baggage

The next three days were uneventful long hot treks, across the empty desert between watering holes. For his part he seemed to like the solitude, ignoring her, riding on the baggage mules behind him. Disregarded except to give her, her instructions in the evening, spending the evenings smoking hashish & drinking wine, while she fetched food & drink for him obediently. The most she could hope for some small talk amid curt instructions. He wasn’t being rude, or unpleasant to her, rather he wasn’t really interested in a girls conversation skills, & regarded her a slight inconvenience, perhaps wishing he had sold her after all.
He enjoyed the desert, & his lonely travelling trading across it. There wasn’t any riches to be found here, just a steady comfortable income. He had started out in the army, serving in elite pathfinder units. After a couple of campaigns, 3 battles & a severe stab wound, he had retired to the sailing life. Still not satisfied, & not wishing at all a settled life, he opted for the desert life. Travelling back & forth mainly trading narcotics, opiates & hashish, but also mushrooms & refined drugs. He also traded precious stones & pretty much anything he came across. Eastwards & westwards but also travelling north across the ocean when he felt like a change.
A couple of times he contemplated putting her between his knees, or raping her, maybe selling her at the next settlement. But reckoned she might prove more entertaining as he approached the more settled areas of his journeying. Besides which he actually knew the trader her shipment had been for. Had served with him, & in fact sailed with him. Although no value would be placed on her return, it provided an amusing reason to travel northwards & visit an old friend for a while, even if only on a whim.
On the 2nd night there was no well, He washed with a canteen of water, she along with the mules & his horse was given a bowlful to drink. Thankfully on the 3rd day another deserted oasis awaited them, on fourth day in the late afternoon they approached a tiny hamlet. Despite being basically a couple of taverns, a market and stables, it was surprisingly busy, saddled across the minor trade routes.
He watched as his mules cargo was unloaded & stored securely at the stables. Then he went to his usual tavern. He had attached a short leather cord to her ankles underneath her scarlet chador & pulled her along with the cord. Her ankles hadn’t been loosened at all & she stumbled, panicky after him, lest the leash tautened too much and she was pulled off her feet.
At the tavern he took her around the back to a walled courtyard. He sat down kneeling her besides him & a slave, naked apart from her veil brought Master Marcus a cold tankard of beer, from inside the tavern there was music & laughter. He dismissed the slave back inside. He removed her chador & bindings & permitted her to toilet in the gutter, allowing her a few mouthfuls of water from a stone trough. The water was stale & warm, the trough too small for any farm animal, designed for slaves. Nonetheless the thirsty girl was grateful, & even more grateful to be permitted to wash herself from another tank of water. He watched her drinking his beer then went inside the tavern & brought out some devices.
She was put inside a nether lock or chastity belt, a broad metal U shape fitting snugly, intimately, between her legs. The metal belt padlocked closed in front of her, the lock heart shaped. Her wrists, were braceleted & the bracelets locked to a ring on the rear of the belt. She felt numb, nearly speechless with indignation, but also with shame to be so excited, locked up like this, by him. The snug steel device had also been recently used & was still soiled by its previous occupants helpless frustration. She felt the sticky residue smear & slip on her own captive intimacies. Her ankles were shackled closely together. Lifting her head he pressed a thick leather ball into her mouth, securing it with the gags a broad strap, buckled & locked behind her head. She squirmed in the metal belt, helpless & vulnerable. He lifted her eyes to his, she was tearful & frightened, her blue quite startling & beautiful over the leather gag. As soon as he permitted she dropped her eyes to his feet, in humiliation & shame.
The metal gate was opened and a line of slaves were led into the courtyard. Chained together by the ankles. Ten girls all secured in full body hoods, in all destined for markets further down the trade routes. Marcus & the girl at his feet, watched the slaves as they were expertly herded into the courtyard and then shoved roughly into a leather curtained cage, legs were whipped to hurry them as the tiny cage was crammed full. The gate was locked & its leather curtain buckled closed.
He looked down at her & lifted a leather hood, she whimpered into her gag fearfully remembering the body hood, & its terror, blind. He decided not to hood her. Finishing his beer he led her to another curtained cage. Drawing back the leather, revealed a cramped cage, already occupied by 10 or so girls, owned & stored by patrons of the tavern. Some were closely bound, most had their ankles & wrists secured. A couple were gagged like herself & another two were hooded too. She was pushed inside the cage. As the gate was locked she wanted to cry out to him, to beg him to keep her with him, but she was quite effectively silenced by her gag. He locked the gate & the curtain was buckled shut, plunging her into total darkness. The smell in the cage was fetid with fear & the arousal of girls aching for their Masters.
Someone knelt close to her in the darkness comforting her, whispered almost inaudibly into her ear. “Welcome kajira”
From outside the cage a male voice shouted “Silence sluts”
There was suddenly absolute silence from inside the cage.
Marcus went inside the tavern, a naked slave preceded him carrying his bags & personal luggage up to his room. She opened the shutters allowing what breeze was to cool the room & knelt at his feet. He had her lay out some fresh clothes from his bag dismissed her with his laundry. He went back downstairs into the other, more pleasant gardened walled courtyard to relax in the shaded pool & drink some beer before dinner.
In the other courtyard a couple more women were pressed into the cage, the girls could hear the merriment from the tavern growing as the afternoon progressed into the evening. They could smell roasting meat & bread baking, most of the girls had been left hungry.
She felt an almost choking sensation of fear as the oppressive & fearful atmosphere, seemed to thicken in the cage as the loudness from the tavern grew. The curtain was suddenly pulled back & a girl summoned, dragged stumbling outside. Another girl was made to perform fellatio through the bars of the cage, the master spraying the other girls with his sticky pleasure, He seemed to make a point of ejaculating a thick wad into the girl formerly known as Karen’s face, the only blonde in the cage. Seeing her try to draw away he seized a fistful of her hair and sprayed her face again, laughing gustily at her obvious distress, he slapped her away.
The curtain was closed again & the girls listened to the slave outside being raped noisily by three men, eventually the soiled & sticky, sobbing girl, gagged & hooded now, was pushed back into the cage. This wasn’t to be the last of the nights visits. Each & any of the girls not locked or gagged were available for use, & were well used, another amusement of the tavern. None of the slaves were permitted to look up and see the Masters face who enjoyed them. In the darkness, fetid now with fear & sex, the nameless girl formerly known as Karen sobbed with fright, pathetically grateful now for her chastity devices.
The music & enjoyment from the tavern grew louder as the night went on. The occupants of the cages knelt waiting in silence. Utterly vulnerable, utterly powerless, frightened, waiting to obey & please their Masters. Utterly submissive to their every whim.
In the tavern Marcus enjoyed a plate of meat & roast vegetables, watching the dancers. After his meal, a dark haired girl with doe black eyes fetched beer & knelt between his legs. He enjoyed three girls in this manner as he chatted to the other men & drank watching the dancers. After midnight he took the first girl to his room, for the night. She was a submissive delight serving him perfectly, obedient & grateful. Waking him in the morning with her mouth, eager only to please & love him further.
He spent the next two nights in the tavern, relaxing and conducting leisurely business in the markets. She waited frightened, in the stuffy darkness of the cage, fetid with sex & fear, mixed with the overpowering smell of leather.
Quite rightly waiting for her owner to collect his mules & cargo, his property.