Nomads of Gor by John Norman Page B

outriders for a pur-
    pose and if so, to what end for whose purpose or pur-
    poses? Or was there somehow some fantastic accident or
    coincidence involved in the event of her arrival? Somehow I
    knew the latter was not likely to be the case.
    Suddenly the girl threw back her head and cried out
    hysterically. "I'm mad! I have gone mad! I have gone mad!"
    I could stand it no longer. She was too piteous. Against my
    better judgment I spoke to her. "No," I said, "you are sane.'
    The girl's eyes looked at me, she scarcely believing the
    words she had heard.
    The Tuchuks and others, as one man, faced me.
    I fumed to Kamchak. Speaking in Gorean, I said to him,
    "I can understand her."
    One of the riders pointed to me, crying out to the crowd,
    excitedly. "He speaks her tongue"
    A ripple of pleasure coursed through the throng.
    It then occurred to me that it might have been for just this
    purpose that she had been sent to the Tuchuks, to single out
    the one man from among all the thousands with the wagons
    who could understand her and speak with her, thus identify-
    ing and marking him.
    "Excellent," said Kamchak, grinning at me.
    "Please," cried the girl to me. "Help met"
    Kamchak said to me. "Tell her to be silent."
    I did so, and the girl looked at me, dumbfounded, but
    remained silent.
    I discovered that I was now an interpreter.
    Kamchak was now, curiously, fingering her yellow gar-
    ment. Then, swiftly, he tore it from her.
    She cried out.
    "Be silent," I said to her.
    I knew what must now pass, and it was what would have
    passed in any city or on any road or trail or path in Gor. She
    was a captive female, and must, naturally, submit to her
    assessment as prize; she must also be, incidentally, examined
    for weapons; a dagger or poisoned needle is often concealed
    in the clothing of free women.
    There were interested murmurs from the crowd when, to
    the Gorean's thinking, the unusual garments underlying her
    yellow shift were revealed.
    "Please," she wept, turning to me.
    "Be silent," I cautioned her.
    Kamchak then removed her remaining garments, even the
    shreds of nylon stockings that had hung about her ankles.
    There was a murmur of approval from the crowd; even
    some of the enslaved Turian beauties, in spite of themselves,
    cried out in admiration.
    Elizabeth Cardwell, I decided, would indeed bring a high
    price.
    She stood held in place by the lance, her throat bound to it
    with the wood behind her neck, her wrists thonged behind
    her back. Other than her bonds she now wore only the thick
    leather collar which had been sewn about her neck.
    Kamchak picked up the clothing which lay near her on the
    grass. He also took the shoes. He wadded it all up together in
    a soiled bundle. He threw it to a nearby woman. "Burn it,"
    said Kamchak.
    The bound girl watched helplessly as the woman carried
    her clothing, all that she had of her old world, to a cooking
    fire some yards away, near the edge of the wagons.
    the crowd had opened a passage for the woman and the
    girl saw the clothing cast on the open fire.
    "No, no!" she screamed. "No!"
    Then she tried once more to free herself.
    "Tell her," said Kamchak, "that she must learn Gorean
    quickly that she will be slain if she does not."
    I translated this for the girl.
    She shook her head wildly. "Tell them my name is Eliza-
    beth Cardwell," she said. "I don't know where I am or how
    I got here I want to get back to America, I'm an Ameri-
    can citizen, my home is in New York City take me back
    there, I will pay you anything!"
    "Tell her," repeated Kamchak, "that she must learn Gore-
    an quickly and that if she does not she will be slain."
    I translated this once more for the girl.
    "I will pay you anything," she pleaded. "Anything!"
    "You have nothing," I informed her, and she blushed.
    "Further," I said, "we do not have the means of returning
    you to your home."
    "Why not?" she demanded.
    "Have you not," I pressed, "noted the difference in the
    gravitational field of this place have you