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Vosk farther to the south, well below Ko-
ro-ba, though well above Ar, which is said to be the greatest city of all
known
Gor. The Laurius, like the Vosk, flows in a generally westernly direction,
though the Laurius inclines more to the southwest then the great Vosk.
Considering the nature of the goods commonly found in Laura, rough goods for
the most part, one might have supposed it strange that Targo was bound for
that city. It was not strange, however, for it was spring, and spring is the
great season for slave raids. Indeed, the preceding fall, at the fair of
Se'Kara, near the Sardar Mountains, he had contracted with a marauder, Haakon
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of Skjern, for one hundred northern beauties, to be taken from the villages,
upward even to the edges of Torvaldsland. It was to collect this merchandise
that Targo was venturing to Laura.
He had already, at the fair, paid Haakon a deposit on this purchase, in the
amount of fifty gold pieces. The balance of one hundred and fifty gold pieces
would be due when the consignment was delivered. Two gold pieces is a high
price for a raw girl, delivered in Laura, but, if the same girl can be brought
safely to a large market city, she will probably bring five or more, even if
untrained.
Further, in offering as much as two gold pieces in Laura, Targo assured
himself of first pick of Haakon's choicest captures.
Beyond this, Targo had speculated that since no city had recently fallen, and
the house of Cernus had been destroyed in Ar, one of the great slave houses,
that the market would be high this spring. Moreover, it was his intention to
have his girls receive some training, probably in the pens of Ko-ro-ba, before
taking them southeast to Ar. Unfortunately for Targo, village girls are not of
high caste. On the other hand, if worth a good deal less, they are much more
easily acquired than a high-caste free woman. When I was taken by Targo, he
had only one high-cast girl on his chain, the tall girl, Inge, who was of the
scribes. Ute, who had been harnessed next to me, had been of the leather
workers. A slave, of course, in one sense, has no caste. In being enslaved,
she is robbed of caste, as well as of her name. She belongs to her master in
all respects, as an animal. He may call her what he wishes, and do with her
what he pleases.
It seems not unlikely that one of Targo's village girls, if trained and
brought to Ar, might net him from ten to fifteen, perhaps even twenty, gold
pieces. His investment, in some respects an excellent one, was, however, not
without its risks. It is not always easy to bring a beautiful girl to the
market of Ar, where the highest prices are traditionally paid. It is not that
the girl is likely to escape, for slavers seldom lose prisoners. It is rather
that she may be taken from you. The female slave is prize booty.
Before Targo had acquired me, he had been making his way northward from
Ko-ro-ba to Laura. Indeed, he had come all the way from the vicinity of Ar,
buying and selling girls at various cities. He had purchased Inge, Ute, and
Lana, whom I
hated, in Ko-ro-ba. Lana was our leader. We feared her. She was the strongest.
She was also the most beautiful. Submissive, ingratiating and docile with the
men, she was imperious with us.
As it is said, masters do not much interfere in the squabbles of slaves. She
would have been severely beaten, of course, if she had disfigured us, injured
us, or in any way lowered our value. But, beyond this, she might bully us, or
beat us, as much as she pleased. We hated her. Also, we envied her. Not only
was she the most beautiful but she had been trained in the house of Cernus,
the great slave house, in Ar, before its fall. Even more important she had
once been sold, even from the great block of the Curulean. Lana was always
placed at the end of the display chain, that the most attractive merchandise
be glimpsed last.
We were hoping she that she would be sold, but Targo was holding out for an
extremely high price for her. Doubtless he would have received it many times,
except that she had not been of high caste. She treated the rest of us as
slaves. Targo, and some of the guards, sometimes, would give her candies, and
sweetmeats.
My own position in the display chain, at the beginning, was fourth. I was
taught to kneel in a certain way, and, when inspected, to lift my head, smile,
and utter a certain phrase. Targo, and the guards, made me practice it many
times. I
later learned that its meaning was "Buy me, Master."
In displaying a girl, an ankle ring is placed on her left ankle. This locks on
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the ankle. There is also a smaller ring, projecting from the larger ring,
which also locks. This smaller ring can either be snapped into a particular
link in a chain, thus allowing the girls to be spaced at certain intervals, or
it can be closed about the chain as a whole, thus permitting the chain to run
freely through the ring without injuring or burning the girl's ankle. In the
"display chain," we were spaced on the chain, and the chain stretched rather
taut and fastened at both ends, sometimes to trees, sometimes to two large
metal screws, more than two feet in length, which screwed into the ground,
beyond the reach on each end of the first and last girl. Thus, not only would
we be secured, but we were unable to crowd together, as girls, particularly
unexperienced girls, have a tendency to do when not prevented. In the display
chain, it might be mentioned, as would be expected, we are exhibited,
unclothed. A Gorean saying has it that only a fool would buy a woman clothed.
I suppose it was true.
Targo had set forth from Ko-ro-ba with forty girls and five wagons, ten bosk,
and many other goods. His men, at that time, had numbered more than twenty.
Two days out of Ko-ro-ba, crossing the fields northward toward Laura, the sky
had darkened with a flight of outlaw tarnsmen, more than a hundred of them,
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