They talked of hunting, and war, and of the northern forests, as though I was not there.
Sometimes Verna would say, "Drink," and I would pour wine into her goblet, saying, "Yes, Mistress," and sometimes Rask of Treve would command me, saying "Drink," and I would then, similarly, serve him, saying "Yes, Master." Verna sat cross-legged, like a man. I knelt, as a serving slave.
She threw me one of the oysters.
"Eat, Slave," she said.
I ate.
In so doing this, she, the guest, had signified that I might now feed. It is a not uncommon Gorean courtesy, in such situations, to permit the guest to grant the feeding permission to the slaves present.
"Thank you, Mistress," I said.
Rask of Treve then threw me a piece of meat, that I might satisfy my hunger, for I had not been fed.
With my hands I ate the meat, a collared slave, while the free persons drank, and conversed.
Rask of Treve snapped his fingers. "Approach me, El-in-or," he said. I bolted down the meat. I approached him, across the low table behind which he sat on the rugs. (Pg. 302) He extended his goblet to me. "Drink," he said, offering me the cup. I looked at the rim of the cup. I shook with terror. "A slave girl dares not touch with her lips the rim of that cup which has been touched with the lips of her master," I whispered.
"Excellent," said Verna.
"She was trained in the pens of Ko-ro-ba," said Rask of Treve.
He then, from his own cup, poured some wine into a small bowl, which he handed to me.
"Thank You, Master," I breathed.
With his head back Rask of Treve gestured me to one side, and I went and knelt to one side, as I had before.
I put back my head and drank the wine. It was Ka-la-na wine. I felt it almost immediately.
"I have a surprise for you," Rask was telling Verna.
"Oh?" she asked.
I put down the wine cup, to one side.
Rask of Treve looked at me. He was in an expansive mood. He cut a large slice of juicy bosk meat. My mouth watered. He smiled, and then he threw it to me. I caught it, happily, and with two hands, began to feed on it.
"What is the surprise?" asked Verna.
Rask clapped his hands once, and four musicians, who had been waiting outside, entered the tent. And took a place to one side. Two had small drums, one a flute, the other a stringed instrument.
Rask clapped his hands twice, sharply. And the black-haired, green-eyed, olive-skinned slave girl stood before him. "Put her in slave bells," said Rask, to one of the musicians. The musician fastened leather cuffs, mounted each with three rows of bells, on her wrists and ankles.
"Please, Master," begged the girl, "not before a woman." She referred to Verna. I was only a slave.
Rask of Treve threw the girl one of the oysters, from a silver plate on the low, wooden table.
"Eat it," he said. There was a rustle of slave bells. She complied with the dictum of her master.
"It was destined for the table of Marlenus of Ar," said Rask of Treve. "Yes, Master," said the girl.
She stood facing him.
Verna and I watched.
"Remove your garment," said Rask of Treve.
"Please, Master," she begged.
"Remove it," said Rask of Treve.
The beautiful, olive-skinned girl parted the garment and dropped it to one side. "You may now dance, Talena," said Rask of Treve.
The girl danced.
"She is not bad, said Verna.
"Do you know who she is?" asked Rask of Treve, eating a piece of meat. "No," said Verna. "Who is she?"
"Talena," said Rask, smiling, "the daughter of Marlenus of Ar."
Verna looked at him, dumbfounded, and then she laughed a great laugh, and slapped her knee. "Splendid!" she cried. "Splendid!"
She leaped to her feet and, closely, moving about her, examined the girl as she danced, now slowly, to a barbaric, adagio melody. "Splendid!" cried Verna. "Splendid!"
Now the melody became more swift, and it burned like flame in the girl's slave body.
"Give her to me!" cried Verna.
"Perhaps," said Rask of Treve.
"I am the enemy of Marlenus of Ar!" cried Verna. "Give her to me!"
"I, too, am the enemy of Marlenus of Ar," said Rask. He held out his goblet and I, the meat on which I was feeding clenched between my teeth, filled it. "I will well teach her the meaning of slavery in the northern forests!" cried Verna.
I could see fear in the girl's eyes, as she danced. I continued to eat the piece of meat on which I had been feeding.
She was beautiful and helpless as she danced, before her enemies. The firelight glinted on her collar, which had been placed on her throat by Rask of Treve. But I did not feel sorry for her. She was no business of mine. She was only another slave.
"I have taught her something of slavery already," smiled Rask of Treve. The girl's eyes seemed agonized, as she danced.
"How is she?" asked Verna, who had now again resumed her place, seating herself cross-legged by Rask of Treve's side.
"Superb," said Rask of Treve.
Humiliation and shame shone in the eyes of the dancing slave girl.
"Where did you get her? asked Verna.
"I acquired her about a year ago," said Rask of Treve, "from a merchant of Tyros, who was traveling by caravan overland to Ar, with the intention of returning her, for a recompense, to Marlenus of Ar."
"What did she cost you?" asked Verna.
"I do not buy women," said Rask of Treve.
I shuddered.
"It is marvelous!" cried Verna. "Your secret camp lies within the very realm of Ar itself! Splendid! And in this camp you keep the daughter of your worst enemy, the daughter of the Ubar of great Ar itself, as slave! Magnificent!" I watched the girl dancing, the slave.
Rask clapped his hands again, twice, sharply. The musicians stopped, and the girl stopped dancing. "This is enough, Slave Girl," he said.
She turned to flee from the tent.
"Do not forget your garment, Girl," said Verna.
The slave girl reached down and snatched up the bit of red silk she had dropped aside and, holding it, with a jangle of slave bells, fled from the tent of her master.
Rask of Treve, and Verna, laughed.
I had finished my meat.
They again held out their goblets, and I again filled them.
"Tonight," said Rask of Treve to me, "because we have brought in new prisoners, there will be feasting and pleasure."
"Yes, Master," I said.
"So go to Ute," he said, "and tell her to lock you in the shed."
"Yes, Master," I said.
"Why do you not give Talena to me? asked Verna, of Rask of Treve.
"Perhaps I shall," said Rask of Treve. "I must think about it."
I left the tent, to find Ute, to tell her to lock me in the shed.
The next day, for the first time, on a leash with another girl, Techne, a girl of Cos, I was permitted beyond the palisade. A guard was with us, and we were charged with filling our leather buckets with ram-berries, a small, reddish fruit with edible seeds, not unlike tiny plums, save for the many small seeds. I had picked such berries before, with Targo's caravan. Indeed, the first fruit on Gor I had eaten had been such berries.
I was pleased to be outside of the palisade. The day was beautifully warm, and I felt happy.
I had often begged Ute to be permitted to go beyond the palisade to pick fruit. But, always, she had, for some reason, forbidden me this permission. "I will not escape," I had assured her, irritably. "I know," she had said. What then could have been her objection? At last, she had yielded to my entreaties and permitted me, leashed to Techne, to go beyond the stockade and pick berries. It was glorious to be outside the stockade, even though fastened by a leather neck strap to another girl. Moreover, today, two more female prisoners had been brought in, girls who had been fleeing from unwanted companionships, arranged by their parents. There would be another feast, as there had been last night, and this time Ute had told me that, if the berry picking went well, I need not be locked in the shed early this night. I would be permitted, late, to serve the feasters. I was pleased that the two girls had been captured. "I suppose I must be placed in silk then," I had said to Ute, angrily. "And slave bells," had added Ute.