Magicians of Gor (73 page)

kept. Some of these pools contains voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels,

black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to

say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.

I looked closely at Appanius. He was white-faced. As I had suspected, he was not

enthusiastic about this proposal.

“It must be the eels,” said the first retainer.

“Nothing less will expunge the blot upon your honor,” said another.

“What blot?” said Appanius, suddenly, lightly.

The retainers regarded him, speechless.

“What is it to my honor,” asked Appanius, “if I have been betrayed by an

ungrateful, worthless slave? It is scarcely worth noting.”

“Appanius!” said the first retainer.

“Do you wish to buy a slave?” asked Appanius of me, as though lightly. But I saw

that he was desperate in this matter. Indeed, I was touched. His problem was a

difficult one. He wanted to save both his honor and the life of the slave. As

outraged as he might be, as angry, as terribly hurt as he was, even as sensitive

of his honor as I supposed he might be, he was trying to save the slave. I was

startled by this. Indeed, it seemed he might care for him, truly. That

development I had not anticipated. I had thought that things would have worked

out much more simply. I had expected him to be outraged with Milo and be ready,

in effect, to kill him, at which point I was prepared to intervene, with a

princely offer. If he were rational, and the offer was attractive enough, as it

could be, as I had a fortune in gold with me, I could obtain the slave. That is

the way I had anticipated things would proceed. If Appanius would not sell Milo,

then I could simply keep Appanius, and the others, with the exception of Milo,

bound and gagged somewhere, say, in the pantry in the back, and use Milo, still

the slave of Appanius, to achieve my objective in a slightly different fashion,

one then merely involving two steps rather than one. If he would not sell Milo,

certainly he would be willing to sell another, one who might, for a time at

least, be too dangerous to acknowledge, too dangerous to free, too dangerous to

keep.

“Perhaps,” I said.

“I have one for sale,” said Appanius.

“No, Appanius!” said the first retainer.

“He is cheap,” said Appanius, bitterly.

“How much?” I asked.

(pg. 429) “He is the cheapest of the cheap,” said Appanius, bitterly.

“Do not sell him, Appanius!” said the first retainer.

“He is the most valuable slave in all Ar!” said another.

“To me,” said Appanius, “he is worth less than the lowest pot girl.”

“How much do you want,” I asked, warily. I had some forty-five pieces of gold

with me.

“He is worthless,” said Appanius. “He should be cast away.”

“Throw him to the eels, Appanius,” whispered the first retainer.

“No,” said Appanius, “rather let him know my estimate of his worth.”

“How much do you want?” I asked.

“A tarsk bit,” said Appanius.

The retainers cried out with horror. The slave looked up, startled, trembling.

Lavinia gasped.

“A tarsk bit,” repeated Appanius.

The slave wept in shame, and jerked at the manacles in frustration. But he could

not free himself. Well were his hands confined behind him.

“I think I can afford that,” I said.

“That is the most valuable slave in Ar!” said one of the retainers.

“No,” said Appanius. “It is the most worthless slave in Ar.”

I removed a tarsk bit from my wallet and gave it to Appanius.

“He is yours,” said Appanius.

The tarsk bit is the smallest denomination coin in common circulation in most

Gorean cities.

“You do not mind filling out certain pertinent papers, do you?’ I asked. I had

brought some sets of such papers with me.

“Common slave papers?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“It is not necessary,” said one of the retainers.

“Not at all,” said Appanius. “You do not have an appropriate collar at hand, I

gather.”

“No,” I said.

“If I am not mistaken,” said Marcus, “ink and a pen are in the back.”

“Interesting,” I said. To be sure, they had been here when he had scouted the

compartments. Doubtless they had been used before, in the course of Appanius’

acquiring new slaves. Slave papers, too, were in the back, although I had

brought my own. Hoods, gags, ropes, and such, were in the back, too.

“Give me the papers,” said Appanius.

I handed him a set.

