Renegades of Gor (59 page)

for the slave has her own concerns, and fears, such as whether or not she is

sufficiently pleasing, and so on, I would expect it to be simple, and

uncompromised.”

“I think you are probably right,” I said. Many theorists regard reduction to

slavery as wiping the slate clean, so to speak. The woman is then thought, in

effect, to be beginning lift anew, but now as a mere property, a mere animal. To

be sure, her past status and deeds do remain a part of her history, even if she

is now only an animal. Thus, at least for a time, a maser might relish the

consideration that his abject slave was once perhaps a haughty free woman, or

such. But, in time, it is likely that their relationship, mercifully, as such

things fade into the past and tend to be forgotten, will become a simpler one,

that merely of master and slave.

“In my uses of the former Lady Claudia, in the cell,” I said, “I sometimes gave

her the use name of ‘Chloe’.”

“A Cosian name,” observed Calliodorus.

“She had declared for Cos,” I reminded him.

“Did the use name help her to dissociate herself from the proprieties which she

might have thought appropriate to a Lady Claudia?’ he asked.

“I think it helped,” I said. Certainly a woman’s sexual relationship to a man is

often improved when she begins to think of herself as having a quite different

relationship to him than the one in which she has been accustomed to think of

herself. The change of name can help in this matter. No woman, of course, takes

her former name into slavery. In her reduction to bondage she loses that name.

Even if the same name, in one sense, should be put on her as a slave, it is not

the same name in the crucial sense; it is not now a legal name to which one has

title in one’s own right. It is a slave name. (pg.392) In this sense, the name

‘Claudia’ as the name of a free woman is a quite different name from the name

‘Claudia’ as the name of a slave. The slave name, for example, can be changed at

a master’s whim. This loss of the old name, incidentally, and the susceptibility

to being named, and the new name, if the master decides to give her a name, and

such, although they are simple, legal consequences of the name of reduction to

bondage, are also, I think, psychologically useful in helping her understand

that she is now a slave, and that she is now radically and absolutely different

from what she was. Too, I think that such things, a new name, for example,

showing her that she is now in a new reality, and so on, can help her make the

transition more smoothly into bondage.

“’Chloe’ is an excellent name,” he said. “I have known several slaves with that

name.”

“Do you think,” asked Aemilianus of Calliodorus, “that ‘Claudia’ is too fine a

name for a slave?”

“I think it is an excellent name for a slave,” he smiled.

“You would,” smiled Aemilianus. I supposed that Aemilianus might think that

Cosian names might be better for slaves, whereas Calliodorus might tend to

approve more of names more typical of the south, say, those of Venna or Ar. I

myself thought there was much to be said for both, and, indeed, for many other

sorts of names, as well. Many Goreans, incidentally, as is well known, regard

Earth-girl names as slave names. Aemilianus’s slave, for example, who was

Gorean, was named “Shirley.”

“I think there is little difficulty in the matter, in any event,” said

Calliodorus, “whether it is a fine name or not, as she now wears it as a slave

name.”

“I think you are right,” said Aemilianus. “What do you think?” he asked me.

“I agree,” I said. “It is now a mere slave name.” Too, of course, it might

easily be changed. In the odysseys of her bondage, her name would doubtless be

changed many times.

“I wonder what will become of her,” I said.

“She is curvaceous,” said Calliodorus. “Perhaps she will be sold to a paga

tavern.”

That was a possibility. I hoped that eventually, however, she might come into

the keeping of a single master, to whom (pg.393) she would be a love slave. I

thought that there was something in the slave now called “Claudia” a precious,

vulnerable, yearning love slave.

“Aemilianus, my friend,” said Calliodorus.

“Yes?” said he.

“It will take us some days to reach Port Cos,” said Calliodorus. “Would you mind

if, tomorrow morning, the two slaves, Claudia and Publia, were made available to

the crew?”

“Of course not,” said Aemilianus.

