Fighting Slave of Gor

33 WE WILL ENTER THE CAMP OF TENALION; THE LEASH

"There!" I said. "That is it!" I indicated to her, in the shallow valley between the two sloping hills, some half pasang from the southern road, the blue and yellow canvas of the distant tents. Too, we could see cages, and palisaded pens, and slave wagons. In the late morning we had asked directions from a surly, armed fellow herding two trussed women, a stick bound behind the back of their necks. We had seen a tarnsman, too, flying in this direction, four girls tied at his saddle rings. We stood at the top of the hill, in the grass, in the shade of some Ka-la-na trees, the yellow wine trees of Gor. "It is the camp of Tenalion," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

I took the leash and wrapped it about her throat, tucking it in.

"Will you not take me into the camp immediately?" she asked.

"Are you so eager to be branded?" I asked.

"They will brand me, won't they," she said, "as though I might be any girl."

"You are any girl," I told her.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"We will rest here for a time," I said. "There are grapes here. Feed me."

I lay down on one elbow and watched her picking the grapes with her teeth. Then she came and knelt humbly beside me and, one by one, from her mouth, as I fed, placed the grapes in my mouth.

"Bring me water," I told her.

She went to a nearby stream and, lying beside it on her belly, in the gravel, took water in her mouth. She then returned to me and, as she knelt above me, I took the water from her mouth.

She straightened up, kneeling. "Were you not afraid I would try to escape?" she asked.

"No," I said.

She looked down at me. "There is no escape for me," she said.

I then took her and flung her, twisting her, on her back in the grass beneath me. "It is true," I told her. "There is no escape for you."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"I watched you bring me food and drink," I said. "You did well. I think you are learning swiftly."

"You have taught me much," she said.

"We are near the camp of Tenalion," I said. "Do you not now wish, again, to beg me piteously for your freedom?"

"No, Master," she said. "I now beg piteously only to be permitted to please you."

I later lifted my lips and hands from her body.

"Am I pleasing?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

I then stood, unsteadily for a moment. I picked up the steel of Orgus, in its sheath, and looped it over my shoulder. She knelt in the grass, in the position of the pleasure slave, as she could, her hands bound behind her.

"Do you think I will make a good slave, Master?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "I think you will make a superb slave, Lady Florence."

"Do you think I will bring a good price?" she asked.

"You are raw, and untrained," I said.

"Do you think I will bring a good price?" she asked.

"You are a free woman," I said. "You are quite beautiful. Too, your hair is auburn."

"Do you think I will bring a good price?" she asked.

"That is a slave's question," I said.

She tossed her head, irritably.

"Yes." I said, "I think you will bring a fine price"

"Yes," she said, bitterly, "because men of Vonda, spurned suitors, will pay high for me."

I laughed at her.

"Master?" she asked.

"Look at yourself," I said. "Do you truly think only a spurned suitor could find you of interest?"

"I do not know," she stammered.

"You are superb slave meat, Lady Florence," I said.

"Slave meat!" she said.

"Men seeing you will want you in their collar," I said. "They will pay high to take you from the block. As a free woman you are extremely beautiful. As a slave you will be a thousand times more beautiful."

"I will try to please my masters," she whispered.

"On your feet, Lady Florence," I said. "It is time to go to the camp of Tenalion."

I went to the crest of the hill and stood among the trees. I could see the camp in the distance, with the blue and yellow canvas, the cages, pens and wagons. I could see a warrior, with a spear, leading a woman in. Her robes of concealment had been torn away to her waist. Her hands were bound behind her. A leash was on her throat. The girl was now standing beside me. "Follow me," I said, starting down the slope.

"Master!" she called.

"Yes," I said, turning about, to look upon her.

"Have you not forgotten something?" she asked.

"What?" I asked.

"My leash," she said.

"Come here," I said. She stepped down the slope carefully, to stand before me.

"Do you wish to be led in on a leash?" I asked.

"Am I not to be a slave girl?" she asked.

I smiled, and unwrapped the leash from her throat. "Yes," I said. I then conducted her down the slope, leading the captive beauty, the Lady Florence, on her leash, towards the camp.