"Our philosophers tell us that slavery's an evil."

"I don't concern myself with philosophy, your Highness. I take the world as I find it. I'm prepared to offer ten Perquaine gold wheats for every able-bodied young captive you'd care to sell."

She stared at him in astonishment. "That's a noble price, Master Althalus," she said in that throbbing voice.

"I buy the best, your Highness, so I pay the best. I don't deal in children or old men or young women. I buy only young, strong, healthy men who can put in a good day's work." He glanced over at the youthful Arum chained to the marble pillar. "With your permission, your Highness," he said, bowing slightly. He walked over to the pillar where Eliar sat disconsolately on the marble floor in chains. "On your feet!" Althalus barked.

"Who says so?" Eliar replied sullenly.

Althalus reached out, took Eliar by his hair, and jerked him into a standing position. "When I tell you to do something, do it," he said. "Now open your mouth. I want to see your teeth."

Eliar tightly clamped his mouth shut.

"He's a bit stubborn, Master Althalus," Andine said. "I've been trying ever so hard to cure him of that."

"It takes a certain amount of firmness to break a slave's spirit, your Highness," Althalus advised her. Then he took his dagger from his belt and pried Eliar's teeth apart with it. "Good healthy teeth," he noted. 'That's a promising sign. Bad teeth usually mean that the slave's got something wrong with him."

Eliar made a lunge at Althalus, but his chains brought him up short.

"He's a little stupid," Althalus observed, "but that can be cured. Boy," he said to the captive, "didn't your Sergeant ever explain to you that it's foolish to attack an armed man with your bare hands? Particularly when you're chained up."

Eliar was straining at his chains, trying to pull himself free.

"Good muscle tone there, too," Althalus said approvingly. "I'd pay a premium for this one, your Highness."

"That one isn't for sale," Andine replied rather intensely. Her voice had taken on a steely note, and her huge black eyes burned.

"Everything's for sale, your Highness," Althalus replied with a cynical laugh.

'Don't push it just yet, Althalus,' Emmy's purring voice murmured in his mind. 'I'm still working on her.'

'Do you think you can bring her around?'

'Probably. She's young enough to be impulsive. Ask to see the other captives. You'll probably have to buy them all to get Eliar.'

"We can discuss this one later, your Highness," Althalus said to the Arya. "Do you suppose I might be able to take a look at the others?"

"Of course, Master Althalus," Andine replied. "Show him the way to the dungeon, Lord Dhakan."

"At once, your Highness," the silver-haired old gentlemen replied. "This way, Master Althalus."

The two of them left the throne room.

"Your Arya's a beautiful young woman, Lord Dhakan," Althalus observed.

"That's the only reason we tolerate her, Althalus. She's pretty enough that we can overlook her flaws."

"She'll settle down, Dhakan. Marry her off, that's my advice. After she's had a few babies, she'll start to grow up."

There were nine kilted young Arums in the dungeon, and some of them were still nursing wounds they'd received during the battle outside the walls of Osthos. Althalus made some show of inspecting them. "Not bad, on the whole," he said as he and Dhakan were returning to the throne room. "That one she's got chained to the post is the key to the whole arrangement, though. He's the best of the lot. If we can persuade her to include him, I'll make her an offer. If she won't agree, I think I'll have to go elsewhere."

"I'll speak with her, Althalus," Dhakan promised. "You might want to describe the conditions the slaves have to live in once they get to the mines of Ansu. Exaggeration wouldn't hurt. Our little girl hungers and thirsts for revenge. Let's persuade her that the life of a slave in a salt mine is far, far worse than anything she can think of to do to him here. That might just tip the scales. Be eloquent, Althalus. Linger on unspeakable horrors if you possibly can. Our dear Andine is topful of passions, and passionate people make hasty decisions based on whims. I'll help as much as I can. I want that young Eliar out of Osthos and out of Andine's sight. If she refuses to sell him to you, I'll have to come up with a way to kill him. I have to get rid of him."

"Trust me, Dhakan," Althalus said confidently. "When it comes to buying and selling, I'm the very best." Then he sent his thought out to Emmy. 'Have you got her yet, Em?' he asked.

