Publius Maximus clapped his hands, and the two girls, Hannei and Mirella, both of whom had been given to him by Marcellus, started to dance. Talbrik paid them little notice. They performed a simple but highly erotic dance around the men, though they kept on what little clothing they had. When they had finished, Publius Maximus suggested to Arslan that he might wish to find another cave in which he and his sister could spend the night in comfort, and they went off in search of one. Finally, Publius Maximus called Yolande to him and whispered to her that on no account was she make any comment about the next dancer.

'I do not understand,' she said.

'If you recognise her,' he whispered, as he poured another generous measure of wine into Talbrik's cup, 'say nothing. It is essential to my plans. I know you are Marcellus' slave, and not mine, but you might as well acknowledge me as your temporary master. Now do as I say and go and bid Jacleen to come and dance before us.'

'Am I likely to recognise her, then?'

'I do not know if you ever saw her.'

'Who is she?'

'Never mind who she is. Just fetch her. And if you do recognise her, bear in mind what I have said.'

'Of course, master.'

A few moments later she returned to kneel behind Publius Maximus, where the other girls had grouped themselves to watch Jacleen's performance. Publius Maximus could not help but notice that Yolande had gone deathly pale, but she said nothing, only stared at Jacleen as she entered the arena they had prepared for her to dance in.

'Well, Jacleen,' Publius Maximus said, 'show us how well you can dance. This man here has never seen a real slave dance, I am sure.'

'Masters will forgive me if my performance lacks a certain something?'

'And what might that be?'

'Music.'

Traditionally, on Heraklion, the slave dances are performed to a musical accompaniment. Music is more highly developed in the more civilised cities, such as Horta, and Sharmak, but wherever you went on Heraklion there would be someone with a stringed instrument willingly to strum along as a slave girl danced her way to a man's favour. Commonly on Heraklion, the instrument is shaped like a woman, with a curved waist, a top and a bottom, the stringed face of the instrument being shaped also like the belly of a woman, and the sound hole nearer the bottom than the top. The neck of the instrument is exceptionally long, some three feet in length, such that musicians on Heraklion are exceptionally tall, with very long arms and fingers. There are seven strings on most instruments, though there are an enormous number of regional and provincial variations, the strings being made from animal gut, cut into varying thicknesses to produce different resonances and therefore different notes. The chromatic scale of the Herakian music is classical in notation and form. Dances are performed most often to the accompaniment of a strong, insistent rhythm, itself also usually accompanied by loud clapping from the audience.                    

'We will clap for you,' Publius Maximus said, beaming. He nudged Talbrik, whose eyes were closing.

'Talbrik, Jacleen is to dance for us. Clap with me. Clap, man, clap!'

Talbrik's hands came together in a slow, awkward movement, but there was little energy in him, and that which remained had been absorbed into the strong alcohol fed to him by the General. Satisfied that he was asleep, Publius Maximus nodded his approval to Jacleen. She knelt before him in supplication, her head down, her arms spread wide, her fingers outstretched. Briefly, she looked up to meet his eyes.

'It is still necessary for me to dance before you, General?' she said.

'Yes, Saria, it is still necessary.'

Yolande stiffened behind the cushion on which the General sat. She leaned to whisper something to one of the other girls, and his hand shot out, slapping her hard across the side of the head. She had not even seen him move.

'Run to the outside of the cave, and stand there until I call you in. Venture fully outside, so that you are made wet by the rain, Yolande.'

She, nodding tearfully, stood up, and did as he had told her.

'You may begin your dance, Jacleen,' he said.

Nodding her own head, the girl he had addressed as 'Saria' began to move. He clapped slowly at first as she dashed across the floor of the cave, arching her back gracefully and bending in the middle so that her long hair fell to the ground. Standing up, on tiptoe, she moved quickly and lithely about the floor, making sweeping gestures with her arms, hands and legs, and all the while Publius Maximus kept up the insistent rhythm of his clapping, watching her through wide open eyes as she danced the Dance of Forsaken Love. In this dance the girl smiles at first, and dances gracefully and gratefully around the man who has paid for her services for the night, pretending that he is the man she loves. Then, as the minutes tick away, the dancing becomes more frenzied and she begins to leap about the floor, casting off her clothing, one garment after another, until she wears only a veil and a transparent shift, beneath which are clearly visible her naked breasts and her lower regions, still clothed in vestal white underbriefs which will eventually join the rest of the clothing strewn about the audience. As the dance progresses she begins to touch herself intimately, concentrating firstly on her breasts, which she tends to accentuate by running her palms underneath them and pushing them forward, until she finally dares to touch the nipples themselves. It is a requirement of this dance that the nipples are seen to become hard and thrusting forward early on in the sequence, so that the audience is well apprised of the highly charged state of the dancer. At length the dancer removes the transparent shift, standing before the audience clad only in her underbriefs and veil. The purpose of the veil has been lost in the mists of time, but it is thought that originally the dance would have been performed by women about to consummate their relationship with a first lover, when protocol might have dictated that the man should not see the girl's face until after such consummation has taken place. Finally, the girl's hands are seen to slip down inside the underbriefs, and if the girl has prepared her dance well and performed it exactly as required, she will then pretend that her lover has forsaken her for another, and although fully aroused, and moist beneath the thin silk undergarment, feigns distress at the fact that there is no-one with whom she can perform the intimacy of lovemaking. Normally at this point, she will cast off the underbriefs and throw herself tantalisingly onto the floor in full view of the audience, and the bidding for her favour will start.

