"Slave short?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, "and perhaps if it had a plunging neckline, one slashed perhaps to your belly."
"And if it were perhaps accented, at the throat, with a close-fitting, steel collar?" she asked.
"Perhaps," I smiled.
"Let me alter it!" she said.
"You will wear as it is, unless ordered to do otherwise," I said.
"Of course, my captor," she said.
"Kneel," I said.
"Yes, my captor," she said.
"Kiss my feet," I said.
"Yes, my captor," she said.
"Look up," I said.
"Yes, my captor," she said. "Whose are you?" I asked.
"Yours, my captor," she said. "Totally?"
"Yes, my captor," she said.
"Do not forget it," I said.
"No, my captor," she said.
I had then turned away from her.
"Will we enter the city?" asked Ina, eagerly.
"I have not decided," I said. "My main objective is to locate my friend, Ephialtes, and I think his wagon, and his goods, would be at the periphery of the encampment." Most of the sutlers' wagons would be in such a location, at least generally. They are sometimes allowed in the camps, during certain Ahn, to deliver or sell goods.
"There is also, I believe, outside Brundisium, a large slave camp," said Marcus.
"I think so," I said. The camp referred to by Marcus had, as I understood it, been in existence near Brundisium for several months, which is a long period for such camps. This had to do, presumably, with the war, and the large numbers of females taken in its prosecution, some thousands from Ar's Station, and its vicinity, alone. Most of the dealers in such camps are wholesalers, looking for cheap buys on excellent females, often bidding on them in lots. The lots are sometimes of mixed value, some including women who are little more than free women, their slave fires not yet ignited, and others which may be captured, needful slaves. One may have to buy ten women to get the two or three one really wants. To be sure, it is likely that all the women, in time, with training, and such, will become superb. All of them, after all, were seen fit to be put in the ropes of masters. It was natural that such a camp would be located at Brundisium. From Brundisium, a major port friendly to Cog, indeed, the port of entry for the Cosian invasion forces, it was convenient to ship loot, females and other loot, to Cos and the islands. I did not doubt that already hundreds of women had passed through the camp, mostly, I supposed, to be shipped or herded to the docks of Brundisium, to be placed on slave ships, chained, their heads and bodies shaved, to be shipped to various destinations. Also, of course, from the camp they could be transported to hundreds of destinations on the continent, for example, Market of Semris, Samnium, Besnit, Harfax, Ko-ro-ba, and elsewhere. Such camps tend not to be placed within the walls of cities. In this fashion, they have more land, obtain cheaper rentals, avoid certain local taxes, and so on. Free women, also, I have heard, object to such camps within the walls, supposedly because of the smells. I frankly doubt that this is the real reason. I think it is rather that they hate female slaves, and are almost insanely jealous of them. Certainly it is understandable that they might not wish to have large numbers of them about, the sight of whom is so exciting to males. The males, of course, may go to the camps, to look at the "stock." And with respect to smells, I do not think the free women, either, would smell as well as they might, if, say, they were kept on straw, chained naked in slave cages.
"Let us proceed," I said. Ina caught her breath.
"What is wrong?" I asked.
"I was suddenly frightened," she said.
"Do you wish to be leashed?" I asked. "No," she said.
"Heel," I said.
"Yes, my captor," she said.
I turned to regard her. She would follow me, behind and on the left. In this way the sword arm is not likely to be encumbered.
"Captor?" she asked, looking down.
I was looking at her feet. Her feet were small, her ankles lovely. She was now in sandals, as befitted a free woman. Such, of course, could be removed from her. Slaves, for example, are commonly kept barefoot. High slaves, on the other hand, often have sandals, sometimes lovely ones. To be sure, much depends on the terrain, and such. One would not wish even a common slave to cut her feet or roughen them. That slaves are often barefoot says much, incidentally, for the cleanliness of Gorean streets and the usual paucity of litter. Goreans tend to keep their streets very well. The streets are, after all, the streets of their city, and their city is, after all, the place of their Home Stone.
"Captor?" she asked.
"You have lovely ankles," I said.
"Thank you," she said.
"They would look well, as I have hitherto observed," I said, "in shackles."
"Thank you, my captor," she said.
"Do you not think so?" I asked Marcus.
"Yes," he said, "but I, myself, prefer the ankles of slimmer, dark-haired women."
I recalled Port Cos, and the girl, Yakube, whom we had met on the docks there. I had been afraid Marcus, thinking her of Cos, and hating Cos and all things Cosian, would have cut her throat or injured her, but, fortunately, as it had turned out, she had not been of Cos, but from White Water, on the northern shore of the Vosk, east of Tancred's Landing. She was, however, the sort of woman, slim, exquisite, very lightly complexioned, dark-haired, dark-eyed, to whom I had learned that Marcus was almost madly attracted. It seemed he could barely resist such a female, and, of course, in virtue of this, he, who in my opinion tended to be too self-critical anyway, was often furious with himself.
"Yet," I said, "our little Ina is not unattractive."
"No," he said, "she is not unattractive."
I laughed, and Ina blushed, her face, her arms, the lower part of her legs, and feet.
I had, of course, in Gorean generosity, accorded her use to Marcus. And there was little doubt in my mind, given his frequent use of her, that he found her of even considerable interest. To be sure, he was not always gentle with her. She was, after all, a woman of Ar, for which city he now held little love, that city which had abandoned Ar's Station to her fate; too, she was a traitress and such tend, regardless of the side they have betrayed, to be treated with great contempt and severity by Gorean men; thirdly, she had spied for Cos, for which polity he held a profound hatred. Had she actually been of Cos I might have had to protect her from him, lest he kill her. It was little wonder then, these things considered, that the lovely Ina often found herself being rapidly and contemptuously put through her paces by the young warrior, then being used, as it pleased him, with callous, ruthless skill. The usual Gorean taste in women, incidentally, tends to run toward the natural woman, short, well-curved, and such, as opposed, say, to unusually tall, small-breasted women. Ina, for example, short and luscious, was an excellent example of this extremely popular type. On the other hand, Gorean men tend to be fond of large varieties of women. In the markets even the sort of women who fulfill certain unusual commercial stereotypes of beauty on Earth, useful for displaying certain types of clothing, such as certain varieties of high-fashion models, will find their buyers. They, too, look well in chains. On Gor, to speak briefly, beauty is not stereotyped, or, if it is, if one wishes to speak in that fashion, there is a considerable number of such stereotypes, a large number of muchly desired types. Indeed, almost any woman, of any type, would be likely to find herself passionately desired, even fought for, on Gor by many men. But, to be sure, if she is a slave, she would have to serve them well.
"Let us approach the camp of Cos," I said.
"What are you going to do with me, my captor?" asked Ina, frightened.
"Curiosity is not becoming in a captive," I said.
"Yes, my captor," she said. My words, of course, were a play on a common Gorean saying, that curiosity is not becoming in a Kajira.
We then, together, continued on our way, toward Brundisium, in the vicinity of which lay the Cosian camp.