"She wanted to be had by you," said Bares.
I said nothing.
"She presented her body to you as though to that of a rape master," he said. "Interesting," he said, "for you are only a collared slave."
I said nothing, but bent to my work. I did consider, however, the power which a free man might have over a slave girl.
I saw Taphris glaring at me. She was angry. I did not doubt but what the Mistress would hear of my interlude with the passing slave.
Bares was relieved at the edge of the southeast meadow at noon, and he, wanting help later in the incubation shed, returning to the stables, took me with him. Taphris, leaving the waterskin with the work crew, followed us.
"Who is the captain of the mercenaries who fly for Vonda?" I asked. "Is it such men as Terence of Treve or Ha-Keel, once of Ar?" These were two well-known mercenary captains. Others were Oleg of Skjern, Leander of Farnacium and William of Thentis.
"Vonda does not pay so high," he had smiled. "It is one called Artemidorus."
"Artemidorus of Cos?" I asked.
"Yes," had said Bares.
"Vonda plays with fire," I remarked.
"Perhaps," said Bares. Though such a captain as Artemidorus was a free captain, certainly the sympathies of Cos would ride with him. Too, if there were trouble it would not go unnoticed by those of Ar that they were dealing with Cosians.
"It seems a potentially dangerous choice," I said.
"Even if Vonda were willing to afford such men as Terence or Ha-Keel," said Bares, "it is unlikely they would be willing to take saddle in her behalf. Terence, being of Treve, would not be eager to ride against Ar. Such an action could precipitate a new expedition into the Voltai by the tarnsmen of Ar." Several years ago I knew there had been war between Ar and Treve. The tarnsmen of Treve, over the snow-capped crags of the scarlet Voltai range, had turned back the squadrons of Ar. It had been one of the fiercest, bloodiest taro battles ever fought in the history of the planet. Ar had never forgotten that she had been checked in the Voltai, nor had Treve forgotten the cost of having done so. Terence, I conjectured, would not be willing to ride against Ar unless he had removed the insignia from his helmet and shield. It did not seem likely he would do so. Men of Treva commonly disdain to conceal their identity. "And Ha-Keel," said Bares, "though he was banished from Ar, would not, I think, care to ride against her."
Ha-Keel had been banished from Ar. It had been a matter of murder. A woman had been involved. He had captured, raped and enslaved her, then selling her. "Be sold as the slave you are," he had said to her. It was said, however, in the fang years since his banishment, that Ha-Keel had never forgotten Ar, or the woman. He had never found her again, of course. It is difficult to trace a female slave. They often change names and masters.
"I understand," I said.
"What I fear," said Bares, "is that it is no accident that Artemidorus was given fee in this matter."
"You see in that a desire on the part of those in Vonda who favor war with Ar an artifice to provoke a full-scale conflict between Cos and Ar, a conflict in which Cos and the SaIerian Confederation would then find themselves natural allies?"
Bares looked at me, soberly. "Of course," he said. "Yet I think neither Cos nor Ar, nor the confederation, truly desires a full-scale war."
"They could be maneuvered into it, perhaps," I said, "by those who do."
"It is possible," said Bares. "Matters are delicate" He looked south. "Kaissa," he mused, "is sometimes played for high stakes." Kaissa is an intricate board game popular on Gor.
Bares then regarded Taphris. "The pretty spy accompanies us," he said.
"Yes, Master," I said.
Taphris looked down, reddening.
"After you and Jason have been swilled and watered," he said, "we are going to the sewing shed."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Can you sew, Taphris?" he asked.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"I am glad there is something you can do," he said, "which is appropriate for a female slave."
"Yes, Master," she said, angrily.
"Chain them," said Bares.
"Yes, Master," I said.
I had, in the afternoon, not speaking, watched the girls, including Taphris, sew. They were lovely.
Bares, after the ringing of the bar for the fourteenth Ahn, had looked occasionally out the window, judging the position of the sun.
How skilled, too, were the girls, even though they had worked only on common girth cloths. How swift and nimble were their fingers, how fine and exact their work. How rude and clumsy would have been the large hands of a man for such work, and how delicate and perfect for it were the small, lovely hands of females.
I had seen Bares again look through the window. It had then been shortly before the fifteenth Ahn.
I had looked again at the girls, their scanty garments and collars, with the dependent chain loops.
How marvelous it is to be on a world where such lovely, delicious creatures may be owned.
"Chain them," had said Bares.
"Yes, Master," I had said.
The girls looked up at me, Tuka, Claudia, Peliope, Leah and Taphris.
"Tuka," I said, "open the sewing cabinet and replace the scissors on their peg; Claudia, replace the needles in the pin cushion in the cabinet; Peliope, replace the thread spools on the spool spindles in the cabinet; Leah, fold the girth cloths; Taphris, place the girth cloths on the table near the window. When you have finished your tasks, kneel by the door, in the order of descending height."
"Yes, Master," they said, for I, even though only a slave, had been placed in authority over them.
In a few moments I went to the sewing cabinet. The scissors were on their peg. I counted the needles. Five had been returned to the pin cushion. And the five spools of thread, I counted them, were residing on their spool spindles. I shut the sewing cabinet. Barus locked it. He picked up the folded girth cloths from the table near the window. "I shall meet you in the incubation shed," he said.
"Yes, Master," I said.
"On your feet," I said to the girls.
Taphris looked over her shoulder to Barus. "Surely," she said, "I am not to be chained"
He thought for a moment. He shrugged. He nodded at me. "Do not chain her," he said, "at least for the time" If she were chained, held by her collar in the kennel, confined by a linkage of steel, how could she keep her eye on me?
She tossed her head. "I am an exception," she said.
"Perhaps," I said.
"The rest of you," I said, "to your kennels, hurry!" I clapped my hands.
"Yes, Master," said the girls, with the exception of Taphris, scurrying from the sewing shed.
I glanced at the sun. They would be in the kennels well before the fifteenth Ahn.
I snapped the heavy lock, on its chain, on the collar loop of Tuka.