Soon the procession began to wend its way back to the palace. One incident, perhaps worthy of note,
Soon the procession began to wend its way back to the palace. One incident, perhaps worthy of note, occurred. A man rushed forth, angrily, from the crowd, to the very side of the palanquin. Drusus Rencius caught him there and flung him back. I screamed, startled. In a moment, the retinue stopped, the man was held by the arms, on his knees, at the side of the palanquin. Swords were held at the man’s neck. “He is unarmed,” said Drusus Rencius. “Down with Sheila, not Tatrix but Tyranness of Corcyrus!” cried the man, looking angrily upward. “Silence!” said Ligurious. “You shall pay for your crimes and cruelties!” cried the man. “Not forever will the citizens of Corcyrus brook the outrages of the palace!” “Treason!” cried Ligurious. The man was struck at the side of the head by the butt of a spear. I cried out, in misery. “This man is a babbling lunatic,” said Ligurious to me. “Pay him no attention, my Tatrix.” The fellow, his head bloody, sagged, half unconscious, in the grip of the soldiers. “Bind him,” said Ligurious. The man’s arms were wrestled behind his back and tied there. He looked up, his head bloody, from his knees. “Who are you?” I asked. “One who protests the crimes and injustice of Sheila, Tyranness of Corcyrus!” he said, boldly. “He is Menicius, of the metal workers,” said one of the soldiers. “Are you Menicius?” I asked. “Yes,” said the man. “Are you of Corcyrus?” I asked. “Yes,” said he, “and once was proud to be!” “What do you want?” I asked. “Obviously it was his intention to do harm to his Tatrix,” said Ligurious. “That is clear from his attack on the palanquin.” “He was unarmed,” said Drusus Rencius. “On a woman’s throat,” said Ligurious, coldly, “a man’s hands need rest but a moment for dire work to be done.” I put my finger tips lightly, inadvertently, to my throat. I did not doubt but what Ligurious was right. Assassination so simply might be accomplished. “Why would you wish me harm?” I asked the man. “I wish you no harm, Lady,” said he, surlily, “save that you might get what you deserve, a collar in the lowest slave hole on Gor!” “It is treason,” said Ligurious. “His guilt is clear.” “Why, then, did you approach the palanquin?” I asked. “That the truth might be spoken in Corcyrus,” he said, “that the misery and anger of the people might be declared!”“Prepare his neck,” said Ligurious. A man seized the fellow’s head and pulled his hair forward and down, exposing the back of the fellow’s neck. Another soldier unsheathed his sword. -- source link