Swordsmen of Gor

by John Norman

  Last night hundreds of tarn eggs had been brought aboard, to be nestled in padded containers below decks. These were being chemically incubated, to keep the egg viable. Later, responsive to a second chemical, which might not be administered for months, hatching was to occur. Clearly Lord Nishida’s plans involved tarns beyond those of the present cavalry.

  The wind was bitter now, at the river’s edge.

  Whistles came from the stern castle of the great ship.

  The structures of the camp were now much aflame, and the flames were whipped by the wind.

  I could see the mighty, towering frame, which had held the ship of Tersites, was now, too, afire.

  “I do not like the direction of the wind,” said Pertinax.

  “No,” I said.

  The men who had fired the camp, and some stragglers, were now hurrying down the wharf, to board.

  “Is Lord Nishida aboard?” asked Pertinax.

  “I do not think so,” I said.

  “What of his contract women?” asked Pertinax.

  “I do not know,” I said.

  Again we heard the whistles from the stern castle.

  “Should we not board?” asked Pertinax.

  “Shortly,” I said.

  “The wharf itself may soon be afire,” said Pertinax.

  “Yes,” I said.

  I could see some mariners, far above, at the railing of the stern castle, reading the flames and their progress.

  “The ship may be in danger,” he said.

  “Eventually,” I said, “not now.”

  To be sure, I expected that mooring ropes would be soon cast off, and the great ship, obedient to rudder and current, would edge into the river.

  Aëtius, I was sure, was anxious to depart.

  “Perhaps we should board,” said Pertinax.

  “I would be curious to see the last to board,” I said.

  “Where is Lord Nishida?” asked Pertinax.

  “He may be dead,” I said.

  “You jest,” he said, uneasily.

  “I think it unlikely,” I said. I did not, of course, rule it out. There might be, I thought, frictions or dissensions amongst the Pani. Surely they were human, and not unaware of the attractions of power. Perhaps Lord Nishida had served his purpose, supplying lumber to the shipwrights at the Alexandra camp, arranging for the formation and training of a tarn cavalry, and such. Perhaps he was no longer required by Lord Okimoto, who was, it seemed, a cousin to the shogun, some shogun.

  “They are going to raise the ramp,” said Pertinax.

  “Not yet, surely,” I said.

  The great frame in which the ship of Tersites had been formed was now muchly ablaze. A timber collapsed with a crash.

  “I fear for the wharf,” said Pertinax. “The ship must cast off.”

  In the river some ice drifted downstream.

  I estimated that there must be some twenty-five hundred to three thousand men on board.

  Many lined the rails, far above.

  Enormous quantities of foodstuffs had been brought on board. This had caused me considerable uneasiness. So might a city have been supplied, anticipating its beleaguering. And who might the foe be, if not the sea? How long was this voyage to be? Such stores would suffice to carry one beyond Cos and Tyros, and beyond these, the farthest of the western islands. But I feared they might be but little used. I feared, rather, given the coming of winter and its season of storms, that the walls of this city, so to speak, would be shortly breached, that they would be unable to resist the raging blows of green Thassa, the blows of her towering, mountainous hammers, that the city must soon fall, succumbing to the implacable, voluminous ingression of cold waters. One does not venture upon Thassa in this season.

  “You do intend to board, do you not?” asked Pertinax.

  “Certainly,” I said.

  “The fire encroaches,” said Pertinax, uneasily.

  “There is time,” I said.

  “Look,” said Pertinax, “across the river.”

  We could see a longboat putting away from the shore, on the opposite bank.

  “Enemies?” asked Pertinax.

  “Unlikely,” I said.

  “The camp is on the northern bank,” said Pertinax. “The boat departs from the southern shore.”

  “Something, then,” I said, “was housed there.”

  “What?” he said.

  “I do not know,” I said.

  We saw the oars dipping, water falling from the blades.

