Marketplace (10 page)

Her stomach growled through
the rest of the morning. By the time Chris came to summon her at
12:45, she was ready to pull her hair out with boredom and
hunger.

The four applicants met in
the narrow servants’ dining room at one o’clock, after washing up.
Robert and Claudia brought in a meal of sandwiches and mounds of
raw vegetables and fresh fruit. They had ice-water to drink. They
didn’t speak to each other when they sat down, each concentrating
on the food. There were brief glances exchanged, and tension was
high, but no one spoke.

“After lunch, you will have
one hour of free time,” Chris announced from the doorway. They all
turned to him. “Free, of course, is a relative term. You may spend
it resting in your dorm in silence, reading in the library, or you
may take a walk with me around the grounds. After that, Robert will
see Mistress Alexandra in the solarium, Brian will report to Ms.
Rachel for his duties, Claudia will report to me for hers, and
Sharon will return to her studies.” He paused and looked them over.
“At 4:15 this afternoon, Sharon and Brian will report to me in the
paddock for a lesson in trotting. Your evening schedules will be
given to you at dinner time. You may speak to each other this week
while you eat, but keep in mind that you only have a half hour for
meals. Any questions?”

Sharon nodded, swallowing a
bit of sandwich. “When do I get interviewed?”

“At Mr. Elliot’s pleasure,
Sharon. Kindly address some of your studies to section three of the
manual, on patience and the control of curiosity.” He looked back
at the others. “Any more questions? No? Then I will see you in one
half of an hour.” He left, closing the door behind him.

“Ooh, I hate him,” Sharon
said after he left. She drank deeply from her water glass. “I don’t
believe it. I need a fucking cup of coffee. How do we get coffee
around here?”

“You don’t,” Robert
answered. “I spent the morning with the cook. She’s a real nice
lady.” He picked up a large pear and put it on his plate. “She told
me that we get no coffee, no soda, no sugary things, nothing that’s
unhealthy or fancy.”

“I am going to die without
coffee,” Brian moaned. “That was the hardest thing today, facing
that interview without a cup of coffee in me.” He sighed and looked
at the table. “And all this rabbit food is gonna kill me. I am
dying for a cheeseburger deluxe already.”

“What about diet soda?”
Sharon asked. Robert shook his head. “You mean, this is it?
Water?
” Her voice scaled
up sharply.

“W-well, in the morning,
we get fruit juice,” he stammered out. He lowered his head and then
fidgeted nervously. “A-and they can give us, um, little portions of
forbidden foods as rewards, and we can have herbal tea at night
and, um, stuff like sports drinks when we’re in the gym.” He said
all of that in a rush and then took a long drink from his glass.
God, it was difficult dealing with all of this! And to have a
fellow slave looking at him in such a...
dominant
way, demanding answers from
him, oh it was just not to be borne! And with his interview coming
up so soon!

Sharon stared at him for a
moment as he tried to concentrate on his plate. “You know, you
really are a big sissy, aren’t you?”

“Sharon!” Claudia cried out
in horror. “Be nice!”

“No, it’s true,” Robert
sniffed. “I
am
a
big sissy. I’m sorry.” He pushed his plate away and buried his face
in his arms. The bulk of his shoulders shook as he sobbed loud,
falsetto tears.

“This is gonna be a long
week,” Brian said out loud. He took a carrot stick and munched,
trying to figure out what had happened during his own interview. It
was easy to tune out the tirade that Sharon was
starting.

Grendel had asked him a lot
of questions about things he had done before. Where he worked, what
sports he played, which bars he went to. Brian answered all the
questions truthfully, quickly, and with nice snappy “Sirs”
punctuating his speech. But as the interview went on, he realized
that he was being asked to talk more and more about what he liked
to do and what he wanted out of life, and he began to wonder if he
was being led into a trap. Brian tried to slip in some comments
about how much he wanted to be owned and have decisions made for
him, but Grendel casually brushed these answers off and always
returned to what Brian enjoyed, what Brian did, what Brian
ate.

