Free Dancer of Gor by John Norman

nose, and then its way down my right cheek.
    "Breathe deeply," said Teibar, soothingly.
    I fought to hold my breath.
    Hercon said something.
    "Come now," said Teibar, to me, "you are disappointing Hercon."
    I looked up at him, wildly.
    "Breathe deeply," he said. "You do not wish to disappoint Hercon. Taurog too, was so proud of you. You would not wish to disappoint him, too, would you? Not after you did so well, in the matter of the chain. The time will come, I assure you, when (pg. 50) you will be extremely concerned that you not disappoint men in any way, in the least."
    I sudden coughed, half choking, in the mask. I gasped in air, plaintively, eagerly, desperately, in those tiny, hot confines. There was a closeness, an oppressiveness within them.
    "Good," said Teibar. "Now, breathe slowly, regularly, deeply."
    I looked up at him over the tight rubber rim of the mask.
    "Surely you understand that resistance is useless," he said.
    I sobbed. My eyes were bright with tears. I breathed in, deeply.
    "Good," said Teibar. "Good."
    It seemed there was a kind of heaviness inside the mask. It was not a strangling sensation and then, with my first gasp for air, an obliteration of consciousness, almost like a blow. This was quite different. It was patient, slow and gentle. I breathed in and out, deeply, slowly, regularly, in misery. Too, of course, it would be relentless and implacable.
    "Good," said Teibar.
    Hercon released my ankles. I sluggishly, groggily, moved my feet. I felt the anklet with my right foot, and tried weakly to push it from my ankle, but, of course, it was useless. It only hurt the side of my right foot a little, and the inside of my left ankle. it was on me. I could not remove it. It was there, on me, until someone else, not me, might want it off. I was "ankleted," whatever that meant.
    "Breathe deeply," said Teibar. "Good. Good."
    Taurog released my wrists. He put my hands at my sides. I could not lift them.
    "Deeply, deeply," said Teibar, soothingly.
    I felt a key thrust into the lock on the collar I wore. It was then removed from me. I was dimly conscious of Taurog coiling the chain and replacing it in the attaché case.
    "Struggle now, if you wish," said Teibar, "slut."
    But I could scarcely move. I could not raise my arms. I could not even bring my hands to the mask, and had I been able to do so, I would have been too weak to push it away. About the peripheries of my vision it seemed dark. It was hot under the tight mask. I felt another drop of liquid within the mask.
    "You are ours now, 'modern woman,'" said Teibar.
    But I scarcely heard him, or understood him. I supposed, in some sense, I was a "modern woman." I remembered, vaguely, that Teibar had said, earlier, that that could be taken away from me. I did not doubt it. Then I lost consciousness.
    4       The Whip
    (pg. 51) I screamed suddenly under it awakening under it startled not believing it not expecting it the suddenness it was like lightning the cracking sound like the sky breaking the snap like fire my body wrenching I pulling upwards the chain on my neck I fell to my side I pulled at the chain then the snap again no no please no so sharp so loud the fire the pain I screamed I was naked the chain cut my neck "Kneel," he snarled, "head to the floor," I sobbing obeyed.
    "So," said he, "the modern woman under the whip."
    I trembled, kneeling, my head down, the palms of my hands on the floor.
    "Now, slut," said he, "your power is gone, all of it, that mistakenly given to you by foolish men."
    I moaned, bent over, small before him, in a position of obeisance to his manhood, in pain.
    "Look up," he said. "Kneel, kneel straightly. Put your hands on your thighs. Head up. Split your knees. More widely, slut!"
    I obeyed.
    I was then kneeling before him, straightly, my head up, my hands on my thighs, my knees widely spread, the chain from my collar dangling down before me, between my breasts, I could feel it on my body, and going back, between my knees,