Beasts Of Gor

36
To The Victors Belong The Spoils; I Lift A Glass Of Paga

Orders were swiftly given.

In two Ahn we were ready to withdraw from the complex. Sleds were readied; prisoners, men of the complex, now in furs, some forty of them, were tied, their hands behind them, their necks linked by a long rope of rawhide, placing them in coffle. There was no fight left in them; they knew that on the ice, away from the technology of the complex, they could survive only if the red hunters chose to let them do so. Some would be sold to traders in the spring; others might be kept in the camps, to serve the red hunters; they, male slave beasts, would be stronger than female slave beasts. Perhaps eventually a hunter would take a trading trip south and take them with him, bound, to dispose of them in, say, Lydius, with his furs and other trade goods.

I regarded fifteen women who had been in the complex. women being trained as Kur agents for work in their cause. All were kneeling naked; most already had bondage strings on their necks; those that did not the hunters could sort out or do contest for.

"Put them in the sacks," I said.

Each was thrust in a deep furred sack, which was then placed within another heavy fur sack, larger than the first. There was an opening in the sacks only for the head, which was then rimmed with a hood, so that only the face was exposed, and that could be withdrawn to protect it from the cold. The rawhide straps on the sacks were then drawn tight. looped about, and tied tightly behind the hoods; the women could not reach the straps; they were, thus, effectively imprisoned.

"Tie the sacks on the sleds," I said. It was thus that the women would be transported.

The women moaned as they were carried helplessly to the sleds.

They would eventually learn to serve red masters.

She who had been the Lady Rosa was not, of course, with them. She was elsewhere, where I wanted her.

"Are we ready for departure?" I asked Imnak.

"Almost," said Imnak. Poalu, already furred, was with him.

"Come with me," I said to Imnak. "And bring, too, the bravest and best of your hunters, who performed for our cause in this place the best and noblest works of war."

There was a cheer.

"Surely Karjuk stands highest among them," he said.

"Come with us, Karjuk!" I cried.

"Go on without me," he said. He smiled wryly. "I am a sour and solemn man."

"Surely you would like a little thing to warm and pleasure you in your house?" I asked.

"I might grow too fond of it," be said. He bent down. tying a bundle, which he would put on his sled.

Imnak winked at me. "Come along, grim friend," said he. "You can help us make our choices."

"I know little of such matters," said Karjuk. "I am a lonely man."

"Come along," said Imnak. "Surely you can tell us which would be best at pulling sleds."

"You must look at the legs," said Karjuk. "Strong legs are important."

"Come along," said Imnak.

"Very well," said Karjuk.

We walked along a hallway. With us were many of the red hunters, some seventy or eighty, and Ram, and Drusus.

We entered a large room, off the hall.

In the room, alone, in its center, knelt a young red woman, her head down. She had been the only woman of her race, other than Poalu, who had been slave in the complex. She had been found in security chaining, in one of the slave rooms. She looked up.

"No one wants this one," said Imnak, "She has been a slave to white men."

There were tears in the girl's eyes. She was very pretty. She was short and plump like most of the women of the red hunters.

"What are you going to do with her?" asked Karjuk.

"Put her out in the snow," said Imnak. "She shames the People."

"I live apart from the People," said Karjuk.

"Do you want her?" asked Imnak.

"Of course not," said Karjuk, quickly. "She is too pretty for me."

"Do you know her?" asked Imnak.

"She was Neromiktok, of the Copper Cliffs Camp," he said. The word 'Neromiktok', in the language of the People. means 'Smooth-and-Soft-to-Touch'. I had learned this from Imnak. I had learned, too, that she had once been the beauty of the Copper Cliffs Camp.

"Do you know him?" inquired Imnak, innocently, of the girl.

"He is Karjuk, Master," she whispered, "once of Bright Stones Camp, who became the guard."

"It is said he left the camps and became the guard," said Imnak, "because his gifts were once refused by a proud girl of the Copper Cliffs Camp."

She put down her head.

"How did you become a slave," asked Imnak.

"I was too good for men," she said.

Several of the red hunters with. us laughed, to hear a slave so speak.

"I ran away from Copper Cliffs to avoid an unwanted match," she said. "I was captured. I was made a slave."

"Are you still too good for men?" asked Imnak.

"No, Master," she said.

"You have shamed the People," said Imnak sternly.

"Yes, Master," she said, her head down.

"What sort of woman are you?" asked Imnak.

"One who wants to kneel at the feet of men, and love them," she said.

"Shameful! Shameful!" cried Imnak cheerfully.

"Yes, Master," she said, sobbing, not raising her head.

"Do you know the fate for shaming the People?" he asked.

"Please, no, Master!" she said.

"Seize her," said Imnak, to two of the red hunters. They seized her, each taking an arm, and dragged her to her feet.

