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Passage Hand
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Year 10,174 Contasta Ar


Gorean Weapons -
       Drugs and Poisons



This is my narrative and relevant references from the Books about Drugs and Poisons.
I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them.
Arrive at your own conclusions.

I wish you well,
Fogaban


 


Anesthetic Darts
To The Index

Anesthetic darts are sometimes used in the taking of females. These may be flung or entered into her body by hand. They take effect in about forty seconds.[1]

 


Capture Scent
To The Index

Capture scent is sometimes used by tarnsmen and it is often used by slavers. Soaked in a rag and held over the nose and mouth of a female, it can render her unconscious in five seconds.[2]

 


Drugged Liqueur
To The Index

In another example of drugged liqueur, those laying the trap had drank of the liqueur too. They were unaffected due to either, over time, building up an immunity to the drug, or, more likely, by imbibing a counteragent to its effect, prior to its distribution.[3]

 


Frobicain
To The Index

Frobicain is a sedative injection mentioned only once by name. It is one method used during Voyages of Acquisition to render unconsciousness.[4]
(brought to my attention by mara (maralyn Demar), slave of Elric Elvehjem. Good girl!)

 


Gieron
To The Index

Gieron is an unusual allergen. Though not lethal, when mixed with sajel, a simple pustulant, they produce a facsimile of the superficial symptoms of Bazi plague. However, the effect only lasts about 12 hours.[5]

 


Kanda
To The Index

Kanda is a lethal poison extracted from one of Gor's desert shrubs. It can be used on a large scale from poisoning a city's water supply,[6] to an indvidual drink.[7] In a white paste form, it can be coated on weapons[8] or even needles.[9] One piece of jewelry mentioned is a ring which, when a tiny switch is pressed, a hollow steel fang springs up containing this deadly toxin.[10]

 


Kur Poison
To The Index

While there is no description of where this poison originates, the substance must be very powerful for only a small amount will kill two Kur in a matter of a few Ehn. It must also be poisonous to humans on contact. It is shown that a man did not even want to keep the wallet in which the bottle of poison, closed as it was, had been carried.[11]

 


Ost Venom
To The Index

Death by ost venom is among the most hideous and painful of deaths,[12] with the flesh turning orange like colored paper and peeling, as though lit and burned from the inside along with drops of blood and sweat on it.[13] It can be transported in powder form[14] or, as is one case, a Turian affectation, held in hollow teeth awaiting the deadly bite.[15] As if this isn't lethal enough, the venom can also be distilled and concentrated.[40]

 


Ost Venom Antidote
To The Index

While we know there is no such thing as an antidote to ost venom, the idea has still been used as a ruse.[41]

 


Paralysis Drug
To The Index

Sullius Maximus invented a paralysis drug. He tested it, by pin pricks, on the limbs of a captured enemy, paralyzing him from the neck down.[16]

 


Poison Drink
To The Index

An unnamed, lethal chemical administered in a drink. Within a few hours, and suddenly, the person is dead.[17]

 


Poison Girls
To The Index

There are also chemically prepared poison girls whose bite is lethal.[18]

 


Poison Locks
To The Index

The poison lock, because of the crevices and grillwork common to the heavy, ornate Gorean locks, allows tiny, extremely small pins, coated with kanda, to emerge, killing the would be intruder.[19]

 


Poison Pellet
To The Index

There is no description of the pellet or what type of poison it may contain. What we do know is that such a pellet does exist.[42]

 


Poison Pins
To The Index

Many free women conceal poisoned needles or pins within their robes, sometimes held in a tiny, narrow sheath,[20] or in their hair.[21]

 


Poison Syrup
To The Index

Not described other than, in context, it must be lethal.[22]

 


Sajel
To The Index

Sajel is a simple pustulant. Though not lethal, when mixed with gieron, an unusual allergen, they produce a facsimile of the superficial symptoms of Bazi plague. However, the effect only lasts about 12 hours.[23]

 


Sleeping Powder
To The Index

The powder is dark, bluish and mixed with an amber fluid. It produces sleep within a few moments.[24]

 


Stabilization Serums
To The Index

Administered in a series of four injections, the effect is, generally, that one no longer ages.[25] Stabilization Serums. (opens in a new page)

 


Tassa Powder
To The Index

Tassa powder is a traceless,[26] harmless, tasteless, swift-acting,[27] reddish, effective drug normally concealed in wine.[28] The effect is not felt for a time, but when it takes effect, it does so swiftly.[29] It is used to render the unsuspecting one[30] who drinks it unconscious.[31]

The length of the unconsciousness is partly determined by the individual involved and partly by the amount of the drug administered. In other words, the weight of the individual involved and the desired length of unconsciousness are used to determine the dosage.[32]

