Hunters of Gor

by John Norman

  I left my paga slaves, Ilene included, free. I was their master. They feared the panther girls. The forest itself was their prison.

  When it grew late I let the prisoners lie, gagged, on their sides. I kept them tied as they had been.

  By sundown of the next day I had added only four to their number.

  The camp had not moved, but it was clear to me that the panther girls were now alarmed, and that their ventures from the camp were more conservative and timid. I had heard angry shouts from the men of Tyros, telling them to hunt the forests. There had been, too, angry responses by the panther girls. Not many girls went into the forest, and those that did did not normally go far. One group, led by a proud blond girl, scorning the others, did range far. There were four of them. They were brave. They were in my coffle, bound, by nightfall.

  As the moons were high in the Gorean night of the second day I regarded the prisoners.

  "They are slaves," I said to my paga girls. "Strip them."

  It was done.

  I gestured to two of the paga slaves, the first girl, dark-haired, and the second, the blond.

  "Put on the skins of panther girls," I told them.

  "Yes, Master," they said.

  They drew on the skins. I looked at the redhead, the paga slave.

  "You, too, if you wish," I said, "may clothe yourself."

  Pleased, she did so.

  "Master?" asked Ilene.

  "No," I told her.

  She looked at me.

  "You are only prey, and bait," I told her.

  She put down her head. "Yes, Master," she said. When I was finished with her I would have her sold in Port Kar.

  I regarded the other girls, the Gorean girls. "You make lovely panther girls," I said.

  They even stood as panther girls. The effect of raiment is extraordinary. Their heads were high. They looked upon me boldly.

  One of the stripped panther girls, furious, struggled in her bonds.

  She was outraged to see a paga slave clad in the skins of panther girls.

  The dark-haired girl, the paga slave, in the skins of panther girls, leapt to her and seized her by the hair. She shook her hair violently, and then threw her back. Then she turned to Ilene. "Bring me a switch," she said, imperiously. Ilene, in her silk, commanded, fled and brought her a switch. I had cut it earlier in the day, but had not used it. If any of the prisoners had been insubordinate, or difficult in any way, the paga slaves had been instructed to use it on them. The switch was stout and supple. The dark-haired girl stood over the panther girl, the switch upraised. "Do you, naked slave, have any objection?" she asked the panther girl. The panther girl, shaking her head negatively, eyes frightened, shrank back in the coffle. The paga slaves, with the exception of Ilene, who perhaps feared the switch might be used on her, laughed.

  I went to the three paga slaves clad in the skins of panther girls. Without speaking I tore the skins at their left thighs to the waist, revealing their brands.

  "Do not forget you are slave girls," I told them.

  "Yes, Master," they said.

  I threw the switch to the red-haired girl. "Keep order in the camp," I said. I turned to Ilene, and pointed to the red-haired girl. "She is now first girl in the camp," I said. "Until my return you are to her as her slave."

  "Yes, Master," said Ilene.

  "Come here," said the red-haired girl.

  Ilene went and stood before her.

  "To your knees, Slave," said the red-haired girl.

  Ilene fell to her knees.

  "Kiss my feet, Slave," said the red-haired girl.

  "Yes, Mistress," whispered Ilene and, fearfully, did so.

  "You two," I told the other two paga slaves, the dark-haired girl and the blond one, "come with me."

  I strode toward the perimeter of the camp. At its perimeter I turned. I looked back at the red-haired girl. Ilene, in her yellow silk, was still kneeling at her feet. "Keep order in the camp," I told the red-haired girl.

  She slapped the switch into the palm of her left hand. "I will," she said.

  * * * *

  In their camp the men of Tyros doubtless felt secure. It was my wish to convince them that this was not the case.

  I might have entered the camp, but I did not choose to do so. I would, merely, deprive it of its guards. In the morning they would awaken and discover that they had been unguarded.

  I expected then that they would move their camp. They would then understand that the camp afforded them no protection. On the march, however, they would discover, to their dismay, that there was even less protection.

  Strung out in the march, perhaps eventually without points and scouts, they would prove easy game.

  There were six panther girls guarding the camp. I would locate them, individually, and then rendezvous with my two accompanying paga slaves.

  The paga slaves, in the skins of panther girls, in the darkness, would approach one of the guards.

  They would be halted.

  "We are returning," they would say.

  Then, quietly, from the rear, my hand would close over the mouth of the guard.

  She would be thrown down, gagged, and bound hand and foot. I would then locate another guard, and repeat the same stratagem. Interestingly, only two of the guards were immediately suspicious. The initial response of the other four girls, until they had seen the approaching women were not of their band, was one of intense relief. They almost ran to their arms. It had not occurred to them that these women might not be of their own band. To the best of their knowledge they were the only panther girls in the area. Indeed, their information was not incorrect. It was only that, in the darkness, they mistook paga slaves in the skins of panthers for their sisters of the forest, at last returning to the band. Their mistake, natural though it was, was a costly one. In my camp, bound in my coffle, they could contemplate it at their leisure. The two girls who were more suspicious fared no better. They, too, were distracted by the approaching women. They, too, were unaware of my presence, completely unaware, until my hand closed over their mouth and they felt themselves, helplessly, being dragged backward into the brush.