"They are going to put me out in the snow!" she cried to Karjuk, agdnized.

"Are you going to put her out in the snow?" asked Karjuk.

"Of course," said Imnak.

"But she has strong legs," said Karjuk.

The girl struggled in the arms of the red hunters. They released her and she flung herself to her knees before Karjuk. head down, sobbing, holding his legs.

"I suppose she could draw a sled," said one red hunter.

"Perhaps," said another.

"She might be pretty in the furs," said another.

"Keep me, Master! Keep me, Master!" begged the girl of Karjuk, sobbing. "I beg of you to keep me, Master!"

"No one wants you," said Imnak.

"Please, Master!" begged the girl, tears in her eyes, looking up at Karjuk.

"You are too good for me," said Karjuk.

"No, No, Master," she cried, "I am only a slave, a slave!"

"You are very pretty," said Kaijtik.

"A slave is pleased if her master should find her pleasing," she said.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"To kneel at your feet, and to serve you and love you." she wept.

"Shameful!" cried Imnak.

"One cannot have everything," said Karjuk, defensively.

"Please, Master," she begged.

"Let us consider important things," said Karjuk. "Can you sew, and cook?"

"Yes, Master!" she cried.

"Can you make a good sleen stew?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," she said. "And though I know you are above such things I can show you wonders in the furs, which I have been taught as a slave."

Kaijuk shrugged. "It is not wrong to broaden one's experiences," he said.

"Keep me, Master," she begged.

"I will call you Auyark," he said.

"I am Auyark," she said, joyfully, putting her head against his leg, weeping.

He looked down at her. "I think you will make a summer in my house," he said. Auyark is a word in the language of the People which means Summer.

"Look up at me," he said, "Girl."

She looked up at him.

"I will keep you," he said, "but you must understand that you are kept as a slave, completely as a slave, and only as a slave."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"And if you are not pleasing," he said, "I will put you out into the snow."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Come now," he said. "On your feet. We must load a sled."

She stood up.

"Let me load the sled, Master," she said.

He looked at her. "Yes," he said. "You will load it, lovely slave."

They left the room, he first, she following.

"Imnak," I said, "you arranged this entire thing."

"It is not impossible," he said. "But, hurry, there are other wenches to distribute, and there is little time."

I looked down at Arlene, kneeling in line, with the other girls. She was in the first line. There were four such lines, of fifty or so girls each. They were the girls who had been slaves in the complex.

"We are your spoils," said Arlene.

All the girls were stripped. All knelt in the position of pleasure slaves.

She who had been the Lady Rosa knelt to one side, similarly exposed and positioned.

She, too, was a slave girl.

"Yes," I said to Arlene.

"Women have always been the spoils in the victories of men," she said, "the tokens, symbols, the fruits and prizes of their conquests."

"Of course," I said. "How do you feel about that?"

"I find it indescribably thrilling," she said.

"Kneel straighter," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Why are Thimble and Thistle," I asked Imnak, "in with the flesh loot?" The two Earth girls, Audrey and Barbara, knelt near Arlene.

"I have Poalu," said Imnak.

The girl Belinda, whom I had used on the steel plates of the corridor, while she wore her long neck chain, fastened in the overhead track system, knelt a few girls away, in the second row. She lifted her body to me, her eyes pleading, but did not break position.

Constance, the lovely blond-haired slave from Kassau, whom I had imbonded in the fields south of the Laurius, knelt in the fourth row.

She was very beautiful.

Chains were brought, sirik chains, with their collars, and wrist and ankle loops, all attached, strung on an individual hold chain.

I threw six sink chains over my left shoulder.

"Let us begin," said Imnak.

I threw two of the sirik chains to the tiles, one after the other.

Arlene and Audrey, swiftly, rose to their feet and ran lightly to kneel before me.

They looked up at me.

"I am a slave. I beg your chains," said Arlene.

"Pick them up," I said, indicating a sirik to her. She lifted up the chains.

"I am a slave. I beg your chains," said Audrey.

"Pick them up," I said, indicating the other sirik. She picked up the chain, with its collar, and wrist and ankle rings. I saw her lift it, tears in her eyes. Gently, head down, she licked and kissed the metal. I smiled. As I had thought, tho former rich girl was the first to lick and kiss her chaim.

Arlene, angry, lifted the chains to her lips. She, looking at me, pressed the chains to her lips and kissed them. Then, delicately, touching the chain with her small, soft tongue she licked the metal. Then she kissed it again. Then she held the chain diagonally in her mouth, her small, fine white teeth gently closed upon it. She then removed it from her mouth. "You see, I can lick and kiss my chains even better than she, Master," said Arlene.

"Oh, oh," said Audrey, softly. Her body trembled. She looked up from the chain. She was almost in orgasm.

"But do you understand the meaning of it?" I asked Arlene.

