|
 KnotsThese are relevant references from the Books where Knots are mentioned. This is not every single reference where knots are mentioned. But it is my intention to have listed all the variations I could find. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban This page is closely related to Ties. You can find that page here. Click a heading to jump down to that topic. Baker's Basket Hitch Binding Bondage Bow Bowline Builder's Bend Builder's Overhand Capture Collar Double Double Pin Hitch Garment Gordian Hair Karian Anchor Neck Need Over and Under Overhand Peasant Pin Hitch Retention Rope Scarf Signature Simple Slave Slip Warrior
The baker had tied the sack about her neck, with a baker's knot, fastened behind the back of her neck. The girl is not supposed to be able to see to undo the knot. Even if she works it about to before her throat, she cannot see it. If she should untie it, it is unlikely she will be able to retie it properly. Naturally the sack may not be opened unless the knot has been undone. The baker's knot is supposed to minimize the amount of pilfering of pastries, and such, which might otherwise be done by slave girls. But now, about her neck, tied with the baker's knot, fastened behind the back of her neck, was a sack of two loaves of Sa-Tarna bread.
"Bring me a pair of sandal thongs," I told her. She did so and then knelt down opposite me, while I sat cross-legged, and took one of the thongs in my hands. "This is the basket hitch," I told her, gesturing for her to put out one hand. "It is used for fastening a carrying basket to hooks on certain tarn saddles."
Marlenus himself knelt in the darkness to check the knots in the binding fiber, tightening them carefully. As he checked the knots at my wrists, he spoke to me. I had not taken even the time to dismount. Only perhaps a beat or two before the kaiila leapt into the circle had I finished the knots that confined her. I threw her to the turf at the judge's feet. The judge, and the crowd, seemed speechless. "No!" she said. "Not you!" "Yes," he said, "I," turning her about once again, routinely checking the knots that bound her wrists, taking her wrists in his hands, trying to separate them, examining the knots for slippage; there was none. They had found a long piece of rope and tied her hands behind her back and then had wound the same rope three or four times about the girl's waist, had securely knotted it, and were leading her about by it. At that juncture, as I recall, Elizabeth was kneeling on top of the Turian maiden with her hands in her hair pounding her head up and down in the dirt. Elizabeth's Tuchuk leather had been half torn from her but Tuka, who had been clothed only Kajir, had fared not even this well. Indeed, when Elizabeth finished, Tuka wore only the Curia, the red band that ties back the hair, and this band now knotted her wrists behind her back. A further precaution, and an independent one, was a long strip of leather, looped several times about the throat of each and threaded through the wicker. Even if a girl should manage somehow, incredibly, because certain important knots are outside the wicker, to free herself, she would still be held in place by the loops on her throat. Two ropes of marsh vine, besides my other bonds, had been knotted about my neck, each in the hands of a man on either side of me. When we emerged from the cage, one by one, we were given our camisks, and placed in throat coffle, fastened therein with a long length of binding fiber, the fiber looped about the neck of each, knotted, and then passed on to the next girl. I found myself pulling at my bonds, suddenly aching with an inexplicable loneliness and desire. I pulled at the fiber that bound my wrists, so cruelly back; my throat pressed against the straps on my throat, almost choking me; my belly writhed under its strap; my ankles moved against one another, helpless in the leather confinement of the knotted strap. Lana and I had been thonged together by the nose rings. In our sleep it had been done. A thong had been passed through the two rings and then knotted. The knotted, double thong that fastened us together was only about a foot long. Ute then took us to the bars at the front of the cage and, unknotting the thong, passed it around two of the bars and reknotted it, over one of the crossbars, about two and a half feet above the floor plating. A loop of binding fiber had been tied about my belly and knotted in back. My hands were confined in front of me by slave bracelets. The binding fiber, in its center, had been knotted about the chain of the bracelets, so that my hands were held close to my belly. The loose ends of the binding fiber had then been knotted together behind my back, so that I could not reach the knot. I put my head down to the dirt before her. My wrists were still bound, fastened by the leather knots of the tarnsman, Rask of Treve. I felt the knots on my wrists being checked, and I winced, as they were tightened. Then my throat, by the straps, was drawn back tighter against the wicker, and this bond, too, was tightened. The man now was checking the knots at the lid of the basket. It was tight. Our ankles were bound together at the center of the basket; our wrists were bound behind our back, to the wicker; our throats were independently secured, the knots outside, keeping us in place. He had finished his lunch. We were stripped, helpless slave girls, his. Marlenus turned away from her, and went to examine the line of bound girls, Verna's band. They stood, their hands bound behind their backs, fastened together by the long length of binding fiber, knotted about the right ankle of each. Marlenus then took a length of binding fiber, of some eight feet in length, and knotted one end of it about Verna's throat. The other end he looped twice about his belt. I walked about the girls and checked the knots of the slave star. They were secured, perfectly. One long length of binding fiber, captured from a panther girl, served to tie all their ankles. It had ends free only at the first and last girl. Two other long lengths, similarly captured from fair prisoners, served to lash the crossed wrists of each, bound behind their backs, and their throats. Again, free ends occurred, heavily knotted, only at the last and first girl. It is, thus, almost impossible for the interior girls to free themselves, and the first and last girls are tied with exquisite effectiveness. Panther girls have little patience for those of their number who fall slave. Grenna's neck knot was tied as tightly as that of any of the other girls; Her eyes suddenly, startled, opened. She saw me. In terror, a reflex action, uncontrollable, her mouth, lips wild, opened. I thrust the heavy wadding deep in her mouth. She could utter not the smallest sound. As my right hand did this the loop of panther skin, twisted in its center, fell from my hand across her face. Swiftly, the twisted part deeply between her teeth, I knotted it with a warrior's tightness behind the back of her neck. The wadding would not slip. I then turned her on her stomach and bound her wrists behind her back. Then I bent to her ankles, crossed them, and tied them together. I bound her, hand and foot. "What is your name?" I asked, as I fastened the knots on her wrists, behind her back. the girls of Hura had controlled the coffle of beauties, each with her wrists still in binding fiber confined behind her body, each still fastened to her sisters in bondage by the strong, supple linking of the binding fiber knotted about her throat. I then lowered her to the leaves, rolled her over, checked the knots of her bonds, and withdrew. Their ankles were no longer bound; their wrists, now, those of most of them, were fettered before their bodies; about their necks, now, however, they wore not simple binding fiber; it had been replaced the first evening out of Kassau; they wore now, knotted about their throats, a coffle rope of the north, about a half inch in thickness, of braided leather, cored with wire. There was a strap of binding fiber knotted about her collar. They bent to lift and support one of their sisters in bondage, whose leg was broken, binding fiber still knotted about the ankle. Severed binding fiber was knotted tight about her belly. br />
