 Bait Girl, Lure Girl and Seduction SlaveThese are the relevant references from the Books where Bait Girls, Lure Girls and Seduction Slaves are 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 As always, you will need to get out your own copy of the book and read the surrounding text to understand the context. This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds. Click a heading to jump down to that listing. Bait Girl Lure Girl Seduction Slave
"You did not then know I was Tatrix of Tharna," she sneered. "No," I said. "Now that you know," she asked, "what will you do with me? Will it be the oil of tharlarions? Will you throw me to leech plants? Will you stake me out for your tarn, use me to bait a sleen trap?" I strode irritably to the two girls. I did not release them. They had permitted themselves to be taken, to be used as bait. She casually indicated the wretched girl bound to one side, beyond the bottom of the hillock. "This wench is bait," she said. "She was taken to the northern forests, I have learned," I said, "by the outlaw girl, Verna, to serve as bait for her capture of Marlenus of Ar, who is presumed to be concerned for her rescue." I looked up. "Marlenus, on a hunting expedition, with other animals, captured Verna, and her girls. He caged them and exhibited them, as trophies. They have escaped, and they wish their vengeance." "One thing troubles me," said Rim. "Verna has taken Talena to the forests, to bait a trap for Marlenus. Why then should she sell her to you?" I then went to Ilene, who was now standing, frightened, and I removed the binding fiber from her throat. "You were excellent bait," I told her. "You are only prey, and bait," I told her. She put down her head. "Yes, Master," she said. When I was finished with her I would have her sold in Port Kar. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar. When food is low it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. "As naked bait," I told her. "No!" she said. I cut the furs from her. "You are quite beautiful," I told her. "No, no!" she wept. I regarded her. "You are even beautiful enough to be a Gorean slave girl," I said. Urt hunters swim slave girls, ropes on their necks, beside their boats in the dark, cool water of the canals, as bait for urts, which, as they rise to attack the girl, are speared. "She is not worth tying at the end of a rope and using in the water as a bait for urts," called out a man, the fellow who had first suggested that she be removed from the sales position. I thrust her to her back on the mat. "You are only bait," I told her. I then tied her ankles together and, putting "I did not think he would forget you, my luscious, nude bait," I said. I regarded her. Most women, for some reason, stand in mortal terror of such things. This is particularly true of women who have some familiarity with them, who know something of their swiftness, their savagery and their ferocity, who have some knowledge of what they can accomplish. "Indeed," I said, "you did not do badly, at all. Perhaps I will have one, or both, of your ears notched, as our friends, the red savages do, with prize kaiila, trained for the hunt or war, that you may be recognized as a valuable, trained tarn-bait girl." "How laughable and delicious would the little collared chits find it that I, who so scorned them, am not only now, too, a slave, but a low slave, one with only a leather collar, one not even permitted clothing, a cheap, inexpensive slave, thousands of pasangs from civilization, a meaningless slave in the wild grasslands east of the Thentis mountains, one of so little worth that she may even serve as naked bait for tarns!" "The entrapment might best take place in an alcove," she said, musingly, "wherein I might lie as bait." "An interesting idea," I granted her. "He enters the alcove; puts aside his weapons," she mused, "and then my men, in the small quarters, he confined on three sides, set upon him." On the other hand, few men will whip a girl for having pretended not to be attracted to him, if she is actually attracted to him, particularly if she has done so under her master's orders. Such devices, of course, but without the authenticity and the ultimate surrender, are often resorted to by "lure girls," slaves who serve as bait for captains who need crewmen, masters of work gangs, and such. I did not think that a lure girl, for example, could have managed that particular note of terror in the scream. It might, on the other hand, I supposed, be managed quite easily by a bait girl, tethered, bound, to a stake like a verr, by rencer hunters to attract dangerous prey, usually tharlarion. There is quite a difference, you see, between a bait girl who knows that hunters are about, usually concealed in a blind, whose skill will presumably protect her, and a girl with no knowledge of nearby succor. Plenius then stood up. "You make excellent bait, Ina," he said. He then gave her head a shake, much as one might roughly fondle a sleen. Normally she would have responded warmly, affectionately, to such a caress, deeply appreciative, even joyful, to receive even so small a token of a male's favor, but now, I think, she was afraid. "On our return to the shuttle port, following your eccentric trail, we discovered a bait beast," said one of the Kurii. "A female bait beast," said another. "Interesting," said Cabot. Where men are concerned, females make the best bait beasts. The application of the "lure girl" is familiar in many locales. One of the few times a female slave is permitted to don the garments of a free woman without being slain is when she is used in such a role. Sometimes they are put on the bridges late at night, in the light of the moons, and when a