Appanius seemed to be becoming angry.
I looked at the slave. His hands were manacled closely behind his back. The chains on his ankles would hardly permit him to walk. The chain leash dangled to the floor, where it lay in a rough coil.
"So, Milo," said Appanius, "you would make of me a laughing stock?"
"No, Master," said the slave.
"One can well imagine him laughing about how he betrayed you with a woman," said one of the retainers.
"It will be the whip, and close chains for you, Milo!" said Appanius.
"No," said one of the retainers. "Let him serve as an example to all such slaves as he!"
"Yes!" said another retainer.
"Let it be the eels!" said another.
"Yes!" said the fourth.
"No!" screamed Lavinia. "No!" She leaped to her feet and ran to Milo, to kneel beside him, holding him, weeping. She turned to Appanius. "No, no, please!" she wept. "No! Please!"
I took her by the hair and threw her back, away from Milo, to the floor, where she scrambled to her knees and, tears in her eyes, frantic, regarded us. Many estates, particularly country homes, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contains voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.
I looked closely at Appanius. He was white-faced. As I had suspected, he was not enthusiastic about this proposal.
"It must be the eels," said the first retainer.
"Nothing less will expunge the blot upon your honor," said another.
"What blot?" said Appanius, suddenly, lightly.
The retainers regarded him, speechless.
"What is it to my honor," asked Appanius, "if I have been betrayed by an ungrateful, worthless slave? It is scarcely worth noting."
"Appanius!" said the first retainer.
"Do you wish to buy a slave?" asked Appanius of me, as though lightly. But I saw that he was desperate in this matter. Indeed, I was touched. His problem was a difficult one. He wanted to save both his honor and the life of the slave. As outraged as he might be, as angry, as terribly hurt as he was, even as sensitive of his honor as I supposed he might be, he was trying to save the slave. I was startled by this. Indeed, it seemed he might care for him, truly. That development I had not anticipated. I had thought that things would have worked out much more simply. I had expected him to be outraged with Milo and be ready, in effect, to kill him, at which point I was prepared to intervene, with a princely offer. If he were rational, and the offer was attractive enough, as it could be, as I had a fortune in gold with me, I could obtain the slave. That is the way I had anticipated things would proceed. If Appanius would not sell Milo, then I could simply keep Appanius, and the others, with the exception of Milo, bound and gagged somewhere, say, in the pantry in the back, and use Milo, still the slave of Appanius, to achieve my objective in a slightly different fashion, one then merely involving two steps rather than one. If he would not sell Milo, certainly he would be willing to sell another, one who might, for a time at least, be too dangerous to acknowledge, too dangerous to free, too dangerous to keep.
"Perhaps," I said.
"I have one for sale," said Appanius.
"No, Appanius!" said the first retainer.
"He is cheap," said Appanius, bitterly.
"How much?" I asked.
"He is the cheapest of the cheap," said Appanius, bitterly.
"Do not sell him, Appanius!" said the first retainer.
"He is the most valuable slave in all Ar!" said another.
"To me," said Appanius, "he is worth less than the lowest pot girl."
"How much do you want," I asked, warily. I had some forty-five pieces of gold with me.
"He is worthless," said Appanius. "He should be cast away."
"Throw him to the eels, Appanius," whispered the first retainer.
"No," said Appanius, "rather let him know my estimate of his worth."
"How much do you want?" I asked.
"A tarsk bit," said Appanius.
The retainers cried out with horror. The slave looked up, startled, trembling. Lavinia gasped.
"A tarsk bit," repeated Appanius.
The slave wept in shame, and jerked at the manacles in frustration. But he could not free himself. Well were his hands confined behind him.
"I think I can afford that," I said.
"That is the most valuable slave in Ar!" said one of the retainers.
"No," said Appanius. "It is the most worthless slave in Ar."
I removed a tarsk bit from my wallet and gave it to Appanius.
"He is yours," said Appanius.
The tarsk bit is the smallest denomination coin in common circulation in most Gorean cities.
"You do not mind filling out certain pertinent papers, do you? I asked. I had brought some sets of such papers with me.
"Common slave papers?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"It is not necessary," said one of the retainers.
"Not at all," said Appanius. "You do not have an appropriate collar at hand, I gather."
"No," I said.
"If I am not mistaken," said Marcus, "ink and a pen are in the back."
"Interesting," I said. To be sure, they had been here when he had scouted the compartments. Doubtless they had been used before, in the course of Appanius' acquiring new slaves. Slave papers, too, were in the back, although I had brought my own. Hoods, gags, ropes, and such, were in the back, too.
"Give me the papers," said Appanius.
I handed him a set.
"I will fill these out in the back, and you, Lucian, will witness them."
"Yes, Appanius," said one of the retainers, dismally.
"You will wish to bind him," said Appanius.
"No," I said. "If he attempts to escape, his throat will be cut."
"Remove his slave bracelet, and his chains," said Appanius.
"Yes, Appanius," said the fellow.
"I foolishly neglected to have him branded," said Appanius.
"I have noted it," I said.
"As he is a cheap and common slave," said Appanius, "I would have him put under the iron before nightfall."
"I shall consider the suggestion," I said.
Appanius went to the back, to complete the papers.
The slave looked up at me while the retainers removed his chains, and the identificatory slave bracelet, of silver, which he had worn on his left wrist. The retainer also gathered up his clothing, the golden sandals, the purple tunic, the robe, with the hood. Such things I had not purchased. I had, however, anticipated such things, and had brought, among several other things, some suitable garments with me, from the insula of Torbon.
"To whom do you belong?" I asked.
"To you, Master," he said.
"Remain on your knees, slave," I said.
"Yes, Master," he said.
Lavinia looked wildly at me, and then at the slave. And he looked at her, and at me. They both knew that they were now of the same household. They both knew that they not belonged to the same master.
In a few moments Appanius and I had concluded our business. The papers had been signed, and witnessed.
Appanius, returned to the front room, looked down at the male slave. "Do you wish to beg the forgiveness of your former master for what you have done?" he asked.
"No, Master," said the slave. "Not for what I have done."
"I see," said Appanius.
"But I beg your forgiveness, if I have hurt you," he said. "That was not my intention."
"As I have not been hurt," said Appanius, "no forgiveness is necessary."
"Yes, Master," said the slave.
"I see that you are at last learning deference," said Appanius.