Tal Goreans,
Greetings visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column. Judy Thornton, slave girl of many names, has just fulfilled the purpose for which she was originally brought to Gor, delivering a coded message to one Belisarius by beading a necklace. Since she not only has no idea what the message was but cannot, Belisarius confidently states, re-bead the same necklace, she is to be allowed to live and is returned to the paga tavern where she was most recently owned, the Chatka and Curla in the city of Telnus, on the island of Cos. There we rejoin her, presently under the slave name of Yata.

Chapter Twenty

Yata resumes the life of a paga slave and finds it not altogether uncongenial. Since Telnus is a seaport, Yata’s duties include going to the docks and advertising her place of employment to newly-arrived sailors. She sees some prisoners of war, of Ar, on their way to the galleys for a dismal life as oar-slaves, and she feels some sympathy for them, mixed with bitter regret that it is not Clitus Vitellius, her former master.

On the day in question, matters are not going well for Yata. Other slaves are attracting custom, but she is so far unsuccessful, losing a brawl with another girl from a rival tavern and then pettishly complaining when a male slave dares to look at her. This earns her only a dose of slave rape from the male in question, with the leave and blessing of his master, which Yata had not exactly been counting on.

Things look up for Yata just as they are seeming to be thoroughly down, when she sees Clitus Vitellius, and none other, disguised as a sailor. They renew their acquaintance and she plots revenge on him for his spurning of her. True, she nearly relents, overcome by her love for her master, but she steels herself to go through with it. Wheedling and pleading, Yata persuades Clitus Vitellius to accompany her to the Chatka and Curla.

No sooner is he through the door and in the presence of many armed Cosians than she denounces him as a spy from Ar (which is exactly what he is) and he is promptly swamped by superior numbers. He will go to the magistrates and be sentenced to the galleys, which gives Yata occasion to taunt him. She tells him that the vengeance of a girl is not a light thing; he responds by saying that neither is the vengeance of a warrior. Sadly for her, when she pleads for freedom as the reward of her treachery, she earns herself only a whipping for her presumption, although there will be a pastry to sweeten it in recognition of the useful   service she has done to Cos. Unfortunately, remorse makes the pastry too much for her to swallow, and she must straight away go back to work with no tangible reward whatever, and the bitter knowledge that she has betrayed her true love.

Chapter Twenty-One

Grief and guilt having robbed Yata of her worth as a paga slave, she is to be returned to Ar, where she will resume her service to Elicia Nevins, her erstwhile rival on Earth and now a minor agent of Kurii. She is taken to the docks and once more put aboard a cargo vessel. However, she hears news of an escape, and learns that Clitus Vitellius has freed himself and twenty men of Ar, and though she fears for her own safety should he seek revenge, she rejoices to know that he is free. Almost instantly she turns back into a sensual, responsive slave girl, greeting with enthusiasm rather than horror the news that she is the only slave girl on board to serve the pleasure of the captain and his entire crew, the weight of guilt lifted from her shoulders.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Aboard the Jewel of Jad, Yata is enjoying a much more pleasant sea voyage than her journey to Cos, for she is now only a miscellaneous freight item on a cargo ship and not part of a consignment on a slaver. She has some freedom to walk the decks and enjoy the sea air, and she is treated with something approaching comradeship by the sailors, although of course she has to attend to them whenever and however they demand. The sights of the sea are hers to enjoy as well and it is plain that she does enjoy them.

On the day on which we rejoin her, she sees another ship, not part of the convoy she is sailing in, flying the colours of Port Kar. The captain resolves to capture this ship and the convoy lies to while the escort vessels set off after the stranger. But the pursued ship behaves oddly, turns to fight and appears to be better-equipped to do so than was at first supposed. Worse, it breaks out the personal flag of Bosk of Port Kar, with which the men of Cos are well acquainted (for which, see Raiders of Gor). Soon the Jewel of Jad is holed and sinking, and the captain, crew and Yata all abandon ship. They are picked up soon after by another ship, but the whole convoy is now under attack.

Yata spends some hours in the new ship’s hold along with a free woman, who is irritated at being forced to share quarters with a slave; but there is nowhere else on the ship where a woman will be reasonably safe and also out of the way. However, this new ship is also rammed and sunk, and though Yata escapes from the shipwreck, she is almost dragged down to her death by some marine predator. Just as she is on the point of drowning, she is rescued, but she loses consciousness before she can find out who it is.

