Norman, John - Gor 20 - Players of Gor.txt

by Players of Gor [lit]

  “Sir!” cried Rowena.

  “That we may see if they be genuine,” he said, menacingly.

  “I assure you that they are,” said Rowena.

  “Let them be examined,” said Lecchio, “that a determination in the matter may be

  made.”

  “He is certified by the Builders,” Chino reminded them.

  page 299

  “Will it be necessary to remove them from you by force, for the tests?” asked

  Lecchio.

  “No,” said Rowena. She, then, and the others, handed over their purses to

  Lecchio, under the watchful eye of the suspicious Petrucchio.

  “Now then, too,” said Lecchio, grimly, “your secret purses, those concealed in

  your clothes, those strapped to your left thighs.”

  The girls, protesting, squeaking with outrage, turned away from the men, bending

  over and thrusting about under their cumbersome robes of concealment. More

  purses and packets were delivered to Lecchio.

  “And now, ladies,” said he, “your most secret purses.”

  “No!” the cried, outraged.

  “Or we must make our own probes,” he said.

  “Oh, oh!” they cried in misery, and turned away again. Three more coins were

  produced for Lecchio. The women then, angrily, smoothed down their garments.

  “Do you have any more?” asked Chino, in assistance to Lecchio.

  “No!” said Rowena.

  “Are you sure?” asked Chino.

  “Yes!” cried Rowena. “We are now as coinless as slaves!”

  “Excellent,” said Chino.

  “Excellent!” cried Rowena.

  “Yes,” said Chino. “And it is interesting that you should put it just that way.”

  “What mean you, Sir?” demanded Rowena.

  “Oh, nothing,” said Chino.

  Lecchio, this time, it seemed, could make his determinations with little more

  than a cursory glance. “These coins are genuine,” he said.

  “Certainly they are!” cried Rowena.

  “But they are doubtless stolen,” said Lecchio, gravely.

  “What!” cried Rowena.

  “What is the amount?” inquired Chino.

  “Three double tarns, fifteen tarns, eighteen silver tarsks, twenty-seven copper

  tarsks, and one hundred and five tarsk-bits,” said Lecchio.

  “It is as I feared!” cried Chino.

  “Precisely,” said Lecchio.

  “I do not understand,” said Petrucchio.

  “That is the exact amount of money stolen from the vintner, Groppus, of

  Pseudopolis.”

  page 300

  “Ah!” cried Petrucchio, scandalized.

  “It could, of course, be a coincidence,” said Chino. “When did you leave

  Pseudopolis?”

  “Two days ago, in the afternoon,” said Petrucchio.

  “It was just two days ago, in the morning, that the theft took place,” said

  Lecchio.

  “It could be a coincidence,” suggested Chino.

  “Of course,” agreed Lecchio.

  “This is absurd!” cried Rowena.

  “It is our money!” cried Lady Telitsia.

  “Give it back to us!” cried Bina.

  “Be patient, ladies,” said Chino. “—if ladies you truly be.”

  “What means this ‘if ladies you truly be’?” asked Petrucchio.

  “It has to do with our suspicions,” said Chino.

  “What suspicions?” inquired Petrucchio, anxiously.

  “Oh, nothing,” said Chino, evasively.

  “Speak, fellow!” cried Petrucchio, yanking at his sword. Then he gave up the

  attempt, it apparently being stuck in the sheath.

  “You have know these women personally, of course, for several years?” said

  Chino.

  “No,” said Petrucchio. “I am actually from Turia.”

  “It is probably nothing,” said Chino, reassuringly.

  “Give us back our money!” cried Rowena.

  “Speak!” demanded Petrucchio.

  “It is only that two days ago, in the morning,” said Chino, “in Pseudopolis, a

  sum of three double tarns, fifteen tarns, eighteen silver tarsks, twenty-seven

  copper tarsks, and one hundred and five tarsk-bits was stolen from the vintner,

  Groppus, by three female slaves masquerading as free women, reported to be

  heading in this direction, clad in garments precisely like those, on this road.”

  “That is the exact sum discovered on these women, it is not?” asked Petrucchio.

  “Why, yes, it is,” said Lecchio, apparently quickly checking the matter.

  “And many other things, too, seem to tally,” said Petrucchio, alarmed.

  “It could all be a coincidence,” said Lecchio.

  “Of course,” hastily agreed Chino.

  “Perhaps to you it might all seem a coincidence,” said Petrucchio, “but to one

  such as I, one of the caste of warriors, one trained in wariness and

  discernment, it seems there might be more to it.”

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  “Oh,” asked Chino, interested.

  “Yes,” said Petrucchio.

  “There is no vintner, Groppus, in Pseudopolis!” said Rowena.

  “They are also reputed to be splendid liars,” said Chino.

  “I suspect that these three women with me might not be precisely what they

  seem,” hinted Petrucchio, darkly.

