"Not I!" cried the shorter man, the merchant.

The taller man, in the helmet, looked down upon him, menacingly.

"Perhaps the Noble Sirs would like gold," suggested the fat man. "Much gold?"

The taller man extended his hand.

The fat man thrust gold into the other's palm. "That is twice the normal fee," he pointed out.

The tall man dropped the gold into his pouch. "What girls here," he asked, "are from the Clouds of Telnus?"

The fat man shook. "Two," he whispered.

"Show them to me," he said.

The short fat man led the way toward myself and the auburn-haired girl, who had been in a deck cage. We were chained side by side. She wore the normal Kajira brand. I wore the Dina. I felt uneasy, and so, too, doubtless, did she. We could not kneel before the free males for we were in close neck collars, held closely to the wall.

"Were you two from the Clouds of Telnus?" asked the tall man.

"Yes, Master," we said.

The tall man crouched down beside us, irritably. One of the men with him wore the green of the physicians. The tall man looked at us. As naked female slaves we averted our eyes from his. I smelled the straw.

"Wrist-ring key," said the tall man.

The merchant handed him the key that would unlock the wrist rings.

"Leave the lamp and withdraw," said the tall man. The short merchant handed him the lamp and, frightened, left the room.

The men crouched down and crowded about the auburn-haired girl. I heard them unlock one of her wrist rings.

"We are going to test you for pox," he said. The girl groaned. It was my hope that none on board the Clouds of Telnus had carried the pox. It is transmitted by the bites of lice. The pox had appeared in Bazi some four years ago. The port had been closed for two years by the merchants. It had burned itself out moving south and eastward in some eighteen months. Oddly enough some were immune to the pox, and with others it had only a temporary, debilitating effect. With others it was swift, lethal and horrifying. Those who had survived the pox would presumably live to procreate themselves, on the whole presumably transmitting their immunity or relative immunity to their offspring. Slaves who contracted the pox were often summarily slain. It was thought that the slaughter of slaves had had its role to play in the containment of the pox in the vicinity of Bazi.

"It is not she," said the physician. He sounded disappointed. This startled me.

"Am I free of pox, Master?" asked the auburn-haired girl.

"Yes," said the physician, irritably. His irritation made no sense to me.

The tall man then closed the auburn-haired girl's wrist again in its wrist ring. The men crouched down about me. I shrank back against the wall. My left wrist was removed from its wrist ring and the tall man pulled my arm out from my body, turning the wrist, so as to expose the inside of my arm.

I understood then they were not concerned with the pox, which had vanished in the vicinity of Bazi over two years ago.

The physician swabbed a transparent fluid on my arm. Suddenly, startling me, elating the men, there emerged, as though by magic, a tiny, printed sentence, in fine characters, in bright red. It was on the inside of my elbow. I knew what the sentence said, for my mistress, the Lady Elicia of Ar, had told me. It was a simple sentence. It said: "This is she." It had been painted on my arm with a tiny brush, with another transparent fluid. I had seen the wetness on the inside of my arm, on the area where the arm bends, on the inside of the elbow, and then it had dried, disappearing. I was not even sure the writing had remained. But now, under the action of the reagent, the writing had emerged, fine and clear. Then, only a moment or so later, the physician, from another flask, poured some liquid on a rep-cloth swab, and, again as though by magic, erased the writing. The invisible stain was then gone. The original reagent was then again tried, to check the erasure. There was no reaction. The chemical brand, marking me for the agents with whom the Lady Elicia, my mistress, was associated, was gone. The physician then, with the second fluid, again cleaned my arm, removing the residue of the second application of the reagent.

The men looked at one another, and smiled.

My left wrist was again locked in its wrist ring.

"Am I free of the pox, Masters?" I asked.

"Yes," said the physician.

The tall man removed a marking stick from his pouch and, on the interior of the left shoulder, on its softness, of the auburn-haired girl, wrote a word. "Your name is Narla," he said. That was the word, I gathered, which he wrote on her shoulder. "Yes, Master," she said. Then he turned to me and, with the same marking stick, wrote on the interior of my left shoulder. "You are the girl, Yata," he said. "Yes, Master," I said. I gathered it was this name which he had written on my body. The stain of the marking stick would last until it was washed off.

The men then rose to their feet and left the room. They met the merchant by the door.

"There are penalties for this sort of thing," the tall man warned the merchant.

"Please, Masters," whined the merchant.

"Do you have more gold?" asked the tall man.

"Yes, yes, Masters!" cried the merchant.

Then the door closed and, again, we were left in the darkness. I could still feel the press of the marking stick in my flesh. I gathered that a name had been written there, the name "Yata." I was Yata.

"What is your name?" asked the man of the auburn-haired girl.

"Narla," she said, "if it pleases Master."

"It is acceptable," he said.

"What is your name?" asked the man of me.

"Yata," I said, "if it pleases Master."

"It is acceptable," he said.

"I had them from the fine slaver, Alexander of Teletus," said the merchant, "but their papers were lost in transit."

"I will take them both," said the man. He did not much haggle over price. Soon Narla and I, sharing a common neck leash, two collars, with a strap with center grip, stood outside the long, low room, in the corridor. The leash dangled between us, depending from our leather collars. Our hands were braceleted behind our backs.

"Is it a long voyage to Telnus, Master?" I asked.

"You little fool," he said, "you are in Telnus."

"Why have you bought us, Master?" I asked.

"To work in my establishment as paga girls," he said.

Narla groaned.

I smiled. "And what is the name of your establishment, Master, if a girl may ask?"

"It is the finest in all Telnus," he said.

"Yes, Master? I asked.

"It is called the Chatka and Curla," he said.

"Thank you, Master," I said.

The hood and cloak was then tossed over Narla. The hood was brought about and fastened under her chin, effectively hooding her. She would thus not know from what establishment she had been taken. The lower portion of the cloak was then snapped under her chin, below the leash. The cloak, which was brief, had four circled oval cutouts. It was a tantalizing garment. There was writing on the cloak. I had little doubt but what it advertised the Chatka and Curla. I, too, was then hooded and cloaked. I could see nothing within the hood. I could feel the cloak brief on my thighs. I could sense the air through the cutouts. Then I began to walk, responding to the leash of the master.

I was in Telnus.