Slave Girl of Gor (72 page)

"You are beautiful, Dma!" he cried.

"Please do not hurt me," I begged.

Joyfully he seized my ankles and dragged me to him, and then, with a peasant's roughness, thrust them widely apart.

"Please, Master," I begged.

"I am so happy," he cried. "And you, Dina, pretty little slave, are so beautiful!"

"Oh!" I cried. "Oh!" And I seized him. I threw my head back. I think that Bran Loort, overcome in his joy, had little time or patience for either his own pleasure or mine.

"Oh!" I cried.

Then he was finished with me and I was shaking. He covered me with kisses.

"I am so happy!" he cried. He then crouched beside me, and kissed me again. "The Sa-Tarna must be harvested," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"I wish you well, Dina," he said.

"I wish you well, Master," I said.

He then leapt from the alcove to find Thurnus. They left the tavern together. I was left lying on the furs. After a few minutes, I pulled my garment over my head, buttoned it and retied the sash. I went to kneel behind Clitus Vitellius. He was drinking with Thandar of Ti, and his four men. They were being served by Slave Beads.

"The Salerian Confederation," Clitus Vitellius was saying, "is a threat to the security of Ar."

"Correct," said Thandar of Ti.

"You seem distracted," said Clitus Vitellius, who apparently wished to discuss politics.

Thandar of Ti was watching Slave Beads who, head down, was pouring him drink.

"A pretty little slave," said Clitus Vitellius.

"Yes," said Thandar of Ti. He reached forth and, gently, touched Slave Beads about the throat, as she poured the drink. She blushed, and trembled, head down. "Kneel before the table, Slave," he said to her. She did so, putting the paga vessel to one side. She knelt in the position of the pleasure slave. She was briefly silked, perfumed, collared and belled. I had learned earlier, in speaking with the girls, that Thandar of Ti, when in Ar, came often to the Belled Collar. I had little doubt that the small beauty, Slave Beads, was the reason. "Do you think I should buy her?" asked Thandar of Ti of Clitus Vitellius, as he regarded the lineaments and beauty of the girl. Slave Beads shook with emotion. She almost broke the position of the pleasure slave. "She is a beauty," said Clitus Vitellius. "If she pleases you, make an offer to Busebius."

"Busebius!" called Thandar of Ti.

I thought Slave Beads might faint.

"I have taken a fancy," said Thandar of Ti to Busebius, who had hurried to the table, "to this little slut of a slave," indicating Slave Beads. "I will give you a silver tarsk for her."

"Master is generous," said Busebius, "to offer so much for so miserable a girl."

"Then it is done?" asked Thandar of Ti.

"Five tarsks," said Busebius.

"'Scoundrel!" said Thandar of Ti. "I will give you two."

"Now done!" laughed Busebius. He was pleased. He had made a profit on Slave Beads whom he had had, I understood, for less than one silver tarsk in the market, and had yet retained the good will of Thandar of Ti, a valued customer.

Slave Beads slipped to the floor in a faint. She Was still unconscious when Busebius removed his bells, and collar and silk from her, leaving her naked, save for her brand, lying on the tiles beside the table. She had not yet regained consciousness when Thandar of Ti placed his slave bracelets on her, braceleting her small wrists before her body.

In a few moments she regained consciousness, opening her eyes, discovering herself nude beside the table, in his bracelets. "Am I yours, Master?" she asked, lifting her braceleted wrists to him. "Yes, Slave," he said. She knelt before him, reaching out to him, weeping with joy. She looked to me once, that I might not reveal what had once been her identity. She had once been the Lady Sabina of Fortress of Saphronicus, the daughter of Kleomenes, of Fortress of Saphronicus, promised in Companion Contract, in a proposed political alliance intended to further the fortunes of Fortress of Saphronicus and the Salerian Confederation, to the fifth son of the warrior, Ebullius Gaius Cassius, the Administrator of Ti, Thandar of Ti, also of the warriors.

He rose to his feet. She looked up at him. Thandar of Ti, her master, regarded her. She had once been promised to him in Companion Contract, as a Free Companion; now he had purchased her as a slave.

"I love you, Master," she said.

"Let us return to the inn," said one of the men. "I think we have a slave here who is eager to serve her master."

"Rise, Slave," said Thandar of Ti.

She did so, standing before him, her wrists braceleted before her body.

"Lovely," he said.

"Thank you, Master," she said.

He examined her thigh. "A fine brand," he said. He brushed back her hair and turned her head from side to side, holding her chin in his hand. "Pierced ears," he said. "Excellent." He stepped back, admiring her as superb slave flesh.

"A good buy," said one of his men.

"Yes," he said.

He looked down into her eyes. "I think I shall call you 'Sabina,'" he said.

She started. "Master?" she asked. She looked at me. But I was confused. I had not spoken her secret to anyone.

"Is it not a lovely name for a slave?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," she said. "It is a lovely name for a slave."

"You little she-sleen," he laughed, seizing her by the arms, "do you not think I know who you once were?"

"Master?" she asked.

"You were once Sabina, the daughter of Kleomenes," he laughed, "once promised to me in Companion Contract."

She looked at him, wildly.

"Now, of course, you are only a slave," he said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"When the Companionship was under consideration by the Council of the Confederation," he said, "I slipped away, on tarn, to Fortress of Saphronicus. I spied on you, to see if you pleased me."

"Pleased!" she cried. It is beneath the dignity of a free woman to please a man. Slave girls please men.

"Yes," he said.

"It must have been difficult," she said, "for you to tell, I clothed in the robes of concealment, if I pleased you."