(pg. 430) “I will fill these out in the back, and you, Lucian, will witness

them.”

“Yes, Appanius,” said one of the retainers, dismally.

“You will wish to bind him,” said Appanius.

“No,” I said. “If he attempts to escape, his throat will be cut.”

“Remove his slave bracelet, and his chains,” said Appanius.

“Yes, Appanius,” said the fellow.

“I foolishly neglected to have him branded,” said Appanius.

“I have noted it,” I said.

“As he is a cheap and common slave,” said Appanius, “I would have him put under

the iron before nightfall.”

“I shall consider the suggestion,” I said.

Appanius went to the back, to complete the papers.

The slave looked up at me while the retainers removed his chains, and the

identificatory slave bracelet, of silver, which he had worn on his left wrist.

The retainer also gathered up his clothing, the golden sandals, the purple

tunic, the robe, with the hood. Such things I had not purchased. I had, however,

anticipated such things, and had brought, among several other things, some

suitable garments with me, from the insula of Torbon.

“To whom do you belong?” I asked.

“To you, Master,” he said.

“Remain on your knees, slave,” I said.

“Yes, Master,” he said.

Lavinia looked wildly at me, and then at the slave. And he looked at her, and at

me. They both knew that they were now of the same household. They both knew that

they not belonged to the same master.

In a few moments Appanius and I had concluded our business. The papers had been

signed, and witnessed.

Appanius, returned to the front room, looked down at the male slave. “Do you

wish to beg the forgiveness of your former master for what you have done?” he

asked.

“No, Master,” said the slave. “Not for what I have done.”

“I see,” said Appanius.

“But I beg your forgiveness, if I have hurt you,” he said. “That was not my

intention.”

“As I have not been hurt,” said Appanius, “no forgiveness is necessary.”

“Yes, Master,” said the slave.

“I see that you are at last learning deference,” said Appanius.

“Yes, Master,” said the slave. “Thank you, Master.”

(pg. 431) Appanius then turned toward Lavinia. “You are a pretty slut,” he said.

She threw herself to her belly before him, in terror. She looked well there, on

the tiles, naked, the collar on her neck.

Appanius, then, with a swirl of his robes, exited. He was followed by two of his

retainers. The other two lingered, momentarily. Among them was the first

retainer. “We have spoken among ourselves, the four of us,” he said. “We will

give you a silver tarsk for Milo.”

“You are very generous,” I said. “That is a considerable profit for me.”

“You accept?” he asked.

“No,” I said.

“Why not?” he asked.

“There are free women in Ar,” I said, “who would pay a thousand pieces of gold

for him.”

The two retainers exchanged glances. It seemed I knew more of this fellow then

they had understood.

“Could you have afforded that much, Lavinia?” I asked.

“No, Master,” she said. “I could not have afforded that much.”

“Position,” I snapped.

Instantly Lavinia rose from her belly to her knees, placing herself in a

position common among Gorean pleasure slaves, kneeling back on heels, back

straight, head up, palms down on thighs, knees spread.

The male slave, gasped, seeing how beautiful she was, and how she obeyed.

Perhaps then he sensed something of the pleasures of the mastery, what it can be

to own a woman.

“Do you dare to look at a female slave?” I asked him.

“Forgive me, Master!” he said, lowering his head. Much had it doubtless cost him

to avert his eyes from the beauty.

“What of ten thousand pieces of gold?” asked the first retainer.

“You have so much?” I asked.

“I think we can raise it, forming a company to do so,” he said.

“I do not think you could raise it in Ar today,” I said. “Perhaps a year ago, or

two years ago.”

“We have in mind contacting men in several cities,” he said, “even in Tyros and

Cos.”

“So much money would pay the mercenaries of Cos for a year,” I said.

“Perhaps,” he said. “I do not know.”

“Not even Talena, in a golden collar, would bring so much,” I said.

(pg. 432) “But she is a female,” he said.

