Savages of Gor coc-17

by John Norman

  She is, after all, an animal, who is owned by him, over whom he has total power.

  The rational slave girl will almost never intentionally displease her master.

  First, it is just too costly to do so. Secondly, for reasons that are sometimesobscure to men, these having to do with her being a female, she seldom desiresto do so.

  "I do not think that it is I, personally, whom they regard with such terror," hegrinned.

  "What then could be the source of such terror?" I asked.

  "Who knows what goes on in the heads of pretty little slaves," he said.

  "You seem evasive," I observed.

  "Perhaps," he admitted.

  "Your coffle," I said, "is striking, an assemblage of chained beauties. Yet Ithink there seems a rather clear distinction between the first three girls andthe last seven, and, if I may say so, between the first and the second two."

  "Yes," he said, "that is true. Observe the last seven girls. Do you know theirnature? Do you know what they are?"

  "What?" I asked.

  "Pack animals," he said. "They are pack animals."

  "I thought they might be," I said. The fellow's itinerary now seemed clear tome. No more than two kaiila, I remembered he had said, may be brought in by anygiven white man.

  "And the first girl," I asked, "is she, too, to be a pack animal?"

  "She, too, will serve as a pack animal," he said, "as will they all, but,ultimately, I have a different disposition in mind for her."

  "I see," I said.

  "She will be worth five hides of the yellow kailiauk to me," he said.

  "Then you will make a splendid profit on her," I said.

  "Yes," said he. A robe of yellow kailiauk, even in average condition, can bringas much as five silver tarsks.

  I looked at the red-haired girl in the coffle, the former MillicentAubrey-Welles. She did not even know she was the subject of our conversation.

  "And what of these other two?" I asked, indicating Ginger and Evelyn.

  "By means of them I can communicate with the red-haired girl," he said. "Intheir barbarous tongue they can make clear to her, and quickly, the nature ofher condition, and the efficiency, intimacy and totality of the services thatwill be required of her. Too, they can teach her some Gorean, which will keepthem all busy, and help me train her."

  "I see," I said.

  He adjusted the remainder of the chains and collars on his shoulder. He had notcome to the sales barn, apparently, knowing exactly how many girls he wouldpurchase. It is difficult to anticipate such things accurately, of course,particularly when buying in lots. Much depends on what is available and whatturns out to be the going prices, on a given night. "The treks can be long," hesaid.

  "Treks?" I asked.

  "Yes," he said.

  "I note," I said, "that all of these girls are barbarians, even the second andthird girl. Why have you not purchased some Gorean girls for your pack train?"

  "For pack animals it is surely more appropriate to use meaningless barbariansthan Gorean girls," he said.

  "Of course," I granted him.

  "But there is, of course," he grinned, "another reason, as well."

  "What is that?" I asked.

  "These barbarian girls will march along in their coffle as ignorant and innocentas kaiila," he said.

  "Whereas?" I asked.

  "Whereas," he grinned, "Gorean girls might die of fear."

  Ginger and Evelyn moaned.

  "These slaves," I said, indicating the two former tavern girls, "seem nottotally ignorant."

  "Even these slaves," he said, indicating Ginger and Evelyn, ",who seem sotransfixed with terror, do not even begin, I assure you, to have any idea as towhat might lie before them."

  The two girls shuddered. Their will, of course, was nothing. They, like theanimals they were, must go where their masters pleased.

  "I take it that you, with your pack train, intend to enter the Barrens," I said.

  "Yes," said he.

  "Tomorrow morning?" I asked.

  "Yes," said he.

  "You are, then, a trader?" I asked.

  "Yes," he said.

  "I have sought along the perimeter for one named "Grunt'," I said.

  "That is known to me," he said.

  "None seemed to know of his whereabouts, or clearly", I said.

  "Oh? ' he said.

  "I found that unusual," I said.

  "Why?" he asked.

  "This fellow, Grunt," I said, "is presumably a well-known trader. Does it notseem strange, then, that no one would have a clear idea as to his location?"

  "That does seem a bit strange," agreed the fellow.

  "It is my thought," I said, "that this fellow, Grunt, has many friends, that heinspires loyalty, that these friends desire to protect him."

