Ubara of Gor Chapter Twenty (final chapter!)

Chapter Twenty: There is a light that never goes out

“Chloe!” I raced up the steps and onto the rear deck of Brinn’s ship, the Waverider, as it chopped through the sea. “This ship is going the wrong way! We’re going in the opposite direction to the Sardar!”

Chloe was leaning against the rail overlooking the main deck where she could watch two slave-girls, Mina and Saffron, as they scrubbed the wooden planks with a coarse bristle brush and a shared bucket of sea water mixed with soap. They were both naked, working on their hands and knees and chained together by a work chain that linked both their collars. They had been working like this for over an hour. It was common practise to work new slaves the hardest, to break them from their previous life as free women and to make them yearn for easier duties that came with a price – total obedience and a willingness to please.

“Why do you say that, Emma?” asked Chloe as she looked at me with a curious expression on her face.

“We can see the coastline,” I said, “and it’s on our port side. That means we’re heading further south! We’d have to go north with the coast line on our starboard side if we were making our way to the ports that give access to the Sardar. I don’t understand this – I spoke to Brinn and he told me we’re heading back to the Sardar, even when I pointed out the coastline to port. And the other men said the same thing when I spoke to them. Everyone tells me we’re heading north to the Sardar.”

“Then I suppose we must be,” said Chloe as she picked up a tin cup of water. It was a hot day and thirst came easily on a day like this. “The men are experienced sailors after all. They will know where they're heading.”

“But we’re not!” I said, feeling very exasperated now. “Look! Land to our port side.”

“So?” said Chloe as she drank the water.

“So there can’t be land to our port side unless we’re sailing south.”

“Maybe it’s an island,” suggested Chloe without really looking at me. “Have you considered that? You’re not a sailor, Emma. These men are.”

“We’ve been sailing past that coast all day. There are no islands that big.”

“None that you know about, you mean. Have you spent many years exploring the deep waters of the Thassa?”

“Chloe, I can’t believe you’re saying that. What’s going on? Why is everyone treating me as if I’m an idiot? You must all know we’re heading south!”

“I've been told we’re heading north, Emma. North. North to the Sardar.” Chloe finished the water cup and set it down on the broad wooden surface of the rail. She was making a big thing of not looking at me and she only ever did that when she was hiding something, because frankly she was terrible at keeping a straight face. Chloe really wasn't a very good liar. It had been really easy being first girl to her because I'd always known when she was hiding something, like maybe having swiped a double ration of candies when I found some missing.

“I’m getting seriously paranoid now. Why are you trying to make me think we’re sailing north?”

“Because we are sailing north, slave-girl,” said Chloe as she yawned in a fake way that was obviously meant to make me think the conversation was trivial and pointless.

“Okay, have it your way, but I’m going to find out what’s going on if I have to fuck one of the sailors and ask him just as he’s on the edge of an orgasm.”

Believe me, that always works.

It really does.

“You obviously don’t have enough work to do then, Emma, if you have time to worry about the navigation of the Waverider, and which sailor you're going to torment with your slutty ways,” said Chloe. “Go and give Mina and Saffron a break and let them have some water. Give them something to eat too.” Chloe smiled in some knowing fashion.

“Okay, but I will find out what’s going on around here. I will.”

“Gruel and water, Emma. And let them rest for a while. They’ve been working hard today. Go on. Shoo.”

The girls looked up from where they crouched on their hands and knees as I arrived carrying a pot of slave gruel and a jug of water. Their bodies both glistened with sweat in the early afternoon sunshine. The whip marks on Mina’s back and ass were almost gone now, with just faint red marks visible, but Saffron (the former Lady Saffia) of course still bore the tell-tale ten stripes from the whipping she had received on her first day of slavery when she had been appalled by the gruel she had been given to eat and had demanded something better. She had thought her former status would give her some special status amongst us. Quite the opposite in fact. Slaves have no love for free women – doubly so for former rich, aristocratic women with their airs and graces. I placed the pot of porridge-like gruel on the deck and handed Mina the jug of water. She was the senior slave out of the two simply because she had been in a collar for a few additional days.

“Drink,” I said, “and Chloe says you can take a twenty-minute break so make the most of it, girls.” I inspected the deck where they had worked. It looked clean and dry, for the sun had dried the planks almost as quickly as the girls had soaked them.

As Mina reached for the jug, I placed my left foot in the way and when she paused, I said to her, “what do you say, Mina?”

“Thank you, Emma,” she said in what was still something of a passive aggressive manner. I didn’t really want to make a point of it, because I knew Mina had every reason to resent her reduction to slavery. I could hardly expect her to feel happy about it. And it would be hard for her to forget that I was once her property.  

“You may drink,” I said and I watched as she placed the jug to her lips and drank some of the fresh water from the rain barrels. When I decided she had had enough, I motioned that she should pass the jug to Saffron. The chain that secured the girls to one another by their collar rings was of steel and approximately ten feet in length. With the two girls kneeling maybe two feet from one another, much of the chain lay coiled on the deck between them.

“The work would be easier if we weren’t chained together,” said Mina as she glanced at Saffron.

“Perhaps,” I said.

“I do not wish to be chained to the Cosian slut,” said Mina angrily. She picked up the links of the chain and then threw them down to the deck. “Why do you treat me like this? Why do you seek to humiliate me at every turn?”

“I’m not trying to humiliate you, Mina. If you think about it, you would maybe understand I’m trying to help you by putting you in coffle with Saffron.”

“I don’t see anything of the kind,” said Mina.

“Okay, consider this. You’re both being taunted and persecuted by your former slaves. They make your life a misery and neither of you can do anything about it. You aren't allowed to fight back, Mina, and Saffron doesn’t know how to, so you're at their mercy. But suppose the two of you become friends? Suppose the two of you stick up for one another like Chloe and I did? Suppose you, Mina, teach Saffron how to defend herself? Hmm?”

I smiled as I saw realisation dawn in both their eyes.

