Fighting Slave of Gor (26 page)

"My congratulations to the superb actress, the Lady Tendite!" called the Lady Tima.

There was more applause.

I have little doubt, too, the fact that I stood in the near background to the Lady Tendite, a male large and strong, contributed to the scene intended by the Lady Tima. She was very small, compared to me.

"Caress the slave," said the Lady Tima to the Lady Tendite.

The Lady Tendite came near to me. She looked up into my eyes. She was exquisitely beautiful. Her breasts, swelling within the pathetic restraint of the Ta-Teera, made me want to cry out with pleasure.

"Please do not touch me," I begged.

She wore a steel collar.

"Please," I begged. I cried out with misery and shame.

"Ten tarsks!" I heard "Ten five!" I heard.

"You may now remove the collar and take your whip from the attendant," said the Lady Tima. "Then, with the whip, display him as you will."

The Lady Tendite smiled, and went to the rear of the platform.

Bids continued. When the Lady Tendite returned, the collar removed, her whip in hand, they were at eleven six. I was then, guided by the voice of the Lady Tendite, and the deft touches of her whip, displayed to the crowd. There were tears in my eyes. Then I was made to kneel.

"Fourteen tarsks!" I heard.

"Jason," said the Lady Tima, "you did attempt to escape"

"Yes, Mistress," I said, shuddering.

"Speak up," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"Too," she said, "you spoke at least once without permission this evening."

"Yes, Mistress," I said, loudly, knowing that I must speak so that I could be heard in the tiers.

"Do you beg to be whipped?" she asked.

"Yes, Mistress," I said. "Please have me whipped." I put my head down, miserable.

The Lady Tima gestured to one of the attendants who then stood behind me, and shook out the blades of a slave whip.

"Whip him," she said.

I shuddered as the lash fell upon me.

The bids continued, as I was beaten. I was sold for sixteen silver tarsks. I did not know who bought me. I was chained hand and foot. I remember realizing that I was no longer being beaten. I was dragged, bloody, from the sales platform. I remember hearing the sound of the gong once more. A new slave was being presented before the buyers.

13
THE
LADY
FLORENCE:I
ENCOUNTER
A
SLAVE
GIRL,WHOM
I
LEARN
IS
OWNED
BY
ONEANDER
OF
AR

"How pretty he is at your stirrup, Lady Florence," said the veiled woman, reclining in the palanquin, its draft slaves now halted.

"A lengthening of his hair, a white ribbon binding it back, a silken tunic make quite a difference, Lady Melpomene," responded the Lady Florence.

"I see you no longer have him chained there," said the Lady Melpomene.

"It was not necessary, as I soon discovered," said the Lady Florence. I kept my head down.

"I envy you such a sweet slave," said the Lady Melpomene.

"It is kind of you not to be bitter," said the Lady Florence, acidly. I held the reins of her tharlarion. It was not large. Its stirrup was at my right shoulder.

"Have you had him branded yet?" asked the Lady Melpomene.

"No," said the Lady Florence. "I keep my male slaves smooth-thighed."

"Interesting," said the Lady Melpomene.

The Lady Florence shrugged.

"Is he any good on the couch?" asked the Lady Melpomene.

"I use him when it pleases me," said the Lady Florence.

"Of course," said the Lady Melpomene.

"It is unfortunate that your resources, in the recent markets, have become so limited, or you might have outbidden me," said the Lady Florence.

"My resources are quite ample," said the Lady Melpomene.

"Rumor has it," said the Lady Florence, "that your fortunes lie near ruin."

"Such rumors," snapped the Lady Melpomene, "are malicious and false."

"I thought so," said the Lady Florence, pleasantly. "It is unfortunate that they are so rampant."

"I was insufficiently interested in the slave to bid sixteen tarsks," said the Lady Melpomene.

"Of course," said the Lady Florence.

"Have you been long shopping in Ar?" asked the Lady Melpomene.

"Some four days," said the Lady Florence. "We left our house in Vonda a month ago, for my villa." The villa of the Lady Florence of Vonda lay some forty pasangs south and west of Vonda. Vonda was one of the four cities of the Salerian Confederation. The other cities of this confederation were Ti, Port Olni and Lara. All four of these cities lie on the Olni River, which is a tributary to the Vosk. Ti is farthest from the confluence of the Olni and Vosk; downriver from Ti is Port Olni; these were the first two cities to form a league, originally intended for the control of river pirates and the protection of inland shipping; later, downriver from Port Olni, Vonda, and Lara, lying at the junction of the Olni and Vosk, joined the league. The Olni, for practical purposes, has been freed of river pirates. The oaths of the league, and the primitive articles pertaining to its first governance, were sworn, and signed, in the meadow of Salerius, which lies on the northern bank of the Olni between Port Olni and Vonda. It is from that fact that the confederation is known as the Salerian Confederation. The principal city, because the largest and most populous, of the confederation is Ti. The governance of the confederation is centralized in Ti. The high administrator of the confederation is a man called Ebullius Gaius Cassius, of the Warriors. Ebullius Gaius Cassius was also, as might be expected, the administrator of the city, or state, of Ti itself. The Salerian Confederation, incidentally, is also sometimes known as the Four Cities of Saleria. The expression `Saleria', doubtless owing its origin to the meadow of Salerius, is used broadly, incidentally, to refer to the fertile basin territories both north and south of the Olni, the lands over which the confederation professes to maintain a hegemony. The meadow of Salerius, thus, lies on the northern bank of the Olni, between Port Olni and Vonda; the area called Saleria, on the other hand, is, in effect, the lands controlled by the confederation. Ti, Port Olni and Vonda lie on the northern bank of the Olni; Lara lies between the Olni and the Vosk, at their confluence. It is regarded as being of great strategic importance. It could, if it wished, prevent Olni shipping from reaching the markets of the Vosk towns, and, similarly, if it wished, prevent shipping from these same towns from reaching the Olni markets. Overland shipping in this area, as is generally the case on Gor, is time consuming and costly; also, it is often dangerous. It is interesting to note that the control of piracy on the Olni was largely a function of the incorporation of Lara in the confederation. This made it difficult for the pirate fleets, following their raids, to descend the Olni and escape into the Vosk. It may also be of interest to note that what began as a defensive league instituted primarily to protect shipping on a river gradually, but expectedly, began to evolve into a considerable political force in eastern known Gor. Jealousies and strifes, rivalries, even armed conflicts, tend often to separate Gorean cities. Seldom do they band together. In this milieu, then, of suspicion, pride, autonomy and honor, the four cities of Saleria represented a startling and momentous anomaly in the politics of Gor. The league to protect shipping on the Olni, inadvertently but naturally founded in the common interest of four cities, had formed the basis for what later became the formidable Salerian Confederation. Many cities of Gor, it was rumored, looked now with uneasiness on the four giants of the Olni. The Salerian Confederation, it was rumored, had now come to the attention even of the city of Ar.

