The training of the four girls continued thereafter with few incidents for the rest of their third month. The strength of Katryn, Madi and Lyra had increased to the point where they would soon be ready to be ridden for their first time. Rolf, of course, was still riding Cynda almost every evening. These evening episodes of feeling the weight of her favorite elf on her bare back and the pressure of his hand on her bridle had become the high point of Cynda’s days. Those occasional evenings when Rolf had other work to do and had to miss their evening rides always disappointed the big filly. She had her ways of letting him know how she felt the next morning when he came to begin her day’s training but Cynda could never seem to stay mad at Rolf for long. All four of the girls had become quite accustomed to the weight that they were now being made to carry strapped to their stirrup less saddles. Other than Cynda, though, none was aware that the weight they had been carrying for the past several weeks exceeded considerably that of any elf, even a large male elf like Latkin.

In the almost three months since Katryn and her friends had been caught and brought to the stables for training, there had been a number of unrelated occurrences at Randor’s facility. When the four were in the second month of their training, the Traders Hrema and Elle had returned. Whenever they arrived at the village they created quite a stir, only this time it was much greater one than usual. Elle led their short procession riding bareback on the beautiful Ebony filly, that they named Oni since their last visit, and Hrema was on the wagon box driving the eight big tans. Both Elle and Hrema were looking forward to picking up the saddle for Oni that they had ordered from Bothar on their last visit. Without a saddle with stirrups both Elle and Hrema had learned how difficult it could be to stay mounted on a really sweaty girl when she was running. Both Traders had found that they, like elves, enjoyed fast riding and were looking forward to seeing just how fast Oni could really move when carrying either of them in a good saddle.

Following the Traders’ wagon, chained together by their necks were five “wild” fillies plus Elle’s “Exotic”. The five fillies were striking in appearance and attracted some attention as they followed behind the wagon. They were all the very desirable “breed” of girls called Arabians with compact muscular bodies, dark brown, almost black manes that hung well below their waists and typical olive skin. All five had the body shape typical of the Arabian breed with slightly larger than average breasts, short but powerful and well shaped legs and the narrow waists and broad hips that made them so attractive to elves for riding. They had recently arrived as part of a rare shipment comprised of some sixty five mares and fillies, thirteen geldings and two stallions. All had come from the desert country far across the ocean where they had been purchased by seafaring Traders. After a long and difficult sea voyage to this continent they had all been bought by Traders like Elle who, after having them trained by trainers such as Randor, intended to sell them to wealthy elves at a very substantial profit.

The arrival of the five Arabian fillies, and one of them in particular, was anything but coincidental. This was but part of an elaborate plan that could, in time, result in changes in the otherwise very stable social structures that had existed for centuries and included all three of the intelligent species of this world. The specifics of this plan had originated in the deserts far away roughly a year earlier. However, the series of conditions and occurrences that led to the thoughts that eventually culminated in this plan began in the mind of a young girl more than ten years earlier, a young girl named Najya.

In the distant desert country from which Elle’s Arabians had come, girls like the five chained to the wagon were regularly caught to be sold as slaves to other humans in the markets of the several coastal port villages. Raiding amongst the multitude of constantly warring human tribes in this land kept these markets so well supplied with both male and female slaves, that abundant quantities were usually available and prices generally quite low. Though most slaves were sold to members of other tribes, the occasional Trader vessel that ventured to any of the five port villages could fill its hold with them, in exchange for variety of materials and manufactured goods.

Due to the fierce and warlike nature of the desert tribesmen, for literally thousands of years, elves had not even visited the desert country, and most of the tribesmen had come to doubt their very existence. Even the Traders who braved the ocean crossing to deal with the tribesmen seldom ventured outside of the port villages. Although Traders were fluent in most human languages even they couldn’t speak all the dialects of many of the inland desert tribes. This did not pose a problem in the port villages however, as business transactions were conducted in what had become a kind of universal language of commerce that Traders and virtually all tribesmen seemed to understand. The five special port villages had, for centuries, been operated by a separate group of tribesmen as areas of free trade where all raiding was prohibited and commerce prevailed. The laws against raiding in the port villages were effectively backed up by the existence of substantial military forces aided by a sophisticated linking of communications between the five villages.

