Kajira of Gor

28 School; I Have Graduated
29 Hassan, The Slave Hunter
30 Sheila, The Tatrix of Corcyrus
31 Argentum

"Remove your silk," he said.

I did so.

"Kneel," he said.

I did so.

Straighten your body," he said.

I did so. I knelt naked before Miles of Argentum, before his thronelike chair, on the tiles in his quarters, in Argentum.

"Your knees," he said.

I spread my knees even more widely before him.

"You are now known as Tiffany, I believe," he said, "of Feast Slaves, of the Enterprises of Aemilianus."

"I am Tiffany," I said, "of Feast Slaves, of the Enterprises of Aemilianus." I never forget a face," he said. I was silent.

My entire group had been brought from Ar to Argentum, I thought to entertain. This had been done at the expense of Miles of Argentum.

Furthermore, much to the surprise and displeasure of the girls, who were perhaps by now somewhat spoiled, we had been brought under heavy security. We had never, from the time we had left the agency in Ar to the time we entered the grounds of the palace in Argentum, been out of chains of one sort or another. I supposed that it was only I, of all the girls, and perhaps of all those on the staff of the agency itself, who suspected the reasons for this trip to Argentum and the rationale of the security. I did not think Miles of Argentum was particularly interested in feast slaves, per se. Surely such might be rented in Argentum itself. I think rather he was interested particularly in one feast slave. Tonight I had been brought to him, leashed and braceleted. My keeper, a fellow from the agency, had then, in his quarters, freed me of these bonds and turned me over to him. He had rented me for the night.

"Thrust out Your breasts, Tiffany," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said. I lifted and straightened my back even more, sucking in my gut and putting back my shoulders, this lifting the softness of my bosom brazenly to him, that of a slave girl, for his consideration or attentions. "You are pretty, Tiffany," he said.

"Thank you, Master," I said.

"I enjoy commanding you," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.

"Are you a good lay, Tiffany?" he asked.

"Sonic men have found me acceptable, Master," I said.

"We are going to play a little game, Tiffany," he said.

"We are going to pretend that you are Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus," he smiled.

"But I am Tiffany," I said, frightened, "of Feast Slaves, of the Enterprises of Aemilianus!"

"But we are going to pretend, aren't we?" he asked.

"As Master wishes," I said, frightened.

"Stand," he said.

I did so.

"Straighter," he said.

I straightened up, even more.

He then, from a chest at the side of the room, fetched forth a lovely, yellow, silken sheet. This he draped, regally about my shoulders.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Tiffany!" I said. "Tiffany, of Feast Slaves, of the Enterprises of Aemilianus!" "But we are playing, aren't we?" he asked. I shuddered.

"Now," said he, "who are you, really?"

"Sheila," I murmured. "Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus."

"I thought so," he said.

I looked at him wildly, frightened.

"Sit in the chair," he said.

"I dare not!" I said. The thought of sitting in such a chair terrified me. It was the chair of a free person. I was a slave. I might be whipped, or slain, for sitting in such a chair. The greatest honor I might expect in connection with such a chair was to be permitted to crouch or lie at its foot, or, perhaps, to be chained by the neck to its side.

"Is a command to be repeated?" he asked.

"No, Master!" I said. I hurried to the chair and, small and frightened, sat down within it.

Sit up more straightly, more regally, and put your hands on the arms," he said. "Good."

Then he came over to the chair and, bending over, care-fully adjusted the sheet about me. He then stepped back. "Good," he said. Then he sat, cross-legged, on the tiles, a few feet from me.

"Yes," he said. "Good. That is it." As he sat, he was below me. The angle would be similar to that which he had had from the floor of the great hall, or from the lower steps of the dais, looking up at me on the throne.

"I never forget a face," he reassured me. was silent.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Sheila," I said, "the Tatrix of Corcyrus."

"Yes," he said, "you are."

He then rose up and approached. me. He drew away the sheet and folded it, horizontally, again and again, until it formed, with several folds, a thick, long, narrow band, about six inches in height and the sheet's length, about seven feet, in width.

