The sky was starting to darken when I took myself down
the stairs to the kitchen. This time when I arrived, the whole place was in an
uproar. A tragedy, terrible, un-forgivable, inhumane, and many more words
describing the event. Something was wrong, very, very, wrong.
The five concubines were late returning, so the kitchen
had only one guest to feed this evening meal to. The staff were worried. I
finally asked a staff member if the Kitchen Super were in, and the woman went
to look for her. I waited by the service stair door.
I was thinking about the missing piece of hall when the
Kitchen Super found me. She started to say something but I waved her off, the
noise of the staff was increasing as the debate over the cause of the days
strange turns heated up. I let her into the service stair entry and pulled the
door closed behind us saying, "You were saying?"
"I was asking what I could do for you?"
"Well, this is the kitchen."
"Come sit at the table," a puzzled look,
"you weren't asked what you wanted?"
"No, they're not thinking of dinner, most of those
they're here to feed, are gone."
"I know."
She left me at the table and soon came back with another,
younger woman.
A place was set, and food put on the table. As I sat to
eat, I motioned for them to sit also. The young woman seemed nervous, and the
Super said it was not allowed.
"Not allowed, by who?"
"The rules," was her reply.
"Who's going to report you? I don't think it will be
them." I indicated the noisy group of staff members, "If I don't miss
my guess, they're out of line too."
"Yes, they are." and the Super took a seat, I
motioned for the other woman to sit. She looked at the Super who also motioned
her sit, so she slowly complied with the request.
I ate slowly and probably made the Super and her companion
feel like they were on a witness stand as I asked questions they mostly
couldn't answer, and ate. It turned out the Super was as much in the dark as
the rest of the help. She knew the facts pretty much as I had overheard them,
and nothing more. She knew Tina had been seen leaving, but was surprised when I
told her I hadn't seen Flow all day either.
The younger woman acted as server, and left the table
occasionally for more food or drink. When I was done with the main part of the
meal, she served a dessert, and finally brought a pitcher of drinks to the
table. I insisted that they have a drink with me, and they finally consented.
I'd finished my meal and drinks while we spoke of the possible reasons for the
others absence, but really had no more idea of the real reasons than the rest.
The Super finally said she had to go and the two of then got up to leave.
As they rose I said, "Please, don't go. I've been
alone all day and would really rather not spend the evening alone too."
The Super, whose name was Naomi, looked a bit nervous for
the first time. "I really have to get these people back to their jobs, or
send them to their rooms. If the others come back they'll.. Well it'll be my
job." Naomi started to turn away and almost ran into the younger staff,
"But, this is Cindy, and she is at your service." this last was said
for Cindy's benefit as well as mine. Naomi stayed long enough to be certain the
girl knew she was to entertain me, then left for the loud group some distance
away.
Cindy was standing across the table from me watching the
super recede towards the rest of the staff in her charge. We both watched as
Naomi waded in and broke up the argument. Silence followed, in which Cindy and
I could hear clearly as Naomi harangued the group for their insubordination and
insisted they return to their duties at once.
"And do what?"
Naomi thought for a moment, then slyly said, "First
you can feed yourselves. When you're done clean the kitchen and go about your
business. But while you do, I want to be able to hear the wind outside.
Clear?"
It was clear.
"She knows how to lead." I commented.
Cindy nearly jumped out of her tracks when I spoke. When
she turned her eyes were wide open and she had a finger pressed to her lips in
the sign of silence, then shook her head no. Naomi had said not to talk, and
Cindy automatically obeyed the super.
I caught her hand and with signs asked that she follow
me. Cindy followed without a sound as I led her up the two floors to my
apartment and on into the library.
I pulled two chairs together at a comfortable angle then
asked, "Do you think we could talk here, or will Naomi want us to be quiet
two floors up?"
Cindy smiled at the thought, shook her head and then
replied, "No, Naomi is not so unreasonable as to want us to not talk at
all."
"Are you thirsty?" I asked.
"Yes. Shall I get something?"
I pointed to a buffet near the door, saying, "Look
in there."
