by John Norman
"Seven seven!" I heard. "Seven eight!"
"Show yourself to them as you were in the room of preparation," said the Lady Tima to the Lady Tendite, "when you pretended to be a miserable little Earth-girl slave."
"Lady Tima?" inquired the Lady Tendite.
"I know what I am doing," said the Lady Tima to her, smiling.
"But I would be ashamed to be seen before free women so clad," she said.
"There are only women here, and this slave, and our men," said the Lady Tima. "Do so."
The Lady Tendite looked at her, uncertainly.
"Do you wish to remain in my employ?" inquired the Lady Tima.
The Lady Tendite smiled. She threw back the white gown she wore, still fastened about her neck with its silver clasp. It then hung back, over her shoulders, like a cape.
She stood there, then, in the Ta-Teera. She was exquisitely beautiful.
The Gorean women in the tiers seemed for a moment taken aback. Then, beginning one by one, they struck their left shoulders.
"How beautiful she is," breathed more than one woman.
I saw many of the women looking upon the Lady Tendite almost breathlessly, thrilled with her loveliness.
I then understood how brilliant indeed was the slaver who was my mistress. The women in the tiers, almost overcome with excitement, were identifying with the Lady Tendite.
Though it was she who stood there it was they who, in their imaginations, wore the shameful Ta-Teera and stood upon the wood of a slave platform. The Lady Tendite smiled, and lifted her hand to the crowd. Perhaps it was only then that she realized that her beauty had not been incidental to her hiring by the Lady Tima. I looked out on the women in the tiers.
"Remove the gown, and put on the collar," said the Lady Tima to the Lady Tendite.
"Yes, Lady Tima," she said. She unclasped the gown and dropped it to one side. From an attendant she retrieved the collar which she had earlier handed him. She stood before the crowd and, smiling, held the collar.
The crowd was intent and hushed.
The Lady Tendite, smiling at the crowd, closed the collar about her neck. The click was audible.
There was an intake of breath. There was a cry of pleasure. Then there was applause for the Lady Tendite.
She stood before them, as a collared slave girl.
There was much applause.
The women in the tiers, clearly, were identifying with the Lady Tendite, and her beauty, as a collared slave girl. The Lady Tima was appealing to, and exploiting, something deep in women which she, as a slaver, well understood, the deep, thrilling desire, profound in women, to be the owned slave of a strong man, to be mastered and to find themselves under the obligation of obedience. I do not know how many of the women clearly understood what was occurring on the platform. Perhaps many knew only that, for some reason that was not clear to them, they were excited and thrilled. And they could, of course, be innocent in feeling this thrill and excitement for, first, it was not truly they but the Lady Tendite who stood on the platform, and, too, she was not truly a slave, but only pretending to be one. How frightening, of course, it would have been had the collar been truly locked upon her!
"My congratulations to the superb actress, the Lady Tendite!" called the Lady Tima.
There was more applause.
I have little doubt, too, the fact that I stood in the near background to the Lady Tendite, a male large and strong, contributed to the scene intended by the Lady Tima. She was very small, compared to me.
"Caress the slave," said the Lady Tima to the Lady Tendite.
The Lady Tendite came near to me. She looked up into my eyes. She was exquisitely beautiful. Her breasts, swelling within the pathetic restraint of the Ta-Teera, made me want to cry out with pleasure.
"Please do not touch me," I begged.
She wore a steel collar.
"Please," I begged. I cried out with misery and shame.
"Ten tarsks!" I heard "Ten five!" I heard.
"You may now remove the collar and take your whip from the attendant," said the Lady Tima. "Then, with the whip, display him as you will."
The Lady Tendite smiled, and went to the rear of the platform.
Bids continued. When the Lady Tendite returned, the collar removed, her whip in hand, they were at eleven six. I was then, guided by the voice of the Lady Tendite, and the deft touches of her whip, displayed to the crowd. There were tears in my eyes. Then I was made to kneel.