For their own safety, the Traders had always kept the secret of the elves’ strength inducing and longevity enhancing herbal formulas carefully away from the fierce desert tribes. Without the benefit of those herbs human slaves, even males, though used regularly for pack and draft purposes, were seldom sufficiently larger and stronger to be used for riding by their human masters or mistresses.

Except for those in the trading villages, all the desert tribesmen lived a nomadic life, constantly moving their encampments in search of water, browse for their sheep and goat like animals, or to pursue a weaker or escape from a stronger neighboring tribe. Due to their frequent movement, animals of any kind that might have been ridden would have proven to be most valuable to the tribesmen. Had the tribesmen possessed the means of multiplying the strength of their slaves as elves and Traders did with their “animals”, the slaves of the tribesmen would undoubtedly have been ridden by their owners as well. Though not referred to as such as was the case especially with the elves, tribesmen’s slaves were generally considered to be on a level with animals.

The Traders were well aware that the same herbs that would have strengthened the bodies of the tribesmen’s slaves, allowing them to be ridden even by other humans of similar size, would have equally strengthened the bodies of the aggressive and warlike tribesmen, themselves. The potential of being attacked by hoards of strength enhanced tribesmen mounted on strength enhanced slaves was something that the Traders wanted to avoid.

As it was, all free tribesmen used both male and female slaves as their beasts of burden forcing them to bear or draw quite heavy loads under a relentlessly hot sun over long and grueling distances. Whenever a tribe relocated, long chains of collared slaves of both sexes, their naked bodies shining with sweat and the special oils that protected them from the oppressive sun, could always be seen bearing the tribes belongings strapped to their backs. Where the terrain permitted there would also be long lines of heavily laden carts being drawn by harnessed slaves encouraged by a driver’s whip as he or she sat riding on the front of the cart. Where the ground was either too broken or hilly, the carts were disassembled and, along with their contents, carried in pieces by slaves.

Young and attractive slaves, though regularly worked as hard as any, were also used to serve the sexual pleasures of their owners both male and female. Most males were gelded upon capture, but a number were considered handsome enough to be left unaltered to be used for pleasure as well as work. Though lacking the elves’ knowledge of herbs, both male and female contraceptive potions were known by the tribesmen and were always used on their slaves. Tribal culture only permitted actual breeding between free persons and even then only between members of the same tribe. Fortunately for most of the tribes there was sufficient genetic diversity to prevent the problems of inbreeding. A number of the smaller tribes, though, had developed certain inherited traits, physical and otherwise that tended to predominate within their populations, and in certain cases such traits were quite pronounced. Members of the Ghazi tribe, for example, were significantly smaller than most other tribes, yet they were feared throughout the land for their ferocity, while those of the Halim tribe tended to be physically quite large and strong but much less aggressive.

On average, the Halim people were decidedly much taller and stronger than the majority of the other tribes, especially the small Ghazi people. The large stature of the Halim had, for centuries, discouraged other tribes from raiding or challenging them, and that had led to a long slow decline in the tribe’s fighting skills and attitude toward combat. The Ghazi people, on the other hand, were smaller than average and had compensated for their lack of size by developing a fierce and aggressive nature along with great fighting skills.

The female members of the desert tribes were, generally, equally as fierce and warlike as were the males. About half of the desert tribes were ruled by princesses as Royal blood linage was considered absolute throughout their culture. The oldest living son or daughter of the reigning prince or princess followed in succession upon the ruler’s death or incapacitation. If a prince or princess had no offspring at such time, succession fell to his or her next oldest living sibling or descendents thereof. First cousins were next in line in those rare cases where neither offspring nor siblings were available. In cases where the succeeding prince or princess had not reached their eighteenth birthday, the tribe was ruled by a council of warriors until the crown prince or princess reached that age.

