Renegades of Gor coc-23

by John Norman

  "And then," said Aemilianus, "if you would, as one of these females was prepared to surrender herself to Cosians, and the other served Cosians, in betraying her city, see that they come into the keeping of Cosians."

  "That will be easy to arrange," said Calliodorus. "There are many Cosians, envoys and such, in Port Cos.

  The girls exchanged glances. Their fates were being decided by men, but I did not think unjustly.

  "Do you have on board facilities for slaves?" inquired Aemilianus.

  "Below deck," said Calliodorus, "we have some slave cages."

  "Excellent," said Aemilianus. Then he addressed the slaves. "You may perform obeisance before masters," he said.

  Both the girls then bent forward and, putting the palms of their hands on the deck, lowered their heads to the boards.

  Aemilianus then nodded to Calliodorus. It was a small gesture. It indicated that he, at least at that time, had no further interest in the two women.

  "Take then below decks," said Calliodorus to one of his men. "Cage them." The fellow, standing behind and rather between the two girls took them each by an arm, Claudia by her right arm, and Publia by her left, and pulled them to their feet. Then, turning them and thrusting them forward, without relinquishing his hold on their arms, he conducted them ahead of him, toward a hatch. "The cages," apologized Calliodorus, "are individual cages, and rather tiny. They are, in effect, punishment cages."

  "No matter," said Aemilianus.

  "But, of course," said Calliodorus, "it is probably best for them to begin to learn quickly that they are slaves."

  "Certainly," said Aemilianus.

  "Doubtless in the morning they will be willing and eager to leave the cages, under any conditions," said Calliodorus.

  "Excellent," smiled Aemilianus.

  "I would recommend, however," said Calliodorus, "that the one called Publia be taken from the cage for a time this evening, to be given a good hiding at the mast."

  "Of course," said Aemilianus.

  It was only fitting, after all, that she be punished, and well. She had attempted to take advantage of the fact that she had not yet been branded and collared. She had attempted to pass herself off as a free woman. In many cities, such a thing is a capital offense. Here, however, in accord with a fortune much greater than she would be likely to realize for a few days, she, a naA?ve young slave, and guilty of what, in effect, was a first offense, was only to be whipped. Still, even so, I did not think she would be likely to forget her little bout this evening with the leather. For one thing, few slave girls forget their first whipping. Too, if nothing else it would impress upon her that she was a slave and that masters would think nothing of punishing her if she was not pleasing. That is a good thing for a girl to learn. I supposed, too, that it might have an effect in discouraging her, should the opportunity arise, as I did not think it would, from seeking to implement another deceit with respect to her status in the immediate future. Later, of course, as she began to understand what it was to be a slave girl, as she began to grasp something of the nature of her condition, and its categoricality, she would hastily, and fearfully, on her own, reject such thoughts. She would not dare to countenance them. She might find herself trembling in terror if even the smallest and most casual of such thoughts chanced to enter her mind.

  I saw the fellow who had conducted the slaves to the hold emerge through the hatch and close it, after him. I supposed the slaves in their cages. Calliodorus, too, seemed to note the reappearance of the fellow.

  "The former Lady Claudia and I were cellmates," I said to Calliodorus. "I determined at that time that she, though then free, would make an excellent slave."

  "Good," he said. Slaves, of course, are not only trained in a broad spectrum of sexual arts, such as how to kiss and caress, and such, but much attention is given, too, to their own responsiveness and pleasure. There is nothing surprising about this. Their responsiveness and pleasure puts them far more under the master's power. Too, as might be imagined, it is very pleasant for a man to see the marvelous changes and effects which he can induce in a woman, for example, to have her thrashing helplessly at his touch, crying out her submission, begging for more. The slave, because of her training, her emotional freedom, thousands of times greater than that of a free woman, the discipline she is under, and such, can attain orgasm much more quickly than a free woman, sometimes, particularly if she has been deprived for a time, almost immediately. A response which might take a free woman a third to a half of an Ahn to attain a slave, and not an unusual slave, might attain in three or four Ehn. Beyond this the slave is often forced to endure lengthy, multiple orgasms, sometimes being carried by the will of the master for Ahn, whether she wills it or not, from one peak to another.

