"I think so," she said.
"How many men did he have with him?" I asked.
"I do not know," she said. "Perhaps three hundred, perhaps four hundred."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"I lay down in the wagon, and hid," she said. "They found me later, in theafternoon, after the battle. Two men pulled me forth from the wagon bed. Theythrust back my veils and hood. I was thrown to my knees on the grass and one ofthe men held my wrists, crossed, before my body. The other drew back a heavyclub, the termination of which contained a heavy, wooden, ball-like knob. Theywere preparing, apparently, to dash out my brains. A word was spoken. The menstepped back. I looked up to see a tall savage, mounted astride a kaiila. It washe who had spoken. He motioned for me to rise and, unsteadily, terrified, I didso. These men were all hideous, and fearful, in their paint and feathers. Hesaid another word and, in a moment, I had been stripped before him, absolutelynaked. He then leaned down from the back of the beast and pointed to itsforepaws. I shrank back, frightened. He said another word and again, suddenly, Iwas much as I had been before, only now stripped, kneeling on the grass, myhands crossed and held before me by one man, the other readying his club tostrike out my brains. "No, no, I cried, "please, no! The man on the kaiilaagain spoke, and again I was released. Once more he pointed to the forepaws ofhis kaiila." She shuddered. She stopped speaking. There were tears in her eyes.
I saw that it would be difficult for her to continue.
"Yes?" I said.
"Must I continue?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. I did not see fit to show mercy to her. She was a slave.
"This time," she said, "I crawled to them on my belly. I put down my head. Ikissed the beast's paws. I licked and sucked them. I cleaned them of dirt anddust with my teeth, even the nails."
"Excellent," I said.
She looked at me, dismayed.
"Yes," I said, "excellent."
She put down her head.
The woman, of course, had been being assessed for slavery. First, she had beenstripped. In this, once the garments and the tiresome robes of concealment, hadbeen removed from her, once she had been exposed to the view of masters, fully,it had been determined that her face and figure, in themselves, did not militateagainst the plausibility of her being imbonded; they were desirable enough,other things being equal, to be of interest to men. They were good enough, otherthings being equal, to own. There are many beautiful women, of course. Beauty,strictly, is not even a necessary condition for bondage, let alone a sufficientcondition for it. Many women, in fact, do not even become beautiful, trulybeautiful, until after they have been collared.
In the second portion of her test, she had been commanded. On her knees,stripped, held, the club being lifted, she had become aware of the consequencesof failing this second portion of her test. She had then, in effect, petitionedthat this second portion of her test be readministered to her. She had beggedthen, in effect, to be given a second chance to prove her suitability forslavery. This chance, in the mercy of her captors, had been given to her. Shehad crawled to the paws of the savage's kaiila and there, on her belly, cleanedthem with her tongue and mouth. This was a behavior suitable for a slave, evenone who was not, at the moment, desperately striving to save her own life. Herperformance at the paws of the kaiila had apparently been adjudged adequate bythe savages. She knelt now before me, alive.
The significance of the test is clear. In performing such intimate acts, and onthe mere beast of the master, the humbled suppliant, the captured girl,acknowledges to both herself and others, nonrepudiably and publicly, that she isproposing herself as a serious candidate for bondage, that she is begging to beenslaved. Too, of course, such performances give the master an opportunity toobserve the touch, the sensitivity, the techniques and skill of the girl. If shecannot even function at the paws of a kaiila what should one expect in one's ownfurs? If she cannot even do well with an animal, what reason is there to expectthat she could do better with a man? The most significant aspect of this test,of course, is that it gives masters a means for determining not only or not thegirl is truly begging to be enslaved but, more importantly, whether or not sheis, truly, a slave. No girl is regarded as having passed this test who has not,in her performances, made it clear to all, save perhaps herself, that it istruly a slave who lies at the paws of the kaiila. This revelation becomesmanifest through subtle behavioral cues, usual physical, but sometimes verbal,as well.
I regarded the woman kneeling before me. That her brains had not been dashed outby the club of the savage indicated to me not only that she had, intimately andlengthily, in her performances, petitioned to be enslaved, but that she had, inthese same performances, proved herself a slave. I wondered if she knew that shewas a slave. I surmised that she still thought herself free. This delusion couldalways be dispelled at the convenience of a master. In the beginning,incidentally, the cues, which reveal slavery in a woman, can sometimes besubtle. Later, of course, as she grows in her slavery, as she realizes that herdeepest and most profound nature may not only be revealed, but must be revealed,that it is not only permissible to reveal her womanhood, but that it must berevealed, and fully, she, in accord with this liberation, undergoes a marveloustransformation; she tends to become vital and sensuous, and loving, and happy.
This is a beautiful transformation to see in a woman. Happy is he who has aslave.
"After your performances," I said, "Doubtless you expected to be well andlengthily ravished."
"Yes," she said, "almost from the first moment I felt the warm grass under mybelly, almost from the first moment I put my mouth to the paws of that beast"
"And were you?" I asked.
"No," she said, angrily. "I was bound, and given to these people."
"I see," I said. I had thought that it would be so.
"Do not fear," said Pumpkin to the stripped beauty, kneeling in the primitiveyoke, well fastened in it, "your trials and tribulations, your embarrassments,your hardships, your miseries, will soon be over."
"Do not slay me," she begged.
"That may be done to you, if Masters wish," I told her.
She turned white. I saw that, on some level, she understood that she was aslave.
"But you are very fortunate," said one of the Waniyanpi.
"The masters have seen fit to show you mercy," said another.
"At least for the time," said another.
"Masters?" she asked.
"Your masters, and ours," said Pumpkin, "Bondwoman."
"Bondwoman!" she cried, struggling in the yoke. But she did not try to rise toher feet. I think this was because I was present.
"Yes," said Pumpkin.
"We are going to call her Turnip," said one of Waniyanpi.
"I am a free woman," she cried. "I am the Lady Mira, the City of Venna!"
I smiled to myself. How naive seemed the kneeling slave, Turnip.
"By the instructions of our masters," said Pumpkin, "you are to be taken as youare, yoked and unclothed, to the con pound" Compound?" she asked.
"Yes, Garden Eleven, our home," said Pumpkin.
"You will be happy there," said one of the Waniyanpi.
"We all are," insisted another.
"Unfortunately," said Pumpkin, "you are to be taken there on a tether, marchedacross the grasslands, without clothing and in your yoke, much as might be anycommon Gorean slave, whose slavery is being impressed upon her."
"And, doubtlessly," she said, acidly, "I will give you much pleasure on thetrek."
"We will look forward to the pleasure of your company, said one of them.
"I see," she said.
"I do not think you do," I said, "at least as yet."
"Do not fear," said Pumpkin. "You will be treated, at times, with total dignityand respect."
"We will not even look at you, at least not directly," said another.