, on the ground, would be on hand to observe the results of the exercise. I trusted that he would be pleased. "You, too, buckler and blade," I said to Tajima and Pertinax. It is true the blade may be used for both offense and defense, but I would not trust it against a flighted quarrel. I trusted Lord Nishida had escaped the firing of his pavilion. "I trust the slaves are well, and in hand," I said. I trusted this would not result in an eventual, casual intrusion of larls into formerly secure areas. "You have learned the lessons of the stable, I trust," I said to the slave. I had little doubt he was wandering about, angrily, trying to sort out a variety of thoughts and feelings, most of which were doubtless troubling. I trusted he would remember to retrieve his Jane, the former Lady Portia Lia Serisia of Sun Gate Towers, near the Street of Coins in Ar, from the rope circle. I did not think she would be pleased with his lateness. "May I present," said Lord Nishida, "five retainers, who, though barbarians, like yourself, are loyal retainers, trusted servitors. Quintus, Telarion, Fabius, Lykourgos, and Tyrtaios." "Do you trust me?" he asked. "No," I said. "Good," he said. "Thusly were they assured of my trust, that such a task was accorded to them." I would seek out Tajima, who had not attended the feast, perhaps because of the absence of Sumomo, and other contract women, or perhaps because of the presence of female slaves. He might not trust himself with them. I was sure Lord Nishida did not trust me, but I did not feel slighted by any suspicions he might harbor. In his place I would doubtless have entertained a similar wariness. He did not know me, I was not of the Pani, I had not turned a failed assassin, Licinius, over to him for the expected justice of prolonged torture, and there was the matter of yesterday night, when I had mysteriously left the camp and had apparently engaged in a clandestine rendezvous with a stranger. I doubted that, under similar circumstances, I would have trusted myself. It had been easily and perfectly done. I trusted that she, to her rage, consternation, and chagrin, in all her utter helplessness, that of a female in the hands of men, had realized that. "This man," I said, indicating he who had been caught beneath the chin by the edged buckler, "rushed clumsily from the darkness. He lacked the skill one would expect from a professional at dark work, and the other, he with the crossbow, did not risk a miss, preferring to leave the strike to the knife of his confederate, he himself then serving muchly as support, either for a second strike, or, more likely, to disconcert any who might too quickly approach, to cover the retreat of his companion. The professional assassin, I would suppose, would have trusted to his own quarrel, and not waited. Too, the professional assassin will usually choose to work alone, depending on himself, no others." "I trust," he said, "you will learn." "Do you think we should trust you?" asked Lord Nishida. "Would you, in our place?" "No," I said. Should she reach Thassa, the sea, I trusted, would be gifted with wine and salt, and oil would be poured into the waters, that they might be soothed in her path. I trusted that she would not move with the current, and drag the cleats free of the wood, or draw the wharf itself, splintering, from its pilings. "Lord Nishida does not trust you," he said. "I know," I said. "She is barbarian, is she not?" asked the stranger. "I fear so," said the taverner, "but she is not without interest, I trust." There was no guard behind her, but I did not doubt that one had opened the gate for her, and had then withdrawn. Such as she are not trusted with keys. Who could one trust? As Ar might be unable to apprehend Talena, I feared that much of the hatred and rage which would have been levied against the former puppet Ubara might now be visited upon me, not merely as a co-conspirator and abetting traitress, but as one supposedly her dearest friend and colleague, and one certainly, obviously, her highest-placed, best-known, and most-trusted confidante. "I thought he was Cosian," snarled Seremides. "Cosians cannot be trusted. They are treacherous, and deceitful. Let us kill him." "I trust that oil was poured into the sea, and wine, and salt," I said. "Lords Okimoto and Nishida," said Cabot, evenly. "Mutiny is done. Weapons were surrendered freely. Men have placed their lives and trust in your hands. Otherwise they would have died with weapons in hand. Men do not surrender to be slaughtered. That is not our way." I trusted that Philoctetes had sought the care of a physician. "Barbarian I may be," said Pertinax, "but I am neither fool nor slackard, and I trust, not a coward." "Doubtless there are exceptions," I said. "I trust so," she said. I trusted that she had been sent to the washing tubs, that her hair and body, and tunic, might be cleaned, and that physicians had tended to her burns. "Are you in need of discipline?" I asked. "I trust not," she said. "You should not have been on deck in the first place," I said. "You dallied. You lingered. You did not accompany your chain sisters below. I trust that after you were cleaned and tended, the backs of your pretty thighs were kissed with the switch for that." "Are you in need of discipline?" I had asked. "I trust not," she had said. "I trust that you and Iole," I said, "were well punished for your altercation." "You were courteous enough to thank him, I trust," I said. Giving the weapon hand to the other is certainly a gesture of trust. Perhaps that is why one seldom shakes hands with strangers. "I trust the whip slaves in the Kasra area," said Alcinoë, "are similarly inconvenienced." "Does one know whom to trust?" I asked. I wondered if Tarl Cabot, Pertinax, and some others, might not now be expendable. Surely they were not Pani. Did Pani now need them? Would Pani trust them? I made my way down to the courtyard, to welcome the returning troops, or, I trusted, the vanguard. I had two reasons for wishing a private supper, limited to a few, in this case the personnel of the high watches on the great ship, whom I knew and trusted. "You are all of the ship," I cried to the men. "Do not betray her! Do not insult her! You have taken fee! Honor is due! You have come to serve, so serve! Do not desert your fellows, the Pani, and others, who have fought with you! You have been treated fairly by Lords Nishida and Okimoto. They have sought your service, paid for it with good coin, which you accepted, and brought you here, in trust, across vast, green Thassa, to the World's End, that you may prove your worth and earn your pay, that you may teach those of these islands the honor, the prowess, and might of the archers, spearmen, and swordsmen of Ar, Jad, Brundisium, Temos, Kasra, Tor, and a hundred ports and cities." "I trust," she said, "that I will not be switched, if I have done my best." "You will be," I said, "if your best is not good enough." "The great port of Brundisium is a neutral port, open to all shipping," said Demetrion. "I trust you come in peace." "I trust you now understand the motivation for its destruction, the rationality of doing away with it." "I would return to the World's End," said the stranger. "That they, Lord Nishida and Tarl Cabot, whom I have served, and well I trust, in whose regard I putatively stand, would deny me that, is unconscionable." "Then I trust that the master will better train me, will correct my behavior, and see to my improvement," she said. Doubtless he was embarrassed to be found on his knees, a slave in his arms. Certainly I trusted so. "And more broadly, and to the point, and more importantly, I trust, putting aside her past, which we may ignore for the moment," I said, "you have recollected the nature of a slave, as a slave." "You will, at least, I trust," I said, "see to it that she works for that tunic, perhaps for several weeks." "I trust he had something to eat," I said. "I trust you fed well," he said. "I trust that you will enjoy Alcinoë," I said. "I intend to," he said. "I trust," said Callias, "she is the right one." "And I trust," said my slave, "that I may convince my master that a mere barbarian is not to be despised in the furs." "I trust," I said to Alcinoë, "that your kind efforts to assist my slave with her Gorean are not completely unrequited." "You are not a free woman!" I said. "Are you so different from me? That bit of cloth you wear is as much a mockery of a garment as that which clings about me! Do I not see a metal circlet clasped close about your neck, which, I trust, is locked in place? If it is not, remove it, and I will kneel before you." "I trust I will be of the Builders," said Jane. "Their robes are yellow." "You are not a free woman!" I had said. "Are you so different from me? That bit of cloth you wear is as much a mockery of a garment as that which clings about me! Do I not see a metal circlet clasped close about your neck, which I trust, is locked in place? If it is not remove it and I will kneel before you!" I trust my master will not beat me for this speculation. I trusted that the sales were over. "I trust she will prove satisfactory," said the auctioneer. "If not, we will buy her back." "Do you deserve to be whipped?" he asked. "I trust not, Master!" I said. "Do not all kajirae deserve to be whipped?" he asked. "I trust not, Master!" I said. "But they are slaves," he said. "Even so," I said. "Surely they know what they have done, or failed to do, even if masters do not," he said, "and thus well know, given their lapses and faults, however infrequent or slight, which may have escaped the notice of the masters, how richly they deserve to be whipped, and, accordingly, should have no objection whatsoever, to having the lash at any time well laid upon them." "Perhaps, Master," I said, frightened. I trusted I would not be punished on this world for faults which might have been mine on a former world. But, still, one does not know how men will see things, and they are the masters. "I did not, of course, mean women such as you, your graciousness," he said. "I trust not," she said. I trusted he would not now, himself, take the laundry and cast it to the gutter. Would that not be a rich Gorean joke, at the expense of a helpless slave, a joke worth recounting in the taverns? I trusted it was securely in place. There had been noise when it had torn away the frontage of the stall, a brief, clear shattering of the market's silence, which I trusted no one heard, and now, too, though less, when it tore away the gate and forcibly enlarged the threshold, that its bulk, paws extended before it, might exit frontally. I trusted he would not strike me from him. "I assure you that they are competent in Gorean," said the slaver. "I trust so," said the Lady Bina. As a slave, I trusted that the Lady Bina who was an apt pupil in many things, would not learn too much about the character and behavior of Gorean free women, or, at least, would not strive to adopt or emulate it. "I do not trust Trachinos," said Lykos. "To be perfectly frank, my dear Lykos," said Astrinax, "I do not trust you, either." "You have meat and paga, I trust, and we have coin, though doubtless your hospitality may be depended upon, and wagons approach, as well, doubtless well supplied." "Welcome," called Astrinax. "Tonight we drink," said the leader of the hunters. "Tomorrow we hunt." "And tomorrow night," said one of his fellows, "who knows?" I felt slightly chilled, even in the day's heat, and despite the newcomer's jollity. The results of addressing oneself to the pursuit of wild tarsk, I suspected, were difficult to anticipate. I trusted such animals would not be in the vicinity of the wagons. "Excellent," he had said, "three pretty little vulos, all ready for a block." We trusted, of course, that there were no blocks in the Voltai. I trusted I would not be struck. "There is no escape for the female slave," said Desmond of Harfax. "I trust you know that, pretty Allison." "I could, though," he said, "give you a good lashing with my belt. I think you would profit from such a lashing." "I trust that you will not do so," I said, uneasily. "I trust you have been red-silked," she said. "Yes, Mistress," I said. "White-silk slaves are rare on Gor." I trusted this was a joke on the guard's part, but I was not altogether sure of it. "I trust it will not come to that," he said. "But if they know you groom me, it may be easier for you to move about amongst them. They are likely to think no more of you than