Archive-name: Bondage/knbriana.txt
Archive-author: 
Archive-title: Kidnapping of Princess Brianna


    The travel from Lupa was quiet.  Jess had planned on it. 
The fall sales were three months away, and would be held in Toren
this year.  She hoped to have some of the Dark Lord's girls to
put on the block.  Oh, to get that sharp-tongued bitch Alyne in
her coffle.  She hated the Dark Lord's younger sister with a
surprising passion.  She clicked the reins on the cart, chafing
that it moved so slowly.  The tired horses moved a little faster
for a few paces and then returned to their somber shuffle.  
    Janesse rode beside her on the seat of the cart, and Jessica
glanced at her daughter with pride.  Janesse was fifty now, and
Jess was ninety.  They both looked as though they were in their
late thirties.  Janesse was a daughter to be proud of.  She had
learned the trade from her father, Malak, after he and Jess had
parted ways.  She had taken over when he retired and had made
contact with her mother; with their combined skills, their
operations had been more successful than ever.  Jess was proud of
her daughter's abilities in procurement and bargaining, and she
was pleased that the girl was so pretty.  The first bloom of her
youth was fading, but she was lovely, and her face held a sort of
wisdom that only those of elven blood could attain so young.
    The city of Tavect was growing larger in the distance.  They
would make it by sundown.  Jess had often visited the city with
Malak during the Time of Darkness and knew that the royal palace
was much the same as ever.  More ornamentation had been added
over the years, sometimes unwisely, but still much the same.  She
planned to arrived after supper and leave, with the princess,
before midnight, so that Brianna would not be missed until the
next morning.  By then she would be in Lupa, the Dark Lord's
plans to the contrary.
    She still did not trust the lad.  He was a hope.  Perhaps he
would bring back the old days.  She had done commissions for him,
and she knew she stood high in his favor, because of the
unlimited travel pass, but she still could not bring herself to
trust him.  She had stayed alive by not trusting anyone too far,
and was too set in her ways to change now.  Part of it was his
sisters, she supposed.  Alyne was a saucy little brat, but of no
real influence.  Zara, on the other hand, made the slaver's blood
run cold.  There was an ice maiden with no question, and she was
his favorite into the bargain.  The way the witch-bitch had
looked when her husband was poisoned sent a chill up Jess's
spine.  Magic made her nervous anyway.  A sword was a better
defense any day in her mind.  But she had not discouraged
Janesse's dabbling in the art.  She had considered warning the
Dark Lord to be careful, but realized he probably already knew. 
She was his twin sister, after all, and if some of the rumors one
heard in Guhrya were true, she loved him better than life itself. 
Jess put the thought from her mind.
    She thought about the coming fall sales.  A few of the Dark
Lord's slaves would keep her in luxury all winter and she would
not have to take to the roads until late spring.  The price he
had agreed on for Brianna was not exorbitant, but it was high. 
She had kept her travel expenses to a minimum, sleeping on the
roads, and only taking to the inns when the weather was
uncooperative.  Most of the hundred gold he had given her for
expenses had remained untouched.  The weather had been oddly warm
and terribly dry all year, and was doing nothing to motivate the
horses to move any faster than they had to.  Crops in unirrigated
regions outside the empire were likely to be poor, and grass and
brush fires would soon be dangerously common everywhere.  Behind
the cart, she could see the dust kicked up by the wheels.
    Tavect drew ever nearer and finally, before sunset, they
entered the city.  The palace was in the heart of town, about
equal distance from the four walls.  Tavect was a peaceful city
and had not even heard rumors of war since the Time of Darkness. 
The palace had no gates, and was covered with ornamental stone
work.  Jessica scoffed silently.  Dark Hold, although impressive,
was not quite impregnable.  This palace, on the other hand,
seemed to be built to aid the entry of thieves.
    They pulled into the courtyard and brought the wagon to a
stop.  A guard stepped out of the gatehouse, buckling his sword
around his waist as he exited.  Inside, Jess noted two more
leaning nonchalantly against a wall, with no weapons visible
anywhere near them, regarding her with only casual interest. 
Years of peace had made Tavect's soldiery soft and complacent, it
seemed, while the size of the military remained the most
impressive in the region.
    As the lone guard approached, Jess suddenly focused her full
attention on him; she recognized him from somewhere.  The
reference was obscure and distant and she could not place him,
but she never forgot a face.  She knew him, just as the tingling
down her spine warned her that he was out of place here and
something was subtly wrong.  She eyed him suspiciously, then
quickly averted her gaze to avoid staring and drawing attention
to herself.  There was the chance he would recognize her first,
and do a better job of placing a name and occupation with the
face.  For once, she was glad she had left her trademark belt of
coins back at the Inn of the Hippogriff's Egg in Lupa.  The
proprietor had been paid well to guard it.  Should the guard
manage to identify her, she and Janesse would be leaving Tavect
sooner than expected.
    "Name and business, please," he requested, stopping before
the cart and scrutinizing it and the occupants, letting his
glance linger longer than necessary on Janesse's attractive
features.
    "My name, sahr, is Virna Minkoil and this is my sister,
Virsha.  We have traveled far to see if any of our meager wares
might interest your glorious
princess," Janesse whined ingratiatingly in a northern accent,
while taking quick notice of her mother's stealthy hand signal
for danger out of the corner of her eye.  The people north of
Tavect on the river were trappers and hunters.  They spoke
through their noses and Jess found the accent grating.
    The guardsman looked into the wagon at the furs.  "They just
might.  Take a couple of bundles in, and talk to the
chamberlain."
    "Thank you, sahr."  Janesse did a pantomime of picking up
the furs.  "My sister, she is deaf and dumb.  But she is strong
and a help."  Jess heard her cue and moved to the back of the
wagon to shoulder a bundle of furs, making sure the white fox was
in it.  Janess climbed down from her seat, ignoring the offered
hand of the guard, Janesse followed her into the castle.  "We
pulled that off.  Deaf and dumb, all right?"
    "Fine," Jess hissed back, "but watch our backs.  I know I've
seen that man before.  When I remember who he is, I'll tell you,
but mark him as an enemy."  Jess knew her low, gravelly voice was
not the voice of a fur trapper and trader from the far north,
where the women, although more barbaric than the civilized south,
were very soft spoken.  It was a voice used to yelling commands
over the crack of a whip and screams of despairing captives.  The
guard sent one of his people to escort them and he led them to
the throne room.  Jess was glad to see that the security was not
entirely lax.
    King Fionn and his court were nearly ready to leave for
supper.  "We weren't expecting anyone else," he said, half
apologizing as he removed his robe and sat back down.  
    "No, go eat.  We wait.  You bargain better when not hungry,"
Janesse said in a barbaric accent.  Jess smiled at her daughter
when the court had left, leaving only a small complement of
palace guards to watch the strangers.  Janesse's many voices
would cover their identities and keep the search parties going in
circles for days, if they were lucky. 
    They waited patiently for the king's return.  The white fox
pelts had been horribly expensive, but they were rare.  Jess had
had them made into a sheath dress and a cloak, again more
expense, but necessary.  They conferred quietly over the plan,
Jess maintaining her act by reacting only in sign language and
nods, while they were under observation of the bored guards.
    Soon enough, the court returned.  Brianna walked near her
father.  Jess had pinpointed her from the Dark Lord's
description.  Not a bad looking wench, but stubborn, she thought. 
She might be worth the five hundred.
    "Yes, now what do you ladies have to offer us?" King Fionn
asked, seating himself.
    "Virna Minkoil," Janesse gestured to herself.  "Sister,
Virsha.  Many pelts, some clothes.  Interest?"
    "Barbarians, Poppa.  We can practically take the furs,"
whispered Brianna, too loudly.  "Everyone knows how stupid
barbarians are."
    "Hush, child.  Be polite," Fionn whispered back.  "Show us
what you have," he instructed Janesse.
    Jessica and her daughter displayed the furs for nearly an
hour.  Then came the white fox.  Brianna looked at it hungrily. 
She had been interested in the other furs, but the white caught
her attention, and immediate favor.
    "Poppa, I want that set.  The white one," she whispered.  
    "Very well.  I was wanting some of the ermine for a new
robe.  I'll ask."  Turning back to the merchants, he smiled, with
the face of a merchant instead of a monarch.  "How much for all
of the ermine pelts and the white fur?"
    "Ermine, five gold a pelt," Janesse said, naming a price
that was not unreasonable.  "Princess try on white fox before she
buy.  Be sure fits."
    Jess pulled out the ten ermine pelts and the white fox. 
Accepting the fifty gold, she handed the white fox to Janesse.
    "Try it on in your room, Precious," the king doted, "and if
it fits come back.  Agnes, accompany her."
    "Sire, not her fur yet.  Still mine.  I go,"  Janesse put
in.
    "Very well.  Go with them."  King Fionn gestured them out
and looked at Jessica.  The one-eyed woman made him uneasy but he
wasn't sure why.  
    "Virsha, take money and pelts.  Wait in wagon,"  Janesse
said, sticking her head back in.  She went through a complicated
series of gestures.  Jess watched and then nodded.  Making a bow
to King Fionn, who looked puzzled at Janesse's pantomime, she
covered her ears and then her mouth with her hands, explaining
she was deaf and dumb.  She picked up the furs and the money and
left with only a single guard following her in escort.  The
security here was nothing compared to Dark Hold; these people
were far too trusting.
    The princess chambers were at the top of the eastern tower,
and Janesse followed Brianna and Agnes up the stairs.  She
prepared the components of the spell in her belt pouch and
rehearsed the words once more.  Agnes opened the door on a lovely
pink and gold room, daintily decorated in a manner befitting a
princess.  Janesse followed, feigning amazement.
    "Where's the dress and cloak, Barbarian?  I haven't got all
night."  As she handed the white furs over, Janesse mumbled
something under her breath and powdered the spell components
between her fingers and touched them on Agnes' exposed arm as if
by accident.
    "I am your most trusted friend," Janesse quietly informed
the princess' lady in waiting.  "You trust me completely and will
do whatever I ask."
    Agnes turned to regard Janesse with star-struck eyes as the
spell took control of her will.  "I will do whatever you ask,"
she repeated dreamily.  "You are my most trusted friend."
    Janesse nodded and gestured to the princess.  "Your lady
requires assistance.  Go to her before she must call you."  Agnes
turned back to the princess as if nothing had happened.  Smiling
smugly, Janesse prepared the components for the same spell again.
    As Brianna struggled with the white fox dress, which Jessica
had subtly altered with needle and thread the night before to
make it especially difficult to get into, Janesse moved forward
as if to help.
    "What is the matter with this Celestra-forsaken dress!"
Brianna whined, in frustration.  "I cannot get into it.  Agnes! 
My arm is stuck!  Help me with this!"  She turned to Janesse with
scorn.  "Can you barbarians not even make a simple lady's garment
correctly?"
    "Garment fine," Janesse grumbled.  "Princess just get into
it wrong.  Here, I show.  Princess hold still."  Brianna ceased
her struggling and permitted Janesse to touch her.  The slaver
powdered the spell components, mumbled the words to the spell,
and brushed the princess' cheek with her fingers.  "Brianna,
would you like to have an adventure?" she asked in her normal
voice.
