Slave Girl Of Gor

16
A Sail

I screamed wildly in the darkness, jerking back my ankle from the edge of the sturdy mesh about me. My ankles would pull back toward me only some six inches as they were chained. I lay on my back. I clasped my shaven head in my hands. My hands, too, were chained, the two chains running to a heavy ring over and above my head, in the slatted wood of the tier on which I lay. I could lower the heel of my hands only to the side of my neck; but it was enough to cover my ears, when it became necessary to do so. I screamed and thrashed; I could tell my ankle was bleeding, from the feeling of the wound and the wetness about my shin and on the wood. I tried with my right foot to press against the wound, to stanch the flow of blood. I saw the blazing, coppery eyes of the long-haired ship urt on the other side of the mesh. I had let the shin of my left foot rest against the mesh.

"Let me out!" I screamed. "Let me out!"

Sometimes an urt manages to force its way through the mesh, or between one of the vertical cage lids, one at each end of the cage, and the cage. The girl then, chained as she is, is at its mercy.

"Be silent," said a girl's voice, from the next cage. I could not see her, or the others.

"Please, Masters!" I wept. "Let me out! Let me out, Masters!"

"Be silent!" she scolded.

I tried to be silent. I twisted on the slatted wood.

"Please, Master," I had wept. "Put me in a deck cage!" These were small cages, lashed down, sometimes kept on the deck of a crowded slave ship. This ship, a small one, had only twenty such cages, arranged amidships in two rows, back to back, two cages high, five cages long. In harsh weather, and at night, these cages are often covered with tarpaulins; this tends to prevent undue weathering of the cage.metal due to salt and moisture. During the day the tarpaulins are usually laid aside, unless they are tied over the cages to discipline the girls. There are two major advantages to having the tarpaulins put aside. First, the sailors may then, for their pleasure, gaze upon the lovely prisoners of the cages; secondly, the girls, when they reach their port of sale, will be tanned perfectly, completely. Any girl on the ship, incidentally, unless she is certified "white silk," a virgin, is free to the sailors for their sport. There were no "white silk" girls on board; we were all "red silk." This was not unusual. There are few virgin slaves. Their virginity usually does not last more than an Ahn beyond their first sale. It is the deck-cage girls who are most often used for the sport of the sailors. In daylight hours their charms are on almost constant display. They are not chained in the hold. They may pose and wheedle, and thrust their arms through the bars to touch the sailors. Also they are more readily available. A cage door need only be opened and the girl pulled to the deck, or thrown across the tarpaulins. "Put me in a deck cage, Master!" I had begged. He had looked down upon me, captain of the ship. "Chain her below," he had said. I had been dragged from his feet.

I screamed again.

"Be silent," said another girl, angrily.

I thrashed on the wood. I could feel the ship lice.

I could not tear at them with my fingernails; I was not chained in such a way as to permit that; this was intentional. I writhed on the slatted wood, screaming.

"Be silent," said the first girl. "It is not the time permitted for screaming!"

"I do not care!" I cried.

I heard a noise. I was frightened.

A hatch was thrown open, and a man descended the stairs into the hold.

Suddenly, in the dim light, falling through the opened hatch, I could see the musty tiers and their helpless, fair occupants.

The man looked about.

"She it was! She it was who screamed!" cried the girl next to me, indicating me with her head.

"No!" I cried. "It was not I!"

"It was she!" cried the first girl.

"Yes, she!" cried several others.

I sensed the man standing behind me, on a ramp. "I was bitten," I said. "I was bitten!" I twisted on the wood, trying to see him. "Have mercy, Master!" I said. "I was bitten!"

"It was not the time permitted for screaming," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said. "Forgive me," I begged, "Master."

