Gods of Gor Chapter Twelve

 

Chapter Twelve: The Trading Post

 

“He says we’re close, Master. The trading post is maybe three or four pasangs further ahead. We can be there later today.” Mina had been translating for us again, speaking to a couple of fishermen that we had encountered on our journey up river. They regarded us warily at first, sensing that Tijani and Brinn were warriors, and successful ones at that, judging by the number of kajirae they owned. I had told Brinn to smile when he met natives, so as not to scare them, but after seeing what his forced smile looked like, I had told him just to go back to his usual ‘resting bitch’ expression.

 

“What’s a resting bitch?” asked Brinn. I had used the precise English words, rather than the clumsy Gorean versions. 

 

“It’s a lovely compliment, Master.” I offered him a warm smile, and he seemed pleased with that contrived explanation. 

 

Bea was just three or four pasangs away. 

 

I was gut scared at the prospect of reaching the end of our journey and encountering my sister, for the moment of truth was now an inescapable reality. While we still had a long journey ahead of us I could at least defer the moment of revelation when I would tell Bea who I was. I had thought that by the time I reached the trading post I would be ready; I would have steeled myself for whatever her reaction might be. But now I wasn’t so sure.

 

Brinn could sense my nerves – he could sense how on edge I was.

 

“Is something wrong. Emma? We will find your sister this afternoon.”

Gods of Gor Chapter Eleven

 

Chapter Eleven: A Slave Tunic

 

I have no idea whether Gorean psychologists (if that caste even exists) have ever done a study on kajirae, but if they did, they will almost certainly have noticed the awkward way kajirae act and speak when they are in the presence of a Free Woman who they know will almost certainly be collared and branded in a short while. 

 

Kajirae are terrified of Free Women – and rightly so – but a subtle change occurs when the Free Woman is obviously heading towards enslavement. On the surface there is still a deference shown – the woman is free, after all – but like feral street cats that cautiously approach the offer of food, half expecting it to be a trap, we begin to test the boundaries of what we can say and do. It helps if the Free Woman in question has an inkling that she is going to be enslaved. If she’s observant enough to understand that, she will also understand that she has everything to lose by antagonising women who will very soon be chained to her in a coffle. One of us will almost certainly be a First Girl, and she will be subject to the switch. An Intelligent Free Woman in such a situation will begin to moderate her behaviour during the remaining days, or hours, in which she is free. 

 

But even if the Free Woman doesn’t understand her ultimate fate, kajirae tend to grow bolder in the way they respond to her commands and rebukes. We have strength in numbers, and as soon as we scent change in the air – as soon as we see a change in the way men treat the Free Woman – perhaps removing her clothing, placing her under some capture disciplines – then we begin to take risks.

 

And so it was, that all four of us watched silently as Tijani helped the Lady Taleisha into the canoe.

 

The naked Lady Taleisha.

Gods of Gor Chapter Ten

 

Chapter Ten: The Barge

 

“River pirates,” said Brinn as he gazed to the left of our canoe. 

 

“It seems so,” remarked Tijani. We had paused paddling for the moment while the men assessed the situation. I wasn’t too concerned as the pirates were already engaged in looting and securing their ill-gotten prizes and would be unlikely to jump back into their pirogues and chase after us.

 

“I suppose we have now paddled enough distance up the Nyoka that the security afforded by the might of Schendi can no longer reach this far.”

 

“It would seem so,” agreed Tijani. “From now on we need to be on guard and keep our blades close at hand.”

 

“I am always on guard,” remarked Brinn. “And my blade is never far from reach.”

 

“When we camp we will have to ensure additional security.”

 

“Indeed.” Brinn actually seemed pleased by the idea. For him this was now less of a genteel canoeing holiday and more of a dangerous incursion into savage lands. Why did that make him happy…

 

“Observe the barge,” remarked Tijani as he leaned forward. “It obviously fled in panic and ran aground.” The flat bottomed barge had veered left and had struck a sandbank under the surface of the water. An experienced river captain would not have permitted his vessel to run aground, but then I suppose when river pirates are in hot pursuit, you are forced to take chances. The captain had obviously tried to reach the shore where his passengers might hide themselves in the thick tree line. Pirates rarely wish to plunge deep into the forested interior, where their advantage can be squandered. They are also nervous to leave their pirogues unattended for too long.