    "Yes, that sounds like fun," Brianna said, again renewing
her feeble attempts to wriggle into the fur.  Her voice had lost
its whine, and she decided she liked this woman.
    "Here's the plan.  I'll sneak you, and Agnes too, of course,
out of the castle, and show you an adventure; perfectly safe, but
exciting too.  You have brothers.  They must surely talk about
the wonderful inns and taverns.  Would you like to see them?"
    "Yes, I'd like that very much.  How will you get me out of
the castle?  I don't think this fits," she added, giving up the
fight with the dress and handing it back to Janesse.
    "Drink this and hold Agnes's hand.  I'll leave by the front
gate and Agnes can show me out.  We'll hide you in our wagon." 
Janesse slid a crystal vial from an inner pocket of her shirt. 
The azure liquid within bubbled and sparkled.  As the light in
the room struck it, it became transparent.
    "What is this?" Brianna asked, sniffing it with interest and
then turning her nose up at its pungent odor.
    "A potion of invisibility.  It won't taste very good, but
think of all the fun you can have while you're invisible, after
we get you out of the castle.  Drink.  It's perfectly safe. 
Trust me, but you must be quiet."  
    Brianna quaffed the potion, and began to fade with a
childlike giggle of amusement and surprise as she reached for
Agnes's hand.  Beckoning to Agnes, Janesse led them down the
stairs and back to the throne room.  She had no idea just how
long Brianna would stay charmed, but she wanted to take no
chances and get out as soon as possible--her mother's earlier
warning still haunted her mind.  As they entered the throne room,
they drew the attention of the assembled court, but Janesse
quickly answered for her return before any questions could be
asked.
    "Sire, no fit.  Princess in room pouting, sleeping," she
told King Fionn.  
    "I'll show her to the gate, Your Majesty," Agnes said,
moving to lead Janesse out.  She could still feel Brianna's hand
in hers as they walked to the waiting wagon.
    "The night can be chill.  Snuggle into the furs," Janesse
told them as they climbed aboard and Jess started the wagon
moving.  The guards at the gate motioned them through without
even bothering to stop them, and Jess again caught sight of the
one guard she knew from somewhere else.  He grinned and waved at
her and Janesse as they departed, in a manner that was friendly
enough but not to her liking.
    They left the palace and drove through Tavect.  The town was
quieting as the taverns began to open.  Brianna stayed quiet and
hidden.  Agnes was beginning to become puzzled as they drove out
of the city.  She left Brianna and moved to the front.
    "Where are you taking us?" she asked.
    Seeing no reason to lie, Jess answered, "Dark Hold.  You're
both to be sold to the Dark Lord.  It shouldn't be too bad for
you, since you're not pretty.  Brianna abuses you, doesn't she?"
    "Well, she's not always kind," Agnes admitted.
    "Now's your chance to get revenge.  The Dark Lord may put
you over her while she's there.  Even if he doesn't, what have
you lost?"
    "Go back to the princess, Agnes," Janesse broke in with a
sidelong wink at her mother.  "Don't worry yourself.  We're
friends and I won't let anything ill befall you."
    Agnes thought for a moment and then returned to Brianna. 
The Princess was starting to reappear.  She had fallen asleep
upon leaving the city.  Jess drove south-west through the night,
paralleling the Handel River.
    Reaching a point along the river, the slaver stopped the
wagon.  She and Janesse got down and began uncovering a punt,
hidden in the underbrush.  Waking Brianna and Agnes, they got
their charges aboard and loaded the furs.  The horses were
skittish about stepping on to the flat-bottomed boat, but some
tugging and swearing got them aboard.
    As the cart was emptied, several holes were revealed lining
the bottom.  They about the size of a man's fist and not large
enough to let anything slip through them.  Tying a rope to the
wagon hitch, Jess and Janesse pushed the punt off from the shore,
with the rope tied to the wagon tied securely to an oarlock.  As
the punt slipped out into the river, the wagon followed it.  
    Poling hard for deeper water, fighting the weight of the
water that had begun filling the holes in the cart, the two
slavers worked furiously for a moment and then cut the
floundering cart adrift.  In less than a minute, it sank from
sight and was gone.  It was unlikely to be found, covering their
tracks well.
    Stealthily poling their way across the river, Jess pointed
the punt upriver toward the city of Lupa, some thirty-seven miles
away.  The Dark Lord's bounty on the Princess Brianna was as good
as won and with minimal effort.  Jess was extremely satisfied,
especially since the little whiner was still charmed by Janesse's
spell and was blissfully oblivious to anything but the lovely
midnight boat ride.  Even with the current against them and the
weight of the horses, Jess calculated they should be safely in
Lupa by sunrise at the latest.  She would strip and chain the
princess there on the docks, where every soldier and merchant
marine could watch...but no, that was a bad idea, given the
princess' notoriety in the area.  It would be better to wait
until they had safely crossed into Xatr and were on Imperial
soil.  The princess' modesty and self-esteem would have to be
spared until then, but Jess figured it would be worth the wait,
if only Janesse's spell held out and spared them her insufferable
whining.
    As the lights of Lupa drew closer, large, dark shapes began
to take form on the waters.  Ships, Jessica noted, and quite an
impressive convoy to boot.  All headed downriver from the look of
things.  As the ships moved closer, she realized that the numbers
were inordinately large, and she motioned to Janesse to help her
pole the punt out of the way. 
    Not a single one of the ships was sailing with lights, not
only unusual but dangerous for smaller craft.  Only river pirates
made a habit of sailing without lights, and Jess would ordinarily
avoid the ships for that reason alone, but the great number of
this convoy--which looked more and more like a fleet with each
passing moment--put that concern from her mind.  No river pirate
band was large enough to put together the impressive flotilla
materializing before her.
    Straining to move her craft to one side, to permit the
flotilla bearing down on her easy passage, she strained with her
elven night eyes to catch sight of some manner of flag or banner
to identify the fleet's origin.  Finally a banner fluttered into
view from one of the lead ships, a small merchant vessel by the
cut of its jib.  The fleet belonged to the Dark Empire!  More and
more banners came into view; they were all imperial ships.
    Jess pricked up her sharp ears and heard the cry of "Small
vessel to starboard!"  She relaxed and Janesse pulled her pole
from the water to rest.  They had been sighted by a lookout, and,
although the flotilla was running without lights, at least the
helmsman would know they were there and not ram them.  The danger
was past.
    Suddenly, a large object dropped on to the punt, punching a
hole in the bottom.  Cursing several gods for the mishap, Jess
dropped her pole and reached for the princess.  It was doubtful
she knew how to swim.
    "Hey!" she yelled.  A rope was dropped down the side of the
ship that drew alongside her stricken punt as the water lapped at
her knees.  She saw that the horses were swimming for the other
shore.  Janesse and Agnes were also swimming, following the
horses.  Brianna clutched at Jessica frantically and began
screaming, confirming Jess's suspicions that she could not swim,
as Jess caught hold of the rope with her free hand, watching her
punt and furs sink to the river bottom.
    "Surrender and come aboard," the same voice yelled.  "You
are prisoners of the Dark Empire.  If you continue to swim, you
will be shot.  We have orcish archers and they can see you."
    Janesse, stopped, treading water as she weighed her options
and reversed her course to swim back to the ship.  Agnes did the
same.  Unable to climb with Brianna clambering all over her, Jess
held tight to the knotted rope and shouted for another line,
loudly informing the crew standing at the rails of her charge's
plight and what she thought of them in no uncertain or polite
terms.  
    Another line was dropped, this one with a large loop and
slip knot in the end, which Jess managed to work and pull around
the frantic Brianna with great difficulty.  She swallowed more
river water than she cared to as Brianna's floundering dunked her
more than once.  Secured, Brianna was pulled from the water, and
a near exhausted and greatly miffed Jessica Harveld began
climbing out of the Handel River herself, with Janesse and Agnes
following her.  The princess fussed the whole way.  The charm
spell had worn off.
    Strong hands helped Jess aboard, handing her a towel and
wrapping her in a blanket.  A few seemed interested in groping
for more, and while she was distracted fending them off, others
deftly removed the belt that held her sword and daggers.  She did
not notice they were missing for almost half a minute.
    Looking about herself with disgust and barely subdued rage,
Jess noticed that the deck was crowded, and not just with
sailors.  An incredible number of fully armed imperial soldiers
in full battle dress stood with them.  To the bow of the ship, a
light catapult on a pivoting base stood ready, with a supply of
stones beside it, identical to the one that had sunk her punt. 
The catapult's three man crew looked pleased with themselves as
they leaned proudly against it; sinking such a small target with
one shot and no lights was an impressive feat.  Jess fumed
silently as she briskly dried her hair.
    When they were all aboard, the sailor looked at them and
said, "Welcome aboard the Imperial ship, The Gryphon.  You are
all prisoners of the Dark Empire.  As prisoners of war, you will
remain with us until we can transfer you to a slave transport."
    "War?  What war?" demanded Jess.  "I am Jessica Harveld.  I
am on Imperial Business as a member of the Imperial Merchant's
Guild, Slaver's Division.  By delaying me, you are committing a
grave error.  I travel on the authority of the Emperor himself. 
I have a pass."
    Taken aback, the sailor stepped aside to permit another man,
dressed as a ship's officer, to move closer to the prisoners. 
Bowing, the officer drew himself up formally.  "I am the first
mate of this ship, and I speak for my captain," he announced
firmly.  "Show me your pass, and mayhap apologies will be in
order afterward."
    "You will owe me more than apologies," Jess grumbled as she
fumbled for the pass she kept tucked well down in her high boots
and slapped it into the waiting hand of the first mate.  As he
opened the pass and looked at it, Jess pressed him with her
earlier question as Agnes tried to quiet the princess.  "What war
were we to have been made prisoners of?"
    The first mate did not answer her, but concentrated on
perusing the pass.  At length, he looked back at the small woman
standing before him.  "Well," he stated, "we certainly don't see
many of these floating about: an unlimited imperial travel pass
and legitimate into the bargain."  Jess held out her hand for it
expectantly.  "No, it is not going to work like that," the mate
stated, shaking his head as he rolled the pass into a tube. 
"This pass gives you no right to be in this area at--"
    "Ship to starboard!" called a voice from the front.  "Tavect
warship!"  Instantly the crew and soldiers scrambled and the mate
tucked Jess's pass into his shirt.
    "Take your positions!" he bellowed.  "Man the catapult! 
Mind the sails!  Soldiers aft!  Let's move it!"  As the men moved
to obey, and other officers began giving orders of their own, the
mate turned to the men who had remained around Jess and her
party.  "Strip them and take them below.  Secure them in the brig
until this is over, then report to your positions."
    "Over my dead body!" Jess declared, reaching instinctively
for the sword and dagger she no longer possessed.
