'Perhaps you would care to come around the wagon then,' said Ephialtes.
'Of course,' I said. One seldom discusses what is to be done with slaves in front of them. They may always learn later what was decided pertaining to them.
Ephialtes turned about.
'By the way,' I said, 'there was, as I recall, one more female.'
'The one you brought with you from the Crooked Tarn,' he said, turning about, 'she in the condition of captive, assigned the status of full servant?'
'Yes,' I said.
'The pretty Cosian, from Telnus?'
'Yes,' I said.
'Phoebe,' he said.
'Yes,' I said. 'Have you sold her?'
'No,' he said.
'Do you still have her?' I asked.
'Yes,' he said.
I was extremely pleased to hear this. Indeed, it was one of the reasons I had come to the vicinity of Brundisium.
'Where is she?' I asked.
'In the wagon,' he said.
'Why?' I asked.
'It is safer,' he said. 'Too many of the men want her. I am afraid she might be stolen.'
'You have not been using her, like Amina and Rimice, then, as a rent slave.'
'No,' he said.
'But surely you have had her branded and collared?' I said.
'No,' he said. 'Why not?' I asked.
'She was not a debtor slut,' he said.
It is common on Gor for female debtors to be enslaved, the proceeds from their sales going to satisfy, insofar as it is possible, their creditors.
'But she is a captive,' I said.
'True,' he said.
'And is she not needful and ripe for bondage?' I asked.
'Quite,' he said.
I had known this about Phoebe for a long time, of course, even from the time she had first knelt before me, at the Crooked Tarn.
'And when a woman is needful and ripe for bondage, is it not cruel to deny it to her?' I asked.
'I suppose so,' said Ephialtes.
'Why, then,' I asked, 'did you not extend to her the mercy of the collar and whip?'
'I expected you to return, and rather before now,' he said, 'and thought you might see to such details, if it pleased you.'
'I see,' I said.
'She is, after all, a free woman, and your captive, not mine.'
'True,' I said.
'So I thought it best to dally in the matter, waiting for you.'
'I understand,' I said.
'Before you turned her over to me,' he said, 'you must have started slave fires in her belly.'
'Perhaps,' I said.
'She has often been in agony,' he said.
'And was not satisfied?' I asked.
'No,' he said. 'And it has often been necessary to chain her hands behind her back, to a belly rope.'
'And you did not, even then, imbond her?' I asked.
'No,' he said.
'At any rate,' I said, 'it is not as though she were a full slave, and knew the helplessness of the full slave's arousal.'
'True,' he said.
'That can come later,' I said.
'Of course,' he said.
It amused me to think of the lovely Phoebe under a condition of such need.
'Perhaps I should have seen to it,' he said, 'that her neck took up its residence within some suitable encirclement, that her thigh was subjected to the kiss of some appropriate iron.'
'That is all right,' I said. It would not take long to attend to the relevant matters, of course.
'I gather that you have some sort of disposition in mind for her,' he said.
'Yes,' I said. Indeed, I had a superb disposition in mind for Phoebe.
He glanced at Amina and Rimice.
'Of course,' I said. We would not discuss the disposition of the lovely Phoebe before them, as she, too, was a female. Let them all wait to learn what is to be done with them. To be sure, as they were slaves and she was still, apparently, a free woman, they would probably, in any event, be afraid to speak to her.
'Have you eaten?' he asked.
'No,' I said.
'Share our kettle,' he said.
'I would be delighted,' I said.
I glanced at Amina and Rimice, and they swiftly, frightened, averted their eyes. We would discuss their fates on the other side of the wagon, while we supped.
'Where is Phoebe?' I asked, for, as I went around the wagon, I did not see her within.
'There,' he said.
'Oh, yes,' I said.
Lying on the floor of the wagon there was a heavy leather slave sack, tied shut at the top. Two chains went to the sack, through the leather, one toward the top, the other toward the bottom. As the girl is preparing to enter the sack the bottom chain, with its slave ring, is locked about her left ankle. As she inches down, into the sack, the slack of this chain is taken up by the captor or master. If her hands are not, say, tied behind her in the sack, they are usually placed at her thighs, that her arms will be down, at her sides, when she is in the sack. When she is almost fully entered into the sack the collar on the neck chain, the collar within the sack, the chain entering it from the outside, is locked on her neck. She is then entered fully into the sack, and it is tied shut, usually about a foot above her head. The chains are fastened to the wagon, sometimes to the wheels, to impede their movement, or to other objects, for example, stakes or trees. The common slave sack, incidentally, is much simpler, commonly little more than a sturdy canvas or leather sack which may be tied, buckled or chained shut.
'You are keeping her under unusual security,' I said.
'It is necessary,' he said. 'She has become a beauty. The men hang about, asking about her, making offers for her, and such. I fear she might be stolen at night.'
'Excellent,' I said.
I then followed Ephialtes about the wagon, and sat down, cross-legged, by their small fire.
'What is the news of Torcadino?' I asked.
'I do not know,' he said.
The girl in the yellow tunic served us, quietly, efficiently, deferentially. She was Liadne, a slave. She had been picked up in the vicinity of the Crooked Tam, months ago. She was as first girl to the others, even Phoebe, the free woman.
'It is strange,' I said. 'It seems surely there should be news from Torcadino by now.'
'Dietrich of Tarnburg is trapped,' said Ephialtes. 'It is a matter of time. He will be starved out.'
I did not think that Dietrich would be starved out. He was holding Torcadino with only some five thousand men, and that many, I thought, might subsist on produce grown within the city, in yards, in torn-up streets, in roof
