Savages of Gor coc-17

by John Norman

  "We do not know," said Pumpkin. "The Fleer put ropes on them and dragged themaway, into the fields."

  "I do not think they knew what else to do with them," said one of the fellows.

  I was angry. I knew of one Kur who had survived, and now it seemed clear that asmany as eight might have escaped from the savages. Indeed, many savages, formedicine reasons, might have been reluctant to attack them, as they did notappear to be beings of a sort with which they were familiar. What if they werefrom the medicine world? In such a case, surely, they were not to be attackedbut, rather, venerated or propitiated. If Sardak had survived, I had littledoubt he would continue, relentlessly, to prosecute his mission.

  "Do you wish to know of survivors?" asked Pumpkin. "You seem interested."

  "Yes," I said.

  "Other than soldiers, and beasts, and such, who might have escaped?"

  "Yes," I said.

  "Some children were spared, young children," said Pumpkin. "They were tiedtogether by the neck in small groups. There were four such groups. The Fleertook one group, consisting of six children. The other three groups, consistingof five children apiece, were taken by the Sleen, the Yellow Knives andKailiauk."

  "What of the Kaiila?" I asked.

  "They did not take any of the children," said Pumpkin.

  "The children were very fortunate," said one of the fellows before me.

  "Yes," said another. "They will be taken to Waniyanpi camps, and raised asWaniyanpi."

  "What a blessing for them!" said another.

  "It is always best when the teaching can be given to the young," said another.

  "Yes," said another. "It is the surest way to guarantee that they will always beWaniyanpi."

  I wondered if the horrors and crimes perpetrated on one another by adults couldever match the cruelties inflicted on children. It seemed unlikely.

  "There were some other survivors?" I asked.

  "Some nubile young women," said Pumpkin, "but we did not look much at them. Theywere naked. Rawhide ropes were put on theft necks. Theft hands were tied behindthem. They must accompany the masters, on their tethers, walking beside theflanks of their kaiila."

  "And what, do you conjecture," I asked, "Will be their fate?"

  "We do not dare speculate," said Pumpkin, looking down, confused and dismayed,hotly reddening.

  "They will be made slaves," I said, "crawling and kneeling to men, and servingthem abjectly, and totally, in all ways."

  Pumpkin shuddered.

  "It is true, is it not?" I asked.

  "Perhaps," mumbled Pumpkin. He did not raise his eyes. I saw that he fearedmanhood, and sex.

  "Would you not like one so serving you?" I asked.

  "No, no!" he cried, not raising his eyes. "No, no, no!"

  The vehemence of his answer interested me. I looked about, at the otherWaniyanpi They did not meet my eyes, but looked down.

  "Were there other survivors?" I asked Pumpkin.

  He looked up at me, gratefully. "Two," he said, "but, it seems, one of them onlyfor a time."

  "I do not understand," I said.

  "A boy, a Dust Leg, I think," said Pumpkin. "He was a slave of the soldiers. Hewas left staked out, over there, on that hill. We are to keep him alive until weleave the field, and then leave him here, to die."

  "That would be the lad, the young man, who was with the column, the slave, onecalled Urt," I said to Grunt.

  Grunt shrugged. He did not know this. I had, to be sure, spoken more to myselfthan to him.

  "Who is the other?" I asked.

  "An adult woman," said Pumpkin, "one whom, I think, was also with the soldiers."

  "Excellent!" I said. "Is she blond, and fair of body?"

  "She is blond," said Pumpkin, "but we are not permitted to observe whether ornot she be fair of body."

  "It would be the Lady Mira, of Venna," I said to Grunt. "Excellent! Excellent!"

  "Do you know her?" asked Grunt "We met once, on the road," I said. "But our meeting, now, will be of adifferent sort." I laughed.

  "What is wrong?" asked Grunt.

  "Nothing," I said. I was pleased, first, that the Lady Mira lived. It ispleasant that such women live, particularly when they are put in collars andchains. Secondly it amused me that the fair agent's utility to Kurii had been,in this unexpected and charming fashion, so abruptly and conclusivelyterminated. Thirdly she could doubtless be persuaded, in one way or another, togive me a first-hand account of the battle, at least in so far as it had sweptin its courses about her.