One normally recovers slowly from the effects of Tassa powder, at least for a few minutes, but after a time, suddenly comprehending, awaken quite suddenly, even screaming.[33] Tassa powder allegedly has few, if any, lingering aftereffects,[34] with the exception of a ravenous appetite.[35]

It is used by the Caste of Physicians as a sedative[36] and is a favorite of the Caste of Slavers who use it primarily to snare free women.[37]

 


Transformation Injections
To The Index

Each phase of Transformation Injections evidently causes one to become younger by ten years.[38]

 


Unidentified Poison
To The Index

We now know of a poison so lethal that it will stop a charging high tharlarion in its tracks. This poison is also extremely expensive, costing a tarn of gold, of double weight.[43]

 


Unnamed Drug From The Steel World Of Agamemnon
To The Index

Under the influence of this drug, one will be listless, seem distracted or inattentive and act lethargic and passive.[39]








Footnote References


[1]

Anesthetic darts, too, are sometimes used in the taking of females; these may be flung or entered into her body by hand; they take effect in about forty Ihn; she awakens often, stripped, in a slave kennel.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 116


[2]

Soaked in a rag and scarf and held over the nose and mouth of a female it can render her unconscious in five Ihn.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Pages 115 - 116

He drew me to a sitting position, and, kneeling a bit behind me, drew a vial and a soft cloth from his pouch. From the contents of the vial he dampened the cloth.

"You are going to take a little nap, kajira," he said.

He then held the cloth over my nose and mouth, and shortly thereafter I lost consciousness.
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 73


[3]

The liqueur of Falnus, as was now obvious, had been drugged. It had been drunk largely because of the seal on the flask and, far more importantly, the freedom with which the hunters themselves had partaken of the fiery delicacy. It now seemed clear the seal had been broken earlier, and then, after the contents had been tampered with, had been restored, or at least given the appearance of having been restored. More interestingly the hunters must have prepared for the evening's work, either by, over time, building up an immunity to the drug, or, more likely, by imbibing a counteragent to its effect, prior to its distribution at our camp.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 418


[4]

"They seem very quiet," I observed.

"We permit them," said Flaminius, deigning to offer a bit of explanation, "five Ahn of varied responses, depending on when they recover from the frobicain injection. Mostly this takes the form of hysterical weeping, threats, demands for explanation, screaming and such. They will also be allowed to express their distress for certain periods at stated times in the future."
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 126

(possibly also Frobicain)

In this vehicle her leash is attached to a sturdy wall ring, only a few inches from the floor, and she is put to her side, to be given the injection which will render her unconscious, an unconsciousness which will be ended only with her awakening on Gor.
Kur of Gor     Book 28     Page 39


[5]

"My pursuit of you was foiled," I said, "by the results of the drug you placed in my paga."

"The drug," said Shaba, "was a simple combination of sajel, a simple pustulant, and gieron, an unusual allergen.

Mixed they produce a facsimile of the superficial symptoms of Bazi plague."

"I could have been killed," I said, "by the mob."

"I did not think many would care to approach you," said Shaba.

"It was not your intention then that I be killed?" I asked.

"Certainly not," said Shaba. "If that was all that was desired, kanda might have been introduced into your drink as easily as sajel and gieron."
. . .

"The symptoms induced by the paga tendered to you at the Golden Kailiauk," he said, "should have disappeared by the following morning."
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 154 - 155 & 157


[6]

On the twentieth day of the siege there was great rejoicing in the camp of Pa-Kur, because in one place the wires had been cut and a squad of spearmen had reached the main siege reservoir, emptying their barrels of toxic kanda, a lethal poison extracted from one of Gor's desert shrubs.
Tarnsman of Gor     Book 1     Page 179


[7]

"Certainly not," said Shaba. "If that was all that was desired, kanda might have been introduced into your drink as easily as sajel and gieron."
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 155


[8]

Mixed with the blood and fluids of the body there was a smear of white at the end of the steel, the softened residue of a glaze of kanda paste, now melted by body heat, which had coated the tip of the blade.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 42


[9]

I found a needle; I smelled it; it was smeared with kanda, a deadly toxin
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 132

"Bring me my robe," she said.

He went to the robe on the couch, but, instead of handing it to her, he examined it, lifting it to the light. In one sleeve, in a tiny, narrow sheath, he found a needle, which he held up. Then he approached the bath. She shrank back, frightened. He washed the needle, dried it on a towel and replaced it in the sheath. I had not known the sheath and needle were there, so cunningly had they been concealed in the weaving.

He looked at her.

I had little doubt the needle had been poisoned, probably with Kanda.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 392


[10]

He folded his left hand into a fist and, with his thumb, pressed a tiny switch on the ring. The fang, of hollow steel, springing up, was then exposed.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 169

On the first finger of his left hand he wore a fang ring, which, I had little doubt, would contain a poison, probably that of the deadly kanda plant.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 151


[11]

I recalled that he had placed the tarn disks within his tunic, not within his wallet, and that later, on the trail, he had cast the wallet away. The bottle, I recalled, had been carried in the wallet. The substance must be very powerful, I thought, so little of it, yet enough to slay two such beasts, even three. Tyrtaios, who was not a timid man, had been unwilling to keep even the wallet in which the vessel, closed as it was, had been carried.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 222


[12]

Death by ost venom is among the most hideous of deaths.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 357

"Do you know what an ost is?" he asked.