Marauders of Gor Book 9 Page 262 The end of the tether I knotted in and about the leather on her wrists, so that she would be unable to reach it, even with the fingers of one of her hands. I struggled, with my small, weak fingers, with the knots. I worked hard, frightened, sweating, that I might be taking too long. But he was patient. He knew the knots he had tied could not be easily undone by one such as I. Surreptitiously, for I did not wish to be struck or again kicked, I tried to move my wrists and ankles. It was useless. Thongs had been used, not rope; the knots, simple and efficient, had been made by a warrior. With a minimum of means I was held with absolute perfection. A Gorean warrior had bound me. I felt a knotted, double strand of leather looped about my left wrist and pulled tight. She pulled the loops of rawhide rope from the ring at her belt, the same ring which held the hook on the whip, and tied one end of the rope about my neck, knotting it tightly. The northern yoke is either of wood or bone, and is drilled in three places. The one Thistle wore was of wood. It was not heavy. It passed behind her neck at which point one of the drilled holes occurred. The other two holes occurred at the terminations of the yoke. A leather strap is knotted about the girl's wrist, passed through the drilled hole at one end of the yoke, usually that on her left, taken up through the hole behind the neck, looped twice about her neck, threaded back down through the center hole, taken up through the other hole at the end, usually the one at her right, and tied about her right wrist. She is thus fastened in the yoke. From each end of the yoke hung a large sack. I took a length of binding fiber and tied it about Arlene's neck, knotting it tightly. It was about fifteen feet long. Her small wrists twisted futilely behind her in the encircling, knotted sandal string, that simple device which constituted her bond. It was a double coffle line; the last girl is placed on it first; the double line is knotted about her neck and then the two strands are taken forward; the fifth girl was next neck-knotted into the line and the two strands taken forward again, and so on; when the first girl is put in the coffle, the two strands are then taken forward again and knotted about the left-hand, rear upright of the sled; this way the only free ends of the bond, by means of which it might be untied, knotted together, fall at the left hand of the driver, and are easily within his view. If the feet are tied to the collar the knot is always in the front, so that the pressure will be against the back of the girl's neck and not the front. The purpose of such a tie is to hold the slave, not choke her. The fellow who had been called Kunguni crouched before the girl and, quickly, jerked loose the knot which held her bound hands, which were still tied, tethered at her collar. Her small hands pulled at the tightly looped, knotted strap that bound them behind her back. 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. Too, it is common to loop a wrist binding, and use a single knot, rather than tie each wrist separately." Her small wrists were secured before her body with cord, fastened with cunning knots. The cord, I supposed, had been woven about a core of wire. The knots were under the left wrist, to make it more difficult to reach them with the teeth. "I am going to tie your ankles," I told her. "I shall use the free end of the leash strap. I shall take the strap up then to your wrists, so that the knot will be where you can reach it neither with your fingers or teeth." "I am prepared to deal with you, Jason," she said. "Jason," she said, "why are you tying a strap on my throat?" I knotted the strap under her chin. I took the strap, then, and wrapped it several times about her throat, and then tucked in the loose end. It might thus, if unwrapped, if I chose, serve as a leash. I glanced at the knots on her ankles. I did not think that she, with her woman's strength, could well undo them. I loosened them. He indicated two girls, one older than the other, one perhaps nineteen, the other seventeen. They were fastened together by the neck, by a knotted red strap some four feet in length. The pirate behind the girl, who had thrust her forward, un-knotted the cord from her throat, that which held the cloth over her head and kept it fixed, too, upon her body. I tightened the knots that confined him. I turned her over and examined the knots on her wrists and ankles, and then put her again on her back. "The knots are excellent," I said. "She has been securely bound. She is a well-tied slave. She cannot free herself." "And take that tether from your ankle," I said. "Yes, Master," she said, and knelt down on one knee, her hands at the knot. "We will fetch the kaiila and attach them to the travois," I said. "We will take this tarn to our temporary camp." "Yes, Tatankasa," said Cuwignaka. "We do not wish to remain in the open longer than necessary," I said. "No, Tatankasa," said Hci. I glanced down at Mira. She was now sitting in the grass, her fingers fighting the knot. "If you have not finished with your work here before we leave," I told her, "follow the travois tracks in the grass back to our temporary camp." "Yes, Master," she sobbed. "Tonight," I said, "after food and woman, losing no time, we shall proceed toward Two Feathers." "Good," said Cuwignaka. "Our plans proceed," I said to Hci, "expeditiously and apace." "Splendid," said he. "Master?" sobbed the girl. "What?" I asked. "I cannot undo the knot," she said, tears in her eyes. "You have tied it too tightly!" I handed the reins of the tarn to Cuwignaka. I crouched down beside the girl. "I have tried," she said. "I have tried! Please, don't whip me!" I unfastened the knot. "Thank you, Master!" she said. The fellow who had gone to fetch the girls now returned. He had the two girls with him. The hands of each, by a cord knotted about their waist, were tied before their bodies. I then left. "Untie me, Slave!" I heard, behind me. "The knots are too tight, Master," she wept. "I cannot undo them." "Chew through the thongs then," he said, "Hurry! Hurry!" "Yes, Master!" she wept. "Yes, Master!" "Binding fiber," I said, not even looking, just putting out my hand. Some was fetched, a length of some five feet, or so, and, in a moment, with one end of the fiber, with a few loops and a knot, her wrists crossed, her hands were secured behind her back. I had tied her tightly, utterly helplessly, as I might have a slave. "Have you not finished untying her?" asked the bearded man. "Forgive me, Master," said Tupita, and bent again swiftly, to her task. It was hard for her, for the knots had been tied by a man. "I am well bound, Master," said Tupita to Mirus. "Obviously," said Mirus. He had watched the stranger place, pull tight and knot the cords, I, too, had watched. He had worked unhurriedly, even, I suppose, casually, but efficiently. I shuddered. He was clearly no stranger to the binding of women. "I will not run away!" she said. "I am sure you will not," I said. "Oh!" she said, wincing, as I jerked tight the fiber. "There," I said, knotting it. My hands were pulled behind me and my wrists crossed. In a moment, with a dispatch and effectiveness that could only have been the result of long experience in such things, the knots had been jerked tight. Then my ankles were crossed, and, with a separate bit of cord, lashed together. She knelt by my ankles, bending forward. Her small fingers struggling with the knots. They would not be easy to undo. They had been jerked tight by a man. "Can you untie her ankles?" he asked the female slave. "I do not think so," she whispered. She has struggled futilely with the knots. They were, it seemed, beyond her strength. The shape then bent down and, with its great hands, undid the knots. He did this easily. He crouched beside me and crossed my wrists. He jerked tight knots on them. He then crossed my ankles, and pulled them up, close to my wrists. In a moment, with a few quick movements, my ankles had been tied tightly together and fastened to my wrists. Ellen did not watch Canio's work. She did not care to do so. Rather she addressed herself to removing the leash. It was not easy to do. It was tightly knotted, and she could not, of course, see the knot. I was well leashed, she thought, and felt, however unwillingly, a sudden heat in her belly, a sudden flaming within her upper thighs. She reddened. At least, she thought, it is common rope, and not a leash of knotted leather, or knotted binding fiber, because she knew that knots in such materials might be drawn so tightly that her small, delicate fingers, those of a woman, might lack the strength to undo them. Cabot had taken a doubled strand of slave cord, put it about her left wrist, drawn the free strands through the loop, jerked the loop thusly formed tight on her wrist, and then, with the free strands beyond the loop, twice encircled her right wrist, pulled the whole tight, and then knotted the cord. I then went behind her, and, with some difficulty, undid the knots binding her ankles together, and then those confining her small wrists. "Back toward us," said the leader, "your wrists crossed behind your back." I did so, and, shortly, with two or three encirclements of cord, snugly knotted, my wrists were tied behind my back. "Let me see the knots," said Eve. I turned about, holding out my wrists. "Look," said Jane. "Yes," said Eve. "I do not think we could undo the knots," said Jane. Her ankles had been well fastened. I was not sure she could even manage to undo the knots herself. "Bara!" she snapped. Instantly we turned about in the neck rope, with its three knotted double loops, and went to our stomachs, our heads to the left, our wrists crossed behind us, and our ankles, as well. I moved my neck a little in the coarse, knotted, double loop which encircled my throat, which held me to the others.
