| Chapter # | Sentence # | Quote | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 50 |
Lara's lips had been rich and fine, sensitive and curious, tender, eager, hungry; the lips of Vika were maddening; I recalled those lips, full and red, pouting, defiant, scornful, scarlet with a slave girl's challenge to my blood; I wondered if Vika might be a bred slave, a Passion Slave, one of tho... |
10 |
| 8 | 199 |
Vika was a bandit princess, accustomed to be clad in silk and jewels from a thousand looted caravans, to sleep on the richest furs and sup on the most delicate viands, all purloined from galleys, beached and burnt, from the ravished storerooms of outlying, smoking cylinders, from the tables and trea... |
10 |
| 7 | 21 |
Vika of course had worn a scarf and these girls did not, but now Vika no longer wore her scarf; now her collar, steel and gleaming, locked, encircling her fair throat, was as evident and beautiful as theirs, proclaiming her to the eyes of all, like them, only a slave girl. |
10 |
| 8 | 1 |
Vika Leaves the Chamber "Wake up, Wench!" I cried, striding into Vika's chamber, clapping my hands sharply twice. |
10 |
| 23 | 1 |
I Find Vika I gathered that I had arrived too late to save Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 26 | 1 |
The Safekeeping of Vika of Treve It was hard to believe that the gentle, obedient girl who nestled in my arms, who had so leaped and sobbed with pleasure, was the proud Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 5 | 1 |
Vika I awakened to the soothing touch of a small sponge that bathed my forehead. |
10 |
| 5 | 28 |
"I am Vika," she responded, "your slave". |
10 |
| 5 | 143 |
"Yes," she continued, "I, armed with my beauty, would come to the Sardar and wrest the riches and power of the Priest-Kings from them, for men had always sought to serve me, to give me what I wanted, and were the Priest-Kings not men?" People had strange reasons for entering the Sardar, but the reas... |
10 |
| 5 | 175 |
Vika flinched. |
10 |
| 5 | 191 |
Vika glared at me sullenly. |
10 |
| 5 | 207 |
Vika's life, in its way, had been hard, and I wished her no harm. |
10 |
| 5 | 246 |
Vika, in spite of her nine years of captivity, her confinement in this chamber, was still a headstrong, spoiled, arrogant girl, and one fully aware of her yet unconquered flesh, and the sinuous power which her beauty might exercise over men, its capacity to torture them and drive them wild, to bend ... |
10 |
| 5 | 266 |
"Well, Vika," I said, "I think I am now ready to make use of you". |
10 |
| 5 | 282 |
Almost instantly, reddening, Vika regained her composure and straightened herself, tossing her head and brushing back a melody of blond hair which had fallen across her forehead. |
10 |
| 6 | 1 |
When Priest-Kings Walk Vika could cook well and I enjoyed the meal she prepared. |
10 |
| 6 | 3 |
At my command Vika demonstrated for me the manner of opening and closing the storage and disposal areas in her unusual kitchen. |
10 |
| 6 | 9 |
The food which Vika withdrew from the storage apertures was not refrigerated but was protected by something resembling a foil of blue plastic. |
10 |
| 6 | 14 |
Vika seared this meat, as thick as the forearm of a warrior, on a small iron grill over a kindling of charcoal cylinders, so that the thin margin of the outside was black, crisp and flaky and sealed within by the touch of the fire was the blood-rich flesh, hot and fat with juice. |
10 |
| 6 | 24 |
I was sure that if these were available Vika would have set them before me. |
10 |
| 6 | 34 |
The position of the Tower Slave, in which Vika knelt, differs from that of a free woman only in the position of the wrists which are held before her and, when not occupied, crossed as though for binding. |
10 |
| 6 | 47 |
"Why is there nothing but water to drink?" I asked Vika. |
10 |
| 6 | 86 |
Vika would go hungry that night. |
10 |
| 6 | 94 |
Vika had unrolled a straw mat which she placed on the floor at the foot of the great stone couch in the chamber. |
10 |
| 6 | 98 |
"You are not going to leave the chamber, are you?" asked Vika, the first words she had said to me since the meal. |
10 |
| 6 | 125 |
Vika smiled up at me. |
10 |
| 6 | 137 |
Then came the second rumbling stroke of the distant gong, and Vika seemed to tremble in my arms. |
10 |
| 7 | 1 |
I Hunt for Priest-Kings In spite of Vika's protests it was with a light heart that I strode into the passageway beyond her chamber. |
10 |
| 7 | 19 |
Two, however, housed Chamber Slaves, girls like Vika, clad and collared identically. |
10 |
| 7 | 26 |
