elusive debtor now dancing as a naked slave before him. She then spun about and danced before Tenalion and Ronald, his man. She, a slave, I noted, danced most helplessly and lasciviously before them. They were strong men, and slavers. Too, Tenalion had put the collar on her.
'Continue to dance here,' said Tenalion, indicating a place before his small table.
'Yes, Master,' she said, commanded.
Then, as she danced before him, he took forth a small pad and, with a marking stick, jotted notes upon it. He was doubtless appraising her, and considering how she might be improved.
After a time, he said, 'You may now dance elsewhere'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
But a moment after this the Lady Florence stood up and signaled to the musicians to discontinue, for the time, the music.
Melpomene then, of course, knelt, head down, facing her Mistress.
'How do you like my little dancer?' she asked.
'Excellent, for a raw slave,' said Tenalion. 'Obviously she has slave fire in her belly.'
'Do you hear that, Girl,' said the Lady Florence to Melpomene, 'you have slave fire in your belly.'
'Yes, Mistress,' said Melpomene, head down, shamed.
'I knew it!' said the Lady Florence.
'Yes, Mistress,' said Melpomene, sobbing.
'How right that you wear a collar, Slave Girl,' sneered the Lady Florence.
'Yes, Mistress,' sobbed Melpomene.
The Lady Florence regarded her new female slave. 'Have you been shamed sufficiently, Melpomene?' she asked.
'Yes, Mistress,' said Melpomene.
'No, you have not been,' said the Lady Florence. 'It is no dishonor for you, a slave, to dance before free persons. Rather have I accorded you a privilege in permitting you to do so.'
'Yes, Mistress,' said Melpomene.
'Now I think that I shall truly shame you,' she said.
'Mistress?' asked Melpomene.
'Now you shall dance,' she said, 'before a male slave!'
'Oh, no, Mistress,' begged Melpomene, 'please, please do not so shame me!'
The two women, the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene, clapped their hands with pleasure. Brandon and Philebus laughed. Tenalion and Ronald, his man, smiled.
'Please, no, Mistress,' begged Melpomene, extending her hands to her Mistress. She could not believe what was being done to her. There can be no greater degradation for a slave girl than to be made to serve a slave.
'Be silent, Girl,' snapped the Lady Florence.
'Yes, Mistress,' wept Melpomene.
'Kenneth!' called the Mistress. 'Jason!'
'Precede me,' said Kenneth, holding back the curtain.
'Yes, Master,' I said.
I strode into the room. I was stripped to the waist. I wore the half tunic of a stable slave.
I heard the women, the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene, draw in their breath.
'You!' breathed Melpomene, putting her hand before her mouth.
I stood a few feet from her, my arms folded. I looked down upon her. She seemed very small and vulnerable, so white, so soft, in a steel collar, kneeling on the tiles.
I looked to the men. We measured one another, as men do. I did not flinch before their gaze, though I was slave and they were free. I had stood against men such as Gort, of the stables of Miles, and Kaibar, of the stables of Shandu, in the pit of leather and blood… Brandon, a prefect of Vonda, and Philebus, the bounty creditor of Venna, seemed troubled. Inwardly I smiled. I could tear either of them to pieces, should it please me. I did not think Brandon would care to speak to me, unless he had guardsmen at his back. I did not think Philebus would care to pursue me for my debts. More respect I entertained for Tenalion and his cohort, he called Ronald. They were slavers. They would know the martial arts. They would be, secretly, armed. It was possible they could slay me before I could get my hands on them. Such men, though mostly they deal with collared wenches, must know the handling of the larger and more dangerous animals, the Kajiri. I saw that they did not fear me. They saw, too, however, that I did not fear them.
'Look at his body,' breathed the Lady Leta.
'Where have you been keeping him, my dear?' inquired the Lady Perimene.
'He is a fighting slave, is he not?' inquired Brandon.
'I understand,' said the Lady Florence, 'that he has been upon occasion used in the stable bouts.' Indeed, I was champion of the local stables, those within a perimeter of some fifty pasangs. Even Gort, of the stables of Miles, and Kaibar, of the stables of Shandu, had been unable to best me.
'This is Jason,' said the Lady Florence, introducing me to her guests. 'He is one of my less important stable slaves. He is, however, apparently not totally unattractive to certain sorts of low women.'
The Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene laughed.
'According to my reports,' continued the Lady Florence, 'some of my stable sluts are half mad with passion for him.'
'Imagine what it would be,' said Tenalion, 'if he were free, and they were his.'
'I do not think I would mind being a slut in your stables, my dear Florence,' said the Lady Perimene, 'if I were to find myself at the mercy of such beasts.'
'I deny him women, of course,' she laughed.
'That could be dangerous, Lady Florence,' said Tenalion, 'unless he is kept closely chained.'
'Except occasionally, of course,' she laughed. She looked at Melpomene who, kneeling, in her collar, shuddered.
'Why do you limit his rations of love flesh?' asked Tenalion.
'It is my will,' said the Lady Florence angrily, defensively.
'I see,' said Tenalion. He smiled. He looked at the Lady Florence as though he had stripped her.
'Oh, I let him have a snack of love flesh upon occasion,' she said, 'if it suits my whim.' My face was expressionless. I had not had a woman since I had had Telitsia in the training barn, the morning before she had been sold. 'Indeed,' laughed the Lady Florence, 'I might let him have one tonight.'
There was laughter.
'Jason,' said the Lady Florence, 'may I introduce one of my slaves to you, a new one. I call her Melpomene.'
'Yes, Mistress,' I said. I regarded Melpomene. She was visibly trembling.
'Do you remember Jason, Melpomene?' asked the Lady Florence, sweetly.
'Yes, Mistress,' whispered Melpomene.
'Do you think she would make a suitable snack of love flesh for a fighting slave, Jason?' asked the Lady Florence.
'Yes, Mistress,' I said.
'To his feet, Girl,' snapped the Lady Florence. 'Lick and kiss them!'
Melpomene fled to me. I felt her lips on my feet, and her small tongue.
There was laughter from the Lady Leta and the Lady Perimene.
'Now beg to dance for him,' said the Lady Florence.
Melpomene lifted her head. There were tears in her eyes. I saw the collar on her throat, with its chain loop. 'I beg to dance for you, Master,' she said.
I glanced to the Lady Florence. Then I said, 'You may do so.'
Melpomene rose to her feet and backed away a few feet from me, and lifted her hands over her head, the wrists back to back. Her knees were flexed.
The Lady Florence regarded the slave, who, not moving, and afraid to meet her eyes, now held, trembling, one of the lovely attitudes of a dancing slave. Then, slowly, not hurrying, the Lady Florence returned to her place,
