16Guardsmen

~Guardsman of Gor~
Written by John Norman
(Copyright 1981 by John Norman)
(A Star Book, published by W. H. Allen & Co., Ltd)

~Back Cover~
From kidnapped collegian to a woman's slave, from landless fugitive to warrior-captain, the life of Jason Marshall on Earth's orbital twin was a constant struggle against the naked power and barbaric traditions of glorious Gor.
Now, in the heat of a desperate naval battle against overwhelming odds, Jason faced the pivotal hours of his Gorean career. For him victory would mean a homeland, a warrior's honors, and the lovely Earthgirl who was the prize he had long sought. Defeat would mean degradation worse than the chains he had once escaped.

~Inside~
"Have you a taste, Lads," called Policrates, "for precious wines and delicate viands?"
"That we have, Captain," called a man.
"Have you a taste for well-tooled leather and fine clothes?"
"Yes, Captain!" called men.
"Have you a taste for more gold and silver, and jewels, than you know what to do with?" called Policrates.
"Yes, Captain!" called dozens of men.
"Have you a taste for luscious slaves, to train with whips to your pleasure?" demanded Policrates.
"Yes, yes, Captain!" called hundreds of men. "Yes, Captain! Yes, Captain!" shouted hundreds of men.
"Then, Lads," cried Policrates, "take the port of Victoria! She is yours!"

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~Quotations from the book, Guardsman of Gor~

"Why would you do this?" he asked.
"Why, to defend the chain," I said.
"True," smiled Callimachus.
"You have tasted blood," said Callimachus, "You want more."
"Such thoughts are too terrible to think," I said.
"The sword must drink until its thirst is satisfied," said Callimachus. It was a Gorean proverb.”
~Guardsman of Gor, page 17~

“We swung to port. Our ram, now, threatened the Voskjard's ship. The archers scattered behind the bulwarks. Consternation held sudden sway upon her decks. Oars, like startled limbs, not in unison, unevenly, rose from the water. We saw rudder activity, not synchronized between the port and starboard rudders. Oars, one and two, and more, at a time, began to slash down at the water. She, too, swung to port. Then she had slipped away behind the shattered bow of the Leda. We had not charge her. Off the starboard bow lay a galley of the Voskjard, rocking on the water, seemingly somnolent, but we knew, in an instant, if we exposed our flank to her, she would come alive, springing to the attack.
"Beware the sleen that seems to sleep," is a Gorean proverb.”
~Guardsman of Gor, page 50~

"This is the scout ship of Ragnar Voskjar," I said.
"Perhaps" she said.
"Why are you aboard?" I asked.
"It pleases my master to bring me," she said.
"Are you a Luck Girl?" I asked.
She shrugged. "I am a female slave," she said.
I smiled. Many Goreans regard the sight of a female slave as good luck. Certainly, at the very least, they are joys to look upon.”
~Guardsman of Gor, page 61~

“Our parents….pressed us to intertwine our arms and drink the wine of the companionship.”
~Guardsman of Gor, page 85~

“On the Tuka the rowers were singing, lustily…….It was not a song of Ar they sang, but a river song, a song of pirates and brawlers,   'The Ten Maids of Hammerfest,' in which is recounted the fates which befell these lovely lasses.   I was mildly scandalized that the stout fellows of Ar, soldiers and gentlemen, as Gorean gentlemen go, would even know those lyrics, let alone sing them with such unabashed gusto.”
~Guardsman of Gor, page 93~