When she approached the portal its sensors began to glow and pulse as had Vika's. |
10 |
| 7 | 36 |
Both of the girls had in their way been beautiful but I found Vika superior to both. |
10 |
| 7 | 44 |
I found it difficult to remove from my mind the image of the two Chamber Slaves, and that of Vika, perhaps because the plight of these girls touched my heart, perhaps because each, though differently, was beautiful. |
10 |
| 7 | 45 |
I found myself congratulating myself that I had been taken to the chamber of Vika, for I had thought her the most beautiful. |
10 |
| 7 | 47 |
It occurred to me that Vika, in some ways, resembled Lara, who was Tatrix of Tharna, for whom I had cared. |
10 |
| 7 | 49 |
Vika's eyes were a sullen, smoldering, taunting blue; the blue of Lara's eyes had been brighter, as clear and, when not impassioned, as soft as the summer sky over Ko-ro-ba; when impassioned they had burned as fiercely, as beautifully, as helplessly as the walls of a raped city. |
10 |
| 7 | 51 |
And as I pondered these things I sensed that it had not been an accident that I had been carried to Vika's chamber but that this had been part of a plan by the Priest-Kings. |
10 |
| 7 | 52 |
I had sensed that Vika had defeated and broken many men, and I sensed that the Priest-Kings might be curious to see how I might fare with her. |
10 |
| 7 | 53 |
I wondered if Vika herself had been instructed by Priest-Kings to subdue me. |
10 |
| 7 | 56 |
Vika would be all unconscious of their machinations; she would simply be herself, which is what the Priest-Kings would desire. |
10 |
| 7 | 57 |
She would simply be Vika, insolent, aloof, contemptuous, provocative, untamed though collared, determined to be the master though she were the slave. |
10 |
| 7 | 68 |
I decided to return to Vika's chamber. |
10 |
| 7 | 71 |
* * * * I set out on my way back to Vika's chamber. |
10 |
| 7 | 106 |
I remembered Vika's words: "When the Priest-Kings wish you, they will come for you". |
10 |
| 7 | 120 |
I resheathed my sword and returned to Vika's chamber. |
10 |
| 8 | 18 |
"Vika," I said, "I think it is time that some changes were made around here". |
10 |
| 8 | 33 |
Vika watched me, puzzled, surely convinced that I must have lost my mind. |
10 |
| 8 | 36 |
"What?" whispered Vika. |
10 |
| 8 | 38 |
"But how?" "By their power," said Vika, moving back to the wall. |
10 |
| 8 | 50 |
Vika screamed and crouched behind the stone platform. |
10 |
| 8 | 52 |
"Come here," I said to Vika, but the poor girl cringed beside the platform. |
10 |
| 8 | 66 |
Vika trembled against me and in my joy with my fist still in her hair I bent my face to hers and kissed her full on those magnificent lips and she cried out helpless in my arms and wept but did not resist. |
10 |
| 8 | 71 |
"Vika," I cried, "would you like to leave this room?" "Of course," she said. |
10 |
| 8 | 79 |
"Stop!" cried Vika, in terror. |
10 |
| 8 | 86 |
Vika knelt beside the couch numbly. |
10 |
| 8 | 97 |
So Vika was from Treve. |
10 |
| 8 | 103 |
Vika returned with the towel and began dabbing at my face. |
10 |
| 8 | 105 |
I supposed Vika would have been costly had I purchased her in Ar or Ko-ro-ba. |
10 |
| 8 | 117 |
"Does it hurt?" asked Vika. |
10 |
| 8 | 120 |
I wondered if many of Treve's women were as beautiful as Vika. |
10 |
| 8 | 154 |
"How do the people of Treve live?" I asked Vika. |
10 |
| 8 | 161 |
"Yes," said Vika. |
10 |
| 8 | 163 |
"Yes," said Vika. |
10 |
| 8 | 169 |
And it was the city from which Vika had come. |
10 |
| 8 | 181 |
"Their slaves can," said Vika. |
10 |
| 8 | 185 |
"Vika," I asked, "was your father truly of the Caste of Physicians?" "Yes," she said, "why do you ask?" "It does not matter," I said. |
10 |
| 8 | 193 |
And then she seemed to straighten and turned to face me, once again the old and scornful Vika, challenging, hostile. |
10 |
| 8 | 200 |
Vika was now property. |
10 |
| 8 | 218 |
"Vika," I said, "come here and take the hand of a fool". |
10 |
| 8 | 231 |
Vika took another step and then it seemed her legs would fail her and she might swoon. |
10 |
| 8 | 239 |
Vika had said that when they wished me, they would come for me. |
10 |
| 8 | 242 |
I gently placed Vika on the great stone couch. |
10 |
| 9 | 1 |
The Priest-King I would allow Vika to share the great stone couch, its sleeping pelts, and silken sheets. |
10 |
| 9 | 21 |
I had placed Vika gently on the great stone couch. |
10 |
| 9 | 44 |
Vika looked at me strangely. |
10 |
| 9 | 49 |
"It doesn't matter," said Vika, "for she was only an animal bred in the pens of Ar". |
10 |
| 9 | 51 |
