Savages of Gor

8 Grunt

I turned my attention from the apparently lovely young woman, though she wasfully clothed, who was strung up by the wrists near the central block. Herankles had also been crossed and bound, a slaver's trick to accentuate the sweetcurvatures of her hips and legs. A thong also ran from over the bonds on herankles to an iron ring a few inches below her feet. This tends to prevent unduemovement on the rope.

A distinction must be drawn between the side blocks and the central, or main,block, in a vending area. I shall describe the situation, specifically, as itexists in the sales barn of Ram Seibar. It is not untypical of the arrangementsin many such places, particularly in outlying areas. To be sure, there is, itseems, from market to market, and from city to city, an almost infinite varietyof ways in which women may be, and are, displayed and sold. This is notsurprising since the institution of female slavery, on Gor, is both extremelysuccessful and quite ancient.

In the central hall of the sales barn of Ram Seibar, which is open to thepublic, there are twenty-one blocks. Twenty of these are subsidiary blocks, orside blocks. These occur, aligned, ten to a side, along the walls, to the leftand right, as one enters. They are spaced rather evenly, in order not to suggestdistinctions among them. Too, they are placed a few feet out from the walls. Atone's convenience, then, one may walk entirely about them. They are about a yardhigh and five feet in diameter. In the center of each there is an iron ring. Thecentral block, which must be ascended by stairs, lies at the far end of the hallas one enters, opposite the door. It is about seven or eight feet in height andsome twenty feet in diameter. Girls are seldom auctioned from the side blocks.

Occasionally fixed prices are set on them. If this is the case the price isusually written on their body, either with a grease pencil or a lipstick.

Usually, however, of course, they find themselves being bargained for. The girlusually hopes that her master will pay enough for her to convince him that sheis of at least minimal value, and will not pay so much that he will be angrywith the merchant, for in such a case he is almost certain to take hisdissatisfaction out on her lovely hide. "Side-block girl," in the argot of theslave girl, like "pot girl' and "kettle-and-mat girl," is a term ofdisparagement. It must be admitted there is more prestige in being auctionedfrom a major, or central, block than there is in being casually purchased from aside block. One might as well be sold off a slaver's public shelf, in a city, orout of a cage, or kneeling in the mud outside a village, from a "slaver'snecklace." To be sure, a girl who is once sold off a side block may, in time,her femininity blossoming under the discipline of the whip and the harshtutelage of masters, become a treasure, a slave so beautiful and desirable thatmen will pay fortunes to have her at their feet. I wandered over to the leftwall to look at some of the side blocks.

"I shall take this one," I beard a fellow say, and so simply was the girl sold.

She was one of the few girls on whom Ram Seibar had set a fixed price. It waswritten on her back in lipstick, forty copper tarsks. She was one of the few whohad been freshly branded. Her wrists were crossed and bound before her, in cruelloops of rawhide, and, by a tight loop encircling her body, cutting into herflesh, held tightly before her. Ibis was to prevent her from tearing at thebrand. Hers were stained with tears. She, like the other girls on the sideblocks, was fastened on her block. Uniformly they wore collars and chains, thechains some five feet in length and attached to the block rings. She saw moneychange hands. She knew she had been sold. She looked at her master, andshuddered. She saw that he was handsome.

When one girl was sold from a block a new one was put in her place.

"How can you sell an unbranded woman?" asked a fellow of a slaver's man,indicating a freckled, fairly complexioned, red-haired barbarian kneelingfrightened on a nearby block, the palms of her hands down on the wood. The blackiron of her collar, and the chain, contrasted nicely with the lightness andtexture of her skin.

"Is she worth fifty tarsks to you?" asked the slavers "Yes," said the fellow, slowly.

Immediately the slaver's man removed a long piece of rawhide, about four feet inlength, from his belt. He took the girl's hands behind her, and, crossing themwith one end of the rawhide, fastened them tightly, together. He then looped therawhide about her belly, jerked it tight, and tied it to her bound wrists. Thegirl looked behind herself, frightened, her hands fastened closely at the smallof her back. With a key he opened the girl's collar and placed it, with itschain, on the block. He then seized the girl by the arms and slid her from theblock, into the waiting arms of an attendant. "Fifty tarsks for this freckled,little she-tarsk," he said. "This will be the buyer," he said, indicating thefellow who had expressed an interest in the girl. The attendant nodded and,throwing the girl over his shoulder, left.

"Pick her up in ten Elm, at the front entrance," said the slaver's man to theprospective buyer. "She will be branded."

The man nodded, and turned away.

I smiled to myself at the artifice involved in this transaction. The sale,technically, would not take place until after the young woman was branded. Iwatched her being carried out through a side entrance. I wondered if she knewshe were being carried to the iron. This lot of barbarians, which I guessed asbeing in the neighborhood of seventy or eighty girls, had been, as nearly as Icould determine, delivered only last night or this morning. Even now themajority of them had not been marked. This was a function, of course, of thebrief amount of time they had been in the possession of Ram Seibar. It takestime to bring an iron to branding heat and the iron, of course, its head sinkingand searing, burning, into the girl's flesh, marking her, loses heat rapidly. Agiven iron, accordingly, must be reheated before being reapplied. This situationis further complicated by the fact that the iron, normally, is cleaned followingeach application, a procedure which further reduces its heat. The cleaning isimportant for the precision and clarity of the next marking. Thus, in effect,each girl is marked with a new, fresh iron.

The most common brand site in a Gorean slave girl is the outer side of the leftthigh, closely beneath the hip. In this brand site the identificatory mark isthus placed high enough to be covered by the brief cloth of a common slave tunicand is available for convenient and immediate inspection if the tunic is lifted.

The time it takes to brand several women can be reduced by the common expedientof heating several irons, but most iron masters will not work with more than twoor three irons at a given time. Similarly, in a given house, normally only onefellow, at a time, attends to the branding. The rapidity with which the girlswere being placed on sale, incidentally, is not unusual at the perimeter. Thisis, I think, in part a response to buyer pressure and, in part, the result of anunwillingness on the part of most perimeter slavers to devote time, or muchtime, to such niceties as diet, exercise and training. They reason, I suppose,that the master can manage, feed and train the girl, once he owns her, accordingto his own pleasures.

"I shall take this one," said a short, stocky, broad-shouldered fellow, in awide-brimmed hat. "She has strong legs. Have her branded and put with theothers."

The slaver's man nodded. They did not even discuss price. I gathered that alimited-lot price must have been agreed upon earlier, perhaps with Ram Seibarhimself. The slaver's man did not seem hesitant to deal with him. I gathered hewas well known in the area. He had bought more than one girl. Though the girlshe purchased were comely, he did not seem, particularly, to be interested inthat. He seemed to be buying them for some other reason.

As one girl, a branded one, was sold from a block down the way another girl, ablonde, was brought forward and flung on her hands and knees on the vacatedblock. A slaver's man then locked the collar on her, with its chain, running tothe block ring. She looked about herself, frightened. A fellow reached forth totouch her thigh. She struck at his hand and scrambled back. "Don't! Don't!" shecried, in English. Almost instantly a slaver's man, a whip raised, was upon her.

The men about the block stepped back, watching, as she, on her side, andtwisting, writhed under her lashing. The slaver's man then folded back theblades of the whip, under their clip, and hooked the whip, by its butt ring, onhis belt. He then knelt her on the block, posing her. When the fellow againreached forth to touch her she did not resist. She had learned that she was thesort of woman whom men might touch when and as they pleased.

She contrasted interestingly with another girl, an auburn-haired girl, on thenext block. The auburn-haired girl, cooperating and without the leastresistance, assumed various postures and attitudes, following the indications ofthe various men about her block. She even permitted herself, without the leastresistance, to be posed, and by hand, for their interest. She knelt now on theblock, back on her heels, her knees spread, her back straight, her head back,her hands behind the back of her head. I had little doubt but what the situationof both of these girls would become even more clear to them once they werebranded.

"Noble Sirs!" called a voice, that of the fellow in the soiled blue-and-yellowshirt who had, earlier, been advertising the sale outside the compound. "NobleSirs," he called. "We are ready for the final auction of the evening!"

