Players of Gor (32 page)

The mystery in most cases, however, if one is truly interested, is usually no more than temporary. It is only necessary to lift her skirt. Sometimes bets are mad on this matter. In such bets, of course, the odds are with he who wagers on the graceful, cursive, Kef. This is the most common Kajira brand. "Kef" is the first letter in "Kajira," the most common expression in Gorean for a female slave. It is sometimes, too, spoken of as the "Staff and fronds." This is doubtless because of a fancied resemblance to such objects. Also, of course, this involves an allusion to beauty under discipline, indeed, to helpless beauty under absolutely uncompromising discipline. I also checked certain less common brand sites, such as the lower left abdomen, the interior of the left forearm and the high instep area of the left foot. If there is

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such a mark on a girl, it would not be well to miss it. Imagine the embarrassment of relating to a woman as though she were free and then discovering only later that she had been a legally imbonded slave all the time! Too, how dreadfully perilous would such a deception be for the female! I would surely not wish to be the female who might be found out in such a deception.

"Her body seems clear of brands," I said. "Apparently she is free."

"Yes," she said. "Yes!"

I pulled her gown down from where I had thrust it up, above her breasts, for my convenience in examining her body for brands, and then I worked it down, inching it, carefully, over her body and hips. It was thin and fit her closely. I did not wish to tear it. I then pulled its hem down to where it was supposed to be, at about her ankles. I then made my final adjustments of the gown, that her modesty might be as well protected, or about as well protected, as such a flimsy garment permitted. To be sure, I did, here and there, pull it a bit more snugly about her body than was perhaps necessary. This was excusable, of course. She was beautiful and bound.

I had made a stop at my own camp, incidentally, before coming to this place in the woods.

"As she seems to be free," I said, "I will claim her, she in the modality of the free captive."

"No!" she cried.

"Very well," said Boots.

"No, no!" she wept, struggling in the ropes.

I knew this female.

I pulled her to a seated position. I looked into her eyes. "You are my captive."

"Please, no!" she said.

"It is up to you, at least for the time," I said, "to decided what sort of captive you will be."

She looked at me, frightened.

I removed some metal from my pouch, that which I had brought from my camp, but moments ago, to this clearing in the woods. I dangled it, in its small, sturdy rings and four heavy, close-set links, before her eyes. "Do you desire it?" I asked.

"Yes," she whispered. "Close-chains."

I put the shackles on her ankles. Her ankles were now shackled only some four inches apart. She had decided that she wished to be kept in honor and modesty. To be sure, aside from the obvious consideration of the inflexible efficiency of the shackling itself, given the large number of ways in which a woman

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may be used for a man's pleasure, the matter was primarily symbolic. then ankle rings snug on her I removed the bonds of the brigands from her ankles. Her ankles parted, to the brief extent permitted by the chain linkage of my shackles. her wrists were still tied behind her. "How did you come to be captured by the brigands?" I asked.

"My superiors were dissatisfied with me," she said. "My lackeys were removed from me. I was put in a brief tunic, almost as though I might be a slave. I was forbidden even to wear a veil. I was given a small purse of coins, one sufficient for my projected expenses, and instructed to report back to my headquarters, alone and on foot."

"Alone, and on foot?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, bitterly.

"It is my conjecture," I said, "that they did not expect you to complete your journey successfully."

"It seems they were right," she said, bitterly.

I smiled. I did not think that her superiors were likely to be any more unaware of the dangers of Gorean highways than anyone else. A lovely woman, scantily clad, not even veiled, alone, on foot, did not seem a likely candidate to travel the Gorean wilderness with impunity. Their instructions, it seemed, had been, for most practical purposes, tantamount to an enslavement sentence. I did not think they expected to see her again, unless it might be in the rag of a slave and a collar.

"I was caught by the brigands last night," she said.

"You do not appear to be clad as might be a slave," I said.

"The garments in which my superiors had placed me," she said, "were removed by the brigands. They regarded them as inappropriate for a free woman. They put me, instead, in the gown in which you now see me."

"That was thoughtful of them," I said.

"But it is so thin and flimsy!" she protested.

"Of course," I said.

"I suppose it does mark me as a free woman," she said, "and in that sense might perhaps raise my price somewhat in case they were readying me for sale to a slave merchant."

"Too," I said, "with all due respect it is, in spite of its length and nature, rather flattering and revealing. Doubtless, too, it would give the merchant pleasure to remove it from you in your assessment, thereby revealing your beauty, that then of a potential slave."

"Yes," she said, bitterly.

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"Have no fear," I said. "I will find you something else to wear."

"Thank you," she said.

"Is there another camp about, or somewhere," I asked, "used by the brigands?"

"No," she said. "There was one, but they broke it this morning. This afternoon they surreptitiously met a fellow in the woods. He had a wagon. They sold most of their loot to him."

"Apparently they did not sell all of it to him," I said, regarding her, glancing, too, at the other bound woman, she naked in the dirt.

"No," she said. "He was not a slaver. Too, I do not think he wanted any obvious connection to be noted between himself and the brigands, such as might be furnished by handling their slaves."

"Where were you enroute?" I asked.

"I do not know," she said. "I was told only that we were being taken somewhere where we could be sold to a proper slaver."

"Besnit, Esalinus or Harfax," suggested Boots.

I shrugged. "Perhaps," I said. These towns were all within a hundred pasangs of our present location. Such women could be disposed of almost anywhere, of course. Slave markets, like slaves, are common on Gor. Given the large number of slaves on Gore it is only natural that there should be an abundance of outlets for their handling and processing.