    "My Lady," the mate said as he turned to leave, "the Empire
has declared war on Tavect and we are about to sail into battle
in the name of our Emperor.  We haven't the time to search you
now; as you are an imperial slaver, you will understand this and
cooperate.  The captain will likely release you when we come out
of this and I show him your credentials, but for now you are in
the wrong place at the wrong time.  We will give you clothes to
wear while you are here, but we cannot take chances with you now. 
Understand?"  He turned and was gone before Jess could answer and
the sailors behind her pushed her in the direction of an open
hatch.  Resistance was useless, and she moved to the hatch; she'd
cooperate until someone tried to take her clothing, soaked though
it was.
    As her party was herded down into the lower decks, the
thought of exchanging her cold, wet clothes for warm, dry ones
began to appeal and by the time they were directed to the brig
and ordered to strip by the men who had followed them down, Jess
and Janesse did just that, ignoring their presence.  Jess had
bivouacked with hired guards many times and a long succession of
lovers had made Janesse impervious to male scrutiny.  Brianna
protested loudly, especially when she saw the dirty commoner's
clothes that were to replace her regal garb, but gruff hands and
voices coerced her into a waiting cell and cooperation.  Agnes,
although modest, reluctantly stripped without a word.  All
belongings were placed in an empty chest, which was promised to
be returned after the captain had approved.  After a quick once
over by one of the crew, during which Brianna screamed and threw
a tantrum as one of the men entered her cell to collect her
things, the promised change of clothing was handed over and the
party was locked into their cells.
    Four armed guards were posted at the doors, while the others
hurried up to rejoin the battle.  Jess flopped angrily onto the
floor and examined the shackle that secured her left ankle to the
wall.  Brianna wore one too, and as fate would have it, in the
chaos of situating the prisoners, Jess had drawn the princess as
her cell mate, while Janesse got the more agreeable and
considerably quieter Agnes.  Drawing the stiletto from where she
had concealed it between her hand and forearm when the soldier
had looked her over before giving her the dry clothes, she tucked
it behind her so that Brianna would not see it and alert a guard.
    Settling in for what promised to be a rough ride, and
pondering the curious coincidence surrounding the Dark Empire
going to war with Tavect on the eve of her abduction of the
princess, Jessica permitted Brianna some time to wear out her
voice as she grumbled about everything from being manhandled and
almost drowned to the terrible accommodations and quality of
clothing the ship had afforded her--with all of it being
ultimately Jessica's fault.  It was then that she began to swear
at Jess sending the slaver over the edge of her short temper.
    "Shut your mouth, bitch," Jess snarled.  "Or by the
Destroyer, I'll shut it for you.  And you won't like what I put
in before the gag.  It's your fault I'm in this mess, and I'm not
happy.  Do not push me.  Go to sleep.  Things will be different
in the morning."
    "Ugly witch!" Brianna returned.  "You and your partner
ensorcelled me.  When Royal Poppa finds me, I'll have your other
eye gouged out, and your hands cut off and your tongue cut out
and...and then I'll have you boiled in oil!"  She sneered
triumphantly at the slaver at the thought of such action.  Jess
shrugged.
    "Bloodthirsty child.  I've had more powerful rulers than
your `royal poppa' wanting my head; far more powerful.  I escaped
the wrath of the Tiensor of Ontra.  He had resources, scouts and
a cruel turn of mind."  She raised her hands to touch her missing
eye and the scars on her face.  "Your father doesn't even have a
court torturer.  He is probably far too squeamish to even own a
boiling kettle.  Now go to sleep, slave girl."
    "I am not a slave.  I am Princess Brianna of Tavect.  I--"
    "Give it a rest.  The Dark Lord says you are to be a slave
girl, and he paid me to make you one.  Besides, I wouldn't be
throwing my identity around so casually if I were you.  We will
be travelling through territory hostile to Tavect.  Some folks
would like nothing better than to get their hands on the missing
princess, hold her for ransom and deliver a raped, mutilated
corpse to the drop.  Tomorrow we'll be off of this ship and
you'll be on your way to an iron collar.  That big bitch in
charge of the harem will like you a lot.  Too much for your own
good maybe."
    "What do you mean?" Brianna asked, a little nervous.  Jess's
words had summoned up the image of the Dark Lord's harem.  She
couldn't remember which one had been in charge.  Only two of the
girls had seemed very large: the one with the stripes on her back
and the aloof one.  
    "She likes them young and soft," Jess leered, trying to
frighten Brianna into silence, "or so I hear tell from the girls
I have sold from the castle.  After the Dark Lord takes you, it's
her turn."  Leaving Brianna to digest this new information, Jess
turned onto her side and got as comfortable as her chains would
allow.
    It was not long before the clash of battle from above
filtered down to the brig.  Brianna listened fearfully to the
unfamiliar sound of great numbers of weapons clashing and men
screaming in terror and triumph.  Jessica noted the princess'
posture and smiled solemnly up at the clamor.  Brianna shuddered
as she saw the edges of the scars on her captor's face spread
open.  "Ah..." Jess mused, deliberately trying to frighten the
princess further, "the sound of imperial forces at play..."  The
princess stared wide-eyed at her cellmate, then shut her eyes
tightly and covered her ears.
    Brianna, far from home and frightened by the events of the
day, as well as the new information she had received from this
strange and hateful woman, curled up in a ball.  She was
determined not to let the slaver see her cry.
    The next morning came and the prisoners could hear the
troops on the deck above.  Brianna got more and more fractious as
the day wore on.  Boredom was not a thing she was familiar with. 
The first half hour had been a change of pace, but now she was
well and truly bored and was roundly cursing the slaver, the
ship, the captain, her guards, Agnes, the gods and her fate.  She
kept her voice low, knowing that Jess would not appreciate being
awakened.  She was afraid of the woman, but was not letting it
show.  The slaver had awakened, and eaten the porridge that had
been given to the prisoners.  She had thrown the empty iron bowl
at Brianna when the princess declared herself unable to eat it
without honey.  After that she had lain back down and gone to
sleep.  Now Brianna was bored, hungry and had to be quiet about
her irritation for her own safety.
    In truth, Jess was not asleep.  She was in the half-dream
phase where her mind made its most fruitful connections.  She
could hear Brianna cursing, but it came from a long way off.  The
escape plan was not forming.  She was confident that her papers
would be discovered and they would be on their way by that night. 
She only hoped Janesse was being sensible enough to sleep in
preparation for travel.
    At some point during the night, the ship had off-loaded its
cargo of soldiers on the shore of Tavect and had put back out
onto the river, where it had clashed in an number of engagements
with other vessels.  Jess had heard the sound of bodies hitting
the deck above and not getting up again more than a few times,
and had listened with the princess as the dying screamed their
last.  Twice, the Gryphon had been rudely jostled and thumped on
its starboard side, and had listed unevenly for some time after
each bump, indicating that the ship had grappled and boarded two
other ships during the night.  Since no one came below decks to
look in on them or free them, the Gryphon had apparently not
changed hands during the fighting.  More than once Brianna had
wished that the scarred woman across the cell was Agnes.  She
felt trapped and alone in this nightmare and a warm body to cling
to would have been most comforting during the worst of the
fighting above.
    The ship's mate had said they were at war with Tavect.  Who
were the brave young men dying on the decks above?  She wondered
if any of her suitors had fallen.  But, of course!  The answer
was there all along.  The slavers had fooled no one, and her
royal poppa had sent the men to find her!  She tried to shout
that she was here, here in the brig, but a sharp glare from her
cellmate silenced her, as she remembered that the imperial forces
might still be winning above decks.
    The day passed and night came again.  Jess, having slept a
good deal, was unable to sleep that night.  It was a quiet night. 
Brianna was exhausted from the sheer boredom and hunger.  Jess
wondered why the captain was taking so long to approve her
papers.  Detaining imperial agents on official business was
punished harshly in the Empire, and no one should know it better
than an imperial officer.  Jess found the delay intolerable; even
moreso at the the thought of having to spend another day with
Brianna.
    The next morning brought a blinding light into the dark
cell, as the door was opened and keys were turned in the locks of
their shackles by large, rough hands.  "Out you come, ladies," a
voice said.  They were taken above-decks.  Blinking against the
sun, Jess saw that another vessel had pulled up alongside of the
war-ravaged Gryphon.  This one called itself the Iron Chain.  She
heard the clink of money being exchanged and the third mate
authorized the transfer of prisoners.
    "Wait!" she snapped.  "I am Jessica Harveld, a registered
member of the Slavers' Division of the Merchants' Guild.  Under
imperial law, I cannot be sold."
    Determined to have her say, Brianna added, "And I am
Princess Brianna Anastasia Theresa Fiona, only daughter of King
Fionn V, the Just, of Tavect, My father will reward you well for
returning me, and capturing my abductors."
    "And I'm Nicholas Elfbane," the captain of the slave ship
sneered.  "Do you have papers to prove who you are?" he asked
Jess.
    "They were taken from me the night my boat was sunk.  I had
a pass, as well as identification.  You're not Nicholas Elfbane;
I worked with his brother.  Sold the little runt once, too."
    "She did have papers," the third mate of the Gryphon put in,
"but they were on the person of our first mate, and we lost him
overboard in the fighting last night.  I was below decks when we
captured these four and never got a chance to see them; most of
the crew is dead or missing and the captain lies wounded at
Death's door in his cabin and cannot be disturbed while he makes
peace with the Black-robed One.  The one-eyed bitch talks a good
line, but you know how women are."
    "Aye, not a one of 'em but'll lie if pushed, and there exist
no passes to a battle-field; her papers were probably faked. 
Let's go."  He collared the four women and attached small
numbered metal tags to the collars.  Jess fought and balked all
the way aboard the ship.  It took four of the slaver's crew to
hold her while her clothes were removed.  Brianna looked superior
at the sight of Jess's almost curveless body and tiny breasts. 
Upon seeing the scars that covered her body, the captain looked
disgusted.
    "You'll not sell high with all those marks on you.  Let's
see what that eyepatch hides."  He lifted the black patch and
looked.  The scar that ran up her cheek also slit her eyelid. 
The eyesocket was empty.  "Aye, you'll keep that.  You're no
beauty, but the gladiator school doesn't much care as long as you
can fight."  Noting the hairlessness of her body, he took a
closer look at her ears.  "Elven breed, are you?"
    Jess spat in his face.  The captain struck her.  "Listen,
slave," he snarled, "I own you now and I don't take that
treatment from anyone, free or slave.  You be good and I'll sell
you to the gladiator school.  You give me trouble, I'll cut you
up alive for fish bait."  He made a motion to a nearby sailor,
who disappeared.  "Take her over to the mast."  Jess fought every
step of the way, losing the stiletto she had managed to conceal
tied in her hair.
    "Sneaking weapons aboard my ship now, are you?" the captain
noted casually, as he stooped to pick up her fallen blade. 
Examining the quality of the knife, he slipped it into his belt
as he stood.  "Looks as if I'll have to teach you more of a
lesson than I thought."