There were eight slave platforms in the hold, each with six tiers. These platforms were separated by narrow aisles; also they did not adjoin the sides of the hold, thus allowing a passage between them and the wall of the hold on both the left and right side of the ship. On each tier of each platform there were five girls. There were, thus, two hundred and forty girls in the hold. A cunning mesh and cage arrangement is incorporated into the platforms. The slatted wood of the tiers, on which the girls lay, permits cage mesh to pass unimpeded from the roof of the sixth tier to the bottom of the first tier. The mesh is cleated to the wood of each tier. Each girl, in effect, has her own meshed cage, separate from that of the others. Thus, if an urt manages to enter one area he has at his mercy only one captive, not five. The top of the sixth tier and the bottom slats of the first tier are sheathed in tin, to prevent being gnawed by urts. Mesh, too, heavy and sturdy, closes off the ends of the slave cubicles formed. In the mesh at the ends of the cubicle formed, both the end at the girl's feet and that at her head, there is a tiny gate. The girl may be placed in the cage, or removed from it, from either end. She normally inches her way into the cubicle from the top end and one slaver, from the bottom, secures her ankles in their irons, then shutting that gate, and another secures her wrists in their irons, then shutting that gate. Each girl thus has to herself a small, rectangular cage area, surrounded on four sides by mesh, on the bottom by the slatted wood of the tier, and on the top by the wood of the tier above her, unless she is on the sixth tier, and then she has above her, of course, the ceiling of her cubicle, the bottom of the platform roof. She is chained in such a way as to preclude movement which might tear at the mesh or break it, thus making possible the entry of urts, which might eat at her, lowering her price, and to preclude her tearing hysterically with her hands and fingernails at her own body, bloodying herself, perhaps scarring herself, again lowering her price, in her attempt to obtain relief from the bites and itching consequent upon the infestation and depredation of the numerous, almost constantly active ship lice. The first tier is raised from the floor of the hold by some eighteen inches, providing a crawl space. The open spaces between the tin-sheathed, wood slats on the first tier are covered, from the bottom, by cleated mesh, which prevents urts from entering from the bottom. The crawl space between the floor of the hold and the first tier is cleaned once a day. Each girl, all in all, has a space private to her slavery of some twenty-five inches in width, by some eighteen inches in height, by some six feet five inches in length. In this space she is chained helplessly. Of the six tiers in my platform, I was on the fourth.

I heard the man loosen the small gate behind my head. I did not know why he did this.

"Master?" I asked.

He let the gate then swing down on its hinges, and lie against its bolts.

He did not snap it shut.

"Master?" I asked, frightened.

He turned away. I heard him on the ramp.

"Master!" I screamed, terrified. "I will be silent! I will be silent!" I turned my head wildly, trying to look back. "Please, Master!" I begged. "Please! I will be silent, Master!"

The sharp, furred, cold snout of an urt could now, as the gate lay against its bolts, thrust between the gate and the side of the cage. The animal might now swiftly, furtively, slither into the cage which I, helplessly chained, must then share with it.

"Master!" I screamed. I was terrified of urts. "Master, please," I screamed. "I will be silent! I will be silent!"

I heard him pause on the ramp. He turned and returned to my cage.

"I will be silent, Master," I whispered, terrified. "I will be silent, Master," I whispered. "Please, Master."

He snapped shut the tiny gate, and left. In a few moments the hatch closed and we were again in total darkness. The ship shifted in the water, and I could hear the waves against the hull. In a few minutes, the man gone, I heard the urt, it or another, moving about on the wood between the meshes. I gritted my teeth so that I would not cry out from the misery of the lice. I drew my feet and hands, in their chains, as near the center of my space as I could. I made no sound.

The vertical gate of the cage space, that gate behind my head, was thrown open and hooked back. I put my head back.

"Master," I said. But I could not speak for the spike of the bota was thrust between my teeth, and I must drink.

When the spike was withdrawn I again tried to speak. "Master," I begged. But his heavy hand thrust bread in my mouth, crusts of Sa-Tarna bread, wadding it in.

Then he went to the next cage, and the next, similarly watering and feeding their occupants.