"She was a bred slave," said Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 53 |
"But my father," said Vika, "whose slave she was, and who was of the Caste of Physicians of Treve, loved her very much and asked her to be his Free Companion". |
10 |
| 9 | 54 |
Vika laughed softly. |
10 |
| 9 | 57 |
"Because she loved him," said Vika, "and did not wish him to take for his Free Companion only a lowly Passion Slave". |
10 |
| 9 | 59 |
Vika made a gesture of disgust. |
10 |
| 9 | 62 |
"But in the end," said Vika, "fearing he would slay himself she consented to become his Free Companion". |
10 |
| 9 | 63 |
Vika regarded me closely. |
10 |
| 9 | 70 |
"How could that be?" laughed Vika scornfully. |
10 |
| 9 | 73 |
"I know what she was," said Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 80 |
"Yes," said Vika, "I suppose so—but he was a fool". |
10 |
| 9 | 91 |
"Why would anyone be kind to a Passion Slave?" asked Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 95 |
"I don't understand," said Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 97 |
"Perhaps," said Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 99 |
"I wonder," said Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 101 |
"What became of him," I asked, "when he entered the Sardar?" Vika would not speak. |
10 |
| 9 | 108 |
"How is it," I asked, "that he allowed you to come to the Sardar?" "He did not," said Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 122 |
"Perhaps," said Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 127 |
Vika lay back on the silks and furs. |
10 |
| 9 | 140 |
"Who was she?" asked Vika, not too pleasantly. |
10 |
| 9 | 142 |
"Was she beautiful?" asked Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 144 |
"As beautiful as I?" asked Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 146 |
"Was she a slave?" asked Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 148 |
Rage transfigured Vika's features and she leaped from the couch and strode to the side of the room, her fingers angrily inside her collar, as though they might pull it from her throat. |
10 |
| 9 | 151 |
"Where is she?" demanded Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 153 |
"How long has it been since you have seen her?" demanded Vika. |
10 |
| 9 | 155 |
Vika laughed cruelly. |
10 |
| 9 | 164 |
I turned to face Vika once more, and I no longer saw the girl to whom I had been speaking but a woman of High Caste, from the bandit kingdom of Treve, insolent and imperious, though collared. |
10 |
| 9 | 165 |
Casually Vika reached to the clasp on the left shoulder of her garment and loosened it, and the garment fell to her ankles. |
10 |
| 9 | 199 |
In that moment I sensed once more that slightly acrid scent which I had experienced in the corridors beyond the chamber, and I pressed my mouth hard into Vika's until her lips were cut by my teeth and I had pressed her back until only my arm kept her from falling to the stones of the floor, and I he... |
10 |
| 9 | 204 |
Vika crouched terrified on the slave mat at the foot of the couch, in the very shadow of the slave ring. |
10 |
| 9 | 217 |
Vika lay at my feet, a streak of blood at the corner of those lips that bore still the marks of my fierce kiss. |
10 |
| 9 | 229 |
I watched Vika and suddenly she seemed too to know and her head lifted and her eyes widened with horror and she crept to her knees, her hands before her face as though to shield herself and she shuddered and suddenly uttered a wild, long, terrible scream of abject fear. |
10 |
| 9 | 256 |
I looked once more at Vika, who lifted her hand to me. |
10 |
| 9 | 267 |
I hated Vika. |
10 |
| 16 | 163 |
"Was the fact that I was placed in the chamber of the girl Vika of Treve considered?" "Sarm suspects," said Misk, "and it was he who arranged your quarters, in order that you might succumb to her charms, that she might enthrall you, that she might bend you helplessly, pliantly to her will and whim a... |
10 |
| 16 | 166 |
My old hatred of Vika now began once again to infuse my blood, and my hands ached to grip her and shake her until her bones might break and then throw her to my feet. |
10 |
| 17 | 4 |
In fevered sleep it seemed I saw Sarm's great head with its powerful, laterally moving jaws hovering over me, that I heard the cry of larls and saw the burning pupils of Parp's eyes and his reaching toward me with instruments and a golden net, and I found myself chained to the foot of Vika's couch a... |
10 |
| 18 | 151 |
