'Because you had declared for Cos,' I said. 'Cosians, like those of Ar, or elsewhere, expect those whose allegiance has been freely given to serve as those who have given their allegiance freely, and not as merchants or mercenaries.' 'What difference does it make?' she asked.
'Occasionally such things mean the difference between riches and a collar,' I said.
'I protected myself in my bargaining against such possibilities,' she said, 'demanding, as conditions of my cooperation, not only riches but my safety and freedom.'
'That you not be made a slave, for example.'
'Yes,' she said. 'But, suppose,' said I, 'that in the meantime, perhaps by others, you had been made a slave.'
'Then that,' she said, 'would be the end of it. I would then be a slave. A slave is a slave.'
'True,' I said. The Cosians had agreed not to make her a slave, not to free her, if she had already been made a slave. As she had said, a slave is a slave. 'I, too, demanded power in Ar's Station, should the city not be destroyed, for there were those here, those who had not granted me preferments, on whom I would have my vengeance. I even wanted some of the women consigned to me as slaves, so that I could sell them to men.'
'You were thorough,' I said.
'Yes,' she said.
'You needed then only count on the honor of Cos.'
'Men are honorable,' she said.
'So, too, are some women,' I said.
'My allegiance it to myself,' she said, angrily.
'There are dispositions for women such as you,' I said.
'I do not understand,' she said.
'Proceed,' I said.
'My terms agreed to,' I said, 'I received extremely specific instructions. These instructions to the supply of information on various topics, matters pertaining to supplies within the city, the condition of the gates and walls, and which were the weaker and less defended points, the numbers of the active garrison, civilian and military, the relative distributions and dispositions of these components, the numbers of the ready militia, the posting of guardsmen, the timing of their watches, and such. I could not find such things as the signs and countersigns. Too, I understand they are changed daily.'
'Generally,' I said.
'Bit by bit,' she said, 'I parceled out such information, as I could acquire it, each night. To be sure, some of the things I could not learn. In return I now received gold and jewels.'
I smiled.
'Did you make your name known to your confidant, or more likely, confidants, at the foot of the wall?' I asked.
'I was too clever for that,' she said. 'I did, however, demand, and receive, a letter of safety, and an acknowledgment of services rendered, made out to the bearer.'
'You are a clever woman,' I said.
'I am extremely clever,' I said.
'How came you then to be naked in a cell?' I asked.
She made a tiny, angry noise.
'Continue,' I said.
'Perhaps I had excited suspicion,' she said. 'Perhaps guardsmen had noted my appearance frequently on the wall, at the same time and place. Once I had to strike another girl away from my place, fighting her for it. She did not understand my intensity. She had thought it perhaps only an excellent place for fishing. But it was my place! Perhaps my inquiries in the city, or my going about, examining places, had been noticed. Perhaps suspicions had been cast upon me by enemies. Perhaps some were angry that I had not had my hair cut for catapult cordage. Perhaps they were jealous of my beautiful hair! But I was a free woman! They could not make me have my hair cut, make me cut my beautiful hair!'
Her hair, now, of course, had been cropped.
I heard a small sound outside the cell, perhaps someone passing in the corridor outside. It must be, I thought, in the neighborhood of noon.
'Continue,' I said.
'I grew bold,' she said. 'I would be rich. I saw Ar's Station, to my satisfaction, grow weaker each day. But when it fell, I would be safe! Too, I would have my vengeance on my enemies!'
'The city, of course, would be likely to be destroyed,' I said.
'Either way I would have my vengeance,' she said.
'I see,' I said.
'Too,' she said, 'as you may recall, I had reserved my pick of certain women, to be consigned to me as slaves.'
'Personal enemies?' I said.
'Of course,' she said.
'Whom you might then sell to men?'
'Yes,' she said. 'And that pleasure would presumably remain mine even if Ar's Station were burned to the ground, and salt cast upon the ashes!'
'Of course,' I said. 'And so I went again to the wall, as I had so many times,' she said. 'This time the papers hidden in my basket pertained to the defenses at the great gate, the posting of guardsmen, the arrangement of their watches, and such. I put the basket over the wall, through the same crenel, and had begun to lower it. I had even feigned some weakness on the parapet, stumbling a little, as though I might be faint with hunger. I thought that I had acted skillfully. My attention was on the rope and basket. Then I felt the loops of a rope put about my neck, closely, tightly, and I was drawn backward. 'Do not make a noise,' said a voice. But I could not have made a noise, had I wished, so tight was the rope. I had made a noise, had I wished, so tight was the rope. I had wanted to drop the basket but I had had no opportunity to do so. There were three men. as one man had put his rope on me, making me his prisoner, another had taken the rope from my hands. A third, standing back, had a dark lantern. I had not even heard them approach. It took them only a moment, in the unshuttering of the dark lantern, to rifle beneath the cloth and money in the basket and find the papers. Their nature was immediately determined. I was immediately stripped. The rope which had made me its prisoner was then fastened on my neck as a tether. My clothing was put in the basket and lowered. I gathered that the nature of its message would not be lost on him, or those, below. The rope was then drawn up again and removed from the basket. My arms were then bound tightly to my sides with it, in what seemed a hundred coils. It is hard for me to make clear to you how helpless I felt. I was then drawn to my home, where my money and jewels were found, notes on my next reports and the letter of safety, with the acknowledgment of services. I was then conducted as I was, bound and naked, on a tether, before Aemilianus. I was knelt before him so. The evidence pertinent to my case, both from the parapet and from my home, was presented before him. That very night, I was put in this cell, as I am.
'And you now await the pleasure of those whom you betrayed,' I said. 'Yes,' she said. In her voice there was terror.
I heard a sound behind the door, the placing of a pan on a stone.
'And what is your story? she asked. 'I am a courier of Gnieus Lelius, Regent of Ar,' I said, 'mistaken for a spy.' I was sure that there was significant treachery in Ar, and in high places. The regent's message, I was sure, had been removed from, or had never been inserted in, the letter cylinder. A substitution had been made, doubtless, of the contents of the cylinder or cylinders themselves. I had not, of course, seen the regent place the message in the cylinder and seal it. There would be nothing unusual in that, of course, for it is not permitted that couriers be present at such times. Seldom are they privy to the councils of state. Normally they simply receive the sealed letter or closed cylinder, or such, from a subordinate, later, and are on their cylinder, or such, from a subordinate, later, and are on their way.
'No! she said. 'You are lying! You are trying to save yourself! You, too, are a spy!'
'Perhaps,' I said.
The observation panel in the door slid back. Lady Claudia quickly hurried forward, to kneel a few feet before the door, back from it, thusly, but in easy view from the panel. 'Kneel beside me,' she whispered, tensely. 'We are