He then passed this band about my waist and about the back of the chair. He then tied me, snugly, back in the chair. He then resumed his place on the floor. "Yes," he said, "clearly, at least a silver-tarsk girl." I recalled that he had conjectured in the great hall, much to the fury of many of my retainers, that that might be about my value in a slave market.

He then rose up, again, and approached the chair. I tried to back, even further, against the back of the chair. My hands and arms were free but the thick, yellow band, knotted tightly behind the back of the chair, held me helplessly in place. "You are not going to interfere, are you?" he asked.

"No, Master," I said.

Then he began to caress me.

"There was quite a search for you," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"It was lucky that I found you in Ar, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"It is convenient that the addresses of many slaves are on their collars, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"It was thus easy to find you," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.

"What is wrong?" he asked. "Nothing, Master!" I said.

"You are squirming," he said.

"Yes, Master!" I said.

"Did you have a nice trip from' Ar?'~ he asked.

"Yes, Master!" I said.

"Were you in chains all the way?" he asked.

"Yes, Master!" I said tried to hold my body still. I dug my fingernails into arms of the chair.

"It seems that you have been shorn," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said. "It was done last to me a few months ago by Borkon, my whip master, in Mill 7, of the Enterprise of Mintar."

"I see," he said.

"Oh," I sobbed. "Oh!" Then I could no longer control body.

"You are squirming again," he said.

"Yes, Master," I moaned. I writhed, helplessly, uncontrollably, held in place by the tight band of the sheet, my finger nails digging into the arms of the chair. "You respond like a slave," he said.

"Yes, Master!" I said.

"Who are you?'.' he asked.

"Sheila," I said, "Tatrix of Corcyrus!"

"I know," he said.

I tried to lift my body more to him, to make it easier him to touch.

"That is enough for now," he said. He removed his hands from my body. I looked at him wildly, piteously, pleadingly. He must stop now! Surely he knew what he was doing to me.

"Now," he said, "Lady Sheila, you are going to be leashed and then you are going to perform on your leash, and supply, and, after that, you are going to beg to please me, as a slave."

"Yes, Master," I said.

He then went to a chest and from it fetched forth a thick, plain, black-leather collar with a lock closure. It was a sturdy ring attached to this collar, and, attached to ring, there was a long slave leash of black leather. It some fifteen feet in length. In most leadings, of course, this afliount of length would not be used, but would be coiled in the grasp of the master. The length is useful if the slave is expected to perform leash dances, is to be bound with the leash, or if, it doubled at the master's end, it is to be used to train or discipline her. I sat back in the chair, held helplessly there by the thick bond of the yellow sheet. I watched him approach, with the collar and leash. He then stopped before the chair.

"I am now going to leash you," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.

"Lift up your chin," be said.

"Yes, Master," I said. I then felt the high, thick collar put about my neck, over the collar of Aemilianus. I could feel it snug under my chin. It was then snapped shut.

"You are leashed," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.

He then untied the sheet from the chair. I had not been freed of that bond until after I had been leashed. This sort of thing is almost second nature with Goreans in the tyings and chainings of slaves. This is reasonable, I suppose, at least in -many instances, that one security should be kept in effect until it has been replaced by another. He folded the sheet twice and dropped it beside the chair.

"What is a woman in a slave leash doing on such a chair?" be asked.

"Forgive me, Master," I said. I did not leave the chair, however. I did not know what he wanted me to do "Slip from the chair now," he said, "and go to all fours, and then, in this fashion, crawl ten feet away, and then turn and, in this fashion, face me." I hastened to obey. Then, in a moment or two, I faced him on all fours, the leash dangling from the collar, its end, as I had crawled, and turned, in front of me, a few feet from the foot of the chair. He had now taken his place on the chair. How right he seemed there, how lordly and masterful.

"You will note," he said, "that you wear a common slave leash and collar. There is nothing unusual or valuable about them. The collar, for example, is neither set with sapphires nor is it trimmed with gold. The leash, similarly, is of plain, sturdy material. Both devices are quite ordinary, but, of course, quite efficient."

"Yes, Master," I said.

