Servus Narrat
He’s back – and taking us back to Ancient Barbaria. Another classic saga of footslavery, from Slave Paul!
A new sensation was sweeping like wildfire across the Gynarchy! The eminent lady Professor Juliet’s translation from Latin of ‘Servus Narrat’ (or ‘A slave’s tale’) had finally been published and was the new bestselling book throughout the Gynarchy! Never before had the humble work of a mere slave from ancient times been so highly appreciated by the free-female populace of the modern Female State. It was interesting for them to note that, even back in ancient history, an embondaged, male slave could not refer to himself as ‘I’!
The book had originally been written by the slave, and about the slave; but in the third person.
Let the torrid tale of torment from antiquity begin…
CHAPTER ONE
Slave Paulus and the other twenty semi-naked men lay shackled in the underground dungeon, sweating and shaking with fear for the fifth successive day in a row. If they were not chosen for personal footslavery today, it would mean either gladiatorial combat to the death (against another slave) or even worse - life in the salt mines of Ancient Barbaria! Paulus simply had to be chosen today or else! The dungeon was overcrowded but silent; the fear was palpable and each man was only too aware of the consequences of failure today!
A further two agonising hours passed before the Centurion maiden passed by to finally open the barred door to the below-ground, hell hole:
‘Move you vile scum and meet your destiny!’
SWISH… CRACK went the whip to encourage the human auction-lots out from their underground storage!
They were each lead on their hands and knees up from the dark confines of the dungeon and out into the sweltering, heat of the Gynarchy early morning. The light was blinding and started to burn the unprotected, whip-hardened backs of the male slaves!
Each of the auction lots were allocated a number written on a wooden plank suspended from a chain which hung around the slave’s neck. Paulus was allotted number XI. The slaves were then lead to the auction square in the town centre.
The bustling town centre was filled with the local inhabitants going about their daily business. Nobody acknowledged the pitiful sight of the maleslave-coffle that crawled behind the sandal-clad, lady-centurion feet marching down the narrow, cobbled pathway to uncertainty.
Once they reached the centre of the town they approached what was called the ‘beam’. This was a large, oak plank secured to the dusty ground by several wooden struts with semi-circles cut into them. Each semi-circle had an equal-sized, rusty half-hoop of steel banding, fastened by one hinge and one securing peg. The beam was more than twenty feet long and three inches wide. Each slave was then secured next to each other, by the neck, facing downwards. The slave’s hands remained free so he could greet his perspective buyer by clasping her feet in his hands before laying on several penitent and respectful kisses!
The town square began to grow evermore busy.
Slave Paulus was really beginning to suffer under the merciless sun of the ancient Gynarchy Empire! Over the next hour he was prodded and probed by many a prospective Mistress! It was looking hopeful after all. A middle-aged woman of some apparent standing approached the kneeling, confined-in-wood manservant in the sun. She had seemingly bypassed the men on either side and headed straight for him! She was quite tall, and had dark-blonde hair tied back in a tight ponytail. She was clad in the finest toga and golden jewellery. She placed her sandaled feet in the hands of the slave for individual kissing!
This was a huge moment in the slave’s future life; get this part wrong, and the consequences would be dire! He had not been permitted to speak. The lady must have been in her mid to late forties. She prodded and pulled him around with no explanation necessary. He selfishly thought it would be much nicer to have a younger, personal foot-Mistress, but quickly re-thought the alternatives!
Paulus was about to unleash yet more fevered and desperate footkisses when the aristocratic lady sharply removed her foot, grazing his hands with her rough, leather sandals as she did so!
‘Livia, come to me at once!...’ she shouted in a shrill tone of voice above the kneeling slave.
From out of the crowd, a young, buxom, light-blonde maiden stepped forward. She was dressed in the virginal, white cotton robes, and had a head of bouncy, blonde curls and a youthful, rounded, innocent-looking face! She must have been this woman’s daughter!
‘…This one meets with my approval; examine it and make your decision!’ continued the older lady.
‘Yes Mater; at once!’
The very attractive Miss Livia put forward her right foot for kissing under the now very close, watchful eye of her mother. Her well-worn, Roman-style sandals showed signs of heavy wear and tear, and had the deep imprints of her precious, aristocratic-girl feet for all to see (at this humble level anyway!). Her toes were perfectly proportioned and she had neatly trimmed toenails too!
Slave Paulus had always greatly admired the feet of free, wealthy maidens of the Gynarchy, so this made the degrading chore of kissing miss Livia’s feet somewhat more bearable in his humble eyes! His only disapproval was that her feet seemed quite dirty and dusty from the long walk to the town square that she had evidently just endured.
He lowered his parched lips, cupped her precious, right foot in his rough slave hands, and began to kiss her – full square in the big toenail! The act of utter servitude and humility made the young, aristocratic maiden squeal with delight! Her powerful and feared mother was also highly impressed with this act of servitude.
The young Miss Livia (of approximately twenty summers) turned to her mother and without waiting for the second foot to be kissed said:
‘This one will do! Most satisfactory indeed, Mater! Ha.’
The couple then went down the line to inspect the other slaves for a possible second choice. Moments later Miss Livia could be heard to shout:
‘Good day to you, Mistress Janetus! One trusts you are well?’
The dreaded Mistress Janetus was despised by the local slave population. She was no foot-Mistress at all! She simply needed cheap, expendable labour for her vineyard. She would literally work her slaves to death using the feared scourge as a motivational tool! This was a more terrifying punishment device than the ordinary whip. It had lead cylinders attached to the thin, leathery, multiple straps of the scourge. She had also embellished the cruel device with thousands of toenail clippings from the many Gynarchy bath houses (built for female use only, of course!). The scourge would literally remove the skin from a rebellious slave’s back!
