Norman, John - Gor 23 - Renegades of Gor.txt

Norman, John - Gor 23 - Renegades of Gor.txt Page 8

by Renegades of Gor [lit]

  fellow citizens. The same customs, of course, generalized even further, normally

  govern the use of pools, which, on Gor, are normally located at the baths, and,

  indeed, are usually considered a part of them.

  “Nor do I,” said the newcomer, climbing to the platform.

  “Aiii!” cried the fellow in the tub, seized, and, in a moment, flung over its

  edge to the slotted wooden bath floor. He struggled to his feet, to see, in the

  half darkness, lit by a single lamp, and the reddish embers within the bricked

  platforms, the unsheathed sword now in the newcomer’s hand.

  “Stir up the fire,” said the newcomer.

  Hastily the ejected fellow seized a fire rake and poked about within the

  platform.

  “Bring more wood,” said the newcomer. “Then tend the fire. Do not leave until it

  is suitable.”

  From one of the large barrels to the side, open near the bottom, the ejected

  fellow scooped out, and returned with, a (pg.61) bucket of wood chips, which he

  flung into the bricked platform. He then arranged these with the fire rake. He

  then returned the bucket to its place by the barrel and, from one of the wood

  bins, to the right, near the barrels, fetched an armload of kindling, then some

  narrow hardwood logs. In a few moments the chips were burning well. He then

  added kindling, and then, a bit later, thrust the narrow logs into the platform.

  He then, the reddish glow of the flames from within the platform reflected on

  his countenance, looked up, questioningly, frightened, at the newcomer.

  “Get out,” said the newcomer.

  Only too eagerly the ejected fellow hurried through the latticework, seized his

  garments, and took his way from the bath area.

  The newcomer then returned his blade to the sheath. He then climbed into the

  tub. “Ahhh,” he grunted, settling back.

  I did not think he had behaved well, but then it was not my affair.

  Some of the fellows who had been reclining about the platforms then came closer

  to the platform where the fire was built up. they did take care, however, to

  leave open a generous passage through which the tub’s occupant, when he chose,

  might make an unimpeded and convenient exit.

  Being hungry then, and having, to my mind, soaked long enough, I emerged from

  the tub, dressed, gathered my things, and the oil and such, and, picking my way

  among the recumbent bodies, left the bath area.

  I did take the opportunity, in leaving, once on the other side of the

  latticework, to inspect the pegs. In the light of the small lamp there, near the

  exit, I determined that the helmet bore the insignia of the company of

  Artemidorus of Cos.

  5 The Paga Room; I Stop at the Keeper’s Desk

  (pg. 62) “Stand her,” I said. “Closer.” I indicated a place on my right, near

  the low table in the paga room, behind which I sat, cross-legged.

  With a sound of chain she came closer.

  She then stood there.

  I checked the shackling on her ankles. The shackles were lock shackles. They

  fitted nicely, closely, about her ankles. Their staples were separated by about

  eighteen inches of chain, more than enough. I pulled her wrists down to me. They

  wore lock manacles. Their fit was snug, efficient, inescapable. The staples on

  the manacles were separated by some twelve inches of chain.

  “Does my shackling meet with Sir’s approval?” she asked.

  I did not respond to her. I did release her wrists, and she straightened up.

  “Is Sir finished with his inspection?” she asked, acidly. She was naked, except

  for her chains.

  “Turn,” I said, “slowly, and then again face me.”

  “I am a free woman,” she said, angrily.

  “Must a command be repeated?” I inquired.

  She turned, slowly, and then, again, faced me.

  “What would you like—I mean,” she said, boldly, haughtily, “to eat, Sir.”

  “You are bold, for a free woman,” I said.

  “I may not be used,” she said, “as I am free.”

  (pg.63) “Is there another free woman serving in the paga room?” I asked.

  “No,” she said.

  This must be she, then, of whom the keeper had spoken. I recalled that he had

  told me that although the use of an inn girl would cost me, in these times,

  three copper tarsks for only a quarter of an Ahn, I might have the free woman

  working in the paga room for an Ahn for only a tarsk bit. To be sure, that

  perhaps overrated her value considerably, as she was only a free woman. Whereas

  free women, technically, are priceless, they are also, usually, in bed,

  worthless. They are not worthy of kneeling and humbly holding candles within a

  thousand pasangs of a slave. To be sure, they commonly hold an inflated opinion

  of their expertise and desirability. They are no good, however, until they have

  been imbonded, and have begun, vulnerably and fearfully, to tread, willingly or

  not, the paths to fulfillment, and ecstasy. The outrageousness of the price, of

  course, was doubtless to be expected, given the general inflations of the times.