  There were numerous small cabins for officers on the great ship. Pertinax and I each had our cabin. Doubtless much ampler quarters were provided for Lords Nishida and Okimoto, and those ranking high amongst the Pani, probably in the stern castle. I did not object to the tiny quarters. In a sense they were a luxury, inside, sheltered from the weather. In many Gorean ships, shallow-drafted galleys, with which I was familiar, and on which I had sailed, there was not much in the way of cabins at all, though there might be a hold in which one might place stores, chain slaves, and such. Officers and crew often slept on the deck, under the stars, or at the side of the ship, on land, if it were beached at night. The holds were not pleasant. Slaves often petitioned, most piteously, to be permitted on deck, though it be but to be chained to a stanchion, or caged.

  To an outsider, one unfamiliar with such things, I suppose that our cabins would have seemed miserably tiny and cramped, but space is usually precious on a ship, even a large ship. And to me, if not to Pertinax, as I suggested, it was something of a luxury to have a cabin, at all. I was well pleased. There was a single berth in the low-ceilinged cabin, on the left, as one entered. This berth was built into the wall. Beneath the berth, also built into the wall, was a locker, which was the primary storage facility. Across from the berth was a cabinet for small articles. The only furniture, so to speak, in the cabin was a small bench, some three feet in length. There were also, here and there, hooks in the ceiling, from which paraphernalia might be suspended. A small, glass-enclosed tharlarion-oil lamp was hung from the ceiling, at the center of the cabin. It could not be removed from its chain. Fire at sea, particularly in wooden ships, is a hazard which must be taken with the utmost seriousness. Most welcome was a tiny port, some four inches in diameter, with its hinged window, opposite the door. By means of this aperture, one could look outside, and, the port opened, ventilate the cabin. Closed, the window was proof against cold and high seas. From a distance, given their tininess, these ports, if noticed at all, would seem little more than dots in the hull. The door was small and narrow, and would swing inward from the adjacent companionway. In this way, if opened, it would not obstruct the companionway. I could not stand fully upright in the cabin, but one does not intend to spend much time there. Both Cecily and Jane could stand upright in the cabin, with room to spare. I hoped they understood the luxury of their quarters. It was far superior to the pens, kennels, cages, chaining rings, and such, which were the lot of several of their collar-sisters. To be sure, even such accommodations were likely to be far superior to those afforded on typical slave ships, in which the slaves were often supine and tiered, chained, wrists over head, ankles together, on pallets of slatted wood, enclosed by mesh, to keep away the urts. All the hair on their bodies is removed, to reduce the infestation of parasites. The chaining arrangement, incidentally, is not only to keep the girls from tearing the mesh, which might allow the entry of urts into the space, but, also, to keep them from lacerating their own bodies, tearing at them to relieve the misery consequent upon the depredations of parasites, usually ship lice. Racks of these tiers stretch substantially from wall to wall in the hold, with only a tiny walk space between and about them. A panel in each space opens, by means of which a crust of bread may be placed in the mouth of each slave. Similarly, they are watered, by means of a bota or hose.

  The approaching boat was now midriver.

  It had eight oarsmen, and a fellow at the tiller, and another at the bow. Its cargo, between the gunwales, was covered by
a tarpaulin.

  I looked to Cecily and Jane, kneeling on the planks, beside us.

  “You know your cabins?” I asked.

  “Yes, Master,” said each.

