Kajirus of Gor Chapter Thirty Eight

 

“You have such a handsome, Master, Kelsee,” said Yarna as she embraced Chelsea again. “You must so love your collar! Does he make you squirm at nights?”

 

The expression on Chelsea’s face was priceless. She really didn’t know where to look. I really wish I could have taken a photograph of it for posterity.

 

“He, um…” Chelsea could hardly speak now.

 

“Oh, look, Kelsee is so embarrassed, now that we’re talking about her needs,” laughed Tasha. “Does she squirm, Master? Does she? Does she?” the girl then turned and asked me.

 

“Piteously,” I said, with an amused expression. “You’ve never seen such squirming in the furs.”

 

Chelsea shot me a distressed look. How could I say that!

 

“She told you nothing about my Yarna or my Tasha?” asked Julian Lepidus, Magistrate of Argentum.

 

“Nothing at all.” I regarded Chelsea. “We will speak about this later, Kelsee, won’t we?”

 

“They play together in the Dautium market square, and roam the grassy banks of the city canals together. I believe they even beg piteously for pastries at the stall of Titus Pallarus. He has a soft spot for my Yarna, in particular. She can wheedle a fresh pastry from him with ease.”

 

“He likes Kelsee’s bottom, Master. That helps, too. He insists she gives it a wiggle before we are fed,” said Yarna. 

 

Chelsea blushed bright red. She couldn’t look at me. 

 

“Kelsee!” I sounded shocked. “You wiggle your bottom to Titus Pallarus of Argentum, to wheedle a fresh pastry from him?”

 

She now looked like she was about to pass out from shame, if that was even possible.

 

“Please, Master,” said Chelsea, “didn’t you tell me you have a very important appointment somewhere else, that you really can’t miss? The appointment that you’re possibly already late for?”

 

“Did I?” I stroked my chin as I tried to recall such a thing.

 

“I’m sure you did, Master,” said Chelsea. “I wouldn’t want my master to be late for something that is so important to him.”

 

“Ah! You mean my meeting with Consus?” I said, making up the name on the spot.

 

“That’s the one, Master!” Chelsea looked about the square, anxiously. She desperately wanted us both to leave. “You’re supposed to be meeting Consus.”

 

“To be honest, Consus is an annoying man at times. I think he can wait.”

 

“Excellent,” said Julian as he clapped me on the shoulder. “In that case, may I buy you a cup of paga? I would like to know the man who owns the lovely Kelsee.”

 

There was a soft, pitiful moan from Chelsea. 

 

“A cup of paga?” I was surprised by the offer. Did he mean to enter a…

 

“As it happens, we stand close to the Shackle and Chain, one of the best paga taverns in the city. Come, it will be my pleasure to treat you to a cup.”

 

I should have declined. I should have gone to meet the imaginary Consus, but the temptation of seeing the inside of a paga tavern was too much for me.

 

“That is kind of you. Are our slaves permitted inside?” I gazed at our three beauties.

 

“A strange question! Of course they are. Have you never frequented a paga tavern before?”

 

“A cup of paga would be refreshing. Thank you, Julian.”

 

We passed by a street alcove in which a chained beauty with dark skin smiled at us both. I gazed at her supple, well rounded body, and the dark hue of her lovely skin, and I felt keen to see what free men routinely enjoyed inside these establishments. As we entered, I felt Chelsea secretly nudge me with her elbow, desperate to get my attention.

 

“Not now, Kelsee,” I said. “Paga awaits.”

 

I took a sharp intake of breath as I passed through the open doorway, for the very first thing I saw was a dancing girl. She moved sensuoulsy in the sandpit in the centre of the tavern, dressed only in a series of billowing strands of silk sewn into a waist band worn tightly above her hips. Her wrists and ankles were adorned by glittering bangles that gleamed in the lamp light as she span round and moved provocatively, displaying herself to each man who sat close to the edge of the pit, teasing them to reach out and touch her gleaming body. She was a trained dancer, no doubt expensive, and she was a glorious sight to behold. She danced there for several ehn, as we stood and watched, her scarlet dancing silks flashing in the firelight of several long torches embedded around the pit, so that her feet skipped in time to the music between them; her bare feet, with their belled ankles, striking softly through the loose sand.

