“It is not wise to trick Ingeld, of the Drisriaks,” said Ingeld.
“It seems, Lord,” said Farrix, “that it was not you alone who was treated so shabbily, so disgracefully, but others, as well, this Sidonicus, of Telnar, this Fulvius, of Telnar, and doubtless other members of their party.”
“I shall have this Urta, a renegade Otung, this Fulvius, a pompous ministrant, torn apart, by horses, by wild horses.”
“It is not you alone who were duped, Lord,” said Farrix.
“I, Ingeld, of the Drisriaks, of the Alemanni, duped?” said Ingeld.
“Forgive me, Lord,” said Farrix. “I spoke carelessly. You were not duped, but betrayed.”
“Men now mock the Drisriaks?” asked Ingeld.
“I fear so, Lord,” said Farrix.
“Does my father know of this?” asked Ingeld.
“I do not think so, Lord,” said Farrix.
“Good,” said Ingeld.
“How proceed things with my beloved father?” asked Ingeld.
“His forces are well deployed,” said Farrix. “In effect, Telnaria is blockaded. It is dangerous at this time to move more quickly. Lord Abrogastes awaits reinforcements. His agents are active in Telnaria. They celebrate Abrogastes as a liberator. Many prepare to welcome him, with garlands and flowers. I think he is readying himself for a landing.”
“Surely there are imperial forces about,” said Ingeld.
“They are scattered, many are posted on far worlds.”
“My father is in the vicinity of Telnaria itself?”
“He forced a passage,” said Farrix. “He penetrated defenses. I think few expected him to avoid engagements, and move decisively to Telnaria itself.”
“He is a fool,” said Ingeld. “The war was to be fought on a thousand fields. No foe was to be left behind us. It was for this we needed the Vandals and our allies. He has put himself in a trap.”
“He has moved boldly,” said Farrix.
“How will this destroy the empire?” asked Ingeld.
“I fear, Lord,” said Farrix, “mighty Abrogastes does not wish to destroy the empire, but to possess it.”
“By seizing Telnaria?” said Ingeld.
“By seizing Telnar, the capital, by seizing the throne,” said Farrix.
“He must be mad,” said Ingeld.
“If he seizes the throne,” said Farrix, “he seizes the capital, if he seizes the capital, he seizes Telnaria, if he seizes Telnaria, he seizes the empire.”
“He embarks upon a dangerous course,” said Ingeld.
“He is Abrogastes,” said Farrix.
“If he fails?” asked Ingeld.
“What then?” asked Farrix.
“Ingeld is first amongst the Drisriaks,” said Ingeld.
“Precisely, Lord,” said Farrix.
“Perhaps mighty Abrogastes will fail,” said Ingeld.
“It is possible, Lord,” said Farrix.
“Perhaps it can be arranged,” said Ingeld.
“It is possible, Lord,” said Farrix.
“I shall not forget my faithful servitors, my liegemen,” said Ingeld.
33
“Move!” said the river man.
The whip cracked.
Cornhair, and the others, twenty-one others, feet on the wet, graveled path, cried out in misery, and thrust their slight weight against their hempen harnessing, the towing lines stretching back to cleats on the keel boat, some five of six yard from shore. On the boat itself, on each side, men leaned on poles; these poles, thrusting against the river bottom, serve to propel the craft; they also serve to thrust away debris, to push the craft from sand bars, and to keep the banks of the river at bay. The sweep of such a pole, too, may discourage boarders; they can crush skulls and break ribs; and, jabbing, tear their way into an abdomen. The boat had a single mast, with a single yard, but its square-rigged sail, a fifteen-foot square of woven reeds, hung slack. The keel boat, as opposed to the flatboat, is designed to be used more than once, designed to sustain a passage both upstream and downstream. They are then, as one would expect, more sturdily crafted and better kept, than the flatboat, which is put together to make a single trip. The keel boats, also, are likely to be more ornamented and, as they are commonly painted, more colorful than flatboats. The paint, also, serves to protect the timbers of the keel boat, an important consideration as one hopes to utilize them for several years. Some keel boats even boast a deck cabin. Cargo, on both keel boats and flatboats, is stored on the single, open deck, and is commonly, boxes and barrels, lashed in place to prevent its dislodgement or loss should the craft spin or tip in rapids. A loose barrel, rolling and tumbling, descending a forty-five degree slope, can crash gunwales and break arms and legs. In addition to the roping and strapping of cargo in place, it is also commonly covered with canvas. This protects it from the weather, and also conceals it, should curious eyes, from trees on the bank, or in passing boats, notice it, and find it of interest, with perhaps unwelcome consequences. Too, keel boats, as flatboats, will usually have a rigged arrangement of canvas and stanchions to protect the crew from rain and hail, and the sun, which, in its heat, combined with the glare on the water, can produce a number of undesirable effects, ranging from disorientation and heat stroke to discomfort and the impairment of vision.
