Conspirators of Gor (49 page)

“You were not concerned,” I asked, “with what was done to me?”

“The tarsk-bit was paid,” he said.

“Did you see?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“All of you?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“I see,” I said.

“The Lady Bina,” he said, “was quite pleased.”

“Oh?” I said.

“Yes, Allison,” said the Lady Bina. “I was curious to see if you would be selected for the game.”

“Mistress?” I said.

“Yes,” she said. “It seems clear that you are of interest to men, or to some men.”

I was silent.

“I think,” said Astrinax, “we will need two or three more.”

I gathered then that I might not be the only slave for whom the Lady Bina might have use. I gathered, too, that one’s interest to men might be pertinent to the use, or uses, she might have in mind. But that is common to kajirae, that they are of interest to men. Why else would men brand and collar them?

“Did you note the behavior of our little barbarian?” Desmond asked the Lady Bina.

“Oh?” said the Lady Bina.

“She started to squirm,” said Astrinax, “and was on the verge of beginning to yield, as the collar slut she is.”

“Mistress!” I protested.

“In another moment,” said Desmond, “she would have thrust her pretty little body, bare under the nothing of rep cloth, against him.”

“Master!” I said.

“Come now, pretty slut,” said Astrinax, “it was obvious. Many about noted it.”

“What do you think, noble Lykos?” asked the Lady Bina.

“She has nice thighs,” he said. “She might, in a good market, bring nearly a silver tarsk. She is a hot little tart. That is important. I think she would do well on an alcove chain.”

“The taverns are interested in such girls,” said Desmond.

“Have your slave fires been lit?” asked Astrinax.

“No!” I said.

Desmond was looking upon me, grinning.

“No!” I said.

I knew, of course, that I would be no more immune than any other slave should men decide to do such things to me, making me then irremediably their needful, begging slave.

“It is pleasant,” said Desmond, regarding me, “to stoke such fires in a slave’s belly.”

I looked away.

How I hated him!

He saw me as what I was, a slave.

And never had I met a man before whom I felt weaker, more helpless, more slave.

“We will need some more men, too,” said Astrinax.

“Why is that?” asked the Lady Bina.

“For the wagons,” he said.

I did not understand that, as it seemed one driver for a wagon, particularly as the wagons were small, would be sufficient. There were, as of now, three wagons. Astrinax drove one, Lykos the last, and Desmond mine, the second wagon. Indeed, the tharlarion of the second wagon, my wagon, was attached, by its nose ring, to the back of the first wagon, and the tharlarion of the third wagon was attached, by its nose ring, to the back of my wagon. Accordingly, it seemed three Drovers, or teamsters, would be enough. To be sure, I knew little about such matters, and, possibly, Astrinax might be returning to Ar, rather than accompanying us into the Voltai.

“The race is about to begin,” said Astrinax.

“On what have you wagered, Desmond?” inquired the Lady Bina.

“Blue, as I would in Harfax, Lady,” he said.

“I thought, this time, I would hazard yellow,” she said.

“An excellent wager,” said Astrinax.

“Loyalty is admirable, Desmond,” said the Lady Bina, “but not invariably prudential.”

“One supposes not,” he said.

“Is this all there is to it,” I asked, “that I was taken in hand, blindfolded, and kissed, and that is all?”

“The tarsk-bit was paid,” said he in whose charge I was.

“All?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“I,” I said, “would favor red.”

“Why?” asked Desmond.

“Because it is not blue,” I said.

“I see,” he said.

“What are you doing, Master?” I said.

I was turned about, and the blindfold, retrieved from his belt, where he had placed it, keeping it at hand, was again wrapped about my head, twice, and knotted, behind my head, and I was, as before, securely and perfectly blindfolded. I jerked at the bracelets which held my hands behind me, in frustration.

“I will be unable to see the races,” I said.

“Possibly,” he said.

“It matters not to me, Master,” I said.

“And what does that matter?” he asked.

“Master!” I said.

“Your permission to speak has been rescinded,” he said.

I felt tears spring to my eyes, dampening the cloth of their prison.

I was not permitted speech!

On the tier, I writhed in helplessness, and fury, back-braceleted and on the short ring chain, and then the race began, and I could not see it. I heard movements about me! I sensed the agitation, the diverse partisanships abounding about, the excitement of the crowd, heard the cries, the cheering, the stamping, the screams and shouts, and I could see nothing!

It does not matter I said to myself, reassuring myself of my lack of interest in such things.

I sometimes heard cries of protest, even of rage, for some reason, which I did not understand, and, twice, I heard gasps of dismay, or of fear, perhaps as a beast fell, or was forced from the track.

It was nothing to me, of course.

I had never seen the bipedalian tharlarion compete. Also, actually, as a matter of fact, I had never seen the smaller, quicker quadrupedalian tharlarion compete either. There are classes of such beasts. I had seen, earlier, some races of the heavier-class quadrupedalian tharlarion, the larger, more ponderous beasts, the maneuvering, the shifting about for position, the lurching, thrusting, and buffeting, the grunting, the crowding. Below, near the rail, one could sense the ground shaking beneath their tread. These were similar to war tharlarion whose charge can shatter phalanxes, breastworks, palisades, and field walls.

You must understand that I did not care that I was blindfolded.

Who was interested in such things anyway?

I sensed people rising up, screaming, about me.

