"I am of the Warriors," I said.
"But you may die," she said.
"That is acknowledged in the codes," I said.
"What are the codes?" she asked.
"They are nothing and everything," I said. "They are a bit of noise and the steel of the heart. They are meaningless and all significant. They are the difference. Without the codes, men would be Kurii."
"Kurii?" she asked.
"Beasts, such as ice beasts, and worse," I said. "Beasts such as the face
you saw in the sky."
"You need not keep the codes," she said.
"I once betrayed my codes," I said. "It is not my intention to do so again." I looked at her. "One does not know, truly what it is to stand, until one has fallen. Once one has fallen, then one knows, you see, what it is to stand."
"None would know if you betrayed the codes," she said.
"I would know," I said, "and I am of the Warriors."
"What is it to be a Warrior?" she asked.
"It is to keep the codes," I said. "You may think that to be a Warrior is to be large, or strong, and to be skilled with weapons, to have a blade at your hip, to know the grasp of a spear, to wear the scarlet, to know the fitting of the iron helm upon one's countenance, but these things are not truly needful; they are not, truly what makes one man a Warrior and the other not. Many men are strong, and large, and skilled with weapons. Any man might, if he dared, don the scarlet and gird himself with weapons. Any man might place upon his brow the helm of iron. But it is not the scarlet, not the steel, not the helm which makes a Warrior." She looked at me. "It is the codes," I said.
"Abandon your codes," she said.
"One does not speak to slaves of the codes," I said.
{Beasts of Gor, page 340}
I caught the arm of the captain. His face turned white. "Have you raised your arm against me?" I asked. I released his arm and he staggered back. Then he slung his shield on his arm, and unsheathed the blade slung at his left hip.
"What is going on?!" demanded the woman.
"Be silent, foolish woman," said the captain.
She cried out with rage. But what did she know of the codes?
{Beasts of Gor, page 114}
"You have wronged this man," said the captain. "And he has labored within the permissions of his codes."
"I order you to kill him!" cried the free woman, pointing to me.
"Will you permit us to pass, Warrior?" asked the captain.
"I am afraid, under the circumstances," I said, "that is no longer possible."
He nodded. "Of course not," he said.
{Beasts of Gor, page 115}