the speechless Kur pets with which they are familiar." "I trust Master is well," I said. "Who will trust a mad Metal Worker, and a lying slave?" asked a man. "I would trust them before Kurii," said Kleomenes. "Even with Grendel, and some trust in him by Agamemnon and his cohorts, I fear they would have been impossible." I turned about and fled back toward the passageway amongst the boulders. I trusted this, following my insulting, truculent provocation, would initiate a chase response. This response, common to many animals, is familiar even to humans. I further trusted that only one would follow me. One would surely remain with Grendel, whose legs were not bound. I supposed much had to do with the recollection of the revolt of Lucius, which had apparently been as unexpected by Agamemnon and his adherents as by the humans in the Cave. It was my speculation that Agamemnon, helpless and dependent in his metal housing, without a mobile utilizable body, did not know whom he might trust, and to what extent. I wondered if Agamemnon was even ensconced in one of the three containers on the dais. Then I realized that in all likelihood he would be. Presumably, given the unrest in the Cave, the abortive revolt of Lucius, who had presumably been as trusted, or more trusted, than any, and the possible existence of dissidents amongst the Kurii, perhaps even some lingering followers of Lucius, I did not think he would dare to be far from Timarchos and Lysymachos. "Men are not to be trusted!" said another. Timarchos and Lysymachos, with supplies, bearing the container housing Agamemnon, had soon left the Cave. This was thought judicious as the always fragile trust and relationships on which a civilization implicitly relies had been muchly disrupted. Lucius had not managed to secure the governance of the Cave and Agamemnon was deemed to have lost it, for, given the decimation of his chief supporters, he no longer had the power to impose discipline and order. Further, his downfall was not received unwillingly by either men or Kurii, given the rampant dissatisfaction which had preceded it in the Cave. Because of the trust accorded by both Timarchos and Lysymachos to Grendel, and because of him, to Tiresias, Agamemnon was occasionally left in the keeping of either Grendel or Tiresias, or both. Timarchos and Lysymachos were well aware that Agamemnon was not without enemies in the Cave. "Moreover," I said, "Desmond of Harfax is despicable, so shameless that he has not even acknowledged his duplicity to his fellows. He is a petty, sly, crass fellow who, without leave, without gratitude, has slipped away somewhere, with no word of thanks, no token of the least gratitude, to those with whom he shared miseries and perils, those without whom he may well have perished unnoted in the Voltai. He has not even had the dignity, and kindness, the courtesy and thoughtfulness, to attend this dinner. I assure you, it is a great joy to me that he would not accept me even as a gift. Muchly do I rejoice in my good fortune. Let it be known to all that that pleases me. It is my greatest fear that I might be owned by him. I would strive to be the worst possible slave to him! I despise the shameless, ungrateful, hypocrite, and fraud, Desmond of Harfax! I loathe him, I hate him! He is thief of trust, a promoter of pretense. He is conniving, base, and worthless! He is a monster! He is ignoble, and without honor." "But you came to understand, I trust," I said, "that she was not some sort of traitress to a species or world, a cognizant conspirator, a cooperating, malevolent, unscrupulous villainess?" "You do not think I trust you, do you?" he asked. "It would be my hope that a Master might trust his slave," I said. "surely she would be punished, if found untrustworthy." I do not presume to speak for a sex, but I trust I may speak for an individual, myself. I trusted she would not be so foolish. "We will go together," I said. "I trust my weapons will be available." "I trust you did not injure yourself," he said. "No, Master," she said. "I trust the alcove is well furnished," I said, "with various instruments, a switch, a whip such things." "Of course," he said. Again, I was puzzled how the men found their way through the forest. Doubtless some of those with us, who had been at the shore, were guides, and familiar with such things. I trusted we were not lost. Who was it who, so ill-constituted and envious, jealous of health and joy, so exploited the credulity of the innocent, honest, and trusting? I trusted it had made its departure successfully. "I trust," he said, "the staters will not prove to have been poorly invested." "I trust, of course," he said, "that you are not a fool, one who harkens to myths and lies." "I trust," I said, "you will soon be more explicit." In passing, I heard the roar of a beast from somewhere within the palisade. I trusted that it was well secured. I knew their eyes had often been upon me, and more so in the last weeks, but I, too, often cast my glances shyly, unnoticed I trust, upon them. How terrified might be a free woman, to be so looked upon, to be looked upon as a slave. I wondered if they ever considered such things, what it would be to be so looked upon, to be looked upon as a slave. I trusted not, as they were free. "I trust she is not a barbarian," she said. "What is wrong with barbarians?" I asked. Many men at arms, for example, pride themselves on their illiteracy, regarding reading as a pursuit more appropriate to merchants and scribes than to those of the "scarlet caste." Rich men, too, may hire a reader, or one to write letters for them, and such. Some of the lower scribes set up awnings, or set up shop under a trellis, near a market, or in an inn or tavern, or such places, at given times, and make themselves available to read letters, write them, and so on. Many mariners, too, incidentally, do not read, despite the fact that many are of fine mind, and are the masters of much lore and remarkable skills. It is enough, they say, when one can read the currents, the clouds, the winds, the skies, and the stars. The barks to which they trust their lives, the skies, even Thassa herself, they note, do not read. "Can you trust your companion?" inquired the beast with the device. "If not, he need not leave this place." "Your precaution is well understood, but unnecessary," said the beast. "You stand high in our esteem, and trust." "You think that is in her favor, here?" "I trust so," she said. "I have business to attend to," I informed him. "Within the camp I trust," he said. "I have no doubt you can redden your blade with my blood," I said. "I trust you are wise enough not to do so." "I trust she has not been a nuisance," I said. If we came upon the prey, I trusted Axel could control the beast. "I do not trust men," said another of the Panther Women, Hiza, whose dark hair was cut as closely as that of a metal worker. This was managed by Hiza and Emerald. One would not trust kaiila to arrange their own burdens. "It does not matter," said Emerald. "All is shared." "I trust so," said Hiza. "I trust we would make a determination on this matter before doing anything precipitate," I said. We trusted she would understand that we did not do this of our will, but as slaves. Tuza turned back to face Hiza and Emerald. "So it is," she said, "that the talmit may pass from one to another in the band. It is not uncommon. Surely such things are familiar. Do not concern yourselves. It is our way. Let the strongest and wisest, the fiercest, the most clever, rule. She is not needed. She could not be trusted. She betrayed, and sold Donna. We can find our way back. There will be more gold for all of us. Gather your weapons. We are breaking camp." "I would suggest," said Axel, affably, "that you do not interfere with our hunt." "Nor will you with ours, I trust," said the fellow. "I trust you remember me," said Donna, tapping the blade of the switch in the palm of her left hand. "You, Darla and Tuza, set upon me, bound me, and took me to the coast, where you sold me." I hoped the mistresses would also be made to bear burdens. Such may be done in coffle. I trusted that Tula, Mila, and myself would not be the only pack animals in camp. I noted that the coffle had now exited the camp. It was from that direction that the earlier attack had sprung. "I trust you enjoy the hospitality of the camp," said Genserich. "No," she said, "I kept my head down. I am a slave." "I trust you understand that," I said. "Am I too close to Master?" she asked. "I trust not." "Hopefully she will bear her burden gracefully, and well," he said. "I trust so," I said. Too, of course, his men were being freed, so he need not concern himself further with that matter, and perhaps he did not trust another to unbind his slave. "Your hospitality, such as it was," said Axel to Genserich, "has been acknowledged. You have been repaid with your lives. I trust that is sufficient. We have business, and cannot dally. We must away, immediately. Fetch your weapons, and supplies, and do not attempt to follow us. That would mean your death." I trusted that lovely Asperiche would not be the cause of bloodshed between Master Axel and my captor. "I trust I will be permitted a tunic," I said. "It is not likely," he said. "It is strange to me," said my captor, "that Tyrtaios would trust this business to one man." "Do you trust Tyrtaios?" asked my master. "No," said Axel. "He would be as likely, when he had of us what he wanted, to pay with steel as gold." "I trust it is not hard to grasp," he said. "Where all are to be trusted," had said Nodachi, the swordsman, "trust none." As one cannot trust spies, perhaps it might behoove spies not to trust others, as well. "I fear," said Lord Nishida, "we lie within the shadow of the iron dragon." "I trust you will be the first to use the knife," said Lord Nishida. "I trust your journey will be a safe one," said Lord Okimoto. "I trust so," I said. "I do not expect to see you again," he said. "In war there are many unknowns," I said. "In deceit, betrayal, intrigue, and treachery, as well," said Lord Okimoto. "It is so," I said, bowing. Lord Okimoto returned this gesture of respect. "The commander clearly understands, I trust," said Lord Okimoto, "the cavalry is not to be committed, or engaged, without direct orders from Lord Temmu." If doubt could be cast on my loyalty who might trust who? I sensed he was in pain. I trusted no wound had opened. Yes, I thought, like a silken urt, and perhaps half as trustworthy. I doubted that either might trust the other. "You may trust Lord Yamada," said Tyrtaios. "The trustworthiness of Lord Yamada is legendary in the islands," said Lord Nishida. "Such suspicions," he said, "are unfounded." "I trust so," I said. "What of Lord Okimoto?" "Call the guards," I said. "See that I do not leave the holding alive." "No," he said. "I trust you. You are Tarl Cabot, tarnsman. You were selected with care." "Tarl Cabot, tarnsman," said Lord Nishida. "Noble lord?" I said. "I trust you," he said. "I am grateful," I said. "Lord Okimoto does not," he said. "I am well aware of that," I said. "After the holding is supplied," I said, "keep all but trusted guards off the outer parapets." "You think you can supply the holding?" asked Lord Nishida. "Yes," I said. "And it is then that my plan will become practical." "Surely you may confide the details of your plan to me," he said. "Forgive me, Lord," I said. "I am not trusted?" he said. "It is hard," I said, "to look into the hearts of men." "That is true," he said, "Tarl Cabot, tarnsman." "And the parapets are denied to all but trusted guards?" I asked. "I shall speak to Lord Okimoto," I said, "who, I trust, will speak to Lord Temmu." "Why?" asked Torgus. "It is my part of my plan," I said. "I trust he was not in the courtyard, or waiting in the ancillary buildings, to rush forth upon the looters," he said. "I trust," I said, "it is no more important than the first thing, the empty prattle about iron dragons." "I have discovered the spy," said Tajima. "I trust it is not I," I said. "No, Tarl Cabot, tarnsman," he said. "Even so," I said. "It is impossible. He was master of Tarncamp he supported the formation of the tarn cavalry and its training. I know him best, saving you, of all the Pani. He is loyal to Lord Temmu. Not the least suspicion could fall upon him. He is a man of exquisite honor. I would trust him with my life." And I trusted her deportment might be less objectionable in that so-transient dimension. "I trust the