by John Norman
"And may you not be whipped," I asked, "as you are free?"
She turned white.
Although she apparently had not been informed that she was subjectable to the inn's clients, for their pleasures, as her behavior, even though she was free, surprisingly perhaps, was subject to correction, such corrections doubtless including such things as the attentions of the five-stranded Gorean slave whip. "What is your name?" I asked.
"It is none of your business," she said.
"Have you ever been whipped?" I asked.
"I am Temione, Lady of Telnus," she said. "No, I have not been whipped," she added.
Telnus is the major port on the island of Cos. Too, it is the capital of that island ubarate.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
She did not answer.
"Doubtless you followed Cosians," I said, "or their suppliers, smelling booty, lured by the possibilities of spoils, by the supposed imminent passage south of men laden with the plate and coin of Ar's Station, men who might succumb to your claims of need and plight, hoping perhaps even to contract an alliance, a companionship, with an enriched officer, or, if necessary, a profiteering merchant."
She looked at me, in fury.
"You would bargain with your beauty," I said. I smiled to myself. I suspected that her beauty in the future might, indeed, figure in bargains, here and there, from time to time, but they would not be her bargain. They would be the bargains of others.
With a movement of her head she tossed her hair behind her, angrily.
"Are you angry?" I asked.
"Would you care to order?" she asked.
"What color is your hair?" I asked. "It is hard to tell in this light." "Auburn," she said.
"A natural auburn?" I asked.
"Of course," she said.
"That color, particularly when natural, often brings an excellent price in slave markets," I said.
"I am free," she said.
"There are some others outside," I said, "who may have had similar ideas to yours, in one way or another. They are now in the court, chained naked to rings. Do you know them?"
She looked away, angrily.
"Lady Temione," I said, "you have been asked a question."
"There are five others," she said, "Rimice, Klio, and Liomache, from Cos. Elense, from Tyros, and Amina, a Vennan."
"What do you think will happen to them?" I asked.
"Doubtless they will be redeemed and freed," she said. "We are all free women. Men, some sorts of men, will save us. Men, some sorts, cannot so much as stand to see a tear in a woman's eye. To such men it is unthinkable that we might bear the consequences of our actions."
"Do you think I am such a man?" I asked.
"No," she said, "else I would have petitioned redemption from you." "Men such as those of whom you speak," I said, "those who are so solicitous, so kindly, those who are so eager to render you succor, who will strive so desperately to help you, and please you, do they stir you deeply in your belly?"
"I am a free woman," she said. "We do not consider such things." "But you must fear the iron," I said.
"It will never happen," she said.
"But you must fear it," I said.
"Perhaps," she said.
"Things, then," I said, "would be quite different."
"Yes," she said. "They would then be quite different."
This was quite true. The slave girl is in a totally different category from the free woman. it is the difference between being a person and being a property, between being a respected, legally autonomous entity, entitled to dignity and pride, and being a domestic animal. The same fellow who will go to absurd lengths to please a free woman, and even make a fool of himself over her, will, even with the same woman, if she has been enslaved, simply gesture her with his whip, and without a second thought, to the furs.
"When were you, and your fraud sisters, taken into custody?" I asked. "Payment was demanded this morning," she said. "When our evasions failed to satisfy the attendants ropes were put on our necks, over our robes and veils, and we were brought to the keeper's desk. We gave him what little money we had, of course, but it was not enough to satisfy our bills. We then spent the morning in a wheeled cage, sitting on hard benches, while men checked out. None would redeem us. Then, at noon, as soon as the tenth hour had struck, the cage was wheeled back, into a storage area. It was plain and cold. There, one by one, taken from the cage, while men waited outside the area, we were stripped and searched by two powerful free women. When they finished with one of us they did not then permit her to return to the cage but rather forced her to stand apart, facing a wall. In this way, one who had already been searched was prevented, and quite simply, from receiving anything from one not yet searched. Our garments were examined carefully, and even our bodies. This yielded them some few extra coins. The women, I assure you, were thorough. Doubtless they had done this sort of thing before.
"When we were returned to the cage we were both coinless and naked. All that was left was ourselves. The cage was then wheeled back, by the keeper's desk. As you might well imagine our importunities to the guests now became more earnest. Yet none were gentlemen. We even found ourselves looked upon, in the cage, as though we might be slaves! At the fifteenth Ahn we were removed from the cage and knelt down, to the side, to the left of the keeper's desk. Our ankles were then crossed and tied. This was done with a single length of rope. It served also, thusly, with a minimum of knots to which we might have access, to fasten us together.
"Your hands were left free, of course," I said, "so that you might extend them piteously to passers-by, guests, and such."
"Of course," she said, angrily.
"Continue," I said.
"At the seventeenth Ahn," she said, "the keeper, it seems, grew of our pleas and protestations. Also, I think he was not too pleased with women such as we, who had attempted to do fraud and dupery within his inn."
"That is understandable," I said.
