For three days, the Arrow streaked through the void. Entering Pleasant’s solar system, she dropped to sublight drive. Every creature aboard felt the jolt. The slaves had been restricted to the passenger compartment for the entire time, while Radhya confined herself to her cabin and only Aninya saw her briefly to deliver her prepackaged meals. Avoiding conversation, the slaves avoided even looking at each other for the most part.

After the jolt, the Lady floated from her cabin. More pale than usual with dark circles beneath her eyes, she smiled wanly at the slaves.

“We should be home in an hour,” she informed them. “Now I want to tell you; there is a short ride from the port and then a walk of four klicks to my home. Each of you will be taking two of the horses. Have any of you ever led a horse before?”

“I had a pony for several years as a child,” said Max.

“And I am sure you know I used to be an accomplished show jumper,” replied Padr sarcastically.

“I know,” Lady Kirbyson nodded. “You can bring one stallion. I’ll bring the other. The other six of you each take two mares. Stane and Rory will bring the racers. All you have to do is hold the lead ropes and walk ahead. Dave, when we get home, you will be in charge of security for this planet. Right now I want you to concentrate on the port, track, and my home.”

Dave looked at her, mouth open, eyebrows raised.

“You are the only one I can spare, and you have had the super deluxe training,” she explained.

“But everybody thinks I’m dumb,” he protested.

“Looks can be deceiving. I think you are a lot brighter than you like to let on. If the aristocracy want to think I have a dumb security agent in charge of the planet, all the better.”

Dave looked at his boots. A slight smile tugged at his misshapen lips.

“You and Jemelina will have your own house. At the entrance to my private acreage, there is a gatehouse. That will be yours, although you will have to travel around a great deal.”

Dave‘s jaw dropped. “Thank you milady, thank you. This is really too much. Since I was born, I have lived in slave quarters, with not enough floor space to lie down on. My own house is unbelievable.”

He grabbed the Lady’s hand and kissed it. Radhya flushed scarlet.

“Little enough. You have a great responsibility down there. My life will literally be in your hands at all times. You will need good quarters to plan and figure out your strategy. Besides, those slave quarters were never sanitary enough for me.”

Stane floated into the hatchway. “You should know that most of milady’s slaves live better than freedmen.”

“Stane!” Radhya warned.

“Sorry milady. Could everyone strap down? We’ll be landing in a minute,” he laughed as he glided back into the corridor.

Everyone hurried into their chairs and did up their harness. The Arrow slid through the atmosphere, burning a flash of red across the sky. It swung in a lazy curve and aimed for a barrier of mountains, shot between a pair of ridges and coasted to a smooth stop.

On Pleasant, Radhya hustled everyone from the ship. Sharp-peaked mountains completely enclosed them, the tops frosted with snow. The floor of the large valley was paved and smooth. South, an asphalt road curved beyond view while to the north was a tall control tower, its large ring of windows reflecting the golden morning sun. Assorted metal buildings, big and small, backed against the naked rock of the mountains. The slaves working around them were miniaturized.

The belly of the ship inched open with a whirring noise, the hydraulic ramp lowering. Rory and Stane walked from the interior of the ship, hands crisscrossed with reins. Prancing and sidestepping, the horses jittered behind them. The loud clatter of many hooves echoed back from the mountains. Snorting loudly, one reared and whinnied as he danced into the daylight. Radhya apportioned the animals.

One colt was a beautiful grey with a black mane and tail. He was not that big, but perfectly proportioned. The other colt was a huge, fiery chestnut with a single strip down his nose. He too was perfectly proportioned. The filly was average looking, but tense, like a bow waiting to release its arrow; a blood bay with a star on her forehead and one white sock.

“Tango Dancer, Son-O-War, and Secretary,” Radhya said as she handed them back to Rory. “The hope of the North Wind Stables.”

A small and a large horsebox pulled up. Rory and Stane led their charges to the smaller van. Its electric purr faded quickly into the distance.

“You are allowed motorized vehicles?” asked Max in surprise.

“I know the laws, but the Commonwealth makes exceptions for horses. Funny isn’t it, people walk and horses ride. However, that road only goes so far. We’ll all walk from the track.”

Radhya closed and sealed the spaceship. An equipment moving alarm hooted from the tower as the cables attached by the spaceport workers pulled the Arrow to its hanger. The horses reared and flailed the air with their legs.

Aninya and Jemelina screamed and covered their heads, dropping the reins; running to the van. Padr and Max caught the animals and helped Radhya in calming them while Will and Kaarl watched. Dave, after watching Padr closely, came to assist. After many shouted orders and much confusion, they loaded the stallions and mares. The slaves squeezed in around the animals. Radhya got a boost and stretched out on the back of the largest stallion.