'I'm getting closer.'

'See if you can stir some interest in the salt mines.'

'What for?'

'So I can tell her some horror stories.'

'You're going to lie to her, I take it?'

'No, I'm going to tell her the truth. Unless things have changed, the salt mines of Ansu are worse than the deepest pits in Nekweros. Dhakan thinks that might turn the trick here. Nudge her hard, Em. If she doesn't sell Eliar to us, Dhakan's going to have him killed.'

When Althalus and Dhakan entered the throne room, they saw that Andine had laid the laurel-leaf dagger aside and that she was concentrating all her attention on Emmy. She was smiling, and her smile was almost like the sun coming up. Even when she'd been scowling at Eliar, she'd been beautiful, but when she smiled, her beauty made Althalus go weak in the knees.

Dhakan went up to the dais and spoke quietly with his young ruler at some length.

Andine shook her head vehemently several times. Then Dhakan beckoned to Althalus.

Althalus approached the throne. "Yes, my Lord?" he asked Dhakan.

"I think we should get down to cases here, Master Althalus," Dhakan declared. "What's your offer?"

"Nine Perquaine wheats apiece for the ones you've got down in the dungeon," Althalus replied.

"You said ten!" Andine's voice suddenly soared. Sergeant Khalor's description of that voice appeared to have been a slight understatement.

Althalus held up one finger. "The price is subject to amendment, your Highness," he said. "If you're willing to include the one you have chained here, I'll slide it up. I'll pay you eighty-one gold wheats for the nine in the dungeon. If you're willing to add this one, I'll pay you a hundred for the lot."

"That's a difference of nineteen pieces of gold. He isn't worth that much!" Her voice rose again.

"He's prime stock, your Highness. When I reach Ansu, I'll put him out front for the mine owners to look at. They'll buy the lot just to get him. I know good merchandise when I see it. I could sell cripples if I could wave Eliar in the buyer's face."

"What's it like down there in those salt mines?" she asked. "How would you describe them?"

Althalus feigned a shudder. "I'd really rather not, your Highness," he replied. "Over to the east, in Wekti, Plakand, and Equero, criminals beg to be executed when they're sentenced to be sold into the salt mines as a punishment for murder and the like. Being sent into those mines is far worse than a death sentence. If a slave's unlucky, he'll last for ten years down there. The lucky ones die in just a few months."

"Why don't we talk about that?" Andine almost purred.

Althalus described conditions in the salt mines at some length, exaggerating only slightly. He mentioned the prevalence of blindness, the frequent cave-ins during which lucky slaves were crushed to death. He covered the darkness, the perpetual chill, the continuous choking dust, and dwelt at some length on the burly men with whips. "All in all," he concluded, "murderers and the like are very wise to prefer hanging to the mines."

"Then you'd say that being sent to the salt mines is a fate worse than death?" Andine said, her lovely eyes all aglow.

"Oh, yes," Althalus assured her. "Much, much worse."

"I do believe we can strike a bargain here, Master Althalus," she decided. "A hundred gold wheats for the lot, you say?"

"That was my offer, your Highness."

"Done, then-if you'll throw in your cat."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I want this lovely little cat. If you let me have her, we've struck a bargain."

CHAPTER TEN.

'Do as she says, Althalus. Emmy's thought cut through his startled dismay.'

'I moist certainly will not!' he shot back.

'You don't really think she can keep me here, do you? Make her throw in the Knife, though.'

'How am I going to manage that?'

'I don't care. Think something up. That's what I'm paying you for, remember? Oh, one other thing. When you get the Knife from her, just tuck it under your belt and don't look at it.'

'Why?'

'Can't you ever do as you're told without asking all these questions? I don't want you to look at the Knife until after we're out of here. Just do it and don't argue.'

'He gave up. Yes, dear, he said silently.'

"What's the problem, Master Althalus?" Andine asked, gently stroking the purring cat in her lap.