"It is a tiny, brightly colored serpent commonly orange," I said, "which is venomous."

"It is the smallest, and deadliest, snake on Gor," he said. "It moves quickly, and can hide almost anywhere. Its bite is lethal, unless the limb can be cut off within a few Ihn. It is an unpleasant death. It ensues within a few Ehn. The victim commonly cries out with joy, to die, rejoicing that the pain will end.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 544


[13]

I was scarcely aware of the brief whimpering of the Paravaci as, twisting and turning on the rug, biting at it, holding his arm, his flesh turning orange from ost venom, he writhed and died.

Kamchak walked to him and tore away the mask. I saw the contorted, now-orange, twisted, gonized face. Already it was like colored paper and peeling, as though lit and burned from the inside. There were drops of blood and sweat on it.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 318


[14]

The small man held up a tiny packet. "This," he said, "is the poison, a powder prepared from the venom of the Ost.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 357


[15]

"They are poison teeth," remarked Harold, "a Turian affectation but quite deadly, being filled with the venom of the Ost.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 187


[16]

"Sullius Maximus," he said, "invented such a drug. He tested it, by pin pricks, on the limbs of a captured enemy, paralyzing him from the neck down."
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 19


[17]

"One thing eludes me still," said Xenon. "It is reported that all the attackers who were not slain in battle, nor massacred in revenge for their perfidy, that all those who were captured after the arrival of the reinforcements, died that same day."

"Perhaps of wounds," I said.

"Some were not wounded," said Xenon.

"It is no anomaly or coincidence," said Seremides. "To those who understand such things, the matter is clear."

Xenon and I looked to Seremides.

"Prisoners might speak, might they not?" said Seremides. "Might they not reveal their principal, or provide information leading to his discovery?"

"Quite possibly," I said.

"It is easy to eliminate that possibility," said Seremides. "It is done with chemicals. Before the engagement the suitable chemicals are administered, for example, in a toast to luck or victory. This poison takes effect within a few hours, and suddenly, once a critical point is reached. The victim is usually unaware of what has been done to him, until it is too late."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 190


[18]

Exotics are normally bred for some deformity which is thought to be appealing. On the other hand, sometimes the matter is much more subtle and sinister. For example it is possible to breed a girl whose saliva will be poisonous; such a woman, placed in the Pleasure Gardens of an enemy, can be more dangerous than the knife of an Assassin.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 115

Shortly thereafter Maximus Hegesius Quintilius was found dead, poisoned by the bite of a girl in his Pleasure Gardens, who, before she could be brought before the Scribes of the Law, was strangled by enraged Taurentians, to whom she had been turned over; it was well known that the Taurentians had greatly revered Maximus Hegesius Quintilius, and that they had felt his loss perhaps as deeply as the common Warriors of Ar.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Pages 233 - 234

Maximus Hegesius Quintilius was later found assassinated in his own pleasure gardens, slain there by the bite of a chemically prepared poison girl, one killed by Taurentians before she could be questioned.
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 246

With respect to food, the master, of course, as a matter of propriety, begins the meal. An exception to this might be when the master suspects the slave may have poisoned the food. She will then be forced to eat first. Slaves are denied access to poisons, as to more common weapons. But an enemy may plant a girl in an enemy household, supply the poison, and so on. The most exotic form of this sort of thing is the poison girl who, over months or years, is rendered immune to a poison, but whose bite is lethal.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 531


[19]

Much more dangerous is the poison lock, because the opening through which the tiny pins, usually coated with a paste formed from kanda root, can emerge can be extremely small, almost invisible to the eye, easy to overlook in the crevices and grillwork of the commonly heavy, ornate Gorean lock.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 52


[20]

He went to the robe on the couch, but, instead of handing it to her, he examined it, lifting it to the light. In one sleeve, in a tiny, narrow sheath, he found a needle, which he held up. Then he approached the bath. She shrank back, frightened. He washed the needle, dried it on a towel and replaced it in the sheath. I had not known the sheath and needle were there, so cunningly had they been concealed in the weaving.

He looked at her.

I had little doubt the needle had been poisoned, probably with Kanda.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 392

It is not wise to try to tear away the garments of a free woman with one's bare hands. They may contain poisoned needles.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 402

Tiskias reached high within his robes at the left shoulder, opened a sheaf of poisoned needles such as free women sometimes carry about themselves, Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 656



[21]

I found a comb on a nearby vanity. Sheathing my knife and holding her by the back of the neck with my left hand I swiftly, but with some care, combed out her hair.