marauding tarnsman makes his strike, the city's tarnsmen may take flight and close in upon him. A common stratagem is for a group of seeming maidens to be noted sporting outside a city's walls, perhaps tossing a ball about, or such, and laughing, and chatting, with one another. When foreign tarnsmen, intent on plying chain luck, descend to acquire this seemingly vulnerable trove of loveliness, they are surprised, for numerous guardsmen emerge suddenly from concealed pits and encircle them. Free women, incidentally, are almost never used in such a role. If one were she might be likely to be soon stripped and found in her own collar, that is, in her master's collar. "We did not eat her," said another, "as she was garmented." "Not yet," said another. "How do you know she was a bait beast?" asked Cabot. "What else could she be, here?" asked another. "True," said Cabot. "But where is her hunting party?" asked one. "Why did you not ask her?" said Cabot. "You know little of us, human," said one. "Such creatures are pets, at best. They are not speeched." "I see," said Cabot. How quick, thought Cabot, was the mind of the blonde. She would have understood Cabot was hunted. Had she not, as well as he, heard sleen? Taken as an unspeeched pet, at best, she could not be intelligibly interrogated as to his whereabouts. Too, as unspeeched, they would not fear she might inform upon them. As little might be feared on the world, Earth, from a stray dog. The greatest danger to her, thought Cabot, would presumably be from the surviving members of the decimated hunting party, or from others who knew of it, for she, the bait girl, had not been used by Kurii to entrap humans, but by humans to entrap Kurii. Cabot had done his best, having her bound and helpless beside him in the pitlike depression, to make it clear she had not willingly betrayed her masters. "She may be a stray, who was used as a bait beast," said another. "Would she not be in danger from Arcesilaus," asked Cabot, "for she was used to bait a trap, one in which Kurii were slain?" "Slaves," he informed her, "are sometimes staked out, and used for bait." She shuddered. "Would you like that?" "No, Master," she said. "Do not fear," he said. "It is pot girls, and kettle-and-mat girls, such slaves, who would be used in such a fashion. Two-tarsk girls are not used for bait." "If I did not use you for bait on the beach," said Cabot, "I might sell you, or give you to Lita, as a serving slave." Indeed, sometimes bound, tethered slaves are used as bait. The usual arrangement is a hunter, in a small boat, accompanied by a slave girl. The hunter is armed with an urt spear, which is essentially a light harpoon with its attached rope, the coils of which are layered in a wooden bucket near the bow of the craft. The slave girl has a rope tied about her waist. This rope is several yards long and is fastened to a stout ring in the boat. The urt then is essentially fished for. The girl, serving as bait, swims near the boat. The hunter, in the bow, his spear ready, watches for urts. When an urt is sighted, the girl moves closer to the boat. "No, no!" she said. "I would be seen, tunicked and unveiled. Sooner or later, I would be recognized. My life would be forfeit. I have been in the power of enemies of Pa-Kur. He would find me and kill me!" "We trust he will try," said the officer. "You are bait," said Miles. Perhaps she had already been picked up by guardsmen and taken to the Golden Chain, there to serve as bait for her master, Pa-Kur, of the Assassins. It was my understanding that she had been remanded to the Golden Chain, not only to be treated as the slave she was, but to serve as bait for the capture of Pa-Kur, master of the Assassins. "The tolls charged by Rencers for allowing us to traverse the delta," he said, "tolls which may be paid with female slaves. The Rencers may exact a toll of some two hundred kajirae at this time of year. They use kajirae on ropes in the water, as bait when hunting tharlarion, much as those of Port Kar use slaves when hunting giant canal urts." "Where are the slavers, Master!" cried Temione. "How long must this last? Have we not endured enough? Have we not been bait long enough? Where are the slavers with their ropes, chains, and hoods to harvest this loot about us? Spring the trap, Masters. I beg that you spring the trap!"
Outside the Curulean also, on sale days, actual slave girls are exhibited, some in suspended plastic cages fastened to the roof of the portico, others in a tier of cages lining the interior wall of the portico; these are not, however, the exposition cages within the Curulean; they are merely, so to speak, advertisements and attractions to lure customers; on the other hand, of course, such displays, along with many others, will be offered for sale. The beast had not been hunting us. Commonly such a beast scouts prey, surreptitiously, and then, unless suspecting a trap, as with a tethered victim, perhaps a staked-out girl, used as a lure, makes its swift, unexpected strike, its kill charge. "It is known, or would soon be known, that her ship was taken by Bejar," I said. "It is doubtless moored prize at his wharfage even now. She cannot be simply released and sent on her way. None would believe this. All would suspect she was a decoy of some sort, a lure to draw forth Shaba." She was the girl who had feigned being chained at the post, to lure us into a trap. She was, I was sure, the leader of the talunas. "She lured me here," said Aemilianus, gesturing toward Peggy with the Gorean blade. She shrank back, half naked in the bit of silk she wore. She knew that the slightest touch of that wicked Gorean blade could part her flesh. She was the slave who, earlier, had