She had been an agent of Kurii.
'Speak,' I said.
Tremblingly, head down, she spoke.
'He is Master, and I am Slave.
He is owner, and I am owned.
He commands, and I obey.
He is to be pleased, and I am to please.
Why is this?
Because he is Master, and I am Slave.'
'Each night, for a month,' I said, 'after you are chained in your kennel, and before you fall asleep, say that'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Similarly, for the same month,' I said, 'repeat it to yourself many times during the day.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'It may help you to survive,' I said.
'Thank you, Master,' she said.
'Remember to yield well to men,' I said.
'I will not be able to help myself. Master,' she smiled.
'Remember submission, and that you are a slave girl,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'You may now find this difficult to believe,' I said, 'but the time will come when you will find that you are unable to part these curtains and enter this alcove from the floor outside without being hot and wet. Merely to cross this threshold, that of an alcove, that of a chamber of submission, will make you ready for a man's pleasure.'
'I do not find it difficult to believe, Master,' she whispered. 'Merely to look at the curtains excites me.' She touched her collar. 'Merely to touch my collar excites me. To kneel on the furs, to feel them on my body, to be kneeling itself, before a man, excites me. To be naked before him, on my knees, makes me miserable with the desire for his touch.'
'I think you will survive, Slave,' I told her.
'May I kiss your feet but once more, Master,' she said.
I permitted this.
I felt her lips, so sweet on my feet, her tears and hair. 'Keep me,' she begged. 'Keep me, Master.'
I looked down once more at the slave at my feet, who had been an agent of Kurii.
Then I turned about and left the alcove.
'Master!' she cried.
I looked back at her, once more. She was on her belly, half through the curtains, her left leg extended behind her, held by the ankle ring and chain. She hold out her right hand to me. 'Please buy me! Don't leave me here!' she wept.
'How was she?' asked a paga attendant, pausing in his work, buffing goblets.
'I will not demand a refund,' I told him.
'Do you think she will work out?' he asked. 'Pembe was curious.'
'Probably,' I said. 'It is hard to know about those things. It is my guess that she will prove satisfactory.'
'Is her slavery close to the surface?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said. 'Doubtless it will soon become fully manifest.'
'Does she have slave fire?' he asked.
I remembered her sobbing in my arms, kissing and licking, and begging for my least touch.
'Yes,' I said.
'That is good,' he said. 'Perhaps there is hope for the wench. I grow weary of carrying bodies to the harbor.'
I went to the place, near the rear wall, where I had left the blond-haired barbarian. She had fallen asleep, slumped, blindfolded, there. She had, of course, released her ankles.
I touched her gently, and she, with a little moan of anguish, awakened. She realized then, suddenly, she had dropped off to sleep. Suddenly, fearfully, she assumed the kneeling position in which I had placed her, head down, gripping her ankles.
'No,' I told her, softly.
I then took her gently in my arms. How small and light she was. I do not think she weighed more than one hundred and ten pounds.
'I am leaving by the back way,' I told the paga attendant.
'As you wish,' he said.
Outside I waited for a few moments, to see if the door, behind me, should be moved ajar. I examined, too, the dust of the alley, to see if it moved, or otherwise stirred, as it might have, if a foot had passed. I looked about, at the roofs about. The door did not move. The dust did not stir. The tops of the buildings, as nearly as I could determine, seemed clear.
I looked at the girl in my arms. She was again asleep. For a moment I felt moved to tenderness toward her. Her life, in the past few weeks, had not been easy. She had been a pawn in the cruel games of worlds. Too, it is sometimes traumatic for a proud, free woman of Earth to discover that she has suddenly become an owned slave. I would let the girl sleep. I carried her through the streets of Schendi. I did not take a direct route to my room.
14
A Girl Becomes More Beautiful; I Must Take My Leave Of Sasi
Sasi opened the door.
'Master,' she said.
'Prepare a chain for the new girl,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I do not think Sasi was too pleased when I carried the blond slave over the threshold and placed her on the straw by the slave ring. Gorean slaves, incidentally, are commonly carried over the threshold when they first enter a master's house or place of residence. This is reminiscent of a bridal custom on Earth, of course. That custom, an ancient one, makes tacitly clear the bride's ownership by the male, and has clear implications of capture and bondage. It is natural that the bride desires this ceremony, and will plead for it. The oafish male, commonly, does not even understand what is going on. He should, of course, take her directly to the bed, and throw her upon it, his.
Women wish to be the slaves of their men. What woman would want a man who is not strong enough to be her master?
Not all Gorean slaves, of course, are carried over a threshold. Some are leashed and enter on their hands and knees. Some, perhaps bound and collared, are thrust through. The common denominator of these customs, of course, is that the slave must understand that force, either explicitly or implicitly, is involved, and that she will enter the stronghold of the master, and as a slave, whether she wills to do so or not.
'Is that not the girl from the Palms of Schendi?' asked Sasi. The blond girl. exhausted, was still asleep.
'Yes,' I said.
Sasi fastened a short chain to the slave ring, locking it, with its own lock, on the ring. She then, with a key, the same key which would open the chain lock, opened the chain's ankle ring.
'What do you want her for?' asked Sasi. She handed me the opened ankle ring.
'She interests me, at least for the moment,' I told her. I shut the ankle ring then on the blond's left ankle. She was secured. Sasi rose and put the key on a hook to one side of the room. Near it, on another hook, there
