I saw Tende in the arms of Kisu. He had not tied her at night since we had seen the forces of the river peoples pass the island on which we had hidden, those forces of incredible numbers which had doubtless wiped out Bila Huruma, his flotilla and his battalions of askaris.

I approached the blond and she knelt, swiftly, head down.

I had her stand and lashed her wrists behind her back. She was already tethered.

"Lie down," I told her. She lay down on the stone floor.

"Are you going to tie me?" asked Alice.

I tied her hands behind her back. Then I tied her neck to the neck of the dark-haired girl, using the collie strap. "Lie down," I told her. She lay down.

"Prepare to be bound," I told Janice.

"Please do not bind me," wheedled Janice, approaching me, looking up at me running her finger on the left shoulder of my tunic.

"Do you question my will?" I asked.

Swiftly she knelt, her head to my feet. "No, Master," she said. "Please do not whip me." She lifted her head, and held to my legs. "Please, Master, let me serve your pleasure instead."

"You have already this evening," I said, "as the others, danced and served well."

"I have only begun to be aroused, Master," she said.

I took her by the hair and pulled her, she half crawling, then half crouching and walking, to where lay the dark-haired girl and Alice. I put her on her knees there and tied her hands behind her back. I then added her to the coffle strap.

She looked up at me, the coffle strap dangling from her throat, attaching her to Alice, and then to the dark-haired girl. "Please, Master," she said.

"Lie down," I told her. She lay down, first on her left shoulder and then on her back.

I looked down upon her, and considered putting her under the whip.

"Let me placate you," she begged. She lifted her body to me. "Please, Master," she begged.

I looked down at her. "You are a beautiful slave," I said.

"Please, Master," she begged.

"Very well," I said. Her offense, that of questioning my will, required discipline. But the whip of the furs, I decided would be sufficient.

"You made her moan well," said Kisu.

"She is a sweetly hipped, hot slave," I said. I joined Kisu at the small fire in the ruins of the great building. He was sitting near it, cross-legged. Tende lay beside him, unbound, her head on her hands.

I looked back at Janice who, hands tied behind her back, fastened in the coffle, lay on her side. I smiled. I think there is no music more pleasing to a man's ears than the moans of a yielding slave girl.

"You see, Tende," asked Kisu, "you are the only slave here who is not bound."

"Yes, Master," she smiled. "Thank you, Master."

"Put wood on the fire," said Kisu.

She laughed. "You are a beast, Master," she said. She rose to her feet and fetched wood, which she placed on the fire. Then she lay as before, beside Kisu.

"May I face my master?" asked Janice, who lay, as I had placed her, facing away from us.

There were bruises on her body, for I had taken her on the stones.

"Yes," I said.

She struggled about, that she might face us. Her eyes were moist. She pursed her lips, and then, delicately, kissed with them, as though her mouth might be upon my body. I blew her a kiss, brushing it from the side of my face towards her in the Gorean fashion. I then looked away from her. "Master," she said, "I love you." "Be silent, Slave Girl, " I said, not looking at her. "Yes, Master," she said, sobbing. She was an excellent slave, and would doubtless know many loves, until she, a superb love slave, might at last find herself fallen helplessly and totally into the absolute power of such a man as she had never dreamed might exist, he who to her, in the personal and intricate chemistry of couples, would be her ideal master, one powerful, and uncompromising and strict, one capable of seeing that she served well, one capable of whipping her, if need be, but yet one loving and tender, one who would be to her the perfect love master. It did not seem likely that she would be again sold. What would be the point of it?

"The city is large," said Kisu. "It is quite possible that we will never find Shaba within it."

"We must continue the search," I said. "I am certain he is here somewhere."

Suddenly Janice screamed and we leaped to our feet. Askaris had entered the room, perhaps two hundred of them, armed. Msaliti was with them. And with them, too, at their head, was an unmistakable figure, black and huge, with shield and spear.

"Bila Huruma!" cried Kisu.

52

The Scribe

Tende fled from the feet of Kisu, running to Bila Huruma. She knelt at his feet, weeping. "I will go with you!" she cried. "Do not hurt them! Do not kill them! I will come willingly with you! You have found me! Please, I beg of you to let the others go! Let them be free, great Ubar!"

"Who is this woman?" asked Bila Huruma.

Kisu stepped back, startled. Tende looked up at Bila Huruma, stunned.

"Have you not sought me, great Ubar?" she asked. "Was it not for me that you journeyed upon the river?"

"Where is Shaba?" asked Bila Huruma.

"I do not know," I said.

"Great Ubar," cried Tende.

"Who is this?" asked Bila Huruma.

"I do not know," said Msaliti. "I have never seen her before."

Bila Huruma looked down at the half-naked slave suppliant at his feet. "Have I ever seen you before?" he asked.

"No, Master," she said.

"I thought not," he said. "Had I done so, doubtless I would have recalled the lines of your body."

"I was Tende of Ukungu," she said.

"Who is Tende of Ukungu?" asked the Ubar.

"Ah," said Msaliti. "She was to be sent to you by Aibu, chieftain in Ukungu, that the alliance between the empire and Ukungu be consolidated."

"Ukungu is part of the empire," said Bila Huruma.

"No!" cried Kisu, seizing up a spear.

Bila Huruma paid Kisu no attention. He looked down at Tende, kneeling at his feet, looking up at him.

"A lovely slave gift," said Bila Huruma, "a lovely token of esteem and good will, but scarcely sufficient to consolidate a matter as weighty as a political alliance."

"She was the daughter of Aibu," said Msaliti. "She was to have been companioned to you."

"Companioned?" inquired Bila Huruma.

"Yes," said Msaliti.

"This exquisite slut was once a free woman?" asked Bila Huruma.

"Yes," said Msaliti.

"Is that true, my dear?" asked Bila Huruma.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Tende of Ukungu?" he asked.

"I was once Tende of Ukungu," she said. "I am now only Tende, the slave, and am called Tende only because my master was pleased to put that name upon me."

"Did you once wear the regalia of the free woman?" asked Bila Huruma.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"You wear now the rags and beads of a slave," he said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"They become you," he said.

"Thank you, Master," she said.

"Rags and beads are more attractive on a woman than gowns, are they not?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," she said. It was true.

"It is fitting that you were enslaved, Tende," he said, "for your body is lovely enough to be that of a slave."

"Thank you, Master," she said.

"I do not understand one thing here," he said.

"Master?" she asked.

"My reports were apparently mistaken," he said.

"Master?" she asked.

"Tende of Ukungu was said to have been proud and cold."

"Your reports were not mistaken, Master," she said. "They were correct. Tende of Ukungu was a proud, cold woman."

"But you are not she," he said.

"No, Master," she said. "I am now only Tende, the slave of Kisu, my master."

"Are you responsive and hot?" he asked.