Actually I thought Talena might bring that much, not as a common slave, of

course, but perhaps in some situation of great dignity, as, say, a stripped,

chained Ubara, being bid on in a private sale, perhaps by the agents of Chenbar,

the Sea Sleen, Ubar of Tyros, and Lurius of Jad, Ubar of Cos. It was my

intention, of course, to see to it that she would become such that it would be

unfitting for her to be accorded this dignity.

“That is your price then?” asked the other retainer.

“He is not for sale,” I said.

“I see,” said the first retainer.

“You will not get more,” said the other.

“I do not expect to,” I said.

“Appanius would not sell him either,” said the first retainer to the other.

“But he did,” I reminded him, “for a tarsk bit.”

The two retainers then, angrily, left. They left in the same fashion as had

Appanius, and the other two, by the front entrance.

“What time do you think it is?” I asked Marcus.

“It is surely past the sixth Ahn,” he said. The fifth Ahn marks the midpoint of

the morning, betwixt the Gorean midnight and noon, as the fifteenth Ahn marks

the midpoint of the evening, between noon and midnight. There are twenty Ahn in

the Gorean day, as time is figured in the high cities. These Ahn, in the high

cities, are of equal length. In certain cities, interestingly, the length of the

Ahn depends on the time of year. In these cities, there are ten Ahn in the day,

and ten Ahn in the night, and, as the days are longer in the summer and shorter

in the winter, so, too, are the Ahn. Correspondingly, of course, the Ahn are

shorter in the summer night, and longer in the winter night. The day as a whole,

of course, including both day Ahn and night Ahn, comes out to the same overall

length as it would in one of the high cities.

I looked down at the male slave.

“You do not look well,” I said.

“I am sick, Master,” he said.

He had taken a splendid drubbing, to be sure.

“Do you think that what has occurred here this morning is unaccountable?” I

asked.

“Master?” he asked.

“That this is all a matter of chance, and unexpected?” I asked.

“I do not understand, Master,” he said.

“It is not,” I informed him. “You have been acquired as the result of a plan.”

(pg. 433) He looked at me, startled.

“You have been seduced,” I said, “that you would be brought into circumstances

of great compromise, circumstances the outcome of which would be to bring you to

your present condition, as my slave.”

“Aii,” he wept.

“The female slave, of course,” I said, “was acting under my orders.”

He looked at Lavinia.

“Have you received permission to look at her?” I asked.

Quickly he averted his eyes.

“You may look at her,” I informed him.

He turned to Lavinia, stricken.

“May I speak?” he begged.

“Yes,” I said.

“Do you not care for me?” he asked the slave.

“She had not received permission to speak,” I informed him.

Lavinia looked at me, pleadingly, her lower lip trembling. I would permit her to

speak later.

“She is pretty, isn’t she?’ I asked.

“Yes, Master,” he said, in misery.

“She is a seduction slave,” I said.

Lavinia sobbed, and shook her head. A tear coursed down her cheek.

“Are you not, Lavinia?” I asked.

“Yes, Master,” she sobbed.

“You should not object to this,” I informed the male slave.

“You yourself, often enough, if I am not mistaken, have acted in the role of the

seduction slave. Surely it is only fair that the tables have now been turned,

and that it is you, so to speak, who now finds himself in the net.”

He could not take his eyes from Lavinia.

“She acted under your orders?” he said.

“Of course,” I said.

He moaned.

“And is there not a rich joke her,” I asked, “for, as I understand it, it was

you who, as a seduction slave, were responsible for first bringing her pretty

little neck into the collar. It is not only fitting then that it be she, now a

slave, whom I used for your acquisition?”

“Yes, Master,” he said.

“Doubtless she finds her triumph rich and amusing,” I said.

“Please, Master, may I speak?” begged Lavinia.

“No,” I said.

She sobbed.

(pg. 434) “You did your work well, pretty little seduction slave,” I said to

her.

“Please, Master!” she begged.

“No,” I said.