In most of the tribes, male and female offspring were born in fairly equal numbers which made the number of tribes ruled by princes and princesses about equal at any given time. Crown princes and princesses were trained from birth to prepare them to assume their positions of command which they then maintained for life.

One such Crown Princess of the Ghazi tribe named Najya who, by the time that she was twenty seven years of age, had become respected and feared throughout the land for her abilities both as a fierce fighter and military leader and also as a firm but competent ruler. At significantly under five feet in height, Najya presented a physically beautiful yet diminutive countenance which totally belied and concealed her aggressive personality and incredible inner strength.

Najya was different from the other desert princesses in that due to her small size and light weight she was able to ride slaves. For the past several years Najya had built what amounted to a stable of especially large, strong and well trained slaves of both sexes that she had culled from the many captives that her tribe had taken. Najya took pride in her ability to totally dominate and control these slaves and the fact that she personally broke each of them for riding.

Najya had not always ridden slaves. She had grown up riding in one of the slave drawn Royal Chariots which were reserved for the exclusive use by the immediate members of the Royal Family. Royal Chariots were painstakingly constructed of scarce wood, leather and an even scarcer bamboo like material that was very strong but light and had to be brought from over a thousand miles away from where it grew in the Northern coastal marshes. Royal Chariots were light, very strong and could carry three standing riders.

Not only did Royal Chariots serve as royal vehicles for travel they served as war chariots as well. In the tribe’s raids Najya fought and commanded from her Royal Chariot with her team of slaves being handled by her favorite driver, Amin, leaving the princess unimpeded for directing the action as well as fighting, herself. Najya was an accomplished warrior, expert with the short sword which was the tribesman’s favored weapon. She was also good with a spear, but was an absolute master of the short double recurved chariot bow. Najya’s reputation as an archer had spread so wide that it alone accounted for an increase in the numbers of slaves the tribe was successful in taking during their raids. Rather than face the almost certain death of The Princesses’ arrows, adversaries were more inclined to surrender to enslavement by the Ghazi.

The wheels of royal chariots were tired in iron, a material which Traders supplied to the desert tribesmen. Many centuries ago the Traders learned that manufactured metal items were of the greatest value to the tribesmen and for which they were willing to exchange the largest number of slaves. For the past few hundred years, though things had changed and the tribesmen had become more interested in trading for metals in the form of bars, sheets and even billets rather than as finished products. In that time, the tribesmen had developed their own shops and great skill in the working of metals so almost any metal object that a desert tribesman needed was likely to be available locally made.

The Traders, though concerned in some circles over the technological advances of the warlike tribesmen, believed that they held the key to control as they remained the sole source of metal, especially iron, for the tribesmen. What the Traders had not yet learned, however, was that the tribesmen in the port village shops had discovered a secret of enormous proportions. They had learned how to convert iron into steel! The Traders kept the secrets of the smelting and refining of metals from the tribesmen for security as they did the existence of the elves herbs. The Traders believed that this allowed them to keep the number of weapons available to the tribesmen somewhat under their control. Also, the tribesmen had not developed the primitive magnetic and astrological instruments necessary for navigation of a vessel when out of sight of land, and the Trader’s sought to maintain those items secret as well. So far, other than using small coastal vessels, the tribesmen had shown little inclination to expand their own seafaring capabilities. The danger and expense to maritime Traders of the long ocean voyages required to reach the desert lands served to limit the volume of trade between Traders and tribesmen. Still, the profits to be made on a ship full of Arabians back home in a Trader port remained an enticing lure.

The iron tired wheels of a Royal Chariot were large in diameter to allow its use over uneven or bumpy surfaces. However, when the ground became too rough and broken, which it often did, a chariot became impractical if not impossible to use. Whenever those conditions were encountered, the chariot team was unhitched and led behind it. Unlike the carts that were disassembled for carrying, a Royal chariot was carried intact on two long poles on the naked shoulders of slaves. Whenever the tribe traveled in broken country, teams of slaves trained for this purpose were kept ready, walking behind the chariot neck chained to their poles. The draft teams could be exchanged for the bearing teams in very short order and back again when the terrain became smoother.