This announcement was greeted with a murmur of interest and the men in the hallbegan to move toward the front of the room, to the vicinity of the centralblock. It was near the central block that the fully clothed, apparently lovelyyoung woman was strung up by the wrists. She, it seemed, had been saved forlast. During the course of the evening, from time to time, at irregularintervals, some fifteen or sixteen girls had been offered, in open bidding, tothe crowd. Some of these, at least initially, had been clothed, though often inlittle other than panties and a brassiere. I had stayed to see this woman soldfor I was curious to see if she was as beautiful as the delicate lineaments ofher face suggested. She was a fairskinned, slender, willowy girl. She appearedto be sweetly breasted, with a small waist and lovely, flaring hips, doubtlessnestling a luscious love cradle. She had, small wrists and ankles. They wouldlook well in shackles. I saw that her eyes, when she opened them, in pain andterror, to look out on the crowd, were blue. Her hair was red, and bound back,rather severely, with a ribbon. She squirmed a moment in the bonds, and thenhung still, near the central block. Her body, from what I could see of it, andjudge of it, showed promise. It might prove adequate, I speculated, even forthat of a pleasure slave.

I glanced back, and particularly to the left, at some of the side blocks. Theside blocks were now deserted, the men having drifted forward, except by theiroccupants, now forgotten, kneeling or crouching upon them, their necks in theircollars, fastened by their chains to the block rings. I smiled to myself. Someof the merchandise looked angry; no longer were they the centers of attention;they, though naked and chained, and on slave blocks, had been simply put frommind; they must remain behind, alone, precisely where they were, chained, whilemasters chose to ignore them, bestowing their attention on an item of at leasttemporarily greater interest. Already the merchandise was exhibiting the vanityof slaves. But let them rest content for, when the auction was done, mendoubtless would drift back to their perusal; they would then be again subjectedto the close scrutiny of masters; they would then be examined again, andclosely, to see if they might be of any interest.

"I believe we are ready to proceed," called the gross, corpulent fellow in thesoiled blue-and-yellow shirt. With his kaiila quirt he indicated the suspendedgirl. "We have here the last item to be put up for auction this evening, afairskinned, red-haired barbarian beauty."

"We do not know if she is a beauty or not," called a man. "Strip her! ' "But I hasten to assure you," continued the slaver's man, giving no heed to thefellows enthusiastic contribution, "that the market will remain open for yetanother Ahn following this auction. You are then invited to reconsider with aneye for prospective purchase the trinkets and baubles strewn forth for yourdelectation upon our side blocks."

"On with it!" cried a man. "Let us see her!"

"We have saved this barbarian beauty for last," said the slaver's man. "She willmake a fitting conclusion to the auctions of this evening, such a splendidevening at the house of Ram Seibar! Behold her! Is your interest not whetted?"

I could see, by glancing around, that the interest of several of the men wasindeed whetted.

"Even clothed," laughed the auctioneer, "is your interest not whetted?"

"That it is!" laughed more than one man.

"Let us see her!" called another.

That the woman was being sold last in the auctions does not indicate, per se,that she was the most beautiful. On the other hand, it was undeniable that shewas quite beautiful. Several of the girls I had seen auctioned off during thecourse of the evening, incidentally, had been quite extraordinary.

This woman, at any rate, was surely among the most beautiful. Some of the girlsauctioned earlier had also presented to the buyers initially clothed, to oneextent the other, their clothing then being removed, sometimes sardonically andceremoniously, during the course of their sale. This was the only woman,however, who had been presented before the buyers strung up by the wrists.

"A fair-skinned, red-haired barbarian beauty," called the auctioneer, "highlyintelligent, exquisitely refined and of delicate sensibilities, a woman on herown world doubtless of class and station — but on this world, our world of Gor,only a meaningless piece of slave meat, a girl who will learn to wear a collar,a girl who will learn to serve and obey, a girl who will learn to please, a girlwho will learn that she belongs, and rightfully, to men!

"Let us see her!" called more than one man.

The auctioneer signaled to an attendant who, from aside of the hall, broughtforth a shallow copper bowl, some two feet in diameter, filled with slendercylinders of oil-impregnated wood. In a moment, with a fire-maker, of flint andsteel, he had ignited this wood. The girl looked at it. I do not think, at thattime, she clearly understood its significance.

"Let us see her!" called a man.

"But, of course!" called the auctioneer. He hung the long black kaiila quirt onhis belt.

The woman looked out on the crowd, miserably. She did not understand, fully, Iam sure, what was going to be done to her. She was a barbarian, her freedom onlyrecently terminated. She spoke no Gorean. She had been brought into the hall andstrung up so cruelly by the wrists only after completion of the earlierauctions. Too, I had little doubt that her masters had kept her ignorant oftheir occurrence. She knew little more than the fact that she was beingdisplayed before men, though for what reason and to what end, I conjectured, shescarcely dared speculate.

"Shall we begin?" inquired the auctioneer of the crowd. "Shall we see if she isany good?"

"Yes! Yes!" more than one man. I smiled to myself the auctioneer knew hisbusiness.

"But first," said the auctioneer, "behold the absurdity of these garments. Theyseem to be a cross between the garments of a free woman and those of a slave."

Most obviously, from what I could see, the woman wore an attractive officedress, of a sort, which is often implicitly prescribed, particularly by femaleexecutives, for subordinate female employees regarded as too feminine to beconsidered for the executive class. "That is very pretty, Jane. I like to seeyou wear things like that." "Yes, Miss Tabor." This is also a useful way, ofcourse, for the female executive to make it a clear to their male colleaguesthat such women, unlike themselves, are only females.

It was a long, brown, white-flecked shirred shirtdress, of some soft, smoothsynthetic material, of mid-calf length. It had small, red, round buttonssecuring the long, exciting frontal closure and appearing, too, at the cuffs. Italso had a brown, white-flecked, matching tie belt. About her throat was asingle string of pearls, doubtless simulated, or they would have been removedfrom her by her first captors. She wore stockings or pantyhose. On her feet wereblack, shiny, high-heeled dress sandals, each secured, apparently, by a single,narrow black ankle strap. The fact that she was dressed as she was led me tobelieve that the woman worked in business and that she had been taken by theslavers on her way home from work. I think she could forget about the office. Inthe future she would have other duties.

"Are these the garments of a free woman or of a slave?" asked the auctioneer.

"Of a slave," shouted men. "Remove them!"

The Goreans probably regarded them as the garments of a slave because of theirsmoothness and prettiness. Too, the shirred quality of the dress would permit itto move, and swirl, excitingly about her body, if she chose to move in certainways. Too, the lower portions of her calves and her pretty ankles were revealedby the dress. That she wore slave garments was probably also suggested to themby the transparency and sheerness of the coverings on her legs and, of course,from the Gorean view, her footwear, so slight and pretty, with the black anklestraps, was such that it would be likely to be affected only by a woman beggingfor the collar.

"She came to us this way," said the auctioneer. "I myself have not yet seenher."

"Let us see her," called a man.

"I wonder if she is any good," said the auctioneer. "Begin!" "Begin!" shoutedmen.

"Of course!" laughed the auctioneer. He then went to the suspended girl and,thrusting up the ropes on her ankles, unbuckled the narrow, ankle-encirclingblack straps of her high-heeled dress sandals. He drew them from her feet andheld them up, together, in his right hand. "Note the straps" he said. "We arefamiliar with such straps, are we not?"

Several of the men laughed. They resembled the small black straps, buckled, withwhich one occasionally binds the wrists and ankles of slaves, before, or while,one amuses oneself with them.

He then drew the large, triangular-bladed knife from the beaded sheath on hisbelt and slashed the straps and uppers of the sandals, discarding them then inthe flaming copper bowl at the side.

"She has pretty feet," he said. He then resheathed his dagger and, extending hishand, locked his fingers about the string of pearls on the girl's throat. Shecried out as he jerked them from her neck. "She has a pretty neck, too," he saidbending her head back by the hair.

"Yes," said a man.

He then released her hair and, stepping forward, again addressed himself to thecrowd. "Doubtless some Master will won find something more suitable with whichto enclose that lovely neck than a string of pearls, he speculated.

There was laughter.

«Further,» said the auctioneer, lifting the pearls, "these pearls have beenexamined. They are false. She wore false pearls.

There was an ugly response in the crowd. Goreans have a rather primitive senseof honesty.

"What should be her punishment?" asked the auctioneer.

"Slavery!" said several.

"She is already a slave," said the auctioneer, "though perhaps she does not yetknow it."

"Let the man who buys her then pay her back," said a man, "punishing her well,and lengthily, for her fraud."

"Is that agreeable?" asked the auctioneer.

"Yes, said several.

"I am better than she is," said a feminine voice beside me. I felt my arm beinggently taken. I looked down. I recalled her. I had encountered her outside thecompound of Ram Seibar, before the sale. She was a barbarian slave, and a taverngirl. Her name was Ginger. "I thought you were occupied," I said. She nibbled atmy sleeve. "He kept me for Ahn," she said, murmuringly, poutingly. "He made meserve him well."

