	Master had ordered me to prepare to entertain a guest before leaving for a meeting of the Council, a meeting at which I knew there would be discussions with a representative from Isalla.  Rumors had flown around the city about who the emissary was, what position he might hold.  I was fairly certain that this would be a man I knew personally; perhaps even family and that thought disturbed me.  Over the past months I had grown accustomed to being put on display by my Master and whenever he entertained I was always offered to his guest for the night.  I had finally stopped trying to keep count of how many I had served and had even come to enjoy the occasional change of pace, but as the evening approached this time I was filled with a certain apprehension.

	I busied myself preparing trays of fruit and bread, chilling wine and setting the places at the low feasting table.  When I heard the bells sounding from the center of town I knew I had about an hour to prepare and I retreated to the wash room to brush my hair, make up my face and adorn myself.  Master had a standing order that when he entertained I was to serve nude, but I had earrings, gold chains, and, of course, the silver armlet I had won for taking second place in the Summer Carnival Beauty Contest.  I regarded myself in the mirror and decided there was a fair chance anyone Master might bring to dinner would fail to recognize me.  Perhaps this was what Master had in mind?

	I heard the men approaching and sped to the doorway, kneeling as I'd been taught, waiting to greet my master and his guest.

	"Here we are," Master said, "Please honor me by sharing my table."

	"With pleasure, Captain," replied a voice that I knew very, very well.  For the very first time since I first disrobed before my Master I felt an overwhelming urge to cover myself as I felt the eyes of my uncle Iliam settle upon me as I knelt obediently by the doorway.

	"I greet you, Master," I managed to say, intoning the lines by rote, "I am called Princess and I shall serve you this night, should you so desire."

	If he had any reaction to me it was not in evidence as he smiled and replied, "Wine, girl, and be quick."

	I waited for my Master to nod to me before rising to my task, trying not to shake as I walked across the room and set about pouring wine for the men.  I caught Iliam regarding me and felt the blush rising in my face.  Iliam was a large man, very solidly built, ruggedly handsome with steely blue eyes and a face that purely oozed masculine power and surety.  In Isalla he was virtually a legend, a Warrior who had won many a contest by unmatched skill and the sheer ferocity of his will.  It was said that during a battle in the Wachen War fifty men had trapped him and two comrades in a box canyon.  The enemy had demanded surrender but Iliam and his companions had refused.  The enemy had rushed forward to slaughter the trapped men, but though his friends quickly fell, Iliam had stood his ground laying about him with savage blows and deft parries until only four of the attackers remained.  Iliam had lost his sword, the weapon lodged inextricably in the ribcage of a fallen man.  Disarmed, he beckoned to the last four, taunting them to taste death from his bare hands.  They fled in terror and from that day forward no man would willingly meet him on the field of battle.

	Iliam was not a man to be trifled with.  He was my mother's brother and he had often escorted me about the city when I was free.  It was only by chance of fate that he had not been with me when my ship was attacked at sea.  I knelt before him and pressed my lips softly to the rim of his cup before offering it up to him.  He took the cup, and then I felt his hand on my chin, tilting my face up so that our eyes met.

	"You are trembling, girl," he smiled.

	"Forgive me, Master," I whispered.

	"Of course.  You've nothing to fear, slave."

	I saw the look in his eyes and I recognized it for what it was: anticipation.  Iliam was musing on what this night would hold for him.  I felt the knots in my stomach begin to loosen, as I understood that despite what Iliam may have been to me when I was free, I was now a slave and he was simply a man who must be obeyed.  

	He released me and I quickly served wine to my Master, my composure returning as I put the situation in to its proper perspective.  I served them food, the kitchen sending up slaves with the hot meal once the appetizers were gone.  I wished Anna were with me and wondered where she might be, but Master had not asked after her so I had to assume that she had been given others to serve.  When dinner was done, the wine was gone and darkness was falling Iliam announced that they day had been long and it was time to retire.

	"May I show you to your room, Master?"

	"Of course, girl.  Garth, it has been a good day for us both.  Let's hope tomorrow is half as fruitful and we'll be done with this war."

	"Agreed, Iliam.  Sleep well."

