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."Oh yes," she cried, "yes, Master!""Now," I said, satisfied, "I think I will untie you.""You are a beast," said she, laughing, "Tarl Cabot.""Kuurus.""Kuurus, Kuurus!" she said.I bent to Elizabeth's bonds to free her when suddenly there came a loud knockon the door of the compartment.We looked at one another quickly.The knock came again."Who is it?" I called."Ho-Tu, Master Keeper," came the response, muffled, scarcely audible, behindthe heavy beams of the door.I gave Elizabeth a swift kiss and then jerked the slave livery to her waistand turned her about, putting her on her side at the foot of the couch, facingaway from the door.She lay there on the stones, half-stripped, turned away,bound hand and foot, her throat fastened to a slave ring by the heavy collarand chain.Drawing her knees up and almost touching her chin to her chest shemanaged to look about as abject and abused as a poor wench might.Satisfied, Iwent to the door and removed the two heavy beams, opening it.Ho-Tu was a short, corpulent man, broad-shouldered, stripped to the waist.Hehad quick black eyes set in a shaven head, the threads of a mustache dangledat the sides of his mouth.About his neck he wore a rude ornament, a looseiron chain bearing, also in iron, a medallion, the crest of the House ofCernus.He had a broad leather belt, with four buckles.To this belt therehung the sheath of a hook knife, which was buckled in the sheath, the strappassing over the hilt.Also, clipped to the belt, was a slave whistle, used inissuing signals, summoning slaves, and so on.On the other side of the belt,there hung a slave goad, rather like the tarn goad, except that it is designedto be used as an instrument for the control of human beings rather than tarns.It was, like the tarn goad, developed jointly by the Caste of Physicians andthat of theBuilders, the Physicians contributing knowledge of the pain fibers of humanbeings, the networks of nerve endings, and the Builders contributing certainprinciples and techniques developed in the construction and manufacture ofenergy bulbs.Unlike the tarn goad which has a simple on-off switch in thehandle, the slave goad works with both a switch and a dial, and the intensityof the charge administered can be varied from an infliction which is onlydistinctly unpleasant to one which is instantly lethal.The slave goad,unknown in most Gorean cities, is almost never used except by professionalslavers, probably because of the great expense involved; the tarn goad, bycontrast, is a simple instrument.Both goads, interestingly, emit a shower ofPage 47ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlyellow sparks when touched to an object, a phenomenon which, associated withthe pain involved, surely plays its role in producing aversion to the goad,both in tarns and men.Ho-Tu glanced into the room, saw Elizabeth and smiled, and slaver's smile."I see you know well how to keep a slave," he said.I shrugged."If she gives you trouble," said Ho-Tu, "send her to the iron pens.We willdiscipline her for you.""I discipline my own slaves," I said."Of course," said Ho-Tu, dropping his head.Then he looked up."But with yourpermission," he said, "we are professionals.""I will keep it in mind," I said."In a quarter of an Ahn," said Ho-Tu, slapping the slave goad at his side, "Icould have her begging to be fed from your hand."I laughed, and snapped my fingers.Elizabeth struggled to her knees, threwback her head turning the collar on her throat, and knelt facing us.Shelifted her eyes, glazed and numb, to mine."Please Master," said she, almostinaudibly, "feed Vella."Ho-Tu whistled."Why have you come to my compartment?" I demanded of Ho-Tu.At that moment a bar, struck in a certain pattern by an iron hammer somewherein the house, rang out, the sound taken up by other bars, also struck, onvarious floors of the House of Cernus.The day, I had discovered, was dividedby such signals.There is method in the house of a slaver.Ho-Tu smiled."Cernus," said he, "requests your presence at table."Chapter 6: I Sit Table with CernusI observed the two men, collared slaves, squaring off against one another inthe sand.Both were stripped to the waist.The hair of both was bound backwith a band of cloth.Each carried, sheathed, a hook knife.The edges of thesheath were coated with a bluish pigment."These men are the champions among male slaves at hook knife," said Cernus.Hescarcely glanced up from the game board at which he sat across from Caprus, ofthe Caste of Scribes, Chief Accountant of the House [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]