“That’s right,” I said. “Chloe wouldn’t object if Saffron defended herself. She could protect you, Mina, if you showed her how. No more having your hair pulled, being poked with sticks or taunted. But you’d have to be friends and look out for one another for that to work. A pair of chain sisters, new to their collars, are in a better position than two single girls. I learnt that a long time ago.”

Mina glanced at Saffron, and to my delight, I saw Saffron look round at her too.

“Saffron would probably protect you, Mina, if she thought you were her friend. Are you her friend?”

Neither girl said anything to begin with, and then Saffron held out her hand towards Mina. “Chain sister?” she said quietly.

“Chain sister,” said Mina, slowly taking her hand.

“You’ll teach me to defend myself?” asked Saffron.

“I suppose so,” said Mina, “if you’ll…” the next words came hard for her, “if you’ll protect me…”

“I will,” she said and then smiled softly.

And hey, my work there was done. First Girls and former First Girls can be awfully sneaky when it comes to helping new slaves adjust to their collar. We’re not all bad you know.

As I walked away, I saw out of the corner of my eye Mina and Saffron crouching close together and talking frantically, and that I hoped was just the start of what might turn out to be an eventual friendship born out of necessity. Chalk and cheese, they might be, but they could help each other if they put their minds to it.

But I grew uneasy the further we sailed. Why was everyone lying to me? I watched the coastline on the port side, quite obviously not an island for it never ended. It was dense jungle and every now and then we passed a landmark that was recognisable from the times I had sailed south on the Larl. Did they really think I was stupid? But why lie to me like this? I couldn't see any point to it. That was what was most confusing.

“Mina,” I said, strolling back after a couple of hours. The girl was exhausted from working in the hot sun. Now she lay with her back to a pile of crates, enjoying the shade it afforded. She would make a beautiful slave girl in time, I thought to myself, once her old demeanour was worn away.

“What do you want?” Asked Mina as she gazed up at me. “The deck has been washed. Every inch of it. Now I'm tired.”

I nodded. “I just wanted your opinion. Are we headed south or north? You know these waters very well.”

“South, obviously. You need to ask, Emma? You sailed this way enough times.”

“That's what I thought, but everyone tells me we're sailing north! You're the only one who agrees we're sailing south! I thought I was going mad for a while. I'm so relieved you agree with me. It's like everyone has been told to pretend we're heading north.”

“That's because they have been. We've all been told that. Everyone knows we're heading south, but orders from your Master are to pretend otherwise when you ask.”

“Oh. Wow. Um... I don't know what to say about that. But... you've been told to lie to me too?”

“Yes.”

“But you're telling me the truth?”

“Yes.”

“Can I ask why?”

Mina took her time before she spoke. “You saved my life on the beach, Emma. I would have died when I challenged the men. I realise now I don't actually want to die. I'm scared of dying. I don't understand it. I actually want to live, even like... this. Even if living means... this. I don't want to die.”

“You don't have to. You won't. Just... just do as I say. I'll get you through this. The shock eventually wears off you know. I promise.”

I watched as the former Ubara of the Black Coast buried her face against her knees and sobbed.

“Please don't cry, Mina. The other girls will see it and they'll redouble their efforts to torment you if they know you can be broken.”

Mina nodded, raising her head and quickly wiping away the tears from her cheeks. She looked beautiful and vulnerable in her steel collar and slave cloth. No one looking at her would ever guess the legend she had once been.

“Put it this way, Mina. I got through those dark days when I was first enslaved. If I can do it, surely the former Ubara of the Black Kingdoms can do it with ease? You're tougher than me.”

Mina nodded as I settled down beside her. “Let me give you a tip. Strive to please a man. Tijani, say. Things will go easier for you then. Once everyone sees that you have a man who favours you, well, the other girls back off a bit. You go up a notch. There are different problems then in terms of jealousy, because you'll have other girls competing for your man, but all that gang bullying will fade away.”

“Tijani must think I am wooden in bed,” said Mina in despair. “I know so little. I try to please him, but I'm afraid he will tire of me and sell me when we reach port.”

“Actually, I really think you could be Tijani's love slave in time. I see the way he looks at you. Just... make sure he knows you want his collar. Initiate things tonight. Don't wait to be thrown to the furs. Beg for his touch. Men like that.”

“Beg?”

“Yes, beg for his touch. When he's eating, approach him quietly. Press your head to his feet. Tell him you've been thinking of him all day while you worked. Tell him of the sexual feelings you now have. Tell him you beg his touch.”

“That's shameful.”

“Do you want his collar or do you want to be sold in the next port we come to?”

Mina nodded. “I don't want to be sold. I'm scared of that.”

“Good. Tonight then. Crawl to Tijani. Tell him you can feel the slave heat between your legs. Tell him you need his touch. The lovemaking will be even more intense tonight, trust me on that. Pretty soon he'll be prepared to draw steel to protect what he considers his. And then you're never likely to be sold.”

An hour later I found Chloe again at the stern. “Can you please tell me what's going on? I know everyone has been told to pretend we're sailing north.”

“Who told you that?” asked Chloe sweetly, casting an eye over the various sailors and slaves on deck. Anyone of them could potentially be the stool pigeon.   

“Nope. Oh no. I'm not getting anyone into trouble,” I quickly replied.

“Trouble? So it's a slave girl then. I could hardly punish a sailor.”

Fuck. “Um, okay, so it's a slave girl. But I'm not telling you her name.”

“Mina or Saffron?” enquired Chloe sweetly.

“Hey, it could be any slave girl!”

“They're the only ones you've talked to since we last chatted. I've had you watched.”

“You've had me watched?” I couldn't believe this. “Why?”

“Brinn was curious what you might do once I told him you were suspicious of the route we were taking. So, Mina or Saffron, slave girl?” Chloe put her hand on her hip in a formal First Girl style.  

“If you think I'm going to break a confidence...” Emma Anderson didn't break that easily. You can trust me with secrets, you know.

