"Do you understand?" asked Ute.
"Yes," said Inge.
"Yes," said Rena.
"The slave, El-in-or," said Ute, "stand forward."
I had been hiding in the background. Ordered by Ute, I came forward. I saw Inge and Rena exchange glances of pleasure. I was frightened. "This is one of my girls," said Ute, "as you are. You will not be cruel to her." "Ute!" protested Inge.
"Or I will have you beaten," said Ute.
Inge looked at her, angrily.
"Do you understand?" said Ute.
"Yes," said Inge.
"Yes," said the Lady Rena of Lydius.
"El-in-or," said Ute, "take these new slaves and get them work tunics, and then return them to me, and I shall assign them their duties for the day." Inge and Rena, and the other new girls, followed me, and I took them to the chest at the side of the shed, where I could find them their simple, brief garments of brown rep-cloth, which raiment would constitute their sole work garment in the camp of Rask of Treve.
From the chest I took forth several of the garments, small, clean and neatly folded. I had washed several myself, and, sprinkling them with water, and sweating, had pressed them on a smooth board, using the small, heavy, rounded Gorean irons, heated over fire. I had folded them, too, and placed them in the chest. I threw the garments to the girls, the new slaves. They were naked, save for their collars.
"But I am a trained pleasure slave," protested Inge. She held the small, folded garment in her two hands.
"Put it on," I told her.
"I was of high caste!" cried the Lady Rena of Lydius.
"Put it on," I told her.
Then angrily Inge and Rena stood before me, clad in the brief, simple garments of female work slaves.
"You make a pretty work slave," I said to Inge.
She clenched her fists.
"You, too," said I to the Lady Rena of Lydius.
She glared at me in helpless fury, her fists, like Inge's, clenched. I looked at the others. "Put them on!" I cried.
The other girls, too, donned their tunics, and then I led them all, the new slaves, clad for work, back to Ute, who would instruct them in their duties for the day.
Four days after Inge and Rena, and other new girls, had been brought to the secret war camp of Rask of Treve, the tarnsman, and his fierce men, again returned from the work of warriors.
Again there was excitement in the camp.
I leaped to my feet.
"Finish your work," said Ute.
"Ute!" I cried.
"Finish your work," she said.
Behind the kitchen shed, I was ironing. To one side there was a large pile of laundered work tunics, which I had washed in the early morning. The smooth board was set before me, mounted on two wooden blocks. A bowl of water was nearby, and a fire, over which, on an iron plate fixed on stones, there were, heating, five, small, flat-bottomed, rounded, wooden-handled Gorean irons. I had been kneeling before the board, ironing the tunics, which I would then fold and place to one side. Behind the kitchen shed, I had not been able to see the alighting of the tarns. I could hear, however, the delighted cries of the girls and the loud, warm, answering shouts of the men.
I heard one of the girls cry out, "How beautiful she is!"
I supposed a new female had been brought to the camp.
Angrily I pressed one of the hot irons down on a work tunic, smoothing it. I must remain behind the kitchen shed, working, while they were permitted to greet the men! I wondered if Inge would be there, perhaps smiling and waving to Rask of Treve.
How furious I was!
But I reminded myself that I hated him!
In time the excitement, the cries and shouts, diminished, and I knew the men had dismounted, and any captive, perhaps bound, would have been sent to the tent of the women. The girls, here and there, returned to their labors.
I continued to iron.
About a quarter of an Ahn later, kneeling behind the board, ironing, I became aware of someone standing before me. I saw a pair of slim, tanned ankles. I lifted my eyes and saw slender, strong, tanned legs. And then, to my horror, the brief, tawny garment of a panther girl. And in the belt of the garment there was thrust a sleen knife. She wore barbaric ornaments of gold. I lifted my eyes to this tall, strong, beautifully figured female.
I put down my head, crying out in misery.
"She seems to know you," said Rask of Treve.
I shook my head negatively.
"Lift your head, Slave," said Verna.
I did so.
"Who is she?" asked Verna.
Rask shrugged. "One of my slaves," he said.
Verna smiled down at me. "You know me, do you not, Girl?" she asked. I shook my head.
Verna wore no collar. In her belt she carried a sleen knife. Rask of Treve, my master, stood near her. She was free, obviously free. She was not even a captive, let alone a slave. By the attitude of my master, I could see that she was, somehow, for no reason I could understand, a guest in this camp. "We met," said Verna, "first outside the compound of Targo the Slaver, north of Laura. Then, in the streets of Ko-ro-ba, you incited the slave girls to attack me. Later, south of Ko-ro-ba, when I was caged, among the prizes in the hunting retinue of Marlenus of Ar, you, with another girl, whose name was Lana, much abused me."
I put my head down.
"Lift your head, Girl," said she.
Again I did so.
"You know me, do you not, Girl?" asked Verna again.
I shook my head, no, no!
"Your Slave is a liar," said Verna.
"Shall I have her beaten for you?" asked Rask of Treve.
"No," said Verna. She looked down at me. "She is only a slave," she said. I put down my head.
"You are not to lie again in this camp," said Rask of Treve.
"No, Master, I whispered.
"My patience grows short with you, El-in-or," he said.
"Yes, Master," I whispered.
"I know little of such work," said Verna, "but are you not in danger of scorching the garment which you are ironing?"
I hastily drew away the iron, placing it on the fire-heated plate.
Fortunately the garment was not marked, else Ute, discovering it, might have punished me.
"Permit me, Verna," said Rask of Treve, "to show you the rest of the camp." Verna looked down upon me. "Continue with your work, Slave," she said. "Yes, Mistress," I said.
Then, together, Verna and Rask of Treve left me. Weeping, I continued to iron. That night I sneaked away, following my feeding, and before the time to be sent to the kitchen shed, to the tent of women.
"Ena!" I whispered, through the canvas of the tent.
Ena came from the tent and I, only a work girl, knelt before her, putting my forehead to the ground. "May a slave speak?" I begged.
Ena knelt down before me and lifted me, and held my arms. "Of course, El-in-or," she said. "What is it?"
I looked at her, gratefully.
"There is a new woman, a free woman in the camp," I said.
"That is Verna," said Ena, "a panther girl from the northern forests." "How is it that she is here? I begged.
Ena smiled. "Come with me," she said. She led me through the camp, until we came to a small, low tent. Before it, about a fire, there sat two brawny, magnificent huntsmen.
"They are from the hunting retinue of Marlenus of Ar," I whispered. I recognized them, both from the streets of Ko-ro-ba and from the merchants' stockade, on the trade route to Ar, where I and Lana had so abused Verna, she then being helplessly caged.
I noted that these two men were served, each by a slave girl. Inge and Rena were fetching in their work tunics. I could see that they were excited by their proximity to such men.