good lure girl and once was because Ionicus, or perhaps his agent, acting on a standing policy, had wanted, as a joke, to put me at the service of men I had trapped. If it were not for such things I did not know what I would be likely to sell for, perhaps two silver tarsks. I did not know. Still I was a dancer, and we tend to bring higher prices. We are useful not only in brothels, cabarets, taverns, public pleasure gardens, and such, but wherever there are strong men, wherever there are men who enjoy seeing a woman move before them excitingly, and beautifully, and as a total female. Indeed, it is said some of the finest and most sensuous dancers are private slaves who perform in delicious secrecy, and totally, for a single master. We, and our uses, of course, may also be rented out for private dinner parties, for banquets and feasts, and such. Some of us, too, serve as imbonded camp followers, and will count as part of the loot should the camp fall into enemy hands. Some of us serve, too, in remote army posts, where we are kept to relieve the tedium of the troops. Some, too, of course, as would be expected, serve in the houses of rich men and even in the palaces of the Ubars, where we commonly dance for them at their suppers, entertaining them and their guests. Dancers have many uses on Gor, both public and private. I suppose this is only to be expected, given the vitality, the masculinity, the strength of Gorean males. Any female taken to Gor, I suppose, must expect to learn at least the rudiments of slave dance. 'Very well,' said Aulus, 'sixty-eight silver tarsks. That is cheaper than going about, trying to replace these fellows in other ways. Too, the Vennans are eager to get on with their work.'
I had not heard them say anything about the female work slaves. Surely Tupita, too, for example, would have fallen into the hands of this fellow, this mercenary captain, Pietro Vacchi. As a slave, of course, I did not dare speak. What if they saw fit to have me trampled by one of the tharlarions?
It was getting darker now. I wanted to go back to the camp. I felt very helpless, kneeling there, naked, chained to the stirrup.
'I shall return with you to your camp, to pick up the sixty-eight men,' said Aulus.
'Good,' said Pietro Vacchi, turning his tharlarion.
I was suddenly plunged into terror.
'You may break position, Tuka,' said Aulus. 'What is wrong?' 'Nothing, Master,' I said, in terror.
I did not want to go to the mercenaries' camp. It was not merely that I feared such men but that Mirus, I knew, was from Brundisium. Indeed, he and Hendow, my former master, had grown up together there. They had known one another since childhood. On the last night I had seen him in the tavern Mirus had told me that he and Hendow would die for one another.
I rose to my feet. Only too clearly was Aulus going to accompany the captain to his camp.
'Master,' I begged, pressing myself against the side of Aulus' s tharlarion, looking up at him, 'please do not take me to the camp of the mercenaries, please! Please!'
'Why?' he asked.
'I fear one who may be in the camp,' I said.
'Who?' he asked.
'Mirus, from Brundisium,' I wept.
'If he is from Brundisium,' he said, 'he is probably on his way back there now.' I looked up at him, tears in my eyes. What he said, of course, might be true. I did not know.
'Do not be afraid,' he said.
'Please, Master,' I said. 'Do not take me to the camp!'
'Was he on your chain?' he asked.
'Yes, Master,' I said.
'If it were his intention to hurt you,' he said, 'he could have done it then.' 'Please do not take me to the camp!' I begged.
'Do you really think I am going to send you back to Venna?' he asked. 'Please, please!' I begged.
'I, and many others, Vacchi, will be there to protect you,' he said. 'Please, Master!' I begged.
'Do not embarrass me,' he said.
'Come along, Aulus!' called Pietro Vacchi, looking back over his should. 'Bring you men, and do not neglect, too, to bring the wagon, with the coins!' 'We are coming,' called Aulus.
'Please, Master!' I wept, putting my hands to his boot, 'Please, Master!'
Then I saw him draw forth a tharlarion whip. 'No,' I begged, 'please!' the lash cut down at me! I felt its blow. I had been whipped! I covered my head and eyes and, terrified, turning about, rushed to the end of the chain, but there, caught by the collar, pulling against the stirrup. I was brought up short, half choked, terrified. Then he reeled me in, gathering lengths of the chain in his hand. He then, as I stood there, naked, trembling, put the whip again to me, three times, and then another lash, for good measure. I was then sobbing, and weeping, wildly. He then cast loose the chain and moved his tharlarion forward, to ride with Pietro Vacchi. I hastily, whipped, stumbled after him.
'Tonight,' said Pietro Vacchi, as though he might not have noted my beating, 'you will be entertained as though you might be a Ubar!'
'The hospitality of Pietro Vacchi is well known,' said Aulus.
I hoped, wildly, that Mirus would not be in the camp of Pietro Vacchi. I hoped he would have already set out for Brundisium. Surely he would not be expecting me to be brought to the camp.
'I have picked up a gentlewoman from Ar,' said Pietro Vacchi. 'Perhaps you would enjoy enlightening her on what it is to be a female.'
'However I may be of service,' said Aulus.
'And your little Tuka is a pretty one,' said Vacchi.
'She is only a slave,' said Aulus, 'but she is, of course, yours for the evening.'
'Excellent!' said Pietro Vacchi.
I hurried along beside the tharlarion of Aulus, his stirrup chain on my neck. 'Ho, Lad!' called Vacchi, holding in his tharlarion. 'This is not the way to Brundisium!' he addressed a tall fellow in the shadows, making his way northward on the Viktel Aria.
The figure in the shadows lifted his head.
I had quickly knelt, as soon as the progress of the tharlarion had been arrested, with my head down to the stones of the Vitkel Aria. I did not want to be recognized. The figure in the shadows had been one I could not mistake. The tharlarion began their trek again, southward, toward the camp of Vacchi, the men of Aulus, and the wagon, with its box of coins, following.
There had been no mistaking the figure in the shadows. Too, it had been going north, not west, or northwest, toward Brundisium. It had been going north on the Vitkel Aria, toward Venna, in the vicinity of which lay the camp of the black chain of Ionicus.
I grasped the chain with two hands. I could not get it off my neck.
Surely in the darkness I had not been recognized. Surely I would have seemed then only another slave, only another soft, pretty thing, of no account, kneeling on the road, kneeling in the darkness, its head down, its neck chained to a master' s stirrup.
I dared not look back.
How formidable the figure had seemed, so tall, so broad-shouldered, so purposeful, so menacing, in its remnants of a work tunic. But, now, too, I was sure it was armed. Over its left shoulder, there had been slung a strap, from which had hung a scabbard, the attitude of which had suggested only too clearly that it was weighted with a blade.
'Perhaps, earlier in the evening,' Aulus was saying, 'before you are ready for her in your tent, you might put her before your men.'
'How is that?' asked Vacchi.
'She is not unskilled in the movements of slave dance,' said Aulus. 'My lads could use a treat,' said Vacchi. 'Too, I could use ostraka in a helmet for her, with five granting her use. What think you?'
'Excellent,' said Aulus. 'Your men will be pleased.'
I looked back. I almost cried out with fear. The fellow who had been going north was no longer going north. He had changed his direction. He had been moving toward Venna, and the camp of the black chain of Ionicus. But he was now coming south. He was behind the wagon, rather to its right, as I looked back. Indeed, he was only twenty yards, or so, now, behind me.
'Too,' said Aulus, 'by the time she is brought to your tent she should then be nicely ready.'