 

“Help me!” The cry was from a woman on the barge and it was directed at us.

 

“She is making a stand,” remarked Tijani. He reached for a water bottle and took a sip. “I admire that. Do you not, friend Brinn?”

 

Brinn merely grunted in a reluctant manner. He seemed uninterested.

Gods of Gor Chapter Nine

 

Gods of Gor: Pillow Talk

 

The jungle pressed in on us like a living, breathing beast, its emerald heart throbbing with heat and hidden life. Vines thicker than a man's thigh draped from the canopy in lazy, sinuous loops, heavy with clusters of blood-red orchids that wept nectar in slow, glistening drops, each one catching a fractured spear of moonlight. The air itself was a warm, wet soup, saturated with the sweet rot of fallen fruit, the sharp green bite of crushed ferns, the faint metallic copper of river mud, and the ever-present musk of unseen animals: jaguar piss sharp as vinegar, the heavy animal sweetness of black larl fur, the sour tang of fermenting sap where a tree had been scored by tusk or claw.

 

Every breath tasted different. In the darkness the air cooled slightly, carrying the clean mineral chill of moss-covered stone and the faint iron scent of hidden springs. Step into a sun-dappled clearing during the day and the heat slammed down like a physical weight - humid, suffocating, making sweat spring instantly along the spine, behind the knees, under my breasts. Insects filled the gaps: the high, metallic whine of mosquitoes orbiting like tiny silver knives, the low, throbbing drone of cicadas that rose and fell in waves, the sudden dry rattle of a stick insect unfolding wings the colour of dead leaves. But at night the air was cooler, more bearable.

 

The sounds never stopped, of course. Somewhere a howler monkey screamed - a raw, ascending wail that ripped through the green like a blade, answered by the softer, questioning hoots of smaller primates. Birds flashed overhead - scarlet macaws with wings like torn flame, tospore birds trailing iridescent plumes that shimmered violet and emerald as they darted between shafts of moonlight. Beneath it all ran the constant rustle: leaves shivering as something large moved just out of sight, the soft plop of fruit dropping into dark pools, the slow creak of branches bending under the weight of unseen bodies.

Gods of Gor Chapter Eight

 

Chapter Eight: A Question of Honour

 

Kwame rose slowly, his grin vanishing, replaced by a thunderous scowl, muscles tensing like coiled vines. "You placed the flowers around her shoulders. You took Meralisha under them. You bound yourself before the spirits!"

 

“A simple misunderstanding,” said Brinn, as he regarded Kwame with a soppy smile. 

 

Here’s the thing – people sometimes misunderstand Brinn’s expression. When he’s trying to be diplomatic (and believe me, it doesn’t come easy to him) he ends up with this dopey expression on his face, and people either assume he’s intimidated (he really isn’t), he’s mentally deficient (okay, so the jury is sometimes out on that one) or he’s being patronising (Brinn is the least patronising person I’ve ever met. He always means exactly what he says). And I could see that right now he had that expression on his face, and Kwame was reading it as Brinn mocking his family.

 

“You bedded my sister!” snarled Kwame.

 

And here’s the other thing – arguments aren’t helped by delays, where Mina has to translate back and forth. Brinn would say something, Kwame wouldn’t understand him, and then both men would have to stare at each other and wait for Mina to find the words in the corresponding language. And God knows what important subtleties were lost in translation. And all the while a dark mood was boiling amongst the tribal men and women, and that in turn was making Brinn more defensive. Right now he would be thinking they weren’t listening to him, and they weren’t appreciating just how ‘nice’ he was being about the situation.

 

This was going to be a bloodbath.

 

We were all going to die.

Gods of Gor Chapter Seven

 

Chapter Seven: Blood Brothers

 

“I wear scarlet,” said Brinn, thumping his tightly muscled chest with the clenched fist of his right hand. “I am of the warriors – a High Caste on Gor. I do not… sneak around… like some common thief in Port Kar. Do not speak of this again, Emma.”

