Twelve Days a Slave Ch. 04

"That's a score of 2.2," William said.

"The member of the board who scores highest," said Nicola, "gets a significant bonus."

"Plus," William added, "there has been significant betting by members of the audience as to which Judicial Placements board member is the best with the whip."

He glanced down at the two women in leather and added, "I have my own opinion on that, but members of the staff or crew are not eligible to place bets. I will say, however, that 2.2 doesn't sound like it will be the winner."

One of the male members of the board now walked over to the table and picked up a flogger. He immediately stepped behind the slave in sixth place and began swinging the flogger.

Evidently the blows caught the slave by surprise and he cried out. Most of the blows were striking on the slave's upper back. With each blow he yelled loudly and pulled crazily at his bonds. The individual blows were so close together that the slave's screams seemed to merge into one continuous cry.

"Ten... Ten... TEN!" William yelled into his microphone. The man struggled to stop his arm in mid-swing. The strands of the whip barely touched the slave's back. William looked over to stage right and said, "I need a decision from the court on this one."

A uniformed woman walked out onto the stage to join him. He handed her a microphone and she said, "Although there was contact, there was no blow, so that does not count as a stroke." She paused and said sternly, "Had he actually struck the slave improperly, I would have declared his punishment voided... and thus fulfilled."

She handed the microphone back to William and walked off the stage. "I have a feeling this will not get high marks," he said as he pointed to the judges' stand. Three 1's and two 0's were held up.

"That is score of point six," he said shaking his head. Then turning to the crowd he said, "Even without the almost false strike," he continued, "that would not have been rated high. When you are whipping someone- regardless of what the whip is- you need to put some time between the strokes and vary the time. That way the person has time to absorb the full shock of each stroke and can't prepare themselves for the next one."

Pointing back down at the ten board members stills standing on the track he said, "I am assuming that Nicola started with the weakest players on the team." He paused a moment to add some drama and then said loudly, "Prove me right!"

Another of the women stepped up to the table and picked up a flogger. Missy, watching from above, noted that she stood slightly off center to right of the slave. The woman was evidently left-handed.

She was also evidently more experienced with a whip. She took a couple of test swings with the heavy flogger and then stepped out of her high-heeled shoes. Standing barefoot she took one more practice swing before bringing the flogger up over her head and swinging it down in a wide arc across the female slave's ass.

The sound of the leather striking flesh echoed through the fairgrounds followed immediately by a loud, shrill scream. The woman then reached forward and lightly dragged the tips of the lash upward across the slave's back. Then whipping it around in a twirling motion, brought it back down on the slave's ass with another resounding "thwack."

The slave's scream this time was louder and more shrill than before. Now the woman stood quietly with the flogger at her side. Meanwhile the slave continued to whimper and twist in her restraints. The entire venue became very quiet as the slave- and the audience- waited expectantly for the next blow to fall.

That blow took everyone, especially the slave, by surprise. In one fluid motion, the woman brought the flogger out to the side and the slashed suddenly across in front of her so that the leather thongs struck across the slave's ass just above where her ass cheeks blended into her thighs.

The scream this time was almost not recognizable as human. It sounded almost like a wounded animal. The next strike was almost immediate and before the slave could even respond to the blow it was followed by a second and a third and a fourth and a fifth. There was a slight pause before one more stroke landed across the slave's ass.

Nine strokes had been applied and all nine of them had been exactly across the quivering slave's ass. Again the woman stood passively as the slave writhed in her restraints. Her sobs could be clearly heard all the way to the back of the bleachers.

Just as the slave began to quiet down, the woman swished the flogger back and forth several times immediately behind the slave. You could see the slave tensing her entire body and pulling against the restraints as she awaited the final blow.

Once again, the woman brought the flogger up above her head, and once again she swung it in a large arc toward the bound female slave. But this time, the strands of the flogger did not crash across the slave's ass. Instead, they landed squarely in the center of her back where she totally didn't expect it.

The slave's eyes flew wide open and her mouth opened wide to form a scream, but no sound came out. Instead the slave shook in her restraints for a moment and then collapsed to hang senseless in her chains.

The woman retrieved her shoes and then swaggered off the track. She waved to the crowd and they stomped and cheered. She paused a moment to check her scores and then disappeared behind the stands.

"That's a 9.4," William announced. "I think some of the judges are saving some room at the top in case any of the board are better." He looked down at the still unconscious slave and said, "I think that performance would have been worth a ten if had been last."

He then looked over to the CEO of Judicial Placements and said, "If you did begin with your weakest floggers, then we have a lot to look forward to."

The crowd showed their approval of his comment by applauding wildly.

The next man picked up a flogger and stood behind the slave in the number eight position. The blows were strong, but were delivered at a steady pace and landed all over the slave's back from his thighs to his shoulders. When he had finished, the slave was sweating and breathing heavily, but was still standing mute. He received a unanimous score of 4.0 from the judges.

That score was better than what the next woman board member received. She was so inept with the whip that the female slave was actually laughing at her by the time she had more or less landed her final blow. The crowd booed as the woman walked slowly off the track. Their boos turned to applause as the judges awarded another unanimous score. This time a perfect 1.0.

