Tenalion smiled. "She is a piece of property," he said, "an item of merchandise. I am not a raiding slaver. I am a business slaver. I cannot simply remove her from your premises."
"She is worthless," said the Lady Florence. "I give her to you."
"She is not worthless," said Tenalion, appraising the lines of the slave.
"Give me then," said she, "a tarsk bit, the tenth of a copper tarsk. It is more than she is worth."
"I am an honest man," said Tenalion. "Permit me to give you a competitive price for her, compatible with the month's markets."
"What is she worth?" asked the Lady Florence, curious.
Tenalion placed in her hand a silver tarsk.
"So much?" asked the Lady Florence.
"Yes," said Tenalion. "She is beautiful, and in her belly is slave fire. Men will pay high for such a slut."
The hand of the Lady Florence closed on the silver tarsk. Melpomene now belonged to Tenalion of Ar.
"I have sold you, Melpomene," said the Lady Florence to the girl. "You are a sold slave!"
"Yes, Mistress," said Melpomene. "Master," she said.
"Yes," said Tenalion.
"May I speak?" she asked.
"Yes," said Tenalion.
"For what was I sold?" she asked, head down.
"A silver tarsk," said Tenalion.
"Ah," breathed Melpomene.
"See that you prove worthy of having been sold for a silver tarsk." said Tenalion.
"Yes, Master," said Melpomene.
"Doubtless, Tenalion," said the Lady Florence, "you will soon have her branded." She spoke lightly, but I could see that she was interested in the question.
The eyes of the Lady Leta and of the Lady Perimene shone above their veils.
"I will have her branded in my camp before sundown of the day after tomorrow," said Tenalion.
"I see," said the Lady Florence.
"Have no fear, Lady Florence," he said, "her thigh will soon know, and well and deeply, the kiss of the burning iron. Soon she will be a properly and fully marked slave."
"Good," said the Lady Florence. Then she added, "Do not permit her to escape."
"Slaves do not escape from Tenalion of Ar," be said. He looked at her evenly.
She shuddered. "I see," she said.
I smiled to myself. Even if the security of Tenalion were not perfect, as is that of most slavers, making escape impossible, where would a naked woman in a collar go. If she should escape one master, surely she would soon fall to another. They have been made slaves, and they will remain slaves.
"Your vengeance on your enemy, Lady Florence," said the Lady Leta, looking down at Melpomene, "is surely now complete and perfect:"
"Yes," said the Lady Perimene, regarding the collared slave, "you have reduced her to slavery, you have shamed and humiliated her, you have made her entertain your guests, you have made her dance for a stable slave, and then lie for him, and have now sold her."
"Yes," said the Lady Florence, "surely now my vengeance is complete and perfect, but if this is so, then why do I feel somehow dissatisfied?"
"I can explain that to you, Lady Florence," said Tenalion, "if you wish to listen."
She regarded him, puzzled.
"Girl," he said to the slave.
"Yes, Master," she said, quickly, frightened that she had been abruptly spoken to. Had she not been fully pleasing?
"Are you pleased that you are a slave?" he asked her.
There was a silence. Then the girl whispered, "Yes, Master, I am pleased that I am a slave."
The women, the Lady Leta, the Lady Perimene, the Lady Florence, gasped in astonishment.
"That is why you are dissatisfied, my dear Lady Florence," said Tenalion.
"I do not understand," said the Lady Florence.
"You have liberated the slave in her," said Tenalion. "She is now free to be the slave that she is, fully."
"I do not understand," said the Lady Florence.
"She will come to know emotions, and degradations and joys of which you, a free woman, cannot even dream. You have returned her birthright to her."
"Her birthright?" asked the Lady Florence.
"Woman is born to the collar, and love," said Tenalion. "You have put her in a collar. And she must now, helplessly, seek the other."
"Good night, Tenalion," she said, angrily. "I wish you well."
"And good night, too, to you, Lady Florence," he said. "And I, too, wish you well."
Then he spoke to the slave. His voice was quite different when he spoke to the slave from what it had been when he had spoken to the free woman. After all, he was then addressing himself to one who was only a bond girl. "Go to the back entrance, Melpomene," he said. "My wagon is there. Beg the driver to lock you in the slave cage."
"Yes, Master," she said. Suddenly she put her lips, and then the side of her head to the side of my knee. I felt her kiss, and then her tears.
"Slave!" cried the Lady Florence.
"Yes, Slave, Mistress," said Melpomene. Then, head down, she crawled from the hall on her hands and knees. She had not been given permission to rise. The chain, fastened to her collar, dragged behind her.
"I wish to thank you for a lovely evening," said the Lady Leta.
"It was marvelous, simply exquisite," said the Lady Perimene.
Tenalion and Ronald, his man, took their leave. Ronald, in one hand, carried the slaver's case, with its chains, and rings, and bracelets and collars, with him.
The two women, the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene, too, took their leave.
As they left, I heard the Lady Perimene say to the Lady Leta, "But who would not be a slave in the arms of such a brute?"
The Lady Florence signaled that the musicians might leave. Pamela and Bonnie knelt at one side of the room, waiting for permission to clear.
"I should get the slave back to the stables," said Kenneth. "It is late."
"Of course," said the Lady Florence.
I turned away.
"Oh, Jason," she said.
I turned about.
"You did well tonight," she said. "I am very pleased."
"Thank you, Mistress," I said. Again I turned away.
"Oh, Jason," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said, turning again to face her.
"It is nothing," she said. "Nothing." She looked at me. She seemed angry. "Go," she said. "Get out!"
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"You may clear," I heard her tell Pamela and Bonnie.
I glanced about once before leaving the room. I saw Pamela and Bonnie attending to the tables. The Mistress stood alone in the room. Suddenly, angrily, she picked up a plate and flung it across the room. Pamela and Bonnie kept their heads down, pretending not to notice. Angrily the Mistress left the room.
"Come along, Jason," said Kenneth. "Yes, Master," I said.
23 A GIRL IN THE TUNNEL
I stood in the absolute darkness of the tunnel. It was the central tunnel of that network of tunnels under the lands of the Mistress, by means of which various buildings, such as storage sheds, the incubation shed, certain of the stables, and the nursery, are connected.
My back was sore. Twice this week had I been beaten, and well.
Last night, while chained by the neck in my stall, I had received two visits, one from Taphris and one from Kenneth.
"Do you see now the power I have over you?" had asked Taphris.
"Yes," I had said, miserable in the straw, lying on my stomach, sick.
"I have the favor of the Mistress," said Taphris. "I can have you beaten when and as I wish."
"It is true," I admitted.
"Will you meet me now in the tunnel?" she had asked.
"No," I told her.
She stood at the open end of the stall, beyond my reach. She was angry. "I see that tomorrow," she said, "you will seize Claudia in your arms, crush her to you and rape her lips with the kiss of the Master."