Fighting Slave of Gor

15 I AM BEATEN; THE MISTRESS SPEAKS WITH ME

I stood below the whipping ring, my wrists crossed and tied over my head.

I jerked under the second blow of the snake. I did not cry out. Present were only two keepers, one of whom wielded the whip, and the Lady Florence.

I felt blood running down my back.

"Hold," said the Lady Florence. She came to stand quite near to me, near my left shoulder. We were on a colonnaded porch on the south side of her house.

"Do you understand why you are being whipped, Jason?" she asked.

"I displeased my Mistress," I said.

"You are not weeping under the lash," she said.

I shrugged. I was angry.

"I have thought much about what happened last night," she said. "It has been much on my mind."

I said nothing.

"I did not sleep well," she said.

"I am sorry, Mistress," I said. A tincture of bitterness, or irony, doubtless, infected my voice.

"Are you angry, Jason?" she asked.

I shrugged. My back hurt. I felt sick.

"I was not entirely displeased, as I now think about it," she said, "that you took me in your arms." She spoke softly. The others, standing back, could not hear.

"I thought Mistress commanded me to take her in my arms," I said. "It seems that I was mistaken."

"It is how you took me in your arms," she said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"I am a Lady," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"You held me too tightly," she said.

"You would direct a man on how to take you?" I asked.

"Take me?" she said, angrily.

"Of course," I said.

"I am a free woman," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"I could have you beaten to death," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"Are you angry with me, Jason?" she asked.

"No, Mistress," I said.

"I am Mistress," she said.

"Of course, Mistress," I said. "I understand that well, Mistress."

"Yet your hands were not entirely displeasing on my body," she said.

"Mistress should be a slave girl," I said.

"Surely you understand that you are tied, and at my mercy," she said.

I moved my wrists in the leather bonds that held them. I had been tied, expertly, by a keeper. I was held fast.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"I could have you beaten to death, or tortured, and slain," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"Yet you dare to speak to me so boldly?" she asked.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"Beat him," she said. She stepped away from me. Three more times the snake fell against my back.

"Hold," she said.

I was still on my feet. I struggled to remain so. I could scarcely see. "He is strong, Lady Florence," said the man who had struck the blows. He was a short, powerful man, Kenneth, a free man, a keeper and the first groom in her stables. I had not once lost my footing. I recalled that in the House of Andronicus I had once received five blows of the snake. After the second I had hung in the straps, helpless, weeping, crying out for mercy.

"Do you still think your Mistress should be a slave girl?" she asked.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"Beat him," she said. Five more times the snake fell upon my back. Then, again, she cried out, "Hold."

"Do you still think your Mistress should be a slave girl?" she asked.

"Yes, Mistress," I said, through gritted teeth.

"Why?" she demanded.

"Because you are exciting and beautiful," I said.

"Flattering slave!" she laughed.

I did not speak.

"But I am exciting and beautiful as a free woman," she said.

"It is true, Mistress," I said. "But the excitement and beauty of a free woman is as nothing compared to the excitement and beauty of a slave girl"

"Beast!" she laughed. But I think she knew that it was true.

"Is he to be beaten further?" asked Kenneth, the keeper and groom.

"Do you wish to be beaten further, Jason?" she asked.

"No, Mistress," I said.

"Beg my forgiveness for your insolence." she said.

"I beg forgiveness for my insolence," I said.

"Are you ready to obey me in all particulars and be fully pleasing?" she asked.

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"Very well;" she said. "I forgive you." Then she turned to the fellow with the whip, Kenneth. "Five more blows," she said.

I looked at her.

"I have forgiven you, Jason," she said. "But surelv you must understand that punishment for your insolence must still be meted out to you."

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

Five more times the snake fell against my back.

"He is still on his feet," said one of the two men in the room, he who did not hold the whip.

"That he is," said he who wielded the whip, Kenneth, the groom.

"He is strong," said the Lady Florence, my mistress. There was a pride in her voice.

"Is he to be beaten further?" asked Kenneth.

"No," she said, "it is enough." She walked about to where she could look at me. "Cut him down," she said. "Then withdraw. I will tell you when to fetch him to his kennel."

The strap which held my bound wrists was cut away from the ring to which it was tied.

I crouched down, under the ring. I did not collapse to the tiles. I was sick. I was aware of the blood on the tiles, beneath me and on my feet. I was aware of the sweat and blood on my body. My hands were still tied before my body. I was conscious of the collar of steel on my neck. I had received fifteen blows of the snake. I knew that twenty blows of that fearsome whip could kill some men.

I felt the small hand of my Mistress on my naked shoulder. "You are strong, Jason," she said, "very strong. That pleases me."

I did not speak.

"You must clearly understand, of course, that I am Mistress," she said. "Is that clearly understood?"

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"I like you, Jason," she said. "You excite me," she whispered. Women think little of speaking intimately to their silk slaves, for such are only their animals.

I felt sweat under the tight leather bands confining my wrists. I breathed heavily.

"Are you angry with me, Jason?" she asked.

"No, Mistress," I said.

"Sometime," she said, "perhaps, if you are a very good boy, I may let you take me again in your arms."

The air was soft and gentle. I could smell flowers in the gardens.

"But you must not hold me too tightly," she said, "and you must do exactly as I tell you."

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

"Kenneth, Barus!" she called.

The two men returned to the area. They had been waiting inside the house, near the portico.

"Return him to his kennel," she said. "Put balm on his wounds. Feed him later. Let him rest. Tomorrow he will run certain errands for me. Tomorrow, in the evening, send him to my chambers."

"Yes, Lady Florence," said Kenneth, who stood first among the two men.

The Lady Florence, then, with a movement of her robes, departed from the porch.

"Have you ever fought?" asked Kenneth, lifting me up, his fellow assisting him.

"NO," I said.

"No. Do not throw up until you reach the kennel," he said. "Yes, Master," I said.