  Two days ago we had taken them on board, to show them our cabins, and, in general, familiarize them with the ship. In this tour we had tied their hands behind their backs and then tied them together by the neck. From a custodial point of view this was unnecessary, of course, but such things are seldom done for custodial purposes. Where is a slave to run? Indeed, when a slave is chained, if we are interested in custodial matters, it is commonly done not so much to confine her, though she is confined, and perfectly, and knows it, but to prevent her theft, for she is property. It is no great challenge for a male to subdue and carry off an untended slave. The two most common reasons for binding slaves, which is very frequently done, are, first, mnemonic, and, second, stimulatory. Binding, thonging, chaining, and such, makes it exceedingly clear to them that they are such that such things may be done to them, that they are subject to such things, that that is what they are, slaves. When the girl is helpless, and knows herself such, there can be little doubt about what she is, that she is a slave. Thus they are frequently bound, caged, and such. Secondly, bonds, in virtue of reinforcing the slave’s sense of her lesser strength, her vulnerability, and helplessness, are sexually stimulatory. They know themselves then objects vulnerable to, and readied for, sexual predation. This is related to the radical sexual dimorphism of the human species, the obvious complementarity of the sexes, and the dominance/submission ratios pervasive in nature. That the slave is helpless, then, not only accentuates the acuteness and viability of these natural responses, but intensifies them, exponentially. Surely Pertinax and I had had ample proof of this matter when we returned that afternoon to our quarters. The slave is likely to very well understand what is done to her, and why, but this avails her naught. She is still helpless, and a slave. Too, if her slave fires have been kindled, as is likely to be the case, she desires and needs the pleasures of her bondage. It is not unusual for her, left in her bonds, to beg for sexual relief.

  Too, it might be noted, as a passing, prosaic observation, that when a woman’s hands are tied together behind her back she is likely to get into little trouble. It would not do, for example, on such a tour, to have them fussing about, rearranging objects, straightening things, folding things, picking up things, handling things, noting textures, and such. Having them on a neck bond, too, of course, keeps them together. Thus they are not likely to wander off, become separated, and find themselves lost in the labyrinthine companionways of the great ship.

  “Cecily,” I said.

  “Master?” said the English girl, formerly a student at an Oxford College, the name of which, as mine, shall not be noted.

  I regarded her, I standing, she kneeling.

  She was a lovely slave.

  She looked up at me, to attend my words.

  We had been selected for one another by Priest-Kings, to be irresistible to one another. Her shallow, empty, pretentious life on Earth had changed overnight, so to speak, she retiring one evening, smug in her beauty, indulged and practiced in the pleasures of despising, attracting, and tormenting men, and awakening, to her astonishment and terror, unclothed, pressing her small hands against the thick, stout, transparent walls of a containment capsule on the Prison Moon, one of the three moons of Gor. This capsule she found occupied by two others, myself, and a beautiful, young, human female from a Steel World, a Kur pet, who was unspeeched. The English girl had been placed in the capsule to bring about my downfall. Who could long resist her? And should she fail in this there was the Kur pet, in her way a primitive human animal, as innocent and sexual as a cat in heat. In one way or another, then, my honor was to have been lost, as, sooner or later, given the imperatives of nature and the provocations to which I was exposed, I must be unable to resist, as I must feast upon one or both of these delicacies, putting one or both of them, again and again, to my pleasure. Neither, you see, was a slave, at least legally. Both were free, at least legally. And therein lay the difficulty. I have little doubt but what, sooner or later, I would have taken the proud, vain, selfish English girl in my arms, and she would learn what it would be to be used by a Gorean warrior, and as might be a mere slave. This denouement did not materialize, however, because, as recounted earlier, Kurii raided the Prison Moon and freed me, a raid which had had me, interestingly, as its very object. During the raid the English girl, hoping to avoid death, had declared herself slave. She intuitively understood that as a free woman she was worthless, save perhaps as food to the beasts, but might, as a slave, have whatever worth a slave might have. Intuitively she sensed she might have that value, some value, however minimal, as a female slave. But the cry, too, had seemed to come from her heart, as an outburst from the depths of her heart, releasing a tension that might have been pent-up for years, a cry of enormous relief, a cry that seemed to suggest she had at last cast aside a dreadful, encumbering falsity, that at last a great weight, an immense burden of fear and denial, had been cast from her. As many women, if not all, she had recognized from puberty onward that there were two sexes, quite different, and devastatingly complementary to one another, and that she had, from whatever source, slave needs. She was well aware of these needs, for years, in many ways, from dreams from which she awakened suddenly, discovering she was not truly in chains, that her lips were not truly pressed to a master’s whip, from persistent fantasies from which she tried to flee, but to which, in fascination and fear, she must constantly return. How often she dreamed of herself, and fantasized herself, helpless in the power of dominant males, as no more than their possession, their prize, and plaything, their slave. Hating the tepidity, the ineffectuality, the weakness of the males she knew she took out on them her spite and disappointment, torturing them as only her beauty made possible. She did not hate men, truly, but only males who refused to be men, who would not see to it that she was put to their feet. But how soon, after her declaration on the Prison moon, she had tried to unsay her confession! But the words once spoken are irrevocable, for the speaker is then a slave. She was later branded and owned by male cohorts of the Kurii. Torn between her lingering pretenses of freedom and her slave needs, she had been found insufficiently pleasing by her masters, and was to be cast to eels in a pool in a Pleasure Cylinder, associated with a Steel World. She had begged my collar. I consented to the piteous pleas of the slave, and would honor her with my collar, which I then locked on her neck. That night, chained in an alcove, at my mercy, she was taught, finally and well, what it is to be a slave. A natural slave, she had become a legal slave; then, a legal slave, she had become a true slave.

