by John Norman
"I am Cuwignaka," said Cuwignaka, defiantly.
"You hold to a lance of the Kaiila," said Canka. "Surrender it."
"It was you yourself who, when you found me staked out, placed it unbroken beside me. It was you yourself who took the woman's dress which Hci had thrown beside me and wrapped it about the shaft of the lance."
Canka did not respond to this. Such an action, of course, had served to mark, and conspicuously, the place where the lad had been fastened down. The location had been marked, almost as though with a flag. Grunt and I had seen it almost immediately upon coming to this portion of the field. And even had there been none to see it, at least none of our common world, that marker, the unbroken lance, the cloth wrapped about it, might have seemed to have served some purpose to he who had placed it there, perhaps standing for some measure of recollection and respect. This it might have mutely symbolized, if only to the grass of the Barrens, and to the winds and clouds, and perhaps to those of the Medicine World, should they exist, who might have looked down upon it, and pondered it.
"Surrender the lance," said Canka.
"No," said Cuwignaka. "You put it beside me, and it is unbroken."
"Surrender it," said Canka.
"I will not," said Cuwignaka. "If you want it, you must take it from me."
"I will not do that," said Canka. Then he said, "You were freed. Someone must pay." He was looking at me.
"He is my friend," said Cuwignaka.
"I am Blotanhunka," said Canka. "Someone must pay."
"I will pay," said Cuwignaka.
"What is owed here," said Canka, "it is not yours to pay."
"I will pay," said Cuwignaka.
"It is not you who must pay," said Canka. "It is another who must pay."
"I am a warrior," I said to Canka. "I demand the right of combat."
"I do not wish to kill you," said Canka.
This startled me. It seemed to me that Canka had shown me unusual solicitude. He had protected me with Akihoka and Keglezela, in the matter of the trade goods. Now, it seemed, he had no wish to enter into combat with me. He was not afraid of me, of that I was sure. I had little doubt but what he thought he could kill me, if such a combat were joined. As a red savage I had little doubt but what he regarded himself as the superior or equal of any white man in single combat. White men, on the whole, did not even count as being within the coup system. Similarly, he had explicitly professed his respect for me. Thus it did not seem that his disinclination to fight with me was motivated by any supposed indignity or shame in doing so. He was not refusing to fight with me as the larl might refuse to fight with the urt.
"I do not understand," said Grunt to me, in Gorean.
"Nor do I," I said.
"He does not seem to bear you any hostility," said Grunt.
"No," I said.
"Someone must pay," said Canka.
"Then we must fight," I said, stepping back.
"I cannot fight you, for a reason which you cannot understand," said Canka, "but these others, my friends, the All Comrades, do not have this reason." Several of his fellows, at these words, grasped their lances more tightly. Their kaiila moved under them, sensing their excitement.
"Set a champion against me," I said. "I will fight him, and, if successful, each of the others, in turn."
"I am Blotanhunka," said he. "I will not risk my men in that fashion."
"It is then all or none," I said.
"Yes," said he.
I stepped back, further. "I am ready," I said.
"Do not fight," said Grunt. "These are Isbu Kaiila, All Comrades. There are seventeen of them. They, each of them, are skilled warriors. All have counted coup. You would be doomed."
"You would fight, would you not?" asked Canka.
"Yes," I said.
"Tatankasa," said Canka.
"'Red Bull'," translated Grunt.
"It would make my heart heavy to have you killed," said Canka. The kailiauk bull is 'Tatanka'. The suffix 'sa' designates the color red, as in 'Mazasa’, ‘Red Metal', 'Copper'. The expression 'Kailiauk' is used by most of the tribes for the kailiauk, which is not an animal native to Earth. The expression 'Pte' designates the kailiauk female, or kailiauk cow. It is also used, colloquially, interestingly, for the kailiauk in general. This is perhaps because the "Pte" is regarded, in a sense, as the mother of the tribes. It is she, in the final analysis, which makes possible their hunting, nomadic life. Like many similar peoples, the red savages have generally a great reverence and affection for the animals in their environment. This is particularly true of the animals on which they depend for their food. The useless or meaningless slaughter of such animals would be unthinkable to them.
