Barbarian of Gor Chapter Thirty Eight

 

We dined well at breakfast time on what could possibly be my last day alive before I fell to a vicious sword thrust from Stannis Assante. Felix was my guest, for I wanted to make some vague gesture of contrition in respect of his wounded right arm. I recalled the first time I had seen him since the fight by the main gates of Torcadino; his right arm was in a sling and he was recovering from a vicious sword cut. I should have been there at his side, guarding his flank, but instead I had run after Miss Sally Reeve and been stabbed with her poisoned hair pin.

 

“I regret being unable, at present, to beat your head against that nearby wall,” Felix had remarked, indicating his wounded arm. “And repeatedly. You’ll forgive me, I hope, Roland, for postponing such a thing until my sword arm feels better?”

 

“That’s quite understandable,” I said. “Take your time. Your health comes first, Felix.”

 

Felix smiled and I could see in his eyes that I was sort of forgiven. Felix is a good man. One of the very beat. I swore then and there that I’d never desert him again. 

 

And so we dined lavishly on a late breakfast of sorts, served in the paga tavern of Rubin Clegane. I didn’t stint on the food – I simply ordered platters of everything.

 

The air in Rubin’s tavern hung thick with the scents of sweat, cheap wine, cheap paga, and the gamey tang of roasted spit meat. Natural daylight was a rare commodity due to the narrow windows that afforded the tavern some degree of privacy from the questing gaze of curious Free Women who might pass outside on the street, their pace curiously slowing for a few ihn as they tried to casually see what they might see. Curiosity, you see, is not just a feature of collared slave girls. Men decided, centuries ago, in their wisdom, that Free Women would be better off remaining ignorant of what transpires in paga taverns. The only women in here were collared slaves, and that’s the way men like it. Glass fronted lanterns burned inside the tavern, casting long, dancing shadows across the rough-hewn beams that held the high ceiling above my head. Everywhere I looked, men were drinking, arguing, and casting dice. The low drone of guttural conversation was punctuated by sharp bursts of laughter, the heavy clank of copper tarsk pieces changing hands, and the occasional sharp ring of a knife being drawn and quickly sheathed. There was an undercurrent of tension here, as there always is in a paga tavern, but generally speaking Goreans play nicely and play fairly. 

 

Silk clad kajirae moved barefoot through the crowded room with practiced efficiency, balancing trays laden with wooden tankards of murky home-brew and platters of pungent sausage and hard cheese, their eyes brightly seeking out the tables they were serving. There was a warmth to their greetings as they knelt at each table offering themselves in addition to the food and drink. 

 

“I haven’t eaten this well since…” Felix struggled to remember when he had ever eaten this well.

 

“And the girls?” I said. Felix had a paga slave by each side of him. They were tempting him alternatively with succulent morsels of food and with salacious kisses as he found it difficult to feed himself with just one arm. 

 

“Bless the Priest Kings for creating women!” he said, raising a cup of paga. “And for teaching men to forge collars to fit around their lovely throats.” He kissed the paga slave called Samina and, putting his cup down, ran his healthy left hand over her exposed breasts, for he had already pulled the silk from her upper body. Samina laughed as she then mounted his lap and wriggled in a way that made him gasp.

 

I, on the other hand, had but the one paga slave, and her name was Maia, though I knew her also as the former barbarian, Kelly Milford. She still had her paga silks adorning her body, for I was resisting unwrapping her until I had finished my bacon and eggs. One should not hurry the unwrapping of such a magnificent present. Maia wore a collar that I guessed stated she was the property of Rubin Clegane. I touched the steel and ran my fingertips across a script that I couldn‘t actually read. 

 

“You look happy, Maia.”

 

“I am happy, Master. I was happy the moment you walked into the tavern.” She placed her arms about me and kissed me. “I’ve dreamt about you each and every night since we met at the Fair of Se’Kara. I kept watching the door as the days went by, hoping you would finally walk in to this tavern. I began to fear you had found another slave.” She pouted. 