"Excellent," I said.

"I am not now occupied, Master," she said.

"Do not listen to her, Master," purred a voice from my other side. "Come withme, rather, to Russell's tavern. I will make your night a delight." I looked tomy left. A dark-haired girl was there. She, too, obviously, was a tavern girl,but she was garbed quite differently from Ginger. The taste or business sense oftheir masters, I gathered, differed. Slaves, of course, are garbed precisely astheir masters please. "I, too, am a barbarian," she said. "I am Evelyn."

She wore a black, tight, off-the-shoulder bodice and a short, black, silk skirt,decorated with red thread and ruffles, and stiffened with crinoline. A blackribbon choker was placed behind the steel collar on her throat. A red ribbon,matching the decorations on her skirt, was in her hair. She had not beenpermitted stockings or footwear. Such things are normally denied the Goreanslave girl. Her costume, like that of Ginger, the short, fringed, beadedshirtdress of tanned skin, with the beaded anklet, intended to resemble the garbin which red masters sometimes saw fit to clothe their white female slaves, ifpermitting them clothing, suggested its heritage of other times and otherplaces. Most Gorean garments, of course, of the sorts worn by humans, trace backto terrestrial antecedents. I looked at the white bosom of Evelyn, lifted,shaped and confined in the tightness of the bodice, for the interest of masters.

What man, I wondered, would not wish to unlace or tear away that bodice, tosubject its treasures, like the woman herself, to the ravishments of his mouthand hands.

"Pay her no attention, Master," said Ginger. "Come with me to the tavern ofRandolph."

"No, with me, to the tavern of Russell," said Evelyn.

"Surely you two have sneaked in here," I said. I did not think Ram Seibar wouldwish girls soliciting in his hall, particularly during the course of a sale.

"The worst that would happen is that we would be whipped from the room," saidEvelyn.

"But across the calves," said Ginger. "That hurts."

"Yes," said Evelyn, shuddering. I gathered they had, more than once, been thuslyspeeded from the hall by wrathful attendants.

"Release me!" cried the suspended girl, hanging by her wrists, before the crowd.

"No," she said, "no!" The tie belt on her dress had then been jerked loose, itsends dangling, supported by their loops, beside her hips.

"No," she said, "no, no!" But one by one, slowly, the auctioneer's knife wascutting the buttons from the long, frontal closure of her dress. "What do youwant?" she cried. "What you doing?" Then the last button had been cut away.

"What do you think I am? What are you doing to me?" she said. The sides of thedress were then brushed back.

"I do not think she is pretty," said Ginger.

"No, I do not either," said Evelyn. "You may even be prettier than she."

"I am beautiful," said Ginger. "It is you who might even, be prettier than she,my man-hungry little slave."

"Man hungry?" said Evelyn. "I have heard how you bite your chains, how you whineto be released at night."

"It is no secret in Kailiauk," said Ginger, "the fingernail scratches in yourkennel!"

"I cannot help it if men have released my slavery," said Evelyn, tears in hereyes.

"They, too, have released my slavery," said Ginger, "and fully."

"I am more helplessly passionate than you" said Evelyn.

"No, you are not," said Ginger.

"It is well known in Kailiauk that I am a better slave than you," said Evelyn.

"I am a better slave than you," said Ginger, "Slave Slut!

"No, you are not, Slave Slut," hissed Evelyn.

"Be silent, Slave Sluts, ' I said.

"Yes, Master," said Ginger.

"Yes, Master," said Evelyn.

Beneath the dress the girl was wearing a full, knee-length slip of white silk.

The dress, then, by cutting with the knife, and ripping, was removed from her.

It, too, was then thrown on the flames, following the dress sandals and pearls.

I saw, then, that the slip had small, over-the-shoulder straps. These weresevered and then, cutting and ripping from the back, the auctioneer loosened theslip. It could now, at his least convenience, be removed from the girl. At theleft knee it had a deep cocktail slit. This interested me, suggesting that thegirl might have good slave potential. This slit, affording an exciting glimpseof the girl's calf and lower thigh, was, of course, drawn to the attention ofthe audience by the auctioneer.

I wondered why the two tavern girls, Ginger and Evelyn, had sought me out.

Obviously there were many men in Kailiauk. Indeed, at this time of the evening,it seemed strange to me that they would even be absent from the tavern. Surelythis was the time of the evening when they might be expected to be applyingthemselves to the business of making a living for their masters, performingexquisitely, chained, in their alcoves. I dismissed the matter from my mind.

"No," begged the suspended girl, "please, don't!"

The slip was then lifted away from her body.

"A silver tarsk," said a man.

"Excellent" said the auctioneer.

This seemed to me an unusually high bid for a raw, untrained barbarian slave,particularly as an opening bid. On the other hand, I had noted that girls seemedto bring high prices in Kailiauk. Several of the girls had gone from the sideblocks, for example, for prices ranging between thirty and fifty copper tarsks.

In certain other markets these girls, in their current state of barbarity andignorance, might have brought as little as seven or eight tarsks apiece. Theseprices, of course, were a function of context and time. In Kailiauk there aremany affluent fellows, rich from the trade in hide and horn, and the traffic inkaiila. Furthermore, this close to the perimeter, only a few pasangs from theIhanke, far from the normal loci of slave raidings, and slave routes, femaleslaves, particularly beautiful ones, are not abundant. Accordingly men, comingin from surrounding areas, are willing to pay high to have one in theirblankets.

The girl now wore a brassiere, a garter belt and stockings. Too, beneath thenarrow garter belt, in what was perhaps an indication of charming reserve, Icould see silken panties.

"She is not really ugly," said Ginger.

"No," said Evelyn.

The girl watched in horror as the remains of her silken slip was cast upon theflames, causing them to spring up anew. Her Earth clothing, before her veryeyes, piece by piece, was being destroyed. It was thus being made clear to herthat she was making a transition to a new reality.

"No," she said, "Please, no."

The auctioneer freed her stockings from the hooks and buttons on the four garterstraps. In a moment the auctioneer had drawn the stockings from her legs,slipping them underneath the ropes on her ankles and discarding them in theflames. Then, after viewing her for a moment, he stepped behind her. He undidthe two-hook back closure on the garter belt. This article of clothing, too,then, in a moment, was cast into the flames. She then hung before us clad only,save for the ribbon binding back her hair, in her brassiere and panties.

"Undo her hair! ' called a man.

"Yes!" called another man.

I smiled to myself. Yes, it was the exact time for the woman's hair to beunbound. The hair of slave girls, incidentally, unless shaved or shortened as apunishment, is usually worn long. There is more, cosmetically, which can be donewith long hair and such hair, too, is often useful in the performance ofintimate duties for her master. Too, of course, it can be balled and thrust inher mouth, for use as a gag, either, save when one does not wish to hear her fora time, or, perhaps, if one wishes, to silence her cries in the throes of hersubmission spasms. Too, of course, she may be bound with it.

"Of course." said the auctioneer. He then untied the hair ribbon, which hadbound her red hair back so primly. He threw it in the fire. He then fluffed herhair and brought it forward, over her shoulders. He then brushed it back, behindher back, and smoothed it. He turned her on the rope, to the left and right,that men might see the cut and fall of the hair against her back. It was pretty.

Then the auctioneer turned her so that she was, again, helplessly, exposedfrontally to the crowd.

"She is really quite pretty," said Ginger, irritatedly.

"Yes." agreed Evelyn.

"But not as pretty as I," said Ginger.

"At least not so pretty as I," said Evelyn.

I smiled. I had little doubt the suspended girl would bring a higher price thaneither of them, though they both were, admittedly, obviously full and desirablyluscious slaves.

"Two silver tarsks," said a man.

"Excellent," said the auctioneer.

The girl looked out on the crowd with fear and misery. Doubtless she hoped,against hope, that she had now been adequately dismayed to the crowd. Surely thebrutes would not dare go further. That she had been brought clothed into thehall surely argued that her dignity and pride would continue to be respected, atleast to the degree that she was now concealed. Too, had the fellow attending toher not now paused in his abusive, insolent labors? But then she glanced to theside blocks. There there were women, much like herself; they, fixed in place,wearing collars and chains, she could not help but note, were absolutely naked.

But she, surely, was different from them! She was finer, and more delicate.

Anyone could see that! Then she hung, relieved, in the ropes. The auctioneer wasconferring with an attendant, to the side. Her ordeal, as she conceived it, wasnow concluded. The exposure and disgrace which had been visited upon the othergirls was not to be her lot. She was better. She was different.

