Fighting Slave of Gor coc-14

by John Norman

  "Yes, Lady Florence," said the czehar player, their leader.

  I looked at the girl at the ring, head down, feeding as a she-sleen.

  "Why have I been brought here?" I asked Kenneth.

  "Be patient," said Kenneth.

  "Yes, Master," I said.

  The dinner proceeded in a leisurely fashion through seven of its courses. There was light banter and charming conversation. The playing of the musicians was pleasant, and unobtrusive.

  When the tiny plates and cups of the seventh course had been cleared away the Lady Florence looked over to the chained slave, kneeling at her ring. She had finished her own meager provender even to, at the Mistress' command, licking the pans. They had then been taken away by Bonnie.

  "It is time for you to entertain us, my dear," said the Lady Florence to the slave.

  The girl looked at her, frightened.

  "Surely you do not think slaves are kept about only to be pampered and fed?" she inquired.

  "No, Mistress," said the girl.

  "I had intended to rent a dancing slave in Vonda," said the Lady Florence to her guests, "a decorous girl in blue silk and a golden collar, who might by the loveliness and grace of her movements please us, but it slipped my mind. I am so forgetful! I am afraid we must make do with poor Melpomene."

  The Lady Leta laughed.

  "Pamela," said the Lady Florence, "bring dancing silks for our slave."

  "Oh, Mistress," said Pamela, smiling, "this is a house of refinement. We do not have such scandalous garments here."

  "Ali, poor Melpomene," said the Mistress. Then she snapped to Melpomene, "On your feet, Slave!"

  Swiftly Melpomene leaped to her feet, tears in her eyes. The chain fell to the ring from the chain loop on her collar.

  "Tenalion, my dear," said the Lady Florence, "would you please relieve our lovely Melpomene of the impediment of her chain?"

  "Certainly, Lady Florence," said Tenalion. He had been considering Lady Florence, doubtless surmising the configuration of her body beneath the ornate robes.

  In a moment Tenalion had taken the chain from Melpomene, unlocking it first from the iron ring in the floor and, secondly, from her collar loop. The order of these events was not arbitrary. It was the opposite, too, of course, of the order in which she had been originally secured, where the chain had been first placed on her collar loop and only then locked about the ring in the floor. Commonly, in a Gorean tethering or chaining situation, of this sort, where neither fastening has as yet been effected, that bond which is on, or near, a woman's body is the first to be placed; similarly, of course, it is the last to be removed. In many situations, of course, there is only one fastening to be effected, that on the woman. It is not unusual for a master, for example, to keep a chain attached to the slave ring at the foot of his couch. It only needs, thus, when he wishes, to be put on the woman.

  Tenalion coiled the chain, and returned to his place. He put the chain in the box, which reposed near him. Melpomene then, now unchained, but naked, and wearing her collar, stood on the red tiles near the slave ring.

  The Lady Florence looked to the leader of the musicians.

  "Surely you are not going to dance a naked slave in mixed company?" laughed the Lady Leta.

  "Is this a rude house?" laughed the Lady Perimene.

  "Scandalous!" laughed the Lady Leta.

  "Oh," cried the Lady Florence, in mock dismay, "I wished to obtain a dancing slave from Vonda, but it slipped my mind, so silly am I, and we have now on hand only poor Melpomene."

  "She will have to do," said the Lady Leta.

  "She seems a poor slave," said the Lady Perimene."

  "Many slaves are like that at first," said Tenalion, soberly, "but with diet and exercise, and training, and discipline, they become wonders."

  "I see," shuddered the Lady Perimene.

  "To be sure," said the Lady Florence, "to dance a naked slave in mixed company seems scarcely to comport with the dignity of a refined house, but remember, too, I am a hostess, and we have men present, and we all know what beasts they are." The women laughed. "Yes," said the Lady Leta. "And so," said the Lady Florence, smiling, "as a good hostess I am under the obligation, surely, of providing a little something for the men."

  "Of course!" agreed the Lady Leta.

  "The beasts!" laughed the Lady Perimene.

  The men laughed, and Melpomene reddened, totally.

  The Lady Florence again turned to the musicians.

  "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 to the men, and dance it as the slut and slave you are."

  "Yes, Mistress!" she wept.

  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 provisions 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 fr
ee 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.

  "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.

  "Kenneth!" called the Mistress. "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 mostly 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.

  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.