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She struggled to escape my arms.
 For the second offense, I said,  your right hand will be removed.
Her eyes were but inches from mine, dark, dilated, filled with terror.
 Do you understand? I asked.  Yes, Master, she whispered.
 You are slave, I said.
 Yes, Master, she whispered.
I kissed her again, deeply, pressing back her head. Then I released her.
She stood facing me, her hand before her mouth, small, beautiful in the brief,
tightly corded slave garment. I noted that Sheera, carrying a bowl, standing
nearby, did not seem much pleased.
I indicated Tina. To my men I said,  You may taste her lips.
They eagerly reached for her, and, kissing her, handed her from one to the
next. When she had been passed about the circle, stumbling, her hair across
her eyes, the fillet gone, she stood again before me. She was breathing
deeply.
She was partly bent over. She looked up at me. She was not weeping. Then she
stood straight, and, shoulders back, smoothed down the brief slave garment.
The men laughed.
 Do not forget you are a slave, I told her.
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 I shall not,  she said.
Then, as the men laughed, she turned about and went to the kitchen area, they
parting, permitting her beauty to pass between them unopposed.
I thought she walked rather well.
I thought Tina would prove popular in the camp.
I and my men, save the posted guards, sat about the fire on the beach, within
the wall, not far from the inclining hull of the Tesephone.
Sheera knelt before me, her head down, resting back on her heels, her arms
extended to me, proffering me, in the manner of the Gorean slave girl, the
wine bowl.
I took it, dismissing her.
 When will we return to the forests? asked Rim. He sat beside me. He was
served by Cara.
 Not immediately, I said.  First, I wish to arrange for the comforts of my
men, those remaining at the camp.
 Is there time? asked Rim.
 I think so, I said.  We know the approximate location of Verna s camp and
dancing circle. Marlenus does not. He still hunts in the vicinity of
Laura.
 You are a patient man, said Rim.
 Patience, I told him,  is a virtue of merchants.
I held forth the wine bowl that Sheera, from a large wine crater, might refill
it.
 Patience, too, said Rim,  is a characteristic of players of the Game, and of
certain warriors.
 Perhaps, I said, and quaffed the wine.
 I myself, said he, ruefully,  am less patient.
 Tomorrow, I told him,  you will go to Laura, trekking downriver. Arrange for
four paga slaves, the most beautiful you can find in Laura, to be sent to our
camp. Then, when these arrangements are made, return. The girls may follow
 There are men of Tyros in Laura, said Rim, looking down into his small you.
wine bowl, cradled in the palm of his right hand.
 We are simple traders, dealers in fur and hide, I told him,  from the island
of Tabor.
 True, smiled Rim.
 I cannot wait, said Thurnock,  until we can again enter the forests!
I looked at him.  Thurnock, I said,  I need a man here, an officer I can
trust, one to maintain the camp, one to command shrewdly in my absence.
 No! boomed Thurnock.
 It is my wish, my friend, I said to him.
Thurnock looked down.  Yes, my captain, said he.
I stood up.  It is time for the exhibition I promised you, I said.  Tina!
Come here! She had been serving, too. Now she sped to my side.
 Build up he fire, I said. It was done.
The interior of the camp was now ell illuminated.  Can you all see
There were sounds of assent. Even Sheera and Cara came close, to clearly? I
asked.
watch.
 Note, said Tina.  Can you feel this? she put her fingers at the pouch worn
at my belt.
I was disappointed.  Yes, I said.  That was clumsy.
Her first finger, followed by her thumb, had slipped within the neck of the
pouch, forcing apart the strings which held it shut, and emerged, holding a
coin.
It had been done neatly, but I had felt the tug of the strings.
 I felt it, I told her.
 Of course, she said.
I looked at her, puzzled.
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She handed me back the coin, and I returned it to the pouch. I was not much
pleased.
 It may always be felt, she said,  if one is paying attention.
 I had though you more skillful, I said.
 Do not be angry with me, Master, she wheedled. She put herself against me,
and with her left hand about my waist, tugged at the side of my tunic, and
lifted her lips to mine. I kissed her lightly, and them put her back from me.
She handed me the coin a second time.
I laughed.
There was much applause from the men, and, too, from Sheera and Cara.
 That time, said Tina, you did not feel it.
 No, I said,  I did not.
 And yet it is the same thing, she said,  which is done.
My look of puzzlement delighted her. She was much pleased. She turned to the
others, not me, to explain what had been done.  He was distracted, she said.
 One must always distract the attention. I
did it by tugging at his tunic, where he would notice it, and by kissing him.
We pay attention, commonly, to one thing at a time. The theft is there to be
felt, but one does not feel it, because one is not intent on feeling it. One s
attention is elsewhere. One may also deflect the attention by a word, or a
glance somewhere. One may sometime lead the individual to expect an attack in
one
area, and then strike in another.
 She should be a general, grumbled Thurnock. Tina looked quickly at him. He
slid backward in the sand. :Stay away from me! he cried.
The men laughed.
 You, Master, said Tina, to a handsome young seaman, who wore a wristlet
studded with purplish stone, amethysts from Schendi,  would you be so kind as
to rise and come forward.
He stood before her, appreciatively, but warily.
 You kissed me this afternoon, she told him.  Please do so again.
 Very well, he agreed.
 But guard your pouch, said she.
 I shall, said he.
He put his hands at her waist, and bent, carefully, to kiss her. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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