 

This was going to be difficult. 

 

I sighed, fearing the worst now. “They will try and kill you, Master. There will be spears raised and…”

 

“It is a misunderstanding – nothing more. But were I to slink away in the dead of night, then what would men say of my honour?”

 

“They might say you’re still alive?” suggested Tijani as he gazed out of the hut towards the river.

 

“Thank you, Master!” I said, grateful at least that Tijani was taking my side. 

 

“I am sometimes concerned you may not fully appreciate the concept of honour,” said Brinn, frowning now, to Tijani. “It is a complex principle, of course, but even so…”

 

“I’m a pirate,” said Tijani with a grin. “I reave, I pillage, and I wench. Not necessarily in that order.”

 

“Those things can be done honourably,” suggested Brinn.

 

“But not for long,” added Tijani. “Men like you always spoil things by demanding – say – one on one combat... to the death.”

Gods of Gor Chapter Six

 

Chapter Six: Rite of the River Whisper

 

There’s a scene in an early episode of HBO’s TV series, Rome, where an entire Roman legion is standing around in a long column, not going anywhere, and then the camera tracks over to the side of a tree where General Mark Antony (played by the always brilliant James Purefoy) is fucking a peasant girl up against the trunk, and the entire Roman army has to wait for him to finish before they can continue marching. 

 

Well, I know what’s that like now, because this was day three of us sitting around in the village while Brinn fucked around with one of their Free Women.

 

“I thought you, as a rule, never had sex with Free Women, Master?” I said to him on the third day. 

 

“I never said that,” said Brinn as he sat on a cot bed beside a beautiful, sleeping, black skinned woman. I had seen her walking around the village, and she was as graceful as a gazelle, with long legs and a seductive smile. I knelt, lacing up his sandals as he yawned and stretched his arms. “When did I ever say that? Is it too early for paga?”

 

“Yes it is too early for paga.” I had already hidden his bottle. “Master, this is all lovely, I’m sure, but even Tijani is getting impatient. You have four slaves. You don’t need to…” I stopped talking as I saw the Free Woman stir in her sleep. A few seconds passed by and then when I felt sure she wasn’t waking up, I continued to speak in a quiet whisper. “And the village men here think you have companioned her.”

 

Brinn laughed at that. “You have quite the imagination, Emma. Companioned her – as if I would do that.”

 

“No, Master, listen to me – I’ve been picking up some of the language, and Mina filled in some of the details last night while you were…”

 

“Wasn’t there a paga bottle by my bed?” mused Brinn as he scratched his enormous hairy balls. The shaft of his penis looked impressive even while it lay flaccid. It resembled a short hosepipe. 

 

“I think you must have drunk it all, Master. But, please, listen to me… 

Gods of Gor Chapter Five

 

Chapter Five: Lady Taleisha

 

“I’m not talking to you,” I snarled under my breath as I crossed my arms and looked away from Mina. “Slut,” I added.

 

Because she was.

 

Skanky little slut. 

 

Slutty, skanky, little slut.

 

It was mid-morning, and Mina had something she wanted to say to me, but she could fuck right off.

 

“Emma, don’t be like that. I can hardly say no to Brinn, can I? I’m a slave.”

 

Brinn had told me – HE HAD FUCKING TOLD ME – that I’d be in his furs last night, and then he got drunk and Mina was all over him while I was peeling suls!

“Oh, you’re a slave, are you?” I snarled, without looking around. “Well that makes a fucking change to hear you say that!”

Gods of Gor Chapter Four

 

Chapter Four: Reflections from a Distant Past

 

We paddled eastward down the wide, sluggish river, Mina, Saffron, Chloe and I, our wooden canoe slicing through the steaming brown waters that carried us ever deeper into the equatorial jungle east of Schendi. I sat in front of Mina, our light steel ankle links clinking softly with each synchronized stroke of our paddles. Once the self-proclaimed Ubara of the Black Kingdoms – the captain of the feared pirate ship, the Larl of the Thassa - the former pirate queen now belonged to Tijani, the lean, muscled, dark-skinned warrior whose gold rings caught the fractured sunlight whenever he moved. I belonged to Brinn, whose ice-blue gaze rested on me with the calm certainty of ownership, seeing every bead of sweat, every tremble in my arms, every effort to please. The men lounged in the stern, voices low and rough with talk of coin, silk, and the kajirae prices they had seen in the markets we had left behind in Schendi, while we slaves drove the canoe forward—slow, deliberate, obedient.

