The next morning Dravo visited Bassalla, the leather worker. After the greetings and some pleasantries Dravo got to the point:
"I want you to make something for Vera, my slave."
Bassalla chuckled "I'll be glad to make something for the big woman, but will you promise me that you'll leave it on her long enough for her to appreciate it! From what I've seen, you usually have her naked and fucking."
Dravo smiled "True, that furless bitch has a hot one and I've yet to get enough of it. But listen to me: What I want made is not a piece of clothing, no, I want you to make a sling or a harness for her to wear around her shoulders."
"Really, my lord? A harness, you say?" Bassalla was puzzled. "For carrying a load?"
"A load, yes, a heavy harness for a heavy load." Dravo was examining some thick, oiled leather hides in the corner of Bassalla's workroom.
"What sort of load, my lord?"
Dravo had selected a hide of the large flightless soobu birds that lived in the foothills and plains below the mountain.
"Me."
The idea had come to him during the previous week as he lay quietly watching Vera sleep. The first rays of dawn revealed the tall naked woman in his bed. As he admired her firm curves an idea came to him that had been forming since the day he'd ridden her up the mountain. Why not use a harness, much like the saddles that the lowlanders used on their beasts, to ride her? Properly mounted, he could be over a head taller than she and what better vantage to direct troops or observe a battle?
It wasn't, he admitted to himself, an original idea. He'd fought the lowlanders to a standstill, defeated them as a matter of fact, but he'd been very appreciative of the advantages that a mounted calvary brought to the battlefield. Winning those battles had been a near thing and only his well-disciplined troops had saved his skin.
So it seemed a natural thing for him to mount and ride the tall, strong woman. A well designed strap would give him an advantage that few could match.
He smiled as he stroked her leg, thinking: "Ride her as she pumps these tawny legs as fast as she can go."
Later that afternoon Dravo showed up again at Bassalla's workroom, Vera in tow.
They were quite a pair: the slender, muscular monkeylord and the beautiful blonde woman. Dravo with the grey crest of age that began at his eyebrows and ended in the small of his back and Vera who was at least two imperial units taller than her master.
Bassalla measured Dravo first; he used the measuring cord to record Dravo's height, waist, butt and the length of his legs. When he was finished, Dravo spoke to the woman:
"Bassalla will measure you for the riding harness. I have some business with my nephew and then I will return tomorrow for the final fitting. When you are finished, return to my nephew's lodge to help Mossara with the evening meal."
"As you wish my lord."
Bassalla began by having her remove her halter as he pulled a stool up behind her to aid in the measurement. He'd made burden-harnesses before but this was quite a bit different than anything he'd ever attempted. He found himself wishing that Dravo was here to give him some advice on this device that he was constructing. On the other hand, the woman was very compliant and beautiful in her near nakedness. It wasn't long before he was touching her constantly as he measured and cut the leather harness from the soobu hide.