	I led Iliam down the hall to the guest room and knelt as he entered.

	"Close the door, girl."  

	I obeyed, then moved to kneel again, but he gestured to me to remain standing.

	"Alenya, we need to talk."

	It took a moment for me to realize that he had called me by my name when I was free and I nearly choked as I tried to figure out how to respond. I dropped my gaze to the floor.

	"Master may command me as he wishes.  He may name me as he sees fit."

	"Stop it!  You may be Garth's slave in his eyes, but you are Alenya in mine and I will speak with the girl I knew!"  His voice was firm, not shouting and I decided that all I need do was obey.  He wanted to speak to Alenya; he would speak to Alenya.

	"Very well, but would Alenya stand before you like this, nude and collared?"

	"Then cover yourself, and sit with me."

	I took a blanket from those piled in the corner by the entrance to the bed chamber and draped it over my shoulders.  Not quite a robe, but it would suffice.  I sat by the table, almost falling in to a kneeling position out of habit.

	"So, Uncle Iliam, what should we talk about?"

	"You, and your future," he looked me straight in the eyes, his gaze steady and clear despite the wine he'd had, "I can free you from this."

	"Free me?  How?"  I was stunned; the thought of leaving bondage had never even seemed an option.

	"I can demand your return as a term for peace.  The Tah will agree."

	"And then what?  Do I go home and return to my family?  Do I say, `Oh, it was an inconvenience but all in all I am unscathed, and never mind the hundreds of men, commoners all, who have had me for a night or two...?'  I think not!"

	"No, no, you could never go home, not like that.  You could return with me, live in my home.  It is not unheard of.  You will have a husband once a sensible amount of time has passed...Alenya, your mother weeps every night for you.  A collar is not your place in this world.  Let me do this, for you and for your mother, my sister."

	"Iliam, why do you ask me this?  I am a slave, despite this pretense we engage in.  Make your demand, take me away and free me at your leisure.  Why ask my permission when it is within your power to simply act?  Even as a free girl I was subject to the will of my father and the other men in the family.  Even my little brother Tolin had more say than I."

	When he did not respond I stood and dropped the blanket to the floor.  "It is because of this, is it not?  You entered my Master's chambers and laid your eyes upon a lovely naked slave girl and for a moment you forgot who I was and anticipated having me.  Even when you knew who I was, you still looked upon me with desire."

	"I was being polite to Garth!  I haven't spoken to him on this...I...I...you were playing the part so well...it was hard not to admire you..." he ended, his words trailing off in a manner I would never have expected to hear from him.

	"I was not playing a part, Iliam.  I am not going to stand here and explain why I have become what I am, or why it makes me happy, I am just going to tell you that I am a slave, and I accept that."  I sank to my knees before him, and lowered my head to the floor, my arms raised in the ritual of submission, "I am a slave girl, Master.  My Master names me Princess, but you may address me as you wish."


	"Alenya," he whispered.

	"Yes, Master, I am Alenya.  Alenya is your slave tonight," I straightened up and reached out to unclasp the buckles of his tunic.  He sat motionless as I worked open his garments, pulling them down off his broad shoulders.

	"Alenya, you don't have to do this..."

	"Master may command me to stop as he wishes," I replied as I crawled up in to his lap, pressing my lips to his chest for a moment, waiting for him to react.  When he did nothing I licked him, running my tongue up to his neck, up to his ear while my hands continued exploring him, working down his hard, flat belly to his groin.  He stiffened as I laid my hands on the quickly thickening column of his penis and gently stroked it, coaxing his erection to full staff.  Our lips touched and he did not hesitate, but tasted my mouth with all the vigor of any other man I had ever been with.

	Once that threshold had been passed his hands moved upon me and I felt a sweet rush of quivering heat course through me as his large and powerful hands explored my curves.  He slid his fingers down between my thighs and I moaned in genuine delight, responding to the deftly probing fingers stroking the inner lips of my sex, teasing the sweetly tingling spot of my loins.  He pulled me up, burying his face in my chest, sucking first my left nipple, then my right as his fingers probed more deeply up within me, my pelvis rocking, grinding against his hand telling him without words just how delicious it felt.

