Chapter 1. The arrest.
The guard roughly dragged the awkward thief out of the market place and on toward the
police station. The pretty, disheveled girl knew the series of events well enough from
there, for she had been in the exact same predicament before. Arrested for theft, the
soldier had taken her to the crude stone building in the town that served as the police
base and there she had been flogged.
On that occasion, she had suffered twelve cuts of the rattan on her bare backside. The
chief of police commuting her sentence of the lash, because she agreed - with indecent
haste he rather thought - to satisfying five of the guards on duty and draining the chief
himself in her full, ruby mouth. She had milked them all dry easily enough and the thief
thought it was a small price to pay to save herself from a full blooded four and twenty
lashes in public with a cat-o’five-tails. She thought fellating the chief rather more
odious than letting the guards use her vaginally, but even considering that final stab of
humiliation; it was far preferable to the public display and the lash.
In fact, the pretty bawd had found two or three of the strong guards quite attractive
and the thought of them wanting to use her, quite turned her on. Opening her legs for them
had been easier for her than they may have imagined.
The beating, though, had been damnation itself. Stripped naked, she had been tied high
to a beam in the roof of a small, hot, stone cell and two of the guards that had so
recently pumped themselves dry in her, took turns to deliver twelve strokes of their thin
five foot rattan wands across her backside and thighs. It seemed to the pretty twenty two
year old that they took only slightly less interest in flogging her, than they had fucking
her, for they thrashed her with undisguised malice and disregard. The pretty girl did not
suffer bravely and wailed pitifully each time one of the long rattans slapped her arse or
thighs. She dangled from the rope that bound her, pathetically writhing to each new swipe,
doused with sweat, her face drawn and wet with tears; she could smell the rank musk of her
long abuse rising hotly from her nakedness as she danced and bucked.
Now, though, her mind was working overtime, wondering if again she would be able to
tempt the soldiers onto her and off the lash. Perhaps she would not be so lucky a second
time. Theft in the town had reached all but endemic proportions and of late the
authorities had stamped down hard on it. She had seen two of her friends horsewhipped with
thirty lashes each for picking pockets only a few weeks earlier and she did not like her
chances of faring any better than they this time.
Cursing her luck and vowing to herself to give up theft for good this time, she realized
that the soldier was not taking her to the police block, instead, they had turned up an
adjacent street. Away from the staring people and the hubbub of the town, the pretty, dark
haired beauty felt alone, vulnerable and a little afraid.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked, trying not to sound too anxious.
"Quiet slut! Just keep walking!" growled the guard. He tightened his grip on
the pretty girl’s limbs and with a grimace of discomfort and little choice to do
otherwise, she complied.
Just a short way down the lonely street, they stopped outside an inauspicious looking
house and, to the girl`s surprise, the guard knocked on the door before entering. This was
clearly not the police house she had expected to be taken to.
They entered the gloomy stone interior and were confronted by three men. One seated at a
table, the two others flanking him. The man seated was dark, about thirty to thirty-five
years old, with mature, chiseled good features and even though he was seated, she could
see that he was both broad, but trim. Clean-shaven, with cobalt blue eyes, his glance was
at once piercing and memorable. Dressed well, though not extravagantly, he had an air of
wealth and general well being, but none of his soft living had gone to his figure, or his
demeanor. He looked handsome, but sharp as flint, cold and stern. The two standing either
side him were both much older, bearded men, their graying hair and beards giving them an
austere, august appearance, certainly not men, the pretty girl thought, to be trifled or
played with. By this time, the girl`s initial fear had been replaced more by curiosity. It
was clear she had not been brought to the police, so why was she here at all?
The handsome looking seated man took a most perfunctory glance up as the two entered
before returning his stare to the mass of papers strewn along the surface of his desk.
Almost at once, one of the bearded men addressed the guard.
"This is the offender?"
"I have arrested her from the market for theft," replied the guard. "It
appears she knows the way well enough to the police block so I would wager she has paid
them visits in the past." The bearded man stared at her for a second.
"So you have been a guest of the police before?" he asked. The girl paused,
reluctant to answer.
"I was arrested sometime back, but I paid the price for that. I was beaten at the
time and then released. I`m sure there is nothing for me to answer for that
occasion," she blurted out, almost by way of an explanation. The august man smiled
slightly.
"Tickle that sweet backside of yours did they?” he asked.
"Like I say," answered the pretty girl with a pout, “I was beaten at the time
and then released after. My dues for that misdemeanor have been fully paid-up!" With
that, the handsome dark haired man cut in.
"Enough of that! You`re not here for that offence; you have been arrested in the
marketplace for theft just as the guard has said. If I were you, I would be worrying about
that offence and not the one you have already been beaten for. What is your name?"
