"There is no doubt about that," said the leader of the strangers.

"It is only a matter of time then," said the lieutenant, "until we have gone through every pa.s.sage."

"Are there missile weapons in the depths?" asked the leader of the black-tunicked men.

"Only yours," said the pit master.

"Excellent," said the leader of the black-tunicked men.

"Take me to the surface!" suddenly cried Gito, from where he crouched by the wall. "I want to go to the surface!"

"We need not even close with him then," said the leader of the blacktunicked men, paying Gito no attention.

"I want to go to the surface!" cried Gito.

"Call in the search parties," said the leader of the black-tunicked men. "In the morning we will form a single, larger group. Even in the darkness we can blanket an area with quarrels."

One of the men went out, into the corridor. From various points we heard him blowing blasts, on a reed whistle.

"You two will accompany us tomorrow," said the leader to the officer of Treve and the pit master. "We have no intention of leaving you behind. Too, the slaves will be with us. I trust a concern for their safety, or for that of one or more of them, will ensure your diligence as guides.

They will precede us, you see. In this fashion we will keep them in view, which will doubtless be pleasant for you, not of the black caste, and there will be no slipping of them away."

Whereas the Gorean slave girl commonly heels her master, her master sometimes orders her to walk before him, for the pleasure of seeing her walk. And if she knows what is good for her she had best walk beautifully. This also gives him an opportunity to a.s.sess her interest to other men, for example, to see if men look after her, as she pa.s.ses. This gives him some sense of her value. How much would she be likely to bring, for example, exhibited on a slave block? This is useful if he should be thinking of selling her, but it is also tends to be of independent interest, and not only to the master, but also to the slave. We are very curious to know, vain beasts that we are, what men might pay for us, if we were to be offered for sale.

But, alas, some men, I fear, purchase girls largely for self-regarding, social reasons, for example, to impress others with their wealth, good fortune, or taste.

But then, too, on Earth, do not some men buy a certain car, or a certain house, or a certain painting, and such, largely to impress others? Too, on Earth some men will, in effect, purchase wives, so to speak, though the "exchange of coin" is less obvious. These women, as I understand it, are referred to as "trophy wives." There are differences, of course. On Earth, it is the woman who sells herself and, accordingly, keeps her own purchase price, so to speak. That is not the Gorean way, of course.

On Gor the woman is sold by her owner, who keeps her price. I am happy to report that there is no Gorean expression which would be exactly equivalent to "trophy slave," but I am forced to admit, in all honesty, that the concept, in effect, or certainly a similar sort of concept, is not unknown on Gor. In Gorean there is an expression which would rather literally translate as "display slave," and it seems that that is much the same idea, namely, that the woman's value is seen to lie more in the ranges of a decoration, an appointment, an appurtenance, or such things, than in herself, than in the heats, services, devotions, and loves of a whole woman, a living, breathing, loving, pa.s.sionate, needful female. The palanquins of rich men are sometimes followed by strings of back-braceleted, briefly tunicked, neck-chained display slaves. When the slave is walked before the master, her head and eyes remain forward.

She is not to look to the left or right. She is, after all, under the eyes of her master.

I suppose I am beautiful enough to be a display slave, but I do not think I would like it.

When the slave is walked before the master she may or may not be on a leash. It is up to the master.

Most often she is not leashed.

In this way the master may remain rather in the background. Perhaps he is just a fellow going in the same direction? But if the slave is accosted he will probably show up promptly enough, leash in hand.

She will then be leashed and there will be no doubt as to whose slave she is.

One might mention, in pa.s.sing, that the "concept of the leash" may figure, as do a number of other concepts, in references to bondage. Just as one might refer to a slave as "marked meat,"

or as a "collar s.l.u.t," or a "vulo," or a "tasta," or as one might ask someone if a certain girl now wears a collar, or is garbed in the slave tunic, or has bared arms, or a bared face, or in whose bracelets or chains she finds herself, so, too, one might speculate that she is probably on a leash by now, or a.s.sert that she is on a given leash, say, so-and-so's leash, or inquire of a slave her master, by inquiring, "Who leashes you,"

"On whose leash are you," "Who holds your leash," and so on.

"Too," continued the leader of the black-tunicked men, "the slaves may also serve as shields, if we are attacked, either by he whom we hunt, or by other beasts."

"Take me to the surface!" cried Gito, leaping up, hurrying to throw himself on his knees before the leader of the strangers. "Take me to the surface!"

"You are free to leave," said the leader of the strangers.

"Alone?" quavered Gito.

"I have no intention of sparing men to conduct you to the surface,"

said the leader.

"You are not going to stay here another night?"

"Yes," said the leader.

"In the morning you will leave this place?"

"Yes, to conclude our hunt."

"What of me?"

"You may remain here."

