John Norman - Players of Gor

I then, gently, to the fury of Flaminius, took her, as she gasped, and clutched, and thanked me.

"You yield well," I told her.

"Hateful slut!" cried Flaminius. "Despicable slave!"

"I am a girl on a chain," she smiled. "Is it not appropriate that I so yield?"

"It is," I said.

"And if I did not yield well," she asked, "would you whip me, or have your menials do so?"

"Under certain circumstances, and in certain contexts," I said, "of course."

"You have taught me much," she said.

"Perhaps," I said.

"You know you have spoiled me forever for freedom," she said.

"Oh?" I said.

"I know wan my collar," she said. "I love it. I want to serve, and love. It is what I am."

"You re a female," I said.

"yes, Master," she said. "But even did I not desire it, men would see to it that I know served choicelessly, and with perfection, would they not?"

"yes," I said.

"That is what I desire," she said.

"It is late," I said. " mist now take my leave from the city."

She began to tremble in my arms.

"What is wrong?" I asked.

"Not that I have yielded to you, and now that I have learned my slavery, you will not kill me, will you?"

"Perhaps not," I said.

"But you have something else in mind for me, don't you," she asked, "something appropriate for what I now am, a slave?"

"Perhaps," I said.

"But Flaminius you might kill," she said.

"Yes," I said.

"No!" cried Flaminius, sitting naked before the bars, his back to them, his wrists tied back to them of either side of his body.

I rose to my feet and donned my garments, and retrieved the sheath, with the belt and sword. It was now late. The moons were out. I came back and stood before Flaminius.

"No!" he said. "Do not kill me, please!"

I glanced down at the girl. She way lying on her belly, on the furs, the heavy chain padlocked about her neck, over her collar, the other end of it fastening her to the foot of the bars. Moonlight and a tracery of shadows, from the lattice of a window, was on her body.

"I give her to you!" cried Flaminius. "I do not want her! She is only a slut and a slave!"

"Do you do so, freely," I asked, "without obligation on my part, your gift having no pertinence to what now may, or may not, be done to you?"

"Of course!" he said. "Of course!"

"I accept your gift," I said. The girl gasped at my feet. I now owned her.

"Kneel," I said to her, "to hear my will with respect to you."

Swiftly she knelt before me, trembling, straightening her body.

"Hear this, too, Flaminius," I said.

"Yes," he said. "Yes!"

"She is to be delivered to my holding, the holding of Bosk of Port Kar, in Port Kar," I said.

"Yes," he said.

"And she is to be delivered in the following fashion," I said.

"Yes?" he said.

"She is to be drugged with Tassa powder," I said, "and packed in a barrel with parsit fish."

"It will be done as you wish," said Flaminius.

It was in this fashion that she had smuggled me, and several others, out of Port Kar. She would now be returned to the city in the same fashion, only as a slave.

"Do you object, Yanina?" I asked.

"No, Master," she said.

"If this is not done," I said to Flaminius, "I will not be pleased. Think, too, that someday, somewhere, we might meet again. Consider even the possibility that I, displeased, might come to seek you out."

"The matter will be attended to," said Flaminius, "I assure you, exactly according to your instructions."

"You may kiss my feet, slave," I said.

Swiftly Yanina put her head down, and did so.

I then left. "Untie me, Slave!" I heard, behind me. "The knots are too tight, Master," she wept. "I cannot undo them." "Chew through the thongs, then" he said, "Hurry! Hurry!" "Yes, Master!" she wept. "Yes, Master!" I heard the movement of her chain on the tiles. Outside, in the garden, off in the distance, on one of the bridges, I saw some men approaching. They had not yet seen me. I did not even know if they would. I looked at the slender, swaying tarn wire. I took the small, flanged metal wheel, with its protruding axlelike spindle, from my pouch. I also put the thick leather gloves on my hands.

"We were afraid!" cried Boots. "What kept you?"

"Attentions delivered upon a female slave," I said, "having primarily to do with her training."

"Of course!" said Scormus.

"Do we know her?" asked Chino.

"She was once the Lady Yanina," I said.

"Superb!" said Chino.

"She is now mine," I said.

"Excellent," said Chino.

"She is to be delivered to Port Kar," I said, "to my holding, packed in a barrel with parsit fish."

"Excellent," said Lecchio. Rowena and Telitsia clapped their hands with pleasure, delighted that the once-proud Lady Yanina now shared their condition, that of the helpless and abject slaves of strong masters. Bina, I saw, kneeling near Scormus, had eyes only for him. No longer was his use bracelet on her wrist, but his collar was now on her neck. I had little doubt that yesterday morning she would have been whipped, for having spoken without permission, as he had informed her in the hall of Belnar. This morning, however, it did not seem that she had felt the whip, other than, doubtless, the whip of the furs, at the hand of her gifted, imperious master. I had no doubt but what she had now rendered ample proof to him that she was worth far more than the golden tarn disk he h ad arrogantly paid for her. If she had not yet done so, I did not doubt but what he, in the manner of the Gorean master, would see to it that she soon did.

"You escaped from the city without incident?" I asked.

"Yes," said Boots, "and, later, so, too, did Andronicus, with Chino, Lecchio, and Petrucchio."

"Where is Andronicus?" I asked. "Where is Petrucchio?"

"they are at the side of the wagon, over there," said Boots. The wagons of the troupe of Boots Tarsk-Bit were drawn up on the height of a hill, amidst trees, overlooking Thassa. It was now morning. We could see Brundisium in the distance.

"They are all right, are they not?" I asked. I had not seen them. They had not come to greet me.

"Well," said Boots, evasively.

I hurried about the wagons, until I came to that place, near the edge of the trees, on a clifflike projection of the hill, rearing above Thassa, where was the wagon of Andronicus. There I was Petrucchio, lying propped up, amidst bags and blankets. A great bandage was wrapped about his head. He looked in worse condition than he had when he had experienced the thrust of Flaminius. Andronicus was near him.

"Ho!" called Petrucchio, weakly, lifting his hand, greeting me.

"Greetings," said Andronicus.

"Greetings, fellows," I said.

"We would have joined the others, coming forth to bid you welcome," said Andronicus, "but Petrucchio is feeling a bit low today, and I am tending him."

"That is all right," I said.

"Took, we were discussing the movements of the head," said Andronicus. "I believe I may have discovered a new one. Have you ever seen this?"

"I do not think so," I said, startled, "at least not very often."

"It is, at least, one not mentioned explicitly in the texts, such as those of Alamanius, Tan Sarto and Polimachus."

"If it should be accepted as genuine, and win accreditation, being entered into the catalogs," said Petrucchio, "that would come out to one hundred and seventy-four. Although I myself am not strong on theory, I am very proud of Andronicus."

"We all are," I said.

"The theater is not a purely empirical discipline," said Andronicus. "It proceeds by theory, too."

"I am sure of it," I said. "Petrucchio, how are you?"

"Let a great pyre be built," said Petrucchio.