[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
warriors on all Gor. Fortunately for Targo he had managed to bring his caravan
to the edge of a vast Ka-la-na thicket just before the tarnsmen struck. I had
seen several such thickets when I was wandering alone in the fields.
Targo had divided his men expertly. Some he set to seize up what gold and
goods they could. Others he ordered to free the girls and drive them into the
thicket.
Others he commanded to cut loose the great bosk that pulled the wagons, and
drive them, too, into the brush and trees. Then, but moments before the
tarnsmen struck, Targo, with his men driving the girls and the bosk, fled into
the thicket. The tarnsmen alighted and ransacked the wagons, setting fire to
them.
There was sharp fighting in the thicket. Targo must have lost some eleven men,
and some twenty of his girls were taken by the tarnsmen, but, after a bit, the
tarnsmen withdrew. Tarnsmen, riders of the great tarns, called Brothers of the
Wind, are masters of the open sky, fierce warriors whose battleground is the
clouds and sky; they are not forest people; they do not care to stalk and hunt
where, from the darkness of trees, from a canopy of foliage, they may meet
suddenly, unexpectedly, a quarrel from the crossbow of an invisible assailant.
Rask withdrew his men and, in moments, the captured girls bound across their
saddles, the goods of Targo thrust into their packs, they took flight.
Targo gathered his men and goods. Nineteen of the girls, separately, taken
deep into the thicket, had had their wrists bound together, either before
their body or behind their back, about small trees. These were the ones he had
managed to keep. Lana, Ute and Inge had, of course, been among them. The bosk,
unfortunately for Targo, had either broken free or been cut free. They had
disappeared over the grassy fields. When he emerged from the thicket he found
left only one usable wagon, and that damaged by smoke and fire. He had lost a
good deal, but he had saved goods, and, most importantly, his gold. He camped
that night in the thicket. In the morning a harness was jerry-rigged. The
girls looked at one another. Not now, indolently, would they ride chained to
the ankle bar of the wagon. Then Targo had set out again for Laura. Some two
or three days later, in the trackless fields, wandering, they had encountered
a young barbarian girl, strangely clad, who they had made their slave.
It took many days to reach Laura.
Fortunately, not more than two days after I had been added to Targo's chain,
we encountered a caravan of Bosk wagons, traveling southeast toward Ko-ro-ba
from
Laura. Targo sold two girls, and, with some extra gold, purchased two wagons
and two teams of bosk, as well as supplies of water and food. He also
Page 33
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
purchased certain articles of slavers' equipment, a display chain, various
other sorts of chains, slave bracelets, ankle rings, neck collars, binding
fibers, branding irons and whips. I was more pleased to note that he also
purchased some silks, perfumes, and combs and brushes, and boxes of cosmetics.
He also purchased a large quantity of rough cloth. From this, as I later saw,
camisks were made, a simple slave garment.
When chained in a wagon, to the ankle bar, girls are commonly unclothed. When
the tarnsmen struck, the girls had been freed from the wagons, to be driven
into the thicket. The camisks had been burned with most of Targo's other
goods. The camisk is a rectangle of cloth, with a hole cut for the head,
rather like a poncho. The edges are commonly folded and stitched to prevent
raveling. Under
Targo's direction the girls, happily, cut and stitched their own camisks. The
camisk, I am told, normally falls to the knees, but Targo made us cut ours
considerably shorter. I made mine poorly. I had never learned to sew. Targo
was not satisfied with its length, and he made me shorten it still more. Mine
was then no longer than Lana's, or the other girls. I remembered my beating. I
did not wish another. I feared the straps terribly. And so I was dressed as
they.
The camisk, I am told, was at one time commonly belted with a chain. However,
the camisks that I have personally seen, and those we were given, were belted
with a long, thin strap of leather binding fiber. This passes once around the
body, and then again, and then is tied, snugly, over the right hip. When Targo
inspected me, he made me tighten the belt, to accentuate my figure. Already I
had learned for the first time in my life, to stand straight, truly straight.
I
was cuffed, or kicked, when I forgot. Soon it was natural for me to do so. The
belt of binding fiber not only makes it easier to adjust the camisk to a given
girl, but, of course, the binding fiber serves to remind her that she is in
bondage. In a moment it may be removed, and she may be secured with it,
leashed, or bound hand and foot.
I wondered why Targo permitted us camisks. I think there were probably two
reasons. The first is that the camisk, in its way, is an incredibly attractive
garment. It displays the girl, but provocatively. Moreover, it proclaims her
slave, and begs to be torn away by the hand of a master. Men thrill to see a
girl in a camisk. Secondly, I think Targo gave us camisks to make us even more
his slaves. We desperately wanted to have something to cover ourselves, be it
only a camisk. That he might take it away if irritated, or dissatisfied with
us, made us that the more eager to please him. None of us wished to be
unclothed among others clothed, that we, nude, might seem more the slave then
they.
Our lives became a great deal easier after Targo encountered the caravan
wagons.
The two wagons he bought were merchant wagons, with red rain canvas. The back
wheels were larger than the front wheels. Each was drawn by two bosk, large
brown creatures with spreading, polished horns, hung with beads. Their hoofs
were also polished and their long, shaggy coats groomed to a shine. One of the
wagons had an ankle bar, and the other was fitted with the ankle bar from
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]