"Yes, Master," I said.

I struggled to my feet. I think I understood, then, how it was that girls came back to the slave quarters scarcely able to move.

"May I speak, Master?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Am I to be put in the iron belt?" I asked.

"No," he said.

Before, when at the tubs, kneeling there, working beside Ina, our arms immersed to the elbows in the hot water and suds, I had been protected by my virginity. Now, however, I would be as exposed and helpless there as Ina.

I made my way down the long rug, toward the door.

I was under no delusion now that I might be in the favor of my master. I was under no delusion now that there might be something special about me, that I might even be a preferred slave or a high slave. I knew now, and knew it well, that I was only another girl, no different from any other in the house. "Slave," he said.

"Yes, Master?" I said. I, addressed, knelt, but I did not turn about. I did not know whether it would please him or not. If he wanted me to turn about, I would doubtless be informed of that fact.

"Do you recall one named Mirus?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"He is no longer in my employ," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said.

"You are dismissed," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said. "Thank you, Master."

I then rose to my feet, and withdrew from the presence of my master, Hendow, of Brundisium.

15 The Hood and Leash

"Hist," I heard, "hist," a tiny soft noise.

"Who is there?" I asked, frightened. I pulled the blanked up, about me, inside my kennel, in the basement of the tavern of Hendow. It was dark.

"It is I, first girl, Tupita," I heard, a whisper.

"Mistress?" I asked. I quickly knelt in the small kennel, in the darkness. It was the voice of Tupita, of that I was certain. I clutched the blanket about me. She struck no light.

I heard a key fitted into the two locks, one after the other, on the gate of the kennel, and the gate was opened.

"Mistress?" I asked.

"We are on secret business for our Master," she said. "You are to come with me." "I do not understand," I whispered.

"Do you question me?" she asked.

"No, Mistress," I said.

"Come out," she said. "Be silent. Few must know of this."

I crawled from the kennel. The blanket remains behind. I was naked. I had been naked for several days, even since I had been punished in the chamber of my master, for having lied to him. Beyond such things, however, it was not at all unusual that I should be naked. Girls are often kept naked in their kennels. Too, even if not caged or kenneled, they often sleep naked, that they may be the more accessible to the master. At the least they sleep scantily clad or in garments that may be swiftly drawn, aside, revealing them. Some men, to be sure, enjoy having at least a bit of cloth or a slave rag on their girl, so that she will understand, even if she is awakened rudely, that there is some veil which is being removed from her.

"What is going on?" I asked.

"You will soon learn," she said. "Kneel."

I knelt. I felt my hands being drawn behind me. I then felt steel touch my wrists, and heard the tiny sounds of the ratchets and pawls. I was braceleted. "What are we going to do?" I asked.

"We are going into the city," she said.

"I do not understand," I said. Then I was leashed.

"Do you want to spend longer in the kitchen?" she asked.

"No," I whispered. "No."

"You are going to be cloaked, and hooded," she whispered.

"I am not allowed out of the house," I said.

"Tonight is different," she said.

I felt a warm, long cloak put about me. When I stood, It might come even to my ankles. she tied it under my chin.

"Please tell me what is going on," I said.

"I am first girl," said Tupita. "Do you question me?"

"No!" I whispered, swiftly.

"I told you that we are on the secret business of our master," she said. "Shall I inform him that you are recalcitrant?"

"No, Mistress!" I said. "Forgive me, Mistress!"

"I am acting under the orders of Hendow," she said. "Trust me." "Yes, Mistress," I said. How bold she was, I thought, to have used our master" s name in that fashion, speaking it unnecessarily, not referring to him in terms such as "the master" or "our master."

"Open your mouth," she said.

I did so, and felt a heavy, rolled-leather wadding thrust back, behind my teeth, over my tongue, so that I could scarcely move my tongue. This device would be secured in place by a broad, mouth-covering strap, with three smaller straps attached to it, across the mouth, pulling it back between the teeth, and one to secure it at the chin. These straps were then pulled back tightly, and fastened, to the top strap above my ears, behind the back of my head, and the two lower straps behind the back of my neck. The roll in my mouth then loosened a little, as I could not help struggling with it, and this, by design, caused it to expand and, secured in place, pack my entire oral orifice.

"Are you well gagged?" she asked.

I made a very tiny, pathetic, affirmative whimper. I could do little more. She then pulled the hood of the cloak up and put it about my head, and pulled it down before me, fully over my head, and tied it, as she had the strings, earlier, about my neck. I was now effectively hooded, as well as gagged. "Come along, my dear," she said.

She then drew me to my feet by the leash, which was now doubtless coiled. She apparently held it only a few inches from my neck. In this fashion she could help me up the stairs.

16 Thieves

"Let us see her," said a voice.

I was on my back on a wooden table. My feet had been tied down, and apart. The cloak, in so far as it continued to conceal me, was thrown back.

"Excellent," said a man" s voice.

The strings on the cloak, which were still fastened about my neck, were then undone. I then felt hands working at the second set of strings, those by means of which the cloak" s hood, it still enveloping my entire head was tied about my neck. In a moment they, too, were undone. I felt the hood brushed back. "Superb," said a man.

I blinked against the torchlight.

"Common kajira brand," commented a man.

"Yes," said one of the fellows.

"It is Doreen, Hendow" s slut, all right," said a man. "I have seen her dance." I half sat up, wildly, startled, but, by a hand in my hair, from behind, was drawn down again to my back. My hands were still braceleted behind me. In the moment I had sat up I had seen there were five men in the room, and Tupita, to one side, smiling, modestly cloaked.

"You are pleased?" she asked the men.

"Yes," said a fellow. "We are pleased."

In the instant, too, I had been up I had seen there had been two rings, at the bottom of the table, one on each side. A single narrow strand of coarse rope ran between these two rings. By means of this single strand of rope, and two simple knots, my left ankle had been tied just inside the left ring and my right ankle just inside the right ring.

"She is beautiful," said a man.

"Yes," said a man. "And see those delicious slave curves."

I squirmed, frightened.

"Do not be afraid, my lovely, curvy, brunet Kajira," said a fellow, leaning over me.

"Her ears are pierced, too," said a man.

"Superb," said another.

"I wonder if she is vital," said a man.

"Her ears are pierced," a fellow reminded him.

"We shall see," said another.

I writhed, whimpering, squirming. My ankles jerked, burned, in their rope loops. There was a sudden metallic sound as the linkage on the bracelets snapped taut. There was a scraping of metal on the table. My fingers twisted helplessly. My wrists, hurt, pulling against the steel of the bracelets. I was absolutely at their mercy. I was absolutely helpless.