Explorers of Gor (67 page)

“Master,” said the girl who had been the taluna leader, Lana.

“Yes,” I said.

“You are taking me to Port Kar,” she said.

“Yes,” I said. It is natural for a girl to fear the very name of that city.

“Will men be cruel to me in Port Kar?” she asked.

“You will be treated as the slave you are,” I said.

She shuddered.

There is a saying in Gorean, that the chains of a slave girl are heaviest in Port Kar. I did not think, truthfully, however, that Port Kar was unusual in its treatment of female slaves. 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. If I had to make a choice I would suspect that it might be most difficult for a woman to wear her chains in the city of Tharna. There are complex historical reasons for this. Tharna is one of the few Gorean cities in which the great majority of its women are enslaved. Normally only about one in forty or so Gorean women in the cities is enslaved. Free Gorean women, incidentally, enjoy a prestige and status which, it seems to me, is higher than that of the normal Earth woman.

“What is done in Port Kar,” asked Lana, “to a girl who is not found to be fully pleasing?”

“Commonly,” I said, “she is bound hand and foot and thrown to the urts in the canals.”

She looked at me, aghast. The chain was lovely on her throat, fastening her, kneeling, to the ring on the wharf. She pulled against the slave bracelets, confining her hands behind her back, but could not, of course, free herself.

“I would try, if I were you,” I said, “to please my master.”

“I will try desperately to please him,” she said.

“See that you do,” I said.

“Yes, Master,” she said.

Alice put her cheek to my thigh. I then felt her lips at my thigh, as she kissed me. I put my hand in her hair, and, roughly, affectionately, shook her head. She looked up at me. “Please keep me, at least for a little time,” she said. “Perhaps,” I said. “Thank you, Master,” she said. I looked down at her. She, like Janice, I thought, would somewhere, sometime, make someone a superb love slave. Until that time let her be put out again and again on the market.

Ngoma, who was of the crew of Ulafi, and two other crew members, then came up to me. “We shall be sailing soon,” he said. ‘The cages are ready.”

I nodded. I freed Janice of her shackles, bracelets and belly chain. She remained kneeling. She had not been given permission to rise. Ngoma put his hand in her hair. I then freed Alice and Lana of their bracelets and neck chains. They, too, remained kneeling, for they, too, had not received permission to rise. The two other crew members then put their hands in their hair.

Ngoma looked at me, I nodded. “Put them in their cages,” I said. He pulled Janice to her feet, holding her head at his hip, and then, leading her behind him, bent over, conducted her up the gangplank to the deck of the Palms of Schendi.

“It will soon be time to board!” called Ulafi to me. He was on the stern castle of his vessel.

“Very well,” I said.

His first and second officers, Gudi and Shoka, were near him.

I looked about.

There were as yet two empty slave cages on the deck of the Palms of Schendi, cages for which I had arranged.

“Ho, here!” I called, to the man from the tavern of Pembe. He saw me and hurried toward me, dragging a leashed, blindfolded, sweetly hipped, naked slave with him. Her hands were braceleted behind her back. When he reached me he kicked her legs from beneath her and she knelt, trembling, at my feet. He removed her leash and bracelets. He then, roughly, removed the collar of the tavern of Pembe from her throat.

“Ngoma,” I called.

The man from the tavern of Pembe then unknotted her blindfold and tore it away from her head.

“Oh!” cried she who had been Evelyn Ellis, looking up at me, blinking, startled.

“I own you now,” I said. It had been she who had once served Kurii in this city.

“Yes, Master!” she said.

Ngoma, coming down the gangplank, arrived at my side I recalled her well from before, when she had served Shaba, Msaliti and myself. I recalled her well, too, from the tavern of Pembe. I was the first, months ago, to have taught her something of the meaning of a collar. I had purchased her last night, unknown to herself, when she had not been on the floor of the tavern. She had cost two silver tarsks.

“Oh, Master!” she cried, overjoyed.

“Submit,” I said.

Swiftly she knelt back on her heels, her knees wide, and lifted and extended her arms, wrists crossed, as though for binding. Her head was down, between her arms.

“I submit myself, fully, and as a slave,” she said.

I tied her wrists together and locked a collar on her drawn from my sea bag.

“I am yours,” she said.

“You are Evelyn,” I said.

“Yes, Master,” she said. “Thank you, Master.”

“Put her in a cage,” I said to Ngoma.

“It will be done,” he said.

Evelyn was led away, drawn by the hair, bent over, to be thrust in one of the small slave cages on the deck. These cages, at their corners, by chains, are fastened to cleats. This prevents their movement in rough weather.

I thought of Janice. I smiled. Yesterday afternoon, for the first time, I had spoken in English to her.

“You speak English,” she had cried, startled.

“Of course,” I had said.

“But,” she moaned, “I spoke in English before you, when I thought you could not understand. I revealed my inmost thoughts and feelings to you, totally.”

“Yes,” I said.

“Oh,” she wept, “what an exposed slave you made me!”

“Of course,” I said.

“Are you of Earth?” she asked. “No,” she said, “a man such as you could never have been of Earth!”

