Rogue of Gor

10. We Leave the Sales Barn of Lysander; Miss Henderson Will Share my Lodgings

Miss Henderson was thrust from the block. I made my way toward the foot of the block. My head seemed to swim. I was scarcely conscious of my movments. I moved as through in a dream.

"Jason?" she asked, from within the bars of the holding cage at the right of the sales block. Already her left ankle had been shackled. "Jason?" I handed the receipt to the cate attendant. At the table I had paid ninety-eight tarsks.

I saw the sales disk removed from her collar and put ina small, wooden box. I saw the shackle removed from her ankle. I saw the door to the cage open and saw her pushed forth, before me.

"Do you not know enough to kneel before your master?" asked the attendant. Swiftly she knelt.

I lifted her to her feet and held her in my arms. "Is it you Jason?" she whispered. "Is it truly you?" "Yes," I said, "it is I."

She began to weep and I held her close to me. She shuddered inmy arms. She sobbed. I felt her tears through my tunic. "Jacon," she sobbed, "Jason, Jason."

I held her to me and caressed her head. "I am so happy," she said. "I am so happy!" "yes," I said, "Yes." I continued to caress her head, and hold her to me.

"You purchased me. You own me, Jason," she said. "I am your slave." I scarcely understood what she was saying. "I know that you will be strong with me, but I will try to serve you well," she said.

"What are you saying?" I asked. "I will try to be pleasing to you," she said. "I do not want to be whipped. "What are you saying?" I asked.

She drew back a bit in my arms and lifted her head. there were tears in her eyes. Her lips trembled. She seemed incredibly happy. "I remember the girl at the shop of Philebus, in Ar," she said, "she who, wrists bound, was neck-leashed to the ring. Doubtless I now, too, as the mood seizes you, now that you own me, will be subjected to such ruthless and peremptory considerations. Doubtless you will respect my will no more than hers and rape me too when it pleases you."

I looked at her puzzled.

She again put her head against me, pressing her cheek against my shoulder. "All the things that youmay have wanted to do with me." she said, "you may now do. Everything that you may have wanted from a woman, I must now give. You may do with me as you please. I must obey you in all things." She lifted her head again. There were tears in her eyes. "Show me no mercy," she said. "See that I serve you well."

"Key!" I cried. "Key!" "What will you name me?" she asked. "Key!" I cried. "Key?" she asked. "Master?"

The key to the sales collar was placed in my hand by one of the cage attendants. I saw the snug fit of the steel on her throat. It was incredibly exciting. She could not remove it. Then sweating, getting a grip on myself, hurriedly, fumblng, I thrust the tiny key into the lock. "Master?" she asked frightened.

"Do not call me Master!" I said, almost shouting. My voice choked. Men looked at us.

I turned the key and opened the tiny, heavy, single-action, seven-bolt lock on the collar. Each of the bolts is said to stand for one of the letters in the spelling of 'Kajjira', the most common Gorean expression for a slave girl.

"Where is your collar for me?" she asked. "I have no collar for you " I said. "Master?" she asked. "Do not call me Master," I said. "Yes, Master," she said. "I mean, yes Jason!"

I put my hands on the collar to tear if from her throat. But she clutched at the collar, holding it on hre throat. "Master?" she asked, "Jason?" "You are a woman of Earth," I said. "You know how to behave and act." "I do not understand," she said.

"Do not speak to me of pleasing me," I said. "Do not speak to me of pleasing me or serving me." "But I am a slave," she said,"and you own me!" No," I said. "I am branded," she said. "It is nothing," I said. "Be a girl and wear a brand," she said," and you will see if it is nothing!" "It is not your fault you are branded," I said. "But it is the fault of men," she said, "and I am nonetheless branded."

I went to pull the collar from her ghroat and again her small hands tightened on it. "You own me," she said. "What are you going to do with me?"

"Free you," I said. "I will give you what your heart most desires, your total liberation and freedom!" She looked at me aghast. I pulled away the collar and flung it, the key in the lock, to the side. "You do not want me," she whispered. "Have no fear," I said. "I will not take advantage of you, nor abuse you, nor exploit you. You will be accorded all dignity and respect. In all things you will be my full and lovely equal." Then I realized I had made an error. "Excuse me," I said. "I did not mean to demean you. I did not mean to say 'lovely'"

"You will be in all things, simply, and straight forwardly, my equal."How can a slave be the equal of her master?" she asked. "You are free," I told her. "I might have been brought by a Gorean men," she said. "One who might have treasured me, and cherished me, and made me serve him well, and used me richly."