noble lord is pleased," I said. "Muchly so," he said. "I trust," I said, glancing at the debris to the side, "you have had your own reader, Daichi san, either confirm or disconfirm that reading." "This is the prisoner, the rebel, Tarl Cabot, enemy to the rightful house of Yamada, Shogun of the Islands, delivered to us by the noble Tyrtaios, devoted, trusted mercenary?" "This Gregory White in Tarncamp," I said, "did much heavy manual labor, grew lean and powerful, became different, learned weapons, learned the sword and the saddle of the tarn. He has fought. He is an officer in the tarn cavalry in the forces of Lord Temmu, respected, trusted, and relied upon." "Have you been displeasing?" I asked. "I trust not, Master," she said. "But Daichi is trusted," he said. Two trusted servitors were then informed of the falling of the lot, that, in the case of an emergency, Lord Yamada might be expeditiously informed. Interestingly, it seemed that his daimyos did not have access to this information. "Incidentally," he said, "I must prevail upon you not to inform her of my intentions. That would constitute an abuse of my friendship trust, and hospitality." "He would not trust you?" said Pertinax. "He is Yamada," I said. "He is brilliant and charming, cunning and deceitful. He trusts no one." "Of course," I said. "I trust that some of these are passable." "She will be fully cleansed, hair and body, and clad before being taken to the palace," he said. "Slave clad, I trust," I said. "Surely," he said. We then left the large shed which housed the pens. I trusted we would have an opportunity to wash before supper. Certainly it would take time to prepare the slaves. "He was communicative enough," she said. "But he is mad, and not to be trusted. He knows nothing. He is ignorant. He speaks absurdities. I could not bring myself to repeat the ludicrous things I heard. He chose not to speak of the holding of Temmu. In the darkness he babbled only nonsense." "Perhaps he did not trust himself," said Lord Akio. "Two of our honored guests," said Lord Yamada "following my arrangements, designed to make clear my trustworthiness and good will, will soon leave, to rendezvous somewhere with one or more compatriots, following which they will return to the encampment of the cavalry. There they will reassure the cavalry of the safety and health of its commander, Tarl Cabot, tarnsman, bear to it my good wishes and assure it of my friendship. It is then my hope that the cavalry, in the light of the despicable treatment of their commander, Tarl Cabot, tarnsman, betrayed into the hands of a putative enemy, but an actual friend, the dreadful perfidy of the house of Temmu, the righteousness of my cause, and the wisdom of an alliance, one both noble and profitable will pledge itself wisely to the house of Yamada enlisting under the banner of the Shogun of the Islands." "This may take some time, great lord," I said. "There would likely be questions, conditions, negotiations, and such." "Of course," he said. "And in the meantime, we will trust that Tarl Cabot, tarnsman, will consent to continue to enjoy our hospitality." "Noble guests," said Lord Yamada addressing Tajima and Pertinax, "please forgive this unexpected intrusion. I trust that it has not diminished in any way the delight of our evening. Surely it has in no way diminished mine. I shall recall the harmony and concord of our gathering with fondness. Take now your chains of gold and assure your compatriots of the cavalry, that as much or more awaits them when they take to the saddle in the name of Yamada, Shogun of the Islands." "Our thanks, great lord," said Tajima, bowing. "You will be expected at the gates," said Lord Yamada. "You will be passed through. You will be given your weapons. There will be no difficulty. I trust there is ample time, despite the recent diversion, for you to make your rendezvous, wherever you have arranged it to be." Interestingly, I was unclear as to the gambling involved, in particular, who might favor which participant, Yamada or Temmu? For example, it seemed probable that the Priest-Kings had preserved the remnants of the forces of Temmu, but this did not imply that they favored that house. They might have been doing no more than preparing the dice a preparation in which the Kurii might themselves have collaborated. Similarly, in the very palace, I had recently sensed Kur. Did this mean that the Kurii favored the house of Yamada? Perhaps it was there to monitor matters, and little more. More importantly, I had no reason to trust either Kurii or Priest-Kings with respect to more than a pretense of impartiality. I had no reason to believe that Kurii, long confined to their steel spheres, and desperate to obtain a fresh, unspoiled world after they had ruined their own, would abide a negative result of the wager with equanimity. Too, Priest-Kings, in all their wisdom, must realize that Kurii, suspicious, ambitious, and aggressive, would be unlikely, indefinitely, to peaceably and harmoniously share a world. Matters were further complicated by my realization that factions existed amongst the Kurii, both within worlds and amongst worlds. Indeed, had not such factions rendered their original world little more than a seared wasteland? Too, I knew from my own time in the Nest, long ago, that the Priest-Kings themselves might differ amongst themselves in trust and agenda. "After a time," she said, "after the guard posts, the blanket was removed, and my ankles were untied; yes, they had been tied; and I was informed that I should accompany my captors on foot. The slave I think, rejoiced to have this moment to rest. Naturally I refused, by gestures, and shaking my head, to do so. It was clear to me that a meeting must be at issue, and that time might be short. I could thus foil my captors, and trust that we might fall in with one of my father's patrols." "You would be silent," I said. "You would do nothing to betray their trust. You would not attempt to escape?" "Can I trust you?" I asked. "The noble one," he said, "has little choice." "Inform the house of Temmu," he said, "of the readying of troops, the summoning of daimyos, warn that the word of Yamada is not to be trusted." "I trust that you will not interfere," said Lord Yamada pleasantly. "Your Ashigaru will see to that," I said. "I trust he is well," I said. "Quite well," said the shogun. "I fear so," he said. "And, in the meantime, I trust you will continue to enjoy my hospitality." "As you hold me, you hold the cavalry?" I said. "Is it not so?" he asked. "I trust not," I said. Haruki, I gathered, had attempted to reach the cot, where he would attempt to attach my tiny message, in English, to the leg of one of the vulos captured by Yamada's men from the surprised and seized secret cot, remote from the palace, which vulos would doubtless, for identificatory purposes, be independently caged. He was then to release the bird, and trust that it would home to the message cot of the holding of Temmu. "Yes," I said, angrily. To move directly north, of course, would considerably increase the risks of discovery. I feared that Tajima, in his flight, had made that mistake. "I trust that the noble one, who is now to the west, and far from the road north, does not intend to shorten his journey by hastening east and joining Lord Yamada's march." "I trust," I said, "you have freed her limbs occasionally." "It is now dark," said Haruki. "We must soon leave. I trust you will accompany us, noble Tajima." "Do not collar me!" she begged. "Head down," said Tajima. "I trust that it is not engraved," I said. "Not yet," said Tajima. A shaved coin is one from which a clip or filings of metal have been removed, which clips or filings, melted down in sufficient numbers, may be reformed into new coins, plates, or ingots. Copper, of course, and bronze, is seldom shaved. On the continent silver and gold coins are not unoften shaved. Accordingly, much transaction in various markets and "Streets of Coins," takes place with scales. Valuable coins, of course, might also be debased, but if the coins are minted, struck by hammers from the molds, that is commonly done by a municipal authority, publicized or not. Much depends on trust, of course. "I trust the other girls will treat her well," I said. "Your trust is misplaced," said Tajima. "She is new and has already missed two Ahn of labor." "What have you mind?" I asked. "I trust you do not subscribe to the practices of the savages of the Barrens, the staking out, the insects, the smearing with honey, such things." "I trust all is prepared outside," said he whom I had taken for an innkeeper, "the cart ready, the girl-rope filled with its occupants." "The rain has stopped," I said. "It will soon be light. We must move quickly. I hope to meet Haruki near the center of the camp. I trust he will have come upon some useful intelligence." "Should I trust you?" I asked. "Of course," he said. "You have my word, the word of a warrior, of a daimyo." "Very well," I said. "I will trust you." "Do not blame Pertinax," I said. "Few can stand against the weight of centuries of denial, superstition, and madness. Culture was determined to banish nature, to rob men and women of their selves. He was endeavoring, as so many others, trusting innocents unaware of what was being done to them, to fulfill alien prescriptions, to fulfill pathological stereotypes, engineered stereotypes in terms of which the 'true male' was to be defined, a male without maleness. Is the political agenda here so difficult to determine? Can one not sense what lies concealed behind the veils of rhetoric? Is it so difficult to detect what the advertisements are out to sell, under a hundred false labels? But faraway, and never wholly forgotten, for it lies in the blood, and genes, is the burning fire the hunt, the club, and thong." She was pretty, but not collared. Most Pani slaves were not collared. Many, however, were marked. I did think she was pretty enough to collar. On the continent, almost every slave is collared. It is prescribed by Merchant Law. I did not personally, incidentally, regard the slave as scrawny. I would have said excitingly slender, rather like Nezumi, back, I trusted, at the encampment of tarns. I did gather the master was not wholly pleased with her. "I trust he will not disarm himself," I said to Tajima. I myself would have been unwilling even to turn my back on the warrior. "I trust so," said the shogun. "I have been much distressed with its condition. But, too, as the swordsman, he is neither an officer nor a tarnsman, and thus, in my view, not a suitable participant in our discussion. Too, of course, both are lowly, which fault bars them from the discussion of matters of moment, such matters being the province of the higher orders." "Meanwhile," said the shogun, "I trust you have all been well cared for." I was not certain how a Pani slave might react. I trusted that not all barbarian slaves had been sent north with the troops. "She is, I trust," I said, "a barbarian." We trusted that, at that time, little would be known of what, if anything, had transpired within the chamber of the Kurii. "Do you think they would trust Kurii?" I asked. "I trust," said the shogun, "you will see that she is suitably punished for attempting to escape, and for lying." "Yes," said Pertinax. "As she is now collared," said Lord Yamada, "I trust that there will be no further confusion or doubt as to the fact that she is a slave. I would also advise you to have her marked as soon as possible." "You, noble Kazumitsu, special officer, trusted servant, are now daimyo," said Lord Yamada. "All lands and goods, treasures, houses, fortresses, men and chattels of the traitor, Lord Akio, are now yours." This is the only pause I require, the opportunity to parley. Indeed, with them, I trust, will be members of the cavalry. "For now," I said. "He trusts you will advance further, deeper into his trap." The tarnsmen would almost certainly be of the cavalry. Communications would not be trusted to Tyrtaios, and his fellow, allegedly deserted to the banner of Temmu. "I trust you will remain our guest," said Lord Okimoto. "The gamble, if it existed," said Lord Nishida "is over, as this war is over. Stasis has been achieved. That is our resolution. A new wager would require a new war." "I trust so," I said. "I trust we will be pleased," he said. Why does one trust one man and not another? Why would one follow one man, and not another? One does trust one man rather than another. One would follow