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 Slave AttireThis is my narrative and relevant references from the Books where Slave Attire is mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban I have not attempted to list every imaginable variation of what a slave might wear. But I have listed quite a few. After all, the main purpose of slave garments is not particularly to clothe the girl but more to 'set her off'. And too, a girl might treasure a mere rag of a tunic more than a free woman her richest robes.
I also want to give credit for this section of ~The Gorean Cave~ to Lady Tay. It was her suggestion and considerable research that convinced me to add this topic.
She wore a black, tight, off-the-shoulder bodice and a short, black, silk skirt, decorated with red thread and ruffles, and stiffened with crinoline. I looked at the white bosom of Evelyn, lifted, shaped and confined in the tightness of the bodice, for the interest of masters. What man, I wondered, would not wish to unlace or tear away that bodice, to subject its treasures, like the woman herself, to the ravishments of his mouth and hands. I fastened this fragile, narrow, improvised cordlike belt of twisted and rolled cloth about me, knotting it at the left hip. It was a slip knot, such that masters might remove it at a tug. "Here," she said, handing me the strip of cloth she had torn from her bodice. I placed it carefully, gratefully, the loose end inside, next to my belly, over the rolled cloth. I smoothed it out. The work tunics of Mina and Cara had been thrust back, over their arms, and torn down. The remains of the bodices of these tunics now hung back about their wrists. The remainder of the garments, in front, torn apart, hung low on their bellies, below their navels. The girl whom the burly fellow had consigned to the pleasure of his friend leaped to her feet and began her own circuit of the area, in much the same manner as her predecessor, Dora. She was an exciting, leggy wench, and the lightness of her silk, its brevity, and the partedness of her bodice, thanks to Philebus, left few of her charms to the imagination.
Gorean slave girls are commonly not permitted brassieres or undergarments. Certainly the dark-haired girl in the torn red pull-over had no longer been permitted her brassiere. It is common to permit a Gorean slave girl only one layer of clothing, if any. That they had been permitted to retain for the time what they now wore rather than, say, brassiere and panties, or nothing, was doubtless due only to the whim of the slaver who owned them. The next girl was a willowy blond Earth girl. She was sent to the block in what are regarded as the odd undergarments of Earth females. Both the upper undergarment and the lower were white. Her hands were braceleted behind her and the auctioneer, his whip in his belt, controlled her by the hair. She was hysterical. Her brassiere was first removed, then the panties. The latter garment, by Goreans, is regarded as a peculiarly strange one. It, silken and brief, is obviously a slave's garment, but it is closed at the bottom. It would take a man an extra moment to rape such a slave. She slipped from the black slacks, and removed the black, buttoned top. She slipped from the panties and, in a moment, had discarded her brassiere. She was furious, but yet I could see, too, as doubtless could the others, that she was sexually charged. She was naked, before clothed men. Goreans, unhesitantly, regard such things as the brassiere and panties, or panty hose, as slave garments. This may be because such garments have been associated with Earth females brought to Gorean slave markets, garments which are sometimes permitted the girls during the early portions of their sale, or, perhaps, independently, because they are soft, sensual and slavelike. Earth girls who don such garments might be interested to know then that that they are putting things on their bodies which on Gor are taken to be the garments of slaves. The brassiere had been simulated cleverly with soft white silk. Her beauty, soft, and almost as though protesting its confinement, strained against this silk. Too, between her breasts, this silk had been twisted and knotted, this making even more evident the sweet contours of her beauty, and the sturdy, silken restraint placed upon it. The panties, too, were simulated with white silk, which, in a narrow rectangle, had been wrapped twice about her hips and tucked in at her waist. There was no nether closure to this silk, of course. The Gorean slave girl is not permitted to shield her intimacies without the explicit permission of her master.
Besides these two garments, intended, respectively, to suggest the brassiere and panties of an Earth girl, she still wore, of course, the light, narrow white scarf, this twisted and wound twice about her throat, the ends thrown over her left shoulder. During the course of the evening, from time to time, at irregular intervals, some fifteen or sixteen girls had been offered, in open bidding, to the crowd. Some of these, at least initially, had been clothed, though often in little other than panties and a brassiere. The girl now wore a brassiere, a garter belt and stockings. Too, beneath the narrow garter belt, in what was perhaps all indication of charming reserve, I could see silken panties. "She is not really ugly," said Ginger. "No," said Evelyn. The girl watched in horror as the remains of her silken slip was cast upon the flames, causing them to spring up anew. Her Earth clothing, before her very eyes, piece by piece, was being destroyed. It was thus being made clear to her that she was making a transition to a new reality. "No," she said, "please, no." The auctioneer freed her stockings from the hooks and buttons on the four garter straps. In a moment the auctioneer had drawn the stockings from her legs, slipping them underneath the ropes on her ankles and discarding them in the flames. Then, after viewing her for a moment, he stepped behind her. He undid the two-hook back closure on the garter belt. This article of clothing, too, then, in a moment, was cast into the flames. She then hung before us clad only, save for the ribbon binding back her hair, in her brassiere and panties. One by one I removed the garments of the Tatrix. Then I stood before him clad only in undergarments of Earth, in a brassiere and panties. I removed the brassiere, and straightened my body. "Excellent," he said. I faced him. "Now remove the last veil," he said. I bent down and, in a moment, stepped from the panties. Her breasts, of course, in which so much of her luscious femaleness is naturally manifested, do not escape notice in her bondage. They are as open and available to the master as any other part of her. After all, he owns the whole slave. Accordingly she knows that they, so sweet and soft, so delicious and marvelous, so wonderful and exciting, will, like the rest of her, without a second thought, be submitted to attentions appropriate to her status. For example, they may be lovingly handled, and kissed and caressed by the master however and as long as he pleases. Too, they might be emphasized and accentuated by various forms of garments and bindings. The tying of slave girdles, for example, and the arrangement of binding fiber, often has this subtle, delicious feature in mind. Too, of course, they may be confined, if one wishes, in open brassieres of cord, or netting. She wore a white brassiere, which hooked in the back, and had two narrow shoulder straps. She then unfastened the black skirt, and dropped it about her ankles, then stepped away from it, and lifted it to the side. Interest was expressed in the garter belt. She freed the stockings from it, unfastened it, put it to the side, and then, sitting on the marbled floor, rolled the stockings down, and removed them. As she removed the stockings, there could be no mistaking the loveliness of her thighs, the sweet bend of her legs at the knees, the turn of her calves, these lovelinesses each, slowly, in turn, being bared. She then, again, stood. She was clad now in only brassiere and panties, except, of course, for two bracelets, and a locked ring, on her left ankle. "Loosen your hair," he said. She did so, and shook it loose. It was very beautiful, dark brown, and glossy. She swept it back behind her with two hands, with a lovely gesture. There were expressions of pleasure, of admiration, from several of those in the room. She was clearly a lovely slave. She went to slip the two golden loops from her left wrist, but the young man shook his head, almost imperceptibly, negatively. She stiffened, but obeyed. Those it seemed would be left her, at least for the time. She slipped the shoulder straps of the brassiere over her arms, where they hung for a moment, and then she pulled the brassiere down. "Excellent," said the fellow in the blue and yellow robes. She blushed. Even had she not known the word, she would have understood him, from his tone, and expression, only too well. Some of the men struck their left shoulders. Some of the women present uttered small sounds of admiration. She realized suddenly that that of which they approved, her body, was not hers, that her body, and, indeed, she herself, was another's property. She turned the brassiere about, until the hooks were before her, at her belly. She then unhooked it and dropped it with her other garments. Suddenly tears sprang to her eyes and she looked piteously to the young man in the curule chair, that he might leave her some sop to her modesty, that he would not be merciless with her, not publicly, not before this throng. But his eyes were stern. Then she stood bared before him, a naked slave, save for two loops of gold on her left wrist, and an anklet of steel.
She wore only a single garment, a long, narrow rectangle of rough, brown material, perhaps eighteen inches in width, drawn over her head like a poncho, falling in front and back a bit above her knees and belted at the waist with a chain. "Yes," she said with shame. "I wear the camisk." The brand is normally concealed by the briefly skirted slave livery of Gor but, of course, when the camisk is worn, it is always clearly visible, reminding the girl and others of her station. I saw the other girls some thirty yards away, in camisks, the cheapest of slave garments, laughing and talking to one another, disporting themselves as pleasurably as free maidens might have. The common camisk is a single piece of cloth, about eighteen inches wide, thrown over the girl's head and worn like a poncho. It usually falls a bit above the knees in the front and back and is belted with cord or chain. The camisk is a rectangle of cloth, with a hole cut for the head, rather like a poncho. The edges are commonly folded and stitched to prevent raveling. Under Targo's direction the girls, happily, cut and stitched their own camisks. The camisk, I am told, normally falls to the knees, but Targo made us cut ours considerably shorter. The camisk, I am told, was at one time commonly belted with a chain. However, the camisks that I have personally seen, and those we were given, were belted with a long, thin strap of leather binding fiber. This passes once around the body, and then again, and then is tied, snugly, over the right hip. I wondered why Targo permitted us camisks. I think there were probably two reasons. The first is that the camisk, in its way, is an incredibly attractive garment. It displays the girl, but provocatively. Moreover, it proclaims her slave, and begs to be torn away by the hand of a master. Men thrill to see a girl in a camisk. Secondly, I think Targo gave us camisks to make us even more his slaves. We desperately wanted to have something to cover ourselves, be it only a camisk. I gratefully donned the camisk, fastening it tightly about my waist with the double-loop of binding fiber. I felt my body luxuriously protesting the rough fabric of the camisk. I wondered what man would tear it from me. I felt the rough fabric of the camisk on my body as I moved, With a small knife he cut the binding fiber that belted her camisk. The camisk now flew behind her, like a cape, about her neck, whipped by the wind. Both had been placed in belted woolen camisks, an open-sided garment sometimes worn by female slaves. The common camisk is a simple rectangle of cloth, containing, in its center, a circular opening. The garment is drawn on by the girl over her head and down upon her shoulders; it is worn, thus, like a poncho; it is commonly belted with binding fiber or a bit of light chain, something with which the girl may be secured, if the master wishes. One city in which the common camisk is favored, generally, is Tharna. Many slaves are kept in the common camisk, a narrow, poncholike garment, little more than a long, narrow rectangle of cloth, generally cheap cloth, with an opening for the head. It is drawn on over the head and is normally belted snugly with a double loop of binding fiber. It is, of course, open-sided. the common camisk . . . is little more than a rectangle of cloth with an opening for the head in the center. It is worn over the head and tied at the waist, normally with one or more loops of binding fiber. The common camisk, of course, has no nether closure. A slave tunic, you see, leaves little to the imagination. Other advantages, too, adhere to such garments. For example, as they commonly lack a nether closure, with the exception of the Turian camisk, the slave is constantly, implicitly, advised of her delicious vulnerability as a property, and reminded of one of her major concerns, which is to please the master, instantly and without question, to the best of her ability, in any way he may wish. I thought Cecily would look nice in a camisk, a common camisk. The camisk is much more revealing than the common slave tunic. It is a one-piece, extremely simple, suitable for slaves, narrow, poncholike garment. It is slipped over the head. It is usually belted with a loop or two of binding fiber. One may use the binding fiber to bind the slave. It is tied with a slip knot, which may be loosened with a casual tug, at the left hip, as most masters are right-handed. The common camisk is seldom worn publicly, in cities. One supposes the reasons for that are clear. The common tunic, of course, covers the brand. A side-slit tunic makes the brand easily detectible, and certain other garments, as well, for example the common camisk. She wore the common camisk, a brief rectangle of cloth slipped over the head, belted with a double loop of binding fiber. The camisk was of thin, clinging, yellow rep-cloth. It was ragged and soiled. The tavern, you see, was not truly a high tavern. If she stood, it would fall midway to her thighs. It was closely belted, as required, a bow knot at the left hip, where it would be convenient to a right-handed master. The double loop is to allow for an adequate length, enough for a variety of ties. Girls are often sent to the wharves, when ships are due, in camisks adorned with advertising, to solicit patronage for their masters' establishments. He had then had her reveal herself, removing the thin, clinging, camisk of yellow rep cloth. The camisk is a narrow rectangle of cloth, with an opening in the center. It is slipped over the head, and belted snugly, commonly with a double loop of thong or binding fiber, this fastened with a slip knot at the left hip that it may be convenient to a right-handed man. The double loop provides enough thong or binding fiber to bind the occupant helplessly, hand and foot. The slip knot at the waist of the camisk is similar to the disrobing loop at the left shoulder of some slave tunics, by means of which the garment may be conveniently removed, a simple tug loosening it permitting it to fall gracefully about the ankles of its occupant. A Gorean slave tunic leaves little to conjecture about concerning the quality of a slave's legs, and the camisk even less. She was certainly well-formed, and the camisk, even in its looseness, concealed little. "Allison," she said, "straighten your body." I knelt more straightly. "Is that how you belt a camisk?" she asked. "Belt it more closely, more snugly. Men prefer it that way!' I fumbled at the thong. "Stand up back away," he said. "Let me see you." I obeyed, smiling. I pulled down the camisk a little self-consciously. How meaningless that gesture was when camisked! It is easy to mark a thigh, of course, when one is in a camisk. Sometimes one's leg is held. The writing is then boldly visible for all to see. In this way it is clear to everyone that the girl has been reserved for that evening, and also clear who has reserved her. And surely our clothing, when we are permitted clothing, contrasts with that of free women, as a revealing tunic, or camisk, differs from colorful swirls of fine robes and veils. It was a slave garment but it was not a tunic, not the common, brief garment in which masters place their girls to remind them that they are slaves and which, to the pleasure of men, leaves little doubt as to their purchasable charms, or the far more scandalous common camisk, outlawed in public in certain cities, both garments for which a slave will be grateful, and beg piteously to be permitted. The camisk is a strip of cloth, a brief, narrow rectangle with a circular opening at its center. It is drawn over the head, poncholike, pulled down, and belted with cord, or binding fiber. If possible, it leaves even less of the slave to the imagination than the tunic or ta-teera, the "slave rag." Indeed, I was told that it is outlawed on the streets of some cities. "You will be less conspicuous in a tunic," he said. "Yes, Master," I said. In some cities, even camisks and ta-teeras were outlawed on the streets. To be sure, slaves are to be clad as slaves. The usual garb of a slave is a brief tunic. The slave tunic is designed not only to mark a woman as a slave, and distinguish her dramatically and unmistakably from a free woman, but to enforce upon its occupant the understanding that she is a slave and only a slave. It is also designed, of course, not only to display the woman as a slave, as a commodity and a domestic animal, but to enhance her beauty, as well. It might also be noted that such a garment, like the camisk and the ta-teera, can stimulate and arouse desire. Certainly it has that effect on men, and, if it must be known, it has that effect on the woman, as well. Certainly, in such garments, we know what we are for. In many cities, camisks are not allowed on the streets during the daylight Ahn, as a concession to the sensibilities of free women. Some regard the camisk as more provocative than nudity. To be sure, such things, given rulings in councils, shifts in mores, and such, change from time to time. I refer, of course, in these remarks, to the common camisk, not the Turian camisk, which, however revealing, is generally considered less objectionable, more restrained, or refined. Her single garment was a slight scarlet camisk. But even a brief tunic, a short, open-sided camisk, belted with binding fiber, the rag of a ta-teera, any mockery of a garment, is precious to us.
The Turian camisk, on the other hand, if it were to be laid out on the floor, would appear somewhat like an inverted "T" which the bar of the "T" would be beveled on each side. It is fastened with a single cord. The cord binds the garment on the girl at three points, behind the neck, behind the back, and in front at the waist. The garment itself, as might be supposed, fastens behind the girl's neck, passes before her, passes between her legs and is then lifted and, folding the two sides of the T's bar about her hips, ties in front. The Turian camisk, unlike the common camisk, will cover a girl's brand; on the other hand, unlike the common camisk, it leaves the back uncovered and can be tied, and is, snugly, the better to disclose the girl's beauty. The Turian camisk was also now occasionally seen. It is rather like an inverted "T," the bar of the "T" having beveled edges. It passes from the girl's throat, in front of her body, between her legs, and is then lifted, pulled tight, and wrapped about the thighs. Its single cord fastens the garment behind the girl's neck, behind her back and then, after passing about her body once or twice, ties in front. It conceals her brand but exposes her back. The cord makes it possible to adjust the garment to a given girl. Tightening the cord accentuates her figure. The Turian camisk is worn tightly. Turians are barbarians. In private pens in Ko-ro-ba, where we were taken daily for training, we were taught to wear the garment. A master might require it of us. It is said that only a man knows how to tie a Turian camisk on a girl properly. There are many such sayings on Gor. The Turian camisk is a bit like an inverted "T", the bar of which has beveled edges. It goes about the neck, down, low, and is drawn up, and snugly, usually quite snugly, between the legs, the beveled bar ends of the "T" then being folded closely forward about the girl's flanks and being tied, tightly, at her belly. In the Turian camisk, because of its snugness and adjustment cords, it is easy, as you might well imagine, to leave little doubt as to the girl's beauty. The other, more elaborate, was a "Turian camisk." It is rather like an inverted "T" where the bar of the "T" has beveled edges. The foot of the "T" ties about the neck and the staff of the "T" goes before one, and then, between the legs, is drawn up snugly behind and tied closed in front where the beveled edges of the bar of the "T," wrapped about the body, have been brought forward, meeting at the waist. It may also have side ties, if permitted, strings that tie behind the back, to better conceal, in one sense, and, in another, better reveal the figure. We must know how to put on such a garment, for example, and well, if one is thrown to us. This Turian camisk differs from the common camisk. Few slave garments, as noted, contain such a closure. An exception is the Turian camisk. A slave tunic, you see, leaves little to the imagination. Other advantages, too, adhere to such garments. For example, as they commonly lack a nether closure, with the exception of the Turian camisk, the slave is constantly, implicitly, advised of her delicious vulnerability as a property, and reminded of one of her major concerns, which is to please the master, instantly and without question, to the best of her ability, in any way he may wish. One wore the Turian camisk, rare in the north, The slaves were now warmly garmented, though not, of course, as might have been free women. The robes of concealment in winter are much like those of gentler weathers, save for darker colors, more absorptive of, and retentive of, heat, heavier materials, some additional layering, and such. In the case of the slave a short, long-sleeved jacket, coming high on the hips, its length resembling that of a slave tunic, is worn over an undershirt. They are also put in trousers, belted with binding fiber. Whereas in the case of the free woman her legs are concealed within her enclosing garmenture, in the case of the slave, even in the winter, it is clear, however warmly they may be clothed, that she has legs, and that this is to be obvious to the scrutiny of men. The wrappings of the legs and calves is wool, over which leather is wrapped. The last garment is a warm, hooded cloak, which may be held closely about the body. The only slave garment I knew which was permitted a nether closure was the Turian camisk. Slave garments almost always lack a nether closure. The most notable exception to this is the Turian camisk. In many cities, camisks are not allowed on the streets during the daylight Ahn, as a concession to the sensibilities of free women. Some regard the camisk as more provocative than nudity. To be sure, such things, given rulings in councils, shifts in mores, and such, change from time to time. I refer, of course, in these remarks, to the common camisk, not the Turian camisk, which, however revealing, is generally considered less objectionable, more restrained, or refined.
