Blood Brothers of Gor

Chapter 40 IN THE COMPOUND OF THE WANIYANPI

"There is a fire in here," said Pumpkin, from outside of the threshold. "Let me go in first."

Hci, Cuwignaka and I sat behind a fire, in the center of the large, half-sunken, earthen-and-wood lodge of the Waniyanpi. We faced the threshold.

"There may be danger," I heard Radish say, from outside the threshold.

"Do you wish to enter first?" asked Pumpkin.

"No," she said. "No! You enter first."

"I shall," said Pumpkin.

We sat behind the fire, in what, in a lodge of red savages, would be the place of honor.

Mira knelt behind us, in the position of the pleasure slave. I had permitted her clothing, but clothing only of a certain sort.

The lodge in which we waited was not untypical of the communal lodges of the Waniyanpi. It was some fifty feet in diameter, with an earthen bench or projection about the interior edges. Its roof is rounded and slopes upward towards the center. This roof ranges from five to eight feet in height, from the surface level, as opposed to the interior floor level; it is formed of poles covered with sod; it is supported at the edges of the log walls, against which, on the outside, dirt is banked, and by log stanchions arranged in a circle on the floor. At the apex of the lodge is a smoke hole and beneath the smoke hole, at the center of the lodge, is the fire hole. It was in this fire hole that we had built our fire. The smoke hole, incidentally, because of its size, and the size and structure of the lodge, tends to be somewhat inefficient. It is quite different from the smoke holes of the conelike hide lodges common with the red savages which, because of flaps, responsive to the movements of poles, function like efficient, adjustable flues.

There are no windows in the lodges of the Waniyanpi. Even with the fire lit, they are half dark.

"He is coming in," said Cuwignaka.

"Yes," I said.

The lodges of the Waniyanpi, as I have suggested, are communal lodges. The entire commuinty lives within them. One advantage of such lodges, and communal living, generally, is that it makes it easier to impose social controls on the members of the community. It is natural, accordingly, for certain sorts of authoritarioanisms to favor such arrangements. Where there is no place for difference it is natura that difference will have no place. The strongest chains are those a man does not know he wears.

"It is a large man," said Cuwignaka.

"It is Pumpkin," I said.

I despaired, then, for a moment, of my plan. But then, I reminded myself, how insuppressible is man, how tenacious is truth.

"Is it you?" asked Pumpkin, coming forward, blinking against the light of the fire.

"Greetings," I said. "We have made ourselves your guests."

"You are welcome," said Pumpkin, ungainly in his Waniyanpi garb.

"Is it safe?" called Radish, from outside the threshold.

'Yes," said Pumpkin. "Come in."

Pumpkin then saw Mira.

She wore a brief halter of Waniyanpi cloth which by design, did little to conceal the beauty of her breasts; about her waist a string was tied; two pieces of Waniyanpi cloth, about a foot wide and two feet long, were thrust over and behind the string, one in from and one in back; these two pieces of cloth could be casually jerked loose, if one wished; similarly, the knot, at the left hip, was made so that a mere tug could free it, causing the garment to fall; in this fashion the lower garment may be removed from her a bit at a time or, as a whole, if the master wishes; a similar knot, joining the harlter's neck and back strings, could be similarly freed. The slave, accordingly, can be stripped a bit at a time, or almost instantly, as one wishes. Such garments are not unusaul for slaves.

Pumpkin stared at Mira, unbelievingly.

"Master?" she asked.

"Is it you-Turnip?" he asked.

"I am Mira," she said, "the slave of Red Bull."

"Ae you not Turnip?" he asked.

"I was once Turnip," she said. "I am now no longer Turnip. I am now Mira, the slave of Red Bull."

I had had two major purposes in mind in dressing her as I had. I wished, first, for the Waniyanpi males, and females, too, to see her as she was, as what she was, a slave, an owned woman, one who beloned to men and must please them. Secondly, I wished for them all to see, and see clearly, how beautiful and desireable she was, the lovely slave.

I saw that the Waniyanpi men, and women, too, looked upon her. Some of the Waniyanpi males tried to avert their eyes but, in a moment, gazed eagerly again upon her. She was simply too beautiful and exciting to look away from.

I smiled. The Waniyanpi could not take their eyes from her. She lowered her head, timidly, blushing, startled at suddely finding herslef the object of this attention. The Lady Mira of Venna, the free woman, I speculated, had never found herself looked upon in this fashion, with such awe, with such desire and admiration, with such rapture and pleasure. But then she was not a slave.

"Get her out of here!" screamed Radish. "Can't you see? She is a slave!"

Radish ran about the fire and struck Mira, striking her to her side on the dirt floor. Mira, on her side, cowered at her feet.

"Get out of here!" screamed Radish. "Get out of here! There is no place for such as you here! Get out! You are an animal! Go graze with the verr! Go swill with the tarsk! Get out! Get out!"

Mira, frightened, trying to cover her head, looked to me.

"She does not have my permission to leave," I informed Radish.

"Get out! All of you!" screamed Radish.

"I have bedden them welcome," said Pumpkin.

"I am the leader here!" called Radish.

"I thought we were all Sames," said Pumpkin.

"Send them away!" cried Radish.

"I have bidden them welcome," said Pumpkin. His voice was not pleasant. Radish, suddenly, frightened, backed away. I think she suddenly realized, perhaps for the first time, explicitly, in her life, what a man such as Pumpkin, with his power, and his will, might do.

