Outcast of Gor Chapter Sixteen

Free Women are at war with slave girls from the moment they reach puberty and begin to bleed for the first time. This war takes on an intensity of planning and foresight when a Free Woman becomes the Free Companion of a man who owns a slave girl.

 

Make no mistake, Free Women are schooled by their mothers from an early age in the subtle arts of separating a man from his slave, to the best of their abilities. 

 

There are things they can and can’t insist upon. Obviously no Free Companion can object to a man owning and enjoying a slave. No man would put up with that, but right from the beginning rules are set.

 

“She will not sleep in our bed, beloved. She will never so much as touch our bed with her body.”

 

“Of course not.” I was willing to concede that. This was common practice throughout Gor. A Free Woman was entitled to that simple courtesy from her man.

 

“I will expect her to be clothed modestly in my presence. The tunic she wears at the moment is fit only for a paga slave.”

 

I think Kulai had no comprehension of how paga slaves were actually dressed. She would never have been inside a paga tavern, and so could hardly be blamed for her ignorance. Kulai’s tunic was perfectly normal for a kajira, brief, tight, revealing, with a plunging neck line. The garment served to excite a man when he looked upon her. I very much liked Kelsee’s tunic, but it would be far too modest for any paga tavern. 

 

“I have sewn a new garment for her to wear. It is looser on her body, not so tight, with a hem line that comes closer to her knees. The valley of her breasts is now covered.”

 

Kulai was a good seamstress, but the tunic was not designed to excite a man. Even so, Kelsee was a hot little piece of baggage, and she could look sexy in just a bin liner. Again, I accepted this compromise. 

 

A Free Woman arranges matters so that her man is rarely left alone with his slave in the early days. If I wanted to put Kelsee to use, I would have to send Kulai away, and that would be the nuclear option, It would be to say, go away, you may be my Free Companion, but I wish to spend quality time with a slave instead of holding hands and talking to you.

 

I had already upset her by insisting she drank the wine of the noble Free Woman. I now wanted to offer concessions to her, to make up for that. Kulai found many reasons to spend time with me. She would teach me things about Gor. If she saw my attention wandering towards Kelsee, she would touch me softly; she would remind me that she loved me; she would ask me questions that required answers. 

 

This was all part of the calculated war that Free Women wage against slaves. 

 

I could not put Kelsee to use at night because Kuali would be there, arranging our bedding, calling me to bed. She would sleep clothed beside me. It was very frustrating, but was understandable because we were travelling now in a small group with Rolfe, Rollo and Hergessvar. There was little to no privacy. I could not expect my woman to strip in the open camp site and crawl into my bedding naked while Rolfe and the others pretended not to watch.  

 

Even so, there would be soft kisses as we lay together in the darkness, and Kulai would press her body close to mine and whisper erotic things to me. 

 

“If you are very quiet, beloved, and you don’t let Rollo and the others know what I am doing, I will make you happy.”

 

“Do so,” I would whisper in the darkness. We would bed down as far from the men as possible.

 

“But you must be very quiet, beloved. They can’t know I am doing this.”

 

I would have to be very quiet as Kulai would reach for my penis with her hand under the bedding. She would stroke me until I was hard and then while kissing me, stimulate me slowly to an orgasm. 

 

Free Women know how to do this. Their mothers teach them that this is a way of satisfying their man without the indignity of parting their thighs for him. And it was obviously in her interests to keep me stimulated and exhausted so that I had no strength left to enjoy Kelsee. 

 

Kelsee of course would be a twisted knot of frustration by now. I had already ignited slave fires in her belly, and now she was struggling with being left alone night after night as Kulai took me to our bed for herself. 

 

On the fourth night I suggested to Kulai that I might put Kelsee to use soon.

 

“Why?” She kissed me in the darkness. I felt her hand reach down under the bedding to curl its fingers around my penis, perhaps to divert my thoughts from the lovely Kelsee.

 

“She is a slave. She has slave needs. It is cruel to leave her like that.”

 

“Give her use to Rolfe, or Rollo, or Hergessvar, beloved. They will satisfy the little slut.”

 

“But she’s my slave,” I said. I then gasped quietly as Kulai began to stimulate me in the darkness.

 

“Quietly,” she reminded me. “No gasping, beloved. As for Rolfe and the others, I am surprised you have not given Kelsee to them before now. I thought they are your friends?”

 

“They are.” I was growing excited again. Kulai was learning how I liked to be touched. 

