'That is true,' I said.
'And did you have a good talk with him?' asked Marcus.
'Yes,' I said. 'We spoke for some time.'
'Splendid,' said Marcus.
'And what were you doing during that time?' I asked.
'Freezing in the alley,' he said.
'You should have come in,' I said, 'and had a drink.'
'You seem in an excellent mood,' he said.
I glanced back at Ina. She was kneeling against the wall, her hands braceleted behind her, her lips, through the slave hood, pressed against it.
'I see,' he said.
'Do not be out of sorts,' I said. 'Let us go back to our camp and get some sleep. Then, in the neighborhood of noon, I have something to show you, something in which I think you may be interested.'
'What?' he asked.
'You will see,' I said.
'Does Ina know of the reward offered for her, the supposedly secret reward of a hundred pieces of gold?'
'No,' I said.
'It is doubtless just as well,' he said.
'I think so,' I said.
'You do seem in a pleasant mood,' remarked Marcus, somewhat grouchily.
'I think Ina is now safe,' I said.
'Probably,' said Marcus. 'Your friends, who so efficiently, if somewhat ruthlessly, dealt with those following you in the alley seem to have seen to that.'
'I think so,' I said. 'Besides how many could recognize the face of a free woman of Ar, one of high caste, one of lofty station, as they are customarily veiled?'
'I think you are right,' said Marcus. 'To be sure, she is still free, and free women, in this area, or at least free women of Ar, or those who speak with such an accent, are rare.'
'But women on chains, with such accents, are not,' I said.
'True,' he said.
'You seem uneasy,' I said.
'I think we should leave,' said Marcus. 'I do not wish to be about if guardsmen should make their rounds here. At the very least they might be interested in learning why we have not seen fit to report the local carnage.'
'True,' I said. Then I went to Ina and lifted up her leash. I jerked on it, lightly, twice. 'Up, female,' I said. She then, given this implicit permission, removed her lips from the wall. I then drew twice more, lightly, on the leash, that she would be alerted to the fact that she was to be led, and the direction in which she was to be led. I then, drawing her gently behind me, on her tether, rejoined Marcus.
'She has pretty feet,' said Marcus.
'Yes,' I said. I did not think that he, before the fall of Ar's Station, and his chagrin with Ar, would have spoken so of the feet of a free woman of Ar, particularly one of education, elevation and refinement. Such things are usually said only of slaves, and such.
I looked down at Ina's feet, so small and white, in the dust of the alley. They were indeed pretty, pretty enough, even, to be those of a slave. I was pleased that I had led her barefoot into Brundisium, and so, too, of course, barefoot, hooded and on her leash, she would be returned to our camp. Such things are instructive to a female, of course, and of great emotional profit.
'Let us go,' said Marcus.
'Come along, Ina,' I said.
43 Marcus Finds a Woman of Interest
'Why have you brought me here?' asked Marcus, as he and I waited near the wagon of Ephialtes.
'You will see,' I said.
We had changed the location of our small camp near the outskirts of the temporary slave camp, doing what we could to make it look as though it had been abandoned. We had then walked east a way on the Brundisium Road before, in a small wood, leaving the road and returning to the vicinity of the slave camp. In this fashion, we hoped that anyone, at least the idly curious, would assume we had broken camp and departed eastward, presumably to make a junction with one of the delta roads. On the way back we had cut through the temporary slave camp. It was quite large, some four or five square pasangs in area. Women were still being brought into it, in various fashions, for example, in slave wagons, in flatbed wagons, with tiny, tiered slave cages, and on foot, in coffle.
'This is the wagon of your friend?' asked Marcus.
'Yes,' I said.
We had left Ina in the temporary slave camp, in a rented slave box. I had her climb into the small box in which she then lay down, on her side, her knees drawn up. We had left her in the hood, leash and bracelets. I had then closed the lid to the box, locked it and put the key in my pouch. The rental is a single tarsk bit but you give the keeper two tarsk bits, the second of which serves as a deposit, held against the return of the key. The box itself is of iron and very sturdy. It has various tiny holes in its front wall and in its lid, through which the occupant may breathe. These holes, or rather perforations, are in the shape of the cursive 'Kef', the first letter, as I have mentioned, in 'Kajira', the most common expression in Gorean for a female slave. Also, in a good light, one may use these holes, or perforations, to see if the box is occupied. Girls are normally kept nude in the slave boxes but Ina, of course, was a free woman. If the girl would look out of the box she must do so through the 'Kef.' Similarly, the light falling through the perforations forms a pattern of dots on her body, also in the form of the Kef. There were about a hundred slave boxes in this storage area. Ina was in 73. This number was also on the key.
'I do not understand why I have been brought here,' said Marcus. 'Too, I gather your friend, this Ephialtes, or whatever his name may be, is a Cosian. I am not inclined to hold converse with Cosians.'
'If I were you,' I said, 'I wouldn't open my mouth so much in this area, at the perimeter of the Cosian camp.'
'Why have you brought me here?' whispered Marcus.
'I told you before, early this morning,' I said. 'I want to show you something.'
'What?' he asked.
'Be patient,' I said. 'You will see.'
'It had better be good,' he said.
'You are just in a bad mood,' I said, 'because I have brought you to the edge of the Cosian camp, thus needlessly placing your life in extreme jeopardy.'
'Not at all,' he said. 'Who could be so small-minded as to object to that?'
'What, then?' I asked.
'I had a very difficult night,' he said, 'and the morning, thus far, save for too few Ahn sleep, has not been much better.'
'Perhaps things will improve,' I said.
'Perhaps,' he grumbled.
Marcus normally tended, of course, to be a somewhat moody fellow, taking things somewhat more seriously, such as life and death, than seemed necessary. This morning, however, he seemed actually ungracious, and that was quite unusual for him. To be sure, he had had a difficult night, keeping his lonely, tense vigil in the alley behind the tavern, while I rested and sported about inside. I reminded myself, however, that such sacrifices are only to be expected in the course of true friendship.
'What is it that you wish me to see?' he asked.