	When he gripped my hair and drew me down I did not hesitate, but fell to my knees between his open thighs, reaching for the fully erect pillar of his cock with my open mouth.  His meat was hot and tasted of salt and male musk, the scent of a man long unsatisfied.  Had he stayed celibate these past weeks in anticipation of having me?  Did it matter?  My lips sailed down his thick tower of flesh, my tongue moving softly along the underside of his penis, lashing from side to side as he moaned in appreciation of my talent.  Anna had taught me well.

	Iliam's hands settled upon my head and I allowed him to set the pace and rhythm.  Men know what they want and a slave's first duty is to obey.   I worked my mouth up and down his cock, my tongue feeling every lump, every vein in his meat, his organ pulsing with the beat of his heart, swelling harder, larger, as I cupped his testicles in one hand and gripped the base of his cock with the other.  I could feel the pitch of his excitement increasing and I knew that he would take his full pleasure in my mouth.  I sucked harder, letting him feel my eagerness as I increased the pressure on his flesh.

	His meat was hard as stone, his thighs tense and trembling as he forced my mouth down and held me there, his organ jerking spastically while I sucked and swallowed, sucked and swallowed, coaxing his seed forth.  It came in a sudden flood, hot and thick and too much to swallow all at once, the first spurts overwhelming my mouth, running down my chin as I gulped desperately, downing the heavy load of his seed, sucking as the flow subsided.  Suddenly he pulled me up and he gasped, sucking in air desperately because he had been holding his breath.  I quickly wiped my chin with my hand and licked my fingers clean, then sank down again to clean him, using my tongue to lap up the seed that had spilled on to his testicles and his belly.  Anna had taught me never to leave a mess and Iliam's groaning told me he enjoyed the attention I was giving him.

	Iliam released me and I sat back, smiling at him.  With a motion of his hand he gave me permission to stand and I retreated to the washroom to clean my face and freshen my mouth.  I returned to find he had left the table and was waiting in the bedchamber, reclined upon the furs piled at the foot of the bed.  I knelt beside him and he reached for my collar, fastening the chain from the slave ring set in the floor to it, chaining me for his pleasure, then pulling me atop him, my lips on his for a long, deep kiss.  More than a few men would have been satisfied with the pleasure I had provided, but I could feel his own hunger hard and hot against my belly and when he rolled me to my back I eagerly opened my thighs to him.  He laughed.

	"No, no, girl, I always believe that one good turn deserves another," and with that he began kissing my neck, my shoulders, his tongue a hot tool burning lines of tingling delight into my skin, lingering long over my breasts as he licked and chewed, teasing the fiery points of my nipples until I moaned from the heat, then moving down my belly, tracing the contours of my abdomen until I was ready to scream, finally sinking down to taste my aching sex. 

	I shuddered, my body alight with desire as his mouth hungrily assaulted me, his tongue almost cruel in its ability to tease and stroke the blazing center of my flower.  He brought me up to the verge of ecstasy, then held me there, moaning and writhing in the anguish of pleasure so nearly complete, so close...so close...when it broke I wailed, the waves of pulsating fire crashing through my arched body as I was seized in orgasm's paralyzing grasp...

	Sitting cross-legged on the furs he beckoned to me and I scrambled into his lap, my legs encircling his hips as he guided my pussy onto the thick shaft of his flesh, splitting the petals of my flower as he surged up into me...


The Captain:

	Anna rocked her hips, moving on my cock, her lovely body framed in that magnificent mane of golden hair that spilled down her shoulders to the small of her back.  Her eyes were bright, focused totally on my face as she worked her delicious magic upon me, her slender hands resting on my chest, supporting her as my hands roamed freely up and down her firm, sculpted curves.  At one time I had not cared for such delicate, slender women, but every time I had Anna she reminded me what a fool I could be.

	Sex with Anna was very much a work of art.  She yielded to my desires all the while firmly controlling the pace and progress of our coupling, seeking always a more intense, more satisfying experience.  When her own pleasure began to peak I could feel the marvelous musculature of her sex setting to work, drawing the aching heat of my own lust up in to my loins.  Hands on her hips I drove powerfully upward, ramming my flesh deeper within her at each stroke until it was far too hot and sweet to contain any longer and I poured my seed deep in her belly...only to feel her punctuate the act with a last, luscious twist of her hips.

