Vagabonds of Gor

"It is nearly ready," she said. She put some bread into the pan, too, for a few moments, to warm it.

"I wonder how many women of high station in Ar know how to cook," I said.

"How would I know of such things, Master," she asked, "as I am not a woman of such station."

"True," I said.

"I need not concern myself with such women," she said. "I need only concern myself with my own duties, which are those of a slave."

"And what are the duties of a slave?" I asked.

"She will learn that from her master," she said. "Typically, she will cook and clean for him, and shop for him, and launder and sew for him, such things."

I smiled to myself. Ina, since her captivity, and her uncompromising subjection to men, had proved eager to perform such labors, and to be found pleasing in the doing of them, in them she found a felicitous and welcome reassurance, a delicious confirmation, of her subjection. Interestingly enough, such labors, too, given their meaning and what was involved in them, were extremely sexually charged for her, rather like the carrying out of a specific task commanded by a master, except on a more regular, pervasive basis. In the almost ubiquitous sexuality of the female obedience and service are arousing. In the performance of her duties she knows she is serving her master. Her day, thus, can be spent in a glow of pleasure.

"But are there no other duties?" I asked.

"A girl's first duty, of course, Master," she said, "is to be pleasing to her Master."

"In what way?" I asked.

"In any, and every way, of course, Master," she said shyly.

"Turn the bread," I said.

"Ah!" she said.

After a bit we had eaten.

It was still very early.

I tested the draw of the blade in the sheath. It was smooth and rapid.

"Was breakfast satisfactory, Master?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. I had even permitted her to feed herself, even from the first bite, which is sometimes, ceremonially, given to the slave from the hand of the master, she not touching it with her hands.

She regarded me, puzzled.

"I am now a slave," she said.

"Yes," I said. I had not had her since her imbedding.

"My ears are even pierced," she said, softly, indicating them delicately with her fingers.

"Yes," I said. The sight of pierced ears tends to be profoundly sexually stimulating to many Gorean men, probably for several reasons, some of them perhaps subconsciously symbolic, having to do with softness, penetration, helplessness, bondage, and such. It is probably for this reason that many slavers, in the last few years, have taken to subjecting the properties passing through their hands to this tiny, delightful operation, so momentous in its consequences. Ear piercing, at least on a widespread basis, may have been encouraged by the presence in Gorean markets of girls brought from Earth for slaves, some of whom had pierced ears. Some of these girls, doubtless, were terrified and startled at the magnitude of the desire they produced, and the audacity and delight with which they were handled and ravished, not suspecting perhaps for months that part of their appeal, even to strangers, was something as apparently improbable and i

"Is the slave, Ina, not pleasing to her master?" she asked.

"You are pleasing to me," I said.

"Is there anything wrong, Master?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"Master seems sad," she said. I looked at her, sharply.

"Forgive me, Master," she said.

I gestured that she should approach me, and she did so.

She stood near me, frightened. I think she was afraid that she was to be beaten.

"Sit here," I said. "Cross your ankles."

"Master seems suddenly in a better mood," she said.

"Oh!" she said, her ankles now tightly chained together. She could not now run.

"What is Master going to do?" she asked.

"Sleep," I said.

"Master?" she asked.

"If anyone approaches within ten yards, awaken me. If none so approach, awaken me in what you take to be an Ahn."

"Of course, Master," she said, puzzled.

I now felt strong, and pleased. I had permitted myself, the preceding night, to lose sleep. That could be extremely dangerous. I would now rest for an Ahn, unless interrupted. I had been so much a fool as to be sad. That is not the mood in which to enter battle, even the battle which one knows one ca

"It seems an odd time to sleep, Master," she said.

"Quite so," I said. "Keep watch."

"Yes, Master," she said.