I allowed him also to suppose that I suspected—but not that I knew—of his plot, for I had you placed in the chamber of Vika of Treve, and it was there he proved his guilt beyond doubt by rushing to protect you". |
10 |
| 18 | 153 |
"The girl Vika of Treve has never failed me," said Sarm. |
10 |
| 18 | 166 |
"And supposing I had agreed to do your bidding, what would have been my reward for all this?" "Vika of Treve," said Sarm. |
10 |
| 18 | 168 |
"Not so pleasant for Vika of Treve," I said. |
10 |
| 18 | 170 |
I thought of Vika and of the hatred I bore her. |
10 |
| 19 | 80 |
"Vika of Treve?" "Of course". |
10 |
| 19 | 97 |
"In the accomplishing of this matter you do a great service to the Nest and to Priest-Kings, and thereby will you gain great glory for yourself and a life of honor and riches, the first of which will be the slave girl Vika of Treve". |
10 |
| 20 | 6 |
"Not the least of which, we are requested to point out," said Mul-Ba-Ta, "is the enjoyment of the female Mul Vika of Treve". |
10 |
| 20 | 152 |
708 had been the number of Vika's collar. |
10 |
| 20 | 154 |
What did this mean? "That was the collar number of Vika of Treve," I said. |
10 |
| 20 | 158 |
"It means," said Mul-Al-Ka, "that Vika of Treve no longer exists". |
10 |
| 20 | 159 |
I suddenly felt as though a hammer had struck me, for though I hated Vika of Treve I would not have wished her dead. |
10 |
| 20 | 182 |
"No," said Mul-Al-Ka, "we are simply to tell you that Vika of Treve awaits you in the tunnels of the Golden Beetle". |
10 |
| 20 | 192 |
I smiled to myself, for I thought how incredible that I should find myself naturally and without a second thought considering going to the rescue of the worthless, vicious wench, Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 22 | 123 |
"The girl Vika of Treve lies in the tunnels of the Golden Beetle," I said. |
10 |
| 23 | 9 |
I wondered if the removal of the collar meant that Vika had been freed before being closed within the tunnels of the Golden Beetle. |
10 |
| 23 | 15 |
How long Vika had been dead I had no way of judging, though I cursed myself for it would not have appeared to be a matter of more than a few hours. |
10 |
| 23 | 20 |
Yet I myself I knew would have preferred to see the assailant and so I found myself wishing that this brief, terrible privilege had been Vika of Treve's, for I remembered her as a woman of courage and pride. |
10 |
| 23 | 25 |
Though I had hated Vika of Treve I would not have wanted this fate to be hers, nor could I believe that any man, even those whom she had injured, could have wished it to be so. |
10 |
| 23 | 30 |
"I am sorry," I said, "I am sorry, Vika of Treve". |
10 |
| 23 | 44 |
I turned my back on Vika of Treve and, carrying the torch, left the cavern. |
10 |
| 23 | 51 |
As I wandered through these passages my sorrow for Vika of Treve struggled with my hatred for the Golden Beetle until I forced myself to clear my head of emotion and concentrate on the task at hand. |
10 |
| 23 | 52 |
But still, as the Mul-Torch burned lower and I yet encountered no sign of the Golden Beetle, my thoughts turned ever and again to the still form of Vika lying in the cavern of the Golden Beetle. |
10 |
| 23 | 61 |
"Forgive me, Vika of Treve!" I cried. |
10 |
| 24 | 11 |
Most I feared for the safety of Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 24 | 31 |
I slipped my sword into its sheath and knelt beside Vika's body, not taking my eyes off the creature who stood about four yards distant. |
10 |
| 24 | 38 |
With my right hand I lifted Vika to my shoulder and stood up. |
10 |
| 24 | 40 |
Apparently the creature did not wish me to remove Vika from the cavern. |
10 |
| 24 | 41 |
Walking backwards, Vika on my shoulder, the Mul-Torch in my hand, I slowly retreated from the cavern of the Golden Beetle. |
10 |
| 24 | 42 |
When the creature, following me, crawled over the pile of soiled moss and stems on which Vika had lain, it stopped and began to poke about among the shattered remains of the eggs I had crushed. |
10 |
| 24 | 45 |
About an Ehn after I had turned and began to move away from the cavern, Vika on my shoulder, I heard from the cavern one of the strangest and most horrifying sounds I had ever heard in my life, a long, weird, frantic, enraged rush of sound, more than a rush of air, more than a wild hiss, almost a cr... |
10 |
| 24 | 56 |
I set Vika down. |
10 |
| 24 | 61 |
How was it then, I asked myself, that such a slow, awkward, clumsy creature, no matter how formidable at close range, could capture and slay an organism as alert and swift as a Priest-King? I moved Vika's limbs and rubbed her hands to see if I could restore her circulation to a more normal level. |
