I unwrapped then the object from the silk on the table. There was the sound of the metal clapper in the narrow, flatish, triangular-shaped bell, the rustle of the chain and lock, the sound of the small, metal, sturdy, rectangular, locked coin box. I dangled the chain, the girl bell and the coin box before her eyes."Do you know what this is?" I asked her. "Yes, Master," she whispered frightened.
"Excellent," said Tasdronk "excellent," and he rose from the table letting himself out of the room with a key, by means of a side door, one which led up a flight of stairs, presumably to private compartments.
He locked the door behind him. He would return shortly with the keys to her bells and collar.
"Stand, Slave," I said.Peggy stood beautifully.
Tasdron crouched beside her left ankle and with his key removed the slave bells from her left ankle. Such bells are seldom put on by the slave or removed by the slave. Almost always they are put on or removed by one who is in authority over the slave. The girl seldom puts them on or removed them; rather it is hers to wear them, and as a slave, for as long or briefly as masters see fit.
I then, not hurrying, lifted the heavy chain with its bell and box about the girl's neck. I stood behind her. I then, not yet dropping the chain about her neck, but holding it about her neck, closed the lock. She shuddered. It was on her, though she could not yet feel its weight as I had not yet released it, that it might fall against the back of her neck. Tasdron then, with a key, removed his collar from her throat. I then dropped the chain about her neck. The heavy block links were obdurate against the small soft hairs on the back of her slender lovely neck. I then threw her hair back again, in place. I then walked about her and before her. She who had once been peggy Baxter of Earth then stood before me in the apparatus of a Gorean coin girl.
"An excellent idea," sid Tasdron. "Now whe will attract only the attention natural to a coin girl in the streets."Some may recognize her, of course," I said."I do not think many will," said Tasdron, "and if some do, they will simply assume that she has been put into the streets for discipline."
"That too was my conjecture," I said. though the Gorean coin girl is commonly one of several girls, one of a stable there so to speak, sent daily into the streets to earn money as the chattels they are for their master, under the penalty of whippings or tortures, or death, if their day's work does not prove sufficiently lucrative, it is not unknown for this sensual charge to be also placed upon a private girl, usually as a punishment for having failed in some way, often trivial or negligible, to be fully pleasing.
After having been sent into the humiliations and dangers of the streets, it is a rare girl who does not hurry back, eager and chastened, to the intimate joys of a private slavery.
"Do you know what you are to do?" I asked the girl. "Yes, Master," she said, "You have explained the matter fully to me."Do not fail slave girl," I said to her menacingly."I shall do my best, Master," she whispered."It may work," said Tastron, regarding the slave. He looked to Callimachus. "What do you think?"
"It amy quiet possibly work," said Callimachus. "We shall hope so."She is pretty, isn't she?" said Tasdron, "What do you think of her?"
Peggy straightened her body, scarcely daring to breathe. She was beautiful.
"She is not totally displeasing," said Callimachus.
Tasdron then took the girl by an arm and thrust her toward a rear door, before which he stopped, the girl then standing beside him, to unlock it.The girl turned to face us, "But am I not to be given even a Ta-Teera to wear?" she asked."You will be more alluring, more fetching, without it," I told her."Yes Master," she said, half choking.
Tasdron then had the door open, and he took her by the arm. "But in the streets," she said, "seen as I am, what if others should wish to use me?" You are inthe guise of a coin girl," I told her. "But what should i do?" she asked."See that you serve them well," I said. "Yes, Master," she whispered, and then Tasdron, by her arm, half dragging her, pulled her through the door and down the corridor toward the alley door. The sound of the bell on her neck was exciting. Then the door unbolted and opened, she was thrust into the darkness of the alley. She looked at us once and then turned about and sped away, the bell on her neck, on our business. Tasdron closed the door and resecured it.
"Do you think she will be successful?" asked Callimachus of Tasdron, when he had returned to the room.
"She is a slave," said Tasdron. "It will be in her best interest to be so."
"Let us eat," I said, "I am hungry."I too," said Callimachus. "I too," said Tasdron.
26. Florence; Miles of Vonda
"Florence!" I said. "Master!" she said, pleased.
"It isyou?" I laughed. "Yes," she said. "How wonderful to see you," I said."Doubtless it is wonderful for a man to see me as I am now," she laughed.
It was the 18th Ahn, two Ahn before the 20th Ahn, the Gorean midnight, when we would hold our secret meeting inthe back room of Tasdron's tavern. I had finished my supper in the room and had, leaving Callimachus and Tasdron in conversation emerged through the now-opened door into the main room of the tavern. I intended to walk until the 20th Ahn.
"I see that you are well secured," I said."My Master has seen to it," she said.In Tasdron's paga tavern, as in many, along one well there is a set of slave rings to which one may chain or tie orn's slaves while drinking or dining in the tavern. This is a convenience for the customers.
"How beautiful you are," I said. I crouched down beside her. "Thank you Master," she said. "I see that slavery agrees with you," I said."Yes Master," she said softly.
I turned her face toward me, gently, with my hand. "What an incredible transformation has come ovr you." I said."It is only that you are not used to seeing me in the tunic and collar of a slave," she said. "No," I said, "it is far beyond such things." I loered my hand."Yes Master," she smiled.
I examined her with attention as a man does an enslaved woman, as she put her head down shyly. She wore a brief slave tunic of gray rep-cloth. It was demure as such garments go, but it left little doubt as to her charms. I saw that her master was proud of his slave's beauty. She knelt with her back to the wall and slave ring, her knees wide. Her hands were braceleted about and behind her head, the tinkling chain on the bracelets passing behind the slave ring. She also wore an ankle ring with a chain which looped up to the same slave ring, and was locked about it. The soft, rounded flesh of her forearms, below the steel,and the sweet swelling flesh of her palms above the steel were lovely. I examined the lineaments of her body, the beauty of her breasts held high, as she was braceleted, the latitudes of her belly, the flare of her hips, the sweetness of her knees and thighs, the lovely curve of her salves, her ankles, the left clapsed in steel and her small feet. She was barefoot of course as slaves are commonly kept.
"You are astonishingly beautiful, Florence," I said."Thank you Master," she said."You are doubly chained," I said. "Yes Master," she said.
This type of chaining, a double chaining, is usually done only by a man who is in a strange city and does not know fully what to expect. If one is familiar with the city, a single chaining is usually regarded as sufficient. Indeed, sometimes the girl is merely told to grasp the ring and to remain there until the Master returns. She may not release the ring until given permission by a free person. Some girls have been raped at such rings, as helplessly as though they might have been chained to them, so great is the fear of their Master, and so strict is the Gorean discipline to which they know themselves subject.
"Are you always, in a tavern, chained in this fashion?" I asked. "Yes, Master" she said. "It would be very hard to steal you," I smiled. "Yes Master," said smiled. "Your Master must find you very precious," I said. "I am only a slave," she said putting her head down smiling."You have become very beautiful," I said. "Thank you Master," she said.