"Stand," I said to the two slave girls.

They stood, obediently. I pointed off, over the grass. The former slaves could be seen in the distance. "Do you see the men?" I asked. "Yes, Master," they said. "Here in the wilderness, bound, alone, you will die," I pointed out. "Yes, Master," they said, frightened. "Follow the men," I said to them. "Beg them to keep you, and the riches you bear." "We shall, Master," they said. "I think they will be agreeable," I conjectured. "Yes, Master," they said, looking down. "And that you may appear more worth keeping about, and to facilitate your pursuit of the men," I said, "I will take the liberty of shortening your tunics." "Yes, Master," they said, pleased. But when I had finished my work they looked at me, frightened. They shrank back. "Hurry now," said I, "after the men, before I rape you myself." They laughed and turned and ran after the men. "Overtake them before dark," I said, "for sleen may soon be prowling." "Yes, Master," they cried. I laughed, watching them stumble, weighted with riches, after the former draft slaves.

I returned to where the girl lay in the grass. She was on her stomach. Her hands had dug into the dirt. She sensed I stood near her. I stood a bit behind her and to her left.

"Am I a slave?" she whispered.

"Yes," I said.

"You can do anything with me you want?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

Her head was to one side. There were tears on her cheek.

"What are you going to do with me, Master?" she asked.

"Whatever pleases me," I said.

"I ordered my men to kill you," she said. "Are you going to slay me for that?"

"Of course not," I said. "That was the act of the Lady Constance. She no longer exists."

"A slave girl is now in her place," whispered the girl.

"Yes," I said.

"It seems I have escaped easily," she said.

"Not really," I said. "It is only that now you are subject to new risks and penalties, those of a slave girl."

She clutched the grass. She knew well of what I spoke.

"You may now be slain for as little as an irritable word, or for being in the least displeasing. Indeed, you may be slain upon the mere whim of a master, should it please him."

She sobbed.

"Do you understand?" I asked.

"Yes, Master," she said. Then she looked up at me. "Are you a kind master?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"I do not know how to be a slave," she said.

"Men will teach you," I said.

"I will try to learn swiftly," she said.

"That is wise," I said.

"My life will depend on it?" she asked.

"Of course," I said. I grinned. Gorean men are not patient with their girls.

"This morning," she said, "I was free."

"You are now a slave," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

I looked up at the late afternoon skies. The tarn had not yet returned. Yet I was not displeased.

I looked down at the girl. "Go to my things," I said. "Spread furs upon the grass."

"I am a virgin," she said.

"You are white-silk," I said.

"Please do not use that vulgar expression of me," she begged.

"Do not fear," I said. "It will soon be inappropriate."

"Show me mercy," she begged.

"Spread the furs," I said.

"Please," she begged.

"I have no slave whip at hand," I said, "but I trust my belt will serve."

She leaped to her feet. "I will spread the furs, Master," she said.

"Then lie on them on your belly," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

She spread the furs on the grass by the tree, and then lay on them, on her belly.

"Throw your hair forward and over your head," I said.

She did so. The collar was now clearly visible on her neck. I stood behind her, and dropped my accouterments to the side.

"Why did you make me a slave?" she whispered.

"It pleased me," I said.

I crouched beside her and took her by the right arm and hair, and turned her to her back on the furs. She was delicately beautiful. She would ravish well.

"In Torvaldsland," I said, "it is said the woman of Kassau make superb slaves." I looked at her. "Is it true?" I asked.

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

"How marvelously beautiful you are," I said.

"Please be kind to me, Master," she begged.

"I have not had a woman in four days," I told her. Then she cried out.

The three moons were high.

The night was chilly. I felt her kissing softly at my thigh.

"Is it true," she asked, "what they say in Torvaldsland, that the women of Kassau make superb slaves?"

"Yes," I said.

"I never knew that I could feel this way," she said. "It is so different, so total, so helpless."

I touched her head.

"It is only the feelings of a slave girl," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

I lay on my back, looking upward.

"Please, Master," she whispered, "subject me again to slave rape."

"Earn your rape," I told her.

"Yes, Master," she said, kissing me.

"Stop," I said.

"Master?" she asked.

"Be quiet," I said. I was listening. I rolled from her side and crouched in the furs. I was now certain that I heard it. I slipped my tunic over my head and looped the scabbard at my left shoulder. She crouched in the furs naked, beside me.

I drew the blade.

I could see him coming now, running over the fields, stumbling.

He was a large man, exhausted. At his hips he wore a rag. An iron collar, with broken chain, was at his neck.

He came near us and then stopped, suddenly. He stood unsteadily. "Are you with them?" he asked.

"With whom?" I asked.

"The hunters," he said.

"No," I said.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"A traveler, and a slave girl," I said. She shrank hack in the furs, pulling them about her throat.

"You are of the warriors?" he said.

"Yes," I said.

"You will not kill me, nor hold me for them?" he asked.

"No," I said.

"Have you seen them?" he asked.

"A girl, and four guardsmen?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Earlier today," I said. "You are then the sport slave?" I said.

"Yes," said he, "purchased from the pens at Lydius, for a girl's hunting."

I recalled the dark-eyed, dark-haired girl, vital and trim in her carefully tailored hunting costume, with the tunic and hose, the boots, cape and feathered cap. It was an attractive outfit.

"You have done well to elude them this long," I said. "Would you care for food?"

"Please," said he.

I threw him meat and he sat down, cross-legged. Seldom had I seen a man so tear at food.

"Would you care for paga?" I asked.

"No," he said.

"I see that it is your intention to survive," I said.

"That is my intention," he said.

"Your chances," I said, "are slim."

"I now have food," he said.

"You are a courageous fellow," I said.

"Did they have sleen?" he asked.

"No," I said. "They were, it seems, making it truly a sport."

"Those well-armed and mounted can afford nobility," he said.

"You sound bitter," I said.

"If they do not find me tonight," he said, "they will return with sleen in the morning."

"That," I said, "would be the end." The sleen can follow a track better than a larl or a Kur. It is tireless and tenacious, and merciless.

"I have one chance," he said.

"What is that?" I asked.

"They had formed a hunting line," said he, "the girl in the center. It was in her path that I left a bit of rag, and did not deign thenceforward to conceal my trail. She should have come upon the bait by now."

"She will summon her guardsmen," I said, "and you will be finished."

"I assess her vanity differently," he said. "It is her sport, not theirs. She will pull away from her guardsmen to be first to the quarry."

"They will pursue," I said.

"Of course," he said.

"You will have little time," I said.