I did not respond to her.
I did not think I had much to fear, at least now, from Lord Nishida, whoever he might be. I had been brought to the northern forests for some reason. I was not yet fully clear on what, ultimately, that might prove to be.
“Present me to Lord Nishida, as soon as possible,” said Miss Wentworth. “I will be very pleased to see him!”
“I think he will be pleased to see you, as well,” said Tajima.
“I hope so,” she said, acidly.
“Yes,” said Tajima, “I think you should hope that.”
“I do not understand,” she said, uncertainly.
“It will not go well with you, if he is disappointed,” said Tajima.
“I do not understand,” she said.
Tajima then turned to Pertinax. “You are no longer needed,” he said. “You are free to go.”
“Go,” said Pertinax. “Where?”
“Anywhere you wish,” said Tajima.
“I am unarmed,” said Pertinax. “You cannot just leave me here.”
He was clearly, and justifiably, alarmed. He was not skilled with weapons, nor in woodcraft, as far as I knew. Gor was a beautiful, but a dangerous, perilous world. Surely it was muchly different from the world he knew, and, in a variety of ways, it could be unforgiving, and merciless. It had to be met on its own terms, with courage, and steel. Too, he was not Gorean. He knew not the ways of Gor. He had no clan, no caste, no Home Stone.
“Accompany us,” I said to him.
“Yes, yes!” said Pertinax. “Then we can explain matters to his superior.”
“As you wish,” said Tajima to Pertinax.
“This prerogative of departure is extended to me, as well, surely,” said Miss Wentworth.
“No,” said Tajima.
“‘No’?” she said.
“No,” he said.
Then Tajima turned to me. “Perhaps you would present the girl to Lord Nishida? I am sure he would look kindly on one who presents her.”
“You have traveled far,” I said. “You are, I take it, a loyal and trusted retainer of Lord Nishida. Therefore it seems to me that it would be more appropriate if it was you who presented her to your lord.”
“I serve,” said Tajima. “Are you the friend of the one who may go?”
“I wish him no harm,” I said.
“Then,” said Tajima, “I think it would be well for him to present her to Lord Nishida. Lord Nishida may then look upon him with kindness, perhaps even favor.”
“And might be inclined to spare his life?” I said.
“Precisely,” said Tajima.
I turned to Pertinax. “Do you agree to present Miss Wentworth to Lord Nishida?”
“— Yes,” he said.
“What is going on here?” said Miss Wentworth. “Untie me! Free me!”
I regarded her. She was pretty, in her way, so angry. I wondered if she knew how she looked, so helpless, so futile, so lovely.
“What are you looking at!” she snapped.
It was true. I fear I had not been looking at her in a way appropriate to look at a free woman.
“I agree with our friend,” I said. “Your dress is quite short.”
“I am a free woman!” she cried. “Untie my hands! Take this degrading rope from my neck!”
“If would be better if they were hooded,” said Tajima.
“Yes,” I said.
In moments the hoods were in place.
“Turn them about,” said Tajima.
This was done, both to the left and right, a number of times, as though randomly.
Soon, almost immediately, long before we were finished, both women were thoroughly disoriented. Neither would have the least idea of where she was being taken. When our destination was reached, wherever it was, neither would know how they had come there, nor where they were.
I picked up Cecily’s leash.
“Take Miss Wentworth’s leash,” I said to Pertinax. “It is, after all, you who are to present her to Lord Nishida.”
He picked up the leash.
“You do not mind having her on your leash, do you?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
He pulled twice on the leash, and she pulled back, angrily, in indignation.
“Things have muchly changed, have they not?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
He then drew twice more on the leash, quickly, firmly, and his hooded charge stumbled toward him. They were then standing quite close to one another. She must have sensed his nearness, for she trembled. She was, after all, a woman, quite close to a male. This doubtless made her uneasy. Too, he was a large male, and, indeed, one considerably larger than she. Then she steeled herself, with the stiffness of the free woman. He coiled the leash, and then held it, some four inches from her throat, and jerked her chin up, so that her head was lifted to him. Had she not been hooded and had dared to open her eyes, she would have found herself, close on the leash, looking into his eyes.
“Wait!” she said to him. “Wait! I shall see to it that you are punished, as well.”
Pertinax then loosened the leash, and stepped back from her, some seven or eight feet away.
“Yes,” she said, sensing his withdrawal, “keep your distance!”
The leash looped up from his hand to her neck.
She stood there, confident, now that he had retreated.
“They are right,” said Pertinax to her.
“What?” she said.
“Your dress is quite short,” he said.
She cried out with rage.
“She has pretty legs, does she not?” asked Pertinax.
“Yes,” I said. “They are very nice.” Indeed, that was one of the reasons I had shortened her tunic on the beach. Certainly that would improve her disguise, would it not? Too, slave girls often have lovely legs. That is doubtless one of the things slavers have in mind when they select them.
“We should be on our way,” said Tajima.
I joined him, keeping a soft hand on Cecily’s leash. I also allowed her a comfortable margin of slack. In this fashion, the slave is nicely guided, and she is, of course, never out of the control of the master. A hard hand on the leash is normally used only with a captured free woman or a new slave. The leash is considerably shortened, of course, if there is danger in the vicinity, say, animals, or uneven ground, or water about, or one is in a crowd, or such. In cities, sometimes display leashes are used, of colored leather, of beaded, even jeweled, leather, or of light, closely meshed lengths of chain, sometimes of silver or gold. Most leashes, on the other hand, are little more than functional, and usually of brown or black leather. Metal leashes are common if one wishes to chain the girl to a slave ring, a convenience with which Gorean buildings and streets are usually well furnished. The typical leash is long enough to permit the binding of the slave, if one should desire to do that. In walking a slave, particularly on the promenades, it is common to make certain that the leash describes a graceful curve, from the master’s hand up to the slave’s collar.
“You are from Earth,” said Tajima.
“Yes,” I said. “It is far away.”
“It is another planet,” he said.
“Yes,” I said.
And it was only a moment later that I realized he had spoken in English.
Chapter Nine
THE THATCHED HUT;
THREE TUBS
“When are we to be allowed to see someone important?” asked Miss Wentworth.
“I regret my unimportance,” said Tajima.
“Go away!” said Miss Wentworth.
With a courteous bow, Tajima withdrew.
The camp was quite large.
I had expected it to lie on the northern bank of the Alexandra, but it did not. It was toward the Alexandra, but well inland.
“Someone will pay for this!” said Miss Wentworth. “I will not be kept waiting!”
“There is no ship,” said Pertinax.