"The dressing of slaves, incidentally, is an interesting and intricate pastime. The slave is almost never totally nude. Her body is marked almost always with some token of her condition, which is bond. This is usually a collar, but it may also be an anklet, sometimes belled, or a bracelet. Her brand, of course, fixed in her very flesh, deep and lovely, is always worn. There is no mistaking it. The iron has seen to that. Beyond theses things, much depends on the individual girl and on her particular master of the time. Individual taste is here supreme. To be sure, there are natural congruencies and proprieties which are generally observed.
For example, although one may see a girl in the streets, naked save for, say, her brand and collar, or a bit of chain, this is not common. This sort of thing is done, usually, only as a discipline. Free Women tend to object, for the eyes of their companions tend almost inadvertently to stray to the exposed flesh of such girls. Perhaps, too, they are angry that they themselves are not permitted to present themselves so brazenly and lusciously before men. Needless to say it is difficult for Men to keep their minds on business when such girls are among them. Perhaps this is the reason that magistrates tend to frown upon the practice. After all, Goreans are only human.
In a family house, of course, girls are almost always modestly garbed. Children of many houses might be startled if they could see the transformation which takes place in their pretty Didi or Lale, whom they know as their nurse, governess and playmate, when she is in their absence or after their bedtime, ordered to the chamber of one of the young masters, there to dance lasciviously before him, and then to be had, and as a slave.
Context determines much. If a young man is giving a proper and refined dinner, his girl, modestly attired, will commonly serve it, shyly and deferentially, quietly and self-effacingly, as befits a slave. She may even draw commendations from this mother, pleased that he has purchased such a modest, useful girl.
In a dinner for his rowdy male companions, of course, in which even unmixed wines might be served, she, obedient, writhing and sensuous, is quite a different girl. Perhaps he has even purchased her some training, from local slave masters.   His guests, uncontrolled in their desire, driven half mad with passion, will mightily envy him his girl. Perhaps he, in Gorean hospitality, will share her with them, but, in the end, when they have gone, it is at the foot of his own couch that she, licking and kissing, and begging, will be chained.
The most common Gorean garment for a slave is a brief slave tunic. This tunic is invariably sleeveless, and, usually, has a deep, plunging neckline. It may be of a great variety of materials, from rich satins and silks to thin, form-revealing, clinging rep-cloth. Camisks are favored in some cities. The common camisk is a simple rectangle of cloth, containing, in its center, a circular opening. The garment is drawn on by the girl over her head and down upon her shoulders; it is worn, thus, like a poncho; it is commonly belted with biding fiber or a bit of light chain, something with which the girl may be secured, if the master wishes.
One city in which the common camisk is favored, generally, is Tharna. The Turian camisk is a bit like an inverted "T," the bar of which has beveled edges. It goes about the neck, down, low, and is drawn up, and snugly, usually quite snugly, between the legs, the beveled bar ends of the "T" then being folded closely forward about the girl's flanks and being tied, tightly, at her belly. In the common camisk the girl's flanks, and her brand, are bared. In the Turian camisk, because of its snugness and adjustment cords, it is easy, as you might well imagine, to leave little doubt as to the girl's beauty.
Needless to say, the camisk most commonly found in great Turia, the Ar of the south, is that camisk which Goreans, generally, know as the "Turian camisk." Interestingly, in Turia itself, it is known simply as the "camisk," and what I have called the common camisk is, in Turia, referred to as the "northern camisk."
One of the most exciting slave garments, if the slave is permitted clothing, is the Ta-Teera, or, as it is sometimes called, the slave rag. This is analogous to the tunic, but it is little more, and intentionally so, than a rag or rags. In it the girl is in no doubt as to whether or not she is a slave. Some cities do not wish girls in Ta-Teeras to be seen publicly on the streets. Some masters put their girls in such garments only when they are camping, or in the wilds. Others, of course, may prescribe the Ta-Teera for their girls when they are within their own compartments.
There are many types of slave garments, of course, other than such obvious categories as tunics, camisks, and Ta-Teeras. Pleasure silks, in all varieties, and swirling, diaphanous dancing silks might be mentioned. The leathers forced on the slave maidens of the Wagon Peoples, taught to care for the bosk and please the masters, too, might be called to mind.
Sometimes, too, it is controversial as to what constitutes a garment and what a bond. For example, is a slave harness a garment or a bond; objectively, I suppose, it is both. So, too, I would suppose, ar the tunic chains of Tyros. A girl may be "set off," of course, and beautifully, even if, technically, she is not clothed. She may be garbed, for example, in netting, as the "Hunter's Catch"; or she may be bedecked in jewels and leather, and shimmering chains, dancing under a whip in a tavern in Port Kar; or she may have flowers intertwined in her chains, as when she is awarded to a victor in public games in Ar.
Interestingly, what counts as slave garments and what does not, is apparently a culturally influenced phenomenon. Goreans, unhesitantly, regard such things as the brassiere and panties, or panty hose, as slave garments. This may be because such garments have been associated with Earth females brought to Gorean slave markets, garments which are sometimes permitted the girls during the early portion of their sale, or, perhaps, independently, because they are soft, sensual and slavelike. Earth girls who don such garments might be interested to know then that they are putting things on their bodies which on Gor are taken to be the garments of slaves.
The main purpose of slave garments, of course, is not particularly to clothe the girl, for she need not even be clothed, as she is an animal, but to, as I have suggested, "set her off." In this sense slave garments may be as resplendent and complex as the robes of an enslaved Ubara, to be removed by the general who has captured her upon a platform of public humiliation, or as simple as the cords on a girl's wrists and a piece of rope knotted on her throat.
Additional functions of slave garments, of course, other than those of displaying the girl and making it clear to all how desirable she is, are to remind her, clearly, that she is a slave, which is useful in her discipline, and, also, interestingly, to stimulate, intensify and deepen her sexuality. It is impossible for a woman to dress and act as a slave, and be enslaved, in full legality, and not, sooner or later, understand that she is really what she seems to be, a slave. The master, meanwhile, of course , keeps her under discipline, uses her frequently and often casually, and forces her to undergo the abuses proper to her degraded condition. At a given moment of tenderness, sooner or later, she yields herself to him, fully, and as his slave. This moment is usually accompanied with tears of joy, and love. This is experienced by the woman as a moment of marvelous liberation.
Gone then are the thousand frustrations and conflicts; released then, in a flood of tears and joy, is her fundamental womanhood; the hypocrisies are then at an end; the long shams are done; she melts into his arms, kissing and sobbing, his. But enough of the wonders, and astonishments and pleasures, of slave garments. Their nature, their varieties and types, and their meanings, are limited only, as your might expect, by the widely ranging imaginations of the lovely slaves and their strong Masters.
~Guardsman of Gor, pages 105 – 109~