How helpless and frustrated I was! How I loathed the brute in whose keeping I was. I would be treated not as I might wish or please, but precisely as he would wish or please.

I was collared!

How excited was the crowd!

How often might a kajira have the opportunity to see such things? Did I prefer the shackles looped about a central bar, and the tied-shut canvas of a wooden slave wagon?

Too, this was all new and different, and thrilling, to me. I was not natively Gorean. I was only a slave girl, brought from a different world. I so wanted to see, to realize what was going on, to be a part, if only as a slave, of what was going on about me.

I tried to put my head back, and peep beneath the blindfold, if only to perceive an undecipherable line of meaningless light, but I could see nothing. The device, twice wrapped and then knotted, had been put about my head broadly, in the Gorean fashion.

I moaned to myself, helplessly.

I decided I must not yield, I must give him no satisfaction.

But I realized, almost simultaneously, that my concerns, so important to me, would be absolutely immaterial to him.

I might remain in darkness, or petition him for relief, as a slave her master.

I endured my privation for two races

Then, wildly, desperately, in misery, I threw myself to my knees at the feet of he in whose keeping I was, pressed my sodden cheek to his leg, and then began to kiss his leg, repeatedly, beggingly.

I felt his hand in my hair, not tightly, but holding my head in place.

“I beg to speak, Master,” I said.

“Speak,” he said.

“I would see,” I said.

“Do you beg it?” he said.

“Yes, Master,” I said. “Oh, yes, Master!”

He then undid the blindfold.

“A new race will soon begin,” said Astrinax, turning to Desmond. “May I place a bet for you?”

“On blue,” said he at whose knee I knelt. A coin passed from him to Astrinax.

The Metal Worker put his hand near me, and I put down my head, and kissed it. “Thank you, Master,” I said.

“You are a pretty little thing, Allison,” he said.

“A slave is pleased if Master is pleased,” I said.

“Master,” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“I am pinioned,” I said, “helplessly so. Perhaps Master might adjust my tunic at the left shoulder.”

I had been concerned with this for some time.

“No,” he said.

“‘No’?” I said.

“No,” he said. “I like it the way it is.”

“I see,” I said.

“Perhaps it might improve your price, a tarsk-bit or two.”

“As Master pleases,” I said.

He was a beast, of course, but then what girl would object to her price being improved a bit?

“I am sure,” he said, “the fellow who pressed himself upon an unattended kajira did not object.”

“Doubtless not,” I said. “Perhaps it was to that tiny inadvertence of habiliments that I owed the attention bestowed upon me.”

“Not at all,” he said. “Even in a serving slave’s tunic you would be an attractive little prey animal.”

“‘Prey animal’?”

“Yes,” he said. “An interesting little quarry beast.”

“I see,” I said.

“Surely you are aware of how men see women,” he said.

I was silent. I was afraid. But, too, I was thrilled. We are sought, hunted, captured, and owned, possessed by masters, who will deal with us as they please. They make us theirs, in reality, and law.

“The day is warm,” he said.

“Yes, Master,” I said.

“Who would you favor in the next race?” he asked.

“Blue,” I said. “Blue, Master.”

That seemed to me appropriate, as it was in his keeping that I was.

“An excellent choice,” he said.

“Thank you, Master,” I said.

“Allison,” he said.

“Yes, Master,” I said.

“Your permission to speak is revoked,” he said.

“Yes, Master,” I said.

So I was not then to speak. He did not care for me to do so. It was then as before. I was silenced.

There were four more races, and in some there were as many twenty or thirty tharlarion encircling the long track as many as five times. The competitions were at times unruly, even violent, but no riders or beasts were lost. There are, of course, races of different length, and some beasts are favored in shorter races, and some in longer races, depending on differences in speed and stamina. It is similar with racing slaves, bred or otherwise, and kaiila. Some are superior at short distances, others at longer distances.

For the remainder of the day, to my relief, I was not left unattended. Either Astrinax, Lykos, or Master Desmond remained with me. When the Lady Bina went below to the tables, the shops, or such, she was always accompanied. I gathered that she was never to be left unattended. In this I suspected something of the will of Lord Grendel.

At the end of the day we were making our way from the tiers, descending toward the broad open area between the rail and the stands, from there to exit toward the wagon-and-cart yard, some adjacent inns, and some of the closer camps. Indeed, during the races, it is often crowded, for many prefer to watch from there, possibly for the better view of the beasts, and the greater proximity to the betting tables.

Debris was about, useless betting tickets, discarded programs, tasta sticks, food wrappers, and such. Such things would be cleaned up by male work slaves. I saw such a fellow, brawny, with a heavy collar on his neck. Such as I were not for such as he. To be sure, we might be cast to one or more, as a punishment, or, perhaps, put at the disposal of one, as a reward for, say, a successful fighting slave. Interestingly, we had the sense that such as they, even in their collars, were our masters. On Gor, I had the sense that, in some natural sense, perhaps in the order of nature, we belonged to men. Not all of us, of course, were owned, and collared.

I suddenly stopped, startled, and almost cried out, but realized I could not do so, as I had not received permission to speak.

“What is wrong?” asked Desmond.

I wanted to weep with elation. I jerked at the bracelets, holding my wrists behind me.

The two of them regarded me, disbelievingly.

Then, wisely or not, but unable to help ourselves, we rushed to one another, they in the brief blue-and-yellow tunics, the Slaver’s colors, the chain on their neck, joining them, and I.