been used by Yellow-Knives as, in effect, a lure girl, one used to distract or, say, entrap a warrior. "Where is Cotanka?" a girl was crying out. "I am the slave of Cotanka! Where is Cotanka!" It was she who earlier, in effect, had functioned as a lure girl. I had captured her. As Cotanka had accepted her as a slave, she had been spared, at least for a time. "Have you not brought the Yellow Knives here?" asked Hci. "Yes," said Iwoso. "Yes!" "You have lured them into a trap," said Hci. Hurrying at the flank of Cotanka's kaiila, welcoming him back to camp, was a blonde, barefoot, collared and wearing a brief shirtdress. It was she who had functioned, in effect, as a "lure girl" in one of the actions at the summer camp. She now belonged to him. A thousand-fold and more, doubtless, had Cotanka seen that she had repaid him for her part in the duplicity which had endangered him before permitting her to lapse into the stringencies of a more common slavery, that of the absolute and uncompromising bondage in which female slaves are typically, and without a second thought, held on Gor. Slave girls, with the exception of coin girls, lure girls for taverns, and such, are generally not permitted to walk unaccompanied about the streets of a city after dark. I did not have the common garb of such slaves, such as the bell and coin box chained about my neck, of the coin girl, or the tavern silk, with its advertising, of a tavern's lure girl. I was silent, bound before him. There was some truth of course, or at least I thought so, to these charges. At least I hoped there was. I had tried, with all the skills I had been taught, and with all the devices, and instincts, of the natural slave, which I was, to attract and lure him. "I am a woman," she said, straightening her body, making clear the indications of considerable beauty concealed beneath her silk. "I could present myself to him. I could allure him. I could win his interest. I could win his confidence. I could make him desperately eager for so much as a touch or kiss. Then, when, in effect, I could twine him about my tiny finger, when I could do with him as I wished, I could drug or poison him." "You flatterer, Brinlar!" she laughed. "But you are not the first man who has been entrapped in the toils of my beauty. I have lured many, as it pleased me, to their downfall." On the other hand, few men will whip a girl for having pretended not to be attracted to him, if she is actually attracted to him, particularly if she has done so under her master's orders. Such devices, of course, but without the authenticity and the ultimate surrender, are often resorted to by "lure girls," slaves who serve as bait for captains who need crewmen, masters of work gangs, and such. My master had once, while I was licking his feet, congratulated me on being an excellent Lure Girl. "Thank you, Master," I had said. I was a slave girl. We must obey our masters. Also, I supposed, later on, after he had some more use out of me, he would sell me off in some market or another. He could find himself a new lure girl. Indeed, for all I knew, he might be using others of his girls in these same cruel and delusory labors. I was then spurned and abused with the feet of his men, and I was then pulled up to my knees and cuffed several times before my master. Then they stepped back. I was then again on my knees, my lips now bleeding, before my master. I tasted blood. "You are contrite now, are you not, Tuka?" he asked. "Yes, Master," I said, frightened. I knew I should not have hesitated. I was a slave. "But you have been on the whole an excellent lure girl," he said, "one of the best I have ever had." "Thank you, Master," I whispered. "You are extremely intelligent," he said, "as well as extremely beautiful." "Thank you, Master," I whispered. I felt that my intelligence was small compared to that of most Gorean males, but I did not feel intellectually inferior, at least generally, to the women I had met on Gor, either girls from Earth, such as Gloria and Clarissa, who had been with me at Market of Semris, or those native to Gor, women such as Tula and Ina, and Sita and Aynur, whom I had known at the tavern of Hendow, on Dock Street, in Brundisium. I did not know if the high intelligence of Gorean men was a function of those men wino had been brought to Gor in the distant past, perhaps chosen for intelligence, as well as other qualities, or if it had to do rather, for the most part, with the exhilarating, liberating Gorean cultural milieu, one alien to negativity, inhibition and frustration, one perhaps, in virtue of permitting an open, honest and freed manhood, more conducive to emotional and mental growth. "Doubtless these qualities have contributed to your effectiveness as a lure girl," he said. "Perhaps, Master," I said, uneasily. "But even so," he said, "the effectiveness of a lure girl is usually limited." "Master?" I asked, apprehensively. "So, too," he said, "I think that your utility as such, even with your intelligence and beauty, at least in this area, may be coming to an end." I did not say anything. I was helpless. "Too," he said, "there is a question as to how much risk it is rational to take." I did not respond. "For what it is worth," he said, "you have served longer than any other lure girl I have used in this area." I nodded, swallowing hard. "You have made more captures than any other," he said. "Thank you, Master," I said. "You are now, however, I think," he said, "becoming a bit too well known in Argentum." "As master says," I said. I had no idea, of course, as to whether or not such a thing was true. I did suppose I had been seen about the streets, here and there. This may have raised suspicions. "Too," he said, "there