| The Black Pearl of Pharazionby Cobalt Jade (cobaltjade@aol.com)Chapter 21: Rurani EschaiI wept. I had lost the contest. I would become the Queen's slave now, and I deserved it...and all free choice would leave me forever. "You have failed again, Lady Tanimury," Shezrine said in a clear voice. She closed her thighs. "I think even *I* have more self-control than you."The three slaves immediately dropped to their knees before her. "You've done well," she praised softly. "Very well. Clean me." She held out her hands so they could lick the glaze from her fingers, which they did like the well-trained pets they were. "You've pleased me very much. Now to your knees again, heads down."They knelt meekly on the carpet, foreheads low, buttocks high. Shezrine stepped back from the small circle they made. She studied them for a few seconds, then gestured strongly. A searing gout of silver-white energy shot out of her hand. I saw it envelope the kneeling slaves before I closed my eyes. What sorcery was this? I had thought Shezrine would reward them. When I opened my eyes Aylinn, Karina and Marnessa were gone. One transformation had not been enough for them. In their place were three kneeling statues, of, respectively, bronze, ivory and crystal. Every strap, crevice of flesh, and lock of hair had been rendered in lifelike detail. A round glass tabletop rested on their dimpled buttocks, for, as their heads were still pressed to the floor, their rumps were the highest parts of them. "There," Shezrine said with perverse cheer. "This throne has always needed a decent footrest.""No, no..." I moaned, fresh tears squeezing out my eyes. I had been angry at Karina for stealing Shadow away, but she had been a true as steel and shown selfless bravery. Aylinn had been a devoted advisor and comrade. And poor Marnessa, doomed forever to be a pawn. She didn't deserve this fate. None of them did. Now they were little more than a piece of furniture. I continued to sob as Shezrine grabbed the bar between my ankles and swung me around so I got a good look at them. "You knew I had the power to transform living flesh," she said. "Did you really think I would let them free after their treachery against me?""You lied," I said."I did not. I said if they succeeded, they would continue to serve me, and they are. As my footrest." She put a silver-booted foot up on the glass, leaning against her knee. "And now you are to serve me as my slave, too."With Karina an ivory statue, the stone beasts would remain stone, and with Aylinn cast in bronze, the stymphads were leaderless. I wept harder at the thought of it, that I had failed myself, and the rebels, so completely. "Why do you weep, my dusky foreign beauty?" The Queen said, stroking my naked scalp. She kissed me gently on the lips. "How can you continue to cry, knowing the great adventure you are about to embark on? You are about to experince the most degradations, the most lowly humilations, that life can offer, governed by the daily rule of a harsh, strict mistress. Your cause is lost, and you know it. Why not serve me now?""I am a warrior," I said in strangled voice."And you will remain a warrior. Your capacity for pleasure and for punishment...your strength and your beauty...your iron-hard will, which I will transform into the will to serve *me*...all of these, Lady Tanimury, are the gifts of a warrior, and gifts you will give to me to use as I see fit. It was your flirtations with danger that betrayed you to me, your cravings for risk and challenge. I will give them back to you now. All your desires will be brought to full flower. When you enter my service, you will shine like a precious jewel, a black pearl; you will be truly *complete.*"I wept uncontrollably. I had once been the greatest mercenary of my homeland. Minstrels had sung of me, bards carried tales. There was nothing I could not do, no challenge I would back away from. Shezrine had spoken the the truth. For it was one of the Laws of Balance that the greatest warrior would eventually suffer the greatest fall...the glories of debasement equalling the glories of exaltation. "You will not always weep," the Queen said. She tenderly wiped my tears. "It is a great honor to serve me, and soon you will find great fulfillment in it. My court will be pleased I have chosen so well. I have not had a Rurani Eschai in quite a while, which makes your arrival all the more exciting for me.""What will happen to me?" I whispered."After you have rested, when night comes, I will march you to the pleasure gardens, where the ritual will take place under the moonlight. My branding frame will be waiting there, the irons glowing over the coals. I always brand my own slaves."I imagined the pain of it, the indignity. "Is there