by John Norman
"Yes, Master," she said. I then let her loose, and she fell back, twisting, on her shoulder, to the floor of the cage. She pounded on the floor of the cage with her small fists. She tore at the blanket on the floor with her fingernails, sobbing. Then she lay quietly. "Put me out on the floor," she said. "Chain me to a ring."
"Why?" asked the hostess.
"Because I am a slave," she said.
"You are not yet sufficiently skilled, slave," said my hostess.
The slave wept.
We then went to the next occupied cage.
Here a brunet, well-curved, with sweet, full thighs, knelt close to the bars, grasping them with her small hands, her face pressed between two of them. The bars in these cages are set about four inches apart, and are about an inch in thickness. They are heavy, sturdy cages. Here the card read "Mina'.
"This is the former Lady Mina, a huntress, from the luxurious Noviminae villas in the vicinity of Lydius. But she is a huntress no more."
I regarded her.
"Speak," said my hostess to the woman.
"I went hunting," she said, "but it was I who was caught and put in a cage." "How were you taken?" I asked.
"Please," she said.
"Speak," I said, "or will it be necessary to draw you forth from the cage and whip you?"
"I was the Lady Mina," she said, "of the villas of Noviminae, near Lydius. I set out in my hunting leather with crossbow, upon a pacing tharlarion, after tabuk." "You were alone?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"A fool, fit for the collar," commented my hostess.
"I was after tabuk," she said, "but others, too, were abroad that day, who sought a slower, softer game."
My hostess laughed, and the slave clasped the bars yet more tightly.
"I did not suspect they were in the vicinity," said the slave.
"That is not unusual," I said. Such men, of course, commonly know their business. "I spotted a tabuk, and set off in hot pursuit, across the fields," she said. "It was an agile, wily beast, and led me a splendid chase. Intent upon it I did not note the other riders, closing in upon me. The tabuk harried to exhaustion, helpless, lying gasping on the grass, I rode to it, my crossbow ready. It would not be a difficult shot. I would enter my bolt into its heart. I took aim. But the bow was lifted from me. "Greetings, said a man. "How dare you interfere! I cried. "The tabuk is mine! "No, he said, "it is you who are ours. "What? I cried. "Greetings, said he then, "slave. "What! I cried. But I felt then two ropes, from opposite sides, encircle my neck. I was dragged back off the tharlarion into the grass. I sprang to my feet. I reached for my dagger, but it had been removed from my sheath! I stood there, wild, on the grass, between them, the two ropes on my neck. Then in short order I was stripped and bound, my ankles together and my hands before me. I saw the exhausted tabuk recover and rise unsteadily to its feet, and trot away. I, on the other hand, was thrown on my back before the saddle of the leader of these men. Both my bound ankles and wrists were thonged to rings. I was in the place in which I would have brought home the tabuk, save I would have had him on his belly, so bound. My captor had put me on my back, I suppose, so that I might see him. We then began to move slowly toward a distant wood, that of Nina. It was in that place that they had their camp. "Oh! I cried. I had never felt the hands of a man on my body. "You cannot do this to me! I cried. "I am a free woman! "Be silent, said he, "slave. I struggled wildly. Then he leaned down and seized me by the hair with his left hand, and pulled my head up, and then, then with the flat of his right hand, cuffed me, and then flung me back where I had been, as though I might have been a mere object. I could not believe it. He had cuffed me! Me! A woman from the villas of Noviminae! I lay there before him. We rode slowly. I could not believe what he was doing to me. I was a free woman! I dared not protest. I had learned my captor was not a weakling, and that he was quite capable of punishing me. Soon I began to squirm before the saddle. I could not even begin to understand such feelings. Some of the men laughed. At last, as we entered among the trees of the woods of Nina, he gave me respite. "Thank you, I said pridefully, in haughty irony. But in a moment I jerked helplessly, writhing, looking up at him, in frustration against the rings. The men laughed. "Yes? he asked. "Nothing! I said. I dared not confess to him how distressed I was at the stoppage of his touch, at the cessation of those intriguing, unfamiliar, troubling sensations which seemed to radiate through my entire body, seeming to change everything within me and my whole concept of myself. I dared not beg for more. We were then at his camp, and I was put bound on the leaves of the wood's floor. They had brought my tharlarion along. I supposed they would sell it. I wondered what my own fate would be."