I knew he would return, to finish the feeding, with another draft of water, a spoon of salt and a slice of the bitter tospit. Bit by bit, flake by flake, dampened, struggling, trying not to choke, I swallowed the crusts with which my mouth had been crammed.

I heard him again then behind my head. Almost never did I get to see the male at whose mercy I was chained.

The bota's spike was again forced into my mouth. I drank. When the spike was pulled away, I whispered, quickly, "Please, Master, may a slave speak?"

"Yes," he said.

"Remove me from the cage," I begged. "Let me go on deck. I will do anything!"

"You are a slave," he said. "You must do anything anyway."

"Yes, Master," I said, miserably. It was true. A slave had no bargaining power. All that she could possibly give was free to the master at his slightest glance or word.

"Open your mouth," he said.

"Select me out," I begged, "when next a girl is pulled from the cage for the sport of the sailors."

"No, me!" said the girl next to me.

"I am a pleasure slave," I said.

"I, too, Master," said the girl next to me, on my left.

I felt the spoon beside my mouth and I opened my mouth, and the salt was thrown into my mouth.

"You each," he said, "in your turn, will have half an Ahn on the deck."

"Thank you, Master," I said. The slice of tospit was thrust in my mouth. The cage gate behind me was snapped shut. I bit into the tospit. It was bitter, but juicy. It was relished by my body. I made each drop last as long as I could. I had not finished it even when the feeding was done and the hatch closed, shutting us again in the darkness of the hold of the slave ship.

I threw back my head, reveling in the wind and sunlight. I could not believe the freshness of the air, the winds of Thassa, the brightness of the sky.

This morning I had been removed from the cage, a tether put about my left ankle, given a rag and pan, and set to clean the crawl space beneath the slave platforms. Four times had I vomited and fainted but each time, by the tether, I was drawn from beneath the platform and revived, and set again about my work. I was struck twice with the whip. With four other girls, later, with buckets, I emptied the bilge, which lies below and at the center of the floor of the hold, under a removable wooden grille.

We had then been permitted to ascend to the deck, to empty the wastes and seepage. After this we had been permitted to clean ourselves as we could, with sea water and brushes. The deck is kept clean by the girls in the deck cages. The girls in the deck cages are permitted to keep their hair. The hair of the below-deck girls, mercifully, is shaved off; indeed, our body hair, too, was shaved off, completely. These precautions prevent, to a great extent, the nesting of ship lice. After we were cleaned we were leashed and exercised for a few minutes on the deck. Then each of us, for the remainder of our time on deck, the precious half of an Ahn, was chained in a kneeling position, our hands before our bodies.

I had been taken by Tellius, the henchman of the Lady Elicia of Ar, by tarn, to Schendi. This infamous port is the home port of the famed black slavers of Schendi, a league of slavers well known for their cruel depredations on shipping, but it is also a free port, administered by black merchants, and its fine harbor and its inland markets to the north and east attract much commerce. It is thought that an agreement exists between the merchants of Schendi and the members of the league of black slavers, though I know of few who have proclaimed this publicly in Schendi and lived. The evidence, if evidence it is that such an agreement exists, is that the black slavers tend to avoid preying on shipping which plies to and from Schendi. They conduct their work commonly in more northern waters, returning to Schendi as their home port. The ship on which I was carried was the round ship, or cargo ship, Clouds of Telnus, registered in Cos, but with shipping papers clearing it for the waters of Schendi. It was some twenty feet wide at its broadest point and some one hundred and twenty feet in length. It had two masts, with permanent rigging. It was also equipped with oars, but these were primarily used in entering and leaving a harbor. The round ship, as opposed to the long ship, or war ship, relies predominantly upon its sails. The Clouds of Telnus was said to be a medium-class ship. Its deep hold, I gather, would carry several tons of cargo. I found it a lovely ship, discounting the miseries of its hold, and it was particularly beautiful under sail. The sails, like those of most Gorean ships, were triangular. Telnus, our destination, is the capital city of the island of Cos, one of Gor's two largest maritime ubarates. Cos lies north of Tyros and west of Port Kar, which latter city is located in the Tamber Gulf, which lies just beyond the Vosk's delta. There are four major cities on Cos, Telnus, Selnar, Temos and lad. Telnus is the largest of these and has the best harbor. The Ubar of Cos is Lurius, from the city of Jad. The capital of Tyros, Gor's other largest maritime ubarate, is Kasra. Its other large city is Tentium. Her Ubar is called Chenbar He is from Kasra, and is spoken of, I understand, as the Sea Sleen. Some years ago Tyros and Cos joined fleets for war on Port Kar, but in a significant naval battle the two ubarates were defeated. Port Kar lacked the power and shipping to follow up its victory. Tyros and Cos, and Port Kar, remain to this day in a state of war with respect to one another.