"It amuses me to put you in such common articles," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"You are now going to make as complete a circuit of the room as is practical," he said. "You will, where practical, kiss the walls at the corners, on each side of the corner, about five horts from the corner and about ten horts from the floor. Where you come to chests or furniture, you will treat them as extensions of the wall, kissing them at the corners, and so on. You will then return exactly to your present position."

"Yes, Master," I said.

"You may now leave," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said. "Thank you, Master." I then began my journey. The kissing of inanimate articles, such as a master's sandals, or the tiles on which he has walked, is used in teaching a girl respect and reverence. There was something of this involved in his command, the having to kiss the walls of his room, the furniture there, and such, but the form ~f the command was presumably motivated primarily by the consideration that compliance with it would guarantee a full and adequate negotiation of the room's interior perimeter.

I was then, after a time, again where I had been before on all fours, some ten feet from his chair, facing him. The leash, dangling from my collar, was now trailing behind me, between my legs.

"Lift your head," he said.

I did so.

"Come forward five feet," he said, "and keep your head up."

I complied.

"Put your head down," he said.

I complied.

"To your belly," he said.

I went to my belly.

"Up again," he said, "to all fours.,'

I complied.

"Lift your head," he said.

I did so.

"It is pleasant to have the Tatrix of Corcyrus naked and on my leash," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.

"You may now bring me the end of the leash," he said "-in your teeth." "Yes, Master," I said. I went back to the end of the leash and, putting down my head, to the tiles, picked it up in my teeth I then, on all fours, brought it; between my teeth, to Miles of Argentum.

He took it from me. I looked up at him, from all fours.

Does Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus, beg to perform on her leash for Miles, general of Argentum?" he inquired-.

Yes, Master," I said.

He stood up, then, and, with a snap, shook out the leash, and then, looping it drew it back a bit towards him. He would play it out, or draw it in, as it pleased him, varying his perspective, and my distance from him, as I squirmed, and writhed and posed, from as little as an inch or two to the full length of the leash, something in the neighborhood of a full fifteen feet.

"Perform," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said, and performed.

I performed as excitingly and seductively as possible.

"More lewdly," he would sometimes say, "more salaciously, more lasciviously!" "Yes, Master!" I would try, and try to please him even more.

He kept me on the leash for at least twenty Ehn and, in the latter portion of this time, commanded me. It seemed as if he made me move, and posed me, in almost every way in which a strong male might desire to see a human female, and I, of course, must conform perfectly to his wishes on my leash. He even took me about the room and to his couch. He made me do such things as grind my belly against the wall of the room and throw myself, on my belly and. back, over the great storage chest, wooden and iron-banded, at one side of the room. I remember the feel of the wood and iron. Too, he permitted me, even ordered me, upon his couch, there to continue my performances. I must first, of course, kneel at the lower left side of the couch and kiss the covers before being permitted to creep upon it. Then he drew me from the couch to the floor at its foot, near the slave ring. With one hand he flung covers to the floor there, on the tiles.

He then pointed to a place on the tiles, out from the covers but in front of them. "A free person has walked here," he said. "Yes, Master," I said. I then, kneeling, put down my head and kissed the indicated place three times.

I looked up at him.

"Orawi here," he said, indicating a place at his feet. I did so.

"You may now kiss my feet," he said.

I did so.

"You may now beg to be used as a slave," he said. "I beg to be used as a slave, Master," I said.

"Lie there," he said, indicating a place by the covers, the slave ring, "on your back."

"Yes, Master, " I said.

He then knelt near me, and took the leash and tied about the slave ring. He left some four or five feet of lei between the collar ring and the slave ring. That would al. him the slack he might need to move me about if lie with kneeling me, say, with my head down, or throwing me to side or belly.

He then knelt across my body and held my hands, by Wrists, helplessly down, above and to the sides of my head.

"I greet you, Lady Sheila, Tatrix of Corcyrus," he said.

"Greetings, Master," I said.

"Struggle, squirm, attempt to escape," he said.

I struggled briefly, predictably futilely. "I cannot escape" I said. "Are you in the power of a man?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"Completely?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"You are completely in the power of what man?" he ask "I am completely in the power of Miles of Argentum" I said.

"Long have I dreamed of having you in my power, said.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"Are you the woman who begged to perform on a leash and then so performed?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"You did well," he said.

