Three female slaves had been added to the company at the compound. They had been purchased by the Master from a merchant traveling in the far north, who had bought them from a pirate ship. Two were cousins, evidently from a background of wealth, light of skin and soft; the third had been their servant, a tall, darker girl with small, erect breasts, a flat stomach, clear of eye, with aquiline features and a shapely behind, who bore some racial resemblance to her new owners. Of the two cousins, both of them attractive, one was slim and leggy, with small breasts and a modest but well shaped bottom; the other was shorter, fuller but shapely in her ass and breasts, her face softer and pouting. Both had a spoiled, arrogant look. The erstwhile servant, Kila, had been seen very little in the compound since her arrival; it was rumored that she had caught the eye of the seldom seen Mistress, Astarte, whose bed she was now presumed to be sharing while the Mistress instructed her in the Sapphic arts.
The two cousins, by contrast, were already notorious among the other slaves for their arrogant behavior and attitude of superiority. They disdained the other slaves, performed the minimum of work, reacted insolently to instructions from the steward and his assistants. The others waited in fearful anticipation of the inevitable reckoning; which may have been delayed because of the absence of the Master and most of his retinue... a detail to which the pair appeared oblivious.
The response came as anticipated, when the regular wax depilation was pending to which all the younger slaves, female and male, were regularly subjected. The slave Kila lay back as instructed, legs spread wide, while the liquid wax was dripped onto her pubis and allowed to harden. She was seen to grit her teeth as the wax was ready to be pulled off, and let out only a sharp gasp of pain as her silky hair was torn out by the roots, leaving her soft lips even more naked. Her erstwhile mistresses, seeing this, flatly refused to submit to the operation; when pressed they began to scream and fight, with the steward's dignity sorely affected when he attempted to intervene, only to be scratched and bitten. His assistants hastened to take the two into custody and locked them in a cell, while their supervisor, much put out, conferred with the Mistress about the appropriate penalty for this outrageous lack of respect.
The following day, in late afternoon, the slaves were directed to assemble in the smaller arena, a roofed, stone floored area at the edge of the compound. The two miscreants, stripped naked and subdued by a night and day without food or comfort, with their arms tied behind them, were brought out into the circle. The slender girl, Jayla, had waving shoulder length chestnut hair, a long back and legs, and small shapely buttocks and breasts. Her skin was a pale tan. The other, Withna, was shorter, with full thighs and behind, but a small waist and moderate breasts tipped in pink. Her hair was black and piled in curls, her lips pouting. They – and the twenty slaves – observed with apprehension two constructions in the center of the room; a flat wooden platform with rings set in the corners, and an oddly shaped wooden post set in the stone floor: three feet high, a foot wide and two inches deep, with a circular piece cut out of the top, containing a serrated surface and a thick peg protruding upwards at the edge of the concave crescent.
Their collective attention was drawn by a stir at the entryway, where the tall figure of Astarte was seen, with long russet hair and a shimmering gown hugging her Junoesque curves, accompanied by the slave Kyla, who wore only a loincloth that displayed her shapely thrusting buttocks, and did nothing to conceal her proud breasts, both now pierced by jeweled rings. It was noticed that Kyla bore a lithe bamboo cane. Astarte briefly acknowledged the respectful bows from the assembled slaves. The steward's assistants stiffened to attention and held the two offenders out for the Mistress's inspection. Glancing curtly at their nude bodies, which blushed with fear and embarrassment, she indicated that Jayla should be the first to be admonished.