 

The jungle pressed in on both sides, a green wall so thick it seemed to lean toward us, hungry and ever watchful. Towering trees strangled by vines as thick as a man’s arm arched overhead, their canopy filtering the sun into shifting bars of gold and deep shadow that played across my bare skin like fingers. Broad leaves dripped moisture onto my shoulders; heavy-scented orchids and crimson blossoms exhaled perfume that coated my throat, sweet enough to make me dizzy. The air was wet heat, clinging, making the thin cotton of my brief skirt slide and cling with every stroke, every breath. I felt Brinn’s eyes on the small of my back, tracking the way the fabric moulded to my hips, and my belly tightened in that familiar, helpless flutter.

Gods of Gor Chapter Three

 

Chapter Three: Mimi ni mtumwa

 

We sheltered under some canvas tarpaulin as the rain continued to fall sporadically where we camped. It was like someone was turning a hose pipe on and off repeatedly. I snuggled close to Brinn as he fed me pieces of cooked fish. It was warm, despite the rain, and I felt good that evening. We had taken the first nervous steps into the Gorean terra incognita and found it not quite as daunting as I had feared. As long as we followed the river itself it was nigh on impossible to get lost, though I would not fancy entering the dark veldt of the rain forest without a native guide to hand. Mina and Saffron’s collars were chained together with a long length of chain, designed of course to keep Mina secure. From time to time I saw her gaze wistfully into the depths of the darkening jungle, wondering perhaps how difficult it might be to escape in the days to come. The men, sensibly, weren’t taking chances with her. She had grown up in the jungle after all, and although this was an unknown area to her, she knew instinctively how to survive in this kind of terrain. 

 

I gasped suddenly as I felt Brinn’s hand stray between my legs. He was touching me there, feeling my sexual warmth and I nuzzled him in response. I could do little else but moan and sigh as he aroused me slowly, feeding the slave fires within my body. 

 

“Slave,” said Brinn.

 

I simply squirmed and kissed him with renewed passion. 

 

“Do you remember when you were my enemy, Emma?”

 

“I was never your enemy.”

 

“You were an agent of the Kurii. Had you been a man, I would have killed you. Instead, I promised to put you in a collar.”

Gods of Gor Chapter Two

 

Chapter Two: The Emerald Forest

 

Fuck. Our collar chain got caught on a branch again. “Mina! Hang on just a moment.” She felt the tug on the chain at the same time I spoke. Mina stood still in the rain forest canopy as I carefully freed the links of the chain from where it had hooked against some vegetation. The chain was only ten feet in length and connected the ring on Mina's collar to the ring on mine. This was because Chloe still considered Mina to be a flight risk and wasn't going to let her loose in the jungle perimeter without securing her to another girl she could trust not to run away. It did make things awkward for us though as we strolled between the canopy of trees.  

 

I could hardly move without a plant touching my skin, so dense was the foliage this close to the river bank. There's probably more life here per square metre than anywhere else on the planet and the noise alone is incredible: so many insects, birds and mammals chirping and chittering away like some natural history symphony. The rain falls thickly in drops as large as ramberries, yet it's so warm the wet isn't as big of a problem as it is in the Sardar when it falls in sheets from the mountain air. But as we tread through the bracken I'm so alert for the deadly bugs and snakes I can't relax at all.

   

“You walk too slowly, Emma,” said Mina.

 

“No, you're walking too quickly. We need to watch out for snakes.” I was petrified that I might step barefoot on a venomous snake as we pushed through the low vegetation. Snakes were everywhere! I knew they were! They were sniggering in hiding as they saw me coming. I knew that just like I knew we should never venture near a riverbank for fear of a river tharlarion lying in wait under the water to rise up and snap us in two between its powerful jaws.