  "Where is she?" I asked Pumpkin.

  "Over there, behind that wagon," said Pumpkin. "We put her there so that wewould not have to look at her."

  I regarded the Waniyanpi. I wondered why they were as they were.

  "Lift your skirts," I told them, "to your waists, quickly."

  They obeyed, shamed.

  "No," said Grunt. "They are not castrated. It is done through the mind, throughthe training, through the Teaching."

  "Insidious," I said.

  "Yes," said Grunt.

  "You may lower your dresses," I told the Waniyanpi. Quickly they did so,smoothing them, blushing. I urged my kaiila toward the wagon, which Pumpkin hadindicated.

  17 The Slave

  "You! ' she cried, struggling to her feet.

  I dismounted swiftly and easily, approaching her, from the kaiila.

  "Why is your kaiila quirt drawn?" she asked.

  I lashed her once, savagely, with the quirt, between the neck and shoulder, onthe left side. I did not see any point in wasting time with her. "Kneel," Isaid.

  Swiftly she knelt, clumsily in the apparatus in which she had been confined. Shelooked up at me. There were tears, and wonder, in her eyes. It was the firsttime, perhaps, she had been thusly struck.

  "You do not avert your eyes from me," she said.

  "It would be difficult to do so," I admitted. I could no longer, then, pursue mybusiness in haste, as I had intended. Her loveliness, simply, did not permit it.

  She was stunning. I stood before her, savoring her beauty.

  "Please," she protested, tears in her eyes.

  I walked slowly about her.

  She tossed, her head, to throw her hair forward, over her breasts.

  I took her hair on, and lifted it, with the quirt, and threw it again behind hershoulders. She shuddered as the leather touched her body.

  Again I regarded her.

  "How dare you look at me in that fashion?" she asked.

  "You are beautiful," I explained.

  "You struck me," she chided.

  "Indeed," I said, "your beauty might be adequate even for that of a slave."

  "Oh?" she said.

  "Yes," I said. This was a high compliment, which I had paid to her.

  "You struck me," she said.

  I slapped the kaiila quirt in my palm. "Yes," I said.

  "You struck me as though I might have been a kaiila, or an animal," she said.

  "Yes," I sad…

  "I am free!" she said.

  "You do not appear to be free," I said. She knelt before me, stark, naked. Shewore an improvised girl-yoke. This consisted of a stout branch, about two inchesthick, and some five feet in length, drilled at the center and near theextremities. It fits behind the back of the girl's neck. A long, single thong ofrawhide fastens the girl in place. Her left wrist is thonged and then the thongis passed through the drilled aperture in the left end of the yoke. Her wrist ispulled tight to the yoke. The same thong is then taken behind the yoke andpassed through the center hole, whence, after having been knotted, to preventslippage to the left, and having been looped about the girl's neck, usually somefive times, and having been knotted again, to prevent slippage to the right, itis returned through the same hole, whence it is taken behind the yoke to thehole drilled at the right-hand extremity of the apparatus. It is passed throughthat hole and then, of course, is used to fasten the girl's right wrist inplace, tightly against the yoke. When this action is completed
then, as you cansee, whole package is neatly tied. The knots near the throat in preventingslippage, serve two functions; they hold the girl's wrists against the yoke and,at the same time, prevent vent any undue stress from being placed on the throatbands. The function of the throat bands is to hold the girl's throat in theyoke, securely and perfectly, not to cause her discomfort, nor to strangle her.

  Gorean men are not fools in tying women. Longer yokes, such as this,incidentally, are commonly used for marches.

  Confined as she is, with her arms extended, a girl can exert almost no leverageto free herself. Smaller yokes, some two to two and a half feet in length,similarly constructed, can be used for other purposes, such as enjoying a girlin the furs. Afterwards she can always be kenneled or chained. A soft, braidedleather rope, a trade rope, cored with wire, some fifteen or twenty feet inlength, was looped some five times about the girl's left ankle, and tied, thencebeing run to the axle of the nearby wagon to which she was tethered. This is auseful sanitary provision as the girl, then, need not sit or lie too near to herown wastes. The wire coring in the rope, of course, tends to discourage theattempt to chew through the bond. Light chains, sheathed in silk, or satin orvelvet, incidentally, have this utility as well, as well as their intrinsicstrength, more than adequate for the securing of a female.