When the terrain allowed their use, Royal chariots were traditionally drawn by matched and trained teams of four naked, harnessed and collared slaves of either or sometimes even mixed sex. The wrists of the slaves were manacled and fastened to their harnesses at the slave’s waist with chains just under a foot long. Chariot teams were guided through turns, slowed or stopped by the driver pulling on rope reins that were securely fastened to each slave’s arms just above the elbow. They were started or sped up by the driver’s long shafted snake like whip which was either cracked above the team’s heads or applied to their backs or buttocks as the driver deemed necessary. Chariot teams were worked hard with little mercy, and when finally played out were changed by tribesmen who held the honor and title of the equivalent of “Royal Hostlers”.

Najya had been quite young when her mother had taught her to drive a chariot and from the first she loved the feeling of control and power that the reins and whip put into her hands. Najya reveled in running her teams hard. Inclines were seldom seen by the young Princess as any reason that a team should slow, and used her whip with skill to see that it did not often happen.

When growing up, one of Najya’s favorite pastimes was racing her Royal chariot against one driven by her younger sister, Rasha. Both girls were highly skillful as drivers and both hated to lose. It was not at all uncommon for the two sisters to completely wear out three or four teams of slaves each in the course of an afternoon’s entertainment.

As girls when the tribe traveled, Najya and Rasha both disliked having to keep the speed of their chariots down to that of all the walking tribesmen and slaves. On such occasions, the princesses were always finding reasons to whip up their teams to check the trail and then come flying back to report to their mother what lay ahead. Of course scouts were already ranging far ahead and sending back reports by runner, which Najya and Rasha well knew but preferred to ignore.

Obviously, with Najya and Rasha driving it was necessary for the Royal Hostlers to change out their teams at fairly frequent intervals as they wore them down. In camp this required a return to the slave pens where a fresh team would be standing harnessed and waiting. On the trail, the Royal Hostlers always kept at least two fresh teams harnessed and ready for each of the Princesses. These teams were kept harnessed and, for the convenience of the hostlers, chained together by their collars in the positions that they would occupy when hitched to the chariot. With this arrangement four hostlers could switch out a fresh team for a tired one in well under a minute for the always impatient Princesses.

Whenever the terrain was too rough which it often was, the royal family, just like the rest of the entire tribe, was forced to walk and Najya in particular, hated walking. It was not so much that she hated walking itself. Since as Crown Princess she was always preparing for her future position as ruler and war leader. For that position, Najya trained regularly and maintained her body in superb condition for raiding and fighting. By the time that she was thirteen, Najya could run for miles carrying her bow, sword and large quiver of arrows and barely break a sweat. What Najya hated was the idea of a Crown Princess having to walk. In her upbringing she had been taught that free members of the tribe did not carry things when the tribe moved the location of its encampment, as that was the work of slaves. In her royal arrogance, Najya considered herself as the symbol of the tribe itself and believed that she, like all of the tribe’s most valuable belongings should always be carried by slaves.

As a young woman, Najya had thought often of various ways by which she might be able to ride whenever the tribe relocated no matter what the terrain. As Najya’s tribe, The Ghazi, was one of the largest of the desert tribes, they were forced to move often in search of the three most sought after desert commodities; water, browse, and loot from the raiding of other tribes which, of course, included slaves for use and sale. The desert country having almost no roads and being, for a great part quite rugged, this frequent moving meant lots of walking for everyone, including Najya which gave her ample time to consider solutions to what she considered to be a problem of royal significance. She really believed it to be demeaning both to her royal personage as well as to the tribe itself for her to be required to walk.