  "She served Cosians, and declared for them," I said to Calliodorus. "Do you think that might put her in good stead with Cosians, should she come into their keeping, as that is what seems to be in store for her, at least in the near future?"

  "In what way?" asked Calliodorus.

  "That they might then see fit to reward her with her freedom," I said. "No," said Calliodorus. "She is now a slave. That changes everything. Even if she had once been a Cosian girl, even of Telnus, of good family and high caste, she would still, now, be a slave, and only a slave. Too, Cosians, I assure you, are not overly fond of traitresses. One who is willing to betray her own Home Stone would presumably not hesitate to betray someone else's. indeed, I would not have been surprised, had she surrendered herself at Ar's Station, claiming immunity, or such, that she would have quickly found herself, if, indeed, she were not slain, in the lowest of slaveries, as would seem fitting for her."

  "I see," I said. It was, of course, as I had supposed it would be.

  "Her slavery, thus," he said, "will presumably be either simple, and uncompromised, or excessively cruel, an uncompromised."

  I nodded.

  "But inasmuch as the crimes of the free woman are seldom held against the slave, for the slave has her own concerns, and fears, such as whether or not she is sufficiently pleasing, and so on, I would expect it to be simple, and uncompromised."

  "I think you are probably right," I said. Many theorists regard reduction to slavery as wiping the slate clean, so to speak. The woman is then thought, in effect, to be beginning lift anew, but now as a mere property, a mere animal. To be sure, her past status and deeds do remain a part of her history, even if she is now only an animal. Thus, at least for a time, a maser might relish the consideration that his abject slave was once perhaps a haughty free woman, or such. But, in time, it is likely that their relationship, mercifully, as such things fade into the past and tend to be forgotten, will become a simpler one, that merely of master and slave.

  "In my uses of the former Lady Claudia, in the cell," I said, "I sometimes gave her the use name of "Chloe'."

  "A Cosian name," observed Calliodorus.

  "She had declared for Cos," I reminded him.

  "Did the use name help her to dissociate herself from the proprieties which she might have thought appropriate to a Lady Claudia? he asked.

  "I think it helped," I said. Certainly a woman's sexual relationship to a man is often improved when she begins to think of herself as having a quite different relationship to him than the one in which she has been accustomed to think of herself. The change of name can help in this matter. No woman, of course, takes her former name into slavery. In her reduction to bondage she loses that name. Even if the same name, in one sense, should be put on her as a slave, it is not the same name in the crucial sense; it is not now a legal name to which one has title in one's own right. It is a slave name. In this sense, the name "Claudia' as the name of a free woman is a quite different name from the name "Claudia' as the name of a slave. The slave name, for example, can be changed at a master's whim. This loss of the old name, incidentally, and the susceptibility to being named, and the new name, if the master decides to give her a name, and such, although they are simple, legal consequences of the n
ame of reduction to bondage, are also, I think, psychologically useful in helping her understand that she is now a slave, and that she is now radically and absolutely different from what she was. Too, I think that such things, a new name, for example, showing her that she is now in a new reality, and so on, can help her make the transition more smoothly into bondage.

  "'Chloe' is an excellent name," he said. "I have known several slaves with that name."

  "Do you think," asked Aemilianus of Calliodorus, "that "Claudia' is too fine a name for a slave?"

  "I think it is an excellent name for a slave," he smiled.

  "You would," smiled Aemilianus. I supposed that Aemilianus might think that Cosian names might be better for slaves, whereas Calliodorus might tend to approve more of names more typical of the south, say, those of Venna or Ar. I myself thought there was much to be said for both, and, indeed, for many other sorts of names, as well. Many Goreans, incidentally, as is well known, regard Earth-girl names as slave names. Aemilianus's slave, for example, who was Gorean, was named "Shirley."

