"Women look well in collars," he said.
"Yes, Master."
I did not doubt but what that was true.
"You are a well-curved, and desirable slave," he said.
"Thank you, Master," I said.
"You were born to wear a collar," he said.
"Yes, Master," I whispered.
"It is your perfect destiny."
"Yes, Master," I whispered.
I had been found worth collaring. Not every woman is. The collar is, in its way, of course, a tribute to a woman's beauty, her desirability. In its way it reassures her of her worth as a woman. Is it not a symbol, in a sense, of approval, a badge betokening excellence, a sign of coveted, discovered quality, an image or emblem of authentic approbation? She has been found worthy of being put in a collar. Too, I suppose, the collar gives a woman a sense of security as well as of merit, rather, perhaps, as a ring might in a different culture. Does it not signify to her that she is, in her way, esteemed, and certainly desired, and wanted. How many women are, that way, and to that extent? We are wanted so much that nothing will satisfy them less than taking us in hand, and owning us! We are that desirable! They want us that much! And they will have nothing less from us than the perfection they desire of a woman. And they will have it from us! And we will be zealous to see that they receive it! We are slaves, and they are masters! Theirs is the whip, and ours it is to serve, and obey. It is no mystery why free women hold us in such contempt, why they so despise us, why they fear us, and resent us, and hate us. They envy us. They are jealous of us! We have our masters, our meaning, and our raptures.
"Why did you resist my advances in Corcyrus?" I asked.
"You were not toying with me?" he asked.
"No," I said.
"There were many reasons," he said. "There was a discrepancy in our stations. I thought you a Tatrix. I was only a soldier. Too, deception was involved in my post. I was truly serving Argentum, and Ar, not Corcyrus. Too, though in a part of me I recognized the slave in you the first time I laid eyes on you, in another part of me, I supposed you actually, in spite of the evidence of my senses, to be a free woman. Thus, it was important, though it tortured me to do so under the circumstances, to accord you respect and dignity."
"Rather would you have accorded me force and mastery," I smiled.
"Yes," he said. 'Too, do not forget that on a certain level, or in a certain part of me, I recognized that you were, rather clearly, a slave. How then could I admit to myself that I, a warrior of Ar, might have certain feelings towards one such as you, only a slave? Too, that I discerned your pettiness, your cruelty and shallowness, dissuaded me from honestly admitting my feelings to myself. I did not wish to regard myself as a fool. Further, of course, you, seemingly so haughty and mighty a Tatrix, treated me with injustice and scorn. It is little wonder I dreamed of you in my collar, in my chains, under my whip."
"Does it still distress you that I am a slave?" I asked.
"No," he said.
"Even a natural slave?" I asked.
"No," he said.
"You lost a silver tarsk to Publius on the matter," I reminded him.
"It was a bet which, in my heart, I hoped to lose," he said.
"It was a coin then," I said, "which was well lost."
"Yes," he said, smiling.
I licked at his knee, slowly, lovingly. Then I looked up at him.
He put down the goblet on the tiles, to the right of the chair.
He took my head between his hands, those large, strong hands.
"You are a superb natural slave," he said.
"Forgive me, Master," I said.
"I do not object," he said.
"Good," I said.
"In fact, it pleases me," he said.
"Good," I whispered.
He held my head between his hands, closely, roughly, tenderly, as though it might have been that of a dog.
"Do some men care for their slaves," I asked, "just a little?"
"Some men care for them much more than a little," he said.
"Even natural slaves?" I asked.
"Those are the best sort," he said.
"I am glad to hear it," I said.
"In every woman," he said, "if one can but find it, I believe there is a natural slave."
"I believe it is true, Master," I said.
Then I felt myself drawn to his lips, and I was drawn half into the chair, and then he, holding my head, not releasing it, turned, and I felt myself moved backwards and to the side, to my knees, before the chair, and then he was crouching before me, and then I felt myself being lowered backwards to the floor. "I love you," I whispered. "I love you, my master!"
* * * *
"Do I make you weak?" I asked.
I lay now on love furs, at the foot of his couch. He had put a chain on my neck.
"No," he said.
I leaned over, and kissed him, delicately, intimately.
"Aiii!" he said.
"I see that my master speaks the truth," I said.
"She-sleen!" he said, and then, with a rattle of chain, threw me again beneath him.
* * * *
"I would be a hundred slaves to you," I whispered, "a thousand!"
"You are," he whispered. "You are."
* * * *
"Doubtless master is tired now," I said, "and should rest. I will stop."
"Not yet! Not yet!" he said.
"Very well," I said.
* * * *
"Insatiable slut!" he growled. "Do you think I am made of iron?"
"It seemed so," I said.
"Desist," he said.
"Yes, Master," I laughed. It was hard for me to keep my hands off Drusus Rencius. He was so beautiful. I snuggled down beside him, my head at his hip. I kissed his hip. Then I lay there, quietly, beside him. "I am not disturbing you now, am I?" I asked.
"No," he said.
"Would you like to rest now?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. His hand was in my hair.
"Would you like me to relax you?" I asked.
