A wisp of Nika’s red hair emerged from within the heavy fur hood.
She looked up, her eyes wide and frightened, over her shoulder, at Julian.
“We expect to soon encounter the Lady Publennia,” said Julian, looking down at the confined, lovely slave. “When you see her you are to identify her for us, immediately and clearly.”
“But she is my mistress, Master!” said the slave.
“She is an outlaw and traitress, and no longer possesses property,” said Julian. “And you are a slave and we are free men. You will obey us instantly and unquestioningly.”
“Yes, Master,” moaned the girl.
“As soon as you see her, thusly, you will identify her for us, immediately and clearly.”
“I will try, Master,” whispered the girl.
Julian kicked her, with the side of his foot, through the chain net, with a sound of chain. “And you will succeed,” he said.
“Yes, Master!” she said.
“Or die,” said Julian.
“Yes, Master!” she said.
“Sir,” said the guard, returning. “The governor inquires as to your rank.”
“Ensign,” said Julian, angrily.
“Your requests are to be conveyed through channels,” said the guard, “your excellency.”
“I am Julian, of the Aurelianii,” said Julian, “kin to the emperor, on a mission of importance and delicacy.”
“Such a mission is already in progress, and under the imperial seals of secrecy,” said the guard.
“I would know its route, and consult its maps,” said Julian.
“The seals are imperial,” said the guard. “The governor suggests you avail yourself of the hospitality of the junior officers’ quarters. He is prepared to see you tomorrow.”
“I want the hoverer refueled, now,” said Julian.
“There is no authorization for that,” said the guard.
“What of sleds, and men?” asked Julian.
“Resources are limited,” said the guard. “It is our hope that the fence holds, and the expedition soon returns.”
“What of those vehicles?” asked Julian, indicating the two vehicles under canvas in the yard.
“They are in need of repair, and are not fueled,” said the guard.
Julian smote down on the gunwales of the hoverer with his mittened fists.
“The governor,” said Tuvo Ausonius, “seems unduly rigid, and severe.”
“No,” said Julian, straightening, angrily. “That is the fury of it! We must admire him! His behavior, under the circumstances, is impeccably correct. He cannot be faulted. His behavior is in strict accord not only with protocol and regulation, but, I fear, good judgment. He is not, upon the petition of any nobleman, short of the emperor or his representative, to break imperial seals. Too, he is acting in accordance with his primary charge, the security of Venitzia. If he would not rush to grant an audience to any junior officer, why should he grant me one, as that is, precisely, my rank. We must admire him for putting duty before an attempt to curry favoritism with a patrician. Would there were more like him!”
“At this point,” said Tuvo Ausonius, “we could use a sycophant. The last thing we need now is an incorruptible official, an honest man and a good officer.”
“Sir,” said the guard, “the governor would be honored, unofficially, of course, if you, and your companion, were to have dinner with him this evening.”
“Thank him,” said Julian, “on behalf of my friend and myself, for the honor would be ours, but inquire if we may not, instead, have snowshoes, and a single sled, a small one, with supplies, such as may be drawn even by a slave.”
“Yes, your excellency,” said the guard, turning about.
“Surely you have no intention of leaving tonight?” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“That is my intention,” said Julian.
“You do not know where to find the expedition, or where, even, to look,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“We must do what we can,” said Julian. He looked down at Nika in the closely linked, stout meshes of her confinement. “I had thought, my dear,” said he to the exquisite slave, “that we might be in time, and that, tonight, we might have spent pleasant hours in a pleasant, cozy tavern, well-appointed and well-stocked, and well-lit with roaring fires, with you and your former mistress.”
“With us, Master?” asked the girl.
“Yes, to let you both, a free woman and a woman’s slave, see what true women are like, women in an exquisite, enhanced, refined order of nature.”
Nika regarded him, wide-eyed and trembling.
“It would do you both good,” said Julian, “to let you see true women, slaves, in wisps of slave silk, in collars, aroused and begging.”
“Yes, Master,” she whispered.
“To let you, too, both of you, a free woman, and one once a mere woman’s slave, feel silk, and metal, upon your own bodies, and firelight, and sense what it would be, what it will be, to be at the command of, and in the power of, men.”
“Yes, Master,” she whispered.
“But,” said Julian, “it seems that it is not to be, and that rather it is the winter night of Tangara, and a dangerous, doubtless fruitless, journey, which lies before us.”
“It is madness, milord, to so enter the night,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“The life of Ottonius is at stake,” said Julian.
“It is madness nonetheless,” said Tuvo Ausonius.
“Do not accompany me, friend Ausonius,” said Julian.
“No, milord,” said Tuvo Ausonius. “I would rather share a glorious madness, a noble madness, than linger indefinitely, wormlike, counting days, until the end, in a dusty, terminal sanity.”
“We may not return,” said Julian.
“That is true of any journey, milord.”
Shortly thereafter, a sled and supplies provided, the sled drawn by a small, trudging figure, Julian and Tuvo Ausonius left Venitzia.
They trekked north by northeast, following speculations afforded earlier by Brother Benjamin, of the festung of Sim Giadini, which speculations, in broad outline, tended to be confirmed by various officers in the garrison.
On the sled, among other supplies, was, wrapped in silk, and then coarse cloth, a small object, weighing about a pound and a half. It had been given to them by Brother Benjamin, while they were in the festung of Sim Giadini.
When they were beyond the fence something like a hour’s trek through the frozen, crackling, moonlit snow, Tuvo Ausonius, looking about, said, “We are being followed.”
“I know,” said Julian.
What they did not know, nor had Brother Benjamin, nor the garrison officers, was that the location of the territories of the Otungs, little more now than their pastures and fields, had changed several times over the years, due largely to the demands and pressures of Heruls. The trading expedition, under Lysis, supply officer of the Narcona, had had somewhat better information, information obtained by the governor of Venitzia through secret agents, posing as trappers, traders and such. The locations of Herul groupings and those of other barbarians, such as Otungs and Basungs, were, as on many worlds, seldom publicly disclosed, and tended to be known only in a very general way. Even the trade expedition, as we have noted, was counting on obtaining a refinement of information in the wilds themselves, presumably from natives.