Coming Together: Special Hurricane Relief Edition

by Alessia Brio

  "Are you white silk?" I said.

  Her eyes closed and she shuddered. "If you mean, am I virgin, then yes, I am white silk," she whispered.

  "You wish to change that condition outside of a Companionship? Be certain of what you ask." I moved slightly. The furs were restricting me.

  "Were I slave, I would have no choice. I ask to be used as a slave. Thus, I have no choice."

  "I will count slowly to twenty, Lady Melna. If you are still here at that time, you will serve me as a slave." I began to count. "One, two, three..." She made no move, breathing lightly, quickly, her small, beautiful breasts moving with her breathing. "...eighteen, nineteen, twenty." I threw back the furs and stood.

  "Ai," she cried softly, regarding me. "It is so beautiful."

  "To me," I said, "on your knees, legs spread, head bowed, wrists extended and crossed for binding." She stared at me for a moment, surprised. "Must a command be repeated?"

  She fled to me, kneeling, spreading her legs, bowing her head, extending her wrists, crossed, for binding. "Forgive me, Master," she whispered. Quickly I bound her wrists before her. Were she truly slave, I would bind them behind her but as she was a free woman, pretending, I allowed her to be a little more comfortable. Only a little. The knots were a warrior's capture knots.

  "Your name, slave."

  She smiled and looked down. "Master has not yet named me."

  "You are Melna," I said, "but know it as a slave name."

  "I am Melna," she said. "Thank you, Master."

  I pulled some sleeping furs from the couch and threw them to the floor at the foot of the couch. "Lie on the furs," I said. "Put your arms above your head and spread your legs." I watched as she laid herself down, obeying my command exactly. The curly triangle at her groin seemed damp in the lamplight. She smiled nervously up at me as I stood above her.

  "Are you going to touch me, Master?" she whispered. I lay beside her, resting on my elbow and held my hand just above her breast. The nipple was erect, engorged. I waited, and she moaned, arching her back, thrusting her breast into my hand, the nipple hard against my palm. I squeezed and caressed the delicious curve of her, stroking, moulding her, my hand hard against her softness, warrior and maiden.

  She moaned, pushing herself against my hand. "Oh yes," she cried softly, "touch me, please, touch me."

  "As a slave girl?" I said.

  "Yes, yes! As a slave girl."

  I stroked down her breast, across her belly, then up again, to her other peak, stroking, squeezing, moulding, then down my hand moved again, caressing her belly, her hip, her thigh, even down to her knee, then up again, a long, slow caress to again mould her breast. She shuddered, her body flushed, her breathing quick, feeling my hardness against her thigh. I let my hand move down her again, but this time let it move across her bush, springy, soft against my hand. This time I let my fingers play with the very core of her, feeling her heat, her wetness, hearing her gasp as my fingers moved across her secret place.

  "Take me, Master," she cried, her voice urgent, "take me as your slave!"

  I moved over her, as hard as I had ever been, and pushed slightly into her. She gasped, shuddering, but her hips pushed up at me. I took her slowly, almost gently, pushing against the brief obstruction of her virginity, sinking suddenly into her as her resistance was torn away. Her bound hands came up, around my neck and she pulled me to her as her hips pushed back against mine and she reared up in the passion and heat of the moment. She excited me beyond restraint and my hips pushed my heat and hardness into her, hard, rhythmic, but no less urgently were her hips working against mine, pushing her softness, her heat, her very core against me.

  With a cry of triumph, I came, even as she screamed her surrender to me, her belly rippling, her core contracting rhythmically about me, drawing me, emptying me, leaving me drained as her eyes rolled up and she fainted, overcome with the heat and the passion and the torment of the moment. Gently, I loosened her arms from about my neck, removing the binding fibre from her wrists. I withdrew my dwindling self from her, easing her to her side, drawing the furs about us as I took her, Lady Melna, no longer virgin, red silk now, as I took her into my arms, holding her. The rain pattered against the shutters as I lay holding her, wondering.

  Long moments later she stirred, startled, relaxing as she realised where she lay. She twisted around in my arms, facing me, reaching up shyly to kiss my lips.

  "I did not know it could be like that," she whispered.

  I kissed her. "It was only a small climax," I said. "Were you truly slave it could be twice, five, even ten times stronger, if you were in the arms of your true master."