Suddenly Arlene shuddered, and looked at the chain. She held it in her small hands. It, locked on her body, would confine her obdurately, making her helplessly the rightless slave of a master. Every organism has its place in nature. That of woman is at the foot of man.

"I love being a woman, Master," she said. She held the chain against her bared beauty.

"Now lick and kiss the chain, Slave," I said.

"Yes, Master," she whispered.

She bent her head to the chain and, delicately, sobbing with emotion, licked and kissed at the metal. Her tears fell among the links.

I locked the sirik on Audrey. She looked at me, desperately.

"Later," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Go to the sled, Slave," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

They, still in sirik, would be fastened in fur sacks and tied on sleds. Later, after the first ice camp had been constructed, they would be freed from sirik, and used in the huts. Later, given garments, they would trek, In neck coffle, beside the sleds.

I took the chains from Arlene, pulling them from her, and, with five snaps, locked them roughly on her body.

I smelled the womanhood of her. She looked at me. "Later," I said. "Go to the sled, Slave."

"Yes, Master," she mid, moaning.

Men about me were enacting similar ceremonies of enslavement with other imbonded wenches. Ram, I saw, took none. He was satisfied with lovely Tina, who had been the Lady Tina of Lydius. Drusus, I saw, had put a pair of beauties in sirik. He sent them to the sled on which he had been alotted space for his belongings, including two slave girls.

I threw another sirik to the floor before me.

Barbara, the blond Earth girl, knelt before me. "I am a slave," she said. "I beg your chains."

"Pick them up," I said.

She did so, and kissed them. I locked them on her.

"Goto the sled," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

I threw another sirik to the floor before me.

Constance, the Gorean slave, blond and lovely, knelt before me. "I am a slave," she said. "I beg your chaim."

"Pick them up," I said.

She did so, and kissed them.

I locked them on her.

"Go to the sled," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

I threw the fifth of the six sets of chains which I held on my shoulder to the floor.

Belinda, whom I had used in the corridor, hurried to me, kneeling before me.

She was joyful. I would permit her, at least for the time, at my feet.

Soon, in sirik, she made her way toward my sled.

I threw the last sirik to the tiles before me.

The graceful and aristocratic girl, she who had been the Lady Rosa, came and knelt before me. "I am a slave," she said. "I beg your chains."

"Pick them up," I said.

She did so, and, looking at me, pressed them to her lips, Then she put her head down and, delicately, licked and kissed them.

I locked the collar on her neck, and the two wrist rings, one after the other, on her small wrists. I then took the chain between her legs and, crouching behind her, snapped the two ankle rings shut on her fair ankles. I then stood up and stood before her. I looked down at her, my hands on my hips. "Whose slave are you?" I asked. "Yours, Master," she said. "Go to the sled. Slave," I said. "Yes, Master," she said.

"We must hurry," said Imnak. "In two Ahn this place will be no more."

Outside the room which had been used for slave selection by the victors, I took a dart-firing weapon from one of the red hunters.

"Where are you going?" asked Imnak.

"To the chamber of Zarendargar," I said. I slipped one of the darts into the weapon's breech, and let the bolt spring shut.

"Why?" he asked.

I shrugged. "In the disruption consequent upon this place's destruction," I said, "his death would be hideous."

I went to the chamber of Zarendargar, the weapon in hand. Imnak followed.

At the chamber of Zarendargar I pressed open the portal with my foot and lifted the weapon, to fire at the figure which would be recumbent upon the blood-soaked, furred dais.

I was startled. I leaped into the room. Weapon in hand I scanned the room, the walls, the high poles threaded over my head.

I shook.

Zarendargar was gone.

"I will have the rooms and halls searched!" cried Imnak. He hurried away, out of the room.

I walked slowly to the stained, furred dais. I had placed on it a glass of paga before I had left the room. I saw, against a steel wall, the shattered remnants of such a glass. But on the dais there was another glass, it, too, filled with paga.

I laughed loudly.

I bent and picked up the second glass. I lifted it to the empty room, in both a toast and a salute.

Then I downed the paga. Then I threw the glass against the steel wall, where it shattered, and fell, its fragments showering downward, mingling with those of the other glass.

I turned about and left the room. Outside Imnak was trying to organize a search of the complex.

"There is no time," I said.

"But the beast," he said.

"There is no time," I said. "We must make away."

"Yes," said he, "Tarl, who hunts with me." He hurried away, calling to the red hunters.

The snow sleen were already harnessed.

I paused there, alone, at the portal of the chamber of Zarendargar, Half-Ear, war general of the Kurii. I looked within, once, at the blood-stained dais, and the steel wall, at the foot of which, mingled, lay the fragmenti of two glasses.

Then quickly I turned about and strode from the area. The trek must be initiated.