We had worked hard, the last two days, preparing the stables and the animals for the inspection of the Mistress. I did not know if she would find fault or not, but, to me, objectively, it seemed the holding was in splendid condition. Kenneth, who had held an earlier inspection, had been satisfied, and he was, I suspected, harder to please than would be the Mistress. Indeed, it was a bit unusual that the Mistress conducted her own inspections. Too, it seems she was spending longer with the slaves than one would normally expect. This sudden, exacting concern with the details of the operation of the great stables was unusual for her. She was Mistress, of course, and might do as she wished.
'Do you wish to be whipped, with the snake?' she asked a fellow down the line from me.
'No, Mistress,' he said, swiftly.
'Then do your work well, Slave,' she said.
'Yes, Mistress,' he stammered.
I considered again the polished, black leather of her trim, high boots. A free woman, of course, if she owns slaves, does not polish her own boots. That would be done by one of the house slaves. I suspected that it was Taphris, short-legged and luscious, who polished her boots.
I saw a frown on the face of Kenneth. I then looked away from the Mistress.
I smiled to myself. Kenneth did not wish me to be torn to pieces between tharlarion, driven in opposite directions.
I no longer wore the collar of the silk slave. I now wore, like other stable slaves, a common work collar, of black iron, with an attached ring. On it was the legend `I belong to the Lady Florence of Vonda' I, like other stable slaves, was chained at night.
The Lady Florence was now two slaves from me.
Besides the line of forty-two male stable slaves, with which my Mistress was now concerning herself, there knelt to one side, backs straight and heads up, a line of five Kajirae, who were stable sluts. These were barefoot and bare-armed, and wore brown tunics which, as they now had them belted, with binding fiber, would have failed to their knees, rather demurely for slave girls, had they stood up. There were two blonds and three brunets. All were Gorean wenches. On the throat of each, though much more slender and graceful than those of the males, was a collar, too, a work collar, of black iron, with an attached ring. I relished the sight of them.
'Slave!' snapped Kenneth.
'Yes, Master,' I said, quickly, startled.
The Mistress, her eyes angry, stood before me. She slapped the quirt in the palm of her left hand. She was not pleased that I had not noticed when she had moved before me.
I knelt very straight. I stared ahead, inspected. I could see the hint of her sweet thighs beneath the beige skirt. Lifting my eyes I recalled the latitudes of her white belly, now concealed beneath her skirt, and blouse and jacket; I saw the loveliness of her breasts swelling within the blouse and jacket. I remembered the slender softness of her body and shoulders, the beauty of her throat, and face and hair, now muchly concealed by the jacket, and hood and veil. I inspected her. Her lineaments, for I had once been her silk slave, were not unfamiliar to me.
Above the veil, briefly, I saw her eyes flash in anger. But then she controlled herself. She would say nothing. How could she, in such a situation, call attention to the fact that she had been inspected, and as a woman, by one who was a mere slave.
'Is this not a new slave in the stables?' she asked Kenneth.
'Yes, Lady Florence,' said Kenneth, 'but, still, he has been with us now for some five weeks.'
'What is his name?' she asked.
'Jason,' said Kenneth.
'He seems familiar,' she said, lightly.
'Perhaps you remember him, Lady Florence,' said Kenneth. 'He was once your silk slave.'
'Ah!' she said, as though suddenly recollecting the matter. 'Is it truly you, Jason?' she asked.
'Yes, Mistress,' I said
She stepped back two or three feet, and looked upon me. 'What a sturdy brute you have become,' she said.
I said nothing.
'Your face and features,' she said, 'seem to have coarsened. And there is a scar on your lower left cheek.'
I said nothing. I had had the scar from a cut received some four weeks ago. I had been careless.
'I have, inadvertently, from time to time, overheard the speakings of slaves,' she said. 'Is it true that you are the champion in the stables?'
I smiled to myself. Her informant in such matters was Taphris. Kenneth had told me this.
'Is it true?' she asked.
I considered the line of men. 'Yes, Mistress,' I said.
'He is splendid, Lady Florence,' said Kenneth, warmly. 'He is a true champion. He has beaten already the champions of five stables, those of Kliomenes, Policrates, Gordon, Dorto and Miles.'
'I abhor violence,' she said, shuddering, the quirt in her hand.
'Of course, Lady Florence,' said Kenneth. 'Forgive me. They are, of course, only slaves who are set at one another'
'That is true,' she said. 'It is not as though they were people. They are only animals.'
It was true. Slaves, both male and female, are animals. Anything may be done with them.
'When he does well, or is successful,' she asked, as though merely curious, 'is he rewarded?'
'Yes,' said Kenneth, 'it is useful in the training.'
'And how is he rewarded?' she asked.
'An extra round of rations,' said Kenneth, expansively, 'some pastry upon occasion, sometimes with even a bowl of cheap wine.'
'I see,' she said.
I looked over at the line of stable sluts, kneeling in the soft earth, in their brown tunics. I had had all of them, and more than once. Kenneth had been generous. Not unoften he would bring one of them to my stall at night, where I was chained, and chain her by the neck, beside me in the straw. My favorite was the blond, Telitsia.
'And is he, upon occasion,' asked the Lady Florence, 'rewarded with things of another sort?'
'Of course, Lady Florence,' said Kenneth.
'With what?' she asked.
'With meaningless little things, trivialities, baubles, things of no account or worth,' said Kenneth.
The Lady Florence looked over to the line of kneeling Kajirae. 'To be sure,' she said, acidly.
'If Lady Florence disapproves,' said Kenneth, 'we shall, of course, discontinue the practice.'
'Why should I disapprove?' she asked, angrily.
'I do not know, Lady Florence,' said Kenneth. 'I only thought-'
'The sluts are on their slave wine, are they not?' she asked.
'Of course,' said Kenneth.
'In what else could I possibly have been interested?' she asked.
'I do not know,' he said.
'If there is to be breeding done upon them, I will, of course, supervise it,' she said.
'Of course, -Lady Florence,' said Kenneth.
Slaves are domestic stock. They are bred if and when, and as, the masters please.
'How strong your arms seem to have become,' mused the Lady Florence, looking down upon me. Like the other slave tunics, mine was sleeveless.
I said nothing.
'It is nothing whatsoever to me,' said the Lady Florence to Kenneth, 'whether this slave, a mere slave, is or is not used in the stable bouts. See, however, that he performs his full share of labors.'
'Of course, Lady Florence,' said Kenneth.
The Mistress then turned from me, and surveyed the next slave in line. She stayed before him, however, only a moment. And, indeed, she was soon finished with our line of slaves. She turned about.