"Fourteen tarsks!" I heard.
"Jason," said the Lady Tima, "you did attempt to escape."
"Yes, Mistress," I said, shuddering.
"Speak up," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"Too," she said, "you spoke at least once without permission this evening."
"Yes, Mistress," I said, loudly, knowing that I must speak so that I could be heard in the tiers.
"Do you beg to be whipped?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress," I said. "Please have me whipped." I put my head down, miserable.
The Lady Tima gestured to one of the attendants who then stood behind me, and shook out the blades of a slave whip.
"Whip him," she said.
I shuddered as the lash fell upon me.
The bids continued, as I was beaten. I was sold for sixteen silver tarsks. I did not know who bought me. I was chained hand and foot. I remember realizing that I was no longer being beaten. I was dragged, bloody, from the sales platform. I remember hearing the sound of the gong once more. A new slave was being presented before the buyers.
Chapter 13 - THE LADY FLORENCE:I ENCOUNTER A SLAVE GIRL,WHOM I LEARN IS OWNED BY ONEANDER OF AR
"How pretty he is at your stirrup, Lady Florence," said the veiled woman, reclining in the palanquin, its draft slaves now halted.
"A lengthening of his hair, a white ribbon binding it back, a silken tunic make quite a difference, Lady Melpomene," responded the Lady Florence.
"I see you no longer have him chained there," said the Lady Melpomene.
"It was not necessary, as I soon discovered," said the Lady Florence. I kept my head down.
"I envy you such a sweet slave," said the Lady Melpomene.
"It is kind of you not to be bitter," said the Lady Florence, acidly. I held the reins of her tharlarion. It was not large. Its stirrup was at my right shoulder.
"Have you had him branded yet?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"No," said the Lady Florence. "I keep my male slaves smooth-thighed."
"Interesting," said the Lady Melpomene.
The Lady Florence shrugged.
"Is he any good on the couch?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"I use him when it pleases me," said the Lady Florence.
"Of course," said the Lady Melpomene.
"It is unfortunate that your resources, in the recent markets, have become so limited, or you might have outbidden me," said the Lady Florence.
"My resources are quite ample," said the Lady Melpomene.
"Rumor has it," said the Lady Florence, "that your fortunes lie near ruin."
"Such rumors," snapped the Lady Melpomene, "are malicious and false."
"I thought so," said the Lady Florence, pleasantly. "It is unfortunate that they are so rampant."
"I was insufficiently interested in the slave to bid sixteen tarsks," said the Lady Melpomene.
"Of course," said the Lady Florence.
"Have you been long shopping in Ar?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"Some four days," said the Lady Florence. "We left our house in Vonda a month ago, for my villa."
The villa of the Lady Florence of Vonda lay some forty pasangs south and west of Vonda. Vonda was one of the four cities of the Salerian Confederation.
The other cities of this confederation were Ti, Port Olni and Lara. All four of these cities lie on the Olni River, which is a tributary to the Vosk. Ti is farthest from the confluence of the Olni and Vosk; downriver from Ti is Port Olni; these were the first two cities to form a leagu
e, originally intended for the control of river pirates and the protection of inland shipping; later, downriver from Port Olni, Vonda, and Lara, lying at the junction of the Olni and Vosk, joined the league.
The Olni, for practical purposes, has been freed of river pirates. The oaths of the league, and the primitive articles pertaining to its first governance, were sworn, and signed, in the meadow of Salerius, which lies on the northern bank of the Olni between Port Olni and Vonda. It is from that fact that the confederation is known as the Salerian Confederation. The principal city, because the largest and most populous, of the confederation is Ti. The governance of the confederation is centralized in Ti. The high administrator of the confederation is a man called Ebullius Gaius Cassius, of the Warriors. Ebullius Gaius Cassius was also, as might be expected, the administrator of the city, or state, of Ti itself.