10 |
| 25 | 14 |
My eyes fell on Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 25 | 17 |
I wondered how proud Vika would have responded to that. |
10 |
| 25 | 31 |
I lifted the girl Vika of Treve in my arms. |
10 |
| 25 | 52 |
If this were not possible I would explore the tunnels seeking some other exit, and if worse came to worst, I was sure that Vika and I, now that I knew the dangers and strengths and weaknesses of the Golden Beetle, might manage to survive indefinitely in the tunnels, however despicably, and escape ev... |
10 |
| 25 | 55 |
The problem would be Vika. |
10 |
| 25 | 56 |
I could now feel a bit of fresh air and, in the darkness, Vika in my arms, I walked until I could feel it best, and it seemed to be blowing directly down upon me. |
10 |
| 25 | 57 |
I then set Vika to one side and prepared to leap up to seize the grille. |
10 |
| 25 | 74 |
I went to Vika's side. |
10 |
| 25 | 90 |
With the other thong I bound Vika's wrists securely together before her body and placed her arms about my neck and left shoulder. |
10 |
| 25 | 92 |
Once in the shaft I rebuckled the belt about my waist and, still carrying Vika as before, began to climb. |
10 |
| 25 | 94 |
I removed Vika's arms from my neck and shoulder and carried her in my arms down the shaft which led, to the best of my reckoning, in the general direction of the major complexes of the Nest. |
10 |
| 25 | 124 |
I heard a groan from Vika and I turned to face her. |
10 |
| 25 | 138 |
Now that Vika was recovering I suddenly became aware of the difficulties that might ensue. |
10 |
| 25 | 151 |
"Are you, Vika of Treve," I asked, "higher than she of whom you speak, the lowest tavern slave in Ar?" Her answer astounded me. |
10 |
| 25 | 159 |
I extended my hands to her and her eyes met mine, blue and beautiful and calm, and she lifted her bound wrists and placed them in my hands and kneeling before me lowered her head between her arms and said softly, very clearly, "I the girl Vika of Treve submit myself—completely—to the m... |
10 |
| 26 | 14 |
"You play your role well," I said, "and nearly was I fooled, Vika of Treve". |
10 |
| 26 | 22 |
At last I moved the corner of the large grille sufficiently to allow me to slip through to the floor beneath and then Vika followed me and I helped her to the floor. |
10 |
| 26 | 25 |
Vika was still crying a bit, but I took her hair and wiped her face and told her to stop her noise. |
10 |
| 26 | 32 |
I looked at Vika sternly. |
10 |
| 26 | 43 |
Vika looked at me with surprise. |
10 |
| 26 | 47 |
In a few moments, putting on something of an air of authority, I presented Vika to the Chief Attendant of the Vivarium. |
10 |
| 26 | 51 |
Vika, I was pleased to note, was considerably shaken by his appraisal, and I supposed it was the first time a man had ever looked upon her with disfavor. |
10 |
| 26 | 57 |
It was a most miserable and bewildered Vika of Treve whom I bundled into a small but comfortable plastic case on the fourth tier of the Vivarium. |
10 |
| 26 | 61 |
It must have been a great shock for Vika to see herself as she now was. |
10 |
| 26 | 81 |
"Or are you not yet done with me?" I would have responded, in spite of my better judgment, to reassure her of my intentions to free her as soon as practicable, and to tell her that I believed her greatest chance of safety lay in the anonymity of a specimen in the Vivarium, but it would have been foo... |
10 |
| 26 | 83 |
At these words Vika suddenly turned to face me, desperately, her back against the plastic side of the case, the palms of her hands against it. |
10 |
| 26 | 98 |
"No, no," said Vika. |
10 |
| 26 | 102 |
Vika fell to her hands and slumped to the floor moaning, unable to stand. |
10 |
| 26 | 104 |
Vika looked up at him dully as though she could not comprehend what he had said. |
10 |
| 26 | 108 |
Vika lowered her head to the floor again and moaned. |
10 |
| 26 | 125 |
Vika had now regained her feet and was wiping her eyes with her arm in one corner of the case. |
10 |
| 26 | 141 |
Vika looked at me with horror for a moment and then, to my astonishment, she laughed. |
10 |
| 26 | 152 |
"Have pity," she said, "if not on Vika of Treve—on a poor girl who is only your slave". |
10 |
| 26 | 165 |
Vika came up behind me and placed her arms around me. |
10 |
| 26 | 172 |
I stepped to the door and Vika, holding my arm, smiling and looking up into my eyes, accompanied me. |
10 |
| 26 | 180 |
"No," she said, "you can't—you simply can't leave me here, not Vika of Treve". |
10 |
| 26 | 197 |
