'Yes, Master,' she said.
The distinction, of course, is between belonging to the caster of slavers and being a slaver. Whereas members of the caste of slavers are slavers, not all slavers are members of the caste of slavers. For example, I am not of the slavers, but in Port Kar I am know as Bosk, and he known as many things, among them pirate and slaver. Too, both Marcus and myself were of the warriors, the scarlet caster, and as such were not above taking slaves. Such is not only permitted in the codes, but encouraged by them. 'The slave is a joy and a convenience to the warrior.' Neither of us, of course, was a member of the caste of slavers. It, incidentally, is sometimes regarded as a subcaste of the merchants, and sometimes as an independent caste. It does have its own colors, blue and yellow, whereas those of the merchants are yellow and white, or gold and white.
'Have you come to collect taxes?' she asked. 'Have you come from the levies?'
'No,' I said. Her questions were doubtless motivated by our armbands. It was not unknown in recent months in Ar and her vicinity for properties of various sorts, including such as she was, to be taken for taxes. Too, of course, there might have been new requisitions from Cos, or even from the camp of the pokemarkos, calling for new levies of women, both free and slave.
'You are not going to carry me off are you?' she asked.
'Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira,' I said.
'Forgive me, Master,' she said. She squirmed in agitation. It would not be difficult, of course, to carry her off. In a matter of moments we could have done so with impunity. In a matter of moments she could have been ours, gagged, hooded and bound. There are a great many ways in which a girl may be carried captive by a mounted warrior, and many saddles have been designed with the accommodation of such a prisoner in mind. Some of these arrangements are quite simple and others are complex. Perhaps the simplest is to have the girl mounted before you with her hands tied to a ring before her body. Some of the more complex involve saddle cages and nets. A reasonably common arrangement, and that with which our saddles were equipped, involves paired rings, one on each side of the saddle. With this arrangement the usual technique is as follows: The girl's hands are tied are tied before her and then tied, in turn to a ring on the left side of the saddle. When she is thusly fastened, her hands up, tied together and fastened to the left saddle ring, she is lifted up and put over the saddle, on either her back or belly, as pleases the captor, after which her ankles are fastened together on the other side, then, of course, also lashed to the ring there, the second of the pair of rings, that on the right side of the saddle. In this arrangement the girl is quite safe, protected against the danger of a fall. She is also, of course, completely helpless.
'Would you not like to be carried off?' I asked.
'No!' she said.
'But surely you are not so enamored of the labors of the field slave,' I said. 'No,' she said.
'And you have already begun to sense in yourself the beginnings of slave fires' I said.
She looked at me, and then put her head down, quickly. She clenched her small fists.
'Speak,' I said. 'Have they not already begun to burn in your belly?'
She looked up, agonized, her small fists clenched.
'Remember,' I said, 'you have already incurred discipline.'
'Yes, Master!' she sobbed.
'Good,' I said.
She put down her head, sobbing. How helpless one must feel at times, I thought, as a female slave. But such admissions are good for the development of their character, and their discipline. Too, they are very helpful and beneficial for the slave. They help them to understand who and what they are, and who is master.
'I would think you would be an excellent house slave,' I said, 'silked, pattering about, perhaps belled, serving, heated and excited by the nearness of your master.'
She looked up.
'Perhaps you might even be chained to his slave ring at night, at the very foot of his couch.'
'It is such things I want!' she said.
'It is easy to imagine you kneeling before him, begging for his touch.'
'Yes, Master!' she said.
'And will he consent to content you?' I asked.
'It is my hope that he would take pity on one who is only his slave.'
'Yes,' I said. 'I think you would be hot, devoted and dutiful.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'I think you would make an excellent house slave,' I said, 'indeed, an excellent pleasure slave.'
'Oh, yes, Master!' she said.
'And perhaps in time,' I said, 'even a love slave.'
'It is thusly that I want to live!' she said.
'Then surely you wish to be carried off,' I said.
'No,' she said. 'No!'
'Why not?' I asked.
She sobbed.
'Ah,' I said. 'It seems you do not wish to leave the vicinity of the house of Appanius.'
'No, Master,' she said. 'I do not wish to leave the vicinity of the house of Appanius.'
'Apparently you are very devoted to your master,' I said.
'I do not even know him,' she said, 'except as I, and others, are utilized for such purposes as serving his table. Even when he passes us in a hall we kneel in obeisance, our heads to the floor.'
'Still,' I said, 'it seems you must be very devoted to him.'
She put her head down.
'But in any event,' I said, 'your wishes are unimportant. You are a female slave. It will be done with you as men, and masters, please.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'I wish certain details as to the techniques utilized by Appanius and Milo in the capture of free women, thence to be enslaved.'
'Master?' she asked.
'Surely from the conversation which you overheard, and from your own experience, you have some ideas of what these must be.'
'Surely master can have no interest in such things,' she said.
'You have now twice incurred discipline,' I informed her.
'Forgive me, Master!' she said.
'How will you speak?' I asked.
'Fully, and perfectly, to the best of my knowledge!'
'As befits what you are?'
'Yes, Master!' she said.
'Which is?' I asked.
'A slave girl, Master,' she said, 'only that!'
'Who initiates these relationships?' I asked.
'In one of two ways, I think, are they initiated,' she said. 'In the first, the free woman puts herself in Milo's way, she compliments him, she calls herself to his attention, perhaps she lowers her veil a little, perhaps she lowers her veil a little, perhaps her tones to him are soft, and special, making clear to him that there is an eager lover awaiting him beneath her veils and robes, perhaps she even lets him lift and kiss the coverlets of her palanquin, near her feet, such things. These advances, so calculatedly ambiguous, and yet so obvious and meaningful, are reported to Appanius. He then makes a judgment as to whether they are to be encouraged or not, and then, later, perhaps after she has lowered her veil for Milo, and let him gaze upon the revelation of her beauty, and he has seen her move in the palanquin, apparently inadvertently, but in such a way that he can conjecture something of the fairness of her limbs beneath her robes, and has perhaps even seen her ankles, a second judgment, this again from the reports of Milo, is made by Appanius. If this judgment is favorable and it is decided that the female, after having been perhaps subjected to a rigorous regimen of dieting, exercise, training and discipline, might not preposterously be put upon a slave block, the arrangements for her capture are