  "I could not bear such ecstasy," she said.

  "Yes, Melna, you could. Were you slave it would be expected of you."

  She laughed, soft, low. "I begin to understand why the slaves who serve the guards seem so happy even though they have nothing, not even a rag, to call their own." She kissed me again. "Tell me, Master, have you had many women?"

  "Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira," I said. I kissed her. "But I will answer you. Do I include slaves?" I said, laughing.

  "How many without?" she said, a soft smile on her face.

  "But three, and you the third."

  "Their station?"

  "One was the daughter of an Ubar," I said. "I learned later that she took every new guard to her bed, at least once."

  "I do not think I would like her," said Melna, frowning.

  "I think she courted slavery, for she took to walking the high bridges without escort, until one night, a tarnsman, outlaw, no doubt, without insignia, a tarnsman made his strike and took her. She was never seen again. Not free. Perhaps somewhere she serves as his naked slave."

  "And your other free woman?"

  "The wife of a merchant. He was ever away from their holding on business. She was very discreet, but most appreciative of my attention."

  "A lucky woman, as I may now testify," Melna said, her smile warm. She kissed me again, softly. "And how many slaves have you had?"

  "In truth, I do not know. Perhaps eighty, perhaps a hundred."

  "Do you mind my asking these questions?" she said.

  "You are free, and I have no reason not to answer," I said. "Were you truly slave, I would tell you again that curiosity is not becoming in a kajira."

  "And then you would not satisfy my curiosity?"

  "I might, if I was feeling indulgent, but perhaps not."

  "May I ask another?"

  "Ask."

  "Did you enjoy having me?"

  "Of course. What man could fail to enjoy a woman who gives herself freely?" I smiled at her. "And what of you? Did you experience pleasure?"

  "Incredible pleasure. Even the pain of surrendering my virginity served only to heighten my pleasure, knowing that I was giving pleasure, too."

  "Ah," I said, "your virginity. Excuse me, please, for what I am about to do." I reached down and quickly, sliding my finger between her nether lips, took on my finger her fluids. She moved, startled, a squeak escaping her lips. I held my finger before her. "Look," I said, "see there? Your virgin blood, on my finger, mixed with the juices of our joining. Were you slave, I would make you taste yourself." I moved to wipe my finger but her hand caught mine. Slowly, her eyes holding mine, her breathing rapid, she delicately extended her tongue and licked the fluids from my finger.

  "I asked to serve you as a slave," she whispered. "It is fitting." She moved to kiss me again, warm and wet, heated. I lay back and she moved further, to look down upon me. "If I were truly slave, what would you wish, or expect, of me now?"

  "Now?" I said. "Perhaps to lick at me, and kiss me, perhaps to kiss my weapon of love, to encourage my virility, that I might take you again."

  "Like this?" she said, licking and sucking at my male nipples, kissing my chest, kissing my shoulders, running her tongue down my chest, across my stomach, pointing her tongue and pushing it into my navel. I chuckled and she flashed a sweet smile at me, dishevel
led with our lovemaking, looking even more desirable now than when she had first revealed her body to me. This was a new Lady Melna, freed of some inhibitions, enjoying that freedom. I gasped as her tongue moved the length of my maleness, and gasped anew as her lips closed delicately about it. She was inexperienced, clumsy even, but the touch of her mouth excited me, and I could feel myself hardening. She looked up at me, startled, withdrawing, her face alive with curiosity as she regarded me, her fingers around me, feeling me hardening at her touch.

  "So soon?" she whispered.

  "Your touch excites me," I said, drawing in my breath with a gasp as her mouth closed over me again. In short moments I was hard, wanting her. Her mouth left me, only to return in a kiss. She sat back on her heels, knees spread in the position of a pleasure slave. I wondered if she knew.

  "I kneel to you, as a pleasure slave, Master," she said. She knew.

  I laughed. "How is it that you, a free woman, know the positions of a pleasure slave?"

  She smiled. "It is as well for a free woman to know something of slavery. Consider how close I came to it. Knowing something like this could mean the difference between being slain and living, albeit as a slave." She reached out a gentle hand and caressed the full, hard, length of me. She released me and sat back on her heels, her knees apart, her hands on her thighs, palms up. "May this slave serve her Master again?" she said.

