I could see fellows readying the camp for its opening. It was near the tenth Ahn, the Gorean noon.
I looked about again, over the floor. I doubted that Ina could long remain hidden once the camp had opened. It would then be swarming with visitors and patrons, many of them wholesalers from distant towns. I had seen one fellow yesterday in the robes of Turia.
I heard a girl moaning in one of the cages below. She was doubtless shaken from her rude trip from the upper tiers. She was doubtless terribly frightened, and well bruised. Indeed, perhaps a limb was broken.
Where, I asked myself, would Ina, who was extremely feminine, a slave in her deepest heart and belly, be likely to hide? I could hear some fellows on the roof above. If I were thinking to hide, as a man, I might have attempted to reach the roof. I did not think, however, that Ina would have been likely to have been able to reach the roof, or, if she could, that she would be likely to think of such a place, one so vast and open. At any rate there were apparently fellows up there now. It would have occurred to them, as it had to me, that it was an excellent possibility. But, too, I supposed, it might not have occurred to them, as it had to me, that Ina, a lovely female, would not be likely to think in terms of such a place. She would probably think in terms of a more feminine hiding place, a smaller, more-closed-in, more-sheltered, safer-seeming place, a closet, a cabinet, a trunk, a box, a cage, a wagon, a sack, such places, or else to think in terms of putting herself where it might seem to her that she belonged in a camp such as this, with other slaves like herself, inserting herself amongst them as what she would then be, merely one slave amongst others, perhaps even to be put on their chain and taken away with them. Indeed, when I had started out for the camp this morning I had hoped to be able to conceal her in just such a fashion, and, hopefully, have her elude her pursuers, perhaps as a hooded girl in a slave wagon or a shaved-headed beauty bound for a shelf on a slave ship.
I glanced again about the floor, and at the booths in the distance, under the roof, various sorts of booths, for the sales of whips, leashes, collars, chains, jewelry, cosmetics, perfumes, slave garb and such. I saw two or three of the fellows who had been pursuing Ina about, too, on the floor, turning things over, pushing them to one side, and such. I looked from the top tier toward the booths again, and, for some reason, the booth where slave garb was sold. There, on pegs, and ropes, were hanging numerous slave garments, camisks, tunics, silks, and such. I then descended from the tiers. I glanced into some of the overturned cages, lying on their sides. In most, now lying on the side of the cage, was a girl. These, frightened, wide-eyed, huddled back in the cages, away from the barred gates. The ankles of each were joined by about a foot of chain, and their wrists by about six inches of chain. The ankle chaining, by its center, and the wrist chaining, by its center, were joined with a short length of chain, about two feet in length.
As I mentioned, the Gorean slave girl need not fear she will not be well kept.
One of the girls was moaning and holding her left arm tightly against her body. It must have been severely bruised, if not broken. If it were broken it could be set, and she could then be returned to the cage. I did not know if the injury would be likely to delay her sale in the camp or not. I did not think it would if she were an item in a lot due to be wholesaled, for then she would not be likely to be retailed for weeks, but it might if she was intended for an immediate retail sale. Doubtless in such a case haggling might occur, as to whether or not she should be discounted, or marked down. It seemed to me that I was trying to think of something, something which had nearly occurred to me on the height of the tiers. I moved away from the moaning girl. I was restless. What I wanted to think of seemed on the point of revealing itself. I walked a bit back, down the aisle, before the tiered cages, and among some which had been tumbled down. I looked into another cage. This one, however, farther down the line, was on its back, so that its gate was up, like a lid. As I glanced in, a girl, lying on the back of the cage, now its bottom, as it was turned, averted her eyes and drew her limbs closely together. I moved a bit further on. I suddenly sensed the nearness of the thought again. Suddenly, near me, another female, perhaps seeing my feet and legs before the gate of her tipped cage, began to scream and thrash in her cage. The thought fled. I looked angrily into the cage. The girl continued to scream and kick in the chains. I lost my anger almost instantly seeing how beautiful she was in her chains. I picked up an iron rod fallen to the dust, which had become unhooked from the side of one of the cages. It is used usually for poking through the bars. The girl was terrified seeing it in my hand. Even though she was, I think, a free female, she already well knew its powers. I used the rod, however, only for striking twice on the bars. "Be silent," I warned her. "Yes, Master!" she said. "Are you a slave?" I asked. "No, Master," she said. "But you have already learned to call men 'Master,'" I said. "Yes, Master!" she said. "Good," I said. I then discarded the rod in the dust of the aisle. I heard her whimper in relief inside the tiny cage. At that moment I suddenly hurried toward the booths which I had seen from the upper tier.
48
A Slave Whip
The same thought must have occurred to one of Ina's pursuers at about the same time for I could see him now heading for the booth where slave garb was displayed.
