Conspirators of Gor

by John Norman

  None of the men at the table objected.

  I, of course, was well reminded, first, of my bondage, and, secondly, of the power of men, who might do with us, with women, if they pleased, what they pleased.

  “Yes,” said Astrinax.

  “Then her Mistress, as well?” asked Trachinos.

  “Yes,” said Astrinax. “The Lady Bina.”

  “And she is a she-tarsk, is she not?” asked Trachinos.

  “Not at all,” said Astrinax. “She is thought to be marvelously, extraordinarily beautiful.”

  The Lady Bina, perhaps in her vanity, or perhaps because she was not natively Gorean, was often careless in her veiling. I recalled that from as long ago as the Tarsk Market. Too, like many beautiful free women, I suspect she enjoyed seeing her effect on men. Certainly I, on my former world, before I was collared, had very much enjoyed that sort of thing, a form of amusing play, exciting boys and men and leading them on, and then, when well reassured of my attractiveness, pretending to dismay or annoyance, putting them from me, dismissing them. Then, of course, I was not in a slave collar. It is my suspicion that the free women of my former world and those of Gor, forgive me, Mistresses, are much the same. Do you not enjoy such games? And are you not, as much as we, prepared upon occasion to put your beauty to use, to barter it for position and wealth? For example, it is my supposition that, in the markets, and on the boulevards, and elsewhere, handsome slavers, perhaps disguised in the robes of rich Merchants, do not encounter with you in fact the difficulties which one might expect them to encounter in theory. Forgive me, Mistresses.

  “Excellent,” said Trachinos.

  He then, with his fellow, left the tavern. We followed them shortly, and the lamp was extinguished behind us, and the large double doors were closed and barred.

  “I feel safer now,” said Astrinax.

  “Do you?” asked Lykos.

  “It would be better, of course,” said Astrinax, “if we could have had two or three more.”

  “I do not trust Trachinos,” said Lykos.

  “To be perfectly frank, my dear Lykos,” said Astrinax, “I do not trust you, either.”

  “Oh?” smiled Lykos.

  “No,” said Astrinax. “What do I know of you?”

  “Probably little more than I of you,” said Lykos.

  “It is hard to get men to go into the Voltai,” said Astrinax.

  “It is perhaps the season,” said Lykos.

  “No,” said Astrinax, “it is the Voltai.”

  * * * *

  We had left Venna four days ago.

  With the wagons were three slaves, Jane, Eve, and Allison, the latter not permitted to speak, not even to request permission to speak. One free woman was with the wagons, the Lady Bina. There were five free men with the wagons, Astrinax, who was much as our caravan master; Desmond, thought to be a Metal Worker, in whose care I was; Lykos, whom I supposed a mercenary; fierce, bearded Trachinos, clearly skilled with the gladius, at whose background I could scarcely guess; and his fellow, thin, reticent Akesinos, who spoke little, but watched much. And somewhere there were perhaps two beasts, though, as far as I could tell, they were not now with the wagons.

  It was now near the Tenth Ahn.

  The wagons were stopped.

  “It is the six hundredth pasang stone,” said Astrinax, indicating a marker, across the road from one of the arched pylons supporting the aqueduct. “It is here we must wait, for a guide.” I had been interested to learn that pasang stones are found on many Gorean roads; commonly they contain a number, and an indication of a direction and destination. For example, on the Vennan road, as it is called in Ar, a stone is erected midway between Ar and Venna, lists a number, and points in two directions. Closer to Ar, the number lists the pasangs to Ar, with an indication of the direction of Ar. Closer to Venna, the number lists the pasangs to Venna, with an indication of the direction of Venna. To be sure, there are many varieties of pasang stones, and some list only the distance to a given point, as though the road had but one destination. Many roads, particularly small ones, lack pasang stones altogether. Either they are too short or too unimportant, or, perhaps, it is supposed the stones are unnecessary, given the supposed familiarity of the terrain to any who might be in the vicinity. Here, beside the Vennan aqueduct, the stones contained only a number, and no further indications. This was because here the pasang stones measured the length of the aqueduct from Ar, and the pasang stones were largely a convenience to the caste of Builders, concerned with the care of the aqueduct.

