I moaned inwardly. How had I changed? What had men done to me?
He put me gently to my back, beside the tent, perhaps not feet from Aulus, the overseer, within, working on papers.
My body leaped to his touch.
I looked up at him, wildly.
Men had done much to me on Gor. they had imperiously, for their amusement and pleasure, summoned forth from me my latent slavery, a slavery which on Earth I had hardly dared acknowledge. They had taken a woman of Earth and lit slave fires in her belly. They had taught me how to feel. They had required that I show my slavery, and yield to it, wholly and honestly. They would let me be the slave I was, lovingly and helplessly. I loved them for it! I kissed the master eagerly.
He drew aside that bit of silk, that slender mockery of a shield.
'Yes, Master,' I whispered.
He then used me, as a slave.
'I must polish boots,' I said, at last, frightened. 'I must polish boots.' 'be about your chores, girl,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' I whispered. He then left me. I readjusted the bit of silk. I tried to wipe dirt from my back with my hands. I did not Aulus to know. Perhaps I, a slave, should not have gone out of the tent, clad as I was. There were tears in my eyes. How helpless the touch of men made us!
I hurried back about the tent and reentered it. Aulus glanced up, from the small, low table, behind which he sat, cross-legged, working. I performed obeisance, and then made as though to rise, to hurry to the rear portions of the tent, where my mat was near Tela' s.
'Where have you been?' he asked.
I remained on my knees, addressed. Indeed, from performing obeisance I was on all fours. 'Outside,' I said. 'I went out for air. The night is very beautiful.' 'Do you expect Tela to do your work?' he asked.
'No!' I said. 'No, Master!'
'Your nipples,' he said, 'are swollen. Your skin is like a field of scarlet dinas.'
I did not respond. I was terrified.
'Are you well warmed?' he asked.
I flung myself, in terror, to my belly before him. I did not want to be punished.
'Tomorrow,' he said, 'I am going out of the camp, to the Vitkel Aria, and south. There is trouble with the chains. It has to do with the mercenary companies now roving the countryside. They do so with impunity. It seems they think that whatever land the tread of their tharlarion can shake, whatever soil they choose to mark with the imprint of their beasts' claws, is theirs. Venna keeps her forces in the vicinity of the city. The patrols of Ar are irregular. The forces of Ar, almost entirely, have marched north, towards Ar' s Station, on the Vosk, there to meet with an expeditionary force of Cos. It seems madness, with an army of Cosians, and mercenaries, at Torcadino, but I am not a general, not the regent of Ar. In short, as Ionicus, and others, including myself, have feared there might be, there has been trouble. It is nothing, however, happily, as we are dealing with mercenaries, that some gold, some fees for their clamorous brigades, cannot straighten out. Such things have happened before.'
I understood very little of what he was saying. I did know that the main body of the forces of Ar had marched north. Indeed, they had done so on the Vitkel Aria itself, which, in effect, is a military road.
'Master?' I asked.
'I am going to take you with me,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' I said.
'Have you ever been chained by the neck to a stirrup?' he asked.
'No, Master,' I said.
'You will have the experience tomorrow,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' I said.
'Have you finished polishing my boots?' he asked.
'No, Master,' I said. 'With master' s permission, I will do so now.' He lifted a finger, dismissing me. Quickly I rose to my knees and performed obeisance. I then rose to my feet, and, head down, humbly, frightened, hurried to the back portions of the tent.
There I saw the shield which Tela had been polishing, a small, round shield, more of a buckler, really, than a shield. It was ornamented with bosses, and engraved with mythological scenes, the conquest, and the rape and enslavement of Amazons by satyrs. In Gorean mythology, it is said that there was once a war between men and women and that the women lost, and that the Priest-Kings, not wishing the women to be killed, made them beautiful, but as the price of this gift decreed that they, and their daughters, to the end of time, would be the slaves of men. The shield, so small, so beautiful, was perhaps more for display, I think, then an implement of war. Still I did not doubt that Aulus could handle weapons. He seemed to me that sort of man. Perhaps at one time he had been in service, to some city or another. Her rag, and the polish, in its flat metal container, were near the shield. Near it, too, were the boots of Aulus, and the rags and polish I would use for them. There were many domestic labors I did not care for, but, oddly enough, I did not mind polishing the boots of men. It seemed somehow fitting for me. I knelt down and put one of the heavy boots of Aulus between my thighs. Then, carefully, bending over, in the light of a hanging lamp, doing only a tiny spot at a time, rubbing with circular motions, I addressed myself to the leather. I did not want to be punished for having been outside the tent, with the guard. I had not intended to seduce him. it was not my fault, unless it was somehow my fault to be such that men so desired me. He had taken advantage of me, even warning me to silence! Was it not my master' s fault, for letting me go out of the tent in what was little more, in effect, than a collar and a G-string? To be sure, I did yield well, but what was I to have done? What did Aulus expect? I was a slave! Surely in his own tent I had given him enough evidence of that! I wished I had been given clothing. Then I might have been able to better conceal what had been done to me. I wondered if I would be punished. I wondered if things, over a period of hours, build up a great deal of pain in a girl' s body. But he had not seemed particularly angry with me. I did not think he intended to punish me. I hoped not. Too, if I were punished, I might not look too well at his stirrup tomorrow. I had never been chained by the neck to a man' s stirrup. I wondered what it would be like. I supposed the matter had to do with the effect he hoped to achieve, perhaps like the silver shield. I gathered I would be a display slave at his stirrup, something like a golden saddle and a purple cloak, something for show. I worked hard on the boots. Too, at his stirrup he could keep his eye on me, not leaving me behind. Perhaps that would amuse him. I glanced over at the shield. It had not been finished. I hoped that Tela did not expect me to finish it. The shield was hers to do! I had been assigned, perhaps because Aulus thought it more fitting for me, to do the boots.
'Tela!' I called softly. 'Tela!'
I continued to work on the boots.
Where was lazy Tela? If she wanted to court the wrist rings and chains, to be fastened on her knees to the center post of the tent, and whipped, that was her business, not mine! To be sure, this was not like Tela. If anything, Tela was a hard worker. She was, certainly, generally, at least, not the sort who would shirk her work. I wondered if she wer trying to get even with me, for the time I had had her iron the tunics? But I had paid her back for that later, surely, when I, too, had done them all! I liked Tela, and she had been very kind to me, even though I think she liked Aulus, and might have preferred to be the only slave in the tent.
'Tela!' I called, somewhat more loudly. 'Tela!'
I was not really angry with Tela. I did wonder where she was. It was not like her to leave off in the midst of a task. I rose up, putting to one side the boot on which I was workings, and went to the side, brushing back the curtain, to where our mats were.
'Tela!' I called. She was not there.
'What is wrong?' asked Aulus, having come from the front portion of the tent. 'Nothing, Master,' I said, quickly.
'Where is Tela?' he asked.
'I do not know,' I said.
'The shield has not been finished,' he said.
'Perhaps she is outside,' I said.
He went to the front of the tent, and stepped outside, underneath the sort of awning there, over the threshold, supported on two poles.