“Okay, Emma is on latrine duty for the next week. Early starts at dawn for the nightly piss pots of course and...”

“Okay, okay, it was Mina. But she only told me because she owes me for her life. She's having a rough enough time as it is. Don't be a bitch to her about it.”

Chloe laughed. “I honestly don't mind. I'm pleased Mina is showing signs of loyalty to you. We're stronger together. But I'm going to have to report what she said to Brinn.”

“Please don't, Chloe. Please. Can't you just say I worked it out myself?”

“You're suggesting I lie to my Master?”

“Well, no, obviously not, but Mina has been through a lot.”

“I'm glad she wanted to help you out, but disobeying an order is serious. You know that. I can't not tell Brinn. You would have done the same thing when you were First Girl.”

Actually, I probably wouldn't have. Chloe has no idea how many things I conveniently didn't tell Brinn back then. He really had no idea what was going on on the estate unless I told him about it. But of course I had a lot more latitude in the Sardar on account of Brinn's feelings towards me. He probably knew I wasn't reporting every infraction I saw but he turned a blind eye to it. Ultimately, he probably trusted my judgement and my decisions.

“Can I tell Brinn? I can word it better for Mina's sake.”

Chloe sighed. “Please don't undermine my authority, Emma. I know that's not what you meant, but please, it's hard enough that I'm First Girl but everyone knows you're Brinn's love-slave. It doesn't look good for me if you go over my head on things. It's my responsibility. I'll handle it. I can put in a good word for Mina too. You're not First Girl any more, Emma. You have to let go of these things. Trust me, huh?”

“Okay. I do trust you, you know. It just feels...”

“Strange?”

“Weird. Weird multiplied by weird with weird on top.”

“Do you want to be First Girl again?”

“I don't even think I do. Not really. It's a lot of work, and a lot of responsibility when things go wrong. It's almost a relief not to be First Girl any more. But then sometimes I think...”

Chloe nodded. And then she hugged me and everything was good.

I couldn't really meet Mina's eyes later that night when I saw her alone with a bucket of sea water and a stiff bristled brush, scrubbing out the twenty-seventh of one hundred and eighty-nine piss pots. I pretended I didn't see her in the lantern light, which was probably for the best until she calmed down. Chloe really should have let me speak to Brinn, possibly when I was licking and sucking his cock. That was always the best time to broach matters that required a certain tact. Still at least Mina hadn't been whipped. That was something.

I was going to try and avoid Mina for a couple of days though. I still found her a little scary at times.  

I let another two days pass before I decided to confront Brinn. I did so in our cabin that night as I was licking his erect cock with my tongue as we lay in the furs. He had that look of abject bliss in his face with his eyes but half open as he lay there feeling me work my magic on his penis.

“Master...” I said softly as I used my tongue in the way that I knew drove him wild with desire. “So... I know we're heading to Schendi. Just be honest with me, please?”

Brinn lay there, his ordinary train of thoughts somewhere away with the fairies as I slowly and surely licked him towards his first delicious orgasm of the night. “Yes we are,” he said in a deep very aroused voice, not even trying to deny it.

It really was that simple. Torturers who need information from a man, take note.

“So... why are we going to Schendi?” I placed my lips around him and heard his groans of pleasure.

“It was supposed to be a surprise for you.”

“A surprise for me?” I licked again. “Please tell me everything, Master, and then I can give you such a delicious orgasm...”

“Simon told me you have a sister in Schendi. I'm sailing the ship back so you can be reunited. It was going to be a surprise.”

Oh God! My mouth hung open and I forgot what I was doing. I began to cry, but they were tears of joy and then I slid up amongst the furs and kissed Brinn, kissed him with all my love and passion. I sobbed and cried and he looked genuinely surprised and, you know, somewhat put out that the cock sucking had awkwardly stopped.

“Are you all right, Emma?” He sat up as I cradled myself in his arms and planted kisses on his chest.

“Thank you! Thank you! I can't believe this, but thank you!”

“Her name is Beatrice, yes?”

“Yes! Oh God, yes! Thank you! Thank you!”

“I will take you to the slaver house where she works. I am going to offer her a life on my villa in the Sardar if she wishes it. She can live on our estate with an oath of protection from the House of Assante as either a free woman or as a slave. I owe you that and more.”    

“What do you mean as either a free woman or as a slave? She is a free woman. That's what she is.”

“She may not wish to be,” said Brinn as he resigned himself to the temporary break in our sex play. He pushed himself up against the headboard in our cramped cabin and regarded me as he stroked my hair. “Apparently she is a natural slave.”

“I'm sorry, what? What do you mean Bea is a natural slave?” Now I sat up. “Where has that come from?” I pushed his stiff penis out of my way, but it bounced back up again.

“Simon told me.” Brinn cupped my right breast with one hand and kissed it tenderly, but I wasn't to be distracted.   

“I'm obviously missing something here, Brinn. Why did Simon say something like that? How could he possibly suggest something like that?”

“It was his expert evaluation when he had sex with her.” The way Brinn said it, it sounded so matter of fact as if he was just commenting on the weather.

“Simon had sex with my sister?!” I rose up, totally confused by all of this. “What... back when we were in Schendi? When I was gagged and chained on board the Larl? I know they met for a meal...”

“Yes, and then Simon had sex with her. He told me she has irrefutable slave responses when aroused.”

“Woah, woah, hold on. Where did they have sex? Surely not in the slaver house?”

“I believe it was in a public garden somewhere. Does it matter?”

“A public garden?! This is Gor, Brinn, free women don't decide to have sex in public gardens!”

Brinn chuckled. “Well obviously not, Emma. Of course not. You don't need to tell me that.”

“But you said they had sex in a public garden?”

“Yes, they did. Simon said it was quite pleasurable. Apparently, your sister was a 'ripe fruit, just waiting to be plucked.' I think those were his words. A bit too poetic I thought, but you know Simon and...”

