“We cannot all of us be as bloodthirsty as you, girl,” said Chaldrin, the dryness of his tone bringing amusement to the other males. “Unlike a young, glory-seeking female, a man must think before he throws his life away.”
“To find those who will assist this one will require more than thought,” said Treglin, the sourness having returned to him. “There are matters which require my attention, and I go now to see to them. Do not leave that fur, Chaldrin, else I will heed the wench and have you chained there.”
Treglin then took himself off, gesturing the male who had brought Aysayn with him he who had tended Chaldrin following after the first two. Chaldrin took a pile of furs upon which he might rest his back, and Aysayn again folded his arms as he studied me.
“I had not expected to see you here, Jalav,” said he after a moment of silence. “When I entered and saw you crouching by the wall, I thought I was to be given the gift I had been promised for victory.”
“I, too, have had a victory,” said I, aware of the amusement Chaldrin made no effort to conceal. “I have not received the gift for victory I was promised; for what reason must you be?”
“The promise was given me first,” said Aysayn, beginning to share Chaldrin’s amusement. “And there you stand, clearly with no other task assigned to you. Chaldrin—may I borrow one of your furs?”
“Certainly,” said Chaldrin with a chuckle, his dark eyes continuing to rest upon me. “A victory such as yours has ever earned a man a new fur.”
“Perhaps this one has not been told the penalty for a slave attempting to overstep himself with those who are free,” said I, watching with some small interest as Aysayn turned and began to take a fur from the pile beside Chaldrin. “A pity his last defeat will come as soon after his first victory by cause of the lack.”
“Defeat?” snorted Aysayn, straightening with a folded fur in his hand. “Who is to supply this defeat? And what is this of slave and free? Do you think yourself above me, wench?”
“There are three of us within this chamber.” I shrugged. “Two are covered and one is bare. Of the two who are covered, one is armed and the other would be armed if he wished to be. He who is bare has not been given the choice concerning arms. Surely must he who is bare be considered a slave.”
“I see,” said Aysayn, nodding judiciously with lips pursed. “And do you believe, wench, that the presence of a sword in your fist assures a knowledge of its use? One must hold a sword for many kalod—and use it—before such knowledge is available.”
“The wench’s knowledge of a sword is sufficient for most,” said Chaldrin, looking upon me again with the gleam he had shown during our battle. “There is, of course, considerable room for improvement, yet is she adequate. However, only with a sword.”
“Jalav is also no stranger to the dagger and spear and bow,” said I with stiffness, displeased with the gall of the male. There he lay, his blood flowing free by cause of my sword, and he dared to speak of merely adequate?
“The dagger and spear and bow, like the sword, are merely weapons which may be lost—or taken from one,” said Chaldrin, his calm undisturbed by my obvious annoyance. “One must learn to defend oneself without such weapons, else is one no more than a helpless female child.”
“Let those who think me helpless face my sword,” said I to Chaldrin, standing tall before the male. “They will learn—as you have—that Jalav is not war leader of all the Midanna for naught.”
“Ah, then it was you who did him so,” said Aysayn, eyeing me as he continued to hold the fur. “I had wondered, for I have seen this man with a sword. And yet he speaks the truth, wench. A full leader must know all methods of defense and attack.”
“Jalav’s knowledge is—adequate,” said I with some sourness, weary of these males and their constant thirst for teaching. Surely had Mida abandoned them to the dark god for their failure to leave well enough alone.
“Adequate only for my purposes,” said Aysayn, a slow grin taking him. “For your purposes, you will soon see their worth. I mean to claim my victory gift, wench, and would have you know my purpose before I attempt it.”
“Your purpose is to throw away your life,” I shrugged, turning with sword up to face him. “The doing will surely send Ladayna’s males from the door, allowing me to quit this place. Therefore will my purposes indeed be served.”
“It is I who will be served,” said he, moving forward with the fur in his hands. “And by you.”
The male, continuing to wear a look of amusement, came forward slowly with the folded fur held before him. I slashed at his head, and then at his side yet each time my blade met naught save the fur. The male used it as though it were a shield, his hands to either side safe through the speed of his movements. Twice I tried for his arms, and each time was my sword muffled in the fur. A straight thrust at his heart resulted in his quickly jumping to one side with a twist, and my sword passed harmlessly by. I threw a backstroke at him and retreated a step, yet the backstroke was avoided as easily as the rest. Chaldrin chuckled where he lay leaning upon a mound of furs, and the warmth of the cavern chamber began to slick my body.
It was not many reckid before the male’s advance put my back to the chamber wall. I had attempted to attack as I had ever done with speed and no quarter, yet the male had dipped and bobbed and jumped, and had once nearly trapped my blade in the folds of the fur. The feel of the stone at my back made me know there was no farther I might go to escape the advance, therefore did I essay a double cross-stroke at the male, to drive him back and perhaps reach his flesh at last. The male retreated at the attack, holding his fur before him, and I immediately followed to press my advantage. Fully half the distance already covered did he retreat, narrowly saving himself from my strokes, and then, when I thought him bested at last, he abruptly disappeared from before me. Down to the floor of the chamber had he thrown himself, not to beg for mercy as another would, but to tangle his legs in mine. I raised my sword to hack down at his unprotected body, yet the stroke was not to be. In some manner were my feet abruptly no longer beneath me, and the rock of the chamber floor struck my back hard.
“I had best take this now,” panted Aysayn, immediately grasping my wrist and freeing the sword from my grip. I felt deeply dazed from the fall, and before I might force myself to stir, the weapon was gone.
“She nearly had you there, a time or three,” remarked Chaldrin with the chuckle now to be heard in his voice. “Had she done as she intended we would indeed be free of unasked-for difficulty.”
“I am all too well aware of how near she came,” said Aysayn, kneeling across me before pulling his forearm over his forehead. “Had she been familiar with this method of doing battle, my blood would have joined yours.”
I fought to move myself where I lay between his thighs, yet my efforts did no more than cause me to stir. The dazedness left me only slowly, not nearly soon enough to halt Aysayn’s hands from taking the white cloth which had been wrapped about me.
“There are now two who are unclothed in this chamber,” said he, running his hands easily over my body after he had put the cloth aside. “I will, of course, take the loin cloth for my own use when I am done with you, as part of my victory spoils. And, as the possession of a sword gives you such pleasure, you may now have possession of this one.”
His hands took my thighs as his knees parted them, and then was he entering me with such strength that I gasped. I attempted to raise myself from the stone in protest, and his palms came to my shoulders as his weight increased.
“Do you feel him deep within you, wench?” came the voice of Chaldrin, a lazy satisfaction to his tone. “Had you taken the effort to learn more than sword use, he would not have been able to put you to man use. You now reap the bitter seed of those who will not learn.”