 

“I told you it was a good tavern,” said Julian as he then motioned to a low table with a good view of the sandpit. He paused briefly on the way to greet two men seated at other tables. One was an officer in the city guard, called Atticus. “Ho, Atticus, shouldn’t you be on duty?!” Atticus was enjoying the soft kisses of a passionate slave girl, but found time to look up, laugh at Julian’s good natured greeting and raise a paga cup in his name.

 

The other man surprised me. His names was Rykart, and it was obvious from his accent that he was American. Julian greeted him as the man was making his way to one of the pleasure alcoves with a tavern girl. 

 

“Don’t let me interrupt you,” said Julian. “Have you had her before?”

 

“Her name is Lita, and no, this will be my first time with her.” Rykart’s Gorean was very basic – far worse than mine – and it marked him as a stranger to the city. I greeted him and saw the surprise in his eyes as he heard an unmistakably English accent. For a moment we offered each other a wry smile and a knowing wink before Julian led me on to our table. 

 

And then I had my first sight of pleasure silk on a girl! I had thought a basic slave tunic was an exciting garment for a woman, but it hadn’t in any way prepared me for the sight of women in pleasure silk. And all the slaves serving in the Shackle and Chain today wore pleasure silk. There is a saying on Gor: 

 

No man who has seen a woman in Pleasure Silk, or watched her dance, or heard the sound of a belled ankle, or watched a woman's hair, unbound, fall to her waist, can long live without the possession of such a delicious creature. 

 

I had heard the phrase in passing conversations, but now I knew how true it was. 

 

Pleasure silk is commonly worn by girls serving in paga taverns. The nature of the silk is exceptionally light, soft and diaphanous, leaving little doubt in the minds of men as to the beauty of the slave. There are many different ways in which pleasure silk is worn. It can be worn in decorative fashion on the shoulder or off the shoulder, with high necklines or plunging necklines, in open or closed garments, tightly or flowingly, and in various lengths. Sometimes it is put on the girl only in halters. Here in the Shackle and Chain the girls served with strips of pleasure silk wound about her body. The silk ties were of a slip knot variety that could easily be pulled loose one at a time to gradually reveal more and more of the girl. Then silk had no nether closure, of course, permitting full access to the girl at all times. Sometimes a man wishes to put a girl to use without first peeling away her wisps of silk. 

 

We sat at the low table facing the sand pit, or rather, Julian and myself sat, cross-legged in the Gorean fashion, while our three beauties knelt in a pleasing fashion beside us. 

 

“Nadu,” I reminded Kelsee and watched as she reluctantly opened her thighs. She leaned towards me and whispered some words into m year.

 

“You know I don’t squirm!” She sounded indignant. “Why did you tell them I squirm?!”

 

I ignored her words and simply kissed her on the lips. It came as a shock to her, for I had never been permitted to kiss my mistress before. She pulled away, angrily, but then quickly composed herself as she saw Julian watching with a puzzled expression on his face. Sensing she had broken character for a moment, Kelsee quickly said, “Oh, Master, your kiss makes me giddy with excitement.”

 

“Then kiss me again, slave girl,” I said with a smile. She stiffened, but couldn’t see any way out. Slowly, she leaned forward again and offered her lips to mine. I kissed her, savouring the exciting beauty, the way I would savour a fine wine. I think she wished to remain passive, disinterested, but I felt her tremble as I prolonged the kiss. When I finally released her, her face seemed flushed and her hands shook.

 

Beside us, the lovely Tasha and Yarna clapped their hands in delight and giggled. “Look at Kelsee! Mastered by a kiss!” Yarna embraced Kelsee and whispered something in her ear that made Kelsee blush again.

 

“No, Yarna!” said Kelsee, apparently scandalised by whatever the slave had suggested. 

 

I smiled as I caught Julian’s eye. He seemed pleased that our girls were getting along so well, and that his Yarna and Tasha had taken Kelsee under their wings, so to speak. 

 

We were joined by a paga slave who approached quietly and roped to her knees in nadu before the table. Like the other slaves serving in the Shackle and Chain, she was dressed in soft, diaphanous, Pleasure Silk.