“Don't tell me things like that! Bea is my older sister. How did this happen?”

Brinn sighed. I could tell he was getting frustrated. All he wanted to do tonight was drink paga and have his cock sucked. “After the meal they walked through the lantern lit public garden and then Simon had sex with Bea.”

“When you say he had sex with Bea...”

“Does it matter how it was done?” said an exasperated Brinn. “I think he carried her into the vegetation for privacy – that would seem practical enough – and then he put her to use after stripping her.”

“PUT HER TO USE?!” I leapt upright on the bed, eyes blazing. “Are you telling me that Simon raped my sister?!”

“No, of course not.” Brinn stared at me as if I was stupid. “It was hardly rape. She is a natural slave. He simply stripped her and used her for his pleasure.”

“WHAT?! What the fuck do you think rape is then?!”  

“Your sister was exhibiting slave-like behaviour that night, unbecoming for a free woman. Simon could hardly be expected to ignore such blatant provocation as she practically begged to be touched.”

“She's my SISTER, Brinn! My SISTER! How would you have reacted if Simon had used Cassandra for 'his pleasure'?”

“Well, they are Free Companions. He is entitled to do so.”

“Before then. When they weren't?”

“Well, I would have killed him, obviously.”

“There you are then,” I said, having made him understand at last.

“Ah, I see now where your misunderstanding stems from,” said Brinn as if it was all clear and he could correct things for me. “The difference is your sister demonstrated that she is a natural slave, whereas my sister obviously is not.”

And Brinn would kill anyone who suggested otherwise.

The Waverider couldn’t sail fast enough as far as I was concerned. In light of what I knew now I was desperate to reach Schendi without delay. Seeing how distressed I was, Brinn had opted to not discuss Bea any further, realising that any further details he might provide would upset me. Every time the winds dropped on the Thassa and the ship slowed I became distraught, my mind imagining all manner of horrors befalling Bea. I had begged Brinn to tell me what state Bea had been in when Simon had left her, but he either didn’t know, as in hadn’t asked, or he thought it best not to say. The uncertainty was gnawing at me like an open wound. Brinn demonstrated a rare sense of sensitivity for once and did not press me for sex in the state I was in. This wasn’t too much of a hardship for him of course as he simply whiled away the nights fucking Naomi, Saffron and Mina in succession. Chloe too. I began to suspect he was simply taking the opportunity to enjoy some variety in his sex play, rather than be considerate to me. Mina was mostly being used by Tijani these days, but the man did not object if Brinn wanted to use her on occasion. It occurred to me that his lack of objections derived from the possibility that he would in time ask Brinn for use of me. His eyes still sparkled and followed me as I walked on deck, and from time to time he would caress and touch me if I walked by. I didn’t mind. I liked Tijani. He had been good to me onboard the Larl. 

That was the thing about Brinn – men did not use me without his permission. There was an accepted understanding that I could be touched and groped at will, but no one would send me to their furs while Brinn was on board. The other slaves sensed it too, and I guess it gave me some sort of authority in the pecking order under that of the First Girl, Chloe. It helps being the love-slave of the alpha male. But it would only be a matter of time before Tijani would broach the subject with Brinn. He just needed to build up some credit with Brinn’s use of Mina.

As for Mina, well, she was changing before my eyes. I saw her laugh for the first time on deck when we were three days from Schendi, when Tijani scooped her up by surprise as she was working and, with only play protest from her, took her to some stacks of folded sail cloth where he proceeded to fuck her in broad daylight to the cheers of the nearby men. Mina looked elated and happy when she was released and sent back to her work with a playful slap on her ass. She was breathless and giddy, as post-orgasmic slaves tend to be. Naomi saw this and smiled at me. I nodded silently in reply.

The first thing I did each and every morning was to slip out on deck while Brinn still slept and head to the prow of the ship where through the early morning sea mist I’d gaze at the new stretch of coastline ahead of us, hoping to recognise familiar land marks that might suggest we would reach Schendi later that day. My mind was in turmoil with what might have happened to Bea after her encounter with Simon. Brinn had said she had showed slave-like responses. There was no suggestion though that Simon had taken that any further than sex. I had to assume she was still free. Simon hadn’t brought a chained Bea back to the Larl, and I had to assume that practically he couldn’t have enslaved a woman of Schendi within the walls of Schendi. He was an outsider after all. Cities did not permit random enslavement of its women, especially not by foreigners. The only person who could pass an act of enslavement on a free woman was a magistrate and Simon would not have had the time, and I would like to think neither the inclination, to present my sister to a court of law and claim she was acting inappropriately. Certainly not at four o’clock in the morning. So I had to believe she was free when he parted company from her, but the lack of knowing for certain ate away like acid in my stomach. I wanted to be there for her.

Probability was on her side. She would have survived the experience with Simon. Simon would have let her go. She would be traumatised but she would be alive and she would still be free. She had to be.

When we finally sighted the harbour walls of Schendi I refused to leave the prow of the ship. I remained there as if by being at the front of the ship I could reach Schendi a few seconds sooner. Brinn was by my side as the Waverider made its approach through the lighthouse beacons that warned arrivals of dangerous groups of submerged rocks and also served to illuminate the harbour approach during night time. I saw watch towers with the black warriors of Schendi gazing down at our vessel as we sailed in. Brinn had sensibly cleared the deck of our weapons and shields, for Goreans don’t take kindly to foreign warships sailing into their harbours. His men had been instructed to remove their red tunics that identified them as warriors, and the collections of military spears and shields were stored below. To be honest the Waverider still looked like a fighting ship, but perhaps now we might be assumed to be pirates of some sort and pirates only sailed into fortified harbours to offload their booty.