  I took her and threw her to her back on the furs. She gasped, throwing her legs apart as I knelt between them. I entered her forcefully, showing no tenderness. I took her, giving her no option in the matter. Her fingers were claws in my back as I thrust but she was pushing back at me, her hips lifting her to me, her mouth a snarl as we rutted, human animals, feeling only the lusts of mating. With a cry of triumph I came, even as I felt her shake beneath me in her own involuntary release, a tight scream escaping her lips, teeth clenched in a rictus of carnal pleasure. Sweat was on us as we stilled, pooling between our bellies, standing out on our brows. Carefully, I eased myself from her, moving to my elbow beside her, looking down at the supine loveliness of her. She smiled.

  "Master is vigorous."

  I laughed. "Melna never needs fearing being slain if she ever falls slave in truth."

  "Were my responses adequate, Master?"

  I looked at her for a long moment. "More than adequate." I bent to kiss her. "I have had trained pleasure slaves who did not give me the pleasure that you did." I stood, and held out my hand. She took it and I pulled her to her feet. She stood, naked, lovely, still breathing heavily, nipples engorged, sweet flesh flushed, her hair tousled.

  "I think it time for the Lady Melna to return to her quarters," I said.

  She frowned. "So soon, Han Lero?"

  "I wish to leave early, and do not wish to disturb you."

  "Your very leaving disturbs me most, Han."

  "My place is in Ko-Ro-Ba, not here."

  "Take me with you."

  I shook my head. "I cannot."

  "Then let me sleep beside you, so that I may bid you farewell at morning."

  "Does no-one wake you?"

  "A house slave, at the sixth hour." She smiled. "As long as I am in my own bed then, no-one will have seen anything."

  I reached out and took her into my arms. "Very well, Lady Melna of Rorus, share my furs."

  "Gladly will I, Han Lero, Warrior of Ko-Ro-Ba."

  It was a peaceful, gentle sleep. As a trained warrior I knew I could awaken myself on a cue and I knew when I opened my eyes that it was yet some time before the sixth hour. Lady Melna was awake, lying on her side beside me, her eyes on my face. As I saw her, she smiled, soft, sad.

  "Good morning, warrior."

  Saying nothing, I reached for her and she moved eagerly into my arms, raising her lips for my kiss. We made gentle love this time, slow, rising to a shared heat that carried us over into mutual ecstasy. Tears were streaming down her face as we separated, but she shook her head when I made to speak, moving rapidly from the bed, picking up her robe from where it still lay beside the door and, almost running, left me alone. I stared at the closed door for a while, then sighed and began to prepare for my departure.

  The kitchen was quiet, but food and drink were quickly put before me. The rain which had started during the night was constant now, rattling the shutters. Tullius's new slave, Julie, came in, naked, save for her collar, wrapped in a warrior's cloak. She made to kneel when she spotted me but I gestured for her to continue.

  "My thanks, Master." She began to gather food together, putting it in a basket.

  "How is your new master, this morning?" I said.

  Her smile was radiant. "Most vigorous, Master."

  "Hasten back to him, slave," I said, laughing.

  "As fast as I am able, Master," she said, scurrying out with her basket.

  Claudius Flavius came in then, grinning as he spotted the departing Julie. "Tal, Rarius," he said.

  "Tal."

  "I looked to find you before you left. This holding has a small tarncot, not used by Pel. I have had a tarn brought for you, a gift from the Lady Allina."

  "She is generous."

  "She is free, thanks to you and Tullius."

  I nodded.

  "She bids me give you this, too," he said. It was a purse, heavy. I opened it, to find gold.

  "This is not necessary," I said. There was a fortune in the purse.

  "The Lady Allina insists. She bids me give you this, too. Open it only after you reach Ko-Ro-Ba." It was a parchment, sealed with the Lady Allina's crest. I tucked it in my pouch. We stood.

  "I wish you well, warrior," said Claudius Flavius.

  "I wish you well, Captain," I said. We clasped hands and then, with a nod, he went out.

  I finished my food and, taking up my possessions, enquired the way to the tarncot. There was but a single tarn there, a sable monster, harnessed, ready, who eyed me steadily as I approached. A keeper came out of his hutch.