"What do you think should be her punishment ?" asked Callimachus of me.
"If she is guilty," I said, "whatever you wish, as she is a slave." This was in full accord with Gorean law. Indeed, anything, for whatever reason, or without a reason, may be done to a slave. "
~Guardsman of Gor, page 115~

"It is called the Street of the Writhing Slave. It is dark and narrow, and not far from the wharves. It has it’s name from the fact that most renters of, and dealers in, Coin Girls in Victoria, keep their kennels on this street. The girls of the day, designated by a coiled whip pressed against their left shoulder, wearing their neck chains, with the attached bell and coin box, are sent into the streets in the late afternoon and expected to return before the nineteenth Ahn. And woe to the girl who does not return with a jangling coin box on her neck chain!" ~Guardsmen of Gor, page 143~

"I paused, near a tiny tharlarion-oil lamp. It was about a yard above my head, recessed in a small niche. It was by means of such that the street was lit. Families alternate in the fueling and tending of such lamps. As in many such matters, as in cleaning and repairing streets, Gorean responsibility tends to devolve on the individual and not on the polity. His taxes in this sense, in such matters, are applied directly, and by himself, to the affairs with which they are concerned. Third parties, thus, in such matters, are not involved, and he knows precisely, at least in such instances, how much money is involved, and where it is being spent."
~Guardsman of Gor, pages 144 & 145~

“I regarded her, in the yellowish, flickering light of the tiny tharlarion-oil lamp, late at night, on the rude stones of that dark, narrow street in Victoria. She stood before me, small, slim, exquisite, beautiful. Her binding-fiber-belted, wrap around tunic was brown, and of clinging, thin rep-cloth; it was sleeveless and had a plunging neckline; it was slave short. About her neck there was a chain. From the chain there hung two objects; the first was a narrow, bronze bell, flattish and tapering, with a flat top and ring; when she moved it would sound, calling attention to her whereabouts; the second was a metal coin box, which contained a slot for the deposition of coins; the coin box was locked. I had not heard coins sound, from within the coin box. Too, about her neck, under the chain, with its dangling articles, there was a high, tight leather collar. Her leash, in the hands of the other girl, was attached to a ring at the back of this collar. The leash, too, was of leather, and long. It was coiled four or five times in the hands of the other girl. Most Gorean leashes are long. There are two advantages to the long leash. It may be used, if one wishes, to bind the slave, and its long end, if one wishes, may easily serve as a whipping strap.”
~Guardsman of Gor, page 145~

The girl who held her leash then jerked twice on the leash.
"May I serve your pleasure, Master?" asked the leashed girl.
"I thought you were a Coin Girl," I said.
"She is a Coin Girl," said the girl who held her leash. Then she jerked the leash once, against the collar ring.
"I am a Coin Girl," said the leashed girl, before me.
"Interest him," said the other girl.
"I am yours for a tarsk bit, Master," said the leashed girl.
"Open your tunic," said the other girl.
The girl then slipped loose the binding-fiber belt, letting it fall against the two belt loops in the back. Then, with her left hand and her right hand, parting the tunic, holding it open, she showed herself to me.
She was the most beautiful, and attractive, woman I had ever seen.
"It is my hope that I please Master," she said.
"Beverly," I said.
"She has no name," said the girl who held her leash, "Her master has not yet given her one. but once, it is true, that she was known as Beverly. For that reason I suggest, if you are interested in her, that you give her, for your use of her, another name."
I regarded the beautiful girl. she trembled. She did not close her tunic.
~Guardsman of Gor, page 146~

