by John Norman
“You would have me strip myself here, in the open?” I asked.
“Now,” he said.
I slipped from my tunic, a slave.
I straightened my body. “Is Master pleased?” I asked, acidly. “No!” I cried. “Please, no!”
Then I was kneeling down, head down, to the dirt, muchly cuffed, twice kicked. “It is my hope that Master is pleased,” I wept.
“You had best hope that I am pleased,” he said.
“Yes, Master,” I wept. “Yes, Master!”
“We shall see,” he said.
“Master?” I said.
“Perform,” he said.
“Please, no, Master!” I said.
“Roll about,” he said. “Writhe! Pose. Assume attitudes. Display your limbs! Various positions. Show what you have, slave! Perhaps someone will buy you. Perhaps you will not be beaten. Perhaps you will not be thrown to sleen!”
The dust, scattered and stirred, was wet with sweat and tears.
“More!” he said. “More frenziedly, more pathetically, more wildly, more boldly, more violently, more desperately!”
“Yes, Master,” I wept.
“And so,” he said, “the slave performs before the loathed, hated master, frantically hoping to be found pleasing.”
“I do not hate you Master!” I cried out, an outburst breaking from my tortured body.
“Enough,” he said, angrily.
I crawled to him on my belly, weeping. I pressed my lips to his boots and kissed them, again and again.
“I do not hate you, Master,” I said. “I love you!”
“Your hair is growing out,” he said.
“I love you,” I said. “I love you!”
“Of what worth is the love of a worthless slave?” he asked.
“Of no worth, Master,” I said.
I rose to all fours. I dared not meet his eyes.
“Garmenture,” said he. “And fetch your pack. We must join the others.”
Shortly thereafter I stood on the trail. I was now tunicked. I stood very still. Our party must be a pasang, or so, ahead. He adjusted the pack. That is sometimes done.
“I do love you, Master,” I whispered to him. “I think I have loved you since the Sul Market, in Ar, when I was half-stripped, with my wrists bound behind me, and you, a stranger, ordered me to my knees before you.”
“I see,” he said.
“I looked up, and feared you were my master, and, I fear, I desired it so.”
“I see,” he said.
“And perhaps,” I said, “as you gazed upon me, a kneeling slave, with your master’s appraisal, you wondered how I might appear, naked, chained at a slave ring.”
“That sort of thing is common with any fellow,” he said, “looking on any woman, slave or free.”
“Yes, Master,” I said.
“And,” said he, “as you were at the time, that conjecture required little imagination.”
“Did my performance please you?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“You made me perform well,” I said.
“That was my intention,” he said.
“You humiliated me,” I said.
“You enjoyed it,” he said.
“Oh?” I said.
“What woman does not enjoy displaying herself, naked, as the slave and slut she is?” he asked.
“It is my hope,” I said, “that the Lady Bina will give me to you, or sell me to you.”
“Do not concern yourself with such things,” he said.
“Such thoughts occur to a slave,” I said.
“Matters of moment abound,” he said.
“Please care for me,” I begged.
“Though you be but a slave,” he laughed.
“Though I be but a slave!” I said.
“We must hasten, to rejoin the group,” he said.
“Master!” I begged.
“Slave girls are unimportant,” he said.
“Yes, Master,” I wept.
“One does not care for the female slave,” he said. “She is no more than a beast. For her it is the whip, bonds, the collar, service, ownership, work, and the inordinate pleasures which she must frequently and unquestioningly provide.”
“Yes, Master,” I said.
“Why else do you think women are collared?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Surely you learned such things in the slave house,” he said.
“Yes, Master,” I said.
“What was your name when free?” he asked.
“Allison Ashton-Baker,” I said.
“Well,” said he, “does the former Allison Ashton-Baker understand these things?”
“Yes,” I said, “Master.”
“Heel,” he said.
“Yes, Master,” I said, and hurried to follow him, a bit behind, on the left.
* * * *
We made our way along the trail.