"Thank you, Master," I said.

"As I recall," he said, "you also begged, kneeling, and a kissing my feet, to be used as a slave."

"Yes, Master," I said.

"It will be done with you as you requested," he said.

"Thank you, Master," I said.

He then released my hands and, changing his position, knelt on my right. He then began to touch me, artfully and deftly. After a moment or two I realized I would not, eventually, be able to resist him, eyen if he were to give me permission to try. His hands were sure. He knew what he was doing. It was only a matter of time. I lay there, helplessly, and felt my slave reflexes beginning to be triggered. I bit at the covers. I saw that he intended that I would yield to him as a sobbing, pleading, subdued slave. In this I saw that I was to be given no choice.

"You are very lovely, Lady Sheila," he said.

"Thank you, Master," I said.

"And you have the reflexes of a female slave," he said. "Yes, Master," I said. "Thank you, Master."

I did not think it would be long now. I suddenly jerked back my body from "his touch.

He had made it so sensitive. He did not cuff me, nor chide me, but, too, he did not give me quarter. He continued, not hurrying, patiently, relentlessly, with the process of reducing me to a man-dominated, orgasmic, conquered female slave. He now held me, his left hand at the small of my back, in place.

I gritted my teeth. What men can do to us, I thought, angrily. Then I wanted only to feel, beggingly, piteously.

Then again, desperately, I strove to resist. The high, black, leather collar cut at the bottom of my chin.

I could feel the tiles beneath the covers. I had not been granted the dignity of the couch's surface I would be had at its foot, by the slave ring.

I squirmed. I looked at the slave ring. The leash on my. neck ran to it, and was tied to it.

I was leashed!

I felt his hands.

I must resist! I must resist!

"Oh, please, Master," I wept, "let me yield to you as a conquered slave!" "I beg to yield to you!" I wept.

"In time," he said. "In time."

The beast! The beast! I would show him! I would resist him! I would refuse to feel! I would not let him do this to me!

"Please have pity on me, Master!" I cried. "I acknowledge that I have been conquered. I am vanquished! I am now yours, and as you want me, as a slave, fully! I beg now only to be permitted to yield to you abjectly and shamelessly. Let me tender to you now the helpless surrender of an orgasmic slave!" Who was it who cried out so shamelessly, so helplessly and brazenly for a master's mercy? And I realized that she who cried out was I.

"Please, Master"' I whimpered, sobbing, surrendered wholly then one with myself, and. wholly at his mercy "Please, Master. Please!"

"Does Lady Sheila, the lofty and proud Tatrix of Corcyrus desire to yield to me as a slave?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I moaned. "I beg it! I beg it!"

He then entered me suddenly and fiercely.

I clutched him.

"Please!" I whispered.

"Not yet," he said.

After a few minutes I again begged for his permission to yield. "Not yet," he said. I moaned. He, by varying hi rhythms and movements, brought me again and again to the point of yielding, and then stopped short, letting me go back a greater or lesser distance, and then bringing me forward, one speed or another, again. In this he not only showed h power over me but took much pleasure from me.

"It is pleasant to enjoy the Tatrix of Corcyrus," he said.

"Yes, Master," I sobbed, bitterly.

Yet I could not deny that he was forcing me, too, to experience much pleasure, its nature and amount depended completely on his will.

A quarter of an Ahn must have passed.

Then again, for I do not know what time, he brought if to a point of almost unbearable tension.

"You may now yield, Lady Sheila," he said, "as you have begged, as a slave." "Thank you, Master!" I cried, and threw my head back elation and gratitude, and freed myself of feeling, and, as He mastered me, cried out my slave's submission to him.

Afterwards he stood up and looked down, regarding me "It is pleasant to have had the Tatrix of Corcyrus," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said. I lay, had, at his feet.

He then crouched down, next to me, and rolled me ton stomach. He then jerked my hands behind my back and casually braceleted me. "You will spend the night braceleted," He Informed me. "Yes, Master," I said. He then shackled my left ankle and chained me, by means of it, to the slave ring at the foot of his couch. He then unlocked the leash collar and freed me of it and the leash. These articles, with the key, he then replaced in one of the chests at the side of the room. He then took most of the covers and threw them back on the couch. He did, leave me a sheet on the tiles. I lay on half of it. The other half, folded, he threw over me. He then retired.