one man, rather than another. But why is seldom clear. I did trust Lord Nishida. I would follow him, at least provisionally. Ahead lay vast, green, turbulent Thassa. I trusted that she was not distressed. "I trust a command need not be repeated," I said. I felt delightfully brazen. I trusted he liked what he saw. I must call someone I knew, whom I could trust, someone intelligent and reliable, someone who, I was sure, would listen to me sympathetically and do her best to help me. Still I was sure I could trust Paula, certainly more than the others. If necessary, over the phone, though I trusted it would not be necessary I might give her some sense of my earnestness. "The trip," said the leader, "will take several hours. There will be a sheet on the floor of the van. I trust you will be comfortable. You may have to be caged for a time in the warehouse, as additional stock is expected." You have learned, I trust, that all free men are to be addressed as 'Master', all free women as 'Mistress'. I trusted he had no sense of this torment within me. "You have much to learn," he said. "I trust I will be taught," I said. "On Earth," he said, "I called you a 'bitch'." "Yes, Master," I said. "On Earth you were a bitch," he said. "I trust I am no longer a bitch," I said. "You cannot be a bitch in a collar," he said. "The whip sees to that." Nature, unlike self-serving political programs, is not the product of ideologically motivated committees; who would seize control of education and the means of communication, to bend innocent, trusting children, and even unwitting populations, to their views; nature is an obstacle to such programs; it is not contrived to serve the interests of a particular group on a particular afternoon. It is real, and tenacious. It lurks in secret places, in each gene in the human body. "A thousand paces farther, Master," said the dealer, pointing to his right, with a shaking hand. "My thanks," said the fellow in black. "I wish you well." "I trust you do not seek me?" said the dealer. "No," said the stranger, "only he whose name is on the paper folded about gold, in my wallet." "Have you enemies?" asked one of the dealer's assistants. "I trust not," said the dealer. "I am an honest fellow, and I endeavor to treat all with understanding, sympathy, and fairness." Later there approached a free woman, alone, resplendent, one I assumed would well answer to my purposes. It would be easy to sway her, I was sure, with my tale of woe. I could not see her features, for the public veiling, the long street veil wrapped about her head and features, and extending to the golden cord low upon her waist, from which dangled an ample, embroidered purse, but I trusted they would be understanding, and kindly. I was conscious of men and women moving over the wharf, as before, above me. I trusted the rope would hold. If it did not, I would surely drown. "In the light of your newness to bondage, I was extremely merciful to you," he said. "I trust that you understand that." "Stand," said the dealer. I winced. I moaned. I had not been out of the cage since I had first been inserted into it. "I trust she is capable of an upright posture," said the man. "I trust she is satisfactory, and Master is pleased," said the dealer. "A poor slave," said the man. "But a bargain," said the dealer. "And I trust you have been well instructed?" she said. "Yes, Mistress," I said. "Thank you merciful, kind Mistress." Frequent changes in itinerary, I trusted, might make me more difficult to trace. "I gather then," he said, "if you are candid with me, which I trust you are, you do not hate, abominate, and loathe Kurik of Victoria." "No, Master," I said. I trusted he would not make himself known to me. "I trust this district is safe," said Tyrraios. "Trust," he said, "that my mission is successful, for if Kurik of Victoria should survive, and learn you betrayed him, as you did, and very nicely, it would not be well to fall into his hands." "I am not stupid," I said. "I trust not," he said. I realized, suddenly, that I had turned my hands on my thighs, so that the palms were no longer down on my thighs, but up, displaying the small expanse of the nerve-ready, sensitive, vulnerable tissue of the palms to the master. It is a slave's begging gesture. Quickly, reddening, shamed, I turned the palms of my hands down, again, quickly, on my thighs. I trusted he had not noticed this inadvertent self-betrayal of my needs. He smiled. He had seen! I hated him! Before him, before this master, I had betrayed my slave needs! "You must trust me," said Kurik to the beast. "I shall explain all." "I did well, I trust," I said, "in interpreting the Gorean of the crated beast." "Excellent," he said. "And you have learned, as well, I trust, that that is all you are, and no more." "They are frightening, horrifying things," I said. "They inspire fear. Their very sight repels humans. They would not be trusted." "Are you importunate?" he asked. "I trust not," I said. We could hear men in the street below, for a throng had gathered. "It is a tragedy," we heard. "The building is done," said a voice. "Why was the alarm not given sooner?" asked a voice. "The blaze was not discovered in time," said another. "There was no opportunity to extinguish the flames," said another voice. "I trust no one was hurt," said another voice. "We do not know," said another. "Perhaps the building was unoccupied," said another. "Let us hope so," said another. "How did the fire begin?" asked another, "That is not known," said another. "He will not trust work to menials," said Lady Delia. "There is always a moment, however fleeting, before the Kur charges," he said. "I trust Master jests," I said. "Do I not know you?" she asked. "I trust not, Mistress," I said. On Gor, on this world, you are known to the bandit and pirate, Tarl Cabot, and doubtless others, and might, in our interest, well exploit and utilize the bonds of friendship and trust. "She is so naive, so trusting, so ambitious, so unaware of the world," said Lord Grendel. "It seems she does not trust you," I said. "What free woman trusts a female slave?" she asked. "Fear them. They are free. They hate us." "I trust he refused to accept his fee," said Kurik. "That is what I supposed," said Decius Albus. "You are well aware, I trust, that the Lady Bina, whom we suppose to be of interest to Lord Grendel, is in our power." "I have heard of the ka-la-na of Naxos," said Kurik. "This is the first time I have tasted it." "I trust you find it satisfactory," said Decius Albus. "We shall look forward to hearing from you, and trust that the response of Lord Grendel to our proposal will be favorable." "I trust that the cage is strong," said the Lady Alexina. "The bars are stout," said Kurik. "I trust that she cannot squeeze between them," said the Lady Alexina. "Nor could you," said Kurik. I trusted he would not strike her. She was bared. Too, she was a free woman. One does not whip a free woman. On the other hand, the Lady Alexina had not appeared to be convinced of that. "I trust guards will not observe you attentively," he said. I trust you bring good news. "I will speak briefly, and plainly," said Kurik. "Lord Agamemnon still lives. He is active and dangerous. His cohorts are loyal and determined. He wishes to recruit Grendel to his service, as spy and tool, as Grendel is respected, trusted, and well known to the faction of Lord Arcesilaus, which Lord Agamemnon wishes to supplant. If Grendel does not give his oath, your life is forfeit." I trusted he would not strike me. "She is elsewhere," continued Kurik, "where, we trust, she is safe." Kurik of Victoria regarded me. I trusted he would not strike me. I knew she did not comprehend Gorean, but I trusted she could understand my reluctance, my deference, my trepidation, my unwillingness to hold the chain leash attached to her metal collar. Many humans do not believe in the existence of Priest-Kings, supposing them to be no more than an invention of Initiates, to deprive the simple and trusting of their coins, but no Kur doubts their existence. "And I trust your girl enjoyed her gruel," said Master Albus. "As you can see, noble Albus," said Kurik, "the bowl has been licked clean." "Ah, my dear Tenrik, of Siba, or whatever might be your name, as though it mattered," said Decius Albus, "it seems we are now ready to be off to the entertainment. I trust you will enjoy yourself, perhaps so much so that you will consent to participate." And what Kur, unacquainted with the beverage, curious, jubilant, in holiday mood, would refuse to accept a gift made so freely available, by so trustworthy and generous a host and ally? "Do not, Master!" cried Lyris, rushing to Surtak. She crouched down before him, in Kur deference. "Do not trust them!" she cried. I trusted they would not think that I had been weak, foolish, or stupid, or incredibly naive, that I had essayed an escape, or perhaps they merely thought that I had simply lost my head and fled, that I had hoped, absurdly, to make my way unscathed between the spears. "I trust," said Decius Albus, clutching the railing of the box, "your Home Stone is that of Glorious Ar." I trusted she would be careful with the spines of that lovely accessory. "I trust he enjoyed himself," I said. "I trust the Lady Bina is comfortable," said Paula. How grievously I had betrayed her friendship and trust! "I trust you will not oath to him," said Lord Grendel. "I trust your friend did not injure her fangs," said Surtak. "I should hate to trust my life to your coincidences," he said. I trusted that he would notice. "I direct them whom to cultivate, whose favor to win, whose confidence and trust to secure, whom to bed with, whom to interrogate." "How then," asked a man, "could there be honor, order, civility, trust, respect, law, harmony, courage, and fellowship?" "I do not know," said another. I blushed. I did not think that this was detected. I trusted not. "We were angry with you below," I said. "You might have cost us our deck privileges." Surely it was not pleasant to be chained in the hold of a round ship. "The masters were kind enough to allow you on deck. You abused their forbearance and trust." "I trust your slave fires have been ignited," he said. "They burn," I whispered. "Some attribute the very downfall of the Claudian coin house in Ar, that of the Marcelliani, to the Lady Julia Leta, her thieveries and flight supposedly undermining confidence in the house," said the voice. "This charge is scarcely credible but it is taken seriously in some quarters. It became clear, in Brundisium, that some, presumably failed coin merchants and defrauded patrons, presumably through one or more agents, were seeking the former Lady Julia Leta, now the slave, Luta, to return her to Ar's Street of Coins, one supposes for use in restoring the name of the Claudian house and serving more generally as an example of what might be done with thieves, her punishment serving as a warning to any who might be tempted to abuse a house's trust." "I trust Adraste is now safe, here in Port Kar," I said. This was true, but I trusted that Master Leander would not in fact be asked. He was a jolly fellow, and I feared he might think it a delightful joke to feign ignorance of the entire matter. "It is all false," he said. "I trust not, Master," I said. "I trust it will be worth seeing," said Euphrosyne. "I trust you are a charming, entertaining, informative conversationalist," he said. "You know your collar, I trust," he said. I trusted that he would not, as usual, let me from his sight. How I had longed for an opportunity to reach the Golden Chain! Surely he knew that I had been owned there. Doubtless he deemed my collar and my silence would be enough to keep me in his keeping. I trusted he was mistaken in this. "Patience, patience," whispered Bruno of Torcadino. I suspected that he was talking more to himself than to me. He was not really a patient man. But, too, he was a man of stern will. I trusted he would abide by his own counsel. "I trust those of the sable caste do not betray their fees," said the thing. "Not with blades, I trust," said the beast. "Interesting," said the beast. "I trust you are not inhibited by such a pointless, mundane trammel." "I trust," said the beast, "he has no inkling of our project." "Whatever vast intelligence resides within or speaks through the dreadful housing before me, know that I have long sought your acquaintance," called Bruno of Torcadino. "I understand your invitation to parley, announced in the