  "If that is so," he said, "then this Grunt, in at least some respects, must be alucky man."

  "Do you know him?" I asked.

  "Yes," he said.

  "Do you know where he is?" I asked.

  "Yes," he said.

  "Do you think you could direct me to his whereabouts?" I asked.

  "I am he," he said.

  "I thought so," I said.

  9 We Cross the Ihanke

  "It is here," said Grant, turning about on his kaiila. "See the wands?"

  "Yes," I said. We were now some two pasangs east of Kailiauk.

  "Here is one," said Grunt, "and there is another, and another."

  "I see," I said, shading my eyes.

  The grass was to the knees of the kaiila. It came to the thighs of the slavegirls, in brief one-piece slave tunics, of brown rep-cloth, with deep cleavages,in throat coffle, bearing burdens on their heads.

  The wand before us was some seven or eight feet high. It is of this height,apparently, that it may be seen above the snow, during the winter moons, such asWaniyetuwi and Wanicokanwi. It was of peeled Ka-la-na wood and, from its top,there dangled two long, narrow, yellow, black-tipped feathers, from the tail ofthe taloned Herlit, a large, broad winged, carnivorous bird, sometimes in Goreancalled the Sun Striker, or, more literally, though in clumsier English,Out-of-the-sun-it-strikes, presumably from its habit of making its descent and. strike on prey, like the tarn, with the sun above and behind it. Similar wands Icould see some two hundred yards away, on either side, to the left and right.

  According to Grunt such wands line the perimeter, though usually not in suchproximity to one another. They are spaced more closely together, naturally,nearer areas of white habitation.

  Grunt now turned back on his kaiila to look out, eastward over the broad grassesand low, rolling hills. The terrain beyond the wands did not appear muchdifferent from the terrain leading up to them. The hills, the grass, the archingblue sky, the white clouds, seemed much the same on both sides of the wands. Thewands seemed an oddity, a geographical irrelevance. Surely, thrust in the earth,supple in the wind, with the rustling feathers, they could betoken nothing ofsignificance. The wind was fresh. I shivered on the kaiila.

  For those who might be interested in such things, we came to the wands in theearly spring, early in Magaksicaagliwi, which is the Moon of the ReturningGants. The preceding moon was the Sore-Eye Moon, or Istawicayazanwi. Because ofits uncertain weather, the possible freezes and storms, and its harsh winds,this month had been avoided by Grunt. The next moon was Wozupiwi, the PlantingMoon, which term, in the context, I find extremely interesting. It seems to makeclear that the folk of the area, at one time, were settled, agriculturalpeoples. That, of course, would have been before the acquisition of the kaiila,which seems to have wrought a local cultural transformation of the firstmagnitude. One often thinks of a hunting economy representing a lower, in somesense, stage of cultural development than an agricultural economy. Perhaps thisis because, commonly, agriculture provides a stabler cultural milieu and can,normally, support larger populations on less territory. A single human being canbe agriculturally supported by less than an acre of land. The same human being,if sur
viving by hunting, would require a territory of several square miles.

  Here, however, we seem to have a case where peoples deliberately chose thewidely ranging, nomadic hunting economy over an agricultural economy. Themobility afforded by the kaiila and the abundance of the kailiauk doubtless madethis choice possible, the choice of the widely ranging hunter, the proud andfree warrior, over the farmer, denied distant horizons, he who must live at themercy of the elements and in bondage to his own soil.

  Grunt sat astride his kaiila, a lofty, yellow animal, looking eastward, outbeyond the wands. Behind him there was a pack kaiila, laden with goods. A thongran from the pierced nose of the beast to a ring at the back of his saddle. I,too, was astride my kaiila, a black, silken, high-necked, long fanged beast. Tomy saddle, too, was tethered a pack kaiila. Various goods were borne by our packanimals, both of the four-legged and two-legged varieties. My goods were allladen on my pack kaiila. Grunt's goods, on the other hand, of course, weredistributed over his eleven beasts of burden, the kaiila and the ten other packanimals. My goods, substantially, consisted of blankets, colored cloths,ribbons, mirrors and beads, kettles and pans, popular in the grasslands, hardcandies, cake sugar and chemical dyes. Grunt carried similar articles but he, aswell, as I had not, carried such items as long nails, rivets, hatchets, metalarrowheads, metal lance points, knife blades and butcher knives. The knifeblades and long nails are sometimes mounted in clubs. The blades, of course, mayalso be fitted into carved handles, of wood and bone. The rivets are useful infastening blades in handles and lance shafts. The metal arrowhead is aconvenience. It is ready-made and easy to mount. It is not likely to fracture asa stone point might. Similarly it makes dangerous trips to flint-rich areasunnecessary. The butcher knives are usually ground down into a narrow, concaveshape. They do not have the sturdiness for combat. They are used, generally, forthe swift acquisition of bloody trophies.

