Slave Girl Of Gor

10
I Am An Item Of Merchandise

I swam out in the pool to the end of my neck tether, and splashed in the water.

"Clean yourself well, Dina," said Tup Ladletender. "You must be sparkling."

"Yes, Master," I called to him.

I had knelt beside the pool and, the rope on my neck, washed my hair. Then I had been permitted to wash in the pool and cleanse my body. The welts I had received from the beatings of Bran Loon and his bullies had healed. I had only four marks on my body from the animal whip of Tup Ladletender, with which he had encouraged me in my. drawing of his cart. These now had almost disappeared. Generally he disciplined me with a cuff of the flat of his hand. I respected hint He managed me well.

I had been his slave for some two weeks.

We had visited various villages, but, on the whole, we had made our way along the road to Ar. He must replenish his stores. I was pleased that he had not sold me to peasants. Another fate, I knew, he had in store for me.

When we had come to the great road I had rejoiced. It is broad, fairly smooth, and built like a wall, sunk in the earth. It is not hard to draw the cart on such a road. My work, thus, was easier. We could see villages here and there more frequently now; too, occasionally there were hostels and taverns on the road. I enjoyed seeing caravans pass, and villagers with their bosk wagons. I feared the great tharlarion of the caravans. Often the animals wore belled harnesses. Once we were passed by a great slave caravan. There were more than four hundred wagons with girls ankle-chained in them. It was a caravan of Mintar, the great merchant. Another time we were passed by a smaller slave caravan. In this caravan, there were few wagons, and those there were showed scarring and marks of fire. Goods and wounded men lay in the wagons. Afoot, between the wagons, walked a chain of forty girls. They were neck chained, and their wrists were fastened behind their backs with slave bracelets. Their heads were down. Many were beautiful.

"What occurred?" asked Tup Ladletender.

"Raiders from Treve," said a man with bandaged shoulder, in one of the wagons.

The great road to Ar is marked with pasang stones. We had followed the road to within two hundred pasangs of Ar. Then we had left it, and, for two days, followed a side road. The countryside was still relatively populated.

Tup Ladletender's cart was now at the hut of a villager whom he knew.

In the distance, even from the pool, I could see the white, looming walls of the merchant keep, Stones of Turmus, a Turian outpost, licensed for the storage of goods within the realm of Ar. Such outposts are not uncommon on Gor. They are useful in maintaining the security of trade. Their function is not military but commercial. Turia is one of the great trading centers of Gor. It lies far to the south, in the middle latitudes of her southern hemisphere.

"Look, Dina!" said Tup Ladletender, pointing upward.

I looked up and saw, far overhead, some four tarnsmen in flight. They carried the yellow banners of truce.

"They are bound, I wager, for Port Kar," said Tup Ladletender, "whence they will take ship to Cos."

I had heard there was fighting between Ar and Cos, it having to do with the alleged support by Cos accorded to Vosk pirates. The Vosk is a mighty river which flows westward, emptying into a vast rence delta, finding its way eventually to Thassa, the sea. The motivation of the hostilities was apparently mostly economic, having to do with trade monopolies sought by both cities in the territories bordering the Vosk. Ar claimed the southern shore of the Vosk. Cos, and the other major maritime Ubarate, Tyros, on the other hand, had traditionally conducted trade, through overland merchant connections, with these territories. I watched the tarnsmen disappear in the distance. Twice earlier, on the great road to Ar, Tup Ladletender had pointed out tarnsmen in flight, presumably messengers. Marlenus of Ar, and other Ubars, commonly employed such couriers.

The thought of Clitus Vitellius passed through my mind. He had spurned me. How I hated him!

I felt a tug on the neck tether. "I am coming, Master," I called.

I swam in; to the side of the pool. Ladletender handed me a towel. My tether he tied to a tree. I toweled myself.

"You must sparkle, Dina," he said to me.

"Yes, Master," I said. I looked up to the keep of Stones of Turmus in the distance.

I wondered how much I would bring. I had never been sold before.

"Pay attention to your master," said Tup Ladletender.

"Yes, Master," I said.

Tup Ladletender handed me a wide-toothed comb. I began, with long strokes, to straighten my hair. I continued to look at the keep of Stones of Turmus. It was high and formidable. It was within those walls that I would be owned.

We had stayed in a nearby village overnight, in which Ladletender had a friend. His cart was there now. I had not drawn the cart this morning. I must be refreshed.

"Brush your hair," said tadletender.

"Yes, Master," I said.

After I had finished, Ladletender retrieved the brush and comb, dropping them in his pouch.

He looked me over. I blushed, under Gorean appraisal. I wore only my tether.

"Stand as a slave," he said.

I stood beautifully, back straight, head high, belly sucked in, hip turned. No woman can stand more beautifully than as a Gorean slave girl.

"Excellent," said Ladletender, smacking his lips.

"Master is pleased," I said.

"Yes," he said.

"The slave, too, is then pleased," I said.

"Behold," said he. He drew forth, from a leather bag nearby, a sack, such as vegetables may be carried in. I looked at it. I was puzzled. It was folded; it was small. He removed the tether from my neck. I shook my head and hair, the bond removed.

He gestured to the sack. It had been used to carry vegetables. There was printing on it.

"Put it on," he said.

I opened the sack. In it were cut an opening for the head, and two for the arms. I drew it over my head. It was snug. With binding fiber he cinched it on my body.

He stepped back. "Lovely," he said. It came high on my thighs. There was a casualness about it, a carelessness about the shoulders, with respect to my figure. But the binding fiber, bound twice about my belly, and cinched tight, at my left hip, accentuated my breasts and hips. There was a hint of lusciousness, concealed within so apparently negligent a wrapper. It was well contrived, psychologically, to suggest a cheap, but most tasty slut.

I reddened.

"Here," said Ladletender. He held up a string of slave beads. I smiled. I reached for them. "Not so fast," said he. I put down my hands. He put the beads in his belt. "Turn about," he said. I did so. It is the man on Gor, often, who puts jewelry on the female, bedecking her. It is not uncommon, even, for him, should he have a pierced-ear slave, to fasten her earrings on her. I assumed Tup Ladletender would rope the slave beads on my neck, fastening them behind my neck. They were of wood, and cheap and pretty. I would be pleased to wear a decoration. Once I had nearly had my throat cut for my lack of knowledge of "Bina," or slave beads. I still did not understand why. Too, once I had had a strange dream that dealt with slave beads, a meaningless dream I had not understood, in which I had been asked, strangely, to string such beads. My hands were pulled behind me, and locked in slave bracelets. Then, as I stood helplessly braceleted, Tup Ladletender roped the cheap beads about my neck.

He stepped before me.

"You are beautiful, Dina," said he.

"Thank you, Master," I said.

He then turned away. "Come along," he said.

I stumbled after him, barefoot, wrists braceleted behind my back.

We soon took the road to Stones of Turmus. In an Ahn we had come to the great gate. The high, white walls loomed above me. They were more than eighty feet in height. I felt very small. There were six towers on the walls, two defending the gate, and one at each corner. Suddenly I wanted to turn and flee. But I was braceleted. And nowhere on Gor was there a place for a girl such as I to run. I was slave.

A small panel in a small door built within the great gate slid open.

"Tup Ladletender here," said Ladletender.

"Greetings, Ladletender," said a voice, recognizing him.

"I am vending a girl," said Ladletender, indicating me.

"Welcome, Tup Ladletender," said the voice.

The small door in the great gate opened, and we entered. The small door was then shut behind us.