destruction of the mighty delta gate. I respond. Do not trust others. I alone am trustworthy." "Do not, mighty being, trust those of the sable caste," said Bruno of Torcadino. "They are treacherous, exploitative, and greedy for gold. They are thieves and killers, loathed and despised even at the World's End. They proffer empty promises and drain your resources. There is no search for men, no seeking of ships, no gathering of tools of war." I took this to be a compliment. When I had first encountered Addison Steele on this fresh, strange, beautiful world, on the Thieves Way South, I recalled he had expressed skepticism that I might be a girl at the Golden Chain. I trusted he would no longer be surprised. "Have I not seen you here earlier?" asked a free woman. I dropped to my knees. "I trust not, noble and beautiful Mistress," I said. "Noble guardsmen," said Dorna, "these two noble masters have been of great assistance to me. They have kindly apprehended my escaped slave, Mira. I am the Lady Dorna of Tharna. I trust I need not verify my identity." Dorna had wanted me dead, and I feared her, and did not trust her. "We trust he will try," said the officer. "I trust not," I said, uneasily. I trusted that Ho-Tosk would not have her beaten, as she was not truly a fugitive slave. "If you will not trust me, trust the great Lurius of Jad," he said. "I have here, regard it, recognize it, the seal of Jad. I could receive this only from the hand of Lurius himself. It confirms my commission." "I trust you have planned well," said the man. The others might go overboard, and trust that the canal sleen and the Tamber sharks have not yet scented the blood in the water. I trusted the paga would arrive, surely before the next dancer, or victim, or two, might be presented before the audience. "I trust not," said Addison Steele. "There are many things I wish to know, Master," I said. "I trust they are important," he said. "I trust so," I said. "Do not tell me its location. I do not wish to know." "I trust you will be friends," I said. "I am counting on that, later, but not now," I said. The caste of Peasants, usually ensconced in remote, isolated settlements, tends to be wary and suspicious of other castes, commonly suspecting them of an impressive variety of ill doings, ranging from subtle deceit to outright chicanery, particularly in the spheres of fraudulent bookkeeping and dishonest weights. I always found this ironic as the average peasant, like the average Tuchuk, is commonly a bargainer whose sense of business shrewdness is not far removed from that of a practiced, marauding pirate. On the other hand, interestingly, a peasant is likely to trust another peasant, even from a remote village. That has something to do with the codes. "I fear there is little time," said Aktis. "May I hurry to my oar?" "We will soon be at sea," I said. "I trust so," said Aktis. "I feel I must be on my way," I said. I reached nervously inside my robe, as if to reassure myself that the rolled parchment there was secure. I trusted that this tiny movement had not escaped the notice of the attendant, whose eyes narrowed at the action. "I may trust you?" I asked. "Certainly," he said. "I trust your pouch bulges with trinkets and baubles," said another. "I trust that such is not the case," she said. "I trust you did not spend much for her," I said. "You do not trust the governor?" I asked. "Should you be successful in acquiring information pertaining to Bosk of Port Kar or his fleet, I trust that you will relay it to me as amply and quickly as possible." I trusted he would find the beverage acceptable. It had cost me a silver stater in Brundisium. Some catapult masters have an almost uncanny sense of a prey's next move, but I trusted that the corsairs, being the hired brigands they were, would not be likely to have the services of a seasoned, skillful catapult master at their disposal. Indeed, I had not expected a naval catapult in their arsenal. "Then," said Clitus, "I trust that you have now learned your lesson." "Let us trust that the splash does not attract sharks," I said. "They can note such things, even from quite some distance away." "You will be in our power," I said. "Thus I trust that your statement is true." "I understand," she said. "But, as we have been open and forthcoming, even generous, with respect to your inquiries, I trust that we, given our assistance and your gratitude, will shortly be freed and returned to Sybaris." "Aktis," said Clitus, "you have made it clear, I trust, to the villagers that Zeuxis must be sacrificed." "I trust that my hair, before I dyed it, was not so," I said. Often, particularly in my childhood, I had had to reprove peers for critical, even uncomplimentary, remarks on my hair. "It is a nest of Cosian spies and sympathizers," he said. "Unfortunately, knowing their wickedness and our resolve, they fled before we could punish them. I trust that you are not of the village of Zeuxis." I trusted that Thurnock and Aktis were not paying close attention. "Do not trust them," begged Aktis. "I suppose you cannot," I said. "certainly we admit that it would be difficult." "It would be dishonorable to lure us forth, trusting and unarmed," he said, "and then fall upon us, butchering us like defenseless verr." "Yes," I said, "quite dishonorable." "But you will not do so," he averred. "That is a risk you must take," I said. "I trust that you are honorable," he said. "And you, may gamble that your trust is not misplaced," I said. "No," he said. "I am a good fellow, pleasant, trustworthy and honorable, honorable to the core." "He was my friend, I trusted him," said Thurnock. "We drank from the same bottle, we shared the same watch." "Trust no one," I said, easing my sword silently from its sheath, emerging from the tunnel, and thrusting the blade to his heart. I climbed from the inner ditch, followed by my ten selected men, four swordsmen, four archers, and two men bearing vessels of tharlarion oil and axes, not war axes, but woodsmen's axes. To my right, Thurnock, with his men, was climbing from the ditch, and, to his right, I trusted, so, too, was Clitus, followed by his men. I trusted that, at least in the darkness, it might constitute a plausible semblance of a sleeping figure. "I trust that the new watch can climb the ladders to the parapets," said Clitus slowly, considering his words carefully. Many others, hundreds, backs to the sea, shields lifted, must stay indefinitely in place, trusting to the return of the crews of the longboats, few of which, it seemed, cared, for their fees, to hazard a second trip. "I trust that the enemy will be of that opinion," I said. "I trust the enemy believes so," I said. "I trust so," I said. "I trust, fellows," I said, calling down to the benches, "you are well rested." "The map was useless, and was burned, in fury and chagrin," he said. "But, as you say, it is yours to declare its worth. It was a meaningless scrap of rence paper, but I will compensate you for its loss. I trust that a hundred gold staters of Brundisium, or a dozen gold tarns of Ar, will be acceptable." "I trust I may no longer be of service," said Glaukos. "I trust they are well paid," he said. "I trust that you are not threatening us," I said. "In any event, be warned. I can summon the harbor guard." I trusted that he could note and deal with any sudden charge by the minion. "I trust," said Bombastico, "it will not be necessary this time to swathe me in chains." "Civilization cannot survive without trust," I said. "I trust," said Clitus, "Aktis will be successful in organizing leagues of peasant villages." "I trust that is not so," I said. "I trust that you are sure that you would like this tiny sweet, a small hard candy," I said. Who knows if I might be trusted with such knowledge? "Yes, Master," she said. "I trust that Master will follow at a discreet distance, so that we will not seem to be together. I doubt that Master would care being seen, being led by a slave." "You are aware, I trust, that we are not the only ones interested in these matters," he said. I trusted that he had never seen the high seal of Ar. "You were not," I said. "You have not even asked me for the password, to ascertain that I am truly the emissary from Ar!" Had such a password been in existence, I trusted that it would have been requested by now. "There are no menials here," said the figure in the shadows, speaking for the first time. "You deal with high scribes, loyal, trusted servitors. The Ubar does not care to involve himself personally in this matter. I am authorized to represent him, and speak for him." "Spy or not," she said, "his role here is to confirm my identity. It seems my word is not enough. It seems I am not trusted." "Then Lurius of Jad did not even trust his cousin, the polemarkos," I said. "You have had the harbor under surveillance," said Seremides. "Inconspicuously, I trust," I said. "I trust him," said Seremides. "You do not trust me?" I said. "No," he said. "Do you trust me?" "No," I said. "I trust," I said, "that we fit in." "I considered killing him," said Aetius, "but instead, later, having come to suspect the actual nature of his quarry, I followed him to Port Kar, trusting that he might lead me to her." "I was successful in obtaining Talena and having her conveyed to Jad, but I was betrayed by Lurius of Jad," said Seremides. "Who would trust a Cosian?" asked Aetius. "I trusted he would not," said Seremides. "It is sometimes desirable to tell the truth in such a way that it will not be believed." "Do not be concerned," he said. "Times are hard. Days are fraught with peril. As we are not what we seem so, too, you may not be what you seem. Do not ask me to trust you. Do not expect me to trust you. Trust is rare, dangerous, and expensive. What rich man trusts his purse to a bandit; what verr trusts his safety to a sleen, what tabuk to a larl?" "But who would trust the tarnsmen," asked Seremides, "mercenary tarnsmen?" "I trust you will give me time to awaken it," he said. "I trust he was grateful," I said. "We risked much." "I trust that your plan may work," said Xenon. "We do not have much to ship," I said. "I trust you charge by weight." "Where and how the House of Iskander wishes," said the scribe politely. Then he added, "I trust that you are not tarn thieves, pretending to be Merchants." "No," I said, "nor we to them, I trust." "And three baskets," said Seremides, angrily, "and the prize can be in but one. They do not even trust the sky!" "I trust not," he said. "It is unwise to have a free woman aboard. Who does not know that? They cause dissension." "I trust, beloved mentor," said Xenon, "no one will recognize you." "You are not of Cos, I trust," said the second Peasant. "I trust not," I said. "I trust this line of discourse is going somewhere," I said. "Not at all," he said. "I approve of trust, basic rightfulness, and such. Such things are important. Without such, civilization would crumble. Without such, life itself would be imperiled, a horror of risk and danger. I approve of such things, for others. Indeed, one should feign allegiance to such things, while holding oneself apart from and superior to them." "Decius Albus," said Xenon, "is reputed to be trustworthy and loyal." "I trusted Xenon," said Seremides. "I know you from Jad," he said, "I know your familiarity with, and your interest in, these matters, I know you can identify Talena, and, most importantly, I know I can trust you." "I am familiar with the trustworthiness of the word, and the alleged fidelity, of Lurius of Jad," said Seremides. "Search for Xenon, our erstwhile colleague, our trusted fellow, the traitor to our cause," said Seremides. "He is implicated in this." "Easily, I trust," he said, "particularly as I am conducting a prisoner. The Kurii are vain, they fear nothing, they will see me as another Kur unless I am examined closely. My Kur is far more fluent than my Gorean. I may even pretend to need a translator to communicate with my prisoner." "You have a friend, a confederate?" he asked, interested. "I trust so," I said. "With such a friend," he said, "you might consider dispensing with enemies." "I trust him," I said. "I trust that they are not familiar to humans," he said. "I trust that truth does not envy falsity its riches," I said. I knew him from the vicinity of Samnium, Captain Kasos, an officer in the Cosian infantry, subordinate to Myron, polemarkos of Temos, polemarkos of Cos, apparently one trusted, surely one occupying a staff position, perhaps even that