Nomads of Gor (40 page)

 
the Turian maidens acquired in Love War.

 
Aphris had her head to the rug, trembling.

 
When she looked up at Kamchak there were tear" in her

 
eyes. She said, very softly, "Aphris of Turia, the slave girl,

 
begs her master that she might clothe herself."

 
"Aphris of Turia," laughed Kamchak, "begs to be per-

 
 
mitted to wear a camisk"

 
The girl nodded and swiftly put her head down.

 
"Come here, Little Aphris," said Kamchak.

 
She came forward.

 
He put his hands in the strings of diamonds on her throat.

 
"Would you rather wear diamonds or the camisk?" he asked.

      
"Please, Master," she said, "the camisk."

      
Kamchak jerked the diamonds from her collar and threw

      
them to the side of the room. Then he withdrew from his

      
pouch the key to her collar and bells and, lock by lock,

      
removed them from her. She could hardly believe her eyes.

      
"You were very noisy," Kamchak said to her, sternly.

      
Elizabeth clapped her hands with pleasure and began to

      
consider the camisk.

      
"A slave girl is grateful to her master," said Aphris, tears

      
in her eyes.

      
"Properly so," agreed Kamchak.

      
Then, delighted, Aphris, assisted by Elizabeth Cardwell,

      
donned the yellow camisk. Against her dark almond eyes and

      
long black hair the yellow camisk was exceedingly lovely.

      
"Come here," commanded Kamchak, and Aphris ran light-

      
ly to him, timidly.

      
"I will show you how to wear a camisk," said Kamchak,

      
taking the cord and adjusting it with two or three pulls and

      
jerks that just about took the wind out of the Turian girl. He

      
then tied it tightly about her waist. "There," he said, "that is

      
how a camisk is worn." I saw that Aphris of Turia would be

      
marvelously attractive in the garment.

      
Then, to my surprise, she walked a bit in the wagon and

      
twirled twice before Kamchak. "Am I not pretty, Master?"

      
she asked.

      
"Yes," said Kamchak, nodding.

      
She laughed with delight, as proud of the worn camisk as

      
she might have been once of robes of white and gold.

      
"For a Turian slave," added Kamchak.

      
"Of course," she laughed, "for a Turian slave!"

      
"We will be late for the performance," said Elizabeth, "if

      
we do not hurry."

      
"I thought you were staying in the wagon," said Aphris.

      
"No," said Elizabeth, "I have decided to come."

      
Among them even some Kassars and Paravaci, and one of the

 
rare Kataii, seldom seen in the encampments of the other

 
peoples. The Tuchuks, of course, were most in evidence,

 
sitting cross-legged in circles rather about a large fire near

 
the center of the enclosure. They were in good humor and

 
were laughing and moving their hands about as they regaled

 
one another with accounts of their recent deeds, of which

 
there were plainly a great many, it being the most active

 
season for caravan raiding. The fire, I was pleased to note,

 
was not of boskdung but wood, timber and planking, I was

 
less pleased to note, torn and splintered from a merchant's

 
wagon.

 
To one side, across a clearing from the 'fire, a bit in the

 
background, was a group of nine musicians. They were not as

 
yet playing, though one of them was absently tapping a

 
rhythm on a small hand drum, the kaska; two others, with

 
stringed instruments, were tuning them, putting their ears to

 
the instruments. One of the instruments was an eight-stringed

 
czehar, rather like a large flat oblong box; it is held across

 
the lap when sitting cross-legged and is played with a horn

 
pick; the other was the kalika, a six-stringed instrument; it,

 
like the czehar, is flat-bridged and its strings are adjusted by

 
means of small wooden cranks; on the other hand, it less

 
resembles a low, flat box and suggests affinities to the banjo

 
or guitar, though the sound box is hemispheric and the neck'