"I have freed you," I said. "Are you not happy?" I asked, puzzled. "I am naked," she said. "Forgive me," I cried. Quickly I hurried to one of the cage attendants. For a tarsk bit I purchased one of the discarded sheets torn from the slave beauties who were still being sold from the block.

I hurried back to the girl and stood before her, the sheet in my hand. For the briefest instant I felt sick. She was so beautiful. Should I have marched her through the streets of Victoria naked, an exhibited slave, for my own joy, that of her master and that men might rejoice in her beauty and call out to me their congratulation, commending me on the splendid fortune that was mine, that of having such a woman in my total power?

"Please," she said. I stepped more closly to her and staqnding before her, held the sheet behind her, preparing to draw it about her. "Do not look at me, you lustful beast," she said. "Cover me quickly!"

Swiftly I drew the sheet about her and she, from within it, clutched it even more closely about herself. I could see, as she had gathered the sheet, the outline of her small fists beneath it.

"Do not look at my calves and ankles," she said, "please."Forgive me," I said. "Let us hurry from this place."

"Yes," she said, "it is offensive, I smell here the stinking of slaves." Quickly we left the sales barn of Lysander.

"Where do you live?" she asked. "I have taken a small room near the wharves," I said. "I too will need a room." she said. "I cannot afford much," I said. "Then we shall manage to divide the room," she said, "somehow with a screen or partition of some sort."

"Of course," I said. "You must too go out and purchse me clothing," she said. "I cannot wear a sheet." "What about a slave tunic?" I asked. "Do not jest, Jason," she said. "It is in this direction," I said, indicating a streete leading toward the river front.

"I have no money," she said. "And I have no Home Stone. "What is that?" she asked.

We heard the sound of a bell, and then a moment laters, that of coins in a metal box. A girl in a brown rag, slve, emerged from the shodows. About her neck, chained there was a bronze bell, hollow, lattish with sloping sides, with a flat top and ring, and a slotted, metal coin box, locked.Swiftly she knelt before me. She lifted her head. "Have me for a tarsk bit," Master," she begged. Her hands were braceleted behind her back.

"No," I told her. "Get away you filthy thing," said Miss Henderson. "If I do not return with the equivalent of a copper tarsk," said the girl kneeling before me, "I will be whipped." "Get away!" said Miss Henderson.

"Your slave requires discipline," said the girl kneeling before me. "She isnot my slave," I said. "It seems she would make a good slave," said the girl. I drew out a copper tarsk and prepared to place it in the girl's coin box. Swiftly the girl, before I could put the coin in the box, lay on her back, on the stones of the street before me. "You must use me first," she said. "and then put the coin in only if I please you."

"Do not give away our money," said Miss Henderson. "It is my money," I said. "Do not squander our meager resources," she said. "They are my resources, not yours," I pointed out. "I will do wht I please with them." "Of course, Jason," she said irritatedly."I will not use you," I told the girl, "but I wil give youthe coin." I made as though to place the coin in the box, which now, as she lay back on her elbows, hung beside her left breast, sweeling against the thin slave cloth.

Quickly she scarmbed back, and rose to her feet. "I am worth the tarsk bit," she said. "An my master is a proud man. He does not send us into the streets to beg." "But you may be whipped," I said. "I will get the money elsewhere," she said. "And if I were you, I would whip the slave beside you."

"Get out of here!" cried Miss Henderson. The girl thenfled with a sound of her bell and the jangling of the coins in the box. "Disgusting! Disgusting! said Miss Henderson. "Terrible! Disgusting!"

"Some men," I said, "buy such girls and send them out into the streets.They keep them in kennels and send them out in the afternoon. It is how they earn their living.

"Terrible! Disgusting!" said Miss Henderson.

"You were saying," she said, "that I have no money, and that I have no Home Stone. Too, there is no practical trade of which I am the Mistress." "There is one trade which is available to all women," I said. "Do not jest, Jason," she said. "It is not amusing."That of cook," I said."Very funny," she said.

"How do you expect to earn your keep?" I asked. "Nothing, absolutely nothing," she said. "I did not ask to be purchased." "I see that you are scarcely likely to prove to be an economic asset," I said.

"You could always, I suppose put a bell and coin box about my neck and send me into the streets." she said. "It is a thought," I admitted.She made an angry noise and we continued on toward the river front.