  “Cecily,” said I.

  “Master?” she said.

  “Go to the cabin,” I said, “remove your clothing, completely, and lie in the berth, and wait for me.”

  “Yes, Master,” she said, and leapt up, hurrying to the ramp.

  “Cecily,” I called.

  “Yes, Master?” she said.

  “And first lay out the whip,” I said.

  “Yes, Master!” she said, and was then up the ramp.

  I had no intention of using the whip on her, but this small ritual has its effect on the slave, reminding her she is a slave, and readying her and loosening her for use. Sometimes, in the use of a slave, one might ask, “Do you see the whip?” “Yes, Master,” she might say, “it is on its peg.” “Do you wish it to remain there?” she might be asked. “Yes, Master,” she responds, with fervency. “Are you being sufficiently responsive?” he might ask. “It is my hope that I might be found pleasing,” she says. “Excellent,” might say the master. “Yes, Master,” she might exclaim. “Yes, Master! Yes, Master!” Then perhaps her mouth needs be covered, with the flat of one’s hand, that her cries may not be obtrusive. To be sure, it is often pleasant to hear her cry out, weep, gasp, and moan, she in your arms, beside herself in helpless, uncontrollable ecstasy.

  “Jane,
” said Pertinax, “go to my cabin and lay out the whip, and then wait for me, naked, in the berth.”

  “Yes, Master!” said his Jane, happily, and hurried after Cecily.

  It is not unusual for a master to have his slave await him, naked, in the furs. The wait, and her nudity, well impresses upon her that she is a slave. Too, when he arrives, she is heated, needful, and ready for him.

  And if the whip is at hand, so much the better.

  “Would you not enjoy having Saru in your berth, naked, waiting for you?” I asked.

  “— Yes,” he said.

  “Good,” I said.

  “She is a slave,” he said.

  “Do not forget it,” I said.

  “No,” he said.

  “And could you use the whip on her?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Excellent,” I said. “Unfortunately she belongs to Lord Nishida.”

  “I am well aware of that,” he said.

  “Do you think she would make a nice gift for a shogun?” I asked.

  “I do not know,” he said. “Perhaps.”

  “Perhaps you would like to receive her as a gift,” I said.

  “She is from Earth,” he said.

  “Some of the loveliest gifts come from Earth,” I said.

  The boat which had come from the other side of the river had now drawn up on the beach, below the wharf.

  “There is some cargo there,” I said, “covered with a tarpaulin.”

  The great frame in which the ship of Tersites had been formed suddenly collapsed in a shambles of burning timber.

  “I fear for the wharf,” said Pertinax.

  I nodded. Indeed, the far end of the wharf was beginning to burn. Some Pani were there.

  “Look,” said Pertinax, pointing to the right, to the end of the wharf farthest from us, away from the flames, that nearest the bow of the great ship.

  “Good!” I said. It was the retinue of Lord Nishida. With him were his guard, several officers, and two contract women, who were doubtless Sumomo and Hana.

  I was much relieved to see Lord Nishida. I had feared the worst.