have been inquiries." I looked at him, apprehensively. "Sometimes," he said, "I think a lure girl should be less beautiful, less striking, perhaps, than you. You are perhaps the sort who is too easily remembered." I said nothing. "Accordingly," he said, "I think it is now time to dispose of you." "Master?" I asked, frightened. "Do not fear," he said, smiling. "I have no intention of losing my investment in you." "Then Master will sell me?" I begged. "You have already been sold," he said. I shuddered. "Not all of these men are criminals," I said to the second girl. "How is that?" asked the girl behind me. "Some are honest fellows," I said, "caught, impressed into labor." "Such things are not done," said the girl before me. "You are mistaken," I told her. "How could it be done?" she asked. "There are many ways," said the girl behind me. "Sometimes lure girls are used." Then she said, "Perhaps Tuka knows about that." I was silent. "You are very pretty, Tuka," said the girl behind me. I was silent. "You are probably pretty enough to be a lure girl," she added. I was silent. "I would not wish to be a lure girl who came within their reach," she remarked. "I might be torn to pieces. It would doubtless be far worse, of course, if I were the actual girl who had been involved in their capture." I shuddered. "What is wrong, Tuka?" she asked. "Nothing," I said. "I suppose that these fellows out here, with the digging, the labor and the whip, have little to live for," she remarked, "except perhaps vengeance." I trembled in the chains. "Do not be frightened, Tuka," she said. "You have nothing to fear, for you were surely never a lure girl." "The guards have heard that you were an excellent lure girl," he said. "They suspect, thusly, that you might be rather good. They are looking forward to trying you out." "You were an excellent lure girl," said one of the fellows. "Thank you, Master," I whispered. Even had I dared to rise, as I did not, I did not know if I, in my terror, could even have found the strength to do so. Too, even if I had dared to leap up, and had found the strength to do so, I could not have escaped them. They were all about me. Too, I could not run, chained as I was. "She deceived me well," said a fellow. "And me," said another. "And me," said another. "Forgive me, Masters!" I begged. The guard did not appear. "As you might surmise," said the overseer, "she was an excellent lure girl. She figured in the entrapment of twenty-three of the prisoners below." "Thank you, Master!" I cried. It had been long, I knew, since these men had had a woman, and they were Goreans. They would be half mad with desire. Too, many of them had found me exciting, and had wanted me earlier, else I could not have lured them. Too, I was a skilled dancer. Too, I was beautiful, or had been told so. Certainly many men on this world have found me attractive, and desirable, and have not hesitated to put me to their services, and fully, as may be done with a slave. I danced. I looked at their faces. Many of these men, I knew, would feel they had a score to settle with me. It was my hope then that they might be persuaded to accept in settlement of these accounts, if accounts they were, not my blood but so small and innocent a thing as my mastering, my total ravishing and subjugation. That would be vengeance enough, I hoped, for such men. Certainly I had lured them. But I had not truly chosen to do so. Surely they should understand that! Of my own will I would never have dared to do such a thing! And now I danced before them, for my life, helpless, desperate to please them, in terror. What more then could they want, saving my zealous services, those commonly to be surrendered by a slave dancer to masters. I danced then to those whose eyes were hardest. Some of them were not even men I had trapped, but only men who knew what I had done. Some may have been as innocent as those I had lured; others might have been murderers and brigands, suitably enchained for the expiation of sentences, their custody having been legally transferred to Ionicus, my master; at the payment of a prisoner's fee, by the writ of a praetor or, in more desperate cases, by the order of a quaestor. "She is an excellent dancer," commented a man, another whom I had lured in Argentum. "Yes," said another fellow, another of those who owed his chaining to me. I saw now that they, or most of them, were pleased. I sensed now that I might be spared, at least if I pleased them, too, well enough in the sand. I had lured many of them, but now I danced before them, to please them, begging for my life, danced before them helplessly, at their mercy, submitted and dependent on their favor, for my very life, as much as though I might be their own slave. "I know he is," I said. I looked back, down into the sandy trough. "I lured him in Argentum," I said, my voice suddenly breaking, as I considered the enormity of it, "I lured him whom I knew, he who had been kind to me, he who trusted me, and brought him to chains and servitude, and yet, this afternoon, he saved my life." In their haste, and their strength, and considering I had been a lure girl, they had not chosen to be gentle. "She cost Ionicus five, and a tarsk bit," said Aulus. "And a tarsk bit?" asked the fellow. "Yes," said Aulus. "Then she was a lure girl," he said. "Yes," said Aulus. "Is she negotiable?" asked the fellow. "All slaves are negotiable," said Aulus. "Some of my men are not too fond of lure girls," he said. "I think I would let you keep her. They might kill her." I had to keep my head back. I was very frightened. This was the first inkling I had had of what the fellows I had helped to entrap in Argentum might have brought Tyrrhenius. I, twice, had