We were well behind the party, but I had little doubt that we, a free man and one slave, might shortly overtake it, possibly within the passage of an Ahn. The Lady Bina was robed, though less decorously than would have been thought proper in Ar, and Mina, our captive, was leashed and bound. Such things commonly reduce the speed of a march. Moreover, the party would presumably proceed slowly in this unfamiliar terrain, and certainly with the Crag of Kleinias in the offing, rearing up before them, into the sky.
“I am lovely, am I not?” I asked Master Desmond.
“Yes,” he said, “and vain, and such.”
“Might I not now bring a good price?” I asked.
“Forget about Mina,” he said.
“Master!” I begged
He did not look back.
“I would suppose so,” he said.
“Better than Mina?” I said.
“Do not be absurd,” he said.
“Might Master bid on me?” I asked.
“Many men might,” he said, “who did not know your true nature.”
“My true nature?” I said.
“Your pettiness, and such,” he said.
“My belly wants you,” I said.
“Do slave fires burn there?” he asked.
“Not yet,” I said. “I do not think so.”
“It is easy enough to ignite them,” he said.
“Ignite them!” I said.
“No,” he said.
“You did such things to me in Ar, by Six Bridges,” I said, “with your kiss, your touch.”
“It is pleasant to do such things to a slave,” he said, “to render her helplessly responsive, whether she wishes it or not.”
“I wish it, Master,” I said.
“Even a petty slave,” he said, “of little worth, may bring a good price if she kicks, and squirms, and gasps and moans, and writhes well.”
“Allison begs Master for his touch!” I said.
“You are in my care,” he said.
“No one would know!” I said.
“I would know,” he said, “and the slave would know.”
“Oh, yes,” I said, angrily, “honor! Honor!”
He did not respond, but I saw a fist clench.
“But Master is tempted, is he not?” I said.
“Yes,” he said, “Master is tempted.”
I smiled to myself, and was well satisfied with this answer.
We continued on, and then he said, “Do you think you would be any good in the furs?”
“I would do my best to be pleasing to my Master,” I said.
“So, too,” said he, “would any slave.”
“Yes, Master,” I said.
After a time, I called out, “I think Master would bid on me!”
“Perhaps,” he said.
“Hold!” he said, stopping. “Ahead!”
“Yes, Master,” I said.
Ahead, on the trail, was our party, Astrinax; the Lady Bina; Lykos; Trachinos, his leash on Mina, the former Lady Persinna of Ar; Akesinos, the confederate of Trachinos; and two slaves, bearing
packs, Jane and Eve.
With them, before them, and about them, were several other figures. Several of these figures were human. I recognized Kleomenes amongst them. Several were not human. They were large and shaggy. Some carried long-handled, double-bladed axes. These were Kurii.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“All hail Lady Bina, future Ubara of all Gor!” said Kleomenes, lifting his goblet. The humans about the long table rose, lifting their goblets, facing the Lady Bina, who sat in a curule chair at the head of the table, as though enthroned. She bowed her head, graciously, acknowledging the toast.
Men through back their heads and downed the contents of the goblets.
About the table, mixed in with the others, were Astrinax, Desmond, Lykos, Trachinos, and Akesinos. They were not so placed that they could speak to one another.
Far down the table I saw Pausanias, whose caravan we had followed to the vicinity of the Crag of Kleinias.
His men were doubtless about, though I did not see them.
Doubtless there were some humans of the “Cave,” too, so to speak, lesser allies of the Kurii, who were also absent.
I did see the men who had accompanied Kleomenes.