Toward morning, in the early hours, he summoned me to his bed and again made use of me. I knelt beside the bed, kissed the covers and crawled into it. He knelt me and turned me about, and pushed my head down. He was quick with me. He was half asleep. I suppose I should have been grateful that I was permitted the honor of the couch. I do not think he, half asleep, wished to' leave it. He did not bother unbraceleting me. Then, with his foot, when lie was finished, he thrust me from the couch. At the foot of the couch, on the tiles, with my teeth; I readjusted the sheet about me, as I could. I then lay there, wide-eyed, for a time, not sleeping.

How far I was from my small apartment, from the perfume counter in the department store on Long Island. That mercenary little chit was now, on this natural world, a braceleted slave at the foot of a man's couch. No longer, now, was she, in the prerogatives of freedom, permitted to give men nothing, or frustration now she must serve them with perfection and provide them, to the best of her ability, at their merest whim, with fantastic pleasures. At least now, I thought, I am good for something.

How casually Miles of Argentum had just used me! But I did not object, for I was a slave. This form of casual, use, this off-handed employment of us, while perhaps inappropriate for a free woman, was acceptable for a slave. We did not have to be the subject of elaborate and tiresome preparations and pretenses, of complex rituals of attention and respect. We could, at times, be mere conveniences to the master, and, in this, too, we find something honest, natural, straightforward and lovely. There are times when the master simply wants us, and now. At such times, too, as we are slaves, it pleases us to serve. To be sure, the use to which Miles of Argentum had just subjected me, and I was well aware of this, had not been merely casual, a simple convenience use. It had, too, been a spurning use. Though he had not spoken to me, save to summon me imperiously to him, I had little doubt that he was still thinking of me in terms of Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus. What a rich joke on the proud Tatrix! What a splendid lesson for the captured sovereign, to be subjected to a mere convenience use in the early morning, and then to be spurned to her place at a slave ring. But even so I did not object. Something in the woman of me responded to the masterful authority in this treatment. It made clear to me, once again, the delicious, terrible domination to which I was subject on Gor. I wanted men to be my superiors and masters, as they were on Gor. I wanted to be owned by them, as I was on Gor. I wanted to love them, and obey them, as I had to, without choice, on Gor.

I thought of Miles of Argentum.

How skillful he was at teaching a woman her slavery. How well he had put me through my paces on the leash, and then later in his arms. And, but moments ago, he had simply ordered me to him and had then, wordlessly, before taking me, positioned me precisely as he wanted me, my head even down.

I considered my compliance with his wishes and desires. I had obeyed him perfectly. I would not have dared to do otherwise, of course. He was not a man of Earth, or a typical man of Earth. He was a Gorean male.

I twisted a bit on the tiles, carefully, so as not to dislodge the sheet. I moved my wrists a little, they locked helplessly behind my back in their slave bracelets.

How men do with us as they please, I thought. How they master us!

I pulled for a moment, angrily, futilely, irrationally, against the slave bracelets, but I could not, of course, free myself.

What a glorious world this is for men, I thought, that here women such as I must serve and please them!

But then I squirmed with pleasure and joy.

And what a glorious world for women, I thought, that here we must so serve and please!

I felt then the raptures of my bondage, from the tranquilities of selfless service to the ecstasy of a slave's sexual surrender to the dominant male, the master. How perfect I was for bondage; how perfect bondage was for me. I had been designed by nature for bondage. This was clear in my body, and in my nature and dispositions. I rejoiced that I had been brought to a world in which I was free to fulfill, and, in certain circumstances, would have no choice but to fulfill, this implicit destiny. Here, on Gor, there were none of the confusions, the denials, the lies and ambiguities of Earth; here there was clarity, structure and truth. Here civilization did not war with nature; here slaves were slaves, and masters masters. Here I would be what I was, and without compromise, a slave. I did not object. Rather was I thrilled with this, as Iliad now learned, my natural fulfillment.