She sobbed in anger when the tiny, cloth-enfolded needle, tipped with kanda, fell from her hair, caught, and drawn out, by the teeth of the comb of kailiauk tusk.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 404

A free woman, captured, whose hair her captor unbinds, usually the first time by the stroke of a knife, a precaution against poison pins and other devices
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 198

It is not unusual to keep a captive slave stripped. Indeed, captive free women are likely, as well, to soon find themselves fully bared. Due to the danger of inadvertently encountering concealed poisoned pins or knives, they are usually stripped by the sword or knife, or ordered to tear away their own clothing and place themselves naked in a posture of submission before their captor.
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 413


[22]

"Could not the swift blow of an ax or a drop of poisoned syrup be sufficient?" I asked.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 363


[23]

"My pursuit of you was foiled," I said, "by the results of the drug you placed in my paga."

"The drug," said Shaba, "was a simple combination of sajel, a simple pustulant, and gieron, an unusual allergen.

Mixed they produce a facsimile of the superficial symptoms of Bazi plague."

"I could have been killed," I said, "by the mob."

"I did not think many would care to approach you," said Shaba.

"It was not your intention then that I be killed?" I asked.

"Certainly not," said Shaba. "If that was all that was desired, kanda might have been introduced into your drink as easily as sajel and gieron."
. . .

"The symptoms induced by the paga tendered to you at the Golden Kailiauk," he said, "should have disappeared by the following morning."
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 154 - 155 & 157


[24]

Kamchak said nothing, but then he got up and from a chest in the wagon he took forth a goblet and filled it with an amber fluid, into which he shook a dark, bluish powder. He then took Elizabeth Cardwell in his left arm and with his right hand gave her the drink. Her eyes were frightened, but she drank. In a few moments she was asleep.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Pages 61 - 62


[25]
Stabilization Serums. (opens in a new page)


[26]

Tassa powder had doubtless been used on her. It is traceless, and effective.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 66


[27]

Tassa powder is a harmless, tasteless, swift-acting drug.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 375


[28]

"It was done by Tassa powder," she said.

"It was tasteless, and effective," I said.
. . .

"It shows up, of course," I said, "in water."

"It is meant to be mixed with red wine," she said.
Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Page 223

It is a powder which may be undetectably added to any beverage, most commonly Ka-la-na, with the result that the individual who partakes of the beverage is soon rendered unconscious.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 521

Presumably it contained tassa powder, or some similar substance, which would be tasteless. Tassa powder is sometimes used in the abduction of women for the markets. Depending on the strength, its effects can last from one to several Ahn. In the case of women, it is commonly mixed with a ka-la-na wine.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 77

"You drugged me," I said.

"I have helped you to relax," he said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Tassa powder," he said, "a little, in solution. In wine, it is often used by slavers in the acquisition of free women."
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 64


[29]

The effect of Tassa powder is not felt for a time, but when it takes effect, it does so swiftly.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 377

He then forced the spout of a bota between my teeth and filled my oral cavity with some fluid, presumably water, with a taste of larma.
. . .

Shortly after I had swallowed a mouthful of the fluid blocking my breathing, I had lost consciousness. I assumed the active ingredient in the drink forced upon me was tassa powder, a tasteless sedative often employed by slavers. As my loss of consciousness was almost instantaneous, I had little doubt but what the dosage had been selected with celerity in mind.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 583


[30]

Inside, in a previously prepared room, on a great table, were aligned two hundred goblets of wine. Each contained Tassa powder. When the pirates, unsuspecting, were within, and giving themselves to the wine, the door would be locked.
Guardsmen of Gor     Book 16     Page 113


[31]

Throughout all that had transpired in the booth she had not regained consciousness. Tassa powder is efficient.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 75

"I did not think, Captain," said Thurnock, troubled, "that poison was the Warrior's weapon."

"It is not," I said. "Each flagon, other than those from which we drank, contained enough tassa powder to sedate a tharlarion."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 603

"He can hold his paga," said the voice. "I should have used a spoonful of tassa powder."
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 336


[32]

The length of the unconscious state is partly determined by the individual involved and partly by the amount of the drug administered. The approximated weight of the individual involved and the desired length of the unconscious state are used to determine the dosage.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 521

"Keep moving," said one of the masters. "Do not be concerned. It is scarcely a trace of tassa powder. The common dose renders a woman unconscious almost immediately. You can imagine how useful it is to slavers, in their collections. A free woman accepts a drink from a stranger and, when she awakens, some Ahn later, she discovers herself stripped, and in his chains."

I knew nothing of tassa powder. I did not know what an Ahn might be, other than that it was clearly some unit of time.

I pulled at my bound wrists, weakly. I must strive to keep my place in line.

