Innocent (8 page)

‘Yes, Elite Master,' Babalyn answered quickly.

‘Yes,' Cianna agreed.

‘You have much to learn,' he went on, giving Cianna's bottom a gentle prod with his foot. ‘My title for one thing, which is Elite, and to you, Elite Master. Perhaps you are not fully aware of who I am?'

‘No,' Cianna admitted.

‘Very well, so that you may be properly in awe of me, you should know. I am the Admiral Assivetes, who commanded the vanguard of that fleet which drove the Vendjomois back off Cape Jendrine, eighteen years ago now. I have commanded in a dozen other engagements, and served for forty years before returning here, to my estates.'

Cianna struck her fist on the ground in the traditional Aeg gesture.

‘Do you mock me?' Assivetes demanded.

‘No,' she answered. ‘I am greatly awed, although in Aegmund it is considered beneath a man to boast of his own achievements.'

For a moment his face clouded with anger, then he laughed, and continued.

‘Well, pretty barbarian, you are no longer in Aegmund, wherever that may be. You are in Makea, and my property, so you must learn correct behaviour and proper respect. Where you a slave in this Aegmund?'

‘There are no slaves in Aegmund,' she said.

‘No slaves?' he demanded. ‘How is anything done? No, don't answer that. I know enough of the Aprinians, with their insufferable superiority. Speaking of Aprinians, I am glad you've lost your arrogance, Babalyn. Still, be warned, I will suffer no airs. Now, tonight I entertain. You will assist in waiting on my guests and myself, and afterwards you will perform. I wish passion, but I wish structure as well, so you are to decide upon an arrangement, something on the lines Ikail suggested. Fail to satisfy and you will both be whipped.'

He turned on his heel without further comment, disappearing inside the house. Cianna got up, Babalyn following suit more cautiously. Nobody was visible, only the fat orange fish and a bird with striking green plumage, perched in one of the trees.

‘What are we to do?' Cianna asked.

‘Something cruel, it must be,' Babalyn answered. ‘Cruel yet subtle…'

‘I mean now,' Cianna broke in.

‘Now? Nothing, just sit in the garden and look pretty. This is the way with pleasure slaves. He has not bought us to wear ourselves out scrubbing and polishing. That will come when we are older.'

‘We just sit here? All day?'

‘No, silly, there will be a courtyard inside, and in the monsoon we are doubtless allowed under cover. You must remember that we are here not only to provide pleasure, but to allow him to display his wealth. To have slaves only for pleasure is a mark of some rank. Doubtless there are others, so remember, we may excite jealousy, especially if we have replaced some older pleasure slave who has now been assigned to the kitchen. Still, what comes will come. For now we must work out this entertainment.'

‘We are supposed to play together, sexually?'

‘Naturally.'

‘I would be pleased to touch you, Babalyn, in any way you desire, as I do for Sulitea. Yet to perform nude, for men?'

‘Women also, but please, Cianna, do not make it hard on us. I cannot bear to be whipped, I am simply too sensitive. I know your people are shy of your bodies, but we must do this, and well.'

‘I will do it then, for your sake. What should we do?'

‘Ikail suggested a game in which one of us is forced to betray the other, so sparing herself some indignity. They like to do that, especially to girls who are lovers, it affords them no end of amusement, the pigs! It could be simple, like tying us head to toe, side by side, and telling us the first to pee in the other's face will be let off, the other to be sodomised by all the male guests in turn.'

‘That is cruel.'

‘They think it funny, and place bets on who will break first.'

‘You can spank me, if you wish, even by hand. Seeing me so humiliated should provide enough to slake their lust.'

‘No, in Makea a spanked slave girl is too ordinary to arouse more than casual interest. Anyway, I suspect they would rather see me, the Aprinian who was a lady, spanked by you, the barbarian girl, without meaning offence. In any case, it is the idea of being forced to betray our love that really amuses them. Makean stories are full of the theme of betrayed loyalty. Fortunately we are not really lovers… not that I do not like you, but…'

‘I understand. There is no formal bond of loyalty. I owe you no fealty.'

‘No, so it should be easier than they imagine. Speaking of which, be affectionate, stroke my hair or skin occasionally. I have no wish to be sent back to Ikail's. Not that it is likely, but still.'

