I placed the goblet on the table.
'I have served you,' she whispered. 'I now wish to serve you further.'
'Stand,' I said.
Immediately she complied.
I left the paga goblet on the table and put a tarsk bit beside it. I then stood behind her, drew her wrists behind her back, and, by means of the snap rings on the two locked bracelets, fastened them there. I then took her by the upper left arm and conducted her to an alcove, where I thrust aside the leather curtain.
She stood there for a moment, terrified, regarding the small, lamp-lit interior, with its various accouterments and furnishings. Then I flung her to the furs. She turned about, on one side, and then the other, half sunk in the furs, looking about. On the wall to the left, as one entered, were various paraphernalia, in ordered arrangements, cuffs, chains, shackles, whips and such. She sat up in the furs, and, moved back, pushing back, frightened, as far as she could, until she had her back against the back wall. There she looked about herself, as well. To her left and right were two rings, suitable for fastening a woman's hands back and against the wall, should she be either sitting or kneeling, either facing the wall or the curtain. There was a similar pair of rings higher in the back wall to which she might be fastened standing, either facing the wall or curtain. There were several other rings about, too, here and there, mostly on the floor, permitting various arrangements such as the spread-eagling of the slave. There was also a holding ring in the wall to the right, as one entered, about two feet from the floor, probably as a utility in case one wished to have more than one girl in the alcove. On the other hand, there were enough rings about to accommodate more than one without this addition.
'I assume you have never been in an alcove like this before,' I said.
'No!' she said.
'In a place such as this,' I said, 'women strive well to please men.'
She looked about herself, frightened.
'Do you doubt it?' I asked.
'No!' she said.
'And would you,' I asked, 'strive well to please men in such a place?'
'Yes!' she said. 'Yes!'
'I see,' I said.
'Put me to the test,' she said.
'Some women first learn who is master and who slave in such a place,' I said, looking about.
'It may be taught to us anywhere,' she said.
'An interesting remark,' I said, 'coming from a free woman.'
She laughed ruefully. I wondered at this.
I regarded her.
'I cannot embrace you,' she said, 'as my hands are pinioned behind my back.'
'I came to the tavern tonight,' I said, 'for three reasons, two of which have to do with you. One of these I will reveal to you.'
She looked at me.
'I was curious to know whether or not you could survive in a certain modality of existence. I now, from what I see, think you could, though, of course, my inquiry has not yet been completed. I have not yet ascertained certain crucial data.'
'I assure you,' she said, 'I can strive well to please men.'
'You speak as a slave,' I said.
'Are you surprised?' she asked.
'To be sure,' I said, 'in a place such as this, any woman would be concerned to strive well to please men.'
'Certainly,' she said. 'We would be terrified not to. On the other hand, even if I were not in this place, I would wish to please men.'
'Interesting,' I said.
'I have always wanted to be attractive to men, and to please them,' she said.
'Do you understand the meaning of that?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said. 'Of course.'
'You understand then what you are?' I asked. 'Yes,' she said.
I regarded her.
'I am ready,' she said, 'Ascertain your crucial data.'
'I think you will be safe here,' I said.
'I do not understand,' she said.
I then drew her by the ankles forward on the furs and took a pair, of shackles, separated by about a foot of chain, from the wall. I snapped one shackle on her right ankle and threaded the other through the corner ring at the right, as you enter. I then thrust up the slave hells and snapped the second shackle on her left ankle.
'Your ankles do look well in shackles,' I said. The key to the shackles, on a string, was on the same peg from which I had removed the shackles.
I then took a collar with a short, attached chain and lock ring from another hook. I then snapped the collar shut on her neck. It was, I suppose, judging from the look on her face, at any rate, the first time she had ever been locked in a collar. I then thrust her back to the furs and attached the dangling chain, by means of its lock ring, to a ring in the floor, near the back wall, on the left, as you would enter. I had thus fastened her diagonally between two of the rings, her ankles to one, her neck to another, that might be used in spread-eagling a slave, either on her back or belly. Given the shortness of the neck chain and the fastening on her ankles she could get her head up only a few inches from the furs. The key to the collar and the lock ring, it responding to the same key, was, like the shackles' key, on a string, suspended from the same peg from which I had removed the restraining device.
I then stood up, and looked down at the female. She was quite beautiful on the furs, in the lamp light. I thought she would be safe there, surely more so than if shackled in one of the public holding areas off the main paga room. She moved a little, looking up at me. I heard the bells, a tiny sensuous rustle of them on her fair ankle, just above the dark shackle. I smelled the slave perfume, the Chains of Telnus. It was heady. It was maddeningly exciting. It was with great pleasure that I looked down upon her. She was lusciously curvaceous, a dream of pleasure, the tiny chain across her forehead, with its tiny ornament, with the serpentine armlet, in the necklaces, the bracelets, the bells, the snatch of slave silk.
'Captor?' she asked.
'Were you given permission to speak?' I asked.
'May I speak?' she asked.
'Not without permission,' I said.
'May I speak, please,' she said.
'No,' I said. Then I turned about, and forced myself to leave.
40 News from Torcadino; I am Expected
'Have you heard the news?' a fellow was eagerly asking another, outside, in the main paga room. The music had stopped. A dancer had fled back behind a beaded curtain, dismissed by the czehar player, he who led the musicians.
'No,' said the other.
Men gathered about, and I joined them, confident of the nature of what was to be reported, yet not informed as to the details.
'Dietrich of Tarnburg has withdrawn from Torcadino!' said the fellow.
'Impossible,' said another.
'Myron has Torcadino encircled with rings of iron,' said another. 'The main force of Cos on the continent is at Torcadino.'