	Anna settled down atop me and I held her, waiting for our breathing to calm, for strength to return.  She was an exquisite slave, beautiful, obedient, superbly talented, and yet she held a secret.  It was always there, a soft, almost laughing smile behind her eyes.   Of course a slave should keep no secrets from her master, but there never seemed to be any fear or malice behind her smile so I had not yet made an issue of discovering what it was that amused her so.  Until now.

	I rolled to my side, Anna slipping off of me to lie on her back and I began tracing the contours of her chest with one finger, teasing the small circles of her nipples until they stood pointedly erect.  She sighed and stretched, an invitation to begin again, but I had a question I wanted her to answer first.

	"Anna, how old are you?"

	She did not answer immediately, but I felt the change in her and I knew that I had hit the target.  I waited, still tracing my finger about her breasts until she turned her head to look in to my eyes.

	"I am not exactly sure, Master...the calendar has changed so many times since I was a child..."

	That in itself told me a great deal.  Tavo had speculated that she was quite old.  I smiled at her and said, "I'm not planning on celebrating your birthday."

	"That would be hard," she laughed, "to the best of my knowledge I have a little more than forty-two centuries behind me."

	I doubt I concealed my shock, but she made no indication that she noticed.  This woman, if she could be believed, was quite likely the oldest living creature in the world!

	"May I speak freely, Master?"

	"Oh, I insist."

	"Everyone knows there are ancient people.  The youth serums have been around for millennium, but until now I would guess that the oldest person you've ever met was not much more than a thousand years old, and most people die long before that.  What kills them is boredom.

	"I was almost eleven hundred years old when I was collared, and I was ready to die.  I had seen all my friends, all my family come and go.  I thought I had seen all there was to see, that I knew everything worth knowing.  My great, great, great, great grandchildren were aging before my eyes and I was tired of it, just as I had seen others grow tired of life.  So I decided that after the next Harvest Festival I would take the Silver Cup and be done with it.  Even my family thought it best, rather than watching me waste away.

	"So there I was, on the roof of my family's house in the city, waiting for noon to make the ritual sacrifice for the Harvest.  And from out of the sky there came a horrible scream, the likes of which I had never heard before.  It was a tarn, a war bird and it descended upon the roof, landing with a shower of sparks from its steel-shod talons as everybody ran screaming.  Everyone but me: I just stood there, gaping- it was such an awesome sight!  I'd never imagined such a thing!  The warrior in the saddle cast his gaze on me with my hood thrown back because I had been prepared to make my offering, and the next thing I knew there was a loop of rope encircling me, drawing tight as he urged his beast back in to the sky.  I couldn't even scream; my breath was taken by the sudden jolt as I was hauled in to the air."

	She laughed then, a musical sound I had often enjoyed from her lips, "Do you know what I was thinking as he carried me off?  I was hanging below the Tarn as we swept over the walls of the city and off towards the hills and all I could think was 'I've never been out of the city before!'"  She turned on her side, propped up on one elbow, "Suddenly I was a slave and my whole life changed.  Everything I had known was gone.  I won't say that it started out well, but I assure you I was no longer bored!"

	"And who was he, your first master?"

	"A child!  Barely eighteen!  And he had no idea who I was, what I was. He hadn't selected me specifically, he just wanted an Isall..." she paused there, as if she did not wish to say it, but then continued, "an Isallan woman of high caste."

	"You were born in Isalla?"

	"Yes.  In thirty centuries I have traveled the world, but only ten years ago I finally found myself home."

	I waited, watching and finally Anna nodded, "Yes, Master," she whispered, "she is family.  My great-more-times-than-I-can-count granddaughter."

	And with that it all fell in to place.  Why Anna was so involved with Princess, why she was so attentive to her, almost mothering her at times.  I had to smile at the twist of fate that had allowed me to come in to possession of these two extraordinary women.

	"Master?  May I ask where Princess is?"

