Raell strode down the stairs, headed to the Punishment Room. She was using a bone left over from lunch to pick the small chunks of flesh out from her teeth. Lunch had consisted of two Angus cows that had quickly vanished between her massive jaws. Satisfied she had gotten all the tidbits, she crunched the bone up between her teeth. She was in her dragonoid form, with a human build but with the wings, tail, hands, and legs of her natural form. She also stood a clear two feet taller, around 7'. Her claws clicked against the hardwood floor. She loved the sound, knowing all the slaves feared it. She was excited- today marked the culmination of so many decades of work.
Drake looked up as the doors to the room swung open, and Mistress Raell walked in. He stared at the massive wings loosely tucked against her back, at the whip like tail that seemed to cil and move with a mind of i's own the was a cat's does, and at the clawed feet that clicked across the tiled floor towards him. She waved a taloned hand over his collar and the chains unlocked.
"Let's see what you know. Run through all your positioning training."
Her voice remained the same, the bell like tone seeming so opposite her form. Drake did as ordered, informing her that he was sitting, standing, kneeling, on all fours, and a half dozen other commands. She then went over hand commands, and finally non ordered positions. Satisfied he knew the basics of slave training, she hand him stand and follow her over to the wall of instruments.
"First thing first. Because I have to work with household slaves pretty often, I prefer names over numbers. What is your name, slave?"
Raell smiled inwardly. She knew his name- she'd known it since his birth. But he couldn't know that quite yet, and so the deception had to go on.
"My name is Drake Faravelli, Mistress."
"Drake, huh?" She indicated the wall of corrective tools. "How many of these can you name?"
Drake looked over at the wall. Whips, crops, paddles, and other things covered it.
"I know what some of them are, Mistress. I know those are whips, those are crops, those are canes, and those are paddles." He pointed at each group of tools as he talked.
Raell nodded. She figured he would know what they were, but not the specific names.
"Knowing the general name is of no use to me. If I asked you to get me a Cat O'Nine, you wouldn't know which ones I was talking about. There is only one way for you to get to know what each thing here looks like and is named."
Drake swallowed, realizing what she meant. He'd be feeling each of them as she used them against him.
"Yes, Mistress." He whispered.
"Here is how this game will work. In the first area- the whip area- I will name a whip and you will bring me what you think the right whip is. If you get it right, I will not use it. If you get it wrong, I will get the correct whip and give you five lashes with it. Understood?"
"Y-yes Mistress."
"Go get me a bullwhip."
Drake approached the indicated part and gazed over the leather snakes. Some had one tail, while others had multiple. Thinking of Indiana Jones, he grabbed a long single tailed whip, and brought it back.
"Good start slave. Now go put it back and bring a flicker whip."
Drake grabbed a whip with several tails, not sure what she wanted.
"Wrong. That's a flogger, slave." She went and grabbed a four foot long whip that looked like a shortened horse whip. Unlike the bullwhip, it was rigid up to the last foot. She hit him in the lower back and Drake yelped.
"One, Mistress!"
Raell grinned. "Good, slave. I had wondered if you would remember to count."
"I remember, Mistress. They also had me count when they caned me at the barn."
After five she had him replace both whips.
Drake quickly learned the names or each whip, as well of which ones hurt the most. In the end he was probably whipped about thirty times in total. With the single tailed whips she whipped him across his back, in the same straight diagonal line she had last time. When he had gotten a multi-tailed whip or a flogger wrong, she had whipped his chest and stomach, which was now a cherry red color.
Drake's stomach growled. He had not eaten breakfast, and it was past lunch by now. Hearing it, Mistress Raell went and grabbed a food bowl.
"All fours."
Drake knelt down on his knees, then got on hands and knees- all fours. She set the bowl in front of him. Drake stared at the shiny metal bowl, jaw flexing. Mistress Raell went and grabbed a can, and Drake felt a flash of anger, thinking she was feeding him dog food again. She peeled the can open and Drake was surprised when cold chicken noodle soup filled the bowl. Real food!
Drake plunged his face into the bowl, excited by that idea.
"HUAH!!"
Drake lost his breath as Mistress Raell's boot connected with his side. He choked on the soup, trying to get some air in his lungs. His whole side was burning, and he felt like she's broken a few of his ribs.
"Did I give you permission to eat, slave?"
"Aheh! Heh! N-heh-o. No. You did not, Mistress."
Raell kicked the bowl, spilling the soup all over the floor.
"I'm giving you an hour to get this cleaned up. If it isn't when I come back, we'll be testing all of the whips you learned about today. Understood?"
"Yes, Mistress Raell."
She strode out, the doors slamming shut behind her. Drake stared at the spilled soup, remembering the dog food incident. He sighed, then ate all the soup still in the bowl. He looked around for a towel, but did not see one. He muttered to himself, knowing he'd have to lick it up or risk punishment.
Deciding that sooner was better than later, Drake started slurping up the spilled soup, trying hard to not throw up, suspecting Mistress Raell would force him to clean that up too. Once the floor was clean and he'd licked it to shine, he got up and walked around the room. He eyed the racks and posts, the strange metal dungeon-esque equipment, and the different sized cages. Different suspension rigs hung from the ceiling, and different colored ropes awaited use in stacks on shelves. Another wall had different harnesses, gags, and blindfold hanging on it. Drake inspected these, trying to guess at what they were.
Spotting one of the O-platforms on which he had been branded and rigged on, Drake went over to it.
He stopped in front of a display case which held different dragon brands in it. He saw the one that had been branded on his chest and back, and the brand he had seen on Slade and Aubrey's chest and backs. There were several more, and Drake wondered at the difference between them.
Once he thought he had looked at everything worth looking at, he went back to the cell, and sat down on the mat, hoping to get a nap in.
