"I see," I said.
"Put me to the test," she said.
"Some women first learn who is master and who slave in such a place," I said, looking about.
"It may be taught to us anywhere," she said.
"An interesting remark," I said, "coming from a free woman."
She laughed ruefully. I wondered at this.
I regarded her.
"I cannot embrace you," she said, "as my hands are pinioned behind my back."
"I came to the tavern tonight," I said, "for three reasons, two of which have to do with you. One of these I will reveal to you."
She looked at me.
"I was curious to know whether or not you could survive in a certain modality of existence. I now, from what I see, think you could, though, of course, my inquiry has not yet been completed. I have not yet ascertained certain crucial data."
"I assure you," she said, "I can strive well to please men."
"You speak as a slave," I said.
"Are you surprised?" she asked.
"To be sure," I said, "in a place such as this, any woman would be concerned to strive well to please men."
"Certainly," she said. "We would be terrified not to. On the other hand, even if I were not in this place, I would wish to please men."
"Interesting," I said.
"I have always wanted to be attractive to men, and to please them," she said.
"Do you understand the meaning of that?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "Of course."
"You understand then what you are?" I asked. "Yes," she said.
I regarded her.
"I am ready," she said, "Ascertain your crucial data."
"I think you will be safe here," I said.
"I do not understand," she said.
I then drew her by the ankles forward on the furs and took a pair, of shackles, separated by about a foot of chain, from the wall. I snapped one shackle on her right ankle and threaded the other through the corner ring at the right, as you enter. I then thrust up the slave hells and snapped the second shackle on her left ankle.
"Your ankles do look well in shackles," I said. The key to the shackles, on a string, was on the same peg from which I had removed the shackles.
I then took a collar with a short, attached chain and lock ring from another hook. I then snapped the collar shut on her neck. It was, I suppose, judging from the look on her face, at any rate, the first time she had ever been locked in a collar. I then thrust her back to the furs and attached the dangling chain, by means of its lock ring, to a ring in the floor, near the back wall, on the left, as you would enter. I had thus fastened her diagonally between two of the rings, her ankles to one, her neck to another, that might be used in spread-eagling a slave, either on her back or belly. Given the shortness of the neck chain and the fastening on her ankles she could get her head up only a few inches from the furs. The key to the collar and the lock ring, it responding to the same key, was, like the shackles' key, on a string, suspended from the same peg from which I had removed the restraining device.
I then stood up, and looked down at the female. She was quite beautiful on the furs, in the lamp light. I thought she would be safe there, surely more so than if shackled in one of the public holding areas off the main paga room. She moved a little, looking up at me. I heard the bells, a tiny sensuous rustle of them on her fair ankle, just above the dark shackle. I smelled the slave perfume, the Chains of Telnus. It was heady. It was maddeningly exciting. It was with great pleasure that I looked down upon her. She was lusciously curvaceous, a dream of pleasure, the tiny chain across her forehead, with its tiny ornament, with the serpentine armlet, in the necklaces, the bracelets, the bells, the snatch of slave silk.
"Captor?" she asked.
"Were you given permission to speak?" I asked.
"May I speak?" she asked.
"Not without permission," I said.
"May I speak, please," she said.
"No," I said. Then I turned about, and forced myself to leave.
40 News from Torcadino; I am Expected
"Have you heard the news?" a fellow was eagerly asking another, outside, in the main paga room. The music had stopped. A dancer had fled back behind a beaded curtain, dismissed by the czehar player, he who led the musicians.
"No," said the other.
Men gathered about, and I joined them, confident of the nature of what was to be reported, yet not informed as to the details.
"Dietrich of Tarnburg has withdrawn from Torcadino!" said the fellow.
"Impossible," said another.
"Myron has Torcadino encircled with rings of iron," said another. "The main force of Cos on the continent is at Torcadino."
"When did this occur?" asked a man.
"Weeks ago," said a man.
"Have you heard of it?" asked the fellow who had been so eager to communicate.
"Two days ago," said the fellow who had mentioned the weeks. "News has apparently been suppressed."
If this were true, it was not surprising. I could well imagine Myron being somewhat reluctant to have it broadcast about that his supposedly helplessly trapped quarry had somehow slipped out of his grasp. Indeed, men might have died in his attempt to contain this intelligence.
"Is it dangerous to speak of it?" asked the first fellow.
"I would not think so now," said the fellow.
"I have heard something of this just this evening," said a man. "It is all over the city."
"I have come from Ven," said another. "It is known there."
"I have heard nothing of it," said one of the patrons. "Speak, I pray you."
Various of the fellows looked around. In the group there were fellows from Brundisium, oarsmen, merchants, mercenaries, Cosian regulars, others. All seemed eager to learn what might have occurred. I did not see any Cosian officers present, or anyone who looked as though they may be interested in arresting the transmission of this matter.
"I will speak what I have heard," said a man, "if no one objects."
"No one objects," said a fellow, looking about.
"It must be understood clearly," said the man, "that what I speak now is spoken generally, and spoken by hundreds of others, and thus, if any breach of security is involved in this, it is not one for which I am responsible. Further, I am not intentionally breaching any confidence, nor, as far as I know is security even involved in this matter, at least now. Further, I do not vouch for the accuracy of what I have heard, but merely repeat it, and only at the earnest instigation of others. Indeed, I mention it openly only in order that we may scoff at it, none of us extending to it serious consideration. Indeed, it is so absurd that it cannot be true. I am, thus, merely for our amusement, speaking what is clearly false."
"Speak," said a man.
"Speak!" said another.
"Dietrich has escaped Torcadino!" he said.
"With his men?" asked a fellow.
"With men and slaves," said the fellow.
"Impossible," said a man.
"I agree, totally," said our narrator. He was, I suspected, a scribe of the law. Certainly he seemed a circumspect fellow.
"How is this supposed to have happened?" asked a man.
"Information became available in the Cosian camp near Torcadino, conveyed by a supposed deserter, a fellow named Mincon," said our narrator, "of a secret escape tunnel being dug under the walls to the north, a low tunnel, like a counter-mine, over eleven pasangs in length, which had taken months to dig, a tunnel which presumably would open far behind the besiegers. Even the day on which the escape was to be made was known. It was understood, too, that Dietrich himself, with some close followers, would have tarn wire opened near the Semnium and leave the city that same night."
"I did not think a few men, on tarns, would have difficulty escaping the city," said a man.
"Still there are tarn patrols," said another, "and cavalries ready for prompt pursuit."
The night came," said our narrator, "and, precisely as Myron's informant, Mincon, had assured him, a dozen tarns took wing from the roof of the Semnium. Cos was waiting for them, of course, and the pursuit was instantaneous. The tarns aflight from the Semnium roof were fine tarns, naturally, and for Ahn they eluded their pursuers. Yet the pursuers had been prepared for this and had extra mounts in their train, changing to fresh tarns every Ahn. Meanwhile, Myron, at Torcadino, girded himself for battle and led most of his men near the point at which the tunnel was to open. There, in encircling trenches, they concealed themselves. They would permit the forces from Torcadino to emerge and then, in virtue of their superior strength, on open ground, annihilate them. Few, proportionally, would be able to escape back through the tunnel, and, of course, as they might strive to do so, in panic, screaming, hacking at one another, and such, further slaughter, and then of a simple sort, could be wreaked upon them.