"You are welcome," said Pumplin, turning to us.

"Thank you," I said.

"Tonight," said Pumpkin, "share our kettle."

"That is a Gorean invitation," I said. "Where did you hear it?"

"Many years ago, from a man," said Pumpkin, "one who had not always been of the Waniyanpi."

"What became of him?" I asked.

"He was killed," said Pumpkin, "by Yellow Knives."

"Now," said Carrot, "Yellow Knives are our masters."

"No," said Cuwignaka. "The Kaiila are your masters."

"The Kaiila are gone," said Cabbage. "They are vanquished and scattered."

"They will return," said Cuwignaka, his voice like iron.

We spoke in Gorean. I was just as pleased. This meant that Hci could not follow what was said. It would ot have done my plans any good if he had leapt across the fire and thrust his kinfe into Cabbage's throat.

"Alas," said Pumpkin. "We have only porridge."

"To share the kettle of a friend," I said, "is to dine with a Ubar."

"That, too, is a Gorean saying, isn't it?" asked Pumpkin.

"Yes," I said.

"Let us all sit," said Pumpkin, "saving those whose turn it is to prepare the porridge."

The Waniyanpi, most of them, then gathered about the fire and sat down. They seemed pleased, most of them, that there were guests. An iron rack was brought, from which a kettle was suspended. The fire was built up.

"I will stir for you, Carrot," said a dark-haired girl.

"I will stir for you, Cabbage," said a blond girl.

"It is my turn," said Cabbage.

"Please," said the girl, glancing at Mira.

"Very well," said Cabbage.

"Carrot and Cabbage must then, later, stir twice," said Radish.

"No," said the dark-haired girl.

"No," said the blond-haired girl.

"Do you recall Squash and Strawberry, the two young people who were recently put out of the compound?" I asked Pumpkin.

"Yes," he said, sadly.

"They are safe now," I said, "in a Kailla camp."

"I am so pleased to hear it!" exclaimed Pumpkin.

"Wonderful!" said several of the Waniyanpi. I saw that they had not truly wanted the young couple who had been caught touching one another, to die. I had suspected that that would be the case.

"It was Radish who wanted them put out," said Carrot.

"They were caught touching," said Radish, angrily.

"Squash has now taken a Kailla name," I said. " 'Wayuhahaka', which means 'One-Who-Possesses-Much."»

"But he possesses little or nothing," said Radish.

"He has found his manhood," I said, "and nothing, ever again, will take it from him."

"That is not a fitting name for a Same," said Radish.

"He is no longer a Same," I said.

"Disgusting," she said.

"He is also learning the bow and the lance," I said to Pumpkin.

"Interesting," he said.

"Strawberry remains Strawberry," I said. "That name, at least at this time, is being kept upon her. He has not yet seen fit to change it."

" 'Being kept upon her'?" asked Radish. "He has not yet see fit to change it'?"

"He found her pleasing," I said. "He has made her his slave."

"His slave!" breathed the dark-haired girl stirring the porridge.

"Yes," I said.

She stopped stirring the porridge.

"Then he can take off her clothes, if he wishes," said the blond girl, pausing in her stirring as well.

"Whether she is clothed or not now," I said, "is completely up to his will."

"He can touch her whenever he wishes?" asked another Waniyanpi woman.

"Of course," I said. "Whenever, however, and for as long as he pleases. And as she is a slave, she may now wheedle for his caress, and beg for his touch."

"If she is a slave, she must obey him, mustn't she?" asked the dark-haired girl.

"She must obey him perfectly, and in all things,"I said.

"Stir the porridge," said Radish.

The two girls again commenced their stirring.

"She is a slave, isn't she?" asked the Waniyanpi woman who had spoken before, she who was not engaged in the stirring, pointing at Mira.

"Yes," I said. Mira lowered her head, modestly.

"Do not look upon her," snapped Radish, "particularly those of you whose garments are of larger sizes!"

"Anyone may look upon her who pleases to do so," said Pumpkin.

Mira blushed. She kept her head down. Pumpking was right, of course. Slaves, being properties, may be looked upon by anyone who pleases to do so.

"I do not want her here," said Radish, angrily.

"Why not?" I asked.

"She is a slave," said Radish.

"I thought all Waniyanpi were slaves," I said.

Radish looked at me, angrily.

"To be sure," I said, "the universalizatin of slavery is its best concealment."

"The porridge is ready," said the dark-haired girl with the spoon.

It was popping and bubbling.

"Let us eat," said Pumpkin.

"What is she doing?" asked Radish, irritably.

"She is serving," I said.

Mira knelt near me, head down, her arms extended, proffering me a bowl of the Waniyanpi porridge.

The porridge had been removed by a hood from the rack and placed on another rack, to the side. The blond girl ahd brough out wooden bowls and spoons.

"Each here serves themselves, in turn," said Radish.

"Your porridge, Master," said Mira.

"Thank you," I said, taking the porridge.

She then returned to the line, to fetch porridge for Cuwignaka and Hci.

"She is pretty, isn't she?" asked the dark-haired girl, she who had shared the stirring of the porridge, to Carrot. He was watching Mira.

"Yes," he said.

"Am I pretty?" she asked.

"You are not pretty, and you are not ugly," he said. "You are a Same. Sames are not pretty and they are not ugly. They are all the same."

"Oh," she said.

Mira then returned from the porridge kettle and knelt near Cuwignaka. Head down, her arms extended, she porffered him porridge as she had me.

"Thank you," said Cuwignaka.