The attendant, to whom the auctioneer had been addressing himself, took hisexit.

But did the girl not know that she was not different? Did she not know that she,too, was only a slave?

"I wonder if she is beautiful," said Ginger.

"As she is now clad, it is not difficult to speculate on the matter," saidEvelyn.

"Why don't they take off her clothes, so we can see, said Ginger.

"Yes," said Evelyn.

I smiled to myself. These girls, at any rate, understood something of the natureof a Gorean market.

"Were you a side-block girl?" asked Ginger.

"No," said Evelyn. "I was auctioned."

"I, too," said Ginger.

"Were you brought in naked?" asked Evelyn.

"Yes," said Ginger.

"I was, too," said Evelyn.

"Do you think that they think she is better than us?" asked Ginger.

"Perhaps," said Evelyn. "Men are fools."

"No!" cried the suspended girl, suddenly. "Don't! Please!" The auctioneer wasbehind her.

"No" she cried. "I am a virgin I have never been seen by men!" "No!" she cried.

Her breasts were lovely. Would the last vestige of her modesty not be permittedher?

"No," she pleaded. "Please, no! ' "No!" she cried, and then hung, helpless and sobbing in the ropes.

I saw that the stripped slave was beautiful.

"Three tarsks," said a man.

"Three five," said another. This was a bid of three silver tarsks and fiftycopper tarsks. There are one hundred copper tarsks to one silver tarsk inKailiauk. The ratio is ten to one in certain other cities and towns. Thesmallest Gorean coin is usually a tarsk bit, usually valued from a quarter to atenth of a tarsk. Gorean coinage tends to vary from community to community.

Certain coins, such as the silver tarsk of Tharna and the golden tarn of Ar,tend, to some extent, to standardize what otherwise might be a mercantile chaos.

This same standardization, in the region of the Tamber Gulf and south, along theshore of Thassa, tends to be effected by the golden tam of Port Kar. Coinmerchants often have recourse to scales. This is sensible considering suchthings as the occasional debasings of coinages, usually unannounced by thecommunities in question, and the frequent practice of splitting and shavingcoins. It is, for example, not unusual for a Gorean coin pouch to contain partsof coins as well as whole coins. Business is often conducted by notes andletters of credit. Paper currency, however, in itself, is unknown.

"Four!" called out another man.

"Five!" cried out another.

"But, Gentlemen," called the auctioneer, turning the girl on the rope, turningher left thigh to the crowd, "restrain your bids! Can you not see that she hasnot yet even been branded?"

"Mark her! Mark her!" called more than one man.

On the height of the central block I saw two attendants sliding out a brandingrack. Another, its handles wrapped in heavy cloth, carried out a cylindrical,glowing brazier, from which protruded the handles of two irons. He placed thisnear the branding rack. At the same time the auctioneer freed the ankles of thegirl from the ropes. He then freed the end of her wrist rope from its ring andthe rope, sliding through the overhead ring, loosened. As it did so theattendant to whom the auctioneer had earlier addressed himself, now returned,supported the girl. I did not think she could stand. When the rope permitted itbe lifted her in his arms. Her weight was nothing for him. The auctioneer thenjerked the remainder of the rope through the overhead ring. The attendant thencarried the girl, the rope trailing beside him, to the height of the centralblock. There, with the help of another fellow, he lowered her into the heavyrack, and spun shut the sturdy vises on her left and right thighs. She had beencarried to the rack naked, her wrists bound before her. She winced, unable tomove her thighs, dismayed doubtless at the perfect tightness with, which theywere held. Her wrists were then freed of the rope and taken behind her wherethey were fastened to a sturdy metal pole, a portion of the rack, by danglingslave bracelets.

The fellow who had carried in the brazier now drew forth, holding it with twogloves, an iron. It was white hot.

The girl regarded it, wild-eyed.

"No!" she cried. "Are you beasts and barbarians? What do you think I am? Do youthink I am an animal! Do you think I am a slave!

The iron was leveled. It approached the circular aperture in the vise, throughwhich, deeply into her fair thigh, it would be thrust, and held, burning andhissing, until its work was done, until the girl was marked, and well, as slavemeat.

"You are bluffing!" she cried. "You cannot be serious!

She then learned that the intention of the iron with respect to her body wasquite real.

The vises were spun loose. Her hands were freed of the restraining slavebracelets, only then to be tied with a cord behind her. Dismayed and sobbing shewas freed of the rack and put on her knees, head down, at the auctioneer's feet.

The rack and the brazier, the iron returned to it, were removed from the centralblock. The girl then, naked and kneeling, her hands bound behind her, at theauctioneer's feet, lifted her head and looked wildly out at the crowd. She hadbeen branded.

"She does not know what has happened to her," said Ginger.

"She knows," said Evelyn.

"But she does not yet fully understand it," said Ginger.

"No," said Evelyn.

"But she will soon understand it, and fully," said Ginger, "even so stupid aslave."

"Yes," said Evelyn.

The auctioneer then removed the long, supple kaiila quirt from his belt. Twicehe struck the girl across the back. She cried out in pain. Her education had nowcommenced. No time, now, would be lost in teaching her her condition. He draggedher to her feet by the hair and bent her backwards, displaying the bow of herbeauty to the crowd.

"I have a bid of five tarsks on this slut," he called. "Do I bear more? Do Ihear more?"

"Is she trained?" called a man.

"Train her yourself," called the auctioneer, "to your own pleasures." It wasunderstood, of course, that these barbarians were not trained. They had not yetbeen taught, as far as I could tell, even the proper modes of kneeling before amaster.

"Five five!" called a man.

"Good! Good!" called the auctioneer, displaying the slave. "Do I hear more?"

"Can she speak Gorean?" called a man. I smiled. It was clearly understood thatthese barbarian slaves could not speak Gorean.

"Train her like a sleen or a kaiila, on her hands and knees," said theauctioneer. "She will soon learn what is required of her."

"Pose her!" called a man.

"In what way, Noble Sir?" inquired the auctioneer, obligingly. He then,following the instructions of the fellow, sat the girl down, near the front ofthe central block, her left leg under her, her right leg extended and flexed,her right side facing the fellow, her shoulders back, her head turned sharply tolook at him. In this way the curves of her right leg, and the lines of herfigure, are pleasantly displayed.

"Imagine her in your collar!" challenged the auctioneer.

"Kneel her!" called a man.

The auctioneer then knelt the girl near the front of the central block. Sheknelt back on her heels. Her knees were widely spread. Her back was straight,her head high.

"Five seven!" called a man.

"Five seven!" repeated the auctioneer.

"Get her on her feet, so we can see her legs!" called a man.

"Belly her!" called another.

"Make her walk!" called a man.

"Kneel her, with her head to the ground!" called another.

"Put her through slave paces!" called another.

I looked to the, side. One of the fellows there was the short, muscular fellowwho wore the low, broad-brimmed hat. I recalled he had purchased at least fouror five of the girls from the side blocks. They had been excellent females, inmy opinion, but they had not seemed to be, at least on the whole, the choicestmerchandise available to him, and for similar costs. It was almost as though hewere purchasing them for some purpose other than that for which slave girls arecommonly purchased. I did not, now, understand his apparent interest in thered-haired slave now being vended. She, surely, was the sort of woman that wouldbe purchased, at least usually, to fulfill one of the more common purposes ofslave girls.

"Men are beasts," said Ginger.

"Yes," said Evelyn.

There was the sound of a quirt lashing flesh. The red-haired girl cried out inpain.

"She does not even know what they want her to do," said Ginger.

"She is a stupid slave," said Evelyn.

"She will learn," said Ginger.

"We all learn," said Evelyn.

I had noted, during the course of the evening, that more than one of theattendants about, and the auctioneer, too, had noted the presence of the twotavern girls in the crowd. They had not taken any action, however, to ejectthem. I found this of interest. Perhaps they thought them to be with me and thatI, so to speak, was answerable for them. Again I was puzzled as to why theywould be clinging about me. As I had not volunteered to accompany one or theother of them back to her master's tavern they should have attempted, after abit, to apply their beauty and enslaved wiles to the enticement of a more likelyprospect. It was surely not their business to be standing about observing slavesales. Even now, perhaps, their masters had taken slave whips down from thewalls, curious as to their absence.

I gave my attention again to the central block. By now the red-haired beauty hadbeen put through several slave paces, such as were feasible for her, her handsbound with the cord behind her back. She now, trembling, lay on her belly,licking and kissing at the auctioneer's kaiila boots.

"Is she vital?" called a man.

