passed down the gangplank. Reunions were common and often demonstrative, those with relatives and friends, those of companions, those of masters with eager, scantily clad, loving slaves. Much the same sort of thing was occurring elsewhere, at other piers.
'It was a good voyage,' said the keeper, reaching out with a staff and hook to draw Publia, by the chain from which her harness was suspended, close to the rail.
'Yes,' I said.
When Publia had been drawn closer to the rail two other fellows reached out and pulled her to the bow deck where they knelt her, in the shackles, in the harness, still attached to the chain. In a moment he, and the others, similarly, had retrieved Claudia and she, too, knelt on the bow deck.
'I gather,' said the keeper, 'that you have had some relationship, or something to do, with these two slaves.
'Yes,' I said.
'Slaves,' said the keeper.
'Yes, Master,' said Publia.
'Yes, Master,' said Claudia.
'You may bid him farewell,' said the keeper, 'in a manner suitable for slaves.' 'I wish you well, Master,' said Publia, humbly, kneeling before me in her shackles and harness, putting down her head, kissing my feet.
'I wish you well, slave,' I said.
Claudia then, too, as had Publia, was kneeling before me. She, too, put down her head. 'I, too, wish you well, Master,' she said. She then softly, delicately, kissed my feet.
'I wish you well, slave,' I said.
The young warrior, Marcus, was not looking toward the piers, or the town, ascending from the harbor. His attentions seemed to be outward, and back, toward the entrance of the harbor.
I looked back to the pier. Here and there, lingering, some four or five of them, were slave girls.
The keeper was now crouching by Publia. He freed her wrist shackles from the chain and then her wrists from the shackles. He then pulled her small wrists behind her back and locked them there, in slave bracelets. He then, similarly, removed her ankle shackles from the chain and then freed her ankles from the shackles themselves. He then removed her harness. He similarly handled Claudia.
'You do not seem eager to see Port Cos,' I said to the young warrior. 'Where,' asked he, 'do you think the northern forces of Ar are?' 'South of the river,' I said, 'back, to the east, somewhere.'
'The expeditionary force of Cos will never be able to slip between then and the river,' he said.
'Perhaps not,' I said.
'It would be impossible,' he said.
'Perhaps,' I said.
I turned about. A fellow had brought two slave hoods and a neck chain, it appeared to be about five feet in length, terminating at each end with a collar. I watched while Publia was turned about and set, kneeling, before the kneeling Claudia. Claudia's neck was the first locked in the collar. Publia appeared apprehensive, but did not dare turn about. The second collar was locked on her neck. The two slaves were now linked together. The chain was, indeed, some five feet in length. Claudia's eyes, frightened, met mine. Then she was hooded, and the hood straps, beneath her chin, drawn snug, and buckled shut, behind the back of her neck. In a moment Publia, too, similarly, had been hooded. Publia was then drawn to her feet by an arm and conducted back, through the passage between the starboard rail and the stem castle, back amidships, to the gangplank, Claudia, responding to the cues of the chain, helpless in the hood, with tiny steps, hurrying behind.
I looked toward the pharos, on the promontory. Its light at night could be see, it was said, pasangs east and west on the river.
'What are you thinking of?' I asked the young warrior, Marcus.
'Of vengeance,' he said, bitterly, 'and loyalty.'
'An odd juxtaposition of thoughts,' I commented.
I then turned about and watched Publia and Claudia, hooded, naked, on their common chain, their wrists braceleted behind them, being herded along the pier, among boxes and bales. Beyond the pier, abutting on harborside wharfage, there were numerous buildings, mostly shops, such as those of sailmakers, oarmakers and sawyers, and warehouses, and, here and there, between these buildings, narrow streets, stretching up toward the city. I expected that they would be herded up one of these streets to the house of some slaver or other. They would have very little idea, at this time, of what Port Cos was like. Their hoods would be removed, presumably, only in the slaver's house. They would be very helpless, and muchly disorientated. Later, perhaps never having been given access to a window, or never having been outside unhooded, they would find themselves auctioned. From that time on, what was permitted to them would be determined by their master.
'I am angry,' said the young man, perhaps more to himself than to me. 'Why is that?' I asked.
'There are many things I do not understand,' he said.
'There are many things which none of us understand,' I said.
'I am bitter,' he said.
'Because war is not all nodding plumes and the sun flashing from silvered shields?' I asked, recalling the words of Aemilianus.
'Perhaps,' he said.
I looked to the pier. There were still some slave girls there. I now saw three. Two were bare- breasted.
'Put dark thoughts from you,' I said. 'You have come safe to Port Cos. Rejoice. See the city. Come, if you like, and sup with me. Let us see what Port Cos has to offer in the way of enslaved females. She is noted, like Victoria, and certain other towns, for excellent wares in that respect.'
'I thank you,' said he. 'But go on without me.'
'You are a hero, and a warrior,' I said. 'Surely you do not mind squeezing luscious female flesh, branded and collared, in your arms.'
'Outrage a treachery and blood, and confusion, and hatred, are now in my thoughts,' he said, 'not the belled, perfumed bodies of female slaves.: 'Yes,' said I, 'such are pleasant, crawling and licking about your feet and legs, looking up at you, begging to please. Make use of them. Use them for recreation. They are your due.: 'No,' said he.
'It is hard to suppose that you would not be pleased to see them dancing before you, in the beads and chains of slaves.'
'It is on less pleasant things that my thoughts now dwell,' he said. 'For some,' I said, 'you might give your purse, and even draw your sword, to take them from the auction block.'
'I do not have such feelings now,' he said.
'Some,' I said, 'the curvy little sluts, in their collars, can make you scream with pleasure.'
He was silent, looking to the east.
'It is hard to lose ideals,' I said. 'But sometimes one can purchase them back, by deeds, in a new form.' I recalled the delta of the Vosk, I recalled Torvaldsland.
He was silent.
'I wish you well,' I said.
'I wish you well,' he said.
I then went back, amidships, and gathered up a sea bag and a few articles, a shaving knife, and such, which I had purchased on the ship from one or another of the good fellows of Port Cos. Then, my blade over my shoulder, I lifted my hand to the deck officer and took leave of the Tais.
I had scarcely set foot on the pier when the three girls came quickly forward, and knelt down.
'Come to the Dina!' said the first. 'All our girls are dinas!' She turned her left thigh to me and drew up her tunic, showing me the dina brand. The dina is a small, roselike flower. It is popularly called the 'slave-flower.' The dina brand, or slave-flower brand, is a common one on Gor.
'Come to the Veninium!' said the second. The veminium is a delicate, five-petaled blue flower common in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Gor. 'We are not so expensive!' The use of the veninium, as a name for the tavern, given the widely spread range of the flower was perhaps supposed to suggest affordable beauty. The second and the third girls were the one who were bare-breasted. 'My master's tavern is the Larma!'
