Thurnus drew his tunic about him. He looked at me. Under the eyes of a free man, I knelt.
"I have given you to Tup Ladletender," he said.
"Yes, Master," I said.
"He was promised you, in payment for the powder he gave to one in the village," said Thurnus. "The powder was used, though it did not have the effect that one in the village had intended. Accordingly, on behalf of one who was of the village, who can no longer transact the affairs of business, having fallen into the unfortunate state of slavery, I, on behalf of that person, tender you to him in payment for the powder."
"Yes, Master," I said. My fists clenched in the slave bracelets. I was tendered in payment for a small, worthless powder. I grew angry. Surely I was at least a few copper tarsks' worth of slave girl. "But the powder was worthless," I pouted.
"But so, too, are you, pretty little Dina," said Thurnus. He threw back his head and laughed.
"Yes, Master," I said, angrily.
He turned to Sandal Thong. "I pronounce you my preferred slave," said he. "You will sleep in my hut, and tend it."
"A slave is grateful," said she, "Master."
"Too," said he, "you are first girl."
"As Master wishes," she said.
Radish, Verr Tail and Turnip fled to her, hugging her and kissing her. "We are so happy for you," said Turnip.
"I am first girl," said Sandal Thong.
"I am so happy for you," said Radish.
"Fetch a switch," said Sandal Thong.
"Sandal Thong?" asked Radish, stunned.
"Fetch a switch," said Sandal Thong.
"Yes, Mistress," said Radish, hurrying away.
In a few moments Radish returned, carrying a switch, which she placed in the hands of Sandal Thong.
"Kneel," said Sandal Thong to the three girls. They knelt.
"In a straight line, four horts apart, facing the master," she said. She dressed their line. "Straight," she said. She kicked back Radish's knees. "Backs straight, hands on thighs, bellies sucked in, heads high," she sad. She tapped Verr Tail on the belly with her switch. Verr Tail sucked her belly in, tight. She tapped Turnip twice under the chin. Turnip lifted her chin. In their eyes I could read their distress. But they knelt beautifully under Sandal Thong's discipline.
"Here are your slaves, Master," she said to Thurnus.
"Excellent," said Thurnus. He looked upon the three girls. They dared not move a muscle. I had little doubt but that Sandal Thong would richly switch any of them who disobeyed in the least, or gave the least hint of disobedience. Thurnus grinned. He began to suspect the wonders that he would now have from these girls.
"You may cage them at your pleasure," he said.
"Yes, Master," said Sandal Thong. In her love for Thurnus she was determined that he would have the best from all his girls. Too, I had little doubt but that when it was the turn of the village slave, Melina, to serve the house of Thurnus that she, too, would fall under the same strict discipline. Sandal Thong, switch in hand, would see that Melina served her master to perfection.
"You may rise, Dina," said Tup Ladletender to me.
I rose, standing in close bracelets.
"You may bid your former cagemate farewell," said Sandal Thong.
Radish, Verr Tail and Turnip came to me and wished me well, hugging and kissing me. I, too, wished them well.
"Slaves to your cage," said Sandal Thong.
"We must go to our cage," said Radish to me. "I wish you well."
"I, too, wish you well," I said. "I wish you all well."
The three girls hurried to the cage. Sandal Thong, switch in hand, came to me. She hugged and kissed me. "I wish you well, Dina," she said.
"I, too, wish you well, Mistress," I said. I addressed her as mistress, for she was first girl.
Sandal Thong then turned and followed the other girls, to lock them in the cage for the night.
Thurnus came over to me and put his hand on my head, and shook it.
I looked at him, tears in my eyes.
"The village," said he, "is no place for you, little Dina. The days are too long and the work too hard." He looked at me. "You have the body of a pleasure slave," he said. "You belong at the feet of men."
"Yes, Master," I said.
"Come along, Slave," said Tup Ladletender, taking my arm.
He began to lead me away. I stopped, and turned, pulling against his arm.
"I wish you well, Master," I said to Thurnus.
"You cannot even pull a plow," he said.
"I make a very poor she-bosk," I said.
"You are not the she-bosk," he said, "but the meadow." I put my head down, reddening. It was not mine to plow, but to be plowed. "I wish you well, little slave," said Thurnus.
"Thank you, Master," I said.
I felt Tup Ladletender's band close more firmly on my arm. "Will it be necessary to beat you?" he asked.
"No, Master," I said, frightened, and hurried on beside him, his hand on my arm.
His cart, with the two large wheels, and the two long handles, was near the village gate.
The gate was opened for us by its tender.
I expected to be tied to the back of the wagon, that I might follow in its dust. To my surprise he placed me between the two handles. He removed the slave bracelets, putting them in a drawer in the side of the cart.
"I am too weak to draw the cart, Master," I told him.
He removed two pair of wrist rings and chains from another drawer. He locked one wrist ring from one pair on the left handle, and snapped its matching wrist ring on my left wrist. He then locked one wrist ring from the other pair on the cart's long right handle and snapped its mate about my right wrist. I was chained between the handles. There was about a foot of chain between each wrist ring locked on its handle and its matching ring which clasped my corresponding wrist.
"I cannot draw the cart, Master," I told him.
I cried out as the whip cut my back. I seized the handles and threw my weight against them, bent over, digging with my feet into the dirt.
"I cannot, Master!" I cried.
The whip struck me again.
I cried out with misery and drew the cart.
I pulled Tup Ladletender's cart through the gate and out onto the dusty road leading from Tabuk's Ford.
I felt a drop of rain. Then it began to fall lightly. I looked up. The billowing, skudding clouds were swift in the night. I could see the moons behind them. Then more rain splashed into the dust. I felt it on my hair and naked body. I pulled the cart. Then it began to pour, and I slipped in the mud. Ladletender helped, pushing, at the wheels and cart. At last we waited, standing in the driving rain. Then he removed me from between the handles, and, together, we sat beneath the cart.
"The drought is broken," said Tup Ladletender to me.
"Yes, Master," I said.
After a time I said, "May I have a candy, Master?" I had not forgotten the candy he had given me beneath the hut of Thurnus. How sweet and good it had been. It had been only a cheap hard candy but such things are rare in the lives of most slave girls. They are very precious.
"Do you want it very much?" asked Tup Ladletender.
"Yes, Master," I said.
He took me in his arms, and thrust me back to the mud between the wheels of the cart.
I looked up at him.
"Earn it," he said.
"Yes, Master," I said, reaching for him.
The rain drove down from the sweet dark sky in torrents. One could scarcely see the trees and road.