A harbour boat met us close to the mouth of the Kamba river and some pleasantries were exchanged by Brinn and the captain of the harbour boat in common Gorean. Brinn explained that we had business with the House of Mkufu and to support this he had already lined up Yishana's former slaves on the port side of the ship. They stood there in a chain coffle as if merchandise ready for the market. The ship’s captain came aboard and inspected the girls, his attention distracted enough that he didn’t search deeper in the hold where he might have found signs that he was permitting a sizeable military force to enter the inner harbour. It was clever of Brinn to distract them with the slave girls. Brinn had even gone as far as to wear a slaver’s tunic in blue and gold to add to the deception. After an hour or so during which Brinn offered hot Bazi tea to the captain and his men (served by Chloe and myself), along with a few choice gifts as a sign of his appreciation for the necessary work that men of the harbour boats do, the ship master departed with a wave of his hand, having signed the necessary paperwork for us to sail on in to the inner harbour.

“Nicely done, Master,” I said as I leaned into his embrace. The wind was whipping my hair as I caught the scent of the rotting vegetation and heady spices that floats out from Schendi on days like this. Beyond the walls of the city on either side I could see maybe a pasang of scrubland and then it was overtaken by the dense jungle that stretched into uncharted lands. Great lakes and wild civilisations dating back to antiquity were said to lie within the vast expanse of rain forest, much of which was inhabited by tribes who knew little if any of the common Gorean tongue. Of the more civilised areas of rain forest, well they were ruled by various self-proclaimed Ubars of whom the most powerful was the legendary Bila Haruma, Ubar of Ubars, within the Black Kingdoms. He had the ambitions of a latter-day Genghis Khan and sought to extend his authority deeper and deeper into the dark veldt.

“You’ll see her soon,” said Brinn. “Once we dock, I will take you into the city. You will be re-united with Lady Beatrice.”

I had so many questions for Bea. How did she come to be on Gor? How was it that she was free and worked in a slaver house? What had happened in the years since she had been brought to Gor? And I had fears too. What would she make of me now? When last she saw me, I had been her younger brother and now she would look on a young woman who would remain permanently young thanks to the stabilisation serums. How would she react to a brother who was now not only a girl but a slave girl? Would she reject me? How much of the free woman conditioning had grown inside her over the years? I tried to recall the things she had said to Simon when I had been in the slaver house, gagged, unable to speak. The conversation had been witty. I had thought she was straying close to flirting with Simon, but well within the limits set to free women. She had shown no sign of caring about the coffle of slaves before her, of which I was one. How much of a slaver was she? Did she simply represent the front of the house in the day to day transactions, much like a girl at a till in a supermarket did, or was she an integral member of the caste, involving herself in acquisitions and training? And if the latter, what had that done to her mind over the years? I didn’t know.

The Waverider seemed to take forever to dock. Sailing ships are fine if you want to travel in a straight line across open water, but try moving one through a crowded harbour without ramming other ships and then navigate into a small space reserved for you. Well, that’s where the sailing skill comes in. I tried not to be too impatient, but it was frustrating being so close to the harbour side and still be stuck on board the ship. Brinn’s hand touched my shoulder to reassure me.

“Another half an hour will make no difference, Emma.”

He was right, but I clutched the forward rail and stared into the depths of the crowded city. I wanted to be at the House of Mkufu and I wanted to be there now.

Brinn had removed his slaver tunic as he didn’t want to cause offence at the House by posing as a member of their caste. Such things are taken very seriously by Goreans and in many cities in Central Gor it is actually an offence as to masquerade as a caste you don’t belong to. I watched as Brinn drew the familiar scarlet of his caste back over his muscular torso and strapped his favourite short sword over one shoulder. I knew that sword very well. Many times I had cleaned and oiled its steel, following a strict set of instructions laid down by Brinn. I had once asked him if he had given his sword a name and he looked at me as if was an idiot. I had to explain that in fantasy fiction on Earth the heroes often had names for their swords. Brinn laughed at the thought of that.

“I’ll accompany you, brother,” said Tijani as the ship settled in at the quayside. “If you will accept my company?”

Brinn nodded and clasped the man by the shoulder. “You stood with me on the sand against the Cosians. I won’t forget that, my sword brother. You are always welcome.” Brinn didn’t notice that Tijani gazed at me on hearing that. I think he will ask for my use very soon now.

“Perhaps we should sell a few of the slaves?” suggested Tijani. “We probably have more on board than we need.”

I was alarmed to hear this, not because it would affect me, but because it would break up friendships that now existed on board. Slaves who had grown to be chain sisters would be separated permanently, with the unlucky ones sold to a new slavery in the city. I had to say something and so I did.

“Masters, the prices that black girls fetch in Schendi is not good because they are so common place here. Surely it will be worth the little extra food to keep them until we reach the Sardar where instead they will be exotic and sell for more money?”

Tijani laughed and prodded me in the shoulder with the knuckles of his right hand. “Your slave, Brinn, is audacious as ever. I think I know her well enough to know she speaks like that to spare any of the girls being sold to new masters in this sweltering shit hole. Is that right, Emma?”

“It is Master. They have been through a lot. Let them be together a little longer. Let them be sold in the markets of the Sardar.”

I looked to Brinn and he nodded. I don’t think he cared really, but since it was nothing to him, he was of a mind to grant me this small thing. I thanked him by kneeling and kissing his thigh. I felt his hand ruffle my hair in reply.

“Are you ready then?” asked Brinn of Tijani. The Waverider had now lowered a gangplank to the side of the quay and some of the men were already disembarking in waves, eager to find paga taverns.

“One moment.” Tijani walked to where Mina was talking to Saffron. I heard them laugh together over something – possibly talk of a man. Tijani told Mina to stand up and then he clipped a leash to her collar and led her back towards us. “Mina could use some exercise. I will walk her with us. Would you like that, girl?”

She nodded and smiled. Given the choice of staying on board ship and doing chores, or exploring the city with a hot Master, she obviously chose the latter. “Good. If you walk well, I shall buy you a pastry from one of the stalls in the market,” said Tijani.

“Mina will walk well, Master,” she replied proudly as she straightened her back.

