We first meet the lovely
Elizabeth Cardwell under what arewere, for her, dire circumstances.
LShe, like many women brought taken from Earth for a specific purpose,
she she hashad little idea comprehension of the intrigue in which
she finds found herself. She is broughtBrought to Gor by a pale
pale-skinned man with ice ice-colored eyes, wearing a message collar
sewn around her neck and dumped upon the plains of Turia. , Elizabeth
CardwellShe is brought arrived bound at the camp of the Tuchuksbound
into the camp of the Tuchuks after having been run behind the a
warrior's kailla. of a warrior of the Tuchuks.
She is scratched, bloodied,
and her Earth clothes in shreds, as she is was brought before Kamchak
and then Kutaituchik, he the Ubar of the Tuchuks. She, so new to
Gor, can could only speak to Tarl Cabot in their her native tongue,
English. Indeed, this is was the only reason that she is was brought
to Gor, other than she is was an extremely beautiful woman with
rrich, dark hair. The message collar sewn around her throat confirms
confirmed her pawn-like status, as the simple wording of the message
sewn inside reads: 'Find the man to whom this woman can speak. He
is Tarl Cabot. Slay Himhim'. It is was signed by the Priest Kings
of Gor.
So sets Elizabeth Cardwell,
called Vella by Kamchak, as He cannot could not pronounce her Earth
name, upon her journey upon the great and wonderful world of the
Counter Earth, that planet which is called Gor. She iswas, of course,
confused, frightened and completely at the mercy of the dreaded
Tuchuks and even Tarl Cabot cannot could not spare her the fate
which that the white skinned man who comes to Earth for her, has
chosenhad chosen for her. She is was questioned by Kamchak as he,
she, and Cabot sit sat before Kutaituchik. With Cabot translating
translating, she answers answered all questions put to her to the
satisfaction of Kamchak and Kutaituchikthe two Tuchuks.
Kutaituchik, in typical male
Gorean male fashion, asks asked her if she is was eager to serve
the fancy of the Tuchuks as a slave. She of course knowing only
the phrase "La Kajira" which means meant "I am a
slave girl", is horrified to think of a futuredenied she was
ready to serve as a slave girl of Gor. Her refusal is was met with
Kutaituchik's order to have her impaled. Upon Cabot's translation
of her fate, she learns learned her first and probably most important
significant lesson of her new life upon Gor. That wWomen are were
subservient to men and are subject to the least of a man's whims.
With her acceptance of her new life, Elizabeth Cardwell thus becomes
Vella-- just another slave girl of Gor.
It is a lesson taught her
very well by all except saveby Cabot. Being a very intelligent woman,
sShe has had already learned that he is was not really a Gorean
but, like herself, a transplanted Earthling. Her intelligence manifests
manifested itself very quickly, as she realizes realized that Cabot
does did not have the same hard edge, nor the inborn acceptance
of female slavery, asthat the Goreans amongst whom she finds found
herself among, did and she uses used this very well in her manipulations
of Cabot. She, however, like all women, those be they of Earth or
Gor, feels felt the power of the male sex over the female sex.
It doesn't nowdid not stop
herr, however, from maneuvering Tarl Cabot into eventually freeing
her from of the collar of slavery. She senses sensed Cabot's sympathy
for her plight and she usesused it most effectively. Even after
she is was branded and the nose ring of the slaves of the wagon
Wagon peoples Peoples is affixed in her nose, she uses used her
wiles and intelligence to manipulate Cabot after she is being given
to Cabot him by Kamchak for his bravery in the investment of Turia.
Although she longslonged,
like all women, for the complete domination of a man, she cannot
could not bring herself to admit that deep down inside, herself
that she is was nothing trulybut a slave. This is shown no more
obviously as than when Cabot leaves the wagon to return to Turia,
and when she tells him that both Vella and Elizabeth love him. She
lLike most Earth women we meet that who have been brought to Gor,
Vella cannot could not understand the deep animalistic need of a
women woman to be totally and absolutely under the power of a strong
man. In Cabot, who has had not yet learned what it means meant to
be Gorean, she finds found a man whom she can could beguile to keep
from having to admit to herself that the fire of a slave girl burns
burned brightly within her belly.
Indeed, her management of
Cabot is no more clearly shown that when they returned from Turia
to the wagons of the Tuchuks before they take took their leave of
the plains of Turia. She secures secured Cabot's acquiescence to
keep her as a slave for an few hours longer so she may might pay
back a slave named Tuka, who was had been hired by Kamchak to teach
her the Gorean language, and was quick with the kaji switch when
she Vella did not learn swiftly enough. Her reason, when asked why
by Cabot, was that Mmaster's didn't tend to interfere in the squabbles
of slaves, and she proceeds proceeded to beat Tuka unmercifully.
Cabot loads loaded her on
his Tarn after freeing her and together they returned the egg of
the Priest Kings to the nest as Elizabeth Cardwell makes her first
impression upon us as a main character in the wonderful and seductive
world of John Norman's Gor.