I was frightened of Miles of Argentum.

He seemed to think of me not as the helpless and lowly slave I was, a mere girl rented.for his pleasure for an evening, but as though I were a high lady and free captive, Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus, who was then, perhaps in his vengeance on her for her escape from his camp, to be humiliated and humbled, and forced even, in her now unbreakable captivity to perform and serve as a slave. Certainly he had taken much pleasure with me.

But he must know that the true Sheila had fallen to Has-san, the Slave Hunter. Only recently he had brought her to Argentum in a golden sack. Even now, for his amusement, he kept her for several Ahn a day in that sack, suspended, tied shut in the throne room, while business was conducted. The sack was to be opened, and she was to be presented to Claudius Ubar of Argentum, and the high council, and high citizen celebr of Argentum, at the climax of a great feast, to be ated two days from now.

So what interest had Miles of Argentum in me?

Surely he did not think that I might be the real Sheila.

In his treatment of me, and in calling me Sheila, and so on, surely he had been only playing a game with me.

He could not remember me that clearly, I hoped, from his appearance before me in the great hall, when I had sat upon the throne, for from the time when he had had me locked, naked, a captive, in a golden cage.

No He was only playing with me.

I was merely Tiffany, a feast slave, brought to Argentum with others to serve at the victory feast.

It was not my fault if I bore some remote resemblance to Sheila the Tatrix of Corcyrus.

I reminded myself that Miles of Argentum did not own me I reminded myself that he had only rented me for an eve-fling, for a night, as men may rent women such as I.

Alin, in the morning, I would be returned to my keepers. I would then forget about me. In a matter of days, probably some three or four days, I would be on my way back with the others.

I had nothing to fear.

He did not own me. That was what was most important He could not even harm me, at least seriously, or permanently, without paying some form of restitution to the Enterprises of Aemilianus. I was, after all, their girl proper not his. I then, toward morning, fell asleep.

I awakened rather late. It must have been around the eighth Ahn. The room was flooded with light.

There had been a knock at the door. lt must have been girl keeper coming for me, I thought. I struggled to my knees. is in such a position that a slave girl commonly greets a ft man. I did not wish to be kicked or cuffed for discourse braceleted as I was, I could not keep the sheet on me. It fell across my thighs. But it was someone else, I saw. Miles Argentum, dressed and shaved, answered the door.

"She will be with you shortly," he said. I did not understand that remark. He then closed the door. I gathered the man might be waiting outside. I did not recognize him.

"I see that you are up, Lady Sheila," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"It is just as well," he said. "It is now past the eigth Ahn.

I did not understand, at that time, the reference to the eighth Ahn. Was that supposed to have some significance me?

I was then startled. I felt Miles of Argentum, from the back, pressing a tiny key into my collar.

"Master!" I cried.

He then, to my astonishment, opened the collar and I moved iL "Master," I said, "what are you doing? How can you this? Where did you get the key?"

"In Ar," he said, "several days ago, the first day after saw you in the city. I paid for you then, but the transfer ownership, as specified in the contract, as I wished, did not become effective until this morning, at the eighth Aim. A few Ehn ago, unknown to you, you became mine.

"Surely you jest, Master," I wept. "Feast Slaves would not wish to sell me in this fashion. I am needed. There is no replacement here for me. There is no girl to attend to my duties!"

"I did not realize one serving slave was so significant," he said, amused. "They like to have a full complement of slaves on hand," I assured him. "If I were to be sold to you, they would have sent out an extra girl, an addition to my group."

"And so they have," he said, smiling, "though separately, as I requested. Her name is Emily. Perhaps you know her?"

"I looked' at him, aghast.

"Do you know her?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said. "She was trained in the cycle after mine. Apparently they have now transferred her to my group.

"Doubtless as your replacement," he grinned.

"Yes, Master," I whispered. I looked at him. "'Then I belong to you, truly?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, "every inch, every hair, every freckle, every drop of sweat, every drop of intimate oil."

I shuddered.

"Here is your new collar," he said, displaying it for me. "Isn't it lovely?" "Yes, Master," I said. It was an attractive collar of gleaming steel, with a sturdy, heavy lock at the back. In it I would be marked as well, and confined as efficiently as I had been by the collar of Aemilianus.