  I did not know how Astrinax knew we were to stop here, or that a guide would appear.

  I did know he commonly held the late watch when we camped.

  Having shared the domicile of the Lady Bina and Lord Grendel in Ar, I probably had a better sense of the purport of this journey than the free men with the party. Surely it had to do with returning the blind Kur to his fellows. Whether it had a purpose beyond that I did not know. I did know that there had occasionally been conversations between the Lady Bina and the blind Kur, through the intermediation of the translator, when Lord Grendel had been absent. At such times I would be dispatched on one errand or another. The Lady Bina, as I indicated earlier, had a great respect for, and admiration of, what she regarded as true Kurii, in which category she placed the blind Kur, and from which category she excluded Lord Grendel. This went back, apparently, to a remote, metal world. Accordingly she endorsed the scheme of Lord Grendel’s assisting the blind Kur to regain his haunts in the mountains. On the other hand, she, herself, was reluctant to exchange the delights and comforts of Ar for the hardships of some distant, possibly hazardous journey far from civilization. She had little sense of the risks to which she might be exposed as a defenseless woman in Ar, a barbarian lacking a Home Stone. Lord Grendel, however, had informed her, despite his usual complaisance, that she would accompany him, if necessary, in chains. “I see,” she had said, annoyed. I was intrigued by the thought of the Lady Bina in chains. I sometimes thought she did not understand the extent to which she was actually in the power of Lord Grendel. If she felt his chains on her pretty limbs it would doubtless be clearer to her. I thought she would look lovely in chains. But then does not any woman? In any event, she later withdrew her objections to the journey, and, indeed, soon seemed eager to be on her way. This change in disposition followed, I think, the aforementioned conversations with her large, savage house guest, the blind Kur. She it was who contacted Astrinax, possibly through the eating house of Menon, with which establishment she was familiar, and engaged him to assist in the venture, buying tharlarion and wagons, putting in supplies, and such.

  Lykos was standing on the wagon bench of the first wagon, with a Builder’s glass, scanning the horizon.

  “What do you see?” asked Astrinax.

  “Nothing,” said Lykos, closing the glass.

  “How long must we wait here?” asked Desmond.

  “I do not know,” said Astrinax.

  “But you do know we must wait?” said Desmond.

  “Yes,” said Astrinax.

  Jane, Eve, and I, the wagons halted, had come forward.

  When Master Desmond turned about, I knelt near him, that I might be before him. This required courage, more courage each day. I shook with fear. I knew that I had been found displeasing. I did not wish to be intrusive, and be punished. Too, I had the natural temerity of the slave before the free person. If a slave lacks this temerity, it is something she soon learns. A slave may desire her master, long for him, want more than anything to surrender herself wholly and unquestioningly to him, ache for him with all the flames of love, yearn to submit herself to him as no more than a negligible, meaningless, helpless, loving beast, be willing to die for him, but, too, she may well fear him, for the whip is his, and he is master.

  But I was desperate.

  Please, oh, Master, I thought, be kind. See Allison! She is here, before you. See her!

  I looked up at him.

  I could hardly
catch my breath before him. Had I been able to speak, I would scarcely have been able to form words. Surely I would have stammered. I fear my lip trembled.

  How different he was from the men of Earth!

  How helpless, and slave, I was, on my knees before him.

  I wanted him to pay me attention. I wanted him to find me acceptable once more, as he had before, as the animal I was, a slave, but perhaps one of some interest. Please, oh, Master, I thought, let me speak, let me speak! I have so much I want to say, so much I want to tell you, so much for which to beg forgiveness! Yes, I so wanted to be permitted to speak, and yet, now, some days since my sentencing, I feared even to beg mutely for the restoration of that coveted privilege, lest even that might displease him. It would be done, the sentence’s rescinding, if at all, at his wish, not mine. But as much as I wished to be allowed to speak, and as much as that deprivation cost me in helplessness and misery, what hurt me most was his neglect, his ignoring of me. I think I would have rejoiced had I been cuffed or kicked, or tied to a ring and beaten, for then, at least, I would have known myself as a reality, however negligible and contemptible, in his world. Even a girl in a collar wants to be seen, to be recognized, and noticed, even be it to no greater extent than being mocked, humiliated, and scorned.