"No," she said. "We are not slaves! We are free women! We may do anything." "I see," I said.
"The keeper," she said, "is not a gentleman."
"I am prepared to believe that," I said.
"It is true!" she said. "Look at me, naked and chained!"
"I have been," I assured her.
She shook the chains on her wrists, angrily.
"But he did, it seems, give you an opportunity to practice your fraud and dupery," I said. "Your primary problem would seem to be simply that you were unsuccessful."
"Perhaps," she said, irritably.
From what I had seen of the keeper, I supposed that his main interest in these matters would be to obtain his fees, if not in one way, then in another. "Continue," I said.
"There is little more to tell," she said, angrily. "At the seventeenth Ahn, perhaps wearying of our presence there he had us cleared away from the vicinity of his desk. Five of us were taken outside somewhere, and from what you say, I take it, chained in the court. I myself was shackled, and put here, in the paga room, to serve at tables."
"Why were you not taken outside?" I asked.
"I do not know," she said.
"There are only five exposition places at the wall," I said.
She shrugged.
"Still that would not explain why it should be you who are here, and not another."
"I suppose it had to be someone," she said.
"Two women might have been chained to one ring," I said. "Or you might have been chained on your knees, nearby, to a sleen ring."
"Men are lustful beasts," she said. "They seem to enjoy looking upon women. Doubtless I am here because I am the most beautiful."
"But you are not," I said.
"Oh?" she said, angrily.
"No," I said. "She who was at the first ring and she who was at the fourth ring were both more beautiful than you."
"Who were they?" she asked, angrily.
"She at the first ring was the Lady Amina," I said. "I do not know who was at the
fourth ring."
"Was she small, and dark-haired?"
"Yes," I said.
"That is Ramice," she said. "She is a small, curvy slut."
I recalled the girl at the fourth ring. She was sweetly thighed with a marvelous love cradle, made for a man's loving.
"I am more beautiful than both," she said.
"You seem vain, for a free woman," I said.
"Not really," she said. "I have no interest in such matters."
"To be sure, all of the women out there," I said, "including the Lady Amina and the Lady Ramice, are not yet truly beautiful. They are still too rigid, too tense, too tight, too inhibited to be truly beautiful."
"You see!" she said, triumphantly.
"But none of them so much as you," I said.
"Sleen!" she said. "It is interesting to speculate what you women might be like, if you became beautiful," I said.
"Sleen, sleen!" she said.
"How did the keeper seem when he ordered you shackled and put in the paga room?" I asked.
"Amused," she said, angrily.
"Perhaps you had spoken up to him," I speculated, "though you were only a debtor slut."
"Such is my right!" she said. "I am a free woman!"
"You dared to protest the treatment you received?" I asked.
"Of course!" she cried. "How is it that I, a free woman, should be stripped, and searched, and put in a cage, and such!"
"Perhaps you made demands, threatened him, insulted him, that sort of thing?" I asked.
"Perhaps," she said.
"I can see then," I said, "why it might have amused him to put you here, to serve as a waitress."
"Perhaps," she said, angrily.
"How much do you own him?" I asked.
"A silver tarsk, five," she said.
"That might be another reason," I said. "That is more than is owned by any of the other women." The amount stated was a silver tarsk, five copper tarsks. "Perhaps, she said, thoughtfully. "He may want to keep me where he or his men can keep an eye on me."
Did she really think they feared her escape, she, within the palisade, shackled and naked?
"They might, too," I said, "consider that your display here, if you will pardon the expression, might enhance your chances of obtaining a redemption." "Yes," she said, "that, too."
In the morning, of course, the girls outside, at the wall, might have a better chance. They would, by that time, I speculated, be bedraggled and piteous, indeed. Still I did not think any of them, the Lady Temione here, or the others outside, in these times, were likely, really, to get some fellow to redeem them. "Would you care to order, Sir?" she asked, irritatedly.
I looked at her. Yes, I thought to myself, that was probably the main reason she had been put here, that is it, not because it was an accident, the luck in a lot of six, or even really, mainly, because she owed more than the others, but because she had not been found pleasing by the keeper. In its way, it was a punishment for her. Too, he had doubtless seen that she required informing, as to her nature and status.
"I am waiting, Sir," she said.
"Do you regard yourself as desirable?" I asked.
She tossed her head, haughtily. "You spoke of beauty earlier, and insultingly of my putative intent to bargain with it," she said. "Perhaps you can see." "That was not my question," I said.
"Yes," she said. "I regard myself as desirable." She regarded me, angrily. "Don't you?" she said.
I said, "Proper diet and exercise, imposed under suitable disciplines, would doubtless work wonders with you."
"Would you care to order," she asked.
"Have you served others?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"And you have not been disciplined?" I asked.
"No," she said. "I am a free woman." She looked at me, angrily. "Are you ready to order?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well?" she asked.
"Kneel," I said.
"Kneel?" she asked.
"That is my first order," I said.
She regarded me.