“We will chain them by their necks to a ring in the deck, aft,” said

Calliodorus. “That way, if they are too initially dismayed, they will not be

able to throw themselves overboard.”

“By nightfall,” said Aemilianus, “I do not think they would want to throw

themselves overboard.”

“I do not think so,” said Calliodorus. “Too, aft, they will be out of the sight

of free women.”

“Use them as you please,” said Aemilianus.

“My lads left Port Cos in a hurry,” said Calliodorus, “and we did not know if

there would be fighting, or not. Thus we did not include among our supplies any

women for slave use.”

“No explanations are necessary,” said Aemilianus. “Too, if their masters do not

object, you may avail yourself of any of the other slaves, there are a few, I

believe, whom you embarked at Ar’s Station, including, of course, my Shirley.”

Shirley shrank back, a little. To be sure, even though she was the preferred

slave of Aemilianus, her use could be handed about as easily as that of the

lowest collar sluts on board, Claudia and Publia.

“I thank you for your generosity,” said Calliodorus, “and I am sure that the

other fellows of Ar’s Station would be every bit as generous, but I think that

after what you have been through, we would prefer, in all gentleness and

courtesy, to let such slaves, including your Shirley, recollect in detail the

pleasing of their own masters, perhaps amidships.”

Shirley cried out with joy, looking upon Aemilianus.

“As you will,” he smiled.

“And I think,” said Calliodorus, “that the more extensive services then to be

rendered by Claudia and Publia will be (pg.394) useful in helping them to

comprehend more quickly and clearly the nature of their new condition.”

“Undoubtedly,” smiled Aemilianus.

“I wonder if I might ask an additional favor of you,” said Calliodorus.

“Name it,” said Aemilianus.

“When we enter Port Cos,” he said, “I would like to do so in such a way as to

make clear from afar that there is cause for rejoicing, that our business has

been successfully conducted and that festivities are in order.”

“Do as you wish,” said Aemilianus.

“I will, then,” he said, “with your permission, deck the ship with flags, and

bunting and banners, and put prominently the flag of Ar’s Station on the port

stem line, and fly that of Port Cos on the starboard stem line.”

“How is it,” asked Aemilianus, “that you have a flag of Ar’s Station on a ship

of Port Cos?”

“One can never tell when such things might be useful,” smiled Calliodorus. “And

do you noble fellows of Ar’s Station not carry flags of Port Cos, and perhaps of

other towns, as well, in your vessels, perhaps in the chests in your stern

castles?” That was a likely place to stow such paraphernalia. There it would

both be out of the way, and yet handy.

“Perhaps,” smiled Aemilianus.

“Dear friend,” smiled Calliodorus.

Calliodorus bent down and clasped the upraised hand of Aemilianus. I had

gathered that, long ago, these men had seen action together, probably on the

river.

Calliodorus stood up.

There was, incidentally, one flag of Ar’s Station on board, which had been

brought from Ar’s Station itself, but that flag, large, rent, faded and

tattered, was not the one, or ones, under discussion. It had been there, staunch

and defiant, throughout the siege. It had been brought to the Tais by the young

man to whom I had entrusted it, the friend of the young crossbowman. He had

given it to Aemilianus, who had, in turn, given it into the keeping of Surilius,

his aide. I had little doubt that that flag was very precious to those of

(pg.395) Ar’s Station. They would be very careful as to what lines on which it

might be affixed.

“But, dear friend,” said Aemilianus, “is there not one touch else that might be

in order, to indicate a successful voyage?”

“I was thinking of asking about it,” smiled Calliodorus.

“Hang then in chains, at the prow!” said Aemilianus.

“Good,” grinned Calliodorus.

