We had been outside for only a short while. I felt the sun on my body. It felt so good after so long in the filth and squalor of the pens.
There were calls and cries. We were apparently in a public street.
I was being led, leashed, nude, gagged and hooded through a public street!
In some ways I was thankful for the hood, which at least afforded me a degree of anonymity. I imagined what it would be like to be paraded nude, leashed, and gagged without the hood.
I stumbled. There was a pain at my bottom. Someone had slapped it.
"Nice ass!" I heard a male voice say. There was laughter.
I wondered how long I would have to endure such acute humiliation and degradation. I heard the braying of animals. There was no sound of motor engines. How primitive this place was.
My bare feet felt the dirt of the street. It felt dusty and uneven. Several times I stepped in what I hoped to be mud. There were puddles. I could not see where to place my feet. I was much at the mercy of him who held my leash, pulling me along by my neck.
After a time, I heard the sound of a door opening and I sensed that we were inside once more.
"Kneel," said the guard.
I knelt.
The man called out.
"Draca!"
There was no reply. He called again.
"Draca!"
I heard footsteps approach, lighter than those before. They stopped, and I guessed that someone else was in front of me. I knelt very still and listened intently.
"Morning, Tarak," said a voice, a woman's, "What do you want at this time of day? All the sluts are still asleep. But I suppose I could wake one up for a good customer, for an extra coin. You want little Lita, I suppose?"
"I don't want paga now," said the man, "I'm working. I've brought the wench we talked of. This is her."
"This is who?" said the woman.
"The barbarian. The one with pierced ears that we were talking about last night. That you agreed to take in."
The woman harrumphed.
"I don't recall anything about taking in a barbarian."
"You do. It was just last night. You said that rather than selling her off for sleen-meat you could use her here."
"I don't remember it being a barbarian. I assumed you meant a proper slave. What am I meant to do with a barbarian?"
"They're all the same, Draca. Look at her body, don't you think she's got slave curves?"
I felt my left breast cupped and dropped. It was not painful, but humiliating and embarrassing nonetheless.
I had not yet become used to having my bottom casually slapped, or my breasts fondled, even as in this case, apparently, to make a point about my putative attractiveness.
There was a pause.
"Hmmm...yes," said the woman, "I see what you mean. Not bad. Be a shame to sell her straight off for sleen-meat."
They were talking about me as if I was not there. I was scandalized but was unable to help myself straightening a little in the hood, and arching my back a bit to accentuate my figure, knowing myself under their careful appraisal.
Eventually the woman grunted.
"Alright," she said, "I suppose she isn't costing me anything, and I am short of a slut or two at the moment. I'll take her on, if you say so, but you owe me one, Tarak."
The man's voice laughed.
"You get plenty enough coin out of me, Draca. Look on this as a bonus. I'll be here again this evening; be sure and have Lita hot and waiting for me."
"You don't want the barbarian to serve you then?"
He laughed again, mockingly.
I heard his footsteps recede.
The hood was taken from my head. I breathed in the air. It smelt unpleasant and stuffy. A faint odour combining something like whisky, and sweat, and something else less familiar, the smell of sexual fluids. The combination smelt disgusting to my sensitive nose. I have a very good sense of smell and taste.
I found myself looking up into the eyes of a robed corpulent woman. She looked down at me with hostility. I instinctively averted my eyes, but then her hand gripped my face, her thumb at my left cheek, her fingers at my right. She removed the gag. I felt drool drip down my chin. With her hands she forced me to look upwards once more, my blue eyes meeting her downward glaring gaze. It felt good to be without the gag.
"So you're the barbarian bit of ass they're fobbing off on me, eh? What do they call you, slut?"
I stammered out quickly, "M-masters have been pleased to name me, 'flower', Mistress."
"I see, and how much training have you had, 'flower'?" She spoke my new name contemptuously, as if it was unpleasant to even let it cross her lips.
"I have been taught to speak Gorean, Mistress, and some slave positions, and something of my duties as a slave, Mistress."