  “What!” cried Chino.

  “What!” cried Lecchio.

  “I think it is possible,” said Petrucchio, confidentially, to Chino and Lecchio,

  “that these very women with me may be the escaped slaves of whom you speak.”

  “No!” cried Chino.

  “No!” cried Lecchio.

  “Think,” said Petrucchio to them. “It was false coins they offered me in return

  for my services. Surely that is suspicious, if nothing else. Similarly the

  resources pooled among them, as we have ascertained, total the exact amount

  purloined from the wronged Groppus of Pseudopolis. Too, the theft took place

  just shortly before we left the city, thus permitting them to be in the place of

  the crime itself, and then giving them time to flee the city. Too, there are

  three of them, and they are heading on this road, in this direction, in exactly

  those garments.”

  Chino and Lecchio looked at one another, frightened, impressed.

  Petrucchio then stood upright, and twirled his mustaches, meaningfully.

  “What should we do?” asked Chino, looking to Petrucchio, naturally enough, in

  the situation, for guidance.

  “Surely, for one thing,” said Lecchio, “we must keep this money, until it can be

  determined who its proper owner, or owners, may be.”

  “That is for certain,” agreed Petrucchio.

  “Give us back our money,” said Lady Telitsia.

  Petrucchio turned about and looked sternly upon the women. They huddled together

  under this fierce gaze, drawing back.

  Lecchio and Chino hastily poured the
coins into their wallets.

  “Are you all free women?” asked Petrucchio.

  “Certainly!” said Rowena.

  “Certainly!” said Lady Telitsia.

  “Certainly!” cried Bina.

  “What were the names of the escaped slaves?” asked Petrucchio of Chino and

  Lecchio.

  “Lana, Tana and Bana,” said Chino, quickly.

  “Yes, that is right,” said Lecchio.

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  “Are you Lana, Tana and Bana?” asked Petrucchio.

  “No,” cried Rowena. “I am the Lady Rowena of Pseudopolis!”

  “And I am the Lady Telitsia of Pseudopolis!” said Lady Telitsia.

  “And I the Lady Bina of Pseudopolis!” said Bina.

  There was some laughter at this from the audience, for “Bina” is a not uncommon

  slave name. The word “bina” is generally used to designate very pretty beads,

  but beads which, nonetheless, are cheap, common, and simple. They are usually of

  painted wood or glass. With such beads common slaves, if they are sufficiently

  pleasing, might hope to be permitted to adorn themselves. Sometimes slave girls

  fight fiercely over such beads. The best simple translation of “bina” is “slave

  beads.” In the context of the play, of course, the audience took her, like the

  others, for the free woman she was supposed to be.

  “It seems our suspicions are unfounded,” said Petrucchio, relieved, “for these

  are not Lana, Tana, and Bana, miserable escaped slaves, but the ladies Rowena,

  Telitsia and Bina, of Pseudopolis.”

  Chino and Lecchio looked at one another, disbelievingly. Then Chino said,

  “Unless, of course, they are lying.”

  “Ah!” said Petrucchio, thoughtfully, twirling a mustache.

  “Give us back our money!” said Rowena.

  “Let us make a determination on the matter,” said Chino.

  “How shall we do that?” asked Petrucchio.

  “Give us our money” cried Rowena.

  “Be silent, female,” said Chino.

  “Female?” she said, startled.

  “Yes, ‘female’,” he said.

  “What do you suggest?” asked Petrucchio.

  “Tests,” said Chino, gravely.

  “What do you have in mind?” asked Petrucchio, alarmed.

  “Put back your hood, take off your veil, you,” said Chino to Rowena.

  “My hood! My veil!” she cried.

  “Yes,” said Chino.

  “Never!” she cried.

  Chino regarded her, grimly.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “We wish to determine whether you are a free woman, or a slave,” he said.

  “A slave!” she cried, outraged. “I shall have you taken before the law for

  slander!”

  page 303

  “Do you wish to have it done for you?” inquired Chino, meaningfully.

  “No!” she cried.

  “Then, comply,” said Chino.

  “Comply!” she cried.

  “Yes,” said Chino, “ and quickly.”

  “This is an outrage!” she cried. “It is an unspeakable insult! I shall have the

  magistrates on you for this!”

  Chino took a quick step toward her, and she stepped back hastily, fumbling with

  the hood and veil.

  “We shall now quickly see if you are a free woman or a slave,” he said.

  “How dare you even suggest such a thing!” she cried. “You are a slandering

  sleen!” But she removed her hood and veil, quickly, frightened, complying.

  “There!” cried Chino, triumphantly.

  “There!” cried Lecchio, triumphantly.

  “That is the face of a slave, if I ever saw one!” cried Chino.

  “Yes!” cried Lecchio.