"I will accompany you, of course," said Gito. Then he returned to his place by the wall, crouching down there, watching the portal.

We expected ten men to return, answering the summons of the reed whistle, but only nine came in.

"Where is Emmerich?" demanded the lieutenant.

"Is he not with us?" asked a squad leader, looking back. "He was following," said a man.

"He may have taken a wrong turn," said the pit master. "The pa.s.sages can be confusing."

"He will report in soon," said another man, uneasily.

"He may be lost," said another.

"He was only paces behind me," said another. "Is he not here?"

"No," said a man.

"Let us have supper," said the leader of the strangers. "We shall then rest. In the morning we have much to do."

"I shall set a guard," said the lieutenant.

"Two men," said the leader.

"Yes, Captain," said the lieutenant.

"Loose three slaves to serve," said the leader of the strangers.

"Of course," said the pit master.

"That one, which seems to be your favorite," said the leader, indicating Fina. "And this one,"

he said. Tira, who was blond, whimpered, kicked.

He looked us over. None of us dared to meet his eyes.

"And this one," he said, identifying another. I cried out, kicked.

THIRTY FIVE

I think it may have been some stray sound, not even identified, which awakened me.

I was at the wall, chained there again, by the left ankle. My hands, which had been unbound that I might serve, were now again bound behind my back.

None of those whom I had served, deferentially, I naked, collared, head down, at their very elbows, those morose, black-tunicked men, had so much as touched me. No hand had stolen forth to caress my flank, nor grip my hair, pulling me to them, if only to thrust their face to my throat, my hair about, to take in the scent of one whom they knew must serve them in any fashion they might desire, a female slave. I fear I served clumsily.

They frightened me. I almost dropped a dish. But none paid me attention. I was miserable, and alone in my fear. Then, later, happily, we were returned to our chains and bonds.

Sometimes there is a sense of security, being on a chain, even backbraceleted or backthonged.

There is less then to fear. We have been put where men want us, and as men want us.

How could we help then but be pleasing? Unless perhaps we were insufficiently quick, if approached, to kneel and put our heads down to the stone? Certainly I felt safer on the wall chain, bound, unnoticed, out of mind, than I had serving, trembling, fearing I might make a mistake, amongst those morose, terrible visitors. Should I be pleased that I was one of the three chosen to serve? Doubtless that spoke well for my attractions, such as they might be. But, too, I had been terrified. The visitors were not, I was sure, normal Gorean men. I feared them, far more than the normal Gorean male. I was not sure how to behave with them. The normal Gorean male, for example will accept a slave's obeisance and her humble kissing of his feet, but these men, I feared, might punish her for having approached them too closely. I did not know how to behave with them. They seemed unpredictable. In my collar I felt confused and frightened.

I did not know what they might do to a slave.

Let me pause for a moment.

I think it is important to do so.

Please forgive me.

In this book, which is an unusual book, I think, and certainly violates many of the little rules and regulations, in their doctrinaire plenitudes, which so constrict the contemporary theory of the novel, beyond which many seem not to see, I have tried to tell the truth, even truths which may seem to some unfamiliar and strange.

Truth is a strange thing.

There is a danger in seeking it, for one might find it.

That one does not like a truth does not make it false.

How few people understand that!

But there are many sorts of truths, as there are flowers and beasts.

Some truths are hard and cold, and sharp, and if one touches them one might cut oneself and bleed.

Some truths are like dark stones which do little more that exist unnoticed; others are green with the glow of life, like moist gra.s.s rustling in the morning sun; some truths are like frowns; and some are like smiles.

Some are friendly; others are hostile; and, in both cases, their nature is just what it is, not what they may be said to be. Politics is not the arbiter of truth, it may be the arbiter of comfort, safety, conformity, and success, but it is not the arbiter of truth; the arbiter of truth is the world and nature; they have the last say in these matters.

Many may wish it were not the case; and many will pretend it is not the case; but it is, for better or for worse, the case.

Truth does not care whether it is believed or not; similarly, stone walls and cliffs do not care whether they are noted or not, so then let us leave it to the individual to do as he thinks best.

Truth, the stone wall, the cliff, are not enemies; but they are real.

I think then that I should mention, perhaps, particularly given the fact that an earlier paragraph might be misconstrued, and that the frightening condition it references might be understood as being typical of a given form of relationship, that there is a lovelier, warmer, more beautiful, benign sense, of "finding security on a chain." It is one familiar to thousands of loving slaves. In a typical bondage, one is cared for, nourished, sheltered, nurtured, protected, and often loved. Certainly one is, at least, desired and l.u.s.ted for.

