Free Players of Gor by John Norman Page B

Home stone having been placed at Ubara's Builder One, providing red had, on the eleventh move, departed from the main line, transposing into the Turian line. Normally, at this point, one continues with the advancement of the Ubara's Initiate's Spearman, supporting the attack being generated on the adjacent file, that of the Ubara's Builder. he, however, advanced the Ubar's Initiate's Spearman in a two-square-option move, grining it to Ubar's Initiate Five. I wondered if he knew anything about kaissa. Then, suddenly, the move seemed interesting to me. It would, in effect, launch a second attack, and one which might force yellow to bring pieces to the Ubar's side of the board, thereby weakening the position of the Ubara's Builder's File, making it more vulnerable, then, of course, to the major attack. It was an interesting idea, I wondered if it had ever been seriously played.
    "You must learn to lose!" said the paunchy fellow.
    "I have lost," said the hooded fellow, "I know what it is like."
    "You, Sir," siad the paunchy fellow turning to me, "do you play kaissa?"
    "A little," I said.
    "Hazard a game," he invited. "Only a tarsk bit!" he then glanced meaningfully at the hooded fellow, and then turned and again regarded me. "I can almost guarantee that you will win." he said.
    page 55
    "Why is your player hooded?" I asked. It did not seem the kind of disguising that might be appropriate for carnival.
    "It is something from infancy, or almost from infancy," said the paunchy fellow, shuddering, "from flames, a great fire. It left him as he is, beneath the mask. He is a disfigured monster. Free women would swoon at the sight. The stomachs of strong men would be turned. They would cry out with horror and strike at him. Such grotesquerie, such hideousness, is not to be tolerated in public view."
    "I see," I said.
    "Only a tarsk bit," the paunchy fellow reminded me.
    "Do not fear that you will not win," said the hooded fellow, in fury, placing the pieces in position for the opening of play. He then, imperiously, removed his Ubar, Ubara, and his Builders and Physicians, from the board, six major pieces. He looked angrily at me, and then, too, he threw his tarnsmen into the leather bag, with drawstrings, at the side of the table. he spun the board about so that I might have Yellow, and the first move. Thus I would have the initiative. Thus I could, in effect, for most purposes, choose my preferred opening. "Make your first move," he said. "I shall then tip my Ubar and the game will be yours."
    "Can you not be somewhat more subtle?" inquired the paunchy fellow of the hooded man.
    "I would not consider playing under such conditions," I said.
    "Why not?" aske dthe paunchy fellow, pained. "You could then say truthfully that you had won. Others need not know the sort of game it was."
    "It is an insult to kaissa," I said.
    "He is right," said the hooded fellow.
    The slave girl, whimpered, looking up at me. The pastry, which she had been diminishing, bit by miniscule bit, flake by tiny, damp flake, with her tongue, was clutched in both her hands. As she ate thus, the palcement of her arms constituted a provocative modesty, on e terminable, of course, at my will. Similarly, her small, delicate wrists were close together, so close that they might have been linked by slave bracelets.
    "Please, Master," she whimpered.
    "Hazard a game," suggested the paunchy fellow.
    I looked down into the eyes of the slave girl. She looked up at me, and slowly and sensuously, with exquisite care, licked at the sugary, white glazing on the pastry. She might be helpless with need, but I saw she had had training.
    "I have another game in mind," I said.
    page 56
    She looked up at me, flakes of the pastry and glazing about her mouth, and kissed me. "I want to love you," she said. I tasted the sugar on her lips.
    "I can understand such games," said the paunchy fellow. "It is pleasant to have a naked islave in one's arms."
    "Yes," I agreed.
    "Put them all in collars," he