The Lady Tendite, smiling at the crowd, closed the collar about her neck. The click was audible.
There was an intake of breath. There was a cry of pleasure. Then there was applause for the Lady Tendite.
She stood before them, as a collared slave girl.
There was much applause.
The women in the tiers, clearly, were identifying with the Lady Tendite, and her beauty, as a collared slave girl. The Lady Tima was appealing to, and exploiting, something deep in women which she, as a slaver, well understood, the deep, thrilling desire, profound in women, to be the owned slave of a strong man, to be mastered and to find themselves under the obligation of obedience. I do not know how many of the women clearly understood what was occurring on the platform. Perhaps many knew only that, for some reason that was not clear to them, they were excited and thrilled. And they could, of course, be innocent in feeling this thrill and excitement for, first, it was not truly they but the Lady Tendite who stood on the platform, and, too, she was not truly a slave, but only pretending to be one. How frightening, of course, it would have been had the collar been truly locked upon her!
"My congratulations to the superb actress, the Lady Tendite!" called the Lady Tima.
There was more applause.
I have little doubt, too, the fact that I stood in the near background to the Lady Tendite, a male large and strong, contributed to the scene intended by the Lady Tima. She was very small, compared to me.
"Caress the slave," said the Lady Tima to the Lady Tendite.
The Lady Tendite came near to me. She looked up into my eyes. She was exquisitely beautiful. Her breasts, swelling within the pathetic restraint of the Ta-Teera, made me want to cry out with pleasure.
"Please do not touch me," I begged.
She wore a steel collar.
"Please," I begged. I cried out with misery and shame.
"Ten tarsks!" I heard "Ten five!" I heard.
"You may now remove the collar and take your whip from the attendant," said the Lady Tima. "Then, with the whip, display him as you will."
The Lady Tendite smiled, and went to the rear of the platform.
Bids continued. When the Lady Tendite returned, the collar removed, her whip in hand, they were at eleven six. I was then, guided by the voice of the Lady Tendite, and the deft touches of her whip, displayed to the crowd. There were tears in my eyes. Then I was made to kneel.
"Fourteen tarsks!" I heard.
"Jason," said the Lady Tima, "you did attempt to escape"
"Yes, Mistress," I said, shuddering.
"Speak up," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"Too," she said, "you spoke at least once without permission this evening."
"Yes, Mistress," I said, loudly, knowing that I must speak so that I could be heard in the tiers.
"Do you beg to be whipped?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress," I said. "Please have me whipped." I put my head down, miserable.
The Lady Tima gestured to one of the attendants who then stood behind me, and shook out the blades of a slave whip.
"Whip him," she said.
I shuddered as the lash fell upon me.
The bids continued, as I was beaten. I was sold for sixteen silver tarsks. I did not know who bought me. I was chained hand and foot. I remember realizing that I was no longer being beaten. I was dragged, bloody, from the sales platform. I remember hearing the sound of the gong once more. A new slave was being presented before the buyers.
13 THE LADY FLORENCE:I ENCOUNTER A SLAVE GIRL,WHOM I LEARN IS OWNED BY ONEANDER OF AR
"How pretty he is at your stirrup, Lady Florence," said the veiled woman, reclining in the palanquin, its draft slaves now halted.
"A lengthening of his hair, a white ribbon binding it back, a silken tunic make quite a difference, Lady Melpomene," responded the Lady Florence.
"I see you no longer have him chained there," said the Lady Melpomene.
"It was not necessary, as I soon discovered," said the Lady Florence. I kept my head down.
"I envy you such a sweet slave," said the Lady Melpomene.
"It is kind of you not to be bitter," said the Lady Florence, acidly. I held the reins of her tharlarion. It was not large. Its stirrup was at my right shoulder.
"Have you had him branded yet?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"No," said the Lady Florence. "I keep my male slaves smooth-thighed."
"Interesting," said the Lady Melpomene.
