Shamed (10 page)

Heranthium
was a village of little repute
lost amongst the hills to the east of Rome. Its
villagers
farmers and poor. In the hot sun its townsfolk lived a peaceful life tending
their crops eking out a meagre living, aspiring to very little.

Nera
was a citizen of
Heranthium
,
a meek and good natured woman, shy of the ways of the world but comfortable
within her domain, still without man but aware that suitors would soon be vying
for her attentions. She harboured dreams of marrying a gentle man whom she
could love and
admire,
who would cherish her and keep
her. A man who would be kind to her and who would, when that thing that
happened between betrothed ones, a thing that made the older women in the
village lower their voices and giggle excitedly,  when that happened she
would be good and pleasing and the god’s would reward her with a child.

Nera
was thinking about these things as she
returned from fetching water from the river when she stopped without knowing
why. Her eyes scanned the gently rolling horizon of lush green hills and blue
cloudless sky. Slowly she became aware of a rumbling thunder that made the
ground tremor. She stood hesitantly, uncertain of the fear that seemed to grip
her -uncomprehending of the sound that rushed towards her. Suddenly the horizon
was broken by the emerging dark shapes of riders, growing as if from the ground
itself, as they came over the crest of a nearby hill.  Too late she
realised the danger and dropped the water carrier as she attempted to flee.
Before
Nera
could run
far
the riders were upon her and circling their powerful mounts about her. A horse
came up beside her and a large strong arm grasped her around the waist as a
chorus of raucous
laughter greeted her attempted escape. She was
swept into the lap of a brutish, ugly man. His stench overpowered her almost
immediately. He spoke in a language she did not understand and laughed with a
deep guttural rasp. She struggled to free herself but his grip was too strong
and it only made him laugh more. He held her with one arm wrapped around her
waist while his other hand grasped the folds of her toga and ripped open the
front exposing her breasts. A cry of merciless approval went up from the throng
of riders and her captor lifted her as high as he could to display her as he
pivoted his horse to enable all to see.
Nera
screamed
as the brute grasped a breast with a rough hand and squeezed her roughly as he
laughed triumphantly. Then he spun her around and threw her across his saddle
pulling the hem of her skirt high to expose her naked bottom. His hand slapped
hard across the bare flesh making her squeal and he forced his hand between her
legs and cupped her pubic mound. Great laughter rose from the other riders and
two rode close by slapping her bare flesh as they passed.

Finally a wagon pulled up beside them and
Nera
was swung up again by the brute, one hand under her breasts the other between
her legs and she was tossed unceremoniously into the back of the wagon. She
found herself amongst several girls sitting dejectedly in the wagon hold, two
of whom she recognised as girls from her village. They were all tied and the
clothing of each ripped and dishevelled to some degree. The wagon driver hopped
into the back of the wagon and tied her hands behind her back with a length of
rope.  He did nothing to re-arrange her clothing to protect her modesty.
And so
Nera
spent the next three days in discomfort
riding in the wagon, her breasts exposed for any passer buy to see, while all
the girls sat in dejected unhappiness, fearful as to what the future held for
them. The talk was of being sold into slavery and other fearsome outcomes.
No-one seemed to think that rescue was a likely outcome.

Their questions were to be answered on the fourth day as the wagon
rolled into a town. The riders were met by a man in a robe who climbed up into
the wagon and studied the girls.
Nera
hung her head
knowing that she could do nothing to hide her exposed breasts. The man took her
under the chin and raised her face so that he could study her. He reached down
and held a breast in his hand as if weighing it. He grunted then moved on to
the next girl. Finally satisfied, having checked each girl in the same way, he
climbed down from the wagon and handed over a sack of money to the brutes. The
wagon driver climbed into the hold and pushed each of the girls down into the
street. A crowd had started to gather and
Nera
was
choked with shame as she desperately struggled to get to her feet, her legs
akimbo, the skirt having risen above her hips and her breasts in plain view of
all. A man grasped her roughly under her arm and lifted her to her feet. 
The girls were put into line and forced to walk briskly through the town, a
whip was used to encourage any shirkers and although
Nera
had the relief of knowing that her skirts had now fallen to a decent length she
was still shamed by the fall and sway of her uncovered breasts as she jogged to
try and keep up. A group of soldiers on a street corner pointed at her and
laughed while some woman shouted scornful remarks as if she was some common
whore. Tears welled up in her eyes and her cheeks flushed with the shame of it.

They were finally brought to a halt behind a large odd looking building
which had steps rising to a high door guarded by a eunuch. The man who had paid
for the girls now sorted them into pairs and stationed them at the foot of the
steps.  To the horror of all the girls, he and an assistant then went
along the row and stripped each girl of her clothing. Hands still tied,
Nera
stood shaking, knees pressed together in an attempt to
preserve any dignity she felt she had left but there was nothing she could do
to ease her humiliation. She could hear the low murmur of voices from somewhere
in town but was thankful that here at least, behind the odd building, they were
out of sight of prying eyes.  Finally the man seemed satisfied and
returning to the head of the line swung a crop across the bare buttocks of the
girl beside
Nera
and motioned for them both to mount
the stairs. The girl, startled by the stinging crop, leaped up the first few
steps but
Nera
was frozen to the spot. The robed man
raised the crop again but grabbed her by the hair instead and forced her to
mount the steps as he followed behind pushing her head, her hair held tightly
in his grip, forcing both girls up towards the eunuch. As they reached the top
the eunuch stood aside and the man pushed both girls through a curtained
doorway.
Nera
stood in disbelief. They were on a
platform in an open fronted building. Before them stood a crowd of people -
staring up at their naked forms. The man pushed the girls out of the doorway
towards a wooden rail that ran along the length of the platform. There another
assistant, a grubby, crooked old hag, bedecked in jangling gold bracelets
beckoned them towards her as she held out a length of rope. She tied
Nera
and the other girl to the rail.
Nera
was certain her heart had stopped beating. They were now no more than three
feet from the front of the crowd and the elevated position of the platform
meant there was no hiding from the stares of all in the crowd. She had never
been naked before anyone before in her life and now she stood before a crowd of
ogling men and women. She was shocked too at the lack of compassion shown by
the women. They seemed as eager as the men to view her body and several were
gesticulating to the man in the robe in the same way as the men.