  "I think there is little difficulty in the matter, in any event," said Calliodorus, "whether it is a fine name or not, as she now wears it as a slave name."

  "I think you are right," said Aemilianus. "What do you think?" he asked me. "I agree," I said. "It is now a mere slave name." Too, of course, it might easily be changed. In the odysseys of her bondage, her name would doubtless be changed many times.

  "I wonder what will become of her," I said.

  "She is curvaceous," said Calliodorus. "Perhaps she will be sold to a paga tavern."

  That was a possibility. I hoped that eventually, however, she might come into the keeping of a single master, to whom she would be a love slave. I thought that there was something in the slave now called «Claudia» a precious, vulnerable, yearning love slave.

  "Aemilianus, my friend," said Calliodorus.

  "Yes?" said he.

  "It will take us some days to reach Port Cos," said Calliodorus. "Would you mind if, tomorrow morning, the two slaves, Claudia and Publia, were made available to the crew?"

  "Of course not," said Aemilianus.

  "We will chain them by their necks to a ring in the deck, aft," said Calliodorus. "That way, if they are too initially dismayed, they will not be able to throw themselves overboard."

  "By nightfall," said Aemilianus, "I do not think they would want to throw themselves overboard."

  "I do not think so," said Calliodorus. "Too, aft, they will be out of the sight of free women."

  "Use them as you please," said Aemilianus.

  "My lads left Port Cos in a hurry," said Calliodorus, "and we did not know if there would be fighting, or not. Thus we did not include among our supplies any women for slave use."

  "No explanations are necessary," said Aemilianus. "Too, if their masters do not object, you may avail yourself of any of the other slaves, there are a few, I believe, whom you embarked at Ar's Station, including, of course, my Shirley." Shirley shrank back, a little. To be sure, even though she was the preferred slave of Aemilianus, her use could be handed about as easily as that of the lowest collar sluts on board, Claudia and Publia.

  "I thank you for your generosity," said Calliodorus, "and I am sure that the other fellows of Ar's Station would be every bit as generous, but I think that after what you have been through, we would prefer, in all gentleness and courtesy, to let such slaves, including your Shirley, recollect in detail the pleasing of their own masters, perhaps amidships."

  Shirley cried out with joy, looking upon Aemilianus.

  "As you will," he smiled.

  "And I think," said Calliodorus, "that the more extensive services then to be rendered by Claudia and Publia will be useful in helping them to comprehend more quickly and clearly the nature of their new condition." "Undoubtedly," smiled Aemilianus.

  "I wonder if I might ask an additional favor of you," said Calliodorus. "Name it," said Aemilianus.

  "When we enter Port Cos," he said, "I would like to do so in such a way as to make clear from afar that there is cause for rejoicing, that our business has been successfully conducted and that festivities are in order."

  "Do as you wish," said Aemilianus.

  "I will, then," he said, "with your permission, deck the ship with flags, and bunting and banners, and put prominently the flag of Ar's Station on the port stem line, and fly that of Port Cos on the starboard stem line."

  "How is it," asked Aemilianus, "that you have a flag of Ar's Station on a ship of Port Cos?"

  "One can never tell when such things might be useful," smiled Calliodorus. "And do you noble fellows of Ar's Station not carry flags of Port Cos, and perhaps of other towns, as well, in your vessels, perhaps in the chests in your stern castles?" That was a likely place to stow such paraphernalia. There it would both be out of the way, and yet handy.

  "Perhaps," smiled Aemilianus.

  "Dear friend," smiled Calliodorus.

  Calliodorus bent down and clasped the upraised hand of Aemilianus. I had gathered that, long ago, these men had seen action together, probably on the river.

  Calliodorus stood up.

  There was, incidentally, one flag of Ar's Station on board, which had been brought from Ar's Station itself, but that flag, large, rent, faded and tattered, was not the one, or ones, under discussion. It had been there, staunch and defiant, throughout the siege. It had been brought to the Tais by the young man to whom I had entrusted it, the friend of the young crossbowman. He had given it to Aemilianus, who had, in turn, given it into the keeping of Surilius, his aide. I had little doubt that that flag was very precious to those of Ar's Station. They would be very careful as to what lines on which it might be affixed.