All the slaves present, including myself, Jane, and Eve, were camisked. That was how the men of the Cave of Agamemnon, Theocrat of the World, Eleventh Face of the Nameless One, would have us. I knew nothing of this Agamemnon, though I gathered he must be Kur, nor what might be involved in the associated titles. In the banquet hall there were three prominent, visible Kurii, he referred to as “Lucius,” who seemed to be first in the Cave, and two who crouched in the background, like beasts of prey, surveying the festivities. These, in human sounds, were said to be Timarchos and Lysymachos. On a shelf above and behind them there was a metallic box, which, I supposed, given the care with which it had been handled, and the watchfulness with which it was regarded, must contain some precious substance, a treasure of some sort, perhaps gold or jewels. If so, I did not understand why it should be placed as it was, on a shelf in the open. Would it not have been wiser to have locked it away somewhere? The box seemed a strange one for a strong box, as it bore no bands of iron, nor a heavy lock, or locks. Rather it had certain projections fixed in its surface, and what appeared to be screens or lenses. The three Kurii, Lucius, Timarchos, and Lysymachos, all had translators slung about their large necks, on golden chains, by means of which, doubtless, they followed the progress of the feast, and by means of which they might, if they desired, communicate with the humans present. I would learn that the status amongst the Kurii was indicated, to themselves, at least, by differences in harnessing, and by rings worn on the left wrist. These rings were earned, or won, I gathered, in some sort of contest. To humans, those who wore the golden chains were of highest rank, those who wore silver were of the next rank, and those whose translator chains were of common metal, usually closely meshed links of iron, were third. Below these were most of the Kurii of the Cave, who carried no translators. These, I discovered, were generally avoided by the humans. I did not know how many Kurii inhabited the Cave, but I would have supposed some forty or fifty. Many Kurii I could not tell apart, for days. Even then I sometimes made mistakes, or became confused. Interestingly, though I suppose it was only to be expected, many Kurii had a similar difficulty distinguishing humans, particularly slaves, for we were similarly garbed. They could, however, easily distinguish men from women, given the radical sexual differences of form in our species. I later learned there were no female Kurii in the Cave. Apparently there are three or four sexes amongst the Kurii, depending on how one understands such things. I know little about this so I will simply recount what I gathered from conversations amongst the Kurii’s human allies in the Cave. There are the males, and the conceiving females, and the nurturing “females,” or “wombs,” which are irrational and sessile. As a fourth sex, or a latent first sex, there are the Nondominants, which, I gather, are males of a sort. These are generally despised, supposedly, by the conceiving females, while the nurturing “females,” eyeless, and mindless, would not know they exist. Occasionally, under certain circumstances, physiological or social, perhaps the lack of a Dominant, the Nondominant may occasionally become a Dominant, in effect, a true male. Thus, there is an ambiguity amongst Kurii with respect to something which one would suppose would be easy to determine, namely, the number of sexes in the species.
I have mentioned the three prominent, visible Kurii in the hall, Lucius, Timarchos, and Lysymachos. There was another in the hall who was visible, but, clearly, not prominently placed. I knew him from before. He was the blind Kur. We were given no human name for him. He crouched in a darkened corner of the hall, and some meat had been thrown to the floor before him, for which he must reach about, scratching here and there, and find.
I saw no sign of Lord Grendel.
There were several slaves in the room. Others were elsewhere. All had been brought to the Voltai to serve and content the human allies of the Kurii. Gorean men do not wish to be without female slaves. Four additional slaves had been brought to the Cave by Pausanias, girls bought at a state auction in Ar, amongst whom was Mina. She had fled, been recaptured by our party, and returned to her master, Lucius. It was his intention to have her fed, alive, to lesser Kurii. Trachinos, however, learning her projected fate, had cried out to Kleomenes, “No! I will buy her! Sell her to me!” Kleomenes arranged this matter with Lucius, and Lucius, who took little interest in the affairs of humans, turned the coin over to Kleomenes, a silver tarsk.
I myself had never sold for so much but I suspected that I might now, myself, sell for as much. To be sure, one does not know what one will sell for until, say, the auctioneer closes his hand, and cries, “Done!”
Mina had thrown herself to the feet of Trachinos, seized his knees, and pressed her face against his thigh.
She knew he tied women well.
I had little doubt she would be excellently mastered. She knelt behind him, so close that she might have reached out, and touched him.
She was far from the glories of her freedom in Ar.
I was not permitted to kneel behind Desmond of Harfax, or even behind the Lady Bina. Similarly, Jane was not permitted to kneel behind Astrinax, nor Eve behind Lykos, whose slave she knew herself, and whose slave she longed to be.
We served as though we might be common slaves, no different from the others.
Indeed, it was not clear to us, after some days, to whom we belonged. We knew, of course, we belonged to someone, or something, for we were slaves.