"The matter is delicate," the man continued. "The amount to be administered must be estimated. It must be small enough to permit, for a time, the prolongation of consciousness and the practicality of movement, as in walking, and large enough to assure an eventual effective sedation. Some consideration is given to apparent body weight. Larger women get a bit more than a dusting of the powder. The matter is further complicated by the fact that movement, your walking, for example, hastens the action of the drug."
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 74

Presumably it contained tassa powder, or some similar substance, which would be tasteless. Tassa powder is sometimes used in the abduction of women for the markets. Depending on the strength, its effects can last from one to several Ahn. In the case of women, it is commonly mixed with a ka-la-na wine.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 77


[33]

One normally recovers slowly from the effects of Tassa powder, at least for a few minutes, and then one might, after a time, suddenly comprehending, awaken suddenly, hysterically, struggling, screaming, if one is not gagged.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 382


[34]

Tassa powder, which she later learned was used on her, allegedly has few, if any, lingering aftereffects,
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 34


[35]

"You had been given tassa powder," he said.

"Yes, Master," said Ellen.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Well, Master," she said.

"Good," he said. "There are usually few, if any, aftereffects. Are you hungry?"
. . .

"After tassa powder," said the man, "a girl is often ravenously hungry."
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 211 - 212


[36]

Tassa powder is tasteless, and, mixed with wine or another beverage, is commonly used by physicians as a sedative and is often employed by slavers, and others, to render free women unconscious. The free woman is then usually bound, hand and foot, and gagged, and placed in a slave sack, to be transported out of the town or city to some distant market.

"The mercenaries will then recover?" said Thurnock.

"After a time," I said, "refreshed and brimming with energy."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 603

Tassa powder is tasteless and is used by the Green Caste as a sedative. It was not unknown for slavers, and others, to rely on it, to render a woman unconscious, before her abduction. Thieves and swindlers, too, often found uses for the potion.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 336


[37]

It is a favorite of slavers. The delight of my instructresses, in regaling us with accounts of its effects, had to do largely with its administration to free women, who might sip it discreetly behind their veil in some assignation or tête-à-tête, in their rich robes of concealment, and later awaken naked and in chains, perhaps in sight of some flaming brazier from whose burning coals protrude marking irons.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 521


[38]
First Phase of Transformation


He then drew from the center drawer of his desk a small, rectangular leather case, from which he withdrew a syringe, and a vial. "You are going to be given an injection," he said, "which will, in a few moments, produce a lapse of consciousness. I would rather that you did not resist. If you choose to do so, I will have Tutina, who is considerably younger and larger, and stronger, than you, hold you."

The older woman said nothing, but wept.

Meanwhile, Tutina had, from a cabinet to the side, to the right of the desk, as one would face it, taken what appeared to be a bottle of alcohol, and, from a small white sack which had been beside the bottle, what seemed to be a cotton swab.

"Lie down there," said Tutina, "on the rug, before his desk, on your right side, with your knees drawn up."

Awkwardly, and with unsteadiness, and some pain, the older woman, tears in her eyes, humiliated, went to her hands and knees, and then to the position to which she had been directed.

"Hereafter," said Tutina, "when you hear the command 'Injection position', in whatever language, you will instantly, and unquestioningly, assume this position."

The older woman whimpered.

"Be quiet," said Tutina.

The older woman cried out, softly, in sudden protest, as the gown was thrust up, rudely, above her waist. She felt the cool touch of alcohol, applied from the swab, at her waist, on the left side, above the hip, a swabbed area of some two square inches. Then, a moment later, as Tutina withdrew, taking with her the alcohol and swab, she sensed the young man crouching beside her. Then she felt the entry into her body of the syringe, sharply and precisely penetrating the alcohol-cooled area, and there was a small, growing, painful, swollen fullness in her side, as the liquid was forced under the skin.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 41


"This is the last time I will visit you in these quarters," he said. "Your treatment will begin within the hour. Hereafter, as your treatment progresses, it is you who will be brought before me."

"That seems rather arrogant," she said.

"Not arrogant," he said, "- fitting."

"What is the nature of this treatment?" she inquired.

"You will learn," he said.

"What is its purpose?" she asked.

"You will learn," he said.

"How long does the treatment take?" she asked.

"It varies," he said. "But it will take several days. Such things take time. Indeed, much of the time, while the changes take place, you will be unconscious. It is best that way. I have decided, in your case, incidentally, that we will think of the treatment as consisting of four major phases, and each will be clearly demarcated for you, for your edification and my amusement. To be sure, the division is somewhat arbitrary."

"I think you are mad!" she said.

"Let us hope the treatment goes well," he said. "Sometimes it does not."

She shuddered.

"Look into the mirror, deeply, and well," he said.

She regarded her image in the mirror.

"It may be the last time you see yourself," he said.

"I do not understand," she said.

"It is not necessary that you do," he said.

"Please stay! Do not leave!" she begged.

She watched him in the mirror.