"Have you a job?" she asked. "No," I said. "You must get one," she said.

"I expect that would be advisble," I said. I supposed I might work as an oarsman or a dock worker. I was strong. It no longer seems a good way to make money by challenging my fellows in the taverns. One might respond with a knife or sword. Tonight my life had been saved by a dissolute fellow, a man called Callimachus, perhaps from Port Cos, farther west on the river, a derelict. Had it not been for him, I would doubtless have been slain by the pirate, Kliomenes.

"We will need money," she said. I said nothing. "You may call me Beverly," she said. "What about Veminia?" I asked.The veminium is a small lovely Gorean flower, softly petaled and blue. "That is a slave name," she said. "That is what I was called in the house of Oneander of Ar."

"Most Goreans," I said, "would regard 'Beverly' as a slave name."What of 'Jason'?" she asked angrily. "I am sorry to disappoint you," I said, "but that is a not uncommon name on Gor, particularly as I understand it, west on the river, and on the islands of Cos and Tyros."

"Oh," she said. "Unlike Beverly," I said. "I see," she said acidly. "Beverly," I added. "The name Beverly may be worn as a free name, as well as a slave name," she said. "I sahll wear it as a free name." "Very well," I said.

"We shall have to make careful arrangments to gover our shring common lodgings," she said. "Of course," I said "I shall bathe first," she said. "There is asmall copper tub," I said. "And each of us shall do his share of the cooking, the cleaning, and the housework," she said. "Each wil have full responsiblity for his own portions of these labors." "I am to work the day," I said, "and the, do half the work of the room or lodgings?" "Do not expect me to perform menial labors for you," she said.

"I am a free woman. I shall take care o fmy things. And you shall take care of yours." "I see," I said. "I trust your room is not in this dismal structure," she said, looking up at a swinging lantern hanging over and inn's threshold. "Yes," I said. "We shall have to do better than this," she said. I looked down at her. I considered tearing the sheet from her. I wondered what she would look like with a bell and coin box on her neck. Then I reminded myself that she was a free woman, and that she was from the planet Earth, my old planet. She was not a Gorean girl, but something nobler and finer, an Earth woman.

"You did not even pay a full silver tarsk for me," she said looking up at me angrily. "there were girls who were sold for as much as two or three silver tarsks." "They were very beautiful woman," I said, "and some were of high caste., two were exquisitely trained pleasure slaves." "Surely I was worth more than any of them," she said petulently. "Are you angry?" I asked. "Yes," she said, "I am worth much more than 98 copper tarks. "I am not ussre you are worth 98 copper tarks," I said. She cried out with anger.

"If youhad been worth a silver tarsk in a Gorean market," I told her, "you would have brought a silver tarsk in a Gorean market." "You are hateful!" she said. "You are not a silver-arsk girl," I told her. "Hateful!" she said. "I do not think you are worth two copper tarsks," I said. "Beast!" she said, "Beast!" Remember," I told her, "you have no Home Stne." "What are you telling me," she asked, "that I keep a civil tongue in my head?" "It would not hurt," I told her. "Oh yes!" she said, "I know! I have no Home Stone! You might just tear the sheet from me.

"You might just throw me down in the threshold on the stones under the lantern and rape me and re-enslave me!" I could," I said angrily. "You would not dare," she said. "Do not tempt me," I said in fury. "You are too weak to treat me as a woman and a slave!" she said.

I seized her by the upper arms under the sheet, and shook her violently. "Oh," she cired, "please, Master be gentle!" "The word 'Master' comes easily from your lips," I said.

Quickly she pulled the sheet back about her. She looked down. "Forgive me," I said. "I'm sorry. I behaved like a cad." "Am I in danger, Jason?" she asked. "No," I said, "of course not." She looked up. "I am a woman of Earth," she said, "not a Gorean girl." "I am well aware of that," I said. "I am really very sorry."

"I know that you will not treat me with power and strength," she said. "Forgive me," I said. "I had become angry."

"You are a man of Earth," she said, "and are decent and kind. You are tender and gentle. You are accomodating and wish to be pleasing. Remeber that women have nothing to fear from men such as you. Keep that clearly in mind."

"Forgive me," I said. "I am very sorry." "In the future," she said, "keep your hands off of me.»

"I'm sorry," I said. "I am a person," she said. "Of course," I said, "I'm sorry."I am not a I'm sorry," "I am not a pleasure toy," she said. "I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry." How greviously I had insulted Miss Henderson.

