“It is my intention,” he said, “to put my disk on your neck, at least for a time.”
She tried to move toward him a little, but could not do so. He looked down upon her.
“Do I have a name?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
“Master!” she wept, but he had turned away.
There were the sounds of much feasting.
She watched the brazier, glowing in the shadows, as though it might be filled with jewels of fire.
***
Astubux sat on the dais, a drinking horn in hand, and the chieftain had returned to his place there.
“My chieftain,” said Astubux.
“Yes,” said Otto.
“What of the prisoner?”
“His taking has muchly pleased me,” said Otto, moodily.
“You can add him to your plans?” asked Astubux.
“His presence here considerably increases their probability of success,” said Otto.
“Which, I gather, is slight at best,” said Astubux, glumly.
“Drink, feast,” encouraged Otto.
“And the slaves?”
“I am thinking that two of them may figure in my plans, but only in a small way, as is fitting, as they are females, and slaves.”
“Axel has the one who was called ‘Oona,’ “said Astubux.
“Does it concern you that we have given her to Axel, who is one of my advisors.”
“Am I not, too, a counselor of my chieftain?” asked Astubux.
“You looked closely upon the blonde, whose name was ‘Ellen,’ “said Otto.
“What man would not?”
“Would you like her, to tend your hut?” asked Otto.
“Yes!” said Astubux, turning about.
“She would probably know little about tending a hut,” said Otto.
“I could teach her quickly enough with the knout,” said Astubux.
“I am thinking of giving her to you in a few days,” said Otto.
“My chieftain!” said Astubux.
“You would like her?” asked Otto, smiling.
“Yes!” said Astubux.
“She is only a slave,” said Otto.
“No matter!” said Astubux.
“Your disk will be on her neck,” said Otto. “But wait some days.”
“Yes, my chieftain,” said Astubux.
“More drink,” called Otto.
“What of the other one, the young brunette,” asked Astubux.
“I will, for the time, put my own disk on her neck,” said Otto.
“And what then?” asked Astubux.
“I do not know what I will do with her,” said Otto.
“You seem angry, my chieftain,” said Astubux.
“She is a worthless slave,” said Otto.
“But surely a pretty one.”
“Yes,” said Otto, angrily.
“She would fetch a good price,” said Astubux.
“Perhaps I will sell her,” said Otto.
Then Otto, chieftain of the Wolfungs, put back his head and drank, and so, too, did Astubux, one of his counselors.
Shortly thereafter there was a cry of pain. A few minutes later there was a second cry, much like the first. Then, a few minutes after that, there was a third cry, it quite like the first two.
“The slaves have been marked,” said Astubux.
“Yes,” said Otto, chieftain of the Wolfungs.
***
A nameless brunette, a slave in a primitive village on a remote world, was thrust into her master’s hut, before him. She fell to the rush-strewn floor before his seat. It was a large hut, with posts here and there supporting the roof. There was a fire in the firepit.
He sat then in the chair, and she looked up at him, from the floor.
“Put more wood on the fire,” he said.
She found wood at the side of the hut.
“Enough,” he said.
“Kneel here,” he said, indicating a place before his chair.
She complied.
She put her hands on her thighs, but kept her knees closely together.
He looked down upon her, moodily, angrily.
She pressed her knees even more closely together.
He did not speak.
“I have been marked!” she said, suddenly.
“Put your knees apart,” he said.
The slave did so, feeling strange sensations.
On her neck, tied there, on a leather string, there was a leather disk.
A similar disk was on the neck of the blonde, but she had been put in a cage.
A disk, too, had been tied on the neck of the woman put under claim by Axel. She had understood that that was Axel’s disk, marking her as his. He had then tied her hands together, with a leather strap, before her body, and then, with one strand of the strap, extending from her wrists, had led her to his hut. She had followed timidly, but had not held back. “Are you not
frightened to belong to such a man?” the brunette had asked her, when the women, after their marking, had been crouching together.
“Better to be owned for an hour by such a man,” she had said, “than to live a lifetime with a weakling.”
Then she had been pulled to her feet, and Axel had put his disk on her neck. Then he had bound her hands before her.
“Do not forget,” had said the chieftain, “that she was tardy, earlier, in responding to a command.”
“I shall not, my chieftain,” had grinned Axel.
The brunette had then shuddered, for she recalled that the woman was to be punished for her laxity. She doubted that the woman would fail to profit from the lesson. Indeed, from even the thought of this lesson she and the blonde had already profited, having learned that these were not men such as they had hitherto known, that these were not men to be trifled with.
Axel had then led the woman to his hut.
Shortly thereafter they had heard the lash. Axel was sharp with her, but short. Axel, she gathered, was fond of the woman. He had wanted to do little more than let her know what the lash was like, and that it would be used upon her if she were not pleasing. Axel would be kind to the woman, but not lenient. She would not forget that she was a slave. She would be kept under perfect discipline.
The chieftain had then had the two young women stand, and, from behind, he had tied the string about their necks, and each, then, was tagged with his disk.
She wore it now, before him, but dared not touch it.
She had been elated when the chieftain had had Janina conduct the blonde to a cage, and lock her therein. But then she had been terrified, when he had taken her by the arm, and thrust her toward his hut. She was within it now. They were alone. Janina was not present. She had been told to go to a certain hut. It was the hut where the