Cindy came back from the buffet with a tray, two glasses,
and a bottle of liquor. "There is no ice, so if you want some I'll have to
go get it."
"Warm is fine."
Cindy poured some liquor into the glasses, then sat in
her chair. She raised her glass to me and waited until I'd raised mine.
"Salute!" and hers lightly touched mine. I grinned inwardly at her
youthful energy; and sipped my drink as she settled into her seat. Finally
arranged, she sipped her own drink a bit, then looking directly at me for a
long, hard, look at my face, then slowly sipped at the strong liquor, and
blushed for me.
"You're hard to fathom," she commented, "I
was sure when you led me her it wasn't for a chat and a drink."
"Would it scare you if I said you may be
right?"
"Not scare me, Naomi told me about your appetite,
but nervous, would be a good description of how I feel."
"Nervous." I repeated, "Not quite what I
expected you to say."
"Good, I don't like it when people read me like a
book." she looked around her and gave a chuckle, "Funny I should
mention books."
"Funny you should have mentioned I have some sort of
reputation."
"Not at all," she replied, "I was sent by
the Counsel to replace Sandy." I stiffened, "But not as a spy, I
think the term is breeder."
"I think I prefer Concubine."
"Concubine?"
"Yes, Concubine."
"What is a Concubine?"
I eyed her for in a sideways manner, my chin rested on my
left hands thumb and forefinger, trying to think of a way to start to explain
the meaning of a word long since forgotten. I'd found it in a book, no longer
here, and liked the word as a pleasing way to refer to an illicit lover. How
could I tell her that when she wasn't an illicit lover.
"I don't really know how to explain it. I just like
the sound of the word." I'd told her the truth seemed to say she had her
doubts about if I was truthful.
"I think you know what it means, and like it because
in your mind, it calls me what I am." she thought for a sometime, while I
waited for her to continue. Finally she did, "I am officially known as a
breeder. I know in my mind that conjures up visions of pigs, and I don't really
like the picture of my face on some fat sows head with 10 or so piglets on her
tits."
"You only have room for two.."
Cindy's reaction to my remark was priceless. She'd
wrinkled her nose trying to imitate a pigs face.
"Not bad for an amateur impersonator... But I don't
like the idea of mating with a pig. How about a cat, like a Manx?"
"Better, but I'm sure you won't like my claws."
"True."
Cindy refilled our glasses.
"Salute!"
"What is this Salute? Where did it come from? What
does it mean?"
Cindy, "I read it in a book somewhere. It is like
Concubine in that it is an old unused term I like the sound of and use. The
exact meaning I don't know, but the book used it when the characters drank
together in fellowship. I know no more than that."
"Salute!" I intoned.
Cindy laughed at my rendition. It suited her to be happy.
Her eyes danced with life, and her body became animated while she laughed. She
liked to laugh by the way it came easily from her, not forced and harsh. She
sank into the chair feeling the alcohol take it's effect, and the warmth of the
over stuffed leather chair.
"I like you," she finally said, "you make
me laugh and I like that. Now, you tell me what you know of the word
Concubine." Cindy's face was full of mischief and the hint of challenge
was in her voice, "Now mind you, I think I have an Idea of what it means!
Now tell me where you found it, and how it was used."
I looked into my drink, thinking about where to start,
"OK, but let me think how to say it." Cindy sat back and nodded to
continue. I slowly began to tell what I knew of what a Concubine is or was.
"I was reading an old volume," I began, "a
book written about a man and his lovers."
"I might like this word!" Cindy sipped her
drink and waited.
"He had a female mate he lived with. She was known
as his wife. This fellow liked to be with different women. So he used to go out
and find lonely young women and take them on a ride in the country in his
carriage. They would ride along as they talked, and when they were far from
town he would let the horses go as they would, while he and the woman, had sex
in the moving carriage."
"These young women would mostly let him do as he
pleased with them, thinking that was all they must do for the fee he offered
for their company on this ride in the country, for the purpose of having sex
with them, but it displeased him that the woman almost never acted, or did,
anything to add to the sex act and their enjoyment of it. Some of the women who
displeased him this way he took all the way to a city some days away."