It was very
strange.

And then the interview
changed. Grendel ordered him to strip and show himself, and
savagely criticized his body and mannerisms. Called him a soft,
lazy dilettante with no real direction in life and no idea how to
commit to anything. Brian had panicked and tried every trick he
knew to mollify an angry master, but Grendel laughed at him and
called him on every one. Shit, Brian thought, remembering. That guy
really knows his stuff. Even Paul wasn’t as tough as Grendel. By
one point, Brian was begging to do anything to prove his sincerity,
suck cock, lick boots, kiss ass, drink piss, anything.

And Grendel had merely
sighed and told him to get dressed and get out. It was
lunchtime.

Did I pass or fail? Brian
mused. And what do I have to do to get on around here? I have to
figure it out soon, or I’ll never have a chance like this
again.

At least, he thought,
watching Sharon browbeat poor Robert, I have a much better chance
than she does. Hey, maybe we should keep her in control, so she can
be my bad example! Compared to her, I’m Wonderslave. He
snickered.

“And what are you laughing
at, faggot?” She turned on him with a snarl.

“Oooohhh!” Brian threw his
hands up in mock horror. “The bitch called me a bad word! I’m
shattered! I’m dismayed!” He turned serious and lowered his voice.
“And I am already thoroughly sick of your attitude, Miss Thing. You
just don’t get it, do you? We’re here to be trained to be slaves,
OK, honey? If you don’t like it, just tell them and get your ass
back to Scarsdale or Teaneck, or wherever the hell you came from.”
He glanced up at the clock and took a handful of grapes and began
popping them in his mouth.

“Stop it! Just stop it!”
Claudia cried out. Her hands were clenched in anxiety. She had
barely eaten anything. The sandwiches tasted like sawdust in her
mouth. She nibbled at a piece of an apple, but set it aside soon
after Sharon really got into her litany of outrage and complaints.
All of this anger and spite made her lose her appetite.

By the time Chris came
back, there was an aura of gratitude from at least three people at
the table. Rachel cleared the table and Chris asked them where they
had decided to spend their free time.

Robert sniffed and said,
“The library, please.”

Claudia thought. “I’d like
to rest for a while,” she admitted softly.

“Me too,” Sharon said.
Claudia looked horrified at the prospect, and raised her hand.
Brian looked at the three of them and then at Chris.

“I think I’ll take that
walk,” he said lightly. Chris nodded and was about to dismiss them,
but he noticed Claudia’s timorously raised hand.

“Yes, Claudia?”

“May I change my mind? I
would like to go to the library, too.”

Chris nodded. “Fine then.
Everyone to your place. Sharon, you may not leave the room or make
any noise while you rest. Robert and Claudia, follow the standards
of behavior you’ve been given and do your reading far away from
each other. Brian, you may go to the storage room on the third
floor next to the dorm and get your boots. Meet me out by the
stable in five minutes. When the hour is over, you will proceed to
your next task or appointment, and you will be
punctual.”

* * * *

Robert carefully folded his
trousers as he was instructed and placed them on the floor next to
a chair. When he drew himself back up, he was even more conscious
of the beginning of stubble all over his body. He kept his eyes
down, the better to avoid looking at Mistress Alexandra, who stood
to receive him in a long white skirt and a sensuously light, rose
colored silk blouse. She was holding what looked like a short brown
riding crop.

His nasty thing was already
hard, despite his efforts not to look.

Alexandra raised his chin
with one finger. He was much taller than she. Naked in the
daylight, shorn of all its hair, his body was formidable. His
shoulders and upper arms were broad and muscular, his back strong
and his chest deep. He was in good shape, his stomach flat. And Ali
had not lied. His cock was quite a thing of beauty.

It was thick, and even
flaccid it looked like a meaty sex machine. Now, tumescent and
stirring, it hinted at a respectable length when it reached its
full potential. Without a tangle of curly dark hair to distract
from its size, it looked fat and heavy.