Gods of Gor Chapter One

 

Chapter One: A Farewell to Schendi

 

Six Months Earlier

 

I winced as I felt the cold steel of the shears touch the base of my neck, just below the slave collar. “You’re cutting it too short, Master!” I wailed as I felt more of my lovely long hair fall from my shoulders. I knelt on the floor as Brinn snipped away at my blonde hair, drastically cutting it ahead of our canoe expedition up the Nyoka river from Schendi.

 

“Stop fidgeting, Emma,” said Brinn as he snipped away behind me. “Your hair grows quickly. It won’t be short for long.”

 

“Sit still, Emma and you can have this piece of baklava when you’re finished,” said Chloe as she knelt close by. There was indeed a piece of baklava on a folded palm leaf. It was hardly compensation for hacking my hair off though.

 

“But not this short! Please, Master...”

 

“Your hair is too long for the equatorial jungle. It will be wet and uncomfortable.” Brinn was cutting the back of my hair pretty much square with the nape of my neck, the ends brushing the bottom edge of my collar. I clenched my fingers in an anxious state, never having worn my hair so short before.

 

“She’ll look cute with bangs,” suggested Chloe with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

 

“No! No bangs!”

Gods of Gor: Prologue

 

I pressed myself against the cold stone wall at the top of the basement steps, the unlit torch trembling in my hands. Every muscle in my body screamed at me to move, but I couldn’t risk it. Not yet. The catacombs below were treacherous enough, but the danger above was far more immediate.

 

The faint scrape of bare feet against stone echoed through the corridors. My heart slammed in my chest as I heard the Talunas searching for me. I had run swiftly from them — these lithe, beautiful, and utterly lethal women, dressed only in the skins of animals, carrying long, sharp spears that glinted in the torchlight. They moved like predators, graceful and silent, their bodies coiled with deadly strength honed by years of hunting. I knew, without question, that I was no match for any of them.

 

I crouched lower, trying to make myself as small as possible, pressing my back against the damp wall. Torchlight from distant wall sconces flickered across the water pooling at my feet, leaving most of the chamber in shadow. I dared not move, dared not breathe too loudly. My knuckles whitened as I clutched the cold torch in my right hand, not daring to light it just yet. I wanted Brinn to be by my side. Brinn would keep me safe! Every instinct screamed that a single mistake would bring the Talunas down on me like a storm of claws and blades.

Adventures in AI on Christmas Day

 

So, I’ve been playing around a bit, trying to figure out how I could get Google Gemini to maintain the same look of a character throughout a series of pictures, because up until now Gemini keeps changing the way a character looks, and that's really frustrating. It does seem there is a way and this is my first attempt. I’ll preface this by saying I’m not very good with computers. I don’t have Chloe’s programming skills, so this is me probably doing everything the hard way.

 

As an experiment I took the first picture I had randomly generated as “Emma’ (the one at the top of this post) and, because I was quite happy with it as a ‘look’ (her hair is cut short at the beginning of chapter one), I used it as a ‘model’ for any picture with “Emma” in it.

 

Basically, in each subsequent picture prompt, I uploaded the original picture and defined that Gemini should stick with the same appearance, which it seems to have done. Note, I haven’t tried to stabilise any other characters in the picture – it’s really just an experiment to see if I could do it first with just “Emma”. But if I could, then in theory I can do the same with multiple characters. These then are the pictures I generated that way, and I think this time around the appearance of “Emma” has been stabilised, which suggests I can do that going forwards for any character I’m happy with. See what you think.

Merry Christmas from Emma and Chloe!

 

As I recover from the (ahem) excessive amounts of ka-la-na I had on Christmas Eve, I just wanted to say thank you so much for sticking with this blog so faithfully over the past few years, particularly through my rather extended periods of absence. I actually feel really humble each time I come back and I find you’re all still here. Your ongoing devotion to the Emmaverse, your generous feedback, ideas, and support means the world to me. It really does.