"Bella, Sir."
"And as my guard has said, you were thieving in the market today?" He spoke in
monotone, matter-of-fact voice. The pretty young girl seemed at a loss to offer a
plausible answer. Should she reply by way of an apology? Certainly, she believed she would
be foolhardy to attempt to deny it. Giving the only answer she could, she replied.
"Yes sir, it is true, but it was all done out of..."
"Silence!" cut in the handsome man. "We are not here to discuss your
guilt or innocence, or even to discuss the reasons behind your thieving, philandering
ways. Can you read?” Bella was totally nonplussed by the out of place question and again,
was at a loss to know how to answer.
"Well I suppose a little," was all she could think of by way of a reply.
"How little? A small amount, or insufficient to make any sense of a document you
may be given? Which one is it?" The girl paused, clearly on the back foot and puzzled
by the line of questioning. It was obvious she did not know what to say.
The handsome man pushed his chair back and tossed a document on the table in front of
her. "Read that!" Reluctantly, tentatively, the girl picked the document up.
From where he was sitting he could see she was holding the paper upside-down. She paused,
staring at it blankly and looked at the two bearded men and then the handsome one, before
returning to the document. She stood, feeling exposed and a little stupid, staring mute at
the paper, her mind racing to consider her predicament. It was all very odd.
"It`s a little difficult. It`s just that some of the words are a little strange and
new to me," she mumbled.
"I would imagine it quite hard to read upside-down too, wouldn`t you?"
Interjected the handsome man. With a sigh of exasperation, Bella threw the paper back onto
the table.
"Very well sir, I admit it, I cannot read, but what that has to do with..."
"Be quiet!" Snapped the dark haired man again. "You may be surprised to
learn Bella, that you have passed the first test. Your total inability to read has made
you more than suitable for the task.”
"Task sir? What task?"
"Don`t worry. We`ll come to that. Here, sit down and take a drink!" And with
that, the man poured himself and then Bella a goblet of wine. She paused before taking it
- it was strictly forbidden for girls to take alcohol. She watched the man take his drink
and then he nodded towards her as a prompt for her to take hers. She did so and he watched
her as she took a sip. With a glint of inner satisfaction he noted that she had taken wine
before and probably very often. To be sure, this girl was a law breaker.
"Let me introduce myself to you first Bella. My name is Hubdia," he began and
for the first time, Bella noted that he was not pure Talasian, but had some provincial
blood in him. "I am sure it has not escaped you that you have not been brought before
the police, as you may have expected upon your arrest. Were you to have been arrested by a
policeman, you would already either be on your knees sucking their cocks or dancing and
squirming on the end of a rope, whilst two of them lashed your sweet naked body with their
damnable, five foot canes!" Bella stared at him levelly and felt a strange pang of
excitement in her belly, as he described her naked body as sweet and pictured two men, one
of them probably Hubdia himself, caning her as he had described.
"Indeed, you may know yourself, you being a professional thief as I am sure you
are, that the authorities are clamping down considerably on those arrested for theft and
indeed, were you to be caned for the offence, again you would be most fortunate, for
normally, such crimes are now being visited with a public flogging. So it should be for
you Bella, by rights, you should be taken out of here into the public street, stripped to
your waist and flogged with the cat-o`-five tails, twenty, two dozen possibly even thirty
lashes. At the moment, the authorities consider horsewhipping too good for thieves and I
fear you would not fare easily under them." Hubdia leaned back in his chair and
surveyed the girl sitting before him for a while.
Medium height and medium build, Bella was undeniably a pretty girl. Dark haired and
still quite young looking, she had expressive, almond shaped eyes and a mouth that looked
poised and ready to spring into a smile. She wore a red, long sleeved jerkin that had come
undone at the front during the bustle of her arrest and beneath that a purple silk wrap
around her breasts that, Hubdia noticed with some satisfaction, struggled to contain
luscious breasts. The silk wrap matched her purple silk trousers that were both wide
legged and loose cut, tapering steeply to her ankles. She wore open toed flip-flops and
her hair was tied onto the top of her head in a neat little knot, with a red band about
it. All in all, with her generous, curvaceous body shape, she was an eyeful for any man,
and Hubdia eyed her long and fully. He had an eye for women and this one pleased him.
Having surveyed the girl for a second or two, Hubdia continued.
“Something you must know, I have a great many contacts, with many influential people.
These learned gentleman here are in fact judges,” and Hubdia waved his hand their way. “My
good friend,” Hubdia addressed the one bearded judge, “What would you consider as
justifiable punishment for this thief if she were bought before you in court?” The bearded
judge observed the pretty Bella as he considered the question.