 

“Perhaps I have,” I said. “A man may own more than one slave.”

 

“Do you have another slave, Master?” asked Maia, suddenly worried.

 

“Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira, Maia.”

 

“Oh!” She looked frustrated, but she knew masters did not encourage probing questions from slaves. “I am sorry.”

“I am a slaver. I will own many slaves in my life.”

 

“Yes, of course.” Maia sucked at her lower lip. it was rouged in a deeply vibrant red. 

 

“Have you served many men since I last saw you?”

 

“Yes, Master. I am popular in this tavern. Men buy cups of paga just to spend time with me. The famous slaver of Ko-ro-ba, Scipio Metellus, was in here two nights ago.”

 

“The price for your use is a lot cheaper here than it was at the Fair of Se’Kara. Here I can have you for the price of my breakfast.”

 

She smiled. “You can have me any time you like when you buy me, Master.”

 

“But you are so cheap here I could probably save money just by having breakfast in this tavern from time to time. It’s an excellent breakfast, by the way. My compliments to the chef. ”

 

“Do you really want to share me with other men?” she asked, slyly, already suspecting what my answer might be.

 

“No, damn you. You know I want you for myself, Maia.”

 

“A slave suspects as much,” she said, laughing, as she kissed me again. “The power we have over men!”

 

“It is true,” I grumbled. “I’ve been thinking of you, too, you frustratingly desirable slut. You’ve been in my dreams.”

 

“Then buy me,” she whispered. “Buy me, Master. Let me wear your collar.”

 

“I have spoken to Rubin Clegane. He was reluctant at first to sell you, but then a man called Gaius Antony intervened on my behalf. I’m in his debt. We discussed a fair price.”

 

“Oh?” Maia grew excited. She had no idea what she was worth these days. “What will I cost?”

 

“Shall I send you on your hands and knees to fetch a slave whip between your teeth, Maia, because you are being insufferably curious?”

 

“Oh no, Master! Please, no!” She began kissing me again, and I swiftly forgot all about the slave whip. Slaves are really quite good at doing that. 

 

“That’s better,” I said. “You really are eager to please this morning.”

 

“I’ve been hot and excited since you beckoned me to your table, Master. Feel me for yourself. See how I’m oiling in preparation for your use.”

“Slave,” I laughed as I stroked her hair and then, through her fine silk, her lovely breasts.

“Yes, I’m a slave. I think I’ve always been a slave, Master. How could I not be? I’m an Earth woman. The Goreans know us for what we are.”

 

I grinned as I heard her say that.

 

“Please, Master, please may I ask you a question? Please?” There was that sexy pout again. She could be adorable when she wanted to be. 

 

“Very well, but just the one.”

 

“Do you own me? Now, I mean? Have you already bought me?”

 

I smiled. “Whose collar do you wear, Maia?”

“The collar of Rubin Clegane, Master. It has not been changed.”

 

“Then you are owned by Rubin Clegane are you not?”

 

“Yes, but, Master, have you paid for me? Has ownership transferred? I want your collar so badly, Master. I beg your collar.”

 

“You really are hot today, Maia.”

 

“Please! You said I could ask one question!”

 

“I did, though I didn’t say I would answer it.”

 

“Ohhh!” she squirmed in her frustration. “You might already own me for all I know!”

 

“I might. Stranger things have happened.” I gazed deep into Maia’s lovely eyes and I decided there and then that I would put her to use. “There is an unoccupied alcove,” I observed, casting my eyes in the direction of one space where the curtains were drawn open. “Go there now, Maia. I want you to demonstrate just why I should want you in my collar.”

 

“Yes, Master!” Maia sprang to her feet and skipped quickly to the alcove. Moments later I joined her and drew the heavy drape closed to give us both privacy. 

