being blindfolded. I supposed one part of the beach and one part of the forest was not much different from other parts. Our hands were not being tied behind us. I soon discovered why.
Then the rope was knotted about my neck, and taken forward, to the next girl. I was then, again, a part of a coffle. Coffles are sometimes spoken of as “the slaver’s necklace.” I hoped I would be an attractive bead on such a necklace. It is a slave’s hope that men will find her pleasing. Much depends on it. Too, I found that I wanted to be found pleasing to men, and a slave, the slave I was.
“You are at the edge of the great forest,” we were told. “It is roamed by beasts.”
In the distance, we again heard a roar, and shuddered.
“That is a forest panther,” he said.
It was perhaps the same beast, or one responding to it. I supposed such beasts somehow adjudicated territory amongst themselves.
“Men,” said the newcomer, addressing the armsmen. “We will trek to a place called Tarncamp. Most of you will work and train there. Some may go east, to another camp. Its name you need not now know.”
“Work?” asked an armsman.
“Heavy labor, in the forest,” said the newcomer. “Felling trees, shaping and smoothing timbers, transporting them to the east, such things.”
“My tool is the sword,” said the armsman.
“It will find its work soon enough,” said the newcomer.
“I decline such service,” said the armsman.
“You are far from Brundisium,” said the newcomer.
The ship was departing. It was now more than a hundred yards from shore. I saw no sign of the second ship. I did not know what had become of it. Considering that the coast is generally kept in view, it seemed unlikely it would have been lost at sea; considering how long it had been with us it seemed unlikely it would have encountered difficulties of which we would have been unaware; and now, considering our position, and how far north we were, it seemed unlikely it would have fallen afoul of a corsair; the “sleen of the sea” would find little to feed upon in waters so lonely and remote.
“I shall await another ship,” said the armsman.
“You would be put to death as a deserter,” said the newcomer.
“One need only follow the coast south,” he said.
“You would be dead within ten yards,” said the newcomer.
The armsman looked warily toward the trees.
“Yes,” said the newcomer, “there are bowmen in the forest.”
At this point there was another roar in the forest, but this one seemed mighty, as though it might have torn leaves from the trees.
“That is no forest panther!” said a man.
“No,” said the newcomer, “it is a larl.”
“Larls are not this far north,” said a man.
“They do not range so,” said another.
“It is a trained beast, brought north,” said the newcomer. “There are others, as well. It will accompany us to Tarncamp. Tarncamp has its established perimeter, marked by wands. One must not, without authorization, pass beyond the wands. Yesterday two deserters were torn to pieces.”
“You have deserters?” said a man.
“Occasionally,” said the newcomer.
“What manner of service is this?” inquired the reluctant armsman.
“One which is unusually well paid,” said the newcomer. “Did not each of you receive the equivalent in copper tarsks of a silver stater of Brundisium?”
There was assent to this amongst the men.
“Be of good cheer,” said the newcomer. “In time, you will receive the opportunity to wash your blade in the blood of foes.”
“Of course,” said a fellow, “we are to train here, secretly, and then sweep south!”
“But why so far north?” asked a man, uneasily.
The newcomer did not respond.
I turned about and looked west, out to sea.
I did not see the second ship.
There must have been a signal from the forest, a particular signal, I thought, to bring us to shore here. It then occurred to me that there might have been another signal, a different signal, possibly, to bring the second ship to the shore, or would be such a signal. In this way, if nothing else, armsmen could not convene with others until Tarncamp was reached, until they were within the wands. I knew little of larls. Certainly I had never seen one. I did know they were beasts of prey, apparently large beasts of prey. I had seen, in the training house, a sleen, a restless, vicious, agile, six-legged, carnivorous, sinuous, snake-like mammal. It is apparently an extraordinary tracker. In the wild, it commonly burrows. Trained sleen are used for a large