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.
The girls had hurried to their kennels before me. When I arrived there I found them waiting, kneeling on the boards of their kennels, before their chain rings, in the position of pleasure slaves, back on heels, heads up, hands on thighs, backs straight, knees wide.
"Take your hands off her," said Taphris. My left hand had strayed to her right thigh, and my right hand to her left hip. It is hard to keep one's hands off a female slave. They have been made to be handled, and mastered.
"That slave," snapped Taphris to Tuka, referring to me, "is not to be pleasured. It is the will of the Mistress."
"But what of my pleasure, my needs?" asked Tuka.
"Be silent, slave," snapped Taphris.
"Yes, Mistress," said Tuka, for she sensed that Taphris had power with the Mistress. Taphris was not even being chained.
"Scream, squirm, sob, bite at your chain, tear with your fingernails at the floor of your kennel, if you wish," advised Taphris, smiling. "I am sure the Mistress will not object to that."
"Yes, Mistress," moaned Tuka.
Angry, I went then to Claudia and locked her chain on her collar.
"You have chained me," she whispered.
I grinned at her. "Yes," I said. Her breasts heaved. On Gor it is generally understood that a man who chains a woman has full rights over her.
"Master," she whispered to me.
"Slave," I said to her.
"Yes, Master," she whispered.
"Do not fraternize with the sluts," ordered Taphris.
I then, in turn, secured Peliope and Leah in their kennels. Both drew in their breath briefly, briefly, too, closing their eyes, when the heavy lock was closed about their collar loops. They then looked at me, the weight of the chain dragging down their collars. I saw that either, at a snap of my fingers, would have thrown themselves on their backs on the boards before me.
"Do not dally," said Taphris, "or I shall make a report of it to the Mistress."
I rose to my feet.
"Surely you have tasks to perform," she said.
"I must go to the incubation shed," I said. "I think it will be quite warm there, perhaps even uncomfortable: You need not accompany me there."
"I will come with you," she said.
I looked at her. "Very well," I said. "Doubtless something can be found for you to do there."
"I am not to be used for the pleasure of men," she said.
I turned about and left the kennel shed. I heard the bare feet of Taphris pattering after me. I heard, too, Tuka cry out with misery, jerking at her chain. I heard the other girls, too, moan. Then I had left the shed, Taphris with me. I paused only long enough to bar the door, from the outside.
On the way to the incubation shed, I heard the ringing of the bar which signified the arrival of the fifteenth Ahn. The stable sluts, with the exception of Taphris, were now shut away from the sight of the Mistress' guests, should they arrive early. They would not now be seen during the visit of the guests unless the guests should request to look upon them.