"Seremides thinks so," said a man.

"I heard a barracks was burned last night," said a fellow.

"I heard that, too," said Marcus.

"Is it on the boards," I asked.

"No," said a man.

"No," said Marcus. "I do not think so."

"Then it must not have happened," said a fellow, grimly.

"Of course," said another.

I heard the slave, some yards off, at the fountain, crying out. She had been taken to the lower bowl of the fountain. There she was sputtering and gasping, and crying out for mercy. Again and again was her head, held by the hair, forced down, held under the water and then jerked up again. "Please, Masters! Mercy, Masters!" she wept.

"The delka has been forbidden!" said Marcus. "It says so, here!"

"Interesting," I said.

"That is the first public recognition of the Delta Brigade," said a fellow. I now heard the sound of a lash. The girl had her head down, her wet hair forward. She was held on her knees by the fountain, a wrist in the hands of each of two fellows. She shook under each blow. Then, when they had finished, she was on her hands and knees, head down. Her entire body was trembling. She slipped to the pavement. Her hair was about. She lay there. It seemed she could hardly believe what had been done to her. I supposed this was the first time she had been lashed. It is something no slave forgets. A fellow then drew her up again, by the hair, to all fours and, looming over her, pointed to the fountain. She now, slowly, painfully, crawled to the fountain, between the men, and then, putting her head down, and as was fitting for her, and as she should have done earlier in the afternoon, drank from the lower bowl. She was then pulled back and put prone on the pavement. Her hands were pulled behind her and fastened there, with a short thong.

"Is there more on the boards?" I asked Marcus.

"I think those are the main items of interest," he said.

I saw the girl placed on her belly over the stone lip of the lower bowl of the fountain. She cried out. Her small hands twisted in the thongs, behind her back. Men crowded about her.

"Glory to the Delta Brigade," said a man.

"Who are of the Delta Brigade?" asked a man.

"Who knows?" said another.

"They must be veterans of the delta campaign," said a man.

"Perhaps others, too," said a fellow.

"A fellow was asking me where he could join the Delta Brigade," said a man. "Perhaps a spy," conjectured a fellow.

That seemed to me likely.

"I heard that they tried to take in a veteran for questioning," said a man. "What happened?" I asked a fellow.

"He drew a sword from beneath his cloak," said a man.

"Swords are forbidden," said a fellow.

"Doubtless there are some about," said a man.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He slew two Cosians and disappeared," said the man.

"It may be dangerous to try to take in the veterans of the delta," said a man. "Probably they will leave the city," I said.

"Why?" asked a man.

"They will be suspect," I said.

"There are warriors and guardsmen in the city," said a man, "who are not veterans of the delta."

"That is true," I said. Also, of course, it was not only in the delta that blood had been shed.

"Ah," said Marcus, glancing over toward the fountain, "here comes the insolent little slut now."

"She does not look so insolent now," said a fellow.

The girl, her hands still bound behind her, her head down, her hair about her face, shuddering, scarcely able to walk, her upper left arm in the grip of a fellow, by means of which grip she was being muchly supported, was being conducted into our presence.

Freed of his grip she immediately knelt, and in proper position.

"You may untie her," I said.

He jerked loose the thong from her wrists. Whereas it had confined her with perfection, she had not been able, of course, to reach either of the ends by means of which the knot could be expeditiously undone.

"To all fours," said her keeper.

Immediately she went to all fours.

"Describe a circle, of some five paces in diameter, on all fours, as you are now," said her keeper, "and return to this place."

I watched her.

In this way was she well displayed, and in the attitude of the she-quadruped. She was then again before us, on all fours, head down.

"On all fours," remarked a fellow.

"In such a posture she does not seem as insolent," said another.

"She is not," said another.

"No," said another.

"A fitting posture for the little she-sleen," said a man.

"Yes," said a man.

"Look up," I said to the girl.

She looked up, through her hair.

"Have you learned to drink from the lower bowl?" I asked.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"You may lower your head," I said.

She put her head down, gratefully.

"You are not a little she-sleen, are you?" I said.

"No, Master," she said.

"You are more of a little vulo, aren't you?" I said.

"Yes, Master, now, Master," she said.

"What do you want to do, more than anything?" I asked.

"To please men," she said.

"What man?" I asked.

"Any man, Master," she said.

"I think she may be permitted to live," I said.

"I think so," said a fellow.

"Yes," said another.

She began to tremble. I did not think her arms and legs would support her. "You may break position," I informed her.

Immediately she went to her belly before me, and reached to my ankle, and put her lips over my left sandal, pressing her lips to it.

"Do you think you will see your friends again?" I asked.

"I hope so, Master," she said.

"And how do you think they will find you?" I asked.

"They will find me a slave," she said.

"And how do you think you will find them?" I asked.

"I do not know, Master," she said.

"I think you will also find them slaves," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Do you think that it might be well for the men of Ar to be put to the sword?" I asked.

"No, Master," she said. "It is rather that women such as I should be put to the sword of their manhood."

"Even if it should make them proud and powerful, and great?" I asked.

"It is hard for this humble slave to believe that her use, and the use of such as she, the use of meaningless chattels, should have so great a consequence, but, if it be so, then surely that would be an additional joy to me, and to my sisters in bondage."

"Even should it inevitably plunge you deeper and more irrevocably into your servitude, ensuring that it will become even more uncompromising and absolute?"

"Yes, Master," she said. "I now wish to live for the chain, the whip, and love." I looked down at her.

"I beg you to buy me!" she suddenly wept.

"You beg to be purchased?" I said.

"Yes, Master," she said. "I beg it!"

"Interesting," I said.

"Surely it is permissible for me to so beg. Indeed, it is fitting for me, as I am a slave."

"And it is just today, I gather," I said, "that you have learned this, that you are a slave."

"No, Master," she said. "I have known it for years, in my most secret heart. It is only that it is today, on this day, that I first admitted it to myself. It is only today that I ceased to lie to myself, that I ceased to be at war with myself. It is only today, today, that I ceased to pretend to be something which I knew I was not. It is only today that I have admitted to myself, honestly and openly, what I am."

"Bring her tunic," I said to a fellow.

He picked up what was left of it.

She looked up from my feet, frightened. "Surely you will keep me, or buy me!" she said.

"No," I said.

"But it is to you, or to one such as you that I must belong!" she wept.

I did not speak.

"It is for such as you that women such as I exist!" she wept.