Vika struggled to restrain her tears. |
10 |
| 26 | 206 |
I could not understand why this assertion of mine should have troubled one of Vika's proud and treacherous nature but she seemed somehow more hurt than if I had administered to her when she had knelt the blows of a slave whip or the lashings of my sword belt. |
10 |
| 26 | 213 |
Vika shook her head slowly and numbly looked about herself disbelievingly—at the mat, the jar of water, the canisters along the wall. |
10 |
| 26 | 215 |
This gesture seemed to shake Vika and her entire frame suddenly trembled with all the panic of a beautiful, trapped animal. |
10 |
| 26 | 225 |
Vika of Treve was my prisoner. |
10 |
| 26 | 229 |
"Good-bye, Vika of Treve," I said. |
10 |
| 26 | 240 |
It made me a bit sad to hear Vika recount the woes of female slavery. |
10 |
| 26 | 247 |
Vika dropped her head. |
10 |
| 26 | 248 |
"Every woman in her heart," said Vika, "wants to wear the chains of a man". |
10 |
| 26 | 250 |
Vika looked up and smiled. |
10 |
| 26 | 267 |
Yes, I said to myself, the words Vika spoke were perhaps not as strange as I had thought. |
10 |
| 26 | 276 |
I smiled at Vika's very natural correction of her mode of addressing me, for a slave girl is seldom permitted, at least publicly, to address her master by his name, only his title. |
10 |
| 26 | 280 |
Vika's eyes were worried and her hands moved as though she wanted to touch me through the plastic. |
10 |
| 26 | 292 |
Vika kissed the plastic opposite where my fingers had touched. |
10 |
| 26 | 298 |
"Yes," I said, "Vika of Treve—Slave Girl—you play your part well". |
10 |
| 27 | 22 |
My thoughts wandered to Vika in her own case, though hers, unlike mine, was her prison. |
10 |
| 27 | 27 |
Yes, the hours would be long and lonely for the caged, shorn Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 27 | 175 |
It was, indeed, though shorter and more intense, the first odor-signal that had ever been addressed to me, only then it had come from Misk's translator in the chamber of Vika. |
10 |
| 28 | 65 |
And there was, and in this case though it had been seared as if an attempt had been made to open it, I found Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 28 | 86 |
The case, I said to myself, has taught Vika of Treve much. |
10 |
| 28 | 95 |
Vika's shoulders shook as she knelt before me, but she dared not raise her head to read her fate in my eyes. |
10 |
| 28 | 97 |
"I have returned for you, Vika of Treve—Slave Girl," I said sternly, "—to take you from the case". |
10 |
| 28 | 98 |
Slowly, her eyes radiant, her lips trembling, Vika lifted her head to me. |
10 |
| 28 | 107 |
"Very well, Cabot, my Master," said Vika. |
10 |
| 28 | 108 |
As I looked into the eyes of Vika I saw there the tears of relief and gratitude but I saw too the tears of another emotion, infinitely tender and vulnerable, which I could not read. |
10 |
| 28 | 122 |
It was no longer in my heart to be cruel to Vika of Treve, no matter who or what she might be. |
10 |
| 28 | 124 |
I turned and left the case and Vika, as was proper, fell into step happily two paces behind me. |
10 |
| 28 | 126 |
Al-Ka closely scrutinized Vika. |
10 |
| 28 | 137 |
I held Vika in my arms. |
10 |
| 29 | 25 |
It was Vika! I rushed to her side. |
10 |
| 29 | 27 |
Vika took the cloth from his wound and, ripping it and using a small steel bar from the sheared wall, quickly fashioned a tourniquet, wrapping it securely about the remains of the man's arm. |
10 |
| 29 | 39 |
Had it truly been Vika of Treve? I raced to the workshop of Misk and flung open the double doors and leaped into the ship and secured the hatch, and in a moment it seemed the floor dropped a foot beneath me and the doors rushed forward. |
10 |
| 30 | 87 |
I should not have been surprised, but I was, when the first deserter from the forces of Misk proved to be the treacherous Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 30 | 94 |
The woman who stood over me with the whip, the woman clad in the most marvelous array of the most beautiful silks, wearing golden sandals and purple gloves, was Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 30 | 109 |
Vika threw him a glance of impatience, almost of contempt, and shrugged. |
10 |
| 30 | 114 |
"You will pay as only I, Vika of Treve, know how to make a man pay". |
10 |
| 30 | 115 |
I myself was pleased that it had taken a Priest-King to have me chained at Vika's feet, that it had not been I myself who, in the hope of her favors, had fastened about my own throat the collar of a slave. |
10 |
| 30 | 116 |