From one side a slave girl, barefoot, bangled, in sashed, diaphanous, trousered, chalwar, gathered at the ankles, in tight, red-silk vest, with bare midriff, fled to him, with the tall, graceful, silvered pot containing the black wine. She was veiled. From the side there hastened to him another girl, a fair-skinned, red-haired girl. She, too, wore veil, vest, chalwar, bangles, collar. She wore a high, tight vest of red silk, with four hooks; her midriff was bare; she wore the sashed chalwar, a sashed, diaphanous trousered garment, full but gathered in, closely, at the ankles; she was barefoot; her wrists and ankles were bangled; she was veiled; she was collared. Her bare midriff, long, between the high, hooked vest of red silk and the low-slung, sashed chalwar, about her hips, some inches below her navel, was quite attractive. "More, Masters?" asked the girl, kneeling beside the low, tem-wood-inlaid table. She wore a high, red-silk vest, swelling, fastened with a single hook; diaphanous red-silk chalwar, low on her hips, gathered at the ankles; two golden bangles on her left ankle; collar.
Among the Wagon Peoples, to be clad Kajir means, for a girl, to wear four articles, two red, two black; a red cord, the Curla, is tied about the waist; the Chatka, or long, narrow strip of black leather, fits over this cord in the front, passes under, and then again, from the inside, passes over the cord in the back; the Chatka is drawn tight; the Kalmak is then donned; it is a short, open, sleeveless vest of black leather; lastly the Koora, a strip of red cloth, matching the Curla, is wound about the head, to hold the hair back, for slave women, among the Wagon Peoples, are not permitted to braid, or otherwise dress their hair; it must be, save for the Koora, worn loose. She wore the Sirik and was, of course, clad Kajir, clad in the Curia and Chatka the red cord and the narrow strip of black leather; in the Kalmak, the brief vest, open and sleeveless, of black leather, and in the Koora, the strip of red cloth that bound back her brown hair. As she knelt on the rug, head down, in the position of the Pleasure Slave, I took from her the Koora, loosening her hair, and then the leather Kalmak, and then I drew from her the Curla and Chatka. But mostly we sported and pleasured, hiding from ourselves this other thing, both of us perhaps not wishing to speak it. In one week I had even begged him to place in my nose the tiny golden ring of a Tuchuk slave girl, and in that week I had served him as such, clad even in the Kalmak, Chatka and Curla, my hair bound back with the red Koora. The red cord, or Curla, was knotted about my waist, tightly, the knot, a slip knot which might be loosened with a single tug, over my left hip. Over the Curla in front, slipping under the body and between the legs, and passing over the Curla in the back, was the Chatka, or narrow strip of black leather, some six inches in width, some five feet or so in length; it was drawn tight; when a girl wears the Curia and Chatka, the brand, whether on left or right thigh, is fully visible, for the inspection of masters. I also wore a brief, open, sleeveless vest of black leather, the Kalmak; Interestingly, I had noted few, if any, slaves among the wagons. This was quite different from the Wagon Peoples of the far south. There, beautiful slaves, in the scandalously revealing Chatka and Curia, the Kalmak and Koora, tiny rings in their noses, were common among the wagons. She was slim, and extremely dark-haired, and very white-skinned. Her hair was drawn back behind her head and tied there with a yellow cord. Her breasts were bared. A black cord was knotted about her waist. Tucked over this cord in front was a long strip, some seven inches wide, of heavy, opaque, yellow cloth. It then passed under her body and was pulled up, snugly, and thrust over the cord in the back. The front and back ends of this cloth hung evenly, and fell about midway between her knees and ankles. The effect was much like that of the Curla and Chatka, a portion of the garmenture, or livery, in which the wagon peoples of the south place most of their slave females, save that the Curia, the cord, was black and not red, and the Chatka, the strip, was of cloth and yellow, not of black leather. She had nothing corresponding, of course, to the Kalmak, or southern slave's brief, open vest of black leather, and the cord binding her hair was quite different from the Koora, the red band of cloth commonly used to confine the hair of the southern slave. In all then, since she wore cloth and not leather, and less than the southern slave, her appearance, if anything, was even more slavelike than hers.
Among the Wagon Peoples, to be clad Kajir means, for a girl, to wear four articles, two red, two black; a red cord, the Curla, is tied about the waist; the Chatka, or long, narrow strip of black leather, fits over this cord in the front, passes under, and then again, from the inside, passes over the cord in the back; the Chatka is drawn tight; the Kalmak is then donned; it is a short, open, sleeveless vest of black leather; lastly the Koora, a strip of red cloth, matching the Curla, is wound about the head, to hold the hair back, for slave women, among the Wagon Peoples, are not permitted to braid, or otherwise dress their hair; it must be, save for the Koora, worn loose. She wore the Sirik and was, of course, clad Kajir, clad in the Curia and Chatka the red cord and the narrow strip of black leather; in the Kalmak, the brief vest, open and sleeveless, of black leather, and in the Koora, the strip of red cloth that bound back her brown hair.
Among the Wagon Peoples, to be clad Kajir means, for a girl, to wear four articles, two red, two black; a red cord, the Curla, is tied about the waist; the Chatka, or long, narrow strip of black leather, fits over this cord in the front, passes under, and then again, from the inside, passes over the cord in the back; the Chatka is drawn tight; the Kalmak is then donned; it is a short, open, sleeveless vest of black leather; lastly the Koora, a strip of red cloth, matching the Curla, is wound about the head, to hold the hair back, for slave women, among the Wagon Peoples, are not permitted to braid, or otherwise dress their hair; it must be, save for the Koora, worn loose. She wore the Sirik and was, of course, clad Kajir, clad in the Curia and Chatka the red cord and the narrow strip of black leather; in the Kalmak, the brief vest, open and sleeveless, of black leather, and in the Koora, the strip of red cloth that bound back her brown hair. She was slim, and extremely dark-haired, and very white-skinned. Her hair was drawn back behind her head and tied there with a yellow cord. Her breasts were bared. A black cord was knotted about her waist. Tucked over this cord in front was a long strip, some seven inches wide, of heavy, opaque, yellow cloth. It then passed under her body and was pulled up, snugly, and thrust over the cord in the back. The front and back ends of this cloth hung evenly, and fell about midway between her knees and ankles. The effect was much like that of the Curla and Chatka, a portion of the garmenture, or livery, in which the wagon peoples of the south place most of their slave females, save that the Curia, the cord, was black and not red, and the Chatka, the strip, was of cloth and yellow, not of black leather. She had nothing corresponding, of course, to the Kalmak, or southern slave's brief, open vest of black leather, and the cord binding her hair was quite different from the Koora, the red band of cloth commonly used to confine the hair of the southern slave. In all then, since she wore cloth and not leather, and less than the southern slave, her appearance, if anything, was even more slavelike than hers.
"Well," said Calla, "in the fields, the slaves are put in rough, coarse garments, unattractive garments, like sacks, to conceal, as much as possible, their enticing charms, but, paradoxically, their hair is not cut short nor are their heads shaved as one might expect. "You will be issued a body sack and a blanket," he said. I had detested the gross sack, or sacklike garment, the Lady Temione of Hammerfest had imposed on her field slaves. It was difficult to imagine a more unflattering garment.
She wore a tasteful garment of bluish gauze, in three layers, which fluffed about her. It came high on her thighs. I could see that her breasts in the garment, as she knelt, were exquisite. Her arms and feet were bare. Lola, who was first girl, had dressed Shirley much like the other slave, save that the gauze of Shirley's garment was yellow.
In the corridor we passed another woman. Both, interestingly, wore long, rather graceful white gowns, and had their hair bound back with bands of white silk. "Are they slaves?" I asked Ho-Tu. "Of course," he said. Elizabeth, with a rustle of chain, sat up, rubbing her eyes. She was attired in a brief gown of red Pleasure Silk, prescribed for her because she was a Red Silk Girl and in training. Virginia and Phyllis, in their cells, would wear similar gowns, but of white silk. From the striped tent in the center of the camp another girl emerged, clad like the other in the sleeveless gown, a circlet on her throat and left wrist, and made her way toward the supplies wagon. The gowned female slave, the circlet on her throat and wrist, reached into the supply wagon, into a sack, to find a larma. Angrily the man tore away the girl's gown and, with a bit of binding fiber, tied her on her knees, her wrists crossed and bound behind one of the spokes on the supply wagon. "You are worthless," said the Lady Sabina to the bound slave. "You should carry paga in a paga tavern." When the Lady Sabina had finished her work and returned to her tent, followed by the two gowned slave girls, the leader of the camp, or captain, angrily, returned, too, to his tent, and the men, who had gathered around, returned to their duties, their rest or recreations. The three slave girls in the tent, gowned, watched with apprehension. The man, with his knife, cut away much of the long, flowing white gown the girl wore, considerably shortening it, until it was provocatively high, ragged and exciting, on her thighs. "It will not be necessary to beat you," he acknowledged. "Thank you, Master," she said. The shoulders of a female are apparently exciting to a man. This fact is recognized in off-the-shoulder formal evening gowns on Earth. The existence of such gowns, if Goreans were familiar with them, except on slaves, would be taken as more evidence of the fittingness and naturalness of enslavement for Earth females. She who wears such a gown begs in her heart to be owned. I pulled the wide bands of green silk about me, more closely. They would resemble, initially, a gown, but they were not truly a gown. They would be unlooped and lifted away, bit by bit, beginning about the head and the feet, gradually, cunningly, revealing me. Toward the end I would be spun almost free of them and then, in the end I would be ordered, exposed save for the final silk, concealing my breasts and thighs, to lie supine at the auctioneer's feet. She wore a long, lovely red gown, but it had been pulled down about her waist. More than fifty slave girls, their hair coiffured high on their heads, clad in sleeveless, classic gowns of white silk, were aligned on the walk nearest the wall containing the iron door, Had their gowns not been sleeveless, and had they not been barefoot, and had their throats not been locked in collars, one might have mistaken them for free women. "By the way," said he, "how will the supper be served?" "By slave girls, of course," she said. "Good," he said. "Decorously clad," she said. "In long, white gowns." "I see," he said. "But their arms will be bared," she said. "Oh, excellent," he smiled. "But the important thing, really, about slave garments," I said, "whether they are the riches of gowns, with perhaps a slit in them through which a thigh must be revealed, or the tiniest of strings and slave strips, is that they are just that, slave garments. It is their meaning, primarily, which renders them provocative, that they are slave garments, that she who wears them is slave." She wore a brief, silken, scarlet, diaphanous gown. They were garbed rather like her, in plain white gowns, of similar material and length, except that their gowns were sleeveless. The necks of their gowns were rounded like hers. Given the mid-calf length of their gowns there was not the least difficulty in instantly detecting that their left ankles, too, like hers, were closely encircled with steel rings. Suppose you are giving a dinner for guests, and one or more free women are present. In such a case make certain that she is demurely clad, perhaps in a white, three-quarters or full-length gown, though certainly sleeveless. If he had her back on Gor, in a holding, and was entertaining, and free women were present, she would, of course, rather as suggested, serve quite differently. Indeed, in a refined supper, or entertainment, female slaves, if not gowned, are usually tunicked rather demurely, the tunics often reaching to the knees. The common slave tunic, on the other hand, usually comes well above the knees, because men enjoy seeing the legs of slaves. In some houses the slaves, in serving, as indicated, might be clad in gowns, indeed, in long, lovely, flowing gowns. When kneeling unobtrusively to the side, or in the background, waiting to serve, the slaves in the long gowns will lift and arrange the gowns in such a way, gracefully, that they are about and over their knees, that in order that it will be their knees which are in direct contact with the tiles, and that the gown, thusly, not be pressed to the tiles by their weight. This protects the gown. The serving garments, whether tunics or gowns, are almost invariably white. This is supposed to make it clear to the free women present that the slaves are modest, quiet girls, bashful and retiring, of a sort a fellow would scarcely notice. It would not do to have them serve in, say, slave red. One must learn to wear, and move well within, tunics, camisks, gowns, slave strips, ta-teeras, and such, of various sorts. The gown was sleeveless, of course, for she was a slave, but its length, if she were to stand, must have fallen almost to her ankles. It was a slave garment but it was not a tunic, not the common, brief garment in which masters place their girls to remind them that they are slaves and which, to the pleasure of men, leaves little doubt as to their purchasable charms, or the far more scandalous common camisk, outlawed in public in certain cities, both garments for which a slave will be grateful, and beg piteously to be permitted. Rather it was the sort of slave garment in which a matron might insist her slaves be clothed if she was entertaining her sons. I was sure it was the only garment the slave wore. Too it would doubtless lack a nether closure.
There are a large number of ways in which slave silk is worn. It can be worn, for example, on the shoulder or off the shoulder, with high necklines or plunging necklines, in open or closed garments, tightly or flowingly, and in various lengths. Sometimes it is put on the girl only in halters and G-strings, or mere G-strings. Was it not my master's fault, for letting me go out of the tent in what was little more, in effect, than a collar and a G-string? Too, their skirts, and Tupita's, too, and the slave strips, or G-strings, of Tela and myself had been lifted up, or aside, and let fall again, perhaps to see if we were depilated, or shaved, or if such cloth might conceal some defect.
The haik, black, covers the woman from head to toe. At the eyes, there is a tiny bit of black lace, through which she may see. On her feet were soft, black, nonheeled slippers, with curled toes; they were decorated with a line of silver thread. She turned her head, briefly, to look at me; I saw her eyes, dark, through the tiny opening in the haik, through the tiny, black-lace screen, about an inch in height and four inches in width. or concealed from head to toe in the dark haik of the Tahari, peeping out through a tiny screen of black lace.
The girl wore Gorean dancing silk. A veil concealed her muchly from us, it thrust into the strap of the coined halter at her left shoulder, and into the coined belt at her right hip. I regarded the coins threaded, overlapping, on her belt and halter. Through a silver curtain, of silver strings, came a large, powerful slave girl. She wore a plain iron collar, with ring. She wore a halter of leather; She wore a yellow-silk halter, hooked high, to accentuate the line of her beauty. To the music she unhooked her slave halter of yellow silk and, as though contemptuously, discarded it. She wore a brief halter of Waniyanpi cloth which, by design, did little to conceal the beauty of her breasts; about her waist a string was tied; two pieces of Waniyanpi cloth, about a foot wide and two feet long, were thrust over and behind the string, one in front and one in back; these two pieces of cloth could be casually jerked loose, if one wished; similarly, the knot, at the left hip, was made so that a mere tug could free it, causing the garment to fall; in this fashion the lower garment may be removed from her a bit at a time or, as a whole, if the master wishes; a similar knot, joining the halter's neck and back strings, could be similarly freed. I had been permitted a scarlet halter of the same material. There are a large number of ways in which slave silk is worn. It can be worn, for example, on the shoulder or off the shoulder, with high necklines or plunging necklines, in open or closed garments, tightly or flowingly, and in various lengths. Sometimes it is put on the girl only in halters and G-strings, or mere G-strings. He then unknotted the silk of the halter, from about my neck, and behind my back, and drew it away from me. Her two assistants wore scarlet halters, fastened in front with accessible hooks. She wore a halter. We had improvised it from a twisted, matching piece of brown rag. In its simplicity and raggedness, it was surely believable as, and suitable for, a slave halter. "Is the halter too tight?" I asked. "I do not object," she said. This halter, improvised from a brown rag, like the skirt, was, in its simplicity and raggedness, as I have suggested, believable as, and suitable for, a slave halter. Too, if there were any doubts as to the matter, they surely would have been dispelled by the manner in which it was on her, by the height, tightness, and insolence with which it confined her, leaving little of the delights of her lineaments to speculation, the knots jerked tight with casual authority. Would she be clad as a slave? Then let her know how slaves might be clad, for the interest and delectation of men, we at the mercy of those delicious, masterful beasts. Her breasts were haltered in scarlet silk. I wore two rags. By means of one of these my breasts were haltered high. The other, skirtlike, open on the left, was tied about my waist. Ellen's breasts were now closely haltered, in scarlet silk. Some of the slaves had been granted dancing silk. They were high-haltered and bare-bellied. The silk was low on their hips and swirled about their bangled ankles. "It would be nice," he said, "had you a scarlet halter, earrings, bangles and bracelets, necklaces, a belt of coins, a scarlet skirt, one of Turian drape, such things, but you do not, and so you must do without, and do the best you can."
The slaves wore light, hooded cloaks, the length of which, when they stood, would fall slightly above the hem of their brief slave livery. The garments had rather large sleeves and fastened with a cord under the chin. It protected them from the sun to some extent but even more from the glances of the curious. Some of the girls, judging by the stripes on the hoods and cloaks were White Silk, and others Red Silk. Each of the girls was also issued a light slave cloak, the hem of which fell a bit above the hem of her livery, but which had a hood. Elizabeth's was red with white stripes, Virginia and Phyllis' white with red stripes. Then, regally, in black cloaks, with hoods, three women, two girls and their leader, climbed the stairs to the block, backs straight, heads high, their features concealed in the folds of the hood. Each of them had her wrists braceleted before her body, and each slave chain led to the slave bracelets of one of the girls; the lead girl, probably Elizabeth, was on a somewhat shorter chain than the two behind her, one on each side, doubtless Virginia and Phyllis. Their black cloaks were rather like ponchos with hoods, save that there were slits through which their arms emerged. The length of the cloak, which was full and flowing, fell to their ankles. The slaves were now warmly garmented, though not, of course, as might have been free women. The robes of concealment in winter are much like those of gentler weathers, save for darker colors, more absorptive of, and retentive of, heat, heavier materials, some additional layering, and such. In the case of the slave a short, long-sleeved jacket, coming high on the hips, its length resembling that of a slave tunic, is worn over an undershirt. They are also put in trousers, belted with binding fiber. Whereas in the case of the free woman her legs are concealed within her enclosing garmenture, in the case of the slave, even in the winter, it is clear, however warmly they may be clothed, that she has legs, and that this is to be obvious to the scrutiny of men. The wrappings of the legs and calves is wool, over which leather is wrapped. The last garment is a warm, hooded cloak, which may be held closely about the body. It is certainly not designed to protect the girl from the elements. That is done with cloaks, boots, wrappings, blankets, jackets, leggings, and such.
"I shall look forward to it," he said. "Are your house slaves also adorned with the lovely sacking wasted on the field slaves?" "Their bodies are similarly covered though with less coarse, but similarly concealing, material," she said. "I would not care to look upon, or be inadvertently brushed by, field sacking."
"Go swiftly to the room of preparation," he said. "Garb yourselves as the hunter's catch." I reached into a chest for hunters' netting. It is a stout cording, used to net medium-sized game. Its mesh was spaced at some two horts, about two and a half inches. Cunningly we twisted netting about us, from our throats to our brands, high upon our thighs. We garbed ourselves as "the hunter's catch." A girl may be "set off," of course, and beautifully, even if, technically, she is not clothed. She may be garbed, for example, in netting, as the "Hunter's Catch"; or she may be bedecked in jewels and leather, and shimmering chains, dancing under a whip in a tavern in Port Kar; or she may have flowers intertwined in her chains, as when she is awarded to a victor in public games in Ar.
