by John Norman
"Mistress," cried Melpomene, suddenly, in misery, "I do not know how to dance!"
"What!" cried the Lady Florence, as though in astonishment.
"I was a free woman," wept Melpomene. "I have been locked in a collar but this night. I know nothing of the lovely and sensuous dances of the female slave."
"Bring a slave whip," said the Lady Florence to Pamela, who swiftly brought it to her, from where she had earlier cast it aside.
I saw Tenalion smile. To be sure, many of the dances of female slaves are lovely and sensuous; others, of course, are piteous and orgasmic. In all fairness, though, one must note that there is a large variety of slave dances on Gor, and that there is some variation from city to city. The institution of female slavery on Gor is doubtless thousands of years old; accordingly it is natural that there should be great complexity and refinement in such a delicious art form as slave dance. There are even, it might be mentioned, hate dances and rebellion dances, but most dances, as might be expected, are display dances, or need dances, or love and submission dances; even the hate and rebellion dances, of course, conclude, inevitably, with the ultimate surrender of the girl to her master as a love slave.
"I do not know how to dance, Mistress," whimpered Melpomene. "Please do not whip me."
The Lady Florence stood up.
"I will dance! I will dance!" cried the girl.
The Lady Florence sat down, smiling. "And as you dance, Melpomene," she said, "do not neglect to dance your beauty, what there is of it, to the men, and dance it as the slut and slave you are—and have always been!"
"Mistress!" protested Melpomene.
The eyes of her mistress were fiercely upon her.
"Yes, Mistress!" wept the distraught slave.
The Lady Florence then signaled to the musicians. There was a swirl of music and a beating on the drum, and then a pause, and then began, with the czehar prominent, the strains of a slow Gorean melody. And Melpomene, the collared slave, danced, entertaining the guests of her Mistress, the Lady Florence of Vonda.
"It is natural in a woman," said Kenneth.
"I think so," I said.
Though doubtless Melpomene was untrained and lacked the thousand precisions and controls, the brilliancies and techniques, of the trained dancer, she was not unattractive on the tiles. She strove to please and dance well. I have little doubt but what the disposition to, and the fundamentals of, slave dance are instinctual in a woman. No other explanation seems compatible with the readiness with which they can acquire such dance. Many of the expressions, the gestures and movements of the body, of course, are clearly reminiscent of those of need and desire, of love and submission. I have little doubt but what these dispositions and talents have been naturally and sexually selected for in the course of evolution, such women being more often spared and sought.
The musicians now played more swiftly.
"Earlier, I suspect," said Kenneth, "she has danced so only in the privacy of her chambers, naked, before her mirror."
"Perhaps," I said.
"What a slave she is!" called the Lady Leta.
"It is for the men," laughed the Lady Florence.
"Surely I must avert my eyes!" laughed the Lady Leta.
"I, too!" laughed the Lady Perimene.
"Dance, you slut, dance!" cried the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress!" wept Melpomene. "Yes, Mistress!"
Neither of the other two women, I noted, had averted their eyes.
"To the men!" ordered the Lady Florence. "To the men!"
Sobbing, the slave then danced her beauty to Brandon, a prefect of Vonda. He threw back his head, laughing at the humiliation wrought upon her, once a proud free woman. She spun from him and, crying, danced before Philebus, bounty creditor of Venna. He grinned and lifted before her eyes the bank draft, drawn on the bank of Reginald in Vonda, certified, and signed by the Lady Florence, for one thousand, four hundred and twenty tarns of gold. His trip had been quite successful, and he had now, too, the pleasure of seeing she who had been the elusive debtor now dancing as a naked slave before him. She then spun about and danced before Tenalion and Ronald, his man. She, a slave, I noted, danced most helplessly and lasciviously before them. They were strong men, and slavers. Too, Tenalion had put the collar on her.
"Continue to dance here," said Tenalion, indicating a place before his small table.
"Yes, Master," she said, commanded.
Then, as she danced before him, he took forth a small pad and, with a marking stick, jotted notes upon it. He was doubtless appraising her, and considering how she might be improved.
After a time, he said, "You may now dance elsewhere."
"Yes, Master," she said.
But a moment after this the Lady Florence stood up and signaled to the musicians to discontinue, for the time, the music.
Melpomene then, of course, knelt, head down, facing her Mistress.
"How do you like my little dancer?" she asked.
"Excellent, for a raw slave," said Tenalion. "Obviously she has slave fire in her belly."
"Do you hear that, Girl," said the Lady Florence to Melpomene, "you have slave fire in your belly."
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene, head down, shamed.
"I knew it!" said the Lady Florence. "Slave fire! Slave fire!"
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene, sobbing.
"How right that you wear a collar, Slave Girl," sneered the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress," sobbed Melpomene.
The Lady Florence regarded her new female slave. "Have you been shamed sufficiently, Melpomene?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene.
"No, you have not been," said the Lady Florence. "It is no dishonor for you, a slave, to dance before free persons. Rather have I accorded you a privilege in permitting you to do so."
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene.
"Now I think that I shall truly shame you," she said.