The next two board members were a little better, but not by much. Again, they tried to strike very hard, but did not have any finesse with the flogger and drew not much more than painful grunts from the slaves. Their scores were 3.1 and 3.5.

After the slaves had all been flogged once, William again came to the center of the stage with Nicola Gordon. "Tell us a little about Judicial Placements," he said, pointing his microphone

toward Nicola for his answer.

"Well, William," he began, "we provide temporary or permanent slaves for home or business use. We have slaves of all description and match the slave to the job." He paused and looked down at the six slaves who were being re-positioned in their restraints.

"Obviously," he continued, "our household slaves are convicted of non-violent crimes. Many of them are short-term and are unbranded. Some even still have their bodily hair so it is not obvious that you are making use of a slave to clean your house or take care of your kids. Unless you tell them, your friends and neighbors will think you have employed a maid or a nanny."

"What about business slaves?" William asked.

"Depending on your needs," Nicola responded, "and your security abilities, we can provide workers of every description. We will always," he continued, "help you with your security needs and, in the case of known troublesome slaves, can provide additional professional security."

"So these slaves here today are not household slaves?" William asked.

"They aren't even business slaves," Nicola responded curtly. "By the time a slave has reached the point of needing this kind of encouragement, they are relegated to the mines or farms." He looked out at the audience before finishing with, "We are doing this public punishment today to show both our customers and our slaves that we take compliance with the judicial directives very seriously."

"Thank you Nicola," William said while shaking his hand. "But I see that the crews have reset the slaves for the second round of flogging."

He looked down at the six board members still standing on the track behind the slaves and said, "We are ready to proceed with the second half of our program."

The slaves were now restrained facing the stage. Their chains, if anything, were much tighter than they had been. One of the men picked up his flogger and walked out behind the number six slave.

As soon as he began swinging, the audience began to boo. There was almost no strength to the blows. The next several board members were only slightly better. Some struck very hard and got occasional grunts or screams from the slaves, but they obviously had no experience with the art of whipping and their scores reflected their ineptitude.

Finally there were only two board members left- the two women in leather. The woman in the miniskirt stepped forward and picked up the flogger. She snapped in briskly several times. Somehow she was able to cause the tips to crack like a bullwhip.

The crowd roared their approval.

She then stepped behind slave number four. She stood swinging the flogger in front of her for several moments. Again she moved it rapidly enough to cause noise. This time, the noise was a loud swishing sound as the strands of the flogger swung wildly at the end of each swing.

She continued swinging the flogger. The male slave was tensing slightly as he heard each swish. The woman waited until the slave's response began to diminish. You can only respond to a menace so many times before your body begins to ignore the threat.

Once the slave became unprepared for the strike, the woman swished the whip once more across her front. But rather than stopping at the end of the swing, she continued up to shoulder level and brought the flogger down in a wide arc so that only the last inch or so of the leather strips struck the slave's ass.

There was no loud sound of the whip striking flesh, but that was more than made up for by the extremely loud scream of the slave and the applause of the crowd which immediately followed.

Her routine of "swish, swish, swish... strike" continued for nine more strikes. Each time only the tips of the flogger touched the slave's flesh, but by the sixth strike, blood was flowing down the his back.

After completing the tenth blow, the woman turned to face the audience and bowed deeply before striding off the track.

"What do the judges say?" William asked with a flourish.

In response the judges held up their cards. There were two nines and three tens for an average of 9.6.

"That looks like the number to beat," William said loudly. "Can our last board member top 9.6?"

In answer to William's question, the last board member, the one dressed in the leather almost-catsuit, stepped forward and took the last flogger from the table. She also caused it to make noise, but she did it by rotating the handles violently in a tight circle at shoulder level. Her arm was held just far enough away from her body so that the leather thongs did not strike her head.

The "wump wump" of the flogger spinning in the air filled the arena. The woman stepped closer and closer to the female slave in position three and then stepped back. She did that several times as the slave cringed and tightened her body awaiting the blow.

The woman watched the slave's response and then, while she was backing up slightly and the slave was relaxing her body, she opened the circle of the spinning leather and struck the slave squarely across the top of her back. Unlike the previous board member, this woman's flogger struck with almost the full length of the leather and caused a loud pop that could be heard throughout the stands.

The female slave tried to keep from crying out, but a muffled cry escaped her lips. The "wump wump" of the spinning whip began once again. Now the slave was cringing and reacting both as the sound came closer and as it backed away.

This time, the woman in leather waited until she was at her farthest point away from the slave and then leaned forward to strike- this time squarely across the female's ass cheeks.

The slave was totally unprepared for the blow and screamed loudly. Her scream continued as she thrashed in her restraints. Then when she had quieted her body and voice, the "wump wump" began once again.

It was obvious that the slave was trying to prepare herself for the blow, but there was no way of knowing where or when the next blow would strike. The woman in the leather catsuit struck low on the woman's ass. Many of the leather thongs actually struck the slave's thighs.

