Dancer of Gor

16 Thieves

"Let us see her," said a voice.

I was on my back on a wooden table. My feet had been tied down, and apart. The cloak, in so far as it continued to conceal me, was thrown back.

"Excellent," said a man" s voice.

The strings on the cloak, which were still fastened about my neck, were then undone. I then felt hands working at the second set of strings, those by means of which the cloak" s hood, it still enveloping my entire head was tied about my neck. In a moment they, too, were undone. I felt the hood brushed back. "Superb," said a man.

I blinked against the torchlight.

"Common kajira brand," commented a man.

"Yes," said one of the fellows.

"It is Doreen, Hendow" s slut, all right," said a man. "I have seen her dance." I half sat up, wildly, startled, but, by a hand in my hair, from behind, was drawn down again to my back. My hands were still braceleted behind me. In the moment I had sat up I had seen there were five men in the room, and Tupita, to one side, smiling, modestly cloaked.

"You are pleased?" she asked the men.

"Yes," said a fellow. "We are pleased."

In the instant, too, I had been up I had seen there had been two rings, at the bottom of the table, one on each side. A single narrow strand of coarse rope ran between these two rings. By means of this single strand of rope, and two simple knots, my left ankle had been tied just inside the left ring and my right ankle just inside the right ring.

"She is beautiful," said a man.

"Yes," said a man. "And see those delicious slave curves."

I squirmed, frightened.

"Do not be afraid, my lovely, curvy, brunet Kajira," said a fellow, leaning over me.

"Her ears are pierced, too," said a man.

"Superb," said another.

"I wonder if she is vital," said a man.

"Her ears are pierced," a fellow reminded him.

"We shall see," said another.

I writhed, whimpering, squirming. My ankles jerked, burned, in their rope loops. There was a sudden metallic sound as the linkage on the bracelets snapped taut. There was a scraping of metal on the table. My fingers twisted helplessly. My wrists, hurt, pulling against the steel of the bracelets. I was absolutely at their mercy. I was absolutely helpless.

"She is vital," commented a fellow.

Tupita laughed.

"How glorious that there are slaves," said another.

"Pay me," said Tupita.

"Your collar will not do, my dear," said one of the fellows, leaning over me. "We shall have to remove it."

I could not, myself, remove my collar, of course. Gorean slave collars are not made for the girl to remove it. It would have to be done with tools. "But have no fear, my dear," said the man, patting my brand, "this will stay." I looked up at him, wildly, tears in my eyes.

"Do not fret," he said. "You will not have a naked neck for long. We do not like naked necks on kajirae. It will soon be in another collar."

Tupita pushed between the men. She stood at my right. She spit in my face. "Now," she said, "I have my vengeance on you! You think you are more beautiful than I, but you are not! You thought you would have an easy life, and be most desired among the girls of Hendow, but you will not be! I have seen to it! You thought to take Mirus from me, too, but soon I could have won him back! it is I whom he loves, not you! Because of you he is no longer in the house of Hendow! Too, it was you who undermined me with the girls and the masters, and it is because of you that Aynur, stupid Aynur, was made first girl this afternoon! I hate you all, except Sita, who alone remained loyal to me! But I will not stay in the house of Hendow without Mirus or as second girl! I have escaped, and, in one stroke, too, taken my vengeance on you."

I shook my head, no, no, no!

"You even informed on me when I was so kind as to bring you a pastry," she said, "for which I was beaten!"

I shook my head wildly, no!

"But I have made it now so that you no longer have the protection and favor of Hendow, whom you have bewitched," she said.

I regarded her, startled.

"Now, you, too, will know the whip when men please!"

I shuddered.

"While you remain a slave, Earth slut," she said, "I will be free! And it is you, my pretty enemy, who will have bought me my freedom! Consider it, slut! Such vengeance is sweet!"

I whimpered, piteously, looking up at Tupita.

"How easily you were tricked, stupid slave," she laughed.

Tears sprang to my eyes.

She then again spit in my face, and then turned away from me.

"Pay me," she demanded of he who seemed to be the leader of the men. "I must secure tarn passage from Brundisium before morning.

He looked at her.

"Pay me," she demanded, putting out her hand. "I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. I have completed my portion of the arrangements. I have delivered the merchandise to you."