gone for at least five times as much. To be sure, once was because Tyrrhenius had wanted to pick up a good lure girl and once was because Ionicus, or perhaps his agent, acting on a standing policy, had wanted, as a joke, to put me at the service of men I had trapped. Whatever might be the case, it seemed that he had regarded it judicious to terminate my services as a lure girl. The small fellow, I had gathered, might have once been from Tharna. That is a city far to the north and east of Venna. It is well known for its silver mines. So, too, incidentally, is the city of Argentum, where I had been owned by Tyrrhenius of Argentum, and had served him as a lure girl. "She betrayed me to the chains of Ionicus!" said Mirus. "False! False!" cried Hendow in fury. "It is true," said Mirus. "I swear it by our love." "Is this true?" asked Hendow of me, incredulously. "Yes, Master," I wept. "She was a lure girl!" cried Tupita, "Must we not obey, as we are slaves!" Thus, you see, had it not been for Tupita, for her running away, for her betrayal, of a sister in bondage, for her willingness to assume the habiliments of a free woman, in itself a great crime, this slave would not have been in Argentum, to lure you. If one is covered with guilt here, surely it is Tupita. Accordingly, I now give you my permission to strike her." "Did you choose to be a lure girl?" he asked. "No, Master!" I said. "I am sure now," he said, "as I reflect on these things, not in anger, that you were indeed reluctant to entice me, and might have preferred to be permitted to withdraw." "Yes, Master," I said. "But in my pleasure at seeing you again," he said, "Such signs, obvious as they might have been, I overlooked. It did not even occur to me that you might then be a lure girl. Any other girl, one unknown, of course, I might have immediately suspected, particularly under the circumstances, the loneliness of the street, the absurdity of a key in your belt, and such." I said nothing. "I was a fool," he said. "It is my fault," I said. "You were beguiled by your affection for me, by your trust in me." "No," he said. "I was stupid." "Forgive me, Master," I said. "You are not stupid, Master," said Tupita. "Look at Tuka. See how well curved she is, how desirable she is! She could have lured a general!" "Slave," said Mirus to me. "Yes, Master," I said. "What do you think should be the punishment for a free woman who did what you did?" "Whatever masters please," I said, "once she was branded, and put in a collar." "Kneel," he said. "Yes, Master," I said. "Are you not somewhat overdressed?" he asked. "Yes, Master," I said. I removed the bit of clothing I wore, the belt, the narrow strip of cloth. "Approach," he said, "on your knees." "Yes, Master," I said. He rose to a crouching position. He put his hands on my upper arms. He was very strong. "You are a well-curved slave," he said. "Thank you, Master," I said. "What do you think should be the punishment for a slave who did what you did?" he asked. "Whatever masters please," I said. "The whip?" he asked. "If masters please," I said. I would be more than happy to settle for the whip! "Perhaps," he said, "for the whip of the furs." "Oh, yes, Master!" cried Tupita. "Yes! Yes!" "My anger with you," said Mirus, "I think was in part motivated by anger with myself, that I so easily succumbed to your charms." "Yes, Master," I said. I had never doubted that. "Do not entirely blame yourself, Master," called Tupita. "I am sure she was a very clever lure girl, a brilliantly lovely and skillful lure girl!" "You used me to lure the beast in, to the attack," I said. "You tricked me. You used me without my knowledge. You used me without taking me into your confidence. You used me as a slave!" "And that is why you displayed yourself as you did in the parade of slaves, and after, far beyond what was required by the occasion, or your legal master, Philebus. You were attempting to seduce the courier, to lure him to your conquest. You were begging to be bought, as the slave you are. You were begging to be taken to his tent, bound and on his leash. You were begging to be his, and his alone." I had not hurried toward the source of the sound as circumspection seemed to me appropriate. It was not that I doubted the authenticity of the woman's terror. I did not think that a lure girl, for example, could have managed that particular note of terror in the scream. It might, on the other hand, I supposed, be managed quite easily by a bait girl, tethered, bound, to a stake like a verr, by rencer hunters to attract dangerous prey, usually tharlarion. They do not use their own women for this, of course, but other women, usually slaves. Surely Gart seemed to be in a good, if somewhat bemused, mood. Too, a slave girl quickly learns how to use her body, to produce a mood, or to attempt to entice or encourage one, to stimulate, to placate, to lure, to arouse, and so on. Supposedly the tarnsman might thus be lured to the pursuit of an identifiably delightful quarry, something obviously worth owning, as opposed to a free woman who might, when stripped, prove to be as ugly as a tharlarion. "The Masters are so stupid," said the girl to Ellen's left. "Do they really think we are going to attempt to allure an unwanted master?" Such a change, thought Ellen, wrought by the imminence of the masters, formerly inert female merchandise, suddenly, in fear of the whip, become luscious, active flesh goods, attempting to allure buyers, attempting to entice customers for their master. Immediately then she began to utter the allure-call to the crowd, "Buy me, Master!" "You should have worked on both the father and the son," said Targo. "It is not unusual for fathers to buy