She then rose up and returned, again, to the line near the kettle.

"She serves well," said Pumpkin.

"Women learn quickly," I told him.

The dark-haired girl and the blond girl, who had shared in the stirring, who were sitting, cross-legged, near Carrot and Cabbage, rose to their feet, going again to the porridge line.

"I have thought about the things we discussed," said Pumpkin. "I have thought about them, many times."

"I had thought you might," I said. Indeed, that was why I had come to the lodge of the Waniyanpi.

Mira returned to our vicinity now and knelt near Hci, proffering him a bowl of porridge as she had to Cuwignaka and me. He took it with one hand. He spoke to her in Kaiila and snapped his fingers. She put her head down to the dirt before him. He spoke again. She kissed the dust before him, humbly. He spoke again and she straightened up and then again lowered her head to the dust before him. He spoke again and she withdrew to her former position where she knelt as before. Again he spoke, and she lowered her head, humbly.

"She obeys with perfection," said Pumpkin.

"How thrilling it would be to be so under the command of a man and obey him with such perfection," said a Waniyanpi woman, softly, almost to herself.

"Thank you, Hci," said I, in Kaiila.

"Thank you, Hci," said Cuwignaka.

"It is nothing," said Hci.

Hci's lesson had not been lost upon us. Cuwignaka and I, perhaps inadvertently, had been too soft with Mira. The slave who is treated too leniently may begin to forget that she is a slave. It may be necessary, then, to remind her. Beatings can be useful for this purpose.

The two girls who had gone to the porridge line, the dark-haired girl and the blond girl, had returned a bit before, each with their bowl refilled with porridge. They had been in time, standing, watching, to see Mira put though her paces by Hci. There were almost trembling.

The dark-haired girl knelt down near Carrot. "I have brought you some more porridge," she said.

He looked at her, startled.

"Would you like some more?" she asked, timidly.

"Yes," he said, taking her bowl.

"here," said the blond girl, kneeling down near Cabbage, pressing her bowl of porridge towards him.

"Thank you," he said, startled.

"Each here," snapped Radish, "fetches his own porridge."

"No," said the dark-haired girl.

"No," said the blond girl.

"I think maybe, even though you are a Same that maybe you are pretty," said Carrot to the dark-haired girl.

"Could you command me," she asked, "as that other girl is commanded."

"No," he said, "of course not! You are a Same!"

"Oh," she said.

"Do you not have pressing business elsewhere?" Radish asked me.

"No," I said.

"I think it is time you left our domicile," she said.

"I have not yet finished my porridge," I said.

"Do not be rude, Radish," said Pumpkin. "These are our guests."

Radish tossed her head, which seemed in uncharacteristic, almost feminine gesture for her, and looked away.

I handed the residue of my porridge, in its wooden bowl, back to Mira. I left the spoon beside me. She would not be so stupid as to ask for it. Slaves commonly eat without utensils. The porridge, by now, of course, had cooled.

"If necessay," said Radish, "you can be put out by force."

"I do not think so." I said.

"What do you want here?" she asked. "Why have you come here?"

"Surely the pleasure of sharing a kettle with friends is reason enough," I said.

She glared at me in fury.

Mira had fallen upon the porridge with gusto. She now, with her fingers and tongue, was wiping the bowl clean. She did not eat now as might a rich, free woman, from a golden service with Turian prongs, suptiously, in some fine house. She ate now as a slave, and was grateful for her feeding.

"I think it is time, now, for you to leave," said Radish, acidly.

I then rose from beside the fire and walked about it, taking a position among several of the Waniyanpi. They drew back, rather in a circle about me.

"To me, Mira," I snapped.

Swiftly she leapt to her feet and hurried about the fire, to stand before me.

She was very beautiful, in her strings and rags.

"Remove your clothing," I told her.

She reached behind her neck, to undo the halter, this action lifing the line of her breasts, beautifully.

A gasp of awe escaped the Waniyanpi.

She reached to the knot at her left hip. A cry of pleasure escaped from Waniyanpi.

The former Lady Mira of Venna now stood before me, a naked slave.

"To my lips, Slave," I said.

She melted into my arms, embracing and kissing me, as a slave into the arms of her master.

"Aiii!" cried several of the men, softly.

"Ohhh," breathed several of the women.

Deeply then did I kiss the slave.

She seemed lost in my touch. She whimpered. She abandoned herself in my arms, surrendering fully, as a slave must, or be beaten, to the master.

"Put them out!" I heard, a screaming as though from faraway. "Put them out!"

I became vaguely aware of the pounding of small fists on my back. Then whoever was doing this was pulled away.

I looked about. Pumpkin, forcibly, was restraining Radish.

"Put them out!" Radish was screaming hysterically. "Put them out!"

The dark-haired girl, then, she who had helped with the stirring of the porridge, slipped suddenly, defiantly, from her garment. The blond girl did so, too. These two, then, were as bared as Mira.

"No!" screamed Radish, looking at them. "No!"

"Yes!" cried the dark-haired girl.

"Yes!" cried the blond girl.

"Put them out!" cried Radish, pointing to the two girls, and to Carrot and Cabbage. "Put them all out!"

"Yellow Knives!" cried a man near the door.

There was an instant silence in the Waniyanpi lodge. Radish turned pale.

"There are two of them," said the man. "They are at the entrance to the campground."

"What is going on?" Hci asked Cuwignaka.