And in fairness she did to the best of her untrained ability. She was at that stage in her slavery where she was happy with the more pleasurable aspects of slavery – the attention from her Master when he made it plain he wanted her. It was a different matter when Tijani wasn’t around. Then I still saw the despair of the old Yishana who had been reduced to the collar. She was building bridges with Saffron, but she still thought of herself as better than the other girls. She knew she could take any one of them in a straight fight and she still thought of herself as someone who would be able to cope and survive if she didn’t have a collar around her neck. She was still at that stage where she might possibly try and escape if the opportunity presented itself. For her sake I hoped that she didn’t try. It is nearly impossible for a girl to escape her slavery, except maybe for the few that made it to the Northern Forests and earned a place in a Panther tribe by challenging one of the Panthers to mortal combat, which for someone like her would have been an option. But we were nowhere near the Northern Forests. There was nowhere here she could run to without falling into the hands of another man. Her collar and her white skin would make it impossible to blend in.

She walked with the swagger of a girl who had been fucked that morning. She wore the simple piece of white fabric wound about her waist and the loose end draped over her sex. It was hardly a garment. One only had to lift the loose strand of fabric to reveal the girl's vagina. It made it easy enough to use us at will. Mina must have sensed me watching her as we preceded our men through the hot dusty streets. “What?” she said as we approached the market place. There was a hint of suspicion in her eyes as if I was perhaps laughing at her for walking in such a slave manner.

“You walk well, slave,” I said, but in a friendly tone. “It suits you. That's a compliment by the way. I'm not being sarcastic.”

“I have to. I am a slave now,” she said.

Tijani was true to his word. We stopped in the market place and as Brinn bought some water from a vendor, Tijani bought a sweet pastry for Mina. He made her kneel on the ground and he fed her bits of it by hand, breaking off portions with his fingers. When he was done he had Mina lick and clean his fingers. He then dried them in her hair. Brinn gave both of us water to drink for we were feeling hot and dehydrated by now. Drinking water is available for free from the municipal water fountains that are piped up from underground springs, but the wily merchants of Schendi have ensured that very few of these can be found in the market district. Those that do exist usually have long queues in place and so those who are busy and/or impatient will tend to buy from a water seller instead. Brinn and Tijani drank from cups, while bowls were placed on the ground for Mina and I to drink from. The water was cool and refreshing thanks to it being kept in the ground and brought to the surface with a hand pump. I can’t really exaggerate the cloying heat of Schendi. Although I didn’t have a thermometer I guessed it was easily in the mid-forties centigrade. The caste of physicians has developed skin creams to block out the most harmful of the sun’s rays, and Brinn routinely saw that Saffron and myself rubbed the cream into our skins each morning. Badly sun burned slaves aren’t pretty to look at and they don’t wriggle well in the furs at night. Having said that I enjoy a remarkable resistance to the sun’s rays as part of the genetic engineering when the Kur science transformed my body. Mina on the other hand just never seemed to burn. Her skin was deep olive by nature and after years on the deck of the Larl she had just grown used to the sun. Saffron on the other hand would burn to a crisp without the body lotions.

As we drank in the shade of one of the buildings Brinn and Tijani discussed our relative merits.

“How was Mina when you had her?” enquired Tijani. “I hope she didn’t disappoint?”

“She is untrained but has enthusiasm,” said Brinn matter of factly. I felt Mina stiffen as she heard her sexual responses being discussed. “It was obvious she was new to the collar. She has a few very basic techniques that I suspect Emma taught her, so that denotes a willingness to learn. Most of all it was amusing to have the former Ubara of the Black Kingdoms in my furs. I never did see her in any other capacity of course. Were any of the stories true?”

“They were, yes,” said Tijani as he gazed down at her. “Though we now know it was all a sham. You were just a figurehead, Mina. Kerim Shah created your illusion.”

“I was the avatar of the Goddess, Master.” Mina sadly still believed that and perhaps dreamed of the day the Goddess might return to her. I hadn’t had the heart to explain about the drugs.

“There never was a Goddess,” said Tijani bluntly.

“It's not true,” wept Mina. “I felt her. She loved me.”

“Believe what you will. I doubt you’ll ever feel your Goddess ever again.” Tijani glanced back at Brinn. “You may use her whenever you wish of course.”

Brinn nodded and then he said what I knew he would automatically say in return. “And of course Emma’s use is yours as you wish. Though I would ask you to wait a while. She is currently fertile. I am breeding her as I wish more sons. But if you wish to try her out, I will give her slave wine back on the Waverider for our journey back to the Sardar.”

I glanced down at the water pan. There, it was done. Tijani had use of me now. The offer had been made as I knew it eventually would. I smiled at him and nodded, acknowledging his access to my body. I liked Tijani. He had a casual carefree attitude that Brinn did not. “Master,” I whispered as I pressed my cheek to his foot, in response to the fact that I was now available to him at the click of his fingers.

“It will be interesting comparing the two,” said Tijani as he looked down at me.

“Oh, you’ll find Emma to be far more proficient. She really is exceptional,” said Brinn. “You probably won't want Mina any more after a couple of nights with Emma.”

I smiled again and didn’t mention that Tijani was already very acquainted with my use from the time we spent on the Larl. I suppose Brinn didn’t know. Perhaps he didn’t even care to know. 

Again I felt Mina bristle with anger beside me, but this time it felt like jealousy. She had I suppose always known that Tijani lusted after me on the Larl, but while she owned me this had been nothing but amusing to her. She enjoyed denying him my body. It amused her. Now things were different. Now she had a potential Master who could offer her a far better life than she would endure in a common slave pen, but she also knew there was no way she could compete with me sexually. I was a potential threat to her security. No woman wants to be thought of as inferior to another woman, and that is even more the case for slaves. What if Tijani really didn't want her after spending a few nights with me? What would that mean for her future?

