him again, for I despised, and hated him, such a ruthless, uncaring, thoughtless, uncompromising brute, and master!
How terrifying it would be to be owned by such a man, to be his, to be done with as he pleased!
Why had he not bought me?
Surely I was not expensive, might I not be within his means?
Did he not want me?
I hated him.
I wanted to be at his feet, head down, naked and collared, my lips pressed to his sandals, hoping to be found acceptable, even pleasing.
Was I truly nothing but another slave to him, merely another piece of meaningless collar-meat, to be indifferently fetched from a pen, or block, by a coin?
How I hated him!
How I wanted his collar!
Then I was afraid. What if he were companioned? Might he buy me for his companion? Would she sense that I was his slave? How cruel she would be to me! Might he keep me to the side, in rented space, in a girl stable, to be used when convenient?
Or would he want me, at all?
Was I truly so inferior, such common stock?
I loathed the thought of his touch.
How I would struggle to resist him!
How I would cry out, and whimper, begging for his least touch!
I wanted to be at his feet, alone there, where I belonged, in the place of a slave.
He and Axel of Argentum seemed to be free enough in the camp. Certainly they moved about as they wished. I did note they carried no weapons. Too, I had gathered they might have spent the night on a chain. All that was done with Tula, Mila, and myself was a simple rope ankle-coffle. A long rope had been looped and knotted about our left ankles, and then the rope was tied at each end to a tree. As it was fastened, Tula, had she desired to do so, could not reach the tree to her left to undo the knot, as the rope, knotted about the tree to her right, would not permit her to do so; similarly, I could not, had I desired to do so, reach the knot to my right to undo it, as the far knot on the left would not permit me to do so. Thus neither Tula nor I could free the rope of the two trees to which it was tied. Mila, of course, was between us. I supposed we might have tried to chew through the rope, which was not, as far as I knew, cored with wire, but this did not seem practical. Two guards were posted, and moved, from time to time, about the camp. What if, in the morning, the rope had been found damp, or partially bitten? Too, the forest is likely to be particularly dangerous at night. Twice I had heard the territorial roar of a forest panther, happily far off. But I had also heard, at about the second Ahn, the movement of some beast near the camp’s periphery. It may have been only a tarsk. I did not know. Fires were tended through the night. The prisoners’ night, I might mention, was less pleasant than ours. In addition to their ankles remaining shackled, and their neck-coffle being fastened to a tree, their wrists were bound behind their backs. Tula had prepared the supper yesterday evening. I had gathered that free women, at least of the upper castes, were commonly useless in the domiciles. It is not a matter of accident, I gathered, that slaves, in their training, are often taught something of cooking, marketing, sewing, the care of leather and silver, dusting, scrubbing, laundering, and such things. Interestingly, slaves often take a homely pleasure in such things. They realize such tasks are not demeaning to them, but appropriate to them, as they are slaves. Also, as slaves, they take pleasure in serving, and wish to please their masters. Too, most like a well-kept domicile. Beyond this, hanging on its peg, is always the whip.
Tula, Mila, and I had served the men. Tula seemed particularly attentive to Aeson, and Mila to Genak. Tula had approached Genserich, but she had been warned away by Donna. I made it a point not to serve, or approach, either the sleen master or his fellow. I hoped that would be obvious to one of them in particular. In serving, I think I walked well, knelt well, and served well, with suitable slave deference. When addressed I spoke as was appropriate, softly, respectfully, submissively, and clearly, for good diction is expected of