"I am ready to fight," I said.
"Do not be a fool," said Grunt.
"I am ready," I said to Canka.
"There is an alternative," said Grunt. "Can't you see? He is waiting."
"What?" I asked.
"The collar," said Grunt.
"Never," I said.
"Please, Tatankasa," said Canka.
"Please," said Cuwignaka.
"Please," said Grunt.
Numbly I unbuckled my sword belt. I wrapped the belt about the sheaths, the sword sheath and the knife sheath, and handed the objects to Grunt. I was disarmed.
Words were spoken. One of the savages, he at the left of Canka, Akihoka, leaped to the ground. Canka threw him a collar. It was tied on my neck.
I regarded Canka. I was his slave.
The hands of Akihoka fastened themselves in the collar of my tunic. I was to be stripped naked before them.
"No," said Canka.
Another warrior approached me, with thongs and a rawhide rope. Another jerked my hands behind me. I was to be bound, and put on a tether, like the mere animal I now was, only a slave.
"No," said Canka.
The warriors then withdrew from me, puzzled, and remounted their lofty beasts.
Canka then turned his kaiila about. He looked over his shoulder at me. "Follow us," he said.
"Very well," I said.
"Howo, Winyela," said Canka to Winyela. He pointed to a place in the grass near the left flank of his kaiila.
"Quick," said Pimples to Winyela. "Run to the place he has indicated. It is the place for you to follow his kaiila, the place of a slave."
Swiftly Winyela ran to her place beside the kaiila. There she stood with her head down, submissively.
"Good," said Pimples.
"Winyela," said Canka.
She lifted her eyes to his.
"Winyela," said Canka, again. In this context he was not saying her name so much as reminding her of what she was.
"Say, 'Ho, Itancanka,'" said Pimples.
"Ho, Itancanka," said Winyela.
"Good," said Pimples.
Canka, then, in good humor, set his heels to the flanks of his kaiila and, slowly, the beast walking, took his way from the place. The girl, stripped and barefoot in the grass, her throat tied in his beaded collar, hurried along beside him, taking care to remain exactly in her place.
"I am ruined," said Grunt.
"You are ruined?" I asked. "I am a disarmed slave."
"There is something strange about that," said Grunt. "You have not been stripped, or tied. I do not understand it."
"Winyela, too," I said, using her new name, "has not been tied." We looked after the retreating warriors. Winyela was hurrying along at the left flank of Canka's kaiila, a girl's running place by the beast of her master.
"Have no fear," said Grunt. "In the collar of Canka the red-haired beauty will learn her slavery well."
"You still have most of your trade goods," I said.
"And I am among them, Master," said Pimples. "Surely I am worth something."
"Lie on your belly," said Grunt.
"Yes, Master," she said, immediately complying. She had spoken without permission.
"The red-haired girl," said Grunt, looking after the warriors, "was for Mahpiyasapa, civi
l chief of the Isbu. Last year when I was in the country of the Kaiila, he put in an order for such a woman. Such a woman was on his want list, so to speak."
"Doubtless when Canka returns to the main camp he will surrender her to Mahpiyasapa," I said.
"Do you think so?" asked Grunt.
"No," I said.
"I am thirsty," said Cuwignaka, sitting down in the grass. "And I am faint with hunger."
These were the first signs of weakness which he had showed. How shamed and foolish I suddenly felt. How little consideration, how little attention, we had given him.
I hurried to the pack kaiila and fetched from it the water bag. Grunt, from his own stores, brought forth some dried, pressed biscuits, baked in Kailiauk from Sa-Tarna flour. We watched him eat and drink. We did not feel that his stomach would be ready yet for the meat of kailiauk. We had some from the Dust Legs. It was in sheets, cut almost as thin as paper, dried in the prairie sun, layered in a flat, leather envelope, a parfleche, originally sealed with a seam of hardened fat. By confessing his need for drink and food before us Cuwignaka had, in his way, honored us. This was the sort of thing that a Kaiila warrior would be likely to do only among those whom he considered his friends and comrades.