no other way?" I sobbed."Every slave who serves here must bear my brand," the Queen said. "With it comes a spell that will render you compliant. When it heals fully, I will inlay it with silver, to render it more visible against your dark skin. You will show it to any freeman who asks.""And after that?""You will kiss my boots and hands, of course, with great enthusiasm and decorum, to show your happiness and gratitude at being so marked. Then I will pierce your nipples so they may carry gold rings my other slaves do, which I assure you will be very wide, and heavy; and I will also pierce your clit, and the inner and outer lips of your sex. This is so I can seal you off if I desire, for I am jealous of my toys, that they take no other pleasure but that which I permit them to have."Her fingers danced over my body, and I gasped at the final resting place they chose."After the piercing," she continued, "you will kneel before me again, and I will place a slave collar around your neck and slave cuffs on your ankles and wrists. They are of strong, steel, and as with your rings they will be welded closed so they can never be removed. I will keep you naked, of course, and oiled always, to render them more visible; no jewels or clothing will distract from your display, and neither will your hair. After you are branded, your hair will never grow again."Fresh tears poured out as I realized how aroused I was by her talk. "What are my duties, my Queen? What will my new life be like?""Most of your time will be spent at my side," she said. "Not that I will pay attention to you. In fact, rarely will I deign to notice you, but always, always, you must notice *me,* for I am your Mistress and your whole reason for existence. At court functions you will accompany me on a leash, and when I eat you will squat at my side like a faithful hound, to await pieces of food from my plate; when I travel, you go with me, fastened to the front wheel of my private carriage so you turn round and round as the trail kicks up its dust; and should I ride to conquer you will go at the head of my armies, lashed to a high pole that penetrates you, so that you cry out in glory when my armies lay seige. "And if, at any time, you displease me, I will make short work of you. I will turn you into stone and crush you to gravel, so I can grind you beneath my heel." She laughed wickedly, diddling her fingers inside me.I twisted in my bonds, both horrified and stimulated by what she had said. My hips pumped shamelessly, though tears yet warmed my face. If I was to be hers, I thought, then let her be thorough. Let her put me in bondage so hopeless, so inescapable, I should never be free, not want to be, nor remember who I once was! The feeling was devasating, but there was an awful beauty in it, as when one hears a chord of powerful, stirring music. I trembled, realizing at last that enslavement had finally happening to me...the very thing I had feared, yet somehow yearned for, ever since my arrival in Obn Dhregni. "Collar me now," I said. "Place the cuffs on my wrists, my ankles, my neck. I'll serve you as your slave, your statue, the pebbles on your garden path, if that is what you want of me. Just do it. Do it now, so I have no time for regrets." The Queen gestured, and a box appeared by magic beside me. Inside were four cuffs and a collar cradled on crushed maroon velvet. My heart hammered when I saw them. It was as if I stood on the edge of a great precipice, deciding whether or not to make the leap. *Submit,* a faint voice whispered silkily. *Why struggle? Why deny what is fated to happen?* The Queen unbound me from the bar. Free at last, I knelt before her, nipples and forehead pressed against the cool tiles. Her warm hands moved under my neck, holding the collar open. As she had promised, it was of solid steel, and very thick.Why did I not resist? I was not chained, and she was occupied and defenseless. I could have snapped her neck with one blow before she could use her magic. But the shameful nature of Shezrine's test had proved I could not call myself a warrior any more. I had been a traitress to the rebels and their cause, and I deserved to be her slave. Or was that part of her sorcerous hold over me?Before I could decide the Queen snapped the collar shut. It fit snugly and weighed on my neck quite heavily, cradling my jaw so I could scarce turn my head. "Now raise your head," the Queen commanded, "and hold out your wrists to me."Trembling, I did so. Slowly, with ceremony, she placed the twin cuffs on my wrists, then my ankles. Each was as and heavy as the first, and each had a ring attached. I was shuddering all over when she had finished, as a rabbit trembles in the net. With the collaring, I knew I had sealed