He went to the door, and called to the man outside. The door opened. When he took his leave, another man entered, one she had not seen before, who wore a green robe. He carried a small case, as of implements.

She turned to face him, frightened.

"Injection position," he said.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 44 - 45


She had recalled awakening, some days ago, slowly, groggily, on some hard, narrow, tablelike surface. But she had scarcely had time to orient herself, to understand where she was, to understand the white walls, the shelves of instruments and vials, before a dark, heavy, efficient leather hood was thrust over her head, pulled down, fully, and buckled shut, beneath her chin. She then, within the hood, was in utter discomfiting, confusing, helpless darkness. She was then drawn from the tablelike platform, apparently by two men, placed on her feet, and, between them, taken from the room, each grasping an arm. She surmised she was being hurried down a corridor. Abruptly the men halted her, and turned her, rudely, to her right. The hood was then unbuckled, and, as it was jerked away, she was thrust stumbling forward. Behind her, as she sought to keep her balance, hands outstretched, she heard a sound, as of the closing of a gate. She whirled about, and rushed forward, only in an instant to find herself to her dismay grasping heavy, narrowly set bars. She was in a cell.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 46


There was also a mirror in the cell, to her right, on the wall, as she would face the cell door.

It was not, however, the sort of mirror with which she was familiar, for it was rather more in the nature of a polished metal surface, set well within the wall. There was no way it could be removed from the wall, at least without tools, or shattered, perhaps to produce fragments of glass.

Since her image was not so instantly and clearly available to her as it would have been in a more familiar sort of mirror, she approached it more closely, puzzled, and peered into it.

She then gave a soft cry of surprise, for she did not immediately recognize her image in the surface.

To be sure, it was she, but she as she had not been for perhaps ten years. The woman who regarded her, wonderingly, from the metal surface might have been in her late forties, not her late fifties.

She put her hand gently to her face. Certain blemishes to which she had reconciled herself were gone. There seemed fewer lines in her face. Her throat seemed smoother to her. Her entire body felt differently. It seemed somewhat more supple. Certainly the occasional stiffness in the joints was not now afflicting her, not that it always did. It was not so much that her body did not ache, or that she was not in pain, as that she had the odd sense that something might now be different about her, that her body might not now be so likely to hurt her, in that way, as it had in the past. To be sure, that conjecture, that intimation, that timid hope, might, she supposed, prove illusory.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 47 - 48


"In four days," he said, to the attendant, "let her treatment be resumed."
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 49


Second Phase of Transformation


She then stood a little taller, a little more gracefully.
. . .

She felt stronger now than she had before. She suspected that she could now better withstand, and resist, the lack of food, at least for a longer time. She did not think that he could now so easily bring her to helpless futility before him. She was stronger now. She did not care, of course, to put the matter to a test.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 51


"Your curves have now reappeared," he said, casually, idly.

She stiffened.

He had not seen her, as far as she knew, since their last interview in this room.

"You bled, as I understand it," he said.

"Yes," she said.

When this had happened she had cried out, and had been alarmed, not understanding what had occurred, it had been so long, and so unexpected. But the women who were now her teachers, three of them, different from before, only one of whom spoke English, and that a broken English, had laughed at her, thinking she must be very stupid. But they had found her water and cloths, that she might clean her leg, and a rag which she might insert into her body. They made her clean the floor of the cell. After all, it was she who had soiled it. Perhaps, surprisingly, the flow had not been negligible, at all, as one might have expected, it beginning again, but had been abundant. She wondered if, while she had been unconscious, it, or things associated with it, had begun again, only she would not then have been aware of such changes in her body.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 52


"You have seen yourself in your cell mirror, of course," he said.

"Yes," she said. There was a mirror in the new cell, rather like that in her former cell, on the right, of polished metal, as one faced the gate.

"How old would you say you were?" he asked.

"I do not know," she whispered.

"If I were to see you on the planet Earth," he said, "I would conjecture that you were somewhere in your late thirties, say, thirty-seven or thirty-eight. I would say thirty-eight. When you were acquired, you were fifty-eight."

"Fifty-five," she said.

"Fifty-eight," he said.

She put down her head. It was true.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 53 - 54


She regarded the image in the mirror. It revealed less the image of a dignified, mature woman than that of a frightened captive. She put her face closer to the polished surface. Her hair now, she noted, was mostly dark. She stepped back and regarded the figure in the rude mirror.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 57


"I have planned two more phases in your treatment," he said.

"Two?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "Two."
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 58


Later a man in green robes entered the cell.

"Injection position," he said.

Immediately she lay down on her right side, drawing her knees up.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 59


Third Phase of Transformation


He then, again before her, crouched down before her. "You are twenty-eight again," he whispered to her. "You are the same, the same, again!"

She was silent.

