'Thank you, Master,' said Florence, and, kneeling behind her master, began to eat the pastry.
The chaining on the two slaves did not much restrict their movements, nor was it intended to. Like much chaining on Gor their chaining was primarily aesthetic and symbolic. On a world such as Gor chains are used far less for holding purposes than might be expected. For example, the girls are branded and collared, and their world is one in which the institution of slavery is accepted and respected; there is, in effect, no place for them to run, no place for them to go. On the other hand, chains do hold, and this is one of the major reasons for their symbolic effectiveness. The girl knows, for example, that her chains will keep her exactly where the master has chosen to place her; she is going to stay there; she has been chained there; it is his will which has determined this; she is only his slave.
Just as a woman may be chained in many ways, and Goreans can be ingenious in chaining their females, so, too, there can be many reasons for chaining her. Security against, say, escape or theft, is only one reason. She may also be chained for instructional purposes, that she may be taught, or reminded, that she is a slave. She may also be chained, particularly in certain positions, to humiliate her. She may also be chained as a punishment or discipline. She may also be chained for so simple a reason as that her master merely chooses to do so.
There are many reasons for which a woman might be chained. The women tonight, for example, were chained largely for purposes of beauty. Chains, as is well known, often enhance, and incredibly so, the beauty of a female. This matter is doubtless partly aesthetic and partly emotional and intellectual. The contrast of the unbreakable, merciless, interwoven metallic links, with their tasteful shackles, or cuffs and rings, with the confined, helpless softness of the slave is aesthetically interesting, providing, as it does, a lovely study in surfaces, textures and materials; too, of course, it is only fair to note that the meshed linkage of the chain, with its weight and harshness, with its metallic simplicity and solidity, with its uncompromising, unyielding, inescapable efficiency, merciless and unbreakable, contrasts with, calls attention to, and accentuates remarkably the vulnerability and softness, in all its beauty and curves, of its captive. But the greatest beauty of the chain, like that of the brand and collar, doubtless lies in the realm of the intellect and emotions, in its meaning, and how it makes the girl feel.
The brand and collar, though mighty in their significance, offer little actual impediment to a girl's action, unless, perhaps, she desires to pass alone and unchallenged through a city gate. Chains, on the other hand, permit her only certain latitudes of movement or keep her fixed in a given place. They, by actually putting a physical bond on her, and one which she knows she is powerless to break or escape, one in which she is absolutely helpless, bring her slavery home to her in a clear and unmistakable manner. They well teach her that she is a slave and owned. How could it be made more clear to her, that she is his to do with as he pleases, than when she actually wears his chain?
It is difficult to describe the subtle and exquisite emotions, so profound, and helpless and feminine, which may be felt by the chained woman. 'You are chained, and a slave,' the chains say to her. 'He has chained you, and he is your master. He may now do with you as he pleases. You are now in your place. Choice is gone. Now you can be only, and wholly, a woman. Prepare now to serve your Master, beautiful chained slave.'
It is a well-known fact that the mere sight of chains can make many women, even free women, sexually uneasy. Imagine if they were put in them! The chain, like the rope and the strap, and the whip, even when they have no reason to believe they will ever be used on them, speak on some profound level to women. Imagine, then, that a woman, falling slave, suddenly realized that she was now, in effect, subject to them! Consider her fears, her curiosity, her arousal! A woman, often, particularly if stripped, seeing a chain and knowing that it is to be placed upon her, will feel uncontrollable sexual desire, her body opening like a humid flower in its receptivity. That response can characterize even a free woman. Imagine, then, if you will, that now the woman is not free, but has fallen slave! She now knows that she is subject, categorically and in all ways, to the full domination of the master. No longer does she have even the theoretical option of offering a token resistance. Open, enraptured, joyful, she writhes moaning and crying out on the furs of love, a conquered slave, a fulfilled woman.