  Three separate thongs, incidentally, two short and one long, are sometimes usedfor this type of securing of the female. In this way of doing things each wristis tied in the center of one of the short thongs. The two free ends of the shortthong are then taken back through the hole and, once through the hole, aresimply knotted, heavily. This knot cannot, of course, be drawn back through thesmall-drilled hole by the girl. Her wrists are thus held in place. One end ofthe longer thong is taken through the center aperture and is that thong is thenlooped about the girl's throat, usually, again, some five times, and thenreturned through the center aperture. Once through the aperture it is knottedtogether, heavily, with the other end of the thong. Again, of course, this knot,a heavy one, prevents the thongs from slipping back through the narrow aperture.

  The girl's neck is thus held closely to the yoke. This, too, of course, is aneffective way of securing a girl. Indeed, there is, in my opinion, normallylittle to choose from between these two yoke ties. Which is preferred may welldepend on matters so trivial as the nature and lengths of the binding materialavailable, for example, ropes, cordage, binding fiber, twisted silk, thongs or,straps. If there is a preference, perhaps it would be for the single-bond tie.

  It is stout, and, in its unity, aesthetically attractive. Second only to theabsolute helplessness of the female in her ties, in the Gorean mind, is theattractiveness of her bonds. They should be used to enhance her beauty as wellas to imprison it with absolute perfection.

  These yoke ties, incidentally, are not to be confused with a stock tie, or astock yoke. This is normally a pair of hinged planks, with matched, semicircularopenings in the planks. The girl's wrists and neck are placed appropriatelybetween the planks, aligned with the semicircular openings. The planks are thenclosed and-tied or locked shut. Her neck and wrists, then, of course,helplessly, are fixed in place. They find themselves enclosed in effective andperfect constraints. is yoke is sometimes placed on a girl while she is on herback. If the planks are sufficiently wide the girl cannot see at the man isdoing to her. She can only feel it. Similar sensations may be induced in a womanby putting her in a slave hood. She may then either be bound or not, as themaster pleases.

  "Nonetheless," she said, "I am free!"

  "How do you know?" I asked.

  "I am not branded," she said uncertainly.

  "You do not need to be branded to be a slave," I said. "Surely you know that"

  "Rescue me," she said. "Free met I will pay you much!"

  I smiled. Did this lovely agent of Kurii really think that I might even considerfreeing her?

  "Free me!" she said. "I will pay you much!" "Did you enjoy being struck?" Iasked.

  "No!" she said.

  "You will then answer my questions truthfully, directly and early," I told her.

  "What do you wish to know?" she asked. "You are beautiful in the yoke," I said.

  "Thank you," she said, uncertainly.

  "It becomes you," I said.

  "Thank you," she whispered.

  "You might have been born a slave," I said. She looked at me. "thank you," shesaid…"Describe to me, in brief compass, the course of the battle," I said.

  I turned about for I had heard a small noise behind me. Several of the Waniyanpihad now come to the vicinity of the wagon.

  "I see you have found her'," said' Pumpkin.

  "Yes," 1 said. I noted that neither he, nor the other Waniyanpi, lookedobviously and directly on the woman, though she was beautiful and bound. "Was ityou," I asked, tripped this beauty?"

  "No, no," said Pumpkin, hastily. "That was done by the masters."

  "It must have been you, then," I said, "who yoked her, and prettily and well."

  "No, not" said Pumpkin, hastily. "That, too, was done by the red masters."

  "I see," I said. I had surmised, Of course, that it would not have been theWaniyanpi who had removed the woman's clothing, or who had secured her, sosimply, yet so efficiently and brilliantly.

  "We did, however," said Pumpkin, "tether her behind the wagon, looking away fromher as much as possible, that we would not have to look at her."

  "The red masters permitted this?" I asked.

  "Yes," said Pumpkin. "In amusement, they acceded to our pleas."

  "That was kind of them," I said.

  "Yes," said Pumpkin.

  "Describe to me the course of the battle, as you understand it," I said to thestripped, blond captive, giving her once again my attention.

  "Please," she said, "who are these people? They do not even look at me. Am I sougly or repulsive?"

