Savages of Gor coc-17

by John Norman

  "Men are beasts," said Ginger.

  "Yes," said Evelyn.

  There was the sound of a quirt lashing flesh. The red-haired girl cried out inpain.

  "She does not even know what they want her to do," said Ginger.

  "She is a stupid slave," said Evelyn.

  "She will learn," said Ginger.

  "We all learn," said Evelyn.

  I had noted, during the course of the evening, that more than one of theattendants about, and the auctioneer, too, had noted the presence of the twotavern girls in the crowd. They had not taken any action, however, to ejectthem. I found this of interest. Perhaps they thought them to be with me and thatI, so to speak, was answerable for them. Again I was puzzled as to why theywould be clinging about me. As I had not volunteered to accompany one or theother of them back to her master's tavern they should have attempted, after abit, to apply their beauty and enslaved wiles to the enticement of a more likelyprospect. It was surely not their business to be standing about observing slavesales. Even now, perhaps, their masters had taken slave whips down from thewalls, curious as to their absence.

  I gave my attention again to the central block. By now the red-haired beauty hadbeen put through several slave paces, such as were feasible for her, her handsbound with the cord behind her back. She now, trembling, lay on her belly,licking and kissing at the auctioneer's kaiila boots.

  "Is she vital?" called a man.

  The auctioneer pulled her to her feet by the hair and turned her about, facingthe crowd.

  I heard some men shouting outside in the street. The two girls inched moreclosely to me.

  The auctioneer, his quirt now hooked on his belt, stood behind the red-hairedgirt. He put his left hand in her hair, and pulled her head back, and placed hisright hand on her right hip. She suddenly screamed and writhed, squirming. Butshe could not free herself from his grip. "No, please!" she screamed. "No!" shesobbed. Then she cried out, "No! Oh, no!" Then she sobbed. "No! No! No! Yes!

  Yes! No. No. No!" Then he released her, and she fell to her knees on the block,sobbing, crimson with shame.

  "Good," said the fellow near me, he in the broad-brimmed hat.

  I smiled. The lovely new slave, even freshly branded, had, in the hands of theauctioneer, betrayed herself.

  "She will make a hot slut," said Ginger.

  "She will not be able to help herself, no more than we," said Evelyn.

  I was inclined to agree with the tavern girls. Clearly the red-haired girl hadstrong slave latencies.

  "Six!" called a man.

  "Six five!" called another.

  "Six seven!" called another.

  "Six eight!" called another.

  "Six nine!" called another.

  There was now a commotion at the door. We heard shouting behind us. Theauctioneer looked to the back of the room, angrily. Seven or eight men, in theboots and garb of drovers, thrust in the door. Two or three of them carriedhalf-emptied bottles of paga. Two of them had drawn swords in their hands. Thetavern girls seized my arms, trying to make themselves small, behind me. Themen, I gathered, were drovers, members probably of the same crew that I had seenarrive earlier, those who had driven their kaiila, crying out and shouting,through the streets.

  "Gentlemen!" cried the auctioneer. "Do not break the peace! Sheathe your steel!

  There is a sale in progress."

  "There they are! ' cried a fellow, one of the drovers, pointing towards us. Hewas a young, dark-haired, rough-looking fellow. The tavern girls cried out withmisery. I shook them loose from my arms. The fellow slammed his steel into hissheath and strode towards us. Another fellow, one who looked much like him, wasbut a foot behind him. They were, I assumed, brothers.

  "The Hobarts," said a man, "from the Bar Ina."

  The fellow in advance seized Evelyn by the arms and shook her viciously. I wasafraid he might break her little, collared neck. "I sought you at the tavern," he said to her, angrily. "You knew we would bring stock to town this night."

  "And you, little slut," snarled the other, "what of you?" He seized Ginger bythe hair with both hands and threw her cruelly to his feet. I was pleased to seethat he knew how to handle a slave. She looked up at him, her head held up toface him, her small hands futilely on his wrists, tears in her eyes. "Why wereyou not in the tavern of Randolph, awaiting me?" he demanded.

