Savages of Gor coc-17

by John Norman

  "Bids have already been taken on you," said Ginger. "You are up for sale."

  "No!" cried the girl. "I am Millicent Aubrey-Welles, of Pennsylvania. I cannotbe for sale! ' "You are a nameless slave animal, being vended for the pleasure of Masters," said Ginger.

  "I am not for sale!" cried the girl.

  "You are," said Ginger. "And I, for one, would not pay much for you."

  Wildly the red-haired girl tried to attain her feet but the auctioneer, his handin her hair, twisted her and threw her on her belly before him. Twice he lashedher with the quirt "Oh!" she cried. "Oh!" He then stepped away from her. Helaughed. She had squirmed well. Her body was obviously highly sensitive. Thisportended well for her quality as a slave. She lifted her head, wildly, toGinger. "I am truly to be sold?" she begged.

  "Yes," said Ginger.

  "Oh!" cried the girt, in pain, again quirted by the auctioneer. "Oh! Oh!" Shehad again spoken without permission. Then she lay quietly, scarcely moving,beaten, frightened, on the block. She did not care to feel the quirt again. Ithink, lying there, she now began, more fully and explicitly than she had daredbefore, to comprehend the actuality of her condition, that she might be, infact, what she seemed to be, a lashed, soon-to-be vended slave.

  "What were these women inquiring of you?" inquired a man, of Ginger.

  "They desired a clarification of their condition, Master," responded Ginger.

  "Are they dim-witted? ' asked the fellow.

  "I do not think so, Master," said Ginger. "It is only that they come from aworld which has not prepared them to easily grasp the nature of certainrealities, let alone that they might find themselves implicated in them."

  "I see," said the man.

  "But do not fear, Master," said Ginger, "we learn swiftly."

  "That is known to me," he grinned.

  Ginger looked down, swallowing hard. It was true. On Gor, girls learned swiftly.

  I saw the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat, behind Ginger and Evelyn, make a signto the auctioneer.

  "If there is no one here now who wishes further to examine the tavern girls,prior to their sale, I will have them removed to a holding area," said theauctioneer.

  Ginger and Evelyn, startled, exchanged glances. As no one spoke, the auctioneernodded to two of the attendants. In a moment the girls, the upper left arm ofeach in the grasp of an attendant, were conducted, bewildered, through a sidedoor from the hall.

  The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat, I gathered, had influence in Kailiauk. Hewas, obviously, at any rate, taken seriously in the house of Ram Seibar.

  When the heavy door had closed behind the tavern girls, he said to theauctioneer, "One five apiece."

  "Are there any other bids? ' inquired the auctioneer.

  There was silence in the room. It interested me that there were no other bids.

  "One five," agreed the auctioneer. "One five, for each."

  The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat then pointed to the girl on the centralblock. This did not surprise me. I had gathered that he might be interested inher. The purchase of the two tavern girls, further, I had surmised, wasintimately connected with this interest. He wanted them, doubtless, to be usedin her training, in particular, I supposed, with her training in Gorean. Otheraspects of her training he might see fit to attend to himself. Needless to say,it is pleasant to train a beautiful woman uncompromisingly to one's mostintimate pleasures. Further, there was no doubt that the girl on the block was abeauty. Yet, in some way, I still found his interest in her somewhat puzzling.

  She was, obviously, in complexion, coloration, refinement, figure and beauty,quite different from the other girls he had purchased. Perhaps he was a fellowwith wide divergence in his tastes.

  "We have a bid on the slave of six nine," said the auctioneer. With his foot hemoved her bound hands a bit upward on her back. He then stood with his rightboot on the small of her back. "Six nine," he said, looking at the fellow in thebroad-brimmed hat.

  "Seven five," said the fellow.

  The auctioneer then removed his boot from the prone body of the slave and, bythe hair, pulled her up to her knees.

  "Seven five," said the fellow.

  The auctioneer then, by the hair, pulled the girl to her feet. He then, with hisquirt, indicated that the girl should suck in her gut and lift her head. She didso.

  "Very well," said the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat. "Seven eight."

  The auctioneer seemed hesitant.

  "Seven nine, then," said the fellow.

