'Perhaps,' she said angrily.
'Remain with the wagons,' he said.
She looked at Hurtha, and then at me, and then again at Hurtha. She fingered the small copper disk, on its thong, tied about her throat, that disk which had been found on her in infancy, when she had been found by Alars in the wreckage of a burned, raided caravan, that disk on which a «Tau and a number had been inscribed. 'No,' she said.
Another wagon climbed to the road, and rolled by.
Hurtha looked at me. I shrugged. She was pretty, and she was free. I supposed she could do much what she wished. It was not as though she were naught but a banded chattel, like Feiqa and Tula.
'Do you have any money?' asked Hurtha.
'No,' she said.
'Are you wearing that dress in the manner of the Alar woman?' he asked. 'Yes,' she said, reddening.
It was not winter now, but only Se'Kara. Accordingly all she now wore would be the dress. Beneath it she would be naked.
He then went to her and untied the strings which held the dagger sheath, with its small, narrow, sheathed weapon, with its ornamented, enameled handle, at her belt.
'What are you doing?' she asked.
'I am taking the dagger,' he said. 'I am going to throw it away, here, along the side of the road. Have no fear. It will not go unused. Someone will surely find it. 'But then I will be defenseless!' she protested.
'Such a woman,' he said, 'might get you killed. It is better that you do not have it.'
'But I will be defenseless without it,' she insisted.
'You were defenseless with it,' he said, 'only you did not know it. Do you truly think that anyone who intended to take you, or harm you, would be dissuaded from doing so by that tiny weapon? Do not deceive yourself. Indeed, if he were not amused, he might even find it irritating, and see fit to turn it into your own heart. At the least, you would be likely to be punished severely for the pretensions of carrying it.'
'What then are my defenses?' she asked.
'Those of the female,' he said.
'Of the female!' she said.
'For that is what you are, Boabissia,' he said.
'I see,' she said.
'Docility, and total obedience,' he said.
'I see,' she said.
'Return to the wagons,' he said.
'No,' she said.
He looked at her.
'I want to come with you,' she said.
'If you come with us,' he said, 'you come with us as a woman.'
'I would then be helpless,' she said, 'with a woman's helplessness.' 'You have always been such, Boabissia,' he said, 'though perhaps, among the wagons, you did not realize it.'
'I would have to depend on you, upon men, for my total protection,' she said. 'Yes,' said Hurtha. 'And such protection extends to you, of course, only in so far as you are a free woman.'
'Of course,' she said.
Slaves are goods. Thus, whether they are protected, or defended, or not, depends on the decisions of free persons, like the defense or protection of other goods, whatever they might be, for example, sacks of gold, crates of sandals, tethered tharlarion, caged vulos, and strings of fish. Many a caravan has saved itself by leaving lovely slaves behind in the desert, to slow the pursuit of marauders. So, too, more than one merchantman has saved itself by jettisoning beauties too luscious to be left behind by lustful pursuers. Better to lose part of a cargo, they reason, than all of it.
'Do you wish to come with us?' asked Hurtha.
'Yes,' she said.
'Do you come with us as a woman?' he asked.
'Yes,' she said. 'I will come with youa€”as a woman,'
He threw the dagger, with its sheath, to the side of the road.
She looked at it. I took her by the arm and conducted her to where Tula knelt, her head to the dirt. 'This is a free woman,' I told Tula. 'She will be traveling with us,' Tula, scarcely lifting her head, pressed her lips to the sandals of Boabissia, kissing them. 'Mistress,' she said. I then conducted Boabissia to the vicinity of Feiqa. Feiqa had once been the Lady Charlotte, of Samnium, a high lady in that city, one of aristocratic birth and upbringing, from one of her finest families, one prominent on her Street of Coins. Feiqa pressed her lips to the sandals of Boabissia, kissing them. 'Mistress,' she whispered. 'What?' inquired Boabissia, imperiously. Feiqa again pressed her lips to Boabissia's sandals, kissing them. 'Mistress,' she said, trembling. 'These slaves,' I said to Boabissia, 'as you are a free woman, are at your disposal. On the other hand, you do not own them. Accordingly you are not to mutilate them or cause them permanent harm or serious injury unless they prove themselves to be, in some small way, at least, disobedient or displeasing.' 'I understand,' said Boabissia.
'Even then,' I said, 'it will be expected that you would first obtain the permission of their master.'
'That is a common courtesy,' said Boabissia.
'You may count, of course,' I said, 'on his understanding and sympathy, and his respect for your wishes, as those of a free woman.'
'Of course,' said Boabissia.
'In lesser matters of course,' I said, 'where lesser exactitudes and punishments might be in order, you may, as any free person, at your whim, and without consulting the master, subject them to typical disciplines, things useful in helping them to keep in mind what they are.'
'I understand,' said Boabissia.
The slaves trembled. She was a free woman. The slave has some defense against a vital powerful male, female submission behaviors, indeed, the piteous and desperate prostration of her beauty and service at the feet of his authority and lust. This defense, however, minimal and uncertain as it may be, seldom avails her against the displeasure of the hostile free female.
'Oh!' said Boabissia.
Hurtha had taken her under the arms and swung her up to the wagon box.
'Good,' said Mincon. 'We must be on our way.'
To, be sure, the other wagons from this camp were now more than a pasang or two down the road.
'We will never catch up,' said Mincon.
'On your feet, imbonded sluts,' I said.
Tula and Feiqa leapt up, Tula in her neck chain, Feiqa with the rope on her neck.
'May I speak, Master?' asked Feiqa.
'Yes,' I said.
She touched her earrings. I saw that she was incredibly pleased to have them. Not only were they beautiful, though, indeed, they were not expensive, but in Gorean eyes, they much confirmed, deeply and positively, her status upon her. I could see she was thrilled to wear them. What a slave they made her! 'Master,' she said, 'may I sometimes be given slave silk?'
I smiled. None but a slave would put on slave silk. It is so tantalizingly beautiful and diaphanous that it seems to make a woman almost more naked than naked, and yet in such a way, driving a man almost mad with passion, that he can scarcely control himself, that he can scarcely rest, or think, having seen her in such a way, until he can put his hands on her, and part it, and thus reveal her as wholly bared, and helpless, and his. 'Perhaps,' I said.
'Thank you, Master,' she whispered happily. I was pleased with Feiqa. She was now beginning to get in touch with her sexuality, indeed, with the deepest sexuality in the human female, that of the slave.
I saw the fists of Boabissia clench.
'Is anything wrong?' I asked.
'Put the slut back, behind the wagon,' said Boabissia, 'where she, like the animal she is, led, may follow with