The slave girl, as Claudia and Publia would come to learn, had thousands of

uses. And one of them, surely, is that of a display object. It is common for

masters to be very proud of their girls and to desire to show them off. indeed,

one of the reasons for slave garb, aside from such things as its identificatory

role, its stimulatory nature, both to the master and slave, its instructive

role, and such, is its capacity to display the girl beautifully. Just as a man

of Earth might be proud of his pictures, or his dogs or horses, so, too, a

Gorean can be proud of his slave, or slaves. Some men like to travel with a

naked slave afoot beside them, chained by the neck to their stirrup. Some rich

men enjoy having lovely slaves, sometimes strings of them, follow them, chained

by the neck, the leads of the chains fastened to slave bars at the back of their

palanquins. In this case, Calliodorus was apparently interested in displaying

two beauties, a pair of exquisite slaves, at this prow. Certainly they,

suspended naked in their chains would enhance his entry into the harbor at Port

Cos.

“I must be about my duties, my friend,” then said Calliodorus to Aemilianus.

“Rest.”

Most of the men about had, by now, drifted away.

Calliodorus stopped for a moment, as though he wanted to say something more to

Aemilianus, but he then seemed to think the better of it. He then climbed the

steps behind Aemilianus, to the helm deck. I looked after him.

“He wanted to issue warnings,” said Aemilianus, smiling.

“Warnings?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Aemilianus. “He is a good fellow.”

I gathered that it would be inopportune to inquire further into this matter, at

least at the moment. But surely there could be little, or nothing, to fear now,

at least for free persons.

“Commander,” said I.

“Yes, Warrior,” he responded.

(pg.396) “I thank you for your mercy in the case of the former Lady Claudia.”

“Was it mercy?” he asked.

“I think so,” I said.

“Well,” he said, “her treacheries, however heinous and grievous, considered in

the light of grander and more insidious designs, seemed paltry.”

“And doubtless were,” I said. “Is that why you spared her?”

“I spared her primarily,” he said, “because you wished it.”

“I am grateful,” I said. “Too, I think she will make an excellent slave.”

“I am sure of it,” he said.

“Even Calliodorus thought she was born for the collar,” I said.

“She and Publia,” said Aemilianus.

“Yes,” I said.

“I think he was right about both,” he said.

“I think so, too,” I said.

“My friend,” he said.

“Yes,” I said, startled.

“You said to her,” he reminded me, “that you had no intention of imperiling your

life for her.”

“Yes,” I said.

“Yet I think had I not spared her,” said he, “that you would have drawn your

sword on her behalf.”

“I said what I did,” I said, “because I knew it would not be necessary to

imperil my life for her.”

“How could you know that?’ he asked.

“Because Aemilianus, and those like him,” I said, “are honorable men.”

“You were counting on that?’ he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“And had we not, in your opinion, behaved honorably?’ he asked.

“Then I would have drawn my sword,” I said.

“I thought so,” he said.

“I am sorry,” I said.

“Even were I other than I am,” he smiled, “I do not think I would have wanted

you to draw your sword against us.”

(pg.397) I did not respond.

“Particularly over a woman,” he said. He held out his hand to Shirley, and she

came quickly to kneel beside him and took his hand, and lifted it to her lips,

kissing it, softly.

“Of course,” I said.

“And in particular,” said Aemilianus, “one who was soon to become a mere slave.”

“Of course,” I said.

Shirley, holding and pressing her lips to the hand of Aemilianus, looked up at

me.

I smiled. Swords are often drawn on Gor over women, and particularly over lovely

slaves. Women are prizes, perfections and treasures. It is no wonder that men

fight over them with ferocity.

Wars have been fought to recover a stolen slave.

I then, quietly, withdrew from the presence of Aemilianus, permitting Shirley to

attend him.

I went forward. In doing so I passed some slaves and masters, amidships. How

beautiful were the slaves in their collars and brief tunics. I then proceeded

farther forward, taking my way beside free women, and some children, and climbed

to the tiny bow deck, forward of the stern castle, immediately behind the prow.

I stood there, and looked down the river. I could see the advance ships some