At slightly under four foot ten and less than one hundred pounds, Najya was a tiny but incredibly beautiful young woman. She had the very dark brown eyes and hair that was typical of the desert tribe’s people of both sexes. Her breasts were perfectly formed and rode high on her chest without a hint of sag. Her narrow waist and full rounded hips, though somewhat smaller than average were typical of her race. She wore her hair long reached almost to her waist. When in battle she tied up her hair most securely under her headdress to avoid it becoming entangled. Her skin was of an olive shade and although only her face was normally exposed she kept it well protected from the desert sun with the same oils used on the slave’s naked bodies. Not too surprisingly, Najya’s physical beauty was as obvious as was the arrogance and ambition that showed constantly in her dark eyes. Najya was both highly intelligent and extremely inquisitive and approached any problem with an intense concentration and unwillingness to accept failure.

Upon assuming the position of Ruling Princess at the age of twenty upon her mother’s death, Najya was suddenly faced with the great responsibility of ruling her tribe. Not only was she responsible for the daily concerns of her large tribe, she also conferred closely with the tribe’s military leaders. Najya’s mother had taught her that the success of their raids on other tribes provided a great portion of the tribe’s income allowing them to build their wealth, which was considerable. Her mother also taught the young Princess never to leave anything important under the control of others, no matter how much she might trust them. She was also taught the power of knowledge and the importance of knowing what one was doing before assuming command. Najya had listened well to her mother when she had been alive and for the first years of her rule listened well to her generals both male and female. In a few years, Najya had become a consummate tribal ruler and military leader whose judgment was respected by her subjects including her generals and feared by the many other tribes that she basically considered as her natural prey.

Najya had been Ruling Princess for about five years before she really found time to again consider ways in which she could avoid having to walk when her Royal Chariot could not be used. As Ruling Princess, Najya felt her walking even more degrading to herself and the tribe than she had as a girl, so resolved to find a solution. First, she tried a variety of slave borne litters and sedan chairs, and even tried riding in her chariot while it was being carried on its poles by the slaves. The Princess found none of these approaches satisfied her as a means of crossing the rough terrain that had precluded the use of her chariot. Najya proclaimed her dislike for such slave carried conveyances was that, when riding in them, she lacked the control of whip and reins that she was accustomed to with her chariot. In truth her dissatisfaction was due more to the swaying instability of such contraptions, and the fact that The Princess was unusually susceptible to motion sickness.

After much thought Najya decided that, given her small size and light weight, a strong male slave should be able to carry her on his back over terrain that made her chariot all but useless. Once decided, she moved quickly to test the idea. She had determined that for the idea to be practical a slave would have to have the strength and endurance to carry her for at least five miles or two hours or more over rough terrain before giving out. She set out to learn if this was possible.

Najya planned her initial attempt at slave riding as carefully as she did everything else. She did not want anyone watching her except a very select and trusted few in case her idea proved unsuccessful. She had explained her plans to two of her trusted Royal Hostlers and to Makin, the Captain of her personal guard. Captain Makin had been her friend since both were children and also happened to be one of the princesses’ favorite and most frequent lovers. All three were given detailed instructions as to what she was planning and what their own roles were to be in the experiment.

On the day that she planned the test the Princess had dressed well in accordance with her intentions. She wore her battle attire which consisted of a tightly fitting long sleeve blouse tucked into a pair of tightly fitting leather pants and boots that laced to just below her knees. Her hair was tied up tightly and covered with a scarf headdress that tied below her chin. As in battle, Najya wanted nothing loose on her body that might become entangled in anything. She also wore the skin tight soft leather gloves that she had found did not reduce her dexterity yet provided very effective protection from the blisters she knew came from either reins or bowstrings.

In the slave pens, the hostlers had prepared the slave she had chosen exactly as the princess had described then left separately leading him with a pair of choke leashes around his neck and stretched tightly between them. Najya had waited in her tent to give the hostlers and their charge time to reach their planned rendezvous, then with the Captain riding beside her, drove her Royal Chariot to a location near the descending bank of a dry wadi, located some distance from the tribe’s encampment. As they approached the wadi she stopped the team in a small copse of low trees that had grown there due to a small seep that provided rare life giving water in an otherwise sparse world.

