'And you are surely a very handsome Master,' I said. He was, as a matter of fact, very handsome. On the other hand, I was out to get my way. Men, incidentally, will believe anything they are told.
'Why, thank you,' he said.
'There is a legend over my head,' I said.
'Yes, there is,' he agreed.
'Can you read it?' I wheedled.
'Why, yes,' he said. 'I can.'
'Please, please,' I wheedled. 'Please read it for little Lita.' I referred to myself by this name. It was the name I had given to the two young men on the road, and also, if only to be consistent, to the Archon's man. On the other hand I did not mind the name. I rather liked it. It excited me.
'It says,' said the man, ''Whip me, if I speak without permission.' I turned white He smiled.
'It does not really say that, does it?' I asked, frightened.
'No,' he said.
'Please tell me what it says,' I said.
'We shall assume, for purposes of this discussion, that you are a slave,' he said.
'Very well, Master,' I said, puzzled.
'Do you believe that slaves should serve free persons,' he asked, 'or that free persons should serve slaves.'
'I believe it is the slaves who should serve the free persons,' I said, hastily, 'not the other way around.' I certainly did not want to have the flesh whipped off my bones.
'And if I read that legend for you,' he said, 'I would be serving you, wouldn't IT' 'Yes, Master,' I said.
'And you would not want that, would you?' he asked.
'No,' I said.
'Then,' he said, 'you do not want me to read the legend for you.' 'No, Master,' I said, miserably.
'Very well,' He said and, Chuckling, left.
I shook the chains in frustration. He seemed to be a very kind man.
If I had not tried to be so clever, if I had not tried to trick him, he probably would have read the legend for me.
I watched him walking off.
He had not seemed eager, even desperate to please me, in spite of the fact that I was naked. I then realized, with a strange feeling deep within me, something akin to fear and excitement, that on this world it was the naked women, or scantily clad women, women who would be slaves, or would be presumed to be slaves, women such as I, who must serve and please the men. This was not Earth; it was Gor.
'Oh, Ladyl' I called. 'Please, Lady!'
The slave, alone, in the brief, sleeveless red tunic, with sides split to the waist, turned, to see whom I might be addressing.
'Lady!' I called to her.
'I am not a lady,' she said. 'I am a slave.'
'Please,' I said. 'Can you read the legend posted over my head?' 'Cannot you read?' she asked.
'No,' I said. I looked at her. She was nicely curved, with brown hair and eyes. She wore a close-fitting steel collar.
'I am sorry,' she said. 'I cannot either. I was never taught.' She hen sped on her way.
'What is going on?' asked the Archon's man.
'Nothing, Master,' I said.
'If you delay slaves in their errands, and they are late,' he said, 'they might be whipped.'
'I am sorry, Master,' I said.
'Why did you delay her?' he asked.
'I wanted her to read the sign posted over my head,' I said.
'Why didn't you ask me?' he asked.
'I was afraid,' I said. 'You did not read it to me. I thought then perhaps you did not want me to know what it said.'
'And, without determining whether that was true or not,' he said, 'you nonetheless sought, perhaps thereby circumventing my will, to determine its contents?'
'Yes, Master,' I said. 'Forgive me, Masterl'
'You should be whipped,' he said. He unclipped the coiled slave whip from his belt.
'I am a free woman!' I told him.
'You have a slave's body,' he said.
'Even so, I am a free woman,' I said.
'Perhaps you are a free woman,' he said. 'It is hard to imagine a slave being so stupid.'
'Do not whip me,' I begged.
I saw him recoiling the blades of the whip. I viewed this action with unspeakable relief.
He then thrust it before my face. 'Lick it, and kiss it,' he said.
'Please,' I begged.
'You will do so now,' he said, 'or after you have been beaten with it.' I then reached my head forward and, delicately, licked and kissed the whip. He then replaced the stern, supple disciplinary device on his belt.
'Master,' I said.
'Yes,' he said.
'Why did you not tell me what the sign said?' I asked.
'I showed it to you,' he said. 'It did not occur to me that you could not read.' 'But I cannot,' I said. 'Please tell me what it says!'
'Not now, pretty Lita,' he said. 'Not now.' He then walked away. I stomped with my right foot. I shook the chains, angrily. Tears came to my eyes. I was being frustrated, as though I might be a slave.
The afternoon wore on.
My body and arms began to ache miserably.
From time to time one man or another in the crowd would pause to gaze on me. I usually looked away from them but, even so, it seemed I could sometimes sense their eyes on me, roving me with impunity. I chained as I was, was exposed to their gaze as any stripped slave.
Sometimes they would come up to the platform, to examine me more closely. The Archon's man, however, would not permit them to touch my body or test my slave reflexes. Similarly, I was not required to respond to certain sorts of commands, for example, to make 'slave lips,' pursing my lips for kissing, or to writhe slowly before my viewers. It was still regarded as a theoretical possibility, I gathered, that I might be free. 'She is not for sale,' the Archon's man told one fellow. 'Too bad,' had said the fellow. 'Not now,' had added the Archon's man. 'Perhaps later,' said the fellow.
'Perhaps,' had agreed the Archon's man.
It was late in the afternoon when, suddenly, my body stiffened in terror. I put my head down, swiftly, trembling. I wanted to hide but, Of Course, I was held perfectly where I was, exposed, helpless in the- shackles.
He must not have seen me! He must not have seen mel I turned away a little, in the chains, as though merely to change my position. My heart was pounding in terror.
He, of all people!
Surely he had not noticed me. Surely he had not seen me. He must not have seen me!
'Let the cbttrl be stripped,' I had said, imperiously, 'and a sign be put about his neck, proclaiming him a fraud. Then let him be marched naked, before the spears of guards, through the great gate of Corcyrus, not to be permitted to return before the second passage hand!'
But I could not run now. I, helpless, naked, chained in place, was being publicly displayed.
A Corcyran merchant had brought charges against him, a matter having to do with a bowl, purportedly silver, but only plated, and one bearing a forged mark, misrepresenting it as the work of the silversmiths of Ar.
Surely he must now have passed by.