The whip cracked, again, and, again, the twenty-two slaves, those who had served at the suppers in the villa of Lady Delia Cotina, including Cornhair, leaned into the traces. Each had fixed, on her right shoulder, under the hempen harness, a cushioning cloth, to prevent the rope from burning into their bodies. Rope burns, scars, and such, can reduce a girl’s likely block price. These slaves were not draft slaves, but slaves of the sort which had been so resented and loathed by the free women of the party of Lady Delia, slaves of the sort which free men are likely to buy, presumably having in mind the incredible pleasures derivable from such purchases.
The whip, though its report was startling, and menacing enough, had not struck the slaves. It would not do so unless one of the slaves proved a laggard, or cheater, shirking her share in the common effort, letting it be borne by her collar sisters. The occasional, unexpected snap, it seems, in itself provided the slaves with sufficient motivation. This was doubtless because, presumably, there was not one slave in the harnessing, struggling along the path beside the river, who had not, at one time or another, felt the stroke of such a device.
Cornhair, as the others, struggled forward, thrusting against the harnessing, moving west, upstream, toward Telnar.
She was pleased, that she was to be sold in Telnar. Was that not the dream of many slaves in the galaxy?
Interestingly, Cornhair did not much mind the rope harness, the dirt, the heat, and sweating, the strain of the labor, not that she liked it, you understand, but, rather, that she did not mind it as a free woman might have minded it. She did not find it outrageous, unconscionable, inappropriate, humiliating, or such. She found it quite natural that she, and the others, would be put to such work. They were not free women, but slaves. Was it not natural that the free woman should stand and the slave kneel? Was it not natural that the free woman should command and the slave obey? Was it not natural that the slave, on her hands and knees, naked, should scrub the tiles while the free woman supervises her work, switch in hand? Was it not natural that the free woman, inert, haughty, and calculating, finding herself observed by a free man, might ponder what profit might be derived from his attention, whereas the slave, finding herself observed by a free man, might tremble, and kneel, hoping not to be beaten, but rather to be caressed, and as a slave is caressed? Certainly, Cornhair now had a very different relationship to men than any she had had as a free woman. This was natural. The slave sees men very differently from the way a free woman sees them. The slave sees them as Masters. She knows that this one, or that one, might buy her. She is likely to belong to one. Too, the slave, given her cultural realities, is very much alive, and rich with feeling; her garb, if she is permitted garb, is special, and symbolically significant, as well as unencumbering, aesthetic, and sexually simulating. It is slave garb, designating her as a slave. Too, she has doubtless been marked. Similarly, who could mistake the collar on her fair neck? The slave is a profoundly biological organism, a natural, sexual creature. It is natural then that she, a lovely, purchasable animal, is seen in terms of the pleasure she might provide, and that she sees the free man as a Master she must please, and one who may do with her as he wishes. It is little wonder then that she fears his whip, and hopes, in her service, that he, her Master, may consent, if only for his own amusement or pleasure, to subject her to those unspeakable ecstasies which may be inflicted on a slave, ecstasies for which she lives, ecstasies a thousand times beyond what a free woman can know. Is this not one of the secrets between Masters and slaves, which free women can only suspect? And what of other joys, such as those of kneeling, of serving, of yielding, and of pleasing? There are men and women, and, in a natural order, Masters and slaves.