We read the guidebook many times, before arriving at the city entrance, but I'm not sure either of us could believe it until we arrived and witnessed it with our own eyes. However, it was true, there were city guards at the gate stopping all female visitors and ensuring those who entered the city were restrained.
'You still want to go in?' I looked at Nikki, my wife, as she stood looking at an impressive array of restraints laid out on a stall.
'I didn't get up at 3am and travel over 8 hours on a bus without aircon to quit now!' She flashed me a wicked grin. 'But if we're going to do this I want to go in style.' She took hold of my jacket and, turned away from the array of metal restraint's, lead me to another stall which sold other types of leather restraints. This one stood in the shade and, though I guessed it would be a lot more expensive, I felt it was probably worth it just to stand out of the sun for a few minutes.
I watched her peruse the stall's wares, tracing her finger across the array of leather restraints much to the delight of the stallholder who gave a commentary on their relative virtues of comfort, softness and security while promising a fair price.
Eventually she selects a long black leather sheath that was clearly deigned to restrain woman's hands and arms tightly behind her back and held it up for a better look. It had laces to pull it closed and several heavy straps to hold it in place.
'Ah, Nice armbinder.' The stallholder positively gushed with pleasure. 'An excellent choice, Mistress.'
'What do you think?' She held the armbinder against her.
I began to haggle with the stallholder and in the end probably paid lot more than what it was worth, but he did throw in a nice leather collar and leash for free and invited us further into the shade to help Nikki to get dressed.
'So?' Nikki flashed another smile. 'Dress on or dress off?'
This was something we had got from the guidebook, and now had the opportunity to witness first hand. The local females of the city wore garments made of leather straps that were part restraint and part clothing; our guidebook suggested that an equivalent for a visitor was to wear what it termed 'old style lingerie': bra, knickers, perhaps some sort of corset and, of course, suspenders. We'd both thought this was something to mislead gullible tourists but, as we'd got off the bus, we'd seen several women in the sort of underwear that you wouldn't expect in this climate unless you were a true masochist. One or two had been wearing dresses over the top but most of them simply stood under parasols apparently enjoying their minimal clothing in the heat.
A few of these wore leather collars and one had a pair of handcuffs still locked around one wrist. I'd tried to make a point of not looking at them too closely, but Nikki could be in no doubt I'd noticed them and probably knew I was enjoying the view.
'If we're going to adopt the local customs, I suppose the dress should come off.' I couldn't suppress the grin on my face at the thought of her shedding the thin summer dress she was wearing to reveal what was underneath. 'Afterall, what woman wouldn't want to be displayed like this?'
'Her for a start.' Nikki jerked her thumb back towards the gate where an American girl in a bikini top and shorts was arguing about the need to be restrained with one of the city guards. Her language was particularly foul, and I saw Nikki grimace; it was the second time that day that Nikki had shown her disapproval of the girl, the first was when she and her boyfriend had spent the first two hours of the journey snogging and clearly going much further than that despite the presence of others on the bus.
Like me, Nikki is a history lecturer at Sussex University and well used to the antics of her students however, she expects a certain standard of behaviour in public.
The stallholder made a dismissive gesture towards the girl and his assistant offered me glass of iced tea and a seat in the shade from which to watch the action. Smiling, I sat in a padded armchair, lifted my glass and watched my wife shed her dress. Nikki has a gorgeous body with long legs and curves in all the right places. She spends time in the gym keeping herself in shape and, I would happily boast, has the body of a woman almost half her age, except that it is delightfully more experienced. Seeing her in the cream lingerie she was wearing just made me happy to be alive. Glancing at me she could clearly see how much I was enjoying this and with a rather forced frown threw her dress at me which I folded and put in our overnight bag.
The tea was ice cold and sweet and, I think contained a little spirit, it was delicious, and I sipped it while I watched Nikki put her hands behind her back and allowed the stallholder to slide armbinder over her arms. The man was skilled and, I certainly would have enjoyed applying the restraint myself, but I never used one and was glad I'd chosen to let him do it.
Thus, after few minutes of lacing and strapping, readjusting and tightening Nikki's arms were perfectly packaged in a sheath of smooth leather, pinned behind her back, her elbows almost touching.
'Well, my darling, what do you think?' She gave me a twirl, bending slightly as she lifted her bound arms thus providing me with a delightful flash of heavy cleavage served appetisingly in the lacy bra she wore and then the full curves of her lace clad bottom.
'Perfect.' I smiled, standing and putting down my glass. In my mind she was indeed perfect, the sheer seemed stockings to match the lingerie hitched to her suspender belt and the four-inch heels were just the icing on a very delicious cake.
The stallholder passed me the collar and leash. Apparently, this was something I was expected to do for myself.
'Don't think this is going to be regular experience.' Nikki turned to face me as I lifted the collar to her throat.
