Marcus then put his hands on her ankles, preparing to separate them. "Prepare to be used, beautiful slave," he said.
"What are you going to name her?" I asked.
"What was her name when she was a free woman?" asked Marcus. " 'Tullia', 'Publia'?"
"No," I said.
" 'Fulvia'?"
"No," I said. " 'Phoebe'."
Suddenly Marcus closed the slave's ankles. He held them so tightly that she whispered.
"I do not like that name," he said.
"It is an exquisite name," I said.
"I do not like it," he said. His voice was cold and hard.
The girl was frightened. She, of course, did not understand this change in him.
"Surely you have known women in Ar," I said, "whose name was 'Phoebe'?"
"It is a Cosian name," he snarled.
"But surely you knew, or knew of, women with that name?"
"Yes," he said.
"And is it not a pretty name?" I asked.
"I suppose, as a name, it is lovely," he said.
"Yes," I said. "It is a beautiful name."
"Can she speak?" he asked.
"I am surprised you care," I said.
"Where are you from, slave?" he asked. "Are you from Teletus, Asperiche, Tabor?"
"No, Master," she said. "I am not from Teletus, or Asperiche, or Tabor.
"Where are you from?" he snarled. She whimpered, his grip was so tight on her.
"Cos," she said. "From Telnus."
"Impossible!" he said. "We obtained you here, near Brundisium! Brundisium is an ally of Cos. Cosian women would not be sold here!"
"She is from Cos," I assured him.
"No!" he cried out in rage, springing to his feet. "No! No!" he howled. "No! No! No!"
He had, I assumed, surmised the likelihood of this possibility as soon as she had opened her mouth. Her accent was clearly Cosian.
"She came into my keeping at the Crooked Tam, on the Viktel Aria," I said, "and was in the vicinity of Ar's Station at the time of its fall. She was with Ephialtes, and others, moving westward along the river, with the Cosian expeditionary force. Eventually, in the keeping of Ephialtes, she came here, into the vicinity of Brundisium. As for Cosian women, do not be naive. There are doubtless many here in bondage. They change hands as easily as others."
"How could you do this to me?" he cried. "Is this some mad, cruel joke?"
"Do not be angry," I said.
"She is Cosian!" he cried. "Cosian!"
"A moment ago," I said, "you seemed much pleased with her."
He suddenly kicked her and she recoiled, whimpering, pulling up her legs, making herself small. She was now terrified, looking up at him whose property she was, he who owned her.
"Cosian!" he cried. She whimpered.
He then spun and faced me. "I hate Cos," he cried, "and all things Cosian!
"Do not be angry," I said.
He suddenly drew his sword and stood over the girl, who, on her side, her hands bound behind her, looked up at him, fearfully. He raised the sword and she put down her head, her eyes closed, her teeth gritted. I did not think that he would strike her. He did not. He then spun to face me. "Sleen!" he cried. I did not think he would strike me. He did not. Angrily, he thrust the blade into the sheath. Then, oddly, he wept, bitterly.
The girl struggled to her knees. She regarded him, her body partly bent over, looking up at him.
"I should kill her," said Marcus.
"Why?" I asked.
"She is an enemy," he said.
"No," I said, "she is only an animal, a slave."
"May I speak, Master?" asked the girl.
"Yes," I said, as Marcus would not respond to her. This permission may be given by any free person and is effective, unless it is overruled by the true master.
"I will try to serve well, and be pleasing to my master," she said.
He looked down at her, in hatred, and she lowered her head.
"I should kill you," he said. She was silent, trembling.
"At that rate," I said, "you would not be likely to rise rapidly in the ranks of the merchants."
He looked at me.
"You just paid one hundred pieces of gold for her," I reminded him. Indeed, it was primarily for this reason that I had so willingly accepted the gold. I did not think that Marcus, of course, would kill, or even really wish to kill, the girl. He might, however, knowing him, think that he should think about such things. Therefore, I had seen fit to give him an economic reason, as a sop to his rationality, for dismissing such thoughts. For example, to fling the object of so considerable an investment to sleen would be economically imprudent, to say the least.
"True," he said.
"Certainly it is true," I said.
"She is worthless," he said.
"Actually," I said, "she went for a hundred pieces of gold."
He laughed bitterly.
"If you want," I said, "I will return your gold to you. I will buy her back."
He looked at the girl thoughtfully.
"Well?" I said. "No," he said. I smiled.
The girl looked up.
He then stood over her, and I was then frightened for her, for I had never seen him like this.
"You are an animal," he told her, "and a slave."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"And you are also a Cosian," he said.
"I am an animal and slave," she said. "I no longer have citizenship."
"But you are from Cos," he said.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"And in that sense you are Cosian," he said.
"As Master will have it," she said.
"And you are my enemy," he said.
"No, Master," she said.
"You are my enemy!" he said.
"I am a slave girl," she said. "I am not permitted to lie. I am not your enemy."
"You will be treated as my enemy," he said.
"As Master wishes," she said.
"I hate Cos," he said, "and all things Cosian."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"And in the sense that you are from Cos, you are Cosian," he said.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"I hate you," he said.
"Yes, Master," she said, tears in her eyes.
"And accordingly," he said, coldly, "you will treated as an animal and a slave, and a Cosian, and as my enemy."
"It is fitting that I be treated as an animal and a slave, Master," she said, "for that is what I am, but is it fitting that I should be treated, too, now, as a Cosian, and as your enemy?"
"You will be so treated," he said.
"Yes, Master," she wept.
He then cuffed her savagely, in his hatred, and fury, striking her to her side in the dirt.
She looked up at him, wildly in fear, and he pounced on her, and, seizing her by the hair, pulled her up to her knees, facing away from him, and pushed her head down to the dirt. He then, ruthlessly, her small hands twisting in their bonds behind her back, put her to his pleasure.
"I am yours, Master!" she wept. "Do with me as you will!"
He cried out like a larl, in fury.
"Oh, yes, Master," she wept. "Oh, yes, Master!"
Exquisitely helpless, and in his power, I saw that she was his, fully.
In a moment he had done with her. She was gasping, and regarding him with awe. He spurned her to the side, with his foot, and turned to regard me.
"She is a pretty thing," I said.
"You may use her, of course," he said, "any time you wish."
"Thank you," I said. "It is rare that the use of a hundred-gold-piece girl is handed about so freely."
"You tricked me," he said. "You did not tell me she was a slut from Cos."
"You did not ask me," I said.
"You are a poor slave," he said to Phoebe.
"I will try to be more pleasing to my Master," she said.
"I should give you to a tharlarion keeper," he said.
"As Master pleases," she said.
"I should sell you for a tarsk bit!" he said.
"As Master pleases," she whispered.