"Many years ago, from a man," said Pumpkin, "one who had not always been of the Waniyanpi."
"What became of him?" I asked.
"He was killed," said Pumpkin, "by Yellow Knives."
"Now," said Carrot, "Yellow Knives are our masters."
"No," said Cuwignaka. "The Kaiila are your masters."
"The Kaiila are gone," said Cabbage. "They are vanquished and scattered."
"They will return," said Cuwignaka, his voice like iron.
We spoke in Gorean. I was just as pleased. This meant that Hci could not follow what was said. It would not have done my plans any good if he had leapt across the fire and thrust his knife into Cabbage's throat.
"Alas," said Pumpkin. "We have only porridge."
"To share the kettle of a friend," I said, "is to dine with a Ubar."
"That, too, is a Gorean saying, is it not?" asked Pumpkin.
"Yes," I said.
"Let us all sit," said Pumpkin, "saving those whose turn it is to prepare the porridge."
The Waniyanpi, most of them, then gathered about the fire and sat down. They seemed pleased, most of them, that there were guests. An iron rack was brought, from which a kettle was suspended. The fire was built up.
"I will stir for you, Carrot," said a dark-haired girl.
"I will stir for you, Cabbage," said a blond girl.
"It is my turn," said Cabbage.
"Please," said the girl, glancing at Mira.
"Very well," said Cabbage.
"Carrot and Cabbage must then, later, stir twice," said Radish.
"No," said the dark-haired girl.
"No," said the blond-haired girl.
"Do you recall Squash and Strawberry, the two young people who were recently put out of the compound?" I asked Pumpkin.
"Yes," he said, sadly.
"They are safe now," I said, "in a Kaiila camp."
"I am so pleased to hear it!" exclaimed Pumpkin.
"Wonderful!" said several of the Waniyanpi. I saw that they had not truly wanted the young couple, who had been caught touching one another, to die. I had suspected that that would be the case.
"It was Radish who wanted them put out," said Carrot.
"They were caught touching," said Radish, angrily.
"Squash has now taken a Kaiila name," I said, "'Wayuhahaka', which means 'One-Who-Possesses-Much.'"
"But he possesses little or nothing," said Radish.
"He has found his manhood," I said, "and nothing, ever again, will take it from him."
"That is not a fitting name for a Same," said Radish.
"He is no longer a Same," I said.
"Disgusting," she said.
"He is also learning the bow and the lance," I said to Pumpkin.
"Interesting," he said.
"Strawberry remains Strawberry," I said. "That name, at least at this time, is being kept upon her. He has not yet seen fit to change it."
"'Being kept upon her'?" asked Radish. "'He has not yet seen fit to change it'?"
"He found her pleasing," I said. "He has made her his slave."
"His slave!" breathed the dark-haired girl stirring the porridge.
"Yes," I said.
She stopped stirring the porridge.
"Then he can take off her clothes, if he wishes," said the blond girl, pausing in her stirring as well.
"Whether she is clothed or not now," I said, "is completely up to his will."
"He can touch her whenever he wishes?" asked another Waniyanpi woman.
"Of course," I said. "Whenever, however, and for as long as he pleases. And, as she is a slave, she may now wheedle for his caress, and beg for his touch."
"If she is a slave, she must obey him, must she not?" asked the dark-haired girl.
"She must obey him perfectly, and in all things," I said.
"Stir the porridge," said Radish.
The two girls again commenced their stirring.
"She is a slave, is she not?" asked the Waniyanpi woman who had spoken before, she who was not engaged in the stirring, pointing at Mira.
"Yes," I said. Mira lowered her head, modestly.
"Do not look upon her," snapped Radish, "particularly those of you whose garments are of larger sizes!"
"Anyone may look upon her who pleases to do so," said Pumpkin.
Mira blushed. She kept her head down. Pumpkin was right, of course. Slaves, being properties, may be looked upon by anyone who pleases to do so.
"I do not want her here," said Radish, angrily.
"Why not?" I asked.
"She is a slave," said Radish.
