John Norman - Rouge of Gor

"I am pleased to hear it," I said. I reached down and picked up the fallen blade. I handed it to him. "This, is yours."

He sheathed the blade. He looked at me for a long time. "you have done me service," he said, "How can I repay you?"

"I have a plan," I said. "Teach me the sword.

The naked slavegirl in her bells and jewels writhed on the scarlet tiles of the floor before us.

Policrates, sitting beside me, behind the broad, low table, musingly fitted together the two pieces of yellowish, brown stone, the two halves of the once shattered topaz. Again I found it startling, and impressive, how the figure of a river galley emerged from the brownish discolorations in the two pieces of stone once they were fitted together. There was no mistaking that they were the two halves of what was once an unusual, divided stone.

"Fatcinating," said Policarates. "and how is my friend, Ragnar Voskjard?" Well," I said, "and he, of course inquires after your health."I am well," said Policrates, "and you may, upon your return, assure him that I am eager to participate in our common venture."

"In twenty days," I said, "allowing for my return and the fitting of our ships, we shall be at your sea gate."Excellent," said Policrates.

"We shall then," I said, "proceed to Ar's Station to sck the stores and burn her vessels. Following that we shall wreak similar havoc upon Port Cos. These two major ports crippled, the river then for all practical purposes will be ours."

"It is amusing," said Policrates, "that the tension between Cos and Ar prevents the linkage of their powers upon the river. "Their foolishness in this respect," I said, "should redound considerably to our advantage."

"True," laughed Policrates. "Let us drink to that." He lifted his goblet and we clinked our goblets together and I reached across Policrates, extending my goblet to Kliomenes, who surily sat on the right of Policrates. We three then, touched goblets and then we drank.Kliomenes eyes me narrowly.

I turned away and gave my attention to the slave writhing on the tiles before me.She was performing a need dance, of a type not uncommon among Gorean female slaves.Such a dance usually proceeds in clearly defined phrases, evident not merely in the expressions and movements of the girl but in the nature of the accompanying music. There are usually five phases to such a dance. In the first phase the girl, dancing feighs indifference to the presence of men, before, whom as a slave she must perform.In the second phase, for she has not yet been raped, her distress and uneasiness, her restlessness, her disturbance by her sexual urges, must become subtly more manifest. Here is must be evident that she is beginning to feel her sexuality and drive, profoundly, and yet is struggling against them. Toward the end of this phase, it must become clear not only that she has sexual needs and deep ones, but that she is beginning to fear that she may not be simply, as she is, of sufficient interest to men to obtain their satisfaction.

Here, need, coupled with anxiety and self-doubt, for she has not yet been seized by strong men, must become clear. In the third phase of the dance she, in an almost ladylike fashion, acknowledges herself defeated in her attempt to conceal her sexuality; she then, again in an almost ladylike fastion, delicately but clearly, with restraint but unmistakably, acknowledges and publicly before masters that she has sexual needs.

Then with smiles and gestures displaying herself, she makes manifest her readiness for the service of men, her willingness and her receptivity. She invites them, so to spake to have her. But she has not yet been seized by an arm or an ankle or by her collar, a thumb hooked rudely under it, or hair, and pulled from the floor. What if she is not sufficiently pleasing? What if she is not to be fulfilled? What is she must continued to dance alone unnoticed. At this point it becomes clear to her that it is by no means a foregone conclusion that men will find her of interest, or that they will see fit to satisfy her. She must strive to be pleasing. If she is not good enough she may be chained, unfulfilled, another night alone in the kennel. There are always other girls. She must earn her rape.

Too, if she should be insufficiently pleasing consistently it is likely that she will be slain. Goreans place few impediments in the way of te liberation of a slave female's sexuality. In this phase of the dance, then, shamelessly the woman dances her need and shamelessly begs for her sexual satisfaction.This phase of the dance is sometimes known as the Heat of the Collared She-Sleen.

The fifth and final phase, of the dance, is far more dramatic and exciting. In this phase the girl, overcome by sexual desire and terrifed that she may not be found sufficiently pleasing, clearly manifests, and utterly, that she is a slave female. In this portion of the dance the girl is seldom on her feet. Rather, sitting, rolling and changing position, on her side, her back, her belly, half-kneeling, half sitting, kneeling, crawling, reaching out, bending backwards, lying down, twisting with passion, gesturing to her body, presenting it to masters for their inspection and interest, whimpering, moaning, crying out, brazenly presenting herself as a slave, pleading for her rape, she writehes, a piteous, begging, vulnerable, ready slave, a woman fit for and begging for the touch of a master, a womean begging to become at the least touch of her master, a totally submitted slave. The fourth phase of the dance, as I have mentioned, is sometimes known as the Heat of the Collared She-Sleen. This portion of the dance, the fifth portion, is sometimes known as the Heat of the Slave Girl.

"I had expected the topaz to be delivered earlier," said Policrates. "I had sent word to Ragnar Voskjard more than fifty days ago."

"There were many deliberations in the holding of Ragnar," I said. "Junctions of hthis kind are not to be entered upon lightly. Too, I was detained in Victoria. There are many guardsmen in Victoria, both of Port Cos and Ar's Station, who seach for the bearer of the topaz."I would feel better," said Kliomenes,"if I could see your face."The mask I wear," I said, "must be to conceal my identyl"

"It is common, Kliomenes," said Policrates, "for the courier, he carrying the topaz, to cover his features in foreign holdings. The concealment of his identity is essential to his work."

"For all you know," I said to Kliomenes," I might be Ragnar Voskjard himself." Kliomenes shrank back."But you are not," said Policrates, "For Ragnark a shrewd fellow, would not venture upon such dangerous work as the personal transport of the topaz."

"I think that is true," I grinned. "At any rate it is certainly true at lesat that I am not Ragnar Voskjard." "There is something about you which seems familiar," said Kliomenes. "Have I ever seen you before?" asked Kliomenes. "Perhaps," I said.

"You see, Kliomenes," said Policrates, "our friend may be well known upon the river. If so, it is scarcely in Ragnar Voskjard's interest, or in ours, or in the interest of our friend here, to be recognized as the courier of the topaz. If he is highly placed in some town on the river then his utility to Voskjard and to use would be considerably diminished if it were understood such a highly placed person was secretly in league with men such as ourselves and Voskjard."

"True," said Kliomenes. "And I think that we may be certain," said Policrates, "that our friend is indeed well known in at least one town on the river."

"That is true," I admitted. Indeed, I was reasonably well known in Victoria.

The music ended with a swirl of sound and the girl with a jangle of bells, lay before the table of Policrates, whimpering, her hand extended. She lifted her head. I read the unmistakable need in her eyes. She was indeed a slave female.