	"With Iliam," I replied and I felt her stiffen so I added, "She's in no danger.  He came here to free her, or perhaps to kill her, but I saw the way he was looking at her.  There's nothing to fear."  I rolled atop her and pressed my mouth to her neck, just tasting her skin, her sweat, feeling her supple curves squirming receptively beneath me as she prepared to begin work on her next great creation.

	I had been mated before, twice.  Each of my wives had been a spectacular woman, bright, engaging, and beloved.  My experiences with them and with the hundreds of slaves I had owned had led me to believe that sex came in two characters.  Wives gave pleasure that was mutual and purposeful- nothing compares to the joy of creating life through the fitful union of two bodies.  Slaves satisfied the needs of the moment, they indulged a man's fantasies, paying homage to some deeply seated need to be Absolute Master of all that surrounded him.

	Anna taught me that there were more profound levels to sex.  I was no youngling, but every time I had her I was left with a sense of amazement, a sense that I had just had the ultimate intimacy with a woman, only with a sense that there was yet more to come.  And that anticipation never went unfulfilled.

	Her nipple was hard and erect, a sweet point of salty flesh in my mouth.  I pulled hard and she moaned in delightful encouragement as her hand slid down between our bodies to grip the reinvigorated shaft of my cock, laying a soft yet urgent clasp upon me.  I moved up to kiss her and her tongue slid out, assaulting my mouth, urgent and undeniable until she broke that bond and began licking my lips, my mouth, my face, her teeth closing on my nose as she groaned deep in her chest, an aching sound that unmistakably demanded only one thing.  Without thinking I reared up to straddle Anna's chest and fed my cock to the loving slave's mouth...


Princess-

	Iliam left me in the morning when a serving girl appeared at his door to inform him my Master awaited.  We parted with a kiss and I watched him as he departed down the hall, knowing I would likely never see him, or any member of my family, ever again.  Suddenly I felt the finality of it all.  There really was no other path for me now, no choice but to continue as I was.  I gathered my jewelry and made my way to the common bath to clean up for the day since Master had not sent for me.

	A hot bath and an hour of hair brushing before breakfast was just what I needed to regain my composure and it was mid morning before I finally returned to Master's chambers.  I wanted to see Anna and I was hoping to find her there, but when I arrived she was not alone- I could hear her as I came down the corridor, more loud breathing than anything else.  I entered carefully so as not to startle anyone and I found her in the visitor's alcove with two men.

	Anna was on her hands and knees between the two of them, one with his hands on her head, guiding her mouth up and down his organ, the other behind her, hands on her hips as he took her.  The men saw me, but made no move to include me in their pleasure so I simply knelt to one side and watched, fascinated.  Anna was dancing between them, her body constantly in motion, twisting from side to side at the waist, her pelvis turning as she pleasured the man behind her, her head rolling back and forth as she sucked the man in front of her.  It literally was a dance: rhythmic, hypnotic, drawing her two partners inexorably to their climax.   The one she was sucking came first, moaning in delight as her throat pulsated, swallowing his eruption and sucking for more until he finally drew back, releasing her.  Anna fell forward, moaning as the man behind her began thrusting harder, joining his friend a moment later as he powerfully pulled Anna's hips into his belly and planted his seed deep inside her.

	"What was that all about?" I asked after they had left.

	"They delivered a crate for Master," Anna grinned, "and they had some time to waste."

	Once she cleaned up we spent about an hour tidying up the quarters.  Anna was very quiet during this, and it seemed she was waiting to say something.  Not until we were done cleaning did she finally speak.

	"Last night, Iliam..."

	"Mmmmmmmmm... yes, it was sweet."

	"He could have killed you!"

	"He wanted to free me.  I convinced him it was not the best thing to do," I stretched and smiled, "I showed him what an entertaining pleasure slave I am and he decided my collar suited me."

	She put her hands on my shoulders and held me at arm's length, looking in to my eyes in a way that made me wonder just how much danger I might have been in, then said, "You are happy?  You would rather be here in a collar than free in your Uncle's home?"