  I deemed now that I better understood why the two girls had not been at theirrespective taverns, why they, it seemed, in effect, under the pretense ofsoliciting business for the establishments of their masters, had been hiding inthe sales barn of Ram Seibar. What I did not understand was why the personnel ofthe sales barn had not driven them away. The presence of two such luscioustavern girls at the sale might surely distract the attention of at least some ofthe buyers. This was the more puzzling as, in the past, I had gathered, they hadbeen, in similar situations, driven from the premises, being lashed across thecalves. This, then, was apparently not their first offense in such matters.

  The first young fellow then spun Evelyn about and hurled her a few feet fromhim, toward the door. "Precede me to the tavern, Slave," he said.

  "Yes, Master," she wept.

  "And you," said the other, throwing Ginger to her belly toward the door, "getyour ass to the tavern of Randolph."

  "Yes, Master," she said.

  I saw two attendants, at the door, look at one another, tensely, uneasily. I didnot understand this reaction. What was it to them if these two women were to beconducted back to their respective taverns, there to be returned to theirintimate labors?

  The first of the young fellows turned about, and glared at me. I observed thesheath. It was at his left hip. He was apparently right-handed. I observed theright hand. It did not tense to move toward the blade's hilt.

  He was obviously angry. I met his gaze, dispassionately.

  The girls had now sought me out, I realized, hoping that I might provide themwith some sort of shelter, or protection. I presumably seemed large, and strong.

  I carried a blade. Too, I was a stranger in town and would know nothing of theHobarts, or the crew of the Bar Ina, or whoever it might be, that might beinterested in them. In their way, given my lack of knowledge in these matters,they had been trying to take advantage of me. I found this irritating. They had,of course, seriously miscalculated in this matter. As I was not intending totake them to an alcove myself I would not have afforded them, no more than anyother Gorean male, the least protection. They belonged totally to their mastersand, more generally, to men. They were slave girls. Still, it would not havepleased me if this fellow, or fellows, these drovers, thought they were takingthem away from me.

  The fellow lashed out. What occurred then was done rapidly. I am not certainthat all present clearly understood what was done. I caught his wrist and,twisting it, jerked him forward and off balance, at the same time kickingforcibly upwards. I then, bending his wrist back, thrust him to the side. Theother fellow was caught with a backwards kick, his steel no more then halfwayfrom its sheath. As I had not been facing him he had apparently been taken bysurprise by this blow, by its direction, its nature and force. Untrained menoften expect assaults to occur frontally. Various options in the martial arts,of course, are available to the practiced combatant. My blade was free from mysheath before his knees began to sag. I faced the drovers then, my blade drawn.

  He crumpled to the floor. Men quickly cleared space about us.

  "Well done!" said the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat.

  I faced five drovers, their steel drawn. Bottles were cast aside.

  "The first man who attacks," said the auctioneer, from the height of the centralplatform, "is a dead man."

  The drovers looked about. Attendants in the sales barn held leveled crossbowstrained on them. The short, heavy quarrels lay in their guides. The cables weretaut. Fingers rested on the triggers.

  Angrily the drovers sheathed their steel. They gathered up their two fallencomrades and, supporting them, with dark looks, withdrew from the
sales barn.

  "The two leading fellows there," said the man with the broad-brimmed hat, "wereMax and Kyle Hobart, from the Bar Ina. They will not make pleasant enemies."

  I shrugged. I resheathed my steel.

  The two tavern girls, auburn-haired Ginger and dark-haired Evelyn, frightened,began to move unobtrusively toward the door.

  "One moment, young ladies," called the auctioneer, pleasantly.

  "We are going, Masters," said Ginger, plaintively.

  "Perhaps not," said the auctioneer.

  "Masters?" asked Ginger, frightened. Behind her there was the heavy ropish soundof heavy cordage being dropped. She spun about. The exit was blocked by thereticulated structure of a stout, hempen slave net. She caught with her fingersat the net, and then, frightened, looked back over her shoulder. "Masters?" sheasked.