"Do you not know how a woman serves at table?" I asked.
"I am a free woman," she said.
"Shall I send you to fetch a slave whip? I asked.
She then trembled, and knelt. But, in a moment, she had recovered herself. She looked at me, angrily.
"You may keep your knees together," I said, "as you are a free woman." Swiftly she closed them, furious. "I hate you!" she said.
"You may now lower your head, before a male," I said.
"Never!" she said.
"Now," I said. She lowered her head, angrily. "I have never done that before," she said, lifting her head.
"You may now put it to the floor, the palms of your hands, too, to the floor," I said.
Trembling with rage she obeyed. Then she straightened up, and knelt back. "What do you have?" I asked.
"Paga and bread are two tarsks," she said. "Other food may be purchased from three to five tarsks."
"Is the paga cut?" I asked.
"One to five," she said.
This is not that unusual at an inn. The proportions, then, would be one part paga to five parts water. Commonly, at a paga tavern, the paga would be cut less, or not cut at all. When wine is drunk with Gorean meals, at home, incidentally, it is almost always diluted, mixed with water in a krater. At a party or convivial supper the host, or elected feast master, usually determines the proportions of water to wine. Unmixed wine, of course, may be drunk, for example, at the parties of young men, at which might appear dancers, flute slaves and such. Many Gorean wines, it might be mentioned, if only by way of explanation, are very strong, often having an alcoholic content by volume of forty to fifty percent.
"How much bread?" I asked.
"Two of four," she said. That would be half a loaf. The bread would be in the form of wedges. Gorean bread is most always baked in round, flat loaves. The average loaf is cut into either four or eight wedges.
"What is the other food?" I asked.
The Ahn is late," she said. "We have nothing but porridge left."
"It is three?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"I do not suppose," I said, "that if one orders the porridge, the bread and paga comes with it?"
"No," she said.
I had not, of course, expected any such luck, particularly after my conversation with the keeper. To be sure, even if perhaps a bit greedy, he was not a bad fellow. He had, for example, put the Lady Temione naked at the tables.
"Bread, paga, porridge," I said to her. "Very well," she said.
"Very well, what?" I asked.
"Very well, Sir," she said.
"Head to the floor before you get up," I said.
She put her head angrily down to the floor, the palms of her hands on the floor, and then straightened up.
"From each of your fraud sisters outside, chained to their rings," I said. "I had a kiss."
"You will get no kiss from me," she said.
I then gestured her up with a casual motion of my finger and away, that she should hurry to the kitchen.
"Lady Temione," I called.
She stopped.
"You may move more swiftly," I said, "if you rise up on your toes and take short steps."
She cried out with rage, and stumbled, and fell. Then, rising, she hurried, as she could, angrily toward the door of the kitchen and, in a moment, disappeared through it. I watched it swing behind her, until it hung motionless on its hinges. Such doors, single and double, are common in inns and taverns, as they may be negotiated by someone whose hands are occupied, as in bearing a tray. Most often, however, on Gor, curtains, often beaded, are used to separate open from restricted areas in taverns, restaurants, and such. Lady Temione, I had noted, needed discipline. The sooner she received it the better it would probably be for her, and her lift.
In a few moments she returned through the door bearing a tray. She knelt near the table, put the tray on the floor, unbidden performed obei
sance and then, as though submissively, put to the tray on the table, and put the paga, in a small kantharos, and the bread on its trencher, before me. Then she put the bowl of porridge, with a spoon, before me. She then withdrew, taking the tray, put it to the side, on the floor, again performed obeisance, unbidden, and then knelt back, as though in attendance. There had been something false in her subservience.
I looked at her, narrowly. She did not meet my eyes.
I took a sip of paga, and then sopped some bread in it, and then ate it. As I reached for the spoon I thought she leaned forward a little. I took a very tiny bit of the porridge. As I had suspected it might be, it was offensively seasoned, salted, almost to the point of inedibility.
"Is anything wrong, Sir?" she asked.
"I will count an Ehn," I said, "that is, eighty Ihn. You have that long to make good what you have done."
"I?" she asked, innocently.
"1a€”2a€”3-," I said.
"But what?" she said, alarmed.
"4a€”5a€”6-," I said.
"My ankles are chained!" she cried.
"7a€”8a€”9-." I said.
Swiftly, crying out with misery, stumbling, falling, she tried to scramble to her feet. Then, as swiftly as she could, falling twice more, partly crawling, weeping, she strove to reach the door of the kitchen.
"24a€”25a€”26-," I counted. "27a€”28a€”29a€”30a€”31a€”32a€”33a€”34-." She appeared through the swinging door, carrying a bowl in her chained hands, desperately moving toward me in short, careful, frightened steps. She could not risk falling.
I let her approach closely. "Hold," I said.
She stopped, wildly.
"Perhaps in your haste you have forgotten to season that," I said. "I prefer anyway to season my own porridge. See that you do not dare to present the porridge without the seasonings."
She cried out with misery.