"Slaves, of course, being mere articles of property, are not entitled to privacy."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 172~

"There seem to be two major reasons why free women are seldom raped on Gor. First, it is thought that they, being free, are to be accorded the highest respect, and secondly, slave females are regarded as being much more desirable."
~Guardsmen of Gor, page 184~

"In short we shall suppose that he discovers that he has purchased, as is often the case, not a mere slave, but a treasure . And she belongs to him! What a fortune, and joy, to own such a woman! He will want to watch her, to observe her least movements, to know her smallest thought. He will want to talk with her and listen to her, and know her with a depth and fullness far beyond anything that might be accorded to a mere contractual partner. She is not merely a person who is living with him. She belongs to him, literally, and he prizes her. But he will take care to be strict with her."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 186~

"Of course, my Master," she cried suddenly, delightedly. "I have been carried across the threshold.   And now I have been put in whipping position! I am being introduced into a house, in which I am to be a slave. My mysterious master must, thus, be of Victoria, or of some other city in which are practiced the customs of the capture carry and initiatory whipping!" The point of these customs, of course, is clear.
The girl knows that she is carried into the house as a helpless slave, and then, in the initiatory whipping, learns that it is a house in which she is under discipline. These are thought to be salutary lessons for a new girl, when she is first introduced into a new house. To be sure, whether in Victoria or not, or in a city with comparable customs, new girls, in one way or another, are usually reminded, promptly and effectively, that their slavery is uncompromising and actual, and that they are fully at the disposition of their masters"
~Guardsman of Gor, page 200 & 201~

"She is a slave. It is undeniable, of course, that the collar is a symbol of bondage. That no one will dispute. On the other hand, how the collar is experienced is quite another matter. Most girls, in fact, sooner or later, wear their collars with pleasure and pride. First, the collar is extremely attractive, setting off and enhancing, as it does, their beauty. Secondly it is almost dazzlingly seductive. It can excite men, and drive them wild. Few women object to this…………..
Too, they know that the collar marks them, and they cannot remove it, as the helpless and fit objects on which may be practiced the predations of mastery. Similarly, the collar often has an interesting “releasing effect” on the sexuality of the female.………..
The “releasing effect” of the collar on female sexuality is interesting and complex. Perhaps a word or two pertaining to the matter would be in order. Wearing the collar, the girl knows that she is a slave, and, accordingly, that the fullness of her sexuality, in all its helplessness, delicacy and profundity, is now subject to the imperious beck and call of men. She knows, too , that she may now be summoned to perform sexually, and fully, by as little as the merest snapping of the master’s fingers. Further she knows that she will not be permitted the least restraint or inhibition, of any sort whatsoever, on her sexuality. Such things are simply not permitted to her. She is a slave.……………………..
The “intensification effect” of the collar, incidentally, might also be briefly mentioned. Not only does the collar serve often to release the female’s sexuality, and deeper nature, but it tends to deepen and intensify them. Knowing herself as an owned animal, rightless, one forced to submit, one who must obey in all things, who must yield wholly to the master, holding nothing back, she can be driven to almost excruciatingly ecstatic orgasmic heights, experiencing sensations and raptures, perhaps enforced cruelly upon her, of which the free woman, in her freedom, cannot even begin to dream. A third reason why girls tend to wear their collars with pleasure and pride, aside from the attractiveness of the collar and its seductiveness, is seldom mentioned. That is, that the collar, in its way, functions as a symbol of interesting differences among women. It, like a wired seal of quality, attests to the value of the merchandise upon which it is fastened. “Beautiful enough to be collared” is a Gorean compliment, though perhaps a rather rude one, and one that one would not be likely to hear addressed openly and to the face of a free woman. “She has legs pretty enough to be those of a slave girl” is another such compliment."
~Guardsman of Gor, pages 208, 209, 210~

"These girls may be exchanged among the men, but commonly they are not.   Most masters are rather possessive about their slaves, particularly if they are fond of them."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 209~

"Wine, incidentally, is often mixed with water in Gorean homes. This is primarily because of the potency of many Gorean wines."
~Guardsman of Gor, apge 235~

"Tears are not unbecoming to the soldier," said Callimachus. "The soldier is a man of deep passions, and emotion. Many men cannot even understand his depths. Do not fear your currents and your powers. In the soldier are flowers and storms. Each is a part of him, and each is real. Accept both. Deny neither."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 238~