"We proceeded from my villa to my house in Venna," continued the Lady Florence, speaking lightly with the Lady Melpomene.

"I, too, have a house in Venna," she said.

"I did not know, with the state of your finances, that you had managed to retain it," said the Lady Florence. Venna is a small, exclusive resort city, some two hundred pasangs north of Ar. It is noted for its baths and its tharlarion races.

"Do you come often to shop in Ar?" asked the Lady Melpomene.

"Twice yearly," said the Lady Florence.

"I come four times yearly," said the Lady Melpomene.

"I see," said the Lady Florence, sweetly.

"I can afford to," said the Lady Melpomene.

"Do not permit me to detain you from your shopping," said the Lady Florence.

"I would not stay too long in Ar," said the Lady Melpomene.

"I do not think there will be trouble," said the Lady Florence.

"There was talk in the baths at Vonda," said the Lady Melpomene. "It is feared there will be an attack by Ar. Already troops have skirmished south of the Olni."

"Men are barbarians," said the Lady Florence. "They are always fighting."

"If hostilities should break out," said the Lady Melpomene, "it might not be well to be a woman of Vonda caught in this city"

"I do not think there will be trouble," said the Lady Florence.

"You may risk a steel collar if you wish," said the Lady Melpomene. "I am leaving Ar tonight."

"We are leaving in the morning," said the Lady Florence.

"Excellent," said the Lady Melpomene. "Perhaps I shall see you in Venna"

"Perhaps," said the Lady Florence.

"And perhaps you will let me enjoy your slave," said the Lady Melpomene.

"Perhaps - for a fee," said the Lady Florence, coldly.

"A fee?" asked the Lady Melpomene.

"Sixteen tarsks," said the Lady Florence. "The pitiful price which you could not afford to pay for him."

Sixteen tarsks was actually a high price to pay for a male silk slave. Most would go from four to six tarsks.

"I wish you well," said the Lady Melpomene.

"I wish you well," said the Lady Florence.

The Lady Melpomene then clapped her hands. "Proceed!" she called to the draft slaves, those bearing upon their shoulders the poles of her palanquin.

In a moment or two they had proceeded down the street.

"What a hateful woman," said the Lady Florence. "What a pretender she is! How I despise her! Her fortunes are mined. She is almost penniless. If she does retain a house in Venna she is sure to lose it soon. How bold she is, even to dare to speak with me. She is probably in Ar trying to negotiate a loan, or sell the house in Venna, if indeed she still owns it. Even the palanquin and slaves are rented! She does not fool me! How I hate her! I hate her! Did you see how sweetly she spoke to me? But she hates me, too. Our families have been enemies for generations."

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"She even bid against me for you," said the Lady Florence. "Would a friend have done that?"

"I do not know, Mistress," I said.

"No," said the Lady Florence.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"And she had the nerve to ask for your use," said the Lady Florence. "I will share you only with those women who please me."

"Yes, Mistress," I said. It is a common Gorean hospitality to offer the use of one's slaves to guests, if they should find them attractive. The Lady Florence of Vonda, she to whom I belonged, could give or assign me, as any slave she owned, to whomsoever she pleased. She had, however, at least thus far, kept me for herself. Sometimes when there were guests at her villa southwest of Vonda I was kept locked in my kennel.

"This way, Jason," she said. "I wish to purchase veil pins at the shop of Publius. Then I wish to proceed to the avenue of the Central Cylinder, to examine the silks in the shop of Philebus."

"Yes, Mistress," I said. I proceeded down the street in the direction indicated, leading the tharlarion by its reins. Small saddle tharlarion are generally managed by snout reins. The huge war tharlarion are commonly guided by voice signals and the blows of spears on the face and neck. Draft tharlarion are harnessed, and can be managed either by men, or usually boys, who walk beside them, or by reins and whips, controlled by drivers, men mounted in drawn wagons.

We passed a woman in the street, a woman of Ar, followed by a silk slave. He looked at me. I suppose he was wondering what I had cost.

A slave girl passed, a short-legged beauty, clad in a gray rag, chewing on a larma fruit. She spit against the wall as I passed.

"Do not mind her, Jason," said the Lady Florence.

"No, Mistress," I said. But I wished I could have gotten my hands on her.

"Such girls are unrefined," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," I said. But the girl had had good ankles.

"Stop here, Jason," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"You will tether the tharlarion, Jason," said the Lady Florence.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.