  Evelyn immediately knelt. "Please forgive us, Masters," she said. "Please do notwhip us!"

  Ginger then knelt, and swiftly, beside Evelyn. "No, Masters," she said. "Pleasedo not whip us."

  "Who is your master?" asked the auctioneer.

  "Randolph, of Kailiauk," said Ginger.

  "Russell, of Kailiauk," said Evelyn.

  "No, pretty little slaves," said the auctioneer. "Your master is the house ofRam Seibar."

  "Master?" asked Ginger.

  "You have been nuisances long enough," said the auctioneer.

  "Master?" asked Ginger, frightened.

  "Two days ago you were purchased from your respective masters," said theauctioneer. "You have now, as we anticipated, effected your self-delivery."

  The girls looked at one another in terror.

  "Your time of being bothers to the house of Ram Seibar Is now at an end," saidthe auctioneer.

  There was much laughter among the men at the rich joke played on the two slaves.

  "Remove their collars," said the auctioneer to an attendant. He removed thecollars. The keys were correct. Doubtless they had been supplied by their formermasters, probably at the time of the transactions effecting their purchase.

  "Get your clothes off," said the auctioneer.

  Swiftly the girls complied. Ginger removed even the beaded cuff on her leftankle. Evelyn removed even the black-ribbon choker on her throat. They were thenstark naked. Both, I saw, had been well branded.

  They looked about themselves, frightened.

  Their clothing, with the collars, was collected by an attendant. Such articles,doubtless, would be returned to their former masters.

  "We have here, for sale," laughed the auctioneer, " two of the prettiest taverngirls in Kailiauk. Should you doubt this, scrutinize them closely."

  The girls shrank back. Men laughed.

  "We are willing to consider any bid over a silver tarsk for them," said theauctioneer. "However, we encourage their buyers to see that their pretty, curvedasses are removed from Kailiauk."

  There was more laughter.

  "Can you communicate with these other slaves?" asked the fellow in thebroad-brimmed hat of the two stripped tavern girls. He indicated some of thegirls on the side blocks.

  Ginger approached one of the girls. Evelyn, too, approached her.

  "Do you speak English?" asked Ginger in English.

  "Yes, yes! ' said the girl, startled.

  "What of the others who were with you?" asked Ginger. "Can they speak English?"

  "Most," said the girl, "as a second, if not a first language."

  Ginger then turned to the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat. "I can communicatewith most of them, I think," she said, in Gorean. "If there is a particular girlyou are interested in I can interrogate her specifically."

  The man pointed to the naked red-haired girl, her hands bound behind her, on thecentral platform.

  "Do you speak English?" asked Ginger.

  "Yes," said the girl, pulling at her bonds, "yes!"

  "Yes," said Ginger to the man in the broad-brimmed hat, in Gorean.

  He nodded. I could see that he was pleased by this. That seemed to be the womanhe was interested in having understand him, and clearly. I did not think he wasparticularly concerned, truly, about communicating with the others. The uses towhich he intended to put them, I gathered, did not require subtleties ofcommunication. His desires with respect to their performances, I gathered, couldbe adequately conveyed by such means as the boot and whip.

  "What is the language in which you have been speaking to these women?" he askedof Ginger.

  "English, Master," she said.

  He indicated Evelyn. "Does this slave, too, know this English?" he asked.

  "Yes, Master," said Ginger.

  Evelyn nodded. "Yes, Master," she said.

  I smiled. Two girls, doubtless, could train the red-haired barbarian morequickly than one. For example, they could work her in shifts.

  "You speak English " cried the girl on the side block, the collar and chain onher throat, "what is this place and how did I come here!"

  "This is the world called Gor," said Ginger, "and you were brought here byspacecraft."

  "What manner of place is this," begged the girl, lifting the chain on hercollar, "and is this how they treat all women?"

  "I shall not expatiate on what manner of place this is" said Ginger, "for you,yourself, shall soon learn, and well. And this is not how they treat all women.

  Women on this world, most of them, enjoy a status and freedom of which you, fromEarth, cannot even conceive. Their raiment is splendid, their station is lofty,their mien is noble, their prestige is boundless. Dread them, and fear them-"

  The girl looked at her, frightened.