  Jane and Eve were present, with me, near the first wagon.

  He turned away.

  “Please, Master!” cried Jane, falling to her knees. “Master!” said Eve.

  Master Desmond turned to regard them.

  “Please, Master,” said Jane. “Please permit Allison to speak! I do not know what she did, but I am sure she is sorry. She has suffered much. Please let her speak!”

  “Yes, Master,” said Eve. “We beg it for her, as she cannot speak! Please let Allison speak.”

  “She is only a slave, a collar girl, as we! Please be kind, Master!” said Jane.

  “Forgive her, Master,” said Eve. “She is miserable! She is penitent! Please, Master!”

  “It seems,” said Master Desmond, “that you two wish to be placed in the modality of the mute slave, as well.”

  “No, Master!” said Jane.

  “No, no, Master!” wept Eve.

  “There is a wide place here, a clearing, for wagons,” said Master Desmond. “We are not the first wagons to stop here, nor will we be the last. Work parties camp here, perhaps others, hunting parties, and such. There will be a well about. Find it. Fetch water, water the tharlarion, and rub them down.”

  “Yes, Master,” said Jane, leaping up.

  “Yes, Master,” said Eve, leaping to her feet, as well.

  He then turned to me.

  He was looking upon me!

  “Your friends are foolish,” he said.

  I made a tiny sound, a grateful, single sound. Tears were in my eyes.

  Had they thought to sway a Gorean male? Had they no sense of the discipline under which their chain sister had been placed? How dared they think of interceding, of interfering? Did they not know the risk they undertook? I supposed not. Perhaps they did not yet understand they were slaves. Had they not yet ascertained the significance of their collars, what it meant to be in a collar? Many masters, I was sure, would have had them bound and lashed for their temerity. The will of masters is not to be questioned. The head is to be bowed before the master’s will.

  “I would not have thought,” said he, “that a slave such as you would have had friends.”

  I did not understand his words. How was it that he might think so of me? Ela, I could not speak!

  Then I recalled that Astrinax, now with the caravan, long ago, had arranged my purchase from Menon, on behalf of the gambling house. I recalled both Astrinax and Menon had thought I would be a good buy for such a place, a girl willing to wheedle and smile, to pretend to emotions of excitement and enthusiasm, one who could adroitly feign dismay and sympathy, one who would ply customers with drink, urge them to remain at the tables, encourage them to recklessness in wagering, though it might lead to the loss of estates and honor, to shame, vagrancy, and destitution.

  But surely they must realize that I was in a collar, that I had no choice in such matters!

  Did they want me to do such things poorly? Such duties were easy, and silken. Did they want me to risk the fields, the laundries, the public kitchens, the stables, the mills?

  And I remembered the test of the candy.

  Of course, I would have stolen the candy, if such might have been accomplished with impunity. What intelligent girl with her wits about her would have forgone such an opportunity? What rational girl, in the conjectured circumstances, would not have done so?

  And Astrinax had doubtless brought he in whose charge I was, Master Desmond, into fee!

  “Put your head to the dirt,” said Master Desmond. “Keep it there for ten Ehn, and then you may rise, and do as you wish.”

  He had not even seen fit to assign me a duty!

  As I knelt so, different people passed me, Jane and Eve, with their buckets, and one or two of the free men.

  When I rose up, I was crying.

  I walked along the side the wagons, toward the back of the wagons. It was hot. Usually there is no one there. It is usually a good place to hide, to be alone. Suddenly I stopped, for, visible from where I stood, under the high channel of the aqueduct, on a distant hill, I saw a sharp flicker of light.

  “Ho, slave,” said a voice behind me, that of fierce, bearded Trachinos.

  I turned about.

  A slave grows accustomed to being looked upon as a slave, having her lineaments frankly appraised, being undressed with a glance, and such.