Setting off on the winding road that hugged the cliff, they enjoyed a brief trip through the mountains that brought them to a section of the road with a tranquil blue-green ocean on the right. They traveled high above the waves next to a rugged rock face, peering through the slats to see their new world.

“That’s the Ocean of Delight, and the Mountains of Mist,” murmured Radhya from her perch. “We have an unusual day. The mountains are most often covered in mist, although the ocean is usually very nice. My track is on a low plateau, beneath the mountains, overlooking the ocean.” She stared at Padr. “It’s going to be your first job to landscape the track. I want it to outshine your work on Junction, if that’s possible. The setting here is different, but I think it gives you a lot to work with. It must impress the aristocracy.”

“I don’t know how the work of a slave can compete with the work of a member of the aristocracy,” drawled Padr bitterly.

Radhya sat upright banging her head on the roof. The horse under her shifted and snorted.

“Padr! This is important. You have to make it so spectacular they want to come, just to see it. Every royal has had to see Junction. It’s still a rite of passage for teens. You must; you absolutely must do even better here.”

Padr looked at her, startled by the alarm in her voice.

She continued urgently, “I have risked the plan, risked everything, to get you, because you’re the best. I spent a planet’s price on the bunch of you, mainly just to get you. I need to trust you to do your best work yet.”

Warily Padr replied, “I’ll do the best for you that I am able to do.”

Radhya slid from the horse. She patted his hand, where it rested on the horse’s neck. Then she hid her face in the horse’s mane.

A few minutes later, they approached the track. Three dirt ovals framed by white fencing dominated the forefront, while the grandstands behind were dwarfed by the splendor of the upthrust mountains. The stables were just visible beyond, curving around the foot of the massif. Everything was on a generous scale in keeping with the snow-clad giant behind. The absence of grass or trees seemed an absurd oversight. To the right, an enormous building was under construction on a tongue of land jutting out over the water. The clang of tools, buzz of equipment and yelling slaves excited the horses; they began to shift about.

The vehicle stopped just before entering the grounds for the track. The slaves and Radhya gratefully spilled out. A narrow gravel trail split off to the left, disappearing between a pair of tall pines in the near distance. The churned up earth on either side of the path did not encourage straying too far.

As the slaves divided the horses and started up the trail, Radhya threw a tiny saddle to Padr and told him to saddle the stallions. When they were ready, she swung up on the tallest, a bright chestnut with a blaze and four white socks. Padr mounted a big bay that snorted and pawed at the ground. They caught up with the others on the verge of the forest. Many tall, slender pines comprised the bulk of the trees, but scattered among them were white-barked birches and short thicker spruce. The undergrowth was thick and thorny, the bushes laced together in random patterns. On the path, the scattering of gravel gradually changed to a firm, rubbery surface. Curious, Max picked at it. A small chunk came up, roots attached. He looked at the Lady, a question on his face.

“A small creation of mine. It started out as a type of fungus. Now it absorbs fallen leaves, droppings, just about anything organic really. That keeps it clean. It grows slowly, and it loves to be walked on. The only maintenance is a trimming every ten years or so.”

The slaves leading the horses stopped suddenly. They paused before a dozen small black creatures with broad white stripes down their backs. Their large fluffy tails lofted upward in a somewhat menacing attitude. The largest one was making a chittering noise.

Radhya dismounted and tossed the reins to Padr, shoving at the horses ahead of her to get through.

“My sweet little pets,” she called as she went down on her knees.

The little animals swarmed around her, kissing her with their noses. Radhya murmured to them and stroked them.

“Dave,” she called softly, ”give your horses to Will and Max and meet the gang. These are my first line of defense. On earth, they called them skunks, and they have powerful spray at their disposal. They have to get to know you.”

Dave also got down on his knees and gingerly touched the coarse-haired creatures.

“They don’t bite, but they will spray trespassers. It burns the eyes too. Let them smell you. Once you’re accepted, they will never forget your scent. If you leave the path, you might meet my other pets that are not so friendly. Giant red deer, very bad tempered and territorial patrol the woods. Then there are the dire wolves. You don’t want to meet them.”

Radhya nodded significantly to the people. She introduced all the slaves to the creatures one by one. After stroking them a while longer, Radhya rose. Her furry friends vanished into the brush.

“We’ll go ahead and open the gates for you. Just stay on the path, and you can’t get lost,” the Lady said.

