“Yet they do naught to distract from the femaleness of her,” said Hannil, his eyes resting upon my breasts. “Have her remove the breech as well, Ceralt.”
“There are no further scars to be seen beneath her breech,” replied Ceralt, folding his arms across his chest. “Do we speak as those who shall ride together, Hannil, or do we merely nod in passing, each going his own way alone? Have you come here merely to see another wench stripped before you? Your own wench seems attractive enough to satisfy the wants of any man. Must we exchange wenches to have your agreement to the journey?”
Ceralt spoke sharply, deriding the other male, seemingly out of patience with the foolishness presented him. Hannil turned his head sharply toward Ceralt, nearly angered at having been spoken to so, and then he laughed.
“We had best not quarrel, brother,” said he, something distasteful behind his amusement. “The journey ahead of us will take much effort—if it is to be successful.”
“You will go then?” Lialt pounced, gladness in his tone. “You believe in the journey?”
“I have been forced to believe,” grimaced Hannil, reaching again for the skin of near-renth. “My own Pathfinder spoke to me of it before the arrival of Ceralt’s messenger, a dozen feyd before. I was also told of the hadat, what her appearance must be, how she would respond to the journey—and the certainty that death awaited us should the journey not be made. I wished only to see this wench of yours, to assure myself she was indeed the one spoken of by my Pathfinder. Take seat and let us drink together now, for who knows how much longer we will be able to do so?”
The three males about me looked upon one another, then took their places upon the lanthay fur, facing those who already sat. He called Hannil drank from the skin he held then passed it about, seeing that each of the males did as he had done. Once the drink had been partaken of by all, the females were ordered from the back of the tent, touched and kissed briefly by the males to whom they had run, then sent to the three males who were guests within their tent. She called Deela threw herself upon Ceralt, squirming and kissing at him, causing him to laugh in delight as she attempted to please him with her wrists chained near to her neck. I alone stood where I had been, arms folded beneath my life sign, body straight, head held high. The males had come for serious talk, yet there they sat, arms about the females who had crept to them, laughter in their voices, desire in their eyes. After some reckid of sport the talk again turned to the trail, a matter which should have been seen to at once. These males made mighty warriors indeed.
Surely more than a hin passed in talk of formations and march times, supplies and hunting, how many would remain behind with the females, how many would continue on. The males seemed intent upon the talk, yet how may one discuss possible battle amid the giggling and wheedling of slave-women? Ceralt and Lialt and Telion seemed pleased with the distractions pressed upon them, a thing Hannil did not fail to note. Many times did his eyes come to study me where I stood, and at last he leaned back once more in the lanthay fur.
“I see, Ceralt, that Deela pleases you,” said he, showing a pleasure of his own. “I find it odd that your own woman fails to kneel by your side, allowing, instead, another female the task of seeing to her man’s pleasure. Have you instructed her to act so?”
Ceralt raised his eyes to regard me, listening to Hannil’s words without expression, his hands spread out upon the female Deela, who pressed nearer and ever nearer to him. A moment passed in silence after Hannil had completed his observation, then Ceralt shook his head.
“No, I have not instructed her to act so,” said he, all inflection gone from his voice. “She continues to refuse acknowledgment of her position as a man’s wench, and I grow weary of it. Your wench’s welcome is a pleasant change.”
“Yet you must continue to keep the cold wench by you, for her presence is critical,” nodded Hannil, sober concern and complete understanding clear in his manner. “A pity you, who labor in the cause of all, must suffer while others make merry about you.” Hannil’s head shook in commiseration, and then his face lighted as his hand smote his thigh. “No, by Sigurr’s putrid breath, it need not be! You, too, shall have pleasure, for this darkness at the very least! You may use Deela, and I shall keep watch over this silent statue.”
“That is very kind of you, Hannil,” Ceralt began, his hands amove upon the female he held, “yet it may not . . . .”
“No, no; I insist!” interrupted this Hannil, his face pleased and full of friendship. “You need not protest out of a sense of, propriety, for I shall hear none of it. As there be two other wenches in the tent, I will not find myself bereft. Take her, brother, and find the joy in her you have so valiantly earned.”
Ceralt hesitated, and then his eyes touched me again, staring as though he searched for a sign which might guide him. I took my gaze from his and looked toward the tent wall, already knowing which way he would decide. Ceralt wished a village slave-woman for his own, one who knew naught of being a warrior. Jalav was not one such as that.
“You see, she makes no protest,” said Hannil, his voice as pleased as it had been. “To an unwilling wench, one place is as distasteful as another.”
“Apparently you see the thing more clearly than I,” said Ceralt, and then came the sound of his rising to his feet. “Had she desired to return with me, she would have spoken of it. I accept your kind offer, Hannil, and shall find some means by which to repay you. Remove the chain from this wench. so that she may find her leathers and furs. Jalav, as my company is so distasteful to you, you will remain here.”
Further sounds came, of rising and dressing and preparations for departure, yet through it all I continued to look upon naught save the far wall. Ceralt had the female he desired, clearly his free choice in the matter, yet had he attempted to show the choice as one forced upon him by my actions. Was I to believe he had no memory of commanding me to silence, that he spoke of the lack of words from me? Perhaps the male spoke to confuse the others, yet it mattered not. Again had I been given to a strange male, to face the trials imposed upon me by Mida.
Ceralt and the others, accompanied by the female Deela, at last left the tent to a considerable silence. Hannil and his males sat in silent contemplation of me, eyes hooded and faces thoughtful, and then, after a full hand of reckid, Hannil rose to his feet to approach me. His face showed naught of what he was about, yet suddenly was I taken and held by male strength, his arms about me and holding me still, till the chains taken from the female Deela were firmly closed upon me. About my throat was the largest secured, to that one the two upon my wrists attached, all holding me as Hannil wished, confining me as though I were a slave. Hannil laughed to see the manner in which I struggled, useless as always against the metal of males, then his fist found my hair to force my gaze up to his.
“It is now time for sport earlier begun, wench,” said he, stroking his hand down my belly to the breech about me, then tearing the breech away. “Now you seem much the same as any other wench, save perhaps a bit more to pleasure a man’s hands and eyes. Truly are you well made, well made indeed.”
His hands, free of the breech, came to fondle and stroke my breasts, quickly bringing them to eager points. Again I struggled against the chain which held me, shamed to my soul that the touch of one such as he would reach my blood.
“You are quick to heat for one so cold,” he laughed, taking the points he had made between his fingers. “It is my sincere hope that you will be first to lose the game, allowing me rapid access to this body of yours. Taking you now would be pleasant, yet entirely against the rules of the game.”
The other males asprawl upon the lanthay fur laughed with the one before me, then was I pushed to the center of the tent, a moment later joined by the other two females, propelled in the same manner.