Read Witness of Gor for Free Online Page B

doubtless be somewhat different from that to which I had been accustomed. The collar on my neck suggested that, and the chains on my limbs.
    I heard voices, ahead of me, and, too, some behind me.
    "You may lift your head," he said. His fellow had went further back, behind me.
    I lifted my head.
    The metal shackle on my neck had been put on from behind. There is variation in such things. Most often, particularly with items such as we, new to such things, and naive, it is done in that fashion, I suppose, to minimize the tendency to bolt. At other times, however it is done from the beginning, particularly with individuals who realize clearly and fully what is going on, so that they may, in full specificity and anticipation, with full intellectual and emotional understanding, see it approach, one by one, and then find themselves, in turn, no different from others, secured within its obdurate clasp. The first, you see, might be frightened at its sight and, in their naiveté, be tempted to bolt; the second, on the other hand, might be terrified at its sight, but realizes that there is no escape.
    I heard the voices before and behind me.
    It was not for no reason that I had been permitted to lift my head.
    Here and there before me, and, I suppose, behind me, one or another of the men were thrusting whips to the lips of the items in the line. He who was nearest to me had such a device hooked on his belt. I looked on, disbelievingly. Then the fellow nearest me removed that effective, supple tool from his belt. I began to tremble. "Do not be afraid," he said, soothingly.
    I watched the device, as he loosened the coils a little, arranging them, in almost hypnotic fascination.
    "It will take but a moment," he said. "Do not be frightened.”
    The coils were then but an inch from my lips. I looked up at him.
    "It was foolish of me to beg for mercy," I whispered. "I am sorry.”
    "You will learn to beg, in rational contexts, even more piteously," he said. "Indeed, it will be important for you, to learn how to beg well. I do not mean merely that you will be taught to beg prettily, on your knees, and such things. I mean rather that upon certain occasions the only thing which might stand between you and the loss of your nose and ears, or life, may be the sincerity and excellence with which you can perform certain placatory behaviors.”
    "I do not want you to think I am stupid," I said.
    He looked down at me. I could not read his expression.
    "I am not stupid," I said.
    "We shall see," he said.
    I heard words. I saw a whip thrust to the lips of the item before me in the line.
    A whip, too, was within an inch of my own lips.
    I drew back my head a little, and looked up at him.
    He did nothing.
    I did not know what to do. What was I supposed to do? I knew what I should do, what would be appropriate, what I wanted to do.
    "I do not know what to do," I said.
    "What a shy, timid thing you are," he said.
    "The others are speaking to us," I said. "You are not speaking to me.
    You are not telling me what to do.”
    "What do you think you should do?" he asked.
    "I don't know," I said.
    "What do you want to do?" he asked.
    "No, no!" I said.
    "You will kiss, and lick, the whip," he said, "lovingly, lingeringly.”
    I looked up at him, in terror.
    "Do you understand?" he asked.
    "Yes," I said.
    "First," he said, "the whip will come to you, and then, second, you will come to the whip.”
    "I understand," I said.
    Surely I must resist this! I could feel the chain at my belly. I squirmed a little on my knees.
    He held the whip gently to my lips. He could, I realized, have done this in a very different manner. He might have done it with brutality. He might, in effect, have struck me, perhaps bruising my lips, perhaps bloodying my mouth, forcing the soft inner surfaces of the lips back against the teeth. I might have tasted leather and my own blood. But he was very gentle. With incredible feelings, which I could scarcely comprehend, I kissed the whip, and then,