Dave gave her a leg up. She chirped to her mount, and they were off at a swift trot. In minutes, Radhya and Padr were in front of a double set of metal gates, three stories tall. The hinges sank deep into granite pillars decorated on the front face with flowers, birds, and insects. The columns were carved from the mountain. The shoulders soared steeply to either side of the trail.

“Never touch the gates. They are randomly electrified,” she told Padr.

Bending down, she rapidly stroked the patterns in a series of moves, then whispered into a com box hidden in a flower on the side of the right-hand pillar. The gates swung open as she straightened, her mount prancing skittishly inside.

To the right was a red brick bungalow with a forest green metallic roof. The front sported a veranda and large windows that continued down each side. It was set back in a pleasantly green fuzzy lawn bordered with array of brilliantly colored flowers, filling the air with perfume. A myriad of birds twittered in the hedges.

Left of the gate, a stream bounced down the mountainside and curved to flow beside the fungus path. The creek was also framed with multicolored blossoms and many flowering shrubs that clung tenaciously to the rock, cascading down to the path.

Padr pulled his stallion to a walk in order to take in the beauty of the surroundings. Radhya however, spurred straight down the path at a gallop. He kicked his mount to follow. Coming around a bend, the valley opened up, and he saw the stable, partially hidden by a clump of dark, large boled trees. It was white with green trim, new, and obviously the best quality. A series of lush paddocks were visible to the root of the mountain. Radhya was dismounting in the yard, so he quickened the animal’s steps to join her.

A small oriental boy of fourteen was holding the horse Radhya had just ridden. She stood beside him staring up at the rider.

“This is Won. He will take your horse and care for it, this time. His father, Li, is in charge of the stables. He has an older brother, Tan, my jockey. He is around here somewhere,” informed Radhya looking around.

The double row of loose boxes ended at another bungalow smothered in purple flowers. Plants climbed over the entire surface of the building, except windows and doors. A small oriental woman was standing in the doorway. Her long midnight black hair was pulled back severely into a bun, but her almond eyes were warm and welcoming. Her pointed chin was foxy without being sly. Dressed in medical scrubs, with a striped apron tied in back, she waved her slender, delicate hands at them in universal welcome.

“Milady, milady,” she called in a high sweet voice. Radhya and Padr walked toward her. “Six, six babies she had. All doing fine, nursing well.”

“Ah Sumi, you no doubt did an excellent job as usual. At the house?” Radhya beamed. “Sumi’s my vet,“ she said aside to Padr.

At Sumi’s nod, Radhya set off at a jog, through a little white picket gate, and up another fungus path. The narrow trail joined to a majestically proportioned fungus road. It ringed a grove of grey barked trees with finger-like leaves and sprays of fire dancing above the foliage. As they drew closer, Padr could see the flames were blossoms. The gardenia odor was not quite overpowering. Around the trees, they came upon the mansion. It soared four stories into the sky, grey stone backed up against the rugged granite mountain.

“All it needs” murmured Padr, “is a moat and perhaps a fire-breathing dragon. Then I will have stepped into the pages of a crazy fairy tale.”

At the muted sound of their running footsteps, the majestically carved panels of the front door swung open. An ancient black man was standing there, dressed in house livery of forest green. Still fit, taller than Padr, but beginning to stoop with age, he showed perfect teeth in a wide smile. Pleasure showed in his velvet brown eyes and all the wrinkles on his face were happy ones. The metal dog collar of a slave was just visible above the top of his round collar.

To Padr’s surprise, Radhya hurled herself into the old man’s arms. He hugged and kissed her, and she hugged him back.

“Geo, my dearest friend,” introduced Radhya to Padr, as she pulled herself from his embrace.

“And her oldest slave,” added Geo with a twinkle, in a rich, deep voice.

Radhya grabbed Padr’s hand and tried to pull him forward. He pulled back.

“And this is Padr.”

“Hmmmmm,” mused Geo, “can’t see what all the fuss is about.”

“Where’s Singha?” Radhya asked.

“Impatient as always, you little hoyden. Can’t even give an old man a minute of time,” fussed the old slave.

Radhya smiled endearingly up at him.

“In the kitchen, where else?” he answered.

Radhya dashed off. As Padr tried to follow, Geo grabbed his arm.

“Listen, you young whelp, if you cause Radhya any problem or hurt her in any way, I’ll do for you myself. Old as I am I’ll fix you. She is counting on you.”