    The sailor who had disappeared, returned with a bag.  "This
is a reminder, slave," the captain told her as he brought the
whip down on her back.  Jess flinched and clenched her teeth,
holding in her scream.  Two sailors pressed her to the mast by
her arms.  "Brave and strong, too," the captain noted, drawing
back for another stroke.  "Good, but a few more scars aren't
going to affect your price.  Let's see just what it takes to pull
a scream from your stinking half-blood throat."  Five strokes and
Jess was taken below decks.  She had given in easily and
permitted herself to cry out after the fifth blow.  She knew that
if she had taken all of the lashes needed to truly break her, she
would be lucky to be alive and in no condition to make an escape. 
The captain's mocking laughter at how soon she had yelled stung
her more than her back.
    The hold of the slave ship was a dismal affair and she
sniffed.  Her own ship, back in the days when she and Malak had
this run had been a lean, trim craft, and the hold far better
organized.  Brackets were set in the hull, and a chain attached
to the collar of the slave passed through it and on to the next. 
The men locked the chain to her collar and fastened her wrists to
the collar.  She was seated in front of a bracket.  By craning
her neck, she caught a glimpse of the number.  Thirteen, of
course.  With the luck on this run, she would be put in the
troublemaker's spot.
    Janesse had drawn approval from the sailors.  She had
voluntarily stripped, knowing it would be easier, and her slender
form was now under perusal.  "Are you a virgin?"  the captain
asked.
    "Not since I was twenty," she replied.
    "A late bloomer," one of the crew whispered, with a chuckle.
    Having caught his remark, she answered, "No sir, merely an
elven quarter-blood.  Unlike my mother, I am not ashamed of my
heritage."  The captain drew back her unbound hair.  The ears
were pointed.
    "Aye, a good price for this pretty.  She's on the older
side, but there are those who like experienced women."  The
implication was clear.
    "Yes, sir," Janesse replied, seeing a possible way to avoid
his attentions, "and I'm one."
    The captain looked at her for a moment and laughed.  "We'll
cure you of that, love.  Take her down."  Janesse was locked to
bracket fourteen, a good place on the line-up.  Number fourteen
was what was called the influence spot.  This was one of the
better behaved slaves who had been put next to the troublemaker
in hopes of having a good influence.
    Brianna had fought being stripped and when her clothing was
off, the captain saw why.  The lass was on the heavy side, and
not as well-formed as he had thought.  Her clothing had been
tailored to deceive, and she wore an iron and cloth contraption
to hold in the bulges, which the sailor who had inspected her in
the cell before giving her the new clothes had decided to let her
keep to expedite getting the prisoners secured.  Brianna wept and
wailed bitterly as her precious secret about her flawless body
was revealed.  Holding her down, a pair of laughing slavers
sliced the leather fastening straps with their knives instead of
working with all the buckles and hasps, and peeled it off of her. 
They ceremoniously chucked it over the side into the river amid a
sarcastic hailing salute and much jeering from the other slavers
and sailors.  "She says she's Princess Brianna.  Put her with the
other two `Princess Briannas;'at least those two have bodies
becoming of royalty and will have some chance of selling at a
royal profit.  Spot Twenty."
    Agnes, being nondescript, was questioned about her part in
this.  Being wiser than her mistress, Agnes gave a brief summary
of her life and meeting Jess and Janesse, but left out all the
details that might reveal any true identities.  Upon learning she
was a servant, she was put in the fifties, with several other
servants whose masters or mistresses had been unfortunate enough
to fall into the hands of slavers.  Breaking with the Gryphon,
which headed upriver to Lupa and much-needed repairs, the Iron
Chain headed downriver for the northern ports of the Dark Empire
and the Kish-Kar Mountains.
    The travel downriver lasted several days.  Jess and Janesse
plotted together, until the officer in charge of the slave hold
heard them.  Angered upon being informed, the captain ordered
Jessica hauled out of the hold and chained to the mast.
    Giving only token resistance, Jess was chained to the mast
so that the chains on her shackles ran behind the smooth spar of
wood.  She could not kick, even if she had been foolish enough to
try it, and her arms were caught back so that she could not even
touch her own body.  A bucket was placed on a stool between her
legs to catch her wastes and the captain personally fitted her
with a feeder gag.  The device buckled over and behind her head,
wrenching her jaws open with the insertion of a metal funnel that
depressed her tongue.  The gag permitted feeding and watering of
the slave who wore it, but made speech impossible and life in
general miserable.  Swallowing was difficult and the taste of
metal was foul on her tongue.
    The captain stepped back after affixing the gag and, hands
on his hips, laughed uproariously.  "Sold the great Nicholas
Elfbane once, indeed!" he sneered.  "You'll keep that gag now,
slave girl, until you are sold.  I hope you don't have an
aversion to sunburns, because you're staying right here where we
can keep an eye on you.  Cause me any more trouble and I'll make
good my promise to cut you up for fish bait.  Are there any
questions?"  The captain laughed again and left her to the sun
and elements.
    Infuriated, humiliated and miserable, Jessica Harveld stood
at the mast in the blazing late summer sun and fumed.  She was
thankful that her summer's tan was moderately deep but wished it
covered more than her face, arms and hands.  The days were
cloudy, for the most part, and on a few, the sun never burned
through the fog.  She wondered often what would have happened had
she followed the Dark Lord's plan for her escape.  Certainly his
plan would not have led her and her partner to this unseemly
fate.  At night, the stool and bucket were removed so that she
could kneel on the deck to sleep, but each morning, she was
ordered back to her feet and they were replaced.  The occasional
sun only added to her discomfort as it heated the metal chains,
and the food was no better.  Once a day, the slaver's apprentice
assigned to tending her forced a tasteless paste of oats and
water down the funnel, usually in choking globs, and washed them
through with a deluge of water.  Jess swore she would remember
this ship and its captain when she regained her freedom, and to
repay them for their kindness in turn.
    On the seventh day, the ship put into the first port to
conduct business.  Slavers were let on board, one at a time, to
select their purchases--ten to a customer--and paid before
leaving.  Jess had been cleaned up some for this first port, and
the stool and bucket had been removed so as not to repulse
prospective buyers, but no one gave her a second look.  The ship
moved on.  At least she had the comfort of knowing that all of
her people were still aboard; none had left in another slaver's
coffle, but that would not last.
    The second port admitted an even larger number of slavers
aboard ship, several of whom Jess recognized.  None recognized
her, try as she did to get their attention.  The ever-watchful
captain disregarded her efforts as a slave's pathetic attempts to
sell herself with no auctioneer.  A number of slavers looked at
her from a distance with no recognition.  Her hair had been cut
short in anticipation of her sale to a gladiatorial arena, and
without her hair, clothing, belt and ever-present weaponry, few
gave her a second look, even if they could recognize her through
the metal and leather on her face.  None bothered to approach for
a better look at the scarred and unattractive female chained to
the mast.  None, that is, save one.
    Varge One-Ear, a muscle-bound mound of quarter-blood ogre--
if reports on his ancestry were accurate--came over for a better
look.  His attitude and reputation matched his appearance and he
was a long-time rival of Jess's who bore her no love whatsoever. 
He constantly trod the fine line that would result in his being
barred from the Slaver's Division, and Jess, a member in
excellent standing, had tried to begin procedures to do just that
on a number of occasions. 
    He swaggered up to her, chewing on an apple and sneered, his
ugly mouth oozing with food.  He looked her up and down
appraisingly, the sneer never leaving his face, and spat an apple
seed into her hair as he came full circle around the mast after a
quick survey of her back side.  Jess clenched her fists and met
his sneer with a blood-chilling gaze as she shook off the apple
seed.
    "Well, well, well..." Varge finally managed as he swallowed
the lump of pulped fruit.  "What cat drag in here?  Living
scar...."  Jess maintained her grim countenance and made no
sound.  Varge ran a rough hand up her arm to her shoulder and
flicked her ear with his finger.  "Been getting some sun, hmmm? 
Elf breed."  Jess stood immobile, refusing to be goaded by his
insults and give him the satisfaction of responding.  Ordinarily,
the ogre-breed would never be so bold, knowing what she could do
to him if she regained her freedom.  She reasoned he must have
been drinking before coming aboard; rum gave him courage and
worsened his already foul disposition.
    Varge pressed himself close against her.  "Maybe I buy you,
eh?" he breathed at her in as sensual a tone as he could manage. 
"Take you in my bed and make a real woman out of you..."  The rum
on his breath sickened her almost as much as the thought,
although she knew as well as he did that if he tried it--though
it might cost her life--he would never again force his loathsome
bulk on another slave.  Varge pushed himself away and flicked at
her left nipple with his index finger until it stiffened against
her will, and chuckled gruffly.
    "No," he stated, "I no buy you today.  Got no need for ugly
slave girl like you when there be other pretties to play with.  I
wonder..."  Varge looked back at the open hatch into the hold,
where other slavers were emerging with their prizes.  "Maybe you
no travel alone when they catch you.  Maybe you get caught with
other long-ears."  Varge looked back at Jess and grinned.  "Maybe
I go down and see, eh?"  Giving her nipple a final painful flick,
followed by a hard pinching twist, he drew a long, notched dagger
from his belt and held it menacingly before her.  "But first,
maybe I settle old score with you, eh?  Make you pay for what you
do to Varge One-Ear...make you pay good!"
    "Not unless you buy her first, friend," the ship's captain
stated from behind him, his hand resting firmly on the pommel of
his sword.  "Make me an offer, and maybe you can have her to do
with as you please, but it had best match what the arena scouts
downriver will pay, or you needn't bother.  She's not much to
look at, I'll grant you, but she can fight."
    Varge turned to face the captain, noted the captain's sword
and a few crewmen standing behind him, ready to back him up, and
returned his dagger to his belt.
    "No buy ugly elf breeds," Varge announced.  "Too much
trouble, but maybe you let me take a whip to her and see how she
fare up, then you name your price, eh?"  Jess cringed a bit at
the idea and bit at the metal in her mouth until new pain shot
through her aching jaws.
    Varge, you are as good as dead if I ever find you again on
more favorable terms.  Being barred from the Guild will be the
least of your worries and I'm going to do you real slow, Jess
swore.
    The captain regarded Jess for a moment and considered
Varge's offer, then answered.  "No deal, my big friend.  Make a
flat offer, check the merchandise in the hold or leave my ship." 
Varge growled, sneered once more at Jess after spitting another
seed at her, then sauntered down into the hold.
    Sometime later, he emerged, leading a coffle of slave girls
behind him.  Jess's heart sank when she saw that Janesse and
Brianna were among them.  He tossed the apple core overboard and
led his purchases down the gangplank with one last triumphant
look over his shoulder at his rival.  He was the last to leave
the ship, and after taking on supplies and water, the Iron Chain
weighed anchor and proceeded downriver.
    The next port came and more were sold.  Again, Jess was
passed over.  A fourth port, and yet more familiar faces.  Jess
knelt gloomily staring at the deck.  She thought of the times she
had made purchases from imperial ships like this.  How many times
had she passed up a female with scars for a soft, untrained
kitten who would bring an easier profit?  Feeling melancholy, she
sternly reminded herself that her job had been making a profit,
not making people happy.  Then the last of the slavers came
through.  
    "I want her," he said suddenly, pointing to Jess.
