They will, accordingly, refrain from handling you as though you were such a slave or capture, for example, stripping you, rrying you through the halls with whips, and so on. Certain other members of the staff will not know that you are free. I all take it upon myself to protect you from them. The pose a jealous captor should suffice. The slaves, of course, will not know you are free. They will think you are merely a new either a slave or one who, optionless, will soon be reduced to their status, one who will then be no more than they.

"No one will know, even high members of the staff, Will they," I asked, "that I am actually the Tatrix of Corcyrus."

"No," he said. "They will know only that you are a free woman.' "Good," I said.

"Come here," he said, pointing to a place before him. I went there and stood there, before him. It was not far from the couch, behind him. The couch was a large, square one, with, in its foot, the slave ring, an almost inevitable feature, it seemed, in Gorean domiciles. There was a small mat, and blanket, both rolled up, beneath the slave ring. They would doubtless be used there by a chained slave, if the master permitted it.

I glanced about the room. It was spacious, well-lit, comfortable and private. I wondered if free men and free women ever met in such places, for affairs. But then I glanced again at the slave ring. It seemed more likely that a man might bring a slave here, perhaps one rented for the afternoon or evening. I looked at Drusus Rencius. How could a free woman, I thought, ever compete with a slave? "Drink this," said Drusus Rencius.

What is it?" I asked, startled. It seemed be had produced this almost by magic. It was a soft, leather botalike flask drawn from within his tunic.

"Slave wine," he said.

"Need I drink that?" I asked, apprehensively.

"Unless you have had slave wine," he said, "I have no intention of taking you through the streets clad as you are. Suppose you are raped."

I put the flask, which he had opened, to my lips. Its opening was large enough to drink freely from. "It is bitter!" I said, touching my lips to it. "It is the standard concentration, and dosage," be said, "plus a little more, for assurance. Its effect is indefinite, but it is normally renewed annually, primarily for symbolic purposes.

I could not believe how bitter it was. I had learned from Susan, whom I had once questioned on the matter, the object. It is prepared from a derivative of sip root. The formula, too, I had learned, at the insistence of masters and slavers, had been improved by the caste of physicians within the last few years. It was now, for most practical purposes, universally effective. Too, as Drusus Rencius bad mentioned, its effects, at least for most practical purposes, lasted indefinitely.

"Have no fear," said Drusus Rencius. "Me abatement of its effects is reliably achieved by the ingestion of a releaser."

"Oh," I said. I knew this, of course. Susan had told me.

When*a female slave is given the releaser she knows that she may soon expect to be hooded, and bred.

"Could it not be sweetened?" I asked.

"I have chosen that you drink it as it is," be said, "as it is normally drunk." "You would have the Tatrix of Corcyrus drink unsweetened slave wind?" I asked. "Shall we return to the palace?" he asked.

"I will drink it," I said. I was a bit irritated with Drusus Rencius. Clad as I was before him, he had seemed to become much more domineering, much more aggressive with me, than he had before. Something in me resented this, but I felt something else, something deeper within me, how deep I did not know, excited and deeply moved, responding to it.

"Do you wish help in drinking it?" he asked.

"How could you help me drink it?" I asked, puzzled.

"The female is put on her knees," he said. "The man crouches behind her. Her head and body are bent back. Her nostrils are pinched shut. The liquid is then poured into her mouth. Before she can breathe, she must swallow. In this way even a frightened or stubborn girl, early in her bondage, learns that she must, if her master wishes it, accept nourishment."

"What if she keeps her mouth closed, her teeth clenchedT" I asked. "What if she chooses to expel the nourishment later?"

"A mouth may be forced open," he said. "Too, it is difficult to induce gagging if the hands are tied behind one."

"I see," I said.

"To be sure," he said, "this method, for its best results, requires two men. Do you wish help?"

"No, thank you," I said. "I shall manage very nicely by myself." I then, grimacing, forcing myself, a little at a time, and then, desperately, tears in my eyes, hurrying, in great swallows, downed the foul beverage. "Very good," be said.

I thrust the soft leather flask back to him. Gasping, half choking, I wiped my mouth with the back of my forearm.

"Go stand there," he said, pointing to a place near the door, "facing me." I went to where he had indicated and turned, then, facing him.

He tossed the soft flask to the top of the chest, atop his cloak, which I, earlier, bidden, had folded and placed there.

"Why did you make me drink unsweetened slave wine?" I asked.

"Stand straighter," he said.

I stood straighter.

"Why did you make me drink unsweetened slave wine?" I asked.

He looked me over, casually, not hurrying, from my head to my toes, and then, slowly, back.

"It was fitting," he said.

I gasped. The arrogance of himl

"What do you have therel" I said.

He had removed a pair of light bracelets, joined by about five inches of light chain, from his pouch.

"Slave bracelets," be said. "Turn around, facing the door, your hands behind your back."

Almost numbly I did so. I heard him approach me. Then he stood behind me, quietly, not moving. Perhaps be was looking at me. Then, suddenly, I felt the two bracelets flung about my wrists, striking them, encircling them and snapping shut.

I was suddenly very frightened.

I tried, tentatively, behind my back, to separate my bands.

They could move only to the ends of their short chain.

"You are braceleted," he said.

I leaned against the door, terrified, almost fainting, using it for support. I was breathing deeply. My heart was pounding.

I was braceletedl He was busying himself elsewhere in the room. I do not think he noted my condition.

How helpless I felt, braceleted.

In a moment he had returned to my vicinity, by the door. I now straightened my body. I was struggling to regain my composure.

"You braceleted me easily," I observed, lightly.

It, is not hard to bracelet a woman," he said.

It had been done so casually, so expertly, with apparently so little thought. Too, it had seemed to me to happen very suddenly, very decisively. In one instant I was free, and in the next I was held helplessly, the prisoner of bands and a chain. I was still shaken, perhaps even visibly so, with the enormity, of what had been done to me. I had been made helpless.

"You have braceleted other women, haven't you?" I askedL He had done it so easily, so nonchalantly.

"Yes," he said. I hated those other women. I tried again to separate my wrists. I could not do so, of course. How short, how strong, seemed the chain that held them in proximity to one another. Suddenly I felt very weak. I, like the other women before me, perhaps women who were mere slaveas, wore the steel of Drusus Rencius.

"We shall leave now," he said.

"Yes, Master," I said. "Oh!" I said. "I did not mean that Forgive me! It slipped out. I did not mean it."

"Do not worry about it," he said. "It is difficult for a woman clad as you are, and braceleted, not to think of a man as her master."

"Thank you, Drusus," I said. "You are very kind. Such a mistake, as you might imagine, is very embarrassing."