"See here?" he asked. " "I am the property of Miles of Argentum,'" he read. "Yes, Master," I said, miserably "Lift your chin," he said.

I did so.

He then snapped the collar about my throat. I wore the collar, then, of Miles of Argentum.

"It is a perfect fit," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"It is the same size as the other collar," he said. "I had your collar size from the Enterprises of Aemilianus."

"Yes, Master," I said.

"You do not seem pleased," he said. "I do not understand that. I thought you would be overjoyed."

"I am overjoyed, Master," I whispered.

"Good," he said. "I like my girls to be happy."

"Yes, Master," I said.

"I paid fifteen silver tarsks for you," he said.

I was startled. "That is too high a price for me,' I said.

"I do not think so," be smiled.

"I am not worth anything like that," I said. For such a price one might get a fine dancer. Some of the lesser girls in a Ubar's pleasure gardens might not have cost so much.

"You are to me," he said.

"I will endeavor to see that you get your money's worth," I said.

"Have no fear," he said. "I will."

I began to tremble, uncontrollably. He freed my left ankle of its shackle, that which had fastened me to the slave ring.

"Stand," he said. I stood.

"You are not very tall, are you?" he said. "No, Master," I said. "But you are well curved," he said.

"Perhaps, Master," I said. "Thank you, Master."

"This is the key to your slave bracelets," he said. He showed me a key, on a string. He slung the string over my head and, by it, hung the key about my neck. It fell between my breasts. Much good it did me. I could not reach it with my braceleted hands.

"I am going to turn you over now to Krotidos, my slave master," he said. "You will find him a kindly and fair man. On the other hand, your least imperfection in either discipline or service will be severely and promptly punished." "Yes, Master," I said.

"As I am an indulgent master," he said, "you will be accorded clothing from your first day in my ownership."

"Master is generous," I said. I was not speaking ironically. Sometimes a girl, particularly a new girl, must strive for days to earn even a narrow strip of cloth and a piece of string.

"It will be a tunic appropriate to the girls of Miles of Argentum," he said. "Yes, Master," I said. He was a soldier. He probably would have a distinctive tunic, in effect, a uniform, for his females. I had no doubt, too, he being a soldier, that it would display us well.

"Clothing privileges, of course, may be quickly revoked," he said.

"Of course, Master," I said.

"You look well," he said, "my former regal slut, now reduced to total slavery, naked and in slave bracelets."

"No," I whimpered. "No, no." I shook my head, helplessly, trying to deny his accusation.

"To my lips," he commanded.

I fled to him, and kissed him, deeply, as a slave. I drew back. I saw that I had kissed him too well. "No, no," I whimpered.

He took me by the upper arms and, thrusting me from behind forced me across the room. He then put me over one of the large chests at the side of the room. I felt the wood of the chest, and the iron bands. The key about my neck, on its string, made a small sound as it struck the wood.

"It is not my fault if I bear a resemblance to Sheila, the Tatrix of Corcyrus," I said.

"You kissed well," he said.

"Oh!" I cried, entered.

"Very well," he said.

"Thank you, Master," I moaned. Sometimes a slave girl does not understand the incredible power she exerts over men, what she can do to them with a kiss, with a glance, with a smile, a gesture, a touch. My wrists twisted helplessly in the slave bracelets.

"I cannot help it if I resemble her!" I said.

"You do more than resemble her," he said.

"Master?" I cried.

"You were she," he said.

"No, no!" I cried.

"We do not wish to keep Krondos waiting, do we?" he asked.

"No, Master," I moaned. "Of course not!"

"I have discussed your work schedules with him," he said. "You will be worked hard for some five Ahn a day. Your tasks will be such things as laundering, scrubbing floors, and working in the kitchens. These seem suitable tasks for the former Tatrix of Corcyrus. Do you not think so?"

"Yes, Master," I moaned. "Oh, Master!"

"You respond well," he said. "I always thought you were a slave." "Yes, Master," I sobbed.

"During most of the day," he said, "you will have the run of the palace and the grounds."

"Yes, Master," I said.