Chapter 3
Elceleth's first thought was, "What am I doing in here?" Again she was naked, except that besides her collar she was wearing leather mitts that locked at each wrist, so that for all practical purposes she had no use of her hands. She was in an indoor arena with a floor of packed earth. The ground was warm, not quite to the point of discomfort, but she was already beginning to sweat.
Lord Corlon, Mistress Qantar, and a handful of servants were seated on a platform on top of the walled area. They were sipping wine and making polite conversation about their travels, taking little or no notice of her.
Being curious as well as confused, she noted the only feature in the walls of the stadium was a three foot high arch opposite from where her audience sat. Other than that, the walls were polished marble, too high for her to climb with the mitts on. Elceleth had been lowered into the arena by a ladder which was now far out of reach, behind the viewers. She remembered what Qantar had whispered in her ear while assisting her down the ladder.
"Fear not, and enjoy."
And so Elceleth stood there, waiting for anything to happen; feeling rather foolish, not knowing what to do. Who was this Slaloth person, and what was the purpose of meeting him, or her, or it, in this place? She looked up at her master again with perplexity, until she heard a noise behind her.
The noise was a quiet hiss. A human would not have heard it. In fact, had she been human, Elceleth would have been even more surprised than she was. Before her was a snake, a huge snake, as thick as her thigh and five times her length. While she had been looking up at Corlon it had snuck half the distance between the arch, which was just now beginning to be shut by a portcullis, and herself. Were it not so big and so near, she would have called it beautiful, with markings of light and deep browns on its long graceful body.
It hissed, louder this time, as if it was angry. Was that possible?
Corlon laughed, <What is wrong, Slaloth? Are the sharp ears of an elf too much a challenge for you? I'm afraid you'll just have you get her with skill instead of stealth.>
It hissed again. If a snake could curse, this one certainly would; and at Corlon, not her. Though confused by this, Elceleth's chief feeling was fear. She had never seen so big a serpent in her life. Has Corlon bartered for her captivity, only to feed her to his pet snake?
Now it circled her warily. She kept her eyes on the head, hoping that she could evade it. Slaloth seemed to smile with a perverse gleam in his (her?) eyes. Elceleth fell to the ground as a coil upset her footing. Slaloth tried to wrap a coil around her, but she was too fast, rolling back to her feet and jumping out of reach, again thanking her goddess for her dancer's nimbleness.
Again the snake hissed a curse, this time definitely directed toward her. It seemed to move more cautiously now, trying to measure her moves. Slaloth tried a feint, but now the elf was more aware of his tactics, and easily avoided his coils.
Elceleth was both fascinated and terrified. If this was a true snake, it must have been trained to fight sentients. If not, and this was the more frightening of the prospects, Slaloth had intellect to some degree. The more she avoided it, the more certain she was that Slaloth was the latter. She dodged for all she was worth, and found herself needing all her skill and quickness to avoid the coils she was sure would crush her to death.
Finally, fatigue took its toll, and Elceleth stumbled from weariness. Slaloth seized this opportunity and wrapped a quick coil around her waist and arms and wrestled her to the ground. Once it was certain it had a firm grip on her, it rolled her into its coils so that she was wrapped from ankle to shoulder in smooth serpent grip. Slaloth hissed triumphantly.
Yielding to the inevitable, Elceleth's tired mind became more analytical as she accepted the fact of her unavoidable death. She remembered what the master hunter of her village had told her about snakes; that the non-poisonous ones did not crush their prey, but rather asphyxiated it, constricting tighter and tighter on each exhale until the prey could not breath. And this is what it did, as she was breathing heavily from her exertion. Tighter and tighter it coiled, until she had to take quick shallow breaths to get any air at all. She found herself wishing that Slaloth would just constrict quickly and get it over with.
Yet the coils did not constrict any further. Instead they seemed to undulate down her body in an almost erotic fashion. To her dismay, it did feel pleasant. As it continued to literally massage her, it bent her over at the waist, and a few coils moved so as to expose her clitoris and buttocks.
Only when she felt the first flick of a forked tongue did she realize what was truly happening. This snake was raping her with deliberate and meticulous purpose! She tried to struggle, but could only barely squirm, and that ineffectually. She tried to scream her outrage and horror, but she couldn't get a fuledge that a reptile could bring her body to pleasure without her volition. She could not think of a single thing that could be worse.
Then, all at once she could, as Slaloth eased its thick tail into her vagina. Her body convulsed with both loathing and pleasure, as she presented her mid-day repast to the warm arena floor. And still the ophidean continued to massage her, and lick her, and rape her with its tail. Yet through the self-loathing and humiliation; and the snake was unwavering in its task; Elceleth began to convulse again, but this time in the throes of involuntary sexual climax, one orgasmic wave mounting on top of another; uncontrollably wondrous. Her body betrayed her, and Elceleth's will gave way to the need for release from her body, despite her fear and disgust. Then, after a final climactic wave, sweet oblivion took her.
She awoke alone, still laying naked on the packed earth. Her hair was matted, and her body stank of sweat from her exertion and the excretions from her loins; undeniable evidence that what she remembered through a haze of pain and disorientation had truly come to pass. She tried to move, but she was too tired; fatigued from her evasion and then her invasion at the hand (coils?) of the monstrous ophidean, Slaloth. She began to sob at the memory of the reptile's somehow sentient attentions. How could Corlon do this to her? This was worse than death. As her sobs quickly ran dry (for they took too much energy to maintain), she heard voices, but didn't bother to attempt the supreme effort it would have taken to open her eyes and lift her head to see who it was.
