"I see that you carry a sword," she said.

"Yes, Lady," said I.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"A traveler, a swordsman," I said.

"This is the Lady Mira, of Venna," said the bearded officer. "I am Alfred,captain of this company, mercenary of Port Olni." Venna is a resort town west ofthe Voltai, north of Ar. Port Olni is located on the north bank of the OlniRiver. It is a member of the Salerian Confederation.

"Apparently you do not wish to reveal your name," said the woman.

"The name of a lowly fellow, such as myself," I said, "could surely be of nointerest to so fine a lady."

"Are you a bandit?" she asked.

"No, Lady," said I.

"Can you use the blade hung at your hip?" she asked.

"After a fashion, Lady," I said.

"We are hiring swords," she, said.

"My thanks, Lady," I said. "I do not wish to take fee."

"Draw your weapon," said the officer.

I drew the blade quickly, smoothly, and stepped back. When a Gorean tells you todraw your blade, it is generally not wise to spend a great deal of timediscussing the matter. He may have something in mind.

"Attack him," said the officer to one of the men nearby.

Our blades had not crossed twice before the point of sword was at the fellow'sthroat.

"Do not kill him," said the officer hastily.

I resheathed my blade and the fellow white-faced, backed away.

"A silver tarsk a month," said the officer. This was a handsome sum. I was sureit was more than most of the men about me were receiving.

"Whither are you bound, Captain," I asked, "and on what business!"

"We are going to Kailiauk, and are then going to enter the Barrens," he said.

"There are tribes to be subdued."

"I do not understand," I said.

"Surely you have heard of the depredations which took place yesterday?" heasked.

"Your forces were surely assembled before yesterday," I said.

He laughed. I supposed such forces might indeed enter the Barrens and wreak somehavoc, perhaps falling upon some Dust-Leg villages. Too often it seems it is thepeaceful and innocent who are slaughtered. In this a lesson may be found that itmay not be prudential to be either too peaceful or too innocent. One does notsurvive with wolves by becoming a sheep. That is only a short cut todestruction.

"There are thousands of savages in the Barrens," I said.

"These men are professionals," he said. "One such mercenary is worth a thousandhalf-naked savages."

I heard laughter about me.

"They will flee," he said, "at the very sound of our drums."

I said nothing.

"Too long has the perimeter held," he said. "We shall advance it, to the east.

The banners of civilization are in our grasp."

I smiled. I wondered if barbarisms were civilizations which were not one's own.

"Are you going to take a woman into the Barrens?" I asked. "Surely you cansurmise what the red savages would do with such a woman?"

"I am perfectly safe, I assure you," laughed the Lady Mira. I wondered what shewould feel like if she found herself naked and bound with rawhide, lying at thefeet of lustful warriors.

"The Lady Mira is of the Merchants," said the officer. "She has been empoweredto negotiate hide contracts with the conquered tribes."

"Who is this?" I asked, indicating the red youth, in chained by the neck to theside of the cart.

"Urt, a Dust Leg, a slave," said the officer. "We purchased him in the south. Hecan speak with Dust Legs, and knows sign."

The boy looked at me, with hatred.

"How long was he a slave?" I asked.

"Two years," said the officer.

"From whom was he originally purchased?" I asked.

"Dust Legs," said the officer.

"It seems unlikely they would sell one of their own tribe," I said.

"They are savages," said the officer.

"You are not a Dust Leg," I said to the boy.

He did not respond to me.

"You will trust your translations to such a fellow?" I asked.

"Our clearest speech," said the officer, "will be with steel."

"You have many men," I said. "Your expedition must be very expensive. Had itbeen mounted by several cities I think I would have heard of it. Whence comesthe gold for these numerous and manifold fees?"

The officer looked at me, angrily.

"We are sustained by the merchant council," said the woman. "Our papers are inorder."

"I see," I said.

"Seldom," said the officer, "have I seen steel move as swiftly, as deceptively,as yours. My offer stands. Rations and a silver tarsk, one for each month ofservice."

"Rations, and a golden tarsk," said the woman, looking down at me. Over her veilof light silk her eyes shone. She had made the offer without consulting theofficer. She had obviously much authority and power. I wondered what she wouldlook like, if reduced to helpless bondage,"My thanks, Lady," I said. "But I am in my own service."

"A position might be found for you, even in my intimate retinue," she said.

"I am in my own service," I said.

"Move on!" she called, lifting her gloved hand, and sitting angrily back in thecurule chair.

I stepped to the side of the road.

"Forward!" called the officer, lifting his arm. The lady looked at me, angrily,her gloved hands now clutching the arms of the curule chair. Then she lifted herhead and looked directly ahead. "Ho!" called the officer. His arm fell. Thelines of mercenaries then moved forward, with the wagon in their midst,northward, toward Kailiauk. I withdrew to the side and sat in some shadows,among rocks, to observe the lines. I estimated the number of men, and,carefully, counted the supply wagons. My conjectures were warranted. Consideringthe game presumably available in the Barrens there were several more wagons inthe lines than would have seemed called for.

When the lines and wagons had passed I emerged from the rocks and, at adistance, followed them toward Kailiauk.

The merchants of Port Olni, of course, would not be sustaining the enormousexpense of such an expedition. They were not intimately involved in the hidetraffic and, if they had been, as merchants, their procedures, initially, at anyrate, would have been mercantile and not military. They would surely have tried,at least in the beginning, to work through local traders or, say, Dust Legsthemselves. I had, in my mind, no doubt as to what source on Gor had both themotivation and resources to mount such an expedition. Similarly I had littledoubt as to who were the occupants of certain of closed wagons in the lines.

On the road to Kailiauk I threw back my head and laughed heartily. I, TarlCabot, had been approached by agents of Kurii, and asked to take fee! I hadlittle doubt that Kog and Sardak, and others like them, scratched impatiently,twisted, uncomfortably, anxious to get on with their work, in wagons ahead ofme. Such close confinements, voluntary and self-imposed, would surely be almostintolerable for them. I admired their discipline. I hoped that it would holdout. It was nice to know where they were.

I bent down and picked up a rock, and tossed it ahead of me, down the road. ThenI continued on again, toward Kailiauk.

One additional thing I had noted about the forces ahead of me. There had been noslave wagons in the lines, nor, chained in throat coffle, trudging in the dustbehind the supply wagons, any slave girls. That I took to be the doing, and atribute to the power, of the Lady Mira of Venna. As a free woman she doubtlesshated slave girls, the lascivious, shameless sluts who drove men wild with suchdesire for them. Too, doubtless it pleased her vanity to be the only woman amongso many men. I had seen her features, concealed by only a wisp silk. I wonderedwhat she might look like in dancing silk and a steel collar, perhaps kneelingbefore me, the shadow of my whip falling across her body. I thought then shemight not seem so proud, not as a humbled, owned slave. The Kurii, I grantedthem, almost always chose female agents of incredible beauty. This is so, Igather, that when they have served their serious purposes, there is alwayssomething else that may be done with them.