On Gor, the female slave, desiring her master, yet sometimes fearing to speak to him, frightened that she may be struck, has recourse upon occasion to certain devices, the meaning of which is generally established and culturally well understood. I shall mention two such devices. There is, first, the bondage knot. Most Gorean slave girls have long hair. The bondage knot is a simple looped knot tied in the girl's hair and worn at the side of her right cheek or before her right shoulder. Numbly, slowly, lifting her arms, the blade between her arms, her fingers trembling, she tied the bondage knot in her own hair. I had seen a free woman of Victoria stripped with no more mercy than would have been shown to a slave. I had seen her kneel naked before a pirate and, his blade at her throat, with her own hands, tie the knot of bondage in her hair, in full view of hundreds of her fellow citizens. "Grapes, Master?" said a soft, feminine voice near to me. I looked about, but I did not react. It was the free woman, or the woman who had been free, who had been ordered from the crowd on the wharves of Victoria. I recalled her having been stripped by the pirate, and his blade at her throat. She had tied the knot of bondage in her own hair. "I saw that you were interested in Lita," he said, referring to a girl in a diaphanous bit of swirling yellow silk. She was the woman who had been free, whom I had seen enslaved on the wharves of Victoria, only a few nights past. In her own hair she had tied the knot of bondage. She, nude, kneeling, the blade of the pirate at her throat, had tied the knot of bondage in her own hair. I did not think she would then be distributing silken scarves to make known her needs to men. She must then do other things, such as putting a bondage knot in her hair, offering them wine or fruit, dancing naked before them, or kneeling before them, whimpering and whining for attention, licking and kissing at their feet and legs. "I would tie the bondage knot in my hair for you," I said. "Are you soliciting the touch of a man who is not your master?" he asked. I then, slowly, gracefully, kneeling before him, looking up at him, tied the bondage knot in my hair, it then hanging beside my right cheek. "Precede me into the alley," he said, kindly. There are many ways in which a female slave can beg for sex, for example, the bondage knot, offering the master wine, holding up to him fruit, next to her body, kneeling, licking, kissing, and so on. Perhaps the weak masters, unable to satisfy them, will weary of seeing the bondage knot in their hair, will weary of their importunities, their moans and whinings in the night, their beggings for use, and either give them, or sell them, to another. "Is it not the same as the wearing of the bondage knot in the hair, the offering of fruit, the serving of wine, the moaning, the prostrations, the obeisances, the gentle, supplicatory licking of the feet?" Had he been her master, in private compartments, she would not have hesitated to permit such an inadvertence, or she might have tied the loose bondage knot in her hair, on the left, as a mute plea for attention. The bondage knot, for example, might be looped loosely in her hair. Do the masters truly not understand the slave's uneasiness, her whimpering, her sidelong glances, the bondage knot in her hair, her kneeling before him, the pathetic way she presses her lips to his feet, hoping to call herself to his attention? Aside from the aesthetic aspects of the matter, namely revealing the small, sweet loveliness of a woman's hands, the small wrists, almost asking to be bound, and such, it facilitates a common begging gesture, one which is lovely and subtle. One merely changes the position of the hands, by turning the backs of the hand to the thighs. This exposes the soft, concave, curved tenderness of the palms, open, sensitive, and vulnerable, to the master. Another subtle device is the simple bondage knot, loosely tied in the hair. "One day," he said, "you will crawl to men, begging, the bondage knot in your hair." Another way a slave may supplicate the master's attention is to place the bondage knot in her hair. Often I had tied the bondage knot in my hair, and knelt to lick the ankles of a master or of one of his men. Certainly he must have noted the simple loop of the bondage knot I had tied in my hair. What master could overlook so simple a thing? This simple loop mutely pleads with the master for his attention. I wanted to loop the bondage knot in my hair, but I did not dare remove my hands from my thighs. As I was right handed, I would commonly put the knot at my right shoulder. There are many begging signals, from things as simple as tying the loose bondage knot in one's hair to kneeling and kissing and licking the master's feet, whimpering in need. Kurik, my master, then turned away, to return the way we had come, and I heeled him. As I followed him, I tied the loose, simple bondage knot in my hair. When we reached the domicile, I trusted that he would notice. How often one hopefully ties the bondage knot in one's hair! I would tie the bondage knot in my hair, whimper, and put myself to his feet, kajira. Similarly tying the loose bondage knot in her hair may bring discipline. If he dallied, I would tie the bondage knot in my hair. "Is that not the bondage knot in your hair?" he asked. I noted that she had dared to turn her hands, putting the backs of her hands on her thighs, this exposing the beautiful open softness of her palms, the sensitivity of which tender, concave, living tissue is such that a mere touch can make her cry out in need. It, like the soft bondage knot in the hair, is a way in which the slave may appeal to be noticed, may beg for attention, may mutely make known to her Master the desperation of her need. There are many ways in which a slave can beg, small movements, tiny sounds, glances, an expression, kneeling and kissing, fastening the bondage knot in one's hair, crawling, fetching a whip and dropping it at one's feet, signifying submission, and so on. And even writhing piteously, beggingly, in slave dance. I made a hasty, impatient gesture, dismissing Talena, hurrying her from the table.
"In the future," I said, "the cord will be tied in this fashion, or in some equivalent fashion." She moaned, looking down. 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. It was true that she was clothed, in a fashion. 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. We slipped the narrow rectangles of cloth, with their simple, centered, circular openings, over our heads, and then wrapped the long leather thong twice about our waist, and knotted it at our left hip. The knot is to be a simple bowknot, so that it may be easily loosened by a man's casual tug.
One sailor held the rope then while the other secured the line to a ring on the deck. He made a loop in the line, passed the free end through the deck ring, brought the end up through the loop, about the line and down through the loop again, then tightened the knot. The girl then swung from the ring. The knot at the ring was a simple bowline, familiar to all who know the sea, brought to Gor perhaps hundreds of years ago by mariners who had once sailed the Aegean or the Mediterranean, perhaps who had once called not such ports as Schendi or Bazi their own, but Miletus or Ephesus, or Syracuse or Carthage.
I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian anchor knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.
I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian anchor knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.
Then, with the scarf, using the simple capture knots of Gor, I lashed her wrists together. "Now cross your wrists," I said. She did so. "So you think your knots are neater than mine?" I asked. "Yes," she said, "but then you are only a man." I flipped one of the thongs about her wrists, then again, then turned a double opposite overhand, with a twist following the first overhand. "My," she said, wiggling her wrists, "you tied that quickly." I did not tell her, of course, but Warriors are trained to tie that knot, and most can do it in less than three Ihn. "I wouldn't struggle," I said. "Oh!" she said, stopping, pinched. "You will tighten it," I said. "It is an interesting knot," she said, examining her bound wrists. "What do you call it?" "It is a Capture Knot," I said. "Oh," she said. "It is used for binding slaves and such," I remarked. "I see," she said. I took the second thong and flipped it about her ankles, securing them together. "Tarl!" she said. "Kuurus," I reminded her. She sat there. "You tricked me," she said. "There is even more security," I said, "in this tie," untying her wrists and flipping her on her stomach, crossing her wrists behind her and using the same knot, with an additional knot, binding her wrists behind her back. I used capture knots on her wrists. There was a great cheer from my men. I took a length of binding fiber and knotted it, with capture knots, about her throat. It was her collar. Too, the capture knots, those of a warrior, would serve to identify her as mine in the north. "Is the binding fiber on their wrists from their original bonds, as you found them?" asked the praetor of one of the guardsmen. "It is," he said. "Examine the knots," said the praetor. "They are capture knots," said the guardsman, smiling. "You made a poor choice of one to detain, my friends," said the praetor. They looked at one another, miserably. Their paths had crossed that of a warrior. "When the assailants were brought to the praetor's desk, too," said he, "it was seen that their wrists had been bound with capture knots." "I see," I said. "Such knots are tied by a warrior," he said. I noticed that it was now secured with a capture knot, a knot of a sort commonly used in securing captives and slaves. He then, whipping a short length of binding fiber from his pouch, with two simple loops, and a double knot, a warrior's capture knot, tied her hands together. Swiftly she did so, and looked shyly up at me. She tested the fiber on her wrists, subtly, attempting to do so inconspicuously, trying its snugness and strength, its effectiveness. She put down her head and suddenly, inadvertently, shuddered with pleasure. I had used capture knots. She knew herself helpless. I supposed it was the first time she had ever been bound. Instantly I went to bara. The stones of the street were damp, and cold. My head was turned to the left. My wrists, as I had crossed them behind me, were quickly, expertly, snugly, thonged. Then my ankles, which I had crossed behind me, were similarly served. The fellow was clearly familiar with the handling and binding of slaves. More than once in my training, I had been similarly tied. Once I had been left for Ahn, encouraged to free myself. I could not, of course, begin to do so. Gorean capture knots are not meant to be escaped. The slender thongs might have been burst with a man's strength, but they were more than adequate to hold a woman. I was helpless, woman helpless, slave helpless. I noticed that it was now secured with a capture knot, a knot of a sort commonly used in securing captives and slaves. He undid the knot. He then, whipping a short length of binding fiber from his pouch, with two simple loops, and a double knot, a warrior's capture knot, tied her hands together. She tested the fiber on her wrists, subtly, attempting to do so inconspicuously, trying its snugness and strength, its effectiveness. She put down her head and suddenly, inadvertently, shuddered with pleasure. I had used capture knots. She knew herself helpless. I supposed it was the first time she had ever been bound. Gorean capture knots are not meant to be escaped. I let her squirm helplessly for a bit, that she would better understand that she had been tied by a Gorean warrior. We are trained in the swift imposition of capture knots.
