Mariners of Gor

but slaves. The Pani free women, incidentally, seem, except for the companions of high officers, and such, to have much lower status than the typical Gorean free woman, certainly one of upper caste. For example, an older sister, even a mother, must defer to a male child, bowing first, and such. When a client enters the hut, if he thinks he might find one of the slaves of interest, he has her stand before him, her head down. He then lifts away the sheet and considers her. If he is pleased, he instructs her as to how he wishes to be pleased. These slaves, with an exception or two to be noted, are Pani females. Many are captured in war, some are bought in the girl markets, to which I have hitherto referred, and some, it seems, are bred for the market. Each is chained by the ankle to a post which protrudes through a prepared aperture in the mat. Each, I was pleased to note, wore a locked metal collar, or a neck chain, with its attached slave disk, padlocked about her neck. In some Gorean cities slaves are put in the padlocked neck chain, with the slave disk, identifying her master, and sometimes noting her current name, but the locked metal collar is far more common, indeed, almost universal. It seems more secure, and is easily engraved. Some cities use the slave anklet on the left ankle, which is attractive. But as we recognize, and the Pani do as well, the ideal mounting site for a token of bondage is the neck. On the neck, the token is prominently displayed, for all to note. Too, on the neck, the collar is beautifully secure. It is absolutely unslippable, even a Turian collar. Too, with the loss of a foot or ankle, an anklet or bracelet might be lost. On the other hand, if one were to cut away the head, one has lost the slave. As noted, such slaves are almost always Pani females. On the other hand, when I looked into the slave hut, two slaves, Thetis and Iole, whom I recalled from the ship, and castle, were ankle-chained to posts in the slave hut. This was temporary, of course, for our slaves had not been brought across the ocean to be squandered in a village’s slave hut, not even that of a rather large village, as was the nearest village, this village, which could be reached on foot in less than a quarter of an Ahn. They had been insufficiently prompt in service, or insufficiently deferent, I gathered, to a keeper, or a free person, and had thus been brought down to the village and put on their chains. “Master!” they cried out to me, from their knees, seeing me, extending their hands piteously to me. I supposed they had hoped that I had come to return them to their kennels on the castle grounds, but I had not. I had not even realized they were here, being disciplined. Their outburst earned them a cry of rage from the Pani woman in charge of the slave hut, who tore away their sheets, and gave them several stinging strokes of a bamboo switch. She apparently did not care for the two new slaves, with strange eyes, and light skin. Inquiries suggested, though, that the two new slaves were not unpopular with the hut’s clientele. One supposes that novelty to some extent entered into the matter. To be sure, there were difficulties for the girls, as some of the commands they were given were unfamiliar, even unintelligible, to them. They simply did not know what to do. The Pani clients, of course, took it for granted that any slave in the slave hut would be obedient, prompt, and adept in a variety of performances. This innocent ignorance was not without its consequences, of course, and the girls were often subjected to castigation, scorn, kicks, slappings, and the stroke of the bamboo switch. Happily, I learned, Saru, the slave given by Lord Nishida to Lord Temmu, and the ten slaves given by Lord Okimoto to Lord Temmu, were more patiently and gently treated. One is not entitled to assume that a fair-skinned slave from abroard, one from a far different culture, is going to know what might be expected of her, the proper serving, for example, of sake, the appropriate temperature, and such.

The staple in the Twelve Islands, which is actually far more than twelve, is not Sa-Tarna, but rice.

Rice fields, or paddies, are associated with each village. A daimyo or shogun will have suzerainty over various villages, which he protects, and from which he obtains the means to maintain his men.

He who controls the rice, it is said, controls the islands.

Several rice fields were associated with the holding of Lord Temmu, most north and west of the castle. To reach such fields by land would mean to pass the holding of Lord Temmu. To reach them from the sea, from the north or west, one would have to put into shore, on the other side of the island, negotiate a difficult terrain, and thread one’s way through guarded, easily defended passes. By the time one could reach the fields, it was likely the ashigaru of Lord Temmu would be in position.

“It is said,” said Philoctetes, “Tarl Cabot is on the grounds.”

“I have not seen him,” I said.

To be sure, whenever it was thought he was at the castle, rumors hastened about. Certainly he was much in conversation.

This obviously had much to do with the war which, at present, seemed faraway.

As suggested earlier, it was not clear, at least to the lower ranks, when we might march.

It did seem clear that Lord Temmu had in mind carrying the war to the enemy. Certainly the reinforcement by foreign armsmen, and the acquisition of tarns, would suggest as much.

“Last night, on tarnback,” he said.

“What is the meaning of that?” asked a man.

“I do not know,” I said.

“A coordination is being envisaged,” speculated a fellow.

That seemed to me likely.

“I think,” said a man, “we are soon to march.”

“The exploratory force,” said another, “is still abroad.”

“Look,” said a fellow. “There is another.”

“Ah!” said a man.

The fellow was pointing to a high storey of the castle, where there was a beating of wings, dark against the sky, and then the tiny bird disappeared, within. Though I had never been in that room, its window high, unshuttered, open to the sky, it obviously housed a number of the swift-flighted, messenger vulos, by means of which Pani might convey messages. These, it seems, were placed in tiny wrappers, and fastened to one of the bird’s legs. Vulos who would seek this cot were carried about, for example, to the training area of the tarns somewhere back in the mountains, and, there, I had no doubt, in the mountains, were kept, in their tiny wood- barred cages, vulos which, if released, would seek as their cot and roost the very room above, high in the castle. Similarly there must have been vulos in that room which, if released, would seek a different cot and roost, perhaps, for example, one housed in the training area for tarns, back in the mountains.

There had been, of late, much traffic coming and going from that area, that mysterious room, high in the castle. This sort of thing had been given careful attention, obviously, by the men.

And this traffic had been much more frequent, of late.

I suspected we would march, upon the return of the exploratory force.

Interestingly, the number of Pani aboard the great ship, guarding it, had been recently increased.

This suggested apprehension on the part of the Pani, and suggested, as well, though not as clearly, that an order of march might be imminent.

A number of slaves, too, some twenty or thirty, fastened together by the neck, by a long rope, had been given bags of water, bundles of dried parsit, sacks of rice, and such, to convey to the ship.

They had made this laborious journey more than once, even today.

It seemed that the Pani aboard the ship were to be well-supplied.

As mentioned earlier, no easy access was to be had to the ship. The galley nests remained closed. Supplies were taken aboard by means of baskets on ropes, or by means of the nets, swung out on booms, and raised and lowered by pulleys. Even the slaves who brought the water and other supplies were not permitted near the baskets and nets, but must kneel on the boards of the wharf, until dismissed, to climb, roped together by the neck, the narrow walled-in path to the castle grounds. They were in the charge, of course, of youth, boys of the lesser Pani.

The gate to the wharf area, leading to the walled-in trail, was open, and the coffle, weary and footsore, neck-roped, their burdens delivered, were being herded within, by their young herdsmen.

Once within the gate the lads began to remove them, one by one, from the coffle. While the rope was being removed the slaves must kneel. Also, of course, they were in the presence of a free person, in this case, a boy, of the lesser Pani. Once free of the rope, the girls were permitted to rise to their feet, that they might seek their keepers, and be returned to their kennels.

The sun was high, and the day warm.

The burdens they had borne, while not heavy for a man, would have been heavy for a woman, and the climb back to the castle from the wharf, given its twistings and its tortuous steepness, would be time consuming and difficult for either a man or woman.