gifts for their sons which they themselves like, or think they would like. Thus, you should have lured the father, subtly, of course, as in theory he is interested in you for his son. She had wanted to see herself as she might be, and wanted to be, as a beautiful, natural creature, and to see herself, as well, as that creature might appear, beggingly presenting itself, beggingly displaying itself, in all the lure of the dance, to a member of the opposite sex, to a man. Where men are concerned, females make the best bait beasts. The application of the "lure girl" is familiar in many locales. One of the few times a female slave is permitted to don the garments of a free woman without being slain is when she is used in such a role. Sometimes they are put on the bridges late at night, in the light of the moons, and when a marauding tarnsman makes his strike, the city's tarnsmen may take flight and close in upon him. A common stratagem is for a group of seeming maidens to be noted sporting outside a city's walls, perhaps tossing a ball about, or such, and laughing, and chatting, with one another. When foreign tarnsmen, intent on plying chain luck, descend to acquire this seemingly vulnerable trove of loveliness, they are surprised, for numerous guardsmen emerge suddenly from concealed pits and encircle them. Free women, incidentally, are almost never used in such a role. If one were she might be likely to be soon stripped and found in her own collar, that is, in her master's collar. "You must not think too badly of Cestiphon, and other male humans," said Cabot, "for such a female is like delicious food to a starving man. Though she is a free woman, yet, secured as she is, clothed as she is, she has something of the allure, the inadvertent seductiveness, the sensuous vulnerability, the helplessness, of a Gorean female slave, or kajira." She had been one of the two women who had been enclosed with me in the small, transparent container on the Prison Moon, two who had been deliberately, carefully selected by Priest-Kings, with all their shrewdness and science, with all their malevolent expertise, to constitute exquisite temptations for me, who were intended to be such as would prove irresistible to me, either of them a suitable engine to accomplish in time the destruction of my honor, either one of which was a banquet to lure me, tormented and starving, inevitably, sooner or later, from the rigors of my codes. She was attractive, and a slave, and I was no more than what I was, a male in the vicinity of a woman who perhaps did not even understand the impact and lure of what she was, a female slave, an impact and lure so much more powerful than that of a mere free woman, indeed, a slave who might not, as yet, even understand fully the meaning of the collar on her neck. "A serving slave, a display slave, a lure slave, such things," he said. "They encourage men to drink, to eat, to spend, to wager, to linger at the tables, to draw further cards, to cast the dice just one last time, and such." "Perhaps, perhaps not," I said. "In pursuing her you would pass opened chambers, which might not, as the others, be empty. You might rush about a blind corner, to encounter glaives or bows. She may be a decoy girl, a lure girl." "Free or slave," I said, "she may be a lure girl." "I do not think so," said Tajima. "Let us not wager our lives on the matter," I said. "You are a lure girl," I said, "with confederates." "No," she said. "I am alone!" Now, that seemed quite likely to me, after Pertinax, Tajima, and I had explored so much of the palace, which now seemed barren and empty, unkempt, and deserted. "If you are not a lure girl," I said, "why did you flee from us, on the second level?" "First I thought you were Ashigaru, returned to restore order, and rejoiced, but then I saw that you, and another, two of the three, were barbarians, and I was afraid, and fled." How excited and proud, and pleased, are slaves to be to so regarded, to realize how their lineaments, more than hinted at in their brief garb, lure the eye and whet the appetites of manhood. "Doubtless you well used the promise of your body to arouse, taunt, provoke, tease, and lure males, to win gain from them, to obtain largesse, to turn their frustrated desire to your own profit." Thus, they seek to enhance their innate desirability, which is often considerable, by accumulating what is, in effect, a personal dowry. They liberally exchange their favors for coins, pins, badges, beads, medals, brooches, and such, which they commonly hang on their belts. In this way they not only proclaim their interest in, and eligibility for, the companionship, but make clear, given the weight and value of the belt, both their allure and likely prowess. "Think on those ships, and mariners, you lured into traps," I said. "Mercy, mercy!," wept the slaves. An occasion was arranged, in which, discreetly, Talena, as Ubara, would have him at her mercy. This arrangement, I assure you, was quite independent of the use to which Appanius, in all legality, if not propriety, occasionally put Milo, that of using him as a male lure slave. In such a way Appanius increased the number of female slaves in his pens, and, usually marketing these catches outside the city, augmented his already quite substantial wealth. Why I wondered, did free women, if what I had heard was true, sometimes wander the high bridges at night? Were they actually slaves put in the garb of free women to serve as Lure Girls, to trap raiders? Might not a slave be a Lure Girl, trying to entice a raider into danger? Indeed, might not a putative free woman be a slave in disguise, utilized by Masters to trap and serve a raider similarly?