of adjutant. "Let us trust that the trade advisor will be disappointed," he said. "No, dear Cabot," said Seremides, in a gently chiding tone. "Do not upset lovely Iris. Steady. Blades are not to be drawn amongst friends. Ah, that is better. I trust that your head is clear, and that you feel well. Perhaps you are annoyed at my prank. I am the first to acknowledge that I owe you an explanation." "You understand, I trust," said Decius Albus, "that Lurius of Jad is victor here, that the gold is destined, unfortunately, for Cos, that this arrangement, you as a designated recipient, is a monumental fraud to which you are knowingly party." Personally, I favor the presumption of innocence. I have less confidence in the sobriety, diligence, perception, and honesty of the state than Hemartius. The individual has little enough protection against the inertia, weight, and might of the state. Too, in the state is power, and power is a prize commonly sought by the ambitious and unscrupulous. The state is not the individual's benign, trustworthy friend. It is a partisan establishment, infested with the venal and self-seeking, inventing goods and bads as they please, who will exploit it for their own gain and endeavor to remake it in their own image. "Noble jurors, fair-minded, dispassionate, and objective jurors, and citizens of Ar generally, who in a sense are jurors, as well," said Hemartius, "I shall attempt to appeal, in my small, inadequate way, to your legendary common sense and good judgment, renowned on Gor. I trust such things. I know I can rely on you in all such matters." "Consider, Jurors, with your free and open minds, my client was little more than a simple, naive child, little more than a simple, naive girl, totally ignorant of statecraft, lovingly sheltered and protected within the Central Cylinder, when, in the crisis resulting from the unexplained absence of her loving father, Marlenus, she was unwittingly drawn into political intrigues far beyond her ken. She became a figurehead for plans and polices, even schemes, she could not understand. She was the innocent image, the justifying credential, in the name of which criminality reigned. She was assured that all was well, even as invading forces marched into the streets of Ar. The horrors of the Occupation were concealed from her. Her only error was a natural one, one natural for an innocent waif such as she, to rely on others, others who, in this case, harbored a vile, undisclosed agenda. Ela, she trusted conspirators, acting as they advised." "He is also highly intelligent, I trust," said Hemartius. "I thought about it," I said. "Not seriously, I trust," he said. "It would have been frowned on by your codes." "It later became clear that the incident was arranged, as a trick to induce me to accept Xenon, a spy, as a devoted and trustworthy ally." "I trust that in dealing with her," said Decius Albus, "should you be found her master, that you will consider the recommendations of the court." "I trust," said Thurnock, "as the worthless slut she is, naked, on a chain leash, her hands braceleted behind her back." "I well know," said he, "the feel of weapons, the weight and balance, the grip and heft, and how one grows accustomed to their nature and character. Recently you left in the tunnels of steel, in the Beast Caves, your sword. You are now rearmed, of course, but with a less familiar weapon, one perhaps less to be trusted. Accordingly, in deference to our long and noble enmity, which means much to me, each respecting the other, allow me to return to you your sword. You may find it a valuable friend." "Can I trust you?" I asked. "Yes," she said. As I left the Inn of Livius Major, I recalled another time I had trusted Talena. "She is naive," said Seremides. "Trusting, desperate," I suggested. "I trust you," I said. "I have your word." I trusted that Thurnock and the others would soon act. I had trusted her. "I trusted her," I said. "I was betrayed." "Clear the parapet, dear friends, trusted brothers, loyal followers," said Decius Albus. "Do not even pause to scorn his wretched proposal, that which insults your honor so grievously. Let only the watch remain." "Do not seek to delude me," said Alan. "I am no longer the trusting fool I was in the Stadium of Blades. In that afternoon I grew much. You knew the Ubar would not give you fifty men for some absurd project, observing some desolate beach, so weakening his investing forces. Therefore you hoped, unhindered, to escape the double walls to which you and your party had been brought from your capture in the woods. But you will not escape, for I and my men will see to it that you, shamed and foiled, are returned to the double walls." "How do I know I can trust you?" I asked. "You have my word," it said. "Few people seek freedom," said Seremides. "Most seek a new keeper." "I trust not," I said. "For now, I trust," I said, "the ship will remain in place, awaiting the signal to approach." That, I trusted, would give me the opportunity I needed. "I trust that this interview is nearly done," she said. "I trust that it was appropriately expensive." "Only three stokes," I said. "But I trust that it was instructive. was it?" "But I trust you know how a slave is to speak," I said, "quietly, humbly, deferentially, respectfully, clearly, and so on, with excellent diction. She is not permitted strident discourse, sneering, arrogant tones, the clumsy, sharp, loutish, harsh, ungrammatical, ill-formed speech which may pass uncorrected in the case of a free woman." "I trust you find her pleasing," said Seremides. "I trust you settled the bill," he said. "Had I not," I said, "there would have been guardsmen in my wake." "Lord Agamemnon could have killed you on the beach at Port of Samnium," said Lucilius. "But he did not. I could have killed you in the forest outside Samnium. But I did not. And now I have saved your life. I trust you will show your gratitude." "I trust," I said, "that there never will be." "I trust Master was joking, about dancing," she said. "You insult us," said my interlocutor. "You deem us fools. Even if we were stupid enough to trust you, the matter would take weeks, or months, and would be precarious, liable to a thousand mishaps, theft, breakage, loss at sea, and such." "As you are forty or more and we are six, and as time may be growing short," I said, pulling the plug out of a flagon, "I and my friends intend to sample the Ta wine before it might prove too late to do so. I trust you do not begrudge us that favor." "Have one man at a time come to the wagon and take, say, four bottles and then return to his place. In this way, the bottles are well divided, or nearly so, and you have done nothing to sacrifice the advantage of your formation, within which we are securely trapped." I trusted that this proposal would have impressed even a Ruffio of Ar. "I trust," said Seremides, "that you will manage to locate a suitable ship before the summer solstice." Surely science accepts that the world has its wonders, and merely trusts, if not insists, that these wonders can eventually be rationally ordered and find their place on one of science's familiar, sturdy shelves. I trust that I appeared severe, and businesslike. "It is time you awakened, kajira," he said. "I trust you slept well. I trust you have recovered from your indisposition of yesterday evening." "I trust that you do not blame me for your bondage," I said. "I am sure that Gordon of Hammerfest is discreet and trustworthy. This survey brief, small, and partial, as it will be, is confidential." "I trust that you could afford such with ease," he said. "I do not think you will be disappointed," she said. "I trust not," he said. "I trust," she said, "that you will tender me your support, that I may attain to the public distinction of being denominated an Oligarch of the Vosk. I deem my wealth altogether sufficient to justify that title, and I expect you to recognize that fact." "In that remark," said Gordon, "I trust that you do not refer to a possibly dubious origin of some of your own resources." "I am sorry for having raised the issue," he said, "but I trust that you understand that I had no choice but to do so." "Forgive me," said our guide. You need not be privy to my identity. My presence here is easily explained. Many are hungry in the garden. We hoped we might gather in some of the leavings of your table. I trust that there is no objection to that." "My dear Lady Temione," said Gordon, "I decline to accept your invitation. I have it on the authority of your most trusted serving slave, Sira, whom men of mine saw fit to question, that your garments contain eleven poisoned needles, the scratch of any one of which will produce excruciating pain followed shortly by a bursting of arteries and death." "But I trust," said Lady Temione, "though I am stripped, whipped, and bound, I am not without power. I trust that both Gordon of Hammerfest and Einar, the Sleen of the Vosk, fear me." I trusted that when my inevitable recapture occurred, I marked, slave clad, and collared, as it must, I would not be hamstrung or have my nose and ears cut off. As slaves are almost never gagged in coffle, I trusted that the hunter would not be unaware of this anomaly and would give some thought as to its possible motivation. "We are both reasonable men," said Aesil. "I trust so," said the hunter. "Apparently not," he said. I was unsettled by his asseveration. I knew that Calla had recognized that I was not natively Gorean. I trusted that few could tell. "Do not be so concerned about the matter," he said. "One encounters barbarians on Gor. Some rich men collect them. They add variety to a pleasure garden. And do not worry so much about your sister slaves. They will have their sport, spoil your gruel, hide your blanket, tell their jokes, ventilate their jealousies and annoyances, for a time, but, a bit later, they will see you as no more than another collar sister, one who will sell for a little more or a little less than themselves." "I trust that these rescues are frequently successful," I said. I trusted the ul would find aversive. "I trust less so than I," I said. "When I call to you, return to your hiding place." "Eventually down, I trust," I said. I saw no point in alarming Temione with speculations having to do with side currents, updrafts, and such. Let the trip be as uneventful as possible. "What is peril to one," I said, "may be security to another. For those who reject or abhor civilization, its absence is neither a hardship nor a tribulation. Loneliness is not a burden to those who prize and seek it. To those who trust no one, distance is a measure not of suffering and misfortune but of comfort and safety." "You will now, I trust," said the girl, "strive to be more pleasing." I trusted that after our landing, she would be returned to her earlier condition of being simply one slave amongst others. "Have you been asked to report, to be fed to the beast?" asked the keeper. "I trust not," I said. "I behaved badly," I said. "The sale went awry." "I trust that you were whipped," he said. Could I believe him? Did he want me to trust him, so that he could the more easily deal with me later, in a less public setting? "Yet clearly," he said, "you are somehow involved." "I trust not," I said, "but if so, surely reluctantly, most unwillingly." The patron had informed me he would exit through the rear of the tavern. He had not done so. Why would he have misled me? Or did a change in plan seem more promising? Perhaps he was taking no chances. Perhaps he did not trust me. I inadvertently touched the collar on my neck, which proclaimed me the property of Lycus of Venna. I trusted the beast did not know that kajirae were not permitted to lie. "She-sleen," he said. "I trust not," I said. It is well, incidentally, for villages, towns, and cities organizing pilgrimages to the Sardar, to handle matters themselves, if possible, or make certain they deal only with reputable, trustworthy companies. Economy can be costly. More than once, a cheap pilgrimage has been delivered by design into the hands of slavers. "I had one ready," said Desmond, reaching into his wallet. "It is, I trust," said Rupert, "quite short." "I do not know that group," said the Peasant. "I did, once in Ar, sip a Bazi tea." "I trust you enjoyed it," said Xanthe. "Let us take her along with us, and hope to meet them," said Holt. "We could sell her to them." "I have had my eye on this prize for some time, even when she was no more than a free woman," said