Then, looking up into my eyes, smiling, close to me, her arms about my neck, she insolently wound the vine five times about my neck, and knotted it in front. "Now," she said, "you have a collar." Beams and timbers of misery and wanting clashed within me. It was she who had fastened coils of marsh vine about my neck, and knotted them, putting me in the collar of a slave. Unsteadily she stood up and, with fumbling fingers, untied the knot that bound the five coils of the collar of marsh vine about my neck. "You are free," she whispered. Thurnock then took the same long length of binding fiber, one end of which I had fastened about Midice's neck, and, without cutting it, looped and knotted about the neck of the large, blond, gray-eyed girl, handing the coil then to Clitus, who indicated that the short rence girl should take her place in the come. Clitus had already fastened the short rence girl in the coffle, the binding fiber looped and knotted about her neck, the remainder of the coil fallen to the deck behind her. We no longer kept them in throat coffle. But we had, about the throat of each, wrapped, five times, a length of binding fiber, and knotted it, that this, serving as collar, might mark them as slave. About her throat were the five coils of binding fiber, knotted there in token of her slavery. I unknotted the binding fiber about her throat, and took from my pouch her collar. I put my finger under the wide strap knotted about my throat, which tethered me to her. The straps we wore about our throats were broad, and the strap, too, that joined us. But, about the throat, the broad strap, for each of us, was perforated in two places, and it was by means of narrow binding fiber, passed several times through the perforations and knotted, that it was fastened on our throats. The guard had knotted the binding fiber, tightly. My fingers fought at the knot, futilely, picking at it. I was upset. I could not loosen it. "I cannot see to untie the knot," cried Ute. "Untie it!" "I can't!" I wept. "I can't!" Ute crawled over to me, and began to work, with her small strong fingers, at the knot that bound the collar on my throat. "We will need this binding fiber," she said. After a time, she managed to undo the knot. "Now," she said, "unbind me." Then Ena again approached me. This time she carried, coiled in her hand, some seven or eight feet of slender, coarse rope, simple camp rope. She knotted one end of this about my neck, tightly enough that I felt the knot. "You are very lovely," said Ena. "A lovely animal!" I cried, tethered. "Yes," said Ena, "a lovely, lovely animal." I looked at her with horror. But then I realized that Elinor Brinton was indeed an animal, for she was a slave. It was thus not inappropriate that she should find herself so, as she was, tethered, about her neck, knotted, a simple length of camp rope, slender and coarse, fit for leading verr or girls. About her throat, looped twice, knotted, was a length of coarse rope. I looked at the rope. It was snug on her throat. It was thus that Thurnus marked his girls. "Collar me," she said. "If I collar you." he said, "you are again a slave." "Collar me, Master," she said. Thurnus wrapped the rope twice about her throat, and knotted it. Under the tether on the throat of each there was tied an intricately knotted set of four leather strings. In such a way the red hunters identify their animals. The owner of the beast may be determined from the knotting of the strings. 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. I took the narrow rope, then, and looped it about her neck, three times. I then knotted it and ran my finger about, under the loops, making sure that they were unslippable and snug, but not in the least uncomfortable. The point of the collar is to mark the woman as a slave and, in many cases, by means of devices such as a particular kind of knot, a tag, an engraving on metal, or a plate attached to it, to identify the master, not to cause her discomfort. "What is that on her neck?" she asked, referring to the narrow, dark, braided rawhide rope, looped three times about the slave's neck and knotted before her throat, the two loose ends dangling between her breasts. "It serves as a slave collar," I said. He then looped the dark, narrow, braided rawhide rope three times about her neck. He adjusted it so that it was snug and not too tight, and the ends were even. He then tied the two loose ends together, closing the collar. He jerked the two loose ends, sharply, snapping them in contrary directions, making the knot tight. A narrow, inverted triangle of flesh showed between the first two coils of the collar, wrapped closely about her neck, and the knot. He released the two loose ends of the collar, below the knot, and they fell lightly, dangling, as was the case with Mira's collar, between her breasts. Their furs did not much conceal them. Doubtless they had been attired in accordance with the will of men. None were armed. About their necks, wrapped several times, three or four times, were leather strips, about an inch wide. These were knotted in front, with a variety of ties. These are slaves, thought Cabot. They are collared. The different knots probably identify the master. It is like Gorean slave strings, or slave laces, fastened about a girl's neck, indicating her bondage and her owner. Cabot was reminded of the leather collars, beaded, in which the Red Savages of the Barrens commonly kept their white female slaves.
He then, whipping a short length of binding fiber from his pouch, with two simple loops, and a double knot, a warrior's capture knot, tied her hands together.
I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian anchor knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.
One of his sandals had a broken strap that had been carelessly knotted back together. When I deemed it wise to depart from Vella, I knotted her yellow slave livery about her neck and cried out, "Be gone, Slave!" and then slapped my hands together at which juncture she let forth a howl as though she had been struck, and then, blubbering hysterically and crying out, she scrambled from the alcove, hastily and awkwardly, half falling, descended the narrow ladder and fled weeping from the Paga tavern, much to the delight and amusement of the customers below. At the wall on my right there were fifteen slave rings. To each, on furs, there was chained, by the left ankle, a bare-breasted girl about whose waist there was knotted a scarlet cord, in which was thrust a long, narrow rectangle of red silk. A white silken cord had been knotted about her waist; in this cord was thrust a narrow rectangle of white silk, perhaps about two feet long. In the beginning, when moving about the house, the girls had been permitted only the garb customarily worn in the sweat and motion of the training, a rectangle of silk, about a foot long, thrust into a silken string knotted about the waist; The woman stumbled to the place before the table of Cernus, where she stood. A bit of scarlet cord had been knotted about her waist, into which was thrust a long rectangle of red silk; At one point, to the shouts and delight of the men of the Ubar some two or three hundred girls were ushered quickly into the room of the court. They wore the brief gray livery of the state slave of Ar, slashed to the waist, knotted with a gray cord; about their throats was locked the gray metal collar of Ar's state slave; He came behind me and, lifting the shirt some inches, tucked it into the binding fiber that was knotted about my waist. He wanted to see more of my legs. The cord belt she wore, drawing the brief tunic tight about her, dramatized the small, sweet delights of her body. But we suspected that that was not the reason the little she-sleen wore the belt as she did. Rim tugged the knot loose. 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. She was naked except that about her right ankle was tied a rag, and, strangely perhaps, about her left wrist was knotted a bit of bleached slave silk. 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. 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. He had taken the rags he had worn about his hips and was, with what had been her dagger, punching holes in them. Through these holes he threaded a strip of her belt. He knotted the rags about her hips. The Curla was a rope of twisted, yellow silk tied snugly about her belly and knotted, loosely, at the left hip. She wore a brief bit of transparent brown slave silk, gathered before her and loosely knotted at her navel. Their breasts were bared. Each, about her hips, wore a gray rag, knotted tight on the left hip, to expose the left hip and thigh. As she knotted each she kissed the knot, and then, when finished with both, put her head to my feet in a graceful gesture of submission. She wore a tiny, diaphanous bit of brown silk about her body. It was high on her thighs. It was off her right shoulder and held loosely on her by a casually knotted, narrow disrobing loop, fastened over her left shoulder. A single tug would open the garment, dropping it to her ankles. 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 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. The slave, accordingly, can be stripped a bit at a time, or almost instantly, as one wishes. Such garments are not unusual for slaves. 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. 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.
Elizabeth then watched in silence while I, trying to recall the intricacies of my signature knot, worked the boskhide cords. At last, with a sigh, I leaned back, finished. "It is a regular Gordian Knot," she said. "The Gordian Knot," I said, "was quite possibly just such a knot." "Alexander," she remarked, smiling, "cut it with his sword." "And in so doing," I laughed, "informed the entire world that the room, or whatever it was, had been entered."