"He would wait till they slept and then gently bind
them so they could not escape and then drive them into the city, where far too
late, they learned their fate, when he sold them as slaves. The women were all
sold to a man who ran a ship to and from some islands and he in turn sold them
to the highest bidder at a public auction."
"Were they hurt, or abused, or made to do manual
labor?" Cindy asked.
"No, they were not sold as field hands, but as
serving girls and in some cases even to men whose wife had died or left as a
mother for his children. Mostly though, they were sold to men of wealth, who
made them into a Concubine, a slave kept for the purpose of sexual pleasure
only. Not to do manual labor or raise children, but to dine at his table. Dance
at the parties he gave. Even to go to church on the Sabbath and in many ways,
probably lived better than they would have, left at home."
"There were only three catches to the system. The
first was the degrading way the were bought and sold."
Cindy refreshed our drinks, and settled back into her
chair for more of my story.
"I suppose if the woman were at all kinked, and
liked bondage at all, it may not have been too bad. But if she didn't like the
bondage, and most didn't, then the first thing that happened was degrading to
her. But that was too bad for her. Her captors were men who were a bit sadistic
and liked the masters role in the bondage game."
"When they arrived in the city by carriage, they
were sold to a man who dealt in female slaves. They were unloaded from the
carriage and taken into a building much like a dungeon. Here, their rope
bindings were removed and in their place leather bands with steel chains were
put on them. The men who installed these were cruel men, and if a woman gave
them any resistance, would force sex on them of injure her. Most learned never
to argue or rebel at this time, and allowed the chains to be installed without
any fight."
"The bindings were placed on their necks, wrists,
ankles, and waist. Then the chains were installed in such a manner, that if the
single chain, which hung from the back of her neck, were pulled several things
happened at once."
Her arms were pulled by the wrists to the belt at her
waist, and her feet were pulled together at the same time. At that point she
could not walk or swing her arms. If the chain were to be pulled further, her
legs were forced to bend and her feet would be pulled to her ass, forcing her
to kneel and be unable to move. Further pulling on the chain tried to pull her
body backward, eventually choking her. Usually the chains were tightened just
to the point where she would almost choke, and held there."
"So, just by pulling a chain, her captors could take
her from standing to kneeling, and her back pulled into a backward arch. Bound
so, a prospective buyer could inspect any part he wished while she was
completely helpless, and her body was open to every inspection he might wish to
subject woman he was buying, ultimately, for his sexual enjoyment."
Cindy squirmed in her chair as my story worked on her
emotions.
"Next their clothing was removed. Every stitch was
torn from their bodies, then they were put in a cell to wait for the next
auction. When they were put there, the chain at their neck would be attached to
a chain in the cell. Normally there was more than enough slack for her to move
freely about the cell. But if a special customer, want to inspect one of them,
the men could pull the chain from outside the cell. If she knew what was good
for her, the woman would go to the spot on the floor directly under where the
chain went through the ceiling, and assume the position she would slowly have
to take anyway."
"A few were sold from the cell, but most went to the
public auction where the women were brought out one at a time. Still naked,
they were taken to a raised platform, where they stood and showed themselves to
the bidders when and how they were told to, or the chains. The men would then
make public offers for her and the one who offered the most, bought her."
"Most of the homely ones ended up in a brothel where
they were made to service mostly sailor and drunks, while the attractive ones
were bought by wealthy men and taken into their homes as a concubine."
Cindy was visibly aroused by the story of bondage she had
just heard. The flush of her cheeks and the husky tone of her voice told me
this, as we downed the last of our drinks, and I escorted her to Sandy's old
rooms on the woman's floor.
"Should I bring some bindings when I come to your
bed?" I asked Cindy.
"If you would like to, then do so, "Cindy
replied, "just be aware of who the prisoner is here and release me if I
want you to."
"Done. The auctioneers used to say Done to indicate
a deal had been made."
"Then, it is done, and I am your concubine."
Cindy disappeared through her door, and I turned to my
apartment.
Copyright © 1992
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 29 | Chapter 31
Index | Title Page
| Credits | Preamble | TOC