  "For you are not such a woman," said Ginger.

  The girl clutched the chain, kneeling on the block.

  "No," said Ginger, "you are not such a woman. You are less than the dust beneaththeir feet."

  "I–I do not understand," said the girl, stammering.

  "You are the sort of woman who will wear rags, said Ginger, "who will rejoiceif a crust of bread is thrust in your mouth."

  "I–I do not understand," said the girl.

  "You will learn the weight of bonds, the lash of the whip," said Ginger. "Youwill learn to crawl, and bend, and obey."

  The girl looked at her with horror.

  "You will learn that you are an animal," said Ginger.

  "An animal?" said the girl, frightened.

  "Yes," said Ginger, "and worth less than most animals."

  "What sort of woman am I then?" asked the girl.

  "Can you not guess?" asked Ginger.

  The girl looked at her, terrified.

  "A female slave," said Ginger.

  "Let us now have a bid on the two tavern girls," called the auctioneer. "We musthave at least a tarsk apiece for them!"

  The girl shook her head numbly, disbelievingly. "No," she whispered. "No."

  Ginger regarded her.

  "It cannot be," said the girl.

  "It is," said Ginger.

  "Not a female slave," said the girl. She lifted the chain, disbelievingly, onher neck.

  "Yes," said Ginger.

  "No!" said the girl. "No!" She clutched the chain on her neck in terror.

  "Yes," said Ginger.

  The girl leaped suddenly to her feet and, crouching over, with the fullness ofher small strength, began to tear wildly at the chain. "No," she cried, "not afemale slave! No!

  The men watched, with interest.

  Then the girl, sobbing, her small hands raw, and cut, ceased her struggles.

  "I am chained," she said, numbly, to Ginger.

  "Yes, you are," said Ginger, adding, "-Slave."

  There was the sudden lash of the five-stranded Gorean slave whip and the girlcried out and sank down on the block, kneeling, with her head down, makingherself as small as possible. Five times did the attendant lash her beauty. Thenshe lay on her stomach on the block, sobbing, the collar and chain on her neck,her fingernails tight in the wood. "I will be good, Masters," she wept. "I willbe good."

  "Do I hear a
bid on the tavern girls?" asked the auctioneer.

  "Five copper tarsks apiece!" laughed a man.

  Ginger bit her lip, in anger. There was laughter.

  "Stand straighter Slave," said a man.

  Ginger straightened her body, and lifted her head.

  "Miss, oh, please, Miss! ' called the red-haired girl, plaintively, on herknees, stripped, her hands tied behind her with the cord, from the centralblock.

  Ginger was startled. The red-haired slave had spoken without permission. Sheturned to face her.

  "Am I, too, a slave?" called the red-haired girl.

  Ginger looked about, and sensed that she might respond, without being beaten.

  The experienced slave girl is very sensitive to such things.

  We saw the auctioneer remove the kaiila, quirt from his belt.

  "Yes," said Ginger, "You are all slaves! ' "And you?" inquired the red-haired girl.

  "We, too, are slaves," said Ginger, indicating herself and Evelyn. "Do you thinkfree women would be so rudely stripped and brazenly displayed? We, and theseothers, are on sale! Do you doubt that we are slaves? See our brands!" Sheturned her left thigh to the central platform. Evelyn, too, turned so that thered-haired girl might, as she could, observe her brand.

  "You are branded!" said the red-haired girl. "You are only branded slaves! ' "Consider the mark burned into your own lovely hide," said Ginger.

  The girl regarded her own thigh, fearfully.

  "It is no different from that which we wear," said Ginger.

  The girl regarded her with horror.

  "It marks you well, does it not?" asked Ginger.

  "Yes," said the girl, in misery.

  "As ours do us," said Ginger.

  "Then I, too, am nothing but a branded slave!" said the red-haired girl.

  "Precisely," said Ginger.

  "Then I, too, at least in theory, could be put up for sale," she said, aghast.