The auctioneer pulled her to her feet by the hair and turned her about, facingthe crowd.

I heard some men shouting outside in the street. The two girls inched moreclosely to me.

The auctioneer, his quirt now hooked on his belt, stood behind the red-hairedgirt. He put his left hand in her hair, and pulled her head back, and placed hisright hand on her right hip. She suddenly screamed and writhed, squirming. Butshe could not free herself from his grip. "No, please!" she screamed. "No!" shesobbed. Then she cried out, "No! Oh, no!" Then she sobbed. "No! No! No! Yes!

Yes! No. No. No!" Then he released her, and she fell to her knees on the block,sobbing, crimson with shame.

"Good," said the fellow near me, he in the broad-brimmed hat.

I smiled. The lovely new slave, even freshly branded, had, in the hands of theauctioneer, betrayed herself.

"She will make a hot slut," said Ginger.

"She will not be able to help herself, no more than we," said Evelyn.

I was inclined to agree with the tavern girls. Clearly the red-haired girl hadstrong slave latencies.

"Six!" called a man.

"Six five!" called another.

"Six seven!" called another.

"Six eight!" called another.

"Six nine!" called another.

There was now a commotion at the door. We heard shouting behind us. Theauctioneer looked to the back of the room, angrily. Seven or eight men, in theboots and garb of drovers, thrust in the door. Two or three of them carriedhalf-emptied bottles of paga. Two of them had drawn swords in their hands. Thetavern girls seized my arms, trying to make themselves small, behind me. Themen, I gathered, were drovers, members probably of the same crew that I had seenarrive earlier, those who had driven their kaiila, crying out and shouting,through the streets.

"Gentlemen!" cried the auctioneer. "Do not break the peace! Sheathe your steel!

There is a sale in progress."

"There they are! ' cried a fellow, one of the drovers, pointing towards us. Hewas a young, dark-haired, rough-looking fellow. The tavern girls cried out withmisery. I shook them loose from my arms. The fellow slammed his steel into hissheath and strode towards us. Another fellow, one who looked much like him, wasbut a foot behind him. They were, I assumed, brothers.

"The Hobarts," said a man, "from the Bar Ina."

The fellow in advance seized Evelyn by the arms and shook her viciously. I wasafraid he might break her little, collared neck. "I sought you at the tavern," he said to her, angrily. "You knew we would bring stock to town this night."

"And you, little slut," snarled the other, "what of you?" He seized Ginger bythe hair with both hands and threw her cruelly to his feet. I was pleased to seethat he knew how to handle a slave. She looked up at him, her head held up toface him, her small hands futilely on his wrists, tears in her eyes. "Why wereyou not in the tavern of Randolph, awaiting me?" he demanded.

I deemed now that I better understood why the two girls had not been at theirrespective taverns, why they, it seemed, in effect, under the pretense ofsoliciting business for the establishments of their masters, had been hiding inthe sales barn of Ram Seibar. What I did not understand was why the personnel ofthe sales barn had not driven them away. The presence of two such luscioustavern girls at the sale might surely distract the attention of at least some ofthe buyers. This was the more puzzling as, in the past, I had gathered, they hadbeen, in similar situations, driven from the premises, being lashed across thecalves. This, then, was apparently not their first offense in such matters.

The first young fellow then spun Evelyn about and hurled her a few feet fromhim, toward the door. "Precede me to the tavern, Slave," he said.

"Yes, Master," she wept.

"And you," said the other, throwing Ginger to her belly toward the door, "getyour ass to the tavern of Randolph."

"Yes, Master," she said.

I saw two attendants, at the door, look at one another, tensely, uneasily. I didnot understand this reaction. What was it to them if these two women were to beconducted back to their respective taverns, there to be returned to theirintimate labors?

The first of the young fellows turned about, and glared at me. I observed thesheath. It was at his left hip. He was apparently right-handed. I observed theright hand. It did not tense to move toward the blade's hilt.

He was obviously angry. I met his gaze, dispassionately.

The girls had now sought me out, I realized, hoping that I might provide themwith some sort of shelter, or protection. I presumably seemed large, and strong.

I carried a blade. Too, I was a stranger in town and would know nothing of theHobarts, or the crew of the Bar Ina, or whoever it might be, that might beinterested in them. In their way, given my lack of knowledge in these matters,they had been trying to take advantage of me. I found this irritating. They had,of course, seriously miscalculated in this matter. As I was not intending totake them to an alcove myself I would not have afforded them, no more than anyother Gorean male, the least protection. They belonged totally to their mastersand, more generally, to men. They were slave girls. Still, it would not havepleased me if this fellow, or fellows, these drovers, thought they were takingthem away from me.

The fellow lashed out. What occurred then was done rapidly. I am not certainthat all present clearly understood what was done. I caught his wrist and,twisting it, jerked him forward and off balance, at the same time kickingforcibly upwards. I then, bending his wrist back, thrust him to the side. Theother fellow was caught with a backwards kick, his steel no more then halfwayfrom its sheath. As I had not been facing him he had apparently been taken bysurprise by this blow, by its direction, its nature and force. Untrained menoften expect assaults to occur frontally. Various options in the martial arts,of course, are available to the practiced combatant. My blade was free from mysheath before his knees began to sag. I faced the drovers then, my blade drawn.

He crumpled to the floor. Men quickly cleared space about us.

"Well done!" said the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat.

I faced five drovers, their steel drawn. Bottles were cast aside.

"The first man who attacks," said the auctioneer, from the height of the centralplatform, "is a dead man."

The drovers looked about. Attendants in the sales barn held leveled crossbowstrained on them. The short, heavy quarrels lay in their guides. The cables weretaut. Fingers rested on the triggers.

Angrily the drovers sheathed their steel. They gathered up their two fallencomrades and, supporting them, with dark looks, withdrew from the sales barn.

"The two leading fellows there," said the man with the broad-brimmed hat, "wereMax and Kyle Hobart, from the Bar Ina. They will not make pleasant enemies."

I shrugged. I resheathed my steel.

The two tavern girls, auburn-haired Ginger and dark-haired Evelyn, frightened,began to move unobtrusively toward the door.

"One moment, young ladies," called the auctioneer, pleasantly.

"We are going, Masters," said Ginger, plaintively.

"Perhaps not," said the auctioneer.

"Masters?" asked Ginger, frightened. Behind her there was the heavy ropish soundof heavy cordage being dropped. She spun about. The exit was blocked by thereticulated structure of a stout, hempen slave net. She caught with her fingersat the net, and then, frightened, looked back over her shoulder. "Masters?" sheasked.

Evelyn immediately knelt. "Please forgive us, Masters," she said. "Please do notwhip us!"

Ginger then knelt, and swiftly, beside Evelyn. "No, Masters," she said. "Pleasedo not whip us."

"Who is your master?" asked the auctioneer.

"Randolph, of Kailiauk," said Ginger.

"Russell, of Kailiauk," said Evelyn.

"No, pretty little slaves," said the auctioneer. "Your master is the house ofRam Seibar."

"Master?" asked Ginger.

"You have been nuisances long enough," said the auctioneer.

"Master?" asked Ginger, frightened.

"Two days ago you were purchased from your respective masters," said theauctioneer. "You have now, as we anticipated, effected your self-delivery."

The girls looked at one another in terror.

"Your time of being bothers to the house of Ram Seibar Is now at an end," saidthe auctioneer.

There was much laughter among the men at the rich joke played on the two slaves.

"Remove their collars," said the auctioneer to an attendant. He removed thecollars. The keys were correct. Doubtless they had been supplied by their formermasters, probably at the time of the transactions effecting their purchase.

"Get your clothes off," said the auctioneer.

Swiftly the girls complied. Ginger removed even the beaded cuff on her leftankle. Evelyn removed even the black-ribbon choker on her throat. They were thenstark naked. Both, I saw, had been well branded.

They looked about themselves, frightened.

Their clothing, with the collars, was collected by an attendant. Such articles,doubtless, would be returned to their former masters.

"We have here, for sale," laughed the auctioneer, " two of the prettiest taverngirls in Kailiauk. Should you doubt this, scrutinize them closely."

The girls shrank back. Men laughed.

"We are willing to consider any bid over a silver tarsk for them," said theauctioneer. "However, we encourage their buyers to see that their pretty, curvedasses are removed from Kailiauk."

There was more laughter.

"Can you communicate with these other slaves?" asked the fellow in thebroad-brimmed hat of the two stripped tavern girls. He indicated some of thegirls on the side blocks.

Ginger approached one of the girls. Evelyn, too, approached her.

"Do you speak English?" asked Ginger in English.