"In a tavern in Lydius," he said. "It is interesting. We bought her, originally, simply as a slave. We keep our eyes open for good female flesh. It is useful to our purposes, in infiltrating houses, in obtaining secrets, in seducing officers and important men, and, of course, to reward our followers and, naturally, as a simple item for exchange, a form of currency; the slave girl is usually in demand, particularly if beautiful and trained; at our wish, such women are conveniently marketable; there is little trouble in selling them; furthermore, they attract little undue commercial attention, for they are a familiar type of merchandise; thus, the slave girl, for us, if beautiful, and particularly if trained, constitutes a reliable, safe, readily negotiable form of wealth." Girls, too, can be taught to use the leash to enhance their seductiveness, appearing to draw away, then approaching, using it about their body, kissing it, taking it in their mouth, fingering it, and so on. "Tonight," said Ligurious, "I will give her to guardsmen. She will dance the whip dance, naked." There are many whip dances on Gor, of various sorts. In a context of this sort, presumably not in a tavern, and without music, the girl is expected to move, writhe and twist seductively before strong men. If she does not do well enough, if she is insufficiently maddeningly sensuous, the whips fall not about her, but on her. When one of the men can stand it no longer he orders her to his mat where, of course, she must be fully pleasing. If he is not, then she is whipped until she is. Then, when one man is satisfied, the dance begins again, and continues in this fashion until all are satisfied, or tire of the sport. A girl must know how to use the cushions, just as the chains and furs. These cushions are usually large and soft. These are the sorts of cushions which are sometimes found at the foot of, or in the vicinity of thrones and curule chairs, generally intended for the use of slaves. They may also, of course, be found in private dwellings. Sometimes a slave must remain on her cushion. Sometimes she is sent to it for punishment. She is taught to kneel upon it, to curl seductively on it or about it, to lie across it, on her stomach or back, to hold it in certain ways, and so on. "Perform," he said. "Yes, Master," I said, and performed. I performed as excitingly and seductively as possible. Ligurious, Sheila in his arms, looked over at me. I then lay, my belly sucked in, my legs slightly flexed, my toes pointed, as seductively as possible before him. I, too, was a slave, and at his disposal this evening. "Lie more seductively, Lady Yanina," I said. "Think slave." The Lady Yanina now lay seductively on her side. She was quite beautiful in the slave silk, and the chain, in the light of the tiny lamp. She gathered together her powers of concentration. Then she extended one hand. "I love you, Bosk of Port Kar," she called, softly. "I have loved you from the first moment I saw you. At the very thought of you I am helpless and weak. Do not be dismayed that someone whom you do not know and whom you have perhaps never even seen is madly in love with you! I have fought my passion for you! But it has conquered me! I am yours!" "There are many forms of dance," I said. "Music is not even necessary. It need not even be more than beautiful movement. Move before the men, and about them. Move as seductively and beautifully as you can, and as a slave, swaying, crawling, kneeling, rolling, supine, prone, begging, pleading, piteous, caressing, kissing, licking, rubbing against them." "Hurry," she whispered. She lifted the glass to my lips. "Drink," she whispered, invitingly, seductively. "Do you know why I had your ears pierced?" he asked. "No, Master," I said. "There are various reasons for doing such a thing to a female slave," he said. "Master?" I asked. "It improves her as a slave," he said. "It makes her more stimulatory, and more seductive. Too, it makes her more arousable, more excitable." Sometimes, before fellows were brought past the cell, bound or chained, thence to be incarcerated in one of the pits, I would be instructed to lie seductively on the furs and cushions. "Aiii!" cried a fellow, saluting the beauty of the parading slave. She postured seductively before him. "How beautiful she is," said Temione. "Aiii!" cried out another fellow. But the burly fellow, with a laugh, and a movement of his goblet, dismissed her. This time she hurried away, immediately, moving beautifully, among the men, in the circuit of slave display. She had not dallied an instant. She had been dismissed. "The handsome, charming, suave, witty Milo," said the fellow, "is a seduction slave." "A seduction slave?" she wept. "Yes," he said. "He has much increased my stock of slaves." She tore at the net, in tears, but was helpless. "Had you, and your predecessors, not been so secretive, so much concerned to conceal your affairs with a slave, Milo's utility as a seduction slave would have doubtless been much diminished by now. On the other hand, the concern for your reputation and such, so natural in you free women, almost guarantees the repeatability, and the continued success, of these small pleasant projects." Lavinia looked up at him, tears in her eyes. He then, I think, from his reaction, clearly recognized her, well recollecting her from the capture room in the Metellan district, as one who was once a free female, whom he, as a seduction slave, had entrapped for his master, Appanius. "They have apparently been seeing one another," I said. That was true enough, of course, as Lavinia, in the garment resembling that of a state slave, and in what seemed to be a state collar, had been in contact several times with the slave, carrying