Among the Wagon Peoples, to be clad Kajir means, for a girl, to wear four articles, two red, two black; a red cord, the Curla, is tied about the waist; the Chatka, or long, narrow strip of black leather, fits over this cord in the front, passes under, and then again, from the inside, passes over the cord in the back; the Chatka is drawn tight; the Kalmak is then donned; it is a short, open, sleeveless vest of black leather; lastly the Koora, a strip of red cloth, matching the Curla, is wound about the head, to hold the hair back, for slave women, among the Wagon Peoples, are not permitted to braid, or otherwise dress their hair; it must be, save for the Koora, worn loose. She wore the Sirik and was, of course, clad Kajir, clad in the Curia and Chatka the red cord and the narrow strip of black leather; in the Kalmak, the brief vest, open and sleeveless, of black leather, and in the Koora, the strip of red cloth that bound back her brown hair. As she knelt on the rug, head down, in the position of the Pleasure Slave, I took from her the Koora, loosening her hair, and then the leather Kalmak, and then I drew from her the Curla and Chatka. But mostly we sported and pleasured, hiding from ourselves this other thing, both of us perhaps not wishing to speak it. In one week I had even begged him to place in my nose the tiny golden ring of a Tuchuk slave girl, and in that week I had served him as such, clad even in the Kalmak, Chatka and Curla, my hair bound back with the red Koora. The red cord, or Curla, was knotted about my waist, tightly, the knot, a slip knot which might be loosened with a single tug, over my left hip. Over the Curla in front, slipping under the body and between the legs, and passing over the Curla in the back, was the Chatka, or narrow strip of black leather, some six inches in width, some five feet or so in length; it was drawn tight; when a girl wears the Curia and Chatka, the brand, whether on left or right thigh, is fully visible, for the inspection of masters. I also wore a brief, open, sleeveless vest of black leather, the Kalmak; Interestingly, I had noted few, if any, slaves among the wagons. This was quite different from the Wagon Peoples of the far south. There, beautiful slaves, in the scandalously revealing Chatka and Curia, the Kalmak and Koora, tiny rings in their noses, were common among the wagons. She was slim, and extremely dark-haired, and very white-skinned. Her hair was drawn back behind her head and tied there with a yellow cord. Her breasts were bared. A black cord was knotted about her waist. Tucked over this cord in front was a long strip, some seven inches wide, of heavy, opaque, yellow cloth. It then passed under her body and was pulled up, snugly, and thrust over the cord in the back. The front and back ends of this cloth hung evenly, and fell about midway between her knees and ankles. The effect was much like that of the Curla and Chatka, a portion of the garmenture, or livery, in which the wagon peoples of the south place most of their slave females, save that the Curia, the cord, was black and not red, and the Chatka, the strip, was of cloth and yellow, not of black leather. She had nothing corresponding, of course, to the Kalmak, or southern slave's brief, open vest of black leather, and the cord binding her hair was quite different from the Koora, the red band of cloth commonly used to confine the hair of the southern slave. In all then, since she wore cloth and not leather, and less than the southern slave, her appearance, if anything, was even more slavelike than hers.
For a male slave, or Kajirus, of the Wagon Peoples, and there are few, save for the work chains, to be clad Kajir means to wear the Kes, a short, sleeveless work tunic of black leather.
she wore an ankle-length white kirtle, of white wool, sleeveless, split to her belly. Gunnhild, angrily, with two hands, jerked her kirtle to her waist, and stood straight, proudly before the Forkbeard, her breasts, which were marvelous, thrust forward. How magnificent she seemed, the heavy black iron at her throat riveted. "None of them can please you," she said, "as well as Gunnhild!" Only a kirtle of thin, white wool, split to the belly, stood between their beauty and the leather of their masters. the Forkbeard had had his girls drop their kirtles low upon their hips, and hitch them high, that their beauty might be well exhibited, from their collars to some inches below their navels, and, too, that the turns of their calves and ankles might be similarly displayed;
"Drop your kirtles, and hitch them up!" Laughing, once more proud of their bodies, the girls of the Forkbeard insolently slung their kirtles low on their hips, and hitched them high over their calves, even half way up their delightful thighs. She was the only one in the hall who was not stripped, though, to be sure, her kirtle, by order of her master, was high on her hips, and, over the shoulders, was split to the belly.
Among the Wagon Peoples, to be clad Kajir means, for a girl, to wear four articles, two red, two black; a red cord, the Curla, is tied about the waist; the Chatka, or long, narrow strip of black leather, fits over this cord in the front, passes under, and then again, from the inside, passes over the cord in the back; the Chatka is drawn tight; the Kalmak is then donned; it is a short, open, sleeveless vest of black leather; lastly the Koora, a strip of red cloth, matching the Curla, is wound about the head, to hold the hair back, for slave women, among the Wagon Peoples, are not permitted to braid, or otherwise dress their hair; it must be, save for the Koora, worn loose. Within, a girl, across the wagon, beyond the tiny fire bowl in the center of its floor, standing on the thick rug, near a hanging tharlarion oil lamp, turned suddenly to face me, clutching about herself as well as she could a richly wrought yellow cloth, a silken yellow sheet. The red band of the Koora bound back her hair. I could see a chain running across the rug from the slave ring to her right ankle. She wore the Sirik and was, of course, clad Kajir, clad in the Curia and Chatka the red cord and the narrow strip of black leather; in the Kalmak, the brief vest, open and sleeveless, of black leather, and in the Koora, the strip of red cloth that bound back her brown hair. I watched her combing her hair. Then she had put the comb aside and had retied the Koora, binding back her hair. As she knelt on the rug, head down, in the position of the Pleasure Slave, I took from her the Koora, loosening her hair, and then the leather Kalmak, and then I drew from her the Curla and Chatka. But mostly we sported and pleasured, hiding from ourselves this other thing, both of us perhaps not wishing to speak it. In one week I had even begged him to place in my nose the tiny golden ring of a Tuchuk slave girl, and in that week I had served him as such, clad even in the Kalmak, Chatka and Curla, my hair bound back with the red Koora. My hair had begun to grow out, from having been shaved away for the voyage on the slave ship, but it was still quite short; I wore a broad Koora, which, kerchieflike, covered most of my head. He gestured that I should remove my garments, and I did so, even to, reading his eyes, the red Koora on my head. Interestingly, I had noted few, if any, slaves among the wagons. This was quite different from the Wagon Peoples of the far south. There, beautiful slaves, in the scandalously revealing Chatka and Curia, the Kalmak and Koora, tiny rings in their noses, were common among the wagons. She was slim, and extremely dark-haired, and very white-skinned. Her hair was drawn back behind her head and tied there with a yellow cord. Her breasts were bared. A black cord was knotted about her waist. Tucked over this cord in front was a long strip, some seven inches wide, of heavy, opaque, yellow cloth. It then passed under her body and was pulled up, snugly, and thrust over the cord in the back. The front and back ends of this cloth hung evenly, and fell about midway between her knees and ankles. The effect was much like that of the Curla and Chatka, a portion of the garmenture, or livery, in which the wagon peoples of the south place most of their slave females, save that the Curia, the cord, was black and not red, and the Chatka, the strip, was of cloth and yellow, not of black leather. She had nothing corresponding, of course, to the Kalmak, or southern slave's brief, open vest of black leather, and the cord binding her hair was quite different from the Koora, the red band of cloth commonly used to confine the hair of the southern slave. In all then, since she wore cloth and not leather, and less than the southern slave, her appearance, if anything, was even more slavelike than hers.
Whereas a slave might prefer to be naked before her master, that she might know herself the more his slave, almost any slave wishes to be clothed in public. To be sent naked about one's errands, one's shopping and such, is usually regarded as an instruction, if the slave is new or, if she is not, as a sign that she is out of favor with her master, perhaps having failed to be fully pleasing in some way. In many ways may a slave be praised or rewarded, punished or disciplined. As animals we need not be permitted clothing, but, I am informed, many cities recommend the clothing of slaves in public, assuming that the clothing makes it clear that we are slaves, which injunction the masters see to, to their satisfaction. "Where are our tunics?" begged a slave. "Surely we will not be taken into the streets as we are." "No, not as we are!" said another slave. "Clothe us!" begged another slave. "You are already clothed," said he who was adding us to the coffle. "You have your clothing, your collars. How could those such as you be more appropriately clothed?" She was beautiful in the lamp light, naked and collared.
Before he had left he had had them sew northern garments for themselves, under his instruction. From the furs and hides among the spoils at the wall they had cut and sewn for themselves stockings of lart skin, and shirts of hide, and a light and heavy parka, each hooded and rimmed with lart fur. Too, they had made the high fur boots of the northern woman and the brief panties of fur, to which the boots, extending to the crotch, reach. On the hide shirts and parkas he had made them sew a looped design of stitching at the left shoulder, which represented binding fiber. This designated the garments as those of beasts. A similar design appeared on each of the other garments. About their throats now, too, they wore again the four looped strings, each differently knotted, by means of which a red hunter might, upon inspection, determine that their owner was Imnak.
She wore a short, fringed, beaded shirtdress. This came high on her thighs. It was split to her waist, well revealing the sweetness and loveliness of her breasts. It was belted upon her with a doubly looped, tightly knotted rawhide string. Such a string is more than sufficient, in its length, and in its strength and toughness, to tie a woman in a number of ways. She was barefoot. About her left ankle there was, about two inches high, a beaded cuff, or anklet. Her garb was doubtless intended to suggest the distinctive, humiliating and scandalously brief garment in which red savages are sometimes pleased to place their white slaves. One difference, however, must surely be noted. The red savages do not use steel collars. They usually use high, beaded collars, tied together in the front by a rawhide string. Subtle differences in the styles of collars, and in the knots with which they are fastened on the girls' necks, differentiate the tribes. Within a given tribe the beading, in its arrangements and colors, identifies the particular master. This is a common way, incidentally, for warriors to identify various articles which they own. She wore a black, tight, off-the-shoulder bodice and a short, black, silk skirt, decorated with red thread and ruffles, and stiffened with crinoline. A black ribbon choker was placed behind the steel collar on her throat. A red ribbon, matching the decorations on her skirt, was in her hair. She had not been permitted stockings or footwear. Such things are normally denied the Gorean slave girl. Her costume, like that of Ginger, the short, fringed, beaded shirtdress of tanned skin, with the beaded anklet, intended to resemble the garb in which red masters sometimes saw fit to clothe their white female slaves, if permitting them clothing, suggested its heritage of other times and other places.
The girls, too, were given lovely silken sheets, which they might hold about themselves. Naturally they kneel humbly before the men, for they are not only females, but slaves.
The bracelets contrasted with the meanness of her coarse brown garment. Thorn fingered the garment. "We will get rid of this," he told her. "Soon, when you have been properly prepared, you will be dressed in costly pleasure silk, given sandals perhaps, scarves, veils and jewels, garments to gladden the heart of a maiden." "Of a slave," she said. To one side, her arms folded, the quirt in her hand, in leather strips and halter, with collar and ring, with high-laced sandals, stood the large female slave, who had originally conducted the girl from the room, and had brought her back today. Gorean slave girls, incidentally, almost always go barefoot; it is a rare girl, and a high girl, who is permitted sandals. Slaves, for example, are commonly kept barefoot. High slaves, on the other hand, often have sandals, sometimes lovely ones. She was rather modestly garbed, I thought, her tunic coming to her knees. Too, it was not belted. This was presumably to conceal her figure. On the other hand, I conjectured that beneath that garment, woven of the wool of the bounding hurt, her figure might not be without interest. She wore no makeup. She had been given sandals. "I, for one, however, do not care," said Seremides, "to hear of Chloe's new tunic, that Tessa's mistress is having an affair with Alessandro of Telnar, that the widths of talmits are increasing or decreasing, that hemlines are going up or down, that Cora may or may not be given sandals, and so on." "Kajirae find such things of interest," I said.
That was true. It was a long, yellow, closely woven Sa-Tarna sack. If there could have been any doubt about it such doubts would have been dispelled by the thick, black, stenciled lettering on the bag, giving a bold and unmistakable account of its earlier contents, together with their grind and grade, and the signs of the processing mill and its associated wholesaler. "Am I to gather that you are dissatisfied?" I asked. "Yes," she said, acidly. "The yellow sets off your hair nicely," I said. Perhaps if I enslaved her, I would put her in yellow slave silk. She was a beautiful woman. "This makes me look ridiculous," she said. "It is not unknown for free teenage girls of poor families, in rural areas, to wear such garments," I said. Also, of course, it was not unknown for such girls to put themselves in the way of slavers, that they might be caught, and carried to cities, to be sold. Too often, however, it seemed they were merely sold to peasants in distant villages as sex and work slaves. "I am not the simple, dirty, barefoot, unkempt, scrawny teenage daughter of some destitute peasant in some out-of-the-way place," she said. "I am the Lady Yanina of Brundisium!" "You are barefoot," I said. Prisoners, as well as slaves, are often kept that way on Gor. "This garment makes me look ridiculous," she said. "You might look a little silly," I said, "but you do not look all that ridiculous. Indeed, I have never seen anyone wear a Sa-Tarna sack better." "Thank you," she said, in fury.
Players of Gor Book 20 Page 216
both girls wore the Sirik, a light chain favored for female slaves by many Gorean masters; it consists of a Turian-type collar, a loose, rounded circle of steel, to which a light, gleaming chain is attached; should the girl stand, the chain, dangling from her collar, falls to the floor; it is about ten or twelve inches longer than is required to reach from her collar to her ankles; to this chain, at the natural fail of her wrists, is attached a pair of slave bracelets; at the end of the chain there is attached another device, a set of linked ankle rings, which, when closed about her ankles, lifts a portion of the slack chain from the floor; the Sirik is an incredibly graceful thing and designed to enhance the beauty of its wearer; perhaps it should only be added that the slave bracelets and the ankle rings may be removed from the chain and used separately; this also, of course, permits the Sirik to function as a slave leash. She wore the Sirik and was, of course, clad Kajir, clad in the Curia and Chatka the red cord and the narrow strip of black leather; in the Kalmak, the brief vest, open and sleeveless, of black leather, and in the Koora, the strip of red cloth that bound back her brown hair. She stood to one side, fastened in a sirik. I saw the graceful metal at her throat, and on her wrists and ankles, the long, light chain dangling from the collar, to which the slave bracelets and ankle rings were attached. Rissia picked up the discarded sirik. She reached over Ilene's head and fastened the collar about her throat, the chain dangling before her body. Then, reaching about her, she fastened Ilene's hands in the bracelets attached to the chain, confining them before her body. She then drew the chain between her legs and under her body and fastened the two ankle rings, attached to the chain, on her ankles. Ilene knelt stripped in sirik. "Put Slave Beads in a Sirik," said my master. Swiftly my master's new girl was locked in the light, gleaming Sirik. The collar clasped her throat; a chain dangled from the collar; her small wrists were locked in the slave bracelets fixed on the dangling chain, and the dangling chain, itself, looped down to a short chain and pair of ankle rings, to which it was gracefully fastened at a sliding ring. The ankle rings were then closed about the lovely ankles of Slave Beads, and locked. She was helpless in Sirik. The man brought a Sirik, and locked it on my throat, and about my wrists and ankles. Then, with another chain, looping it through the Sirik chain which fell from my Sirik collar to my braceleted wrists and confined ankles, he secured me to a heavy ring, passing one end of the looped chain through the ring and then, with a heavy padlock, closing the open end of the loop. I could not determine the exact arrangement of the chains, coiled as they were. There seemed, however, to be a longer chain, which was a base chain, and two smaller, subsidiary chains. At one end the base chain was attached to a rather small neck ring, but suitable for closing about a woman's neck; at the other end it was attached to one of the subsidiary chains, about a foot long, and terminating on each end with a ring; those rings looked as though they might fit snugly about a woman's ankles; the other subsidiary chain seemed to be placed about two feet or so below the, neck ring; at its terminations were smaller rings, which looked as though they might close snugly, locking, about a woman's wrists. "What is that?" I asked. "It is called a sirik," he said. It was a chaining system of that sort called a sirik. My chin was thrust up and I felt the golden collar locked on my throat. Almost at the same time my wrists, held closely together before me, were locked helplessly in the wrist rings. In another instant my ankles, held, were helpless in the ankle rings. A chain then ran from my collar to the chain on, my wrist rings and from thence, the same chain, to the chain on my ankle rings. My ankle-ring chain was about twelve inches in length, and my wrist-ring chain was about six inches in length. The central chain, where it dangled down from the wrist rings, lay on the floor before the throne, before it looped up to where it was closed about a central link of the ankle-ring chain. This permits; the prisoner, usually a slave, to lift her arms. She is thus in a position to feed herself or better exhibit her beauty to masters in a wider variety of postures and attitudes than would otherwise be the case. The point of the sirik is not merely to confine a woman, but to confine her beautifully. Too, sometimes, for days before a night like this she wears the sirik. I had very seldom been in sirik, though I had worn one in my training once or twice, so that I might be instructed in the strict limitations it would impose on me, and how I might, nonetheless, move in it, if it were set to suitable widths, in a way pleasing to masters. The full sirik consists of a collar and three chains. One of these chains, a long, vertical chain, attached to the collar, dangles downward. To it are fastened two horizontal chains, one, from its attachment point near the lower belly, terminating in slave bracelets, wrist-rings, or manacles, and the other, from its attachment point at the end of the dangling chain, usually lying on the floor, or ground, terminating in shackles or ankle-rings. Parts of this arrangement may function separately, of course, for example, the long chain as a leash, the horizontal attachments as, say, slave bracelets or ankle shackles. Too, in many siriks, the chain widths are adjustable. In that way the latitudes of movement accorded to the slave may be enlarged or reduced, as the master pleases. They are, as many other things in the slave's life, under his exact governance. In the harshest adjustments of the sirik the girl, in effect, is in close chains; in the freer adjustments, she may move with considerable grace and beauty; indeed, in some siriks, it is possible for her to dance. In the sirik adjustments often prescribed for a girl before a night like this she can scarcely walk, the vertical chain's lower attachment point being drawn up between her ankles, which are then separated by as little as three or four inches, and her wrists, too, before her body, are even more closely confined. But she was in sirik. The metal collar was fastened on her throat. From it a long chain, dangled downward. To this chain, near her waist, was attached another chain, terminating at each end with a wrist ring, into which rings her wrists had been placed and locked. At the end of the chain dangling from the collar, to which the wrist-ring chain was attached, was an ankle-ring chain, terminating at each end with an ankle ring, into which her ankles had been placed and locked. The neck chain was rather long and if she were to stand some of it would have lain upon the deck. The device permits of numerous adjustments. As it was now adjusted, her wrists had some twelve inches of play, her ankles some fourteen inches of play. The smallness of her steps had been a function of the current adjustment of her ankle chaining. "One is a slave garment," he said, "which seems more locally cultural than her current tunic, and the other is a coiling of chain and rings, which, I am told, is a sirik." Then she raised her head, and said, "Sirik me." The neck ring was snapped about her throat first, rather like a Turian collar. Next her small wrists were clasped in the wrist rings, each at the terminus of the short, horizontal chain, attached to the vertical chain dangling from the collar, which vertical chain, continuing, looped down to the floor where, attached to it was the second horizontal chain, each end of which terminated in an ankle ring. Two snaps, and she was ankle bound. The sirik is a lovely and practical chaining arrangement. The two horizontal chains may be used in conjunction with the vertical chain, or independently, in which case one might have wrist shackles, in which the wrists might be confined before or behind the slave, and ankle shackles. Her wrists, now confined before her, were some six inches apart, and her ankles were something like a foot apart, permitting her to shuffle, or walk with small, careful, measured steps, but not allowing her to run. The vertical chain may function independently, as well, as a chain leash, or a tethering device, by means of which the slave might be secured to a slave ring, a tree, a stanchion, or such. The length of the vertical chain, which may loop to the floor when the slave's hands are lowered, is also long enough to permit her, her hands lifted, to feed herself. I felt even more helpless than when in the sirik for in the sirik one may move about, with its small steps, and lift one hands to one's mouth, to feed oneself, when permitted to use one's hands. Is a woman not beautiful in chains? Indeed, most chainings are designed to enhance a woman's beauty, such as the sirik.