In such areas there are usually, at the rear of the sales area, some small, curtained dressing areas. These are not provided to protect the modesty of the slave for, strictly, the slave girl is not permitted modesty but rather to permit her to change unseen and then emerge to be beheld, fully changed, all at once, by her master. The moving aside of the curtain and the stepping forth of the slave in the new ensemble, then, is primarily for the purpose of achieving this effect, that of presenting herself dramatically before the master. She may then turn and move before him, modeling the new ensemble, assuming poses, being put through slave paces in it, whatever he chooses, as he is master. He may then send her back into the curtained area again and again, to try out new outfits. I would suppose that this business of the sudden presentation of the slave before the master, as he may never have seen her before, and the suspense and revelation, and delight, involved, tends to increase sales. The fellow was ahead of me tearing garments from pegs and dragging down ropes of clothes, trampling them underfoot, much to the consternation of the merchant. I saw a girl flee out from behind the counter but she was a brunet and presumably the merchant's, probably used as a model, useful for fellows who did not have their own slave along, or perhaps wished to surprise her by flinging her a new outfit when he returned home, one which she must then wear before him.
I was a few yards from him when he strode to the back of the sales area and, one by one, began to fling back the curtains there. In the fourth place, out of five such places, there was a terrified, crouching girl.
"I have her!" he cried elatedly.
She cowered.
He raised his blade to strike.
"Hold!" I cried.
He turned about, the blade lifted. Ina screamed. She was naked, as she had discarded her slave tunic. This was intelligent on her part, as it would make it easier for her to blend in with most of the other slaves in the camp, such for the most part being kept stripped. He assessed my distance and made his judgment. He turned back to Ina, to cut down at her. But she, taking advantage of this moment of distraction, had crawled behind the side curtain of the next booth. He tore that curtain away. She was gone! He then advanced, slashing, through the curtains, after her. Then he fell, tangled in the curtains. "No!" he cried, looking up at me. There had been nothing wrong with his assessment of my distance, my speed and the time he had. He had miscalculated with respect to Ina, however, who had sped from him. Too, he had not counted on losing time moving between the booths. Too, he had not counted on falling. I drove the blade into him.
"Here! Over here!" I heard a man cry.
"Hurry!" I heard another, farther off, cry.
"What of my curtains? What of my shop!" wailed the merchant.
> I ducked under a rope of tiny rep-cloth slave tunics, of various solid colors, and was again outside in the main aisles. I then, and two or three other fellows, they keeping their distance, all of us moving purposefully, and as rapidly as was practical, began to examine the cages, the kennels, the fair prisoners of the numerous stakes and posts, of the slave bars, and the chains in our immediate vicinity. Ina must surely be within a few yards of us.
I looked at one woman after another, and some looked out at me, frightened, from behind the bars of their cages and kennels, others shrinking back against their posts and stakes, or cowering with their sisters on their neck chains. I then strode quickly to a slave bar, a rounded, metal bar, about six inches above the surface of the dirt, inserted through, supported by, and locked within, at each end, two low, trunklike posts. Girls may be attached to this sort of bar, often anchored in concrete or bolted to a wooden floor, in various fashions. Most of its current prisoners lay close to it, their wrists shackled about it. I reached a given female there before two other fellows. I kicked her in the side with the side of my foot. "Stay with me," I told her.
"Do not kill me!" she wept.
"Then stay with me," I said.
"I am collared, I am branded, I am only a slave!" she said. "Why do they want to kill me?"
"Get up!" I said.
"There she is," said a fellow a few yards away.
"Yes," said one of the closer fellows.
"Octantius is in the camp now," said another, "with the others."
"Splendid!" said a fellow.
"Just keep in contact," said a fellow.
"Let us charge together!" said another.
"Wait," said a fellow.
"There is no hurry," said another.
The word must have spread about rather quickly, because there were now some ten or twelve fellows about, some I had not seen before.
"Why do they want to kill me?" asked Ina.
"My speculation," I said, "is that Ar demands accountability for the disaster in the delta. I suspect that your fellow conspirators have selected you, and perhaps some others, to be identified and repudiated, as having duped others, and so on. In this way the more powerful conspirators may satisfy Ar's call for an accounting and at the same time direct attention away from themselves. On the other hand, your more powerful fellows, I suppose, would not wish to risk the results of your testimony being taken in court."
"But I am only a slave," she said.
"But one who perhaps knows too much for her own good," I said.
"I could promise not to speak!" she said.
"You would speak," I said.
She looked at me, frightened.
"As you know," I said, "the testimony of slaves is taken under torture."
"Give her to us, and we will let you go," said a fellow.
I regarded them.
"Let us take her now," said one of them, "and share the reward only amongst ourselves!"
"Yes!" said another.
The eager fellow, perhaps too agreeable to the suggestion of the first, rushed forward. I kicked him back, off the sword, and whirled to face the second fellow who stopped, slipped to one knee, and scrambled back. I had no time to cut at him, he helpless there, as I whirled back in time to warn a third fellow away from Ina, who was crouching behind me.
"Give her to us," said one of the fellows, "and we will share the reward with you!"
"We will give you ten pieces of gold, tarn disks of Ar," proposed another, "full weight!"
