"Oh, Master?" she asked, archly.
"Yes," he said, evenly, regarding her.
"Yes, Master," she said, dropping her eyes.
"Besides," he said, "you, free, were an arrogant she-sleen. You needed enslaving, collaring and whipping."
"Yes, Master," she said, frightened.
"I resolved to refuse the companionship," said Thandar of Ti. "I resolved to flee the city." He grinned. "As it turned out," he said, "that was not necessary."
"How did master find me?" she asked.
"There is a fellowship among Warriors," he said. Clitus Vitellius smiled.
"Thank you, Master," said Slave Beads, now Sabina, to Clitus Vitellius.
He nodded, accepting her thanks.
Sabina, the slave, turned again to face Thandar of Ti, looking up at him. "You have found me," she said. "You own me." There were tears in her eyes. "I had hoped," she said, "that my identity might have remained unknown to you."
"Why?" he asked, puzzled.
She looked down, confused. She shook her head.
"Why?" he asked.
"Must I speak?" she asked.
"You are a slave," he said angrily. "Speak."
She looked up at him, boldly, tears in her eyes. "Because," she said, "I wanted you to keep me as a slave!" She looked down again, confused. "I sense," she said, "that you are my true master, and I am your true slave."
The men looked at one another, cognizing well the confession of the small, beautiful slave.
"Too," she said, "I did not wish my fate, known, to dishonor you."
"That the flank of a merchant's daughter has met the iron cannot dishonor me," said Thandar of Ti.
"I see that it cannot," she said, a bit angrily. But it was true. What is it on Gor that a girl is caught and branded, and made a slave?
"But now, in honor, knowing my fate," she said, "you must free me."
"Oh?" he said.
"Yes," she said. "You will now free me, and once again the plans of Fortress of Saphronicus and the Salerian Confederation will proceed as before. I, freed, will be repledged to you in Companionship. Matters then, regardless of our wishes, will be as they were before."
Thandar of Ti laughed. Clitus Vitellius smiled.
"Master?" she asked.
How beautiful she looked, naked before him, in his bracelets.
"A fine brand," said Thandar of Ti, surveying her thigh.
"Now that you know who I am," she said, "you must free me."
He turned her head from side to side. "And pierced ears," he said.
"Surely you are going to free me," she said.
"You are the daughter of a merchant," he said. "The daughters of merchants are fit only to be the slaves of warriors."
"You are going to free me!" she cried.
"Kneel to be collared," he said.
"Master!" she cried.
"Bring a whip," he said to one of his men.
Swiftly she knelt. The whip would not be necessary. Sabina, the slave, looked up at Thandar of Ti, astonishment in her eyes, and wonder and love. She knew then the nature of the man, and his strength, who owned her.
"Bring the collar," said Thandar of Ti to one of his men.
The collar, from his belongings, was brought.
"I have found a slave who pleases me," he said. "I am collaring her."
He cared naught for the politics of cities, nor did he fear the wrath of states. He was a warrior.
He stepped behind the girl and, in the manner of Ti and certain other cities, thrust down her head and held ready the opened collar.
"Submit," he said.
"I submit myself, totally, Master," she said.
Roughly he shut the collar, enclosing her lovely throat in the obdurate band of slave steel. He then, with his foot, spurned her to the floor.
"Throw me among your women, Master," she begged.
"I shall," he said. He then turned away and strode from the tavern.
But I had little doubt the lovely Sabina would be his preferred slave.
One of Thandar of Ti's men sought out Busebius, and made settlement of the bill.
"He is keeping me as a slave," said Sabina to me, elatedly. "How strong and marvelous he is! I fear only I will not be able to love him enough!"
I kissed her. It is difficult for a girl not to esteem a man who does as he pleases, even though it is to her that it be done. A woman admires strength, especially if it is used to dominate and control her. It is, it seems, for men to command and women to obey, for men to dominate and women to submit, for men to claim and for women to yield. It is, it seems, the way of primate nature. Its test is enactment; its proof is joy; its evidence is love. If we have lost this, we have lost part of ourselves.
"I wish you well," cried Sabina. "I wish you all well!"
"I wish you well!" I cried.
The others, too, paga girls in the tavern, wished her well.
Thandar of Ti's men went to the portal of the tavern. One of them turned about. "Will it be necessary to leash you, Slave?" he asked.
"No, Master!" cried Sabina, and hurried to follow them. We watched them leave the tavern.
"It is time," said Clitus Vitellius, "for us to he on our way to the Curulean."
I reached out, timidly, to touch him. "Please, Master," I begged.
He looked at me, almost tenderly. I thought him sad. "Very well," he said.
He indicated that I should precede him to one of the alcoves.
I entered the alcove, and slipped away the street tunic. He closed the curtain behind us.
"Many times," I said, lightly, "I pleased the customers of Busebius in this very alcove."
He took me in his arms. It startled me, for he touched me gently.
"I shall miss you, Dina," he said.
"There are many girls," I said.
"Yes," he said, "there are many girls."
"You will soon forget me," I said.
He brushed my hair with his hand. "Your hair," he said, "will be too short, I wager, until the spring."
"Doubtless," I said, "it will lower my price."
He kissed me.
"Will you come to see me in the exhibition cages?" I asked. In most markets girls are displayed publicly in exhibition cages prior to their sale. This is almost always the case in the Curulean.
"No," he said.
"Oh," I said.
He kissed me, again, softly, tenderly.
"Keep me!" I begged suddenly.
"No," he said.
I tried not to cry.
"It is strange," he said, "I have faced wild sleen and the steel of fierce enemies. I am a warrior, and am high among warriors. Yet you, a mere girl, would conquer me with a smile and a tear."
"No, Master," I said.
"Surely you must understand," he said.
"A slave girl requires no explanation," I said. "It is hers only to obey."
"You see," he said, angrily. "You make me weak!"
"Then conquer me," I said.
"You are different from all the others!" he said, angrily.
"Yet I am only a slave," I said. "Treat me as such!"
"You should be tied at the slave ring and whipped," he said.
"Tie me at the ring," I said. "Whip me!"
"A warrior," he said, "must be hard and fierce."
"Be hard and fierce with me," I said.
"You want to be conquered and enslaved, don't you, you slut?" he said.
"Yes," I said. "I am a woman."
He sat up beside me; "How you must despise my weakness," he said.
"Yes," I said, angrily. "I despise your weakness."
He looked at me, in fury.
"I love you," I said.
He slapped aside my head, bringing blood to my mouth. "Lying slave," he said.
Then he seized me, and well vented his anger upon me. I was well used.
When he had finished with me, he said, "Get up. We must go to the Curulean."
I slipped the tunic on, and sashed it, and, one by one, by the five buttons, closed it. I wished he had torn it open and would march me through the streets as an exposed slave, that other girls might see the strength of the man who owned me.