  This, I took it, was the bid the auctioneer had been waiting for. It was an evensilver tarsk, or an even hundred copper tarsks, of the sort common in Kailiauk,figured in multiples of ten, over the earlier standing bid of six nine.

  "Are there any other bids?" called the auctioneer. I sensed there would not beany. Too, I did not think the auctioneer expected any. To be sure, it wasdoubtless his business to inquire explicitly into the matter.

  The girl trembled, her chin obediently high.

  No more bids were forthcoming. No one, it seemed, cared to bid against thefellow in the broad-brimmed hat. I found this of interest. I had not found thissort of thing before in a Gorean market.

  "Deliver her to the holding area," said the auctioneer, addressing himself to anattendant near the foot of the block. The fellow, then, climbed to the height ofthe block. "She is yours," said the auctioneer to the man in the broad-brimmedhat. The attendant seized the girl by the arms. It was only then, I think, thatthe former Millicent Aubrey-Welles, from Pennsylvania, realized that she hadbeen sold. She was conducted from the surface of the block.

  "That," said the auctioneer, "concludes the final auction of the evening. Permitme to remind you all that the market is not yet closed. It remains open foranother Ahn. Peruse now, if you would, in the time remaining before we close,the lovely morsels, dainties for your delectation, fastened on the slave platesto the sides. In a lesser house any one of them would doubtless be worthy thecentral block. Yet, here, in the house of Ram Seibar, in this house of prizesand bargains, no one of them is likely to cost you more than a silver tarsk!"

  I glanced about, at the girls on the side blocks. A few pretended to brazenindifference. Most, however, only too obviously, were terrified. I think therewas not one among them who did not, now, understand that she was a slave. Ithink there was not one among them who did not now realize that she might soon,and totally, belong to a man.

  "To the side blocks, please, Noble Sirs, ' invited the auctioneer, with anexpansive gesture of his open hand, "to the side blocks!"

  The men began to drift to the side blocks. Several went toward the block of thegirl with whom Ginger had spoken. She had looked well under the attendant'swhip. Several of the girls whimpered. A woman's first sale, I suspected, isoften the hardest.

  "Come with me," said the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat. He then turned about,and went through a side door.

  Puzzled, I followed him.

  On the other side of the door we found ourselves in a holding area, a long, shedlike structure ancillary to the main hall. It was wooden-floored and the narrowfloorboards were laid lengthwise. About every five feet a linear set of theseboards was painted yellow, thus, in effect, making long, yellow lines, parallelto the sides of the structure, on the floor. At the head and foot of theselines, also in yellow, were painted numbers.

  On one of these lines, number six, there knelt, one behind the other, in tandemfashion, seven girls. They were barbarians, but they had been knelt in theposition of pleasure slaves, back on their heels knees wide, hands on theirthighs, backs straight, heads up.

  You handled yourself well in the hall," said the fellow to me. "It is mysuspicion that you are no stranger to war."

  "I have fought," I admitted.

  "Are you a mercenary?" he asked.

  "Of sorts," I said.

  "Why are you in Kailiauk?" he asked.

  "I am here on business," I said, warily.

  "Are your pursuers numerous?" he asked.

>   "Pursuers?" I asked.

  "You are doubtless in flight," be said. "Would you give me a hand with thesechains?" He then bent down and, from some things, his, I gathered, near onewall, he had picked up several loops of light chain, with spaced, attachedcollars. He slung these loops over his left shoulder and joined me, near thelast girl kneeling on the line.

  He handed me a collar, at the chain's termination. I clasped it about the neckof the last girl on the line. It closed, locking, with a heavy metallic click.

  "I am not in flight," I said.

  The girl whimpered, collared and on the chain.

  "I see," grinned the fellow.

  "Why should you think I am in flight?" I asked.

  "Skills such as yours," he said, "do not bring their highest prices in thevicinity of the perimeter." He handed me another length of chain, with itscollar.