  "Your mount, Captain," he said. He grinned. "I see you know tarns." He passed me a tarn goad. "You may still need this."

  "My thanks, keeper," I said.

  "Do you need aught else of me, Captain?" the keeper said. "Because, if not, I shall break my fast."

  "Go. I can manage here," I said. He nodded, saluted, and left me. It took me little time to prepare the tarn. I was just about to release its shackle and mount when I became aware of a figure near me.

  "You are ready?" said Lady Melna.

  I nodded. "To leave, yes." I shrugged. "For other things, no."

  "You will not take me?"

  "I am a warrior. There has been no place in my life for a Free Companion. Yet..." I was about to say that I would come back for her, as soon as I had acquired apartments suitable for us to share, when she forestalled me. She face-stripped herself, tearing away her veils, pushing back the hood of her robes of concealment. She went to her knees before me, her head lowered, her arms extended to me, wrists crossed for binding.

  "I submit me your slave," she said, her words clear in the quiet of the tarncot.

  "I cannot," I began, but she interrupted me.

  "Acknowledge me as your slave, Master, or slay me, else acknowledge your codes betrayed."

  I stared at her, a vast joy rising in me. "Stand, slave," I said. She came immediately to her feet. "Strip," I said. she did not hesitate, quickly removing her robes of concealment. Her last garment was a ta-teera, the ridiculously brief garment of the slave girl. I smiled to myself. She was truly ready to submit herself slave. She hesitated for a moment. "Everything," I said, then she was naked before me. I reached out and took the last comb from her hair. "Kneel," I said. She knelt quickly, her knees apart, her hands, palms up, open on her thighs. She was lovely.

  I took from my belt some binding fibre. A warrior always has binding fibre, for he does not know when he might need it. I did not, however, have a collar. Nor did I carry a branding iron. There would be time for that later. I quickly knotted binding fibre about her lovely throat.r />
  "That will have to do as your collar, slave, until I can have you branded and a collar prepared."

  "Branded?" she whispered. "You would brand me?" She laughed. "Of course you would, for I have declared myself slave."

  "On your belly," I said, "ankles crossed for binding, hands behind your back, wrists crossed." In moments she was secured. They were capture knots, a warrior's. She would not soon untie them.

  "What is your name, slave?" I said.

  "Master has not yet named me," she said.

  "An appropriate answer," I said.

  "Is Master not going to name me?"

  "Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira," I said.

  "Forgive me, Master," she whispered. I smiled. She would leave Rorus, her home, nameless. I would name her Melna, perhaps, but later, as a slave name. A name is useful for a slave, it helps to tell them apart.

  I took her by the hair and pulled her to her feet. She winced, but smiled at me, tears in her eyes. "Master is ruthless." With her ankles crossed and bound, she would have fallen had I not held her upright. I lifted her and slung her across the saddle of the tarn, on her back, lashing her in place. It does not do to have a slave fall to her death because she is badly tied. It reflects badly on the warrior. She winced again, but smiled up at me. "I love you, Master."

  I leaped to the saddle of the tarn, unleashing the hobble. Its wings cracked and it moved to the perch at the exit of the tarncot. The rain was still falling, heavy now, and I sensed it was going to be a miserable trip, even more so for the woman tied naked before me. Ready to leave, I looked around, startled to see the Lady Allina and Claudius Flavius standing, well back, watching me. They raised their hands in farewell. Why had they not challenged me, taking the Lady Melna as slave? Had they seen her submit, her own choice? I looked again to them and smiled. Their free hands were joined. I thought perhaps a companionship might be likely. Or would the Lady Allina simply take Claudius Flavius as her lover? I dismissed them from my mind, for it was their affair and theirs alone.

  I pulled on the one-strap and the tarn launched itself into the rain. Within minutes the rain was soaking through my tarnsman's leather. I'd had an idea, for I remembered an abandoned peasant's dwelling some half an ahn's flight from Rorus. My tarn was young, strong, and it was less time than that when I brought it down in what had once been a sa-tarna field, overgrown now. I dismounted quickly and threw the slave down on the ground. She was shaking with cold, but not a word of protest had I heard from her. I covered her with my cloak and led the tarn into what had been a barn, half-collapsed now, but with room for the giant bird. I hobbled it and threw it a haunch of tarsk which I had brought with us from Rorus.