"I am not a slave," she wept. "I cannot be a slave!"
"Silence, Slave," said Boots.
"Please!" she wept.
"It has been a busy day," said Boots. "Chino, would you please untie the slave's ankles?"
"Surely," he said.
Boots then drew her to her feet and held her head, bent down, by the hair, at his waist, in leading position. Her hands were still tied behind her. "Lecchio, Chino, Andronicus, Petrucchio, if you would," said Boots, "bring along these other things, whatever seems of value."
"Very well," they assented.
"It is growing late, and I am weary," said Boots to Lady Telitsia. "It will be time enough in the morning to whip you."
"Whip me?" she gasped.
"I will then be fresher and can lay the lash to you more roundly," he said.
"The lash?" she queried.
"Yes," he said.
"You're joking!" she said.
"You may ponder that tonight, while chained in the girl wagon," he said.
"But why?" she asked.
"You have not been pleasing," he said, "not that that matters that much. As you know, no excuse, explanation, defense or reason is required to justify the whipping of a female slave. She may be beaten for any reason, or for no reason, whenever the master wishes. She may be whipped even, if he wishes, on the outcome of the spinning of a wheel or the cast of a die."
I crouched down beside my own prisoner, the free female, she whom I had shackled, she whose beauty seemed to strain protestingly against the long, thin gown put upon her by the brigands, as though calling for a man to tear it from her.
"You look upon me boldly," she said.
"You are a captive," I reminded her.
"But I am to be kept in honor!" she said.
"Of course," I said, "or at least for a time."
"I wear your gyves," she reminded me.
I regarded her fair ankles, snug in their metal fastenings, linked by the short chain. They could not now be parted, unless I chose to do so.
"Perhaps it is your intention to remove them?" she asked, apprehensively.
"Perhaps I shall occasionally remove them," I said, "perhaps for the purposes of exercise."
"Exercise?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "For example, I might wish to take you-"
"Take me?" she asked.
"Say, for a run on a leash," I said.
"I see," she said.
"We must soon return to our camp," said Boots, his fist in the bent-over Lady Telitsia's hair.
"Surely you will remove my fetters at least to permit me to walk to your camp," suggested my captive.
I saw that she wanted the fetters off. I wondered if this was because she desired to escape, or if she wished to be caressed.
"Otherwise," she said, "I fear the journey will be both lengthy and painful. I do not even know if I can stand in them."
"You can stand in them," I said. "It is only that it would be difficult to move in them without falling."
"I see," she said.
"You could always crawl," I said, "dragging yourself forward, say, on your hands or elbows."
"Perhaps if your camp is close, I might, dragging myself through the underbrush, arrive there by morning."
"Perhaps," I said.
"If I did not get lost, or fall to sleen," she said.
"Perhaps," I speculated.
"Doubtless you will now, for your convenience, remove them," she said.
"No," I said.
"I do not understand," she said.
"They were not put on you to be removed so soon," I said.
"How then shall I get to your camp?" she asked, apprehensively.
"I have another mode of transportation in mind for you," I said, "a mode which I trust you will find instructive."
"No!" she begged.
"Yes," I said.
"Head forward," she pleaded.
"No," I said, "you shall be carried to the camp on my shoulder, your hands tied, your ankles helpless in their fetters."
"My head forward," she begged.
"No," I said, "to the rear."
"As a slave!" she cried, angrily.
"Yes," I said.
"Even she there, she who is naked and bound, she who is a true slave, is permitted to walk!"
"I do not think you will long envy her," I said.
Lady Telitsia, now a slave, whimpered, frightened.
"You treat me as a slave," said my captive. "Perhaps you will soon make me a slave!"
"Perhaps," I said.
"Your eyes rove me brazenly, I note," she said, angrily, "as though I might be a slave."
"Yes," I admitted. To be sure, she was quite beautiful. I had no doubt but what she might, if collared and trained, and brought into touch with her feelings, prove to be not only an adequate slave, but perhaps even a quite marvelous one.
"You said," she said, "that you would get me something else to wear."
"Have no fear," I said. "I shall."
"Let us be on our way," said Boots.
I scooped up the woman and threw her over my shoulder, her head to the rear. She was not heavy. I looked out, into the shadows of the woods. I did not think she would be likely to forget this nocturnal journey, being carried helplessly through the darkness into captivity.
"Back at the fair," said Boots to me, "as I recall, you expressed your eagerness to join our company."
"yes," I said.
"As I recall, as well," said he, "you were willing to work without pay."
"True," I grinned.
"That seems a suitable arrangement from my point of view." said Boots.
"Boots," warned Andronicus, sternly.
"But, of course, even though it might be difficult, we shall struggle to manage some small remuneration-somehow," Boots assured me.
"Thank you," I said.
"It is nothing," said Boots, generously.
"And if you are not careful, it will be," said Chino, cheerfully.
Boots then set off confidently through the woods.
"Your camp," I said to him, "is more to the right. That's it."
Boots led the way, Lady Telitsia stumbling along, bent over, held, beside him, in approximately the right direction. He was followed by his fellows, carrying various articles taken from the brigands' camp. I then brought up the rear, on my shoulder the Lady Yanina.
10 A Pleasant Morning in Camp; The Lady Yanina Will Obey
"Are you comfortable, Lady Telitsia?" asked Boots.
"Yes," she said. She knelt, her wrists tied together over her head, fastened by a short strap to a transversely mounted, sturdy wooden bar. It was about five feet from the ground. It was the morning after he had acquired her.
"Surely you are bluffing, and you have no intention of going through with this," she said. She was naked, except for a collar. The legend on the collar said, "If you find me, return me to Boots Tarsk-Bit. Reward." It was the same collar as was worn by Boots's other girls. He had put it on her immediately after returning to the camp last night. He had then chained her in the girl wagon, on one of the open, steel-floored, steel-sided kennels, and retired. This morning, early, he had dragged her forth and bound her in her present position. He had then h ad a large breakfast. Doubtless she was quite hungry. Still she had not yet been fed. That was just as well, considering what was to be done to her.
Boots shook out the blades of a five-stranded Gorean slave ship.
"As I recall," said Boots, "you said, at the fair, that you were not afraid of men."
She was silent.
"How proudly you said that," marveled Boots, swinging the freed lash blades loosely. "To be sure, at that time, you probably had never had any reason to be afraid of men. Now that you are a slave, however, you will find that you do have reason, and ample reason, and not only to fear men, but, indeed, any free person."
"I am hungry," she said. "Am I to be fed?"
"Perhaps when you learn to beg for it," he said.
"Never," she said.