18. I Make the Acquaintance of Guardsman from Port Cos; I Do Not Take Action Against Miss Henderson. She is a Free Woman
I hung in the ropes.My back was still store from the whipping. 'As far as we can determin,' said the guardsman from Port Cos, 'he is ignorant as to the whereabouts of the topaz.' 'I vouch for him,' said Tasdron. 'He is an honest worker, well know on the wharves. He has been in Victoria for weeks.'
When I had emerged from the tavern of Tasdron, I had been suddenly surrounded by guardsmen in the livery of Port cos. Several crossbows were trained on me.
'Do not draw your weapon,' I had been told. 'Do not resist.'Is this he?' asked the leader of the guardsmen.'It is he,' said Miss Henderson.'You are under arrest,' had said the leader of the guardsmen. 'On what charge?' I asked. 'Vagrancy,'
'That is absurd,' I said.
'Your innocence, if you are innocent, may be established later.' said the man. 'This is Victoria,' I said. 'The power of Port Cos marches with the men of Port Cos,' said the man. 'Bind him.'My hands hand been tied behind my back.
'I am finished with you Jason,' said Miss Henderson, facing me. Then she turned to the leader of the guardsmen, 'Pay me,' she said.'Bind her, as well,' he had said.'To her consternation, her small wrists were tied behind her back. 'Bring them both to our headquarters,' had said the leader of the men.
'I vouch for him,' said Tasdron. 'He is an honest worker and known on the wharves. He had been in Victoria for weeks.'Did he come from east on the river, or west?' asked the guardman. 'From the east, from Lara, as I understand it,' said Tasdron.
'That is much what he too claims,' said the guardsman. 'In my own tavern,' said Tasdron, 'he had difficulty with Kliomentes, the pirate. He could have been killed. That scarcely seems what one would expect from the courier of Ragnar Voskjard. Too, he does not seem skilled with the sword.'
'It is not claimed he is the courier,' said the guardsman. 'It is claimed only that he knows the whereabouts of the topaz.'Is there any reason to suppose that is true?' asked Tasdron.'Only the word and story of a free woman, whom he keeps,' said the guardsman.
'I see,' said Tasdron. 'And hve you had similar situations before?' 'Four times,' said the guardsman, disgustedly.'Dooubtless you hve searched his compartments,' said Tasdron.
'He has a small house,' said the guardsman,' and we have searched the house and the garden.'What did you find?Nothing, said the guardsman.
'Does the woman seem well disposed towards him?' asked Tasdron. 'She hates him,' said the guardsman. 'And does she seem interested in the reward for information leading to the acquisition of the topaz?' asked Tasdron. 'Yes,' said the guardsman. 'The mney seems quite important to her.' 'Ten silver tarsks is a considerable sum,' said Tasdron. 'The guardsmen from Ar's Station, also in Victoria searching for the topaz are offering only six silver tarsks.'
'Cut him down,' said the leader of the guardsmen to one of his men. When the ropes were cut from my wrists, I fell to the floor but did not lose my footing. 'He is strong,' said the learder of the guardsmen.My tunic was torn down about my waist. 'My thanks, Tasdron,' I said to him, 'for your helpful words.' 'It is nothing,' he said.
'You may go said the leader of the guardsmen to me. 'You may pick up your things at the door.'
'Had you found the topaz,' I asked, 'what would have been done with me?' 'You might have looked forward,' said he 'if fortunate, to a lifetime chained at the bench of a state galley. 'I see,' I said. 'Do not forget your things at the door,' he said. 'Very well,' I said.
At the door, I drew the shreds of my tunic about me.I picked up my pouch and the sword belt, with its scabbard and sheathed steel. Among these things in the robes of the free woman, her hands tied behind her, and her ankles tied, knelt Miss Henderson.'Do not leave her behind,' said the leader of the guardsman, 'she is yours.' I looked down at her. She did not meet my eyes.