“Mina will learn,” I quickly said. The last thing I wanted was for Mina to stab me through the eye one night with a sharpened stick while I slept. “All girls new to the collar need training. I was the same as her when I was first enslaved. I think she has great potential. She will prove to be an exceptional slut in no time.”

Don't stick a sharpened stick through my eye, I thought to myself.

“I'm sure she will,” said Tijani with a grin. And from his expression I think he had noticed the worry in my eyes and understood where it came from.

We had to ask several times for directions to the House of Mkufu. Most Gorean streets do not have sign posts of any kind. I suppose the rationale here is that locals will know how to get to where they need to go, and there's no point in making it easier for foreign invaders who might want to pillage the city. Didn't Britain essentially do the same thing during World War Two when there was the threat of invasion by Nazi Germany? Goreans are talkative people though and once you get past their initial mistrust of anyone who doesn't share their Home Stone, they will chat with you for ten minutes or so about politics, slaves, kaissa, and the state of the local bath house when all you really want is a set of simple instructions like go left at the next paga tavern. Eventually though we came to the slaver quarter, or one of the slaver quarters because Schendi is a major slaver city after all.

“Bit squalid,” said Brinn, obviously not impressed. There were rows of houses offering slaves for sale, but most of them would have been the sort of buildings in central Gorean cities that sold cut price rugs.

“Oh I don't know,” suggested Tijani. “Don't judge a slaver house by the building but rather by the merchandise. There are some beauties on display.” He motioned towards groups of girls, nearly all varying shades of black, chained at the front of each house.

“I suppose,” said Brinn as he approached one chain post to which three black girls were secured. He stared for a moment at the numbers scrawled on the breasts. “Are those the prices?” He pointed at a slim beauty with the number six inscribed on her right breast.    

“Yes,” said Tijani.

“That's too much in silver, and far too little in copper. Which is it?”

“Copper,” said Tijani. “You'd get a Ubara herself for six silvers, plus all her handmaidens, and slavers would probably gift wrap them all.”

“Six coppers for this girl? Are they insane?” Brinn quickly ran his hands over her body.

“Buy me Master,” she begged as he touched her between the thighs. “I have had some training.”

“Six coppers for a semi-trained slave?” Brinn stared at Tijani in amazement.

“There's no shortage of slaves here, Brinn. Supply and demand.”

“Why... I could sell this girl for... forty copper tarsks easily in the Sardar.” I could see his mind calculating the possibilities. “Even more with training. This is a bargain.”

“The one beside her is only four,” suggested Tijani as he rubbed his chin.

“Four?! But she's even more beautiful than the six tarsk girl!”

“That sort of thing is subjective,” suggested Tijani. “I actually prefer the six-copper girl. Her ankles are finer.”

“Are all the girls this cheap?” Asked Brinn in amazement.

“Master, we have come here for a reason, remember?” I could see us trawling the market place all day at this rate. “Please...”

“Very well, Emma. I suppose we can always come back later.”

“You have quite a few slaves on board the Waverider already, Master. You really don't need any more...”   

“But at these prices, Emma...”

“Master, please.” I pressed my forehead to his chest until he relented and led us to the House of Mkufu.  It was as I remembered it, a wooden palisade building open at the front with hinged iron gates that could be closed and locked at night. To either sides of the gates stood a display post each set with two neck chains. A selection of slaves was displayed here, but not the ones I had seen when I was last in Schendi. Brinn marched us inside, mercifully out of the midday sun where it was relatively cool. I caught scent of the same braziers of burning incense from when I had been gagged and helpless in Simons coffle. The scent was perhaps a bit too strong, but it compensated for the breeze drifting the rotting vegetation smell into the city from the rain forest.

I had hoped my first sight of someone would be Bea coming out to greet us, but instead it was a man.  

“Tal Masters and welcome to the House of Mkufu. My name is Naftali. May I offer you sweet tea while you examine our beautiful merchandise?” The man was a native of Schendi and he wore the traditional blue and gold that marked him out as of the slaver caste.

“Thank you, but there is no need. I am here to speak to a Lady Beatrice,” explained Brinn.

That brought forth an amused smile from Naftali. He shook his head. “Then your visit is in vain. There is no such Lady here.”

My blood ran cold as he said that, for there could be several reasons for his statement and I dreaded the possibilities inherent in some of them.  

“Oh? I was under the impression she worked for this House?” said Brinn.

“Then you are mistaken, master,” said the slaver as he folded his arms.  

“I know for a fact she worked for this house,” said Brinn, rather more sternly now. “Where is she?” he demanded, brushing aside any pretence of formal pleasantries.

“If I may,” said Tijani, stepping forward. He conjured a handful of coins in his right hand and offered them to Naftali. “We're not going to cause trouble. We just need to know.” Tijani smiled in a charming and endearing way as Brinn fingered the hilt of his sword.

“Your friend wears scarlet,” said Naftali.

“Indeed he does,” said Tijani. “And it suits him I fear. Come, try not to be such a dour fellow. We are all friends here. I imagine these coins will pay for several entertaining nights at the better paga taverns around town? The Lady Beatrice...?”

“A woman of that name did work here once,” said Naftali as he pocketed the coins, “though I would not call her a Lady.”

“Oh? Please, go on.”   

“One night she told me she would be at the House late the following day and that I should open up in her place. When I did so I found an interesting sight. When I had left the previous night there were three white skinned women chained to the display posts. When I opened up in the morning there were now four. Your so-called Lady was the fourth, naked, chained, and priced.”

Oh fuck. This had to be Simon. How could he have done that to my sister!

Tijani rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He didn't look at me at all. “And?”

“She begged me to free her. She begged me to do so before Mkufu arrived, he for whom the House is named, he whom she owed her well-being to. I of course asked her how she had come to be chained naked in front of the House. I recalled that she said she would be coming in late that morning. It was obvious to speculate what had happened. She had arranged to spend time with a man.”

“Shameful,” agreed Tijani. “It seems the arrangement had its consequences for her.”