"Yes, yes! ' said the girl, startled.

"What of the others who were with you?" asked Ginger. "Can they speak English?"

"Most," said the girl, "as a second, if not a first language."

Ginger then turned to the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat. "I can communicatewith most of them, I think," she said, in Gorean. "If there is a particular girlyou are interested in I can interrogate her specifically."

The man pointed to the naked red-haired girl, her hands bound behind her, on thecentral platform.

"Do you speak English?" asked Ginger.

"Yes," said the girl, pulling at her bonds, "yes!"

"Yes," said Ginger to the man in the broad-brimmed hat, in Gorean.

He nodded. I could see that he was pleased by this. That seemed to be the womanhe was interested in having understand him, and clearly. I did not think he wasparticularly concerned, truly, about communicating with the others. The uses towhich he intended to put them, I gathered, did not require subtleties ofcommunication. His desires with respect to their performances, I gathered, couldbe adequately conveyed by such means as the boot and whip.

"What is the language in which you have been speaking to these women?" he askedof Ginger.

"English, Master," she said.

He indicated Evelyn. "Does this slave, too, know this English?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," said Ginger.

Evelyn nodded. "Yes, Master," she said.

I smiled. Two girls, doubtless, could train the red-haired barbarian morequickly than one. For example, they could work her in shifts.

"You speak English " cried the girl on the side block, the collar and chain onher throat, "what is this place and how did I come here!"

"This is the world called Gor," said Ginger, "and you were brought here byspacecraft."

"What manner of place is this," begged the girl, lifting the chain on hercollar, "and is this how they treat all women?"

"I shall not expatiate on what manner of place this is" said Ginger, "for you,yourself, shall soon learn, and well. And this is not how they treat all women.

Women on this world, most of them, enjoy a status and freedom of which you, fromEarth, cannot even conceive. Their raiment is splendid, their station is lofty,their mien is noble, their prestige is boundless. Dread them, and fear them-"

The girl looked at her, frightened.

"For you are not such a woman," said Ginger.

The girl clutched the chain, kneeling on the block.

"No," said Ginger, "you are not such a woman. You are less than the dust beneaththeir feet."

"I–I do not understand," said the girl, stammering.

"You are the sort of woman who will wear rags, said Ginger, "who will rejoiceif a crust of bread is thrust in your mouth."

"I–I do not understand," said the girl.

"You will learn the weight of bonds, the lash of the whip," said Ginger. "Youwill learn to crawl, and bend, and obey."

The girl looked at her with horror.

"You will learn that you are an animal," said Ginger.

"An animal?" said the girl, frightened.

"Yes," said Ginger, "and worth less than most animals."

"What sort of woman am I then?" asked the girl.

"Can you not guess?" asked Ginger.

The girl looked at her, terrified.

"A female slave," said Ginger.

"Let us now have a bid on the two tavern girls," called the auctioneer. "We musthave at least a tarsk apiece for them!"

The girl shook her head numbly, disbelievingly. "No," she whispered. "No."

Ginger regarded her.

"It cannot be," said the girl.

"It is," said Ginger.

"Not a female slave," said the girl. She lifted the chain, disbelievingly, onher neck.

"Yes," said Ginger.

"No!" said the girl. "No!" She clutched the chain on her neck in terror.

"Yes," said Ginger.

The girl leaped suddenly to her feet and, crouching over, with the fullness ofher small strength, began to tear wildly at the chain. "No," she cried, "not afemale slave! No!

The men watched, with interest.

Then the girl, sobbing, her small hands raw, and cut, ceased her struggles.

"I am chained," she said, numbly, to Ginger.

"Yes, you are," said Ginger, adding, "-Slave."

There was the sudden lash of the five-stranded Gorean slave whip and the girlcried out and sank down on the block, kneeling, with her head down, makingherself as small as possible. Five times did the attendant lash her beauty. Thenshe lay on her stomach on the block, sobbing, the collar and chain on her neck,her fingernails tight in the wood. "I will be good, Masters," she wept. "I willbe good."

"Do I hear a bid on the tavern girls?" asked the auctioneer.

"Five copper tarsks apiece!" laughed a man.

Ginger bit her lip, in anger. There was laughter.

"Stand straighter Slave," said a man.

Ginger straightened her body, and lifted her head.

"Miss, oh, please, Miss! ' called the red-haired girl, plaintively, on herknees, stripped, her hands tied behind her with the cord, from the centralblock.

Ginger was startled. The red-haired slave had spoken without permission. Sheturned to face her.

"Am I, too, a slave?" called the red-haired girl.

Ginger looked about, and sensed that she might respond, without being beaten.

The experienced slave girl is very sensitive to such things.

We saw the auctioneer remove the kaiila, quirt from his belt.

"Yes," said Ginger, "You are all slaves! ' "And you?" inquired the red-haired girl.

"We, too, are slaves," said Ginger, indicating herself and Evelyn. "Do you thinkfree women would be so rudely stripped and brazenly displayed? We, and theseothers, are on sale! Do you doubt that we are slaves? See our brands!" Sheturned her left thigh to the central platform. Evelyn, too, turned so that thered-haired girl might, as she could, observe her brand.

"You are branded!" said the red-haired girl. "You are only branded slaves! ' "Consider the mark burned into your own lovely hide," said Ginger.

The girl regarded her own thigh, fearfully.

"It is no different from that which we wear," said Ginger.

The girl regarded her with horror.

"It marks you well, does it not?" asked Ginger.

"Yes," said the girl, in misery.

"As ours do us," said Ginger.

"Then I, too, am nothing but a branded slave!" said the red-haired girl.

"Precisely," said Ginger.

"Then I, too, at least in theory, could be put up for sale," she said, aghast.

"Bids have already been taken on you," said Ginger. "You are up for sale."

"No!" cried the girl. "I am Millicent Aubrey-Welles, of Pennsylvania. I cannotbe for sale! ' "You are a nameless slave animal, being vended for the pleasure of Masters," said Ginger.

"I am not for sale!" cried the girl.

"You are," said Ginger. "And I, for one, would not pay much for you."

Wildly the red-haired girl tried to attain her feet but the auctioneer, his handin her hair, twisted her and threw her on her belly before him. Twice he lashedher with the quirt "Oh!" she cried. "Oh!" He then stepped away from her. Helaughed. She had squirmed well. Her body was obviously highly sensitive. Thisportended well for her quality as a slave. She lifted her head, wildly, toGinger. "I am truly to be sold?" she begged.

"Yes," said Ginger.

"Oh!" cried the girt, in pain, again quirted by the auctioneer. "Oh! Oh!" Shehad again spoken without permission. Then she lay quietly, scarcely moving,beaten, frightened, on the block. She did not care to feel the quirt again. Ithink, lying there, she now began, more fully and explicitly than she had daredbefore, to comprehend the actuality of her condition, that she might be, infact, what she seemed to be, a lashed, soon-to-be vended slave.

"What were these women inquiring of you?" inquired a man, of Ginger.

"They desired a clarification of their condition, Master," responded Ginger.

"Are they dim-witted? ' asked the fellow.

"I do not think so, Master," said Ginger. "It is only that they come from aworld which has not prepared them to easily grasp the nature of certainrealities, let alone that they might find themselves implicated in them."

"I see," said the man.

"But do not fear, Master," said Ginger, "we learn swiftly."

"That is known to me," he grinned.

Ginger looked down, swallowing hard. It was true. On Gor, girls learned swiftly.

I saw the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat, behind Ginger and Evelyn, make a signto the auctioneer.

"If there is no one here now who wishes further to examine the tavern girls,prior to their sale, I will have them removed to a holding area," said theauctioneer.

Ginger and Evelyn, startled, exchanged glances. As no one spoke, the auctioneernodded to two of the attendants. In a moment the girls, the upper left arm ofeach in the grasp of an attendant, were conducted, bewildered, through a sidedoor from the hall.

The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat, I gathered, had influence in Kailiauk. Hewas, obviously, at any rate, taken seriously in the house of Ram Seibar.

When the heavy door had closed behind the tavern girls, he said to theauctioneer, "One five apiece."

"Are there any other bids? ' inquired the auctioneer.

There was silence in the room. It interested me that there were no other bids.

"One five," agreed the auctioneer. "One five, for each."

The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat then pointed to the girl on the centralblock. This did not surprise me. I had gathered that he might be interested inher. The purchase of the two tavern girls, further, I had surmised, wasintimately connected with this interest. He wanted them, doubtless, to be usedin her training, in particular, I supposed, with her training in Gorean. Otheraspects of her training he might see fit to attend to himself. Needless to say,it is pleasant to train a beautiful woman uncompromisingly to one's mostintimate pleasures. Further, there was no doubt that the girl on the block was abeauty. Yet, in some way, I still found his interest in her somewhat puzzling.