When they were finished they would be put naked in slave cloaks and, fastened together in throat coffle, conducted back to their holding cages near the spice wharf.
At a watering hole, from a nomad, I purchased Alyena a brief second-hand, black-and-white-striped, rep-cloth slave djellaba. It came high on her thighs. This was that she would have something in which to sleep. She was permitted to wear it only for sleep. I would then throw her her brief djellaba against the desert cold, and order her to a position of sleep. On the mat, toward morning, she would pull the hood over her face, fold her arms and pull up her legs, knees bent; the djellaba came far up her thighs;
"Soon, my lovely daughter, you will learn the delicate, lascivious draping of slave garments and the tying of slave girdles, in such a way as to accentuate your beauty for the pleasure of a master. Her breasts, of course, in which so much of her luscious femaleness is naturally manifested, do not escape notice in her bondage. They are as open and available to the master as any other part of her. After all, he owns the whole slave. Accordingly she knows that they, so sweet and soft, so delicious and marvelous, so wonderful and exciting, will, like the rest of her, without a second thought, be submitted to attentions appropriate to her status. For example, they may be lovingly handled, and kissed and caressed by the master however and as long as he pleases. Too, they might be emphasized and accentuated by various forms of garments and bindings. The tying of slave girdles, for example, and the arrangement of binding fiber, often has this subtle, delicious feature in mind. Too, of course, they may be confined, if one wishes, in open brassieres of cord, or netting. I had even been taught the tying of slave girdles, in such a way as to emphasize, and sometimes more than subtly, my figure. The tying of slave girdles, with such silk, and otherwise, to emphasize the girl's figure and make clear her bondage, is an art in itself. "I do not know anything of being a slave," she said, "should it be done to me! I know nothing of pleasing men! I do not even know the draping of tunics, the tying of slave' girdles!" "Yes, much as they might learn to drape tunics, to be slave girdles, to wear slave strips, to use perfume, to apply cosmetics, and so on." The cord over Marcus' shoulder, of course, was the slave girdle, which is used to adjust the garment on the slave. Such girdles may be tied in various ways, usually in such ways as to enhance the occupant's figure. Such girdles, too, like the binding fiber with which a camisk is usually secured on a girl, may be used to bind her. "This cord," said Marcus, "may function as a slave girdle. Such may be tied in several ways. You, as a slave, doubtless know the tying of slave girdles." "And this," said Marcus, loosening the cord, "is perhaps the most common way of wearing the slave girdle." He then took the forward ends of the cord, again free, and this time crossed them, over the bosom, before placing them again through the loop at the back, drawing them forward and, once more, fastening them, perhaps more snugly than was necessary, before her. Phoebe was quite beautiful in the tunic. It was adjusted on her by a slave girdle, in one of its common ties. The slave girdle too, tied high on her, crossed, emphasized the loveliness of her small breasts, I was pleased for Marcus. He had a lovely slave. Her tiny fingers began to fumble with the knot of the slave girdle, on her left. Then she had the knot loose and pulled away the girdle. She then, hastily, struggling a little with it, pulled the tunic, a light pullover tunic, off, over her head. "The slave obeys her master!" she gasped, frightened, kneeling before him. He then tied her hands behind her back with the slave girdle and thrust the tiny tunic, folded, crosswise, in her mouth, so that she would bite on it. He then pushed her head down to the stones.
There are many types of slave garments, of course, other than such obvious categories as tunics, camisks and Ta-Teeras. Pleasure silks, in all varieties, and swirling, diaphanous dancing silks might be mentioned. The leathers forced on the slave maidens of the Wagon Peoples, taught to care for the bosk and please their masters, too, might be called to mind. I had been, in my training, put in various costumes, mostly, I suppose, for my masters to see what I looked like in them, such as the common and Turian camisk, and the scandalous garb prescribed for Tuchuk slave girls.
It was with joy, later in the morning, that I felt, thrown against my body by my master, a bit of brown cloth. It was a sleeveless body scrap, a shred of slave rag. It was a few threads, fit for a bond girl. Yet I welcomed it as I might have a gown, with gloves and pearls, from Paris. Now I might not be so revealed to the men. It was the first clothing I had been given on Gor. Radiant was my gratitude to him, and abundant were the kisses which, in joy, I placed about his legs and feet. Joyfully I drew on the garment, slipping it over my head, and fastened it, more tightly about me, by the two tiny hooks on the left. The slit made the garment, a rather snug one, easier to slip into; the two hooks, when fastened, naturally increased the snugness of the garment, drawing it quite closely about the breasts and hips; deliciously then, from the point of view of a man, the girl's figure is betrayed and accentuated; also, the two hooks do not close the slit on the left completely, but permit men to gaze upon the sweet slave flesh pent, held captive, within; such a garment, of course, when a man grows weary of having his vision obscured, is easily torn away. I turned before my master, proud in my new riches. He indicated to Eta where the garment must be taken in, the hooks placed subtly differently. As it was the garment was too large for me. Eta was a larger woman. It was one of her cast-offs. The garment would be altered, that I would be as well revealed by it as Eta was by hers. My master drew out his knife. I shuddered, but dared not run. I closed my eyes. I felt him cutting at the garment's hem. He made it scandalously short. It had been a garment of Eta's measured high, but to her own longer legs. Now I scarcely dared move in it. He gave instructions to Eta, with respect to me. Then he, with his fellows, left the camp. Eta and I were alone. She went and brought pins, tiny scissors, a needle and thread. The alteration of my slave rag was apparently the first order of the day's business. It must match and betray my slave body perfectly. After that we could attend to our less important tasks. I stood and knelt, and stood, and moved as Eta instructed me. Once I removed the garment and she sewed the hem, where the knife had ripped it. In making the hem, of course, though Eta took it up as little as possible, the garment was further shortened. I reddened. I wondered if there was much to choose from between such a garment and being nude; I supposed the garment gave the men something to tear away. Then I put it back on. Eta repositioned the hooks. I gasped, as she fastened them. Then Eta deftly, here and there, sometimes cutting, and pinning and sewing, fitted the rag to me with candid perfection. This was done on my body, that the fit be flawlessly snug. Eta was a superb seamstress. Only twice, even under these conditions, and given our objectives, did I feel the needle. Then Eta stood back; and then walked about me. Then Eta, to my surprise, with the point of her scissors, ripped the tiny garment a bit under my right breast, that a bit of skin might show, and again at my left hip, a larger rip. These were done in such a way as to make them appear natural, inadvertent rents in the garment. She then, with the point of the scissors, at two points, ripped the hem she had earlier sewn out a bit, that in these two places it might appear the threads had broken; the hem then, in these two places, was irregular on my legs. She then, at another place, cut into the hem, ripping it, and unraveled and tore it a bit, as though it had naturally frayed; some stray threads hung upon my thigh. These were the touches which, to my horror and delight, made the garment of the slave rag exquisitely perfect. I looked at the lovely slave in the mirror. I wondered if the men knew, or suspected, the female cunning that went into the making of a slave rag. She was arming me with beauty. With what else might a slave girl be armed? Eta kissed me, and I kissed her. The ingenuity and care lavished upon the slave rag, seemingly such a pathetic accident of a garment, is a careful secret well kept among slave girls. If the master does not know why the smallest movement of his girl, clad in what he thought was a mere discipline rag, almost drives him out of his wits with pleasure, that is all right. The masters, as we girls sometimes tell one another, do not have to know everything. I had not been permitted, following the cruel game, to slip the Ta-Teera, my slave rag, again upon my body. She wore the scandalously brief shreds of a tattered slave rag, sewn of brown rep-cloth, torn open at her thighs, I assume deliberately, held but by a single, narrow strap over her left shoulder. Her breasts hung lovely, sweet and full, scarcely concealed, within the thin brown cloth. She laughed. She looked at me. She touched the rag she wore. "I suppose it is difficult." she said, "to respect a girl who wears the slave rag, the Ta-Teera." She wore the Ta-Teera, the slave rag, and a collar. One of the most exciting slave garments, if the slave is permitted clothing, is the Ta-Teera, or, as it is sometimes called, the slave rag. This is analogous to the tunic, but it is little more, and intentionally so, than a rag or rags. In it the girl is in no doubt as to whether or not she is a slave. Some cities do not wish girls in Ta-Teeras to be seen publicly on the streets. Some masters put their girls in such garments only when they are camping, or in the wilds. Others, of course, may prescribe the Ta-Teera for their girls when they are within their own compartments. Too, I had been taught the wearing of, and arrangement of, simple, typical slave garments, such as tunics of various sorts, and Ta Teeras, or slave rags. Girls are often kept naked in their kennels. Too, even if not caged or kenneled, they often sleep naked, that they may be the more accessible to the master. At the least they sleep scantily clad or in garments that may be swiftly drawn aside, revealing them. Some men, to be sure, enjoy having at least a bit of cloth or a slave rag on their girl, so that she will understand, even if she is awakened rudely, that there is some veil which is being removed from her. I was clad in a Ta Teera, or slave rag, a brief bit of rep cloth, torn here and there, well revealing me. Much more practical for the delta would have been the skimpy garments of female slaves, the brief tunics, the short, open-sided, exciting camisks, the scandalous Ta Teeras, or slave rags, indeed, the many varieties of stimulating slave garments, sometimes mere strips and strings, garments deliberately revelatory of imbonded beauty. Our uniforms were not destroyed. They were not cut from us. Rather we were forced to remove them before our chaining. The Cosians, it seems, wanted some uniforms, doubtless for purposes of subterfuge or infiltration. Too, the women of the rencers like the bright cloth, and we were told, too, that some of them were to be cut into slave strips, or fashioned into Ta Teeras, slave rags, for slave girls, such being, in their opinion, a fit disposition for such material." I looked down at her, a small brunet, half naked in a Ta Teera, a slave rag. "I wonder how she would look on her knees, in a slave rag," said Marcus. "I do not know," I said. "Undoubtedly quite well," he said. "I would suppose so," I said. After all, most women do. She wore a ta-teera, a slave rag. It was the garment of a free woman. How different it was from the small tunics, the camisks, common and Turian, the scandalous ta-teeras, or slave rags, the slave strips, little more than a shred of cloth and a string, so frequently allotted to slaves, assuming that they were permitted clothing. "What would you consider proper clothing?" he asked. "I do not understand," she said. "Why are you smiling?" The slaves were clothed, most tunicked, or camisked. One wore the Turian camisk, rare in the north, and two were in cleverly contrived ta-teeras, a form of garment which some think of as "slave rags." If possible, it leaves even less of the slave to the imagination than the tunic or ta-teera, the "slave rag." In her collar, let her, if clothed at all, wear rags, a tunic, or camisk, so that she will know that she is no more than a slave, a purchasable article, a vendible beast. The Earth girl, captured, stripped, branded, collared, and marketed quickly learns that she is now a slave, but consider the Gorean woman, so exalted and deferred to in her city, having now become a slave. How different for her that is! Her world has collapsed. Things are different for her now. Now, head down, that she be fed, that she be granted a rag to cover her nakedness, that she not feel the lash, she crawls to her master, and begs to be permitted to lick and kiss his feet. "You would be even more beautiful," I said, "in the rag and collar of a slave." I had been permitted to fashion a garment from some pieces of sacking found in one of the small huts of the abandoned village. A small, sharp stick well served as an awl, and lengths of twisted cloth run through the holes functioned nicely as thread. In the end I had improvised something which might be likened to a ta-teera, though an actual ta-teera, designed to seem to the casual observer little more than a degrading slave rag, would be likely to be far more artfully, skillfully, and cunningly designed.
A slave sheet is light. It provides little, or no, warmth. Its purpose is to conceal the slave. The typical slave sheet is light, small, square, and cheap. Its usual intent, as suggested earlier, is to conceal a slave. It is not intended for comfort, for who is concerned with the comfort of a slave, nor is it concerned with the slave's modesty, as slaves are not permitted modesty. It is often thrown over the slave's head and fastened in place with a cord or thong about her neck. Whereas its common purpose is concealment, it may also be used to provoke interest or curiosity. In such a case, a greater or lesser extent of the slave's legs will be visible, surely at least the calves, and the rest is left to the imagination of passing masters. This appertains to the slave particularly when she is upright, sitting, or lying. We, of course, were on all fours, and thus the sheet would be likely to do little more than hide the slave from sight. As it was night, and late, and there was confusion in the streets, the masters, I am sure, were more than content with this limited objective. Lastly, it might be noted that the slave sheet, when fastened about the head, not only conceals the slave's features, but, in its way, to some extent, hoods the slave, thus making her less aware of her surroundings and more manageable.
There are many types of slave garments, of course, other than such obvious categories as tunics, camisks and Ta-Teeras. Pleasure silks, in all varieties, and swirling, diaphanous dancing silks might be mentioned. Slave silk, and certainly that sort which is commonly worn in Page taverns and upon occasion in brothels, when the girls are permitted clothing there, is generally diaphanous. It leaves little doubt as to the beauty of the slave. Some girls claim they would rather be naked, claiming that such silk makes them "more naked than naked," but most girls, and I think, even those, too, who speak in such a. way, are grateful for even the wisp of gossamer shielding it provides against the imperious appraisals of masters, even though it must be pulled away or discarded instantly at a man's whim. Too, I think most girls know that they are very beautiful in such silk, and this, I suspect, is why they love it, and treasure it so. There are a large number of ways in which slave silk is worn. It can be worn, for example, on the shoulder or off the shoulder, with high necklines or plunging necklines, in open or closed garments, tightly or flowingly, and in various lengths. Sometimes it is put on the girl only in halters and G-strings, or mere G-strings. Sometimes it is done, too, in strips wound about her body. The tying of slave girdles, with such silk, and otherwise, to emphasize the girl's figure and make clear her bondage, is an art in itself. Often, too, and as usually in paga taverns, it is worn in brief tunics. Most of these are partable or wraparound tunics. Such may be removed gracefully. The silks of tavern girls are usually brief and diaphanous.
A string was knotted about her waist. Over this string, in the front, there was thrust a single, simple narrow rectangle of vulgar, white rep-cloth, some six inches in width, some twelve inches in length. "Here," she said, handing me the narrow strips, knotted together, taken from the hem of her skirt. "Roll it. Twist it in your hands. It will be stronger. That is it. Good. Now tie it about your waist." I fastened this fragile, narrow, improvised cordlike belt of twisted and rolled cloth about me, knotting it at the left hip. It was a slip knot, such that masters might remove it at a tug. "Here," she said, handing me the strip of cloth she had torn from her bodice. I placed it carefully, gratefully, the loose end inside, next to my belly, over the rolled cloth. I smoothed it out. "I see that you know how to insert a slave strip in a belly cord," she said. The work tunics of Mina and Cara had been thrust back, over their arms, and torn down. The remains of the bodices of these tunics now hung back about their wrists. The remainder of the garments, in front, torn apart, hung low on their bellies, below their navels. Their breasts were very beautiful, and the line of their waists, and the beginning of the flare of their hips. Too, their skirts, and Tupita's, too, and the slave strips, or G-strings, of Tela and myself had been lifted up, or aside, and let fall again, perhaps to see if we were depilated, or shaved, or if such cloth might conceal some defect. She was very beautiful there, bare-breasted, her neck in the slave collar of Ionicus, about her hips and thighs the brief shreds of the skirt of her work tunic, that tunic sacrificed that I might have at least the little I wore, a slave strip thrust in a narrow belt of rolled cloth. Tuka had knelt before him, clad only in a slave strip and belt of rolled cloth, her wrists crossed and bound behind her back, fastened closely to her crossed, bound ankles! I hastily adjusted the rolled cloth belt and the slave strip, tucking it in. In chagrin I found my "garments," the slave strip and belt. I knelt back, and put them on. He removed the cloth belt and slave strip from me and tossed them, too, to the side, among his things. I was naked. He had not given me clothing, even the belt of rolled cloth and the slave strip, which he had earlier removed, when I had been bound, after the departure of Mirus and Tupita, they with the tharlarion and wagon. "This garment you are wearing," I said, "what is, in effect, a Chatka; I am shortening and transforming into two slave strips." I drew the long strip before the cord in front back over the cord so that it would no longer hang midway, or about midway, between her knees and ankles but was now about eighteen inches long. The garment then looped below her body. I then cut the garment a bit behind and below the cord in front. I then moved her about and treated the garment similarly in the back, drawing the strip back over the cord so that it was now only about eighteen inches long, and then cutting it off a bit below and behind the cord. She now wore two slave strips, each about eighteen inches long, one over the cord in front, one over it in back. Also, I had not yet seen fit to accord her the luxury of clothing, such as I might manage, even so much as a cord and slave strip. "I am thinking," I said, "of giving you a slave strip, perhaps two." "But I am not a slave," she said. "A free woman, a captive, may be put in such," I said. "I do not understand," she said. "Your breasts are beautiful," I said. "I think I will, accordingly, keep them bared. A cord was about her waist, snugly. It was fastened with a bow knot on her left. The knot, being on the left, was not only convenient for her, reaching across her body, perhaps at a captor's or master's command, but was readily at hand, as well, for the attentions of a right-handed captor or master. In either case, the bow knot, of course, loosens with a casual tug. Over the cord, in front and back, were two narrow slave strips. From about the wagon, and about the concealing canvas, timidly, and yet beautifully, leashed, in a belly cord, a mere lace, and a narrow, yellow slave strip, her hands behind her, probably braceleted, came a beautiful young woman. I had only twice, in my training, in my costuming, and silking, and such, worn a garment with a nether closure. The first was no more than a long, narrow silken rectangle thrust over a belly cord in front, taken down between the legs, drawn up snugly, and then thrust over the same cord in the back. "Perhaps," I said, somewhat maliciously, "the next time, if the pit master permits us a repetition of this adventure, I will march you thought he streets as a bare-breasted slave, permitted only a string and slave strip." "But the important thing, really, about slave garments," I said, "whether they are the riches of gowns, with perhaps a slit in them through which a thigh must be revealed, or the tiniest of strings and slave strips, is that they are just that, slave garments. It is their meaning, primarily, which renders them provocative, that they are slave garments, that she who wears them is slave." The common slave strip is a single, narrow, dangling piece of cloth anchored in binding fiber, double-looped about the waist of the slave. It is usually tied snugly, to accentuate the figure of the slave. It is fastened with a slip knot that it may easily, with a tug, be undone. The binding fiber, of course, is long enough to bind the slave, hand and foot, or, if one desires, to serve as a leash, the slave strip then usually folded and placed between the slave's teeth, which she dare not drop. Sometimes the binding fiber, in its double loop, is looser, that it may ride low on the hips. The point of this is to exhibit the navel of the slave, which, in Gorean, is known as "the slave belly." Clothing, of course, is at the discretion of the master, whether or not it is to be permitted, and, if so, its nature, whether say, a modest tunic, or a camisk, or slave strip. One must learn to wear, and move well within, tunics, camisks, gowns, slave strips, ta-teeras, and such, of various sorts. I saw nothing of a tunic or camisk, or ta-teera, or slave strip and so I understood I was to be marched naked through the streets on a leash as a low slave or punished slave. It was my hope he might later permit me clothing. I would do my best to be worthy of a garment, be it only a slave strip. A tunic, even a slave strip, can be very precious to a slave.