This continued for six more strikes. There was now one blow left. The woman began spinning the flogger even faster so that the "wump wump" was both louder and higher in pitch. She stepped forward until the leather strips were just short of striking the slave and then she stepped back.

She continued her dance for several minutes. Then she reached up and grabbed the thongs of the flogger. Everything was now quiet. The audience could see that the woman was slowly drawing back her arm to get the maximum strike with the flogger, but she was, for some reason, holding her arm down, not up.

The slave was quivering slightly dreading that final blow. Suddenly the woman snapped the flogger forward and up between the slave's legs. Her timing and positioning was exquisite. The slave was totally unprepared for the blow. And the thongs of the flogger curled up on the front of the slave's cunt biting deeply into the total length of her slit. The very tip of the leather strips snapped loudly against the flesh above her cunt.

One of the strips evidently landed squarely on the slave's clit because there was a loud scream which continued for many seconds before finally dying away almost like a steam kettle when the heat is turned off. The slave had lost consciousness.

Like the board member before her, the woman turned and bowed to the crowd. This time the applause was like thunder and most of the crowd was on their feet.

As the catsuit-clad woman strode off the field, the judges held up their scores. "We have a perfect ten!" William screamed. The crowd renewed their applause.

After the crowd quieted down and was once again in their seats, William said, "How was that for an undercard event?"

The crowd roared out their answer.

"We still have the main event yet to come," he said, reverting to his ringmaster voice. "As soon as the JDI security people have removed the slaves and the stage crew has removed the restraint posts, you will witness slave missy's second day of punishment."

A recording began playing through the speakers as a large group of men and women in black JPI Security shirts swarmed onto the track and led the six slaves away. Three of the slaves had to be supported by the security people. One, the last female slave, had to be carried.

After the JPI guards removed the slaves, the stage crew hastily removed the twelve posts. They also dragged the large framework out into the center of the stage. Missy stared down at the frame from her cage and began to whimper. She had witnessed the ordeal of the six slaves... and they had received only 20 lashes. She would receive 46. How would she ever stand it? Would she even survive it?

As the cage began to slowly descend to stage level, she found herself murmuring and then saying and then finally yelling, "No, no, no, no, no..."

The door to the cage opened, but missy couldn't bring herself to step out. She was still softly chanting, "No, no, no, no..."

She yelped as a hand reached through the bars and touched her shoulder. She spun around and found herself looking into William's eyes. "This is going to hurt," he said. "I won't lie to you. But you can get through it."

He reached through the bars and took her hands in his. "Remember what I told you about not getting scared by the undercard. They don't have a performance tomorrow... you do." His voice dropped lower as he added, "You have to trust me that this will not be more than you can endure. Remember that everything we do is a performance. Think about your fantasies and you will get through this."

William stepped back around to the front of the cage and motioned for missy to come out onto the stage. It took all of her will to force herself to move, but she very shakily stepped out of the cage.

Two of the black garbed security people led her over to the frame and stretched her arms up to the restraints. One guard removed the manacle from her right wrist and immediately the other guard wrapped that wrist in a leather restraint. They repeated that procedure on her other wrist and then on her ankles.

The guards were evidently not satisfied with how missy hung in her chains, because one of them reached up and pulled on the end of the chain which was hanging down next to one of the uprights of the frame. There was a loud clicking sound- at least it sounded loud to missy as she stood between the uprights of the frame- and the tension on her arm increased. He pulled on the chain on the opposite upright and missy could feel her body being pulled taut. The two guards looked at each other and both nodded their heads indicating they were now pleased.

"Thank you gentlemen," William said as the men walked off the stage. There was now noone on the stage except missy and her master.

"The law," William began in his loud stage voice, "specifies that public flogging counts double." He slowly swung the flogger he was holding in his hands. Missy couldn't help herself as she watched the long strips of leather move back and forth. "Normally," he continued, "that means that the specified strokes are cut in half. But in this case the number of strokes are fixed at 46."

Many of the women in the crowd gasped loudly. William gave them time to murmur among themselves for just a moment and then continued. "The proceeds of today, however, will be counted double against this slave's sentence."

He moved around behind missy. She could feel her body tensing up against the impending strike. Nothing happened for a long moment... and then her world exploded as the lash hit across her shoulders. The slap of leather against flesh seemed very loud to her and pain shot through her body. It was nowhere near the pain she had experienced when she was branded, but it was definitely more than the hand spanking she had received the previous day.

"One," she heard someone say through the speakers. The voice wasn't William's. He must have someone counting for him.

The pain came again as the flogger struck at about shoulder blade level. "Two," said the voice. Some of the people in the crowd were starting to count with him.

A few moments later, the leather strands slammed into her back just below the previous strike. William was doing what he said a person shouldn't do with a whip. He was striking with a regular measured pace. "Three," called out the voice- and about half of the audience.

The next strike was just a little lower on missy's back. The one that followed was even lower. It was readily apparent that William was working his way slowly down her body. She prepared herself for the next blow which came exactly on schedule, exactly where she expected it. The pain was somehow less when it didn't surprise her.