'You have done it perfectly,' I told her.
Upon reflection, it did seem to me there might be some purpose in Elizabeth's having her own knot, apart from her delight in inventing and utilizing one. For, example, sometime on Gor, she might have her own compartment or her own chests, and such, and might have a use for her own knot. She could have used mine, of course, even in such cases, but, seeing her knot and how it differed from mine, I had little doubt she would find her own more felicitous, more pleasing, it being more feminine, more personal to her.
Also, as she was, legally, having submitted in the House of Cernus, a slave girl, any small thing she had or could do which was her own was doubtless rather precious to her. Some slaves, I knew, were even intensely jealous of so little as a dish or a cup which, probably because of use, they had come to regard as their own. Further, having her own knot might have some occasional value, even in our present circumstances. For example, passing the door and seeing her knot in place I would know that she was not in the compartment. This sort of thing was trivial, but one never knew when something less trivial might perhaps be involved. It seemed to me, all things considered, though it was a bother for me, a good thing that Elizabeth had her own knot. Besides, perhaps most importantly, she had wanted her own knot.
'Every girl,' she had informed me, loftily, 'should have her own knot. Moreover, if you have a knot, I should have a knot.'
In the face of such logic, smacking of the contaminations of Earth, there had been little to do but capitulate, bother though it might be.
'Well, Kuurus,' said she, from the side of the room, 'it seems you have tied my knot correctly, though perhaps somewhat more clumsily than I would have done.'
'The important thing,' I said, 'is that it is done correctly.'
She shrugged. 'I suppose so,' she said.
'Your tying of my knot,' I said, a bit disgruntled, 'if one is to be critical, was somewhat daintier than I myself would approve.'
'I do not tie dainty knots,' Elizabeth informed me. 'What you mistook for daintiness was mere neatness, simple, common everyday neatness.'
'Oh,' I said.
'I cannot help it,' she said, 'if I tie your knot more neatly than you.'
'You seem to like knots,' I remarked.
She shrugged.
'Would you like me to show you some others?' I asked.
'Signature knots?' she asked.
'No,' I said, 'simple knots, common Gorean knots.'
'Yes,' she said, delighted.
'Bring me a pair of sandal thongs,' I told her.
She did so and then knelt down opposite me, while I sat cross-legged, and took one of the thongs in my hands.
'This is the basket hitch,' I told her, gesturing for her to put out one hand. 'It is used for fastening a carrying basket to hooks on certain tarn saddles.'
I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian ancho knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.
'Now cross your wrists,' I said.
She did so.
'So you think your knots are neater than mine?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said, 'but then you are only a man.'
I flipped one of the thongs about her wrists, then again, then turned a double opposite overhand, with a twist following the first overhand.
'My,' she said, wiggling her wrists, ' you tied that quickly.'
I did not tell her, of course, but Warriors are trained to tie that knot, and most can do it in less than three Ihn.
'I wouldn't struggle,' I said.
'Oh!' she said, stopping, pinched.
'You will tighten it,' I said.
'It is an interesting knot,' she said, examining her bound wrists. 'What do you call it?'
'It is a Capture Knot,' I said.
'Oh,' she said.
'It is used for binding slaves and such,' I remarked.
'I see,' she said.
I took the second thong and flipped around her ankles, securing them together.
'Tarl!' she said.
'Kuurus,' I reminded her.
She sat there. 'You tricked me,' she said.
'There is even more security,' I said, 'in this tie,' untying her wrists and flipping her on her stomach, crossing her wrists behind her and using the same knot, with an additional knot, binding her wrists behind her back.
She struggled to sit up. 'Yes,' she said, 'I imagine that this tie does provide greater security.'
'And this,' I said, 'provides even greater security,' lifting her to the foot of the couch, sitting her down there and snapping the heavy chain and collar, attached to the slave ring fixed there, about her throat.
'Yes,' admitted Elizabeth, 'I would agree.' She looked at me. 'Now untie me please,' she said.
'I shall have to think about it,' I said.
'Please do so,' said Elizabeth, wiggling a bit.
'When you returned to the House of Cernus,' I asked, 'and told the Keeper what had theoretically happened to you, as I instructed you, what happened?'
Elizabeth smiled. 'I was cuffed about quite a bit,' said Elizabeth. 'Was that part of your plan?'
'No,' I said, 'but I am not surprised.'
'Well, that's good,' she said. 'I certainly would not have wanted you to have been surprised.' She looked up at me. 'Now,' she said, 'please untie me.'
'I am still thinking about it,' I told her.
'Please,' she wheedled, '-Master.'
'I am now thinking more seriously about it,' I informed her.
'Good,' she said.
'So you think your knots are neater than mine?' I inquired.
'It is a simple matter of fact,' she said. 'Now please untie me,' she said.
'Perhaps in the morning,' I said.
She wiggled about angrily.
'I wouldn't struggle,' I said.
'Oh,' she cried in frustration, 'oh, oh!' Then she sat quietly, looking at me with anger. 'All right,' she said, 'all right!' Your knots are very neat, Master.'
'Better than yours?' I inquired.
She looked at me irritably. 'Of course,' she said. 'How could the knot of a mere girl, and one who is only slave, compare with the knot of a man, and one who is free, and even of the Caste of Warriors?'
'Then you acknowledge my knots are superior to yours in all respects?' I asked.
'Oh yes,' she cried, 'yes, Master!'
'Now,' I said, satisfied, 'I think I will untie you.'
'You are a beast,' said she, laughing, 'Tarl Cabot.'
'Kuurus.'
'Kuurus, Kuurus!' she said.
I bent to Elizabeth's bonds to free her when suddenly there came a loud knock on the door of the compartment. We looked at one another quickly.
The knock came again.
'Who is it?' I called.
'Ho-Tu, Master Keeper,' came the response, muffled, scarcely audible, behind the heavy beams of the door.
I gave Elizabeth a swift kiss and then jerked the slave livery to her waist and turned her about, putting her on her side at the foot of the couch, facing away from the door. She lay there on the stones, half-stripped, turned away, bound hand and foot, her throat fastened to a slave ring by the heavy collar and chain. Drawing her knees up and almost touching her chin to her chest she managed to look about as abject and abused as a poor wench might. Satisfied, I went to the door and removed the two heavy beams, opening it.
Ho-Tu was a short, corpulent man, broad-shouldered, stripped to the waist. He had quick black eyes set in a shaven head, the threads of a mustache dangled at the sides of his mouth. About his neck he wore a rude ornament, a loose iron chain bearing, also in iron, a medallion, the crest of the House of Cernus. He had a broad leather belt, with four buckles. To this belt there hung the sheath of a hook knife, which was buckled in the sheath, the strap passing over the hilt. Also, clipped to the belt, was a slave whistle, used in issuing signals, summoning slaves, and so on.
On the other side of the belt, there hung a slave goad, rather like the tarn goad, except that it is designed to be used as an instrument for the control of human beings rather than tarns. It was, like the tarn goad, developed jointly by the Caste of Physicians and that of the Builders, the Physicians contributing knowledge of the pain fibers of human beings, the networks of nerve endings, and the Builders contributing certain principles and techniques developed in the construction and manufacture of energy bulbs. Unlike the tarn goad which has a simple on-off switch in the handle, the slave goad works with both a switch and a dial, and the intensity of the charge administered can be varied from an infliction which is only distinctly unpleasant to one which is instantly lethal. The slave goad, unknown in most Gorean cities, is almost never used except by professional slavers, probably because of the great expense involved; the tarn goad, by contrast, is a simple instrument. Both goads, interestingly,
