PantherBoy Ch. 01

With no warning we emerged from dense forest and came face to face with a wall of wooden stakes. The wall rose to three times a man's height and the stakes were densely packed so that nothing could be seen of what lay beyond. 'This, slave, is our camp,' said the dark-skinned panther, she who held the twine of my neck leash. 'Here you will learn what it means to be a panther's slave. Or else you will die.' She glared at me and I dropped my eyes to the floor, standing naked before her with my hands tied behind me. 'Yes, Mistress,' I said quietly. She terrified me, this panther girl with her dark black skin.

The other panther, the one who held the leash that was fixed to the metal ring that kept my manhood in check, gave a sudden, vicious tug. I cried aloud and stumbled forward. 'Hurry, slave,' she called over her shoulder. 'Your Mistress is waiting.'

As we walked I saw that the wooden stakes curved, forming a large circle. Halfway around we were confronted by a guard with a long spear and a knife at her bare thigh. She called out a challenge. 'We bring Adena's new kajirus,' said the dark panther. 'He has been shaved and his manhood bound.'

'So I see,' said the guard with a laugh. 'It suits him well.'

I kept my eyes lowered as the high gate creaked open. Inside, I glanced up to take in the panther camp, my new home. It was about the size of an average village, surrounded on all sides by the wooden stakes and with the forest growing close up against it. The floor of the camp was of hard-packed earth and scattered around this were two dozen round huts that seemed, too, to be made of earth. Smoke rose from some of the roofs. To my left were a set of pens, teeming with large, black-coated swine. To my surprise I saw that a man was in charge of them, a great brute. For a second I thought he might be one of my party, but then I realised that he was only a servant of the panther women, a swineherd. The thirty companions with whom I had entered the forest just the previous night were all now dead. I had seen their bodies, some of them castrated or with their throats slit. I had seen, too, their blood on the hands and faces of the panther women.

'Forward, slave!' The dark one gave a sudden tug on the leash, dragging me forward by the neck. I don't know if she did it deliberately, but I stumbled forward and lost my footing, landing full length in the dirt on my belly with my hands still bound behind me. A passing panther looked down at me and laughed. 'Ah', she cried, 'I see that he is learning his slave positions already.'

'Not quite,' said the blonde panther and with her foot, she pressed on my neck, forcing my face into the earth. 'The slave has neglected to cross his ankles.'

She pressed harder and I crossed my ankles as I lay full length beneath her.

'Head to the left,' she commanded and I turned so that my cheek was against the ground. There was much laughter. I now lay in the slave position known as Bara, naked, on my belly, with my hands bound at the small of my back, ankles crossed. It is the common binding position. Many times I had given the command to a silk-clad kajira. Never had I imagined that I would adopt it myself.

The blonde panther wiggled her foot before my face and I had no choice but to put my lips to it. Her feet were small and soon she had forced her five mud-stained toes past my lips. At this there was even more laughter. A dozen of the panther women had now gathered to enjoy the show. 'We shall have great sport with this one,' said one.

'I would rather we had cut his throat,' said a grim voice that I knew belonged to the dark-skinned panther. 'Up!' she commanded and I was pulled to my feet, leashes tugging cruelly at my neck and manhood. 'It is time you were presented to your Mistress.'

They walked me past the eyes of the whole camp, cruel, appraising eyes. Some of the women made jests as I was led past them. Others, more angry, scowled and a couple spat hard in my face. I wanted to curl up into a ball before them, to cover my manhood at least with my hands, but my hands were bound behind me. And anyway I knew better. I was their captive, a naked slave at the mercy of a camp full of wild and bloodthirsty women. They could do with me as they pleased. I had thought that I might escape them but naked, in a camp surrounded by tall stakes, somewhere in the heart of Gor's largest forest, I did not now fancy the odds. I did not think either that the panther women were the sort to let a slave escape them.

The hut of Adena, my Mistress, stood slightly apart and had a screen of reeds in front that lent it privacy. Inside the screen, in front of the hut, was a small courtyard. I was ordered to kneel, head high and knees spread, nadu. I did so quickly, lowering my eyes. After a moment my Mistress emerged from the shadows of the hut. She was barefoot. All I could see were feet and her calves. They were magnificent, glistening with taut muscle. I felt a sudden urge to throw myself down, to kiss her feet, but at the same time, my pride rebelled. I would not, of my free will, perform the actions of a slave.

'Down!' Again it was the dark-skinned panther. 'Abase yourself before your Mistress.' She kicked me hard in the lower back so that I was sent sprawling to the ground at Adena's feet. In shock and panic, I assumed the obeisance position, kneeling with palms and forehead pressed to the earth floor.

'Thank you, Morgan. Thank you, Vespa.' I heard my Mistress's commanding voice. 'That will do for now.'