The fellow opened his wallet.

"No!" she said. "We agreed on five silver tarsks, five!"

he held a single silver tarsk.

"Our arrangement was for five," she said, "five!"

"Do you truly think she is worth five?" asked the fellow.

Tupita regarded him, angrily. Clearly she did not wish to acknowledge that I might, objectively, be of value, particularly of a value so high as five silver tarsks. She herself, perhaps, might not bring so much. "What she is truly worth, or what I might think she is truly worth," said Tupita, "is of no importance. Perhaps she is not worth even a tarsk bit. How would I know? I am not a man. But we agreed on the price of five silver tarsks, five!"

"I thought it was one," grinned a fellow.

"Perhaps you have it in writing," said another fellow, as though helpfully. Tupita, of course, like many slaves, and like myself, could not read or write. Too, even if she could, she, a highly intelligent woman, and a slave, would never have dared to agree to anything in writing pertaining to such clandestine matters.

"Yes," she said, suddenly, with a glance at me. "I remember now. It was one." I saw that she wanted to save face, before me. Too, a silver tarsk is, after all, when all is said and done, a coin of considerable value. Although this varies from city to city, it is not unusual for a silver tarsk to be exchangeable for a hundred copper tarsks, each one of which can be wroth anywhere from tent o four tarsks bits, usually eight. The only golden Gorean coins I had even seen were the tiny ones, almost droplets, which had figured in the decorative jewelries of dancers costumes. Brundisium was noted for its golden staters, but I had never seen one.

Tupita took the silver tarsk from the fellow, and clutched it triumphantly, tightly, in her fist. It would be more than enough to purchase her passage from Brundisium. She then came again to the side of the table. "Thank you, lovely Doreen, she said. "I am very grateful. Not only do I have my vengeance upon you, delivering you to new slaveries and degradations, as it pleased me, but you have also the means of my own escape and freedom." She showed me the silver tarsk. "Pretty, isn" t it?" she asked.

I pulled weakly against the bracelets. The men laughed.

"I am only sorry that you are not worth more," she said.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

"I will leave you now, slave, roped and braceleted, and in the power of men," she said. She turned away.

But the door was blocked by a fellow, leaning against it, his arms folded. "Stand aside!" she said, angrily.

He did not move, nor did he respond to her.

She spun to face the leader of the men.

"What do you have there, in your hand?" he asked.

She clutched the tarsk more tightly.

"Open your hand," said the leader.

"What is the meaning of this?" she cried.

"Must a command be repeated?" he inquired.

She opened her hand, revealing the silver tarsk. He walked to her, and removed it from her hand. "Have you been permitted to touch money?" he asked. "Please!" she said.

"We could always check with her master," suggested a fellow.

"It is mine!" said Tupita.

"Yours?" asked the leader, smiling.

"Yes!" she said.

"Surely you know that animals are not allowed to own money," he said. Tupita turned white.

The leader dropped the coin into his wallet.

"Let me go," she said. "I will not bother you no longer!"

"Remove your cloak," said the leader.

Tupita thrust it back, over her shoulders, untied the strings and let it fall to the floor, behind her.

She then stood there among them, in a brief tunic of opaque slave silk, such as might be worn during the day. She was a very lovely, and very frightened woman. The cloak removed, the collar could be seen on her neck. If he from whom she had intended to purchase tarn passage had not seen the collar, nor, of course, her brand, not her tunic, or such, and, theoretically, at least, did not know she was a slave, he would not be held legally responsible for having sold her passage. Tupita had excellent legs.

"Remove the tunic," said the leader.

She reached to the disrobing loop, and dropped the tunic to the floor, about her ankles. Tupita was too good a slave, and too wise a slave, to dally before a Gorean male, having received such a command.

"What is the meaning of this?" she said, naked.

Her hands were then drawn behind her, and, in an instant, she was braceleted, as securely as I.

"Perhaps we are in the hire of Hendow, your master," said the leader of the men. "No!" cried Tupita. "No!" she flung herself to her knees before the leader, and the others. "No, please, Masters!" she cried. "Take pity on me!" "But we are not in his hire," said the leader.

Tupita sobbed with relief.