My hostess laughed.
"Go on," I said.
"There were other girls, too, in this camp," she said, "but they appeared to be mere peasant lasses. They were on a common neck chain, stripped, fastened between two trees. They seemed, unlike myself, suitable candidates for slavery." My hostess smiled.
"Continue," I told the slave.
" "You will now beg to wear shackles and cook, said the leader. "Never, I said. They then untied me, but only to string me up by the ankles to a tree branch. In moments I begged to wear shackles, and cook. They took me down, and, in horror, I saw the metal put on my ankles. They were close shackles, and gave me a play of no more than three horts. They need not fear I would run away. I then, though I was of the villas of Noviminae, cooked. It was the first time I had ever served men."
"How did you feel about this?" I asked.
She looked down.
"Speak," said my hostess, sternly.
"I was unutterably thrilled, so to serve men," she whispered.
"Of course," said my hostess, "for you were not truly a huntress. You were only a slave pretending to be a huntress."
"Yes, Mistress," said the woman in the collar.
"The pretense is now over," said my hostess. "Yes, Mistress," she said.
"What occurred then?" I asked the slave.
"There is little more to tell," she said. "After the meal I lay at the feet of my captors. I was docile. I hoped that they would touch me. After they had drunk they removed the shackles from me and I was passed about, among them. I could not believe the things I did, nor the feelings I experienced. There were cries of rage, and denunciation, from the other girls, who could see everything. But I did not care. I could not help myself. They had a wagon there, with a cage on it. They would leave the camp after darkness. When they left, I, and the others, were bound hand and foot, and put in gag hoods, so that we could neither see nor speak. We were then put in the wagon cage. It was locked. We then were taken from the woods of Nina. Eventually, when our solicitations for aid would be meaningless, for who cares about the lamentations of unknown females, our gag hoods and bonds were removed. Then, still sturdily encaged, but mercifully now only stripped, we were brought south. It was a long trip. In the beginning I was much at the mercy of the other girls, and was much beaten by them. They resented my behavior in the woods. Then, at a night camp, another girl was taken from the wagon, for the pleasure of the captors. She learned, too, she was a woman. There were then two to abuse, and beat. Then there were three. And, soon, there were more in the cage who now knew themselves than did not. The beatings then must stop, save for those administered, and often harshly by the captors. Then, in time, there were none in the cage who has still to learn the meaning of their sex, none who had not now learned that they were slaves, and fully."
"Excellent," I said.
"We even began to beg for the attentions of our captors,"
"Of course," I said.
"What had begun in the vicinity of Lydius, as, with the possible exception of myself, a cage of free women had become, by the time we had reached Venna, on the Viktel Aria, a cage of competitive, amorous slaves."
"Was it at Venna that you were legally imbonded?" I asked. "Yes," she said, "it was there that the legal details were attended to. Our captors, quite rightly, adjudged
us now ready for our brands and collars. The technicalities were attended to. We were legal slaves.
"I see," I said.
"It was only a short trip then," she said, "to the sales rooms of Ar." "I understand," I said.
She, kneeling there in the cage, her hands on the bars, looked up at me. "I had been a rich woman of the villas of Noviminae," she said. "I think my captor enjoyed selling me to a brothel."
"Doubtless," I said.
She moved back a bit from the bars. She put down her head.
"What did you pay for her?" I asked.
"Three silver tarsks," said my hostess.
"That is a high price," I said.
"You had better be worth it on the floor, Mina," said my hostess.
"I will try, Mistress," said Mina.
"Perhaps you will come into the keeping of a private master someday," I said. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. "Such men," she said, "seldom buy girls out of brothels."
