its shoulder strap, at and about my left hip. Someone, as it had turned out, had been still there.
'You!' cried Boots Tarsk-Bit.
I regarded the two slaves. They knew that they were now being scrutinized as females, basically and radically. It is a fundamental sort of inspection. The girl must hope that she passes it. They straightened their bodies. They did not dare to meet my eyes. It is important for slaves to be pleasing. Their lives depend on it.
I looked at Boots. He swallowed, hard.
I then crouched down near him. I began to free his arms, where they were bound to his body. His sigh of relief was audible.
'Where are the other brigands?' he asked.
I freed his arms. 'They are here and there,' I said. 'Do not fear. They are all accounted for.'
'How many are with you?' he asked.
'I am alone,' I said.
'By yourself you did this?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'Where did you learn to throw a knife like that?' he asked.
'In the south,' I said, 'far in the south.'
'You have saved our lives,' he said. 'Those rascals, I fear, had no intent to spare us.'
'Except the slaves,' I said.
'Of course,' he said. They, after all, were usable, beautiful, salable animals.
We then began to free the others, all but the slaves.
'We are grateful,' Boots assured me.
'Thank you,' said the player, surily, begrudgingly, as I freed his hand from behind his back. he then bent quickly, angrily, to untie the ropes on his ankles.
'Do not mind him,' said Boots. 'He is a puzzling chap. He would probably have preferred to have had his throat cut.'
'But you are grateful?' I said to Boots.
'Yes,' he said. 'I am grateful.'
'Eternally, undyingly?' I asked Boots, smiling.
'Of course,' he said. 'Eternally, undyingly!'
'I think I may be of further service to you,' I said.
'How is that?' asked Boots, interested. We finished untying Chino, Lecchio, Petrucchio and Publius Andronicus. We left the girls, for the time, of course, as they were, as they were slaves. They would await our pleasure, that of free men.
'Come with me,' I said. 'And bring a torch.'
'What is it?' asked Boots.
'It is something I would like to show you,' I said. 'I found it nearby in the woods, when I returned to my camp, to fetch weapons, a few Ehn ago.'
'What is it?' he asked.
'Come with me,' I said. 'I will show you.'
'Very well,' he said.
'Bring a torch,' I said.
'Very well,' he said.
9 Two Women, One Free, One Bond; I Join the Company of Boots Tarsk-Bit
'Here,' I said. 'See?'
We were in a small clearing in the woods, not far from the road.
'Yes!' said Boots, appreciatively.
'Lower the torch,' I said. 'Look more closely.'
The two women whimpered, looking up, blinking against the light. The torch, Boots crouching down, was passed slowly over their bodies. One were a long gown, sleeveless and white. It was all she wore, however, and it was thin. I did not think it was what she would have chosen to wear. It had apparently been picked out for her. The fullness of her beauty, at any rate, in its delicious amplitudes, was not difficult to conjecture beneath it. The other was excitingly curvaceous, too. About her beauty, however, there could be no possible mistake. She was absolutely naked. Both were bound tightly, helplessly, hand and foot.
'Pretty,' said Boots.
'Yes,' said Chino.
'Yes,' said Lecchio.
Petrucchio and Publius Andronicus, too, voiced their assent. The surly, hooded player was not with us. After he had finished freeing himself from the ropes on his ankles, he had hurried to recover the cup which had been of such interest to the brigands. It seemed he did not wish others to see it, or understand its meaning. He had then, taking the cup, gone into his wagon. It seemed then that he had chosen, at least for the time, to remain there. He had not, at any rate, come with us. It seemed he was not particularly appreciative of what had been done for him. Perhaps he was too proud a man. Perhaps he resented fiercely the thought that he might owe anything to another. Perhaps, on the other hand, given his hatred, and the shame in which he seemed to live, he might not have found the cruelty of a brigand's knife that unwelcome.
I looked down at the woman in the long, thin white gown. 'Have you been branded?' I asked.
'No!' she said, tensely. 'I am free!' This seemed to me probably true, as she had been put in the gown, doubtless, at least for the time, to protect her modesty.
'You must understand,' I said, 'that we must make a determination on that matter.'
'Of course,' she said. The results of this determination could make an important difference in how she was treated and what might be, as a matter of course, expected of her. A free woman in one thing, and a female slave is quite another.
I put her on her side and thrust up her gown, and turned her about, from one side to the other. In a moment or two I had checked the normal brand sites for a Gorean female. The most typical brand site is high on the left thigh, high enough, under the hip, to be covered even by the brevity of a typical slave tunic. In this way one often does not know what brand the girl wears. IN this way a bit of mystery, I suppose, might be thought to be added to her.
The mystery in most cases, however, if one is truly interested, is usually no more than temporary. It is only necessary to lift her skirt. Sometimes bets are mad on this matter. In such bets, of course, the odds are with he who wagers on the graceful, cursive, Kef. This is the most common Kajira brand. «Kef» is the first letter in 'Kajira,' the most common expression in Gorean for a female slave. It is sometimes, too, spoken of as the 'Staff and fronds.' This is doubtless because of a fancied resemblance to such objects. Also, of course, this involves an allusion to beauty under discipline, indeed, to helpless beauty under absolutely uncompromising discipline. I also checked certain less common brand sites, such as the lower left abdomen, the interior of the left forearm and the high instep area of the left foot. If there is such a mark on a girl, it would not be well to miss it. Imagine the embarrassment of relating to a woman as though she were free and then discovering only later that she had been a legally imbonded slave all the time! Too, how dreadfully perilous would such a deception be for the female! I would surely not wish to be the female who might be found out in such a deception.
'Her body seems clear of brands,' I said. 'Apparently she is free.'
'Yes,' she said. 'Yes!'
I pulled her gown down from where I had thrust it up, above her breasts, for my convenience in examining her body for brands, and then I worked it down, inching it, carefully, over her body and hips. It was thin and fit her closely. I did not wish to tear it. I then pulled its hem down to where it was supposed to be, at about her ankles. I then made my final adjustments of the gown, that her modesty might be as well protected, or about as well protected, as such a flimsy garment permitted. To be sure, I did, here and there, pull it a bit more snugly about her body than was perhaps necessary. This was excusable, of course. She was beautiful and bound.