Today her chariot was drawn by one of her favorite teams consisting of a pair of identical twin brothers and another pair of identical twin sisters hitched as usual with the males in the center and the females on the outside. The two pairs of slaves, though of opposite sexes, were perfectly matched as to height and length of stride which allowed them to work perfectly as a team. All four were also quite attractive which was why Najya had chosen to leave the males, at least for now, unaltered. Occasionally, when she wished to bestow a reward on one of her female subjects, Najya would have the two males cleaned up and sent to the subject’s tent for the night, doing the same with the two sisters when a male subject had earned a special reward.

On very rare occasions to reward this team for exceptional performance, upon returning to the slave pens she would instruct her hostlers to remove the slave’s harnesses but leave them chained by their collars and to pen them together. The four slaves always longed to hear this order as they knew its meaning exactly. While Najya and the hostlers would stand by and watch the four would immediately seize the rare opportunity and begin rutting with the kind of intensity that only long delayed gratification could produce. Najya always found the slave’s ardor entertaining to watch as did the hostlers who, as soon as the Princess left would be seen hurrying to the pens that held female slaves.

When Najya and Makin stepped down from the chariot, the four slaves simply stood in the traces as they had been trained. Instead of tying the four sets of rope reins off at the rim of the chariot, the Princess had simply dropped them over the front of the vehicle. Hoping to be allowed to kneel until their mistress again needed her chariot; the slaves were struck with wonder when the princess, herself, connected one end of a long chain to the one that ran between their collars. Then, while the Princess wrapped the other end around the stout trunk of a stunted desert tree and locked it there, the Captain began removing their harnesses and reins. As he removed the harness from the last of the four which happened to be one of the two females, Captain Makin gave her a sharp but playful slap on her bare rump and said, a little under his breath, “Enjoy yourselves, slaves. The princess was pleased with the way you ran coming here. ”

As the princess and her captain walked toward the bank of the wadi she said to him, “All those four will be interested in for the next several hours is each other. Slaves gossip even more than free persons, and I don’t what I’m about to do going through the pens if it doesn’t work as I intend.”

“What about the one you’re going to try riding?” The Captain asked. “Aren’t you concerned that he will talk about what was done to him today?”

“If I am successful it won’t matter as I will soon be riding him regularly and other slaves as well. If it’s not, we’ll just keep him separated from the rest until we can sell him. Besides, I have other ways of keeping him quiet if I need to,” she said with a threatening edge to her voice.”

After descending to the flat bottom of the wadi, Najya and Captain Makin saw the two hostlers who were waiting for them with the slave on his knees between them. The large male slave that she had selected was unaltered. This was unusual as the Tribe’s usual practice was to geld large and potentially dangerous males as it definitely made them more docile. Najya, though, had seen and selected this slave right after his recent capture and had personally ordered that he not be fixed.

When asked earlier by one of the Royal Hostlers about her choice of slaves, Najya had replied, “To be of real use to me this slave must be able to carry me on his back for at least five miles and preferably more over rough ground before giving out,” she told the hostler. “To learn if he can do that, I’ve got to get the most out of him that he has to give. And, to get the most out of him I want him filled of rage over what he is being made to do, and the fact that he is being made to do it by a woman. Rage gives great strength to a slave.”

When she had given the two hostlers their instructions, she had cautioned them about letting the slave know what was planned for him.

“I don’t want him to have any time to think about it. I want the fact to sink in while I’m riding him so his rage will grow and keep him going.” She explained.

As Najya and the captain approached, they saw that one of the hostlers was holding a single remaining choke leash tight around the slave’s neck to keep him under control while the other was walking toward them. The hostler spoke softly so that the slave could not hear as he spoke to the Princess.

“Your Highness, are you certain that this is the slave you want to try riding?” He whispered. “He was so fierce and so strong that it took four of us to get him all fastened up the way you ordered. Perhaps we should take him back to the pens and bring you one that has been altered? There are several almost as big.”

