seem somewhat ambiguous. Why, for example, would I not have been dealt with directly in Ar, if they were convinced that I was truly a spy? Too, there was the matter of the documents in the diplomatic pouch. Were they really spurious, and had they really been intended to bring about the surrender of Ar's Station why would they not have been more realistically conceived, that they might have been more likely to achieve such a purpose? For example, why would they not have been in some cipher, one which might, after a reasonable effort, be broken? Too, why would such a purportedly authentic document contain information which must surely, at least to the officers of Ar's Station, seem militarily implausible, if not preposterous, for example, that Ar should have forces in the numbers named in the north, and unengaged! No, Aemilianus, weary and confused as he might be, was no fool. Doubtless he had begun to suspect that the report, though perhaps absurd or false, was authentic. Too, days had passed and the hoped-for relief from Ar, the advance of which he had speculated might have precipitated so desperate and foolish a ruse, had not materialized.
'It is terribly painful, impalement, is it not?' she asked.
'It depends on how it is done,' I said.
'I am a traitress,' she said.
'Once,' I said. 'No longer.'
'I am afraid,' she said. I kissed her, gently. I wished I had something to cover us with. 'There is no hope,' she whispered.
'There is always hope,' I said.
'You are kind,' she said.
'Do you wish to be beaten?' I asked.
'No,' she smiled.
'There is hope,' I said.
'How?' she asked.
'It is quiet outside,' I said.
'Yes?' she said.
'You have not now, for some time, heard the crashing of buildings,' I said. 'Cos has the city now. There is nothing to keep them from undermining the foundations, firing the buildings, clearing paths through debris.'
'I do not understand,' she said.
'They have finished their work,' I said.
'I do not understand,' she said.
'The engines are probably in place,' I said.
She looked at me, frightened.
'I would expect the attack to begin in the morning,' I said.
'I am afraid,' she said.
'I will defend you, as I can,' I said. 'They will have to enter the cell to fetch you out.'
'Do not risk your life for me,' she said.
'Why not?' I asked.
'Because I am really only a slave girl,' she said.
'It is for such that men most cheerfully risk their lives,' I said. 'Oh?' she smiled.
'Certainly,' I said. 'You would not expect them to go to all that trouble for a mere free female, would you?'
'Monster,' she said.
'And if you save her,' I pointed out, 'you can often keep her.' 'I see,' she smiled.
'The slave girl, after all,' I said, 'is good for something. She has her uses. You can even sell her.'
She laughed. 'Enough free women, too, in their time,' she said, 'have doubtless been sold.'
'Yes,' I said. 'They can be captured, bound and turned over to a slaver, and such.'
'Had you captured me, somewhere, as a free woman, would you have sold me?' she asked.
'I might have kept you that evening in my tent,' I said, 'to see what you could do.'
'I wish that we had met under different conditions,' she said, 'in the fields, or in my own bed.'
I did not speak.
'If you had first met me in a slave market, I on a slave shelf or bench, chained there, a property, waiting to be purchased, would you have considered buying me?'
'Certainly,' I said.
'Am I that attractive?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'That pleases me,' she whispered. Then she shuddered. 'But woe,' she said, 'I am a free woman.'
'Yes,' I said.
'I am afraid,' she said.
I held her more closely to me.
'That is why they have been feeding me, isn't it?' she asked. 'For tomorrow?' 'I think so,' I said.
She sobbed, against me. I felt her tears on my chest. Then, suddenly, she looked at me, concerned. 'But what of you?' she asked.
'Do not concern yourself with me,' I said.
'No,' she said, 'what of you?'
'Willful free woman,' I chided her.
'What of you?' she pressed.
'I do not know,' I said. 'I am not sure.'
She put her head back, against my shoulder. The moonlight streamed in through the high, barred aperture. It was quiet outside. I held her in my arms, for a time, the naked spy, in the straw.
'Am I to be beaten tonight?' she asked.
'Is it necessary?' I asked.
'No!' she whispered.
'You are eager to serve, and be pleasing?' I asked. 'Yes!' she said.
'Then it does not seem that there would be much point in it,' I said. 'No!' she hastened to assure me. 'But if you were not pleased, you would, wouldn't you?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said, 'or if I wished to do so.'
She shuddered against me, with pleasure. 'I wish,' she said, her voice soft, thrilled, vibrant with soft, frightened emotion, 'that I had met a man such as you, long ago.'
'Had you done so,' I said, 'you presumably would not be here now.' 'I do not regret having known you, and having served you, and as you have made me serve you, even under these circumstances.'
'You enjoy serving,' I said.
'Yes,' she said, 'I do, and had I the choice I would choose to have no choice but to serve, and serve as you have made me serve, totally.'
'It is time to go to sleep,' I said.
'Can you sleep at this time, on this night?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said.
She then lay down in the straw, next to me. I heard her sob.
'I do not know if they will feed you in the morning or not,' I said, 'before they come for you, near noon. They might. In the event they do, do not eat the food. Give it all to me.'
'All of it?' she said.
'Yes,' I said.
'You would take the food, that food?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'You could do that?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said.
She looked at me, puzzled.
'Surely you recognize that I would get more good out of it than you would,' I said.
'Undoubtedly,' she said, shuddering.
'Certainly,' I said.