  "But, dear friend," said Aemilianus, "is there not one touch else that might be in order, to indicate a successful voyage?"

  "I was thinking of asking about it," smiled Calliodorus.

  "Hang then in chains, at the prow!" said Aemilianus.

  "Good," grinned Calliodorus.

  The slave girl, as Claudia and Publia would come to learn, had thousands of uses. And one of them, surely, is that of a display object. It is common for masters to be very proud of their girls and to desire to show them off. indeed, one of the reasons for slave garb, aside from such things as its identificatory role, its stimulatory nature, both to the master and slave, its instructive role, and such, is its capacity to display the girl beautifully. Just as a man of Earth might be proud of his pictures, or his dogs or horses, so, too, a Gorean can be proud of his slave, or slaves. Some men like to travel with a naked slave afoot beside them, chained by the neck to their stirrup. Some rich men enjoy having lovely slaves, sometimes strings of them, follow them, chained by the neck, the leads of the chains fastened to slave bars at the back of their palanquins. In this case, Calliodorus was apparently interested in displaying two beauties, a pair of exquisite slaves, at this prow. Certainly they, suspended naked in their chains would enhance his entry into the harbor at Port Cos.

  "I must be about my duties, my friend," then said Calliodorus to Aemilianus. "Rest."

  Most of the men about had, by now, drifted away.

  Calliodorus stopped for a moment, as though he wanted to say something more to Aemilianus, but he then seemed to think the better of it. He then climbed the steps behind Aemilianus, to the helm deck. I looked after him.

  "He wanted to issue warnings," said Aemilianus, smiling.

  "Warnings?" I asked.

  "Yes," said Aemilianus. "He is a good fellow."

  I gathered that it would be inopportune to inquire further into this matter, at least at the moment. But surely there could be little, or nothing, to fear now, at least for free persons.

  "Commander," said I.

  "Yes, Warrior," he responded. "I thank you for your mercy in the case of the former Lady Claudia." "Was it mercy?" he asked.

  "I think so," I said.

  "Well," he said, "her treacheries, however heinous and grievous, considered in
the light of grander and more insidious designs, seemed paltry."

  "And doubtless were," I said. "Is that why you spared her?"

  "I spared her primarily," he said, "because you wished it."

  "I am grateful," I said. "Too, I think she will make an excellent slave." "I am sure of it," he said.

  "Even Calliodorus thought she was born for the collar," I said.

  "She and Publia," said Aemilianus.

  "Yes," I said.

  "I think he was right about both," he said.

  "I think so, too," I said.

  "My friend," he said.

  "Yes," I said, startled.

  "You said to her," he reminded me, "that you had no intention of imperiling your life for her."

  "Yes," I said.

  "Yet I think had I not spared her," said he, "that you would have drawn your sword on her behalf."

  "I said what I did," I said, "because I knew it would not be necessary to imperil my life for her."

  "How could you know that? he asked.

  "Because Aemilianus, and those like him," I said, "are honorable men." "You were counting on that? he asked.

  "Yes," I said.

  "And had we not, in your opinion, behaved honorably? he asked.

  "Then I would have drawn my sword," I said.

  "I thought so," he said.

  "I am sorry," I said.

  "Even were I other than I am," he smiled, "I do not think I would have wanted you to draw your sword against us." I did not respond.

  "Particularly over a woman," he said. He held out his hand to Shirley, and she came quickly to kneel beside him and took his hand, and lifted it to her lips, kissing it, softly.

  "Of course," I said.

  "And in particular," said Aemilianus, "one who was soon to become a mere slave." "Of course," I said.

  Shirley, holding and pressing her lips to the hand of Aemilianus, looked up at me.

  I smiled. Swords are often drawn on Gor over women, and particularly over lovely slaves. Women are prizes, perfections and treasures. It is no wonder that men fight over them with ferocity.