Kiera of Gor (6)

6: I learn some facts pertaining to the mysterious Sadric and lose my name in the process

The dynamics of our group were significantly altered once we had put some distance between ourselves and the village. Every night now when we camped the white silk girls were put to work cooking and serving while the red silk girls, Julie, Kim and Sophia, were used for the amusement of the men. We, the white silk girls, would be chained together with the loose end of our coffle chain secured to trees. The red silk girls would share the furs of the men each night, pleasing them and, if their wretched slutty sounds were anything to go by, eliciting much pleasure themselves.

Of course the arrangement of two men and three red silk girls meant that on any particular night one red silk girl would be left unused. This was I think deliberate to engineer a sense of competitiveness between them, to make them hungry for attention, to make them strive to be chosen, for they would be treated well if they were selected to share the sleeping furs. The girl left out each night would generally be resentful of the other two and would take out her resentment on us, for her duty that night would be to see to our chain security and ensure we caused no trouble. She would chain us while casting jealous looks at her two sisters as they lay in the laps of the men, receiving tastes of rich ka-la-na wine and cooked meat. The third girl would be less than gentle with us, feeling her responsibility to secure us was beneath her when she could instead be serving the men.

We now had to call the red silk girls 'Mistress' and defer to their every command. Sophia was becoming a bitch to me, forgetting our past friendship and all I'd done for her, and now seeing me as less than her. One night I pointed out to her that she was only being used by the men because she was red silk, and that if I had been red silk they would undoubtedly have chosen me over her as I was far more beautiful.

“Stuck up, conceited little Michelle,” said Sophia as she gazed at me with a stick in her hand. “You always do that. You always thought you were so much better than me, didn't you? And you never wanted me to have anything that you didn't have.”

“What?”

“It was like that with men. If a man showed an interest in me, you were suddenly all flirty and nice to him, just long enough until he made a play for you and then you feigned disinterest. You always had to be the centre of attention on Earth. Sometimes I think you only had friends so you wouldn't have to arrive at parties and bars on your own.”

“At least I'm not a slut,” I snapped. Sophia was saying horrible things now. I had always looked out for her in London. It is not my fault if men were distracted by the sight of me.

“Well I've news for you, Michelle, the rules are different here. The men look at us differently than they do on Earth. They have different standards. And they take what they want. Sadric likes me more than he likes you. That hurts doesn't it?”

“Don't be so stupid!”

“You call me Mistress, Michelle.” She raised the stick in warning. I could see she was serious and so I swallowed my pride and called her by that ridiculous name. Sophia – 'Mistress'. It was insane! I shouldn't have to call her that!

“Sadric and I have a connection, Mistress,” I said, bitterly hating having to speak that word to her. “We talk together. He may roll in the furs with you, but with me he talks about the world and philosophy and the nature of men and women. He relates to me in a way that transcends base sexual responses.”

Sophia snorted a brief laugh. “He thinks you're naïve. He laughs at your foolish pretensions.”

“No he does not!” I bristled at the suggestion. “No one laughs at me!”

“Oh, struck a nerve have I, slave girl?!” Sophia tapped my thigh with the stick and I instinctively flinched. “Shall I tell you something Sadric told me?'

“What?” I feigned disinterest but my heart quickened as I did really want to know what he might have said when I wasn't around.

“He said that you and I will finally know which one of us is the most beautiful, the most desirable, the most alluring to men, and that is when we are both put up for sale on an auction block. Then we will know our comparative prices.”

“It will never come to that.... Mistress,” I quickly added as I saw the stick in her hand rise once again. “But if it did, if the unthinkable occurred and I was actually put up for sale in some primitive market, I would fetch two or three times your price. That much is obvious to me.”

“Men may decide differently, slave. Sadric finds me very desirable. Very desirable indeed. It is I whom he furs, not you.”

“That's because you're red silk! I'm white silk. He does not wish to ruin the value of a white silk girl. Otherwise he would have me each and every night and never tire of me!”

“In your dreams, Michelle,” said Sophia. “Do you honestly think that if he really, really wanted you, if you drove him mad with desire to that degree, that the loss of, say, five copper tasrks on your auction price would stop him?”

“He... he is a businessman... profit comes first...” I said, though I didn't sound quite as confident as I had done before.

“I assure you,” said Sophia as she crouched beside me, staring into my face, “that he is a true man and he takes what he wants from women when he wants it. Profit is secondary.”

“I will be free one day,” I said with tears forming in my eyes. “You just wait and see!” 

