Savages of Gor (24 page)

More than one of the girls, her head in her hands, shrank back, weeping.

It seemed to me that Ginger had certainly spoken bluntly to the new barbarian slaves, but, still, I felt, on the whole, it had been appropriate for her to do so. It is kindest, I think, in the long run, to proceed rather along the lines that she had. The sooner a new slave's delusions are dispelled the better it is, normally, for all concerned.

"Come now, my pretty slaves," said Ginger, "kneel straight. Back straight, heads up. Back on your heels there! Spread those pretty knees. Yes, that is the way men like it. Put your hands, palms down, on your thighs. Good. Good Excellent!''

The girls now knelt in the coffle as pleasure slaves.

"Mistress," said a girl.

"Yes, pretty slave," said Ginger.

"You speak of men," said the girl.

"Yes," said Ginger. "You are female slaves. You now, in a general sense, belong to men."

Several of the girls looked at her, frightened.

"Doubtless you were taught many idiotic things about both yourselves and men on your old world. Doubtless, in your hearts, perhaps late at night, in bed, or in the morning, or at odd, lonely moments, in spite of your educations and conditionings, your trainings, you recognized the falseness of these teachings."

I saw that several of the girls looked very frightened. I saw that they understood, only too well, what Ginger was saying.

"You would understand, or sense, at such times," said Ginger, "the meaning of your slightness, your beauty and your needs. You would have understood that you were yearning women, in effect without men. You would have understood then something of the grand themes of nature, of dominance and submission, and your own obvious, natural place in such an organic scheme. At such times, perhaps, if you dared, you might have longed for the hands of a master on you, a magnificent, ruthless male who could fulfill you, who would put you to his feet and own you, who would answer your deepest needs, who would command you, who would dominate you, absolutely, and ravish you for his merest pleasure, and at his least whim, who would force from you, to your joy, the totality of love and service you were born to bestow."

The girls looked at her, terrified.

"On this world," said Ginger, "there is no dearth of such men and you, my dears, are female slaves."

"Are we not permitted resistance?" asked a girl.

"No resistance is permitted," said Ginger, "unless it be the master's will. That is a subtle point. You will have to learn to tell when the master desires resistance, that he may crush it mercilessly, and when he does not."

Several of the girls swallowed, hard.

"As female slaves," said Ginger, "you will be, as a general rule, a rule on which your very life may depend, absolutely docile, totally obedient, and fully pleasing."

"We would have to be anything, and do anything, then, fully," said a girl, "that we are commanded."

"Yes," said Ginger, "and with the utmost talent, skill and perfection that you can muster."

"Mistress," said the red-haired girl.

"Yes," Red-haired- Slave," said Ginger.

"Is the slave girl also," asked the red-haired girl, "at the sexual mercy of her master?"

"Absolutely, and fully, and in every way," said Ginger.

Several of the girls gasped, shrinking back in their chains.

"You will learn," said Ginger.

"Yes, Mistress. Thank you, Mistress," said the red-haired girl. She looked at me, and then, quickly, shyly, put her head down. In the brown slave tunic, with the chain on her neck, she looked almost demure.

"Feed them," said Ginger.

Evelyn then threw each of the girls a piece of meat, throwing it to the grass before them. She removed these pieces of meat from the slender greenwood spit on which they had been roasted.

"Do not use your hands," warned Ginger, slapping the switch in her left palm.

"Yes, Mistress," said more than one of the girls.

I watched them, kneeling, leaning forward, palms down on the grass, heads down, eating at the meat.

"A pretty lot," said Grunt, behind me.

"Yes," I said.

The red-haired girl, eating at the meat, looked up at me, and then, shyly, again lowered her head.

"See that girl," asked Grunt, "the one with red hair?"

"Yes," I said.

"She is a virgin," he said.

"Oh?" I said.

"Yes," he said, "I tested her body this morning."

"I see," I said. I recalled that the girl, in the sales barn, had proclaimed her virginity. It had been done in the throes of the misery of her sale, when she had pleaded not to be brazenly exposed to the buyers. Her pleas, of course, had not been heeded.

"It is unfortunate," I said, "that she is a virgin."

"Why?" asked Grunt.

"Because she is quite pretty," I said.

"I do not understand," he said.

"Her virginity will doubtless improve her price," I said.

"Not in the Barrens," he said.

"No?" I asked.

"No," said Grunt. "They take virginity seriously only in their own women."

"I see," I said.

"If you were going to buy a she-tarsk," asked Grunt, "would its virginity matter to you?"

"No," I said, "of course not."

"If she pleases you," he said, "you may have her, or any of the others, if you wish."

"Thank you," I said.

"What are slaves for?" he asked.

"True," I grinned.

"If you take her, however," he said, "take her, the first time, with gentleness."

"Very well," I said.

"It will be time enough later for her to learn what it is to be a true slave," he said.

"I understand," I said.

Grunt then turned away.

"Grunt," I said. He turned about. He still wore the broad brimmed hat. I had never seen him without it.

"Yes," he said.

"The Hobarts," I said, "the men who were following, what of them?"

"If they were still following us," he said, "they would have arrived by now."

"Yes," I said.

"So they are no longer following," he said.

"I am prepared to believe that," I said.

"So put the matter from your mind," he said.

"What became of them?" I asked.

"It is time to sleep now," he said.

"What became of them?" I asked.