"I thought all the Waniyanpi were slaves," I said.
Radish looked at me, angrily.
"To be sure," I said, "the universalization of slavery is its best concealment."
"The porridge is ready," said the dark-haired girl with the spoon.
It was popping and bubbling.
"Let us eat," said Pumpkin.
* * * *
"What is she doing?" asked Radish, irritably.
"She is serving," I said.
Mira knelt near me, head down, her arms extended, proffering me a bowl of the Waniyanpi porridge.
The porridge had been removed by a hook from the rack and placed on another rack, to the side. The blond girl had brought out wooden bowls and spoons.
"Each here serves himself, in turn," said Radish.
"Your porridge, Master," said Mira.
"Thank you," I said, taking the porridge.
She then returned to the line, to fetch porridge for Cuwignaka and Hci.
"She is pretty, is she not?" said the dark-haired girl, she who had shared in the stirring of the porridge, to Carrot. He was watching Mira.
"Yes," he said.
"Am I pretty?" she asked.
"You are not pretty, and you are not ugly," he said. "You are a Same. Sames are not pretty and they are not ugly. They are all the same."
"Oh," she said.
Mira then returned from the porridge kettle and knelt near Cuwignaka. Head down, her arms extended, she proffered him porridge as she had me.
"Thank you," said Cuwignaka.
She then rose up and returned, again, to the line near the kettle.
"She serves well," said Pumpkin.
"Women learn quickly," I told him.
The dark-haired girl and the blond girl, who had shared in the stirring, who were sitting, cross-legged, near Carrot and Cabbage, rose to their feet, going again to the porridge line.
"I have thought about the things we discussed," said Pumpkin. "I have thought about them, many times."
"I had thought you might," I said. Indeed, that was why I had come to the lodge of the Waniyanpi.
Mira returned to our vicinity now and knelt near Hci, proffering him a bowl of porridge as she had to Cuwignaka and me. He took it with one hand. He spoke to her in Kaiila and snapped his fingers. She put her head down to the dirt before him. He spoke again. She kissed the dust before him, humbly. He spoke again and she straightened up and then again lowered her head to the dust before him. He spoke again and she withdrew to her former position where she knelt as before. Again he spoke, and she lowered her head, humbly.
"She obeys with perfection," said Pumpkin.
"How thrilling it would be to be so under the command of a man and to obey him with such perfection," said a Waniyanpi woman, softly, almost to herself.
"Thank you, Hci," said I, in Kaiila.
"Thank you, Hci," said Cuwignaka.
"It is nothing," said Hci.
Hci's lesson had not been lost upon us. Cuwignaka and I, perhaps inadvertently, had been too soft with Mira. The slave who is treated too leniently may begin to forget that she is a slave. It may be necessary, then, to remind her. Beatings can be useful for this purpose.
The two girls who had gone to the porridge line, the dark-haired girl and the blond girl, had returned a bit before, each with their bowl refilled with porridge. They had been in time, standing, watching, to see Mira put thr
ough her paces by Hci. They were almost trembling.
The dark-haired girl knelt down near Carrot. "I have brought you some more porridge," she said.
He looked at her, startled.
"Would you like some more?" she asked, timidly.
"Yes," he said, taking her bowl.
"Here," said the blond girl, kneeling down near Cabbage, pressing her bowl of porridge towards him.
"Thank you," he said, startled.
"Each here," snapped Radish, "fetches his own porridge."
"No," said the dark-haired girl.
"No," said the blond girl.
"I think maybe, even though you are a Same, that maybe you are pretty," said Carrot to the dark-haired girl.
"Could you command me," she asked, "as that other girl is commanded?"
"No," he said, "of course not! You are a Same!"
"Oh," she said.
"Do you not have pressing business elsewhere?" Radish asked me.
"No," I said.
"I think it is time that you left our domicile," she said.
"I have not yet finished my porridge," I said.
"Do not be rude, Radish," said Pumpkin. "These are our guests."
Radish tossed her head, which seemed an uncharacteristic, almost feminine gesture for her, and looked away.