"Second slave," I told her, which, among the river towns, and in certain cities, particularly in the north, is a way of indicating that I would take the black wine without creams or sugars, and as it came from the pouring vessel, which, of course, in these areas, is handled by the "second slave," the first slave being the girl who puts down the cups, takes the orders and sees that the beverage is prepared according to the preferences of the one who is being served.
The expression "second slave," incidentally, serves to indicate that one does not wish creams or sugars with one's black wine, even if only one girl is serving."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 245~

"I lifted the tiny silver cup to my lips and took a drop of the black wine. Its strength and bitterness are such that it is normally drunk in such a manner, usually only a drop or a few drops at a time. Commonly, too, it is mollified with creams and sugars. I drank it without creams and sugars, perhaps, for I had been accustomed, on Earth, to drinking coffee in such a manner, and the black wine of Gor is clearly coffee, or closely akin to coffee. Considering its bitterness, however, if I had not been drinking such a tiny amount, and so slowly, scarcely wetting my lips, I, too, would surely have had recourse to the tasty, gentling additives with which it is almost invariably served."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 247~

"The girl did not now, of course, carry a purse. Slave girls are not permitted to carry such things. When shopping she carries the coins usually in her mouth or hand. Sometimes she ties them in a scarf about her wrist or ankle. Sometimes her master places them in a bag, which is then tied about her neck. Gorean garments, generally, incidentally, except for the garments of craftsmen, do not have pockets. Coins, and personal items, and such, are usually, by free persons, carried in pouches, which are usually concealed within the robes of a free woman, or slung about the waist, or shoulder, of a free man."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 250~

“The men, save I, rose as one to their feet, for Gorean men commonly stand when a free woman enters a room.” ~Guardsman of Gor, page 255~

“Strip,” he said.
“There are others present,” she protested.
His right hand, in a backhand blow, lashed forth, fierce and powerful, striking her from her knees to her side on the tiles. She rose to her hands and knees and, blood at her mouth, regarded him, disbelievingly.
“Must a command be repeated?” he inquired.
Swiftly she tore away the slave tunic, stripping herself.”
~Guardsmen of Gor, page 257~

"There is no standardization or little standardization for better or for worse in Gorean slave dance. Not only can the dances differ from city to city, and town to town, and even from tavern to tavern, but they are likely to differ, too even from girl to girl. This is because each girl, in her own way, brings the nature of her own body, her own dispositions, her own sensuality and needs, her own personality, to the dance. For the woman, slaves dance is a uniquely personal and creative art form. Too, of course, it provides her with a wondrous modality for deeply intimate self-expression."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 260~

"She saw now that the chains had been the loops of a single, graceful body chain, sinuous and glossy, closely meshed and dark, ornamented with colorful beads of wood, semiprecious stones and bits of leather. Its full loop is some five feet in length, and it can be wound and looped, and twisted and strung about a woman’s body in a variety of intricate fashions. It is light and the closeness of its meshing allows it to follow closely the contours of a woman’s body. It is unbreakable. It may be worn with or without clothing."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 281~

"Too, I had brought up a small bowl of powdered bosk milk. We had finished the creams last night and, in any event, it was unlikely they would have lasted the night. If I had wanted creams I would have had to have gone to the market."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 295~

"My house, incidently, like most Gorean houses, had no ice chest. There is little cold storage on Gor. Generally food is preserved by being dried or salted. Some cold storage, of course, does exist. Ice is cut from ponds in the winter, and then stored in ice houses, under sawdust. One may go to the ice houses for it, or have it delivered in ice wagons. Most Goreans, of course, cannot afford the luxury of ice in the summer."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 295~

"You may serve me wine," I said. She reached to the wine, a sweet Ka-la-na of Ar, and filled the goblet to the third ring. Then, as I sat back against the couch, she knelt before me. She, head down, pressed the heavy metal goblet deep into her lower abdomen, and then she lifted it to her lips and, holding it with both hands, kissed it lingeringly and lovingly. Then, kneeling back on her heels she put down her head and, humbly, her arms extended, her head down between them, proffered me the goblet.
"Wine, Master? " she asked.
"Yes, " I said. I then took the goblet from her, and drank.
She lifted her head, and watched me.
"I think you know how to serve wine well, " I said."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 301 & 302~

"You see, my Master," she said, "you are, for me, a dream come true."
"And you, for me, Sweet Slave," I said, "are, too, a dream come true."
~Guardsman of Gor, page 303

~Memorable Passages~