Alex tapped it with her
crop, very lightly.

Robert moaned and
whimpered. His cock grew more, and a deep blush began to rise in
his neck and face.

“You have a very nice body,
Robert,” Alexandra said. “Turn for me and show me what you look
like.”

Robert closed his eyes and
began to awkwardly pivot, automatically rising on his
toes.

“No, not like that! Turn
slowly and carefully. I want to see you do it proudly, gracefully.
Try again.”

He did, but his feet seemed
to get in his way and he almost tripped over himself. He caught
himself neatly and regained his balance, but didn’t miss the look
of disappointment that crossed Alexandra’s face. Tears formed in
his eyes, and he saw that disappointment turned rapidly into what
he thought was disgust. He immediately started bawling, dropped to
the floor and tried to kiss her feet.

What did I do to deserve
this? Alex thought as she walked away. She put the crop down and
started talking. “First of all, you are going to stop this
behavior, Robert...”

Didn’t she give this
lecture already? She hoped that Grendel was having a better time
with his applicants. So far, it looked like she was going to spend
all her time with a couple of crybabies who weren’t of any use in
bed. She paused in her instructions to him and studied his bent
form.

“Kneel up, Robert. And get
your cock in your hand,” she announced suddenly.

Robert drew himself up and
grabbed hold of his cock, grateful for the opportunity to hide it
from view. His face was red from his blubbering and from keeping it
so low to the floor.

“Show me how you jerk off,”
Alexandra commanded. “Take hold of it and work it for me.” She
leaned one elbow against a drawing table and waved a finger at him.
“Go ahead, get it really big and hard. Show me how huge it gets.
You can spit in your hand if you want to.”

Robert gasped in horror.
Show it off? He grasped it tightly, feeling the jolt of pleasure
shoot through him, and closed his eyes. Carefully, he tugged at his
cock, drawing it down and away from his body in a motion he liked.
It was hot in his hand. Never, never had he been permitted to touch
himself like this in the presence of a mistress.

“That’s it, work it. A lot
of mistresses like a well hung slave around, and you might be sold
to a house where you need to be able to get it up on a moment’s
notice.” She watched his efforts with interest. Oh yes, he had a
real machine between his legs. No wonder Ali was horrified at the
thought of lopping it off.

Robert squeezed his nasty
thing hard again and began to move his fist faster and faster along
the shaft. The idea that a mistress would like it, would want
him
because
he
had it, was intoxicating. An involuntary groan escaped his lips,
and he opened his eyes to make sure Mistress Alexandra wasn’t
displeased.

On the contrary, she looked
very attentive. Trying to please, he worked faster and harder, and
began to feel the stirrings of an orgasm. He looked up, pleading
with his eyes. Alexandra seemed unaware of his condition, or
perhaps uncaring. He kept the tempo up but loosened his hand a
little. His breaths were coming in gasps now, his chest rising and
falling in a double-time rhythm. He tried to catch her eyes again,
failed, and began to whimper.

“Did you want to tell me
something, Robert?”

“Yes, ma’am! Please, I’m
about to, ah... please, I’m almost there, ma’am!”

“Do you mean you want to
come, Robert?”

He squirmed and his hips
bucked forward, but his hand didn’t stop. “Yes, ma’am, please
ma’am!”

“No, I don’t think so. Just
keep yourself on the edge. It’s very presumptuous for you to just
announce that you’re about to come, Robert.” She smiled, lesson
delivered, and Robert’s gasp of pleasure and frustration was very
rewarding. There was something to this potential slave after all.
“In fact, I think you should stop right now.”

Robert gave a high, sharp
cry, almost a yelp, but took his hand away. His cock stood away
from his body, engorged and curving upward.

“Now let’s see how long you
can keep it that way without touching it,” Alexandra said, sitting
down. “Keep your eyes open, and put your hands behind your
back.”