His hair was long, and bound in a knot behind his head in Mongol fashion. There was the girl, warm-eyed Linna, who had been kind to me, whose auburn hair was knotted with coarse string, who wore the gray collar of a state slave of Tharna. Two strands of hair still marked his chin in parallel streaks and on the back of his head his long hair was still bound in a Mongol knot. Kutaituchik lifted his head and regarded us; his eyes seemed sleepy; he was bald, save for a black knot of hair that emerged from the back of his shaven skull; Our hands were tied behind our backs. The guard, then, pulling me by the hair, dragged me to one side of the cage. He stood me there, facing the interior of the cage, and took my hair and knotted it about one of the crossbars of the cage, about a foot above my head. Her hands were tied, by her long black hair, behind the back of her neck. Her hair had been twisted about her throat, knotted, and then, with the two loose strands, thick, themselves twisted, looped about her wrists, her hands had been secured. She was, weeping, on her knees at the tree, trying to undo the knots in her hair which bound her to it, which knots, being on the other side of the trunk, she could not see. The girl's hair was still bound, knotted, on her head; it had not yet even been loosened, as that of a slave girl. She tossed her head and turned away. Her hair was worn knotted in a bun on the top of her head, like that generally of the women of the red hunters. The Caucasian had shaggy, brown hair and the Oriental had had his head shaved, except for a topknot of black, shiny hair. Then two guards, gigantic fellows, brawny, stripped to the waist, their heads shaven save for a knot of hair behind the crown, stood behind the barred gate to the cell. His head was shaven, except for a swirling knot of jet-black hair just behind and below the crown. I took her hair and put it back, behind her shoulders. In that way it was out of the way. Shackled as she was she would find it difficult to get it back again before her body. If necessary, of course, it could be bundled and knotted at the back of her neck. "Kneel beside the cistern," I said. "Knot your hair behind your head, that it not drag in the water. He had a rolled knot of hair at the back of his head, as did Lord Nishida. The hair of each was drawn behind the head and fastened in a ball or top knot. The fellow on the ship bowed, slightly, presumably acknowledging this salutation. His hair was drawn back on his head, and fastened in a knot, behind the back of his head. There must be two or three hundred of them in Brundisium, and perhaps many more in the north, in their unusual garb, with their dark, keen eyes, their black hair drawn back and knotted behind their head, men lithe and graceful, like panthers, taciturn, not mingling, avoiding the taverns, equipped with their unfamiliar weaponry. Each had long hair, and, by the hair, I fastened them together, knotting them, head to head, close to one another. At Tarncamp, the lord, or daimyo was a Lord Nishida. I had seen Lord Nishida about, commonly on tours of inspection. He was usually accompanied by Pani warriors, in their short robes, with the two swords, their hair pulled back and knotted behind the head. His hair, as with many of the warriors, was bound in a knot at the back of his head. The magician, with one movement of the field sword, severed the knot of hair which held the slave's head back, against the post. Her dark hair was knotted at the back of her neck. When such a knot is undone by a master, and the hair, loosened, falls about her shoulders, the slave is in little doubt that she will soon serve to slake, and well slake, her master's lusts, and as the obedient, comely beast she is.
I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian anchor knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.
I then checked the slave's rope, that it was securely bound on the left travois pole, looking forward, and that a similar, uncompromising security was manifested in the neck-knot, at the other end of the rope, under the girl's chin. "The knots are tight. I am well tethered, Master," she said.
In the repertoire of an experienced slave, of course, it is one of her nonverbal signals, one of those numerous signals, such as need knots, body touchings, and such, by means of which she may express herself, even if forbidden to speak. It may also be used as a begging, placatory behavior.
I then unknotted the gag behind the back of Iwoso's neck. I loosened the straps with my finger and then, putting my finger in her mouth, loosened the packing as well. Then, as though fearing I had been too lenient, I retightened the straps, closely, but not as tightly as they had been earlier. I then fastened the straps together behind her neck with a simple over-and-under knot. This would hold for a time because of the tightness of it and the strap friction. It would not hold, however, for very long, particularly if tested. I then pretended to secure that knot with a second knot, to prevent slippage. I did not, of course, actually do so. The stressing and jerking of the straps, which Iwoso could feel through the back of her neck, was the result, merely, of my looping part of one strap about the other and then jerking against it, the second strap end, of course, falling free as soon as I released it, leaving only the first knot in place, the simple over-and-under, or overhand knot. The security knot, as far as Iwoso could tell, was in place.
I then unknotted the gag behind the back of Iwoso's neck. I loosened the straps with my finger and then, putting my finger in her mouth, loosened the packing as well. Then, as though fearing I had been too lenient, I retightened the straps, closely, but not as tightly as they had been earlier. I then fastened the straps together behind her neck with a simple over-and-under knot. This would hold for a time because of the tightness of it and the strap friction. It would not hold, however, for very long, particularly if tested. I then pretended to secure that knot with a second knot, to prevent slippage. I did not, of course, actually do so. The stressing and jerking of the straps, which Iwoso could feel through the back of her neck, was the result, merely, of my looping part of one strap about the other and then jerking against it, the second strap end, of course, falling free as soon as I released it, leaving only the first knot in place, the simple over-and-under, or overhand knot. The security knot, as far as Iwoso could tell, was in place.
"Ha!" cried Thurnock. And then he seized up a length of binding fiber. "Submit!" he boomed at the large, blond girl and, terrified, almost leaping, she lowered her head thrusting forward her hands, wrists crossed. In an instant, with peasant knots, Thurnock had lashed them together.
I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian anchor knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.
The Tuchuk warrior lifted the lance in triumph, in the same instant slipping his fist into the retention knot and kicking the roweled heels of his boots into the silken flanks of his mount, the animal springing towards me and the rider in the same movement, as if one with the beast, leaning down from the saddle, lance slightly lowered, charging. The knife had been removed from the sheath at her belt; she stood straight, but her head was down, her eyes closed; about her neck, knotted, was a rope, it fastened to a stake in the ground near the dueling square. She looked at me. I took a long set of strands of her dark hair, some inch and a half in thickness. I loosely knotted them at the right side of her cheek.
Meanwhile, at several points in the city and at randomly selected times, picked tarnsmen of Pa-Kur, each of whose tarns carried a dangling, knotted rope of nine spearmen, dropped to the wires and the tops of cylinders, landing their small task forces of raiders. Holding the slender Mul-Torch over my head I peered into the cavern now revealed in the floor of Misk's chamber. From a ring on the underside of the floor, the ceiling of the chamber, there dangled a knotted rope. I had no mind to do this, but I did grasp the torch in my teeth with one end lit and, hand over hand, lower myself down the knotted rope. I heard Harold's voice in the darkness, sounding hollow against the tiled walls and over the water. "The tiles must be periodically inspected," he said, "and for this purpose there are foot knots in the rope." The foot knots were done with subsidiary rope but worked into the fiber of the main rope and glued over so as to be almost one with it. They were spaced about every ten feet on the rope. Still, even resting periodically, the climb was an exhausting one. A tarn can, incidentally, without difficulty, carry a knotted rope of seven to ten men. A long rope, or set of ropes knotted together, ran behind the kneeling girls, with which their wrists were bound; another rope, or set of ropes tied together, fastened them by the throat, as in a slaver's chain. In the pit of sand one of the guards, utterly drunk, was performing a ship dance, the movement of his legs marvelously suggesting the pitch and roll of a deck, his hands moving as though climbing rope, then hauling rope, then splicing and knotting it. There, slumped in a marble chair, was an indolent figure, yet indolent as is the satisfied beast of prey. About his left shoulder he wore the knotted ropes of Port Kar; I recalled Samos, slumped in his marble chair at the Curulean in Ar, seemingly indolent, but indolent as might be the satisfied beast of prey. About his left shoulder, in the manner of his city, he had worn the knotted ropes of Port Kar; "Yes," said he, "and, as you asked, with each tarn a knotted rope and five of the seamen of Port Kar." I saw tarns leaping to the decks of the round ships, and I saw the knotted ropes being attached to the saddles, and picked seamen, experts with the sword, five to a rope, taking their positions. Soon, behind me, there were