Kur of Gor

Chapter, the Seventy-Fifth: A SLAVE'S SCENT IS TAKEN; AN EARTH WOMAN IS TORTURED BY HER NEEDS, AND UNDERSTANDS THE MEANING OF THIS; NO FIRE HAS BEEN MADE

"May I speak, Master!” begged the slave.

"No,” said Cabot.

She stumbled behind him, naked, back-braceleted, drawn on her leash.

They were deep in the forest.

Two days before she had been claimed.

There had been no difficulty about it, as Cabot was now well known in the habitats, and the legend on the slave's collar was clear: I am the property of Tarl Cabot.

A single glance, when he had entered the stable, had informed her that he had come for his slave. He was no longer in festive regalia, but a simple tunic, mottled with greens and browns, colors such as might be found in certain natural backgrounds, say, that of forest, a traveling cloak, similarly configured, and the bootlike sandals common to soldiers, and travelers. At his waist was a belt with pouch and knife. On his back, slung in straps, was an ax, long-handled, but of a size manageable by a human. A pack, which might be shoulder slung, to lie at the left hip, had been left at the stable gate. From his left hand dangled a pair of light slave bracelets, and the loops of a chain leash.

She went to first obeisance position.

She heard the attendant summoned and, in moments, heard the key turn in the two locks which secured the cage. The door was then swung open; she saw the shadows of the bars moving on the wooden floor.

She saw before her the two heavy sandals. They had thick straps, wound high about the legs, almost to the knees. They had a blunt, brutal look about them.

She lifted her head a little, saw his eyes, and then put her head down, again, quickly.

She saw that he was to be addressed, as only a slave would address a master.

There was so much she wanted to say to him, to tell him, to explain to him, to make clear to him, to pour out to him.

He must understand her.

She must make him understand her!

"May I speak, Master?” she whispered.

"No,” he said.

The first day in the forest, Ramar, the great sleen, had joined them. To her terror, and horror, she had been put on her back on the leaves, and the sleen, at Cabot's urging, had taken her scent. She felt the hot breath of the beast on her body, the hairy snout, the licking tongue, the inhaling nostrils. She cried out with misery, and squirmed, and was turned, and positioned, in one manner or another, to facilitate the beast's work. “Oh!” she protested. “Oh!” And then again, “Oh!” and “Oh!” And then, “Please, no! Please, no! Oh! Oh!” “Be silent, slave,” she was told. And the beast continued its work. Then she was again supine, and the beast was to the side, and Cabot stood over her, looking down on her. Her scent had been taken, as a slave's scent is taken. She felt raped. But, did she not know she was a slave?

Cabot then crouched beside her, and took her by one arm, its hand braceleted behind her. He looked to Ramar, and then shook the slave, and said, “Cecily, Cecily."

She looked at Cabot, with horror.

This was a name she despised, a name fit, in her view, only for a shopgirl. Too, she knew, by now, that it would be recognized in Gorean markets as an Earth-girl name, the sort of name to be fastened on only the lowest and most degraded of slaves. Such names are sometimes given to Gorean slaves as punishment names. Gorean men often bid intensely for Earth girls, but not because they wish to show them respect, and such. Rather they want to have on their chain one of the lowest and most helplessly delicious of slaves.

"Your scent has been taken,” said Cabot to the slave. “Too, it has been associated with a particular name. The purpose of this should be clear. The name, together with a given command, initiates the sleen's behavior. For example, given the “kill” command the sleen will locate and destroy the quarry, given a “drive” command, it will conduct the quarry to a predetermined location, or, if the quarry should prove recalcitrant, tear it to pieces. There are other commands, too, as you may suspect, but most are obvious, and I decline to make clear their nature. If you understand the purport of what I am saying, nod affirmatively."

The slave, miserable, nodded, affirmatively.

"What is your name?” asked Cabot.

The slave looked at him.

Then she said, tears in her eyes, “Cecily, Master,” adding “—if it pleases Master.” Then she blurted out, weeping, “May I speak, Master?"

"No,” he said. “You will relieve yourself, and then sleep."

"Yes, Master,” she whispered.

"There,” he said, pointing.

"Yes, Master,” she whispered.

He then fastened her to a tree by the chain leash, bade her recline, and placed a blanket over her.

Later she sat up a little, and was sensible of the pull of the leash on its collar, and the tiny sound of its links, and she then lay down, on her side.

"Please, Master, let me speak,” she begged.

"No,” he said.

Ramar, the great sleen, lay nearby.

She tried the bracelets a bit, fastening her small wrists behind her body, and knew herself, as she knew she would, slave helpless.

"I want to be in his bracelets,” she thought, scarcely daring to believe her own thoughts. “How long can I pretend to myself I am a free woman? Have I not learned by now I should be a slave, and am a slave? Why does he not touch me? I want his touch. Does he not know what was done to me before, how my body has been changed? My mind cries ‘free woman'! My belly cries ‘slave'! How foolish is my mind! How wise my belly! Dear mind, how you desire to dictate to me! Do you still listen only to others, dear mind, and not to me? Why do you not look upon my truth? Is it not your truth, as well? Dear mind, surrender, unite with my body! Dear mind, is the truth so terrible, so unfamiliar, so unreasonable, so alien? I want to be one with my body, not its foe. I want to be whole! Let the gates be forced, let the walls collapse; please, dear mind, see to it that I am led in chains, helpless, choiceless, rejoicing, to my master's couch!"

The slave noted that her master had made no fire.

This puzzled her.

He sat nearby, not sleeping, considering the forest.