 

“Greetings Masters, and welcome to the Shackle and Chain. My name is Thea and I beg to serve you. Please remember I come with the price of the…” there was suddenly a gasp from the girl, as she failed to finish her sentence. I looked round and was astonished to see Anthea, once the leader of the wyld wymen, and now an exciting, desirable, collared paga slave. She of course recognised me, too.

 

There was a moment of shock for both of us.

 

“You know this girl?” asked Julian.

 

“Yes.” I gazed at Thea. She trembled, hardly believing that I could be sitting there, looking every inch the free man.

 

“Ah! So you have been to this tavern before,” concluded Julian. “You didn’t say.”

 

“Will you excuse me a moment, Julian. I wish to take this girl to an alcove.” I had to act quickly before Thea might say something about who I really was. 

 

Julian laughed, assuming my lust had gotten the better of me so quickly, as I took Thea by her elbow and conducted her to one of the vacant alcoves along the far wall. 

 

“Why don’t you have a collar?” asked Thea. She lay on the bed of the alcove shelf that formed a long, wide surface on which to put slaves to use. I closed the drapes over the front of the alcove, giving us some privacy. From the other side of the drapes we could still hear the music, and general chatter from the main room of the tavern. I gazed at Thea’s breasts, lightly wrapped in soft pleasure silk. There was a small slip knot tie in a pretty bow that would strip that shred of silk from her upper body, should I choose to pull it loose with a finger. Her breasts, sweet, white, well-formed, exquisite, were lovely in the brief wrap of silk. Thea was a long legged, sweetly hipped, narrow waisted, and well breasted girl, and I could see why she had been bought by a paga tavern.

 

“Because I’m a free man,” I said.

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

“There is no need for you to understand. You are a slave girl.” I sat down beside her and she reacted by drawing her legs away from me. She sat with her back to the alcove wall, suspicious of my motives.

 

“You’re truly free? Truly?”

 

“I am.”

 

Thea tossed her head. She touched the steel collar about her throat. She seemed uneasy in my presence. “Why have you taken me to this alcove?”

 

“So I can talk to you.”

 

“Just talk?” 

 

I smiled. “You are really very lovely, Thea. The collar suits you.”

 

“I have little choice but to wear it.”

 

“So it seems. Show me your brand.”

 

Thea turned, angrily, on her right hip and parted the strips of loosely tied pleasure silk to display the kef brand indelibly marked on her left hip. I traced the pattern of the kef with my fingers. 

 

“I saw you being branded, that evening on the Lazy F. You and Felicity. I heard your screams.”

 

“I know.” She drew the strips of silk back together to conceal the brand again. “I saw you through the bar as my thigh was locked firmly in place.”

 

“You shouldn’t have trusted Hadley. She was clearly ambitious and had little respect for you.”

 

“I know that now. And I knew then I had to watch her closely. I just didn’t think she would strike a deal with the Fricks. That goes beyond the pale.”

 

“You are the reason why I was abducted and taken to Gor,” I said.

 

“No. Felicity is the reason you were abducted and taken to Gor,” said Thea. “I simply facilitated. Don’t blame me. Blame her.”

 

“I’m not blaming you, but you are responsible.”

 

“I suppose you should thank me?” she said. “You are on Gor as a free man and are able to enjoy the Gorean culture as you please. You can have slave girls serve at your feet. You can put them to use. I did you a kindness.”

 

“Actually,” I said, “I have not yet put a slave girl to use.”

 

“No?” She seemed surprised. She drew back a little further from my hand. “No, of course you haven’t.” She smiled. “You are a man of Earth. You wouldn’t know how to.”

 

“Well, not yet, anyway.”

 

“What do you, mean, not yet?”

 

“Do you remember when you teased me, when I was bound to a post in your camp?”

 

“No,” she tossed her head again. Clearly she did remember, but chose to pretend not to.

 

“You touched my penis, manipulated me to an erection and then forbade me from coming. When I did, you whipped me, mercilessly.”

 

“You shouldn’t have climaxed, then,” said Thea. “I warned you what would happen.” She smiled, relishing the memory. “You were weak.”

 

“Aren’t you afraid of me?” I asked.

 

“No. Not really. You are an Earth man. You are weak. You want to please women. It is in your conditioning.”

 

“Ah, I see.”