Cuwignaka spoke briefly to him, and he nodded. Cuwignaka and Hci then stood up. I stepped away from Mira. Cuwignaka, Hci and I exchanged glances. We loosened our weapons. We had not counted on the appearance of Yellow Knives.

"I will see what they want," said Pumpkin. He turned about and left us.

"They will not go away," said Radish. "I know it!"

"What do you think they want?" I asked her.

"I do not know," she said. "Food? Shelter? They make demands on us as they please."

"They take what they want," said a man.

"Am I pretty?" asked the dark-haired girl of Carrot.

"YEs," he said, "oh, yes! You are pretty! You are beautiful!"

"Am I pretty?" asked the blond girl of Cabbage.

"Yes," he said. "You, too, are beautiful!"

"Take me in your arms and put your lips to mine," said the dark-haired girl to Carrot.

"But that would be to touch you!" he said.

"I am naked," she said. "Kiss me, I beg you."

"That is touching!" he whispered.

"I cannot be a woman if you will not be a man," she said.

He took her in his arms and they kissed. The blond girl, too, then, was in the arms of Cabbage.

"You are fools!" said Radish.

Carrot and Cabbage, then Carrot with his arm about the dark-haired girl and Cabbage with his arm about the blond girl, turned, with the rest of us, to regard the threshold.

It was quiet in the lodge of the waniyanpi.

I heard the fire crackle in the fire hole.

I glanced at the two girls, one with Carrot, the other with Cabbage.

They had stripped themselves. They were clearly slaves. It was now only a question of who would be their masters. Normally red savages are not interested in Waniyanpi women but I had little doubt that in the case of these two weches the Yellow Knives would be prepared to make an exception. They were desireable and beautiful; this was not because of their mere nudity but rater, I think, because of something else, something which had taken place within them, something psychological; tis might perhaps best be characterized as a surrender to their womanhood; in any event they were now no longer were Waniyanpi females but prizes and treasures; they were now eminently worthy of having thier wirsts bound before their bodies and being led behind a master's kaiila. I did not think that the Yellow Knives would see fit to neglect them; only too obviously were they now ready to be put beneath the will of a man. I observed them, and Carrot and Cabbage. I wondered if Carrot and Cabbage would oject, if the Yellow Knives entered and, finding the girls of intrest, and deciding to take them, tied them and led them away. I supposed not, for they were Waniyanpi males. Then I looked at their eyes. Their eyes were stern. I smiled to myself. Perhaps, after all, they were men.

"They will enter," said Radish. "I know it!"

"You must hide," said a man.

"No," I said.

"If they find you here, they will kill you," said a man.

"No," I said, "if they find me here, it is they who will die."

"You must leave!" said Radish.

"No," I said.

"It is not just you who are in danger," said Radish. "Do you not understand? They will thnk that we have welcomed you!"

"You have," I said. "The meal was superb. Thank you."

"They may not just want to kill you," she said. "They may wish to kill us all!"

"Perhaps," I said.

"You must leave," she said. "Your presence here jeopardizes us all!"

"I do not think so," I said.

"Leave!" said Radish.

"You cannot expect them to just walk out," said a man. "What about the Yellow Knives?"

"Perhaps they could escape out the back," said a man. "Digging out, under the logs."

"I do not think there is time for that," said another.

"Too," said another, "it might be difficult to conceal the signs of such an escape, so quickly.

"True," agreed another.

"You are right!" cried Radish. "If they are caught leaving, or if signs of their escape are found, it will be clear to the Yellow Knives, in either case, that they were here."

"That seems true," said a man.

"There is a chance!" said Radish.

The Waniyanpi regarded her, with intrest.

"There is only one thing to do!" she said. "I see it now, clearly!"

"What is that?" asked a man.

"Seize them," she cried wildly, pointing at us. "Seize them!"

No one moved.

"Seize them!" she cried. "Do you want to die? Do you want to be killed? Seize them!"

"Why?" asked a man.

"I do not want to die!" she cried. "I do not want to be killed by Yellow Knives!"

The Waniyanpi looked at one another.

"Seize them, bind them!" she cried.

"Why?" asked a man.

"That they may be turned over to Yellow Knives, you fool!" she cried. "We can pretend that we have captured them. We were only waiting for Yellow Knives to come to the compound, that we might deliver them to them!"

"The Yellow Knives would kill them," said a man.

"Yes," said Radish, "bu we would be spared! We would be alive! Do you not see? It is our only chance!"

"We will not do this," said a man.

"Carrot," said Radish, "seize them."

"No," said Carrot.

"Cabbage," said Radish, "seize them!"

"No," said Cabbage.

"I command it!" cried Radish.

"No," said Carrot.

"No," said Cabbage.

"Someone is coming!" said a man near the threshold.

Hci went to one side of the threshold. Cuwignaka went to the other. I remained where I was. They drew their knives.

"Do not strike!" I said to them.

Pumpkin stood in the threshold. He carried a feathered lance. I recognized it. It was one of the two which the Waniyanpi had retrieved in the area of the battle, some weeks ago, between the soldiers and the savages. Apparently this lance, at least, had been saved. I was startled to see it again. I had not realized that the Waniyanpi would have kept it.

The point of the lance was bloody.

"Where are the Yellow Knives?" asked Radish.

"I slew them," said Pumpkin.

"You slew them!" she cried, in horror.

"Yes," he said.

"You are insane!" she cried.

"Where is the other lance?" Pumpkin asked Carrot.

"Hidden, near the edge of the maize field," said Carrot.