"That is more than she would bring on the block," said another.
I glanced down at Ina. Yes, I thought, that would be considerably more than she would bring on the block.
This is not to deny Ina's attractiveness, even as a new slave.
Much depends on markets, and such. In this place, at this time, women were cheap, many of them being disposed of in wholesaled lots. A slave's value, of course, is in what men will pay for her. Some fellows, desperate to get a particular woman, may pay almost anything. Slavers hope for such fellows. Sometimes prices are influenced by extraneous considerations. For example, a captured ubara would probably bring a higher price than a more beautiful slave, and so on. A standard price in an average market under normal conditions would run from a few copper tarsks for a nice kettle-and-mat girl to one to five silver tarsks for an average pleasure slave. It would have been my supposition that Ina, in many markets, at this time, might have gone for about ninety copper tarsks, up to a silver tarsk fifty. She was a good looking wench, and was obviously "pleasure slave" material.
"Accept the offer," said the fellow who had proposed the ten pieces of gold.
"Stay back," I warned him.
"Octantius will be here soon," said another, looking back. "The reward will then be too much divided."
"Deal with us," said another.
"Octantius will have bowmen with him," said another. "Resistance will then be useless."
"Deal with us," repeated the former fellow.
"Stay back," I said.
"There is nothing to be gained," wept Ina. "Give me to them!"
I lashed back at her with the back of my hand, and struck her to the dirt aisle. "You were not given permission to speak, slave girl," I said.
"Yes, Master!" she cried joyfully. "Forgive me, Master!"
"Come along," I said.
Ina, creeping at my side, I, moving through the aisle, looking about me, moved between the hunters, who fell back, on both sides, to let me pass. But then, as soon as I had passed, they fell in behind me, and about me, as closely as they dared. I would move toward one or another, and that fellow would give way, but the cloud, like a pack of sleen scouting a larl, waiting for it to tire, or make a mistake, stayed with us.
"Where are you going?" asked one of them.
I did not respond to him.
I was moving in the direction in which the one fellow had looked back, when he had feared Octantius, with his men, might too soon arrive, thereby minimizing the shares in the projected reward.
"There are no tarns in camp," said one of the men. "There are no tharlarion within the wire."
I did not respond to him.
I had two plans, concerning the prospects of neither of which was I sanguine. In both of these plans I wished to encounter Octantius, in the first, by a bold ruse, if he did not have the gold with him, to convince him of the dubiousness of his receiving it, thereby hopefully at least buying time, and, in the second, if he had the gold with him, perhaps to lure or shame him into personal combat, following which, if I were successful, I might be able to seize the gold and distribute it amongst the others, thereby hopefully disbanding them.
It was now past noon and, the animals having been for the most part fed and watered, and groomed, and the camp now open, there were several visitors, onlookers, guests, dealers, customers, and such, about. To be sure, as it was only the beginning of the business day, which would last until the 20th Ahn, the Gorean midnight, the crowds were not yet heavy. I was now making my way toward the main gate.
"There is Octantius!" said a fellow.
I stopped, and found myself then in the center of a large ring of men, some one hundred feet or so in diameter, waiting in the first concourse, near the main gate, surely at least seventy or eighty of them.
"Tal," said Octantius, rising from a chair, beneath an awning, handing his beverage to a subordinate. Such chairs, awnings, and such, as well as food and drink, are available in the camp. Conveniences, facilities, refreshments, and such, are commonly available in large camps, as they are, for example, at games, tharlarion races, and Kaissa matches.
"Tal," said I to him.
He pointed to a sack, in the hands of a fellow near him. "I had not expected the entire slave to be delivered so conveniently to me," he said. "I thought to receive only her head, to be placed in this sack."
None of the fellows in the large ring approached me. I looked about to make certain of this.
Ina sank to her knees beside m
e. I do not think she now found it possible to stand. On the other hand, it was appropriate for her to kneel, as she was in the presence of free men.
"Do you recall me?" he called to Ina.
"Yes," she said.
"I once took orders from her," said Octantius.
There was laughter from some of the men about.
"Where are your veils and fine robes now?" he called. She was silent.
"You are now what you should always have been," he said, "a slave girl."
She was silent.
"Is it not true?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
I looked at her, sharply.
"Yes, Master!" she called to Octantius.
"And with pierced ears!" he called.
"Yes, Master!" she wept.
There was much laughter from the ring of men about. What a reduction in her status had taken place! What a lowly slave she had become! Besides the men of Octantius there were several others, too, who had gathered about, a small crowd, in fact.
"Will it not be amusing," called he to her, "to deliver your head to my superior, with its ears pierced."
There was laughter.
She shuddered.
"Will it not?" he asked, sternly.
"Yes, Master!" she wept.
There was more laughter.
"It has been reported to me that you have fought well," said Octantius to me.
I did not respond to him.
"Cut off her head," he said.
"No," I said.
"Deliver her to us and you will be spared," he said.
Vagabonds of Gor Page 52
