but then, commonly, with the head bowed. If the master is sitting, one might, too, sit, but on the carpet, or tiles, at his feet. Too, one might lie before him, or near him, perhaps beside him, as might another animal, curled, or languid, or such, and so on. We are taught much in the slave house, how we should be. Sometimes one might await him, naked, in the furs, spread on the floor, at the foot of his couch. We flame, in need. One hopes he may deign to caress us.
“There!” he said, indicating a portal, to our right.
Jane thrust open the door, which was heavy, and she, followed by Eve and myself, entered. Behind us we heard the door close, and heard a bolt thrown into place.
We looked about ourselves, apprehensively, but there seemed little in the room to suggest a cause for alarm. It was a large room, well lit, with red walls and a yellow ceiling. Its floor was also yellow and formed of what appeared to be smoothed wooden beams, fitted closely together. There were two doors, that through which we had entered, and one at the far end of the room. The room was bare, containing no rugs, no hangings, no draperies, no furniture.
“What are we to do?” asked Eve.
“What is there to do?” said Jane.
We would wait. After a time, weary from the trail, and perhaps worn from the fear and amazement generated by our new surroundings, we lay on the beams of the yellow wooden flooring.
I am not sure how long we waited, but I do not think it was long, only longer than we might have anticipated.
Perhaps ten or twelve Ehn.
“Perhaps they do not know we are here,” said Eve.
“Perhaps you would like to call out, or pound on the door,” said Jane.
“No!” said Eve.
We waited a little longer.
“I do not think we are to be housed here,” said Eve.
“No,” said Jane, “I do not think so. I see no blankets, no slave mats, no rings.”
“Or cages,” I said.
A bit later the door at the far end of the room opened, and a large-handed, brawny fellow, bearded, with a leather cap, entered, carrying a lidless tool box by its triangular handle. As soon as we saw that the entrant was male we went to first-obeisance position, kneeling, head to the floor, hands, palms down, at the side of our head.
The tool box was set down near us and we, not looking up, heard the fellow reaching into the box, moving one or another of its contents about.
A bit later I heard Jane gasp, heard a sharp, cutting sound, and, a bit later, the dropping of a light metal object into the tool box.
“May I speak, Master?” I begged.
“Yes,” he said, moving toward me.
“There is some mistake,” I said. “We are the slaves of the Lady Bina, honored guest in this household. We belong to her!”
“There is no mistake,” he said. “Keep your head down.”
I felt a thick, curved blade thrust between my neck and the collar, and knew this was matched with a similar blade, one with which it was paired. The tool had two stout handles which were spread, and would then be brought muchly together. The fellow held the two handles rather at the ends, where the most leverage might be exerted. I sensed him strain, then apply more pressure, and then I heard the breaking of the metal. He put the tool down and spread and pulled the sides of the rent collar from my throat. I heard it put into the tool box. In a moment or two Eve had been similarly served.
“Kneel up,” he said. Then he said, “Beg me to accept your tunics, and then present them to me, properly.”
I was frightened, without my collar.
We slipped from our tunics.
“I beg you to accept my tunic, Master,” said Jane. She then held it to him, her arms extended, her head down between her extended arms.
Eve and I then uttered the identical ritual phrase, and, as had Jane, proffered our tunics, and properly, to the fellow, who then turned about and left the room.
We looked at one another.
“I am afraid,” I said.
“I, too,” said Jane, uneasily.
Eve smiled, and stood up. She posed, and pointed to her throat. “Look,” she said, “I am a free woman!”
“Show me your left thigh,” said Jane, angrily.
Eve then knelt beside us, quietly.
She was well marked, as were we.
A few Ehn later the far door opened once more, and a fellow we recognized, one of Kleomenes’ hunters, entered, but not the one who had brought us earlier to this chamber. We went to first obeisance position. I was vaguely aware that a woman had entered behind him.
“Kneel up,” had said the man. The woman was at his side, a little behind, on his left.
“Nora!” I cried.
“Nora!” exclaimed Jane, joyously.
“Nora!” wept Eve, with relief.
Then I saw the look in her eye, and I shrank back, a Gorean slave. Her first reaction, when we knelt before her, our faces clearly to be seen, was one of astonishment, but then, almost immediately, one of pleasure, and gratification, and then, as her eyes fell on me, one of hostility and triumph.
“These slaves know you?” said the man.
“Yes!” she said.
“‘Yes’?” he said.
“Yes,” she said, quickly adding, “Master.”
She was a strikingly beautiful slave, with lovely features, long dark hair, and a figure that would easily bring silver on the block. As with the rest of us, masters had seen to it that she would be improved. She had been stunningly attractive on Earth, and I thought her more so now. And I was certain that I, and others, such as Jane and Eve, had become more attractive on Gor, as well. I am not sure to what factors, perhaps several, these transformations might be attributed, but I suspected they might, at least in part, have something to do with the naturalness, the openness, the honesty, the lack of hypocrisy, of the Gorean world itself. She was camisked, as Mina had been. On her neck there was a dark metal collar. Mina had worn such a collar. From what the Lady Bina had said on the trail, based on the lettering, I took it to be a Kur collar.
“You know me, Nora!” said Jane. “I am Jane, Jane, from the house!”
“Remember me!” said Eve. “I am Eve! Eve! From the house!”
“We are so happy to see you!” said Jane.
Eve began to weep with joy.
Nora regarded us. She carried some objects, some of cloth, some of metal. About her right wrist, from its loop, dangled a switch. Across her forehead, bound there, tied at the back of her head, was a talmit.
I looked upon this simple, narrow folding of cloth, and was terrified.
“I am so happy!” said Jane.
“I, too!” cried Eve.
If a free man had not been present I feared Jane and Eve might have leapt to their feet to gather Nora into their arms.
“And you, Allison,” said Nora, “are you not happy to see me, too?”
I put down my head, afraid.
“Kneel up, straightly, more straightly,” said Nora. “Heads up!”
We knelt properly, our heads raised.
She cast three objects, circular metal objects, to the floor before us.