I felt fingers at my neck and then up between my legs, removing my leashes. They were not cruel but nor were they gentle. They merely treated me as though I were an animal, a pig or an ox. I heard my two escorts withdraw from the courtyard and then I knew I was alone with my Mistress. I heard her walk about me, examining my form.

'Sula!' she then commanded. It was another command I had given many times to a kajira. Miserable with shame, I rolled over onto my back in the dirt before her. I lay looking up at her against the blue of the sky and she seemed to tower over me. After a moment, I turned up my palms at my sides and spread my legs apart in the shape of a V.

'Wider,' she commanded and I spread them uncomfortably wider. I could have wept for shame.

'I see,' said Adena, her grey eyes boring down at me, 'that you are familiar with several of the positions. 'Before I am done with you, you will know how to assume each one, swiftly and well.'

I did not doubt it. 'Yes, Mistress,' I managed to say, but could not meet her eyes.

'Look at me!' she ordered and I did so, my eyes moving up her magnificent form bound only in tight panther skins to meet hers. 'You have submitted to me rather than choose an honourable death. You have begged to be my slave and I shall teach you what it means to be my slave. You will learn swiftly and you will be pleasing to me in every way.'

'Yes, Mistress.'

'You do not yet imagine what being my slave involves, but you will learn.' Her voice was softer now, teasing. 'You had not imagined, I wager, the shower you enjoyed as you knelt at my feet this morning.'

'No, Mistress,' I said between gritted teeth. I had not, when I entered the Northern Forests, imagined such a humiliation, or not for myself. My skin was dry now but it still carried, no doubt, the rich scent of my Mistress.

Smiling, she unsheathed the long knife she wore at her belt. I flinched as she flicked it playfully from hand to hand above my head, not looking at the knife but down at me, her naked slave, who lay before her in shameful Sula. Still playing with the knife, she walked around to my feet, standing between my spread legs, a smile on her lips, looking down along the length of me. 'I think,' she said, 'you will do nicely.' She continued to survey me for some time.

'Nadu!' she commanded and I rose smoothly into kneeling position. She seemed pleased but the next moment she took hold of my chin and tipped my head up so that I was forced to meet her eyes. I knew my will was no match for hers, a proud panther chief. I trembled.

'Do not be afraid, my pet,' said Adena then. 'I am a hard Mistress but not unfair. You will obey me in everything and I shall enjoy training you. And then, when I have had my pleasure, I shall make an excellent sale. I know just the Mistress for you, in the city of Cos.' She patted my head and I lowered my gaze, blushing anew, ashamed and at the same time grateful for this small show of affection.

'I must attend a panther meeting now,' she said, and I detected a slight trace of weariness in her voice. 'While I am gone, you will tidy my hut. Make sure that everything is in its place and then sweep the yard. When you have finished, kneel as you are now. Wait for my return.'

'Yes, Mistress.'

She went to go into the hut but then she stopped. 'But what am I thinking?' she asked herself. 'I have not yet given you my mark.'

Once more I began to tremble. Once again she came and stood before me where I knelt on display. Again she took hold of my chin and I was forced to meet my Mistress's eyes. 'Do not fear, my pretty,' she told me, 'the panther women do not brand their kajiri. That will come soon enough, when you reach the city. Ours is a more natural method. It will mark you clearly as my slave but the mark will not be a permanent one.'

I looked up into her eyes, frightened and confused.

'Kneel to the whip!' she commanded.

Trembling, I did so. It seemed suddenly very still and quiet. Beyond the screen of reeds, I could hear the noises of the panther camp. Inside, however, there was only Adena, my wild panther Mistress, and her slave. I knelt naked, my head again pressed to the dirt floor. My wrists were crossed beneath me and my bottom raised, cruelly exposed.

'If you so much as move a muscle,' my Mistress warned in a matter of fact voice, 'I will geld you here and now.'

I continued to kneel as she went and stood behind me. I was shivering now with fear, my ears pricked for the sound of a whip. I feared too that she might choose to mark me with her long hunting knife. I heard my Mistress crouch down behind me and then, to my surprise, her arms gripped me tightly about my waist. My whole body tensed and then relaxed. When at last it came it was so sudden, so wild and so cruel that although I held still, I could not still my screams. In panic, in fear, and humiliation, I screamed into the dirt beneath me. Adena bit me hard, teeth sinking into my left buttock and clenching there. I counted to ten in my head, trying to block out the pain.

Finally she released her grip and stood. I heard her wiping the dust from her hands and knees. 'There', she said, surveying her work with satisfaction, 'now you are well-marked as Adena's kajirus. And now I must be off to my meeting. Busy yourself with your duties, my pretty slave. Do them well and later, when we are done talking, we shall see how else you may please me.'