"Some might," I said. I looked at my hostess. "If someone were interested in her," I asked, "would she be for sale?"
"She is the only wench we have from the villas of Noviminae," said my hostess. "That is a rather special background. It is almost like once having been of high caste. That background is likely to be of interest to many of our customers. We expect her to be in frequent demand." She looked down upon the slave. "Perhaps you can tell them of the beauty of the villas, and of how spoiled and rich you were," she said, "while you squirm in their arms."
"Yes, Mistress," whispered the girl.
"But if an offer were made?" I asked.
"It would depend, of course," she said, "on the offer." "She is then for sale?" I asked.
"All our slaves are for sale," said my hostess.
"You could sell any of them to anyone then?" I asked.
"Of course," said my hostess. "To anyone who has the price."
We then proceeded to the next cage. It was the last one which was currently occupied.
This girl, like Mina, was a sweetly bodied slut, with luscious swelling breasts, a stocky, but considerably narrower waist, and wide hips, nursing a marvelous love cradle in which a man might lose himself with pleasure. She, too, like Mina, was nicely thighed. She, too, like Mina, was a brunet. She, too, like Mina, wore a close-fitting steel collar. She, kneeling in her cage, had not been unaware, of course, of our progress. When we appeared before her cage, she put her head down to the blanket, the palms of her hands on the floor of the cage, beside her head. It is a lovely gesture of obeisance, and required by many masters of their women.
"Her name is "Candice'," I said, reading the cage card. "That is an Earth-girl name. Is she an Earth-girl?"
"No," said my hostess. "She is from Tabor. We thought it a lovely name. We put it on her."
I nodded. It was a lovely name. If any girl were to appear on Gor with such a name, of course, she would be immediately taken to be a slave, and would be treated as such. She would soon be in a collar. Her fate would be bondage. "A very attractive slut," I said.
"Yes," said my hostess.
"How much did she cost?" I asked.
"Two silver tarsks," said my hostess.
"Interesting," I said. "Her beauty seems quite comparable to that of her chain sister, Mina, and yet Mina brought a full tarsk more."
"It is the Noviminae background," said the hostess.
"Interesting," I said. "It seems that sometimes what is being paid for is not the mere female herself."
"Of course not," said my hostess. "Suppose she was a Ubar's daughter." "I see," I said. "The daughter of a Ubar may bring ten thousand pieces of gold in a private sale," said the hostess, "but, as a woman, as a mere female on a chain, she may be worth far less than thousands of wenches one might lead home for a few copper tarsks."
"That is true," I said. And it is not unoften the case that such a common wench, of which little is expected, bought originally perhaps with the mere object of keeping her for week or so and then reselling her, will be discovered to be an astounding value. Fortunate is the master who gets so much for so little.
Fortunate is he who discovers that for his pittance he has purchased a treasure. He does not take her back in a week. She tugs at her chain; it is fastened securely to his ring. What counts ultimately, in my opinion, is not the cost of the merchandise, but its value, its quality; it is not what one pays that is ultimately important, but what gets for one's money. One day he considers himself, looking down at the slave at his feet; it is he whom she struggles so hard to please, as a slave must; it is he who is he in whose complete power she finds herself; it is he whom she must serve so humbly, and who is so strict with her, it is he who is her master; he looks down into her eyes; he sees that she, looking up at him, unable to help herself, has become his love slave. He smiles. He fingers his whip. He wonders if perhaps he is her love master. She bends down, kissing his feet. He knows he must guard against weakness. He must never forget the whip. She understands the whip. All slaves do. He watches her, her hair about his feet, and feels her lips and tongue. The sensations are not unpleasant. If he does not find the relationship satisfactory, of course, he may always sell her.
"I think I will return to the table," I said. "Thank you for showing me these wenches. They seem superb merchandise. I think, in time, with training, they will all prove excellent upon the floor."
"That is our hope," said my hostess. "We want the Tunnels to be one of the best brothels on the entire Alley of the Slave Brothels of Ludmilla."