"Examine her," said the leader, curtly. I rolled to the right side of the table, and twisted about, a little. Then, frightened, I rolled again to my back. "She had this," said one of the men, holding up a small, damp leather sack by its strings.

I turned a little and saw some of the tiny golden coins, such as adorned the dancer" s costumes, spilled into the hand of the leader. I heard Tupita, on the floor, sobbing. It was a good deal more than a silver tarsk that she had thought to garner from her venture this night in Brundisium. No wonder she had been willing to leave, even without the tarsk. Had Mirus still been with the tavern, I do not think she would have been able to secure the tiny coins. He had been careful about such things.

"See if she is vital," said the leader.

I heard Tupita suddenly cry out and, startled, gasp, and then whimper.

"She is vital," said a man.

I then saw Tupita pulled to her feet. She seemed half in shock. Her hair was down about her face. A man held her from behind, keeping her from falling, by the upper arms. Her wrists were braceleted behind her. Held as she was, and with her hands braceleted behind her, the beauty of her bared bosom was accentuated. Sometimes slavers present prospective buyers with girls held in this fashion. This time, of course, it was a mere convenience that she was held so. I regarded her. Tupita was quite beautiful. There was no doubt about it.

"I would not mind owning either of them," said fellow.

"Please!" said Tupita.

"Not in Brundisium, you wouldn" t," laughed one of the men.

"Yes," said another. "They must be sold out of Brundisium."

"Please!" begged Tupita.

"Be silent," snapped the leader. "Apparently you have not felt the whip enough." Immediately Tupita silent.

"You are not now with soft masters," he said. "You are not now in the house of Hendow, where, it would seem, the girls do not know the whip."

Tupita put her head down, not daring to meet his eyes.

The leader was mistaken, of course. The girls in the house of Hendow knew the whip, and knew it well. Indeed, it was not unusual for them to experience it if they had been even in the least bit displeasing. To be sure, this very understanding, in itself, knowing the discipline under which they served, its consistency and reality, encouraged them to attempt to achieve perfect pleasingness, with the result that the whip was seldom called for, unless perhaps for the amusement of the master.

"We must get these slaves out of Brundisium soon," said a man, nervously. "Before light," said another.

"Before sleen are put on their trail," said another.

"Yes," said another.

I thought of Borko, the gray sleen. When it was discovered that we were missing, he, or other such beasts, might be set upon our trail. My blanket, of course, had been left behind in the kennel. That would suffice for any hunting sleen. Borko, of course, did not need so typical a stimulus. He, knowing my name and scent, could be set on my train by a mere verbal command. I shuddered. Through no fault of my own I feared I might be torn to pieces. A similar fate, of course, might befall Tupita. She had been quite anxious, I recalled, to be swiftly out of Brundisium.

"Lift your head," said the leader to Tupita.

She obeyed.

"You will not even have to pay for your tarn passage out of Brundisium," he said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Bring tools," said the leader.

Our collars, which identified us as the girls of Hendow, were to be removed. It is customary to change a girl" s collar shortly after she has been stolen. This makes it harder to trace her.

"Where are you going to take us, Master?" asked Tupita.

The leader went to her and, with the back of his hand, lashed her across the mouth.

"Curiosity," he said, "is not becoming in a kajira."

"Yes, Master," she said. Her lip was cut.

"Gag her," he said.

I watched while a gag, not unlike mine, was fastened in Tupita" s mouth. She did not look at me, while it was being put on her. I did not think, however, that the gag was really necessary. Was she really going to cry out, and perhaps then be "rescued," only to be subsequently returned to Hendow, for his mercy? I did not think there would be even a tiny sound out of her. She would doubtless go quietly. On the other hand, the choice had not been left to her. Men had decided the matter. The gag was now packed well in her mouth, and secured tightly in place, by three sets of laces, however, rather than three straps, like mine. She looked suddenly at me, wildly, then looked away. She now was no more than me, only another slave, being stolen.

"When their collars are off," said the leader, "put the other collars on them, those we prepared for them."

Tupita looked at the leader. Two collars had been prepared. They had planned, then, from the beginning, to take her along. That was not hard to understand, of course. She was very beautiful.

"Then," said the leader, "hood them. Then put them with the others."