She was, obviously, in complexion, coloration, refinement, figure and beauty,quite different from the other girls he had purchased. Perhaps he was a fellowwith wide divergence in his tastes.

"We have a bid on the slave of six nine," said the auctioneer. With his foot hemoved her bound hands a bit upward on her back. He then stood with his rightboot on the small of her back. "Six nine," he said, looking at the fellow in thebroad-brimmed hat.

"Seven five," said the fellow.

The auctioneer then removed his boot from the prone body of the slave and, bythe hair, pulled her up to her knees.

"Seven five," said the fellow.

The auctioneer then, by the hair, pulled the girl to her feet. He then, with hisquirt, indicated that the girl should suck in her gut and lift her head. She didso.

"Very well," said the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat. "Seven eight."

The auctioneer seemed hesitant.

"Seven nine, then," said the fellow.

This, I took it, was the bid the auctioneer had been waiting for. It was an evensilver tarsk, or an even hundred copper tarsks, of the sort common in Kailiauk,figured in multiples of ten, over the earlier standing bid of six nine.

"Are there any other bids?" called the auctioneer. I sensed there would not beany. Too, I did not think the auctioneer expected any. To be sure, it wasdoubtless his business to inquire explicitly into the matter.

The girl trembled, her chin obediently high.

No more bids were forthcoming. No one, it seemed, cared to bid against thefellow in the broad-brimmed hat. I found this of interest. I had not found thissort of thing before in a Gorean market.

"Deliver her to the holding area," said the auctioneer, addressing himself to anattendant near the foot of the block. The fellow, then, climbed to the height ofthe block. "She is yours," said the auctioneer to the man in the broad-brimmedhat. The attendant seized the girl by the arms. It was only then, I think, thatthe former Millicent Aubrey-Welles, from Pennsylvania, realized that she hadbeen sold. She was conducted from the surface of the block.

"That," said the auctioneer, "concludes the final auction of the evening. Permitme to remind you all that the market is not yet closed. It remains open foranother Ahn. Peruse now, if you would, in the time remaining before we close,the lovely morsels, dainties for your delectation, fastened on the slave platesto the sides. In a lesser house any one of them would doubtless be worthy thecentral block. Yet, here, in the house of Ram Seibar, in this house of prizesand bargains, no one of them is likely to cost you more than a silver tarsk!"

I glanced about, at the girls on the side blocks. A few pretended to brazenindifference. Most, however, only too obviously, were terrified. I think therewas not one among them who did not, now, understand that she was a slave. Ithink there was not one among them who did not now realize that she might soon,and totally, belong to a man.

"To the side blocks, please, Noble Sirs, ' invited the auctioneer, with anexpansive gesture of his open hand, "to the side blocks!"

The men began to drift to the side blocks. Several went toward the block of thegirl with whom Ginger had spoken. She had looked well under the attendant'swhip. Several of the girls whimpered. A woman's first sale, I suspected, isoften the hardest.

"Come with me," said the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat. He then turned about,and went through a side door.

Puzzled, I followed him.

On the other side of the door we found ourselves in a holding area, a long, shedlike structure ancillary to the main hall. It was wooden-floored and the narrowfloorboards were laid lengthwise. About every five feet a linear set of theseboards was painted yellow, thus, in effect, making long, yellow lines, parallelto the sides of the structure, on the floor. At the head and foot of theselines, also in yellow, were painted numbers.

On one of these lines, number six, there knelt, one behind the other, in tandemfashion, seven girls. They were barbarians, but they had been knelt in theposition of pleasure slaves, back on their heels knees wide, hands on theirthighs, backs straight, heads up.

You handled yourself well in the hall," said the fellow to me. "It is mysuspicion that you are no stranger to war."

"I have fought," I admitted.

"Are you a mercenary?" he asked.

"Of sorts," I said.

"Why are you in Kailiauk?" he asked.

"I am here on business," I said, warily.

"Are your pursuers numerous?" he asked.

"Pursuers?" I asked.

"You are doubtless in flight," be said. "Would you give me a hand with thesechains?" He then bent down and, from some things, his, I gathered, near onewall, he had picked up several loops of light chain, with spaced, attachedcollars. He slung these loops over his left shoulder and joined me, near thelast girl kneeling on the line.

He handed me a collar, at the chain's termination. I clasped it about the neckof the last girl on the line. It closed, locking, with a heavy metallic click.

"I am not in flight," I said.

The girl whimpered, collared and on the chain.

"I see," grinned the fellow.

"Why should you think I am in flight?" I asked.

"Skills such as yours," he said, "do not bring their highest prices in thevicinity of the perimeter." He handed me another length of chain, with itscollar.

"Oh," I said. I added the next girl to the chain. The collars had front and backrings, were hinged on the right and locked on the left. This is a familiar formof coffle collar. The lengths of chain between the collars were about three tofour feet long. Some were attached to the collar rings by the links themselves,opened and then reclosed about the rings, and some of them were fastened to thecollar rings by snap rings. Another common form of coffle collar has its hingein the front and closes behind the back of the neck, like the common slavecollar. It has a single collar ring usually on the right, through which,usually, a single chain is strung. Girls are spaced on such a chain, usually, bysnap rings. An advantage of the first sort of coffle arrangement is that thechain may, as girls are added or subtracted, be shortened or lengthened. Achain, which has been borne by fifty girls, would, of course, be impracticablyheavy for five or six. An advantage of the second arrangement is that girls canbe easily spaced on the chain, more or less closely together, and can beconveniently removed from, and added to, the chain. Which chaining arrangementis best for a given set of girls depends, of course, on the particularintentions and purposes of their master. The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat hadopted, of course, for the first arrangement. This suggested to me that heexpected girls, for one reason or another, to be subtracted from the chain.

"If you are not now in flight," he said, "I suggest that you consider itsadvisability."

I looked at him. He handed me another length of chain and a collar.

"You should leave town, and soon," he said.

I put another girl on the chain.

"Why?" I asked.

"The vanity of the Hobarts, a proud folk," he said, "was much stung this night,and before female slaves. They will come with their men, with crossbows andswords. They will want their revenge."

"I do not fear them," I said.

"When do you intend to leave Kailiauk?" he asked.

"In the morning," I said.

"Good," said he. "I would not alter my plans."

"I have no intention of doing so," I said. Martial dalliance was not germane tomy mission.

"Put her on the chain," said the fellow, handing me another collar and length ofchain.

I added a blonde to the chain. He then handed me another chain segment andcollar, unlooping it from his shoulder.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I have purchased some trade goods," I said. "It is my intention to enter theBarrens."

"That is dangerous," said he.

"That is what I have heard," I said.

"Do you know any of the languages? Do you know even "No," I said.

"Avoid them, then," he said.

I then added another girl to the coffle, a shorthaired, sturdy-legged brunet.

"I am determined," I said.

The fellow lifted the girl's short, dark hair. "It will be difficult to braidthis hair," he said, "but it will grow."

I then, taking a collar and a length of chain from him, added the next girl tothe coffle. She was also a brunet.

"I am curious," I said, "as to the nature of the girls you have purchased. Theseseven, though surely outstandingly attractive, seem to me to have been ratherexceeded in beauty by several of the others, whom you did not choose to buy."

"Perhaps," he grinned. He handed me another collar, and length of chain,unloosing it from his shoulder.

"Please don't put me in a collar," said the seventh girl, looking up, tears inher eyes. She had spoken in English. She had light-brown hair. I put the collaron her throat, and locked it. She was then naught but another lovely componentin the coffle. She put back her head, and choked back a sob.

"Are you truly determined to enter the Barrens?" asked the fellow.

"Yes," I said.

"How many kaiila do you have? ' he asked.

"Two," I said, "one to ride, another for the trade goods."

"That is fortunate," said the fellow. "No more than two kaiila are to be broughtby any single white man into the Barrens. Too, no party of white men in theBarrens is permitted to bring in more than ten kaiila."

"These are rules in Kailiauk?" I asked.

"They are the rules of the red savages," he said.

"Then," said I, "only small groups of white men enter the Barrens, or else theywould be on foot, at the mercy of the inhabitants of the area."

"Precisely," said the fellow.