As I turned, hurrying, suddenly, frightening me, I realized the Ta-Teera had scarcely concealed me. I wore the scandalously brief, torn, hooked, sleeveless Ta-Teera, which so displayed a girl's charms. "Remove the Ta-Teera," he said to me. I sat up, unhooked it, and slipped it over my head, putting it to the side. To be sure, it was not easy to respect a woman who wore only the scandalous and sensuous Ta-Teera, and whose throat was locked in the lovely, exciting collar of a slave. How could one see such a woman, truly, except as a slave? "In the Ta-Teera though," she said bitterly, "it is sometimes like being more naked than naked." "I am only a half-naked slave," she said, "in a Ta-Teera and collar. Her breasts, swelling within the pathetic restraint of the Ta-Teera, made me want to cry out with pleasure. She wore the Ta-Teera, the slave rag, and a collar. One of the most exciting slave garments, if the slave is permitted clothing, is the Ta-Teera, or, as it is sometimes called, the slave rag. This is analogous to the tunic, but it is little more, and intentionally so, than a rag or rags. In it the girl is in no doubt as to whether or not she is a slave. Some cities do not wish girls in Ta-Teeras to be seen publicly on the streets. Some masters put their girls in such garments only when they are camping, or in the wilds. Others, of course, may prescribe the Ta-Teera for their girls when they are within their own compartments. The other, more elaborate, was a "Turian camisk." It is rather like an inverted "T" where the bar of the "T" has beveled edges. The foot of the "T" ties about the neck and the staff of the "T" goes before one, and then, between the legs, is drawn up snugly behind and tied closed in front where the beveled edges of the bar of the "T," wrapped about the body, have been brought forward, meeting at the waist. It may also have side ties, if permitted, strings that tie behind the back, to better conceal, in one sense, and, in another, better reveal the figure. Others were clad in what appeared to be rags, some little more than castoffs, which might have been soiled even, from use in the kitchen, others in rags which, I think, were actually scandalous ta-teeras, artfully arranged rags, intended to well display the women placed in them. She wore a ta-teera, a slave rag. One wore the Turian camisk, rare in the north, and two were in cleverly contrived ta-teeras, a form of garment which some think of as "slave rags." Whereas some slaves, indeed, say scullery slaves, garbage slaves, or such, may be clothed, if at all, in no more than a tiny rag, in any shred of cloth, perhaps one soiled from the soot and grease of the kitchen, to conceal their nudity, the subtler ta-teera is carefully tied or sewn. It is carefully wrought, artfully designed, to accomplish two objectives, first, to seem to convey the thought that the slave is a low slave, and one of little value, one worthy of no more than brief, demeaning rags, though she may in actuality be a prized, high slave, and, secondly, to well exhibit the charms of the slave, such things accomplished by the brevity and openness of the garment, as by, say, a short, uneven hem, ragged at the edges, a slit hem, showing a flash of thigh, as though inadvertently, and by, say, a rent here, a gap there, and so on. I noted the eyes of several men on the ta-teera-clad slaves, a master's inspection, a Gorean male's inspection, of which the slaves pretended to be oblivious. "lf you are interested in her attractiveness to men," he said, "for example, you might wish to give her to one or another, for an evening, or such, for some purpose of yours, you might think in terms of a camisk, a ta-teera a bit of rep-cloth, such things." I knew that camisks, and ta-teeras, were frowned on in the streets, in public. One must learn to wear, and move well within, tunics, camisks, gowns, slave strips, ta-teeras, and such, of various sorts. I saw nothing of a tunic or camisk, or ta-teera, or slave strip and so I understood I was to be marched naked through the streets on a leash as a low slave or punished slave. The camisk is a strip of cloth, a brief, narrow rectangle with a circular opening at its center. It is drawn over the head, poncholike, pulled down, and belted with cord, or binding fiber. If possible, it leaves even less of the slave to the imagination than the tunic or ta-teera, the "slave rag." Indeed, I was told that it is outlawed on the streets of some cities. "You will be less conspicuous in a tunic," he said. "Yes, Master," I said. In some cities, even camisks and ta-teeras were outlawed on the streets. To be sure, slaves are to be clad as slaves. The usual garb of a slave is a brief tunic. The slave tunic is designed not only to mark a woman as a slave, and distinguish her dramatically and unmistakably from a free woman, but to enforce upon its occupant the understanding that she is a slave and only a slave. It is also designed, of course, not only to display the woman as a slave, as a commodity and a domestic animal, but to enhance her beauty, as well. It might also be noted that such a garment, like the camisk and the ta-teera, can stimulate and arouse desire. Certainly it has that effect on men, and, if it must be known, it has that effect on the woman, as well. Certainly, in such garments, we know what we are for. But even a brief tunic, a short, open-sided camisk, belted with binding fiber, the rag of a ta-teera, any mockery of a garment, is precious to us.
To one side, tall, broad-shouldered, stood a young male thrall, in the thrall tunic of white wool, his hair cropped short, an iron collar on his throat.
How beautiful they were in their brief slave tunics, with the loop on the left shoulder. Most, however, permit the girl some garment, usually a brief, sleeveless, one-piece slave tunic. Like the other slave tunics, mine was sleeveless. There are no pockets, of course, in a slave tunic. Similarly, naturally, there is no nether closure in such a tunic, as one of the purposes of such a tunic is to remind the slave that she is to be instantly, readily available to men. She then sat in the basket, and tried to pull the slit sides of the tunic more about her. She was extremely conscious of the absence of a nether closure in the garment. Few slave garments, as noted, contain such a closure. A slave tunic can be quite fetching on a woman. To be sure, they are designed for that purpose. They display the legs, usually generously, and often the thighs, and do little to conceal the bosom, and her soft, fair shoulders. They leave little to the imagination, and what little they leave calls attention to what is concealed in so delightful and provocative a fashion that the tunic is almost an invitation to its own removal. Some feel that a slave tunic can make a woman look even more naked and vulnerable than when she is stripped. Such tunics, too, despite their brevity, lack a nether closure. In this way, the slave is reminded in yet another little way that she is to be always at the convenience of the master. The Gorean slave tunic not only leaves little doubt about the sex of its occupant, but it proclaims it blatantly. The common tunic, of course, covers the brand. A side-slit tunic makes the brand easily detectible, and certain other garments, as well, for example the common camisk. because most masters are right-handed. Similarly the disrobing loop of certain tunics is at the left shoulder, presumably for the same reason. She was clothed, in a brief, pressed, white tunic. She wore a brief, revealing tunic, cut at the sides, with a disrobing loop. I could no longer detect her long, dark hair, where it had fallen loosely about her white tunic. The tunic she wore was fetching, if only because there was so little to it. It was high on her thighs, especially the left thigh, for her brand was evident. The hems were ragged. In places it was rent. It was muchly stained and soiled. In front it was torn to her belly. Both were now cleaned and tended, both brushed and combed, and both now in a fresh, pressed tunic. "You are attractive in your tunic," said Callias, "but I think we may shorten it, considerably." "As Master wishes," she said. We turned about, to join the slaves, one in a scarlet tunic, one in a blue tunic, waiting at the land end of the pier. The tunic conceals very little. Men will have it that way. I was granted a tunic. Doubtless it had been worn by others before me, but, to me, it was inordinately precious. Certainly I would do much to keep it. It is a simple thing for a master to thrust up the short skirt of the tunic, to the slave's waist. Tunicked, one is already half naked. in my short, purple tunic "Very well," I said, and I freed the small candy from its wrapper, the candy and wrapper extracted from a tiny sleeve inside the hem of my tunic. I saw a lovely-legged, long-haired girl in a brief blue tunic. I did not know if that were because her master favored the blue, or if he might be a scribe. Far below, on the broad, level area, inside the rail, I saw two girls, in tunics of yellow and blue the Slaver's colors, back-braceleted as other slaves, but also, interestingly, joined together, neck to neck, by a yard of chain. The common slave garment is a brief tunic, of which there are several sorts. Indeed, amongst slaves a tunic, in its way, constitutes a symbol of status. Certainly tunicked slaves commonly look down upon naked slaves. I think I would rather be naked at the feet of my master, but, in public, I delight in the tunic. Perhaps free women would switch me across the calves, but I would still be pleased. Indeed, I do not think they would strike me, if they were not envious of me. Perhaps they, too, would like to be so exhibited, so proudly and shamelessly, for the perusal of men. So the brief tunic is a common slave garment. Men will have it so. She wore a brief tunic, of bright scarlet. "There is another reason I placed you in a scarlet tunic," he said. "Master?" "It proclaims to all the world," he said, "that you kick, moan, and squirm well." My own tunic, for example, like many, had a disrobing loop at its left shoulder. This is convenient for most men, as they are right-handed. We had removed our tunics at the water's edge, and, kneeling there, had soaked and rinsed them, twisting what water we could from the cloth. As only small pebbles and gravel were about, we could do little more. Then, laying the tunics out to dry, we had waded into the water. I regretted that my tunic was white. How much better would have been the skins of Panther Women which would have blended with the background, the branches, the shadows, and foliage. I pulled on the tunic. I had never worn such a thing before. I wondered if one might not be more naked in such a thing than without it. "Such a garment, of course," said Paula, "is designed to flatter a woman, to set her off, not to hide her, but to reveal her." "It certainly reveals one," I said. The camisk is a strip of cloth, a brief, narrow rectangle with a circular opening at its center. It is drawn over the head, poncholike, pulled down, and belted with cord, or binding fiber. If possible, it leaves even less of the slave to the imagination than the tunic or ta-teera, the "slave rag." The feeling of free women toward tunics and such seems to be ambivalent. They seem to favor them in order to humiliate and degrade the slave, and emphasize the difference between themselves, the free, and the slaves, while, at the same time, they seem to resent the attention and pleasure with which men regard slaves so clad. Surely, in a tunic, it is clear what the slave is for. I wore a black tunic, and a black collar. I wore a brief yellow tunic, which would be likely to catch the eye of any we might pass. Her tunic was of yellow silk, brief, low-cut, and slashed at both hips. There was no doubt it garbed a slave. The tunic was brief even for a slave tunic, for my master liked me in such tunics. Slave tunics lack pockets and so, too, do most Gorean garments, a prominent exception being the tunics of craftsmen. "Yesterday," I said, "Master purchased me a lovely yellow tunic, though unnecessarily brief." "It will go nicely with your dark hair and eyes," he said. "It was slit to the hips," I said. Being slit at the left hip, it might be easily brushed aside, to examine my mark. Slitting the garment at the right side, as well, is presumably done for a variety of purposes, to achieve balance, symmetry, and such. Also, of course, it shows more of the slave. There was little mistaking the loveliness of her legs for she wore a brief Gorean slave tunic. Such tunics do little to conceal, and much to enhance, the beauty of a woman. In such a tunic a woman understands, and others understand, that she is being displayed as what she is, a purchasable object. I had scarcely arrived at the display area, to peruse the still-available offerings of the tavern, when one of the girls, she, like the others this night, in a brief yellow tunic, slit at the left hip, startled, looking up, hurled herself prone on the floor, squirming forward on her belly, pulling against the chain and manacle, extending her right hand to me, piteously. "Master!" she begged. "Me! Me!" "The tunic," I said, "conceals little and suggests much. It proclaims the woman an article of property, a purchasable slave. That in itself is exciting. It is also a garment which is easily removed." The typical slave tunic makes it clear that its occupant is a property and is designed to leave few of its occupant's charms to the imagination. Men found them exciting on a woman, and not simply, I suspected, because they left little of an occupant's charms to the imagination, but, also, because of their meaning. The woman so exhibited was, legally, a domestic animal, a property, something vendible, something purchasable. Are not such garments made to be removed? I supposed, in the opinion of many, particularly free women, there is little difference between a slave tunic and stark nudity, but, in the opinion of the slave, there is a great deal of difference. Even a rag can be precious to a slave girl. To be sure, a rag conceals little of what may be concealed beneath it, and the rag, of course, can be easily torn away stripping the slave. Whereas new slaves are often upset to the point of tears to be exhibited in a slave tunic, most slaves, unashamed of their bodies, and reveling in their sex and desirability, are more than happy to have such a tunic. What garment can do more to proclaim their condition and enhance their charms? And have they not sometimes sensed the ill-concealed envy and fury of free women, their competitors for men, denied the freedom, excitement, and joy of such a bit of covering. The paucity of clothing, intended to demean and humiliate, often, contrarywise, augments and celebrates.
Iris was in a rather conservative tunic, brown and relatively modest.
"She is quite pretty," I said. "The tunic is a bit long, is it not." "I think so," said Callias. This would not be unusual, of course, as few tunics are tailored to an individual slave. Given the common looseness, and drapery, of a tunic, a number of different slaves might wear the same tunic, which would be indifferently fetching on most of them. Many slaves, of course, once they have a tunic, will do their small, mysterious things to the garment in such a way that it seems designed for themselves alone. Some masters, too, of course, will take their slave to one of the Cloth Workers, and have one or more tunics altered to, or even made for, the particular slave. Alcinoë looked at me, startled. I gathered it had not occurred to her that the tunic might be too long. Doubtless she was grateful for her tunic. I had arranged with the cloth worker that it be "slave short." She had nice legs. Why should a master not display them? As with the common slave tunic it was sleeveless, and, naturally, as most slave garments, lacked a nether closure. This helps the slave to better realize that she is a slave that she is always at the convenience of the master.
"And now, too," he said, "you see why the slaves were given generous tunics this morning." "Master?" I said. "Rencers, after all," he said, "are men." "I see," I said. The tunics were generous indeed, falling to the calves. They even had sleeves, unusual in a slave garment.
I and the other girls wore kitchen tunics, brown, brief; ragged, stained.
Accordingly, Iris's tunics were now light and suitably "slave short."
The girl wore a modest slave tunic, which muchly covered her. Clothing, of course, is at the discretion of the master, whether or not it is to be permitted, and, if so, its nature, whether say, a modest tunic, or a camisk, or slave strip. The tunic I wore was suitable for a woman's slave, brown, high-necked, and mid-calfed, rather different from what a man would be likely to put on a slave. While we were at table, the girls, as expected, had served. They had been clad in modest tunics. The camisk is less acceptable to free women, but they reconcile themselves to the camisk on the grounds that the female slave is so worthless that it is acceptable for her to be camisked. The female serving slave of a free woman is likely to be modestly tunicked, whereas the slave of a free man is likely to be tunicked in such a manner as to make it clear to other men that she was worth buying. I had occasionally seen tower slaves in the streets, in their white knee-length, modest, demure tunics. Amongst the tunicked slaves kneeling against the wall of the inner vestibule, one stood out amongst them, one in a modest, white-silk tunic, dark-haired, green-eyed, olive-skinned Adraste! Iris was in a rather conservative tunic, brown and relatively modest.
"This is a tunic," he said, shaking out the bit of cloth in his hand. That was obvious. "It is a rather common tunic," he said. "It lacks the color, texture, and quality of the tunics of the Golden Chain." "This tunic is of nondescript gray," he said, dangling it from his right hand. "It is loosely woven, light, thin, and short. It is far from the grade, color, and splendor of the fine tunics of the Golden Chain. It is a common tunic, for a common slave. You will wear a nondescript tunic, suitable for a low slave, one which will not associate you with the Golden Chain. "This is a tunic," he said, shaking out the bit of cloth in his hand. That was obvious. "It is a rather common tunic," he said. "It lacks the color, texture, and quality of the tunics of the Golden Chain." "This tunic is of nondescript gray," he said, dangling it from his right hand. "It is loosely woven, light, thin, and short. It is far from the grade, color, and splendor of the fine tunics of the Golden Chain. It is a common tunic, for a common slave. "You are half-naked," he said. I gave no sign of any reaction, but I found his remark piquant. Even in an intact slave tunic, is a woman not already half naked? Is it not the point of a slave tunic to leave little doubt as to the charms of its occupant? "This tunic is of nondescript gray," he said, dangling it from his right hand. "It is loosely woven, light, thin, and short. It is far from the grade, color, and splendor of the fine tunics of the Golden Chain. It is a common tunic, for a common slave. He cast me the tiny garment and I hastily, gratefully, slipped it over my head. It was split at both thighs.
The clothing permitted to the slaves, considering their status as livestock, was rather ample, as the tunics, their single garment, extended to the center of the calf, as opposed to being high on the thigh, and often cut at the hip. Further, the tunics were rather coarse, and opaque. They were sleeveless, of course, and their simplicity left no doubt that they were slave garments. "I do not much care for that tunic," I said, "it is too long, too heavy, too opaque. A scrap of silk would better remind her that she is a slave." On the other hand, court slaves, when sent forth from the court, were commonly tunicked nondescriptly and opaquely, and put in a collar that did bear a legend.
I, a woman of Earth, now on Gor, on a walkway in Port Kar, a slave, half naked in a tiny, over-the-head tunic and fastened collar, was looking into the eyes of a Gorean master.
Euphrosyne, almost as soon as we arrived, coffled, at the Golden Chain, was thrown a paga tunic and put on the floor. The girls were tunicked. The Golden Chain was not one of those shabbier taverns where the paga slaves serve naked, and sometimes chained. To be sure, the paga tunic, like most other Gorean slave tunics, and as would be expected in a garment designed to display a woman as a slave, leaves little to speculation. He then went to the side, to a cabinet, which he opened, and, from a shelf, one of several containing what appeared to be assorted, small, folded, pressed, layered cloths, withdrew one of these objects, from the middle pile, and cast it to me, against my body. I seized it, gratefully, and held it to my bosom, shedding tears of joy. "Thank you, thank you, Master," I breathed. "Put it on, get up, and turn before me," he said. I did so. I was grateful for this bit of cloth, but I was apprehensive, too. How men might see a girl so clad! There is little to a paga tunic. "May I speak?" I asked. "Yes," he said. "Forgive me, Master," I said, "but is it not too short?" "No," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.
I moved the long Pani tunic up, on her left side, to the hip. I saw then that I was mistaken; she was not important. She was well marked, with the kef. She was then only a slave. I replaced the tunic so that, as before, the hem was across her ankles. I myself liked a shorter tunic on a slave, as the legs and thighs of a chattel are exciting. Also, the shorter tunic helps her to better understand that she is a slave. The first thing I would have done was discard the long, heavy, opaque Pani tunic, which seemed quite inappropriate for a slave, at least in good weather, given what a slave was.