The Lady Florence shrugged.
"Is he any good on the couch?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"I use him when it pleases me," said the Lady Florence.
"Of course," said the Lady Melpomene.
"It is unfortunate that your resources, in the recent markets, have become so limited, or you might have outbidden me," said the Lady Florence.
"My resources are quite ample," said the Lady Melpomene.
"Rumor has it," said the Lady Florence, "that your fortunes lie near ruin."
"Such rumors," snapped the Lady Melpomene, "are malicious and false."
"I thought so," said the Lady Florence, pleasantly. "It is unfortunate that they are so rampant."
"I was insufficiently interested in the slave to bid sixteen tarsks," said the Lady Melpomene.
"Of course," said the Lady Florence.
"Have you been long shopping in Ar?" asked the Lady Melpomene.
"Some four days," said the Lady Florence. "We left our house in Vonda a month ago, for my villa." The villa of the Lady Florence of Vonda lay some forty pasangs south and west of Vonda. Vonda was one of the four cities of the Salerian Confederation. The other cities of this confederation were Ti, Port Olni and Lara. All four of these cities lie on the Olni River, which is a tributary to the Vosk. Ti is farthest from the confluence of the Olni and Vosk; downriver from Ti is Port Olni; these were the first two cities to form a league, originally intended for the control of river pirates and the protection of inland shipping; later, downriver from Port Olni, Vonda, and Lara, lying at the junction of the Olni and Vosk, joined the league. The Olni, for practical purposes, has been freed of river pirates. The oaths of the league, and the primitive articles pertaining to its first governance, were sworn, and signed, in the meadow of Salerius, which lies on the northern bank of the Olni between Port Olni and Vonda. It is from that fact that the confederation is known as the Salerian Confederation. The principal city, because the largest and most populous, of the confederation is Ti. The governance of the confederation is centralized in Ti. The high administrator of the confederation is a man called Ebullius Gaius Cassius, of the Warriors. Ebullius Gaius Cassius was also, as might be expected, the administrator of the city, or state, of Ti itself. The Salerian Confederation, incidentally, is also sometimes known as the Four Cities of Saleria. The expression `Saleria', doubtless owing its origin to the meadow of Salerius, is used broadly, incidentally, to refer to the fertile basin territories both north and south of the Olni, the lands over which the confederation professes to maintain a hegemony. The meadow of Salerius, thus, lies on the northern bank of the Olni, between Port Olni and Vonda; the area called Saleria, on the other hand, is, in effect, the lands controlled by the confederation. Ti, Port Olni and Vonda lie on the northern bank of the Olni; Lara lies between the Olni and the Vosk, at their confluence. It is regarded as being of great strategic importance. It could, if it wished, prevent Olni shipping from reaching the markets of the Vosk towns, and, similarly, if it wished, prevent shipping from these same towns from reaching the Olni markets. Overland shipping in this area, as is generally the case on Gor, is time consuming and costly; also, it is often dangerous. It is interesting to note that the control of piracy on the Olni was largely a function of the incorporation of Lara in the confederation. This made it difficult for the pirate fleets, following their raids, to descend the Olni and escape into the Vosk. It may also be of interest to note that what began as a defensive league instituted primarily to protect shipping on a river gradually, but expectedly, began to evolve into a considerable political force in eastern known Gor. Jealousies and strifes, rivalries, even armed conflicts, tend often to separate Gorean cities. Seldom do they band together. In this milieu, then, of suspicion, pride, autonomy and honor, the four cities of Saleria represented a startling and momentous anomaly in the politics of Gor. The league to protect shipping on the Olni, inadvertently but naturally founded in the common interest of four cities, had formed the basis for what later became the formidable Salerian Confederation. Many cities of Gor, it was rumored, looked now with uneasiness on the four giants of the Olni. The Salerian Confederation, it was rumored, had now come to the attention even of the city of Ar.