"You recall your quarters," he asked, "and the window, high in the wall."

"Yes," she said.

"It may be reached by a rope, from the roof," he said.

She gasped.

"You were quite beautiful in your bath," he said.

She looked down, confused, blushing.

"Is a slave modest?" he asked.

"No, Master," she said. Then she looked up at him, shyly. "Did you find me pleasing, truly?" she asked.

"Yes, quite," he said. "The girl, Marla, too, and the others," he said, "were also quite beautiful."

"Yes," she said. "My serving slaves were beautiful." She looked up at him. "Were they more beautiful than I?" she asked.

"Not to me," he said.

"I am pleased," she said.

"You can well understand my dilemma," he said. "Seeing you I wanted you. You were one of those women who is so feminine and attractive that a man finds it difficult to think of you in terms other than jealous ownership. I wanted to own you. I wanted you at my feet naked, in my collar. Yet you were intended to be my companion. How could one relate to a girl as feminine and beautiful as you, I ask you, other than as a master to a slave?"

"I do not know," she said.

"Besides," he said, "you were only of the merchants. It is unseemly for a Warrior to take as a companion the daughter of a merchant. I detest the politics which seemed to make such a match expedient. Surely I was not consulted in the negotiations."

"No, Master," she said. "Nor was I," she added, pointing this out.

"But you are a woman," he said.

"That is true," she said.

"The daughters of merchants," he said, "are fit only to be the slaves of Warriors."

"Oh, Master?" she asked, archly.

"Yes," he said, evenly, regarding her.

"Yes, Master," she said, dropping her eyes.

"Besides," he said, "you, free, were an arrogant she-sleen. You needed enslaving, collaring and whipping."

"Yes, Master," she said, frightened.

"I resolved to refuse the companionship," said Thandar of Ti. "I resolved to flee the city." He grinned. "As it turned out," he said, "that was not necessary."

"How did master find me?" she asked.

"There is a fellowship among Warriors," he said. Clitus Vitellius smiled.

"Thank you, Master," said Slave Beads, now Sabina, to Clitus Vitellius.

He nodded, accepting her thanks.

Sabina, the slave, turned again to face Thandar of Ti, looking up at him. "You have found me," she said. "You own me." There were tears in her eyes. "I had hoped," she said, "that my identity might have remained unknown to you."

"Why?" he asked, puzzled.

She looked down, confused. She shook her head.

"Why?" he asked.

"Must I speak?" she asked.

"You are a slave," he said angrily. "Speak."

She looked up at him, boldly, tears in her eyes. "Because," she said, "I wanted you to keep me as a slave!" She looked down again, confused. "I sense," she said, "that you are my true master, and I am your true slave."

The men looked at one another, cognizing well the confession of the small, beautiful slave.

"Too," she said, "I did not wish my fate, known, to dishonor you."

"That the flank of a merchant's daughter has met the iron cannot dishonor me," said Thandar of Ti.

"I see that it cannot," she said, a bit angrily. But it was true. What is it on Gor that a girl is caught and branded, and made a slave?

"But now, in honor, knowing my fate," she said, "you must free me."

"Oh?" he said.

"Yes," she said. "You will now free me, and once again the plans of Fortress of Saphronicus and the Salerian Confederation will proceed as before. I, freed, will be repledged to you in Companionship. Matters then, regardless of our wishes, will be as they were before."

Thandar of Ti laughed. Clitus Vitellius smiled.

"Master?" she asked.

How beautiful she looked, naked before him, in his bracelets.

"A fine brand," said Thandar of Ti, surveying her thigh.

"Now that you know who I am," she said, "you must free me."

He turned her head from side to side. "And pierced ears," he said.

"Surely you are going to free me," she said.

"You are the daughter of a merchant," he said. "The daughters of merchants are fit only to be the slaves of warriors."

"You are going to free me!" she cried.

"Kneel to be collared," he said.

"Master!" she cried.

"Bring a whip," he said to one of his men.

Swiftly she knelt. The whip would not be necessary. Sabina, the slave, looked up at Thandar of Ti, astonishment in her eyes, and wonder and love. She knew then the nature of the man, and his strength, who owned her.

"Bring the collar," said Thandar of Ti to one of his men.

The collar, from his belongings, was brought.

"I have found a slave who pleases me," he said. "I am collaring her."

He cared naught for the politics of cities, nor did he fear the wrath of states. He was a warrior.

He stepped behind the girl and, in the manner of Ti and certain other cities, thrust down her head and held ready the opened collar.

"Submit," he said.

"I submit myself, totally, Master," she said.

Roughly he shut the collar, enclosing her lovely throat in the obdurate band of slave steel. He then, with his foot, spurned her to the floor.

"Throw me among your women, Master," she begged.

"I shall," he said. He then turned away and strode from the tavern.

But I had little doubt the lovely Sabina would be his preferred slave.

One of Thandar of Ti's men sought out Busebius, and made settlement of the bill.

"He is keeping me as a slave," said Sabina to me, elatedly. "How strong and marvelous he is! I fear only I will not be able to love him enough!"

I kissed her. It is difficult for a girl not to esteem a man who does as he pleases, even though it is to her that it be done. A woman admires strength, especially if it is used to dominate and control her. It is, it seems, for men to command and women to obey, for men to dominate and women to submit, for men to claim and for women to yield. It is, it seems, the way of primate nature. Its test is enactment; its proof is joy; its evidence is love. If we have lost this, we have lost part of ourselves.

"I wish you well," cried Sabina. "I wish you all well!"

"I wish you well!" I cried.

The others, too, paga girls in the tavern, wished her well.