  I saw Grunt straighten himself in the high-pommeled saddle. He lifted the reins.

  He kicked back with his heels, suddenly, smiting the animal in the flanks. Itstarted, and then, in its smooth, loping stride, crossed the line of the wands.

  Grunt rode some twenty yards ahead, and then pulled back the kaiila, twistingits head back with the reins, wheeling it about to face us. He loosened thelong, coiled whip fastened with a snap strap at the right of his saddle, androde back towards us, along the right side of the coffle of barefoot, scantilyclad, neck-chained beauties. "Hei! Hei!" he called. He cracked the whip in theair, twice. He then rode about the rear of the coffle, and advanced, on hiskaiila, along its left side. He was right-handed.

  "We are women, and only helpless slaves!" cried out Ginger. "Please, Master, donot take us across the line of the wands!"

  "Reconsider, Master, we beg of you! ' cried out Evelyn.

  "Hei! Hei!" cried Grunt.

  "Please, no, Master!" cried out Ginger.

  "Please, no, no, Master! ' cried out Evelyn.

  Then the whip lashed down. More than one girl cried out with pain. Then the whipfell, too, on Ginger and Evelyn. They screamed, struck.

  "Hei! Hei!" called Grunt.

  "Yes, Master!" wept Ginger.

  "Yes, Master!" wept Evelyn.

  "Hei! Hei!" urged Grunt.

  The coffle, then, to the snapping of the whip, led by the terrified red-hairedgirl, the former Millicent Aubrey-Welles, from Pennsylvania, began to moveahead. Ginger and Evelyn, in their places, stumbled forward, red-eyed and almostnumb with terror. Other girls, smarting from the pain and feeling the jerking ofthe chain on their collars, weeping, followed, they, too, in their appropriateplaces, precisely where their master wished them, places made clear by theircollars and chains. Only Ginger and Evelyn, I surmised, had any inkling as tothe nature of the place into which they were being taken, and they, too, in thefinal analysis, were only barbarians. They, too, at least as yet, would not beable to understand where they were being taken, what was being done to them, notfully, not yet in its full meaning. I thought it just as well that the girls,even Ginger and Evelyn, were substantially ignorant. This made it easier tomarch them across the line of the wands. I watched the girls, the burdens ontheir heads, their necks chained, moving through the tall grass. They were nowcrossing the line of the wands. I wondered if they could even begin to suspectthe terrors into which they were entering. Yes, I thought to myself, it isbetter this way. Let them, for the time, remain ignorant. They would learn soonenough what it might mean, in such a place, in the place of the kailiauk and thehigh grasses, to be a white female.

  Grunt, on his kaiila, had now taken his place at the head of the line, the packkaiila behind him.

  I looked at the red-haired girl, first in the coffle, the burden' balanced withher small hands on her head. Grunt, I knew, had some special disposition in mindfor her. Yet, now, she, like the others, served as a mere pack animal, one ofthe beasts of his coffle, bearing his goods.

  No white man, I recalled, was to bring more than two kaiila across the line ofthe wands. No group of white men was to bring more than ton kaiila across thatseemingly placid boundary.

  The red-haired girl looked well in the coffle, moving in the grass, the chain onher neck, in the brief slave tunic. So, too, did the others. Slave girls arebeautiful, even those who must serve as mere beasts of burden. Grunt, Irecalled, in urging his coffle forward, had not struck the lead girl, his lovelyred-haired beast, with the lash, as he had several of the others. He had chosen,for some reason, to spare her its stroke. This was, I suspected, because be hadsomething more in mind for her than a burden and a place in the coffle. He had,clearly, something else in mind for her. He was apparently willing to take histime with her, and to bring her along easily and gently, at least for a time.