  When we were finished we collected the guards. We unbound their ankles and tied them together by the neck. We then herded them to our camp. Before I retired I saw them stripped and added to the coffle.

  There were now twenty-one prisoners, each of them a beauty. I was weary. "See that they rest well," I said. "Do not permit them to struggle."

  "I will," said the red-haired girl, with her switch. She strode among the panther girls. They lay very still, not daring to move a muscle, fearing her.

  I looked up at the moons, and then fell asleep.

  * * * *

  The next morning, early, the camp of the men of Tyros had been broken.

  They were gone.

  But, with the long slave chain they held, they would move with great slowness.

  I returned to my camp. It, too, had now served its purpose.

  The men of Tyros, in their flight, had abandoned much baggage, their own, and baggage taken from the camp of Marlenus. They were interested in moving as swiftly as they might. It would not, however, be swiftly enough.

  Some of what they had abandoned I thought I might be able to use.

  In my camp I had the dark-haired girl and the blond unbind the ankles of the panther girls.

  I then had the red-haired girl, with the switch, order them to their feet.

  I would take my prisoners first to the site of the old camp, and then, by a parallel route, we would follow my enemies.

  "Coffle them by the left ankle," I told the dark-haired girl and the blond.

  They did so. The panther girls were now tied together by the neck and by the left ankle. Their hands were still bound behind their back.

  "You may remove their gags," I told the dark-haired girl. She did so, one by one. The girls threw back their heads, some with their eyes closed, and drank the air.

  I had seen, among the bagga
ge abandoned at the old camp, a sack of slave hoods. I would use them, if necessary, on the prisoners. Normally, however, I did not expect to be within earshot of the enemy. Many slave hoods, and those at the site of the old camp were among these, combine the advantages of the blindfold and gag. They fit entirely over the girl's head and buckle under the chin, about the neck. Some are of leather, others of canvas. Some lock.

  We took the prisoners to a nearby stream and watered them. We then let them, with their teeth, pick fruit from low-hanging branches.

  We then marched them to the site of the old camp. They would be my porters.

  I had Ilene gather fruit and nuts for me as we made our way through the forest.

  About the neck of the last panther girl in the coffle were slung seven quivers of arrows, which I had taken from various prisoners.

  At the site of the old camp I had the red-haired girl order the panther girls to their backs.

  From one of the abandoned crates, discarded now because of its weight and its putative lack of utility, I spilled a quantity of chains to the grass. They were Harl rings, named for the slaver Harl of Turia, who is reported to have first used them. They consist, in effect, of four portions. First, there is a metal ankle ring, which snaps about the girl's ankle. Second, to the back of the ring, there is welded a closed loop. Third, to the front of the ring, fastened through another closed loop, is about a yard of chain. Fourth, this chain terminates in a locking device, which may then be snapped shut, if one wishes, through the welded, closed loop on the back of a second ankle ring. The Harl ring is a versatile piece of custodial hardware. It may be used to chain a girl to anything, the ankle ring closed on her ankle, and the locking device at the termination of the device being easily fastened, looped, say, about a tree, or stanchion, or the ankle of another girl, and then locked about its own chain, or through one of the links of its own chain. The chain, of course, may also be looped about, say, a tree, or a pillar in a public building, and the locking device snapped into the welded ring on the back of the girl's own ankle ring. This is called a closed Harl Loop. One of the most frequent uses of the Harl ring, of course, is to form a segment in a slave chain, which may then be of any length, adding or removing girls, as short or as long as the slaver wishes.

  I looked at the panther girls lying on their backs, at the site of the old camp.

  "Remove the binding fiber from their left ankles," I told the dark-haired girl. She did so.

  "Extend your left legs," I told the panther girls, "and bend and lift your right knee, heel to the ground."

  They did so.

  I went to the last girl. I closed the heavy metal ankle ring about her ankle, snapping it shut, and extended its chain, with its locking device, to her right. I then took the second Harl ring and closed it about the ankle of the next girl. I then took the locking device at the termination of the first girl's ankle ring and snapped it shut, through the closed, welded loop on the back of the second girl's ankle ring. The two were now chained together. I then extended the chain on the second girl's ankle ring to her right. I then locked the third girl's ankle ring on her, and then snapped the locking device on the chain of the second through the welded, closed loop on the third girl's ring. Three were now fastened together. "Please do not chain me," begged the fourth girl. She knew the dangers, the helplessness, of wearing chains in the forest. I did not speak to her. I chained her. I proceeded, thus, girl to girl, through the fair prisoners. When I finished, I stood up. I looked at the girls, lying on their backs. They were now a slave chain.

  "Stand," I said.

  With a rattle of chain, they stood. There were tears on the cheeks of several.