“I told you that this was the one that I wanted,” she replied softly but with obvious irritation. “Did you have any trouble controlling him once you got the manacles and shackles on him like I instructed? It doesn’t look like he could be much trouble now.”

“We had to use choke leashes on him to get him here,” he said. “We tried a regular leash on his collar and he wouldn’t move. You had ordered us not to whip him, so it was the only way for us to get him going.”

“That’s good. You did exactly what I wanted,” she said. “The whip will certainly be needed today and well used unless I miss my guess. I just wanted him to feel it first coming from me as it will make a greater impression on him that way. He must learn that I am in control”

Najya and the Captain walked over to where the other hostler held the slave. He was completely naked, of course as all of the tribe’s slaves were kept during the hot desert days. Only during the cold nights were they provided any covering and then only blankets for sleeping. Around the slaves muscular neck was a two inch high locked metal collar with three rings at right angles to each other. The middle ring did not have a leash attached as would usually be the case, instead the slave was being held by the choke leash looped tight above his collar. The other two rings at opposite sides of the slave’s collar each were connected to short chains, about six inches in length, that terminated in metal cuffs locked tightly around the slave’s wrists. His ankles were encircled in metal shackles that were connected by a light chain just long enough for him to walk easily but not to run or attempt to kick. The chain between his ankles did not drag as it was suspended almost a foot off the ground at its center by a piece of rope attached to the middle ring of the slave’s collar. In this set of restraints, the slave had virtually no use of his hands and somewhat limited use of his feet and strong legs. Najya knew that, fastened as he was, there was little that the slave would be able do to prevent her from riding him.

Najya walked up to the big male who towered over her by almost two feet and barked her command. “Kneel, slave.”

The slave didn’t move and only glared with intense hatred at the tiny Princess. Najya resisted her impulse to lash the skin from his body with the short vicious whip that she held in her right hand. Controlling her anger she forced herself to remember that she was here to learn if she could, indeed ride this slave and if slave riding would be a practical way for her to travel. Whipping him to submission at this time would not serve her purpose. Instead, Najya simply nodded at the two hostlers that were standing on either side of the big slave. One passed the end of the choke leash to the Captain who was standing beside and somewhat behind the Princess then each grabbed the slave by an arm.

Turning to the captain, who now held the slave’s leash, she said, “When they get him down, remove the leash”.

“Remove it, Your Highness?” He said incredulously. “Are you sure?”

The Captain’s voice showed genuine concern for the Princesses’ safety.

“Do you think that I can’t control a slave?” She asked with only a trace of irritation in her voice.

“Oh, of course not, Your Highness,” the captain replied, conceding the point even though he still feared for her safety.

“I said kneel, slave!” She barked again, this time giving him a well controlled lash across his left cheek taking great care to miss his eye.

At her command to the slave, the two hostlers immediately pulled down on the slave’s upper arms and, at the same time, each kicked forward at the backs of his knees. This caused them to buckle and forced the slave down to his knees in front of the princess while the captain quickly loosened and slipped the choke leash over his head. While the hostlers continued to hold him by his arms, Najya stepped directly in front of the slave who, even on his knees was only slightly shorter than the Princess was when standing.

Doubling the short vicious blade of her whip, Najya rubbed the stripe now reddening on the slave’s cheek, she said, almost kindly, “Now show your mistress the respect you have been taught.”

The slave looked Najya directly in the eyes as he had been warned never to do. Seeing the incredibly fierce determination in her eyes, the slave slowly lowered his gaze then bent forward at the waist until his forehead touched the ground and his back was level. Najya held out her booted left foot which the slave only touched with his lips rather than lick as he had been taught.

Withdrawing her foot after a moment Najya said to him, “Good slave.”

In an instant, Najya had slipped to the slaves left side, and reaching down and taking a handful of his shoulder length dark hair tightly in her gloved left hand, swung her right leg across his back and sat down astride him.