The old man shuffled off as an astonished Padr watched him. There were only bitter old slaves in his experience. He had never met a loyal one before. Radhya had disappeared. Padr walked ahead, looking left and right at hallways panelled in zebra striped wood. Ahead there was an imposing green marble staircase going both up and down, stretching from a floor of green marble, polished to a brilliant shine. A little further on there was another hallway on the right, just in front of the stairs. There were two doors on the left. He tried the first door. It opened on an ornate washroom. Closing the door, he continued in the main hallway. Opening the second door on the left, he could hear Radhya’s voice.

Pushing the door open all the way, he entered a narrow hallway of plain white plaster leading to a brightly lit kitchen. A door with a large window showed greenery outside. The walls were shiny white, and the counters were white marble. The cooking equipment of silver metal placed strategically around the large room filled it with bright reflections. Many counters and islands filled the remaining space and, under one of these was a large box open at the front. Lady Kirbyson was on her knees on the white marble floor in front of it. She was talking to and stroking a very large, feline-type animal.

If it had stood up, it would have been a meter tall with golden brown fur that was barred and striped with dark reddish brown. Clear, cream-colored underparts and enormous ears with long tufts of dark fur at the tips defined its outline. Its eyes were a bright sky blue and had the slit, cat pupil; each one was ringed with black, then white, then black again, like a bull’s eye. Black lines descended from the inside corners of its eyes to the flesh colored nose.

“Come and see them,” the Lady invited softly.

Padr stepped forward. In the box were six speckled balls of fluff, each about the size of a hand, squeaking in a most unattractive way.

“Aren’t they beautiful, so beautiful?” his mistress turned to him.

“Yes milady,” replied Padr.

“Oh Padr,” she said grinning at him, “at home, there is no formality. That’s for when we’re among others who are not part of our family here.”

“No one here is a part of my family!” answered Padr formally pulling away.

“Maybe not,” she replied, “but now you are a part of ours.”

Giving Singha a final pat, Radhya rose. Taking Padr by the hand, she led him through the kitchen to a swinging door.

Going through the door, she said, “This is the slave’s galley. These stairs lead down to the slave quarters. Special you know, I spoil my slaves. They have plywood beds, raised from the floor and two washrooms with four open showers. There is even a table and a number of chairs. But all that is just for show.”

The room they had entered was very plain. A long rough wooden table with matching chairs punctuated the white walls and wooden floors. An unadorned window was on the right. On the back wall was a set of wooden stairs leading down. On the left was a hallway.

Radhya led him out of the slave section and into a hallway that joined with the main hall where he had entered. Geo shuffled out to let in the rest of her new purchases.

“Aninya, back through that hallway is the slave quarters and the kitchen.” She pointed the way. “Dining hall above and sleeping quarters below. Every day we get deliveries from the farm in the next valley. Tell them each day what you want the next. Now you, Dani and Kaarl have a house. Out the door in the kitchen, follow the path, and it will take you right to it. Off you go. Return here after supper.”

The slave family hurriedly did as they were told.

“Dave and Jemelina,” continued Radhya, “the first house we passed is yours. You go and get settled in. Return here after supper. Oh, did you lock the gate? It should respond to your pattern.”

“Yes milady, I secured the gate. I can’t thank you enough...”

“Just go,” said Radhya flapping her hands at them. “Now you three come with me.”

She led them to the stairs at the end of the hall. They climbed to the third floor.

“Second floor is bedrooms for visitors,” she explained, “the third floor is mine.”

At the landing, she turned left down another hallway panelled in glowing cedar wood.

“First door left, washrooms for you,” she said. At that, the men exchanged looks of puzzlement. “To the right is the comm room, lab one is next to it, exercise room next to your washroom. Each of you must exercise one hour every day, without fail. Next to the exercise room is lab two. Across the hall is the med lab. You can check it out later Will.”

The Lady turned at the end and went back past the stairs.

“On the left is my room. First door right is for you Max.”

She opened the door to a large comfortable room decorated in cream and tan, with a feeling of mountains and rocks. A large bed, dresser, desk, and chair furnished the space. Radhya closed the door and moved on.

“Next to Max, I’ll have Padr,” she said opening his door.

His room was the same size and similarly furnished, but decorated in shades of green, painted like an old growth forest.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been in my bedroom too. This is exactly like my boyhood room at home. How did you know?” he demanded.

Radhya only smiled in answer to his question.

“Will, you’re last,” she said opening the door to his room.

His room was turquoise, teal, and sea green, like an underwater grotto.

“Thank you milady. It is much like my room at home too, only better quality. My mother did her best, but we never had a lot of money.”

“You are welcome Will. These are your quarters, but when I have guests, you will have to rough it in the slave’s quarters. Settle in. I’ll see you all downstairs, in the slave’s galley at suppertime. Ask Padr; he knows where it is.”