"I thought so," said Pumpkin. "In the morning, fetch it."

"I will," said Carrot. The dark-haired girl, stripped, trembling, held Carrot's arm, tightly.

"You did not truly slay the Yellow Knives, did you?" asked Radish.

"Yes," said Pumpkin. "I did."

"You are insane!" she cried. "You are insane!"

He regarded her, evenly, not speaking.

"We are doomed," she said. "We are all doomed!"

"Take off your clothes," he said.

She looked at him, speechless.

"Completely," he said.

"Never!" she cried.

"Now," he said.

I noted that the other Waniyanpi women, other than the two who had already stripped themselves, removed their clothing. Radish looked wildly about. Then she looked to the bloody point of the feathered lance. Then she looked into the eyes of Punpkin. She shuddered. She saw that he would not brook disobedience.

"Good," said Pumpkin.

I saw that Radish, as I had once conjectured, was, all considered, not a bad-looking woman. Indeed, all things considered, she was rather attractive.

"I am the leader!" she said.

"Turn about, slowly, and then again face me," he said. "Good," he said. I saw that radish, indeed was an attractive woman.

I saw that the Waniyanpi males were examining the other women as well. Some they had turn before them; some were, by the arms, forcibly turned about, for inspection; in the case of others the males themselves walked about the women, and the women knew themselves being bolding behild and appraised. This gave great joy to the men. I think that many of them, never before, had realized how soft and beautiful, how desireable, are women.

"Pumpkin!" protested Radish, tears in her eyes.

"I am not a vegetable," he said. "I am no longer Pumpkin."

"I do not understand," said Radish.

"I am taking a new name," he said. "I am taking the name 'Seibar'. I am now Seibar." 'Seibar', incidentally, is a common Gorean name. It was the surname, for example, of a slaver in Kailiauk. Too, I had known two people in Ar by that name.

"Pumpkin!" she said.

"I am Seibar," he said.

"That is not a Waniyanpi name," she said.

"True," he said.

"This is insolence," she said. "This is insubordination! Let me put on my clothing, quickly!"

"Whether or not you wear clothing," he said, "is my decision, and I will decide the matter if, when and how I please."

"I am the leader!" she cried.

"Kneel," he said.

One by one the Waniyanpi women knelt. Radish watched them in misery.

"Now," said Seibar.

Radish knelt. She looked well at his feet.

"I am the leader!" she cried.

"No," he said. "You are only a woman."

"We are all Sames!" she cried.

"No," he said. "You are a woman. I am a man. We are not the same."

"The Teaching!" she cried. "Remember the Teaching!"

"The Teaching is false," he said. "Surely you have known that. Surely you have used it long enough, for whatever reason, to subvert, deny and hide your sex."

"No," she said. "No!"

"But now, no longer will you betray and conceal your sex. You will now, henceforth, objectively and openly, be what you are, a woman."

"No!" she cried.

"Your lies, your subterfuges, your pretenses, are at an end."

"No," she wept.

"You will, henceforth, acknowledge your sex and be true to it. You will, henceforth, without deception, without qualification, in your thoughts, and in your most secret thoughts, and in your deportment, behavior and appreance, dare to express, your full femaleness, totally and honestly."

"No, no," she wept.

"Henceforward," he said, "You will be precisely what you are, a woman."

"Please, no," she said.

"I have said it," said Seibar.

"Please," she wept. "Please, please."

"It has been said," he said.

She put down her head, shuddering.

"Naturally, there are sanctions attached to this command," he said.

"I understand," she said.

"And I do not think disobedience will be difficult to detect," he said.

She nodded. An expression, a gesture, even a tone of voice o any thiny movement, might reveal reservation or disobedience. Safety, in such a situation, inasmuch as it lay anywhere, surely lay in abject and total compliance, beginning with interior submission, and issuing then in appropriate behavoirs. Radish would no longer be permitted to supress her womanhood. She must now reveal it, and in an uncompromising and authentic fashion. It had been decided by Seibar.

"What are you?" asked Seibar.

"I am a woman," said Radish. There were tears in her eyes. She half chocked on the words.

"Ohhh," said one or two of the Waniyanpi women, softly, thrilled, hearing Radish's admission.

Seibar handed the lance he held to Carrot, who placed it against the wall. He then, with a strap, crouched down, before Radish.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He tied the strap about her right ankle and then, leaving her about six inches of slack, tied it also about her left ankle. He then took the strap up, and forward, between her legs, where, crossing her wrists, he preceeded to bind them together, tightly, before her body. He jerked shut the last knot, decisively. "Binding you," he said.

She tested the tight, flat leather circles confining her wrists, and small movement, one not intended to be observed. She turned white. she knew herself helpless.

"On your feet, woman," said Seibar, hauling her by an arm to her feet.

She could not stand straight, as he had left her only some eighteen inches of strap between her left ankle and her bound wrists.

"Go to the men in this room and tell them what you are," said Seibar.

Radish, bent over, with short steps, those of a length permitted her by the leather shackles, made her way to Carrot. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "I am a woman," she said.

"Yes," said Carrot.

"I am a woman," said Radish to Cabbage.

"Yes," said Cabbage.

At last Radish stood before me. "I am a woman," she wept.

"That is easy to see," I said.

Seibar then, by the arm, led her to an open place in the lodge.

Suddenly she broke loose from him and turned about, almost falling. She pulled futilely at the straps. "I am not a woman!"