  I was taken in his arms.

  He then took a free man’s liberties with the lips of a helpless slave. I whimpered, a weak, half-intended protest. I feared the responsiveness of my body. How weak we are, how needful we are, once a collar is fastened on our neck! Would you be different, noble Mistresses, were one fastened on your neck? Of course, for you are not slaves! Once before, at a night camp, our second day from Venna, he had put his hands on me, as well, and thrust me, standing, back against one of the mighty columns, or pylons, supporting the aqueduct. Astrinax had summoned him to the wagons, and, when he had flung me from him, he had had but a taste of slave.

  “Yes,” he grinned, now holding me out, a tiny bit, from him, “you would be a hot little tasta.”

  I squirmed a little, but was helpless in his grasp. How could he say such a thing? Surely I had given him no satisfaction, or only a little. I was a collared female. How could I help such things?

  Do we not belong to males, such males?

  There was sweat on his arms, and my tunic was damp from the heat.

  “What did you see?” he whispered.

  I shook my head, frightened. Surely he knew I stood under the sentence the mute slave.

  He thrust me back against the broad, high wagon wheel, and I saw the point of a knife at my lips.

  “Ah, yes,” he said. “You are silenced.” He then said, “It is difficult to speak when one is silenced. And, of course, it is difficult to speak well, if one’s tongue is slit. And it is impossible to speak, if one’s tongue is removed. Do you understand?”

  I whimpered, once.

  “And,” said he, holding the blade crosswise, I felt it touch my throat, under the collar, “it is quite impossible, as well, if one’s throat is cut. Do you understand?”

  I whimpered, again, once, desperately, plaintively.

  He then turned about, and left me.

  I looked back, beneath the loftiness of the aqueduct, to the hills in the distance. There was no longer a flicker of light.

  “Ho, Astrinax,” called Lykos, ahead in the wagons.

  I, and others, including Jane and Eve, went to the first wagon, where Lykos was again standing on the wagon bench, the glass of the Builders once more in his hands.

  “What is it?” said Astrinax.

  “I am not sure,” said Lykos. “Join me. See what you make of it.”

 
“I see nothing,” said Astrinax.

  Lykos took back the glass. “It is gone,” he said.

  “What was it?” asked Astrinax.

  “Something alive, more than one, several perhaps,” said Lykos.

  “Larls?” asked Astrinax.

  “I do not think so,” said Lykos.

  I noted that Akesinos, the fellow of Trachinos, had joined the group. I had not noticed his arrival. I did not know how long he had been there. But Akesinos was the sort of fellow who might be somewhere, and not be noticed.

  “The shadows in the Voltai can be deceptive,” said Akesinos.

  “It was doubtless a trick of the light,” said Lykos.

  “It is no trick of the light behind us, nor to the left, approaching,” said Master Desmond.

  “Dust,” said Astrinax, shading his eyes.

  “Wagons,” said Lykos, handing the glass of the Builders to Astrinax.

  From the left a small group of riders, on bipedalian saddle tharlarion, were approaching.

  There were five in the group. Each carried a lengthy lance.

  “Tal!” called Master Desmond to the leader of the small group. The wagons, down the road, behind us, approaching from the direction of Venna, might not reach the six hundredth pasang stone until dark.

  “Tal!” called the leader of the riders cheerfully to Master Desmond.

  “They are hunters,” said Astrinax. “Wild tarsk, Voltai tarsk.”

  The Voltai tarsk, as some forest tarsk, are much larger than the common tarsk. They are often ten to twelve hands at the shoulder. The beast tends to be territorial and aggressive. It is particularly dangerous when wounded.

  “Racing tharlarion,” said Astrinax, considering the bipedalian mounts of the newcomers.

  “No,” said Lykos. “Racing tharlarion are longer-legged, and finer-boned.”

  “True,” said Astrinax.

  “Those are rugged, powerful animals,” said Lykos.

  “Hunting tharlarion,” said Astrinax.

  “Consider the saddles,” said Desmond, “there are five boots to a side, as for javelins.”