A hand of slave males, naked save for the bands of metal about their broad necks, lay flat upon the floor cloth, each male attended by a slave female. The females, though clothed in brief blue slave coverings, had had their wrists closed in chain behind them and their eyes tightly enclosed in folds of cloth, and in such a manner were they attending to the males, upon their knees beside them, lips and tongues caressing the bodies of the males. Each male was clearly deep in his need, their bodies glistening with sweat, their fists clenched in pain, their faces strained with jaws clamped tight and gritted teeth showing. Had the females been able to see them they would not have been as unconcerned as they appeared, laughing lightly as they caressed the males, murmuring insolently and then laughing further, twisting their bodies about to entice the males. That city folk are beyond reason is known to all, and yet was I unable to fathom the reasons for their behavior till one of the four males spoke.
“At them, wenches, at them with a will!” he called with a laugh, pausing briefly to drink from his goblet. “They are chained tight for this punishment you inflict, therefore may you do as you wish without fear of reprisal. At them again, else face punishment of your own!”
At these words the females again applied themselves to the males, happily, laughingly, ignorant of the fact that the males were in no manner chained as they had been told. My warriors and I stood in the shadows produced by the blaze of candles in the center of the chamber, made silent witnesses to the doings of city males which was considered by them as amusement. I, myself, considered the matter low and vile, on a par with the doings of all city males, and yet, before I might step forward out of the dimness and halt the farce, he who was called High Seat raised one round and delicate hand and gestured to the male slaves flat upon the floor cloth.
Immediately was it evident that the males had been commanded to await such a signal before they might attend to their needs. Almost as one did they rise from the floor cloth to sitting reach for the foolish slave females who knelt beside them, and then began to teach them the stupidity in believing the words of males. Three of the females screamed out their shock as the brief, blue slave coverings were torn from them, baring their flesh to the males they thought themselves safe from. The remaining two, thrown immediately beneath the males they had tended, choked and shrilled in pain and fear as they were brutally entered before having their coverings torn away. They writhed helplessly upon the floor cloth, their wrists tight behind them, their bodies in the possession of those they thought they punished. Another, begging and pleading, was forced to her back, and then another and another, and then all of the females were in the possession of males, their mewling and wheedling and sudden attempts to give pleasure to those they had laughed at sufficient to bring illness to the strongest of warriors. The males in their seats howled laughter at the sudden predicament of the poor, foolish slave females, yet the matter was hardly one for laughter. How low one must be to take amusement from the distress of slaves!
Of a sudden, I had no further desire to stand among shadows, therefore I advanced into the candlelight, my warriors coming forward with me. The sudden light gleamed off my sword where the blood of males failed to cover its brightness, and gasps and screams and a silence of sorts came when those slaves standing about and the males of noise devices spied us. Last of all to see us were the males in silk-covered seats, those four who sat as guests and the fifth who sat as leader to them, and quickly did frowns replace the amusement they had felt.
“Who are you?” demanded the rounded male, he who was called High Seat. “How dare you enter my apartments without leave? Guards! Attend me immediately! Guards!”
“To call for the dead is idle,” said I, moving forward more fully into the light. The male slaves continued to use the females at my feet, their doing more desperation than pleasure. “Do you fail to recall the look of Jalav, male, she who was once declared slave by you? Did you find her so commonplace, then, that she has slipped entirely from your memory?”
“You!” said the male, taken aback by my appearance, now clear to his sight. The pale skin of him turned paler still, the narrow, lazing blue of his eyes clearly to be seen, the shrinking back in his seat most obvious of all. Well did this male now recall the sight of Jalav, she who stood before him with head held high and sword grasped tightly in fist.
“No,” he whispered, widened eyes most piteously pleading. “I am High Seat of Bellinard and cannot be harmed! Guards! Guards!”
“Blessed One, my sword is yours!” spoke out one of the four males who sat as guest at the gathering, causing me to turn to him as he pushed the cringing slave-female from his lap and struggled erect. Red of face was this male, portly in the manner of he called High Seat, yet not of such immense proportions. The sword he spoke of was dragged clumsily from its scabbard as he advanced upon me, his steps unevenly slow, his eyes unusually bright. “I shall disarm this one for you,” said he, “and close her in slave chains at your feet. The wench will provide sport for us all.”
“As will the others,” said one of the remaining three, he without a slave female of his own. He rose to his feet, gesturing his companions with him, drew his blade as all three stood together, then led the eager attack upon the warriors who had accompanied me.
“Take them all!” screamed the bloated male upon the raised seat to my right, his voice filled with relief and insane anger. “Take them and chain them and you may have your pick of them, and then shall they be beaten and used and sold as—No!”
The final scream of the male was very high-pitched, as though it had come from the throat of a woman, causing the fourth male, he who advanced upon me, to whirl around in an ungainly manner. The sight which met his eyes was that which had caused the High Seat such distress, the sight of the spitting of the three males who had attacked my warriors. One took a sword through the chest, one through the belly, and one through the throat, each having faced no more than a single warrior. These males were poor stuff, less even than the males of leather and metal we had met in the corridor, their slaying providing more disgust than satisfaction to my warriors. The fourth male, he who now held his sword in a trembling hand, stared in disbelief as his companions fell slowly to the floor cloth, their blood pooled beneath them, then tore his gaze from the sight to turn again to me. A pallor had come to his skin as the trembling had come to his body, and the fear he felt stared nakedly from his eyes.