  "Oh," I said. I added the next girl to the chain. The collars had front and backrings, were hinged on the right and locked on the left. This is a familiar formof coffle collar. The lengths of chain between the collars were about three tofour feet long. Some were attached to the collar rings by the links themselves,opened and then reclosed about the rings, and some of them were fastened to thecollar rings by snap rings. Another common form of coffle collar has its hingein the front and closes behind the back of the neck, like the common slavecollar. It has a single collar ring usually on the right, through which,usually, a single chain is strung. Girls are spaced on such a chain, usually, bysnap rings. An advantage of the first sort of coffle arrangement is that thechain may, as girls are added or subtracted, be shortened or lengthened. Achain, which has been borne by fifty girls, would, of course, be impracticablyheavy for five or six. An advantage of the second arrangement is that girls canbe easily spaced on the chain, more or less closely together, and can beconveniently removed from, and added to, the chain. Which chaining arrangementis best for a given set of girls depends, of course, on the particularintentions and purposes of their master. The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat hadopted, of course, for the first arrangement. This suggested to me that heexpected girls, for one reason or another, to be subtracted from the chain.

  "If you are not now in flight," he said, "I suggest that you consider itsadvisability."

  I looked at him. He handed me another length of chain and a collar.

  "You should leave town, and soon," he said.

  I put another girl on the chain.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "The vanity of the Hobarts, a proud folk," he said, "was much stung this night,and before female slaves. They will come with their men, with crossbows andswords. They will want their revenge."

  "I do not fear them," I said.

  "When do you intend to leave Kailiauk?" he asked.

  "In the morning," I said.

  "Good," said he. "I would not alter my plans."

  "I have no intention of doing so," I said. Martial dalliance was not germane tomy mission.

  "Put her on the chain," said the fellow, handing me another collar and length ofchain.

  I added a blonde to the chain. He then handed me another chain segment andcollar, unlooping it from his shoulder.

  "What are you going to do?" he asked.

  "I have purchased some trade goods," I said. "It is my intention to enter theBarrens."

  "That is dangerous," said he.

  "That is what I have heard," I said.

  "Do you know any of the languages? Do you know even "No," I said.

  "Avoid them, then," he said.

  I then added another girl to the coffle, a shorthaired, sturdy-legged brunet.

  "I am determined," I said.

  The fellow lifted the girl's short, dark hair. "It will be difficult to braidthis hair," he said, "but it will grow."

  I then, taking a collar and a length of chain from him, added the next girl tothe coffle. She was also a brunet.

  "I am curious," I said, "as to the nature of the girls you have purchased. Theseseven, though surely outstandingly attractive, seem to me to have been ratherexceeded in beauty by several of the others, whom you did not choose to buy."

  "Perhaps," he grinned. He handed me another collar, and length of chain,unloosing it from his shoulder.

  "Please don't put me in a collar," said the seventh girl, looking up, tears inher eyes. She had spoken in English. She had light-brown hair. I put the collaron her throat, and locked it. She was then naught but another lovely componentin the coffle. She put back her head, and choked back a sob.

  "Are you truly determined to enter the Barrens?" asked the fellow.

  "Yes," I said.

  "How many kaiila do you have? ' he asked.

  "Two," I said, "one to ride, another for the trade goods."

  "That is fortunate," said the fellow. "No more than two kaiila are to be broughtby any single white man into the Barrens. Too, no party of white men in theBarrens is permitted to bring in more than ten kaiila."

  "These are rules in Kailiauk?" I asked.

  "They are the rules of the red savages," he said.

  "Then," said I, "only small groups of white men enter the Barrens, or else theywould be on foot, at the mercy of the inhabitants of the area."

  "Precisely," said the fellow.

  Two slave girls, blindfolded, their hands tied behind them, were then thrustinto the room. An attendant, holding them by the arms, brought them forward, andthen, at the indication of the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat, knelt them downover the yellow line, in front of the hitherto first girl in the coffle. Bothwere frightened. They were Ginger and Evelyn. "To whom have we been sold?" begged Ginger. "Where are we being taken?" begged Evelyn. The attendant then,with his booted foot, kicked Ginger to her side on the floor. Then he tookEvelyn's hair in his left hand and with his right hand lashed her face twice,with the palm and then the back of his hand, snapping it from side to side. Hethen knelt them again, on the line. "Forgive us, Masters," begged Ginger.