“Well,” the judge remarked, “she is young, but not too young; therefore, she is strong
and recovery is quick for such girls. Judging by her build, I can see no good reason for
undue leniency. I would have little hesitation or concern in ordering such a well padded
one such as this up for forty lashes with the cat-o’five-tails and thirty days hard
labour!” Bella quailed in horror of such a sentence, but Hubdia remained impassive and
unmoved.
“Exactly my learned friend,” he concurred “and let me warn you. my pretty Bella, that a
stern taste of the cat-o’five-tails is savage enough a punishment to make even the most
ardent and hardened whore shudder and wail when suffering it and none return without a
word of complaint or a curse for the judge that send them back.”
Despite her dire and alarming predicament, Bella enjoyed the attentions of the handsome
and obviously well heeled and influential man before her. The strong set of his square
jaw, the cold, even hard, blue eyes, stabbing Bella like knives of cold steel, all
combined to make her feel insignificant and unimportant before such a vaunted individual
as he, yet for all of that - or because of it - being in his presence was exceedingly
exciting to her. Bella perceived him as a strong and at the same a dangerous man and she
had a penchant for such men. In the past, she had actively sought such men and had more
than willingly risked even the holy mullah’s fearsome scourge in order to lie down with
such men and open her legs for them. This Hubdia, this half-breed Talasian come
provincial, incited the same excitement the same passion that strong soldiers and guards
raised in Bella.
“I said that you were fortunate to have been arrested by my guards rather than by the
police,” continued Hubdia. “However, at the moment, I would imagine that you are having
some difficulty in understanding why that is so. What if I were to tell you that not only
could I get your flogging substantially reduced, I could also arrange that upon your
release from hard labour, instead of you anxiously looking to join the casual labour gangs
with your already aching limbs, you would walk away from your ordeal with a purse of ten
minerla in your pocket!" Hubdia allowed the revelation to sink in. "Think of it
Bella, ten minerla. That`s more than you could earn labouring on farms with the casual
gangs in six weeks. More money than you could earn in six weeks of backbreaking, soul
destroying, sweat blinding labour. Think of that Bella!"
Though he could see he had made an impression on the pretty young girl, he could still
detect a look of puzzlement in her eyes and little wonder. To be scooped off the streets
as she was and instead of being roundly denounced and condemned, here she was, talking to
a wealthy man, who in normal circumstances would hardly have given her a second glance,
not because of her looks, but because of her class. Bella clearly wondered what it was all
about.
"The only thing troubling me master is what is this all about? Why have I been
brought here? What is it you would have me do, that would earn me the money you are
offering?" Bella asked him.
Hubdia smiled, but it was not a warm, benevolent smile, it was hard, cold and almost
cruel, yet despite that, it sent a shiver of excitement and even lust through Bella`s
loins. Sweat had broken out on the delicious Bella`s body and she became suddenly aware of
the all pervasive heat that threatened to stifle them all in that hot stone room. Feeling
hot, wet and sticky, she could smell her own warm musk rising sweetly from her. "As I
have already told you Bella," Hubdia was looking to hammer the message home. "I
have a great deal of influence in many quarters. This learned gentlemen here, the judge,
is the man before whom you will stand in court tomorrow. As I have promised, I can arrange
for him to substantially reduce the number of lashes you truly deserve and, if you do as
we bid and do it successfully, you will walk away from thirty days hard labour
considerably more wealthy than when you went in. However, on the other hand, you are quite
at liberty to refuse our bargain. My guard will take you away now and deliver you over to
the police. There, as you have been promised, there will be a forty lash sentence, the
hard labour, and nothing in return. The choice my sweet Bella, is yours to make and yours
alone. Let me warn you now though, accept this bargain and there will be no turning back.
Try to do so and you will not be turning back, you will be betraying me and then you will
see just how damaging my all embracing influence can truly be.”
"Yes master! I accept, I agree to be a party to this arrangement!"
"Splendid!" exclaimed Hubdia, "you have made the right choice Bella.”
"May I say just one thing master?" Bella pleaded before the guard dragged her
off. "Is there any way, any way at all that rather than reduce the flogging, you
could dispense with it altogether?" Bella sounded desperate as well she might. Hubdia
shook his head. Bella continued. "I would do anything; I would even accept a
reduction in the ten minerla if you could do away with the flogging."
"It is essential to my endeavour that you do not raise any suspicion amongst your
peers. Were you to arrive without any signs of flogging, the women amongst you would avoid
you like a plague. I would not even lay even money that would last a week without getting
your throat cut. It is essential for your own well-being and for the success of this plan
that we do not draw any unnecessary attention to you. All will be explained tomorrow after
you have taken your medicine. Take her away!" snapped Hubdia finally and with that,
Bella was dragged out of the room and taken to Hubdia`s private cells below his grand town
residence.
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