Part 12 (1/2)

”Yes!” I cried. ”But I was too weak. He was so much stronger than I!”

”Why did you not summon guards?” asked Aynur.

Why had she not, I wondered, summoned guards? ”Why did you not call out?” inquired Aynur.

”I was gagged!” I said, relievedly. ”See? The silk is wet! It was put in my mouth!”

”It does not appear to have been wrested from you,” observed Aynur. ”It does not seem to have been torn from your body.”

”The disrobing loop was drawn,” I said.

”Who drew the loop?” asked Aynur.

”He!” I lied. ”He!”

”And you were gagged with the silk?”

”Yes!”

”Why did you not cry out before the silk was removed?” asked Aynur.

I looked at her, frightened.

”It could not very well be in your mouth and on your body at the same time,” she said.

”He seized me from behind,” I said. ”He held me back against him, his left hand over my mouth. With his right hand he drew the loop. As I struggled the silk fell, He then flung me to my back on the gra.s.s, and put the silk in my mouth!”

”It was tied in place?”

”No,” I admitted.

”You did not attempt to eject it?”

”I did not dare to do so,” I said.

”When we came upon you,” she said, ”the silk was not in your mouth.”

”It had become dislodged,” I said.

”And you did not then cry out?”

”I was afraid,” I said. This would be plausible. At least I hoped so.

Such a man, of course, could have snapped my neck with one hand.

”It seems then that you are in this matter fully guiltless,” said Aynur.

”Yes!” I said, relieved.

”But he did put you to his purposes?” she asked.

”Yes,” I admitted.

There seemed no point in denying this.

We had, I recalled, been discovered naked in one another's arms.

Indeed, I recalled that I had been held for a time, naked in his arms, even after Aynur and the others had discovered us.

I feared that he might have made it quite clear, even flagrantly so, to my shame and terror, what had been going on. I could only hope that I could convince Aynur that I was in these things only an unwilling, innocent victim. She must believe that!

”Poor Gail,” said Aynur.

I looked at her, gratefully.

”You felt nothing?” asked Aynur.

”No!” I said. ”My pa.s.sion, such as it might be, is reserved exclusively for he who holds total rights oven me!”

I hoped that Aynur would believe the myth.

Aynur walked around, behind me.

”Kneel up a little,” she said. ”And put the tops of your toes flat on the gra.s.s.”

I must obey.

”Ah!” said Aynur.

I trembled.

”The bottoms of our feet,” said Aynur, ”are to be soft, and caressable.

That is why we must consider the surfaces upon which we tread. That is the meaning of the lotions and creams with which they are treated.”

I did not respond.

”But the bottoms of your feet have been roughened. They are cut, and b.l.o.o.d.y. You have been near the wall.”

I did not speak.

”And apparently,” she said, ”you were too stupid to have trod softly.”

She then walked around me again, so that she was, again, before me.

I had been alarmed at the sounds of voices. That was why I had hurried, foolishly, from the perimeter of sharpened stones. That is why my feet had been cut.

”You did not respond to the man who was here?” asked Aynur.

”No!” I said.