anaesthetic and delicious general security, a chain neck leash being added,naturally, to restrict movement.' I then put her on her back. Her knees weredrawn up and her hands held helplessly at her sides. 'Now,' I said, 'I think youcan see one of the main virtues of this, tie. The woman is quite helpless,absolutely, and there is not the least impedance to the master's approach.'
She seemed to shrink back in the bonds.
'Please, untie me,' she said.
I thrust apart her knees.
'Oh!' she said.
I held her knees apart, not permitting her to close them.
'I do not want to be tied like this!' she cried. 'I did not know it would belike this. I am too helpless! Please, untie me! Free me! Loosen my bonds! Do notkeep me tied like this! No! Please!'
I regarded her.
She looked at me in fear. She squirmed, helplessly.
'What do you know of me?' I asked her.
'Nothing,' she said, 'only that you are my master.'
'What might I do to you?' I asked.
'Anything,' she said.
I withdrew my hands, permitting her to close her knees, which she did,immediately, clenching them fearfully together.
'You have tied me like a pig,' she said.
'The pig,' I said, 'is not a Gorean animal. To be sure, you are trussed ratherlike a she-tarsk.'
'You have tied me, then,' she said, 'like a she-tarsk!'
'Do not flatter yourself,' I said, 'that you enjoy a status as high as eitherthat of the pig or she-tarsk. Your status is lower than that of either. It isthat of the female slave.'
'You have bound me, then,' she said, 'as a slave!'
'Now you speak the truth,' I informed her.
'What are you going to do with me?' she asked.
'Whatever I wish,' I said.
She moaned. She pulled weakly at her wrist tethers, fastening her wrists to herankles.
'Do you begin to sense now,' I asked, 'what it might for a woman to be bound bya man?'
'Yes, Master,' she whispered.
'Can you escape?' I asked.
'No, Master,' she said.
'Are you powerless?' I asked.
'Yes, Master,' she said. 'I am powerless, totally.'
'What will be done to you?' I asked.
'I do not know! ' she wept. 'I am helpless. I am a slave. I am at your mercy. Itis you who will decide what is to be done with me.'
'Perhaps I will whip you, lashing you with my belt,' I said. 'Perhaps I willkick you, again and again. convincing you of your worthlessness. Perhaps I shallkneel across your body, slapping you, methodically, again and again, until youbeg for mercy. Perhaps I shall merely, for my amusement, beat you senseless.'
'Please, Master, no,' she said.
'Perhaps it shall be the quirt,' I said. 'Perhaps I shall us the quirt on you,lengthily, as on a recalcitrant she- kaiila.'
'No, Master,' she said. 'Please, no, Master! ' 'Are you recalcitrant?' I asked.
'I am not recalcitrant,' she said. 'I am docile, and obedient. I am ready toplease you, and I desire to please you.'
'Perhaps I will butcher you,' I said. 'Perhaps I will take you.
She looked at me, in horror.
'Would you prefer to be butchered or taken?' I asked.
'Taken, Master,' she said. 'I beg to be taken.'
'The taking of a free woman,' I asked, 'in which, to some extent, her dignity,pride and status are respected, or the taking of a slave?'
'I am a slave, Master,' she said. 'I beg that of a slave.'
I looked at her knees, clenched closely together. 'Spread your knees apart,widely,' I told her.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Now beg,' I told her.
'I beg,' she said.
In moments it was necessary to thrust her hair, balled and wadded, into hermouth, and I put my hand, too, over her mouth. Her eyes were wild. She kickedwildly at the pliant, braided black leather, again and again. Then, mercifully,I unbound her limbs and I let her straighten her trembling in the blankets. Withone finger I pulled the wet hair from her mouth. She was gasping, andshuddering. I held her closely for a few minutes that she might, while thuswarmed and sheltered, make some adjustment to this new dimension, which she haddiscovered in her being.
'What was it?' she whispered.
'It was a small one,' I reassured her.
'What was it?' she whispered.
'It was the first, I think, of your slave orgasms,' I said. I then rose from herside and threw her the tiny slave tunic. 'Put it on,' I said. She did so, and Ithen lifted her gently in my arms and carried her to the chain. I put her downthere, on her side, softly, in the grass. When I lifted the opened collar toplace it about her throat, she put her hands on my wrists, and softly kissed myhands. She looked at me, her eyes wondrous, and soft.
'I did not know it could be like that,' she said.
'It was only a small thing,' I said.
'There could be more?' she asked.
'You have not yet begun to learn what it can be, to be a slave,' I said.
She looked at me, frightened.
I then snapped the collar about her throat.
'Do you know, ultimately,' I asked, 'Who will prove to be your one besttrainer?'
'No, Master,' she said.
'You, yourself,' I said, 'the girl, herself, eager to please, imaginative andintelligent, monitoring her own performances and feelings, striving lovingly toimprove and refine them. You yourself will be largely responsible for makingyourself the superb slave you will become.'
'Master?' she asked.
'The collar,' I said, touching it, 'is put on from without, but what itencircles, the slave, comes from within.'
'Master?' she asked.
Slavery,' I told her, 'true slavery, comes from within, and you, my lovelylittle red-haired beast, I assure you, as was evidenced by your behavior andperformances this night, are a true slave. Do not fight your slavery. Allow itfreely and spontaneously, candidly, sweetly and untrammeled, to manifest itself.
It is what you are.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'It, too,' I said, 'will save you many bouts with the lash.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I then turned about and left her, on the chain. 'Master!' she called, but I didnot turn back. She would stay there, on the coffle, where I bad put her. She wasonly a slave.
I returned to my blankets and lay down again, to sleep for a few Ehn before thecamp began to stir.
Nothing of importance had transpired. I had merely done a favor for Grunt, myfriend, opening a slimly bodied, red-haired girl for him, one of his slaves.
To be sure, she was pretty, and first on the coffle.
