It was with satisfaction, I am sure, that Tula and Mila, as well as I, observed our rope being knotted about the necks of the prone prisoners.
“Get them on their knees, as is appropriate for such,” said the leader.
The Panther Women whimpered and wept as they were dragged by their hair to their knees before the leader. Tears coursed their cheeks, their lips trembled. Then they were kneeling before the men, their wrists bound behind them, in coffle.
“Behold,” said the leader, “Panther Girls!”
“They look like slaves to me,” said a fellow.
“Where now,” said the leader, “are your pride, your weapons, your golden ornaments?”
“They are not in evidence,” said a fellow.
“Nor will they be,” said another.
“Behold Panther Girls,” said the leader, “as is appropriate for them, as they should be, helpless, naked, and bound.”
“Release us,” said Tuza. “You are ignorant, you would grasp lightning. We are in the employ of others, numerous and dangerous others. We have our mission. We must return to the Laurius. Free us, immediately!”
“You see, Master,” said Donna, who was standing to the side, in the background, in her scarlet tunic, “it is the very group you seek. I thought so. It is admitted! I found them for you. We have been successful.”
Darla turned angrily to Tuza. “You stupid she-tarsk,” she said.
“There are forces involved,” said the leader to Tuza and Darla, “which you do not understand, nor, fully, do we. But somewhere, perhaps faraway, there is to be a contest, one on which the fate of worlds may hang.”
“They were certainly well-paid,” said a fellow. “Their purses were heavy with gold.”
“No heavier than ours, I wager,” said the leader.
“You were hired to seek us out?” said Darla.
“Yes,” said the leader. He then turned to Tuza. “You spoke of a mission,” he said. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” she said, sullenly.
“Kill her,” said the leader. A knife leapt from its sheath.
“No!” said Tuza. “I speak, I speak! We were sent to the forest to discover if rumors concerning a great ship being secretly built high on the Alexandra might be true, and, if true, to determine the location of this ship and its state of readiness to depart. It was planned then to dispatch a small, but swift, terrible force, perhaps only two hundred men, to destroy this ship before it could reach Thassa.”
“I have heard such rumors, of such a ship,” said the leader, “but I know nothing of such a ship.”
“We have seen it,” said Tuza. “Release us, you will be well paid.”
“We are already well-paid,” said the leader.
“What is to be our fate?” asked Darla.
“It is to be taken under consideration,” said the leader.
“I do not understand,” she said.
“Donna,” called the leader.
The dark-haired, striking, scarlet-tunicked slave approached, and stood before the prisoners. She carried Tuza’s switch.
“I trust you remember me,” said Donna, tapping the blade of the switch in the palm of her left hand. “You, Darla and Tuza, set upon me, bound me, and took me to the coast, where you sold me.”
Neither Darla nor Tuza responded. They did not meet her eyes. Both, I think, were angry, to be addressed by a slave.
“But,” said Donna, “I saw Darla stripped, and belly-braceleted, and shackled. I gather then that loyal Tuza betrayed her new leader, as she and Darla did Donna, their former leader.” She then turned to Emerald and Hiza. “And you,” she said, “stood by while I was deposed, just as, I would suppose, you did when noble Tuza put noble Darla aside, even to chains.”
“We could not interfere,” said Emerald. “Darla and Tuza are stronger, quicker. They would kill us.”
“Tuza drugged Darla,” said Hiza.
“What a brave way to challenge for leadership,” said Donna. “Are javelins in the forest no longer in order; are sticks no longer available to draw a killing circle, a circle of decision, in the camp?”
“Away, slave!” said Tuza.
“You are in the presence of free persons,” screamed Darla. “Kneel, as befits a slave!”
But Donna remained on her feet. “This is Tuza’s switch,” she said. “I remember it well. I felt it often enough on the trek to the selling poles.”
“She does not kneel,” said Tuza, frightened.
“She is to be freed, for finding us,” Darla whispered.
“It is her reward,” said Tuza.
“Of course,” said Darla.
At that point the leader gave a great laugh, and stepped forward. He put out his hand and Donna immediately surrendered the switch to him, and knelt at his side.
“Do you wish to be freed?” he asked, looking down at her,