"You apparently made camp here," I said, "several Ahn ago."

"We stopped early, I think," she said. "I think they had discovered another camp, one on which they intended to perpetrate a raid."

"That is correct," I said.

"We were left here, helplessly trussed, females, to await their return," she said.

"They will not be coming back," I said.

"I see," she said, shuddering.

"Where are the other valuables, the moneys, in the camp," I asked, "their accruals from the fellow with the wagon, or otherwise?"

"It is all there," she said, indicating it with her head, "in those packs. The gold is in a small coffer, one bound with bands of iron, one studded with silver, that closed with a heavy golden-plated lock, in the first pack."

"It is all yours," I told Boots.

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"All of it?" asked Boots, incredulously.

"All of it," I said.

"Thank you!" said Boots, fervently. "It will be put to good use."

"Perhaps you could use it in support of the arts," I suggested.

"My intention exactly," admitted Boots.

"It might be used, for example," I suggested, "in support of some worthy but struggling theatrical company."

"That is a sound and brilliant suggestion," Boots congratulated me.

"Perhaps you have some company in mind," I said.

"I have just the company in mind," he said.

"Us," said Lecchio.

"A bit abruptly and crassly put," said Boots, reprovingly, to Lecchio, "but that would indeed seem to capture the gist of the matter."

"Are you grateful," I asked.

"yes," said Boots.

"Eternally, undyingly?" I asked.

"Surely," said Boots.

"There is something you can do for me," I said.

"Name it, brother," said Boots.

"I am still interested in joining your company," I said.

"Out of the question," said Boots. "Impossible."

"Come now," I said.

"Come now," said Chino.

"Come now," said Lecchio.

"Come now," said Petrucchio.

"Come, come now!" insisted Andronicus.

"My mind is made up," said Boots.

"Perhaps you could unmake it, and start in , all over again," I suggested, reaching to the multiple sheath of saddle knives slung at my hip.

Boots eyed me, closely.

"By dear Boots, do not be an ungrateful dolt," scolded the ponderous Andronicus.

"I have spoken," announced Boots, grandly.

I drew one of the blades, and turned it in my hand. "Perhaps you could speak again," I suggested.

"Never," said Boots.

"Oh?" I asked. I turned the knife again, now holding it by the handle. The point idly seemed to focus on Boots's throat.

"What could you do?" asked Boots, uneasily, watching the knife point.

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I flipped the blade in my hand, holding it now again by the blade. I looked at Boots, evenly. "I do a knife throwing act," I said. "Remember?"

"And a good one, too," admitted Boots.

"Let him join the company," pressed Chino.

"Yes," urged Lecchio.

"By all means," urged Petrucchio.

"It is little enough for all he has done," said Andronicus

"We cannot take in every stray sleen who comes whining about the wagons," said Boots. "Are we a refuge for homeless waifs, a food wagon for improvident wayfarers, a training grounds for amateurs, a nomadic inn for stage-struck aspirants, an itinerant shelter for every awed, hopeful bumpkin desirous of donning the thespic mantle, and on our stage, that of the theater's titans, of sharing our riches, tangible and intangible, our glory and largesse, that of Gor's finest theatrical aggregation? What of our professional standards? What of our reputation?"

"Urt droppings," said Chino.

"Urt droppings?" inquired Boots.

"Yes," said Chino.

"Perhaps you are ready to reconsider your position on this matter," I said. I flipped the knife meaningfully about. The point now, again, was looking at Boots.

"You are skillful," said Boots. "There is no doubt about it. You are not an experienced, professional actor, of course."

"That is true," I granted him. The point was now an inch or so from his neck.

"There are, of course, many other things y9ou might do, simple work, , heavy work, say, unsuitable for more skilled personnel."

"True," I said.

"Perhaps you could help the monster," he mused.

"Yes," I said.

"The stage must be set up," he said, "the tents put up, and so on."

"Yes," I encouraged him.

"Do not be ungrateful, Boots," said Andronicus. "We owe him our very lives."

"And you still could," I pointed out.

Boots swallowed, hard. "I am not a stern, inflexible fellow," he said. "It is well known that I am resilient and supple, as well as complex, subtle and talented. That Boots is a broad-minded fellow, I have often heard it said. He is easy-going and tolerant, as it is said, and, indeed, perhaps sometimes too much so for his

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own good, as it is also said. Yes, that Boots is a good fellow, one always ready to listen to arguments, to consider carefully the claims of reason, as they say."

"I take it you are reconsidering your position," I said.

"I am taking its reconsideration under consideration," said Boots.

"Let him join the company," said Andronicus.

"I am weakening," said Boots. "The arguments of Andronicus are swaying me."

"If you do not permit him to join us," said Andronicus, "I shall resign from the company."

Boots regarded him, aghast.

"Yes," said Andronicus, firmly.

"We would be devastated!" objected Boots.

Andronicus regarded him, his arms folded adamantly.

"I am swayed," said Boots.

Swiftly I reversed the blade I held and tucked it under my arm that I not wound Publius Andronicus who, victorious, was heartily reaching for my hand. Chino, Lecchio and Petrucchio, too, moved about me, slapping me on the back and congratulating me. Lastly Boots himself seized my hand warmly. "Welcome to the company of Boots Tarsk-Bit," he said. "Remember, however, this is no ordinary troupe. In joining us you have undertaken a grave responsibility and a most serious charge. See that you struggle to live up to our high standards."