until Brundisium was no longer visible. Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira. After the vessel was well underway, it seemed likely they would be taken to the base hold, the ceiling of which is waist high, which is floored with ballast sand, and there chained together by the neck, after which they would be freed of the wrist cords and blindfolds. A coffle from a different building was already stowed in that fashion in the base hold of the second ship. The base hold is usually dark, and the ballast sand is damp. Verr are sometimes penned in a base hold, but, more commonly, on the open deck.
The second ship, I noted, was also making ready for departure. It had been ready yesterday, but, seemingly, was waiting for the first ship. The cargos were very similar, and I had seen armsmen divided between the two ships. Two ships, together, are accounted safer than two ships, taken singly. Round ships are the preferred prey of the “sleen of the sea,” but the sleen, when hungry, do not disdain smaller prey. I had had some interaction, in a tavern, with the fellow who seemed to be the high officer of the armsmen on the second vessel.
The first ship, now, freed of its mooring, was thrust from the dock with the harbor poles. I saw the yard being raised, foot by foot, tackle creaking, followed, foot by foot, by its increasing expanse of unfolding canvas.
As docksmen were at the mooring ropes, I assumed the second vessel was ready to clear the harbor.
The first ship was already a hundred yards from the wharf.
I looked at the second ship.
“Let us return to the inn of Tasdron,” said my slave.
“You are fond of its gruel?” I asked.
“I am afraid on the wharves,” she said, “the men, how they look at me.”
“You must accustom yourself to that,” I said. “You are a desirable slave.”
“Sometimes,” she said, “slaves, even free women, disappear from the wharves.”
“You heard that in the tavern,” I said.
“Yes,” she said, uneasily.
“They would be safe enough,” I said, “on a chain somewhere.”
I looked after the first ship. I remembered the slender barbarian. At last I was rid of her. I could now put her from my mind.
The matter was now done.
I unlooped the leash from the neck of my slave, and gave it a jerk, that she might feel it pull at the back of her neck. She looked at me. She was now again the captive of the leash.
The first ship was now near the breakwater.
The matter was over. It must be over. It must be done!
I cried out, angrily.
“Master?” inquired the slave, frightened.
I turned about.
“Master,” she said, “that is not the way to the inn of Tasdron!”
I strode to the second ship.
“Tal,” I said, to he whom I remembered from the tavern. He was near the boarding plank, to the second ship. It was he, Tyrtaios, who had proffered the golden stater.
He turned about. “Tal,” he said.
“Do you still want swords for the north?” I asked.
“Such as yours, yes,” he said.
“I might take ship,” I said.
“I had expected to have you aboard,” he said, “bound and gagged, in the hold.”
“Is my sword so valuable?” I asked.
“You, and your kind,” he said, “may be more valuable than you suspect.”
“Men who ask few questions?” I said.
“Assassins, slavers, and such,” he said, “men who are open to unusual opportunities, who will do much for gold, and ask no questions.”
My slave, as we were stopped, knelt at my thigh, her head down, as was appropriate. The leash looped up to my left hand.
Tyrtaios regarded her. “Your slave is lovely,” he said.
“She is not yet fully trained,” I said.
“Different men train them differently,” he said.
“True,” I said.
“She is from the inn, is she not?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“She seems much different now,” he said.
“She is,” I said.
“Would you like several like her, or better?” he asked.
“Perhaps,” I said. Some men reckon wealth in terms of tarn disks, others kaiila, others bosk, and some in terms of slaves.
“I sent two messengers to recruit you,” he said, “but they failed in their mission.”
“Oh?” I said.
“They were set upon in the darkness,” he said, “pummeled, and robbed, by a dozen assailants.”
“It must be difficult to determine the number in the dark,” I said.
“A great number,” he said.
“Interesting,” I said.
“I offered you a golden stater,” he said.
“I am a two-stater hire,” I said.
“Excellent,” he said.
He drew from his purse two golden staters and, one after the other, placed them in my