The Salerian Confederation, incidentally, is also sometimes known as the Four Cities of Saleria. The expression 'Saleria', doubtless owing its origin to the meadow of Salerius, is used broadly, incidentally, to refer to the fertile basin territories both north and south of the Olni, the lands over which the confederation professes to maintain a hegemony. The meadow of Salerius, thus, lies on the northern bank of the Olni, between Port Olni and Vonda; the area called Saleria, on the other hand, is, in effect, the lands controlled by the confederation. Ti, Port Olni and Vonda lie on the northern bank of the Olni; Lara lies between the Olni and the Vosk, at their confluence. It is regarded as being of great strategic importance. It could, if it wished, prevent Olni shipping from reaching the markets of the Vosk towns, and, similarly, if it wished, prevent shipping from these same towns from reaching the Olni markets.
Overland shipping in this area, as is generally the case on Gor, is time consuming and costly; also, it is often dangerous. It is interesting to note that the control of piracy on the Olni was largely a function of the incorporation of Lara in the confederation. This made it difficult for the pirate fleets, following their raids, to descend the Olni and escape into the Vosk.
It may also be of interest to note that what began as a defensive league instituted primarily to protect shipping on a river gradually, but expectedly, began to evolve into a considerable political force in eastern known Gor. Jealousies and strifes, rivalries, even armed conflicts, tend often to separate Gorean cities. Seldom do they band together. In this milieu, then, of suspicion, pride, autonomy and honor, the four cities of Saleria represented a startling and momentous anomaly in the politics of Gor. The league to protect shipping on the Olni, inadvertently but naturally founded in the common interest of four cities, had formed the basis for what later became the formidable Salerian Confederation. Many cities of Gor, it was rumored, looked now with uneasiness on the four giants of the Olni. The Salerian Confederation, it was rumored, had now come to the attention even of the city of Ar.
"We proceeded from my villa to my house in Venna," continued the Lady Florence, speaking lightly with the Lady Melpomene.
"I, too, have a house in Venna," she said.
"I did not know, with the state of your finances, that you had managed to retain it," said the Lady Florence. Venna is a small, exclusive resort city, some two hundred pasangs north of Ar. It is noted for its baths and its tharlarion races.
"Do you come often to shop in Ar?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"Twice yearly," said the Lady Florence.
"I come four times yearly," said the Lady Melpomene.
"I see," said the Lady Florence, sweetly.
"I can afford to," said the Lady Melpomene.
"Do not permit me to detain you from your shopping," said the Lady Florence.
"I would not stay too long in Ar," said the Lady Melpomene.
"I do not think there will be trouble," said the Lady Florence.
"There was talk in the baths at Vonda," said the Lady Melpomene. "It is feared there will be an attack by Ar. Already troops have skirmished south of the Olni."
"Men are barbarians," said the Lady Florence. "They are always fighting."
"If hostilities should break out," said the Lady Melpomene, "it might not be well to be a woman of Vonda caught in this city."
"I do not think there will be trouble," said the Lady Florence.
"You may risk a steel collar if you wish," said the Lady Melpomene. "I am leaving Ar tonight."
"We are leaving in the morning," said the Lady Florence.
"Excellent," said the Lady Melpomene. "Perhaps I shall see you in Venna."
"Perhaps," said the Lady Florence.
"And perhaps you will let me enjoy your slave," said the Lady Melpomene.
"Perhaps - for a fee," said the Lady Florence, coldly.
"A fee?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"Sixteen tarsks," said the Lady Florence. "The pitiful price which you could not afford to pay for him."
Sixteen tarsks was actually a high price to pay for a male silk slave. Most would go from four to six tarsks.
"I wish you well," said the Lady Melpomene.
"I wish you well," said the Lady Florence.
The Lady Melpomene then clapped her hands. "Proceed!" she called to the draft slaves, those bearing upon their shoulders the poles of her palanquin.
In a moment or two they had proceeded down the street.
