With no warning we emerged from dense forest and came face to face with a wall of wooden stakes. The wall rose to three times a man's height and the stakes were densely packed so that nothing could be seen of what lay beyond. 'This, slave, is our camp,' said the dark-skinned panther, she who held the twine of my neck leash. 'Here you will learn what it means to be a panther's slave. Or else you will die.' She glared at me and I dropped my eyes to the floor, standing naked before her with my hands tied behind me. 'Yes, Mistress,' I said quietly. She terrified me, this panther girl with her dark black skin.
The other panther, the one who held the leash that was fixed to the metal ring that kept my manhood in check, gave a sudden, vicious tug. I cried aloud and stumbled forward. 'Hurry, slave,' she called over her shoulder. 'Your Mistress is waiting.'
As we walked I saw that the wooden stakes curved, forming a large circle. Halfway around we were confronted by a guard with a long spear and a knife at her bare thigh. She called out a challenge. 'We bring Adena's new kajirus,' said the dark panther. 'He has been shaved and his manhood bound.'
'So I see,' said the guard with a laugh. 'It suits him well.'
I kept my eyes lowered as the high gate creaked open. Inside, I glanced up to take in the panther camp, my new home. It was about the size of an average village, surrounded on all sides by the wooden stakes and with the forest growing close up against it. The floor of the camp was of hard-packed earth and scattered around this were two dozen round huts that seemed, too, to be made of earth. Smoke rose from some of the roofs. To my left were a set of pens, teeming with large, black-coated swine. To my surprise I saw that a man was in charge of them, a great brute. For a second I thought he might be one of my party, but then I realised that he was only a servant of the panther women, a swineherd. The thirty companions with whom I had entered the forest just the previous night were all now dead. I had seen their bodies, some of them castrated or with their throats slit. I had seen, too, their blood on the hands and faces of the panther women.
'Forward, slave!' The dark one gave a sudden tug on the leash, dragging me forward by the neck. I don't know if she did it deliberately, but I stumbled forward and lost my footing, landing full length in the dirt on my belly with my hands still bound behind me. A passing panther looked down at me and laughed. 'Ah', she cried, 'I see that he is learning his slave positions already.'
'Not quite,' said the blonde panther and with her foot, she pressed on my neck, forcing my face into the earth. 'The slave has neglected to cross his ankles.'
She pressed harder and I crossed my ankles as I lay full length beneath her.
'Head to the left,' she commanded and I turned so that my cheek was against the ground. There was much laughter. I now lay in the slave position known as Bara, naked, on my belly, with my hands bound at the small of my back, ankles crossed. It is the common binding position. Many times I had given the command to a silk-clad kajira. Never had I imagined that I would adopt it myself.
The blonde panther wiggled her foot before my face and I had no choice but to put my lips to it. Her feet were small and soon she had forced her five mud-stained toes past my lips. At this there was even more laughter. A dozen of the panther women had now gathered to enjoy the show. 'We shall have great sport with this one,' said one.
'I would rather we had cut his throat,' said a grim voice that I knew belonged to the dark-skinned panther. 'Up!' she commanded and I was pulled to my feet, leashes tugging cruelly at my neck and manhood. 'It is time you were presented to your Mistress.'
They walked me past the eyes of the whole camp, cruel, appraising eyes. Some of the women made jests as I was led past them. Others, more angry, scowled and a couple spat hard in my face. I wanted to curl up into a ball before them, to cover my manhood at least with my hands, but my hands were bound behind me. And anyway I knew better. I was their captive, a naked slave at the mercy of a camp full of wild and bloodthirsty women. They could do with me as they pleased. I had thought that I might escape them but naked, in a camp surrounded by tall stakes, somewhere in the heart of Gor's largest forest, I did not now fancy the odds. I did not think either that the panther women were the sort to let a slave escape them.
The hut of Adena, my Mistress, stood slightly apart and had a screen of reeds in front that lent it privacy. Inside the screen, in front of the hut, was a small courtyard. I was ordered to kneel, head high and knees spread, nadu. I did so quickly, lowering my eyes. After a moment my Mistress emerged from the shadows of the hut. She was barefoot. All I could see were feet and her calves. They were magnificent, glistening with taut muscle. I felt a sudden urge to throw myself down, to kiss her feet, but at the same time, my pride rebelled. I would not, of my free will, perform the actions of a slave.
'Down!' Again it was the dark-skinned panther. 'Abase yourself before your Mistress.' She kicked me hard in the lower back so that I was sent sprawling to the ground at Adena's feet. In shock and panic, I assumed the obeisance position, kneeling with palms and forehead pressed to the earth floor.
'Thank you, Morgan. Thank you, Vespa.' I heard my Mistress's commanding voice. 'That will do for now.'
I felt fingers at my neck and then up between my legs, removing my leashes. They were not cruel but nor were they gentle. They merely treated me as though I were an animal, a pig or an ox. I heard my two escorts withdraw from the courtyard and then I knew I was alone with my Mistress. I heard her walk about me, examining my form.
'Sula!' she then commanded. It was another command I had given many times to a kajira. Miserable with shame, I rolled over onto my back in the dirt before her. I lay looking up at her against the blue of the sky and she seemed to tower over me. After a moment, I turned up my palms at my sides and spread my legs apart in the shape of a V.
'Wider,' she commanded and I spread them uncomfortably wider. I could have wept for shame.