some hundred tarnsmen, and below each, dangling, hanging to the knotted ropes, were five picked men. "Do you think you can cling," asked I, "to a knotted rope for hours." "Of course, Captain," said he. In a few moments the tarn spread his wings before the black wind and, caught in the blast, was hurled before the Dorna, and began, in dizzying circles, to climb in the wind and sleet. The boy, his feet braced on a knot in the swaying rope, his hands clenched on its fibers, swung below me. Far below I saw the Dorna, lifting and falling in the troughs of the waves, and, separated from her, the ships of the fleet, round ships and tarn ships, storm sails set, oars dipping, flying before the storm. We heard grappling irons with knotted ropes fly over the parapet, scrape across the stones, and wedge in the crenels. The lookout stood upon a broad, flat wooden ring, bound in leather, covered with the fur of sea sleen, which fits over the mast. It has a diameter of about thirty inches. It sets near the top of the mast, enabling the man to see over the sail, as well as to other points. He, standing on this ring, fastens himself by the waist to the mast by looping and buckling a heavy belt about it, and through his master belt. Usually, too, he keeps one hand on or about the mast. The wooden ring is reached by climbing a knotted rope. One girl who did not care to feed was struck twice across her back by a knotted rope in the hand of Gorm. Quickly then, and well, she fed. "Be silent!" said one of the other girls. "They will beat us!" Gorm was then at her, and struck her five times with his knotted rope. Ottar delayed only long enough to untie Olga from his belt. He had tied her there by ship's rope, knotted about her stomach. He left the rope about her stomach, but, with its free end, pulling her arms about one of the roof posts, tied her hands together. A length of simple, coarse tent rope, some seven feet in length, had been knotted about his neck. The bodies of the two girls, stripped, lay on the narrow rectangles, networks, of knotted ropes, on the racks At a sign from the judge the handle moved once, dropping the wooden pawl into the ratchet notch. Her body was now tight on the rack; her toes were pointed; her hands were high over her head, the rough rope slipped up her wrists, prohibited from moving further by its knots and the wide part of her hands. He twisted a rope from other strips of the bag. I felt this, as I lay in the sand and grit, knotted about my throat. I knotted the rope about the beauty's neck. I jerked at the rope on the beauty's neck. Her chin was pulled up. The knot was under her jaw on the right, turning her head to the left. "No," she said. "No!" About her throat, looped twice, knotted, was a length of coarse rope. I looked at the rope. It was snug on her throat. There was a rope on one of her wrists. It was a wrist tether rope, knotted about her right wrist, with a handle loop, about a foot long, by which she might be led. I rose to my hands and knees. I felt a length of sleen rope tied on my neck. The other end of the rope was looped several times and the loops loosely knotted about a bar of the sleen cage. The resulting tether was about a foot long. I then stood before them, double wrist-leashed, ropes placed knotted on my wrists. The ropes on my wrists and ankles, serving as leashes, were cut from the coils of rope brought to the field. The man with the rope entered the circle and loosed the rope from his belt. He tied it about my neck. The knot was at the side, under my left ear. He backed away, giving me some five feet of slack. The remainder of the rope he held, in long, loose loops, in his right hand. I knew it would serve to whip me, if necessary. I climbed some feet up the knotted rope, dangling by the mainmast, which led to the lookout's platform. I braced myself, holding my feet together on one of the knots on the rope. Two leash ropes were knotted on my neck. Her hands were not bound together but, from each wrist, there hung a knotted rope. I took the rope from the side of the alcove and, folding it so as to make four strands, looped it several times about her throat and knotted it. I thus made a heavy rope collar for her, knotted under her chin, with heavy guide strands. I then jerked her to her knees before me, her chin pulled up by the knot so that she must look at me. I hoped I might be able to loosen the ropes. They were thick, and coarse. They were not binding fiber, designed for the perfect holding of prisoners and slaves, nor chains. Too, they had not been knotted by trained warriors or guardsmen. The soldier then took a length of rope and knotted it to the length of rope which was already on her neck, that which Mirus, in his attempt, during the fray, to make away with her, had slashed short, an attempt foiled by Selius Arconious. The knot was jerked tight. "Pull, pull!" screamed Seremides, and I saw his knotted rope fall, again and again, amongst his oarsmen. Some grapnels, on knotted rope, were slung upward from the galley, but fell short. At that point a grapnel, attached to a length of chain, and that to a course of knotted rope, looped over the rail, struck the deck, scraped back across the deck, and was caught against the rail. The great birds did not land, but hovered, some yards from the ground; long knotted ropes, fastened to their saddle rings, spilled to the earth. Each bird could carry, for a short way, some seven or eight men. Haruki soon returned to the hut. I gathered he had disposed of the hair and gown in one of the night fires. He also, interestingly, held in one hand some loops of knotted rope. The great wings snapped over my head, dust pelting me, flames roaring to the sides, as though driven by the wind, the tarn hovering, and I grasped the flung, uncoiling, knotted rope, and, in a moment, was swinging wildly beneath the climbing tarn, the camp growing small behind me.
"Ungag the slut!" cried Belnar. Lady Yanina put back her head while one of the soldiers fought with the scarf knots.
"This permits," I said to Elizabeth, indicating the small hole below the latch bar, "the complex knot." "Suppose," I said, "I now tied a relatively fair-sized knot with these two ends of the cord." "Observe," I said. I then took the two dangling cords and began to tie what must have seemed to her an incredible knot. "Actually," I informed her, as I continued to weave the cords together in an ever larger and more complex fashion, "this is only a fifty-seven turn knot. It is, however, my own invention, though I never thought I'd need it. This trick was taught to me by Andreas of Tor, years ago, of the Caste of Singers, for doors in the city of Tor are commonly of this variety. His own knot was a sixty-two turn knot, father's was seventy-one; one of his brothers used a hundred, and four turn knot, which, as I recall, Andreas thought a bit pretentious." "It is always the same knot though," said Elizabeth. "Yes," I said, "each man has his own knot, as distinctive as a signature, and each knot is his own secret. Only he can tie it, and, more importantly only he knows the reverse turns by which that knot, provided it has been untouched, is untied." "Anyone then," said Elizabeth, "could untie the knot." "Surely," I said. "The problem is to reconstruct the knot after it has been untied." "The owner of the compartment," said Elizabeth, "returning to the compartment and untying the knot can tell immediately whether or not it is his own knot." "Correct," I said. "And thus he knows," said Elizabeth, "whether or not the compartment has been entered in his absence." "Yes," I said. "Sometimes," I added, "someone enters the compartment and has a confederate on the outside attempt to duplicate the knot, that the man inside may surprise the occupant on his return, but commonly this stratagem is unsuccessful, because of the difficulties of duplicating the knot." Elizabeth then watched in silence while I, trying to recall the intricacies of my signature knot, worked the boskhide cords. At last, with a sigh, I leaned back, finished. "It is a regular Gordian Knot," she said. "The Gordian Knot," I said, "was quite possibly just such a knot." "Alexander," she remarked, smiling, "cut it with his sword." "And in so doing," I laughed, "informed the entire world that the room, or whatever it was, had been entered." I then untied the knot, slipped the cords through the hole below the latch bar, swung the door shut and set the two beams in place, securing it. I turned to Elizabeth. "I will teach you the knot," I said. "Good," said Elizabeth, undaunted by the complex prospect. Then she looked up at me. "I should have my own knot, too," she said. "Surely," I said, apprehensively, "we can use the same knot." It is, after all, not much fun to learn a signature knot. "If I am going to learn your knot," she said, "there is no reason why you cannot learn mine." "Elizabeth," said I. "Vella," she corrected me. "Vella," said I, "in spite of all you have been through on this world you yet retain certain of the taints of the Earth woman." "Well," she said. "it seems to me only fair." Then she smiled mischievously. "My knot will be quite as complex as yours," she said. "I do not doubt it," I said, dismally. "It will be quite enjoyable to invent a knot," she said, "but it must be feminine, and it must reflect my personality." "I've got it now," said Elizabeth, who, kneeling before the slave ring, had been practicing my signature knot, using the ring as a post. "Good," I said. I myself had been spending some time mastering the knot she had invented, which, I was forced to admit, was suitably ingenious. I examined her knot, which I had tied about the handle of one of the chests near the wall. It is perhaps surprising, but I think there would have been little difficulty telling which knot had been tied by a man and which by a woman; moreover, though this was much subtler, Elizabeth's knot did, in its way, remind me of her. It was intelligent, intricate, rather aesthetically done and, here and