verbal messages, and arranging the details of the putative assignation of this morning. Too, of course, she had been similarly in contact with the Ubara, only in that role, of course, in a collar purporting to be that of the house of Appanius. "I cannot believe that!" said Appanius, angrily. "Why are you here?" I asked. "You!" he cried. "It was you who sent me the message of this morning?" "Yes," I said. "I have followed him. They meet somewhere around here. I am not sure where." "If this is true," cried Appanius, "I know where!" "Your slave should be disciplined," I said. "It is your slave who should be disciplined!" he said. "Mine is innocent!" "Mine is only a female slave," I said. "Only a female slave! Only a female slave!" he exclaimed. "That is exactly it! She is a female slave! They are all the same. They all have hot little bellies and can't help themselves. They are always licking and kissing and begging! And that Lavinia is one of the worst! She is a seductrix, I tell you. They are all seductresses!" "She is a seduction slave," I said. Lavinia sobbed, and shook her head. A tear coursed down her cheek. "Are you not, Lavinia?" I asked. "Yes, Master," she sobbed. "You should not object to this," I informed the male slave. "You yourself, often enough, if I am not mistaken, have acted in the role of the seduction slave. Surely it is only fair that the tables have now been turned, and that it is you, so to speak, who now finds himself in the net." He could not take his eyes from Lavinia. "She acted under your orders?" he said. "Of course," I said. He moaned. "And is there not a rich joke here," I asked, "for, as I understand it, it was you who, as a seduction slave, were responsible for first bringing her pretty little neck into the collar. Is it not only fitting then that it be she, now a slave, whom I used for your acquisition?" "Yes, Master," he said. "Doubtless she finds her triumph rich and amusing," I said. "Please, Master, may I speak?" begged Lavinia. "No," I said. She sobbed. "You did your work well, pretty little seduction slave," I said to her. "And I expect, seduction slave," I said to the girl, "that he will be good for your discipline. If you are not pleasing, perhaps I will throw you to him." "Yes, Master!" she said. "Chain me, and throw me to him. Let me be his to do with as he pleases!" "Yes, Master," he said. "She is a superb seduction slave." Lavinia sobbed. "But you think me the most beautiful woman on all Gor!" she said. "No," he said. "But you said such things!" she said. "Did you believe me?" he asked. She regarded him, in helpless rage. "I was a seduction slave," he said. I did not scorn the lad for noticing her. If anything, I was pleased he had. It made him seem a little more human. To be sure, I supposed that he had best watch his step. Too, she had best watch hers. Though she was now a free woman, she was a stripped captive, and would doubtless soon be a slave. If he became involved with her I had little doubt that it would not be he, but it would be she, particularly if she were a slave, who would be found at fault. In such a case I do not think any of her sisters in bondage would envy her. The seduction of such a fellow, I supposed, would count as a terrible offense, one perhaps endangering even the city itself. "You must not think too badly of Cestiphon, and other male humans," said Cabot, "for such a female is like delicious food to a starving man. Though she is a free woman, yet, secured as she is, clothed as she is, she has something of the allure, the inadvertent seductiveness, the sensuous vulnerability, the helplessness, of a Gorean female slave, or kajira." "True," said Thrasilicus. "And your practice always wore the veil of mutual interest, of the earnest exploitation of timely opportunities, of the utmost business efficiency, of the highest standards of commercial professionalism, but, underneath, was concealed an agenda of unilateral advantage, for your firm and yourself, an end you shamelessly pursued by attempting to appeal to, and twist, the needs of men, with a thousand smiles, the suggestion of promises, the scattering of various seductive hints." In such cases there is not unoften a killing, and sometimes a woman, most often a slave, sometimes a seductive, manipulative, conniving slave who would, for her perceived advantage, or sense of power, set masters against one another. There is a saying that a man conquers with the sword, the slave with a kiss. The female slave, naked or half naked, collared, utterly vulnerable, is the most helpless, needful, and, however inadvertently, or unwillingly, the most seductive of women. Few things are more seductive than a beautiful woman squirming on her belly before you, miserable in her need, her lips pressed fervently to your feet, begging for your caress. The slave I knew is the most seductive and desirable of women. "You are seductive little brutes," he said. "We are slaves," I said. "Seductive little brutes," said the Lady Bina, "I have seen you in the markets, chained on the selling shelves, reaching through the bars of your cages, smiling, calling out, trying to interest men." The dancer now, under the dangling lamps, animate, seductive, vital, swaying, negotiating the tables, was but yards away. "After your lashing," said the barge-master, "You will be kept naked and will serve as a slave to slaves. You will learn well, my dear, what it is to be a slave. In two days, you will beg to kiss the feet of man, any man. In three days, you will beg to serve the pleasure of a man, any man." He then addressed himself to the keeper at hand. "Take the seductive she-tarsk away," he said. |       | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
