«Yes, she whimpered. 'Oh, yes!'
'But before,' he continued, 'she was also the confidante of the Polemarkos. By means of her wiles and beauty she had ingratiated herself with him and there were few secrets of state to which she, in one way or another, was not privy. She even attended certain meetings of war, though concealed in her silks behind a modesty screen. Her presence there, as you might imagine, even concealed behind the screen, considerably discomfited several officers. It was partly as a result of their resentful, guarded comments, overheard by certain spies, that I came to realize her importance.' He paused for a moment. 'Are you important now, my dear?' he asked.
'No, Master!' she said.
'What are you now?' he asked.
'A slave, only a slave, your slave!' she said.
He then renewed his attentions to her body.
'Yes, yes, yes!' she said.
'What was your name?' he said.
'Lucilina!' she gasped.
'You are not responding like a Lucilina,' he said. She moaned, and squirmed. 'You are responding more like a Luchita,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' she said. 'Yes, Master!'
'You are Luchita,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' she said, named. I thought this a good name for her. It was a good name for a hot helpless, dominated slave. 'Are you a high slave, Luchita?' he asked.
'I do not know,' she said.
'No,' he said. 'You are not. You are now among the lowest of low slaves.' 'Yes, Master,' she said.
'And I will give you, accordingly,' he said, 'to one of my lowest soldiers, to a rude and common fellow, one of the lowest rank.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'You will serve him well,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'You will be treated as the slave you are.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'But have no fear,' he said. 'You will receive, I assure you, in this sort of bondage, low and common, and absolutely uncompromising, your complete fulfillment, both as a female and a slave.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
She then licked and kissed his hands, cleaning them. He then wiped his hands on her sweat-dampened hair. He then left the room. I following him. I glanced back. The slave on the perch was looking after him, her dark, wet hair much before her chained body, her eyes were filled with awe. She was pretty I thought, the slave, Luchita.
'What did you learn from her?' I asked, once the door was closed.'
'You may kneel, Lady Cara,' he said.
The woman from Venna, with a movement of chains, rose from her belly to kneel beside his desk. She knelt in the position of the pleasure slave, back on her heels, back straight, head up, knees spread, palms of her hands on her thighs. 'We learned a great deal, in a sense,' he said, 'but most of it we already knew, or suspected, from various other sources. Two things, however, came as a surprise to us.'
'May I inquire?' I asked.
'Of course,' he said. 'Otherwise I would not have brought you here in the first place. It is because of these things I had you brought here.'
'Speak, please,' I encouraged him. 'Should I be fetched from the room, Master?' asked Lady Cara. Because of the nature of her ankle chaining, it would have been difficult for her to walk.
Suddenly cuffed, she fell to her side, blood at her mouth. 'Did you ask permission to speak? he asked. In a situation of this sort it was common, though not always required, that a slave request permission to speak. Apparently this officer, in this sort of situation, did require his women to request such permission. Lady Cara, after this, would be in no doubt about this.
'No, Master,' she said. 'Forgive me Master.'
He snapped his fingers. Immediately she resumed her former position.
'The main forces of Cos are here,' he said, 'in the vicinity of Torcadino, now, at the moment, investing it.'
'I am sure that is common knowledge,' I said.
'One would think so,' he said, 'but two things which disturb and puzzle me we have learned recently, only this morning, from our little informant in the other room. First, a movement of Cosian troops, originating in Brundisium, apparently several regiments, are moving eastward, parallel to the Vosk.'
'Toward Ar's Station?' I speculated. This was Ar's stronghold on the Vosk. It was situated on the southern bank, east of Jort's Ferry and west of Forest Port, both on the northern bank.
'Presumably so,' he said.
'It must be a diversion,' I said.
'Presumably Ar's Station, if subjected to attack, could be relieved by a small force,' he said, 'and a countermarch to the coast could cut off the Cosians from their base in Brundisium.'
'I would think so,' I said.
'Why then, according to our information, and this is the second item of interest here, is Ar preparing, if this is correct, to launch its main forces northward toward Ar's Station?'
'That would be madness,' I said.
'That is the information which the spies of Cos in Ar have transmitted to the Polemarkos,' he said. 'They must be must be mistaken,' I said.
'Perhaps,' said the officer, moodily.
'The main forces of Cos are here, by Torcadino,' I said. 'If the main might of Ar is sent northward there would be a free road from the trenches about Torcadino almost to the gates of Ar themselves. The land between here and Ar, and the city itself, would be in effect without defense.'
'I think there can be only one plausible explanation for this,' said the officer, 'a€”That the councils of Ar do not know that the main force of Cos is here.'
'That seems incredible,' I said.
'What other explanation could there be?' he asked.
'That the spies of the Polemarkos are simply mistaken,' I said.
'Perhaps,' he said.
'There is, of course, another,' I said.
'What is that?' he asked.
'Treachery in Ar,' I said.
'Of this enormity?' he asked.
I shrugged.
'Unthinkable,' he said.
'Surely you have thought it,' I said.
'Yes,' he said, 'I have considered it.'
'Why did you ask me about the delta of the Vosk?' I asked.
'Because I think the move toward Ar's Station is a diversion,' he said. 'And because the Cosians could be too easily cut off from Brundisium.'
'You think they will withdraw into the delta?' I asked.
'I would,' he said.
'So, too, would I,' I said.
'And the main forces of Ar may be marching toward Ar's Station,' he said, grimly.
The hair on the back of my neck rose.
'They could not be lured into that area,' I said.