 

She smiled. “Deep down you want my approval. You want me to say kind words to you. I may do so, if you are nice to me. Or I may not.”

 

“Nice?”

 

She tossed her head again. “Don’t pretend you are anything you are not. You came from Earth. You are conditioned to defer to the female sex, to make us happy.”

 

“I didn’t know that about myself.”

 

“Well now you do. Why am I in this alcove?” She glanced around. There was a whip hanging from the wall. She would by now be very accustomed to serving in a pleasure alcove, but perhaps not serving a man of Earth. 

 

“I wished to talk to you. Tell me about Felicity, about your arrangement with her on Earth.”

 

“We met at the Spring Round Up. She was with her Uncle and I noticed the curvaceous little thing in her modest clothes. She was curious when she saw us standing proud in our skins and furs. She came and spoke to me.”

 

“The Spring Round Up?”

 

“The families herd women – slave girls. There is a cattle market for them. It is a busy time of year. We are permitted to attend to buy and sell livestock.”

 

“And Felicity was aware this was going on?”

 

“Of course. She is an Emery. Oh, you have such sweet delusions when it comes to that girl. Do you want me to tell you she’s innocent of everything? Hardly.”

 

“She was involved with the Spring Round Up? The casual abduction and enslavement of other women?”

 

“Not directly. The daughters of the families don’t get involved. They have a different role in life – to be pretty, demure, to allow themselves to be courted under the watchful eye of a Granny. Her Granny was there that Spring, parading her about in her finery, for the young men of the other Families to notice. She wore white lace gloves, as I recall, and her hair was swept up under a pretty Spring bonnet. A long ankle length skirt and an old fashioned blouse. Dexter Bannon was paying her a lot of attention. When I mentioned it, Felicity confided in me that she wanted to go to Gor to prove herself. She was ambitious. She wanted access to her own dowry and to be given a seat on the Board of Directors of the companies she theoretically owned shares in as part of her dowry. On paper she was a wealthy girl. In reality she had to ask her father for an allowance from the dowry.”

 

“But she didn’t personally take part in the activities associated with the Spring Round Up?”

 

“No. As I said, she is a female. They play no part in such things. It is for men to conduct.”

 

“What did she propose to you?”

 

“She didn’t. She simply told me she wanted to go to Gor. And I told her what I knew, that Dexter Bannon was the eldest son, and so he had possession of his family ring. And I told her that the Banon tradition was for the ring to be a symbol of courtship when it wasn’t being used to travel to Gor.”

 

“Had Dexter ever been to Gor?”

 

“No. He had no interest. I don’t think he even believed it existed. It was a family myth, perhaps.”

 

“But Dexter knew of the slavery practices on Earth?”

 

“Of course.” Thea stretched her leg and ran her fingers down towards her knee. “He’s stupid, but not that stupid.” She was wearing Pleasure Silk. It is impossible not to be turned on and aroused by a girl wearing Pleasure Silk. I tried to concentrate on my questions and not so much on the allure of this silk clad beauty before me.

 

“It seems strange to me that he would give Felicity such a valuable ring.”

 

“It was only ever placed upon her finger when they were together in some social setting. Afterwards it would always be taken from her and locked securely away. The Bannons use it as a token to display their chosen companion – marking her in a sense as a possession of value. Everyone who sees a woman wearing the Bannon ring at some ball in the Hamptons knows she is the chosen woman who belongs to the eldest son. It is like the Crown jewellery of your Royal Family – worn on state occasions as a symbol of their authority, and then locked away in a vault otherwise.” 

 

“And Felicity wanted that ring to travel to Gor? How does it work.”

 

“I don’t know.” Thea idly touched a chain shackle that rested on the couch in the alcove. She looked up at me. “It grants passage. That is all. It is supposed to be used by men. Women have never used it.”

 

That tied in with what the slaver, Darian Athuk, had said, a few months ago. 

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” asked Thea. She drew her ankle back again from where my hand lingered.

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like a Gorean master. That is not you. Do not pretend. I know you.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“You are an Earth man.” She smiled. “You shouldn’t look at me that way.”

 

“You wear Pleasure Silk. It is incredibly distracting.”