When she recovers, she learns that, inevitably, she has been rescued by Clitus Vitellius, who had acquired a ship and joined the fleet from Port Kar with the intention of finding her. He has lost the ship he has and has only a raft under his command, though. Considering throwing her back to the sharks, whole or in pieces, Vitellius decides that this would be too light a punishment for her, and he contents himself with a disciplinary slave rape by way of starters; but Yata only proclaims her love for him the louder and more insistently.

Chapter Twenty-Three

They spend some time on the raft, during which time Clitus Vitellius avails himself of Yata’s person now and again. He muses on some odd thoughts stirring in him, but does not discuss them with her, and warns her that he is keeping her alive only to take the better revenge upon her. He certainly has no intention of trusting her in the slightest, tying her securely when he must sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Fortunately (the raft being someone short on supplies, and not very fit for any other maritime purpose than merely staying afloat), it is not long before they are rescued, by none other than Bosk of Port Kar, whom we see through the eyes of another for only about the third time. He is plainly on good terms with Clitus Vitellius and he readily grants passage to him and his slave. Clitus Vitellius politely insists on reserving the discipline of Yata to himself, for he has some unfinished business with her, and Bosk agrees. However, he poses one or two questions to Yata and then has Clitus Vitellius immobilised while he deals with her. He is keenly interested in her business with Belisarius. Once he has had Yata taken below, Bosk calls her owner away for a private conference.

Yata recognises the free woman of two chapters ago, now only a prize of piracy with a life of slavery ahead of her, but she is more concerned as to her own future.

Chapter Twenty-Five

One Iskander, a skilled Physician, drugs and hypnotises Yata into recalling the correct sequence of beads, which leaves Samos of Ar peering at them in puzzlement. Bosk is not baffled, though, evidently knowing something of codes and ciphers, and he begins by subjecting the message to statistical analysis, assuming that the commonest bead-sequence corresponds to the commonest-used letter in the alphabet and so on. This is a closed book to Samos, whom Bosk takes the opportunity to instruct a little. After much concentration, Bosk succeeds in deciphering an intelligible message, albeit a somewhat cryptic one: “Half-Ear Arrives”. This means nothing to Bosk nor to Clitus Vitellius, who is present with the leave of the other two men, but Samos not only understands it but reacts with dread.

“Half-Ear”, he reveals, is the name of a great Kur general, and while the two Warriors both express a desire to meet him, Samos knows something of his reputation and would as soon give him a miss. But the message has been intercepted late, and Half-Ear is no doubt safely arrived and about his business already.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Now Judy is going by her original name again and serving Elicia Nevins in Ar. Elicia plainly obtains some erotic pleasure vicariously through her ownership of Judy, and idly expresses curiosity as to what it feels like to be a slave. Judy assures her that she will soon learn. This is Bosk’s cue to make an entrance, presenting Elicia with a bill of enslavement and charging her in the name of the Priest-Kings with being an agent of Kurii. She is, for what this is worth, fair game for enslavement. Bosk is not of Ar and so entitled to enslave her there if he can only get away with it, and for that matter Elicia is not of Ar either and could not claim the protection of its Home Stone in any case.

Elicia puts up some fight, but we need not fear that she is any match for Bosk, whom we also know as the utterly peerless Tarl Cabot, and it is not long before she is collared and leashed. She is made to release Judy from her collar and repudiate ownership of her. Bosk then has a branding iron heated, which horrifies Elicia, but Judy unsympathetically tells her “You were not forced to come to Gor.”

Once Elicia is branded, she discusses her new status with Judy. She seems to come to terms with it, even to find it exciting, though she is naturally fearful. Bosk helps her along by breaking in the new slave in his own expert fashion, and by the time he is done with her she is expressing a willingness to try to be pleasing - her best and indeed only chance for life once the interrogators are done with her - and she bids Judy a farewell that has more fondness in it than either of them might have imagined.

Bosk exits with Elicia, leaving Judy for Clitus Vitellius, and he is not slow to claim her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

There are some loose ends to be tied up. Also Clitus Vitellius is not altogether happy with himself. He senses that Judy will betray him to tenderness and weakness, and he will not stand for it. He is taking her to the Curulean. On the way, though, they stop at the Belled Collar, where Judy was once a paga slave, and they take in the sight of Slave Beads at her work and Bran Loort at his. (See the last few instalments of Booknotes if this is unclear.)

