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."Please, go away!" I Wept.I saw its belly lower itself to the ground, the bead still lifted, watchingme.Its tail lashed;its eyes blazed.It inched forward.It had two rows of fangs.I looked to the left and right.It squealed hideously.It came closer.It was a precisely trained beast, but no training is perfect.It is abalancing of instincts and conditioning.It is never perfect.The beast, atthe nearness and intensity of my scent, was becoming uncontrollable.Thecritical attacking distance for a sleen in the wild is about twenty feet.Thisdistance, in a herd sleen, of course, is much smaller.I could see itsexcitement mount.The fur about its neck rippled and bristled.Then I saw itgather its four hind legs beneath it.With a cry of misery I turned and fled.I ran back toward the training pit andthe open cage that had been designated for occupancy by the Earth-girl slave.I ran wildly, helplessly.It ran behind me, snapping and snarling.I felt itsbreath on my legs.It cut with its teeth at my heels.I gasped.I fought for breath.It drove mefaster and faster.The beast was well trained.It knew well how to herd a slave girl.It had asense of the distance, and of my limitations; its speed and endurance which, Isuspect, were superior to my own.It had herded other girls.It kept me at mylimits, not permitting me to think, but only to run,file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Slave%20Girl%20Of%20Gor.txt (89 of 227) [1/20/033:34:31 AM]file:///F|/rah/John%20Norman/Slave%20Girl%20Of%20Gor.txt frenziedly, madly, adriven, herded slave girl, seeking her cage.I was at its mercy.It set me the pace which I must make, if I would live.I cried out with misery, running.It drove me perfectly.My only hope of survival was to reach the cage, and lock myself within it,where I would await, confined, the pleasure of a master.I threw myself into the cage on my hands and knees and, wildly, turned andflung down the gate behind me, it securely locking.The beast tried to reachme, but could not do so.I was safe within the cage, but locked within it, atthe mercy of a master.I had been herded.What hope had a girl for escape on a world which contained sleen? Howcompletely we belonged to our masters!There are many varieties of sleen, and most varieties can be, to one extent orPage 122ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlanother, domesticated.The two most common sorts of trained sleen are thesmaller, tawny prairie sleen, and the large, brown or black forest sleen,sometimes attaining a length of twenty feet.In the north, I am told the snowsleen has been domesticated.The sleen is a dangerous and fairly common animalon Gor, which has adapted itself to a variety of environments.There is evenan aquatic variety, called the sea sleen, which is one of the swiftest andmost dreaded beasts in the sea.Sea sleen are found commonly in northernwaters.They are common off the coast of Torvaldsland, and further north.In the wild, the sleen is a burrowing, predominantly nocturnal animal.It iscarnivorous.It is a tenacious hunter, and an indefatigable tracker.It willattack almost anything, but its preferred prey is tabuk.It mates once a yearin the Gorean spring, and there are usually four young in each litter.Thegestation period is some six months.The young are commonly white furred atbirth, the fur darkening by the following spring.Snow sleen, however, remainwhite-pelted throughout their life.Most domestic sleen are bred.It is difficult to take and tame a wild sleen.Sometimes young sleen, following the killing of the mother, are dug out of aburrow and raised.If they can be taken within the first two months of theirlife, which seems to be a critical period, before they have tasted blood andmeat in the wild, and made their own kills, there is apparently a reasonablygood chance that they can be domesticated; otherwise, generally not.Althoughgrown, wild sleen have been caught and domesticated, this is rare.Even asleen which has been taken young may revert.These reversions can be extremelydangerous.They usually take place, as would be expected, in the spring,during the mating season.Male sleen, in particular, can be extremely restlessand vicious during this period.The mating of sleen is interesting.Thefemale, if never before mated, flees and fights the male.But he is larger andstronger.At last he takes her by the throat and throws her upon her back,interestingly, belly to belly, beneath him.His fangs are upon her throat.Sheis at his mercy.She becomes docile and permits her penetration.Shortly,thereafter, their heat growing, they begin, locked together by legs and teeth,to roll and squeal in their mating frenzy.It is a very fierce and marvelousspectacle.It is not unusual for slave girls, seeing this, to kneel at theirmaster's feet and beg their caress [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]