"What a hateful woman," said the Lady Florence. "What a pretender she is! How I despise her! Her fortunes are mined. She is almost penniless. If she does retain a house in Venna she is sure to lose it soon. How bold she is, even to dare to speak with me. She is probably in Ar trying to negotiate a loan, or sell the house in Venna, if indeed she still owns it. Even the palanquin and slaves are rented! She does not fool me! How I hate her! I hate her! Did you see how sweetly she spoke to me? But she hates me, too. Our families have been enemies for generations."
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"She even bid against me for you," said the Lady Florence. "Would a friend have done that?"
"I do not know, Mistress," I said.
"No," said the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"And she had the nerve to ask for your use," said the Lady Florence. "I will share you only with those women who please me."
"Yes, Mistress," I said. It is a common Gorean hospitality to offer the use of one's slaves to guests, if they should find them attractive. The Lady Florence of Vonda, she to whom I belonged, could give or assign me, as any slave she owned, to whomsoever she pleased. She had, however, at least thus far, kept me for herself. Sometimes when there were guests at her villa southwest of Vonda I was kept locked in my kennel.
"This way, Jason," she said. "I wish to purchase veil pins at the shop of Publius. Then I wish to proceed to the avenue of the Central Cylinder, to examine the silks in the shop of Philebus."
"Yes, Mistress," I said. I proceeded down the street in the direction indicated, leading the tharlarion by its reins. Small saddle tharlarion are generally managed by snout reins. The huge war tharlarion are commonly guided by voice signals and the blows of spears on the face and neck. Draft tharlarion are harnessed, and can be managed either by men, or usually boys, who walk beside them, or by reins and whips, controlled by drivers, men mounted in drawn wagons.
We passed a woman in the street, a woman of Ar, followed by a silk slave. He looked at me. I suppose he was wondering what I had cost.
A slave girl passed, a short-legged beauty, clad in a gray rag, chewing on a larma fruit. She spit against the wall as I passed.
"Do not mind her, Jason," said the Lady Florence.
"No, Mistress," I said. But I wished I could have gotten my hands on her.
"Such girls are unrefined," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said. But the girl had had good ankles.
"Stop here, Jason," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"You will tether the tharlarion, Jason," said the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"When you have finished with that," she s
aid, "you will return here, and wait for me."
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
The sun was high now, and it was past noon. We were stopped now before the shop of Philebus, which specializes in Turian silk. This shop is located on the great avenue of the Central Cylinder, which is more than four hundred feet wide, an avenue used in triumphs, dominated by the Central Cylinder of Ar itself, which stood at one end of it. There are many trees planted at the sides of this avenue, and there are frequent fountains. It is a very beautiful, and impressive, avenue. I was pleased to look upon it. Shops on this avenue, of course, if only because of the rents, are extremely expensive.
She glanced to the looped chain at the side of her saddle.
"Does Mistress wish to chain Jason, her slave?" I asked. If she wished this I would fetch her the chain, when I had tethered the tharlarion. There were slave rings, a foot or so from the sidewalk, in the front wall of the shop of Philebus. Such rings are common in public places on Gor. A slave girl, sitting, her hands bound before her body with cord, by a shortened neck-leash, was chained at one of these rings. At another, also sitting, fastened there by a two-loop fitting, running to a collar ring, was a silk slave.
"No, Jason," she said. "You may drink from the spillings of the fountain while I am inside."
"Yes, Mistress," I said. "Thank you, Mistress."
The fountain had two levels, a great bowl and, lower, near the walk level, a shallow bowl. From this shallow bowl slaves might drink.
The Lady Florence looked up at me. I could not read her expression. "Perhaps you will like what I will buy," she said.
"I am certain that I will, Mistress," I said. I was not lying. She had, I had learned, exquisite taste.
She swiftly turned and went into the shadowed, cool recesses of the shop.
"She did not chain you," said the male silk slave to me.
"No," I said.
"What did you cost?" he asked.
"Sixteen tarsks," I said.
"That is not much," he said, puzzled.