  "Forgive us, Masters," begged Evelyn, blood at the side of her mouth.

  I then, with materials supplied by the fellow in the broad brimmed hat, addedGinger and Evelyn to the coffle.

  "The three of them, together," said the attendant, "come to ten nine. The otherwill be brought forward in a moment."

  I saw the coins change hands.

  The small wrists of Ginger and Evelyn pulled futilely at their bonds.

  In a moment, as the attendant had suggested, the red-haired girl was introducedinto the room.

  "She is a beauty," I said to the fellow in the broad brimmed hat.

  "That she is," he said, "and, beyond that, it is the sort of girl she is. Shewill make a superb slave."

  The girl, then, half stumbling, was brought forward. Rudely she was thrust downto her knees, where the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat indicated, at the headof the coffle. To her horror her knees were kicked apart. Her chin was thenpushed up. In a moment she was fastened with the others.

  I looked down at the red-haired girl. The man in the broad-brimmed hat liftedher hair, displaying it to me. "It is long enough to braid," he said.

  "If one wished it," I said. I myself tended to prefer, on the whole, long, loosehair on a slave, tied back, if at all, with a headband or, behind the head, witha cloth or string.

  He let her hair fall back, down her back.

  "She would bring a high price," I said, "in almost any market with which I amfamiliar."

  "I will be able to get five hides of the yellow kailiauk for her," said the man,"Oh, no, Master!" cried Ginger, suddenly, dismally. "No. Master! ' protestedEvelyn. "Please, no! Please, no'

  The man in the broad-brimmed hat bent down and, one after the other, untied thewrists of Evelyn, Ginger and the red-haired girl. Ginger and Evelyn weretrembling, half in hysteria. Yet they had presence of mind enough to place theirhands, palms down, on their thighs. The palms of the red-haired girl, forcibly,her wrists in his grasp, were placed on her thighs. When her left hand wished tostray to her brand he took it and placed
it again, firmly, palm down, on herthigh.

  "Yes, Master," whispered the girl, in English. I was pleased to see that she wasintelligent. A fresh brand is not to be disturbed, of course.

  The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat then removed the blindfolds from Ginger andEvelyn. "Oh, no!" wept Ginger. "No, no!" wept Evelyn. "Not you, please!" Theyregarded who it was who owned them, in dismay, and with horror. Yet, I think,but moments before, surely they had sensed, and surely feared, who he might be.

  Their worst fears had now seemed confirmed. I did not understand their terror.

  He seemed to me a genial enough fellow. "Sell us, beloved Master!" beggedGinger. "Please, Master," begged Evelyn, "we are only poor slaves. Take pity onus! Sell us to another! ' "Make us pot girls!" begged Ginger. "Shackle us! Sendus to the farms!" "We are only poor slaves," wept Evelyn. "Please, please,Master, sell us to another! We beg you, Beloved Master. Sell us to another!"

  "The house of Ram Seibar," said the fellow, amused, "wishes you both taken fromKailiauk."

  Several of the other girls now, I noted, were frightened and apprehensive. Thered-haired girl, too, seemed frightened. They could not understand Gorean butthe terror of the other slaves was patent to them. None of them, I noted, to mysatisfaction, had dared to break position. Already, I conjectured, they hadbegun to suspect what might be the nature of Gorean discipline.

  "Master!" wept Ginger.

  "Please, Master!" wept Evelyn.

  "Position," snapped the man in the broad-brimmed hat.

  Immediately the girls knelt back in the coffle, back on their heels, their kneeswide, their hands on their thighs, their backs straight and heads lifted. Seeingthis, the other girls, too, behind them, hurriedly sought to improve theirposture. The red-haired girl, who could not see behind her, from the sound ofthe command, and the movements in the chain, reaching her through the backcollar ring, fearfully sensing what was going on, straightened herself as well.

  "These two girls, the second and third," I said, indicating Ginger and Evelyn,"seem quite disturbed to discover that you are their master."

  "It surely seems so," granted the fellow in the broad brimmed hat.

  "Why should they regard you with such terror," I asked, "more than seemsnecessary on the part of a slave girl with respect to her master?" It is naturalfor a slave girl, of course, to regard her master with a certain trepidation.