'Oh.' I grinned. 'I was thinking we could start a fashion trend.' I brushed her shoulder length blonde hair away from her neck and slid the collar around it. As I buckled it closed, I'm sure I felt her give a little shudder though it certainly wasn't cold. Her cheeks seemed to flush too but then it was very hot. The collar had a D-ring and a leather flap with a slot in that closed over the buckles and, as I came to attach the leash the stall holder gave a polite cough. I turned to find him holding a small padlock which he clearly wanted me to use to lock the collar and leash in place.
I probably should have checked this was alright with Nikki but the effect of the alcohol in the tea had lowered my inhibitions just enough that I took the lock and snapped it in place without question, pocketing the key he gave me. Then I clipped the leash too it.
I gave the stallholder a generous tip, paid his boy to take my bag to the hotel. I took hold of my wife's leash before proceeding to lead her, clad in only her lingerie and heels, towards the city gate.
The city guard gave us a slight bow as he shouldered his automatic rifle and allowed us to pass through the gate. His eyes were clearly drawn to my delicious charge, and I could certainly forgive him for that, but he didn't ogle her or make any sort of salacious comment; for him, this was normal.
Inside the gate was a short stone-lined tunnel, that in past times would have been used to repel any attackers that made it through the heavy wooden gates with their steel rivets and banding through which we had just passed.
Then, we passed through an archway and suddenly, were in the stifling heat and press of Quldorlik. The sunlight dazzled again as we emerged from the dimness of the tunnel and the scents of spices and sweat, and cloth and earth washed over us as we stood for a moment on the threshold of a new city.
Ahead of us was a wide avenue that led towards the centre of the city. Men in dark robes hurried across our path, jostling with others in modern suits, however, the women who did indeed all seem to be restrained and, mostly, leashed seemed to glide past serenely despite the noise around them.
To our left lay a market selling mostly food, wooden stalls shaded with canvas displayed fruits and vegetables, spices, bags of rice and wheat flour; the locals moved among them, examining and tasting the produce then haggling for the best price. To the right the sun was full on the street and the figures there kept to the sides of the street seeking shade.
Few of the citizens gave me a second glance in my linen suit but a some looked curiously at Nikki as she stood, rather demurely, I thought, in her underwear and four-inch heels with her arms sheathed behind her back on the stone pavement of the street that ran inside the walls. Despite Quldorlik's tropical location, the citizens were mostly fair skinned and had red or blonde hair, a testament probably to their tenacious defence of the city historically and its consequent isolation.
I could see now why the guidebook had recommended lingerie as the dress for women; many of the natives we could see did indeed wear garments made of leather straps; which were generally quite brief and left large areas of skin, including, in many cases, breasts exposed; some wore leather bras, or even metal ones though, generally these left their nipples exposed, few wore knickers though some sported very short miniskirts; a common garment seemed to be leather belt with straps hanging down to straps around the thigh. A few of the belts had crotch straps and I found myself wondering whether these had any purpose other than modesty, they would certainly have made effective chastity belts.
Though to us this dress code and the need for restraint seemed a curious practice, it was clearly normal for the city and I watched as two women emerging from the market wearing little more than half a dozen belts and little heeled leather boots walked past us talking quietly to each other; as they passed they laughed, touching shoulders in what appeared to be a familiar gesture as they shared the joke; they had clearly been shopping and each carried a bag of groceries hanging from her shoulder; I could see fruit in the shoulder bag of one and a small package, the other's bag held bread and several jars; it was as if they simply walked with their hands held behind their backs but, as they walked away from us I could see one was sheathed like Nikki and the other wore steel cuffs.
A gap in the crowds passing in front of us appeared and stepped forward, surprised to feel a slight jerk on the leash I held in my hand. I turned to find Nikki following me but with a look of slight annoyance.
'Sorry.' I whispered.
Fortunately, she grinned.
'I guess I'll have to get used to playing doggy.'
'Really?' I gave her a suggestive look.
'Don't push your luck!' She strode on almost leaving me behind.
The main avenue was wide and quieter and, by keeping to the left we were able to stay in the shade of the buildings that lined one side. Even here, the city was as beautiful as the guides had said, sculpted doorways and finials on the points of rooves, stained glass windows; between some of the buildings were fountains and small gardens.
We climbed the street slowly, partly because of the heat and partly because of the need to stop and gaze at some architectural treasure in a window. It only took a few moments for me to grow accustomed to stopping for Nikki to make sure I didn't choke her, and I very quickly began to enjoy our new arrangement.
As we neared the main square with its grand palace and garden that we planned to explore we began to see what were probably more affluent citizens, many of whom had been to some degree influenced by outside cultures in their choice of clothes; the men wore mostly European style suits and many of the women wore lingerie similar to Nikki's with a few in ultra-tight corsets visible; they wore heels too of about four or five inches whether they were traditional sandals or more modern patent leather boots or shoes.
