The muscular fellow then, to Cornhair’s satisfaction, subjected White Ankles, whom he had saved for last, for some reason, to a similar, thorough, explicit examination.
He then stepped back.
“See, sound,” said Borchu.
“Lift them from the kettles,” said the fellow.
Bakaar and Odai lifted the wet, dripping bodies of White Ankles and Cornhair from the kettles.
Cornhair and White Ankles were then knelt before the muscular fellow. Neither dared to meet his eyes.
Water slipped from their heated bodies, dampening the ground. The soles of their feet were sore and reddened, from the metal of the kettles. Their hair was wet, and coarsely combed. There was water about their knees.
The muscular fellow walked about the pair. “They have been beaten,” he said.
“They are slaves,” said Borchu.
“What do you want for them?” he asked.
“Consider their ankles, their flanks,” said Borchu. “Would they not be of interest to a human?”
“Perhaps,” said the fellow.
“Twenty darins for each,” said Borchu.
“Ten, for the pair,” he said.
“Too little!” cried Borchu.
“Keep them, eat them,” said the fellow, and turned away.
“Pig, human!” said Borchu.
“Take it,” said Bakaar. “Ten darins will buy eight to ten pigs.”
Borchu wavered a moment, her body seething with anger. Then she called out, “Sir! Sir!”
The fellow turned about, perhaps as he had expected to do.
“Agreed!” said Borchu. “But that only for good will, for good will with the dealers of Venitzia!”
“Take them to my wagon,” said the fellow, unslinging the purse from about his shoulder.”
Bakaar undid the thongs on Cornhair and White Ankles. He then put a hand in the hair of each, and, holding them bent over, their heads at his hips, Cornhair on his left, White Ankles on his right, took his way toward the current portal to the camp, where two wagons had been drawn to the side, one to the left, one to the right, this opening the wagon wall, broadly, outside of which waited the dealer’s wagon, drawn by two horses.
“Kneel here,” said Bakaar, releasing them behind the dealer’s wagon and then returning to the interior of the wagon camp.
“We are out of the camp!” said White Ankles, elatedly. “We have been sold! We have been sold!”
“I cannot be sold!” said Cornhair.
“You have been sold,” said White Ankles, “as have I!”
“I can not be sold, not truly,” said Cornhair, “for I am a free woman.”
“Are you mad?” said White Ankles.
“I am the Lady Publennia Calasalia,” said Cornhair, “of the Larial Calasalii!”
“You are whoever Masters choose to name you,” said White Ankles.
“The dealer is from Venitzia,” said Cornhair. “It is a provincial capital. If he knows the empire, he will know of the Calasalii!”
“Once perhaps you were of the Calasalii, whoever they are,” said White Ankles. “But now you are no more than a slave, as am I.”
“No,” said Cornhair.
“They would not want you back,” said White Ankles, “you are now no more than an embarrassment, an insult and a scorn to them. The collar spoils a woman for freedom. Once collared, she can no longer be free. She is then a slave, and knows herself a slave.”
“Not I!” said Cornhair. “I am not a slave!”
“Your left thigh bears the rose, printed in as deeply, and as unmistakably, as mine!” said White Ankles.
“Garmented,” said Cornhair, “no one will know we are marked!”
“And perhaps you will simply ask for the garments of a free woman, perhaps one of quality?” said White Ankles.
“We are not collared!” said Cornhair.
“That is true,” said White Ankles, tensely.
“I need only make myself known,” said Cornhair, “and I will be freed.”
“Then you admit you are not free now?”
“No,” said Cornhair.
“Then you admit you are now a slave?”
“Yes, now,” said Cornhair, “but only until I speak my name and station.”
“Your former name and station,” said White Ankles.
“Yes, if you will,” said Cornhair.
“Will you not speak for me, as well?” asked White Ankles.
“No,” said Cornhair. “You are a natural slave, and should be a slave, and will remain a slave! You are the sort of girl who should crawl about the ankles of a Master, and lick and kiss them!”
“So are you!” said White Ankles.
“I am not one of those neck-ringed sluts who melts in a man’s arms, and lives only to please him!”
“Have I not heard you weep in your sleep for a Master?”
“When I am free, and rich,” said Cornhair, “I will buy you, and then you will see how pleasant your life will be!”
“I fear the dealer will soon approach,” whispered White Ankles, looking about.
“Perhaps we should have fled,” said Cornhair, looking about, as well. “We might have reached Venitzia, on foot!”
Cornhair, on a wild impulse, leaped to her feet, but, warned by a fearsome growl, not feet away, she fell immediately, again, to her knees.
“Do not move, the dogs,” said White Ankles.
Cornhair then realized why the Herul, Bakaar, had simply left them, as he had. Herul dogs, as many others, were often used to control, herd, and monitor slaves. Cornhair and White Ankles had been put on their knees. The dogs, then, would see that they remained in place, pending the arrival of some suitable authority, one who might alter the situation.
“Are we such poor stuff?” asked Cornhair, angry, on her knees. “We brought only ten darins!”
“They must have been divided,” said White Ankles. “Perhaps eight for me, two for you.”
“Nine for me, one for you,” said Cornhair, “if any.”
“I sold for three pigs, you for one,” said White Ankles.
“Filch!” said Cornhair.
“The dealer!” whispered White Ankles.
Both slaves put down their heads.
In the presence of free persons, slaves commonly will not speak without permission.
The dealer went forward, about the horses, checking harnessing, or such. He then came back, about the wagon, and, reaching over the side of the wagon, busied himself with something toward the rear of the wagon. Cornhair heard some sounds of metal.
Then the fellow was near them.
“May I speak?” asked Cornhair.
“‘Master’?” asked the man.
“May I speak, Master?” asked Cornhair.
As I have suggested, Cornhair was not yet fully apprised of the depth and perfection of her bondage, that appropriate for a female such as she.
“No,” he said. “Get on all fours, both of you, heads down.”
Both slaves complied, instantly.