Free Mariners of Gor by John Norman

smoothed them about, so their presence would not be evident. I heard pounding at an outer door. I tore away my robes and veils and thrust them beneath the covers of the couch. I dared to look upon myself in the mirror, and I recognized, though not with my customary pleasure and composure, that I was quite beautiful. Momentarily I feared I might never be able to pass as a slave, being far too beautiful.”
    “Continue,” I said.
    “In moments I had donned the tunic. I snapped the collar about my neck. I shuddered as I did so. How meaningful must that sound be to a woman who realizes she is now collared, truly. I reassured myself, pressing it with my fingers, against my leg, that the key was at hand, concealed within the tunic. Again I looked into the mirror, and the thought crossed my mind, horrifying me, that I might be found of interest by men. How worthless and disgusting are slaves! How lustful men seek them so! I was profoundly disturbed, terrified, to see my neck in a collar. I seemed transformed, to be something totally other than I had been. How men might see a woman in such a device! I feared I knew! I was terrified, and furious, that I, a free woman, might be seen as a slave, but, at the same time, I was terrified that I might not be seen as a slave, for my life itself might well depend on the success or failure of this deceit. How could I, with my beauty, so far beyond that of a slave, pass as a slave? But I must do my best. Such was my only hope. On the fourth day of the uprising we were well aware of affairs in the streets below, and the proscription lists, and I had learned my name stood high on the lists, not far below those of Talena, Seremides, and others.”
    “Surely,” I said, “you had concealed funds, weightier, more ample treasures, coffers of gold, or such, about the city, to provide you with a larger wherewithal of escape?”
    “No,” she said. “We did not anticipate the return of Marlenus, the uprising. Too, as it turned out, I would not have been able to reach them, and, had I been able to reach them, it would have been difficult, or impossible, to transport them from the city.”
    “True,” I said.
    “Jewels,” she said, “must do, what I could easily carry, place in a pouch.”
    “Or conceal in a tunic,” I said.
    “Yes,” she said.
    “So you would escape in the disguise of a slave,” I said.
    “Yes,” she said. “Who would note me? I feared only that my beauty would betray me, that men, if perceptive, might note that it was far beyond that of a mere slave.”
    I found her views interesting. One of the highest compliments one can pay a free woman, though perhaps not to her face, is that she is “slave beautiful.” Commonly it is only the most beautiful of women who are brought into the collar. After all, one wants to sell them.
    “So,” she said, “well disguised, and bearing riches, I would make my way to freedom.”
    “I see,” I said.
    I wondered if she knew that that ruse, feigning bondage, was not unprecedented amongst free women in straits, for example, in a burning city, being sacked, and such. And I supposed that she did not know that tunics were removed routinely and examined for such articles, jewels, rings, coins, keys, and such, as well as the body of the female.
    “The pounding at the door grew more insistent. Too, there was shouting. And I then heard heavy blows against the wood, the striking of some tool.”
    I supposed this would be siege hammer, or possibly a hand ram, swung by one or more men.
    “‘Wait, wait, Masters’ I cried, using the word ‘Masters’ as an aspect of my disguise. ‘The Mistress is not here!’ I said. ‘She has fled! I will open the door!’ I lifted away the bars, and the door burst inward, striking me to the side. I was bruised. I kept my head down. They must not see how beautiful I was. They must think me a mere slave! ‘Whose compartments are these?’ demanded a man, with a sharpened half-staff. ‘Those of my