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even, to finish her dance; at a sign from
Marlenus she had been seized, thrown to the tiles on which she had danced, an*
raped by more than a hundred men. Ear piercing, from this time, had begun to
spread rapidly through
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the north, masters, and slavers, often inflicting it on thei glrls.
Interestingly, the piercing of the septum, for the in sertion of a nose ring,
is regarded, generally, a great dea more lightly by female slaves than the
piercing of the ears Perhaps this iS partly because, in the far south, the
fre~ women of the Wagon Peoples wear nose rings; perhaps i iS because the
piercing does not show;
I do not know. Th~ piercing of the ears, however, is regarded as being the
epito me of a slave girl's degradation. Any woman, it is said, with pierced
ears, is a slave girl.
"You insult me," said Hilda the Haughty, "to present me with such miserable
merchandise ! Is this the best that great Ar can offer ?
Had I been of Ar I might have been angry. As it was I was somewhat irritated.
The perfumes I was displaying to her had been taken, more than six months ago,
by the Forkbeard from a vessel of Cos.
They were truly perfumes of Ar, and of the finest varieties. "Who," I asked
myself, "is Hilda, the daughter of a barbarian, of a rude, uncouth northern
pirate, living in a high wooden fortress, overlooking the sea, to so demean
the perfumes of Ar ?" One might have thought she was a great lady, and not the
insolent, though curvacious, brat of a boorish sea rover.
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I put my head to the floor. I grovelled in the white and yellow siLk of the
perfumers. "Oh, great lady," I whined, the finest of Ar's, perfumes may be too
thin, too frail, too gross, for one of your discernment and taste." ~ ~ ~
Her hands wore many rings. About her neck she wore, looped, four chains of
gold, with pendants. On her wrists were bracelets of silver and gold.
"Show me others, men of the south," said she, contemptuously.
Again and again we tried to please the daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar. We had
little success.
Sometimes she would wince, or make a face, or indicate disgust with a tiny
motion of her hand, or a movement of her head
We were almost finished with the vials in the flat, leather case
"We have here," said I, "a scent that might be worthy of a Ubara of Ar."
I uncorked it and she held it, delicately, to her nostrils.
"Barely adequate," she said.
I restrained my fury. That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred flowers,
nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers of Ar.
It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an extract
from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from a
disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long
Whale, the result of the inadequate digestion of cuttlefish. Fortunately, too,
this calculus is sometimes found free in the sea, expelled with feces. It took
more than a year to distill, age, blend and bond the ingredients.
"Barely ade~uate," she said. But I could tell she was pleased.
"It is only eight stone of gold," said I, obsequiously, "for the vial."
"I shall accept it," said she, coldly, "as a gift."
"A gift !" I cried.
"Yes," said she. "You have annoyed me. I have been patient with you. I am now
no ~onger patient!"
"Have pity, great lady!" I wept.
"Leave me now," said she. "Go below. Ask there to be stripped and beaten. Then
swiftly take your leave of the house of Thorgard o~ Scagnar. Be grateful that
I perrnit you your lives."
I hastily, as though frightened, made as though to close the flat, leather
case of vials.
"~eave that," she said. She laughed. "I shall give it to my bond-maids."
I smiled, though secretly. The haughty wench would rob us of our entire
stores! None of that richness, I knew, would grace the neck or breasts of a
mere bond-maid. She~ Hilda ~he Haughty, daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar, would
kee,~) it for hersel~;
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arauders%20of%20Gor.txt
I attempted to conceal one vial, which we had not permitted her to sample. But
her eye was too qwck ~or me.
"What is that ?" she asked, sharply.
~'It is nothing," I said.
"Let me smell it," she said.
"Please, no, great ladyl" I begged.
"You thought to keep it from me, did you ?" she laughed
"Oh, no, great lady,"-I wept.
"Give it to me," she said.
"Must I, lady ?" asked I.
"I see," said she, "beating is not enough for you. It seems you must be boiled
in the oiI of tharlarion as well !"
I lifted it to her, piteously.
She laughed.
My assistant and I knelt before her, at her feet. She wore, beneath her green
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velvet, golden shoes.
"Uncork it for me, you sleen," said she. I wondered if I had, in my life, seen
ever so scornful, so proud, so cold a woman.
I uncorked the vial.
"Hold it beneath my nostrils," she said. She bent forward. I held the vial
beneath her delicate nostrils.
She closed her eyes, and breathed in, deeply, expectant
Y-
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