there, in little bendings and loopings, playful. In such a small thing as these knots I was again reminded of the central differences in sex and personality that divide human beings, differences expressed in thousands of subtleties, many of which are often overlooked, as in the way a piece of cloth might be folded, a letter formed, a color remembered, a phrase turned. In all things, it seemed to me, we manifest ourselves, each differently. "You might check this knot," said Elizabeth. I went over to her knot and she went over to mine, and each began, carefully, movement by movement, to check the other's knot. Elizabeth's knot was a fifty-five turn knot. Mine was fifty-seven. She had threatened to invent a knot with more than fifty-five turns but when I had threatened to beat her she had yielded to reason. "You have done it perfectly," I told her. Upon reflection, it did seem to me there might be some purpose in Elizabeth's having her own knot, apart from her delight in inventing and utilizing one. For example, sometime on Gor, she might have her own compartment or her own chests, and such, and might have a use for her own knot. She could have used mine, of course, even in such cases, but, seeing her knot and how it differed from mine, I had little doubt she would find her own more felicitous, more pleasing, it being more feminine, more personal to her. Also, as she was, legally, having submitted in the House of Cernus, a slave girl, any small thing she had or could do which was her own was doubtless rather precious to her. Some slaves, I knew, were even intensely jealous of so little as a dish or a cup which, probably because of use, they had come to regard as their own. Further, having her own knot might have some occasional value, even in our present circumstances. For example, passing the door and seeing her knot in place I would know that she was not in the compartment. This sort of thing was trivial, but one never knew when something less trivial might perhaps be involved. It seemed to me, all things considered, though it was a bother for me, a good thing that Elizabeth had her own knot. Besides, perhaps most importantly, she had wanted her own knot. "Every girl," she had informed me, loftily, "should have her own knot. Moreover, if you have a knot, I should have a knot." In the face of such logic, smacking of the contaminations of Earth, there had been little to do but capitulate, bother though it might be. "Well, Kuurus," said she, from the side of the room, "it seems you have tied my knot correctly, though perhaps somewhat more clumsily than I would have done." "The important thing," I said, "is that it is done correctly." She shrugged. "I suppose so," she said. "Your tying of my knot," I said, a bit disgruntled, "if one is to be critical, was somewhat daintier than I myself would approve." "I do not tie dainty knots," Elizabeth informed me. "What you mistook for daintiness was mere neatness, simple, common everyday neatness." "Oh," I said. "I cannot help it," she said, "if I tie your knot more neatly than you." "You seem to like knots," I remarked. She shrugged. Breakfast finished we returned to the compartment, where I untied my signature knot, with which I had closed the door. We entered, and I closed the door, put the beams in place, and took off my sword belt. After we had kissed I rolled over and fell asleep, and Elizabeth busied herself about the compartment, afterward leaving to go to the office of Caprus, perhaps about the twelfth hour. She would tie her signature knot on the outside of the door. On the inside we had cut the loop and with a simple knot tied the two cords together, so that, when we wished, we might let ourselves out of the compartment without cutting the cord on the inside. many of the doors had locks on them, the vast ornate locks in the center of the door, so common in the northern cities; some others were secured only by signature knots, presumably the doors to the compartments of unimportant retainers or members of the staff, We were now passing along a carpeted corridor, rather more plain than many. I noted the doors here were secured only with signature knots. They were perhaps the doors to the compartments of slaves, housing little more doubtless than a straw mat, a washing bowl, and a small box in which might be kept some slave livery and perhaps simple utensils, a plate and a cup. I glanced at the knots on the doors, as we passed them. Door after door I passed, most with the heavy ornate locks, some secured merely with the signature knots of lowly men, or even slaves. Within the hour I would leave the city. I stopped suddenly, regarding one of the small, narrow wooden doors, giving entry surely only to the quarters of a slave. I stood, stunned, shaken. I trembled. My eyes regarded the signature knot securing the humble portal. I fell to my knees at the door. My fingers scarcely seeming mine, scarcely able to move, touched the knot. It was an intricate knot, feminine, complex, with playful turnings here and there, small loops. I could not breathe. For the instant it seemed the world shook beneath me. It was a beautiful knot. I touched it, and, trembling, scarcely breathing, carefully, began to untie the knot, counting each bend and turn, each delicate twist and motion of the cords. I had untied only a bit of the knot when I leaped to my feet with a cry and turned, running as though demented, crying out, down the corridors once more to the court of the Ubar. We crawled to the gate, and there, quietly, I studied the knot that held it, so, if necessary, I could retie it. It was not a difficult knot. It was not a signature knot. Its purpose was only to hold the gate against the pushings and shoulderings of animals. I untied the knot and, one by one, we slipped within the palisade. It is death to a slave, incidentally, to remove such a collar without permission. Furthermore the collar is fastened by what is, in effect, a signature knot, a complex knot, within a given tribal style, whose tying is known only to the individual who has invented it. It is thus, for most practical purposes, impossible to remove and replace such a collar without the master, in his checking of the knot, by untying and retying it, being able to tell. Suffice it to say, the slaves of the red savages do not remove their collars. Both of our collars were tied shut. The knots on them had been retied personally by Canka after our arrival at his camp. This is done, in effect, with a signature knot, in a given tribal style, known only to the tier. This gives him a way of telling if the knot has been untied and retied in his absence. I would later explain to him the identificatory aspects of the collar, and he might then, if he wished, change it, or personalize it in some way, perhaps with a special knot, tag or ornament. "Your collar," she said. "Put it on my neck. Tie some knot in it which is yours, so that if men find me they may say, 'Here, see this knot. It is Seibar's. This woman was his slave.'" These are slaves, thought Cabot. They are collared. The different knots probably identify the master. It is like Gorean slave strings, or slave laces, fastened about a girl's neck, indicating her bondage and her owner. Cabot was reminded of the leather collars, beaded, in which the Red Savages of the Barrens commonly kept their white female slaves. We ascended the stairway, went left, and, a few doors later, were before my domicile. "Wait!" I said. "That is not my signature knot." "No," said Callias, "it is mine." Many doors in Brundisium, particularly in the more impecunious quarters, are tied shut, often by a leather cord tied about two staples, one on the door and the other on the jamb. To enter the door, one simply unties the knot and frees the door. Whereas anyone may untie the knot the tying of the knot is a secret, difficult to duplicate except by one familiar with the knot. If, say, the proprietor returns to the dwelling and discovers the knot is missing or different, that suggests that the area has been entered without authorization. Doors may be secured from the inside, usually by two bars. In some dwellings, of a somewhat better sort, such as mine, the signature-knot fastening is combined with a latch or bolt arrangement, in which the drawing of a latch string, put through a small hole in the door, moves the latch or bolt. "I have here," she said, "a small sack, on its cord, which I will hang about your neck. I have tied it shut, with my signature knot. It contains a message which you, as you are illiterate, cannot read, even if you could reach the sack. You will seek the shop of Amyntas, the wine merchant. It is on Teiban, near Clive. Present yourself, on behalf of your Mistress, Bina of Ar. The message will be read, and a small package will be placed in the sack, which will be knotted closed. Presumably that will be done with the signature knot of Amyntas. You will have been expected. This has been arranged. Return then." To my apprehension, particularly at first, I would deliver and receive these messages as I had at first, when I had been robbed on my way to the wine shop of Amyntas, that robbery which had placed false information in the hands of the conspirators, namely, with the sack tied about my neck, closed with a signature knot, and my wrists braceleted behind me. He then checked the signature knot on the small sack tied about my neck, the signature knot of the Lady Bina. On my former world, which may be called Terra or Earth, we do not use signature knots, or, perhaps better, have not done so for a long time. You secure packages with such knots, boxes, even doors. Satisfied with the knot, he undid it. He would, of course, when he later closed the sack, do so with his own signature knot. The sack was then, with its new signature knot tied about my neck. Lord Grendel produced the small sack from a pouch at his harnessing, and the Lady Bina undid the knot. "It is the signature knot of Amyntas," she said. Some of the doors were closed with colorful signature knots.
