"From the look of it, woman," said he to Lady Claudia, "I do not think you have underrobes beneath those rags."
"That is my own concern," she said, loftily. "By nightfall you will probably be in a collar, licking the feet of a Cosian," he said.
"Perhaps," she said, angrily.
"And what of you, my little vulo," he said, not unkindly, crouching beside Lady Publia. "I wager that you, too, would like to have the opportunity to prostrate yourself before Cosians."
Lady Publia began to squirm and wriggle wildly, making piteous sounds.
"You must have fed her very well," said the fellow, looking up at Lady Claudia, whom he took for Lady Publia.
"She has a great deal of energy."
Lady Publia struggled wildly, trying to pull her head up, against the thick collar and heavy strap. But, in the end, she was exactly as she had been before. "Why is she gagged?" asked the fellow.
"That she not be able to make her identity known," I said.
Lady Publia stopped moving, startled.
"It is the orders of Aemilianus," I said. "he was not certain whether or not there were more than one spy of such a nature in the city. Accordingly, in this fashion, if there should be more than one such agent, Cosians would not know which of them was mounted on the pole. The hood, of course, has a similar purpose. To some extent, it might, though it seems a little late now, impair the functioning of their intelligence network in the city. Similarly the other agents, if there are such, might be intimidated or terrified, not knowing which of their number had been captured, how much was known, who might be next, and so on."
"The commander is a clever man," said the fellow.
"Yes," I agreed. I did have respect for Aemilianus as a commander.
Lady Publia squirmed, and wept. The hood was wet with her tears.
"Do not fret, little vulo," he said to her, putting his hand on her head, "you will soon be on the spit, cooking in the sun."
She wept and struggled.
"It seems there will be little difficulty in getting this one to squirm on the spear," said the fellow. Wild, tiny, piteous noises emanated from Lady Publia's hood. "Sometimes they wriggle well," he said, "perhaps because they are afraid, or because they think they can get off the spear somehow, or because they are trying to end it. Sometimes they try to hold themselves as still as possible. Sometimes then we use the whip on them, and sometimes not. If we let them take their time about it, of course, the penetration is sometimes as little as a hort an Ahn. The end result, of course, is the same."
Lady Publia squirmed hysterically. She uttered desperate, piteous, pleading sounds.
"Usually they are not this agitated," said the fellow. "Usually, by this time, they are numb with fear and dread, and offer no resistance. Many cannot even walk."
I recalled that Lady Claudia had been much that way earlier.
"It is time to go, vulo," said the fellow, getting to his feet.
Lady Publia, at his feet, shook her head wildly, feverishly, piteously, desperately, as she could, in the constraint of the collar. It must have burned the back of her neck. Because of the coils of rope I could barely see her back. "She begs for time, for mercy," said the fellow.
"Perhaps," I said.
She whimpered, piteously.
"Filthy spy," he said. He then, angrily, spurned her with his foot, thrusting her to her side.
Lady Claudia, wide-eyed, frightened, looked at the prisoner, lying on her side, helpless, and looked then, too, at the fellow. Perhaps she had never before seen a woman so treated, or at least a free woman so treated.
The fellow then freed the ankles of Lady Publia, and brought the leash forward, between her legs. He then coiled it to the leash ring. Then, one hand on her arm, the other on the leash coils, he pulled her to her knees.
Lady Publia whimpered piteously before him. I think she was now beginning, better than before, to understand her unenviable position. I feared she might collapse or faint. I was not certain she could even stand now.
"Think now on Cosian gold," he said, bitterly. She shuddered.
"Let us show your Cosians friends how pretty you will look on the spear," he said, angrily.
She shook her head, numbly.
"I am now giving you tether," he said. He shook out the leash. "When I pull twice on the leash," he said, "you will rise and follow me, responsive to, and conducted by, the leash."
But before he could draw twice on the leash, giving the prisoner her signal, she thrust her head down, to his feet, reaching for them, as she had earlier for mine. He let her find them, for a moment, and press, and rub, her face, her head, her gagged, covered mouth desperately, piteously against them.
"You seem to have the dispositions, and makings, of a slave," he mused. She lifted her head to him, in the darkness of the hood, pathetically, hopefully.
"And surely your body," he said, "so trim and excitingly shaped, is much like those that are found in slave markets."
She whimpered affirmatively, beggingly.
"But unfortunately," he said, "you are a free woman. she shook her head.
"You seem to have forgotten your brand," he said.
She made a small, begging sound.
"But perhaps all you free sluts are truly slaves and belong in collar," he said. He looked at Lady Claudia. "Your friend, Lady Publia, the warder," he said to the prisoner, "had pretty calves and ankles. doubtless those are displayed for the interest and delectation of Cosians, and masters."
Lady Claudia stood back, not answering.
I wondered if the fellow saw that Lady Publia was thinking of running.
"Traitress," said the fellow to Lady Publia.
Lady Publia then, suddenly, leaped to her feet and tried to run, but, in an instant, expertly, with a turn of the leash, she was flung to her side before him. He held the leash. His foot on it, near her neck, kept her head down. Lady Claudia's hand went before her veiled lips. She looked down at the helpless, prostrate Lady Publia. I supposed that perhaps Lady Claudia had never seen a woman subjected to leash control before.
"That was stupid," said the fellow. "Now, shall we begin again?" He took his foot off the leash. He shook the leash once, to alert the prisoner that a leash signal was imminent. Then he drew on the leash twice. "Stand," he said. "Follow."
Lady Publia struggled to her feet, then her legs gave out, under her, and she collapsed.
"Be warned," he said. "If I carry you, I shall carry you as a slave is carried." But I think Lady Publia now, truly, could not stand. I think that her bonds, the security of her gag, her inability to dislodge the hood, its effectiveness in concealing her, the ease with which her attempted escape had been dealt with, had all combined to make clear to her her utter helplessness, that she could not, in the least, by her will or action, alter the course of events. We had seen to it. Now she could scarcely move.
With a thong he addressed himself to her ankles.
"What is wrong with you?" asked the fellow, looking up at Lady Claudia. She stood there, frightened. It seemed she herself could hardly stand.
Lady Claudia looked at him. She put out her hand a little, piteously.
"Do not concern yourself with her," said the fellow, finishing with the knot, jerking it tight, on Lady Publia's ankles. "She is a spy."
Lady Publia struggled weakly, her ankles now thonged.
"It is a pity that such lusciousness must be destroyed," he said. "Such shapeliness has slave value."
Lady Publia whimpered.
As he considered the prisoner, Lady Claudia hurried to my side, keenly distressed, half beside herself. "You cannot let her go to the spear!" she whispered.