Vika turned with a swirl of her robes and left the headquarters chamber. |
10 |
| 30 | 120 |
Though my body burned from the whip, I was more hurt by the thought of Vika, surprisingly perhaps, hurt by the thought that I had known who and what she was all along, though somewhere in my heart I had always hoped I was wrong. |
10 |
| 30 | 165 |
I learned from conversation in the headquarters room that not many of the humans who fought with Misk's forces had responded to the blandishments of Sarm, though some, like Vika of Treve, had deserted to cast their fortune with what appeared to be the winning side. |
10 |
| 30 | 170 |
Vika would come to torment me each day but no longer was she permitted to whip me. |
10 |
| 30 | 174 |
Sarm, who was normally in the room, seemed to take great pleasure in Vika's baiting me, for he would stand by, antennae curling, as she would insult me, taunt me, sometimes strike me with her small fist. |
10 |
| 30 | 177 |
For some reason Vika's attentions to Sarm irritated me and undoubtedly I failed to conceal this sufficiently because Sarm often required this task of her in my presence and, I noted with fury, she seemed invariably delighted to comply with his request. |
10 |
| 30 | 183 |
Let her think over that, I said to myself, think over that—Vika of Treve—Pet Mul! I found myself wanting to take her body in my arms and shatter it to my breast, forcing back her head, taking her lips in the kiss of a master as though I once more owned her. |
10 |
| 30 | 209 |
"No," cried Vika, who had been standing in the background, "he is mine!" "Do not fear, Little Mul," said Sarm. |
10 |
| 31 | 6 |
But I knew that Sarm had no intention of keeping his part of the bargain, and that he intended to slay Misk, destroying hopefully thereby the effective leadership of the opposition, and then either keep me as a slave for Vika or, more likely, killing me as well, even though that might disappoint the... |
10 |
| 31 | 11 |
To my surprise his pet Mul, Vika of Treve, demanded to accompany her golden master. |
10 |
| 31 | 14 |
"I wish to see my Master triumph!" she begged, and that argument seemed to sway golden Sarm, and Vika found herself a member of our party. |
10 |
| 31 | 16 |
Vika walked at his side. |
10 |
| 31 | 37 |
"No," cried Vika, "I discharged it this morning!" The girl ran to my side in a swirl of many-colored silks and from beneath the Robes of Concealment she withdrew my sword and kneeling at my side lowered her head and placed it in my hand. |
10 |
| 31 | 40 |
"Rise," I said, "Vika of Treve—you are now a free woman". |
10 |
| 31 | 42 |
"I came to see my Master triumph!" cried Vika of Treve, her voice thrilled with emotion. |
10 |
| 31 | 48 |
Vika was in my arms weeping. |
10 |
| 31 | 90 |
"And what," laughed Vika of Treve, "is to be my fate?" "You are free," I reminded her. |
10 |
| 32 | 5 |
I heard the choking of a girl next to me and put my arm about the shoulders of Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 32 | 15 |
I swept Vika up and carried her from the trembling chamber and we were accompanied by hurrying Priest-Kings and those humans who had accompanied them. |
10 |
| 32 | 22 |
I thrust Vika behind me and leaped over the rubble, running to Misk's side. |
10 |
| 32 | 28 |
Misk, carrying Sarm, and the other Priest-Kings and humans, including Vika and myself, made our way from the Power Plant and back toward the complex which had been the heart of Sarm's territory. |
10 |
| 32 | 39 |
"Look!" cried Vika pointing upward. |
10 |
| 32 | 48 |
"How beautiful it is!" cried Vika. |
10 |
| 32 | 60 |
"Where will you choose to die?" I asked Vika of Treve. |
10 |
| 32 | 74 |
Vika looked up at me. |
10 |
| 32 | 78 |
"Very well," said Vika, putting her head against my shoulder. |
10 |
| 32 | 91 |
Drifting dust obscured the complex and I drew the folds of Vika's robes more about her face that she might be better protected. |
10 |
| 32 | 131 |
Vika screamed and I pressed her more tightly against me. |
10 |
| 32 | 180 |
With a cry of joy I rushed upon the Beetle and Vika and Al-Ka and Ba-Ta and their women joined me and together, kicking and pushing, avoiding the tubular jaws, hurling rocks, we forced away the globe of the Golden Beetle. |
10 |
| 32 | 194 |
Vika and I were left alone in the crumbling complex. |
10 |
| 32 | 196 |
I seized Vika, sweeping her into my arms, and fled from the chamber. |
10 |
| 32 | 200 |
Vika had fainted in my arms. |
10 |
| 32 | 216 |
Vika still lay unconscious in my arms and I had folded her robes about her in order to protect her face and eyes and throat from the rock dust below. |
10 |
