Free Captive of Gor by John Norman

I among them, laughed. I gathered Lana was not popular.
    I was pleased that she, too, had been switched. She was a slacker! Why should
    the rest of us pull of her? Was she better than we?
    “Har-ta!” cried Targo. “Har-ta!”
    “Har-ta!” cried the men about us.
    The girls began to push harder. We strained, to increase the speed of the wagon.
    From time to time the men would thrust, too, at the wheels.
    We cried out with pain as two of the men, about the sides, one on each side,
    encouraged us with their switches.
    We could pull no harder. And yet we were struck. I dared not protest.
    The wagon lumbered over the grassy fields.
    Targo walked beside us. I would have thought he would have ridden in the wagon,
    but he did not. He wanted it as light as it could be, even though it meant he,
    the leader, must walk.
    (pg. 57) How I dreaded it when he would cry “Har-ta!” for then we would be
    switched again.
    I sobbed in the straps, under the switch.
    But I was Elinor Brinton, of park Avenue, of Earth! She had been rich,
    beautiful, smartly attired, tasteful, sophisticated; she had been well educated
    and traveled; she had been decisive, confident; she had carried her wealth and
    her beauty with élan; and she had deserved her position in society; it had been
    rightfully hers, for she had been gifted, high-order, superbly intelligent
    individual, an altogether superior person! She deserved everything that she had
    had! Whatever she had had she should have had, for she was that kind of person!
    That was the kind of person she was!
    I glanced at Ute.
    She regarded me, unpleasantly. She had not forgotten that I had shirked. She
    looked away, disgusted.
    I was angry. I did not care. Who was she? A fool! On such a world as this it was
    every girl for herself! Every girl for herself!
    “Har-ta!” cried Targo.
    “Har-ta!” cried the men about us.
    We cried out again, stung by the switches. I threw my full weight against the
    leather, digging my feet into the grass.
    I sobbed.
    I would not be permitted to shirk.
    I had always had my way before, with both women and men. I could get extensions
    for my term papers. I could get a new fur wrap, when I wished. When I tired of
    one auto I would have another. I could always petition for what I wished, or
    wheedle for it, or look sad, or pout. I would always get what I wished.
    Here I did not have my way.
    (pg. 58) Here I would not be permitted to shirk. The switch would see to that.
    If there were those here who might wheedle, or have their way, it would be those
    more beautiful, more pleasing than I. I would be expected. I realized, to my
    fury, for the first time, to do my share.
    The switch struck again and I wept.
    Sobbing, crying out inwardly, I pushed against the broad leather strap with all
    my might.
    7       I, With Others, Am Taken Northward
    (pg. 59) Targo, my master was a slaver.
    I cost him nothing.
    Shortly before he made me one of his girls, some two or three days before, he
    had been attacked by outlaw tarnsmen, some four days journey north by northeast
    from the city of Ko-ro-ba, which lies high in the northern temperate latitudes
    of the planet Gor, which is the name of this world. He was bound, traveling over
    the hills and meadowlands east and north of Ko-ro-ba, for the city of Laura,
    which lies on the banks of the Laurius river, some two hundred pasangs inland
    from the coast of the sea, called Thassa. Laura is a small trading city, a river
    port, whose buildings are largely of wood, consisting mostly it seems of
    warehouses and taverns. It is a clearing house for many goods, wood, salt, fish,
    stone, fur and slaves. At the mouth of the Laurius, where it empties into
    Thassa, is found the free port of Lydius, administered by the merchants, an
    important Gorean caste. From Lydius goods may be embarked for the islands of
    Thassa, such as Teletus, Hulneth and Asperiche, even Cos and Tyros, and the
    coastal cities, such as Port Kar and Helmutsport, and, far to the