Dancer of Gor

I shook my head wildly, no!

"But I have made it now so that you no longer have the protection and favor of Hendow, whom you have bewitched," she said.

I regarded her, startled.

"Now, you, too, will know the whip when men please!"

I shuddered.

"While you remain a slave, Earth slut," she said, "I will be free! And it is you, my pretty enemy, who will have bought me my freedom! Consider it, slut! Such vengeance is sweet!"

I whimpered, piteously, looking up at Tupita.

"How easily you were tricked, stupid slave," she laughed.

Tears sprang to my eyes.

She then again spit in my face, and then turned away from me.

"Pay me," she demanded of he who seemed to be the leader of the men. "I must secure tarn passage from Brundisium before morning.

He looked at her.

"Pay me," she demanded, putting out her hand. "I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. I have completed my portion of the arrangements. I have delivered the merchandise to you."

The fellow opened his wallet.

"No!" she said. "We agreed on five silver tarsks, five!"

he held a single silver tarsk.

"Our arrangement was for five," she said, "five!"

"Do you truly think she is worth five?" asked the fellow.

Tupita regarded him, angrily. Clearly she did not wish to acknowledge that I might, objectively, be of value, particularly of a value so high as five silver tarsks. She herself, perhaps, might not bring so much. "What she is truly worth, or what I might think she is truly worth," said Tupita, "is of no importance. Perhaps she is not worth even a tarsk bit. How would I know? I am not a man. But we agreed on the price of five silver tarsks, five!"

"I thought it was one," grinned a fellow.

"Perhaps you have it in writing," said another fellow, as though helpfully. Tupita, of course, like many slaves, and like myself, could not read or write. Too, even if she could, she, a highly intelligent woman, and a slave, would never have dared to agree to anything in writing pertaining to such clandestine matters.

"Yes," she said, suddenly, with a glance at me. "I remember now. It was one." I saw that she wanted to save face, before me. Too, a silver tarsk is, after all, when all is said and done, a coin of considerable value. Although this varies from city to city, it is not unusual for a silver tarsk to be exchangeable for a hundred copper tarsks, each one of which can be wroth anywhere from tent o four tarsks bits, usually eight. The only golden Gorean coins I had even seen were the tiny ones, almost droplets, which had figured in the decorative jewelries of dancers costumes. Brundisium was noted for its golden staters, but I had never seen one.

Tupita took the silver tarsk from the fellow, and clutched it triumphantly, tightly, in her fist. It would be more than enough to purchase her passage from Brundisium. She then came again to the side of the table. "Thank you, lovely Doreen, she said. "I am very grateful. Not only do I have my vengeance upon you, delivering you to new slaveries and degradations, as it pleased me, but you have also the means of my own escape and freedom." She showed me the silver tarsk. "Pretty, isn" t it?" she asked.

I pulled weakly against the bracelets. The men laughed.

"I am only sorry that you are not worth more," she said.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

"I will leave you now, slave, roped and braceleted, and in the power of men," she said. She turned away.

But the door was blocked by a fellow, leaning against it, his arms folded. "Stand aside!" she said, angrily.

He did not move, nor did he respond to her.

She spun to face the leader of the men.

"What do you have there, in your hand?" he asked.

She clutched the tarsk more tightly.

"Open your hand," said the leader.

"What is the meaning of this?" she cried.

"Must a command be repeated?" he inquired.

She opened her hand, revealing the silver tarsk. He walked to her, and removed it from her hand. "Have you been permitted to touch money?" he asked. "Please!" she said.

"We could always check with her master," suggested a fellow.

"It is mine!" said Tupita.

"Yours?" asked the leader, smiling.

"Yes!" she said.

"Surely you know that animals are not allowed to own money," he said. Tupita turned white.

The leader dropped the coin into his wallet.

"Let me go," she said. "I will not bother you no longer!"

"Remove your cloak," said the leader.

Tupita thrust it back, over her shoulders, untied the strings and let it fall to the floor, behind her.

She then stood there among them, in a brief tunic of opaque slave silk, such as might be worn during the day. She was a very lovely, and very frightened woman. The cloak removed, the collar could be seen on her neck. If he from whom she had intended to purchase tarn passage had not seen the collar, nor, of course, her brand, not her tunic, or such, and, theoretically, at least, did not know she was a slave, he would not be held legally responsible for having sold her passage. Tupita had excellent legs.

"Remove the tunic," said the leader.