From the Top Shelf - Sci-fi Part II

Here's another passage from Terrilian IV The Warrior Challenged by Sharon Green. Much has happened since the last excerpt.

Our heroine has fallen into the clutches of the enemy, and has become a slave. Unfortunately for her, she isn't a very obedient one. She is taken by a female guard to an open square.

"Your slave has been displeasing in the task she was given," the woman announced, her amusement and satisfaction evident only in her eyes. "Which of you will punish her before she serves your meal?"

The eyes of the kneeling men came to me where I stood, most of them upset, a few of them oddly annoyed. One of them was going to punish me...

"Mistress, I will punish her," one of them said, a handsome man I seemed to remember better than most of the others. "We thank you for having brought this need to our attention, and we will quickly see to it."

"Quickly and thoroughly," the woman said, folding her arms as she looked at me. "You may begin now, for I have other matters awaiting my attention."

"Yes, mistress," the man...got to his feet, walked to the other side of the area, picked something up, then brought it back to me. As he came closer I saw it was a strip of heavy leather that he held, and I immediately looked up into his eyes...I could feel my trembling increase.

"Kneel to your master, slave," he commanded sternly, pointing to the floor in front of him...All the men were watching me, and the women as well, and as I knelt on the spot I'd been ordered to I knew that I'd never in my. Life felt so completely stripped bare.

"Put your brow to the stone, girl," the man I knelt to ordered, the strip of leather now held in both of his hands, his blue eyes even more stern-looking than they had been. "I shall not punish you as the high mistress does, yet shall you been well seen to."

I put my head and palms to the stone, feeling the ache in my back as I did so... My hair had tumbled onto the stone, some of it falling over my hands, and then I heard a faint scuff, as though the feet I knelt before moved away from in front of me. An instant later there were knees on my hair and big hands wrapped around my wrists, and then two other hands took my ankles. I was being held rigidly in place, and didn't understand why until the first stroke fell.

"Oh!" I cried, thoughtlessly trying to straighten up, or move away, or protect myself with my hands, none of which worked. I cried out again as I was struck a second time and then a third, and not long after that my eyes were full of tears of pain and humiliation. The guard woman had begun chuckling in amusement almost at the very start, enjoying the way that leather was being applied to my bottom. If I hadn't been held I wouldn't have stayed in that position, being horribly humiliated in front of another woman, but I was. Being held and couldn't pull loose. Two men were holding me while another strapped my bottom, and the woman's laughter was filled with the knowledge that I could do nothing to stop it.

"Are you punished, slave?" the handsome man's voice came then, the sternness still in it. "Will you in future be a good, obedient slave?"

"Yes, master, I am punished," I sobbed, willing to say anything if it would make him stop, feeling my tears roll down my hair. "I will be a good, obedient slave."

"She fails to beg you to cease," the woman watching put in, sounding as though she we're giving lessons. "She must have a bit more."

"Oh!" I cried as it began again, wishing I could scream instead, my wrist and ankles almost numb from the strength of the hold on them, my head throbbing where it was forced to the stone. "Please no. Master, please, no more! I will be a good, obedient slave, as good and obedient as you wish! I have been punished, master, please do not punish your slave the more!"

"A bit more will do her endless good," the woman said in a no-arguments voice as the strokes began to stop again. "You must not allow your slave to go without proper punishment, boy, else she will be quick to seek advantage of you. Does she greet you eagerly on your pallet, or must you force her to your use?"

"She--shows no eagerness for my use, mistress," the man with the strap of leather admitted reluctantly, a bewilderment behind his words. "I have not allowed her to escape her duty, yet did I expect her reception to be somewhat more--joyful."

"Once you have done with her punishment, she will be a good deal more receptive," the woman assured him her voice full of confidence. "A well-punished slave is ever a slave eager to please."

"Yes, mistress, that is surely so," said the man thoughtfully, and then I was being strapped again, just as hard as before. I cried and screamed and begged him to stop, but it took a while before he did so. When I was finally allowed to straighten on my knees I couldn't stop sobbing, and the woman looked down at me in deep satisfaction.

"When next she requires such punishment, there will be others who will wish to witness it," she said to the man beside her, just short of chuckling at the way I immediately dropped my eyes in mortification...The next minute the sound of receding footsteps came, and once they were out of hearing distance my master crouched next to me and put a hand under my chin.

"To avoid [another]such [punishment] will you greet the use of your master with greater eagerness and joy? Will you accept, rather than being made too take?"

"...I will greet you eagerly, master...Your slave will serve you as best she may."

"Oh, excellent. ...As our meal is not yet read to be served, you may begin at once."

"Now, master?" I asked in dismay, knowing when his hand left my chin that I was about to be lifted in his arms which happened just about immediately. "Please, master, not so soon after your punishment, please not!"

"What better time than when you are most eager?" he asked.