 

“And yet you have no regard for their feelings. You travel with them, and they obviously do not have a slave of their own. They are too polite, too courteous, to ask you for Kelsee’s use, but they do not understand why you do not offer her. It is wrong that you do not think of your friends at night. A Gorean man would share his slut with his friends who lack one of their own.”

 

“It wouldn’t feel right to do that…”

 

“Why?” Kulai kissed me softly as she held my now rigid penis. “She is a slave, not some captive Free Woman. Even though you petulantly refuse to brand the little slut. Anyone would think she was a captive Free Woman, the way you cosset her. Rolfe and the others think you behave very strangely with her. You should have branded her a long time ago. They are just too polite to chide you. But I am your Free Companion. I can tell you that this behaviour is not healthy in a man. I know you are a barbarian, and things must be very different where you were born, but you need to be Gorean now. Give Kelsee’s use to your friends. They will respect you for it. You owe them so much.”

 

I didn’t know what to say, what I could say, without giving away the unusual circumstances of my relationship with Kelsee. And what Kulai was doing to me as she spoke was very distracting. I found it hard to think straight when she played with me like that.

 

“I think you are lying to me, beloved, when you say you are concerned about Kelsee’s needs. Rolfe could satisfy those needs if you threw the girl to his feet. She is a slutty little baggage and would respond eagerly to his touch. I think it is you who has unsightly needs for a slave girl called Kelsee. Are you in love with her?”

 

“No! Of course not!”

 

“Do you care for her more than you care for me, your precious Free Companion?”

 

“No, Kulai, it’s you I value the most.”

 

“So you say, but here you are with me now and your thoughts drift to the open thighs of your little slut. And you pretend you are simply concerned for her needs. Do you want to go to her now? Do you want to spurn me, spurn my love? Perhaps you want to send me away from my own bed and pull Kelsee into your arms instead of me? Am I really of so little value to you?”

 

“Kulai, no, you misunderstand, I want you!” I gasped again as she continued to stroke me with her wonderful fingers.

 

“Tell me what I am doing is not pleasant.”

 

“It’s wonderful,” I sighed. 

 

“Then why isn’t it enough, tonight? Do you want me to stop?”

 

“No. Don’t stop. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

 

“Then please treat me with respect. Please don’t mention the name of your slut when we are together like this.”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Tomorrow night, I think you should give her to Rolfe for use. Rolfe will satisfy her needs.”

 

“Kulai, can we talk about this tomorrow…” My body was trembling close to a climax as Kulai slowed her hand.

 

“I am saying this for your own good, beloved. You need to be Gorean. You need to learn to be Gorean if you are going to survive on our world. I know you are a barbarian, and I find your ways strange, but I want you to adapt to my world. I want you to learn and understand the distinction between Free Women and slaves. You cannot treat us both the same way. You must be firm and dominant with slaves. You must not fall in love with a slave. You must never do that. You have to prove to me that you do not love Kelsee. You must prove to me that she is just a slave – an animal – hardly even worthy of a Free Woman’s contempt. I am doing this to make you strong. I want you to be strong so that you can survive on my world. I will help you. I am your woman. Tell me that I am your woman.”

 

“You are my woman.” I was so close to coming.

 

“Do you respect me?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Then prove to me that Kelsee is just a slave – nothing more. Because if you do not give her use to the men I will conclude she is precious to you, and that is something that would be disrespectful to any Free Companion. Your Free Companion must always be first. That is how it is on Gor. I have feelings. I understand you will, from time to time, use that slut – and I will live with that – no matter how much it pains me - but I cannot have you treating her as some precious free captive. That would be an insult to me. She is a slave. Learn to be Gorean in how you own slaves.”

 

I didn’t know what to say. My head was spinning and I was so close to coming. 

 

“Promise me you will give Kelsee to Rolfe for use tomorrow? Swear to me on something you hold dear.”

 

“Okay! Okay!”

 

“No, swear to me. An oath!”

 

“I swear.”

 

And then, over the next thirty to forty ihn, I climaxed, biting down hard to not make a sound.

 

“My darling beloved. I love you so much,” said Kulai as she kissed me again and snuggled her body close, so that I would associate her touch, and her presence with my post coital bliss.

 

The next day of course I was prevaricating. I hadn’t been thinking straight when Kulai had her fingers around my penis. 

 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t feel comfortable throwing Kelsee to the men tonight.”

 

“You swore an oath to me.”