I handed the residue of my porridge, in its wooden bowl, back to Mira. I left the spoon beside me. She would not be so stupid as to ask for it. Slaves commonly eat without utensils. The porridge, by now, of course, had cooled.
"If necessary," said Radish, "you can be put out by force."
"I do not think so," I said.
"What do you want here?" she asked. "Why have you come here?"
"Surely the pleasure of sharing a kettle with friends is reason enough," I said.
She glared at me in fury.
Mira had fallen upon the porridge with gusto. She now, with her fingers and tongue, was wiping the bowl clean. She did not eat now as might a rich, free woman, from a golden or silver service, with precious, lustrously polished utensils, softly glowing upon glistening linen, sumptuously, in some fine house. She ate now as a slave, and was grateful for her feeding.
"I think it is time, now, for you to leave," said Radish, acidly.
I then rose from beside the fire and walked about it, taking a position among several of the Waniyanpi. They drew back, rather in a circle about me.
"To me, Mira," I snapped.
Swiftly she leapt to her feet and hurried about the fire, to stand before me.
She was very beautiful, in her strings and rags.
"Remove your clothing," I told her.
She reached behind her neck, to undo the halter, this action lifting the line of her breasts, beautifully.
A gasp of awe escaped the Waniyanpi.
She reached to the knot at her left hip. A cry of pleasure escaped the Waniyanpi.
The former Lady Mira of Venna now stood before me, a naked slave.
"To my lips, Slave," I said.
She melted into my arms, embracing and kissing me, as a slave into the arms of her master.
"Aiii!" cried several of the men, softly.
"Ohhh," breathed several of the women.
Deeply then did I kiss the slave.
She seemed lost in my touch. She whimpered. She abandoned herself in my arms, surrendering fully, as a slave must, or be beaten, to the master.
"Put them out!" I heard, a screaming as though from faraway. "Put them out!"
I became vaguely aware of the pounding of small fists on my back. Then whoever was doing this was pulled away.
I looked about. Pumpkin, forcibly, was restraining Radish.
"Put them out!" Radish was screaming hysterically. "Put them out!"
The dark-haired girl, then, she who had helped with the stirring of the porridge, slipped suddenly, defiantly, from her garment. The blond girl did so, too. These two, then, were as bared as Mira.
"No!" screamed Radish, looking at them. "No!"
"Yes!" cried the dark-haired girl.
"Yes!" cried the blond girl.
"Put them out!" cried Radish, pointing to the two girls, and to Carrot and Cabbage. "Put them all out!"
"Yellow Knives!" cried a man, near the door.
There was an instant silence in the Waniyanpi lodge. Radish turned pale.
"There are two of them," said the man. "They are at the entrance to the compound."
"What is going on?" Hci asked Cuwignaka.
Cuwignaka spoke briefly to him, and he nodded. Cuwignaka and Hci then stood up. I stepped away from Mira. Cuwignaka, Hci and I exchanged glances. We loosened our weapons. We had not counted on the appearance of Yellow Knives.
"I will see what they want," said Pumpkin. He turned about and left us.
"They will not go away," said Radish. "I know it!"
"What do you think they want?" I asked her.
"I do not know," she said. "Food? Shelter? They make demands on us as they please."
"They take what they want," said a man.
"Am I pretty?" asked the dark-haired girl of Carrot.
"Yes," he said, "oh, yes! You are pretty! You are beautiful!"
"Am I pretty?" asked the blond girl of Cabbage.
"Yes," he said. "You, too, are beautiful!"
"Take me in your arms and put your lips to mine," said the dark-haired girl to Carrot.
"But that would be to touch you!" he said.
"I am naked," she said. "Kiss me, I beg you."
"That would be to touch you," he whispered. "Do you not understand? It would be to touch you—to touch you."
"I cannot be a woman if you will not be a man," she said.
He took her in his arms and they kissed. The blond girl, too, then, was in the arms of Cabbage.
"You are fools!" said Radish.