I walked across the compound and picked up a helmet which lay half hidden in the litter. Its straps were broken but they could be knotted together. I wondered if it had been noticed by the slaves. "May I see the scabbard, Warrior?" he asked. "Surely," I said, and removed it from the belt and handed it to him. The sword itself I retained, knotting the scabbard straps and thrusting the blade into them. the women of the Wagon Peoples, it might be mentioned, are not permitted to pray; many of them, however, do patronize the haruspexes, who, besides foretelling the future with a greater or lesser degree of accuracy for generally reasonable fees, provide an incredible assemblage of amulets, talismans, trinkets, philters, potions, spell papers, wonder-working sleen teeth, marvelous powdered kailiauk horns, and colored, magic strings that, depending on the purpose, may be knotted in various ways and worn about the neck. "Would you like me to show you some others?" I asked. "Signature knots?" she asked. "No," I said, "simple knots, common Gorean knots." "Yes," she said, delighted. "Bring me a pair of sandal thongs," I told her. After we had kissed I rolled over and fell asleep, and Elizabeth busied herself about the compartment, afterward leaving to go to the office of Caprus, perhaps about the twelfth hour. She would tie her signature knot on the outside of the door. On the inside we had cut the loop and with a simple knot tied the two cords together, so that, when we wished, we might let ourselves out of the compartment without cutting the cord on the inside. There were poorly webbed, small tapestries; amulets and talismans; knotted prayer strings; papers containing praises of Priest-Kings, which might be carried on one's person; I ran into the bedroom and looked wildly about. I seized some sheets from a linen closet, feverishly knotting them together. Something soft, folded and white slipped over my head, before my eyes. It was shoved deeply into my mouth. Another folded piece of cloth passed over my head. It was knotted tightly behind the back of my neck. Only standing below this pole, alone on the cart, her skins knotted about her neck, her wrists bound behind her back, her hair fastened over the pole, holding her in place, was a beautiful panther girl, stripped, her weapons, broken, lying at her feet. I recognized her as one of the girls of Verna's band. "It is not always easy to unknot a pouch," I told her. "That is true," she admitted. She looked at me, and smiled. "The strings, of course," she said, "might be cut." I laughed ruefully. I well recalled how well she had robbed me in our first acquaintance on the wharves of Lydius. "Rim has been kind enough," she said, "from the blade of an old shaving knife to supply a suitable implement." Rim, from his own pouch, handed up to her a tiny steel half crescent, ground from the blade of a shaving knife. Part of it, wrapped in physician's tape, was bent and fitted behind her two fingers. The blade, as it projected from between her two fingers, was almost invisible. "Master?" asked Tina. I got to my feet, determined not to be fooled. But when Tina stumbled against me, before I realized it, neatly, the purse strings had been cut. "Excellent," I told her. I reknotted the strings, tying them together. I would have a new purse tomorrow. Over to one side another girl worked on a slave net, reworking and reknotting the weighted cords. We crawled to the gate, and there, quietly, I studied the knot that held it, so, if necessary, I could retie it. It was not a difficult knot. It was not a signature knot. Its purpose was only to hold the gate against the pushings and shoulderings of animals. I untied the knot and, one by one, we slipped within the palisade. The bottles of wine, brought by one of the paga slaves, were slung, knotted, about her neck. He threw the mantle over her head and, with the scarf, turned twice about her neck, and knotted tightly, tied it under her chin. For a full day, too, the coverlet had been left tied over her head, fastened by the twice-turned, knotted scarf about her neck. They are made on simple looms and the pile is knotted onto the warp and weft. Then he would knot her skirt over her head, confining her arms within it, and throw her, she laughing, to his men, and to me, for our sport. About my left wrist, knotted, bleached in the sun, was a bit of slave silk. I could hear the drums. The march was soon to begin. The kaiila shifted in the sand. Leather was looped and loosely knotted about the high pommel of my desert saddle. My boots were in the stirrups. The scimitar was at my side. I held the light lance of the Tahari, its butt in the stirrup sheath on my right. When the young man had finished with her he stood up and unknotted the hood from his head, casting it aside. I knotted the end of the thread on the necklace. "Let us not bother about that now," I said, knotting the cords on the sea bag. I looked about the room. She turned her head to the side, and moaned. Then she again turned her face toward me, its upper portions obscured by the black, knotted blindfold. She went to the side of the room and picked up a bag, fastened with a drawstring, the knot on the string sealed with a wax plate, the plate bearing the imprint of a stamp. The strings contain knots on the side on which the side tunnel occurs. If one encounters, as in side tunnels, approaching the main tunnel, a fully knotted, dependent wall of strings, then one knows that a left-and-right branching is imminent. I fumbled with the knots on the gag. I loosened them and pulled the binding down about her neck. Most blindfolds, of a sort used on Earth, are inefficient, for one may see under them. This is not the case with the common Gorean blindfold. It consists, commonly, of three pieces, usually two rounded pieces of soft felt, three to four inches in diameter, and the binding, which usually consists of two or more turns of a dark, thick, folded cloth, or scarf, knotted behind the head. With the sword blade I slashed the strap that bound the two men about the stanchion. Then I pulled them to their feet and knotted together the two loose ends of the strap, thus again effectively putting them on a common leash. "There," said the girl, knotting the end of the leash about the ring. Her left wrist is thonged and then the thong is passed through the drilled aperture in the left end of the yoke. Her wrist is pulled tight to the yoke. The same thong is then taken behind the yoke and passed through the center hole, whence, after having been knotted, to prevent slippage to the left, and having been looped about the girl's neck, usually some five times, and having been knotted again, to prevent slippage to the right, it is returned through the same hole, whence it is taken behind the yoke to the hole drilled at the right-hand extremity of the apparatus. It is passed through that hole and then, of course, is used to fasten the girl's right wrist in place, tightly against the yoke. When this action is completed then, as you can see, the whole package is neatly tied. The knots near the throat bands, in preventing slippage, serve two functions; they hold the girl's wrists against the yoke and, at the same time, prevent any undue stress from being placed on the throat bands. Many other girls learn swiftly to be grateful for as little as a strip of cloth suspended from a knotted string about their waist. I tried to undo the thong on the bells on my left ankle. The knots were tight, drawn by a man's hand. I fought with them. My fingers were small and weak. In the instant, too, I had been up I had seen there had been two rings, at the bottom of the table, one on each side. A single narrow strand of coarse rope ran between these two rings. By means of this single strand of rope, and two simple knots, my left ankle had been tied just inside the left ring and my right ankle just inside the right ring. Ellen sat then in the sand, and drew up her left leg, to attempt to remove the bells. She was at this time naked, save for the bells. Her fingers fumbled. The knots seemed too close, too tight. Similar adjustments may be made by drawing on the one and two straps, on the three and four straps, and so on, about the ring. A simple knot in each strap prevents it from slipping back through one of the saddle rings. For this purpose tarn baskets are sometimes used, but, if the journey is short, the tarn, even a common tarn, may carry a number of warriors, clinging to a knotted rope, some seven or so, to their destination. I tried to put my head back, and peep beneath the blindfold, if only to perceive an undecipherable line of meaningless light but I could see nothing. The device, twice wrapped and then knotted, had been put about my head broadly, in the Gorean fashion.
'She wears a neck belt.' 'Oh,' I said. 'See its knot and disk,' he asked, 'the distinctive slave knot, and the disk, that identifying the master?' On her throat was the neck belt of bondage, doubtless tied shut with a slave knot, and, fastened to it, identifying her, the disk of the master. He then put the neck belt on me, tying it shut with the thong, with what I knew must be a slave knot. Slave knots had been used, and Gorean binding fiber, designed for the perfect control of slaves and prisoners. More than one wore a handkerchief knotted about his head, in the manner of some oarsmen, that their heads be protected from the sun. "In the future," I said, "the cord will be tied in this fashion, or in some equivalent fashion." She moaned, looking down. I had refastened it in a simple bowknot, a sort of knot which on Gor, in certain contexts, as in the present context, is spoken of as a slave knot. It is called that, I think, because it is sometimes prescribed by masters for the fastening of slave garments. Its advantage, of course, is that it may be easily undone, by anyone.
"I suppose not," she grumbled, slipping her slave livery over her shoulders, tying the slip knot on the left shoulder, and then, grimacing, rubbing her wrists and ankles. 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. "Note the slip knot on the sandal string," I said. "The string may be removed by a simple tug." "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. 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 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 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. 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.
He wrapped one about the neck of each, three or four times, and then fastened it, jerking it tight with a warrior's knot. As I watched my ankles being tied I noted the beast was using warrior knots, the sort which quickly and easily secure a woman. As women are common loot on Gor, of greater interest than, say, goblets and tapestries, warriors are instructed in such knots. By their means a woman may be rendered wholly helpless in a matter of Ihn. I moved my ankles a little. They were well tethered. Where I wondered, would such a beast have learned such knots? Surely it was not itself a member of the Scarlet Caste. Perhaps it had once known a warrior, somewhere, on some world or other. I recalled how my ankles had been bound outside the Tarsk Market. They had been fastened together with warrior knots. Might it be, somehow familiar with the scarlet codes? I remembered then not the gentle graciousness with which I had been borne here from the Tarsk Market, carried nestled in its arms, as though I might have been a free woman, but remembered, rather, the perfection with which I had been bound, bound as a slave. And the knots had been warrior knots! As Tajima is a warrior, you would find it difficult to undo the knots. |       
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