She looked at me startled, eager, gratefully. We had now been together for some five days traveling south. Even in this short time I think she had begun to learn something of her womanhood. And, too, even in this short time she had begun to become its helpless prisoner.
'And when I touch you,' I said, 'I think I shall leave you in your gag.'
She looked at me, startled.
'That should be an interesting experience for you.'
She put down her head, excitedly, but submissively.
I had much touched her over the past few days, even though she was a free woman, as much for my relief, such as a free woman could provide, as for her instruction, usually when we had camped, sometimes before we slept, sometimes afterwards, or when I awakened and it pleased me, and sometimes, too, on the rough logs of the raft, I pulling her up, onto them.
'But,' I said, 'you shall for five days, for five encampments, as a punishment for crying out twice, after having been warned to silence, and for not having responded instantly and perfectly to a command, that connected with opening your mouth for the gag wadding, be tied as I often was in the delta, hand and foot, and bound supine between two objects. In this fashion you may better make the acquaintance of certain nocturnal insects, such as the marsh beetle.'
She looked at me, in misery.
'Are you humble and obedient?' I asked.
She whimpered once, and put down her head.
I then regained the surface of the raft, took up the pole, and continued my journey, she following on her tether.
21 Gilded Wood
'Look,' I said. 'There.'
She made a small questioning sound, anything more stopped by her gag.
I poled the barge to the left. Then it grated on the sand. 'There,' I said.
She made a small noise, one of surprise.
Lying in the sand, in the moonlight, on a small bar to our left, carved from wood, half sunk in the sand, about ten feet in length, was the long, narrow neck and head of a marsh gant.
'You recognize it?' I said. She whimpered once.
She would acknowledge its recognition explicitly. Such things are good for the discipline of a female.
This was all that I saw about of the remains of her barge. It had been purple, and gilded, its bow carved in the likeness of a long-necked, sharp-billed marsh gant. Its stern had been carved to represent feathers. The poles used in propelling it had been gilded, as well. It had been surmounted by an open, golden cabin, covered with a translucent golden mesh. None of this was now visible. The neck and head of the gant was discolored, dark on dark, and partly charred. Most of the gilding was gone, perhaps scraped with knives, or burned away.
'Perhaps,' I said, 'when the rencers took you, after they had stripped and bound you, they permitted you to witness the burning of your barge?'
She whimpered once.
'You would make this observation, presumably,' I said, 'tied on your knees, your wrists fastened to your ankles, in a rence craft.'
She looked at me, surprised.
'That you were in.a rence craft would indicate that you were in their power,' I said, 'and too, you might then be conveniently transported from the place.'
She regarded me.
'It would be common, too, of course,' I said, 'not simply because you were a conquered enemy, but, in particular, because you are a female, to tie you on your knees. That is often done, for example, with female slaves. Surely the appropriateness and meaningfulness of tying a female on her knees does not require elucidation, no more than the effectiveness of its security.'
Tears sprang to her eyes.
'But they would not daily too long in the place,' I said, 'and so you did not see the barge entirely burnt. Once it was well afire your ankles would be freed from your wrists, and you would be put on your belly in the rence craft, still, of course, bound hand and foot. Am I correct?'
She whimpered once, her eyes bright with tears.
'You would also,' I conjectured, 'prior to having your wrists freed from your ankles, and being put on your belly in the rence craft, have been blindfolded.'
She whimpered twice.
'You were permitted to see where you were being taken in the marsh?' I asked.
Two whimpers.
'You were not blindfolded, but hooded?' I said.
She whimpered once.
'A slave hood?'
One whimper.
'Good,' I said. The hood tends to be more effective than the blindfold as a security device. For example, it is difficult to dislodge it, as it ties under the chin, by, say, rubbing it against a wall or tree. An advantage of the blindfold, of course, is that it enables the mouth of the female to be seen, and to be kissed, and such. It also allows her to use her own mouth, of course, in kissing, and such. The half hood is a device intended to couple something of the effectiveness of the full hood with the various exploitable advantages of the mere blindfold. I had not known, incidentally, that the rencers now made use of slave hoods. They perhaps obtained them through trade, as well as additional women. Many things had changed since I had been in the marsh, long ago. Some rencers even charged tolls to freight moving through the marsh. Also, it was not always easy to transport female slaves through the marsh now. Rencers had apparently discovered their delights. I recalled the barge which had been encountered in the marsh several days ago, when I had been a prisoner, it, I was sure, given its condition, was merely an abandoned derelict. On the other hand I supposed there might be similar barges here and there in the marsh which had been waylaid, their cargoes then distributed among strong men. 'That you were put in a slave hood,' I said, 'suggests that they might, at that point, have had an open mind on whether or not to keep you as a slave, or sell you.'
She looked at me.
'If they had planned at that time on putting you out for tharlarion they might not have bothered hooding you.'
She shuddered.
'Perhaps as they got to know you better they decided that in spite of your beauty you were not worthy of being made a slave.'
She looked up at me, angrily.
'But, at that time, most likely,' I said, 'your fate was still to be decided by a council.'
She nodded, vigorously.
I regarded her.
She whimpered, once.
'And perhaps it was then, a few days later, by the council, that it was decided officially, and after due deliberation, after they had had a chance to assess your character with care, that you were not worthy of being a slave.'
Tears of anger sprang to her eyes.
'But perhaps they decided to put you out for tharlarion because of their hatred for Ar, and things of Ar,' I said.
She looked away.
'Ah,' I said, 'then it was at least primarily because they did not regard you as being worthy even to be a