"Tonight," she said, "when I was being displayed before Gorean buyers, did you see me move in certain ways and cry out in certain ways?" "Yes," I admitted.

"Put such things from your mind," she said. "The auctioneer, the beast, caught me off guard. His action took me by surpise. He did not permit me to be myself. I am stronger than that, as you will learn. It was like another girl, a slave girl who moved like that, and cried out like that.

Have no fear. The delicious pleasures which may have been suggested by her movements or cries will not be yours." "I see," I said. "I am not a licking and kissing pleasure girl, one who can scarcely control herself and fears the whip." "I see," I said.

"I shall endeavor to see that I am fully worthy of your respect and of my own respect as a free woman,"I understand," I said. "Let us go inside now," she said. "The room must be properly partitioned." "Are you not grateful that I rescued you from bondage." I asked. "I am extremely grateful," she said. "You have no idea how wonderful it is to be free. It is just what every woman wants." "You have not much expressed your gratitude," I said. "And how do you, a man, suggest that I express it?" sah asked acidly. I looked down reddening.

"I am not a slave Jason," she said. "I am a free woman." "I understand," I said. "Is that why you bought me," she asked, "that I a weak silly woman, overhelmed with gratitude would grant you my favors!"

I did not raise my head. "Favors which you were too weak to obtaqin in any other way?" she asked. "I'm sorry," I said."But do not think that I am not grateful" she said. "I shall teach you how to be a true man, solicitous and tender, and that sort of thing. "I see," I said. "Do not touch me!" she said.

I drew back. "Permit me to kiss you," I said. She was so beautiful. "No," she said, "I am not a pleasure object." "I'm sorry," I said. Again I had insulted Miss Henderson. It seemed I could do nothing right with her. "But I am grateful," she said. "You may give ma a small kiss, a quick kiss."

I touched her cheek with my lips, kissing her. "It is enought!" she said. My hands had tightened on her arms under the sheet. "You are very strong Jason," she said. I had lifted her to her toes and holding her, pressed her back against the door to the inn. She looked at me frightened. I saw her lovely cherry lips, the amll fine white teeth behind them. I consideered administering to her the kiss of the master to the female slave. "No!" she said.

I held her, my own hands trembling, power in my body. "I am a woman of Earth," she said. "You are a man of Earth!" I held her.

"Do not rape me, Jason," she said. "I'm sorry," i said. I put her down. "Beg my forgiveness!" she said. "I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry!"

"Never look at me again like that, with such lust and power," she said. "I am a woman of Earth!" Forgive me," I said."I see it wil not be easy to teach you to be a true man," she said. I shurgged angrily. "But I think you will learn Jason," she said, "you are a man of Earth."Perhaps," I said.

"We must now go inside," she said. "The room must be properly partitions." "Please let me kiss you," I said. "It has been a trying day for me," she said. "I am weary. Surely you must understand." "Please," I said. "After what happened a moment ago," she said, "I do not think I will permit you to kiss me again for a very long time, if ever."

"Perhaps you will permit me to kiss you from time to time," I suggesed, "just o keep me performing peoperly." "Perhaps," she said angrily. "We shall see."

"Please Beverly," I said. "No," she said. "Please," I said. "I am weary," she said. "And I have a headache." "Let us remain here but a moment longer," I said.

"It is growing chilly here," she said. "And I do not feel well," "Please," I said. "Do not be insensitive, Jason," she said. "I have told you that I have a headache." "I did not mean to be insensitive," I said. "Forgive me." I wondered what she would like like naked, tied at a slave ring, being lashed.

"We must go in now," she said, "In the morning you must rise early. You must buy me clothing and go to the market. You must then find work. "Yes Beverly," I said. I held the door open for her and she preceded me inside. The innkeeper looked up from behind his counter, puzzled that a woman such as she was not heeling me.

I indicated the stairs and she preceded me up the stairs. "We shall certainly have to find better lodgings then these, and soon," she said."Yes Beverly," I said.The stairs were dark, save for small, trembling yellow pools of light, cast from flickering tharlarion-oil lamps.I considered her ankle as she ascended the stairs before me. It had not looked bad in the shackle at the market. Too, I recalled the moment in the taxi cab long ago, before I had lost consciousness. She had been lying on the back seat of the cab, her legs drawn up. I had seen her ankle then, too. I recalled thinking then too, that it would have looked well in slave steel.