  "Remove the binding fiber from their throats," I told the dark-haired girl, "and untie their hands."

  She did so.

  I went to she who was now the first girl in the chain, she who had been last to be chained. There was, seemingly left over, the yard of chain, coiled on the grass, attached to the front of her ankle ring. It may be used, of course, to fasten the entire chain about, or to, some suitable object, a pillar, a stanchion, a wagon wheel, a tree, a column in a market colonnade, a post in a bazaar, one of the heavy slave rings, set in the ground, usually found at the edges of a square in a Gorean city. But, that it not impede the girl, I picked it up and, with the locking device through one of the links in the chain, fastened it about her left wrist. She could carry it that way until it was needed.

  One key, incidentally, serves for an entire set of ankle rings and locking devices. The key had been in the crate with its set of Harl rings. I dropped the key in my pouch.

  "You have chained us," said one of the girls, a blond one, standing proud in her ankle ring, her feet widely apart. "Our safety is entirely in your hands."

  "A single panther," wept another, cringing, the ankle ring fastened on her left ankle, "could kill us all!"

  I did not respond to them. I walked about the chain.

  "Posture!" cried the red-haired girl, with her switch. She struck two of the girls with stinging stripes.

  Then the captive panther girls, fearing her, stood well. Their backs were straight, their heads were high. Their trim ankles were together. Their shoulders were back, their bellies flat and tight.

  "You are of the warriors," said the blond girl in the ankle ring looking straight ahead.

  "I am of the merchants," I told her.

  "No merchant," she said, "could have taken us as you did. You are of the warriors."

  I shrugged. It was true I had once been of the warriors.

  "Sit," I told them. The girls sat down on the grass.

  With the aid of the paga slaves, and Ilene, I sorted through, discarding here and saving there, the baggage abandoned at the campsite. There was much of some value, though mostly bulk goods. I found quantities of slave meal, which is mixed with water; and silks, and bowls, and collars, not inscribed, and lengths of dried meat, stretched and salted; and coils of rope and chains. I have already mentioned the sack of slave hoods. Too, there was a small box of slave bracelets, all opening to the same key. The box, though small, was heavy, for slave bracelets, in quantity, are heavy. There was a large, rolled tarpaulin, which might prove useful. The girls could be slept under it at night. The edges could be pegged down. It would provide some protection from cold night rains, and some protection, though less, against panthers and sleen. Among the baggage, too, I found items which had been brought from Verna's camp, which had been taken originally by Marlenus to his camp, and captured there by the men of Tyros and the band of Hura. Among these items I found the remaining bottles of drugged wine, those which we had not drunk, when we had fallen captive to Verna and her band, now seemingly so long ago. I smiled. Such an exotically vintaged wine might prove of value. These items, and many others from the baggage abandoned at the old camp, I sorted through. When I had decided what we would and would not take, I, and Ilene, and the paga slaves divided up the burdens. Four girls, on their shoulders, would carry the heavy tarpaulin.

  I was pleased with the amount of foodstuffs found left behind. It did not seem likely to me that it would have been poisoned, but, even if it were, I and the paga slaves would be in little danger from it. It would be fed first to the prisoners.

  The fists of the chained panther girls, sitting chained on the grass, were clenched. They could not believe what they saw placed before them, boxes, and bundles, the rolled tarpaulin.

  "We are panther girls!" cried the blond girl in the ankle ring. "We are not the porters of a man!"

  It was she who was struck first with the switch by the red-haired girl, who leaped among them, striking and slashing with the supple lash.

  The blond girl, weeping, seized up her burden and stood straight, in the coffle. She carried the box on her head, in the fashion of the Gorean woman. She balanced it with her right hand. She stood straight. She was, though in tears, very graceful.

  I regarded the coffle. Each beauty carried her burden. We would, at least in the beginning, fo
llow a parallel trail to that taken by my fleeing enemies. Later, if their flight became more precipitate and less rational, we might simply make their route ours. In this fashion the trail would be broken and clear and, if anything of value had been discarded in the flight, we might, if we wished, gather it up and, following, bring it with us.

  I turned and strode toward the forest.

  I heard the slap of the switch twice behind me, and cries of pain from panther girls.

  "Hurry, Slaves!" called the red-haired girl.

  Ilene walked beside me. She took quick steps. Her head came only to my shoulder. She looked up at me, and then looked down.

  I regarded her, sternly. Her hand lifted before her mouth. Fear showed suddenly in her eyes. Would I have the red-haired girl beat her? "Forgive me, Master," she whispered.

  She fled back two paces, and put her head down, trembling. The Gorean slave girl does not dare walk beside a free man. She had forgotten. She had not been long on Gor.

  I turned away from her, and continued on. I heard her sob, following me.

  She had not yet, even, fully yielded to a man. I expected, however, that soon she would be ready to do so. I had sensed it in her body, and her head. She was a pretty slave, the Earth girl. I expected some master would be much pleased with her.