| 32 | 226 |
He lifted aside the fold of Vika's robes which I had drawn about her face. |
10 |
| 32 | 276 |
"Did you know," he asked, "that Vika was the female Mul who drove away the Golden Beetles when Sarm sent them against the forces of Misk?" "No," I said, "I did not know". |
10 |
| 32 | 283 |
Vika stirred in my arms. |
10 |
| 32 | 294 |
Vika in my arms I followed the bounding body of Parp, whose robes seemed to lift and flutter softly about him as he almost floated down the tunnel before me. |
10 |
| 32 | 308 |
Vika's hand went to the folds of the robe and I could feel her squirm to regain her feet. |
10 |
| 32 | 311 |
Vika now stood on her feet, a bit behind me, taking in at a glance the jammed door and the two unchained larls without. |
10 |
| 32 | 332 |
"Good," said Parp, not flinching, "follow me!" Vika screamed and I cried out for him to stop, but Parp dashed forward and threw himself into the jaws of the startled larl and it lifted him in its jaws and began to shake him savagely, and I was at its feet and thrust my sword between its ribs, plungi... |
10 |
| 32 | 334 |
Vika rushed upon it weeping. |
10 |
| 32 | 336 |
I went to stand behind Vika. |
10 |
| 33 | 1 |
Out of the Sardar Vika and I, clad in robes cut from the pelt of the snow larl I had slain, set out for the great black gate in the somber timber palisade that encircles the Sardar. |
10 |
| 33 | 3 |
Whereas it had taken four days for me to climb to the lair of Priest-Kings in the Sardar it was on the morning of the second day that Vika and I sighted the remains of the great gate, fallen, and the palisade, now little more than broken and uprooted timbers. |
10 |
| 33 | 4 |
The speed of our return journey was not due primarily to the fact that we were now on the whole descending, though this helped, but rather to the gravitational reduction which made it possible for me, Vika in my arms, to move with a swift disregard for what, under more normal conditions, would have ... |
10 |
| 33 | 8 |
"It is the end, Cabot," said Vika. |
10 |
| 33 | 11 |
From where Vika and I stood together on the rocky trail, now scarcely able to keep our feet on the path, we could see vast crowds, robed in all the caste colors of Gor, clustered outside the remains of the palisade, looking fearfully within. |
10 |
| 33 | 15 |
I swept Vika again to my arms and, half walking, half floating, made my way downward toward the ruins of the gate. |
10 |
| 33 | 17 |
It suddenly seemed to me that Vika was a bit heavier than she had been and I told myself that I must be tiring. |
10 |
| 33 | 18 |
I descended with Vika from the trail and, as I floated down to the bottom of a small crevice between the trail and the gate, the bottoms of my sandals stung when I hit the rock. |
10 |
| 33 | 28 |
"What is it, Cabot?" cried Vika. |
10 |
| 33 | 31 |
As soon as I reached the gate I placed Vika on her feet. |
10 |
| 33 | 42 |
There were men in that crowd from Ar, from Thentis, from Tharna, recognized by the two yellow cords in their belt; from Port Kar; from Tor, Cos, Tyros; perhaps from Treve, Vika's home city; perhaps even from fallen, vanished Ko-ro-ba; and the men in that crowd were of all castes, and even of castes ... |
10 |
| 33 | 107 |
"But it is not true," cried Vika. |
10 |
| 33 | 110 |
I cautioned Vika to silence. |
10 |
| 33 | 131 |
Sensing that he wished to speak to me, I asked Vika to withdraw somewhat, and she did so. |
10 |
| 33 | 161 |
I extended my hand to Vika and she joined me. |
10 |
| 33 | 167 |
They parted, and Vika and I walked between them, and through the ruined gate and palisade which had once encircled the Sardar. |
10 |
| 34 | 12 |
Vika, as I scarcely noted, stepped back when I had said this. |
10 |
| 34 | 37 |
"Forgive me, Vika," I said, and introduced her to my father, to the Older Tarl and Torm, the Scribe, and explained as briefly as I could what had befallen us in the Sardar. |
10 |
| 34 | 79 |
I felt Vika's hand on my arm. |
10 |
| 34 | 91 |
"There is nothing for me," said Vika. |
10 |
| 34 | 99 |
"I shall return to Treve," said Vika. |
10 |
| 34 | 116 |
"Few," I said, "would be worthy of Vika of Treve". |
10 |
| 34 | 119 |
"Cabot!" cried Vika and broke away from him and hurled herself into my arms weeping. |
10 |
| 34 | 123 |
"And I," I said, "wish you well, Vika, my girl of Treve". |
10 |
| Chapter # | Sentence # | Quote | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 240 |
"A woman named Vika?" I asked. |
10 |
| Chapter # | Sentence # | Quote | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 274 |
Her name had been Vika. |
10 |