  This was, perhaps, because she seemed already to understand that it would be herbusiness to please men, and that she was a slave. She would have to understandlater, of course, what it was to be a slave, fully. That would be time enoughfor her to feel the boot and the whip.

  "It is here," Grunt had said.

  I looked again ahead, out beyond that seemingly placid boundary, out beyond thewands.

  I checked my weapons. Then I, too, urged my kaiila forward. In a few moments Iand my pack kaiila, too, had crossed the line of the wands.

  "It is here," Grunt had said.

  I pulled up the kaiila and looked behind me. Now I, too, had crossed thatboundary marked by the supple-feathered wands. I saw the feathers moving in thewind. Now I, too, had crossed the Ihanke, Now I, too, was within the Barrens.

  I urged my kaiila forward again, after Grunt and the coffle. I did not wish tofall behind.

  10 I See Dust Behind Us

  "You are aware, are you not," I asked Grunt, "That we are being followed?"

  "Yes," he said.

  It was toward the noon of our second day in the Barrens.

  "I trust that their intentions are peaceful," I said.

  "That is unlikely," he smiled.

  "Are we not yet in the country of the Dust Legs?" I inquired. This was aperimeter tribe, which, on the whole, was favorably disposed towards whites.

  Most trading was done with Dust Legs. Indeed, it was through the Dust Legs thatmost of the goods of the interior might reach civilization, the Dust Legs, ineffect, acting as agents, and intermediaries. Many tribes, apparently, would notdeal on a face-to-face basis with whites. This had to do with the hatred andsuspicion fostered by that tradition called the Memory. Too, it was oftendifficult to control their young men. Although small trading groups werewelcomed in the country of the Dust Legs, such groups seldom penetrated the moreinterior territories. Too many of them had failed to return. Grunt was unusualin having traded as far east as the country of the Fleer and the Yellow Knives.

  Too, he had entered, at least once, the country of the Sleen and the Kaiila.

  Some of these territories, apparently, had scarcely been penetrated since thedays of the first white explorers of the Barrens, men such as Boswell, Diaz,Bento, Hastings and Hoga
rthe.

  "Yes," said Grunt.

  "Why, then, do you conjecture that their intentions may be hostile?" I asked.

  "They are not Dust Legs," he said.

  We wheeled our kaiila about, and the coffle stopped. The girls put down theirburdens, gratefully. We observed the dust in the distance, some pasangs acrossthe prairie.

  "They are, then," I speculated, "Fleer or Yellow Knives."

  "No," he said.

  "I do not understand," I said.

  "Observe the dust," he said. "Its front is narrow, and it does not behave asthough raised by the wind."

  "The wind direction, too," I said, "would be incorrect."

  "Accordingly," said Grunt, "you conjecture that the dust is raised by the pawsof running kaiila."

  "Yes," I said.

  "In that you are correct," he said. "What else do you note?" he asked.

  "I do not understand," I said. I was growing apprehensive. It was early in theday. I had little doubt but what the distant riders could overtake us, andeasily, before nightfall.

  "It is so obvious," said Grant, "that you have noted it, but have not consideredits significance."

  "What?" I asked.

  "You can detect that dust," he said.

  "Yes," I said, "of course."

  "Does that not seem to you of interest?" he asked.

  "I do not understand," I said.

  "To raise dust like that, in this terrain," said Grunt, "you must ride acrossdraws, rather than avoid them, and you must ride in a cluster, where the dustwill rise, cloudlike, rather than rise and fall, in a narrow line, swiftlydissipated by the wind."

  "What are you telling me?" I asked.

  Grunt grinned. "If we were being followed by red savages," he said, "I do notthink that you, with your present level of skills, would be aware of it"

  "I do not understand," I said.

  "That dust," he said, "does not rise from the paws of the kaiila of Dust Legs,nor of Yellow Knives nor Fleer. It is not raised, at all, by the kaiila of redsavages. They would not ride so openly, so carelessly, so stupidly. They wouldavoid, where possible, grassless, dry areas, and they would ride at intervals,in single file. This arrangement not only obscures their numbers but lowers andnarrows the dust line."