would have been brought here.'
'No,' said my lovely captor.
'Where was she taken?' I asked.
'I do not know,' she said…
She tugged on the rawhide leash I wore. Then she reached up and removed it from my neck, and coiled it, and replaced it on the ring on her belt.
'The sun is beautiful in your auburn hair,' I said.
'Oh?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said. 'Did you know that girls with auburn hair often bring higher prices on the slave block?' I asked.
'No,' she said, 'I did not.' Then she said to guardsmen who stood about. 'Take him to the whipping frame. Secure him there and beat him well. Use the snake. Then pen him and chain him. Tomorrow put him to work on the wall.'
'The red hunters depend on the tabuk,' I told her. 'Without it they will starve.'
'That is not my concern,' she said.
The men put their hands on my arms.
'Oh,' she said, 'incidentally you may know of a ship of supplies which had been bound for the high north.'
'I know of such a ship,' I said.
'It has been sunk,' she said. 'Its crew doubtless will greet you tomorrow. They, too, labor on the wall.'
'How could you take the ship?' I asked.
'There are five tarnsmen here,' she said, 'though now they are on patrol. They fired the ship from the air. Its crew, abandoning the ship, were apprehended later. The ship, burned to the waterline, was steered onto the rocks and fell awash. In the rising of the tide it was freed and sank. Sharks now frequent its hold.'
I looked at her.
'We are thorough,' she said.
'The red hunters will starve,' I told her.
'That is not my concern,' she said.
'Why are you holding the tabuk?' I asked. 'What have you to gain?'
'I do not know,' she said. 'I am merely discharging my orders.'
'The red hunters,' I said.
'They are not my concern,' she said. Then she said, 'Take him away.'
Two men seized me and conducted me from her presence. I was confident that I saw the point of stopping the tabuk. Its role in the plans of Kurii seemed clear to me. I was puzzled that the girl did not see its import.
She knew no more, it seemed, than she needed to know.
10
What Occurred In The Vicinity Of The Wall
'Is he still alive?' asked a man.
I lay chained in the slave pen.
'Yes,' said the red hunter.
'He is strong,' said another man.
I wanted the woman in my power who had had me beaten. I struggled to a sitting position.
'Rest now,' said Ram. 'It is nearly dawn.'
'They have you, too,' I said. I had left him in Lydius, in the paga tavern.
He grinned wryly. 'Late that night,' said he, 'in the alcove they surprised me with Tina. At sword point I was hooded and chained.'
'How was the girl? I asked.
'In a quarter of an Ahn,' he said, 'I had her screaming herself mine.' He licked his lips. 'What a slave she is!' he marveled.
'I thought she would be,' I said. 'Where is she?' I asked.
'Is she not here?' he asked.
'No,' I said.
'Where have they taken her?' he asked.
'I do not know,' I said.
'I want her back,' he said.
'She is only a slave,' I said.
'I want to own her again,' he said.
'Do you think she is your ideal slave?' I asked.
'Perhaps,' he said, 'I do not know. But I will not be content until she is again at my feet.'
'But did you not make her serve you paga publicly in her own city, and as a slave girl?'
'Of course,' he said. 'And then I took her by the hair to the alcove.'
'Is that the way you treat your ideal slave?' I asked.
'Of course,' he said.
'Excellent,' I said. I saw that Ram was a true master. The girl's helplessness was doubtless in part a response to his strength. Slave girls are seldom in doubt as to which men are their masters and which are not.
'What is your name?' I asked the red hunter. 'Forgive me,' I said.
Red hunters are often reluctant to speak their own name. What if the name should go away? What if it, in escaping their lips, should not return to them?
'One whom some hunters in the north call Imnak may share your chain,' he said.
He seemed thoughtful. Then he seemed content. His name had not left him.
'You are Imnak,' I said.
'Yes,' he said.
'I am Tarl,' I said.
'Greetings, Tarl,' he said.
'Greetings, Imnak,' I said.
'I have seen you before,' said a man.
'I know you,' I said. 'You are Sarpedon, who owns a tavern in Lydius.
'I sold the little slave whom you knew,' he said.
'I know,' I said. 'She is now collared in my house.'
'A superb wench,' he said. 'I often used her for my pleasure.'
'Your tavern, now,' I said, 'seems to be managed by one called Sarpelius.'
'I know,' he said. 'I would that I could get my hands on the rogue's throat.'
'How came you here?' I asked.
'I was voyaging upstream on the Laurius,' he said, 'to see if panther girls had caught any new slave girls, whom I might purchase from them for arrow points and candy, for use in the tavern as paga sluts. But unfortunately it was I, taken by five tarnsmen on the river, who found myself chained. It was part of a plan, of course. My assistant, Sarpelius, was in league with them.'
'Your tavern is being used to recruit workers for the wall.' said Ram.
Several men grunted angrily.
'Put Sarpelius in my grasp,' said Sarpedon, 'and I will see you receive rich satisfaction for your inconvenience.'
'Admiral,' said a man.
'I know you,' I said. 'You are Tasdron, a captain in the fee of Samos.'