    "Sir," the captain protested, "she has battle scars."
    "I said I want her.  I don't care about the scars."
    "Sir, she has only one eye, and she is in the trouble-maker
spot."
    "I would expect nothing less of her.  Now are you willing to
sell her or not?"
    "Yes, of course.  I was planning on selling her to a
gladiator school, but...I'd say sixty gold would put her in your
coffle.  If you're sure you want her, that is."
    "Oh, yes, I want her.  Sixty, huh?  A bargain for Jessica
Harveld."  The young man looked down and winked at her.  "Unchain
her for me."
    Jess was unlocked and the young man put a lead on her and
led her down with him into the hold.  "Jess, any you want me to
get?  You had to have been on a run, else you wouldn't be here."
    "That one," she said softly, pointing to Agnes, then
continuing to rub her aching wrists and jaw.  The hated gag had
been removed with the chains, but she could scarcely speak for
the pain and it hurt to close her mouth, but she was determined
not to look like the village idiot with her mouth hanging open. 
"She's part of my commission.  Varge One-Ear has the rest."  
    The young slaver purchased Agnes and several others.  After
paying his bill, he took them to the inn where he was staying,
allowing Jess to massage her jaw on the way, while the others
kept their hands at their sides.  The rubbing felt good, and was
easing away the soreness.  By the time they reached the inn, her
mouth was only comfortably numb.  The overcast skies in
combination with being on the water had greatly contributed to
the flaring sunburn that covered most of her body, but there was
noting to be done about that.  Chaining the new purchases in the
stable with the rest of his coffle--making a nice round number of
thirty slaves, most female--and tossing the men he had hired as
guards a sack of silver pieces to add to their dice pot, he took
Jess with him into the inn.
    Stretching out in a chair, he watched her wash from the
basin.  "You owe me for this, Harveld."  He had ordered up wine
and a bowl of vinegar and made her stand still while he swabbed
down her sunburn.  It was slightly humiliating, but Jess admitted
that the sting did go out of it when he was finished.
    "No, boy, you still owe me," she managed, her voice not
fully returned and her mouth still numb.  "I saved your life
twice, remember, and that cute ass of yours at least once. 
You've paid back the latter."
    "Jessica, Saroncha, I owe you many things."  His light eyes
smiled as he called her by the lycanthropic word for teacher.  He
ran a hand through his flaming red hair.
    "Red Jared, I thank you," she began formally.  "You
recognized a fellow Guild member in distress and came to my aid. 
I am grateful for your purchase of me, and my patron will repay
your loss."
    "Who is your patron, Jess?  Please, drop the formality. 
Besides," he grinned mischievously, "look at your throat, slave."
    "I see an iron collar that my Guild-brother has yet to
remove.  If he would be so kind?"
    Red Jared laughed.  "I always wondered what you would be
like as a slave.  Now I know.  You are as arrogant as when you
were free.  Every slaver should have the experience of being sold
once, don't you think?"
    "Remember who bought you over Lord Rothstein on the block in
Pergamum.  Remember who freed you, and taught you what you know
now.  Think about that and then unlock the collar."
    Red Jared pondered her words.  They did have merit.  She had
outbid Lord Rothstein for him.  He had known what Lord Rothstein
wanted, and, yes, literally speaking, Jess had saved his
posterior, keeping it both unreamed and attached to his body. 
She had bought the young lycanthrope as a pet and possible
apprentice.  She felt she wanted company on the road after she
had broke with Malak Raintree.  His lynx form appealed to her,
and she had trained him.  He had admired the half-elf.  She was
everything he wanted to be: strong, efficient, decisive and
ruthless.  He had hoped he might prove a worthy student to all
her teaching.
    Reluctantly, discarding the dreams he had treasured, he
unlocked her collar.  Jess rubbed the chafed spot on her neck and
turned around to face him.  
    "I know what you are thinking, lad.  It would never work,"
she said softly.  "I am less than proficient in all of the
womanly arts, especially that one.  But if you want that as the
price of my freedom, I'll pay it.  You asked who my patron is. 
I'm working for the emperor himself.  I was sent out to grab
Princess Brianna of Tavect."
    "Tavect is under attack by imperial troops!  What were you
doing there?"
    "I was in the attack, rather unintentionally.  It seems our
young friend out by Letzthoffnung used me as a diversion for his
invasion.  If I had followed his escape plans, illogical as they
were, I might not have gotten into this mess.  He wanted me to
run east."
    "That makes no sense with Lupa just across the river.  Who
was the wench I bought for you?"
    "Agnes, the Princess's lady-in-waiting.  Varge One-Ear
bought Brianna and Janesse."
    "Janesse?" Red Jared asked.
    "My daughter.  My partner.  She joined me after you left. 
Have you learned to control the Change yet?" she asked, casually.
    "Other than the full moon, yes.  None of us Control on the
full.  It is the will of Viurre that all of her people should
display their form and give her homage on that night.  But you
know the religion of my people."
    "Well do I know it, having seen you live it for nigh on
three years.  I need to find Varge.  There's five hundred plus
expenses riding on it."
    "Do you have a pass?"
    "No.  An incompetent first mate separated me from it and my
other papers.  He apparently didn't realize the power they gave
me, and then he got himself killed before he could show them to
the captain.  Not that it would have done any good, since the
captain was cut up pretty bad and dying before I was brought
above decks again.  That is the only reason I was sold.  Can you
help me?"
    "Jess, I will buy your partner and pretty back, and take you
to Dark Hold on my pass.  I owe you that much.  After that we can
part as friends."
    "Janesse is good enough to solo, if you want a job as my
partner," she offered.  "I made more money with you than her."
    "Ah, my old teacher.  `Ever did the clank of gold the
delicate sound of heartstrings drown.'  I'd like that.  I don't
make as much solo as I did with you."  He held out his hand.  She
took it and they shook on the bargain.  Now about the price of
your freedom..."
    "I understand," she said, moving into his open arms.  "If
you really find this battered body desirable, I guess I shouldn't
complain.  I think you'd find one of those lovely toys in your
coffle more enjoyable though.  Do be careful."
    "It is not the body I find desirable.  It is the woman who
inhabits it.  Those toys are not a tenth of the woman you are, my
Saroncha.  I will be careful.  They used you badly, love.  Your
hair, your earring, everything is gone, but you they couldn't
break."  He quietly blew out the lamp and pulled her closer in
the dark.  Careful to let her dictate all the motion, so as not
to hurt her sunburn, he rolled onto his back, pulling her on top.
    Jess had not underestimated her skill, Red Jared noticed
after a frustrating effort to arouse her.  She was not very
satisfying, and seemed less than interested in the whole event. 
He held her to him afterward.
    "Now you understand why you are only the second in a
century.  I apologize."
    "No, I apologize.  I should not have required it of you. 
You are not a toy.  But will you share my bed this night, since I
have made no other accommodation arrangements?"
    "Since you ask, I take it I am free.  I will share your bed
this night, and any other you would like, for expenses sake.  But
do not require the use of my body; use your toys.  Tomorrow, we
begin our travels?"
    "Yes.  In the morning, partner."
    "You know that the ogre is going to rob us.  He hates me."
    "Yes, I know.  I have had a good year.  I can afford quite a
bit.  Why does he hate you, Jess?"
    "Who do you think gave him the name One-Ear?  The other one,
I sold for a gold Tiensor back in Ontra around A.L. 47.  Back
when Tazreth the Proud Tiensor that year.  His face looked better
on the coin than it did atop a pole six months later."  Red Jared
laughed quietly beside her, and kissed her scarred cheek.
    The travel was difficult, as Jess quickly learned that not
only Tavect, but every civilized province to the east and west of
it, clear north to the Kish-Kars, had been conquered.  Imperial
occupational forces were everywhere, and martial law was being
enforced.  News from Tavect across the Handel was hard to come
by, but as they travelled, Jess pieced together what had happened
during her confinement on the Iron Chain.
    The west had fallen quickly and the Dark Lord was besieging
Fe'En and Ontra as well as Tavect.  He was running into
resistance there.  Although difficult, news about Tavect was
still easier to come by than about the other kingdoms, although
all of it was old, and it seemed Tavect had fallen after less
than a week.  The main forces had been sent out and caught on the
open plains in the east, leaving the city sparsely defended,
while imperial forces struck from the river.
    It seemed that an alarm had been spread at the palace, late
in the evening before the ships arrived.  The Princess Brianna
had been seen leaving the palace in the hands of two barbarians,
who had slain two of the guards in the west gatehouse and left
the third for dead.  The same had happened at the eastern gate of
the city, as the barbarians fled the city with their prisoner,
the fair princess, and headed for the open country in the east. 
Jess finally remembered where she had seen the guardsman at the
palace before.  He was one of the Dark Lord's elite from hi hand-
picked First Legion.  She had encountered him some years ago at
one of the lavish parties at Dark Hold.  As well as field tactics
and arms, the elite were also trained as infiltrators, similar to
the Shadowmen of Tod, save that they specialized in joining
militaries and advancing up through the enemy ranks, until they
were needed to create havoc and betrayal.
    Since the princess had been invisible, and Jess had left the
city going south instead of east and then turned west, she now
knew for certain she had been set up by her patron.  It had all
been planned, and she could guess what had happened when she had
left.  The First Legionnaire in the gatehouse would have speedily
dispatched his comrades and then given himself some manner of
convincing self-inflicted wound and set up the alarm after giving
her and her partner an ample head start.  A similar scene had
undoubtedly played itself out at the eastern city gate.
    Misled, the king of Tavect had dispatched his forces, most
of them by the sound of it, to rescue his darling daughter,
sending them thundering into the lances of the advancing imperial
troops.  Retreating and unable to find the princess, King Fionn's
troops returned home to discover it was under siege by troops
from the river at their backs.  Tavect's navy was caught unawares
and destroyed or captured in the harbor.  The few ships on the
river itself had been mercilessly hunted down by the imperial
flotilla after the soldiers had been dropped on land.
    Ill-prepared to repel a siege, Tavect's city defenses
rallied slowly, losing nearly half of the city before they made a
stand.  The Tavectan soldiers that had been sent after the
missing princess, trapped between enemy forces, were cut to
ribbons or scattered into the surrounding countryside.  As the
capitol held out against the imperial invaders, other imperial
troops swept through the countryside, eliminating citizen
militias and garrisons in towns.  They isolated Tavect's borders
and sealed off the towns, eradicating any organized resistance.
    Unwilling to wait King Fionn out, and seemingly in a hurry,
as if Tavect's conquest and those of its neighbors were mere
preliminaries to something greater, the commander of the Dark
Forces announced that Princess Brianna was in their Emperor's
hands and if King Fionn ever wished to see her alive and whole
again, he was to surrender his remaining holdings immediately and
capitulate.  Tavect surrendered within three hours of the
announcement, and the king was reported to be a prisoner in his
own palace, and the location of the princess was still unknown. 
With Tavect captured, Fe'En and Ontra were the last holdouts
against imperial conquest in the east; everyone else was under
imperial rule, making the northern Handel River territories the
Dark Lord's largest and quickest land gain ever.