  “No!” cried Rowena, but, to be sure, she put down her head and almost began to

  laugh. Men in the audience, too, laughed. Too, there was genuine applause in the

  audience for her beauty. She kept her head down for a moment, appreciatively

  basking in this, radiantly. Only too obviously she was that beautiful, beautiful

  enough to be a slave. Then she lifted her head again, struggling to return to

  character.

  “No! No!” she said, half laughing.

  “Oh, but yes!” called a man from the audience.

  “Yes, Master,” she whispered, her lips forming the words. “Thank you, Master.”

  Then her lips pursed a moment and sped him a kiss. I had little doubt he would

  call for her after the performance.

  “You, there, too!” called Chino to Lady Telitsia. “And you, as well, little

  female,” he said to Bina.

  In a moment they, too, had thrust back their hoods and removed their veils.

  “There!” cried Chino, triumphantly. “And, there! Those, too, are the faces of

  slaves!”

  There was agreement shouted from the audience. They were pleased, of course, to

  see the girls, at last.

  “No!” cried Lady Telitsia.

  “No!” cried Bina, dutifully.

  There was more laughter from the audience.

  “You see,” said Chino to Petrucchio, “they have the faces of slaves.”

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  “Clearly,” agreed Petrucchio.

  The girls cried out in protest.

  “It remains, of course,” said Chino, “to see if they have the bodies of slaves.”

  “Of course,” granted Petrucchio, twirling a mustache.

  “No!” cried the girls.

  “Strip,” commanded Chino, “now, totally!”

  “No!” cried the girls, but, at a menacing gesture from Chino, the meaningful

  lifting of his open right hand, suggesting that the least dilatoriness might be

  rewarded with cuffings, or worse, as though they might be mere slaves, they

  hastened to comply. The audience shouted its encouragement. The girls were quite

  lovely. Their disrobing, leaving only scarves about their necks, concealing

  their collars, and round, adhesive patches on their thighs, concealing their

  brands, was done mostly in character, but Bina, once, with a final wrap-around,

  sliplike garment, drew it away from her with a sensuousness, a pride and

  insolence, that clearly proclaimed her slave. I did not think she would have

  done this before having been given in to the use of the player. Indeed, she was

  facing the player when she did it, and I suspected that it was primarily for him

  that she had so slave-bared herself. He, in the audience, joined in the

  applause. She smiled. His slave bracelet was on her wrist. Her use was his.

  Chino seized Rowena by the hair, and, lifting his arm up, held her up straight,

  before Petrucchio, and Lecchio took Lady Telitsia and Bina into custody, one in

  each hand, in exactly the same fashion, making them stand up straight,

  displaying them identically. “Do they have the bodies of slaves?” Chino asked

  the audience.

  “Yes!” shouted several of the men in the audience. It was true. Their bodies had

  been designed by nature
to be incredibly exciting and attractive to men, and to

  provide men with incomparable pleasures and services.

  “Not the slave bodies,” said Chino to Petrucchio.

  “Yes,” said Petrucchio, noting them well.

  “And their delicious slave curves,” said Chino, bending Rowena back a bit.

  “Yes!” said Petrucchio.

  “No! No!” cried the girls.

  “But can they move as slaves?” inquired Chino.

  “Never!” cried Rowena.

  “Wiggle, Lana,” said Chino.

  “I am the Lady Rowena of Pseudopolis!” cried Rowena.

  “Now,” said Chino.

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  “Never!” she cried. “Oh!” she cried, wincing, Chino’s hand in her hair,

  tightening and twisting, instructing her in obedience.

  “See?” asked Chino of Petrucchio.

  “Yes,” said Petrucchio.

  “Very good, Lana,” said Chino. “That is enough for now, thank you. You, now,

  Tana. You, now, Bana.” At his words, of course, Lady Telitsia and Bina, too,

  wiggled, and, in Lecchio’s grip, having little choice, wiggled well. The girls

  were not dancers, of course, but they were slaves. A woman who has been in a

  collar and helplessly in the hands of men does this sort of thing rather

  differently, of course, than would a virgin or an inert free woman. They cannot

  help it. Still, in the comedic situation, given their characterizations, they

  strove, successfully, I think, to give the impression of free women being forced

  to move in this fashion and yet, at the same time, marvelously, managed to be

  sexually attractive. The movements, of course, were not, nor were they intended

  to be, those of an actually displayed slave in such a predicament, say, in a

  market or capture camp, being commanded, say to “move” before men. On the other

  hand, at one point, Bina did twist toward the player and, somewhat out of

  character, moved in such a way that there was no doubt that it was to him, he

  how had her current use, that she was presenting herself. He raised his hand a

  small way above the table, hardly more than a movement of fingers, acknowledging

  this. She then returned to character, still helpless, of course, in Lecchio’s

  grip.

  “Very good, girls,” said Chino. “What do you think?” he asked.

  “Clearly they are slaves,” said Petrucchio.