"Who is Ludmilla?" I asked.
"I have never met her," said my hostess. We then returned to the floor. In our return we paused briefly by the girls at the side of the open space. "Yartel and Demet are now serving," said my hostess. "These two others are now open, ready for new rings," She indicated a blond and a brunet. "Ita and Tia," she said.
"Lovely," I said.
Louise, the Earth girl there, looked at me, aghast. Then she looked away. I gather she had not known that men from Earth, or once from Earth, could look in such a way upon women.
"But you will return to the table?" asked my hostess.
"Yes," I said.
"I shall have one of the slaves fetch you a drink," she said.
"That one," I said, indicating Louise.
"Certainly," she said. She snapped her fingers and Louise sprang up, and came to where we stood. Then she knelt.
I looked to one of the tables near my own. There was the free woman, in the sleeveless dress, with the low dA©colletage. She looked about. The fellow she had earlier approached was now slumped on the table. On the table was a bottle of ka-la-na. There were two glasses there. I saw her cut the strings of his purse and slip it inside her dress. On her left hand, as she did this, I saw a ring. I did not think she had had it on her hand before. I had seen such rings before. "What would you like?" asked my hostess.
I had been considering a glass of paga, perhaps, if it were available in a place such as this, of the brewery of Temus. I now, considering the rather revealingly clad free female, changed my mind.
"I think, upon reflection," I said, "that I shall order later."
"Very well," she said. Then she turned to Louise, kneeling in attendance. "When you are dismissed, if you are dismissed, return to your post," she said. "Do not neglect, however, to observe this table. When he wishes to order, and lifts his finger, hurry to him. Then obtain what he wishes from the bar."
"Yes, Mistress," said Louise. "I may be ordering a bottle," I said to the hostess.
"The admission price was only a tarsk bit," she reminded me.
"Forgive me," I said. I then counted her out five copper tarsks. I did this a bit obtrusively. The free woman, she with the low dA©colletage, as I had expected, did not fail to note this. She glanced back at the fellow slumped over the table. He would not awaken, doubtless, for some time, perhaps an Ahn or more.
"Ah!" said my hostess. "You are generous! For so much whatever you might like in the house, and as much of it as you li
ke, is yours."
"Thank you," I said.
My hostess then took her leave.
I regarded Louise.
She looked up at me.
"Master?" she asked.
"You are dismissed," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said. She rose to her feet, her head down, backed away a step or tow, and then turned and hurried back to her place with the other girls. The female, I saw, was kept under good discipline. This pleased me. It is good for them.
"I see that you have dismissed a slave," said the free woman, she with the low dA©colletage.
"Yes," I said.
"Are you from out of town?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. The ring was not on her finger now.
"Are you enjoying Ar?" she asked.
I shrugged.
"It can be lonely for a stranger," she said.
"Would you care to join me?" I asked.
"I'm sorry," she said. "It would not be proper, I do not even know you." "Forgive me," I said. "I did not mean to be forward."
She moved her left foot a little, causing the bangles on her left ankle to move slightly. Most free women, of course, would never wear such things. They are regarded as suitable and appropriate only for slaves. She moved the bracelets on her left wrist up her forearm an inch or two. The tiny noise this made was exciting, slave exciting. With one hand she threw her hair back. It was loose. Slaves commonly wear their hair loose. She moved subtly, charmingly, seemingly inadvertently, within the dress. Then she seemed, suddenly, concerned with it. Could there be something wrong with it? She then, almost apologetically, adjusted one of the shoulder straps of the dress, pulling it up tighter and more to the side. She did this as though not giving it much though, and as though modestly, but in such a way, with such a movement of her body, and with such an effect, that she called dramatic and inevitable attention to the marvelousness of her breasts. Such breasts, I thought, would probably increase her value as a slave.
"That is all right," she said. "No offense was taken."
"I am really very sorry," I said.
"It is my fault," she smiled. "I should not have been so forward. I should not have spoken first."