'Those in your situation before,' said the leader, 'stripped such woman and tooke them, bound, to the market, where the sold them.'
I crouched beside Miss Henderson and freed her ankles. I then helped her to her feet, and untied her wrists. I then left the small headquarters of the guardsmen of Port Cos, in Victoria.
She followed me outside, and a few yards from headquarters, I turned about and faced her.
'If you needed money, or wanted it,' I said, 'I would have given you money. 'Stay with me tonight,' she said. 'I am going to the paga tavern,' I told her. 'Why?' she asked.
'There are more interesting women there,' I said. 'Slaves!' she said. 'Yes,' I said. 'I am a free woman,' she said. 'Do you find slaves more interesting than I?' 'Of coures,' I said. 'Why?'
she asked.'For one thing,' I said, 'they are owned. 'That makes them fascinating doesn't it?' she said bitterly. 'Yes,' I said.
And doubtless,' she said angrily, 'they do not have the inhibitions and frigidities of their free sisters!' They are not permitted them,' I admitted. 'I hate female slaves,' she said. I shrugged.
'Why are they preferred over free women?' she asked. 'Because they are slave,' I said. 'What are the differences?' she asked. 'There are thousands,' I said. 'Perhaps, most simply, the female salve is submitted to me. This makes her the most total of women.'
'Disgusting' she said. 'Perhaps,' I said. 'No man could ever break my will,' she said. 'That is the sort of thing which is usually said by a woman who is yearning for her will to be broken by a strong man,' I said. 'I hate female slaves,' she said. I did not speak.
'Do you think I would make a good female slave?' she asked. 'I think you would make an excellent little slave,' I said.'Stay with me tonight,' she said. 'Why?' I asked.
'Break my will,' she said. 'Make me a slave.' 'You are a woman of Earth,' I told her. 'I see, 'she said. 'I am too fine and different.' 'Of coures,' I told her. 'Do you need to be told that?' 'No,' she said 'I know it!'
'Very well,' I said angrily. 'Stay with me tonight,' she begged. 'Make me your slave!' I looked at her.
'My will broken will lie before you as yielding, as supine and vanquished as my body,' she said. 'I beg ofyou Jason, make me your slave!'
'I am going to the paga tavern,' I said. 'I hate you!' she cried. I turned away from her then and began to make my way toward the house.She, after a moment, running in her sandals, followed me. 'Jason!' she said, 'wait! Wait for me!' But I did not wait.
I opened the door and looked within.Then I stepped back, and indicated that she should precede me into the house.'I expected to heel you into the house,' she said. 'You are a free woman,' I said. 'You will enter first.'She looked at me warily. 'What is to be done with me inside?' she asked. 'You are a woman of Earth,' I reminded her. 'Nothing.'
'Where is the topaz?' she asked. 'What topaz?' I asked.She cried out in anger, and then entered the house. She would enter first, for she was a free woman.
19. Glyco, of Port Cos I Obtain a Silver Tarsk He Seeks Callimachus
'Stop, Thief!' cried the portly fellow, his robes tiwrling.Darting away from him as a small, quick fellow, clutching in his hand a bulging purse, its strap slashed. In the small fellow's right hand thre was clotched a dagger.Men stood aside to let the thief run by them.
'Stop him!' cried a portly fellow, stumbling, puffing, trying to pursue the running man. I watched, a bale of rep fiber on my shoulder, near the rep wharf.
As the running man approached me, I lowered the bale of rep fiber and as he came within feet of me, suddenly slid it before him.He struck the bale and stumbled over it, rolling on the boards. Instantly I was upon him. He lashed at me, on his back, with the knife and I seized his wrist with both hands and yanked him to his feet.He dropped the purse. I spun him about twice by the wrist and then, with this momentum hurled him into a tower of nail barrels on the side. They cascaded down. I jerked him bak, groggy. He was bloodly. There were splinters in his tunic and face. I then, with two hands broke his wrist and kicked the fallen knift to the side. I then turned him
