Captive of Gor (9 page)

the titanic Vosk farther to the south, well below Ko-ro-ba, though well above

Ar, (pg. 60) which is said to be the greatest city of all known Go. The Laurius,

like the Vosk, flows in a generally westernly direction, though the Laurius

inclines more to the southwest then the great Vosk.

Considering the nature of the good commonly found in Laura, rough goods for the

most part, one might have supposed it strange that Targo was bound for that

city. It was not strange, however, for it was spring, and spring is the great

season for slave raids. Indeed, the preceding fall, at the fair of Se’Kara, near

the Sardar Mountains, he had contracted with a marauder, Haakon of Skjern, for

one hundred northern beauties, to be taken from the villages, upward even to the

edges of Torvaldsland. It was to collect this merchandise that Targo was

venturing to Laura. He had already, at the fair, paid Haakon a deposit on this

purchase, in the amount of fifty gold pieces. The balance of one hundred and

fifty gold pieces would be due when the consignment was delivered. Two gold

pieces is a high price for a raw girl, delivered in Laura, but, if the same girl

can be brought safely to a large market city, she will probably bring five or

more, even if untrained. Further, in offering as much as two gold pieces in

Laura, Targo assured himself of first pick of Haakon’s choicest captures. Beyond

this, Targo had speculated that since no city had recently fallen, and the house

of Cernus had been destroyed in Ar, one of the great slave houses, that the

market would be high this spring. Moreover, it was his intention to have his

girls receive some training, probably in the pens of Ko-ro-ba, before taking

them southeast to Ar. Unfortunately for Targo, village girls are not of high

caste. On the other hand, if worth a good deal less, they are much more easily

acquired than a high-caste free woman. When I was taken by Targo, he had only

one high-cast girl on his chain, the tall girl, Inge, who was of the scribes.

Ute, who had been harnessed next to me, had been of the leather workers. A

slave, of course, in one sense, has no caste. In being enslaved, she is robbed

of caste, as well as of her name. She belongs to her master in all respects, as

an animal. He may call her what he wishes, and (pg. 61) do with her what he

pleases. It seems not unlikely that one of Targo’s village girls, if trained and

brought to Ar, might net him from ten to fifteen, perhaps even twenty, gold

pieces. His investment, in some respects an excellent one, was, however, not

without its risks. It is not always easy to bring a beautiful girl to the market

of Ar, where the highest prices are traditionally paid. It is not that the girl

is likely to escape, for slavers seldom lose prisoners. It is rather that she

may be taken from you. The female slave is prize booty.

Before Targo had acquired me, he had been making his way northward from Ko-ro-ba

to Laura. Indeed, he had come all the way from the vicinity of Ar, buying and

selling girls at various cities. He had purchased Inge, Ute, and Lana, whom I

hated, in Ko-ro-ba. Lana was our leader. We feared her. She was the strongest.

She was also the most beautiful, submissive, ingratiating and docile with the

men, she was imperious with us. As it is said, masters do not much interfere in

the squabbles of slaves. She would have been severely beaten ,of course, if she

had disfigured us, injured us, or in any way lowered our value. But, beyond

this, she might bully us, or beat us, as much as she pleased. We hated her.

Also, we envied her. Not only was she the most beautiful but she had been

trained in the house of Cernus, the great slave house, in Ar, before its fall.

Even more important she had once been sold, even from the great block of the

Curulean. Lana was always placed at the end of the display chain, that the most

attractive merchandise be glimpsed last. We were hoping she that she would be

sold, but Targo was holding out for an extremely high price for her. Doubtless

he would have received many times, except that she had not been of high caste.