"Meat," said Cuwignaka.
Grunt and I exchanged glances but, in the end, we fetched Cuwignaka some of the strips of dried kailiauk meat.
He sat, cross-legged, in the grass, and ate some. "It is enough," he said. He thrust back the remainder to Grunt, who inserted it in the opened parfleche.
"I am now ready to go to the camp," said Cuwignaka.
"You are in no condition to travel," I said.
"I am ready," he said.
"You will ride," I said.
"I can walk," he said, rising unsteadily to his feet. He picked up the lance, using it as a staff to maintain his balance.
I began to remove my things from my kaiila, with the exception of the bridle, the saddle and saddle blanket.
"What are you doing?" asked Grunt.
"I am preparing the mount for Cuwignaka," I said.
"Do not be foolish," said Grunt. "This is your opportunity to escape. Ride westward, like the wind. Flee."
"I do not understand," I said.
"Do you not see, my friend?" asked Cuwignaka. "They have given you this chance to escape."
"They could doubtless follow me, tracking me, with strings of kaiila, until my own beast played out," I said.
"Doubtless," said Cuwignaka, "but I do not think they wish to do so."
"They are letting you go," said Grunt.
"Go now," said Cuwignaka, "for, later, in the main camp, others may not be so lenient."
"Go," said Grunt. "You would then have a fine lead on others, in the main camp, days from here, who might wish to follow you. Make good your escape now. It is doubtless their intention."
"But why should they permit me this?" I asked.
"I do not know," said Grunt.
"I was told to follow," I said, "and I said that I would do so."
"It was necessary that such a command be given," said Grunt. "None expects you to follow."
"I said that I would," I said.
"They will not expect a white man to keep his word," said Grunt.
"Your word is respected in the Barrens, is it not?" I asked.
"I think so," said Grunt.
"Then so, too, will be mine," I said.
"Run," said Grunt. "Do not be a fool."
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"I am going to the main camp of the Kaiila," he said. "I have come to this country to trade."
"You have business in this place?" I asked.
"Yes," said Grunt.
"I, too, have business in this place," I said.
"You are mad," said Grunt.
"Perhaps," I said. But I had not come to the Barrens to turn back now.
"Get up," said Grunt, kicking Pimples lightly in the side with the side of his foot. "We have work to do."
"Yes, Master," she said, rising, and smoothing down the skirt of the tiny slave tunic with the palms of her hands. She was the only one of the girls whose clothing had not been taken by the red savages. The red-haired girl, Lois, Corinne, Inez, Priscilla, the others, had all been stripped. Canka had permitted her to keep the garment, such as it was, to draw a distinction between her, who could speak Kaiila, and the others, who could not.
To be sure, there is a controversy as to whether or not it is more humiliating for a woman to be put before masters in such a garment or merely stark naked, save, perhaps, for a brand and collar. Surely slave tunics leave little to the imagination. Among the girls, of course, there is little disagreement in practice, though some in theory. The girls, commonly, treasure even the tiniest rag which can afford them some shielding, however pathetic, from the imperious gaze of masters. Too, from the point of view of the masters, the little that might be left to the imagination, small as it is, by such a garment, is often found to be intriguing and stimulating. It encourages them to her stripping. Too, giving a girl a bit of clothing, tends to give one more control over her. For example, will she be told to remove the garment, or will it be taken from her, and if so, publicly or privately? It must be understood, of course, that a slave, having no rights, does not have the right even to clothing. That a girl is wearing even a rag is usually a sign that she has pleased her master, and quite significantly, too. Often the garment of a slave girl does not come easily to her. In private, of course, even rags are often dispensed with. The slave is the property of the master, and, in the privacy of his quarters, she is done with, totally, as he pleases.
"Take care of the things which were mine," I said, "if you would."
"I shall," said Grunt. Slaves, of course, own nothing. It is they who are owned.
"I think it is time to follow Canka," I said to Cuwignaka.
"Ride from here. Escape," said Grunt.