No longer did they now wear their distracting, meaningless Earth raiment, but Gorean platform tunics. The tunics were white, with deep, plunging necklines, well revealing and setting off the collars, completely sleeveless, and terribly brief. The left side of the brief tunic overlapped the right side of the tunic. It was held in place by a light, white cord, which passed through two loops and was loosely knotted at the right hip. If the cord were jerked loose the garment would fall open and could be easily brushed aside, to fall back, loose, on their cuffed, chained wrists. The fellow on the platform then jerked loose the knot at the blonde's right hip, which held the wrap-around tunic closed.
It was a sleeveless, pullover tunic of brown rep cloth. It was generously notched on both sides at the hem, which touch guarantees an additional baring of its occupant's flanks. Today she wore a simple brown slave tunic. It was a brief, sleeveless, pullover tunic with a deep V-neck. In virtue of such a tunic a free man has little difficulty in conjecturing the delights of a slave's figure. The skirt was also cut at the sides. This made it easier to spread the knees in kneeling.
As for the girl, he had promptly, to her horror, had her clothing removed and had had her put in a brief rep-cloth slave tunic and a rude neck-ring of curved iron, that she would not escape and, anywhere, could be recognized as a slave. "Consider her in the rep-cloth tunic," I said. "It is a slave garment. It conceals little. Surely you find her attractive." She wore a light, white, sleeveless tunic, slave short. She had exciting arms and legs. The metal collar encircled her neck. The rep-cloth of the tunic left few of her charms to the imagination. "May I wear a tunic?" she asked. "Yes," I said. "The blue tunic, the short one, with the ragged hem, of rep-cloth." "Thank you, Master," she smiled. I thought that would turn some heads in the market. It is pleasant to witness the admiring glances which might fondle one's slave, as she busied herself on my business in the market. Sometimes I took her out, leashed, on the promenade, her hands braceleted behind her. Occasionally on such outings I permitted her a tunic. The tunic I had prescribed for her today was the tiny one, of blue rep-cloth. It would not hurt for idlers and passers-by to guess, from the color of her scrap of clothing, that she was a Scribe's girl. And how fetching she was, barefoot, in the brief, ragged tunic of blue rep-cloth. She had clutched the coins in her hand. Had she been natively Gorean she would probably have carried them in her mouth. When the fellows in the market saw the color of the tunic they would guess, I supposed, and correctly, that she was the property of a Scribe. Eve Jane, and I were identically tunicked, as I had been before, in brief white rep cloth. I, and the others of my rope, had been given brief common tunics. As most such tunics, these were sleeveless and, of course, lacked a nether closure. The slave is to understand herself as always available to the master. The tunics were brown, of cheap rep-cloth. They were not wrap-around tunics, nor the sort with a disrobing loop at the left shoulder, for the convenience of a right-handed master. These slipped over the head. This did not really afford an impediment to our use, as they might be easily thrust up to our waist. I think there is little doubt that the slave tunic, in its variations, is an attractive, provocative garment. How can a woman be displayed more attractively, or be made more aware of her womanhood, than being placed in the garment of a slave? It is sometimes thought that in such a garment a woman is more naked than naked, at least in the sense that it leaves few of her charms to the imagination, invites attention, and suggests the pleasures that might await its removal. A light breeze blew my tunic back against me. One could feel the moist air through it. It was of rep-cloth, a not uncommon material for the garments of slaves. It is light, porous, loosely woven, and clinging. The garment was sleeveless, and came high on my thighs. Such tunics leave little to the imagination. The disrobing loop, for I now wore one, was at my left shoulder, where it would be convenient to the hand of a right-handed man. Such garment, too, of course, lack a nether closure. We are to be at the convenience of our masters. In such a tunic it is said that a woman is more naked than naked. This is untrue, of course, and we treasure whatever scraps of cloth we may be permitted, but the saying has a point, which is that the tunic proclaims the woman a slave. It says, in effect, "I am a slave; I am such that you may do with me as you will." The tunic I wore, of rep-cloth, was light, and obviously cut for a slave. At its best it is a mockery of a garment, the sort in which one puts collar-girls, the sort which makes it clear to the girl and the world that its occupant is owned. It is certainly not designed to protect the girl from the elements. "Your tunic," I said, "is more modest than mine." Surely its greater length, not that it was so much greater, was to conceal more of her legs. "Tastes differ," she said. "My master's slave dressers favor a subtle discreetness, speculating slyly that it is more reserved, more provocative." "The cloth appears rich," I said. "I am told it is a Turian silk," she said. "Its draping, with its smooth folds, muchly flatters your body," I said. "I fear it is the same body, however it is garmented," she said. "I would much prefer the simplicity of your own garment." My tunic, I knew, left little to the imagination. I was grateful that Paula had not called attention to the fact that it was of simple rep cloth. We both had worn only a brief light, sleeveless garment, of clinging rep cloth, a typical slave tunic of Gor. There would be little chance we could be mistaken for free women. Paula was no longer kept in the relatively modest, opaque, silken tunics she had worn when of the House of a Hundred Corridors, tunics I had then envied her. Little, save her beauty, would now distinguish her from the typical slave on the street. We drew the tiny tunics on, over our heads, as may easily be done while one is kneeling. It seemed ironic, indeed, to think of donning such a garment as "dressing." Yet, even so slight a garmenture, little more than a wisp of clinging, woven fog, can be precious, particularly in the streets. Do we not beg, fervently enough, to be granted even a rag? The tunicked slave, eyes downcast, hurrying, is less likely to be abused by free women than the slave sent naked into the streets, perhaps even with her wrists bound behind her. Slave garments almost always lack a nether closure. The most notable exception to this is the Turian camisk. The common tunic, for example, has no nether closure, and may easily be thrust up, or pulled off. The point of this is not only to remind the girl that she is a slave and increase her sense of vulnerability but to make certain that she is always conveniently accessible to the master. It reflected the fire light in a way unfamiliar to me, certainly not like common rep-cloth, a cheap, common material often used for the garmenting of slaves. The tiny, sleeveless tunic she wore, this one of gray, clinging rep cloth, was a typical slave garment. It had no nether closure and was all she wore.
I could see the lovely curves of the interior cleavage of her breasts, revealed in the parting of the rough slave tunic.
"Fit her with a running tunic," said the shorter man. "We want it clear she is a sport slave. We do not wish to provoke an inquiry or attract undue attention, particularly on the part of a guardsman." A few minutes later I was in a runner's tunic. It was white, which, I supposed, was to make it easier to descry me in the dark. I was warned that it was not to be removed, presumably, I supposed, because that might be thought to provide me with some unfair advantage. To be sure, I expected to be caught long before it became dark. There was also some writing on the tunic which, I gathered, identified it as a runner's tunic. It was also slit at the sides. This made it a garment in which it was easier to run. Perhaps that should have been accounted a mistake, as well, as it might have been thought to supply me with some advantage, however small. "What manner of garment is it which so scarcely conceals this slave?" asked he who had tended the lantern. "A runner's tunic," said the taller man. "We pretended to rent her for a hunt." "The runner's tunic," said the taller, half-shaven man, "makes it clear that they are legitimate prey. Otherwise, complications might occur. Matters might prove socially, even legally, awkward." "You are in a lock leash," he said. "It is leather," I said. "It can be cut away with a knife." Some lock leashes are of metal and chain.
Fortunately, the tunic of a sandal slave, which I had adopted, was ample enough to permit the assumption of such a position without any undue compromising of my modesty. Still, even within the heavy, opaque, shielding of my garmenture, the position was obviously that of a female, recognized as a female, before a man.
Outside the cloth worker's shop was a bin for irregular cloths, discarded patches, strips, shreds, and such; some masters, doubtless of a thrifty sort, avail themselves of such a trove to outfit their slaves; patches, even small patches, may be sewn together, to repair, or even form, a garment, say, a tunic; to the girls, of course, any clothing is precious, even a motley, scanty rag; do not we beg for even so little, and hope that it will be granted to us by the masters; in any event, for the most part, little money is wasted on slaves; we are kept nude as the animals we are, or are inexpensively clad, muchly bared, as with tunics, camisks, ta-teeras, and such.
My tunic was certainly not that of a pleasure slave, a paga girl, or such or even a tower slave, but, too, it was not as calculatedly concealing as the common tunic of a serving slave. On the other hand, I had seen more than one serving slave, in such a tunic, unseen by her mistress, move in such a way that a passing fellow would be in no doubt that within that tunic there was a slave. Actually, I was not really half-naked, as many men put their slaves into the streets, but reasonably modestly garbed, as I wore the tunic of a woman's serving slave, to be sure, one rather more revealing than most.
She wore a brief ship's tunic, sleeveless, brown, slit at the hips, with a deep neckline, a feature by means of which certain aspects of her value might be the more helpfully assessed.
More literally, the expression tends to be based on the fact that the brief slave tunic of the south, the single garment permitted the female slave, is often silk. She wore a brief, silken slave tunic, fastened with a single tie at her bosom. A single tug frees the tie and allows the garment to be parted for the view and pleasures of a master. "What is it?" I asked. "A tunic," he said. "Put it on. I would see it on you." I slipped it over my head, and tried to pull down the hems at the side. "It is short, so little, almost nothing, such fine silk," I said. "It is diaphanous. I can be seen through it." "Your tunic," I said, "is more modest than mine." Surely its greater length, not that it was so much greater, was to conceal more of her legs. "Tastes differ," she said. "My master's slave dressers favor a subtle discreetness, speculating slyly that it is more reserved, more provocative." "The cloth appears rich," I said. "I am told it is a Turian silk," she said. "Its draping, with its smooth folds, muchly flatters your body," I said. "I fear it is the same body, however it is garmented," she said. "I would much prefer the simplicity of your own garment." My tunic, I knew, left little to the imagination. I was grateful that Paula had not called attention to the fact that it was of simple rep cloth. She was not, but clad in an ample, silken tunic, white. To be sure, I could see much of her. It was a slave tunic. Amongst the tunicked slaves kneeling against the wall of the inner vestibule, one stood out amongst them, one in a modest, white-silk tunic, dark-haired, green-eyed, olive-skinned Adraste!
She wore a tan slave tunic, sleeveless, of knee length, rather demure for a bond girl. It did, however, have a plunging neckline, setting off the collar well. The most common Gorean garment for a slave is a brief slave tunic. This tunic is invariably sleeveless and, usually, has a deep, plunging neckline. It may be of a great variety of materials, from rich satins and silks to thin, form-revealing, clinging rep-cloth. Camisks are favored in some cities. He then replaced the whip on the table and handed me, from a basket, two tunics. They were folded, and washed, and brown. "Thank you, Master," I said. I held them close to me. I would later discover that they were rather common slave tunics, brief, with no nether closure. Too, they were sleeveless, slit at the sides, and with a plunging neckline. On the front of the left shoulder there was a design, in white and yellow, bearing what I would later learn was an inscribed "Mu." This was a design, I would later learn, which was common to many of the different enterprises of Mintar. "Mu" is the first letter of the name Mintar. White and yellow, or white and gold, are the colors of the merchants. The tunic had nothing specific to the mills, of Mill 7. Such a tunic might have been worn by girls laboring or serving in almost any of his holdings. It was thus, in a broad sense, a company tunic. "You have been insolent," he said, "and seem to have forgotten that you are a slave." "Yes, Master," she said, frightened, putting her head down. "Accordingly," said Boots, "you are herewith instructed to remove a panel of material, four horts in width, and curved at the top, near your waist, from the skirts of your slave tunics at the sides, thus well revealing both thighs to the waist, or almost to the waist. In this fashion, in a balanced manner, your thighs will be exposed to the view of free men. In this fashion, too, of course, your brand will be always clearly visible. Perhaps in this way you will be more likely to keep it in mind that you wear it, and what it means." "Yes, Master!" she said. She wore a brief slave tunic, with a neckline that plunged to her belly. The soft, interior curvatures of her breasts could be seen within the opening of the garment. It was a brief slave tunic, slit deeply at the hips, with narrow shoulder straps, little more than strings. Some tunics, however, like some regular slave tunics, have a disrobing loop, usually at the left shoulder, where it may easily be reached by both a right-handed master and a right-handed slave. A tug on the disrobing loop drops the tunic to the girl's ankles, also gracefully. She wore a Gorean slave tunic. It was a brief, gray shipping tunic, from the ship of Peisistratus. It had a number inscribed on the upper left side, "27. The girl before me was fetching in the shipping tunic, but that was not surprising as such tunics, even such as hers, a shipping tunic, are not designed to conceal the charms of their occupant. The Gorean slave tunic, incidentally, is a form of garment with several purposes. In its revealing brevity and lightness it well marks the difference between the slave and the free woman, a difference of great consequence on Gor. A slave tunic, you see, leaves little to the imagination. Other advantages, too, adhere to such garments. For example, as they commonly lack a nether closure, with the exception of the Turian camisk, the slave is constantly, implicitly, advised of her delicious vulnerability as a property, and reminded of one of her major concerns, which is to please the master, instantly and without question, to the best of her ability, in any way he may wish. The slave, on her part, too, cannot help but find such garments arousing. In their way they serve to ignite and stoke the slave fires in her lovely belly. It is no wonder slaves often find themselves at the feet of their master, kneeling, and begging. Too, such garments are supposed to make it difficult to conceal weapons. There is no place in such a garment, for example, for a dagger. To be sure, it can be a capital offense for a slave to touch a weapon without a free person's permission, so there is little danger of the slave's attempting to conceal a weapon in the first place. But the garment, too, makes it difficult, or impossible, to conceal a roll, a purloined larma, or such. When the slave shops, if she is permitted to use her hands, and is not sent out back-braceleted with a coin sack tied about her neck, she commonly holds the coins clenched in her fist, or, not unoften, either, holds them in her mouth. Such garments are cheap, too, of course, and require little cloth. Too, many are designed with a disrobing loop, by means of which the garment may be easily removed, to be swept from her, or dropped, to fall about her ankles, depending on the garment. The loop is usually at the left shoulder, as most masters are right-handed. Indeed, the typical Gorean slave tunic is a great deal more modest than much of what might be routinely encountered at poolside in various resorts, hotels, spas, and so on. A slave tunic leaves little to one's imagination. Also, it is difficult to conceal weapons in a slave tunic. Indeed, the slave herself is scarcely concealed. Much may be concealed beneath the "Robes of Concealment," but a slave tunic conceals almost nothing. Seremides had had her don a slave tunic, and you know what such things are." "Yes," I said, "I see one." She perhaps referred to the extraordinary brevity of such a garment, its capacity to cling to a slave's body, its brazen scantiness, its shameful display of the slave's body as that of the animal she is, the lack of a nether closure, that she may know herself at the pleasure of masters, and such. The slip knot at the waist of the camisk is similar to the disrobing loop at the left shoulder of some slave tunics, by means of which the garment may be conveniently removed, a simple tug loosening it permitting it to fall gracefully about the ankles of its occupant. I did realize, of course, from the house that slave tunics came in a variety of cuts and colors, in samples of which I had been forced to pose before mirrors, but each was commonly of one color. They were, after all, slave tunics. The house tunics, incidentally, those worn in the house, were commonly drab, usually being brown or gray. I sat there on the tier, tunicked, my legs closely together, my hands braceleted behind me, my left ankle fastened to the tier ring. I picked out the slaves in the crowd, in their colored tunics. I saw one slave in a short tunic which was white with broad, diagonal black stripes. Her master, I thought, must be an old-fashioned fellow, a traditionalist, or such. Such tunics, it seemed, were once quite common, indeed almost a universal uniform of kajirae, but, later, happily, a great deal of variety had been introduced into slave tunics, in color, cut, neckline and such. Masters now had a great many options at their disposal when it came to clothing their properties, if they chose to clothe them. A Gorean slave tunic leaves little to conjecture about concerning the quality of a slave's legs, and the camisk even less. They were briefly tunicked, as is common with the slaves of men. She was the sort of woman whom it is difficult to think of, save as barefoot, in a slave tunic. Clearly, some women belong in such, a particularly revealing tunic, which makes it clear to the occupant and the observer, casual or otherwise, precisely what she is, and only is. On a leash, held by one of the men was a tall, striking, dark-haired woman, her neck encircled with a typical band, clad in a brief, brightly scarlet slave tunic, slit at the sides. The slave tunic, like most Gorean garments, lacks pockets. Tunics are inspected occasionally, and, if an internal pocket is discovered, or an open hem, where, say, a candy, let alone a tarsk-bit, might be concealed, the girl must expect to be punished, and, quite likely, severely. In a moment I had pulled on the tunic, and fastened the disrobing loop at the left shoulder. "It is too long," he said, "but it can be considerably shortened later." I thought it already short quite short. "A slave thanks Master for the privilege of a garment," I said. How strange, I thought, remembering my former world, that a girl would be almost tearfully grateful for so tiny a bit of cloth in which she was next to naked, a Gorean slave tunic. What I have in my hand are seven tunics, slave tunics, garments designed to be worn by slaves, if they are permitted clothing. Each of you will take one, and don it. It is the only thing you may wear. You will discover that in a slave tunic there is no doubt that you are a woman. In some cities, even camisks and ta-teeras were outlawed on the streets. To be sure, slaves are to be clad as slaves. The usual garb of a slave is a brief tunic. The slave tunic is designed not only to mark a woman as a slave, and distinguish her dramatically and unmistakably from a free woman, but to enforce upon its occupant the understanding that she is a slave and only a slave. It is also designed, of course, not only to display the woman as a slave, as a commodity and a domestic animal, but to enhance her beauty, as well. It might also be noted that such a garment, like the camisk and the ta-teera, can stimulate and arouse desire. Certainly it has that effect on men, and, if it must be known, it has that effect on the woman, as well. Certainly, in such garments, we know what we are for. Even slaves, when clothed, as we need not be, as we are animals, are commonly clothed in bright, attractive tunics, or less. These tunics, of course, are tunics fit for slaves, and designed to conceal little of the charms the suggestion of which doubtless first brought us to the attention of our acquirers. To be sure, I was branded, collared, and tunicked. There is little about the scanty Gorean slave tunic to leave one in doubt that one is a slave. I was uncomfortable in the tunic. This was unusual for it is hard to conceive of a garment lighter, freer, and more comfortable than a Gorean slave tunic. Yet, interestingly, it was generous for a Gorean slave tunic. It was high at the neck and, if I stood, it would fall almost to my knees.
Her binding-fiber-belted, wraparound tunic was brown, and of clinging, thin rep-cloth; it was sleeveless and had a plunging neckline; it was slave short. "I beg to wear the garment!" she said. "I beg it!" "Put it on," I said. Swiftly she did so, pulling it over her head, not even rising from her knees. "Stand," I, said. She did so, frightened, but, with a delightful, typically feminine gesture, adjusted and smoothed down the garment, I have seen slave girls do that even with tiny slave tunics. "It is not unattractive on you," I said. "Oh?" she asked, pleased. "No," I said. "But I suppose it might be more so if it came considerably higher on your thighs." "Slave short?" she asked. Lita, now, again, had her simple tunic. On the other hand, a similar garment, sleeveless and brief, had been fashioned for the Lady Bina. Indeed, it may have been a bit shorter than even that of the slave, which was already scandalously brief, or, as the saying is, "slave short," But, tied, as she was, she could not deter my work, and I carefully, without being extreme, or excessive, in the matter, shortened the skirt of her tunic in such a way that it would be more typical in length for that of a Gorean slave girl. "Beast, monster!" she hissed. "I do not think Pertinax will mind," I said. "And if he wishes to shorten it further, to make it truly 'slave short,' or 'slave delightful,' he is free to do so." She wore a light, white, sleeveless tunic, slave short. She had exciting arms and legs. I folded the sheet, and put it about my shoulders. I was tunicked, and the tunic, while "slave short," was not unusual. Doubtless she was grateful for her tunic. I had arranged with the cloth worker that it be "slave short." She had nice legs. Why should a master not display them? As with the common slave tunic it was sleeveless, and, naturally, as most slave garments, lacked a nether closure. This helps the slave to better realize that she is a slave that she is always at the convenience of the master. Accordingly, Iris's tunics were now light and suitably "slave short."