Seibar, slowly, began to wrap leather straps about his right hand, that he might have them firmly in his grip. The ends of these straps, of which there were five, dangled then from his fist, some two feet or so in length. He approached Radish. She regarded him in terror. He swung the straps slowly before her eyes. She regarded them, almost as though mesmerized.

"I lied," she said. "I am a woman. I am truly a woman!"

"Kneel," he said.

Radish lost no time in falling to her knees.

"You ahve been arrogant and pretentious," he said.

"She has had people put out of the compound," said a man.

"She wanted us to bind our guests and turn them over to Yellow Knives," said another man.

"She has pretended to be a man!" said another man.

"She has betrayed her sex," said another man.

"No," said Radish. "No!"

"And you have tried to weaken, to reduce and destroy true manhood," said Seibar.

"No," she cried. "No!"

"Men are now no longer tolerant of this," said Seibar. "They have had enough."

"I mean no harm!" cried Radish.

"We are rising," said a man.

"Yes!" said another. "Yes!" said another. "Yes!" said another.

Radish looked wildly about. Then, again, she looked at Seibar.

"We are choosing, you see, my dear Radish," said Seibar, "to reassert our natural soverengnty. The experiment in perversion, falsehood and disease is done. Now, again, we will be men."

"Seibar!" she wept.

"Yes!" cried the men.

"Surely you have feared that this migh one day happen," he said.

She looked at him, wildly.

"Put your head to the dust," he said.

She did so. She trembled. "I am a woman1" she cried. "I am a woman!"

"And one who has not been pleasing," said Seibar.

Then he lashed her, and well.

Then, in a few moments, she lay on her side at his feet, bound, sobbing, marked, disciplined.

At a sign from Seibar Carrot and Cabbage lifed her to her feet. They held her in place. She looked out at Seibar, though her hair and the tears in her eyes. She could not stand.

"Put her out," said Seibar, "as she did others."

"No," she wept. "No!"

"Do not fear," said Seibar. "I will have them remove your bonds once you are hurled beyond the gate. You will then have the same opportunities for survival which you have accorded others."

"Seibar, please, no!" she wept.

"Only then will the gate be closed against you," he said.

"Please, no!" she wept. She strugled, hysterically. "Let me kneel!" she begged Carrot and Cabbage.

At a sign from Seibar they permitted her to fall to her knees.

"I beg to be shown mercy," she said.

"The same mercy which you have shown others?" asked Seibar.

"No," she wept, "true mercy!"

"Why should it be shown to you," he said, "as it was not to them?"

"We shall open the gate," said a man.

"Beloved Mira," cried Radish, looking at Mira, wildly, "what shall I do?"

Mira shrank back, startled. "I am only a slave," she said, "You are a free woman."

"What shall I do?" she begged, terrified.

"You have but one slim chance," said Mira.

"Speak," begged Radish.

"The onely avenue of escape which lies open before you," said Mira, "is too debasing and degrading. I dare not even mention it to you."

"Speak, speak!" begged Radish.

"Sue to be his slave," said Mira. "As a wholly submitted woman, one he owns, he may be disposed to show you mercy."

"I do not know what to do," wept Radish.

"If you are a free woman," said Mira, "go nobly forth into the Barrens, there to perish of hunger or thrist, or of animales or exposure. If you are a slave, sue to be his slave."

"I do not know what to do!" she wept.

"Do what is in your heart," said Mira.

"Beg mercy for me, plead for me, intercede for me!" begged Radish.

Mira came and knelt before Seibar, her head down. "Have mercy upon us, Master," she said. "We are only women, one bond and one free. We know your strength. We know what you can do. We do not dispute your sovereignty. We beg for mercy, if only for a time. We beg for knidness, if only for a moment."

"Your slave speaks eloquently," said Seibar.

"She has experienced the might of men, and knows what they can do," I said.

The women in the leather shackles, then, wiht her wrists bound before her body, suddenly sobbed, and shook with ungovernable, overwhelming emotion. The movement, like a shudder, had been unrestrained, uncontrollable. Something deep and profound had obviously occurred within her. "Yes," she whispered to herself. "Yes!"

She put her head down and, unbidden, tenderly, submissively, softly, began to kiss the feet of Seibar.

"Look up," said Seibar.

She lifted her head. Her eyes were moist. They were incredibly soft and tender. I think that never before had she seen Seibar like that.

"And doubtless you, too, subscrive to the discourse of the slave," said Seibar, indicating Mira.

"With but one exception, yes," said the leather-bound woman.

"Oh?" asked Seibar.

"She is mistaken in one detail," she said.

"What is that?" asked Seibar.

"She said that there were two women who knelt before you, one bond and one free. In this sshe was in error. There were two women who knelt before you, but one was not bond and one free. Both were bond."

Mira, tears in her eyes, suddenly seized the woman bound beside her, and kissed her.

I took Mira by the hair and threw her to the side.

"Yes," said the leather-bound woman looking up at Seibar. "I am bond."

"Beware of the words you speak," said Seibar. This was true. Such words, in themselves, in the appropriate context, effected enslavement. Intention, and such, is immaterial, for one might always maintain that one had not meant them, or such. The words themselves, in the appropriate context, are suffcient. Whether one means them or not one becomes, in their utterance, instantly, categorically and without recourse, fully and legally a slave, soemthing with which masters are then entitled to do with as they please. Such words are not to be spoken lightly. They are as meaningful as the collar, as significant as the brand.

"The words I speak, I speak knowingly," she said.