"Mount up," I said to Cuwignaka. He stood, unsteadily, clinging to the lance, as though to a staff.
"I will walk," said Cuwignaka.
"You are weak," I said.
"I am Kaiila," said Cuwignaka. "I will walk."
He took two or three faltering steps, supporting himself with the lance. But then, suddenly, his legs buckled. For a moment he held himself up with the lance, but then, heavily, fell to the side. Painfully, with the lance, hand over hand, he pulled himself again to his feet. He took another two or three faltering steps, supporting himself with the lance, after Canka and the others, but then, again, fell heavily in the grass. I moved to go to him, but Grunt's hand on my arm stopped me. "No," he said. "Do not demean him. He is Kaiila."
Pimples, too, I noted, had not moved to aid him. I nodded.
Cuwignaka struggled to a seated position in the grass. He sat there, cross-legged, angrily, the lance beside him.
"I have decided to rest," he said. "I will sit here for a time. Then I will get up, and go."
"Very well," I said.
"He may not be able to walk for days," said Grunt.
"In a day or two," I said.
"Perhaps," said Grunt.
"He is Kaiila," I said.
"That is true," said Grunt, smiling. Then he turned to Pimples. "Busy yourself, Girl," he said. "Pack our stores. A trail awaits."
"Yes, Master," she said.
I lent my assistance to Grunt and Pimples, and, in a few Ehn, we had secured the goods about either on the travois attached to Grunt's pack kaiila or on my own pack beast. Pimples put the discarded coffle chains, and the manacles which had bound the Hobarts, on the hides of the travois, fastening them about one of the tie ropes.
"I wish you well," I said to Grunt.
"I wish you well," said he to me.
I watched Grunt and Pimples, with the three kaiila, his mount, the kaiila drawing the travois and my own pack beast, wending their way away, through the tall grass. They turned and waved, and I waved back. Then, after a time, they were in the distance, following the trail of
Canka and his party. I could see the smoke of evening fires in the distance. That was presumably the Kaiila camp. Canka had not tethered Winyela. He had let her run free at the flank of his kaiila. That seemed an unusual courtesy to be extended to a new girl. I smiled to myself. I suspected the young warrior might already care for the red-haired slave. I did not think he would be eager to surrender her to Mahpiyasapa, his chieftain.
"What are you thinking of?" asked Cuwignaka.
"Various things," I said.
"If you are not going to flee," said Cuwignaka, "perhaps you should follow Canka, now."
"I will wait for you," I told him.
"I may sit here for a little while," he said.
I smiled. "I will wait," I said.
"The lot of a slave among the Kaiila, as among our peoples generally," said Cuwignaka, "is not an easy one."
"I do not suppose so," I said.
"At least you are not a female," said Cuwignaka. "The Kaiila, as others of our peoples, do not treat their white beauties with gentleness."
I nodded. I supposed not.
Total pleasingness, at all times and in all ways, and instant, and complete obedience, to the least whim of the master, is standardly required of Gorean female slaves, incidentally, not merely of those who wear the collars of red savages. I had little doubt but what there were many in the cities who could instruct even the red savages in matters pertaining to the utilization, management and control of female slaves. If anything, I suspected that the lot of the female slave in the Barrens might be a bit easier than that of her embonded sister in the smooth corridors and ornate palaces of the high cities. Each street and each square in such a city is likely to have its tether posts and whipping rings.
"Canka did not even tether Winyela," I said.
"Let her displease him even in the least thing," said Cuwignaka, "and she will quickly discover that she is a slave and that he is her master."
"Doubtless," I said. I thought that this might be good for the former Miss Millicent Aubrey-Welles, the former debutante from Pennsylvania. Such girls thrive best when kept under a strict discipline.
"I was not stripped and tethered," I said.
"No," said Cuwignaka.
"I do not understand that," I said.
"It is not so hard to understand," said Cuwignaka.
"Why were such things not done to me?" I asked. "Why was I not attacked? Why was I permitted an opportunity to attempt an escape? Why have I been treated with such lenience?"