Marlenus, I was certain, would be overconfident.
Verna, I was certain, would not be so easily taken a second time.
“Another two stakes, and we are done,” said Thurnock.
I looked at the sun, it was now low, behind the trees, well below them. In half an Ahn, it would be dusk.
It was now time for a slave girl to escape.
I looked at Sheera. “On your feet, Slave Girl,” I said.
She stood up, her wrists braceleted before her body. She faced me. She wore the brief, sleeveless garment of white wool, her dark hair back by the fillet of white wool. She was barefoot. My collar was at her throat.
I realized, suddenly with a start, that she was a quite beautiful woman. She regarded me.
Her fists were clenched in the slave bracelets. The short chain, joining the bracelets, was taut.
“Is this why you purchased me?’ she asked.
“Yes,” I said.
She turned quickly, wrists braceleted, and slipped between two stakes, where Thurnock had not yet closed the defenses of the camp. She sped swiftly into the forest.
It was in her best interest, braceleted, to fall swiftly into the hands of Verna’s band. Within the Ahn, hungry, nocturnal sleen would slip from their burrows to hunt.
“What shall we do now, Captain,” asked Thurnock. He had finished closing the wall, setting the two stakes, sharpened, inclined toward the forests, into place.
“We shall cook some food,” I said, “and we shall eat, and we shall wait.” About the twentieth Ahn, the Gorean midnight, we heard a sound, beyond our defensive perimeter.
“Do not put out the fire,” I told my men, “but stay back from it.”
That we kept the fire burning would indicate that our intentions were not hostile, and that we wished to make contact.
We remained back from the fire to make it more difficult for the panther girls, were it their intention, to slay us from the darkness with arrows.
But that was not their intention. Had it been I do not believe we would have heard the sound we did.
It had been the breaking of a branch, to alert us, to permit them to see what our response would be.
But the fire was not covered.
I stood near the fire, and lifted my arms, that they might see I held no weapons.
“I am Bosk, of the Free Island of tabor,” said I. “I am a merchant. I would hold converse with you.” There was only silence.
“We have trade goods,” I said.
From the darkness, beyond the perimeter, there stepped forth a woman, boldly. She carried a bow. She wore the skins of panthers.
“Build up your fire,” she commanded.
“Do so,” said I to Thurnock.
Reluctantly Thurnock heaped more wood on the fire, until the interior of the perimeter was well illuminated in the darkness.
We could not see beyond the fire.
“Keep the fire high,” said the woman.
“Keep it high,” said I to Thurnock.
Each of us, now within the defensive perimeter, between the stakes, was an easy mark.
“Remove your sword belts and weapons,” said the woman. I dropped my belt, with sword and sheath, and knife, to the ground, beside the fire. My men, at my signal, did likewise.
“Excellent,” said the woman, from the other side of the stakes.
She looked at us. In the light from the recently built-up fire I could see her more clearly. I saw the brief skins, the bow. She had a golden armlet on her left arm, a golden anklet on her right ankle.
She was truly a panther girl.
“You are surrounded,” she said.
“Of course,” I said.
“You understand,” she asked, “that you might be now, should it please us, taken slave?” “Yes,” I said.
“Of what would you hold converse?” she asked.
“Let us speak,” I said.
“Remove some of the stakes,” she said, “and we will speak.”
I gestured to Thurnock.:Remove four stakes,” I said. Reluctantly the peasant giant did so.
The panther girl, her head high, strode into the camp. She looked about herself. Her eyes were strong, and fearless. With her foot she kicked the dropped weapons closer the fire, away from my men.
“Sit,” she said to them, indicating a place near the back of the wall of stakes, “and face the fire.” I indicated they should comply with her direction.
“More closely together,” she said.
I again indicated that they should comply with her directive.
She had had them face the fire, that their eyes might not quickly adapt to night vision. If the fire were suddenly extinguished they would, for an Ehn, for all practical purposes, be blind, at the mercy of the panther girls. They had been told to sit together that an arrow loosed into their midst could not but find a target.
The girl now sat down across from me, cross-legged, near the fire.
There was another sound from beyond the perimeter. I saw something white move in the darkness, stumbling between two panther girls.
A panther girl holding each arm, she was thrust into the camp. She was still braceleted, of course, but now her hands, in the bracelets, with binding fiber, had been tied close to her belly. Her brief white garment had been torn to her waist. The fillet was gone from her hair. Sheera was thrust forward, and forced to her knees, head down, by the fire. She had been much switched.
“We encountered this strayed slave,” said the girl.
“She is mine,” I said.
“Do you know who she was?” asked the girl.
I shrugged.:A slave,” I said.
There was laughter from girls beyond the perimeter, in the darkness. Sheera lowered her head still more.
“She was once a panther girl,” said the girl.:She was once Sheera, the panther girl.” “Oh,” I said.
The girl laughed. “She was a great rival to Verna. Verna now takes pleasure in returning her to you.” The girl looked at Sheera. “You wear a collar well, Sheera,” said she.
Sheera looked at her, her eyes glazed in pain.
“This merchant,” said the girl, “tells us that you are his slave. Is that true?” She looked at her, in fury.
“Speak, Slave,” said the girl.
“Yes,” said Sheera, “he is my master.”
The girl laughed, and so, too, did the others. Then the girl looked at me, and nodded at Sheera. “Is she any good?” she asked.
I looked at Sheera. “Yes,” I said, “she is quite good.”
Sheera looked away, in fury, and put down her head. There was much laughter from the girls.
“We will take four arrow points for her,” said the girl, “for returning her to you.” “Your fee is quite reasonable,” I remarked.
“More than enough,” said the girl, “for a cheap girl.”
Sheera’s fists were clenched. Then she put her head down, and wept, a slave. I indicated that one of the girl’s companions might remove four arrow points from the pack of trade goods. She did remove four, just four, and no more. “So you are Verna?” I asked the girl “No,” she said.
I looked disappointed.
She regarded me warily. “You seek Verna?” she asked.
“I have come far,” I admitted, to do business with her.” I looked at the girl, not much pleased. “I had understood that this was the territory ranged by Verna and her band.” “I am of the band of Verna,” said the girl.
“Good,” I said. I was now more pleased.
The girl facing me was blond, and blue-eyed, like many panther girls. She was lovely, but cruel looking. She was not particularly tall.
For some reason, I found myself not displeased that this woman was not Verna. “I am Bosk, of Tabor,” I said.
“I am Mira,” she said.
“Do you come from Verna?” I asked. “Can you speak for her?”
“Yes,” she said. “For whom do you speak?”
“For myself,” I said.
“That is interesting,” she said. Then she mused, “Verna told us that Marlenus of Ar would not approach us as you have done, and that he would not use a merchant to do his business for him.” I shrugged. “She is probably right,” I said. Marlenus, with men, would hunt the forests. He would not be likely to address himself to a panther girl unless she was stripped and knelt before him in slave chains.
“Do you know Marlenus is in the forest?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, “I have heard that.”
“Do you know the location of his camp?” she asked.
“No,” I said, “other than the fact that it is said to be somewhere north or northeast of Laura.” “We know where it is” said Mira.