She remembered back, so long ago. "Her hair had been dark and glossy. She had worn it high on her head, in a severe bun. She recalled studying her figure, critically, approvingly, in her apartment, standing before the mirror in brassiere and panties. It was so long ago.

"You are the same," he whispered.

Her hair was now loose, as women such as she must commonly wear it.
. . .

Her figure now, she was sure, was superior even to what it had been so long ago. In a way this pleased her, but, too, it frightened her because she realized that it made her more desirable, considerably so, and on a world where female desirability was, it seemed, approved and prized. She remembered the young women in the corridor, naked and bound, some chained. She was sure that her figure was superior now even to what it had been so long ago. Perhaps, she thought, this might be due to some subtle, benign, ameliorative effect of her treatment. But, more likely perhaps, it had to do with her diet, that diet imposed upon her, and, presumably, the variety of exercises she had recently been taught, and in the zealous, stressful performance of which she was closely supervised.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 61 - 62


Fourth Phase of Transformation


"Have you seen yourself, as you are now," he asked, "in the large mirrors in the training room?"

"Yes," she said.

Those mirrors were as fine as any she had known on Earth.

"Naked?"

"Yes," she said, putting her head down. She had been forced to look, stunned, taken aback, by the incredible, youthful, vulnerable loveliness she had seen there.

"How old are you, or would you say," he asked, "looking upon yourself as you are now?"

"I do not know," she whispered.

"I would say," he said, "that you are something like eighteen or nineteen years of age."

She nodded. She could remember photographs of herself at that age, or near that age, and what she had seen in the mirror was the same, or much the same, save, of course, for the nudity, and, she suspected, some present superiority of figure, that from the serums, or perhaps the diet and exercise.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 79 - 80


"I do not understand fully what has been done to me," she said.

"In what way?" he asked.

"Am I - immortal?" she asked.

"Certainly not," he said. "You are quite mortal. I might, if I wished, for example, feed you to sleen, or cast you to leech plants."

She did not believe that the animals called "sleen" existed, thinking them part of the mythology of the world, and she had not heard of "leech plants," but the tenor of his remarks was sufficiently clear.

"You have been returned to a former condition of your body, and have been stabilized at that point," he said. "That is what has been done to you."

"Will I stay like this?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, "unless your nose and ears are cut off, or such," he said.

She looked at him with horror.

"You will try to be a good little slave, won't you?" he asked.

"Yes, Master!" she said. "Master," she said.

"Yes?" he said.

"Why did you make me this age?"

She was surely, as one would think, were one to look upon her, something like eighteen years of age, perhaps nineteen, at most.

"Why do you think?" he asked.

She resolved to speak boldly before him.

Her belly flamed before him. He was her master.

"I think, Master," she said, "that you cared for me, that you remembered me, that you had never forgotten me, that you came for me, that you carried me away by force, that you made me your slave because you wanted me, because you desired me, and loved me. And that you have made me this age in order that you would now be more mature than I, that I might now be no more than a girl to your man, a most fitting object for your chains."

"No," he said. "I brought you here because I hate you, because I despise you, because I scorn you, because I hold you in utter contempt. That is why I have brought you here and made you a slave."

"No!" she cried.

"But you said that you found my flanks of interest!" she said.

"That is the only thing about you which could be of the least interest," said he, "slave."

She buried her face in her hands, weeping.

"Knees," he said.

Quickly she spread her knees again.

"But there are two reasons I have had you made the age you are," he said. "First, I was curious to know what you would have looked like at this age. Now I know, and I acknowledge that you are a pretty little slave, a well-curved, youthful, little slave. The second reason I have had you made the age you are is because you will now be, though you are admittedly pretty, a meaningless, negligible little slave to almost anyone. You will not bring a high price in markets. You will be poor goods. You will be purchased, presumably, by low, ignorant fellows, for small coins, who will put you to repetitive servile labors. Most slave girls are as in their twenties. Even they will look down upon you, as no more than a pretty girl, one who need not be taken seriously, one unimportant and largely worthless."
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 83 - 84



[39]

I then realized that Grendel had been successful. He had made his way to the Beast Caves. There, he had somehow obtained, by stealth, trickery, or force, the anticipated remedy or antidote for the drug familiar to him from the steel world of Agamemnon, to which Marlenus had been subjected. It had then been given to Seremides who had imparted it to Xenon, who had administered it to the Ubar before his appearance in court. Marlenus then, I realized, as keen-eyed as a tarn, as wary and cunning as a sleen, as shrewd as a larl, had feigned being still under its influence.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 348


On the seat of the high judge, also facing the orchestra area, raised several feet in the air, that one must feel overshadowed, intimidated, and awed before it, so arranged that one must look upward to its lofty precincts as might a child to an adult, reposing in dark-robed splendor, suggesting the might, gravity, and solemnity of the law, was gigantic, bearded Marlenus of Ar himself. Although our eyes met from time to time I did not think, to my surprise, that he recognized me.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 317


