Part way up the bridge she turned about. She looked back. She lifted her hand. I did not deign to respond to this gesture. She was, after all, only a female. She then lowered her head and turned about, and, slowly, continued on her way up the bridge.
I caught up with her at the height of the bridge.
"Stop," I said.
She stopped, startled.
"Do not turn around," I said.
"You," she said. "I know your voice."
"Do not turn around," I said.
She did not turn, but continued to face the other way.
"The leather you are wearing is rather brief," I said.
"Yes!" she said.
"It seems more fitting for a slave than a free woman," I said.
"Yes!" she said.
"You may call me Master," I said.
"Master?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "Begin to form the habit of calling free men Master." "I do not understand!" she said.
"Place your wrists, crossed, behind your back," I said.
She did so. "Oh!" she said. I had whipped binding fiber about them, securing them in place. "It is so tight," she said.
"Now that you are bound," I said, "you may turn and face me."
She spun about, wildly, trying to free her hands.
"You cannot free yourself," I said.
"No!" she cried, elatedly. "I cannot! Oh, What are you doing?"
"Leashing you," I said.
"That is not necessary," she said.
I snapped the slave leash, taken from my pouch, about her neck.
"Be silent," I said. She looked up at me, startled.
"The proper response," I said, "is 'Yes Master'."
"Yes, Master," she said, wonderingly. "Master!"
"Did you ask permission to speak?" I asked.
"May I speak?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, jerking the leash twice, rather hard, against the back of her neck, testing it. The leash collar was a high, sturdy one, and fitted rather closely about her neck. Girls do not slip such leashes. It had two buckle fastenings. These I had fastened in the front and then turned to the back. This had brought the sturdy leading ring, on its plate, riveted into the leather, to the front, under her chin. This is the common position for front leading, the girl behind her, whether she is on her feet, as it was my intention to lead this girl, if only to save time, or, say, on her belly or all fours. The back position is commonly used when the girl is in front of you, and you are controlling her from behind, she either on her feet ahead of you, or, say, beside you or ahead of you on her belly or all fours. The front position is generally preferred as leash pressure is then received at the back and sides of the neck, not the front. To be sure, a girl is likely to be much more wary, and fearful, and docile, when the ring is at the back.
I had then snapped the leash strap on the leading ring. In one's pouch or pack the leash strap is normally coiled inside the collar, whether it is snapped on the leash ring or not. I usually do not keep it on the collar because in that way I am free to use it independently as a binding device or, doubled, as an admonitory lash. Also, I think it does a girl good, and it had seemed to do this girl good, to hear it snap on the collar ring, either at the back of her neck, when she is to be back-controlled, or just under her chin, when she is to be front-led, Leashing, of course, of either variety, is excellent psychologically for the female, as it confirms her bondage upon her and helps to make clear to her her animal status. Similarly, the jerking of the leash, to test its strength, is good for her. It helps her to understand that it is truly on her. This leash pressure, in testing, of course, either is done with the ring in the front position, to avoid damage to the throat, even if the collar is then to be turned and she is to be back-controlled, or, if the ring is left in the back position, in such a way, say, with a thumb or fingers inserted at the front of the leash collar, as to take the pressure of the testing, and protect the throat. The general consideration here, of course, is to avoid pressure to the front of the throat. It is general Gorean practice to avoid even the slightest of pressures here. This does not represent a relaxation of Gorean disciplinary practices incidentally, for discipline may be, and will be, if there is the least cause for it, inflicted outside the strictures of the leash. Too, if the ring is in the back position, if the girl is not compliant she puts this pressure on herself. An excellent example is the choke leash, which cannot be slipped, but can tighten. The least bit of resistance on the part of the girl closes the loop. In such a device, girls, after the first moment or two, follow without resistance.
"What are you going to do with me?" she said.
"I am going to take you to a slaver's," I said. "I think I know one who will not ask too many questions."
"To a slaver's!" she cried.
"Yes," I said.
"Why?" she cried.
"Why do you think?" I asked. "To make some money on you, of course. It will probably be the first time any man ever made any money on you, but I assure you, it will not be the last."
I then turned about and began to stride rapidly down the bridge. She was running behind me, on the leash, laughing and crying.
27 I Sell a Blonde
I threw the blonde to her knees before Tenalion, slaver of Ar. It was he to whom Boabissia had earlier, inadvertently, returned herself, his slave. We were now, however, in his house of business, in his office there. She knelt inside an outlined yellow circle. It was a few feet before his desk. This circle had a diameter of about seven or eight feet. The border of this circle, delineating it, was about seven or eight inches in width, and was formed of yellow stones set mosaiclike into the smooth scarlet flooring.
"I bring you a woman," I said.
He rose from his desk and came about it, to stand a few feet from the blonde. I removed the leash from her neck. I separated the collar and strap. I coiled the strap, placing it within the collar. I then returned the two parts of the leash to my pouch. I glanced to the blonde. "Kneel with your knees more widely spread," I said.
She obeyed. I could see she was frightened, now that she was here. Perhaps she was having second thoughts. It was a bit late, however, for such thoughts. She squirmed a little, on her knees. She was attractive, doing so. This squirming, I think, was genuinely due to her fear and agitation, but, even so, I thought it might add to her price. She moved well. Her hands were still tied tightly behind her.
"Where is her brand?" asked Tenalion.
"She is a free woman," I said.
"I thought so," he said.
"You are in the house of a slaver," he said to the blonde.
"You kneel within a circle of assessment." She looked down at it. "I did not know," she whispered.
"It is about the size of a slave block," he said.
She nodded.
The circle, of course, was flush with the floor. The slave block, on the other hand, is normally about a yard to five feet high, and is designed to raise the girls above the crowd, so that they may be more easily seen by the bidders. "Have you ever seen a sale of female slaves?" he asked.
"No," she said.
"Perhaps you have some idea," he said, "of what they are like."
"Yes," she said.
"Usually the merchandise is exhibited stark naked and sold to the highest bidder," he said, "whose slave they then are, in all ways."
"I understand," she said.