	"Why do you ask?  I cannot even answer that, not truly.  What if I had made it to my wedding and none of this had ever happened?  Would I be happy, truly happy?  Would I know what happiness could be, beyond the life I lived with my new husband?  I cannot know that.  It didn't happen that way.  I only know that my life now is in some ways harder than before and in some ways easier.  I'm certainly never bored... why are you crying?"

	"Princess, last night... when I thought you might be in danger, I confessed to Master that it was I who let slip the fact that your Bridal Party would depart by ship the next day."

	I don't know why it hit me so hard, but suddenly I felt weak in my knees and I sat down hard.  Of course I had always suspected the Bridal Party had been betrayed, but... Anna?  "How did it happen?" I asked.

	"It was deliberate, Princess.  I was ordered to.  By your father."

	"No!"

	"Yes. Princess, you have to listen to me: the Tah would not negotiate, their pride was injured.  Your father felt they needed some way to save face, some victory, some prize to flaunt before they would accept a proposal for peace.  He chose the type of victory, and the prize.  He arranged for me to see to it that you ended in a collar in Tah-Roh-Sek.  I knew of Master, of his reputation, and I knew there was a man who was giving him information.  This man was fond of me.  I visited him the week before we sailed and told him we would never be together again, and told him why.  All very innocent coming from an ignorant, love-struck slave-girl..."

	"You... you are no ordinary slave-girl.  I've seen it; even before I was captured I knew there was something different about you.  Why?!  Why would my father trust you to do such a thing?  How could he?!"

	"Because he knew my lineage, Princess.  He knew I would put Isalla and the family as a whole above my own life, and yours.  I bargained with him, I made him send me with you, so I could guide you, protect you."

	"Your lineage?  You are a slave, like me, what does your lineage matter?"

	Anna sat back, having been speaking almost directly in my face, now she sat cross-legged in front of me.  She was pale, shaking and she took a minute to compose herself before she spoke again.

	"You know the story of the Rape of the Matriarch?"

	"The Rape... you mean the tale of the Clan Matriarch who was stolen... no.  No!  That was... that was... that was thousands of years ago!  There is no way you could be proven to be of her line, and even if you could, why would that make you someone my father would trust?"

	"I am not of her line.  I am she.  I was born Thessa Khalia Alenya Isallaņa.  I am over four thousand years old, and you are my direct descendant.  You even bear my name."

	It was so outrageous, so ridiculous, and unbelievable... but I believed her.  I could see it in her eyes.

	"Why are you telling me this?"

	"Master ordered me to.  You were my mistress.  I betrayed you, even if it was under orders from your father.  There cannot be any secrets between a girl and her master, and Master would not tolerate secrets between you and I."

	I felt numb.  It was just too enormous for me to comprehend.  Iliam... he could not have known or he would have killed my father... or perhaps he would have killed me?  Could that have been what Anna had feared, that Iliam had been sent to clean up a potential scandal?

	I didn't even realize I was running until I was outside.  The urge to simply escape that room, that moment, was overwhelming and I was well on my way to the central square of the city before I caught hold of myself and slowed my pace.  And at that moment, as I turned to see if I was being followed, I ran in to a man.

	"Whoa, watch where you're going, girl!" he laughed.

	"Master!  Forgive me, I am so clumsy, I meant no offense..." I wept as I fell to my knees before him.  He was not alone, there were four others with him and suddenly I was acutely aware that I was wearing nothing but skin and my collar.  In Tah-Roh-Sek as in many southern cities an utterly naked girl on the street has been sent there by her master as punishment.  While any man might amuse himself with any girl who catches his fancy, a girl who has not even a simple piece of jewelry is an added incentive, the message being "Rape this slave."

	"Well, now, aren't you a lovely piece of work?" one man commented.

	"We should take her back to the pub- she looks like she could serve us..."

	I was not frightened of the impending rape, no; it was the accent of the men.  They were Isallan.  They bade me accompany them to the Red Rock Tavern where they had been planning to have lunch.  This was my Master's establishment and they knew as well as I that several women who had once been Isallan royalty now served paga and pleasure there.

	The tavern was not terribly crowded, but it was just before the lunch time hour and would fill up quickly.  I was dispatched with a sliver tarn to fetch drinks and bread...