my fate forever. She whispered a spell. The cuffs and collar sealed themselves closed; they were now as whole as if they had been fabricated around me."In collaring you now, I have been merciful," Shezrine said. "It is the only time I will ever show mercy to you. After this, you will not be indulged."I was hers. I was lost, and lost forever...but would gain the terrible, paradoxical freedom of a slave.Fresh tears wet my face as I knelt before her, my back bowed in gratitude. With a gesture, she indicated I was to climb up on the glass surface of her new footrest, where she quickly clipped my ankles and wrists together behind my back. I was bound again, and helpless."This will be your usual position," she said softly, as if cognizant of the sudden discomfort I felt. "You will get used to it." She fastened a lead to my collar, a light chain of many fine links with a soft leather handle on the end of it, the same kind of leash one might lead a pet by.She shifted her belt of crystals, exposing her sex, and spread her legs wide. The sight of her well-moistened genitals made me salivate. The shape was a slim, perfect V, like the head of a javelin, the folds pale and fine as rose quartz...the petals of an orchid shining with dew, rimmed with curly white down. Her hard belly formed a little mound above it, and below was the secret star of her anus. Her clit swelled as I watched, entrancing me, and my head moved toward her crotch without my conscious consent. The Queen guided me by the chain, pulling me inexorably on, until my smooth, shaven head was sheltered between her thighs. She wrapped my collar chain several times about her fist to keep it there. My lips touched the musky dampness of her sex. "Pleasure me, slave," she commanded.Reverently, I kissed it, her juices steaming on my tongue. She tasted delicious, sweetness and salt, meat, female essences. I licked her up and down, lapping her like a cat, then thrust my tongue into the dark slot of her vagina. The fact I was pleasuring the White Queen of my own free will...indeed, I had begged to...over the transmuted bodies of my friends fired me with lust. Perhaps they were cognizant of what I was doing. Perhaps not. But the very thought of their helpless arousal was arousing, and I continued to pleasure the witch-queen who fulfilled my darkest hungers...my Mistress, my Goddess, my World. The Queen held my chain firmly, her other hand stroking my naked pate. I was now glad I had lost my hair. It was better that I remain without feature, an interchangeable flesh-toy amongst her many other flesh-toys, the better to serve her. I looked up at her, meeting her eyes. How I wished I could suck on her nipples, which were pointing magnificently, the most erect rods of flesh I had ever seen. They looked stiff as thumbs of stone. I longed to engulf them in my mouth, bat them with my tongue.She struck me with her whip, which she had doubled up to serve as a crop. My back stung. "I did not give you permission to look up, slave."Chastised, I went back to my work. The fact I was totally hers, and totally at her mercy, made me work harder to please her. The Queen gifted me with her groans, switching her powerful thighs back and forth along my cheeks. As a reward the struck me again and again with her crop, stinging my buttocks, driving me on. I closed my eyes, the better to savor her, waggling my tongue deep within her innards.I felt her hand push my head down. I could never have believed I would lick the arse-hole of the Queen, but that was what was happening, and I could not stop myself. My tongue entered her anus, her sweet-sour smell a bouquet. I nibbled at the silky pucker of flesh, teasing it as I knelt there, a ribbon of darkness between the white thighs of the white-haired queen. She lifted my chin, returning my face to her sex. The crop hit me again and again; my buttocks smarted, burned, swelled. I jogged my hips up and down, but my own sex remained empty; there was to be no penetration save by the Queen's pleasure. I pressed my thighs tightly together but the friction amplified the sensations rather than satisfied them, and my juices melted helplessly down my thighs.The Queen writhed like a cat, cries erupting from the her throat. They weren't the helpless cries of a woman in pleasure but were like those of a man, hoarse and triumphant. Finally she screamed, trembling. Her sex spasmed against my lips. A discharge of warm fluid hit me in the face. It was the final indignity, or the final reward. I was unable to leash in my own orgasm, and, screaming through my teeth, I came...for the last time as a free woman. I was her slave now. All I needed was her brand, to make it official.
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