    There was speculation that Tavect and the other regions were
not the main goal.  The Dark Lord had sent four full legions with
complete auxilliary support against them, and rumor had it that
there were two more in the area of Pin just north of Lake
Vadnais.  Jess, having travelled the area many times, noted that
if all the stories were true, the Dark Lord had now surrounded
the elven kingdom.  If he wanted a bunch of long-eared tree-
surgeons and poets, to her mind, that was his business.
    Jess's heart sank a bit at the news of Tavect's fall.  It
was quite possible that Varge One-Ear had recognized Princess
Brianna for who she was, or that the little fool had blurted it
out to someone, and been sold to the occupying imperial forces. 
It galled her to think that some imperial soldier might be
cheating her out of her fee, to say nothing of the reparations
she felt entitled to after the ordeals on the ships.  It was
unlikely, but she still had to find Varge and learn whether the
Dark Lord's men actually had the princess or had merely pulled
off a convincing bluff.  Besides, she still owed the quarter-ogre
and there was the matter of getting Janesse back.
    Patrols checked Red Jared's pass at every town and usually
at several points between.  No word of Varge One-Ear was heard,
although they listened and inquired in the taverns and markets. 
After two weeks all of the coffle had been sold and others
bought.  Agnes had been taken off the coffle and appointed as
Jess's personal servant.  Finally rumors were heard of his
whereabouts.
    Following this lead, the pair tracked him to Toren two
months before fall sales.  Noting her timetable, Jess knew that
if the princess had fallen to the Dark Lord's men, there was no
way of catching up with her before some Fates-favored soldier was
rewarded for her efforts and pain.  Jess and Red Jared left word
in the Inn of the Freckled Wench, a place which Varge One-Ear
frequented when in the area.  Jess loathed it.  The food was
abysmal, the barmaids surly, the drinks watered and everything
was overpriced.  Varge made contact two days later.  A meeting
was arranged at an establishment called The Petrified Medusa, an
expensive eatery on the rich side of town.  
    The two showed up before the hour appointed to check the
place.  Choosing a back booth, they sat quietly and waited for
One-Ear.  The ogre breed wandered in several minutes later.  They
saw five retainers drift in and seat themselves nearby, but not
so close as to arouse suspicion.
    "You have something that belongs to me, Varge.  I am willing
to purchase it back," Jess said coming to business, after their
meals had arrived.  "You bought at least two wenches from the
imperial slave ship on the Handel River.  One was number sixteen,
the other number twenty.  Sixteen had--"
    "I know who you want, Long-ears.  How much you willing to
pay?"
    "We will give you a fair price for the two.  How much do you
want?" Red Jared asked.
    "Four hundred for the elf.  Two hundred seventy-five for the
fat wench."
    "We'll give you two hundred for each, plus two girls from my
coffle," he offered.  The ogre shook his head.
    "No.  When you chase me from the Handel to Toren, you want
them bad.  You pay three hundred each."
    "One-fifty each, and four from my coffle."
    "Who are they?  Why do you want a part-elf and a fat whiner? 
Elf's not even good in bed.  She fights."
    Jess spoke up.  "The elf is my partner.  The whiner is my
commission.  Two hundred each."
    "Too late, half-blood.  The elf got sold down Diebe way. 
She bound for The Satyr's Delight.  Chase down Black Shadow and
buy elf from her.  I got fat whiner; she not sell yet, but is
still fun to slap and make dance at end of whip.  Until she get
thin, it not matter if she marked."
    "Two-fifty for the whiner.  You won't get a better price on
the block."
    "Maybe," Varge belched, and plucked some food from Jess's
plate with dirty fingers.  "But as said: when you chase me from
the Handel to Toren, you want her bad.  You pay!"
    He leaned back, sneered and crammed the food he had stolen
from Jess's plate into his mouth.  He knew he had the advantage
and was enjoying it immensely.  It was not often that he got the
upper hand on a rival like the Harveld, and now it had been
handed to him twice in less than two months.  He reminded himself
to make the appropriate sacrifice to Ganash, the god of his
ogrish grandfather.  This promised to be a good year indeed!  Not
only had he antagonized the helpless half-elf aboard the Iron
Chain, but he had sold her partner far east, and Jess would have
to go far out of her way if she wanted her back in any fair
physical condition.  That would exclude her from the Fall Market
in Toren this year, and now he held her commission in his coffle
and would not have to sell her if the price was not to his
liking.  Revenge was sweet, and being on top felt good for a
change.
    Jess felt her blood beginning to boil, but the cool hand on
her arm gave her an anchor for her composure.  The princess was
not in imperial hands, and the Dark Lord would have to deal with
her to purchase the brat.  Her revenge on One-Ear could wait.  As
a half-elf, she had years on her side, while the ogre was getting
old and slow.  She knew he would be looking over his shoulder for
some time after this rotten deal was concluded.  One day she
would be there; she always paid her debts, and he knew it.
    "How much?" Red Jared stated flatly, growing weary of this
game.
    "Three fifty," Varge stated, leaning so far forward that the
lycanthrope could smell his breath.  "And three from your coffle. 
Money up front now, or no deal."
    "Done," said Red Jared stiffly.  He motioned out a nearby
window to one of his retainers, posted outside the eatery.  The
man left his post and returned a minute later with two others
carrying a wooden chest.  They moved to Red Jared's side,
unlocking the chest and moving aside the old clothes they had
laid over the coins.  Red Jared counted out Varge's money
quietly.  Feigning forgetfulness, and feeling spiteful, Varge
made Jessica count the coins over again, just to make sure no
mistakes had been made.  Finally satisfied, Varge waved one of
his own men forward with a box, and swept the neat stacks of
coins into it before sending him back to his seat.
    "You can choose from my coffle in the morning.  We're at the
Harvest Inn.  Second hour," Red Jared informed him.
    "Tomorrow, second hour, Harvest Inn.  You pay for dinner." 
Varge One-Ear left the eatery with his retainers in his wake.
    "Dammit, he knew who they were.  He recognized Janesse, and
I'm sure that fool princess blurted that she knew her.  He
deliberately sold Janesse to keep me out of the Fall Market.  My
daughter can wait.  The Satyr's Delight is not a good brothel,
but she will either work off her indenture, or we will go get her
after sales.  I will make the Fall Market, Chassos take the
ogre."
    "Jess, stay calm.  We'll get Brianna back and then go to
Dark Hold.  You said your expenses were paid.  Have you kept a
record?"
    Jess pulled a sheaf of parchment out of the top of her new
boots.  "Yes, and the personal suffering just went up a hundred
gold."  Making the notation, she tucked the parchment back into
her boot-top.  "Let's get things organized, and alert some of
your men to keep an eye out for Varge on the roads out of the
city; he may decide to take what he has and run.  He's not above
that, you know."
    "I know Varge One-Ear.  Well, we almost have Brianna back. 
Is your patron going to be willing to pay for everything, do you
think?"
    "I don't know, but I'll take what I can get, and see to it
that you get your cut."  They rose and went to pay the bill. 
"Let's just hope Varge doesn't decide to leave in the night."
    The next morning, at the second hour, Varge One-Ear met them
at the inn.  Princess Brianna looked angry and pouting, but
subdued.  A large red mark showed on her face, as well as a
number of welts on her back and lower legs.  "Your fat whiner?"
he asked.
    Jess nodded.  "Is she still a virgin?" she asked, a bit
concerned.  She had promised the Dark Lord that, if Brianna was a
virgin, she would be delivered in that condition.
    "I know market value, Long-ears.  She bring little enough as
virgin, why lower it?"  Seeing the dangerous look forming on
Jess's face he answered, "Yes, she still virgin.  She whine so
loud none of my men put up with her long enough."
    Brianna looked offended at being talked about as though she
were merchandise.  She opened her mouth to say something, but a
slight raising of the ogre's hand silenced her.  She had large
hand-prints all over her body, and was now truly frightened of
the ogre.  Jess was a different matter, though, and perhaps the
handsome young man who was unlocking her collar could be worked
to her advantage.
    Red Jared unlocked Brianna's collar and locked her into his
coffle.  He used a wrist and neck coffle, involving a line of
collars attached to each other by about two feet of chain and
wrist cuffs similarly attached.  He removed the yellow slave
tunic she wore, handing it back to Varge One-Ear.      "I'll put
one of my own on her, thanks.  Jess, would you find something
appropriate?"  As Harveld left to find another tunic for the
slave, he looked at the girl.  "I don't know, Varge.  Jess wants
her because a certain powerful someone wants her.  I'm not sure
why.  Now which of mine do you want?"
    With a slaver's unerring eye for value, Varge looked over
the coffle.  Two of the girls were at least partially trained,
since they stood straight under inspection.  The pretty blonde
next to Brianna refused to look at the ogre; he turned her face
to him and looked at her closely.  Apparently, she did not meet
his approval, since he moved on quickly.  A few minutes later,
Jess returned with the red scrap.  Varge decided on the half-
trained red-head, a dusky-skinned girl with startling blue eyes,
and a dwarven gladiator who bore the decorative scarring of an
outcast adventurer.
    "A good choice.  Any one of them's worth more than the
whiner," Red Jared commented as he opened the coffle and removed
them.
    "I won't wear that!  No nice lady wears that color.  And
it's disgraceful, too low cut, too high cut.  I won't wear it. 
Find me something better!"  Brianna's shrill voice broke into
their bargaining.  It seemed her time with Varge had not broken
her spirit, or subdued her haughtiness as much as Jess would have
liked.
    Jess had reached for the small belt whip that was standard
when travelling with a coffle.  Jared left the ogre and went to
her.  "Jess, let me handle this.  Her price goes down if we mark
her more than she already is.  She needs time to heal."
    He motioned Jess away and took the clothing.  Brianna smiled
fetchingly at this new and unexpected ally.  The smile faded at
his words.  "Listen to me, and hear me well, slave.  This piece
of clothing is for your own protection.  If you refuse to wear
it, you will wear nothing.  For a slave, to be marched naked in
coffle is discipline.  Anyone who asks is allowed to use her at
no charge.  This means the most repulsive, diseased beggar on the
street can use her, or a patrol captain can give her to his men
for a time.  Since it is bright red, it shows you are a virgin,
belonging to me, Red Jared.  Were it a duller red, you would be
marked as nonvirgin, and I could rent you out as I wished.  Now,
wear it or nothing.  And, rest assured, that if you choose the
latter option, I will use you first and then perhaps loan you to
your former master.  As we leave Toren, you will be marched at
the head of the coffle, and there will be many requests for you,
overweight as you are.  I will accept all of them.  They may do
anything short of disfiguring or killing you."
    Anything else he might have said was cut short by Brianna
snatching the scrap of cloth and trying to figure out how to put
it on.  With slim, deft hands, Red Jared put it on her, showing
her how it fit.  It was revealing, but Brianna found she felt
better with something on again.  He handed her a pair of light
sandals.
    "Actually, you belong to my partner, Jessica Harveld.  I
won't intervene again.  You had best cooperate, since she isn't
known for her patience.  She's in a foul mood today, and wouldn't
mind taking some of it out on you."  He left her to think about
what he had said.