 
rather long; it, too, of course, like the czehar, is plucked;' I

 
have never seen a bowed instrument on Gor; also, I Night

 
mention, I have never on Gor seen any written music; I do

 
not know if a notation exists; melodies are passed on from

 
father to son, from master to apprentice. There was another

 
kalika player, as well, but he was sitting there holding his

 
instrument, watching the slave girls in the audience. The

 
three flutists were polishing their instruments and talking

 
together; it was shop talk I gathered, because one or the

 
other would stop to illustrate some remark by a passage on

 
his flute, and then one of the others would attempt to correct

 
or improve on what he had done; occasionally their discus-

 
sion grew heated. There was also a second drummer, also

 
with a kaska, and another fellow, a younger one, who sat

 
very seriously before what appeared to me to be a pile of

 
objects; among them was a notched stick, played by sliding a

 
polished "em-wood stick across its surface; cymbals of vari-

 
ous sorts; what was obviously a tambourine; and several

 
other instruments of a percussion variety, bits of metal on

      
wires, gourds filled with pebbles, slave bells mounted on hand

      
rings, and such. These various things, from time to time,

      
would be used not only by himself but by others in the

      
group, probably the second kaska player and the third flutist.

      
Among Gorean musicians, incidentally, czehar players have

      
the most prestige; there was only one in this group, I noted,

      
and he was their leader; next follow the flutists and then the

      
players of the kalika; the players of the drums come next;

      
and the farthest fellow down the list is the man who keeps

      
the bag of miscellaneous instruments, playing them and par-

      
celing them out to others as needed. Lastly it might be

      
mentioned, thinking it is of some interest, musicians on Gor

  
    
are never enslaved; they may, of course, be exiled, tortured,

      
slain and such; it is said, perhaps truly, that he who makes

      
music-must, like the tarn and the Vosk gull, be free.

      
Inside the enclosure, over against one side, I saw the slave

      
wagon. The bask had been unhitched and taken elsewhere. It

      
was open and one could go in and purchase a bottle of Paga

      
if one cared to do so.

      
"One is thirsty," said Kamchak.

      
"I'll buy the Paga," I said.

      
Kamchak shrugged. He had, after all, bought the admission-

      
sions.

      
When I returned with the bottle I had to step through,

      
over, and once or twice on, Tuchuks. Fortunately my clum-

      
siness was not construed as a challenge. One fellow I stepped

      
on was even polite enough to say, "Forgive me for sitting

      
where you are stepping." In Tuchuk fashion, I assured him

      
that I had taken no offense, and, sweating, I at last made my

      
way to Kamchak's side. He had rather good seats, which

      
hadn't been there before, obtained by the Tuchuk method of

      
finding two individuals sitting closely together and then sitting

      
down between them. He had also parked Aphris on his right

      
and Elizabeth on his left. I bit out the cork in the Paga and

      
passed it past Elizabeth to Kamchak, as courtesy demanded.

      
About a third of the bottle was missing when Elizabeth,

      
looking faint at having smelled the beverage, returned it to

      
me.

     
 
I heard two snaps and I saw that Kamchak had put a

      
hobble on Aphris. The slave hobble consists of two rings, one

      
for a wrist, the other for an ankle, joined by about seven

      
inches of chain. In a right-handed girl, such as either Aphris

      
or Elizabeth, it locks on the right wrist and left ankle. When

      
the girl kneels, in any of the traditional positions of the

 
Gorean woman, either slave or free, it is not uncomfortable.

 
In spite of the hobble, Aphris, in the yellow camisk, black

 
hair flowing behind her, was kneeling alertly by Kamchak's

 
side, looking about her with great interest. I saw several of

 
the Tuchuks present eye her with admiration. Female slaves

 
on Gor, of course, are used to being eyed boldly. They

 
expect this and relish it. Aphris, I discovered, to my delight,

 
was no exception.

 
Elizabeth Cardwell also had her head up, kneeling very

 
straight, obviously not unconscious that she herself was the

 
object of a look or two.

 
I noted that, in spite of the fact that Aphris had now been

 
in the wagon for several days, Kamchak had not yet called

 
for the Iron Master. The girl had neither been branded nor

 
had the Tuchuk nose ring been affixed. This seemed to me of

 
interest. Moreover, after the first day or two he had hardly-

 
cuffed the girl, though he had once beaten her rather severely