"Speak clearly," he said.

"I herewith proclaim myself a slave," she said. "I am a slave."

"You are now a slave," I said to her, "even in the cities. You are property. You could be returned to a master as such in a court of law. This is something which is recognized even outside of the Barrens. This is much stronger, in that sense, than being the slave of Kaiila or Yellow Knives."

"I know," she said.

Seibar looked down upon her.

"I am now a legal slave," she said.

He nodded. It was true.

"A few moments ago," she said. "I for the first time confessed myself to myself a slave, a confession which I now acknowledge and make public. For years I have known that I was a slave, but I had denied this, and fought it. Then, suddenly, I no longer wanted to fight this. When we fight ourselves it is only ourselves which must lose. In that moment I surrndered to my secret truth. What I have done now is little more than to proclaim and make it public that secret truth. Beyond that admission there lies little more than the effectuation of a technicality."

"But the technicality has now been effectuated," said Seibar.

"Yes," she said, putting her head down. "it has now been effectuated."

"Whose slave are you?" he asked.

"You have stripped me, and bound me, as a slave," she said. "I have felt your lash. I am yours."

"Have I collared you?" he asked.

"No," she said, keeping her head down, "but it is my hope that you will do so."

"Have I indicated any intrest in having you as a slave?" he asked. "Have I given you any reason to believe that I might accept you as a slave?"

"No," she said, keeping her head down, "you haven't."

"Whose slave would you be?" he asked.

"Yours," she said.

"Speak," he said.

She raised he head, but did not meet his eyes. "I am Seibar's slave," she said.

"Now, perhaps I will give you to another," he said.

She still did not meet his eyes. "It may be done with me as you please," she said.

"Do you think I do not understand," he said, angrily, "that you have made yourself my slave in the hope that you might thereby escape the fate of being out into the Barrens?"

"Whatever might have been my motivation," she said, "the fact remains, in any case, that I am now fully your slave, and may be done with wholly as you wish."

"You had your chance to go nobly into the Barrens, with the dignity of the free woman. Now perhaps I shall have you put out in shame, in the dishonor of a slave!"

"You may do with me as you please," she said, softly.

"Whould that not be amusing?" he asked angrily.

"Yes," she said, "very amusing." She looked at him, with tears in her eyes. "If I am to be put out," she said, "may I beg one boon,"

"What is that?" he asked.

"Your collar," she said. "Put it on my neck. Tie some knot in it which is yours, so that if men find me they may say, 'Here see this knot. It is a Seibar's. This woman was his slave'."

"You ask for my collar?" he said.

"I beg it," she said.

He took one of the straps he had used in her whipping. He looped it twice about her neck and tied it.

"You have it," he said.

"Thank you," she whispered.

She then lifted her head to his, where he crouched down before her, and tried to touch her lips to his. Her small hands moved futilely in their bonds, at her knees.

He did not permit her lips to touch his. "That would be touching, would it not?" he asked, ironically.

"Yes," she whispered.

"How clever you are!" he said, angrily. "What a sly, scheming, shameless she-sleen you are!"

"how you must hate me," she said.

"Do you think I cannot see through your games, your trickery?" he cried.

"Do you think it is only because I do not want to die?" she wept. "Do you think it is only because I do not want to be put out into the Barrens?"

"Yes!" he said.

"No," she said. "No!"

"No?" he asked.

"No!" she wept.

"Speak," he said, angrily. "I grow weary."

"But I am a slave," she said, frightened. She looked at me, pleadingly, for understanding.

"Accordingly, miserable, imbonded slut," I said, "you must speak the truth."

She put down her head. She squirmed in her bonds.

"Must a command be repeated?" asked Seibar.

She lifted herhead, tears in her eyes. "I am a slave," she said, "and I must tell the truth. Forgive me. I beg you. Forgive me. Beat me if you wish."

"Yes?" said Seibar.

"I want your touch," she said. "I beg it!"

"Shameless slave," he chided.

"As a slave may be, and should be," she said.

He regarded her, not speaking.

"For two years," she said, "I have wanted to be your slave, to be subject to your will, to be owned by you, if it should please you, your lash."

"Lying slave," he snarled.

"I want to obey you," she said.

"Lying slave!" he said.

"I love you," she said.

"Liar!" he said.

"Alas," she said, "how can I convince you?"

"You cannot!" he cried.

"Of course not," she said, "if you will not permit it."

"Put your hands on her body," I said.

Seibar put his hands on her body.

"I love you," she said.

I touched her. "She speaks the truth," i said.

"I love you," she said. "Kiss me. Then put me out, if you wish. I will then go gladly, if it be your will."

He kissed her. I smiled. Then, with a cry of rage, of frustration, he struck her across the mouth. She then lay on her side on the dirt floor.

"Do you think she speaks the truth?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "if I were you, I would give her a trial. See if she works out. If she does not prove satisfactory, she may always, then, be put out."

Seibar kicked the girl, with the side of his foot. "what is your name?" he asked.

"I have no name," she said.

"It is a fitting response," I said.

"A slave's response?" asked Seibar.

"Yes," I said.

"Do you think she is truly a slave?" asked Seibar.

"Yes," I said, "that is obvioius. It is now only a question of whether or not you have any intrest in her."

Seibar looked down at her.

"What is a fitting name for a slave?" he asked.

" 'Tuka'," I said. "That is not a bad name." 'Tuka' is a common slave name on Gor. It is simple, sensuous and luscious. Most masters have probably known one or more girls with that name.