"Very well," he said.
I crawled to my knees.
In a few moments, he said, "Is that your idea, as how to relax a man?"
I laughed, and continued my work, lovingly.
"Obviously you have been trained," he said.
"I am not one of those women who thinks her part in making love is finished when she lies down," I said.
"That is clear," he said. The slave, of course, is not permitted the ignorance, inertness and mediocrity of the free woman. She must serve marvelously and totally. Nothing less is permitted her.
"I am a woman of many talents," I assured him.
"Doubtless," he said, half moaning.
"I have attended school," I informed him. "And I am a skilled feast slave. I am also skilled at weaving on a mill loom."
"Marvelous," he gasped.
"Shall I stop now?" I asked.
"Continue," he said.
"But I thought you wished to rest?" I said.
He looked at me, menacingly.
"I shall continue," I said. "I would certainly not wish for a command to have to be repeated. That would be a reflection on my discipline. Too, I have no wish to be beaten twice in one day."
"I wonder who is the master and who is the slave," he said.
"You are the master, and I am the slave," I said. "I am clear on that."
"Would you care to mount me?" he asked.
Eagerly I did so.
"Are you now Mistress?" he asked.
"Whatever Master wishes," I laughed. I sensed, suddenly, what might be the sensations of power and pleasure a woman might experience, putting a male to her use, before she was restored to the order of nature, and her servitude. "Would you truly permit me this?" I asked.
"Of course," he said, "but, later, we will do it somewhat differently."
"Yes, Master," I said, puzzled.
Then, to my amazement and delight, grinding and tensing, watching him close
ly, I transformed him into a squirming slave beneath me, and then, when it pleased me, took his yielding from him.
Later in the afternoon, when we had rested, and he had had food brought in, and we had eaten, he put me again in such a place, but this time I must face his feet and my hands were held behind me. In such a way, sometimes, a captured free woman, stripped, is placed backwards on a kaiila, her hands bound behind her. This is usually done only when she is being led to slavery. In such a way, then, he used me. My slavery was again well impressed upon me. This type of position, it might be mentioned, is also used by Gorean masters with the woman facing forward, where he can see her face, but with her hands tied, say, before her or behind her, or at her collar, bound either with actual thongs or, most cruelly, "by his will," that form of "tie" in which a woman must keep her hands in a given position, for example, holding them as if bound, or, say, keeping them on her hips or clasped behind the back of her neck. If she breaks such a position, of course, she is subject to terrible discipline. She must then, as he lies slothful and recumbent beneath her, at his ease, observing her, perhaps amused, writhe upon command and thus serve, and eventually cap, his volcano. Later he taught me this sort of thing first-hand. He used the collar tie and, mercifully, with real thongs. When he was finished I had not only learned again that I was a slave but that this general sort of position, even with the female facing forward, has no intrinsic connection with female dominance. He had let me experience it in that fashion, as though it might, to see what it was like. He had then returned me to total bondage.
* * * *
"Master," I said.
"Yes," he said.
"I have been doing a great deal of thinking," I said.
"Is that what you have been doing?" he asked.
"I mean, in the last few Ehn," I said.
"Yes?" he said.
"I have learned my collar," I said.
"Good," he said.
"You have taught it to me well," I said.
He shrugged. The Goreans have a theory that any man can teach a woman her collar, and perfectly.
"But was it necessary," I asked, "that you used me as you did earlier, after you had whipped me?"
"How was that?" he asked.
"Master!" I protested. Then I saw that he wished to make me speak. "When you made me kneel, with my head down," I said, embarrassed.
"No," he said. "It was not necessary."
"Then why did you do it?" I asked.
"It amused me," he said.
"Surely there was more to it than that," I said.
"Yes," he said, "it is a useful way to show a woman, one who may be proud, or not clear on the matter, that she is a slave."
"I see," I said. "I find it difficult to forget the experience."
"Oh?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Doubtless you were appropriately degraded and shamed," he said.
"No," I said. "To be sure," I said, "it was instructive, but, as I recall it now, I found it very moving and exciting."
"You liked it?" he asked.
"Doubtless it brought my slavery home to me," I said, carefully.
"I would think so," he said. "It would doubtless be difficult to continue to think of oneself as a free woman after having been used in that fashion."
"I liked it," I said, suddenly.
"That is interesting," he said. The beast! He knew I had almost screamed with submission and pleasure!
"Are slaves often used in such a fashion?" I asked, as though unconcerned.
"Sometimes," he said.
"Might I ever again be put under such a discipline?" I asked.
"Perhaps," he said.
I looked at him.
"Perhaps if you beg prettily enough," he said.
"I will," I smiled. "I will!"
"Do you recall the position?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Speak," he said.
"The girl kneels, with her head down, her hands clasped behind her neck," I said.
"You recall the position perfectly," he admitted.
"Yes," I said.
"Assume it," he said.
"Yes, Master," I said, joyfully.
* * * *
"Thank you, Master," I said, softly, lying in his arms, thanking him for his touch.
