unusual, I supposed, that he would have spoken without being recognized, so to speak. I had little doubt he could kill me, and, given his true identity, would wish to do so. This must have prompted his boldness.
“What is your name?” asked Lord Nishida.
“Callias,” I said.
“Your hands suggest you are an oarsman,” said Lord Nishida.
“I drew oar,” I said. “But in better times I was first spear, in a squad of nine.”
“In better times?” asked Lord Nishida.
“When Cos, Tyros, and allies ruled in Ar,” I said.
“We gather,” said Lord Nishida, “that is no longer the case.”
I had no idea how much they knew. I had gathered from the former Lady Flavia of Ar that men such as Lord Nishida had purchased slaves in Brundisium, and I supposed they had recruited men and hired ships there, as well, which had then coasted north, to the high forests. Beyond that I knew little. I would learn later that they had found, or built, a ship in the north, a great ship, that on which I now found myself, and had debouched into Thassa from the Alexandra. As it seemed they waited for me to speak, I told them, briefly, of the events in Ar, the return of Marlenus, the fighting, the withdrawal of troops, the proscription lists, the flight of fugitives, and such. I also mentioned the unusual account of the disappearance of the Ubara, which I had had from the former Lady Flavia of Ar, now Alcinoe. It seemed, however, that they were familiar with this. In the end, I suspected I told them little that they did not know. If it were new or important information which they wanted of me I fear they were sorely disappointed. And that, I thought, along with the presence of Seremides, did not augur well for my future.
“Do you have a Home Stone?” asked Lord Nishida.
“Yes,” I said. “That of Jad, on Cos.”
“I thought he was Cosian,” snarled Seremides. “Cosians cannot be trusted. They are treacherous, and deceitful. Let us kill him.”
“Several from Cos are numbered amongst our mercenaries,” said Lord Nishida.
Certainly I had heard accents of Cos on the galley which had picked me up.
“What was your ship, and its purpose?” asked Lord Nishida.
“The
“She pursued us, she crossed our path,” said Lord Nishida.
“Too,” said Seremides, “we were attacked, flaming javelins launched against us.”
Fire at sea, as noted, is a great danger.
“Even an ost,” I said, “trodden upon, will strike.”
“You pursued us,” said Lord Nishida.
“Yes,” I admitted.
“An ost,” said Lord Nishida, “is not well advised to pursue the great hith, against which its poison is useless.”
This is not as surprising as it might seem, as the poison of the ost, as that of many poisonous snakes, is prey-selective, deadly against warm-blooded animals, such as tiny urts, its customary prey, or even larger animals, such as verr and tabuk, but harmless to other snakes, to certain forms of tharlarion, and such.
“It is true,” I said.
“He is an enemy,” said Seremides, “self-confessed, who pursued and attacked us, a scion of vengeful, hostile Cos. He is dangerous. He may incite mutiny. Kill him, and be done with him.”
“Shall we kill you?” asked Lord Nishida.
“That decision is yours,” I said.
Lord Okimoto nodded his head. Seremides clenched his fists.
“Why was I picked up?” I asked.
“Is it not obvious?” asked Lord Nishida.
“The fellowship of the sea?” I said.
“If you had been rescued by another,” said Lord Nishida, “say, a galley of Tyros, it is our speculation that a dozen ships, within days, in the vicinity of the farther islands, would have sought us, to our inconvenience and distraction.”
“Were others of the
“No,” said Lord Nishida.
“I was the only survivor?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Lord Nishida.
I found this hard to believe. I would learn later, however, that there was a simple explanation for this seeming anomaly.
“You are hence to the farther islands?” I asked.
“Beyond them,” said Lord Nishida.
“There is nothing beyond them,” I said, “only the end of the world.”
“If the world had an edge,” said Lord Nishida, “would not Thassa have drained away, falling into the void?”
“Perhaps there is a wall,” I said.
“Perhaps,” he smiled.
“None return from beyond the farther islands,” I said.
“You are familiar with the slave, Alcinoe?” asked Lord Nishida.
“Yes,” I said. To be sure, I had seen her but once, when she had brought me broth. My food and drink, thereafter, had been attended to by guards.
“She claimed you raped her,” said Lord Nishida.
“Was her body examined?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Lord Nishida. “Have no fear. She was well lashed.”
“Excellent,” I said.
“She hates you,” said Lord Nishida.
“Excellent,” I said. “It is then all the more pleasant to have them crawling to you, the whip borne in their teeth.”
“She has been given lower duties,” said Lord Nishida. “The scrubbing of decks, naked, and in chains, such things.”
“Excellent,” I said.
Such things are useful in the training of a slave.
“Our physicians have determined,” said Lord Nishida, “that after her sojourn in your cell, she is almost ready to be put on the block.”
“Interesting,” I said.
“She was recently a free woman,” said Lord Nishida.
“Oh?” I said.
“Now, it seems,” he said, “she has begun to fear radical changes in her very being, changes she is not capable of resisting, changes such that a free woman may be replaced by a slave.”
“She is a slave,” I said.
“To her consternation and terror,” said Lord Nishida, “it seems that she has begun to sense what it might be to have slave fires in her belly.”
“Interesting,” I said.
“They have been lit,” said Lord Nishida.
“I scarcely touched her,” I said.
“The flames are tiny now,” said Lord Nishida, “but they will doubtless grow.”
“That is common,” I said.
“She will, of course,” said Lord Nishida, “fear them, and fight them, with all weapons of her pride and will.”
“Of course,” I said.
That battle, of course, once the fires have begun, cannot be won. Sooner of later the free woman is transformed into a needful slave, a submitted, begging, belonging of men.
