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The Mistress was still some four slaves from me. She was sharply questioning one of my fellow slaves. Stammering and cringing, he was trying to satisfy her. I observed the Mistress' ankles, which, below the swirling hem of the beige skirt, were well turned in the high, slim boots. A slaver, of course, would remove such boots before shackling her. I saw Ke
We had worked hard, the last two days, preparing the stables and the animals for the inspection of the Mistress. I did not know if she would find fault or not, but, to me, objectively, it seemed the holding was in splendid condition. Ke
"Do you wish to be whipped, with the snake?" she asked a fellow down the line from me.
"No, Mistress," he said, swiftly.
"Then do your work well, Slave," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," he stammered.
I considered again the polished, black leather of her trim, high boots. A free woman, of course, if she owns slaves, does not polish her own boots. That would be done by one of the house slaves. I suspected that it was Taphris, short-legged and luscious, who polished her boots.
I saw a frown on the face of Ke
I smiled to myself. Ke
I no longer wore the collar of the silk slave. I now wore, like other stable slaves, a common work collar, of black iron, with an attached ring. On it was the legend `I belong to the Lady Florence of Vonda' I, like other stable slaves, was chained at night.
The Lady Florence was now two slaves from me.
Besides the line of forty-two male stable slaves, with which my Mistress was now concerning herself, there knelt to one side, backs straight and heads up, a line of five Kajirae, who were stable sluts. These were barefoot and bare-armed, and wore brown tunics which, as they now had them belted, with binding fiber, would have failed to their knees, rather demurely for slave girls, had they stood up. There were two blonds and three brunets. All were Gorean wenches. On the throat of each, though much more slender and graceful than those of the males, was a collar, too, a work collar, of black iron, with an attached ring. I relished the sight of them.
"Slave!" snapped Ke
"Yes, Master," I said, quickly, startled.
The Mistress, her eyes angry, stood before me. She slapped the quirt in the palm of her left hand. She was not pleased that I had not noticed when she had moved before me.
I knelt very straight. I stared ahead, inspected. I could see the hint of her sweet thighs beneath the beige skirt. Lifting my eyes I recalled the latitudes of her white belly, now concealed beneath her skirt, and blouse and jacket; I saw the loveliness of her breasts swelling within the blouse and jacket. I remembered the slender softness of her body and shoulders, the beauty of her throat, and face and hair, now muchly concealed by the jacket, and hood and veil. I inspected her. Her lineaments, for I had once been her silk slave, were not unfamiliar to me.
Above the veil, briefly, I saw her eyes flash in anger. But then she controlled herself. She would say nothing. How could she, in such a situation, call attention to the fact that she had been inspected, and as a woman, by one who was a mere slave.
"Is this not a new slave in the stables?" she asked Ke
"Yes, Lady Florence," said Ke
"What is his name?" she asked.
"Jason," said Ke
"He seems familiar," she said, lightly.
"Perhaps you remember him, Lady Florence," said Ke
"Ah!" she said, as though suddenly recollecting the matter. "Is it truly you, Jason?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress," I said
She stepped back two or three feet, and looked upon me. "What a sturdy brute you have become," she said.
I said nothing.
"Your face and features," she said, "seem to have coarsened. And there is a scar on your lower left cheek."
I said nothing. I had had the scar from a cut received some four weeks ago. I had been careless.
"I have, inadvertently, from time to time, overheard the speakings of slaves," she said. "Is it true that you are the champion in the stables?"
I smiled to myself. Her informant in such matters was Taphris. Ke
"Is it true?" she asked.
I considered the line of men. "Yes, Mistress," I said.
"He is splendid, Lady Florence," said Ke
"I abhor violence," she said, shuddering, the quirt in her hand.
"Of course, Lady Florence," said Ke
"That is true," she said. "It is not as though they were people. They are only animals."
It was true. Slaves, both male and female, are animals. Anything may be done with them.
"When he does well, or is successful," she asked, as though merely curious, "is he rewarded?"
"Yes," said Ke
"And how is he rewarded?" she asked.
"An extra round of rations," said Ke
"I see," she said.
I looked over at the line of stable sluts, kneeling in the soft earth, in their brown tunics. I had had all of them, and more than once. Ke
"And is he, upon occasion," asked the Lady Florence, "rewarded with things of another sort?"
"Of course, Lady Florence," said Ke
"With what?" she asked.
"With meaningless little things, trivialities, baubles, things of no account or worth," said Ke
The Lady Florence looked over to the line of kneeling Kajirae. "To be sure," she said, acidly.
"If Lady Florence disapproves," said Ke
"Why should I disapprove?" she asked, angrily.
"I do not know, Lady Florence," said Ke
"The sluts are on their slave wine, are they not?" she asked.
"Of course," said Ke
"In what else could I possibly have been interested?" she asked.
"I do not know," he said.
"If there is to be breeding done upon them, I will, of course, supervise it," she said.
"Of course, -Lady Florence," said Ke
Slaves are domestic stock. They are bred if and when, and as, the masters please.
"How strong your arms seem to have become," mused the Lady Florence, looking down upon me. Like the other slave tunics, mine was sleeveless.
I said nothing.
"It is nothing whatsoever to me," said the Lady Florence to Ke
"Of course, Lady Florence," said Ke
The Mistress then turned from me, and surveyed the next slave in line. She stayed before him, however, only a moment. And, indeed, she was soon finished with our line of slaves. She turned about.