  I had told him I would let him know later. I would.

  “And may you not be whipped,” I asked, “as you are free?”

  She turned white.

  Although she apparently had not been informed that she was subjectable to the

  inn’s clients, for their pleasures, as her behavior, even though she was free,

  surprisingly perhaps, was subject to correction, such corrections doubtless

  including such things as the attentions of the five-stranded Gorean slave whip.

  “What is your name?” I asked.

  “It is none of your business,” she said.

  “Have you ever been whipped?” I asked.

  “I am Temione, Lady of Telnus,” she said. “No, I have not been whipped,” she

  added.

  Telnus is the major port on the island of Cos. Too, it is the capital of that

  island ubarate.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  She did not answer.

  “Doubtless you followed Cosians,:” I said, “or their suppliers, smelling booty,

  lured by the possibilities of spoils, by (pg.64) the supposed imminent passage

  south of men laden with the plate and coin of Ar’s Station, men who might

  succumb to your claims of need and plight, hoping perhaps even to contract an

  alliance, a companionship, with an enriched officer, or, if necessary, a

  profiteering merchant.”

  She looked at me, in fury.

  “You would bargain with your beauty,” I said. I smiled to myself. I suspected

  that her beauty in the future might, indeed, figure in bargains, here and there,

  from time to time, but they would not be her bargain. They would be the bargains

  of others.

  With a movement of her head she tossed her hair behind her, angrily.

  “Are you angry?” I asked.

  “Would you care to order?” she asked.

  “What color is your hair?” I asked. “It is hard to tell in this light.”

  “Auburn,” she said.
<
br />   “A natural auburn?” I asked.

  “Of course,” she said.

  “That color, particularly when natural, often brings an excellent price in slave

  markets,” I said.

  “I am free,” she said.

  “There are some others outside,” I said, “who may have had similar ideas to

  yours, in one way or another. They are now in the court, chained naked to rings.

  Do you know them?”

  She looked away, angrily.

  “Lady Temione,” I said, “you have been asked a question.”

  “There are five others,” she said, “Rimice, Klio, and Liomache, from Cos.

  Elense, from Tyros, and Amina, a Vennan.”

  “What do you think will happen to them?” I asked.

  “Doubtless they will be redeemed and freed,” she said. “We are all free women.

  Men, some sorts of men, will save us. Men, some sorts, cannot so much as stand

  to see a tear in a woman’s eye. To such men it is unthinkable that we might bear

  the consequences of our actions.”

  “Do you think I am such a man?” I asked.

  “No,” she said, “else I would have petitioned redemption from you.”

  (pg.65) “Men such as those of whom you speak,” I said, “those who are so

  solicitous, so kindly, those who are so eager to render you succor, who will

  strive so desperately to help you, and please you, do they stir you deeply in

  your belly?”

  “I am a free woman,” she said. “We do not consider such things.”

  “But you must fear the iron,” I said.

  “It will never happen,” she said.

  “But you must fear it,” I said.

  “Perhaps,” she said.

  “Things, then,” I said, “would be quite different.”

  “Yes,” she said. “They would then be quite different.”

  This was quite true. The slave girl is in a totally different category from the

  free woman. it is the difference between being a person and being a property,

  between being a respected, legally autonomous entity, entitled to dignity and

  pride, and being a domestic animal. The same fellow who will go to absurd

  lengths to please a free woman, and even make a fool of himself over her, will,

  even with the same woman, if she has been enslaved, simply gesture her with his

  whip, and without a second thought, to the furs.

  “When were you, and your fraud sisters, taken into custody?” I asked.

  “Payment was demanded this morning,” she said. “When our evasions failed to

  satisfy the attendants ropes were put on our necks, over our robes and veils,

  and we were brought to the keeper’s desk. We gave him what little money we had,

  of course, but it was not enough to satisfy our bills. We then spent the morning

  in a wheeled cage, sitting on hard benches, while men checked out. None would

  redeem us. Then, at noon, as soon as the tenth hour had struck, the cage was

  wheeled back, into a storage area. It was plain and cold. There, one by one,

  taken from the cage, while men waited outside the area, we were stripped and

  searched by two powerful free women. When they finished with one of us they did

  not then permit her to return to the cage but rather forced her to stand apart,

  facing a wall. In this way, one who had already been searched was prevented, and

  quite simply, from receiving anything from one not yet searched. Our garments

  were examined carefully, and even our bodies. This yielded them some few extra

  coins. The women, I assure (pg.66) you, were thorough. Doubtless they had done

  this sort of thing before.

