small, opaque, wooden gate. Two of its walls were common walls with adjoining domiciles. The back wall was adjacent to an alley, access to which was provided by the rear gate.
I sensed I was being looked upon as one looks upon what I was, a slave. I did not object. We are not free women.
How warm, and pleasurable, it is to be looked upon as an object, one which is owned by a master.
We are not free women.
“May I speak?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Where has Master been, for so many weeks?” I asked.
“About,” he said, “even to Port Kar.”
“But Master did not forget a slave,” I said.
“Some slaves,” he said, “are hard to forget.”
“A slave is pleased,” I said.
“I should get rid of her,” he said. “I should sell her.”
“Please do not do so,” I said.
“There is something about you,” he said, “which is of interest to me.”
“Of slave interest,” I said.
“Of course,” he said.
“Doubtless a slave’s body,” I said. On Gor my body had been freshened, trimmed, toned, vitalized, and turned into an instrument for a man’s pleasure.
“It is more than that,” he said. “Such things may be purchased off any block.”
“What then?” I asked.
“I do not know,” he said.
“Whatever it is,” I said, “it is now in Master’s collar.” I was well aware that it is the whole slave which is owned, every strand of hair, every drop of blood, every fear, every hope, every tremor, every feeling, every thought.
“You are, of course, a barbarian,” he said.
“And I cannot even read,” I said.
“And you will be kept that way,” he said.
“As Master pleases,” I said.
I kept my knees closely together. It was in this fashion that I had been accustomed, over the past months, to kneel.
“Master did not forget me,” I said.
“No,” he said.
I was pleased to see that he was folding the five blades of the slave whip about the staff, which might easily accommodate a two-handed grip.
“I think Master cares for me,” I said.
“Do not be foolish,” he said.
“I understand that Master finds me of interest,” I said.
“Of slave interest,” he said.
“Perhaps a slave might be freed,” I suggested.
“I am not a fool,” he said.
There is a saying, of course, that only a fool frees a slave girl. I wonder if it is not true. What man truly, honestly, does not want a slave?
“Perhaps Master finds me of companion interest,” I said.
“You are a barbarian,” he said.
“Even so,” I said.
He walked about me, a bit, and then, again, stood before me. “You are nicely marked, and collared,” he said.
“Will you not free me?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
I uneasily noted that he was slowly, thoughtfully, unwrapping the blades of the slave whip.
“Master?” I said.
I saw him shake loose the blades of the whip, and they dangled. I could see the shadow of the blades on the ground.
“But I may sell you,” he said.
“Please do not,” I said.
“Do you wish to be freed?” he asked.
“I have learned on Gor what I suspected on Earth,” I said. “I am a slave. I need a master.”
“Any man will do,” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “Any man will do. I am such as can be owned, and mastered. But every slave hopes for the master of her secret dreams, the master of her heart, he for whose collar her throat was bred for millennia.”
“And every master,” he said, “for she who was born to wear his collar.”
“A slave,” I said, “wants to be owned, to belong, to love, to serve, to be helpless, to be mastered, to be subject to discipline, to be dominated without qualification, concession, or compromise, to be treated as the female she is, to be overwhelmed, taught, controlled, and commanded. What woman wants to relate to a man by whom she is not so wanted, wanted with such force and power, with such demand and uncompromising will, with such desire, with such lust, that nothing less than her absolute possession will satisfy him? The master will be satisfied with nothing less than his slave, and the slave with nothing less than her master.”
“Do you expect me to be easy with you?” he asked.
“No, Master,” I said.
“You understand clearly, do you not,” he asked, “that you have been bought, that you have been purchased?”
“Yes, Master,” I said.
“And for a normal price,” he said, “one which might typically take one such as you off the block?”
“Yes, Master,” I said.
“Do you realize how you have tortured me these many months?” he asked.
“Perhaps I have been tortured, as well,” I said.
“Even before the Sul Market,” he said, “I saw you, and watched you, conjectured your lineaments beneath your tunic, considered the motion of your body as you walked, observed the carriage of your body, the attitude of your head, those of a trained slave, the nice encirclement of a band of metal on your neck.”
I was silent.
“I wanted you,” he said. “How could I sleep, how could I eat? But, oh yes, too, I knew of the monster. And I knew there were other such things. I had heard of sky vessels, not those of Priest-Kings. Masses of half-melted, disrupted metal had been found, though sometimes quickly buried or borne away. In the air, occasionally, were the hints of rumors. I learned of others, others also suspecting dangers, dangers undreamt of by most. Contacts were made. Should investigations not be initiated? Should some surveillance, of a type, where possible, not be attempted? Were such suspicions foolish? One does not suspect sleen and larls of intrigue and infamy. Was there peril here, at all? And, if so, of what dimension? And how might it be countered, if at all? So, discovering the strange pet, or guard, of the Lady Bina, a beast whose presence had been noted by several, one actually about in the streets of Ar, I sought to learn its nature, its plans and projects, if any, its relation to others, and such. I soon learned that it was rational, and could communicate in Gorean, by means of a translator. And later I learned it might, when it wished, dispense with the translator. Soon I discovered that the Lady Bina, who seemed somehow associated with the beast, owned a barbarian slave, the very one whose flanks and carriage had tormented me. I confronted them in the Sul Market, and knelt the slave, she then half-naked. I looked down upon her and knew that I must have her in my collar. I must make her mine! I must own her! But what was her relationship to the Lady Bina and the monster? Surely she was a shapely thrall, but what else? I feared she might be in some terrible danger.”
“Master was solicitous for the welfare of a slave?” I asked.