 

Oh, look at me, I’m getting all emotional here. But you really are wonderful, and I don’t think I would ever have got this far without your ever engaging feedback. 

 

I hope you’re all having a wonderful festive season, be it Christmas, or whichever holiday festival you prefer. For those of you who haven’t seen my comments buried in the feedback section of some of the previous chapters, I will be serialising the long delayed Gods of Gor at long last to run concurrently with The Shadow in the Dark (albeit at a slower pace than Shadow on the Dark, to give Chloe plenty of time to hopefully produce some of her digital art). 

Emma models new hair and new slave garments under Chloe's supervision

Greetings again, kind masters, and gentle free women. It’s Chloe again, Taharian slave girl, First Girl of Brinn of the Sardar, and Trainer in Chief of the very best slave coffles in northern Gor!

 

At the risk of getting into spoilers, I wanted to just say that the Master and I are back from our hair raising adventures in the jungles east of Schendi, along with a small coffle of slaves, and you’ll read all about them soon in the serialised book, Gods of Gor, which follows on from Ubara of Gor! Yes, I know you’ve been waiting a long time for that epic story, but a certain blonde barbarian has been taking her time getting it all down in writing. I’ll be doing the pictures, but I need to see the writing first. 

 

The biggest spoiler of course is that we didn’t die! 

 

Yes, we’re still alive at the end of it!

 

What a surprise! 😉

 

I mean, it was dangerous and all. Of course it was. We discovered a decaying, lost city in the deepest jungle with two warring Taluna tribes fighting through the ruins, and all sorts of exciting things happen, including meeting Emma’s father again, and there’s her sister kidnapped from Earth and trained as a slaver in Schendi, which is the reason we sailed down the river in the first place, because she’d gone missing, and we had to find her, but my Master has told me not to spoil the story for you, so I wont.

Chloe displays the new slaves: Mina and Saffron

 

Welcome, once again, kind masters and ever so gentle mistresses. A few of you have occasionally asked about our two new slave girls who were collared towards the end of Ubara of Gor. I’m referring of course to the former Lady Saffia Luna Josefina Alejandra of Telnus, now the blonde kajira called Saffron, and the former Orisha - Yishana al Ghul, chosen Avatar of Nakeisha wind-rider, and Ubara of the Black Coast, now the dark skinned kajira called Mina.

Brinn models his Rain Forest Explorer look for Gods of Gor!

 

 

Tal, kind masters and gentle mistresses, it’s Chloe again, and this time I thought it would make for a nice change to offer something for the free women to look at! Master Brinn has offered to show us his typical ‘look’ during the canoe expedition into the heart of the unexplored rain forest, east of Schendi. 

 

And there you are, Master, just in time!

 

“I’ve brought my spear, Chloe. I thought it might look good if I held a spear?”

 

Whatever you think best, Master. If you could just stand over there, next to your helmet. Such a good master.:)

Emma and Chloe model their new wardrobes for Gods of Gor!

 

Tal, kind masters and ever so gentle mistresses. I’ve brought Emma, the blonde barbarian herself, along today to help me model our new slave garments for the upcoming Gods of Gor book. As you can see, Master Brinn has trimmed Emma’s hair for the journey by canoe up river, through the rain forest region, in search of the Lady Beatrice. Say something Emma.

 

“It’s too short! He cut it too short!”

Gods of Gor Preview

A quick update note to assure you all that I’ve been working hard on the new Emma book, and of course I understand it can be frustrating having to wait for the finished piece. Mind you, if you’ve been waiting for the sixth Game of Thrones book, then a short delay from me pales into insignificance in comparison! And George Martin doesn’t even have my excuse that I have a day job! 

 

So, anyway, I thought I’d post some pages from the work in progress, since you’ve all been so patient. You’ll eventually see it released with pretty pictures by Chloe, but in the meantime, here are thirteen pages from chapter four. The first three chapters have seen Brinn, Tijani, and their gaggle of kajirae sailing down the Nyoka river, into the dark rain forest interior east of Schendi, in search of the distant trading post and Emma’s Earth sister, Bea. The kajirae have been bickering throughout. But here is some intrepid river action!