It was now evening. Again he had gone to the door and summoned a slave. Again we had had food brought in and had, again, eaten.
"Ohhhh," I said softly. "Thank you. Thank you, Master. You are my master. You are my master! Thank you. Thank you, my master."
Then, later, he held me closely.
"Master," I said.
"Yes?" he said.
"I have often wondered what was the meaning of a golden cage, and why I, when thought a Tatrix, was placed in one."
"The gold," said he, "is a precious metal, is thought perhaps fitting for a free woman, in particular for one of high station, and certainly for a Tatrix. That it is a cage, on the other hand, signifies that she is taken to be, in actuality, no better than a slave, and only fit to be a slave. To place her in such a cage is then to make a clear statement as to her true and rightful nature."
"I see," I said. "And doubtless the golden sack is of similar import."
"Yes," he said.
"Yet Hassan enslaved Sheila before placing her in such a sack."
"True," he said, "and that she as a mere slave was yet placed in such a sack must have induced exquisite emotions in her, emotions of fear, of outrage and humiliation."
"Doubtless," I said.
"It was a joke on the part of Hassan," he said, "an exquisite one."
"Doubtless," I said.
"But doubtless, too," he said, "it served a useful purpose in her on-going training."
"Doubtless," I said.
"But doubtless, too," he laughed, "it seemed an appropriate modality, did it not, in which to transport a former Tatrix to Argentum?"
"Yes," I said. I shuddered.
"But I think you need not fear confinement now in golden cages or golden sacks," he said. "Cages formed of simple, sturdy bars of black iron and deep, doubly-sewn sacks of heavy, plain leather, black and thick, tied or locked shut, will now serve well enough for you, confinements suitable to the more common sort of slave you now are."
"Yes, Master," I laughed. Such devices would suffice quite well, surely, for a common girl such as I now was.
"Master," I said.
"Yes?" he said.
"Read me my collar," I begged, "please."
"I showed it to you before," he said. "You should have read it for yourself."
"You are teasing me," I pouted. "You know I cannot read."
"Not even your collar?" he asked.
"No," I said.
"Well," he said, "do not worry about it. It is not necessary for you to be able to read your collar. All that is necessary, from your point of view, is that it is locked on you, that you cannot remove it, and that it can be read by free men."
"Are you going to teach me to read?" I asked.
"Such skills would seem to have a very low priority," he said. "For example, can you play the kalika?"
"No," I said.
"Do you know the exercises and luscious movements of slave dance?" he asked.
"Not really," I said.
"So why should you be taught to read?" he asked.
"I could spy on your mail," I said.
"I had not considered that," he admitted.
"It could improve my price," I said.
"That is probably true," he said.
"Many men," I said, "enjoy having a girl who can read. It gives them pleasure to make her serve as well, or better, than an illiterate girl."
"I shall think about it," he said.
"Thank you, Master," I said. Whether I would learn to read or not was not up to me. In the final analysis, it was up to masters. It would be done with me as they wished.
"Tell me, please," I asked, "what is on my collar."
"A speck o
f dust," he said. "There, I have removed it."
"Please," I said.
"It is simple," he said. "It says, 'I belong to Drusus Rencius, of Ar.'"
I kissed him. "It speaks the truth not only of my legal condition," I said, "but of my heart."
He then, again, began to touch me. "Thank you, Master," I breathed, again. I did not know whether or not I would be taught to read. Then, in a few moments, gently, softly, I began again to yield to him.
* * * *
I lay on one elbow, regarding Drusus Rencius. "What did you pay for me?" I asked.
"It is not important," he said.
"I am curious to know," I said.
"Curiosity is not becoming in a Kajira," he said.
"Nonetheless," I said, "we are notoriously curious. Doubtless the saying would not otherwise have gained such wide currency."
"That is probably true," he said.
"I would like to know," I said.
"What is the difference of a coin or two?" he asked.
"I know it was not much," I said.
"Oh?" he asked.
I laughed merrily, and he reddened. I knew I had triumphed!
"You paid for me!" I laughed. "You know what you paid! What did I cost you? What did I bring Miles of Argentum!"
"I do not recall," he said.
"Miles of Argentum," I laughed, "when he saw me in Corcyrus, thought I would bring a whole silver tarsk! He, then, too, had only seen me fully clothed, clad in the full regalia of the Tatrix. Only my face had been unveiled! Had he seen me naked he might have raised his estimate! Too, suppose he had seen me in a posture of submission or had had me writhe at his feet in slave chains! Suppose he had put me through detailed and methodical slave paces, or had had me bring him the whip in my teeth!"
"Perhaps he would have added a copper tarsk or so to your price," speculated Drusus Rencius. "Who knows?"
"You yourself," I said, slyly, maliciously, "in Corcyrus, as I recall, conjectured that I would probably bring only between fifteen and twenty copper tarsks."
"That seems about right," he said. "In a normal market, under normal conditions, of course."
"But that was untrained," I said. "Subsequently I was trained."
"Yes," he said, "that is true. I suppose it would be only fair to improve your price by a copper tarsk or so in virtue of such a consideration."
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