 

She was every bit as good as I remembered. Not as good as the pleasure slaves of the Ubar’s palace, but they were an exception. You’d expect an Ubar of a city to have a quality of slaves that just aren’t available anywhere else. But Maia was close. Maia had, I think, the potential to be a pleasure slave. Not many women reach that lofty a position on Gor, but with a bit of training it was within Maia’s potential.

 

She was naked now as we lay there, both satisfied. Our lovemaking had been hard and needy for the both of us. My many months living on Gor had seen me develop quite the appetite for women. Maia was breathing deeply now as she lay on her back, her fingers curling with deep seated pleasure around the links of her collar chain. Her slave orgasm wouldn’t completely subside for a while yet. The feelings would linger. Women are lucky like that. 

 

I sucked on a nipple and then kissed the girl, tasting again the sweetness of her vibrantly rouged lips. 

 

“Do you own me, Master? Do you? Am I already your property?”

 

“A price was agreed.”

 

“I am such a slave,” she whispered. “It took coming to this world to make me understand who I am.” 

 

“A lovely slave,’ I agreed. “Hot, needy, and very well trained.”

 

“VERY needy, Master.” She flexed her left foot and stretched her ankle along the side of the couch that we lay on. “I respond so well to your touch.” I watched as she traced her fingers along the edge of the steel collar. “I want this collar to be yours,” she whispered. 

 

“Maia… I’m going to tell you something now,” I said. It wasn’t fair not telling her. I sat up slightly, leaning on my right elbow as I traced my other hand across her smooth belly. “I haven’t bought you.”

 

Her eyes widened in fear.

 

“Of course I want you,” I said, by way of reassurance. “I want you in my collar, but…” I had to tell her. “I may be dead in just under ten ahn.”

 

“Master?” Now Maia lifted herself up on her elbow and turned to face me. There was a jingle of chain that linked her collar ring to a ring bolted into the wall. 

 

“I have been challenged by Stannis Assante. Unless I can think of something, and soon, I am fighting a duel later tonight, during the Lady Laetitia’s companionship. Frankly, there is no way I can win. So… I haven’t bought you. How could I? For all I know, Gorean law states that Stannis will be entitled to take my possessions after I’m dead. I’d’ rather you were safe in this tavern.”

 

Tears filled Maia’s eyes. “Please, Master…”

 

“I know you want my collar. And I want to lock you in my collar. But my time is fast running out. For the sake of my city I can’t refuse the challenge. I’m going to die, Maia. I’m so sorry.”

 

Maia was trembling and, without asking permission, she embraced and hugged me to her slim body. We held each other for a time, saying nothing much, just a man and a woman clinging onto one another, afraid this might be the end. 

 

“I couldn’t go to my death without seeing you one last time, Maia. I know now I was stupid to have even thought I was going to be with anyone else. Those days wasted on Earth when I was obsessed with Felicity. And then I met you. Brief Encounter,” I said with a smile.

 

“Before Sunrise,” she said, sobbing. 

 

“Yeah, Before Sunrise. What could have been, eh?”

 

She buried her face against my shoulder. “We could leave the city, Master.”

 

I shook my head sadly. “There’s too much at stake. Every story comes to its conclusion. And I’ve had a damn good story to date. At least this time my passing will mean something. Corcyrus will have stood up to Argentum.”

 

“Why?” sobbed Maia. “Why do you have to fight Stannis?”

 

“Kajira canjellne,” I said simply.

 

“I don’t even know what that is.” And so I told her. I told her everything. A challenge for possession of a slave girl. “Only one of us can own her. I can’t refuse the challenge because the Ubar’s son won’t allow it.”

 

Maia sobbed in my arms. But then she began to laugh softly, her laughter mingling with her tears. “But… but…”

 

“That’s simply how it is,” I said.

 

“NO. I mean… NO!” She lifted her head up. “Don’t you see? You don’t have to die. Master – YOU DON’T HAVE TO DIE!”

 

I didn’t quite understand what she was saying as she wiped away some tears with her forearm. “Don’t you see? There’s a way out!”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Maia looked excited as she hugged me again. “Am I the only one who sees this? Kajira canjellne – a challenge for a slave girl. So… you set her free.”