While they are at the Belled Collar, Thurnus the Peasant arrives. Bran Loort promptly hides himself in shame. Thurnus sets about making a nuisance of himself until the locals take it upon themselves to quiet him, and at this Bran Loort hastens to the rescue. He, at first alone and then with Thurnus’s backing, fights against most of the men in the tavern and quits himself like a man. When it looks like getting out of hand, swords being drawn and so on, Thandar of Ti, who is opportunely present, urges the brawlers to calm themselves, and Clitus Vitellius backs him, arguing that it is unseemly to pit steel against the wood of a staff. The men of Ar, to their credit, agree at once, and the two Warriors further calm the waters with a promise of free paga.

Thurnus now lets Bran Loort know that he is forgiven and can come home, it being harvest time, and this revitalizes the young man, to the extent that he celebrates with Judy, lent him for the occasion. Then he is gone with his Caste Leader, his lesson learnt.

Thandar, seeing Slave Beads and being well pleased with her, offers to buy her from Busebius the tavern-keeper. She was to have been his bride in a political marriage, but he did not much care for the notion. Slave Beads, whom he renames Sabina, is momentarily unhappy, thinking that he will now free her; but there is no chance of that, and the happy pair, Master and slave, go on their way.

Judy, now renamed Dina once again, begs to be taken to the alcoves to serve Clitus Vitellius one last time, whereupon they go to the Curulean. They bicker on the way there. Clitus Vitellius is selling Dina because she is the only slave girl he has ever had who so tempts him to weakness, but she snipes at him that he does not truly want to let her go, and if he were stronger he would do as he truly wished.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dina joins the queue to ascend the block of Gor’s greatest auction house, where the sales are in full swing. Girl after girl is sold before it is her turn. She does not see most of the sales, but as she nears the head of the queue she witnesses a sale taking place, before stepping up to be sold herself.

The house falls strangely silent, however, as the auctioneer goes into his routine, and no-one bids. Gradually all eyes fall upon the Warrior, in full battle gear, who strides down the aisle, steps up onto the block, and declares “Kajira canjellne!” - “Slave Girl Challenge.” In this context, this amounts to an undertaking to fight anyone and everyone present for the object of his desire, and he enlarges on his words to that exact effect. There is a moment’s hush, and then a storm of applause. Regally, Clitus Vitellius deigns to toss the auctioneer a pouch of money to cover the house’s costs: it is the immense sum of a hundred golden tarns, ten to a hundred times as much as Dina would have realized in the sale. Since this is such a large overpayment, the auctioneer throws in the next girl on the chain as a makeweight.

Clitus Vitellius quits the scene of this high drama - which has no doubt spawned a thousand Internet-Gor imitations - and makes away with his purchases after delivering a summary punishment for a few minor infractions. The makeweight is curious to know what he will do with them, but Dina assures her as to the answer: “He will do with us as he pleases.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

What he pleases, in respect of the makeweight, is to leave her labelled for the first passer-by to collar and own, and he then continues towards his compartments. It is obviously too far for him to manage without stopping and ravishing Dina by the way, which makes her so wobbly-legged that he has to carry her the rest of the way.

Once there, he admits that he cares for Dina, and she bids him be strong and uncompromising, not wanting to have the chance to be tempted to oppose his will. He has no other intention. For Clitus Vitellius, his love is matched by the desire to own Dina, which is perfectly echoed in her desire to be owned. Though physically confined, Dina is psychologically freer than she had ever imagined, and she looks forward to an interminable slavery of bliss and joy, in the ruthless, uncompromising mastery of her Warrior.

And so we leave our happy couple joined at the hip (ahem). The story has run its course, and though utterly unlike the previous slave-girl story it has reached a similarly happy conclusion; a girl fit only to be a slave in the absolute ownership of a man who will accept her as nothing else. Whereupon it is time to return to our regular narrator, who very possibly has some business to attend to in the light of that mysterious message; and of this we shall discover more next time, when we turn yet another cover and immerse ourselves in a new Tarl Cabot story, “Beasts of Gor”.

I wish you well,

Socrates