The man came to
Nera
and held her face in his
hand. He moved her head from side to side to offer a full profile to the
expectant crowd. “How much am I bid?” he asked the crowd.

“Fifty.” A man called out.

“You think I would give this girl away? Look at these breasts, look at
this physique? She is a jewel.”

Nera
closed her eyes, conscious as she was of
the attention being forced upon her. She felt the eyes of the entire crowd
measuring her, assessing her.

“Look at that face, those thighs,
those
hips!”

“Her legs are closed. We can see nothing!” called a voice from the
crowd.

The robed man shrugged and nodded and the old woman stepped forward,
grabbed both of
Nera’s
ankles and forced them apart.
Nera
was stunned, she gasped loudly and began to plead to
the sea of faces, but they ignored her words and she realised exactly where all
their attention was focused. A breeze blew across her body, as if to accentuate
her predicament, sending her nerves tingling and to her amazement brought about
a sensation that she did not wish to admit to in her exposed state. She felt
her nipples tighten and extend. Her labia tingled. The man firmly kicked her
legs apart.

“Here, she has as soft and inviting a slit as you have ever seen, has
she not? Surely she is worth 200?”

A derisory cry went up from the crowd. “200? She should be able to do
much with that cunt for that price!”

“You are doubters?” The man questioned. He reached down and with rough
hardened fingers spread
Nera’s
labia apart, now
leaving her more exposed than she had imagined possible. She was taken aback by
the sensation that the feel of his weathered fingers made on the soft delicate
skin of her lips.  She attempted to pull herself away from him but a
smarting swipe from a crop held by the old woman forced her to resume the
posture that was so encapsulating the crowd.

“How much can she take?” One man asked.

The robed slave trader firmed his grip holding her apart and with the
other hand reached down and a thick finger searched for the opening to her
vagina. He was callous and rough with her but she felt her heart burst into a
terrific rhythm within her chest as he did so.
Surely not....he couldn’t?
Locating her opening he thrust the finger knuckle deep into her.
Nera’s
breath locked in her lungs as she felt the thickness
of the digit rise inside her. Then her breath escaped in a gasp as the
intruding finger twisted around for a few moments inside her. He withdrew the finger
slowly then held it before his eyes. He turned to the crowd and held up the
finger for all to see. “Look, she is wet. She likes it! She is worth 250 I
say.”

Nera
felt her face burn up with humiliation.
Was she wet?  How could she be? She was being violated, abused and yet,
she could see for herself the evidence of the glistening finger.

The man turned again to face her.
Nera’s
mouth fell open. He reached down again and inserted the finger into her once
more, only this time he inserted a second finger bringing an involuntary
guttural moan from her, before withdrawing again and showing the crowd as if to
confirm the findings of the first time.  Now the old woman reached from
behind her and pinched her nipples hard. “Look!” she squawked “The
puella
has fine stalks for nipples!”
Nera
yelped from the unexpected pain then looked down mesmerised by how large and
stiff her nipples were. She had never seen them like that before and the pain,
the pain continued on through her body changing as it went, changing to a
tingling, needing, intoxicating pleasure as it arrived at her clitoris.

“And look at her clitoris!” The man announced as if recognising her
sensations. He held apart her labia once more and flicked his finger against
the bud of her clitoris. “Look at how attentive it is!”
Nera
felt an explosion within her body that rippled through her. She hadn’t even
known what that thing down there was called and now?
now
,
she was breathing heavily, trembling through the stimulus. Her cheeks and
breasts were flushed and now she was sure of her state of arousal as she felt
her juices trickle down the inside of her thighs.

“So who will bid me 200?” asked the man.

A woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

“I have three sons that need satisfying. How do I know that she is good
for the task?”

Satisfy?
Nera
had heard the old women of her
village use this expression when talking in hushed voices. She knew what it
meant and now the reality of her situation struck home. At some point she had
reasoned and then accepted that she was to be sold into slavery. Not until now
had she considered what type of slave she would be.

“Come see for yourself.” The man beckoned to the woman and held a hand
out to her. Taking his hand she stepped gracefully up a set of steps onto the platform.
She was a woman of classical beauty and obviously of high standing.
Nera
could see that from the expensive clothes she wore and
the way she carried herself. What she could not reconcile herself to was that
the woman would see a fellow female humiliated in such a way.

“She is a fine specimen” the man was saying “She would satisfy each of
them well!”

 “Perhaps” said the woman “But would she satisfy all of them at
the same time?”

Within all of
Nera’s
experience she could not
fathom what the woman meant.

The man now took hold of
Nera’s
face again
and this time squeezed her cheeks until her mouth opened.

“Look at that mouth, those lips. What son would not gain pleasure from
placing his cock between them?”

Nera
looked at him in shocked horror. In an instant
she had become aware of a wider world, of things that she could never have
imagined.
To take a man in her mouth?
Should she
desire to or not.......and yet she knew her desires would play no part in this.