lift her chained wrists to her head, she did not, of course, do so. She would not dare to so much as touch them, let alone remove them. She was not unfamiliar with Gorean disciplines.
'Kneel,' said Aemilianus, gently.
Swiftly she knelt.
She began to tremble. The chains made small sounds.
I gathered that she did not know before whom she knelt. Also, interestingly, absurdly, it seemed that she was not altogether sure of her condition and status, obvious though it must be to anyone who looked upon her.
Aemilianus made a small sign to Calliodorus.
'You may put your head to the deck,' said Calliodorus.
The girl did so, putting her palms to the deck.
'You may raise it,' he said.
She raised her head. She was then kneeling as before, amongst us.
'Free her mouth,' said Calliodorus.
I crouched beside the girl and undid the hood and pushed it up, and fastened it then as a half hood on her. In this way the effectiveness of the hood as a blindfold had not been compromised, for even an instant. I then untied the gag strips from the back of her neck, and pulled away the gag. I then, carefully, delicately, removed the mass of sopped wadding from her mouth. I put it on the deck beside her, heavy and sodden, with the rest of the gag. In this way these things were at hand, and her mouth might then, at our convenience, if we wished, be restored swiftly to its former condition of helpless closure. 'You are not branded,' observed Calliodorus.
'No! No!' she cried eagerly.
'Do you wish to live?' he inquired.
'Yes!' she said, fervently.
'Are you, or have you ever been, a woman of Ar's Station?' he asked. 'Yes!' she said.
'How, came it then,' he asked, 'that you were in bonds on the piers, leashed and thonged, hooded and gagged?'
'An escaping prisoner did such things to me,' she said. 'Hooded, I was not recognized. Gagged, I could not make my plight known.'
'Do you know what happened yesterday on the piers?' he asked.
'I have only a very imperfect understanding of what occurred,' she said. 'Twice on the piers I fainted, and was unconscious. I was awakened by the kicks of free women and conducted helplessly aboard this vessel.'
'What do you think occurred on the piers?' he asked.
'Ships came to the piers,' she said, 'and I think that many on the piers, including myself, were embarked aboard them.'
'Cosian ships?' he said.
'I do not know,' she said, miserably. 'There were Cosian ships about.' 'But surely you have learned much since you were brought on board,' he said. 'I was kept with women,' she said, 'who were ordered to silence.' 'What do you think was the fate of the women who brought you on board?' he asked.
'I do not know,' she said.
'Do you think they were with you last night, similarly ordered to silence?' 'I do not know,' she said.
'What have you heard on the ship?' he asked.
'Little,' she said. 'I have heard men conducting the business of the ship.' 'Have you perhaps formed some conjectures as to the origins of these men?' 'Yes,' she said.
'On what basis?' he asked.
'On their speech,' she said.
'Their speech?' he asked.
'Their accents,' she said.
'Does my speech have an accent?' asked Calliodorus, interested.
'Yes,' she said.
'Ah,' he said. He, like most people, was not accustomed to thinking of his own speech as having an accent.
'And what is my accent?' he asked.
'I make it out to be Cosian,' she whispered.
'And what of the accents of the men?' he asked.
'The same,' she said.
'In whose power are you then?' he asked.
'In the power of Cosians!' she said, suddenly, now sure of it.
'You may speak,' he said.
'Spare me!' she suddenly begged. 'Spare me, noble Cosians!' She clasped her hands together piteously, holding them forth toward Calliodorus and Aemilianus. 'Spare me!' she wept. 'Take pity on a female!'
The men were silent, observant.
Their silence must have been disconcerting to the girl. She indicated her beauty, as she could, with her chained hands.
'I think that I am not unattractive,' she said, piteously, desperately. 'See? See? And it is my hope that my face, too, should you be pleased to look upon it, may be found not unattractive!'
'Do you seek to interest your captors?' he asked.
'Yes!' she said.
'As a female?' he asked.
'Yes!' she said.
'Say it,' said he.
'I seek to interest my captors,' she said, 'as a female!' 'What have you have of us?' he inquired.
'My life!' she wept.
'On what condition?' he asked.
'Any of your election,' she said.
'Absolute bondage?' he asked.
'Of course!' she said, unhesitantly.
'Even to Cosians?' he asked.
'Certainly!' she said.
'Why should Cosians accept you as a slave?' he asked.
'Ia€”I do not understand,' she faltered.
'Do you think it would be in their interest to accept you as a slave?' he asked. 'I do not understand,' she said.
'Do you think you would prove to be of any value to them as a slave?' 'I would strive desperately to be of value,' she said.
'Perhaps you should be bloodied and thrown overboard to river sharks.' 'No!' she wept.
'Do you think that just any woman can make a satisfactory slave?'
'I do not know,' she said, 'but I beg the opportunity to try!'
'You would serve Cosians then?' he asked.
'Yes!' she wept.
'Belly,' he said.
She slipped to her belly on the deck, her hands up, beneath her shoulders. She lifted herself a little from the deck, lifting her head, still half concealed in hood, to Calliodorus and Aemilianus. Her lips were lovely, and trembling. 'Go to your back,' said Calliodorus.
She lay on her back.
Suddenly she lifted one knee, and pointed her toes. She had realized then, suddenly, that something was being done to her analogous, in its small way, to putting a girl through slave paces. She tried her best to be appealing. 'To your belly, again,' said Calliodorus.
He had hardly spoken before she was on her belly, as before. Quick was she, she would show him, to obey.