We were told we were heading to a Gorean city called Corcyrus. Until now we had only seen villages or the far off walls of a distant city, but soon we would be marched through the main gates and taken to a slaver house to be put on display within a major Gorean conurbation. On the one hand I was scared that the end of our journey meant we might be put up for sale in some alien market place, but on the other hand I was quite eager to see the city as obviously enough it would have signs of the advanced technology that built spaceships like the one that had transported us to Gor. Here I might find men and women of a more reasonable nature that I might bargain with. I could promise them a good reward if they could find a way to return me home. They would see that I was intelligent, cultured, sophisticated and that I should not be a slave.

We had been marched hard since we left the peasant village. Every morning after being rutted the night before, the red silk girls would slip from the furs of their masters to rouse us and instruct us to prepare breakfast. We would be released from the central coffle chain and told to start work lighting a fire and preparing food. One red silk girl would watch us while the other two slipped back into the furs of the men. By the time they rose properly we would be expected to have everything prepared and to be awaiting commands, kneeling close by in nadu.

I hated this new distinction between us. I hated having to do the work while Sophia had an easy life in comparison.

“At least we don’t have to demean ourselves,” said Eleanor as we worked together peeling suls one evening. “Imagine if we were red silk. Imagine the uses we would be put to by the men.”

I shivered slightly at the thought. “Disgusting,” I agreed. “We’re lucky we’re white silk.”

“Yes,” said Eleanor. “They think their sexual experience makes them so superior to us, but in fact it’s the other way around. We have our dignity. They do not.”

“You are so right, Eleanor. They do not even deserve to be freed.”

I wasn’t quite sure how much dignity we actually had though, kneeling naked with chains about our ankles, peeling vegetables while a girl watched us with a switch in her right hand. But still, I remained virgo intacta as the Romans might say. My sexual inexperience meant I would not be violated. I was too precious for that.

I think we had travelled for several weeks since that day when I had crawled miserably from the crashed hull of the silver ship. At some point I became aware that I no longer really noticed the effect of the lighter gravity, nor did I any longer marvel at the cleanness of the air and the vibrancy of the colours of the vegetation. I was beginning to acclimatise to this new world and accept its standards as normal. It really was a lush and vibrant landscape unspoilt by human hands. So much of it was wild and untamed compared with the mass urbanisation of Earth where even the countryside serves an ancillary purpose to the neighbouring towns and cities. Here on Gor mankind lived in harmony with the world. When we stopped to drink from river streams I found the water to be fresh and invigorating. When we feasted on wild berries and fruits plucked from the trees and bushes I experienced intense flavours that the processed foods of Earth could not match. But still I was a chained and naked woman and I resolved that if I had to live for a while on Gor until some form of transport could be arranged to return me to Earth, then I must find some way to be free. And the closer we came to the city of Corcyrus, the closer it seemed I came to being marketed and sold.

They were going to sell me! Sell all of us! Like we were livestock! It was an impossible irrational thing to consider. I was not an animal, some farmyard sow that could simply be walked into the market at the end of a leash. I was an intelligent and superior woman of Earth. Let the others be sold if they had to be. I was better than that.

My chance came on the afternoon before we were due to reach the gates of Corcyrus. Sadric ordered that we would camp early in a thicket that he knew would be safe. Corcyrus was 25 miles away, but with just a few hours of sunlight left he decided that we would march those final miles tomorrow after breakfast.

By chance there was little to do this afternoon and so I took the opportunity to approach Sadric who I knew liked me. We had I think struck up a rapport of sorts during this journey. He had a sense of humour, appreciated talking to me and unlike his more dour companion, Leofric, spoke English well.

“May I sit with you for awhile, Master?” I asked as he sat sharpening his short sword.

“Michelle? And to what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked with a smile.

“I thought you might like some company, Master,” I said as I took his words as permission to kneel before him.

“And what pleasant company you are,” said Sadric with a twinkle in his eye. “This will be our last night camping in the wild. Tomorrow we enter Corcyrus and you will sleep on dry straw in a slave pen.”

“About that, Master…” I inched closer to him. I was pretty. I knew he liked me. “What will happen to us there?”

“Happen to you?” Sadric laughed. “Isn’t that obvious? You’ll be assessed by the slavers there, priced and put up for sale. You'll make me money.”

I swallowed hard. “That scares me, Master.”

“That’s natural. This will be your first sale. It’s traumatic for a girl. I have known girls to vomit or wet themselves during their first sale. That’s why slaves are often not fed for twelve hours prior to the sale.”