  “When we were returned to the cage we were both coinless and naked. All that was

  left was ourselves. The cage was then wheeled back, by the keeper’s desk. As you

  might well imagine our importunities to the guests now became more earnest. Yet

  none were gentlemen. We even found ourselves looked upon, in the cage, as though

  we might be slaves! At the fifteenth Ahn we were removed from the cage and knelt

  down, to the side, to the left of the keeper’s desk. Our ankles were then

  crossed and tied. This was done with a single length of rope. It served also,

  thusly, with a minimum of knots to which we might have access, to fasten us

  together.

  “Your hands were left free, of course,” I said, “so that you might extend them

  piteously to passers-by, guests, and such.”

  “Of course,” she said, angrily.

  “Continue,” I said.

  “At the seventeenth Ahn,” she said, “the keeper, it seems, grew of our pleas and

  protestations. Also, I think he was not too pleased with women such as we, who

  had attempted to do fraud and dupery within his inn.”

  “That is understandable,” I said.

  “No,” she said. “We are not slaves! We are free women! We may do anything.”

  “I see,” I said.

  “The keeper,” she said, “is not a gentleman.”

  “I am prepared to believe that,” I said.

  “It is true!” she said. “Look at me, naked and chained!”

  “I have been,” I assured her.

  She shook the chains on her wrists, angrily.

  “But he did, it seems, give you an opportunity to practice your fraud and

  dupery,” I said. “Your primary problem would seem to be simply that you were

  unsuccessful.”

  “Perhaps,” she said, irritably.

  From what I had seen of the keeper, I supposed that his main interest in these

  matters would be to obtain his fees, if not in one way, then in another.

  “Continue,” I said.

  “There is little more to tell,” she said, angrily. “At the seventeenth Ahn,

  perhaps wearying of our presence there he (pg.67) had us cleared away from the

  vicinity of his desk. Five of us were taken outside somewhere, and from what you

  say, I take it, chained in the court. I myself was shackled, and put here, in

  the paga room, to serve at tables.”

  “Why were you not taken outside?” I asked.

  “I do not know,” she said.

  “There are only five exposition places at the wall,” I said.

  She shrugged.

  “Still that would not explain why it should be you who are here, and not

  another.”

  “I suppose it had to be someone,” she said.

  “Two women might have been chained to one ring,” I said. “Or you might have been

  chained on your knees, nearby, to a sleen ring.”

  “Men are lustful beasts,” she said. “They seem to enjoy looking upon women.

  Doubtless I am here because I am the most beautiful.”

  “But you are not,” I said.

  “Oh?” she said, angrily.

  “No,” I said. “She who was at the first ring and she who was at the fourth ring

  were both more beautiful than you.”

  “Who were they?” she asked, angrily.

  “She at the first ring was the Lady Amina,” I said. “I do not know who
was at

  the fourth ring.”

  “Was she small, and dark-haired?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “That is Ramice,” she said. “She is a small, curvy slut.”

  I recalled the girl at the fourth ring. She was sweetly thighed with a marvelous

  love cradle, made for a man’s loving.

  “I am more beautiful than both,” she said.

  “You seem vain, for a free woman.,” I said.

  “Not really,” she said. “I have no interest in such matters.”

  “To be sure, all of the women out there,” I said, “including the Lady Amina and

  the Lady Ramice, are not yet truly beautiful. They are still too rigid, too

  tense, too tight, too inhibited to be truly beautiful.”

  “You see!” she said, triumphantly.

  “But none of them so much as you,” I said.

  “Sleen!” she said.

  (pg.68) “It is interesting to speculate what you women might be like, if you

  became beautiful,” I said.

  “Sleen, sleen!” she said.

  “How did the keeper seem when he ordered you shackled and put in the paga room?”

  I asked.

  “Amused,” she said, angrily.

  “Perhaps you had spoken up to him,” I speculated, “though you were only a debtor

  slut.”

  “Such is my right!” she said. “I am a free woman!”

  “You dared to protest the treatment you received?” I asked.

  “Of course!” she cried. “How is it that I, a free woman, should be stripped, and

  searched, and put in a cage, and such!”

  “Perhaps you made demands, threatened him, insulted him, that sort of thing?” I

  asked.

  “Perhaps,” she said.

  “I can see then,” I said, “why it might have amused him to put you here, to

  serve as a waitress.”

  “Perhaps,” she said, angrily.

  “How much do you own him?” I asked.

  “A silver tarsk, five,” she said.

  “That might be another reason,” I said. “That is more than is owned by any of

  the other women.” The amount stated was a silver tarsk, five copper tarsks.

  “Perhaps, she said, thoughtfully. “He may want to keep me where he or his men

 

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