Desmond. "I trust that there is no objection." "None at all," said Rupert. "It serves as her badge of servitude. We will, when convenient, soon I trust, have her fitted with a proper collar." "But they stand ready, out there in the darkness, amongst the trees, to rush upon us," said Wanda. "I trust so," I said. "You are a stupid slave," said Wanda. "I trust not," I said. "We have brought with us," said the officer, "the constituents of what we trust will be an agreeable collation." "Surely they were not unaware of your charms," he said' "Surely, being men, they must have speculated on what you might bring on a sales block, how you might look, stripped, kneeling, collared, and marked." I do not know the capacities of the device but it could move promptly and, I trust, accurately, back and forth between Gorean and at least one of the languages of the Kurii. "Are we well met?" asked the Kur. "I trust so," said Rupert, "for you and I, in our way, have traveled far and endured much. Before we begin, however, may I speak openly of these matters, for there are some here who may know less than is appropriate for them, some who should be allowed to withdraw from our project if they wish, while there is time to do so." I trusted that Tiskias would not make an appearance, which could be most inopportune at this moment. By now I trusted it had become clear that it was not a body of Agamemnon. Certainly I hoped it had not been such. "I trust," said Xanthe to Maxwell Holt, Holt of Ar, "that Master will arrange for himself an ample repast, one both nourishing and generous." "It is like the stars are falling," I said. "I trust," he said, "they will not crush the earth." "I trust my Master's wisdom, his judgment, his keenness, and his sword," I said. I trusted that they would share their meal with us, in one way or another, perhaps by putting a plate down beside the table, from which we might feed without the use of our hands, or by feeding us by hand. Rupert entered the room pleasantly and promptly, as though it might have been in the holding of a well-known and trusted friend. Holt, Desmond, and Temicus, he with one hand on the upper arm of the bound Luta, entered more warily, more circumspectly. We followed the Masters. Inside, we knelt in the background. There, in a moment, Luta, still bound, joined us. "I trust that you fed well," said Lycus of Venna, sitting cross-legged behind a low, jewel-inset table, on a colorful, deeply piled rug, which I was later informed was most likely derived from the bazaars of Tor, a city at the edge of a vast desert called the Tahari. But far less harrowing and on a much more modest scale, and far more typical and piecemeal, is the occasional loyalty to a personal captain or commander, one who is a fellow in arms, one whom men trust and esteem, whom they wish to please and obey, one from whom they find a word of commendation more valuable than gold. "I trust that you are not concerned for her," said Han-leel. "The guard must be wary, sober, skilled at arms, and trustworthy," said Rupert. "He must have some authority, enough to be respected and taken seriously, but not enough to draw attention to his activities, thus, most probably, a lesser officer." It was seven or eight feet long, long enough to double as a slave lash. I trusted that its harsh inducement or remonstrance would not be deemed necessary. "It suited my purposes to do so," he said. "Your Master is a truthful and honorable man. Such men, of course, simple fools, commonly take it for granted that others are similarly truthful and honorable. That is a not unprecedented failing of such men. Trust invites exploitation and betrayal. It smooths the road for falsehood and deceit. Without trust and truth in others it would be difficult for dark designs to prosper." "Civilization requires trust and truth," I said. "Otherwise, civilization would be impossible." "That is very true," he said. "Without trust and truth, civilization would collapse into a bloody chaos overnight. Certainly I would not care to live in such a civilization. I would flee from it as soon as possible. No one celebrates an orderly civilization more zealously than I." "I did not care for Han-leel," said Xanthe. "I did not trust him." "It is thought," he said, "and I think ii may be true, that the Priest-Kings, if they exist, and whoever or whatever they may be, if existing, intervene in the affairs of men only to enforce their laws. Other than that they leave human beings alone, leaving us free to do as we wish, to love and kill, to injure and heal, to trust and betray, to swindle and cheat or labor after honesty and fairness, to proclaim falsehood or seek truth." "Who but one so high, so trusted, so well fixed," asked Tiskias, "could manage so delicate and perilous a matter?" "We are well met," said his friend, "and amongst fellows well met there thrives trust and accord." "I trust that we, as friends, will not be reduced to tire futility of denouncing one another?" said Tiskias. "Congratulations on your glorious victory, noble stranger," cried Tiskias. "My heart leaps with joy. How I trembled for you and your cause! How I feared that you might fail and your cause fail! But you live! And your cause, whatever it might be, is vindicated. Your dreadful, loathsome foe, whom I much hated, as I had fervently hoped, has succumbed. You will require a dependable, trustworthy, loyal ally clever and astute, to aid you in your dealings with men. Think of me. Free me, and permit me to be of service." How angry she had made me! Had I been jealous of her? I trusted not. "I trust," said Rupert, "that we part as friends." "I hope that we shall soon be permitted to crawl to the feet of our Masters," said Xanthe. "I trust so," I said.
I would stop briefly at the fair, for I must purchase food for the journey into the Sardar and I must entrust a leather-bound package to some member of the Caste of Scribes, a package which contained an account of what had occurred at the City of Tharna in the past months, a short history of events which I thought should be recorded. Indeed, our first account of the Counter-Earth, Tarnsman of Gor, was entrusted to Smith personally by Cabot, who shortly thereafter disappeared. It took not much time to purchase a small bundle of supplies to take into the Sardar, nor was it difficult to find a scribe to whom I might entrust the history of the events at Tharna. I was not a shipwright, but I was a captain. It seemed to me such a ship would be too heavy to manage well, that it would be clumsy and slow, that it might be better fitted to cargo service when protected in a convoy than entrusted to confront, elude or brave the lean, lateen-rigged wolves of gleaming Thassa, hungry for the cargoes of the ineffectual and weak. Were I to hunt the world's end I would prefer to do so with the Dorna or the Tesephone, a sleek ship whose moods and gifts I well knew. "Do you think such a ring would be entrusted to a human agent?" asked Samos. "It is not likely," I said. "To whom," I then asked, "did you entrust the delivery of the ring to the Sardar." "To one of our most trusted agents," said Samos. "Who?" I asked. "Shaba, the geographer of Anango, the explorer of Lake Ushindi, the discoverer of Lake Ngao and the Ua River," said Samos. We spoke softly. We sat about a small table in a back room in Tasdron's tavern. Callimachus had kept the repudiation of his dereliction a secret from those in Victoria. When he went about in public it seemed his shoulders were bent, his eyes bleared, his step uncertain, his hand unsure. It was only at times like now, when with trusted men, that he sat, and carried himself, and spoke as a warrior. Victoria knew him still as only a fallen man, one defeated, one lax in his caste codes, one inert and whining in traps of his own weaving. They knew him still, as we had decided fit for our plans, as only a sot and a drunkard. They needed not know that he who had fallen had now risen; that once more the codes were kept with pride; that the cords with which he had once, with such pain and skill, bound himself, he had now sundered and torn from him, like an enraged larl emerging fiercely from a net now too frail to hold him longer. He had recalled that he was Callimachus, of the Warriors, one entrusted with steel, one entitled to wear the scarlet of the proud caste. I did not think it likely that he would forget these things again. Kurii, doubtless as a security measure, entrust little vital information to their human agents. "It would have been better for Belnar to have entrusted the entire matter to me," she said. Belnar, I supposed, might be their common superior. "Doubtless it is Belnar's mistake," said the guest, dryly, "not to entrust you with greater matters." "I would suppose I am not the first you have entrusted with such a mission," I said. "Who knows whom one can trust?" he asked. "The check is to be paid, or put on the bill, I gather, at the keeper's desk," I said. One had to pass the keeper's desk after leaving the paga room. That arrangement, I supposed, was no accident. For example, it would save the posting of one employee, which was perhaps a calculated economy on the part of the proprietor. I would not have put it past him, at any rate. Too, in virtue of this arrangement, one need not entrust coins to debtor sluts, slaves, and such. In this house I suspected that they would not be permitted to so much as touch a coin. They would be kept coinless, absolutely. "It was for that reason that I was entrusted with the command of the vanguard," he said, "to be the first to make contact with the retreating Cosians." Many of the ruffians probably could not read. Too, they were the sort of men who would be inclined to distrust financial papers, such as letters of credit, drafts, checks, and such. Having such in the keeping of a female, too, of course, is likely to be safer than entrusting them to a male who, after all, particularly if irritated or provoked, might be tempted to do far more to her than compromise her modesty. "Do not entrust my fate to her, Masters!" wept Aynur. "She hates me. Please, no, Masters! I am, when all is said and done, only a slave, and I am naked, and braceleted, at your feet. Have mercy on a slave, Masters!" Ellen thought that perhaps the Robes of Concealment were not to be entrusted to common laundries. That was why, perhaps, she had seen few, if any, in the laundry. Perhaps special slaves, with cleaning chemicals, attended to them. "They do not wish to risk approaching us," said Statius, "while we have weapons, however few and inadequate they might be." There were, at that time, seven power weapons in the trenches. An eighth weapon, we may recall, had been entrusted to the scout, Flavion. "You dare entrust the Lady Bina to them?" As indicated earlier, I was reasonably sure that neither Constantina nor Pertinax were harboring any surreptitious knowledge of murders recently wrought. If such murders had taken place I did not think that Kurii would have risked entrusting Constantina or Pertinax with a cognizance so dreadful and solemn, lest it be betrayed by some careless word, some inadvertent expression, a surprising hesitation, some gauche, unwary phrase, or pause. Doubtless the agent of Priest-Kings would have resisted capture, and would have been quickly, brutally slain, it being presupposed that his life would be of small value, that he was the mere carrier of the message, a message presumably in the box, and the token, which they would have supposed was his identification, his certification to be the one to whom the Priest-Kings had entrusted the transmission of the message. She is not an object, but a fellow, a colleague, a friend, a companion, a lover, one with whom one shares an endeavor or an adventure, one to whom one entrusts oneself. I brandished it, sensing the heft, the weight, the balance. Yes, I thought, yes! It was the sort of blade to which one might grow accustomed, the sort of blade to which one might entrust one's life, placing its sharp, narrow wall of agile metal between oneself and death. She entrusted to me a message, which was written in black ink on cheap rence paper, in simple block letters, at that time almost childishly formed letters, as she, for all her dexterity and intelligence, was still far from adept in Gorean. Certainly she was not yet the mistress of cursive script. Men sometimes became embroiled, as mercenaries, in the disputes between the laundering houses, but the routine policing of territories was