“It is difficult to conceive that I will be put up for sale. Such a thing is barbaric, primitive even.”

“Maybe on your world, Michelle, but here it is common place and central to Gorean society. Slaves make up a significant part of the labour force. You saw some in the village several nights ago.”

“They were not like us. They were strong, broad shouldered, capable of pulling a plough. Master, I am not like that.”

Sadric nodded. “Not all slaves will grace a soft couch and serve to please men. The man who buys you though will not have a plough in mind.”

“May I voice an opinion, Master?”

“You may.”

“It occurs to me that during the many weeks we’ve travelled you and I have made a connection of sorts.”

“Have we now?” said Sadric with a chuckle.

“I think we have. I am able to talk to you for you seem to be a reasonable man, albeit a slaver.”

“More so than Leofric?” suggested Sadric.

“He is not like you. He is more abrupt with me. I do not think he respects me very much.”

“And you think I do? Respect you, that is?”

“Well, I think you see me as different from the other women. More interesting perhaps. More sophisticated. You enjoy my conversation and my company. You feel a certain kinship with me. I think had circumstances been different we might have been friends.” I paused and then dropped the suggestion I wanted to make, “I think we still could be friends. You don’t have to sell me in Corcyrus, do you? I mean, no one is forcing you to? Whoever was responsible for the ship, the abductions, they died on board the wrecked ship? You and Leofric have struck out on your own with the cargo. You no longer answer to anyone, do you?”

“True,” said Sadric. “We were the only survivors. The laws of salvage allow us to make the most of the lovely cargo on board the container ship. What we get for you girls in Corcyrus will offset our loss of wages.”

“But then you can choose which girls to sell when and where?” I said excitedly. “The choice is wholly yours!”

“True again. The decision is ours.”

“Then perhaps there is no need to sell me? I know you like me. May I be so bold as to call you by your name while we talk, for I believe we have made a connection now.”

“Do so and I shall whip you, Michelle,” said Sadric pleasantly.

“Oh.” I was surprised by those words, even more so because of the kind tone in which they had been spoken. “Are you serious?”

“About whipping you if you call me Sadric rather than Master? Yes. I do not have a whip to hand but it would be a small matter to order you to crawl to where it is kept with our luggage and bring it to me between your teeth.” He saw how startled I must have looked. “But please continue. Your words and conjectures interest me.”

His attitude had angered me and so I changed the subject. “I see you no longer sleep alone since we departed the peasant village.”

“True. Now that a determination has been made as to which of you have been sexually permissive in the past, Leofric and I enjoy the comforts of the girls who are red silk.”

“Red silk.” I sneered and looked away.

“You object?”

“I do not like the term.”

“Why? It is an accurate and expressive term, much as white silk is.”

“I suppose you enjoy the red silk girls in your furs? I suppose they give you pleasure?” I said dismissively.

“Of course. What sort of man wouldn't? You’re not jealous of Sophia, Kim and Julie are you, Michelle?”

“Of course not! I am happy to be white silk. I am happy to sleep well away from you both.”

“I’m glad the that we’re both happy with our respective lots,” said Sadric. “You have your snug ankle chains in the evening and I have a squirming hot girl beside me. Fortune favours us both it seems.”

“You’re impossible,” I said. “How much do you expect to get for us in Corcyrus?” What do girls sell for?”

“That depends very much on the girl herself and the state of the market which fluctuates according to many seasonal factors. Now, at this time of year and taking into account the fact you are barbarians with no formal training, I would hope to get a ten to fifteen copper tarsus for each of you. We may do better, we may do worse.”

I obviously had no idea what the currency of Gor was worth and Sadric recognised this from my expression. “In terms of money you would be familiar with, I would expect to sell you for a few hundred pounds of your Earth currency.”

So little? I thought of a designer label dress that I had bought that had cost many times that. “Men pay so little for women?”

“You will see a lot of women on sale in Corcyrus. Some of them will make you look plain by comparison. Supply affects price. You will be worth more while you remain white silk of course. That adds to your value.”

“Is that why you have not tried to use me?” I said icily.

“Tried to use you?” Sadric seemed amused by the wording.

“In the furs. Like the sluts you bed. You have made no attempt to force yourself upon me, and yet you obviously think I am pretty.”

Sadric laughed. “Oh, Michelle… I do find our little talks amusing.”