Cianna nodded and reached out to trace a slow line down the curve of one of Babalyn's big breasts, ending just short of the nipple. Babalyn gave a little shiver and glanced up to the house.

‘Careful,' she said, ‘or you will make it real. Now, as to our show. Assivetes wants passion and betrayal. There are sure to be women there, and for some reason they love to break slave girls' affection for one another. What of this? During the meal, I will feign a fancy for one or another of the women. You grow angry, and punish me, a spanking will do, after which you make me lick you. I then ask the woman to have you spanked in turn. Can you manage that?'

‘Yes, although I would rather not be spanked by hand if it is avoidable.'

‘Good, I'll suggest a cane or quirt. That they will enjoy, and while we have to tell Assivetes and the others of his household, the guests can think it is all genuine, which they will enjoy all the more. We will do well here, you'll see.'

Cianna bent, pouring the rich red drink, wine, into the goblet held out by Admiral Assivetes. As before, she was naked, but she and Babalyn had been washed and scented before the meal, by other, older female slaves. As Babalyn had predicted, there had been a touch of jealousy, but the women had seemed wary of her as well. Once fully clean, her hair had been combed out and tied up with a cloth in the gold and dark blue of the Admiral's household. Slippers had also been provided, again in blue and gold, but nothing more.

Since then, she and Babalyn had been serving, pouring wine and offering sweetmeats to guests, running minor errands, such as fetching cushions, and bringing fresh supplies from the kitchens. There was also a great deal of fondling, with both the men and the women quite casually stroking the girls' bodies, also commenting on them, especially Cianna's skin. It was done in the same casual way she might have petted and praised a dog, making Cianna blush, until she had followed Babalyn's advice and simply blocked it from her mind.

Assivetes had approved their plan for the entertainment, and Babalyn had chosen who to flirt with. This was a woman of late middle age, dressed in flowing gown of gold cloth set with jewels. From the first she had seemed interested in Babalyn, tickling her under the chin and making her hold up her breasts for inspection. Babalyn had begun to flirt in response, mildly at first, then more openly, attending to the woman in preference to the others, and kneeling beside her chair to wait for instructions.

That left Cianna with most of the work, making it easier to cast jealous glances in Babalyn's direction. Cianna waited her moment, until she was in the little room from which they were serving the drink at the same time as Babalyn. Catching Babalyn's eye, she nodded, getting a wry smile in return.

‘It is enough!' Cianna spat. ‘I'll teach you to shirk!'

She stepped forward, grabbing Babalyn by the ear. Babalyn squeaked, in genuine pain, then again and she was pulled roughly down across Cianna's lap. They went down on a bench by the door, Babalyn's plush bottom stuck up in full view of the main room. A man saw, grinning as Cianna twisted Babalyn's arm tight up. Babalyn squealed, kicking her legs apart to give them a fine view of plump brown sex, and Cianna had started to spank, smacking the fleshy cheeks hard.

Babalyn was squealing immediately, for real, her chubby brown bottom dancing and wobbling under the punishment. Cianna kept on as the guests came to gather at the door, watching Babalyn punished with open delight, laughing and calling encouragement to Cianna. Soon Babalyn had lost all control, kicking and bucking her bottom up to show off her anus as well as her sex, to the yet greater amusement of the onlookers. The big buttocks began to take on a purple flush, goose pimples rising all over the well smacked surfaces, while Cianna could feel Babalyn's body shaking. Deciding that the punishment was sufficiently convincing, she delivered a last hard slap to the crest of each cheek, Cianna stopped, rolling Babalyn off her lap to sit down hard on the floor.

Her mouth wide, and with the first hint of tears in her eyes, Babalyn rose, rubbing at her sore bottom. Throwing Cianna a quick look of genuine admonishment, she scampered over to the woman she had been flirting with, falling to her knees. The woman looked down, smiling.

‘Have her beaten, Elite Mistress!' Babalyn squeaked. ‘Not for what she did to me, but for presumption.'

‘Presumption, child?' the woman laughed. ‘It what way is it presumptuous to spank a slave girl?'

‘I mean her presumption in punishing me for showing favour to you, Elite Mistress,' Babalyn went on.