"Persinna!" I called to a shapely slave, in a brief gray tunic, with a tiny, locked message box, chained to her collar. Her eyes were suddenly wild with fear. "Be silent!" she said, looking about her. "Do not speak that name, I beg of you." "Do you not remember me?" I said. "I am Allison. We were sold together, in the Metellan district." "I am not Persinna," she said. "You are, or were," I said. "You see my tunic!" she said. "I am a state slave. I am owned by the state of Ar!" There were city slaves, too, of course, in the high cities, in their brief gray tunics and gray metal collars.
Some days ago we had been issued street tunics with advertising. Concurrently our outside privileges, our opportunities to leave the tavern, which had always been generous, had been further broadened. This lenience had been motivated, we gathered, in virtue of the opening of a new tavern on Palace Street, The Silken Rope, and, possibly, the renovation and enlargement of the Whip and Chain, which was not far from the scroll shop itself. Ho-Tosk had not been pleased to have girls wandering about the Golden Chain whose tunics bore inviting messages from the Silken Rope. Indeed, various altercations had taken place amongst the slaves of these competitive establishments. Ho-Tosk had even hired a brace of free women with switches to keep the paga slaves of competitive establishments at a distance. Our crimson street tunics bore the small image of a golden chain at the left shoulder, and, elsewhere, in cursive script, one or more provocative snippets designed to appeal to potential customers, such as, I was told, "Find me at the Golden Chain," "I await you at the Golden Chain," "I hope to please you at the Golden Chain," and so on. I was told the message on the back of my tunic read, "At the Golden Chain, I am your slave."
Too, I smoothed down the skirt of the tiny tunic. It was so brief! It was little more than a rag! That garment did not suggest, either, that I had been free. As mentioned, it had no nether closure. This is common with slave garb. The delicious, moist intimacies of the slave are commonly left unshielded. She is to be open, and know herself open, to the master; this reality contributes to her sense of vulnerability, and informs, enhances, suffuses, and considerably deepens the rich emotionality of her nature. She is to be ready for the master at any time of the day or night, and in any place or manner which he may indicate. This helps her to keep in mind what she is. She wore a tiny slave tunic. It was light, white, and silken. It came high on her thighs. At the left shoulder, where it would be convenient to a right-handed man, there was a disrobing loop. What a lovely, skimpy little thing is a slave tunic, thought Cabot. How tiny, how clinging, how revealing, and how easily removed! The tiny tunic, of rep cloth, clung about her. How delightful they were, in their tiny tunics. Regarding them, kneeling before us, pleading, in their tiny, form-clinging tunics, and close-fitting collars, I was again impressed with the quality of the ship's kajirae. How vulnerable we were, in our tiny tunics, our single garments, with no nether closure, our bodies so briefly and degradingly bared, before those fierce, looming beings in their resplendent robes and veils! Did they think I was being brought to the tavern as a new paga girl? Did they think I was to be put in so tiny and thin a tunic, to be so helplessly, so shamelessly, displayed before a master's patrons? "Why not a tiny yellow tunic?" said the auctioneer. "Yellow would go nicely with her dark hair." My tunic was tiny, thin, clinging, and short. It had no nether closure. It was all I wore, save my collar. Whereas even the slave tunic can be regarded with dismay by a new slave, horrified at having been placed in so tiny, debasing, degrading, and shaming a garment, slaves commonly, sooner or later, come to rejoice in their brief, revealing tunics, well aware of how they enhance their charms and display them for men as the most profoundly sexual, and the most exciting and desirable, of all women, the purchasable woman, the female slave. I looked at the bit of cloth. "You may break position," said Bakron. I raced to the bit of cloth, sobbing with relief and laughter, seized it up, held it, pressed it to my lips, and kissed it, and slipped it on, over my head. "Thank you, thank you, Master!" I cried. I turned about, but he had gone elsewhere. I smoothed down and adjusted the garment. It was of rep-cloth. It was brief and sleeveless. It was clinging and form-revealing. Perhaps a free woman, awakening in some public place, finding herself clad in so little, might have fled away, terrified, seeking shelter, or might have collapsed in place, sobbing and shrieking in shame, but I, or one such as I, found it welcome and precious. To be sure, in such a garment, it was clear that its occupant was a slave, but, of course, it was designed to leave no doubt as to that. Now I had a tunic, as tiny as it was, which raised me, in its way, to the level of the other slaves, barbarian or no.
Sometimes barbarians are placed in unusually revealing tunics.
There was also sand on her brief, white woolen slave tunic. She, like Cara, wore a brief, sleeveless slave tunic of white wool, her hair, too, bound back with a fillet of white wool. I had given her a brief, woolen slave tunic, which came high about her hips; it was sleeveless; it was split to the belly, belted with binding fiber. She was kneeling beside me, on the boards, in a white tunic, of the wool of the bounding hurt, her wrists braceleted behind her, her leash of common brown leather looping up to my hand.
She was in a light, brown, soiled work tunic, of simple rep-cloth, little more than a rag, which clung about her beauty.
Each of the girls wore a brief, wrap-around tunic, and each had, either about herself, or at hand, a short, white sheet. I, as were my chain sisters, was now in a brief, wrap-about yellow tunic. It had a light belt of yellow cloth, supported by four loops, which belt, fastened by a slip knot, might be easily undone, allowing the folds of the tunic to be delicately or rudely parted.
Before he had left he had had them sew northern garments for themselves, under his instruction. From the furs and hides among the spoils at the wall they had cut and sewn for themselves stockings of lart skin, and shirts of hide, and a light and heavy parka, each hooded and rimmed with lart fur. Too, they had made the high fur boots of the northern woman and the brief panties of fur, to which the boots, extending to the crotch, reach. On the hide shirts and parkas he had made them sew a looped design of stitching at the left shoulder, which represented binding fiber. This designated the garments as those of beasts. A similar design appeared on each of the other garments. About their throats now, too, they wore again the four looped strings, each differently knotted, by means of which a red hunter might, upon inspection, determine that their owner was Imnak. "Pull on the stockings," said Thimble to Arlene. Arlene did so. The stockings were of lart fur. Each, in its side, wore the sign of the looped binding fiber. "Now," said Thimble, "the boots." In cold weather a layer of grass, for warmth, for insulation, changed daily, is placed in the bottom of the boots, between the inside sole of the boot and the foot of the stocking. Arlene now, of course, did not bother with this. The best harvests of grass for use in this way occur, naturally, at the foot of the bird cliffs. Arlene drew on the high boots. They reached to her crotch. It was a hot crotch, as I had determined, a superb crotch for a slave girl. The fur trim at their top touched the panties. "Try on the shirt, Slave Girl," said Thimble. Arlene drew on the hide shirt. At the left shoulder, prominently, it bore the sign of the looped binding fiber. I glanced at her and she straightened her body, but then tossed her "We are going to pick moss and grass," she said. Moss is used as wicks for the lamps. Grass, dried, is used for insulation between the inner soles of the boots and the bottom of the fur stockings in the winter. The slaves were now warmly garmented, though not, of course, as might have been free women. The robes of concealment in winter are much like those of gentler weathers, save for darker colors, more absorptive of, and retentive of, heat, heavier materials, some additional layering, and such. In the case of the slave a short, long-sleeved jacket, coming high on the hips, its length resembling that of a slave tunic, is worn over an undershirt. They are also put in trousers, belted with binding fiber. Whereas in the case of the free woman her legs are concealed within her enclosing garmenture, in the case of the slave, even in the winter, it is clear, however warmly they may be clothed, that she has legs, and that this is to be obvious to the scrutiny of men. The wrappings of the legs and calves is wool, over which leather is wrapped. The last garment is a warm, hooded cloak, which may be held closely about the body. Her face is commonly bared, except in severe weather, and, in any case, there is no mistaking her status, given her garmenture. Clearly colder weather was anticipated. We had been issued woolen materials, woven from the fleece of the bounding hurt, with awls and string, from which we were to fashion winter garmenture for ourselves. The nature of this projected garmenture, as might have been anticipated, was clearly specified. A cloth worker measured us and cut the patterns, as we were not permitted scissors. Under his supervision we sewed the garments. The awls were allotted, counted, and returned. Our work must be approved by the cloth worker. I had to remove stitches twice, and resew them. In any event we, though slaves, would be well bundled. When we were finished we each had trousers and a jacket. The jackets, belted, came to our thighs, and had hoods. We also had a shawl and blanket. Our feet were wrapped in thick cloths, and our legs, over the trousers, boot-like were similarly swathed. The tunic I wore, of rep-cloth, was light, and obviously cut for a slave. At its best it is a mockery of a garment, the sort in which one puts collar-girls, the sort which makes it clear to the girl and the world that its occupant is owned. It is certainly not designed to protect the girl from the elements. That is done with cloaks, boots, wrappings, blankets, jackets, leggings, and such.
Once, as Telima served me, I caught her wrist. She looked at me. "How is it," I asked, "that a Kettle Slave has an armlet of gold?" The girl wore Gorean dancing silk. It hung low upon her bared hips, and fell to her ankles. It was scarlet, diaphanous. A front corner of the silk was taken behind her and thrust, loose and draped, into the rolled silk knotted about her hips; a back corner of the silk was drawn before her and thrust loosely, draped, into the rolled silk at her right hip. Low on her hips she wore a belt of small denomination, threaded, overlapping golden coins. A veil concealed her muchly from us, it thrust into the strap of the coined halter at her left shoulder, and into the coined belt at her right hip. On her arms she wore numerous armlets and bracelets. Low on her hips she wore, on a belt of rolled cloth, yellow dancing silk, in Turian drape, the thighs bare, the front right corner of the skirt thrust behind her to the left, the back left lower corner of the skirt thrust into the rolled belt at her right hip. She was barefoot; there were golden bangles, many of them, on her ankles, more on her left ankle. She wore a yellow-silk halter, hooked high, to accentuate the line of her beauty. She wore a gold, locked collar, and, looped about her neck, many light chains and pendants; on her wrists were many bracelets; on her upper arms, both left and right, were armlets, tight, there being again more on the left arm. She shook her head, her hair was loose. I looked at the incredibly lovely girl in the mirror, she bedecked in a rope of red silk, made-up, perfumed, vulnerable, soft, with armlets and bracelets, golden beads intertwined in the Turian collar. I fastened golden loops in my ears, and slung necklaces about my throat. I slipped on an armlet. I looked across the furs and the floors to the other girl. "Master," she whispered. I shook my head, to clear it. She was blond. She wore a Curla and Chatka of yellow silk. The Curla was a rope of twisted, yellow silk tied snugly about her belly and knotted, loosely, at the left hip. The Chatka, about four feet in length, folded narrowly, to a width of some six inches, was thrust over the Curla in front, taken between her legs and thrust behind and over the Curla in back. It was drawn snugly tight. It was all she wore, save for a slave collar, like Arlene, and some beads, an armlet, and a barbaric anklet. Poalu was in brief yellow pleasure silk, and Audrey and Barbara in brief red pleasure silk. They were barefoot, and collared; they wore cosmetics; their right wrists wore bracelets; each, on her left arm, had a golden armlet; each, on her left ankle, had a golden anklet. At that moment, Miles, of the holding of Bosk of Port Kar, entered, thrusting a cloaked, trim figure before him. I heard a clinking of bangles and a rustle of bells. The cloak was cast aside and I saw belts of shimmering, threaded coins, ropes of necklaces, bright armlets and bracelets, and swirling flutterings and flashes of diaphanous silks. "Sandra, Sandra!" cried men, delightedly. "She is one of the possessions of Bosk of Port Kar," said Miles. "I think she is the finest dancer in Port Kar," said Florian. She lacked the ornaments, the jewelry, the armlets, the bracelets, the anklets, bells, swirling dancing silks, and such, of the common tavern dancer, but this was not one of the finer, more expensive taverns closer to the center of Brundisium, but the Sea Sleen, in the harbor district, and no claim or pretense was being made that she was other than a common slave accompanying her master in the tavern.
One in particular I remembered, young, her body like a cheetah, her black hair wild on her brown shoulders, the bangles on her ankles, their sound in the curtained alcove. Her olive ankles bore dancing bangles with tiny bells. It was customary to find diversions other than Paga in the Paga Taverns, as well, but in gray Tharna the cymbals, drums and flutes of the musicians, the clashing of bangles on the ankles of dancing girls would be unfamiliar sounds. It was too bad, I thought, but at least I supposed there would be one fellow among the wagons, the young man Harold, he whom the girl had so abused, he who had not yet won the Courage Scar, who would be just as pleased as not that she, with all her contempt and spleen, was now delightfully salted away in bangles and bells behind the high, thick walls of a Turian's pleasure garden. Against its far wall I could see great chests, heavy and bound with iron, filled doubtless with a raider's abundant booty, gems and golden wire, and necklaces and coins, and pearls, and jewelries, and bracelets and bangles, set perhaps with precious stones, which might serve to adorn the limbs of exquisite female slaves. I heard the flash of a pair of bangles and saw a dark-haired girl, the two golden bangles on her left ankle, come to the opening of the tent. Always she wore only the brief garment of scarlet, diaphanous silk. Always, about her left ankle, fastened, were two golden bangles. On some I could hear the movement of the necklaces of sleen teeth tied about their necks, the shivering and ringing of slender golden bangles on their tanned ankles. Both would later, in silks and bells, barefoot, in bangles and slave rouge, serve him in his pleasure gardens. She was barefoot; there were golden bangles, many of them, on her ankles, more on her left ankle. She, too, wore veil, vest, chalwar, bangles, collar. Alyena now to a swirl of music spun before us, swept helpless with it, bangles clashing, to its climax. Alyena stood on the scarlet tiles, head back, sweating, breathing heavily, nude save for her ornaments and collar, the bangles about her ankles and wrists, the armlets, the several chains and pendants looped about her neck. About her left ankle, looped, were several golden slave bangles. The girls, too, with their vessels and trays, serving, many of them nude, save for their collars and bangles, stood or knelt quietly, not moving, watching. They were barefoot. There were golden bangles on the left ankle of each. Golden bangles encircled her ankles, and golden bracelets encircled her wrists. Too, she had golden armlets. The bangles on my left ankle made a tiny sound, and I stopped, looking about. I was frightened. Immediately, with a rustle of bells, and the clinkings of necklaces and bangles, the other slaves hurried to their feet and went into the area of preparation. At that moment, Miles, of the holding of Bosk of Port Kar, entered, thrusting a cloaked, trim figure before him. I heard a clinking of bangles and a rustle of bells. The cloak was cast aside and I saw belts of shimmering, threaded coins, ropes of necklaces, bright armlets and bracelets, and swirling flutterings and flashes of diaphanous silks. "Sandra, Sandra!" cried men, delightedly. "She is one of the possessions of Bosk of Port Kar," said Miles. "I think she is the finest dancer in Port Kar," said Florian.
Some hundred yards from the head of the column, I passed a large white kurdah, on a large, black kaiila. I did not brush aside the curtain. It did not contain a girl I owned. It contained a slave girl, an exquisitely feminine girl, blond-haired and blue-eyed; she was richly veiled and bejeweled; it was said she was the preferred slave of the great Haroun himself, high Pasha of the Kavars; it was said her name was Alyena; she was of high station; she wore silks, and veils, and jewels; but the collar on her throat was of steel. I did not know if the kurdah contained a free woman of high state or perhaps a prized female slave, naked and bejeweled, to be exhibited in a secret tent and privately sold. There were two, small, rounded platforms. On each of them, in long, flowing, classic white, there stood a girl. Neither was collared. Each, though, was necklaced and bejeweled. Each wore a coronet. Their raiment, though simple, was rich. They might have been Ubaras. I could tell, however, from the fall of the garment, that each was naked beneath it. There was one woman besides myself on the terrace. She wore scarlet silk. She was well bejeweled. Men are so vain. You should see how some of them lead naked, painted, bejeweled slaves about on leashes, put them through slave paces publicly, make them dance in the open for tarsk-bits, put them up as stakes in the dicing halls, and marketplaces, and such. "It is surprising to find her here," said Cabot. "I would have thought rather that she would have been silked, bejeweled, and veiled, and regally ensconced at the side of Agamemnon." One slave, a very beautiful slave, who had been given to Myron, the polemarkos, was brought forth several times, and forced to dance before the men, bejeweled, bangled and necklaced, but otherwise naked, under whips.
In a flash of silk and a jangle of bells the dancer, barefoot, scurried away, speeding over the colorful, smooth tiles of the great map floor in the conference hall of Samos. "Do you think I have not seen the women of Gor writhe on the auction block," I said, "dance naked in bells tied on their wrists and ankles, squirm on their knees, begging the least caress from an indifferent master?" She lacked the ornaments, the jewelry, the armlets, the bracelets, the anklets, bells, swirling dancing silks, and such, of the common tavern dancer, but this was not one of the finer, more expensive taverns closer to the center of Brundisium, but the Sea Sleen, in the harbor district, and no claim or pretense was being made that she was other than a common slave accompanying her master in the tavern.
The expression 'Bina' in Gorean means slave beads. Among slaves a handful of glass or wooden beads may confer a prestige that among free women might not be garnered with diamonds. Slave beads, too, and such simple adornments, bracelets, earrings, cosmetics, slave perfumes, and such, are well known for their effect in arousing the passions not only of the women themselves, but, too, it must be admitted, sometimes of their masters. The word "bina" is generally used to designate very pretty beads, but beads which, nonetheless, are cheap, common, and simple. They are usually of painted wood or glass. With such beads common slaves, if they are sufficiently pleasing, might hope to be permitted to adorn themselves. Sometimes slave girls fight fiercely over such beads. The best simple translation of "bina" is "slave beads." "I am the Lady Bina," she said. "It is in this name that my agent will call for the girl." "That is an odd name," said his fellow. I thought it odd, as well, for 'bina' is a common word for beads, generally cheap beads, of colored wood, slave beads.
Tasdron, too, clapped his hands twice and a dancing slave, portions of her body painted, ran to the sand. It is too bad that they do not permit cosmetics, eye shadow, lipstick, body paint, and such, on the block. I would lie alone, twisting in the darkness, while he reveled elsewhere, contenting himself, in the lascivious embraces of obedient slaves, painted, bangled girls, such as might be purchased in any slut market. A woman's breasts, in my opinion, are too beautiful for a brand. On the other hand I do not object to temporarily marking them in such a place, say, with a grease pencil, lipstick or paint, as many slavers do. She was well made up, with lipstick, eye shadow, and such, a painted slave, as it is said. Men are so vain. You should see how some of them lead naked, painted, bejeweled slaves about on leashes, put them through slave paces publicly, make them dance in the open for tarsk-bits, put them up as stakes in the dicing halls, and marketplaces, and such. "You will learn to wear tunics, and silks, and bangles," I said. "You will be taught to kneel and move. You may be perfumed and painted.
