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Exchange Point
Along the shore of the Sea of Thassa and the banks of the River Laurius exist several Exchange Points where trade can be conducted in safety.
High on the beach, I saw two pairs of sloping beams. They were high,
large and heavy structures. The feet of the beams were planted widely, deeply, in the
sand; at the top, where they sloped together, they had been joined and pegged. They were
rather like the English letter 'A', though lacking the crossbar. Within each 'A', her
wrists bound by wrapped and taut leather to heavy rings set in the sloping sides, there
hung a girl, her full weight on her wrists. Each were panther girls, captured. Their heads
were down, their blond hair falling forward. Their ankles had been tied rather widely
apart, each fastened by leather to iron rings further down the beams.
It was an exchange point.
It is thus that outlaws, to passing ships, display their wares.
Male and female outlaws do not much bother one another at the exchange points. They keep to their own markets. I cannot recall a case of females being enslaved at an exchange point, as they bargained with their wares, nor of males being enslaved at their exchange points, when displaying and merchandising their captures. If the exchange points became unsafe for either male or female outlaws, because of the others, the system of exchange points would be largely valueless. The permanency of the point, and its security, seems essential to the trade.