"We shall make a determination on that matter in the morning," he said. "In the meantime, let us sleep."

"Very well," I said.

12
   
I Learn Why We Are No Longer Being Followed; We Add Two Members to our Party

We saw a small gray sleen, some seven or eight feet in length, lift up its head.

We urged our kaiila down the slope, into the shallow declivity between two low hills.

My stomach twisted. We had smelled this before we had come upon it.

The sleen permitted us to approach rather closely. It was reluctant to leave its location. There were insects on its brown snout, and about its eyes. Its lower jaw was wet.

"Hei!" cried Grunt, slapping the side of his thigh.

The beast seized another bite and, whipping about, on its six legs, with its almost serpentine motion, withdrew.

"It is clean work," said Grunt, "the work of Dust Legs." This tribe I knew, in its various bands, was regarded as the most civilized of the tribes of the Barrens. In the eyes of some of the other tribes they were regarded as little better than white men.

"This is clean work?" I asked.

"Relatively," said Grunt.

I sat astride the kaiila, surveying the scene. I counted some twenty-one bodies. They were stripped. There were no kaiila. Insects swam in the air above several of the bodies. One could hear their humming. Two jards, fluttering, fought in at opened abdominal cavity. Several yellow fleer stalked about and some perched on motionless limbs. Saddles and clothing cut to pieces, lay strewn about.

I moved the kaiila slowly among some of the bodies threading a path between them. It stepped daintily. It hissed and whined, uneasily. I did not think it was at ease in this place.

"I see no kaiila," I said to Grunt, "no weapons. I see little of value."

"It was taken," said Grunt.

I looked down at the slashed bodies. Arrows, had apparently been pried loose from the flesh, that they might be used again.

"Are things usually done in this fashion?" I asked Grunt.

"This is not bad," said Grunt. 'This is the work of Dust Legs."

"They are the friendly fellows," I said, "the congenial, pleasant ones."

"Yes," said Grunt.

The tops of the skulls, and parts of the tops of the skulls, in the back, of several of the bodies were exposed. It was here that the scalp and hair, in such places, had been cut away. These things could be mounted on hoops, attached to poles, and used in dances. They could be hung, too from fringes, lodge poles, and parts of them, in twisted or dangling I could decorate numerous articles, such as shields and war shirts.

"I do not understand all the cutting," I said, "the slashing, the mutilation."

"That sort of thing," said Grunt, "is cultural, with almost all of the tribes. The tradition is an ancient one, and is largely unquestioned. Its origins are doubtless lost in antiquity."

"Why do you think it is done?" I asked.

"There are various theories," said Grunt. "One is that it serves as a warning to possible enemies, an attestation of the terribleness of the victors as foes. Another is that the practice is connected with beliefs about the medicine world, that this is a way of precluding such individuals from seeking vengeance later, either because of inflicted impairments or because of terrorizing them against a second meeting."

"Surely leaving a litter behind like this," I said, "Might serve as a warning."

"True," said Grunt, "but, too, I think it is generally under stood that this sort of thing produces fear not so much as a desire for revenge, at least among the savages themselves."

"Your second theory you take most seriously, then?" I asked.

"Not really," said he. "If ones objective was really to terrorize or to inflict vengeance-precluding injuries, then it seems that the corpses, regularly, would be blinded, or have the hands and feet cut off. On the other hand, those particular injuries are very seldom inflicted."

"Why, then, do you think it is done?" I asked.

"I think," said Grunt, "that it is done in the joy and lust of victory, that it ventilates powerful emotion, that it expresses vengeance and hatred, and, indeed, pleasure and life, and that it is done, too, to show contempt for the enemy and to humiliate him, thereby demonstrating one's own superiority."

I regarded Grunt

"In short," said Grunt, "it is done because it elates them and fills them with power and joy"

"I see," I said.

"Surely you are familiar, as I suspect you are, with such carnage, with such practices?'' he smiled.

"Yes," I said, "I am." I was a warrior.

"I thought so," said he.

I turned my kaiila to face Grunt.

"Let us not, then, feel so superior to these gentle and kindly folk," he said.

"Very well," I said.

Grunt laughed.

I looked about. "It is a good thing we did not bring the girls", I said.

"It was for this reason," said Grunt, "that I left them in the camp!'

I nodded. They, beautiful, frightened, half-naked slaves shackled by the neck in the Barrens, did not need to see this. Let them not be concerned, at least as yet, with what might be the fate of an enslaved white female in such a world.

"There is not enough wood about to bum these bodies," I said. "We shall have to bury them.

"They are to be left as they are*" said Grunt. "It is the usual way of the Barrens."

We turned our kaiila about to leave this place.

"Help," we heard. ''Please, help.

Grunt and I looked at one another.

"Over here," said Grunt. He moved his kaiila to our left, and turned it.

He looked down, from the lofty saddle. He smote his thigh, and laughed. I urged my kaiila to his side.

Below us, half concealed in the tall grass, on their backs, lay the two fellows I recognized as the brothers, Max and Kyle Hobart. They were stripped and their hands were thonged behind their backs. They could not rise to their feet. Each wore a crude, single-position, greenwood leg-spreader.

"It is a present to me, from my friends, the Dust Legs," laughed Grunt, "the leaders of those who followed us."

"A thoughtful present," I said. "Now they are yours."

"And a rich joke it is, too," laughed Grunt. "See?"