“More widely,” I said.
They did so. They could then spread them no more widely. It is very difficult for a captive to rise from this position. Also, psychologically, it induces a feeling of helplessness.
I then went to Ilene, who was now standing. Frightened, and I removed the binding fiber from her throat.
“You were excellent bait,” I told her.
I then took the binding fiber and, looping it several times about the throat of each captive, tied them together by the neck. The fiber which separated them was about eight feet in length, enough to serve as a double leash.
With the fiber I pulled them to their feet. I regarded them, my fist on the leash.
“You have been caught, Slaves,” I told them.
They regarded me with fury.
“Take the slaves to our camp,” I told Ilene.’
‘Yes, Master,” she said. She led them away.
I looked at the two panther girls, being led away. They were the first of our catches.
The men of Tyros, I knew, familiar with islands and the sweeps of gleaming Thassa, were inexperienced in the forest. The panther girls were their guides, their hunters, their scouts, their shields.
If I could make it so that the panther girls feared to leave the camp, and, in the marches, would insist on remaining near the long slave chain, putatively protected by their numbers, the men of Tyros would be, for many practical purposes, deprived of the services of their otherwise dangerously effective allies. Most importantly, I supposed, they would lose the services of their huntresses and guards. If the panther girls were in their camps, or near the slave chain in the march, it would be much simpler for me both to approach and withdraw. If the men of Tyros knew, as they would, that I might come and go as I pleased, this would have an unsettling effect upon them. Too, it should produce dissension between the men of Tyros and their allies, the lovely panther girls of the northern forests.
That day I took nine more panther girls. Five I took with the aid of Ilene. We had good fortune, for the camp had not moved. The men of Tyros, and Hura and Mira, wished to find and destroy the assailant who had struck down the man of Tyros the preceding evening. Their searches and sweeps were widely flung. Five of their parties had failed to return. They were now in my camp, slaves. That night I hunted and felled a tabuk, which kill I brought back to my camp, that my prisoners and the paga slaves, now the keepers of my prisoners, might feed. We could not, of course, risk a fire. I cut pieces of meat from the animal, and gave them to the paga slaves, to thrust into the mouths of the panther girls. If a girl would stop chewing, her gag would be replaced. I examined them. There were eleven of them. They were tied in a line, on their knees. The ankles of each were crossed and tied. One long length of binding fiber, captured from a panther girl, served to tie all their ankles. It had ends free only at the first and last girl. Two other long lengths, similarly captured from fair prisoners, served to lash the crossed wrists of each, bound behind their backs, and their throats. Again, free ends occurred, heavily knotted, only at the last and first girl. It is thus, almost impossible for the interior girls to free themselves, and the first and last girls are tied with exquisite effectiveness.
I left my paga slaves, Ilene included, free. I was their master. They feared the panther girls. The forest itself was their prison.
When it grew late I let the prisoners lie, gagged, on their sides. I kept them tied as they had been.
By sundown of the next day I had added only four to their number.
The camp had not moved, but it was clear to me that the panther girls were now alarmed, and that their ventures from the camp were more conservative and timid. I had heard angry shouts from the men of Tyros, telling them to hunt the forests. There had been, too, angry responses by the panther girls. Not many girls went into the forest, and those that did, did not normally go far. One group, leg by a proud blond girl, scorning the others, did range far. There were four of them. They were brave. They were in my coffle, bound, by nightfall. As the moons were high in the Gorean night of the second day I regarded the prisoners.
“They are slaves,” I said to my paga girls. “Strip them.”
It was done.
I gestured to two of the paga slaves, the first girl, dark-haired, and the second, the blond.
“Put on the skins of panther girls,” I told them.
“Yes, Master,” they said.
They drew on the skins. I looked at the redhead, the paga slave.
“You, too, if you wish,” I said, “may clothe yourself.”
Pleased, she did so.
“Master?’ asked Ilene.
“No,” I told her.
She looked at me.
“You are only prey, and bait,” I told her.
She put down her head. “Yes, Master,” she said. When I was finished with her I would have her sold in Port Kar.
I regarded the other girls, the Gorean girls. “You make lovely panther girls,” I said.
They even stood as panther girls. The effect of raiment is extraordinary. Their heads were high. They looked upon me boldly.
One of the stripped panther girls, furious, struggled in her bonds. She was outraged to see a paga slave clad in the skins of panther girls. The dark-haired girl, the paga slave, in the skins of panther girls, leapt to her and seized her by the hair. She shook her hair violently, and then threw her back. Then she turned to Ilene. “Bring me a switch,” she said, imperiously. Ilene, in her silk, commanded, fled and brought her a switch. I had cut it earlier in the day, but had not used it. If any of the prisoners had been insubordinate, or difficult in any way, the paga slaves had been instructed to use it on them. The switch was stout and supple. The dark-haired girl stood over the panther girl, the switch upraised. “Do you, naked slave, have any objection?’ she asked the panther girl. The panther girl, shaking her head negatively, eyes frightened, shrank back in the coffle. The paga slaves, with the exception of Ilene, who perhaps feared the switch might be used on her, laughed.
I went to the three paga slaves clad in the skins of panther girls. Without speaking I tore the skins at their left thighs to the waist, revealing their brands.
“Do not forget you are slave girls,” I told them.
“Yes, Master,” they said.
I threw the switch to the red-haired girl. “Keep order in the camp,” I said. I turned to Ilene, and pointed to the red-haired girl. “She is now first girl in the camp,” I said. “Until my return you are to her as her slave.” “Yes, Master,” said Ilene.
“Come here,” said the red-haired girl.
Ilene went and stood before her.
“To your knees, Slave,” said the red-haired girl.
Ilene fell to her knees.
“Kiss my feet, Slave,” said the red-haired girl “Yes, Mistress,” whispered Ilene and, fearfully, did so.
“You two,” I told the other two paga slaves, the dark-haired girl and the blond one, “come with me.” I strode toward the perimeter of the camp. At its perimeter I turned. I looked back at the red-haired girl, Ilene, in her yellow silk, was still kneeling at her feet. “Keep order in the camp,” I told the red-haired girl.
She slapped the switch into the palm of her left hand. “I will,” she said. In their camp the men of Tyros doubtless felt secure. It was my wish to convince them that this was not the case.
I might have entered the camp, but I did not chose to do so. I would, merely, deprive it of its guards. In the morning they would awaken and discover that they had been unguarded.
I expected then that they would move their camp. They would then understand that the camp afforded them no protection. On the march, however, they would discover, to their dismay, that there was even less protection.
Strung out in the march, perhaps eventually without points and scouts, they would prove easy game.
There were six panther girls guarding the camp. I would locate them, individually, and then rendezvous with my two accompanying slaves.