 

“So I believe.” She idly touched her breast through the sheer softness of the silk. It was maddening to see her dressed like that, in a pleasure alcove, her other hand resting close to a steel shackle.

 

“Tell me of the arrangement?”

 

“Felicity would lure you and Dexter to the Lazy F ranch, and once she had the ring on her finger, she would arrange a rendezvous at the camping site on the hiking trail. It is quiet this time of year. We were to capture the two of you.”

“And?”

 

“Dexter was to be a slave on Gor. Felicity’s revenge for his arrogance and scant regard for her modesty.”

 

“And me?”

 

“Oh, yes, that was sweet. The girl wanted you to be her companion on Gor. It was hard not to laugh when she told me. You were to be taken to Gor, too, but she would immediately buy you from the slave pens in Argentum and grant you your freedom.”

 

“She would have freed me?”

 

“Well, so she said, on Earth. Once she was acclimatised to Gor, who knows? Perhaps she might have preferred you an obedient silk slave. Women change their minds, you know. We can be very inconsistent. Especially with men.” She tossed her head again, and gazed down at the steel shackle resting on the couch. 

 

“Why did you betray her?”

 

“To keep Hadley happy. That was a mistake. I should not have trusted her.”

 

“No, you shouldn’t have. How long had Hadley been intimate with James Hawkins?”

 

“They had spoken at the Spring Round Up. They seemed close, and I thought the connection might be good for us. I warned Hadley not to do anything foolish, but if she wished to flirt with the man, I couldn’t stop her.”

 

“They plotted together behind your back?”

 

“It seems so.”

 

“Hawkins used Hadley to get hold of the ring. I’m not sure he even really cares for her.”

 

“I hope he enslaves the bitch.” Thea looked angry as she recalled the treachery that day. 

 

“I think Hadley is more useful to him as the leader of the wyld wymen.”

 

“Perhaps.” Thea didn’t seem to like the idea of Hadley remaining free. I was beginning to get a firm idea of how everything was connected, but there were still some missing pieces relating to James Hawkins and who he worked for. Was he obtaining the ring for Wilson Frick Snr, or Chelsea Frick, or himself? That I didn’t know. What I did know was that the Bannon ring ended up on a silver chain around Chelsea’s neck, and she used it herself to travel to Gor in a silver ship. Though her passage was rather more humiliating than she might have expected. Presumably she could use the ring to return to Earth, any time she wanted? The implication was that it granted passage both ways. The collar would be a problem, of course. I wondered how the silver ship slavers on Gor would react if a woman wearing a collar presented herself and demanded passage back to Earth. Would they accede to her wishes, or would they instead bind her wrists and seek to return her to her master in Argentum, as a runaway slave?

 

I gazed again at the Pleasure Silk on Thea’s body and thought wild thoughts. The silk was diaphanous and wildly exciting.

 

“What?” Asked Thea. 

 

“Nothing.” 

 

“So, now you have talked to me.” A thought suddenly occurred to her. “Will you buy me?”

 

“Buy you?” I looked surprised. “You want me to buy you?”

 

“You have money, yes?” 

 

“A little.” I considered the money in my pouch. I didn’t think it was nearly enough to buy a paga slave. And even if there was enough, I would want to buy a different paga slave – a lovely kajra who served in the Jewelled Anklet. There was more money under the floorboard in Chelsea’s apartment, of course, but I didn’t have access to it. It wasn’t my money. 

 

“Then buy me. Buy me and free me.”

 

“You want me to free you?”

 

“Of course!” She tossed her head again. “It is what you will do. You are a man of Earth. It is impossible for you to keep a woman in a slave collar. Particularly not an Earth woman. It is against your conditioning. If you do this, I will let you kiss my ankle. Tenderly and submissively.”

 

“Goreans believe that Earth women make especially good slaves.”

 

She frowned. “I hate that saying.”

 

“Is it true?”

 

“Some women, perhaps.” She tossed her head again. “Some pitiful sluts, perhaps – girls who are natural slaves.”

 

“But not you?”

 

“No, not me. Why am I still in this alcove?”

 

“Lie on your back,” I said, “and extend your wrists to the slave ring set into the wall.”

 

“What? No! You are a man of Earth!”

