the vision of masters.
'What are you doing to do with me, Jason?' she asked. 'No!' she wept. 'Not that! Please, no!'
'I won many bouts for which I was not adequately rewarded,' I said.
'Do not put the collar on me,' she begged. 'Please, no!'
She was backed against the rear of the stall. I stood quite close to her. I encircled her neck with the collar, but I did not yet close it.
'I am sorry!' she wept. 'Please, Jason, do not close the collar!'
'Do you remember Telitsia?' I asked.
'Do not close the collar,' she begged.
'Do you remember Telitsia?' I asked.
'Yes, Jason,' she said.
'She pleased me,' I said. 'You sold her.'
'No!' she wept, as the collar snapped shut about her throat. Then I threw her to my feet. Instantly I crouched beside her and, with the chain and ring in the stall, snapping the chain lock about the ring on her collar, fastened her in place. I then stood up. She, on her knees, tears in her eyes, trembling, her small hands on the chain depending now from her collar. looked up at me. 'I am the Lady Florence,' she said, disbelievingly. 'You have chained me at your feet as a stable slut.'
'I won many bouts for which I was not adequately rewarded,' I said. 'Too, I was fond of Telitsia, whom you sold.'
'What are you going to do with me?' she asked.
'I am going to see that you yourself serve me well the pleasures which you denied me from others.'
'You are going to make me stand proxy for the services of Telitsia and others?' she asked.
'Precisely,' I told her.
'I cannot do that,' she said. 'I am free.'
I crouched then beside her and thrust her back in the straw. I thrust the scrap of a slave rag she wore up over her hips. 'I would have to serve you as a slave,' she said, horrified.
'You will,' I told her, 'and many times.'
She lay in my arms.
'You have treated me these many times as a slave,' she chided.
'Yes,' I said.
'Touch me again,' she begged.
'As a free woman?' I asked.
'No,' she said, with her left hand moving the chain on her collar, which lay partly across her body, to her left, 'as a slave.'
'Do you beg it?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said.
'Yes, what?' I asked.
'Yes-Master,' she said.
'Master,' she whispered.
'Yes,' I said.
'What time do you think it is?' she asked.
'I think it must be about the second Ahn,' I said. The lantern had burned out. We were in the darkness.
'Let your girl please you again,' she begged. 'Oh!' she cried, delighted.
'Very well,' I said. Then suddenly I seized her.
'Aiii!' she suddenly cried.
'So soon?' I marveled. She shuddered in my arms. Then I realized she had been lying heated at my side, awaiting my least touch.
'Ho, there!' I heard. 'Do not move!'
We sprang apart.
'Do not move!' said the voice. A lantern, unshuttered, was lifted. We were in the pool of its light, lying in the straw. The girl gasped, and drew her legs up, tightly, under her. 'A pretty one,' said a voice. I tensed. 'Do not move,' warned another voice. I could see, dimly, that there were some five men a few feet from us. Three held drawn crossbows. The quarrels were trained on me.
'Are you a brigand?' asked a voice.
'No,' I said. 'You then, too,' I asked, 'are not brigands?'
'Call Miles,' said a voice. One of the men left the barn. When he left, through the large door, I could see that it was still dark out. I saw the light of the Gorean moons on the earth outside. The stars were still bright in the sky.
'You, then, are not brigands?' I asked.
'No,' said the man.
'Are you guardsmen then?' I asked. I did not think they were guardsmen. Too, I did not think guardsmen would be likely to arrive before morning. Too, many estates in the area may have been struck by the brigands.
'No,' said the man.
A tall figure then entered the barn. With him there were some five men, two with lanterns. One of the men was he who had gone to fetch another man, he called Miles. This Miles, I assumed, was the tall man. He was, too, I assumed, their leader.
'These are the only two upon the estate,' said one of the men. 'Even the tharlarion were turned loose and scattered'
'The brigands were cruel, and thorough,' said another.
Two more lanterns were lifted, and unshuttered, well exposing the girl and me in the straw. I blinked against the light. I could not well see the features of the tall man. He carried a drawn sword in one hand, and, in the other, his left, a dangling set of light slave chains, suitable for a female.
'Who are you?' asked the man.
'I am Jason,' I said.
'The fighting slave?' he asked.
'I was freed,' I said.
The tall man's gaze wandered to the girl beside me, the chain depending from her collar. His gaze lingered upon her examining her beauty casually. She shrank back. 'Does she not know she is in the presence of free men?' he asked.
'Position, Slut!' I snapped to the girl.
Swiftly the Lady Florence, frightened, knelt in the straw. She knelt back on her heels, her back straight, her head up, her hands on her thighs. She knelt in the position of the house slave. I looked at her sternly. Swiftly she spread her knees. She knelt now in the position of the pleasure slave, the slave of interest to men.
'Lift your chin, Jason,' said the man. 'Bring a lantern closer,' he said, to one of his fellows.
I did as he commanded.
'Indeed,' said the man. 'Your throat no longer wears a collar.'
'The Mistress freed me,' I said, 'even before the brigands departed from the estates.'
'I wonder if that is true,' said the man.
'It is,' I said. 'Had I been a slave, interested in flight, surely I would not have dallied upon the estates.'
'It is true,' said one of the men. 'He is known here, and in this area.'
'You fought well today, Jason,' said the man. 'You cost me many tarsk disks.'
'You are Miles of Vonda, are you not?' I asked.
'Yes,' said the man.
'He cost me twenty copper tarsks,' said another man.
'And me fifteen,' said another.
'It was a splendid fight,' said another man, admiringly.
'Yes,' agreed another.
'Thank you,' I said. I now felt somewhat relieved. I did not feel these men were motivated by any