As the underbriefs were lowered over her hips, the girl sank gracefully to the floor, ending up in a position which was not as revealing as it might have been, nor indeed as revealing as Publius Maximus had hoped, even though he was aware that this girl belonged first and foremost to his closest friend and ally, Marcellus of Barbessel. He was not embarrassed by his feelings. Publius Maximus was a man who believed most sincerely in the notion of female slavery. He had been brought up with female slaves attending to his every need, he found their natural beauty and subservience captivating, almost charming, and made no attempt to disguise his fondness for them. In this respect he was like Marcellus, who enjoyed a similar acceptance of the fact of gender politics on Heraklion. Unless specifically pointed out or introduced as a free woman, any female on Heraklion could be assumed to be available for their use.

He applauded loudly, and in this he was joined by the other girls. What he did not see was that Talbrik's eyes, far from being closed with the stupor of alcoholic sleep, were wide open. He walked to where the girl lay, panting, her emotions laid bare for all to see, for the lover who had forsaken her in her very real dance was none other than Marcellus, and helped her to her knees. She stayed thus, her long hair cascading about her face, obscuring it, until Publius Maximus indicated with a click of his fingers that she was released from her performance.

Assuming that Talbrik still slumbered, he called to her to join him on his cushion.

'You are sure he did not free you?'

'I do not believe he ever did,' she said.

'He treated you badly. He swore he would kill you.'

'I am aware of that. I wish to set straight the record. I am aware also that it is quite possible he no longer cares for me, or has found another companion.'

'I do not see how that could be,' Publius Maximus said. 'You are more beautiful than I ever imagined.'

'Beauty to behold is not complete without the other qualities that accompany it. It is possible for a woman to be utterly beautiful but to have at the same time a scheming, evil heart. Marcellus was deceived by such a woman.'

'Ravenna.'

'Yes. I cannot blame him for what he said to me.'

'And it is still your wish to find him?'

'I love him. Whether or not he still cares for me, I need to tell him how I feel. Even if he only wanted me to be the lowliest slave in his household, I would settle for that, for it would mean I was near him.'

'If we ever find him again, and he hears your story from your own lips, having already heard some of it from others, he would make you his companion, I am certain of that.'

'Do you know where he is?'

'I am hoping my friends in Warikeewa camp will be able to give us the information we need to find him.'

'And my sister, Lucinda. Is there any news of her?'

Publius Maximus lowered his eyes for a brief moment, but it told her everything she needed to know.

'She is dead?'

'I am sorry.'

'How did it happen?'

'I was not there at the time, Saria. I heard only Marcellus' account of how it happened. Your sister found herself a prisoner of Hunyapa bronzeskins. Marcellus rescued her and brought her to Warikeewa camp, where the medicine man, Osatai, foresaw great harm befalling the Warikeewa unless your sister was disposed of. Marcellus did everything he could but it was done behind his back. He was powerless.'

'I do not doubt that for an instant. But tell me, General, how did Marcellus come to throw in his lot with the Warikeewa bronzeskins?'

Publius Maximus spoke at length for the next half hour or so, relating how Marcellus had escaped from the mountain city of Eskishehir and had crossed the permafrost into Pekeesh, where he had been captured by the bronzeskins and put to work in an effort to humiliate him. During that time he had learnt of the plot by Vitellius to invade and take over Pekeesh and had joined the bronzeskins in their struggle to prevent the invasion. He then spoke briefly of how politics in Barbessel had forced him to flee from the province.

'He is a changed man because of his experiences in Pekeesh, Saria. He was humiliated and humbled. He was again deceived by Vitellius into thinking he had killed him, but Vitellius, as we now know, still lives. It is my guess that Marcellus will be waiting for us in Warikeewa camp, or else has further knowledge of Vitellius and has struck off in search of him to finish the job he started in Sharmak.'

Saria nodded.

'I believe he would have done everything in his power to prevent the death of your sister, Lucinda,' the General said. 'It is my information that he met up with her in the city of Horta and believed her to be you. This fuelled his fury at being, as he believed, betrayed by you, and denied by you, for Lucinda had never seen him until then. You are, presumably, exactly identical - forgive me, you were exactly identical. It is easy to see how he would have felt that you had badly wronged him. Having discovered the truth about you, he set off north, through the Amanus mountains to search for you and restore you to his favour, leaving Lucinda in Horta, believing her to be safe. It is quite possible that he did not give Lucinda another thought until she turned up in Hunyapa territory and he seized the opportunity to bring her to Warikeewa camp, thinking he could keep her safe there with him. His thoughts, I am sure, were always with you. It would have come as something of a blow to him to see you condemn him to certain death in Eskishehir.'

'That was not me.'