collar!' She looked up at me. 'Will it never be taken off?' she asked.
'Undoubtedly,' I said.
'Ah,' she said.
'To be replaced with another,' I said.
'Oh,' she said. She looked up at the wall, to her right, at the slave whip hanging there, on its peg. 'You did not whip me,' she said.
'Do you wish to be whipped?' I said.
'No,' she said, 'no!' She had felt the whip. She then looked again at me. 'I suppose,' said she, 'that I will be bought and sold many times.'
'Doubtless,' I told her.
'Do you think men will ever free me?' she asked.
'No,' I said.
'Why?' she asked.
'The collar is right on you,' I said.
She touched it. 'Yes,' she said, 'it is right on me. And you knew it immediately, didn't you, you beast? That is why you made me, when I thought I was free, serve you as a naked paga slave.'
'It seemed fitting,' I said, 'that your slavery be made manifest.'
'Of course,' she said. 'You are a Gorean master.'
'Any Gorean male looking upon you,' I said, 'whether you wore a collar or not, would see that you should be a slave.'
'And now I am a slave,' she said.
'Yes,' I said.
'I do not object,' she said.
'It does not matter whether you object or not,' I said.
'True,' she smiled.
I heard men moving about, outside, cleaning the floor. I sat up.
'Do not go, Master,' she begged.
'I must be on my way,' I told her.
'Leaving me here?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'Please remain but a bit longer,' she begged.
'Would you detain me?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said, 'with the charms of a slave.'
'You do not speak as an Earth girl,' I said.
'I am no longer an Earth girl,' she said. 'I am now only a Gorean slave,' she said.
'It is true,' I said.
She slipped down my body and began, piteously, to kiss me.
'I do not have time,' I told her.
'Dally, please dally,' she begged, 'if only for a few moments more.'
I saw that she feared to be left behind. She looked up at me, miserably.
'You now begin to understand, do you not,' I asked, 'something of the meaning of your collar?'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Surely now,' I said, 'you would choose freedom.'
She looked up at me, boldly. 'No,' she said. 'I have been a free woman, and I have been a slave. I have known both.'
'Is not freedom inordinately precious?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said, 'but more inordinately precious to me is my slavery.'
I looked at her.
'I choose the brand,' she said, 'the collar, and the hands of a master on my body.'
I pulled her up beside me, and threw her to her back. 'Use me ruthlessly, Master,' she begged.
'I shall,' I told her.
'Rape me as a slave,' she said.
'It will be done,' I told her.
In a few moments she screamed her submission and looked at me, unbelievingly.
'I did not know what it would be to be raped as a slave,' she whispered.
'It was so swift, and brutal,' she said. 'Please hold me,' she said.
I spurned her with my foot to the side of the alcove, and she lay there, trembling and weeping.
She held out her hand to me. 'Please touch me,' she said.
'Be silent, Slave,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she whispered.
I began to dress.
She rose to her knees and knelt there, then, by the side wall, the steel ankle ring, with its chain, leading to the floor ring, still upon her ankle. 'How you used me,' she said. She was still trembling.
'Sandals,' I said.
She crept to me and, head down, placed my sandals on my feet. She then tied them, drawing the thongs tight and then fastening them. 'How you used me,' she whispered. Then she held my legs and pressed her cheek against the side of my left leg, above the knee. I did not kick her from me. She looked up, tears in her eyes. 'If one Is a true slave,' he said, 'it is not wrong to be a slave, is it?'
'No,' I said.
She held my legs, looking up at me. 'If one is a true slave,' she said, 'it is right that one should be a slave, is it not?'
'Yes,' I said.
'I am a true slave,' she said.
'Yes,' I said.
'It is thus right that I should be a slave,' she said.
'Yes,' I said. I lifted her to her feet, holding her by the arms before me.
'It is right,' she said, 'that a true slave should be en-slaved.'
'Of course,' I said.
'I am a true slave,' she said.
'I know,' I said.
'It is thus right,' she said, 'that I should be enslaved.'
'Yes,' I said.
'I am enslaved,' she said.
'Yes,' I said. I then threw her to my feet and, turning, parted the curtains of the alcove.
'Master,' she wept.
I turned to look at her.
'But one more kiss, please, Master,' she said.
She knelt on the furs, chained by the ankle, and I crouched before her, and took her in my arms. We kissed. Then I thrust her back, and stood up.
'You subjected me earlier to slave rape,' she said, soft tears in her eyes, with tender reproach.
'Yes,' I said.
'And afterwards spurned me from you.'
'Yes,' I said.
'Keep me, Master!' she suddenly begged. 'Keep me!'
I looked down upon her. She knelt before me. She was so soft and beautiful, her eyes and lashes wet with tears, her hair dark and soft on her shoulders, her lip trembling.
'Keep me,' she begged.
She had been an agent of Kurii.
'Take me with you,' she begged. 'Do not leave me behind in this place.'