“Please don’t sell me..” I quickly said. I dropped on to all fours and approached closer. “Please. You don’t have to sell me! You could keep me a while longer? There will be other cities… we have a connection, I know we do.”

“Are you suggesting I may be swayed by some measure of affection you believe I hold for you?”

“Why not? You find me pretty. I know you do. Keep me a while longer. Why not?”

“And our relationship would be what exactly?”

“We could become friends.”

“Friends?” Sadric seemed even more amused now.

“Men can be friends with women. It happens all the time.”

“Not while the woman in question is naked, chained and sexually desirable.”

I blushed and moved back a little. “You should clothe me. It is not right that you keep me naked! The red silk girls have a length of cloth at least to wind about their hips. Surely you can clothe me if you wish?”

“Yes, but I do not wish to do so. I confess I enjoy looking at your body, displayed the way it is. It is a pleasing sight. Consider it a compliment. If you were as ugly as a she-sleen I would certainly clothe you.”

That is a common phrase on Gor, that she-sleens are ugly, but to be honest I've never thought of them that way. They resemble giant six legged weasels with lengthy bodies and while they are certainly vicious and predatory, I do not find them as ugly as Goreans seem to.

A thought crossed my mind all of a sudden. “How do you know about English currency? You translated the value of the copper tarsks into my money. And your English is very good? How is that? Who are you? How do you know such things?”

“My father was born on your world,” said Sadric. “His name will mean nothing to you, but he has a reputation on Gor as a mighty warrior. He came to Gor in what was the 1960s in your calendar.”

“You’re an earth-man then?” I said in amazement.

“No, I am Gorean, to a Gorean mother. My father is Gorean too, though this is his adopted world. His name is Marcellus and he lives now in the northern area of the Tahari where he has an estate. He fought in the service of Priest Kings and once slew a mighty Kur warrior and was maimed in the process. I understand this means nothing to you for you are a barbarian and do not comprehend of Priest Kings and the Kurii.”

“But if your father was from Earth, from England, then you must take pity on me surely? I’m an earth-woman! Earth women are not slaves!”

“How little you understand, Michelle. Your planet is viewed as a slave world here on Gor to those of the second knowledge. Your people, particularly the women, are viewed as un-collared natural slaves. You exist for us to prey upon. You look delicious in slave bracelets.” Sadric put his sword aside and slid next to me. I felt my pulse quicken now as he took hold of my wrist and pulled me close. “I have no sympathy for the women of my father's world. In my youth my mother described this world to me. I know much about it though I have never been there and never intend to. Even my father turned his back on it decades ago. He will never return, even though he had another Free Companion there that I presume he loved for she bore him children.”

“Free Companion?” My skin tingled as he held me.

“A Free Companionship is the acceptable way for a free woman to consort with a man. It is done for the space of a year and may be renewed thereafter. My father had a free companion on Earth before he took my mother on Gor to be his free companion here. I have siblings on Earth it seems. Two step brothers and a step sister, though I shall never meet them. They live their lives on that polluted sick world. I do not think we would have much in common.”

Nothing I said seemed to get through to this man. Did he not see how wrong this was? Did he not care? How institutionalised was he on this primitive planet that he could condone slavery?

“I am Michelle Frost of London! I cannot be herded and chained and placed on sale!” Realisation was dawning that my time was running out and by this time tomorrow I would be in a slave pen, marked and priced. I must have shouted those last words as I became aware that the other girls were looking at us now and that Leofirc was scowling where he sat.

“I grow tired of this, Michelle. You will be sold tomorrow. Your naivety amused me for a while, but I do not wish to hear any more. You have no rights on this planet and you own nothing, not even your name. The sooner you accept that the better.”

“What do you mean I own nothing, not even my name? I’m Michelle Frost – that is my name.”

“Your name will be whatever a Master or Mistress chooses it will be. In the pens of the city of Corcyrus you will undoubtedly be given another name. Michele Frost is hardly suitable.”

“You can’t take my name from me!” This was the final indignity.

“I can and in fact I will. You are no longer Michelle Frost. You are…” Sadric thought about it for a moment. “You are slave girl called Kiera. Repeat your name,.”

“No! You can’t…” I started to cry.

“Tell me your name or I will have you whipped.”

“Kiera, my name is Kiera,” I wept. “Please don't whip me.”

“And who is Kiera?

“Kiera is a slave girl, Master.”

Sadric nodded. “And tomorrow the slave girl called Kiera will be led into the city of Corcyrus where she will be put up for sale. Do not bother me again tonight.”