"You took me by surprise, your Highness," he replied. "I'm really very fond of my cat." He scratched his chin. "This puts the whole transaction on a different footing. The slaves are just merchandise; including Emmy changes things. I think I'll need something in addition to the slaves before I'd be willing to part with her."

"Such as?"

"Oh, I don't know." He pretended to think about it. "It really ought to be some personal possession of yours. I'm much too fond of my cat to include her in some crass commercial transaction. I'd have trouble living with myself if I just sold her outright."

"You're a strange man, Master Althalus." Arya Andine looked at him with her luminous eyes. "What sort of possession of mine would satisfy your delicate sensibilities?"

"It doesn't have to be anything of great value, your Highness. I didn't pay anything for Emmy. I just picked her up along the side of the road a few years ago. She's very good at worming her way into someone's affections."

"Yes, I noticed that." Andine impulsively lifted Emmy up to hold her against her own face. "I just love this cat," she said in that throbbing voice of hers. "Choose, Master Althalus. Name your price."

Althalus laughed. "You really shouldn't say things like that, your Highness," he advised her. "If I weren't an honest businessman, I could take advantage of your sudden attachment to my cat."

"Name your price. I must have her."

"Oh, I don't know-anything, I suppose. How about that knife you've been toying with? You seem to have a certain attachment to it. That's all that matters, really."

"Choose something else." Andine's eyes grew troubled.

"Ah . . . no, your Highness, I don't think so. My cat for your knife. You won't value her if you haven't given up something that you cherish for her."

"You bargain very hard, Master Althalus," she accused.

Emmy reached out one soft paw and gently stroked the Arya's alabaster cheek.

"Oh, dear," Andine said, pressing Emmy against her face. "Take the knife, Master Althalus. Take it. I don't care. Take anything you want. I must have her." She seized up the laurel-leaf dagger and tossed it to the marble floor in front of the dais.

"If it please your Highness, I'll see to the details," the silver-haired Dhakan said smoothly. Quite obviously, Dhakan was the one who really ran things here in Osthos.

"Thank you, Lord Dhakan," Andine said, rising to her feet with Emmy cradled possessively in her arms.

"You be a good cat now, Em," Althalus said, bending to pick up the Knife. "Remember-no biting."

"Does she bite?" Andine asked.

"Sometimes," Althalus replied, tucking the Knife under his belt. "Not very hard, though. Usually it's when she gets carried away while we're playing. Snap her on the nose with your fingernail and she'll quit. Oh, I should probably warn your Highness: don't be too surprised if she decides to give your face a bath. Her tongue's a bit rough, but you get used to it after a while."

"What's her favorite food?"

"Fish, of course." Althalus bowed. "It's been a pleasure doing business with your Highness," he said.

The clinking of the long chain started to irritate Althalus before he and the ten young Arums even reached the main gate of Osthos. It was a continual reminder that he wasn't alone anymore, and he didn't really like that.

Once they were outside the city, Althalus sent a searching thought back toward the palace. This was the farthest he'd been from Emmy in the last twenty-five centuries, and he didn't like that either.

'I'm busy right now, Althalus,' her thought came back to him. 'Don't bother me. Go to that place where we made the coins and wait for me there.'

'Do you have any idea of how long you'll be?'

'Sometime tonight. Keep Eliar, and turn the others loose.'

'I just paid a lot of money for them, Em.'

'Easy come, easy go. Point them toward Arum and send them home. Get them out from underfoot.'

The walls of Osthos were still in sight when Althalus turned his horse aside and rode across an open field to the small grove of oak trees where he and Emmy had converted the five bars of gold. As his horse plodded across the field, Althalus prudently manipulated his hearing and directed it back toward his slaves to hear what they were up to.

"-only one man," he heard Eliar whisper. "As soon as we get away from the city, we'll all jump on him at once and kill him. Pass it on to the others. Tell them to wait for my signal. Up until then, we'd all better act sort of meek. Once we've got him alone, we'll get unmeek."

Althalus smiled to himself. "I wonder why it took him so long," he murmured to himself. "That notion should have come to him hours ago." Obviously, he was going to have to take some steps here to discourage certain loyalties.