"Mistress?" asked Melpomene.
"Now you shall dance," she said, "before a male slave!"
"Oh, no, Mistress," begged Melpomene, "please, please do not so shame me!"
The two women, the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene, clapped their hands with pleasure. Brandon and Philebus laughed. Tenalion and Ronald, his man, smiled.
"Please, no, Mistress," begged Melpomene, extending her hands to her Mistress. She could not believe what was being done to her. There can be no greater degradation for a slave girl than to be made to serve a slave.
"Be silent, Girl," snapped the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress," wept Melpomene.
The mistress then, with a swirl of robes, rose imperiously to her feet. "Kenneth!" she called. "Jason!"
"Precede me," said Kenneth, holding back the curtain.
"Yes, Master," I said.
I strode into the room. I was stripped to the waist. I wore the half tunic of a stable slave.
I heard the women, the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene, draw in their breath.
"You!" breathed Melpomene, putting her hand before her mouth.
I stood a few feet from her, my arms folded. I looked down upon her. She seemed very small and vulnerable, so white, so soft, in a steel collar, kneeling on the tiles.
I looked to the men. We measured one another, as men do. I did not flinch before their gaze, though I was slave and they were free. I had stood against men such as Gort, of the stables of Miles, and Kaibar, of the stables of Shandu, in the pit of leather and blood. Brandon, a prefect of Vonda, and Philebus, the bounty creditor of Venna, seemed troubled. Inwardly I smiled. I could tear either of them to pieces, should it please me. I did not think Brandon would care to speak to me, unless he had guardsmen at his back. I did not think Philebus would care to pursue me for my debts. More respect I entertained for Tenalion and his cohort, he called Ronald. They were slavers. They would know the martial arts. They would be, secretly, armed. It was possible they could slay me before I could get my hands on them. Such men, though mostl
y they deal with collared wenches, must know the handling of the larger and more dangerous animals, the Kajiri. I saw that they did not fear me. They saw, too, however, that I did not fear them.
"Look at his body," breathed the Lady Leta.
"Where have you been keeping him, my dear?" inquired the Lady Perimene.
"He is a fighting slave, is he not?" inquired Brandon.
"I understand," said the Lady Florence, "that he has been upon occasion used in the stable bouts." Indeed, I was champion of the local stables, those within a perimeter of some fifty pasangs. Even Gort, of the stables of Miles, and Kaibar, of the stables of Shandu, had been unable to best me.
"This is Jason," said the Lady Florence, introducing me to her guests. "He is one of my less important stable slaves. He is, however, apparently not totally unattractive to certain sorts of low women."
The Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene laughed.
"According to my reports," continued the Lady Florence, "some of my stable sluts are half mad with passion for him."
"Imagine what it would be," said Tenalion, "if he were free, and they were his."
"I do not think I would mind being a slut in your stables, my dear Florence," said the Lady Perimene, "if I were to find myself at the mercy of such beasts."
"I deny him women, of course," she laughed.
"That could be dangerous, Lady Florence," said Tenalion, "unless he is kept closely chained."
"Except occasionally, of course," she laughed. She looked at Melpomene who, kneeling, in her collar, shuddered.
"Why do you limit his rations of love flesh?" asked Tenalion.
"It is my will," said the Lady Florence angrily, defensively.
"I see," said Tenalion. He smiled. He looked at the Lady Florence as though he had stripped her.
"Oh, I let him have a snack of love flesh upon occasion," she said, "if it suits my whim." My face was expressionless. I had not had a woman since I had had Telitsia in the training barn, the morning before she had been sold. "Indeed," laughed the Lady Florence, "I might let him have one tonight."
There was laughter.
"Jason," said the Lady Florence, "may I introduce one of my slaves to you, a new one. I call her Melpomene."
"Yes, Mistress," I said. I regarded Melpomene. She was visibly trembling.
"Do you remember Jason, Melpomene?" asked the Lady Florence, sweetly.
"Yes, Mistress," whispered Melpomene.
"Do you think she would make a suitable snack of love flesh for a fighting slave, Jason?" asked the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"To his feet, Girl," snapped the Lady Florence. "Lick and kiss them!"
Melpomene fled to me. I felt her lips on my feet, and her small tongue.
There was laughter from the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene.
"Now beg to dance for him," said the Lady Florence.
Melpomene lifted her head. There were tears in her eyes. I saw the collar on her throat, with its chain loop. "I beg to dance for you, Master," she said.
"List!" said the Lady Leta, "she addresses him as Master!"
"And would you not," laughed the Lady Perimene, "if you were so before him and he was to you as he is now to her?"
"Perhaps," laughed the Lady Leta.
"Master?" asked the slave.
I glanced to the Lady Florence. Then I said, "You may do so."
Melpomene rose to her feet and backed away a few feet from me, and lifted her hands over her head, the wrists back to back. Her knees were flexed.
The Lady Florence regarded the slave, who, not moving, and afraid to meet her eyes, now held, trembling, one of the lovely attitudes of a dancing slave. Then, slowly, not hurrying, the Lady Florence returned to her place, behind the small table. She knelt there, making herself comfortable, and adjusting her robes.