generally entrusted to slaves. I made clear to him, with small sounds, kneeling before him, that I wished to speak. He put out his hand and I dropped the coin from my mouth into his palm, "They did not make use of me," I said. "I was robbed." "No wonder they ran," he said. "But do not concern yourself. No one would entrust anything of value to a slave." "She was only a meaningless, worthless little barbarian collar slut," he said. "What conspirators would entrust matters of import to one such as she?" Who would care to risk an army, perhaps a war, by entrusting it to a single mount, to but one vehicle, to but one vessel? "Should the cargo be tampered with," said the beast, "it will be destroyed, and he who would dare to tamper with it perhaps merely desiring to apprise himself of its nature, with it. Only certain parties, properly instructed, entrusted with the codes, can open the containers with impunity." "Were you not entrusted with a vessel, a small vessel, constituting a celebratory draft, a gift, a reward and pledge, placing a seal on our business?" "My superior entrusted it to me, and, I gather, his superior to him," said Tyrtaios. "He may only wish to conserve the funds which have been entrusted to him." "Do you think such a weighty task would be entrusted to one who was not a high officer?" inquired Axel. "She is not a contract woman," said Lord Yamada. "That is a pretense. Do you think I would entrust so sensitive a role to a contract woman?" Secrets are seldom entrusted to slaves. As it is said, the babbling of slaves is like the babbling of brooks. Who knows who will stray by the brook and at what time? One supposes that a peasant is not entitled to such a weapon, that such a weapon should not be entrusted to a peasant, indeed, that it is forbidden to them, that it dishonors so fine a weapon if it should be so unworthily, so shamefully, possessed, and that a peasant, in any case, could not afford such a weapon, and so has stolen it, and, as warriors are reluctant to part with such things, on which their lives may hinge that a warrior must have been killed to obtain it. These were employed variously, as traitors have their uses, particularly in missions Yamada did not care to entrust to Pani, whose primary loyalty might be to their daimyo and not to the shogun. Too, Priest-Kings would not be likely to entrust Kurii with a sophisticated technological apparatus unfamiliar to them which might be dangerous or difficult for them to control and manipulate. "Doubtless," said the Lady Bina, "it is the same as yours, entrusted to two couriers, lest one be too confused, frightened, or distraught to deliver it properly, or comprehensibly. My friend's appearance is sometimes found disconcerting." Letters, and such, may be entrusted to peddlers, travelers, caravan guards, drovers, and such. At least I had revealed nothing of the secrets which had been entrusted to me. The mariner, on the other hand, who entrusts his life to his ship, commonly views it differently, more deeply and closely, more personally. "You expect to entrust us to the hands of fortune?" said Sakim. "Were I not," I said, "I would not have been entrusted with this mission." "You entrusted her to a secret confederate," I said, "who then entrusted her to a second secret confederate, one unbeknownst to you, who would then conceal her until her official delivery. In that way, you would not know her location, and the first confederate would not know her location either." One seldom thinks much of entrusting a coin or coins to a slave. After this, some members of the company expressed regret that the device had not, after all, been given to Tiskias, who, presumably, as a human, and a certain type of human, would not know of, or would have been entrusted with, the code in question. In any event, I have little doubt but what Tiskias, quick-thinking and clever, skilled in chicanery, duplicity, and deceit, will thrive on the roads amongst most Goreans, who tend to be frank, trusting, generous fellows.
I was given some prayers to the Priest-Kings to memorize, but they were in Old Gorean, a language cultivated by the Initiates but not spoken generally on the planet, and I never bothered to learn them. To my delight, I learned that Torm, whose memory was phenomenal, had forgotten them years ago. I sensed that a certain distrust existed between the Caste of Scribes and the Caste of Initiates. It was not that they, on this night, truly distrusted one another so much as the fact that a lifetime of raiding and war had determined each to be, as a simple matter of course, wary of the other. "You are weary," said Samos. "Go below. I will watch." I nodded. There was no longer any point, nor time, to distrust Samos. "I do not blame the males," I said, "nor the females. Both are fellow victims. In virtue of historical factors, social, institutional and technological, having to do with the development of a given world, the male, from the cradle, is programmed with anti-masculine values, taught to distrust his instincts, to hate and fear them, and, ideally, to revel in his de-masculinization. He lives miserably, of course, unfulfilled, frustrated, subject to hideous diseases, and has little to console himself with other than the ignorant servility with which he has worn his chains, taking smug, righteous pride in his allegiance to them." I could understand his anger with me, a warrior's fury. But his distrust hurt me most. "Distrust and dissension might be spread then between men and Priest-Kings," said Samos. Gorean men, generally, are not easy with them. The saying is probably motivated not so much by an objective analysis of the treatment of enslaved women in that city as by the fear and distrust which Port Kar has historically precipitated in the hearts of its enemies. Human nature may be despised; it may be thwarted; it may be distorted and denied. This may be accomplished by conditioning programs, obedient to their own antecedents and developing in accord with their own histories and social dynamics. It is clearly possible to educate the young to distrust and fear themselves, and to injure and torture themselves. "I do not think Glyco will be successful," I said. "There is too much distrust among the towns, and they fear the pirates too much. Too, the fleet of Policrates is now east of Victoria, to prevent such ships from reinforcing us. I have told you this." "I would think so," said Hurtha, righteously, adding "whatever a letter of safety might be." He looked about, with his Alar distrust of bureaucracy and enclosed spaces. "I trust there will be no necessity for me to read such a letter," he said, "as this would be difficult, as I cannot read." To be sure, in virtue of their mutual distrust of Ar, Cos and the Salerian Confederation normally maintained close relations, and the Vosk League, a confederation of towns along the Vosk, originally formed, like the Salerian Confederation on the Olni, to control river piracy, was, at least in theory, independent of both Ar and Cos. Many of the ruffians probably could not read. Too, they were the sort of men who would be inclined to distrust financial papers, such as letters of credit, drafts, checks, and such. Certainly such things were not like a coin in their fist or a woman in their arms. Also, given the xenophobia common on Gor, often obtaining among cities, the distrust of the stranger, the contempt for the outsider, and such, there is a special ease in a master's relating to a foreign slave, one with whom he has never shared a Home Stone. "Many are secretly armed now," said Lord Nishida. "If we deny them arms, will they not distrust us, that we would send them so ashore?" I suppose this had partly to do with Kur distrust of humans, partly with an unwillingness that some might profit in safety and comfort from the pain and blood of others, and partly with the fanatic conviction of each party in its righteousness, which justified the impressment of reluctant allies. "The state has power," I said, "and the ambitious, covetous, and unscrupulous seek power. Thus they gravitate to the state. They seek the state. Every tyranny seeks to disarm those it rules, to better have them at its mercy. Nothing is more clear. They need only dissemble and lie, need only trick the populace. They need only convince the ruled that being helpless is desirable, that it is in their own best interest, that a desire to protect oneself is benighted and shameful, an evidence of civic distrust, of moral ignorance and iniquity, even that an inability to defend oneself is rightfulness and salvation. Lies gilded pass easily as golden truths."
"My dear Callias," said Lord Nishida, "you behold before you a trustless rogue, Philoctetes, a miscreant and felon, a liar, a cheater at stones, one who robs men at night, who steals food, obtaining extra rations for himself, a villain who would cut a throat for a copper tarsk."
Whereas I was of high caste and he of low, yet in his own hut he would be, by the laws of Gor, a prince and sovereign, for then he would be in the place of his own Home Stone. Indeed, a cringing whelp of a man, who would never think of lifting his eyes from the ground in the presence of a member of one of the high castes, a crushed and spiritless churl, an untrustworthy villain or coward, an avaricious and obsequious pedlar often becomes, in the place of his own Home Stone, a veritable lion among his fellows, proud and splendid, generous and bestowing, a king be it only in his own den. I understood from Kamchak, the Tuchuks, Kassars and Kataii rule out the sacrifice of slaves because their hearts and livers are thought to be, fortunately for the slaves, untrustworthy in registering portents; after all, as Kamchak pointed out, who would trust a Turian slave in the kes with a matter so important as the election of a Ubar San; "She fled the Sardar," had said Samos to me. "She disobeyed. She is untrustworthy. And she knows too much." "The senses are notoriously untrustworthy," said one of the fellows. "Slaves are sometimes belled," said Cabot, "sometimes for custodial purposes, for they may be locked on a slave, sometimes to enhance their attractiveness, sometimes to remind them, with the bells' frequent jangling, consequent upon their slightest movement, that they are a slave. They can humiliate and shame the slave, particularly a new slave, or stir her belly, exciting her with her vulnerability and the profound meaning of her condition. Too, of course, they can have their effect on the male. In a case such as yours, they might function differently, rather as a penalty brand, to warn others that, say, their wearer is petty and untrustworthy. Indeed, there are many reasons why a slave might be belled." "You do not think I trust you, do you?" he asked. "It would be my hope that a Master might trust his slave," I said. "surely she would be punished, if found untrustworthy." "Margaret Wentworth," he said, "was mercenary, shallow, cheap arrogant, dishonest, and untrustworthy." I found myself hoping, desperately, fervently, for no reason I understood, that he had survived. Why should this be? He was a rogue and a villain, dishonest, corrupt, and untrustworthy, even treasonous. Did I not know him as duplicitous and faithless, as venal and untrustworthy? "You do not know him as well as I," I said. "Aside from being mendacious, dishonest, ruthless, venal, untrustworthy, and treacherous, he is not a bad fellow."
"You do not trust us," said Flavion. "My mistrust, it seems," said Cabot, "is abundantly justified." Gorean men, I knew, had not been culturally reduced, societally diminished, confused, crippled, taught to mistrust themselves, to doubt themselves, to castigate themselves for the simplest and most natural feelings and desires, to misinterpret and fear them, not taught to betray themselves and their manhood. As well, for the purposes of the deficient, insane, or eccentric, might one be taught the wrongness of breathing, of eyesight, of the circulating of blood, the pumping of a living heart? "So a plan was formed," he said, "to produce a form of life to bridge that chasm of mistrust and terror, to produce a form of life more acceptable to humans, one that might enlist the aid of thousands of humans, suitably armed, to rise against and overthrow Priest-Kings, thus unwittingly to do the work of concealed Kur masters." "And such men might be mistrustful, fierce, secretive, dangerous, and territorial?" I said. |       | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
