(This story is set in a world where legalized, non-hereditary slavery is commonplace for serious crime, unredeemed debt, or voluntary self-indenture. Eighteen years of age is the minimum for anyone in this world to be enslaved or to have any intimate contact with slaves. This is strictly a FANTASY--in reality, informed consent is always mandatory.)
(This tale is inspired by the work of Mr.Smith27 as well as the novels of Jennifer Jane Pope. Thanks to Mr.Smith for his review of the draft.)
(
Mary Jacobs' viewpoint
)
My husband Bill parked the ranch's pickup truck, towing a horse trailer, near the edge of the parking lot for the Longhorn Slave Market. On Saturday afternoon, the lot was full but many people appeared to be leaving, some of them towing naked and restrained young women who had probably just finished their slave grading and were looking forward to regaining their freedom.
Bill looked at Lois and me, and quietly suggested that the two of us "get ready" in the back of the trailer, after which he would "be along to collect you." Four minutes later, Lois, a beautiful 29-year-old with auburn hair, was completely naked except for a slave collar (already connected to a leash) and a pair of flip-flops. Her eyes were shining with a mixture of excitement and apprehension as she looked at me, similarly unclothed, although at the age of 46 I didn't look nearly as sexy as she did; the best I can say for myself is that I was well preserved: a pleasant face, a fit body, and breasts that sagged only slightly.
"Remember," I cautioned her. "Talk softly and obey; don't make a scene that will bring attention to us."
Just then, Bill dropped the ramp on the back of the trailer, exposing our nudity to view from the outside, and walked up next to us. He knew better than to stare at Lois, instead using zip-ties to restrain our wrists behind our backs. Having done that, standing between us he suddenly placed a cupped hand on each of our rear ends, and we both shied away from the unexpected groping.
"Oh, come on, sluts. You can expect a lot more than just a hand on your ass when you get inside." He didn't persist in his fondling, however. He used his left hand to retrieve a clipboard full of papers and an ominous cloth bag, from which the two-foot neck of a branding iron protruded. I noticed Lois looking at the bag, and wondered if she were as frightened as I. No time to think about that now: Bill gathered both of our leashes in his right hand and led us, willy-nilly, down the ramp into full public view and towards the sign that indicated the main entrance to the market. How the hell did I talk myself into this?
*****
I knew the answer to that, of course. It all began because Lois, the divorced owner of the Spinning Wheel Pony Ranch, developed a bad case of the hots for her own property, a champion pony boy stallion appropriately called "Stud." She confessed to me, her stable manager, that she was obsessed with the idea of pretending to be a pony girl so that Stud would use his oversized cock on her. I had helped Lois with this masquerade, which went fine until an emergency forced me to leave her, bent and tied on a mounting frame, while Stud was in the midst of fulfilling her fantasy. That would have been great for her, except that while I was gone, Stud took advantage of the opportunity to extract the horse-tail plug from Lois' rear entrance and thoroughly butt-fuck her. Then, once the assigned ranch hand collected Stud and led him off to a shower, another ranch hand, Bob Grant, had come upon Lois (aka Pony Girl Ginger) still tied to the frame. Bound and unable to reveal her identity, Ginger had no choice but to let Bob shaft her as well.
All's well that ends well. I rescued Lois without--as far as we knew--anyone identifying Ginger as the proud and reserved ranch owner. She obviously enjoyed the fucking (and I think playing submissive, although she wouldn't admit that part.) Lois was visibly more relaxed and happy for the next several weeks. So, of course, because I liked her I suggested various ways to reprise her role as a horny pony girl. The third time I brought the subject up, the conversation went something like this:
"Oh, right," retorted Lois, sarcastically. "I'll admit I had fun, but the risk of discovery is too great. If nothing else, most of our ponies are branded, in case you've forgotten."
I tried to encourage her. "So, we get you branded. No big deal."
"It is a big deal," she replied. "Quite apart from the pain of getting my butt burned, I can't very well walk up to the ranch smith, drop my panties, and ask him to use an iron on me."
I sensed that she really wanted to play pony again, for all her protests, and I thought she needed a chance for happiness, so I persisted. "I'll admit that branding must hurt, but you're a woman. We're built for pain, and it can't be any worse than childbirth. As for where you get branded, there are places that can be discreet. I know some people down at the Longhorn in Houston--I'm sure I can arrange to have it done without publicizing your identity. Again, not a big deal."
"OK," Lois replied, caught between sexual frustration and impatience at my nonchalant attitude. "I can tell that you're determined to get me branded, and you think it's not a big deal. So, I dare you to put your ass where your mouth is. If I have to go to the Longhorn, so do you, and whatever I have to do, you do also. If I'm naked and collared, so are you. If I get fondled by slave wranglers, so do you. And if I get the spinning wheel brand on my rear end, so do you. As you said, it can't be worse than childbirth, right?"
Oops. Trying to be supportive of my boss, I had gone too far. We had a long discussion of reasons why I couldn't do it, but she was stubborn. I thought I had her when I said that, if I were playing slave along with her, we'd have to let someone else into her secret. She had an answer to that one, however--I would have to tell my husband, the head cook of the ranch, why I was going to Houston overnight, so why not make him the ticket holder? (When you're being slave graded or kennelled in a slave market, the ticket holder is your temporary owner, the only one who can spring you from their custody.) Me and my big mouth.
*****
(
Telephone conversation, the next day
.)
"Mary Jacobs."
"Mary, this is Jesse Foster at the Longhorn, returning your call."
"Thanks for getting back to me so quickly; I'm sorry to take up your time, but I need your help with a rather delicate situation."
"No problem," came his calm voice with a slight southern accent. "Anything legal we can do for a good customer like the Spinning Wheel, we'll be glad to."
"Well, I might as well just come out with it. There are two free women who want to get branded, very discretely. I was hoping you could kennel them, brand them, and keep them overnight for medical observation."
Jesse replied in the same kind of "no big deal" tone I had used talking with Lois. "Free women getting branded is becoming more and more common, and most of them want to keep it quiet, just like you. In fact, one of my female wranglers is even talking about getting herself marked for her husband, because she signed a FINO contract with him. We need a court order to use the circle star criminal brand, but other than that, we have all the common brands or you can provide your own."
Mary: "Great; we'll bring along the Spinning Wheel branding head we use."
Jesse: "But, you said you wanted to be discrete, and I guess that's why you want these women kennelled. Whenever we kennel someone, and especially when a branding is involved, we need to have a legal release for liability reasons. Are these ladies going to give power of attorney to whoever acts as their ticket holder?"
Mary's voice was troubled. "Ummm, isn't it kind of risky to sign a power of attorney at a slave market?"
Jesse tried to dispel her concern. "If you're talking about an unlimited power, where the attorney-in-fact has the right to sell the person, I agree wholeheartedly. The Longhorn is in the business of selling slaves, and if someone walks in with unlimited power of attorney over another person, it's SOP to convince the owner to sell. But in your case, I'm talking about a very limited power that specifically does NOT authorize sale but gives the attorney-in-fact a temporary power over the person in question, including power to physically alter that person. I'd be glad to e-mail you a few different versions."