Two slave girls, blindfolded, their hands tied behind them, were then thrustinto the room. An attendant, holding them by the arms, brought them forward, andthen, at the indication of the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat, knelt them downover the yellow line, in front of the hitherto first girl in the coffle. Bothwere frightened. They were Ginger and Evelyn. "To whom have we been sold?" begged Ginger. "Where are we being taken?" begged Evelyn. The attendant then,with his booted foot, kicked Ginger to her side on the floor. Then he tookEvelyn's hair in his left hand and with his right hand lashed her face twice,with the palm and then the back of his hand, snapping it from side to side. Hethen knelt them again, on the line. "Forgive us, Masters," begged Ginger.

"Forgive us, Masters," begged Evelyn, blood at the side of her mouth.

I then, with materials supplied by the fellow in the broad brimmed hat, addedGinger and Evelyn to the coffle.

"The three of them, together," said the attendant, "come to ten nine. The otherwill be brought forward in a moment."

I saw the coins change hands.

The small wrists of Ginger and Evelyn pulled futilely at their bonds.

In a moment, as the attendant had suggested, the red-haired girl was introducedinto the room.

"She is a beauty," I said to the fellow in the broad brimmed hat.

"That she is," he said, "and, beyond that, it is the sort of girl she is. Shewill make a superb slave."

The girl, then, half stumbling, was brought forward. Rudely she was thrust downto her knees, where the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat indicated, at the headof the coffle. To her horror her knees were kicked apart. Her chin was thenpushed up. In a moment she was fastened with the others.

I looked down at the red-haired girl. The man in the broad-brimmed hat liftedher hair, displaying it to me. "It is long enough to braid," he said.

"If one wished it," I said. I myself tended to prefer, on the whole, long, loosehair on a slave, tied back, if at all, with a headband or, behind the head, witha cloth or string.

He let her hair fall back, down her back.

"She would bring a high price," I said, "in almost any market with which I amfamiliar."

"I will be able to get five hides of the yellow kailiauk for her," said the man,"Oh, no, Master!" cried Ginger, suddenly, dismally. "No. Master! ' protestedEvelyn. "Please, no! Please, no'

The man in the broad-brimmed hat bent down and, one after the other, untied thewrists of Evelyn, Ginger and the red-haired girl. Ginger and Evelyn weretrembling, half in hysteria. Yet they had presence of mind enough to place theirhands, palms down, on their thighs. The palms of the red-haired girl, forcibly,her wrists in his grasp, were placed on her thighs. When her left hand wished tostray to her brand he took it and placed it again, firmly, palm down, on herthigh.

"Yes, Master," whispered the girl, in English. I was pleased to see that she wasintelligent. A fresh brand is not to be disturbed, of course.

The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat then removed the blindfolds from Ginger andEvelyn. "Oh, no!" wept Ginger. "No, no!" wept Evelyn. "Not you, please!" Theyregarded who it was who owned them, in dismay, and with horror. Yet, I think,but moments before, surely they had sensed, and surely feared, who he might be.

Their worst fears had now seemed confirmed. I did not understand their terror.

He seemed to me a genial enough fellow. "Sell us, beloved Master!" beggedGinger. "Please, Master," begged Evelyn, "we are only poor slaves. Take pity onus! Sell us to another! ' "Make us pot girls!" begged Ginger. "Shackle us! Sendus to the farms!" "We are only poor slaves," wept Evelyn. "Please, please,Master, sell us to another! We beg you, Beloved Master. Sell us to another!"

"The house of Ram Seibar," said the fellow, amused, "wishes you both taken fromKailiauk."

Several of the other girls now, I noted, were frightened and apprehensive. Thered-haired girl, too, seemed frightened. They could not understand Gorean butthe terror of the other slaves was patent to them. None of them, I noted, to mysatisfaction, had dared to break position. Already, I conjectured, they hadbegun to suspect what might be the nature of Gorean discipline.

"Master!" wept Ginger.

"Please, Master!" wept Evelyn.

"Position," snapped the man in the broad-brimmed hat.

Immediately the girls knelt back in the coffle, back on their heels, their kneeswide, their hands on their thighs, their backs straight and heads lifted. Seeingthis, the other girls, too, behind them, hurriedly sought to improve theirposture. The red-haired girl, who could not see behind her, from the sound ofthe command, and the movements in the chain, reaching her through the backcollar ring, fearfully sensing what was going on, straightened herself as well.

"These two girls, the second and third," I said, indicating Ginger and Evelyn,"seem quite disturbed to discover that you are their master."

"It surely seems so," granted the fellow in the broad brimmed hat.

"Why should they regard you with such terror," I asked, "more than seemsnecessary on the part of a slave girl with respect to her master?" It is naturalfor a slave girl, of course, to regard her master with a certain trepidation.

She is, after all, an animal, who is owned by him, over whom he has total power.

The rational slave girl will almost never intentionally displease her master.

First, it is just too costly to do so. Secondly, for reasons that are sometimesobscure to men, these having to do with her being a female, she seldom desiresto do so.

"I do not think that it is I, personally, whom they regard with such terror," hegrinned.

"What then could be the source of such terror?" I asked.

"Who knows what goes on in the heads of pretty little slaves," he said.

"You seem evasive," I observed.

"Perhaps," he admitted.

"Your coffle," I said, "is striking, an assemblage of chained beauties. Yet Ithink there seems a rather clear distinction between the first three girls andthe last seven, and, if I may say so, between the first and the second two."

"Yes," he said, "that is true. Observe the last seven girls. Do you know theirnature? Do you know what they are?"

"What?" I asked.

"Pack animals," he said. "They are pack animals."

"I thought they might be," I said. The fellow's itinerary now seemed clear tome. No more than two kaiila, I remembered he had said, may be brought in by anygiven white man.

"And the first girl," I asked, "is she, too, to be a pack animal?"

"She, too, will serve as a pack animal," he said, "as will they all, but,ultimately, I have a different disposition in mind for her."

"I see," I said.

"She will be worth five hides of the yellow kailiauk to me," he said.

"Then you will make a splendid profit on her," I said.

"Yes," said he. A robe of yellow kailiauk, even in average condition, can bringas much as five silver tarsks.

I looked at the red-haired girl in the coffle, the former MillicentAubrey-Welles. She did not even know she was the subject of our conversation.

"And what of these other two?" I asked, indicating Ginger and Evelyn.

"By means of them I can communicate with the red-haired girl," he said. "Intheir barbarous tongue they can make clear to her, and quickly, the nature ofher condition, and the efficiency, intimacy and totality of the services thatwill be required of her. Too, they can teach her some Gorean, which will keepthem all busy, and help me train her."

"I see," I said.

He adjusted the remainder of the chains and collars on his shoulder. He had notcome to the sales barn, apparently, knowing exactly how many girls he wouldpurchase. It is difficult to anticipate such things accurately, of course,particularly when buying in lots. Much depends on what is available and whatturns out to be the going prices, on a given night. "The treks can be long," hesaid.

"Treks?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"I note," I said, "that all of these girls are barbarians, even the second andthird girl. Why have you not purchased some Gorean girls for your pack train?"

"For pack animals it is surely more appropriate to use meaningless barbariansthan Gorean girls," he said.

"Of course," I granted him.

"But there is, of course," he grinned, "another reason, as well."

"What is that?" I asked.

"These barbarian girls will march along in their coffle as ignorant and innocentas kaiila," he said.

"Whereas?" I asked.

"Whereas," he grinned, "Gorean girls might die of fear."

Ginger and Evelyn moaned.

"These slaves," I said, indicating the two former tavern girls, "seem nottotally ignorant."

"Even these slaves," he said, indicating Ginger and Evelyn, ",who seem sotransfixed with terror, do not even begin, I assure you, to have any idea as towhat might lie before them."

The two girls shuddered. Their will, of course, was nothing. They, like theanimals they were, must go where their masters pleased.

"I take it that you, with your pack train, intend to enter the Barrens," I said.

"Yes," said he.

"Tomorrow morning?" I asked.

"Yes," said he.

"You are, then, a trader?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"I have sought along the perimeter for one named "Grunt'," I said.

"That is known to me," he said.

"None seemed to know of his whereabouts, or clearly", I said.

"Oh? ' he said.

"I found that unusual," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"This fellow, Grunt," I said, "is presumably a well-known trader. Does it notseem strange, then, that no one would have a clear idea as to his location?"

"That does seem a bit strange," agreed the fellow.

"It is my thought," I said, "that this fellow, Grunt, has many friends, that heinspires loyalty, that these friends desire to protect him."

"If that is so," he said, "then this Grunt, in at least some respects, must be alucky man."

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Do you know where he is?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Do you think you could direct me to his whereabouts?" I asked.

"I am he," he said.

"I thought so," I said.