'Of course,' said Cuwignaka.
'Be serious,' I said.
'I do not know,' smiled Cuwignaka. 'Maybe. Maybe not.'
'Do all of your people believe such things?' I asked.
'Most, I would suppose,' said Cuwignaka.
'What of warriors, like Canka and Hci,' I said, 'would they believe such things?'
'Of course,' said Cuwignaka.
'Let us go to our lodge,' I said.
'Yes,' said Cuwignaka. 'I must rest. Tomorrow I must dance. Tomorrow will be a glorious day!'
Chapter 16
OIPUTAKE
'Master! Master!' cried the blond-haired girl, delightedly, seizing me by the hand.
She drew me happily behind a lodge. She was naked, save for her beaded collar. It was the morning of the day of the great dance. Behind the lodge she knelt down before me. I as a man. 'I am so happy, Master,' she said. 'I am so happy!'
'Why are you not in the herd?' I asked, fearful for her. 'You have not run away, have you?' I asked. The penalties for a girl straying from her herd, or running away, were not light. The first offense involved being turned over to the women of the red savages for days of torment and torture. The second offense was to be punished by hamstringing and abandonment.
'No,' she laughed, on her knees before me. 'I have been taken out of the herd! I am no longer in it!'
'Your collar is different,' I observed. This was an attractive collar, with red and yellow beading.
'I have a new master,' she said, proudly, happily.
'What happened?' I asked.
'Last night,' she said, 'I, with others, was exchanged in the giveaways. My former master, I think, thought he was ridding himself of a poor girl, but I, as soon as I found myself within the skins of my new master's lodge, began to serve him, delicously, and as a subdued slave. He was elated. I think he was much pleased with me. He said I was a marvelous gift. He even gave my old master an additional kaiila. My old master was furious then, at having let me go. But he cannot do anything about it now. I now belong to my new master.'
'Wonderful,' I said.
'I now have a name!' she said.
'What is it?' I asked.
'Oiputake,' she said.
'That s the word for a kiss,' I said.
'Yes,' she smiled. 'And sometimes,' she laughed, 'I do not know when my master is merely calling me or ordering me to please him!'
'As you are a slave,' I said, 'I do not think I would take chances in the matter.'
'I cannot,' she laughed. 'If I am in the least doubt, I kiss him.'
I smiled.
'And he, the marvelous monster, in my control, takes liberal advantage of that ambiguity!'
'Oiputake,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said, leaning forward, kissing me on he thigh.
'I see there are some advantages,' I said, 'in giving a girl such a name.'
'You men are all alike, in owning us, in mastering us,' she laughed.
'Perhaps,' I said.
'My Master informs me,' she said, 'that if I continue to please him he might even permit me clothing.'
'Splendid,' I said.
'And he might braid my hair,' she said.
'He must beware,' I said, 'lest he become weak.'
'I think there is little danger of that,' she laughed. 'He is a red savage.'
'Would you like him to become weak,' I asked, 'so that you might wind him about your little finger?'
'No,' she said. 'I want only, in all things, to be his perfect slave.'
'He is a red savage,' I said. 'I think there is little danger that you would be permitted to be anything else.'
'No, Master,' she laughed.
'You seem happy,' I said.
'I am,' she said, 'unspeakable happy. And I owe it all to you.'
'To me,' I shrugged, 'or to some other man.'
'It was you,' she said. 'And I shall never forget it.' Her eyes clouded. 'There is only one thing.' she said.
'What is that?' I asked.
'I am so helpless now,' she said. 'My needs-'
'Yes,' I said.
'MY appetites have been ignited,' she said. 'My needs have been so aroused. It puts me so much, now, at the mercy of men.' She squirmed, on her knees. She rubbed her thighs together.
'That is common in a female slave.' I said.
'I can hardly look at an attractive man now,' she said.
'without feeling warm, and receptive, let alone being in a collar, and naked on my knees before one.'
'I understand,' I said.
'At one time,' she said, 'I would never have dreamed that I might one day beg a man for his touch, but last night, in the arms of my master, I did so.'
'I understand,' I said.
'Tearfully,' she said, 'I, once a proud free woman of Ar, now only a slave, pleaded for his caresses.'
'And was he kind?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said. 'I love him!'
'You might have been whipped instead,' I said.
'I know,' she said, 'for I am only a slave. I love him! I love him!'
'I am happy for you,' I said.
'Thank you, Master,' she said.
'Did you yield well to him?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said. 'I yielded to him from he bottom of my belly.'
'Superb,' I said.
She squirmed on her knees, before me.
'Are you in distress?' I asked.
'But these feelings,' she said, 'which you first induced in me-'
'Yes?' I said.
'They make me helpless before almost any man,' she said.
'What feelings?' I asked.
'Sometimes my heart palpitates and my breath quickens,' she said. 'Sometimes my entire skin seems suddenly suffused with warmth. It seems my breasts and thighs want to be touched. I want to be held. I want to be caressed. My belly grows hot and receptive. I feel desire. I am open, and wet. The smell of my needs is upon me.'
'Kiss my feet,' I told her.
She bent down and kissed my feet. She then lifted her head and looked at me, tears in her eyes.
'Do such feelings disturb you?' I asked.
'Sometimes,' she said, 'I am so ashamed of these changes in my body.'
'They are nothing to be ashamed of,' I said. 'Be pleased, rather, that your body, at last, freed of inhibitions,