She treated the rest of us as slaves. Targo, and some of the guards, sometimes,

would give her candies, and sweetmeats. My own position in the display chain, at

the beginning, was fourth. I was taught to kneel in a certain way, and, when

inspected, to lift my head, smile, and utter a certain phrase. Targo, and the

guards, made me practice it many times. I later learned that its meaning was

“Buy me, Maser.” In displaying a girl, an ankle ring is placed on her (pg. 62)

left ankle. This locks on the ankle. There is also a smaller ring, projecting

from the larger ring, which also locks. This smaller ring can either be snapped

into a particular link in a chain, thus allowing the girls to be spaced at

certain intervals, or it can be closed about the chain as a whole, thus

permitting the chain to run freely through the ring without injuring or burning

the girl’s ankle. In the “display chain,” we were spaced on the chain, and the

chain stretched rather taut and fastened at both ends, sometimes to trees,

sometimes to two large metal screws, more than two feet in length, which screwed

into the ground, beyond the reach on each end of the first and last girl. Thus,

not only would we be secured, but we were unable to crowd together, as girls,

particularly unexperienced girls, have a tendency to do when not prevented. In

the display chain, it might be mentioned, as would be expected, we are

exhibited, unclothed. A Gorean saying has it that only a fool would buy a woman

clothed. I suppose it was true.

Targo had set forth from Ko-ro-ba with forty girls and five wagons, ten bosk,

and many other goods. His men, at that time, had numbered more than twenty. Two

days out of Ko-ro-ba, crossing the fields northward toward Laura, the sky had

darkened with a flight of outlaw tarnsmen, more than a hundred of them, under

the command of the terrible Rask of Treve, one of the most dreaded warriors on

all Gor. Fortunately for Targo he had managed to bring his caravan to the edge

of a vast Ka-la-na thicket just before the tarnsmen struck. I had seen several

such thickets when I was wandering alone in the fields. Targo had divided his

men expertly. Some he set to seize up what gold and goods they could. Others he

ordered to free the girls and drive them into the thicket. Others he commanded

to cut loose the great bosk that pulled the wagons, and drive them, too, into

the brush and trees. Then, but moments before the tarnsmen struck, Targo, with

his men driving the girls and the bosk, fled into the thicket. The tarnsmen

alighted and ransacked the wagons, setting fire to them. There was sharp

fighting in the thicket. Targo must have lost some eleven men, and some twenty

of his girls were taken by the tarnsmen, but, after a (pg. 63) bit, the tarnsmen

withdrew. Tarnsmen, riders of the great tarns, called Brothers of the Wind, are

masters of the open sky, fierce warriors whose battleground is the clouds and

sky; they are not forest people; they do not care to stalk and hunt where, from

the darkness of trees, from a canopy of foliage, they may meet suddenly,

unexpectedly, a quarrel from the crossbow of an invisible assailant.

Rask withdrew his men and, in moments, the captured girls bound across their

saddles, the goods of Targo thrust into their packs, they took flight.

Targo gathered his men and goods. Nineteen of the girls, separately, taken deep

into the thicket, had had their wrists bound together, either before their body

or behind their back, about small trees. There were the ones he had managed to

keep. Lana, Ute and Inge had, of course, been among them. The bosk,

unfortunately for Targo, had either broken free or been cut free. They had

disappeared over the grassy fields. When he emerged from the thicket he found

left only one usable wagon, and that damaged by smoke and fire. He had lost a

good deal, but he had saved goods, and, most importantly, his gold. He camped

that night in the thicket. In the morning a harness was jerry-rigged. The girls

looked at one another. Not now, indolently, would they ride chained to the ankle

bar of the wagon. Then Targo had set out again for Laura. Some two or three days

later, in the trackless fields, wandering, they had encountered a young

barbarian girl, strangely clad, who they had made their slave.

It took many days to reach Laura.

