'Surely you do not mean that slaves are actually free women,' she said.
'No,' I said. 'I do not mean that.'
'Sleen! Sleen!' she said.
'Free women are only slaves, not yet collared,' I said.
'Sleen!' she wept.
'I must be on my way,' I said.
'No, no!' she said. 'You must take me with you! I know your sympathies are with Cos! So, too, are mine! I may be of Ar, but I am an agent of Cos. Thus we are allies!'
'You admit that you are a Cosian spy?' I said.
'Yes,' she said, hesitantly.
'Truly?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said.
'Speak loudly and clearly,' I said. 'I am a Cosian spy,' she said.
'More clearly, more loudly,' I said. 'I am a Cosian spy,' she said. 'Excellent,' I said.
'Release me now,' she said.
'But my sympathies are not with Cos,' I said. 'But you are not of Ar!' she said.
'My sympathies are with neither Ar nor Cos,' I said. 'What is your Home Stone?' she asked, suddenly, fearfully. 'That of Port Kar,' I said.
She moaned. It is said that the chains of a slave girl are heaviest in Port Kar.
I made as though to leave.
'Wait!' she cried.
I turned, again, to face her.
'Free me!' she said. 'I will give you riches!'
'The only riches you have to bestow,' I said, 'and they are not inconsiderable, are now in the keeping of rencer thongs.'
'I will give them to you!' she said.
'They are mine for the taking,' I pointed out to her.
'Then take them,' she urged.
'I must be on my way,' I said.
'You cannot leave me here for tharlarion!' she wept.
'Rencers have seen fit to put you here,' I said. 'Who am I, a fellow of Port Kar, a stranger in the delta, to dispute their choice?'
'They are barbarians!' she said. 'Perhaps less so than I,' I said. 'Free me,' she said.
'Why?' I asked.
'I will make it worth your while,' she said.
'In what way?' I asked. 'As a female,' she said.
'Speak more clearly,' I said.
'As a female, with my favors!' 'Interesting,' I said.
' 'Interesting'?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said, 'you bargain with your beauty.'
'Of course,' she said.
'But then it seems you have little more to bargain with.'
She blushed, again, even to her toes.
A free woman may bargain with her own beauty, of course, and it is often done. This is quite different from the case of the female slave. Her beauty, like herself, is owned by the master. It may, of course, like herself, figure in his bargains.
I looked up at her.
'I will submit to you, if you wish,' she said. 'I will be your slave.'
'Beware of your language,' I said, 'lest you inadvertently speak words of self-enslavement.'
Such words, of course, are irrevocable by the slave because, once spoken, she is a slave.
'Nonetheless, if you wish,' she said, 'I will speak them!'
'And be a slave?' I asked.
'Yes!' she said.
'Do you not recognize me?' I asked.
'Should I?' she asked.
'Do you recall a camp in the marsh, some days ago,' I asked, 'to the southeast, an evening, a prisoner?'
She looked down, frightened.
'And did you not,' I asked, 'boldly, to torture me, I helpless before you, show me your ankles?'
'Oh!' she said.
'Yes,' I said, touching her ankles, 'they would look well in shackles.'
'You!' she wept.
'Yes,' I said.
She put back her head, moaning.
We heard a tharlarion bellowing in the marsh.
She lifted her head, bearing the sound. Her eyes were wide with fear..
'I am a woman,' she said, suddenly, piteously.
I saw that it was true. Through everything, beneath everything, in spite of everything, deeply, essentially, she was a woman.
'I wish you well,' I said.
'Do not go!' she cried..
'Perhaps you can free yourself,' I said.
'My ankles are muchly thonged!' she said.
'Yes,' I said, 'they do seem to be well held, fastened excellently to the pole and crossbar. I doubt that you can free them.'
'And my arms!' she said.
'Yes,' I said, 'they would seem well fastened, also, simply and effectively.'
'Please,' she said. 'Have mercy!'
'I wonder if you realize how clever the rencers have been,' I said.
She looked down at me.
'You cannot even try to rub the thongs, the three of them, against the wood,' I said. 'The interiors of your arms are against the wood, and the thongs themselves are about your wrists, and across your belly. Yes, they are clever. The wood and the leather, both, you see, are far stronger than your flesh.'
'You know that I cannot free myself,' she said. 'I am absolutely helpless!'
'You are right,' I said.
The tharlarion again bellowed in the marsh, this time more closely.
'You risked your life to save me!' she said.
'Believe me,' I said, 'I did not realize at the time that I was risking it. I thought the beast would move off.'
'But it did not,' she said.
'True,' I said. 'Unfortunately.'
'You defended me!' she said.
'As it turned out,' I said.
'You even called yourself to its attention in the marsh, when you understood how tenacious, how dangerous, it was!' she said, triumphantly.
'So?' I asked.
'So you found me of interest!' she said. 'So you wanted me!'
'Put back your shoulders,' I said, 'thrust out your breasts, lift your chin.'
She obeyed immediately, beautifully.