How many wives, I wonder, are l.u.s.ted for. One respects wives; one l.u.s.ts for slaves, wives are free, and are to be treated with dignity and circ.u.mspection, slaves are owned, and are suitable objects to be put to one's pleasure. The wife consents, if she feels like it, and is so inclined; the slave obeys. The wife may dole out her favors by carefully measured spoonfuls, like medicine, in a regimen designed to reduce and torment, and thus to control, an angered, frustrated, confused, manipulated, indoctrinated, unquestioning childlike patient, the slave kneels and hopes to be found pleasing.

The powerful, healthy man is aggressive and l.u.s.tful; what is he to do when he realizes at last he has been mistreated, denied, cheated, starved, and shamed; he may rise up with a snarl, let the wife be dismayed to discover she is to her horror then in the vicinity of a man; what does he care; let him kick the pedestal from beneath her, and find her a collar; or let him turn his back upon her inert, righteous petulance and seek something a thousand times more desirable, what he needs, and wants, a slave; the slave does not denounce the l.u.s.ts of the master; she endeavors to satisfy them, and, in this, finds her own womanhood, she does not want a weaker man she wants a strong man, and a whole man, one it is fit for her to serve; how absurd, how embarra.s.sing, how psychologically futile, how intellectually preposterous, to reveal one's actual nature, one's health and power, one's l.u.s.t, to an offended, glorious free woman, or to waste it upon her reluctant, anesthetic body; away with the very thought; what could he be thinking of; let him seek rather a slave, the slave, you see, is the object on which it is appropriate for a man to ventilate his l.u.s.t. Indeed, it is one of the things she soon learns she is for. She also learns that the human male, when he has what he wants from a woman, and fully, and with perfection, is, within the limits of the mastery, a pleasant, kindly, happy, wonderful thing. She is awed, and fulfilled, by this relationship. And, of course, it is she who, subject to his rule, and responsive to his will, has bought this about, not that she was-you understand-given any choice. She wishes to please him, of course, but she knows also that she is a slave and must do so. For even a minor error or laxity she knows she may find herself under the whip. She finds this subjection to male domination thrilling, and rea.s.suring. Her master is not weak. There are clear standards, limits, and requirements. She must be careful of them.

Commonly they are made clear to her, and the nature of the penalties which will be imposed for the least infraction thereof. She must be a pleasing slave. She is happy. This is the surely one of the deepest and most profound relationships in which a woman can stand to a man, that of slave to master, and, ideally, that of love slave to love master. It is no wonder then that we sometimes kiss our finger tips and press them to our collars, that we humbly lift and kiss the bracelets that link our wrists so helplessly, so closely, together. Do we not admire the unslippable shackles on our trim ankles, fastening them in such proximity to one another, so inhibiting our movements? They have been put on us at the pleasure of the master. Are we blindfolded? Are we forbidden to speak? Are we gagged? Are our wrists tied behind our backs?

Must we kneel naked before him? We are his. Let those who can understand these things understand how it is that a slave can love her bondage, and that she would never exchange it for the jejune inanities and boredoms of freedom-how it is that she can lie contentedly, happily, at the foot of a man's couch, chained to his slave ring. Some, I suppose, will find this incomprehensible. There is nothing for it then, but to allow them to continue in their ignorance. But the woman at last has a place here, a condition, a station. She is now a slave. She now at last "belongs,"

and in the most profound sense of belonging, that of belonging to someone. She now "belongs" in the most profound sense conceivable, that of being owned. She realizes, with a radiant warmth that floods her, that illuminates her mind and enflames her belly, that she is now goods, a property, her master's slave. Men have found her of such interest and attractiveness, and they have wanted her so much, and so l.u.s.ted for her, that they have enslaved her, that they have put her in a collar and made her theirs, that they have seen fit, in their imperious, dominating mastery to own her, and put her to their service and pleasure.

I did not know what had awakened me.

Lamps were lit in the quarters of the pit master, serving now as the command center, or headquarters, of the strangers. I could see black-tunicked figures lying about. I could hear the breathing of sleeping men. I think that only I and Gito were awake. He was sitting with his back against the wall, his knees up, he holding them. I could not see the guards at the portal.

I was about to close my eyes and try to return to sleep when I saw the body of Gito, across the way, stiffen. His eyes were wide with terror.

Within the portal, some feet within it, I saw, following his gaze, the immense figure of the peasant, barefoot, in his rags. On his neck was the collar, and a chain dangled from it. The sword which had been kicked to him by the officer was in a rag sling, suspended over his left shoulder. He looked about. I closed my eyes quickly, feigning sleep.

When I opened them again I saw that he was before Gito, who was trembling in terror, making himself tiny by the wall.

I am dreaming, I thought.

The peasant sat down, cross-legged, before Gito. "I must leave soon, my friend," he said softly.

Gito nodded numbly.

"The planting must be done," the peasant reminded him.

Gito nodded.

"I may not see you again," said the peasant. "It was my desire to wish you well."