Carrot and Cabbage, then, Carrot with his arm about the dark-haired girl and Cabbage with his arm about the blond girl, turned, with the rest of us, to regard the threshold.
It was quiet in the lodge of the Waniyanpi.
I heard the fire crackle in the fire hole.
I glanced at the two girls, one with Carrot, the other with Cabbage.
They had stripped themselves. They were clearly slaves. It was now only a question of who would be their masters. Normally red savages are not interested in Waniyanpi women but I had little doubt that in the case of these two wenches the Yellow Knives would be prepared to make an exception. They were desirable and beautiful; this was not because of their mere nudity but rather, I think, because of something else, something which had taken place within them, something psychological; this might perhaps best be characterized as a surrender to their womanhood; in any event they were now no longer mere Waniyanpi females but prizes and treasures; they were now eminently worthy of having their wrists bound before their bodies and being led behind a master's kaiila. I did not think that the Yellow Knives would see fit to neglect them; only too obviously were they now ready to be put beneath the will of a man. I observed them, and Carrot and Cabbage. I wondered if Carrot and Cabbage would object, if the Yellow Knives entered and, finding the girls of interest, and deciding to take them, tied them and led them away. I supposed not, for they were Waniyanpi males. Then I looked at their eyes. Their eyes were stern. I smiled to myself. Perhaps, after all, they were men.
"They will enter," said Radish. "I know it!"
"You must hide," said a man.
"No," I said.
"If they find you here, they will kill you," said a man.
"No," I said. "If they find us here, it is they who will die."
"You must leave!" said Radish.
"No," I said.
"It is not just you who are in danger," said Radish. "Do you not understand? They will think that we have welcomed you!"
"You have," I said. "The meal was superb. Thank you."
"They may not just want to kill you," she said. "They may wish to kill us all!"
"Perhaps," I said.
"You must leave," she said. "Your presence here jeopardizes us all!"
"I do not think so," I said.
"Leave!" said Radish.
"You cannot expect them to just walk out," said a man. "What about the Yellow Knives?"
"Perhaps they could escape out the back," said a man. "Digging out, under the logs."
"I do not think there is time for that," said another.
"Too," said another, "it might be difficult to conceal the signs of such an escape, so quickly."
"True," agreed another.
"You are right!" cried Radish. "If they are caught leaving, or if signs of their escape are found, it will be clear to the Yellow Knives, in either case, that they were here."
"That seems true," said a man.
"There is a chance!" said Radish.
The Waniyanpi regarded her, with interest.
"There is only one thing to do!" she said. "I see it now, clearly!"
"What is that?" asked a man.
"Seize them," she cried, wildly, pointing at us. "Seize them!"
No one moved.
"Seize them!" she cried. "Do you want to die? Do you want to be killed? Seize them!"
"Why?" asked a man.
"I do not want to die!" she cried. "I do not want to be killed by Yellow Knives!"
The Waniyanpi looked at one another.
"Seize them, bind them!" she cried.
"Why?" asked a man.
"That they may be turned over to Yellow Knives, you fool!" she cried. "We can pretend that we have captured them. We were only waiting for Yellow Knives to come to the compound, that we might deliver them to them!"
"The Yellow Knives would kill them," said a man.
"Yes," said Radish, "but we would be spared! We would be alive! Do you not see? It is our only chance!"
"We will not do this," said a man.
"Carrot," said Radish, "seize them."
"No," said Carrot.
"Cabbage," said Radish, "seize them!"
"No," said Cabbage.
"I command it!" cried Radish.
"No," said Carrot.
"No," said Cabbage.
"Someone is coming!" said a man near the threshold.
Hci went to one side of the threshold. Cuwignaka went to the other. I remained where I was. They drew their knives.
"Do not strike!" I said to them.
Pumpkin stood in the threshold. He carried a feathered lance. I recognized it. It was one of two which the Waniyanpi had retrieved in the area of the battle, some weeks ago, between the soldiers and the savages. Apparently this lance, at least, had been saved. I was startled to see it again. I had not realized that the Waniyanpi would have kept it.
Blood Brothers of Gor Page 43