"More clearly, more loudly," I said. "I am a Cosian spy," she said. "Excellent," I said.
"Release me now," she said.
"But my sympathies are not with Cos," I said. "But you are not of Ar!" she said.
"My sympathies are with neither Ar nor Cos," I said. "What is your Home Stone?" she asked, suddenly, fearfully. "That of Port Kar," I said.
She moaned. It is said that the chains of a slave girl are heaviest in Port Kar.
I made as though to leave.
"Wait!" she cried.
I turned, again, to face her.
"Free me!" she said. "I will give you riches!"
"The only riches you have to bestow," I said, "and they are not inconsiderable, are now in the keeping of rencer thongs."
"I will give them to you!" she said.
"They are mine for the taking," I pointed out to her.
"Then take them," she urged.
"I must be on my way," I said.
"You cannot leave me here for tharlarion!" she wept.
"Rencers have seen fit to put you here," I said. "Who am I, a fellow of Port Kar, a stranger in the delta, to dispute their choice?"
"They are barbarians!" she said. "Perhaps less so than I," I said. "Free me," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I will make it worth your while," she said.
"In what way?" I asked. "As a female," she said.
"Speak more clearly," I said.
"As a female, with my favors!" "Interesting," I said.
" 'Interesting'?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, "you bargain with your beauty."
"Of course," she said.
"But then it seems you have little more to bargain with."
She blushed, again, even to her toes.
A free woman may bargain with her own beauty, of course, and it is often done. This is quite different from the case of the female slave. Her beauty, like herself, is owned by the master. It may, of course, like herself, figure in his bargains.
I looked up at her.
"I will submit to you, if you wish," she said. "I will be your slave."
"Beware of your language," I said, "lest you inadvertently speak words of self-enslavement."
Such words, of course, are irrevocable by the slave because, once spoken, she is a slave.
"Nonetheless, if you wish," she said, "I will speak them!"
"And be a slave?" I asked.
"Yes!" she said.
"Do you not recognize me?" I asked.
"Should I?" she asked.
"Do you recall a camp in the marsh, some days ago," I asked, "to the southeast, an evening, a prisoner?"
She looked down, frightened.
"And did you not," I asked, "boldly, to torture me, I helpless before you, show me your ankles?"
"Oh!" she said.
"Yes," I said, touching her ankles, "they would look well in shackles."
"You!" she wept.
"Yes," I said.
She put back her head, moaning.
We heard a tharlarion bellowing in the marsh.
She lifted her head, bearing the sound. Her eyes were wide with fear..
"I am a woman," she said, suddenly, piteously.
I saw that it was true. Through everything, beneath everything, in spite of everything, deeply, essentially, she was a woman.
"I wish you well," I said.
"Do not go!" she cried..
"Perhaps you can free yourself," I said.
"My ankles are muchly thonged!" she said.
"Yes," I said, "they do seem to be well held, fastened excellently to the pole and crossbar. I doubt that you can free them."
"And my arms!" she said.
"Yes," I said, "they would seem well fastened, also, simply and effectively."
"Please," she said. "Have mercy!"
"I wonder if you realize how clever the rencers have been," I said.
She looked down at me.
"You cannot even try to rub the thongs, the three of them, against the wood," I said. "The interiors of your arms are against the wood, and the thongs themselves are about your wrists, and across your belly. Yes, they are clever. The wood and the leather, both, you see, are far stronger than your flesh."
"You know that I cannot free myself," she said. "I am absolutely helpless!"
"You are right," I said.
The tharlarion again bellowed in the marsh, this time more closely.
"You risked your life to save me!" she said.
"Believe me," I said, "I did not realize at the time that I was risking it. I thought the beast would move off."
"But it did not," she said.
"True," I said. "Unfortunately."
"You defended me!" she said.
"As it turned out," I said.
"You even called yourself to its attention in the marsh, when you understood how tenacious, how dangerous, it was!" she said, triumphantly.
"So?" I asked.
"So you found me of interest!" she said. "So you wanted me!"
"Put back your shoulders," I said, "thrust out your breasts, lift your chin."
She obeyed immediately, beautifully.
"Yes," I said, "I can see how a man might find you of interest." I was also interested to note how well she had obeyed.
"You want me," she said. "Free me!"
"To be sure," I said, "it is a long time since I have had a woman."
"I am a prize!" she said, angrily.
"You are not even a slave," I said.
She threw her head back, angrily.
"Are you a virgin?" I asked.
"No," She said. "I am not a virgin. I have permitted men to make love to me twice. I assure you I can stand it."
I smiled.
"Would you prefer that I was a virgin?" she asked. "No," I said. Virgins presented special problems, particularly of a psychological nature. Also, their sexual responses usually required lengthening, deepening and honing. On the whole, I, like most Goreans, preferred opened women. And, of course, most women are opened. Virgins, for example, are almost never available in the slave markets.
She looked down at me.
"I assure you, I said, "there would have been little point in lying about the matter."
"I suppose not," she said.
"On the other hand," I said, "you would seem to be, for most practical purposes, having to do with the furs, a virgin."
"No," she said, "twice I permitted men to make love to me."
"They were lucky fellows," I said.
"I never permitted either of them to do so again," she said.
"Doubtless they have spent years in repining."
"Perhaps," she said. "I do not know."
"You are sure you can stand it?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, "I can stand it."
She shrank back a little but I, carefully, with the tip of my knife, inserting it between her ankles and the thongs, freed her legs.
"Ah," she said, relievedly. One could still see the several deep imprints of the thongs in her ankles. These marks, in an Ahn or two, or a few Ahn, would disappear. The thongs had not cut into her, nor burned her deeply.
I looked up at her.
"My arms," she said. "I am still helpless!"
"Perhaps I shall leave you now," I said.
"No, no!" she said.
"Do you beg to be freed?" I asked.
"Yes, yes!" she sobbed.
"Speak, then," I said.
"Please free me," she said. "I beg it! I beg it!"
I then, the knife in my teeth, climbed to the lower crossbar, on which I put my foot.
"Why have you sheathed your knife?" she asked.
"One can see over the rence from here," I observed. I steadied myself with my left hand on the pole.
"Free me," she begged. "Oh!"
She looked at me, wildly. Then she looked away, swiftly. "Please!" she protested. "Please!"
"Look at me," I told her.
She turned her head to face me. Her eyes were very wide. Then she turned her head away again, desperately. "I am a free woman!" she wept.