Soon, at the gate leading to the stalls used as dressing rooms, the men of the bouts interposed themselves between us and the crowd. "Back! Back!" they cried. "Back, you collared she-sleen!" they cried to the slave girls, drawing their whips. And the leather of their whips, to cries of dismay and pain, fell liberally on the half-stripped bodies of the imbonded beauties. Even free women among them cried out in misery, struck. Then the women, bond and free, fell back, crying and frightened, for all women, whether slave or free, understand the whip. The gate closed behind us. Barns threw a towel about my shoulders and began to dry me. Kenneth thrust me happily down the corridor and into the straw-filled stall.
"Well done, Jason!" he exclaimed. Barus reached to a peg in the stall to get my slave hood and shackles.
"I want a woman," I gasped. I felt my hands pulled behind me. "I want a woman," I said. I felt the manacles, heavy and obdurate, snapped shut on my wrists. "I want a woman," I said.
"Would that I could throw you a wench," said Kenneth. "You have well earned her."
"But the Mistress would not approve?" I asked.
"I do not think so," said Kenneth.
"What of the `new slave,'" I smiled, "she who was sent to me in the tunnel?"
Kenneth grinned. "I do not think the Mistress would approve," he said.
"I want a woman," I said.
"I am sorry," he said. Then the slave hood was drawn over my head and its strap looped twice about my throat and then buckled shut under my chin.
I was not then to speak. I was a slave.
Barns continued then to towel and dry my body. I heard cries from the area of the bouts, but they were not the usual cries, those of excitement or exultation which often accompany the bouts.
"What is going on?" called Kenneth.
"Men of Cos, tarnsmen, have struck at the suburbs of Ar!" cried a man.
"It will mean war!" cried another man.
"Infantrymen from Vonda and Ar have engaged north of Venna!" called another man.
"It will be war," said Barns.
"By what right have the men of Vonda intruded so far to the south?" asked a man.
"It is done," said another.
"The entire Salerian Confederation may become involved," said Kenneth.
"Tyros, too," said another man.
"It is a grim Kaissa that is being played," said a man.
"Are the reports accurate?" asked Kenneth.
"There seems little doubt about them," said a man.
"The first steel has been bloodied," said Kenneth, grimly. "It has come at last. It is war."
"Ar and Venna are faraway," said a man.
"That is fortunate for us," said another.
Barus continued to dry and towel my body. In a few minutes I heard again the usual cries coming from the area of the bouts.
"Our men are finished," said Kenneth. "Let us get them in the wagon."
"I will first collect our bets," said Barus.
"Join us at the wagon," said Kenneth.
"I will do so," said Barns.
I felt Kenneth's hand on my arm and I felt myself being guided from the stall toward the slave wagon in which I and my fellows, other fighting slaves, were brought to the bouts.
"The fighting is faraway," I heard a man say. "We have nothing to fear."
We had been some two Alin upon the road, returning to the lands of the Lady Florence of Vonda.
I do not know the identity of the fellow who hailed us. He may have been a peasant or a tharlarion rancher, or perhaps even a patrolling guardsman. "Beware of brigands!" he cried. "They are in the vicinity. They have already struck at the holdings of Gordon and Dorto!"
"Our thanks, Friend," called Kenneth to him. To Barns he said, "Keep watch. Have the keys ready."
"I will do so," said Barus.
I stirred uneasily in the chains.
There are varieties of slave wagons on Gor. A common type, used to transport female slaves, is covered with blue and yellow canvas. A central metal bar, hinged at one end, near the wagon box, and locked at the other, near the wagon bed's gate, usually occurs in such wagons. The girls' ankles are then chained about this bar. When the bar is freed and lifted they may then, still in their shackles, be removed through the rear of the wagon, the wagon gate being lowered. Another common type of wagon used generally in the transportation of women is the flat-bedded display wagon, with its mounted iron framework. The girls chained and manacled in various positions within and to this framework, sometimes compellingly attractive positions, are then visible. Sometimes buyers follow such wagons to the markets toward which they are bound. Sometimes, however, the girls are sold directly from such wagons, the wagons being in effect themselves traveling markets. In such cases usually one side of the flat wagon bed is used as an auction platform, a small but suitable scaffolding on which may be well displayed the lineaments of the girl's beauty, and on which may be exacted from her the provocative performances demanded by cruel and merciless vendors of their beautiful, degraded merchandise. Another common type of slave wagon on Gor is the cage wagon which, depending on the stoutness of its bars and security, may be used for either men or women. The particular slave wagon in which I was fastened combined the features of the cage wagon and common slave wagon. It was a converted tharlarion wagon and, with bars and extra planking, was unusually stout, probably because its purpose was to transport fighting slaves. It was a heavy wagon, with high sides and covered with a brown canvas. About the whole a cage had been built, with heavy bars, which opened by means of a small door in the back. Within the wagon, in low-sided, heavy stalls, by means of rings at the front and back of the stall, and on the side of the stall near our necks, we were chained by the ankles, wrists and neck. We had, thus, far less freedom of movement than is commonly accorded to females. On the other hand this additional security was only to be expected. We were male slaves, and fighting slaves. I pulled against the chains. They held me well. Gorean masters, for most practical purposes, simply do not lose slaves.
"Do you think there is danger?" asked Barus of Kenneth.
"I do not know," said Kenneth.
The wagon then began to move again. I heard chains near me move. One of my fellows struggled angrily. He, too, of course, was absolutely helpless. We were both only Gorean slaves, efficiently chained by masters.
"Look to the right," said Barus, after a time.
"I see it," said Kenneth.
"And to the right of there," said Barus.
"Yes," said Kenneth.
I did not understand this conversation, and, I suppose, neither did my fellows.
"Look there," suddenly said Barns. "In the sky!"
"I see!" said Kenneth. The wagon stopped.
I heard someone descend from the wagon box. In moments I heard the lock rattling at the rear of the wagon. I then heard keys, swiftly, being inserted into locks. "Get out of the wagon," I heard Barus ordering someone down the line from me. In moments I felt a key being thrust into the locks on my ankle shackles, and then, an instant later, I felt my manacles, fastening my hands behind my back, freed of the ring to which they were attached. My neck chain, a moment later, was pulled loose of my collar ring and fell against the side of the wagon, behind me. "Out of the wagon!" ordered Barus.
"Hurry!" called Kenneth. "He will return with others in moments!"
Barus half pulled me from the stall and pushed me toward the end of the wagon. I was still hooded. Still were my wrists confined behind my back.
"Our of the wagon!" I heard Barus order another man.
I struck against the bars at the end of the wagon. I then lowered myself to the floor and, feet first, slipped through the small, barred gate. It is made so as to admit the entrance or exit of only one man at a time. I then stood barefoot in the dust of the road.