I looked up to the judge's throne. Marlenus seemed distracted, or inattentive. There was little in his passive mien to remind me of the Marlenus with whom I was familiar, alert like a larl, keen-eyed like a tarn, as subtle and dangerous as a prowling sleen, the sort of man for whom scepters are formed. Last night, as mentioned, I had commented on this sort of thing to Grendel. "What are you thinking of?" I had asked him. "Of something once encountered," he said, "long ago, on the steel world of Agamemnon."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 323


The voice of Marlenus seemed listless, and dull. "The court," he said, "is adjourned until tomorrow at the Tenth Ahn."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 326


That is it, I thought, some such effect, chemically or hypnotically, has been wrought upon Marlenus of Ar! How else explain the lethargy, the passivity, afflicting that mighty frame? I now conjectured that Grendel might have suspected that, last night. What had he seen before, long ago, on the steel world of Agamemnon?
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 328



[40]

"Distilled, concentrated ost venom," he said, "administered by the scratch of poisoned needles."
. . .

What Rupert and his two fellows found, following their surprise attack on the camp, were two bodies, each clothed in motley garb, and Tiskias. The features of the two contorted bodes were drawn with pain and horror. Their skin, too, was dried and discolored, with an orangish hue, and cracked, as though it might have been exposed to the blaze of some inner fire.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Pages 649 and 652



[41]

"Dear friends," said Tiskias. "Perhaps you would prefer to live. If I am slain, how can I prepare the antidote for you?"

"The antidote!" cried the fellow who had drawn the knife. "Give me the antidote, now, quickly, or die!"

"Give me a moment, and I shall prepare it," called Tiskias.

"Kill him now, instantly," said one of the slave thieves. "He dallies. He plays for time. There is no antidote for the bite of the free woman's ost."
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Pages 654 - 655


[42]

I knelt, holding the goblet in two hands. The two-handed grip is common. If both hands are on the goblet, one is not holding a knife or pellet of poison.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 635



[43]



At some forty yards he pulled the trigger on the bow and the quarrel, that metal-finned missile, lodged itself in the wide chest of the charging beast. I thought this a lapse of judgment on the part of Aesil for how could so small an object much affect that ponderous avalanche of muscle and bone which was bounding toward him?

The tharlarion spun about, with a wild, grunting bellow, and then, responding to the rider, realigned itself with its target. The plunging weight and bulk of such a beast could snap a small tree or shatter a palisade. But, oddly, it burst forward only a bound or two, when it slowed, and then stopped. It swung its head back and forth, as though puzzled, and its breathing became less breathing than a labored medley of stentorian noises. The hunter tried to urge the beast forward toward Aesil, but his efforts were unavailing. The beast shuddered, and went into its position of somnolence, or sleep, in which it stands upright on two legs, its position stabilized, tripod-like, by the heavy tail. I did not realize it at the time but the beast was dying.
. . .

"How could a single bolt slow, let alone stop, a tharlarion?" asked the hunter, wincing.
. . .

"A swift poison, deadly in its effect," said Aesil. "It cost me a tarn of gold, of double weight, of the mintage of Ar. It is amongst the most potent serums brewed by the Caste of Poisoners."

"One of Gor's secret castes," said the hunter.
. . .

As this unusual conversation took place, the breathing of the dying tharlarion became louder, more rapid, more labored, and more hideous. It was though it was building up to some point beyond which I knew not what might occur. I thought of the hand on a boiler's gauge jerking higher and higher, darting increment by darting increment.
. . .

The breathing of the stricken tharlarion became more and more disjointed and tumultuous.

"What is wrong with the tharlarion?" asked Aesil, stepping back.

"You know little of tharlarion," said the hunter.

"It is dying," said Aesil.

"Have you never seen a tharlarion die, not quickly but as of illness?" asked the hunter.

"No," said Aesil, "only of a blow to the heart or throat, as by an ax or a planted, sharpened stake, or its having its throat torn out by another tharlarion."

"Wait," said the hunter. "The moment is near."
. . .

At that point the last throbbing of the beast's mighty heart denied death for the last time and the tharlarion, with a wild bellow struggled upright and then, an instant later, collapsed, dead.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Pages 195 - 197


It was quite possible that that quarrel, like its fellow, was unusual, that it was coated, too, with a poison so deadly that its cost was measured not in copper but gold. If that were the case it might, handled or thrown, constitute a fearful weapon. If it could bring about the death of so large and powerful a beast as the hunter's tharlarion in a few minutes, its least scratch might kill a human in a much shorter time.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 198


He then looked about a bit, and then bent down. He lifted the quarrel from the grass.

"He almost found it," he said. He then wiped the head of the bolt on the grass, ridding it of the pastelike substance with which it was coated. He then tossed the object away. "We can reach Sulport in less than five days," he said.
Treasure of Gor     Book 38     Page 199



































 



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