'I find your body not disagreeable, Jason,' she said.
'I see,' I said.
'Too, you are a strong, powerful man. I hate such men. You are the sort of man in whose arms a woman could weep herself slave. I hate such men! It will be especially delicious to break and humble you.'
'I see,' I said.
'Meet me in the tunnel,' she said.
'No,' I said.
'Very well,' she said, and turned about and left.
I stood in the absolute darkness of the tunnel, waiting.
I heard nothing.
'I saw Taphris sneak from the barn,' had said Kenneth, when he had come to see me in my stall yesterday evening.
'Yes, Master,' I had said, struggling to my knees, the chain on my neck. I did not wish to be slain for disrespect.
'Do not bother to kneel,' said Kenneth, crouching at the end of the stall.
I had then sat in the stall, in the straw.
'How is your back?' asked Kenneth.
'Sore,' said I, grinning. 'Barns belabored it well.'
'We had no choice,' said Kenneth. 'Taphris was watching.' Kenneth looked at me. 'Taphris was here,' he said. 'What did she want?'
'Nothing,' I said.
'Speak,' he said.
'She wants me to meet her in the tunnel,' I said. 'She wishes to force me to be her silk slave.'
'The she-sleen,' laughed Kenneth. 'What did you say?'
'I refused,' I said.
'Doubtless she will then have you beaten again,' he said.
I shrugged. 'Doubtless,' I said.
'This sort of thing could spoil you for the bouts,' he said. 'Too, more grievously, it is needless and irrational. It interfere with proper discipline.' Kenneth took from his belt a flask, which he handed me. 'It is wine,' he said.
'Thank you, Master,' I said, and drank some swallows of the beverage. It was a Ta wine, from the Ta grapes of the terraces of Cos. Such a small thing, in its way, bespoke the intimacy of the trade relations between Vonda and Cos. In the last year heavy import duties had been levied by the high council of Vonda against the wines of certain other cities, in particular against the Ka-la-nas of Ar.
I handed back the flask to Kenneth.
'I am scarcely master any longer in the stables,' grumbled Kenneth. 'It is not just you. Taphris interferes in many ways. The men may not train as long or well for the bouts now. The stable sluts live in terror of her, fearing that because of her false reports they might lose their ears or feet. Even Barns and myself must watch our step.' Kenneth threw back his head and finished the wine. He then hung the flask again at his belt. He then stood up. 'Every day she grows prouder, and bolder and more insolent,' he said.
'She is determined to have her way,' I said.
'But she is a collared slave,' he said.
I shrugged.
'I think we must find a way to remind our little Taphris of what she is,' he said.
I looked up at him.
'Tomorrow,' said he, 'meet her in the tunnel, near the junction between the central tunnel and the side tunnel to Storage Shed Four, at the fifteenth Ahn.'
'Master?' I asked.
'I have a plan,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' I said.
I stood in the absolute darkness of the tunnel, waiting. I heard nothing. It was near the fifteenth Ahn. The junction to the side tunnel, also in pitch blackness, to Storage Shed Four was to my right.
Then, from several yards away, I heard, soft and light, the movement of bare feet on the central board, that guide board set in the floor of the tunnel.
'Jason?' I heard. It was the voice of Taphris.
'Mistress?' I asked.
'Ah, you call me 'Mistress,'' she said, 'excellent!'
She approached me carefully, in the absolute darkness. I felt her small hand touch my chest. 'You are standing,' she said. 'Kneel, Slave!'
'Forgive me, Mistress,' I said. I knelt before her. I heard her draw her slave tunic over her head and drop it to one side. As the tunic had passed over her head I had heard the chain loop on her collar, with a small sound, lift and then fall back into place.
'I belong to the Lady Florence of Vonda, of course,' I said to her.
'Here in the tunnels,' she said, 'you belong to me.'
'I do not think the Lady Florence of Vonda would be pleased to hear that,' I said.
'Who cares for what she thinks!' laughed Taphris. 'I hate her! She is a cold, arrogant woman. It is she who should be the slave, not I! Indeed, one of the pleasures of having you as my silk slave will be that you were once her own silk slave. I a mere slave, use her former silk slave as my own silk slave! Thus do I demean her!'
'I did not earlier this week,' I said, 'steal a kiss from Tuka nor did I, two days later, with two hands, intimately caress the leg of Peliope near the first feed shed.'
She laughed. 'Yet,' she said, 'you were beaten for both offenses.'
'Why did you lie?' I asked.
'It pleased me,' she said. 'And did it not bring you before me, on your knees, in the tunnel, a cringing silk slave?'
'It seems to have done so,' I said. 'Have you lied often to the Mistress?'
'I have lied to her a hundred times,' said Taphris. 'The silly, pretty fool believes me. In time, though I wear a collar, I shall be, for all practical purposes, Mistress in the stables!'
'I see,' I said.
'Now, Slave,' she said, imperiously, 'serve my pleasure!'
I reached with my right hand across to her right ankle, and with my left hand across to her left ankle.
'What are you doing!' she cried. My hands were tight on her ankles.
'Oh!' she cried. I pulled her from her feet and turned her, so that she fell away from me, heavily, on her belly and hands. Then I knelt across her body and, with the tharlarion snout strap I had had coiled to one side, knotted her hands behind her back. I then threw her roughly on her back under me.
'What are you doing, you beast!' she cried.
'I am going to use you for my pleasure, pretty Taphris,' I told her.
'I will tell the Mistress!' she cried. 'Oh, no! No! Please! No! Oh, oh!'
____________________
Taphris lay weeping in my arms, trying to kiss me in the darkness.
'Are you now Mistress?' I asked.
'I did not know such feelings could exist,' she said.
'Are you now Mistress?' I asked.
'No,' she said, 'no. I am only a slave! I was a slave before, but did not know it. You are the first to have taught me, truly, that I am a slave.'
'Do you think you will forget it?' I asked.
'No,' she said, 'I will never forget it. I will remember it, lovingly, always.'
I began to kiss her about the shoulders and throat.
'I am a slave!' she cried, happily. 'I am your slave, Master!'
'Enough!' cried the Mistress. 'Light! Light!'