'There must be levies of men and ships, from the signatory towns,' Glyco was saying to Callimachus, 'rotations of men, and perhaps, too, of ships. Patrols must be organized. Communications and signals will be of great significance.'
'You are now first captain in Port Cos, are you not?' I asked Calliodorus. He had been captain of the valiant _Tais_. I assumed, with the fall of Callisthenes, that the mantle and helmet of the first captain would surely devolve upon him.
'I am acting first captain,' said Calliodorus. 'But it would be my hope that Callimachus, who was once first captain, may be prevailed upon to resume that post.'
The two slaves had now left the pastries and custards upon the table, and had returned to the kitchen. They would there presumably be relieved of their chains and would return with the black wine.
'The citadels of Policrates and Ragnar Voskjard have been burned, I heard,' I said.
'Yes,' said Tasdron. The citadel of Ragnar Voskjard had been fled by its defenders, after the news of the battle at Victoria reached them, they knowing themselves too few to defend it against a concerted siege.
'They might have been useful as bastions for the Vosk League,' I said.
'The Vosk League,' smiled Tasdron, 'is a simple league, whose intent it is merely to control piracy on the river.'
'That was the original intent, too, as I understand it,' I said, 'of the league on the Olni which became the Salerian Confederation.'
'We did not want trouble with Cos and Ar,' said Tasdron.
'Not while we are weak,' said Glyco.
'I see,' I said.
'Not only have they been burned,' said Tasdron, 'but they will be dismantled. We have taken proposals on this work from stone merchants.'
'And salt will be cast upon the ashes,' said Glyco.
'Salt,' I said, 'can be a sign of life, and luck.'
'True,' smiled Tasdron.
'The headquarters of the Vosk League, as I understand it,' I said, 'is to be located in Victoria.'
'Yes,' smiled Tasdron. 'The choice seemed judicious.'
'Victoria was centrally involved in the resistance to the pirates,' said Aemilianus.
'And it was here that the decisive victory was won,' said Calliodorus.
'And in this fashion,' grinned Aemilianus, 'the headquarters of the league is not in Port Cos.'
'And, similarly,' smiled Calliodorus, 'it is not at Ar's Station.'
There was laughter at the table.
The two slaves, their chains removed, now returned, and began to serve the black wine. The voluptuous slave of Aemilianus, whom he had not yet named, placed the tiny silver cups, on small stands, before us. The lovely little slave in bluish gauze, whom I had not yet named, holding the narrow-spouted, silver pouring vessel in a heavy cloth, to retain its heat and protect her hands, poured the scalding, steaming black fluid, in narrow, tiny streams, into the small cups. She poured into the cups only the amount that would be compatible with the assorted sugars and creams which the guest might desire, if any, these being added in, and stirred, if, and as, pertinent, by Aemilianus' slave, who directed the serving.
'Have the pirates been disposed of, suitably?' I asked Tasdron.
'Yes,' said Tasdron. 'We divided them among various wholesalers, with the understanding that no more than one of them will be sold in any given market, in any given city or town, or village or fair. Thus they will be well scattered, and distributed, over all known Gor.'
'I see,' I said. Policrates, Kliomenes and Callisthenes, and such men, branded and collared, would soon be owned slaves, laboring for masters. There are many uses for such slaves. They can be purchased for work chains, to be rented out by their masters, sometimes marched between cities, depending on the seasons and the work available. They can serve, too, in such places as the mines, the quarries and great farms.
'Master?' asked the girl in yellow gauze, who had been Shirley and now belonged, for the moment nameless, to my friend Aemilianus, of Ar's Station.
'Second slave,' I told her, which, among the river towns, and in certain cities, particularly in the north, is a way of indicating that I would take the black wine without creams or sugars, and as it came from the pouring vessel, which, of course, in these areas, is handled by the 'second slave,' the first slave being the girl who puts down the cups, takes the orders and sees that the beverage is prepared according to the preferences of the one