    A snap of Jess's lash on the ground brought the coffle to
attention.  "We are travelling south and east.  As we move, you
will be sold.  Anyone who doesn't keep pace gets a taste of
leather.  Let's go."
    The coffle travelled slowly along the roads.  The war in
Tavect was the news.  Brianna listened miserably as the slavers
received the latest updates from the passing patrols or at way
posts.  Her father had surrendered, and agreed to stay as a
puppet ruler.  She was still missing, although most people
assumed she had been kidnapped by the Dark Lord to insure King
Fionn's cooperation.  Her heart sank into her sandals with each
step she took closer to Dark Hold, but when she tried holding
back, Jessica or Jared would snap the lash across her back.  No
marks were ever left, she checked each night, but it stung
terribly.  At least she had Agnes.
    Agnes had been returned to the coffle after Brianna's
purchase, only to find the princess furious with her.  Brianna
lashed Agnes with her tongue so severely that they were separated
after two hours.  Agnes had been put in the middle of the coffle,
between a pair of pretty blondes.  She knew she was plain, with
her broad face and scrawny figure.  But next to these creatures
of gold and ivory, she felt like a mudbug from the river.  They
ignored her for the most part and she was glad of that.  Brianna
had been put between a pair of glorious redheads.  She felt
superior to them since she was not really a slave, only a
political prisoner, and she said as much.
    "Do you really believe that?" asked Ava, who walked in front
of her.  "If you do, then you're more stupid than your maid.  You
are a slave, I watched our master buy you from the ogrish one."
    "It was a ransom," Brianna protested, "and Agnes is not my
maid, she's one of my ladies-in-waiting."
    Lessa, behind her, said, "You were sold, slave girl.  Time
to adjust to a new life.  I don't envy you, where you're going. 
I was in a harem with a girl who used to be one of his girls. 
She was terrified of everything, and knelt strangely every time
our master entered.  The rest of us merely knelt, she always had
her knees spread, her hands behind her back and her head down. 
She said she was one of the lucky ones who actually got to
leave...alive."
    "What do you mean, leave alive?  Doesn't he sell the ones he
gets bored with?"
    "She said he rarely sells a boring girl.  Boring slaves are
given to his troops or his ogre, or fed to his dogs, she said. 
She was interesting enough, but had just lost his interest since
new girls had come in.  He gave her to my old master as a gift."
    "I am still a political prisoner.  He won't dare put me in
his harem.  I'll be kept in the dungeon until Poppa relents and
gives him what he wants.  This is all Agnes's fault.  The stupid
cow didn't raise an alarm when the witch ensorcelled me."  She
was off on another tirade against Agnes, Jess, Janesse and her
fate.  Ava and Lessa shrugged and kept walking.  She would learn
soon enough.
    The trip to Letzthoffnung had been profitable.  Most of the
slaves had been sold.  Jess had persuaded Jared to buy a trio of
a singer, and her musicians.  The singer was a blonde and her
accompanists were a redhead and a brunette.  Jess knew they would
appeal to the Dark Lord.  Ava and Lessa were sold and Brianna
found herself with no one to talk to, until Gregor was purchased. 
He was a slender young man who was amazingly dexterous.  He would
pick up stones as they walked and juggle them for hours while
walking.  He had aspired to being a bard, one of the wandering
priests of Maira, he told her.  He worshipped Maira as the
goddess of harps and open locks.  
    Brianna was fascinated with the young man and his stories
and tricks.  Jared noticed this and warned him that if he even
attempted to seduce Brianna, he would never be able to use a
woman again.  Jess, noticing, moved Brianna in the coffle.  She
sulked for two days, making life miserable for Prisca and
Phanessa, the singer's flutist and the crwth player.  The only
respite they had was the required practice sessions after the
halt had been called for the day.  They were permitted to play
for the slavers, leaving the main portion of the coffle secured
between two trees.  
    Jared was interested in the crwth, a stringed instrument
rather like a cross between a harp and a lyre.  Phanessa was
adept with it and made even the slightly wailing tone of the
strings appealing.  It rather reminded him of the mating call of
a female of his kind.  Prisca's flute, on the other hand, annoyed
his sensitive ears with its shrill pitch.
    They reached Letzthoffnung in the third week.  Arriving in
the late afternoon, Jared opted not to spend the night in Bracken
Wood, having heard stories of it.  Jess, having spent a night or
two in it, agreed heartily.  They hired a room and stable space
at the Inn of the Slaughtered Lamb, and stayed the night.
    Early the next morning, before dawn, they left the fortress-
city that guarded the only road to Dark Hold.  They hired a pair
of wagons and horses to move the slaves quickly, not wanting to
be nightbound more than one night in the forest, or locked out of
the castle when they did reach it.  At dusk they reached a
clearing that Jess recognized.  It was about two thirds of the
way to the castle, and a reasonably safe spot.  They camped there
undisturbed.  Far away, they could hear a lone wolf baying at the
moon, which was getting on to the full.  Jess wanted to finish
their business quickly and then get Jared somewhere where he
could Change in peace and not worry about the bigger predators.
    Jared was on edge anyway from being close to Changing, and
the wolf made him nervous.  He paced the edge of their camp,
checked his weapons, and double-checked the slaves.  He snapped
at Jess, and could smell the fear-smell on his body.  This was
the worst time, being so close to animal senses, but too far from
animal form.  He knew he was being difficult, and sat down next
to Jess to apologize.
    "No need," she told him.  "I remember a time when you were
like this all the time because you couldn't control it.  Just
remain calm and keep your wits about you.  That wolf is miles
away by the sound of him.  If it is the wolf I think it is, then
he is not interested in us."
    She was right, and the night was peaceful.  The next day,
they started traveling again.  An hour after noon, they reached
the edge of the forest.  Jared, not having seen Dark Hold before,
was impressed.  They crossed the expansive clearing between the
forest and the moat with no difficulty, and arrived at the guard
post.
    The guards checked Red Jared's pass, and identification
papers.  The coffle of slaves received only cursory attention, at
first.  Jess and Red Jared were disarmed and searched.  Jess's
expense ledgers were checked for obvious magic spells by a young
man that Jess did not recognize.  He did not seem very far into
his teens as humans measured age.  The slaves were searched also,
much to Brianna's indignation.  The drawbridge was lowered and
they were granted entrance.
    "That little brunette was a spitfire, wasn't she?" commented
the junior officer.
    "Yes, she was.  Our lord won't be bothered with buying that
little hellcat.  She's not even that pretty, and on the chubby
side into the bargain," agreed the sergeant.
    A half-orc lieutenant put in, "I don't know.  I thought she
was cute.  She could be fun to tame.  That one between the two
pale-hairs was really pretty.  Just the right complexion, but a
little on the skinny side.  If I'm here when they leave, and she
isn't bought by the boss, I may splurge with that pay I've saved. 
I always wanted a slave girl."
    "Don't we all?" the sergeant noted.
    Passing into the castle's inner courtyard, Brianna covered
her face in shame as the coffle was herded past a detail of
imperial guards.  She could not bear being seen by men she had
looked down upon less than two months before in all her royal
finery.  Jessica was instantly at her side and slapping her hands
back to her sides.  
    "Not the proud princess any longer, slave girl," Jess
snarled at the blushing Brianna in an informative tone, "and
while I care nothing for how your new master will have you
behave, while you belong to me and march in my coffle, you will
behave.  I have let you slide on discipline, but one more error,
and I will flay you alive here and now."
    Brianna glared at her captor with unimaginable hate, and
Jess drew back her arm slightly.  Apparently not all of Varge's
teachings had been lost, and Brianna dropped her eyes and
continued walking, trying to cripple the girl ahead of her with
her stare, and blaming the world for her troubles.
    Jessica cracked her knuckles in frustration as she resumed
her place at the rear of the coffle.  Throughout the entire
journey to Dark Hold, Brianna had not tasted leather for her
attitude, and the other girls had come to resent her for the
special treatment.  They completely ignored her--ordinarily a
devastating disciplinary action itself--but that had only
succeeded in making her even harder to deal with, since it
reinforced her attitude of superiority.  Jess's patience was
depleted, and she contemplated making the price of the princess
so outrageous that the Dark Lord wouldn't want her.  Looking at
the slave, Jess sighed.  That was already in doubt, even though
the journey had taken a good ten pounds off of her.  If he
wouldn't have her, Jess would have the satisfaction of beating
the royal brat within an inch of her life, and dragging her out
east and selling her to one of the secret societies of Tod.  She
could insure that the princess would be used as a laboratory
demonstration in one of the schools where torture and other
methods of creative persuasion were taught to the Empire's future
Shadowmen.  But no, she would be rid of Brianna today, even if
she had to keep the price reasonable.  She could not bear the
thought of another day with the girl, beaten and gagged or
otherwise.
    In the inner courtyard, the slavers were greeted by a novel
sight, and an example of the Dark Lord's near heartless
disciplinary tactics.  Two wooden poles, usually erected only for
orcish ceremonies, were sunk into the holes which were covered by
round flagstones most of the time.  Chained by the wrists to
these poles as a slave girl, whom Jess recognized after a moment
as  Chandra, the former ShetaRra.  Raising her head briefly from
the heat-ravaged slump, she regarded the coffle dully.  By the
look of her, she had been chained out for some time, and the mid-
autumn sun had been merciless for the past few days.  Her own
almost healed sunburn twinged in sympathy.  Chandra was
definitely burned, and it was not a good sign against her
normally dark skin.  Doubtless, she was on the verge of delirium,
if not worse, and Jess wondered what she had done to deserve such
punishment.  They passed into the castle itself, leaving Chandra
hanging limply in her chains.
    The four knocks came on the doors to the throne room.  Jared
had been looking uneasily at the skulls, thinking about how one
would crunch under his paws and teeth, and reprimanding himself
the lapse.  Even to think about eating the decorations, indeed!
he snapped at himself.  Where are your manners?  Jess, oblivious
to her partner's unease, was mentally noting the new skulls and
wondering whose they had been.  Red Jared scratched nervously at
the new growth of hair on his arms.  His drooping mustache and
long sideburns had crept down his face and become a full red
beard.
    The doors opened and the slavers were admitted to the throne
room.  It took a moment for their eyes to adjust, but they
followed the feel of the carpet under their soft-soled boots. 
The slaves were having more difficulty, not having elven sight or
Jared's lycanthropic cat eyes.
    Stopping in the center of the room, Jess sketched a short
bow, and nudged Jared, who was looking around himself, checking
for exits and high places.  He bowed quickly and deeply to the
dais.  This throne room could close in and become a trap far too
easily for his liking.
    "Great Lord," Jess began.  "After much difficulty, I have
completed the task you set for me.  In this coffle stand both
Princess Brianna of Tavect, and her lady-in-waiting, Agnes.  I
also have acquired a few trifles that might interest you."  Red
Jared unlocked the trio, and moved them out into the light. 
"First, Prisca, Phanessa, and Phaedra.  Phaedra sings and dances,
the others accompany her.  We ask nine hundred for the set. 