* * * *
“Nora!” I had cried.
Our party had been intercepted on the trail to the Crag of Kleinias, and we had been conducted by a party of humans and Kurii to the opening of the Cave of Agamemnon, Theocrat of the World, Eleventh Face of the Nameless One, which lay secretly within the massive vastness of the Crag of Kleinias. The Cave was partly natural, but had clearly been enlarged, extended, and considerably modified by some form of technologically advanced engineering. Concealed then within the Crag of Kleinias was a labyrinthine complex of considerable proportions. There was housing within that complex sufficient for a thousand men and a thousand beasts, but no such numbers were present. I would have supposed, rather, that its occupancy was no more than some fifty beasts and less than some seventy or eighty men. We discovered that the wagons of Pausanias had been drawn up, inside. The wagons, as we noted in passing them, had been emptied. The tharlarion, the draft tharlarion, and the mounts of Kleomenes’ riders, the bipedalian tharlarion, were stabled, though separately, within a hundred yards of the wagons. We would learn later that there were laboratories and workshops in the complex, as well as kitchens, storerooms, feast rooms, pleasure rooms, punishment rooms, exercise areas, an infirmary, conference chambers, and such. Also, there were tarsk pens, verr pens, and vulo cages. There were also illuminated internal gardens and growing areas, some utilizing large, shallow trays of water. Something approximating a small, self-sustaining world appeared
to be involved. It seemed forms of life might exist there, almost indefinitely, without importing food from the outside. The Crag of Kleinias itself provided water. Many areas were restricted, humans and most Kurii not being permitted in them. These were usually the laboratories and certain workshops. There were also slave quarters. The facility had contained fifteen slaves. This number had been augmented by the four brought from Ar, and, if we were to be counted, the three who had accompanied Astrinax and the Lady Bina into the Voltai, Jane, Eve, and Allison. One would then have had some nineteen slaves, or, if we were to be counted, twenty-two slaves.
When we had approached the mouth of the Cave, a further number of Kurii and men had emerged to greet us. Many of these, men and beasts, were wearing wreaths and garlands. Pennons and streamers, too, were about, and flowers, seemingly anomalous in the terrain, for we knew not then of the illuminated gardens within the Cave. Some of the beasts were striking on small bars, which, we gathered, constituted a form of music. It was made clear to us that these arrangements were in honor of the Lady Bina, welcoming her to the household of Agamemnon. This seemed to please, but did not seem to astonish, the lovely Lady Bina, who may have been led to expect something of the kind, given her conversations long ago in Ar with the blind Kur. It was my supposition, of course, that all this had much more to do with Lord Grendel than with the Lady Bina, who, for all her remarkable intelligence, was in some ways astoundingly naive; certainly she knew little of Gor, little of the channels of politics, little of the springs of power, little of the motivations and plans of men and Kurii.
The earlier attempt on the part of Kleomenes and his hunters to dissuade us from proceeding farther into the Voltai and the attack, if it were an attack, and not an unanticipated consequence of the hunting, of the wild tarsk at the Wagons, suggested that, at that time, the blind Kur had not made contact with his fellows. Certainly now, Kleomenes, and the others, seemed well disposed to our party, welcoming us on the trail, helping us to the Cave, and such.
There were various levels in the Cave, at least four. These were connected by ramps. The Cave, on each level with which I was familiar, possessed a large number of wide corridors. The walls and ceilings of these corridors were largely of natural rock, but the floors had been leveled and smoothed. The Cave was lit, where lit, by illuminated globes, which, interestingly, seemed self-sufficient. Clearly they did not use fire, as you are likely to think of it, as in, say, candles, lamps, braziers, torches, or such. The lighting tended to differ from area to area, depending on whether the area was largely utilized by humans or Kurii, humans desiring more light, and Kurii needing less, or wanting less, at least as compared to the humans. Coming from one of the darker corridors to the vicinity of the Cave’s opening, as in carrying a message, or provender, to the guards, I was sometimes dazzled, painfully so. Kurii apparently make the adjustment more quickly.