 

“Do as I say, or I shall inform your owners that you have not been pleasing.” I reached for some binding fibre that lay on shelf.

 

A very pleasurable twenty ehn passed by far too soon. 

 

Thea whimpered softly as I lay beside her. I lifted some of her hair and pressed it to my lips as I caressed her left breast. “I can see you’ve gained a lot of experience serving men in this tavern,” I remarked.

 

She clenched her thighs together and moaned softly as the receding waves of pleasure swept through her body. She had been very loud when she had climaxed. Very loud indeed.

 

“Buy me, Master,” she begged, piteously. 

 

“I am not going to buy you,” I replied.

 

“Then why did you do that to me?!”

 

“Because I wanted to experience what it is like to couple with a slave girl, especially one dressed in Pleasure Silk. I have dreamt about it for a long time, and you were simply too tempting.”

 

She wriggled as I played with her nipples. 

 

“You made me yield! You made me yield as a slave!”

 

“So I did.” I ran my hand over her ass cheeks. “And you yielded very loudly. I suppose you were heard even above the music.” 

 

“I couldn’t help myself.”

 

“Apparently not.”

 

“Please buy me!”

 

“I do not want to buy you.”

 

“Didn’t you enjoy taking me in the furs? Didn’t I give you pleasure?”

 

“I did, and you did,” I confessed. “Very much. But you are just a common paga girl. It would be a mistake to think my experience was unique in any way. I suspect I would have enjoyed myself just as well with any other paga girl in any other paga tavern.”

 

“Oh!” she squirmed in frustration. “Buy me! Free me!”

 

“Well that would be a waste of money. That would be like buying a car and leaving it parked in a rough neighbourhood with the doors unlocked and the key still in the ignition.”

 

“You can’t just leave me here as a paga slave! I’m a woman of Earth!”

 

“I’m told Earth women are natural slaves. That is what Goreans tell me.”

 

“Some women, perhaps.” She squirmed. 

 

“But not you.”

 

“No, of course not. I am different.”

 

“Not too different, I think. You were very loud.”

 

She squirmed again. “Why haven’t you untied me?”

 

“Because I am in no hurry to leave this alcove.” I rose and parted her thighs. I was already hard from the time I had spent caressing her bound body. “Try not to be so loud this time. There are men watching the dancer and she probably doesn’t want to be distracted from the music.”

 

I fully expected to see a furious Chelsea glaring at me in anger when I emerged the alcove and returned to the table, but instead she simply looked scared. I sensed a change of mood around the table. Something was wrong. Something had happened while I was away. I had placed the wadded strips of Pleasure Silk in Thea’s mouth, after leaving the alcove, and I had sent her scurrying back to the tavern owners with a sharp spank of her ass.

 

“Did you enjoy yourself?” asked Julian with a friendly smile.

 

“I did, yes,” I said as I sat back down. Yes, something was very wrong. I reached for my paga cup and glanced again at Chelsea. She was trying to tell me something with her eyes. Whatever it was, I didn’t think it was going to be good news.

 

“The girl, Thea, was pleasing?”

 

“She was.”

 

Julian nodded. “Because I know her owner, and I could report her service if it wasn’t satisfactory.”

 

“She performed well,” I said. “Thank you again for the paga.”

 

“You are welcome.”

 

Something was definitely wrong. Even Yarna and Tasha seemed tense. 

 

“Did you know that your lovely Kelsee is ignorant of the slave position, Sula?”

 

I grew uneasy. There was something wrong now. “I probably have never commanded her to that position,” I said. I drank some paga. 

 

“She is ignorant of Inspection Position, too. Oh, she made a crude attempt to mimic it, but I could tell she was unused to the command.”

I grew even more uneasy. “It has been a while since I may used that command,” I said.

 

“I hope you don’t mind, but you were gone a while, and so I had Yarna teach her how to assume the positions correctly. I thought it would be useful for Kelsee to learn.”

 

I glanced at Chelsea and could see how terrified she looked.

 

“That is… kind of you, Julian.”

 

“My pleasure.” He smiled. “For the purpose of the exercise, Yarna stripped Kelsee. A girl needs to learn these things while naked.”

 

I sensed with horror what was now coming.

 

“Tell me, Roland. Why does Kelsee not have a brand on her thigh?”