The deck was white and smooth to my knees. It had been rubbed with deck stones, and washed down and scrubbed. The deck-cage girls, on their hands and knees, ankles shackled, attended to this work.

I looked out, across the water. The sky was very bright. It was precious being above deck.

"How ugly you are, Below-Deck Girl," said one of the girls in a small deck cage.

I looked at her. She was auburn-haired, and, like all the slave girls on the Clouds of Telnus, whether cage girls or below-deck girls, stripped; girls are not permitted clothing on a slave ship. She was sitting with her knees drawn up in the tiny cage. She could not completely stretch her body.

I did not bother to respond to her. If her hair had been shaven away, she, too, would not be too beautiful. I would have liked to have stood over her, her control slave, whip in hand, when she had scrubbed on the deck. She would not then, I think, have spoken so insolently.

I heard the lookout cry out, from high above on the highest, the second, of the two masts. He spoke of a sail and its location. It could not be seen from the deck. Men ran to the left side of the ship, some climbed one of the two masts. The captain spoke swiftly to his crew.

The two men at the steering oars, one on each side of the ship, at its back, turned the vessel away from the left.

Men rushed to the benches and slid oars through the oar openings in the side of the ship.

Another man began to call to them and their oars, in unison, began to dip and pull.

Men ran here and there about the deck. Some attended to ropes. Some lashed down loose objects on the deck. Weapons were fetched, and sand and water. Hatches were closed, and secured.

I was very excited, but helpless. I could not participate in the least in what might ensue.

I knew the waters of Thassa were plied by many ships, and, among them, were the ships of pirates. Cos and Ar, I had heard, were now at war, the matters having to do with the piracy on the Vosk not having been satisfactorily adjudicated. But Ar had no navy, though it did have a fleet of river ships that patrolled the Vosk. The ship might, of course, be of Port Kar, or of one of the northern ports, or even of Torvaldsland.

I could not free my ankles, wrists and belly of their chains, which kept me, by their arrangement, on my knees. I was frightened. If the ship fell to pirates I, and the other girls, I knew, would fall helplessly to them too, lovely spoils, naked slave booty, to the victors. I hoped that they would want us. If they did not, we would be thrown overboard. In such circumstances, girls try to be wanted.

"Get those slaves below deck," called an officer.

I and the other four girls, who had been on deck at the same time, were seized by the arms and dragged along the deck. The hatch to the slave hold was opened. To my horror I saw my sisters in bondage tumbled down the ladder. "No!" I cried. Then I, too, was thrown through the hatch, striking the stairs, rolling, chained, tumbling, to the flooring of the hold. I was much bruised. "No!" I heard cry. Then the girls from the deck cages, too, were taken to the hatch and rudely ordered to descend into the hold. "The smell!" screamed one of them, and then she was thrust flying through the opening. Twenty girls from the deck were then with us. Looking up, we saw the heavy hatch close. The new girls screamed at the darkness. We heard the hatch bolts flung into place, and the two heavy locks snapped shut.