  "You are neither ugly nor repulsive," I said. "In a common Gorean market youwould bring a good price for a medium grade slave girl. Accordingly, you arequite beautiful."

  "Who are they?" she whispered. "Are they men?"

  "They are called Waniyanpi," I said, "which in Dust Leg and Kaiila means "tamecattle. "

  "Are they men?" she asked.

  "That is an interesting question," I said. "I do not know."

  The girl shuddered. Of Gorean birth, she was unfamiliar, in numbers, at least,with such organisms. Had she been of Earth origin, of course, she would havebeen far less I startled, for then creatures would have been much more familiarto her. In the polluted meadows of Earth graze numerous Waniyanpi.

  "Begin," I told her.

  "We feared nothing," she said. "Our forces, we believed, were invincible. We didnot anticipate trouble. Surely it would be insanity to attack us. Insufficientpickets were put out. Watches were not well kept."

  "Go on," I said.

  "Ten days ago, today, as I have counted this," she said, "the attack took place.

  It began near the eighth Ahn. The wagons had been aligned. The tharlarion wereharnessed. A small group of red savages, mounted, was seen to the southeast.

  Alfred, captain of Port Olni, commanding two hundred riders, for sport as muchas anything, rode forth to frighten them away. We climbed on the wagons towatch."

  Alfred, of course, should not have personally commanded the excursion. Thatexpedition, if it had been mounted at all, should have been led by a juniorofficer.

  "In a moment, then, behind us, suddenly, rising from the grass, on foot,screaming, brandishing weapons, there arose, it seemed, hundreds of savages.

  They had crawled to these positions through the grass. The grass seemed alivewith them. They swept through the wagons. The most fearful things, I think,happened with the larger wagons, those with the families, to the west. They werealmost defenseless. My own wagon was with the soldiers. In the southeast, then,rising from the gullies and draws, there suddenly seemed hundreds of riders.

  Alfred had been lured into a trap. He, suddenly finding himself dis
astrouslyoutnumbered, wheeled about and, pursued, fled back to the wagons. I think helost many men. When he reached our camp the wagons to the west were alreadyaflame. He would not rush to their relief. He rallied his men and ordered aretreat to the north. It had been from this direction that the savages hadattacked on foot."

  "What of the infantry?" I asked.

  "It must fend for itself," she said.

  I nodded. it was not difficult to follow Alfred's thinking. The savages on footwould not be able to stop the cavalry, and the pursuers from the south orsoutheast might be detained at the wagons. It was there, of course, that theywould encounter the unsupported infantry.

  "Drivers leaped from the wagon boxes, fleeing for their lives," she said. "Icried out. My own driver was nowhere to be seen. The tharlarion, frightened inthe turmoil, hitched up, moved this way and that with the wagons, mostly towardthe east, away from the smoke and noise. I lost my footing. I regained it, inthe wagon. I could not stop the tharlarion. The reins were not in my grasp. Iwas dragged a quarter of a pasang before the wagon stopped, through soldiers,through wagons and other men. I saw one of the infantrymen kill a cavalryman,striking him from behind with his pike, and take his kaiila. Alfred turned hismounted forces to the north, but, to his dismay, he saw that his plan had beenanticipated. From the north, now, and the west, came new swarms of mounted redsavages."

  I nodded. Certainly the savages would have anticipated an attempted escape inthe sector where they had appeared to position what, in effect, was theirtemporary infantry. The planning that had gone into the attack revealedintelligent and careful thought. In particular the placement and timing theattacks showed a fine sense for what might be the likely directions and phasesof a battle's development. Tactical instructions in a melee, incidentally, arenormally administered to the red savages, in their units, commonly warriorsocieties, or divisions of such societies, by blasts on a whistle, formed fromthe wing bone of the taloned Herlit, or movements of a long, feathered battlestaff.

  "Confused men swept about my wagon. I saw Alfred, turning about, wheeling thisway and that, on his kaiila. I put out my hand to him. I cried out to him. Helooked at me, but then paid me no attention. Infantrymen, here and there, werefighting cavalrymen for their mounts. The cavalrymen, cursing, slashed down atthem. The savages from the south and southeast bad struck against the lines ofinfantrymen with their lances. The lines had held."