<It was enjoyable to watch the Master's pet at play, wasn't it?>
<Indeed. Although this new one isn't what I would call ...errr..>
<Filled out?>
<Yes. That's it. As I was saying, even though she isn't filled out she is quite agile, and possessing of a fiery spirit. Here, help me lift her. She looks so delicate. I don't want to break anything.>
<No problem. My, isn't she light though? But much in need of bathing.>
Elceleth felt herself being lifted over the shoulder of a male human body; she could tell this by the smell. She found it absurd that these unclean humans should comment on her own smell. They covered their dirt with perfumes, and called themselves clean. That was her last thought as the motion of the male walking made her pass out again.
Elceleth awoke in somewhat more comfort than she had been when the two servants had hauled her off, though she was still sore from her exertion. She lay a moment, then realized she was clean and perfumed. Opening her eyes, she found herself in the quarters where she had been initially taken after attacking the slingotto, Donto. She had been rushed though here so quickly that she hadn't had time to truly examine it before.
She was lying on a sturdily made heavy 4 poster bed against the far wall, on which there was a warm velvet quilt. The room was huge, larger than the tree hut she had lived in before her abduction. Pastel tapestries of rainbow colors were draped everywhere, obscuring the cold stone walls, and the floor was generously covered with rugs. In the center of the room were two stone pillars, which undoubtedly supported rooms above this one. To the far left of the bed was a sunken bathing pool with tiled area, as well as a desk with a mirror, which she supposed was for dressing and makeup.
She turned her attentions to herself. She was again wearing the loincloth and top she wore before her experience with Slaloth. She also wore golden manacles on her wrists and ankles, which were connected by fine golden chains. She rolled off the heavy framed 4 poster bed on which she had been laying, and stood up. A central chain fell from her collar to just below her groin. Each arm chain was attached to this at sternum level, with enough slack that she could raise her arms over her head with ease. Each leg chain was attached to the end of the central chain, and had slack enough so that the chains just brushed the ground when her feet were shoulder's width apart.
Elceleth was confused. What purpose were such light chains, which a full grown human male could break with ease, and gave her full mobility? But did they give her full mobility? The lithe elf proceeded to attempt her full morning regiment of stretches: something she'd not done since her abduction. An half an hour later she knew for certain: There was no stretch she could not do.
As she finished her stretches, she heard the door to her chamber open. When she saw that it was Corlon who entered, she slid out of the position she was in and rolled to her knees, presenting her arms to him, as she had been trained to do during the journey to Iborland.
Corlon smiled, saying "Arise, little one. I see that you have been experimenting with my new gift to you. How do you like them?"
"I am not certain I understand their function, Lord-Master. They do not seem to be particularly practical. Perhaps they are decorative?"
"They are dancing-chains." he chuckled "Their 'function' is to symbolize your possession by me, while allowing you to dance. Why don't you try them out, now?"
"This was not a request!" thought Elceleth, then replied "Yes, Master."
And so she began, a slow, graceful dance which eventually sped up to a reasonable pace. Four steps into the dance, she knew she was in trouble. The weight of the manacles and the motion of the chains was throwing off her movements. She felt like a clumsy novice, not the mistress of the art she was. Then the unthinkable happened; her foot got caught in one of the chains as she quickened her pace, and she fell gracelessly to the floor. For the first time in one hundred and fifty cycles of the seasons, she fell. Her eyes welled up in tears from embarrassment and disgrace.
Corlon frowned "That was very poor. I understand that this is your first attempt, but let me put this in perspective. In one month, I am holding court with a foreign king whom I am deciding whether to form an alliance with or to invade. You will dance at a feast in his honor, as a gift from me to him. You will be sequestered in this chamber. You will practice dancing in these chains, eat, bathe, groom, and sleep, to the exclusion of all other activities. In three weeks, my court musicians will join you to practice for two hours a day. If you are not the finest chain-dancer that has ever been, I will whip your body until the scars resembl the stripes of a Naldebbanian hunting cat. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Lord-Master," she wept, rising slowly to her feet, trembling. She knew he never bluffed, but this was the first time she had truly displeased him. She wasn't used to his anger being directed at her.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Two, Master. First, is there a tutor from whom I can learn some techniques?"
"No! I don't want an elven dancer dancing human chain-dances. You will have to invent your own."
"Yes, Master. Second, why did you 'introduce' me to the snake?"
Corlon's scowl melted into a sly smile. He chuckled again. "Ah, little one, I can never stay angry at you for long. You've surprised me again. I didn't expect that question. Very well. My purposes were multiple. First, I wanted to test your skill against his. Believe it or not, you evaded Slaloth longer than any other woman I've given him. Second, I wanted to let him know that though I had been away for a long time, I had not forgotten him. Third, I also wanted to watch him pleasure you. He is very skilled at what he does. I trust you enjoyed yourself?"
Elceleth squirmed uncomfortably at the reminder of the most recent betrayal by her body. Through the panic and terror, through the anger and outrage, her body had indeed enjoyed it. She hated herself for that.
"I want you to realize that this was a lesson; for you have now learned that you cannot resist either man or beast if that is my will. Remember that I gave you a fighting chance. Remember, too, that I expect your best in a fortnight." And with that, Corlon exited.
Elceleth wiped away her tears, and began to move around the room, testing the weight of her chains, and wondered what a Naldebbanian hunting cat looked like.
Continued in Chapter 4
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