 

“Kulai, look, it is complicated for me. You are right – I am a barbarian and it will take me time to adjust to the ways of Gor. Give me time. I do love you,’ I spoke those words for the first time, though I didn’t really mean them, though perhaps I did love Kulai on some emotional level, but not the way she wanted those words to mean. “I just need time. My ways were different.”

 

“You swore an oath to me.” She began crying.  The tears of a woman are a powerful means of disarming a man. She was hurt, wounded. “I mean nothing to you, do I? You can happily make me barren and swear an oath, and none of it means anything to you. Svetlana tried to warn me of the ways of barbarians, how they lack honour. I am so foolish for loving you. Even now I cannot stop loving you, no matter how much you hurt me.”

 

That was the very worst things she could say to me. Now I truly felt wretched. It would have been easier if she told me she hated me.

 

“Kulai…”

 

“Because I do love you still, Roland. No matter how badly you treat me. But Free Companionship works both ways. You have obligations and responsibilities towards your Free Woman. There are ways of doing things that are right, and ways that are wrong. You dishonour me greatly. I am a fool for loving you, so.”

 

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We had left the cavalry camp of Stannis Assante three days after the ceremony of Free Companionship. Rolfe had wanted to spend those days courting Svetlana with some quality time before he set off for the front lines of the war.

 

“When I return, Svetlana and I will be Free Companioned,” he told me. “She will bear me a son. I shall call him Rolfe the Younger.”

 

“That’s a bit quick, isn’t it?” I suggested. 

 

“Who knows what tomorrow might bring. My time on Gor is subject to the whims of the Priest Kings. I could die tomorrow with no heir to my name. It is time I considered matters more seriously. How did Kulai take to the wine of the noble Free Woman?”

 

“She was in tears. Floods of tears. I think she had clung to the hope that I might change my mind on our bedding night.”

 

“You have made her barren,” said Rolfe, sadly. “I feel her pain.”

 

“I’m not ready for children,” I said.

 

“Your ways are strange, Roland. You have much to learn of my world.”

 

I gazed at him. “You know?” I said.

 

“It is obvious. I am not stupid.” He clasped my arm. “Kulai will teach you to be Gorean, if you allow her. She means right by you. You are stupid and clumsy but we both love you in different ways. Listen to your woman. Set aside your barbarian pride and learn from her. And in the name of the Priest Kings, brand that slave of yours! Have you no idea of what you’re doing?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Kulai has to put up with a double humiliation. You keep Kelsee’s thigh unmarked, as if she might be a Free Woman, and you make Kulai barren and infertile like you would a slave. Can you not see in her eyes you have blurred the distinctions between your two women?”

 

“I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

 

“Believe me, it pains Kulai. She is a good woman. She will stand by you, but you offend her greatly with these two things.”

 

Several days later., Rolfe took up the conversation again, as Kelsee knelt cooking our lunch. 

 

“I am going to say some things to you now, because you are my friend, and because there will soon be a parting of the ways. You will travel on to Corcyrus without us, and it may be a long time until we meet again, if ever. There are things I must therefore say now or I may never say them. Sometimes a friend must speak an unwelcome truth.”

 

“This sounds serious.”

 

“Sit down, my friend.”

 

I did as he said.

 

“I can see Kulai is unhappy. You have made her unhappy. I am sure you don’t mean to, and it is just your ignorance. But the truth is you are derelict in your responsibilities to both Kulai and Kelsee. Kulai is your Free Companion. She must always come first. I know she can never compete with the heat of a slave in the furs, but you must never shame her by implying Kelsee gives you more pleasure. You have commanded your Free Woman to be barren, for you. Normally this only occurs after a number of children have been born, and then it is natural enough for a companion to drink the wine of the noble Free Woman. Kulai is understandably confused and worried because you have made her drink so on your very first night together. A Free Woman expects to be with child, and she expects her man to want that. She is terribly confused. She fears you will abandon her, and that is why you have acted the way you have.”

 

“I’m not going to abandon Kulai.” I said nothing of my resolve that our companionship could not extend beyond the first year, but even so, I would look after her beyond that point, provided she would let me. She would be safe and could always count on me until she found another man more worthy of her.

 

“She has given up much to be with you. She has left her world behind. She loves you. Try to understand what she has given up to be with you. Try to understand how vulnerable she now feels. Try to understand how upset she is that your slave has an unbranded thigh. The brand reassures a Free Woman that she is very different from an enslaved slut. It is important to them that there is this visible mark. Otherwise, Kelsee’s unmarked body is a reminder that Kulai too is of the slave sex, little different in the matters of basic biology.”