‘Showing favour? To me?' the woman laughed. ‘Oh you funny little thing! You do as I please, girl, do not forget that, you do not show favour. Assivetes, dearest, I fear you have an arrogant one here.'

‘Aprinian,' Assivetes answered. ‘Much of it has already been beaten out of her, but clearly not all.'

The woman nodded, then reached down, placing a finger under Babalyn's chin to tilt it up.

‘How many times have you been sold, child?' she asked.

‘Ten,' Babalyn admitted.

‘Ten?' the woman answered. ‘Then you are lucky still be in a worthy household. Let me explain to you what happens to girls who fail to learn proper respect, and perhaps you will be less conceited in future. They are sold, from place to place, and after a while they gain a reputation. At length it becomes clear that they are of no use whatever to anybody of taste and intelligence, and they start to be sold more cheaply, to lesser establishments. You wouldn't be lolling in a garden all day in that sort of household, let me assure you. No, you would be hard at work, scrubbing the floor with your ridiculous fat bottom wobbling behind you. Do you understand?'

‘Yes, Elite Mistress,' Babalyn answered.

‘And then,' the woman continued, ‘if you still failed to please, you would be sold down, always for less, ever lower, and do you know where you will end up?'

Babalyn nodded her head, her eyes wide with fright.

‘You will end up in the powdermills,' the woman went on, ‘up to your knees in other peoples excrement by day, and what do you think the male slaves there will do to you? I'll tell you. They'll fuck you, they'll use your mouth, your fat tits, your bottom, all night, every night, at the bottom of a dark, stinking hole. Now are you going to behave?'

Babalyn nodded frantically.

‘Good girl,' the woman said, straightening up. ‘She is beginning to understand, Assivetes, dearest. I have a special touch with these things. Now the other. I think she should be punished. Why not, after all?'

‘Indeed,' Assivetes agreed. ‘In fact I think the pair of them need a lesson in obedience. Both of you, in here.'

Cianna went, into the main room where they been serving. A group of men had gathered around the central table. One beckoned to her, grinning and patting the table. She stepped forward and strong hands took her, spreading her out on the table top, legs and arms wide. She was held, hard, as cords were twisted around her wrists and ankles, then tied to the table legs, leaving her spread-eagled, helpless. Looking back, she could see them, grinning and making comments as they inspected her naked sex. She was blushing, and she could feel her tuppenny twitching in anticipation, her bottom hole too. A man noticed, and laughed, pointing. At that the woman Babalyn had been flirting with gave a lewd chuckle and stepped back, pulling a stubby candle from its holder.

‘Hold her wide,' she said, ‘this should do her some good.'

Cianna could do nothing as they laid hold of her bottom, pulling her cheeks wide to stretch out her anus. A man spat on her, full between her cheeks, and put a finger to her bottom ring, rubbing the spittle in before penetrating her. She gasped as she felt the finger slide up her bottom, then again as it was pulled out, to be replaced by the base of the candle, hurting as it went up, to wedge in her anus. She shut her eyes, her body trembling, waiting for the pain of the wax. It came, a sharp sting on the sensitive flesh of her straining bottom ring, making her cry out. They laughed at her response, and somebody slapped her bottom, sending fresh wax spraying across her cheeks and over her sex. She cried out again, drawing fresh laughter, and more slaps on her bottom and legs.

‘Get the fat bottomed Aprinian slut up on this one's back,' somebody called.

‘Fine,' another answered, ‘and with a candle in her arsehole too. Let's see who begs for mercy first!'

‘And whip them while the candles burn,' a third suggested. ‘Hoy, you, fetch quirts'

Cianna saw the girl he had addressed run from the room, then turned her head at a touch, to find Babalyn crawling up onto the table, assisted by eager hands. Babalyn was laid down across Cianna, who felt the sweat on her friend's skin and the shivering of her flesh. Babalyn was lashed in place, whimpering as her hands and feet were tied down, then crying out as a thick candle was pushed up her bottom hole. The slave had returned, handing out quirts, and immediately they began to beat Cianna, Babalyn also, calling out their bets as they struck. The cuts stung, a sharp, biting pain, delivered across her bottom and thighs, as often as not sending a splash of hot wax onto her tortured skin. She held back, her teeth gritted, trying to ignore the pain and also the rising, shameful heat in her sex.