Then, Gregor, a jester.  He juggles, tells stories, does slight
of hand, and can sing, and might do better with training.  For
this multi-talented lad, we are asking only four hundred.  The
Princess, I must negotiate with you in private."
    Zara moved out from behind the shadows of the throne and
looked at the visitors strangely.  The Dark Lord looked at her
for a moment, and then turned back to the slavers.  He was not at
all pleased with the princess' body; he had been anticipating a
more savory figure--the one he remembered from the last time he
had seen her.  Slaves were not fed well enough to get fat, so she
must have hidden it all beneath her clothing somehow.  At least
she did not appear marked from the journey, which half surprised
him, given Jess's temper and the girl's annoying personality.
    Jess read the Dark Lord's irritated look as he gazed at the
princess.  At least the marks Varge One-Ear had left on her had
healed.  She wondered if he would purchase Agnes as well, or if
he'd have coin to waste after the princess.  The price would be
definitely higher than he was expecting.
    "I see no reason for secrets concerning the purchase of a
single mere woman," the Dark Lord said presently.  "Especially
one as fat and dumpy as that!"  The princess, who had been
standing with her head down and keeping quiet with the others,
suddenly snapped her head fully erect at the insult.  Noticing,
the Dark Lord gestured to her and scoffed with a chuckle, "Are
you certain you abducted the right princess?!  I think you got
the night-pot girl."
    Jessica did not bother to honor his ridiculous comment with
a response; he knew her far too well to even think she would make
such a mistake, and she was almost insulted--whether her patron
was serious or not.  The princess, on the other hand, was not
about to let such a slight go unanswered.  She was, after all, an
important political prisoner and princess of a mighty nation.
    "I am the Princess Brianna Anastasia Theresa Fiona!" she
declared loudly and with indignation as she stepped out of line. 
The other girls kept their silence and fought to maintain their
positions.  They knew what must come next, by every unspoken law
of slavery; the laws Brianna had never learned or had chosen to
disregard.  Although Jess had sorely wished to teach the sharp-
tongued royal bitch her new place, she had permitted the princess
to behave as she would have no other slave in her coffle.  She
had assumed, and rightly, that the Dark Lord would want the
pleasure of breaking her himself.
    "I am the only daughter of King Fionn V, the Just of
Tavect!" she continued.  "I demand that--"
    "Silence!" the Dark Lord thundered from across the room. 
"Henceforth you will demand noth--"
    "I will not be silent!" the princess shot back, interrupting
him with her shrill voice and beginning to shake her finger at
him.  "I am not a slave!  I am a political prisoner of war, and
you know it very well.  This is an outrage and--"
    "Enough!" Jess bellowed, in a voice with as much frustration
and anger as volume.  Tearing the small belt whip she wore from
its place at her hip, she advanced on Brianna with murder in her
eye.  "Nobody embarrasses me in front of nobility--or anyone
else--and especially not a rich bitch slave girl who does not yet
know her place!  I will tolerate you no longer, slave girl!"
    Red Jared stood quietly, knowing better than to interfere
with his partner's rages.  He bore the scars of the one time he
had been foolish enough to try.  The princess retreated as far as
her chains, and the other slave girls would permit.  The others
strained to hold their position as their master's partner
approached, clutching her whip so tightly that her knuckles had
turned white.  As far as the slaver and the rest of the coffle
was concerned, Brianna was about to get the reward she had laying
up for herself over the whole trip, with interest.  Some of the
girls even dared to tilt their heads to watch the spectacle from
the corners of their eyes. 
    As Jess raised her whip to strike the first of many eagerly
anticipated blows, she was halted by a single word from the dais
behind her.  "No," the Dark Lord said, his voice calm and
malicious.  As she fought a brief battle between immediate
gratification and professionalism, Jess cracked her whip hard on
the floor.  She turned to the dais with a long, exhausted sigh,
suddenly looking very tired.  "She's mine," the Dark Lord stated. 
"Name your price."
     Her anger subdued by the proximity of profit, and the
unspoken reassurance that Brianna's outburst had not lost her any
standing with the Dark Lord, Jess returned her whip to her belt,
and motioned for her partner to toss her the keys.  This done,
she unlocked the princess from her place in the coffle and
brought her forward to the dais.  Brianna modestly covered her
nakedness with her hands and arms, secure in the knowledge that
some fraction of her regal status had been regained by her words.
    A slave girl indeed! she scoffed.  I knew it had to be a
mistake all along.  This stupid slaver will pay for what she has
done.
    Regarding his long-awaited prize with disappointment as she
looked arrogantly down her nose at him, not an easy feat
considering the elevation at which he sat, the Dark Lord returned
his attention to Jessica.  The attractive trio standing with Red
Jared were forgotten, much to the temporary relief of Lucy. 
Lounging near her master's feet, she carefully reached out to
gently stroke his lower left leg, hoping to make him forget them
entirely.  Since Liana's transition from the harem to the Hall of
Skulls, life in the harem had been very good to Lucy and she did
not want any competition.
    "Name your price," the Dark Lord repeated, as he settled
back into the shadows and pretended not to notice the soft hand
caressing his leg.  Not bothering to take out her expense record,
Jess sketched another bow to the throne and began her recital
from memory.
    "Great Lord," she began, "this little package you sent me
for has cost me much; you promised to reimburse me for expenses,
and I have had many since her abduction.  Two horses: one hundred
gold each.  One collection of fine furs, one of them rare snow
fox, the others sable trimmings: three hundred and seventy-five. 
Miscellaneous personal items stolen by your troops: thirty gold. 
Travel expenses west of the Handel River, to include imperial
toll roads--roads that were free last time I remembered: thirty-
seven gold.  The initial agreed upon price for the princess: five
hundred.  Mercenary expenses for speedy travel through the
Bracken Wood: eight gold.  Personal suffering and inconvenience,
including loss of my punt, abuse at the hands of imperial
slavers, the princess and Agnes' prices from said slavers, travel
to Toren to recover the princess, recompense to my guild brother
for his inconvenience, and various herbal sunburn remedies: three
hundred fifty.  And one unlimited imperial travel pass, also
stolen and lost by your imperial forces: priceless.  The Princess
Brianna of Tavect is yours, Great Lord, for fifteen hundred and a
renewed travel pass."
    Resenting being spoken about once again as property, like
back in Toren, Brianna was about to protest, but then reminded
herself that her captor was not really selling her, but asking
for ransom money--although she believed she was worth more. 
Jess's price met with only stony silence and Red Jared shifted
nervously from foot to foot.
    "Preposterous," Zara answered for her brother.  "Fifteen
hundred is far too much for an untrained slave with little in
looks below her neck."
    "I am not a slave!" Brianna shrieked at the top of her
lungs.  How often must these fools be told that?  Why isn't the
Dark Lord defending me and having clothes fetched and throwing
this ill-mannered boor of a slaver into his dungeon.  I would
have thought his witch would be in on the plot.  And where is
that attractive wizard?
    A sudden tense wave and a few soft syllables from the woman
beside the throne, and Brianna felt her entire body go cold and
rigid.  Horrified at being under the effects of an evil spell,
she tried to scream, but nothing came out.  Trying to speak met
with equal results, and so too did crying.  Unable to move a
muscle or make any noise, Brianna stood statue-like in front of
the dais, refreshingly quiet.  Jess resisted the urge to smile,
and ignored both the sorceress and the princess to concentrate on
her buyer.  She wondered if he too was resisting the urge to
smile, or if he was letting the shadows cover it.
    "No imperial forces reported meeting you in the east, where
I told you to take the princess once you had her," the Dark Lord
answered.  "Why?"
    "I make my own travel plans, Great Lord," Jess answered
quickly.
    "Pity," came the stern response.  "When I give instructions,
I expect them to be followed without question, since I give them
for good reason; which is all you or any other hireling needs to
know.  Since you chose to `make your own travel plans,' I do not
hold myself accountable for any losses or suffering you may have
experienced in the west.  You went there without my authority,
and the responsibility is your's alone.  Your decision, your
loss.  I will, however, pay for mercenary and toll-road expenses,
as you would have encountered those anyway, and the initial fee
of five hundred which makes for..."
    "Five hundred and forty-five gold," Zara put in, sparing her
brother the trivial trouble of mathematical calculations, which
he disliked.
    "Five hundred fifty," the Dark Lord stated, adding an extra
five.  "A nice round number, for a nice round slave girl."  Held
in the icy grip of the spell, Brianna despaired silently.  The
Dark Lord had called her `slave girl!'  Her visions of being a
political prisoner began to fade and the reality she had been
denying for so long sank in, along with her memories of the harem
and Jess's snide remarks and promises about the girl in charge.  
    No... she thought miserably.  This can't be happening to me! 
I'm a princess!
    "Twelve hundred," Jess answered the Dark Lord's offer,
weighing the possible folly of pushing her favor and reputation
against so dangerous and powerful a man.  Let's see just how much
he values my services.  He sometimes like to haggle, I just hope
this is one of those times.
    "Six," came the immediate reply.  
    Good, he's in the mood.  Let's see how much.  "Eleven
hundred," Jess demanded, not wanting to go below a thousand.
    "Seven."
    Jess tapped her fingers on her hip, biting her lower lip
thoughtfully.  "Ten-fifty," she held out, feeling herself losing
slack.  
    Brianna despaired even more as she saw the last of her
dignity, the price she could fetch, going steadily down.  She
strained with all her might to close her eyelids and hide herself
in the darkness behind them, but the paralysis spell held firm. 
The Dark Lord was not bargaining any longer and she found the
silence painful.
    "Eight hundred," the Dark Lord stated, "and a new travel
pass."
    "One thousand," Jess answered, not ready to give up, but not
liking the fact he was now figuring in her licence to ply her
trade into the bargain.
    "Eight hundred," came the reply, "and a new pass."
    "Nine hundred," Jess shot back, looking for a compromise
that would cover all the expenses, without pushing the Dark Lord
too far.
    "No," he answered coldly, "eight hundred is my final offer. 
When you ride in my employ, you will follow instructions like
everyone else.  Be grateful I am willing to remember past
services well rendered and pay you three hundred more than the
agreed-upon price, and renew your travel pass without the six
month wait.  One year is the norm for an unlimited pass, which is
what I presume you are after, and you know I have never issued
one twice to anyone, until today."
    Having pushed her luck far enough, and knowing how much
better she and her new partner would be able to do with an
unlimited imperial pass instead of his seasonal western region
pass, Jess nodded.  "All right," she growled, "eight hundred and
a new pass before I leave."  She did not like it, but at least
she was rid of the whining princess and she could recoup some of
her loss with other sales before she left.
    With a slow sweeping motion of her hand, Zara lifted the
statue-like body of Princess Brianna a few inches from the floor
and glided her over to the left of the dais by the wall before
settling her gently back to the floor.  The spells of silence and
paralysis would hold until she removed them, and now that she was
his, Zara was certain her brother would deal harshly with the
princess if she dared to act out again.  It was something she
knew he had been looking forward to ever since the princess had
left Dark Hold.
--