“I was once of Earth,” I said, “long ago.” I looked at her. “I am now, however, like yourself, only of Gor.”

She had then knelt before me. “I beg to be used by my Gorean master,” she said.

I then took her by the arms and threw her to the furs.

“Master! Master!” cried Sasi, running toward me, her hands braceleted behind her back. I took her in my arms. “You are looking well, pretty little slut,” I said.

The man from the tavern of Filimbi, to which she had been sold after I had been taken from Schendi, some months ago, was but a few feet behind her. He had unleashed her that she might run to me. She still wore a brief work tunic from the tavern, with the sign of the tavern, a flute, on its back. Filimbi was the name of the proprietor, but it is also an inland word for flute. In the morning tavern girls sometimes wear work tunics, as certain labors, such as laundering and scrubbing, may be set them. In the afternoon and evening, of course, they are dressed, if they are dressed at all, for the pleasure of the proprietor’s customers. Sometimes, particularly in low paga taverns, the girl will be permitted to wear, besides her brand and collar, only perfume, or, if the proprietor wishes, perfume and chains. Like Evelyn I had bought Sasi yesterday, without her knowledge, for delivery to the wharf this morning. She cost me two and five, two silver tarsks and five of copper.

“You did not forget me!” she cried.

“You are too pretty to forget,” I told her.

The man from the tavern of Filimbi removed the bracelets from her wrists. Then, as she looked down, shyly, an unexpected modesty in a slave, he unsashed, parted and drew away the work tunic she wore. It was, after all, the property of the tavern.

She was exquisite.

“Kneel and submit, Slave,” I said.

Swiftly then did she kneel and submit herself, totally, as a slave to me. Swiftly then were her wrists bound and her throat encircled in my collar.

“It is time to board!” called Ulafi.

“Greetings, Turgus,” I said, as he came up to me. “It was nice of you to come to see me off.”

“Who is this marvelous little slave who kneels at your feet?” he asked, looking down at Sasi.

“Surely you recognize your former accomplice of Port Kar?” I asked.

“She?” he asked. Then he said, “Lift your head, Girl.”

Sasi lifted her head. “Yes, Master,” she said.

“Is it you, Sasi?” he asked.

“Yes, Master,” she said.

“Marvelous!” he said.

“Your own slave, Fina,” I said, referring to the dark-haired girl kneeling behind him and to his left, “has also shown considerable improvement in beauty.” She put down her head, happily. She was in a brief tunic. She was collared. Once, I recalled, she had been second in command among the talunas. Turgus had picked her out from among them, some forty girls, to be his personal slave. His choice had been excellent, Once a cold and arrogant taluna the girl knelt now, happily at his heels. She had been taught submission, and love.

From my sea bag I handed Turgus a letter. “In this letter, I said, “I have inscribed a petition that you be pardoned for your offenses in Port Kar. It is addressed to the council of captains, that body sovereign in Port Kar, of which I am a member. With this letter you may, if you wish, return to the city. It is my expectation that the council will rule favorably on the pardon. If they do not you will, at least, have ten days in which to take your departure from the city.”

He took the letter. “I am grateful,” he said. “But why would the council rule favorably?” he asked.

“We have fought together,” I said.

“That is true,” he said.

“Will you return to Port Kar?” I asked.

“I have moneys here in Schendi,” he said, “notes which I have drawn upon my return from the Ua, moneys connected with my fees for accompanying Shaba’s expedition. They will last me many months.”

“It is less dangerous now for an outlander to remain in Schendi,” I said. “since Ayari became wazir to Bila Huruma.”

“Yes,” he grinned. No longer now did Bila Huruma demand men from Schendi for the canal. This alteration in policy in itself had inaugurated a new era and climate in the relations between Schendi and the empire of Bila Huruma. I had little doubt but what Ayari had clarified to Bila Huruma the value of the friendship and facilities of the men of Schendi.

“With this letter,” I said, indicating the document, “you may return when you wish. I would advise you, however, should the ruling, as I would expect, be in your favor, to consider the adoption of an honest occupation. If the magistrates do not apprehend you you might, in Port Kar, run afoul of the caste of thieves. They are sometimes jealous of their prerogatives.”

He smiled. “I think I may go to a new city,” he said. “I think I may make a new beginning somewhere. Perhaps I will go to Turia or Ar.”

‘They are great cities,” I said, “rich in opportunities for the shrewd and ambitious.” I looked at him. “Do you regret,” I asked, “what has occurred to you in these past months?”

“No,” he said, “I have had the honor of serving with Shaba, and with yourself. I have traveled the Ua. I have witnessed her source. These things are grand.” He then looked back and down at the girl kneeling near him. “And, too,” he said, “I have found a wondrous slave.” She put down her head, smiling, joyful that her master had spoken highly of her, though she was only a slave. Then again he looked at me. He smiled. “I have no regrets,” he said. “I am not dissatisfied. I am well pleased.”

We clasped hands.

“I wish you well,” I said.

“I wish you well,” he said.

“It is time to board!” called Ulafi.

I lifted Sasi to her feet and then threw her over my shoulder. I reached down with my free hand and picked up my sea bag. I then ascended the gangplank and boarded the Palms of Schendi.