"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.
"In neither of those ways," I said, "Will you make money."
"Oh, have no fear," he said, "I will keep her-at least for a time."
"In order to recoup your investment fully," I said, "I take it that that would be for at least a few Ahn."
He turned to face me.
"Sorry," I said.
"Is your sense of humor typical in Port Kar?" he asked.
"I have never really thought about it," I said. "Some of us, of course, are jolly fellows, at least upon occasion." To be sure the general reputation of Port Kar was that of a den of thieves, a lair of cutthroats and pirates. On the other hand, there was now a Home Stone in the city. Some folks might not even know that.
"If you want," I said, renewing my offer, "I will buy her back."
"No," he said.
I did not think, of course, that he would accept my offer. Had I thought he would have accepted it, I would not have made it.
She looked up at him from where she now lay in the dirt, near our small fire.
I supposed I might use Phoebe once in a while, when my needs were much upon me, as she was a convenience, and a slave, but I suspected I should save her mostly for Marcus. He was glaring down at her, she helpless at his feet. I smiled to myself. I did not think, truly, he was eager to share her, however much he might profess to despise her.
"On your belly, slave," said Marcus. She rolled to her belly.
He considered her curves and the slave's vulnerability of her.
She trembled.
With his foot, then, he turned her again to her back, and she looked up at him.
"Yes," he said, musingly, "you are not unattractive." She was silent, frightened.
"It is not hard to see how a man might desire you," he said.
Her lower lip trembled. She was helpless.
"Yes," he said, "the collar is pretty on you, and the brand. You make a pretty slave, female of Cos.
She looked up at him, terrified.
"I think I shall keep you," he said.
"It is my hope that I will prove pleasing," she whispered.
"Oh, you will be pleasing," he assured her.
"Yes, Master," she whispered, frightened.
"Do you know, slave," asked he of the prostrate girl at his feet, "why I shall choose to keep you?"
"It is my hope," she said, "that you will keep me because you find me of interest."
"I find you of interest, yes," he said.
"Thank you, Master," she said.
"I hate you," he said.
"Master?" she asked.
"Do you think I keep you because of the gold?" he asked.
"I do not know, Master," she said.
"No," he said. "I do not keep you because of the gold. I am of the scarlet caste. I am of the Warriors. I could cast the gold away, as a gesture."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"To me it is meaningless."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Why then should I keep you?" he asked.
"Perhaps for my utilities as a slave, Master?"
"You need not fear," said he, "that your utilities as a slave will be overlooked."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"But you must be aware," he said, "that such utilities, in a generic sense, may be purchased easily and cheaply, anywhere."
"Of course, Master," she said, tears springing to her eyes.
"Why then should I keep you?" he asked.
"I do not know, Master," she said.
"You are from Cos," he said.
"Master?" she asked.
"That is why I shall keep you," he said. "You shall remind me of Cos. You shall stand for Cos. You will be proxy for Cos. if will be as though Cos herself, beautiful and helpless, were in my power, at my mercy. On her then, through you, who are Cosian, I may vent my hatred and fury."
The slave shuddered.
"Some small part of what Cos owes," he said, menacingly, "you will pay."