 

“What?”

 

Maia laughed. “You free her. And then there is no challenge, because she’s no longer a slave. She’s a former slave. So there’ll be no fight. There can’t be. The slave in question will no longer exist, Master. Stannis will stand there looking foolish. You will display the former kajira, now a freed slave, still dressed in her skimpy tunic, still with the same slave name, and Stannis won’t know what to do. He could claim a Free Woman for a companion. He could claim a slave for his collar. But the shame would be too much for him to claim a freed slave. His men would not respect him. He will have to send the former slave away, in front of the amused expressions of the men of Torcadino. She could kneel before his feet and beg to be collared by him, but I suppose her pride could never let her do that in front of the court of Torcadino and her huntress sisters. So she will remain a freed slave with all that entails and everyone in Torcadino would see how a man of Corcyrus had outwitted Stannis Assante, not through brute strength, but by strategy. Some cities will not even allow a freed slave to change her former slave name, Master. They insist she must keep it going forwards. She will leave the great halls of the palace clutching her precious papers of freedom, with a brand marking her thigh, and her name remaining Nia. Forever Nia. Nia is a slut’s name, isn’t it, Master? And Stannis will have to watch and do nothing.”

 

“Maia… that’s…”

 

“You haven’t given the slave away, you haven’t sold the slave, you haven’t even refused the challenge. You’ve simply freed the slave, Master. It’s Alexander cutting the Gordian knot.”

 

My expression must have been blank, for Maia went on to explain. “Alexander the Great, the conqueror, came to the city of Gordium – the capital of the Phrygian kingdom – I’m just so well read, Master, really I am – and there he was told that a man could only rule the Persian empire once he had untied the Gordian knot – a tie so complicated that it was seemingly impossible for any man to succeed. Alexander simply drew his sword and cut it apart. Be Alexander, Master. Win this contest not by meeting a superior force head on, but by outwitting it.”

 

“Won’t people say I’m simply…”

 

“People will recognise that you have outwitted Argentum. You have stood up to a superior foe and by sleight of hand you have won. Everyone knows Corcyrus is weaker than Argentum. What you will demonstrate is that Corcyrus is cleverer than Argentum.”

 

Hope began to rise in my heart. I seized the beautiful slave and pressed her to my body again. “Maia, I’m going to buy you.”

 

“Yes, Master, yes!” she pressed her lips to me.

 

“You are going to wear my collar!”

 

“Yes, Master, yes!” She thrust her body to mine. “I beg your collar!”

 

“You will obey me in all things, or you will know the whip.”

“I will be your slave, Master! I will obey you in everything! Keep me in bondage. Take the whip to me if I do not!”

 

And then we fucked again, hard and fast. And it was glorious, for I was no longer a dead man walking. 

 

I had a lot to do, and very little time before I had to escort the Lady Laetitia to her medical examination. And then later tonight, once she had passed the examination, she would be companioned and formally bedded. 

 

I left the tavern one ahn later and headed straight to a caste building where I had papers of freedom swiftly drawn up for my slave, Nia. I had them signed and witnessed, ready to be shown during the companionship ceremony. The girl would never be Livinnia Assante again. She would only be Nia, a former kajira, branded on the left thigh – a girl who had better keep her papers of freedom close to her at all times. The more I thought about this solution the more elegant it seemed. I had denied the girl to Stannis. Stannis could have her if she was a Free Woman. Stannis could have her if she was a slave. But the man’s honour dictated he could never have her if she was a freed slave.

 

I had told Felix to join me later, when he and I would escort the Lady Laetitia to her betrothal. 

 

And tomorrow I would return for my beautiful Maia. I would pay Rubin Clegane the agreed upon price and the slave would be mine. I smiled, just thinking of her, kneeling at my feet, my fingers locking a collar about her throat. I would own Kelly Milford! And I would return with her to my city in triumph. 

 

We had won.