Fortunately, not more than two days after I had been added to Targo’s chain, we

encountered a caravan of Bosk wagons, traveling southeast toward Ko-ro-ba from

Laura. Targo sold two girls, and, with some extra gold, purchased two wagons and

two teams of bosk, as well as supplies of water and food. He also purchased

certain articles of slavers’ equipment, a display chain, various other sorts of

chains, slave bracelets, ankle rings, neck collars, binding fibers, branding

irons and whips. I was more pleased to note that he also purchased some silks,

perfumes, and combs and (pg. 64) brushes, and boxes of cosmetics. He also

purchased a large quantity of rough cloth. From this, as I later saw, camisks

were made, a simple slave garment. When chained in a wagon, to the ankle bar,

girls are commonly unclothed. When the tarnsmen struck, the girls had been freed

from the wagons, to be driven into the thicket. The camisks had been burned with

most of Targo’s other goods. The camisk is a rectangle of cloth, with a hole cut

for the head, rather like a poncho. The edges are commonly folded and stitched

to prevent raveling. Under Targo’s direction the girls, happily, cut and

stitched their own camisks. The camisk, I am told, normally falls to the knees,

but Targo made us cut ours considerably shorter. I made mine poorly. I had never

learned to sew. Targo was not satisfied with its length, and he made me shorten

it still more. Mine was then no longer than Lana’s, or the other girls? I

remembered my beating. I did not wish another. I feared the straps terribly. And

so I was dressed as they. The camisk, I am told, was at one time commonly belted

with a chain. However, the camisks that I have personally seen, and those we

were given, were belted with a long, thin strap of leather binding fiber. This

passes once around the body, and then again, and then is tied, snugly, over the

right hip. When Targo inspected me, he made me tighten the belt, to accentuate

my figure. Already I had learned for the first time in my life, to stand

straight, truly straight. I was cuffed, or kicked, when I forgot. Soon it was

natural for me to do so. The belt of binding fiber not only makes it easier to

adjust the camisk to a given girl, but, of course, the binding fiber serves to

remind her that she is in bondage. In a moment it may be removed, and she may be

secured with it, leashed, or bound hand and foot. I wondered why Targo permitted

us camisks. I think there were probably two reasons. The first is that the

camisk, in its way, is an incredibly attractive garment. It displays the girl,

but provocatively. Moreover, it proclaims her slave, and begs to be torn away by

the hand of a master. Men thrill to see a girl in a camisk. Secondly, I think

Targo gave us camisks to make us even more his slaves. We desperately wanted to

have something to cover ourselves, be it only a camisk. That (pg. 65) he might

take it away if irritated, or dissatisfied with us, made us that the more eager

to please him. None of us wished to be unclothed among others clothed, that we,

nude, might seem more the slave then they.

Our lives became a great deal easier after Targo encountered the caravan wagons.

The two wagons he bought were merchant wagons, with re rain canvas. The back

wheels were larger than the front wheels. Each was drawn by two bosk, large

brown creatures with spreading, polished horns, hung with beads. Their hoofs

were also polished and their long, shaggy coats groomed to a shine. One of the

wagons had an ankle bar, and the other was fitted with the ankle bar from

Targo’s damaged wagon, which was the first wagon; my wagon was the second. Each

wagon held nine girls. Targo had sold two girls. We were fitted with ankle rings

joined by a short length of chain. One ankle ring is closed on the girl’s ankle,

the chain passed about the bar and then, on her other ankle, the second ankle

ring is closed, securing her. I did not care. I did not even care that we were

not permitted camisks in the wagon. Moments after lying down on the canvas,

spread over the polished boards of the wagon, in spite of the movement and the

bumping and jostling, I fell asleep. To be relieved of the agony of the harness

and the strain of drawing the wagon was simply in itself, an exquisite delight.

When I awoke, many hours later, I was stiff and sore in every muscle of my body.

We were taken from the wagon and, chained outside, kneeling, were fed. In the

two days since I had been captured, prior to our encountering the caravan, we

had had only berries and water, and bits of small game, cooked by the guards and

thrown to us in scraps. Now, chained, kneeling in a circle, we passed about, one

to the other, a bowl of hot soup; then each of us was given a sixth of a round