as yet, was incomplete, for she had no master. How I remembered much of this from my former world, when I had lain in my bed for hours at a time, restless and miserable, knowing myself a slave, but a slave without a master. So, I thought, the sorry wallet has been opened, and it contains a coin of gold; the dingy wrapper has been unrolled, and within it we find rare silk; the uninspiring amphora has been unsealed, and within it we find a splendid wine, the sort men might prize, and for which they might bid, and heatedly. Yes, I thought, regarding Darla, a collar might look well on her neck. Yes, I thought, it belongs there.
Tuza then was no longer laughing but, furious, she freed her switch from her belt, rushed upon Darla, and switched her, again and again. Though we were not struck, Tula, Mila, and myself cringed, reacting to each stroke, for we had felt the switch of Tuza, and well knew its air-parting hiss, its crack, and sting.
“Please stop, please stop, Mistress!” cried Darla. I supposed it was the first time she had ever been switched.
“Do not call me ‘Mistress’!” screamed Tuza, and gave her another stroke. “You are free, free!” she screamed, striking her twice more.
“Sell me,” begged Darla.
“No,” said Tuza.
“We sold Donna!” said Darla. “You helped me defeat her. You became second! We sold her together!”
“I have something else in mind for you,” said Tuza. “Do you think I would permit you the ignominy, the degradation, the raptures, of the kajira?”
Darla, laying on her side, miserable, her body well inscribed with the bright records of Tuza’s displeasure, looked up at her, confused, and frightened.
“Put her on her knees, that she may hear her fate,” said Tuza.
Hiza and Emerald positioned Darla before Tuza.
“Prepare to hear your sentence,” said Tuza.
Darla looked up at her.
“You have been defeated,” said Tuza.
“Treachery,” said Darla.
“No more than when we leapt upon Donna in her sleep, and bound her,” said Tuza.
“I am not to be sold?” said Darla.
“No,” said Tuza.
“What then?” asked Darla, trembling.
“I am now ready to pronounce your sentence,” said Tuza.
“I am free,” said Darla. “Let me speak.”
“Speak,” said Tuza.
“It was I,” said Darla, “who in disguise at a trading point on the Laurius became first apprised of solicitations by the employer, seeking informants and scouts, to investigate rumors of a great ship being built near the headwaters of the Alexandra. He found few who would essay this task, for a great raiding party had recently been decimated in the northern forests. Many sent had failed to return, and those who had returned had nothing of substance to report. Ships sent to the mouth of the Alexandra had discovered nothing, and some apparently had fallen to pirates. It took me little time to discover that the employer had considerable, if finite, resources at his disposal. Indeed, he had, in the absence of other intelligence, organized a small army, recruited from a dozen cities, to close the mouth of the Alexandra, to prevent the exiting of this ship, should it exist. But even for his resources, this would be an expense which might ruin cities, and leagues of cities. He was thus in desperate need of intelligence. He must discover if the ship existed, and, if so, ascertain its location. Once this was done a stout raiding party might attack and destroy the ship, and withdraw with little, if any, loss. The mouth of the Alexandra then need not be closed, and its numerous guardians, in effect an army, might be paid and dismissed. Men talk much in their cups and I, posing as a free brothel mistress, shopping for brothel slaves, in various taverns, learned these things. It was then only necessary to contact the employer, and convince him that we might serve his purpose. Who would suspect a handful of Panther Women? Indeed, who might even know they were about? We know the forests, and their ways. We can move as quietly as the night. We can live off the land, like the beasts. We can hunt like the panther, and strike like the ost. We could well succeed where men, unfamiliar with the woods and woodcraft, would be likely to fail. Too, Panther Women do not range that far north, and it is late autumn. We would not be anticipated. Few would think of us, at all, if they did, certainly not that late in the season. Would we not be ideal for his purposes?