“I examined her body of course. She cried as I did so but I had to be sure of what I suspected I would find. She had been used.”

Tijani glanced down at me and saw the pain etched in my expression. “Chained to a display post I suppose any number of passers-by might have used her. She would have had no part in the doing of that?”

“No, she admitted that she had been used only by the man she had arranged to meet. The streets had been quiet by the time she had been locked in place.”

“Even then, she may have simply been naïve in meeting this man. It is not the same thing as being a slut,” suggested Tijani.

“I was prepared to hear her side of the story, but then the slave chained next to her pointed to a garment that had blown across the road. It was a silken undergarment very much like a slave garment, but too expensive to actually be a slave garment. Lady Beatrice had worn it under her robes it seems when she went to meet this man.”

“Ah. Did she deny it?”

“Of course she tried, but she broke down in tears as she tried to lie to me. All three of the slaves confirmed she had been wearing the silken thing when she had been chained to the post. They had no love for her but I could tell they were not lying. And on close inspection her face had traces of slave cosmetics applied where a veil might conceal them.”

“Ah.”

“Furthermore, on inspecting the inside of the House I found cosmetics of the same colouring that had been opened and used the night before.”

“She was a natural slave then,” said Brinn who then nodded in my direction. I buried my head in my hands. I didn't want to hear what was coming next, but I had to hear it.

“Did you free her?” asked Tijani. “Of the collar and chain arrangement?”

“I left her on display that morning until Mkufu arrived to offer his opinion on the shameful slut. She had been priced cheaply at ten coppers – possibly a cruel joke for she is worth much more than that – and so I received a succession of offers for her during the morning. Men grew quite angry when they learned I could not sell her there and then. It is not good to turn away business.”

“I'm sure it isn't,” said Tijani sympathetically. “Ten coppers? And she has white skin?”

Naftali nodded sadly.

“I'd buy her on the spot,” said Tijani. “I can see your predicament. What then?”

“Then Mkufu, he who was almost like a father to the slut, arrived at noon and saw her shame. She begged him on her knees, begged him as a newly collared girl might. The pain that I saw in kind Mkufu's eyes was horrible to behold. He had in recent times thought of Lady Beatrice as a daughter. And here she was, shaming him in front of his reputable house. He told her to stand and she did. He told her to turn about and face the palisade wall and she did. He told her to grip the display post with both hands, and she began to cry, but she did. And then he whipped her.”

I got up suddenly to the surprise of Naftali who looked bemused as I stumbled to the open doorway. I crouched down at the edge of the shade and put my head in my hands. Oh Bea... if only I had been there for you...

“He gave her ten lashes of the whip. He told her she was a slut and a shame to his name. He told her that she would be sent away. He could not enslave her on the spot you understand. Only a magistrate could do that, on presentation of the facts. Although the girl deserved such a fate, the shame it would bring to the House of Mkufu would be unbearable. Imagine what the other slaver houses would say?”

“An interesting point,” agreed Tijani. “I can assure you of our discretion on the matter of course. And a few more coins for your obvious discomfort.” Before Brinn could object, Tijani handed out some more of our money.   

“Mkufu had the girl freed and cleaned up. He could not allow her to remain in the city for he no longer wished to breathe the same air as her. He could not kill her for she was a free woman. He could not petition for her enslavement without bringing shame to his House. There was one thing he could do. We have an outpost up the Nyoka river. It is a crude and basic trading post where natives sell slaves to us. Few people wish to work there for any length of time because conditions are poor, but it is essential for us to acquire stock without taking the risks of hunting in the deep jungle. The Lady Beatrice was told that this posting would be her new home.”

“A trading post up river for a free woman sounds like a sentence of slavery to me,” suggested Tijani. “How could she hope to remain free for very long deep in the jungle?”

“I think that was Mkufu's intention. If she falls to the collar in the rain forest it will not be a legal matter for the magistrates of Schendi to complain about. It will be through no direct doing of Mkufu. She has been sent there with a handful of men to work.”

“A single woman in a remote trading post with men?”

“I am sure they are honourable men,” suggested Naftali.

“Hmm. I thank you for this.” Tijani turned towards Brinn and ushered him back through the door with his hand on my Master's shoulder. “Come, sword brother, we have done as much as we can. The woman is lost to us now.”    

“No,” said Brinn with a determination that surprised me.

“No?” Tijani looked confused. “The woman has been sent up river in a supply boat to live out her remaining days in some mosquito infested trading post with men who are likely to be only one shade better than outlaws. She is probably in a collar by now, possibly even traded to an indigenous tribe. She is gone. We have lost her.”

“No.” Brinn snarled. “I gave Emma my word.”

“Emma is your slave. You do not have to keep your word to a slave,” said Tijani. “Besides, you did your best. Come, let us find a paga tavern nearby.”

“I gave Emma my word. That means something to me.” To my surprise Brinn turned to face me. “We are going into the jungle, Emma. The journey will be arduous and dangerous, but we will find your sister. I gave you my word, slave girl. Honour is everything.”

--------------------------------------------------

And so ends the song of Yishana al-Ghul, Ubara of the Black Coast, whose name now lives on in legend for all eternity. 

Emma’s story will continue later this year when she enters the dark, unmapped, jungle interior in search of her sister, Bea: a journey into the very heart of darkness itself, that will take her inexorably down river to the ruined remains of Kurtz’s encampment; a final reunion with her father; and on to Kurtz’s secret discovery – a ruined, abandoned city of antiquity, now home to two warring tribes of Taluna warrior women, and deep beneath the catacombs of that jungle city, the hideous, inhuman beast that is the ‘Dweller in the Darkness’, who feeds on the souls of the damned.

Join Brinn and Tijani and their coffle of beautiful slave girls - Emma, Chloe, Mina and Saffron - as they paddle their war canoes deep into Gor’s terra incognita, in the next book: Gods of Gor.  

It’s going to be great!

Trust me. 