I undid the five buttons, red, which ran from the throat of the garment to the waist. Buttons, interestingly, were a relatively recent innovation in some Gorean slavewear. They are not used on the garments of free persons. Most Gorean garments do not have buttons, but are slipped on, or held with brooches or pins. Hooks, however, are used with some frequency. Buttons, interestingly, are regarded as rather sensuous on Gor. Buttons, obviously, may be unbuttoned, or cut away with a knife, thus revealing the slave. Many masters do not permit a girl to button her tunic in the privacy of their compartments. When a slave opens the door of the master's compartment and kneels, head down, say, to admit a visitor, her garment may have been closed only an instant before. This is also true of a hooked slave garment.
At that moment, Miles, of the holding of Bosk of Port Kar, entered, thrusting a cloaked, trim figure before him. I heard a clinking of bangles and a rustle of bells. The cloak was cast aside and I saw belts of shimmering, threaded coins, ropes of necklaces, bright armlets and bracelets, and swirling flutterings and flashes of diaphanous silks. "Sandra, Sandra!" cried men, delightedly. "She is one of the possessions of Bosk of Port Kar," said Miles. "I think she is the finest dancer in Port Kar," said Florian.
I reached out, timidly, toward her throat. I touched the object there. "What is this?" I asked. "The silk?" she asked. "That is a collar stocking, or a collar sleeve. They may be made of many different materials. In a cooler climate they are sometimes of velvet. In most cities they are not used."
Attached to the thumb and index finger of each hand were tiny finger cymbals. She bent her knees ever so slightly and raised her arms gracefully above her head. There was a sudden bright clash of the finger cymbals, and, to the music of the nearby tent, Talena, daughter of the Ubar of Ar, began to dance for me. On the thumb and first finger of both her left and right hand were golden finger cymbals. She bent her knees, weight on her heels, lifted her hands, high over her head, wrists close together, back to back, on her thumbs and fingers, poised, tiny cymbals. I nodded to the musicians. The music began. There was a bright flash of the tiny finger cymbals and Alyena danced for us. I glanced within, for I heard from within the clash of slave bells and the bright sound of zills, or finger cymbals. In the latter aspect, diaphanous, it was rather like the yellow or red dancing silk in which the tavern dancers swirled amidst their veils, their shimmering jewelries, often to the sparkle of finger cymbals.
Many Gorean men apparently find pierced ears in a girl extremely provocative. Craftsmen of the metal workers, men specializing in the working of gold and silver, were concerned to work out new forms of jewelry for slave females. We were pierced-ear girls, among the most exciting of slaves. The piercing of the ears, however, is regarded as being the epitome of a slave girl's degradation. Any woman, it is said, with pierced ears, is a slave girl. Ear piercing, interestingly, from an Earth point of view, is regarded by most Gorean women, slave and free, as more degrading than the brand. Slave girls native to Gor dread it terribly, perhaps because it is so visible, the piercing of their flesh being so flagrantly erotic; what man would even think of freeing them if they had pierced ears? They beg their masters not to pierce their ears. Their pleas, those of slave girls, are commonly ignored. Their ears are pierced. Afterwards, it might be mentioned, they are usually pleased with the piercing of their ears, and grow quite proud of this erotic dimension added to their beauty; On Gor only slave girls have pierced ears. On Gor these girls, with pierced ears, could be only slaves. Yet how feminine was this, that they had had their ears pierced, they, though girls of Earth. Gorean free women often envied slave girls their pierced ears, though this would seldom be admitted. Pierced ears in a girl mean to a Gorean that she is a slave among slaves. She would soon have pierced ears, set well with golden rings, should she come into my ownership. Gorean men find pierced ears, as do many men of Earth, stimulatory. To the Gorean such ear-piercing speaks blatantly of bondage. Penetration of a woman's flesh is publicly symbolized, in her very body; the wounds inflicted on her were intended and deliberate; and her body has now been prepared to bear, fastened in its very flesh, barbaric ornamentation. The growing prevalence of ear piercing probably has to do, at least significantly, with its tendency to stimulate the sexual aggression of the Gorean male. Accordingly, girls with pierced ears, "pierced-ear girls," tend to bring higher prices in the markets. The sight of pierced ears tends to be profoundly sexually stimulating to many Gorean men, probably for several reasons, some of them perhaps subconsciously symbolic, having to do with softness, penetration, helplessness, bondage, and such. Earrings, on Gor, interestingly, are placed on only the lowest of slaves. Nose rings, incidentally, for whatever reason, do not carry the same connotation of degradation, "and such. Indeed, Ellen has been informed that in the southern hemisphere such rings are worn by even free women amongst certain nomadic tribes. Complex veiling and the Robes of Concealment are most common, of course, in urban areas, and particularly so amongst women of the higher castes. To be sure, even peasant women may veil themselves before strangers, and, one supposes, wisely. Many Gorean slave girls live in terror of having their ears pierced. To be sure, this not unoften improves their price. Woe to the Earth girl brought to Gor whose ears are pierced. She will be sold publicly, as a "pierced-ear girl."
Her hair was very light, the color of summer straw; it was straight and bound simply behind the back of her neck with a small fillet of white wool. She put her hands behind the back of her head to untie the purple fillet of rep-cloth. I looked down to the shore, and saw Cara, lovely in the brief woolen slave tunic, her hair bound back with the fillet of white wool. Usually, however, the hair of slaves is worn long, and loose, or confined only in some simple way, as with a ribbon or woolen fillet. The girl laughed at her and with a toss of her auburn hair, bound in the Koora, ran off between the wagons. About her forehead was bound a broad, yellow fillet, from the wool of the bounding hurt. This held back her hair, of course, but its significance, in her case, was considerable. It was a talmit, indicative of rank. She was first girl in the mill yard.
Against its far wall I could see great chests, heavy and bound with iron, filled doubtless with a raider's abundant booty, gems and golden wire, and necklaces and coins, and pearls, and jewelries, and bracelets and bangles, set perhaps with precious stones, which might serve to adorn the limbs of exquisite female slaves. He opened a small package. It contained a very cheap, but very lovely, necklace of tiny shells, threaded on a string of leather. He held it before her eyes. "It is beautiful," she cried. As she stood before him, her back to him, delighted, he wrapped it in and about the steel of her slave collar. "Thank you, Master," she breathed. "It is beautiful." He tied it at the back of her neck. There were several of Tarna's males sitting about, in silken tunics, some with jewelry, curious about Hassan and myself. Some of them were rather sullen. The mistress had not, this night, chosen one of them for her evening's pleasure. One of them, earlier, a fellow in a ruby necklace, had said, "I am more handsome, surely, than he," referring to me. Eta lightly lifted herself to her feet and went to the cave. In a few moments, she emerged. She carried, in her hands, several strings of beads, simple necklaces, with small, wooden, colored beads. They were not valuable. "Meat, Dina!" cried another man, and I hastened to him, to kneel and serve him. I wore red silk, a golden necklace about my throat, intertwined with my collar, and bells. I fastened golden loops in my ears, and slung necklaces about my throat. I slipped on an armlet. I saw Belisarius looking carefully at the beads before him. I had strung the same order of beads more than once, to complete the necklace. Too, the necklace was long and loose, like most slave necklaces. It would loop at least twice about a girl's throat. It seemed to be indistinguishable from thousands of necklaces which I had seen on the throats of slave girls. I then reached into a sack, near the fire. I drew forth from it a handful of strings of beads. I threw her a necklace of red and black beads, which I thought was nice. "Master," she asked, pointing, "may I also have that string of beads." Tende and Alice each had two strings of beads. I saw no reason why the blond-haired barbarian might not be similarly ornamented. I looked at her, kneeling there before me, the bit of bark cloth at her hips, the two necklaces, one red and black, one blue and yellow, about her throat, my tether knotted on her throat, fastening her to the slave stake. "Buy jewelry here," said he. "It is cheap and attractive. Bedeck your slaves." I also wore a triple necklace of coins, together with necklaces of slave beads, of both glass and wood. She was necklaced, as well as collared. Ellen wondered if Mirus, her master, would be pleased, if she were to dance before him as a slave. Had he wondered what she would look like, long ago, when she was his teacher, she wondered, if she were to so dance before him, barefoot, in a bit of swirling silk, in necklaces and coins, in armlets, with bracelets on her wrists and bangles on her ankles, to the flash of ringing zills, summoned, commanded, fearful, begging to please, his. Immediately, with a rustle of bells, and the clinkings of necklaces and bangles, the other slaves hurried to their feet and went into the area of preparation. One slave, a very beautiful slave, who had been given to Myron, the polemarkos, was brought forth several times, and forced to dance before the men, bejeweled, bangled and necklaced, but otherwise naked, under whips. "Is she a slave?" I asked. "Certainly," said he in whose charge I was. "It may be hard to see, beneath the necklaces, so many of them, but there is a collar there, close-fitting, steel, and locked." At that moment, Miles, of the holding of Bosk of Port Kar, entered, thrusting a cloaked, trim figure before him. I heard a clinking of bangles and a rustle of bells. The cloak was cast aside and I saw belts of shimmering, threaded coins, ropes of necklaces, bright armlets and bracelets, and swirling flutterings and flashes of diaphanous silks.
Tuchuk women, unveiled, in their long leather dresses, long hair bound in braids, tended cooking pots hung on tem-wood tripods over dung fires. These women were unscarred, but like the bosk themselves, each wore a nose ring. That of the animals is heavy and of gold, that of the women also of gold but tiny and fine, not unlike the wedding rings of my old world. following the branding, I supposed that Kamchak would have one of the tiny nose rings affixed; all Tuchuk females, slave or free, wear such rings; She was a very exciting, vital, proud girl and the tiny golden nose ring, against her brownish skin, with her flashing black eyes, did not detract from her considerable but rather insolent beauty. The light over the block took the glint of the tiny, fine nose ring in the nose of Elizabeth Cardwell. The crowd gasped. How startling, and incredibly beautiful she was! "Nose rings are nothing. They are even pretty. In the south even the free women of the Wagon Peoples wear nose rings." She held me more closely. "Even free women in the south," she insisted, "the free women of the Wagon Peoples, wear nose rings." Interestingly, the piercing of the septum, for the insertion of a nose ring, is regarded, generally, a great deal more lightly by female slaves than the piercing of the ears Perhaps this is partly because, in the far south, the free women of the Wagon Peoples wear nose rings; perhaps it is because the piercing does not show; I do not know. Indeed, among the Tuchuks, one of the Wagon Peoples of Gor, even free women wear nose rings. Nose rings, interestingly, are not regarded in the same light. They are worn even by some free women, I understand, in the far south, the women of the Wagon Peoples there, as well as, generally, by the female slaves of such peoples. Goreans, incidentally, accept nose rings without any particular ado. Indeed, amongst the Wagon Peoples, where veiling is unknown, such rings are common even with free women. The common submission of a free woman, usually rendered in terror of her life, as amidst the flames of a burning city, is to kneel before the male, and lift her crossed wrists to him, her head bowed between her arms. In this way her submission is clear, and she is hoping to buy her life with her beauty, the crossed wrists, ready for binding, indicating that she is pleading to be accepted as a slave. If she is accepted, the wrists are usually bound, and she is expected to follow her captor docilely. Sometimes, of course, after this gesture, she is put to her belly, her wrists are bound indeed, but behind her, and a rope is put on her neck, or, sometimes, a nose ring, on a cord, is affixed, such things functioning as a leash or tether.
She wore bells locked on both wrists, and on both ankles, thick cuffs and anklets, each with a double line of bells, fastened by steel and key. She wore five pieces of metal, her collar and locked rings on her wrists and ankles. Slave bells were attached to the collar and the rings. "Put her in slave bells," said Rask to one of the musicians. The musician fastened leather cuffs, mounted each with three rows of bells, on her wrists and ankles. Ute went to the chest of silks and bells and brought forth five more slave bells, which she tied with bits of scarlet ribbon to my collar. I heard, too, the sound of slave bells. They had been locked on her left ankle. I also purchased a set of slave bells, of the thong as opposed to the lock variety. They are less expensive than the lock variety; also, they may be tied at various places on the body, about the neck, the wrist, the ankle, about the thigh, about the arm, etc., it is delightful to bell a girl; she may not remove them, of course, without her master's permission. I hated the bells, so many, so tiny, hung about my body, which I could not remove, which would draw them to me. The sound was tiny, rich, and sensuous. They were slave bells. They would draw men to my body. I moved slightly. I felt them stir on my body and on the loops that held them. So slight a movement made them sound! I, miserable, was caught in their lewd, delicious rustle. I suppose the sound of the bells, objectively considered, is rather lovely. Yet theirs was a music of bondage, one which, in its tiny, delicious sounds, rustling, whispered, "Kajira. Kajira." They said, "You are nothing, Girl. You are a belled Kajira. You are nothing, Girl. You exist for the pleasure of men. Please them well, lovely Kajira." I shook my body, trying to throw the bells from me. I could not do so. In their jangling sound, helpless, I was held, betrayed. I could scarcely breathe without stirring the bells. I began to sweat, and fear. It was suddenly like finding oneself caught, imprisoned, hooded, in a net. No move I made was not betrayed by the bells. Most I hated the larger bell, of different note, fastened tightly at my left hip. It was a guide bell. I tried to free my hands. They had been tied by a warrior. I was helpless. I shuddered. And even so slight a movement was betrayed by the bells, indicating the exact position of she who wore them, the slave girl on whose body they were fastened. The rustle of the slave bells locked on her left ankle was subtle and sensual. On our left ankles we each wore a tied string of slave bells. These jangled sensuously when we moved. It is common, though not universal, to bell paga slaves. The jangle of slave bells on them, as they move, is quite stimulating. On Gor it is not unusual to bell a slave, and the erotic clash of such bells, slave bells, on an ankle, in the markets and parks, in the plazas and bazaars, is a frequently heard sound. And the same bells which serve so well to draw attention to a lovely, demurely tunicked slave in the sul market, her shopping basket balanced with one hand on her head, serve as well, doubtless, to record in their jangling her leapings and squirmings in the arms of her master. There is no mistaking the sound of slave bells. But these were not the proportioned janglings of such bells, measured to the step of a slave who well knows their effect on men, and uses them to present the slave of her. Just as women of one world may use attire, perfume, cosmetics, and such, or another robes, and sandals, and veils, to call attention, while haughtily pretending not to do so, to the flesh she is offering to a man, or the slave she is dangling before him, so a slave, who is owned, may use her bells variously, perhaps their sudden flash and sparkle to announce her presence in a room, perhaps their provocative and subtle whispering to accompany her labors, see me, Master, I am yours, perhaps that insolent jangle on the street which is unmistakably a brazen and proud proclamation of her bondage, that she has been found suitable for belling, perhaps that tiny sound, and moan, at the foot of her master's couch, which calls attention to her need. To the side, there was a small sound of slave bells. They were fastened, with cord, about her left ankle. I caught the briefest glimpse of tanned legs in the sand, each ankle ringed with slave bells, and a swirling skirt of scarlet dancing silk. I heard the jangle of jewelry, and the sudden, bright flash of finger cymbals. I heard men crying out, and pounding paga goblets on the tables. I heard the bells again, to my irritation. They were, in their three rows, locked about my left ankle. I could not remove them. How the other slaves had laughed, that I be so humiliated. The bells were not the sensuous bells whose rustle drives masters wild, not the sort worn by many dancers, where coins are cast to the dancing floor, usually to be retrieved later by a taverner's man, not the sort sometimes fastened on a slave's ankle before her use, that they may record her least tremor, and resound to her wildest passion. No, they were tiny, clanking bells, of the sort that might be fastened on a rooting tarsk or a grazing verr, that their location might be more easily noted by local tenders. At that moment, Miles, of the holding of Bosk of Port Kar, entered, thrusting a cloaked, trim figure before him. I heard a clinking of bangles and a rustle of bells. The cloak was cast aside and I saw belts of shimmering, threaded coins, ropes of necklaces, bright armlets and bracelets, and swirling flutterings and flashes of diaphanous silks. "Sandra, Sandra!" cried men, delightedly. "She is one of the possessions of Bosk of Port Kar," said Miles. "I think she is the finest dancer in Port Kar," said Florian.
The slave veil is a mockery, in its way. It reveals, as much as conceals, yet it adds a touch of subtlety, mystery; slave veils are made to be torn away, the lips of the master then crushing those of the slave. Slave girls may or may not be veiled, this depending on the will of their master. Most slave girls are not permitted to veil themselves. With one hand, nonchalantly, she freed her outer veil. Her features, then, were concealed but poorly by the second veil, little more than a wisp of diaphanous silk. She did this, apparently, that she might speak to me more easily. She smiled. I, too, smiled, but inwardly. A master might have given such a veil to a slave, as a joke. Now no longer need the lovely Lavinia concern herself with matters such as veiling. She was slave. Her beauty, she hoped, might save her, compensating to a significant extent for her ignorance of slave dance. To be sure, she had seen the women moving in the circles. She could not control her body with the subtlety they manifested, but she could see some of the simpler things they did, and she had some sense of what it might be to yield to such music, to obey it, to surrender herself to it, abjectly, as an aroused, commanded slave. She walked about the circle once more, the veil closely about her, concealing even her features. Denial of the veil is one of the things, as noted, insisted upon by free women for the slave, this marking another dramatic difference between them, at least between those of high caste and the slave. Slaves are not permitted to conceal their faces. Their faces must be naked, and all are to be free to look upon them. Would it not be absurd to veil a verr, or kaiila? As is well known the female slave may not veil herself even should she wish to do so. That would be an insult to free women. "She sees the watching, disciplined slave, kneeling at our table, bound by the Master's will," said Clitus. "To amuse herself and the crowd she will ridicule and torment her." There is often a rivalry, implicit or explicit, amongst slaves. "See what a true woman can be." The dancer's hips rotated; her belly mocked the kneeling slave; her veil fluttered about the kneeling slave sometimes covering her. There was much laughter amongst the tables. Clearly the kneeling slave would have wished to brush away the insulting silk but, bound by the Master's will, could not do so. I gathered she had not been permitted veiling since her abrupt face-stripping on the parapet of the House of the Sea Hith yesterday afternoon. She would feel the shame of that keenly. If she should come into my keeping, I would similarly, of course, deny her, a slave, facial veiling. One does not veil animals. I might mention, in passing, that facial veiling is denied to slaves. Would one veil animals, say, dogs, cats, horses, and such? Too, veiling or not, as differences in garmenture, tends to reinforce the distinction between free and slave. Too, some say that veiling is denied to slaves in order that raiders and slavers will see them as a more natural and reliable prey, as a captured free woman might turn out to be too plain to sell well in the markets.
I looked up at Ute. "You wear the Kajira talmit," I said. "The first girl of the work slaves," said Ute, "had been sold shortly before my capture. There had been dissensions, factions, among the girls, each wanting one of their own party to be first girl. I was new. I had no allegiances. Rask of Treve, by his will, and because, for some reason, he trusted me, set me above them all." "Note two who have entered," said Captain Nakamura, "just within the door, in shabby garb, each with his forehead obscured, by the talmit." |       | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