 

“It’s difficult to talk in terms of Kelsee. We have some history together.”

 

“She is your slave. I don’t know what she was to you before she was collared, and I don’t think I want to know, but she is your slave now. Which brings me on to her happiness. Kelsee needs you to be a master to her. You can’t treat her the way you do, protecting her from coming to terms with her slave belly. You have lit slave fires inside of her but you do not permit those fires to burn. They smoulder and she is unsatisfied in her bondage. A slave expects to be treated as a slave, or else she grows confused. It is how they grow to embrace and love their bondage. Otherwise they will be frustrated, alone, unhappy. Trust me, Kelsee does not know what she wants, but I do. She needs to be dominated. She need to be a complete slave, uncompromisingly so. You must stop acting as if she is a captive Free Woman. Answer me truthfully. Is she a captive Free Woman?”

 

Rolfe regarded my reaction carefully.

 

“She’s obviously a slave,” I lied.

 

“You are lying to me. There has always been something suspicious about all of this. You refuse to brand her, and, as Kulai has rightly pointed out to you, you do not lend out her use to other men.”

 

I fidgeted, looking uncomfortable with all of this.

 

“Why have you never offered her use to us?” asked Rolfe. “We are your friends. It is what friends do. We have not pressed you on the matter, but there have been nights when a hot slave slut would have been a very welcome diversion to be passed around the campfire. Why do you not treat her as a slave?”

 

“I’m a barbarian. Things are different where I come from.”

 

“Do you love her?”

 

I looked uncomfortable again. “I care for her more than I probably should.”

 

“Priest Kings spare us all from your foolishness. You’re going to free her, aren’t you? When you reach Corcyrus?”

 

“What? Why do you say that?”

 

“It’s true then.” Rolfe shook his head. “You actually plan on freeing her. That’s why you won’t brand her. You are a fool, and this will be your undoing. She will grow to resent you for taking away her collar. She will turn away from you. She may even seek revenge for you denying her what she truly is. And Kulai… Kulai will be shamed beyond belief. Have you no comprehension what it means to a Free Companion if her man frees his slave girl? What that says about their relationship together? That he considers his slave to be the equal of his Free Companion? Be careful that Kulai does not take her own life rather than live with that public shame in Corcyrus. Other Free Women will mock her. She will be a laughing stock. You can’t do this to her.”

 

“Rolfe, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

 

“Keep Kelsee in abject bondage. Impress upon her, her slavery, in absolute terms. Kulai will help you, if you do not know how. A man can have many slaves but he cannot have two Free Women. You can keep Kelsee as a slave, but only as a slave. And you must not shame your Free Woman. She does not deserve this.” 

 

“I’ve only ever tried to do what I felt was right.”

 

“You have a good heart, Roland of Newark, but in many ways you are the stupidest man I have ever known. Kelsee is a natural slave. She needs bondage and submission. She will never have that until you treat her as a slave. She needs to reach the point where slavery feels natural to her. You must help her in this. And you must reassure your companion. There can only be one Free Woman in your life, and it has to be Kulai. You have drunk the wine of Free Companionship together. You have sworn responsibilities to your woman. She has given up everything, because she trusts you. A man must live by a code of honour or he is not a man.”

 

“I have much to think about.” I said.

 

“And not much time to do so,” said Rolfe. “I have a confession to make, Roland, and you are not going to be happy with me. I have taken advantage of your lack of knowledge of this countryside. We should have reached the front lines and parted our ways yesterday, but I took us on a slight detour.”

 

“What do you mean? Where are we?”

 

“We are an ahn or two away from a camp that exists just behind the military front line. It is a slaver camp – the camp of a man called Darian Athuk. You will not know him, but he is one of Gor’s foremost slavers.”

 

Oh, I knew him, all right. Or rather, he knew me. He had seen me in Argentum, back when I was a collared silk slave to the Lady Savanna. He would undoubtedly recognise my face, and the face and naked body of Kelsee.

 

“I am taking us to this camp to end your foolishness and to save your companionship with Kulai. When we reach the slaver camp you will have an opportunity to have Kelsee branded once and for all. No more dreaming of freeing her inside the walls of Corcyrus. You need to do the right thing for both Kulai, and for Kelsee herself. After lunch, we will reach the camp of Darian Athuk the slaver. Do not disappoint me in this, my friend.”