"You are Tuka," said Seibar, naming her.

"I am Tuka," she whispered, happily, named.

"Kneel," said Seibar. The girl struggled to her knees. She looked up at him. There was love in her eyes. He looked down at her, an incredible tenderness in his countenance. I saw that he must guard against weakness. But I felt sure that he would do so. Only too well would he be aware of the penalties and consequences attached to weakness, consequences ultimately tragic for the welfare of both sexes.

"Shall I open the gat?" asked a man.

"No," said Seibar. "The slave, at least for a time, will be kept."

The men and women in the lodge let out a cheer. Mira rushed to Tuka and kissed her.

"Well done," I said to Seibar.

"I am a slave. I am your slave," said the dark-haired girl kneeling before Carrot.

"I am a slave. I am your slave," said the blond, kneeling before Cabbage.

One my one the Waniyanpi women, timidly, beautifully, knelt before various men, imbonding themselves to these new masters.

I hope they knew well what they were doing, for they were then slaves.

Men and women, crying out with pleasure, with tears, in floods of emotion, kissed, and touched one another, and loved.

"We can take the bodies of the Yellow Knives away," said Cuwignaka to seibar. "We will cut them up and leave them on the prairie. No one, thusly, will know that they met their end here."

"That will be helpful," said Seibar.

"Thusly, too," I said, "you may then return to being Waniyanpi, if you wish."

Seibar looked about. "We will fortify the compound," he said. "We will never again be Waniyanpi."

"There is always time to be a coward," I said.

"We have tasted manhood," said Seibar. "We will never go back. We will not die, or be men."

"It might be well, for a time," I said, "to express your manhood only within the secrecy of your own lodge. It might be well, for a time, to pretend to be still Waniyanpi."

Seibar smiled.

"I have a plan," I said.

"I did not think that your visit here was one of a purely social nature," he said.

"Free your slave of hr bonds," I suggested. "You will, anyway, later tonight, not want her ankles so closely tied. She may then serve us, while we talk."

"You would speak before slaves?" he asked.

"Of course," I said. "They are only slaves."

"Masters?" asked Tuka, kneeling, holding the tray. We took the fried maize cakes from the tray. Then the tray was empty, save for one object, a segment of a dried root, about two to three inches long and half inch wide.

"Open your mouth," said Seibar to Tuka.

She did so immediately, unquestioningly.

"This is for you," he said.

She nodded.

He broke the root in two and thrust it in her mouth. "Chew it well," he said, "and swallow it, every particle."

She nodded.

"Open your mouth," he said.

She did so. The sip root, every bit of it, was gone.

"You may now take the tray away, and then return," he said.

"Yes, Master," she said, happily.

Mira had shown her how to kneel, lower her head and proffer the tray, properly. Tuka, I saw, would be an apt pupil in bondage. Slaves learn quickly. They are beaten if they do not.

"And those," I said, "are the details of my plan."

"It is bold and simple," he said.

"You see the significance of your role?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"You understand, of course," asked Cuwignaka, "that there is a great danger in this?"

"But for all of us," said Seibar.

"Yes," said Cuwignaka.

"You honor us with such responsibility," said Seibar.

"Rewards, I assure you," said Cuwignaka, "will be commensurate with risk."

"We have recieved our manhood," said Seibar. "That is reward enough."

The slave then returned to our area and knelt down, closely, behind Seibar.

"You are then with us?" I asked.

"I am," he said. We then clasped hands.

"Let us rehearse those details again," I said. "There must be no mistake."

"Very well," he said.

As we spoke the slave, apparently unalbe to control herself, and not struck back or disciplined, began, at first timidly, then more boldy, to kiss and foldle Seibar. Soon she began to gasp and pant, pressing herself against him. At last he took her in his arms and put her on her back, across his legs. Her body wasn then like a bow, her head down on one side, in the dust, and her heels on the other side. "Keep you rhands back, over your head," he said. "Yes, Master," she whimpered. He then, as we talked, caressed her. Soon her hands were clenching and unclenching and she was whimpering, writhing helplessly. Then, mercifully, he lifted her up by the shoulders and she put her head against his chest, her arms about his neck. Her eyes were wide. She squirmed, almsot in shock, astounded, unable to believe the sensations she felt in her body.

"I think the plans are clear," I said.

"Yes," said Seibar.

"We must be on our way," I said.

We stood up. "You may kiss the feet of our guests, Tuka," said Seibar.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Do not be weak with her," I said.

"I will not," he said. I smiled. I saw that it was true.

"Tuka," said Seibar, "fetch what was once your blanket and put it with mine, on the shelf, by the wall, where I sleep."

"Yes, Master!" she said. I smiled. I saw that Tuka, at least, would not be tied by the neck, out in the yard for the night.

Seibar and I again clasped hands, sealing our bargain.

"I have done as you wished," said Tuka, returning, dropping to her knees before her master.

"I am weary," said Seibar. "I think I will tie your ankles together."

"Please do not tie them together, Master," she said.

"Very well," he said. He then indicated that she should rise and she did so. He then lifted her in his arms. She kissed at him eagerly.

"I wish you well," I said.

"I wish you all well," he said.

We then, Hci, Cuwignaka, Mira and myself, took our leave. I did look back once, to see Seibar placing Tuka gently on the blankets in his sleeping place, on the dirt shelf, near the log-and-dirt wall.

They seemed oblivious of their surroundings. They were absorbed in one another. They were master and slave.