There was silence in the room.
The Lady Florence then signaled to the musicians, and they began to play.
And Melpomene danced before me.
"If you are not pleased with her, Jason," said the Lady Florence, "let me know, and I will have her slain before morning."
Melpomene turned white, for her very life had then been placed in my hands.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"Please find me pleasing," begged Melpomene. "Please, Master!"
My face was expressionless. I stood regarding her, arms folded. I looked at her. I remembered her well from that night in Venna, in her house, when I had lain chained at her mercy, subject to her pleasure and abuse.
"Please find me pleasing, Master," she begged, dancing naked before me.
"I will not find you pleasing unless you are pleasing," I told her. It was true.
She moaned. The music began to swirl and flame. Piteously, and more piteously, she danced her beauty before me.
"Do you find her of interest, Jason?" asked the Lady Florence.
"The slave is not without interest," I said.
Suddenly a look of joy came into the eyes of Melpomene, as she sensed that she might be spared, and then, as suddenly, a look of astonishment, as though she could not understand what was occurring within her, and then, suddenly, a look of heat and passion.
"See the flanks move," said Tenalion to Ronald.
"Note the belly," said Ronald.
"Excellent," said Tenalion.
"Slut! Slut!" cried the Lady Florence.
The music became ever more wild and primitive.
"Slave!" cried the Lady Leta.
"Slave!" cried the Lady Perimene.
I smiled. There danced now before me an aroused slave girl, eager to please her Master.
The music suddenly stopped and Melpomene fell to her knees, putting her head to my feet.
"Has her dance pleased you, Jason?" asked the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"Beast," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"Pamela," cried the Lady Florence, "bring love furs!"
"Yes, Mistress," she said.
"Tenalion," said the Lady Florence. "May I trouble you to shackle my little Melpomene by the ring?"
"Of course, Lady Florence," said Tenalion. He smiled. The Lady Florence and Melpomene were of quite similar height and weight. The Lady Florence might have been an eighth of a hort taller.
Melpomene rose to her feet and stood by the ring, head down, while Pamela spread the love furs on the tiles between the tables. While she stood there Tenalion snapped an ankle ring on her left ankle. It had a chain loop. He then took the length of chain he had used before and snapped one end of it about the chain loop on her ankle ring. The other end of it he snapped about the slave ring set in the tiles. The lovely slave then stood there, shackled in place.
"You remember, Jason," said the Lady Florence, "when after your victory over Kaibar, of the stables of Shandu, I ordered that you not be given a woman."
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"But I told Kenneth," she said, "that I would later find a slut for you, and that I had a slut in mind."
"I remember, Mistress," I said.
"This is the slut," said the Lady Florence, indicating Melpomene.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
Melpomene stood at the edge of the love furs. She looked down at them.
"To the furs, Slave," I told her.
Melpomene looked up at me, frightened.
With the back of my hand I struck her to the furs.
She looked up at me from the furs where she half lay, half knelt. There was blood at her mouth.
"When you are ordered to the furs, move swiftly," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said.
The two women, the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene, gasped with pleasure. I sensed that they wished that it had been they, and not Melpomene, who had been struck to the furs for their raping.
"I see that you well know how to handle a slave girl, Jason," she said.
I shrugged. I looked at the Mistress. I thought that she he
rself might make some man an excellent slave.
"Melpomene," said the Lady Florence to her new slave, who was now kneeling on the love furs, "when you were a free woman and dared to steal my silk slave for your pleasure, did you kiss him?"
"Of course not, Mistress," she said. "I was a free woman. I would not put my lips to the body of a slave."
"Recline on the love furs, Jason," said the Lady Florence. I did so, dropping aside the half tunic I wore. The Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene drew in their breath with pleasure.
"Melpomene," said the Lady Florence, "you understand that you are now no longer a free woman but only a slut of a slave."
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene, quickly.
"Furthermore, you understand that Jason is no longer a silk slave, but only a stable slave, a lowly stable slave."
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene.
"Kiss his body," said the Lady Florence, "every inch of it."
"Yes, Mistress," sobbed Melpomene.
"Begin at the extremities," said the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene.
The Mistress then clapped her hands. "Pamela, Bonnie," she said, "begin now to serve the eighth course of our supper."
"Yes, Mistress," they said.
* * * *
In time my body had been covered with the kisses and tears of the new slave.
It was then that the Mistress, pausing in her meal, looked at me and said, "Congratulations on your victory over Kaibar, of the stables of Shandu."
"Thank you, Mistress," I said.
"You have had various other victories, too, I gather," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"I have heard that, some two weeks ago, you became the local champion."
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"That was by defeating Gort, of the stables of Miles, was it not?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"I heard of that," she said. "Miles is one of my rejected suitors," she said. "Your victory over his champion gave me great pleasure."
"Thank you, Mistress," I said.
"Enjoy her," said the Mistress, indicating Melpomene, the shackled slut at my side.
"Thank you, Mistress," I said. I took Melpomene and threw her to her back beneath me, on the furs. The Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene cried out with pleasure.