The tall, dark-haired vixen, domina Janetus, answered the kindly, blonde Miss Livia curtly by saying:
‘I am well, but in haste to be gone, as my slaves need constant supervision and motivation!’
All Paulus could think was not me; please, not me!
A few moments later the auction finally got underway. The auction-Mistress was a fearsome sight to behold! She was a true giantess of a woman in every way! She wore a brown leather dress and heavy breastplate with the Gynarchy town emblem embossed on the shiny, metallic surface. The most striking features about her were the huge mass of curly brown hair, and powerful, whip-welding arms! She had tree-trunk sized legs to support her muscular, feminine frame and was completely barefoot!
She seemed to relish going barefoot, to demonstrate her immense power and lack of vanity! Her huge, rough feet would often be used to punish a whipped slave’s bare back by rubbing rock salt into the open, gaping wounds!
She cracked the whip to begin the proceedings:
‘Lot one is this pathetic, pointless, male slave fit only for the mines! What say you to two Fems? …… Do I hear one Fem? Surely I must be bid a couple of measly sheckles for this one?... NO SALE, take him to the mines!’
‘NO… NO… PLEASE!’
The two centurion girls removed the discount male slave’s neck restraint and dragged him kicking and screaming from the sunlight for evermore!
Lots II-IX all sold for relatively small amounts, but were relieved not to be going to Mistress Janetus at least! Unfortunately for slave number X, Miss Janetus very much liked his muscular, slightly overweight physique! She secured his purchase for a mere one Fem and three sheckles! He literally begged to be sent to the slave-gladiatorial, training school! At least he would have been fed and allowed to sleep every night! His only saving grace was that, serving in mistress Janetus’s vineyards, he would almost certainly be dead within a month!
Now the feared auction-Mistress moved over to slave Paulus. She placed her massive, bare right foot on his head and leant on her knee in a very casual manner, causing much pain in the slave, and much merriment in the audience!
‘Right ladies, up next is our youngest slave, number XI. Let me hear a bid of five Fems!’
Five? That is a high starting bid, he thought!
‘FIVE’, shouted Mistress Janetus!
Oh please no!
‘SIX’, shouted Miss Livia!
‘TEN’, screamed Miss Janetus with an evil look in her eye!
‘TWENTY’, shouted Miss Livia’s mother loudly!
The saints were smiling on Paulus. Miss Janetous could have bought the rest of the slaves for that sum of money, and so she shook her head to end the bidding!
‘SOLD to Mistress Livia Octavius!’
Oh saints be praised, thought the slave!
He was quickly released from the auction beam and lead by the female centurions for an appointment with the blacksmith! As a newly purchased slave he must, by law, have his ankles shackled permanently, and a brass collar bearing the name of his mistress forged on!
It was now just an hour’s cart ride to the Mistress’s villa on the outskirts of the town. Paulus had no option but to kneel and look over the feet of his new owner and captor, Mistress Livia! At least he had evaded Mistress Janetus and the fateful slave mines!
The cart finally arrived at the palatial villa, and all alighted. The slave followed his new mistress and her powerful mother up the marble steps and into the impressive abode of the wealthy family. A regular slave presented Mistress Livia’s mother with a goblet of wine and looked forlornly and respectfully at the floor awaiting further orders:
‘Where is my husband, you ignorant maleslave? Go and fetch him at once, do you hear?’
The slave ran as fast as he could to collect Mistress Livia’s father to the impressive hallway. Paulus simply knelt, admiring his new Mistress’s feet.
‘Ah welcome back, my darling! It fills me with joy to see you safely returned’.
A tall, fat man with a long, white beard and deep, thunderous, booming voice entered the hallway accompanied by another slave bearing wine and grapes. It was none other than Tiberius Octavius, the head of the local council and respected senator!
‘I see we have a new addition to our ranks! Does he please you, my darling Livia?’
Miss Livia responded with a big, tooth-filled smile:
‘Oh yes, Pater! This will be a most enjoyable footslave; I so look forward to instructing him on his new duties!’
‘Well, take heed, my dear; this will be your first slave, and you are not known for your discipline with regard to indolent, reluctant slaves! With that in mind, your dear mother and I have procured some items that will aid you in your instruction of thy new manservant! Come, my dear, to your bedchamber and bring that creature too!’
‘Yes father; at once!... Move slave; follow me to heel!’
Paulus followed on as quickly as he could in his clanking, new ‘jewellery’!
The group reached Mistress Livia’s bedchamber to find a large, cotton sheet covering something in the centre of the room. Lord Tiberius removed the sheet to reveal an iron cage approximately three feet cubed! It was immensely heavy and must have cost a fortune! The bars interlocked with each other and a small hatch was located at the rear. The slave could not see how he was meant to fit into it, assuming it was for him?
Mistress Livia let out a shrill shriek of approval:
‘May the goddesses bless you Mater and Pater! It is perfect!’
It took some time to squeeze the slave into the wrought-iron cage. He was, unfortunately, correct about the cramped conditions! His head protruded through a hoop that could be closed around his neck, holding it captive with his face fully exposed. The door hatch was then forced closed and a bronze peg was riveted into a hole holding the tiny aperture closed! He was in place securely and had no means of escape or relief from the constrictive conditions of the unforgiving cage!
‘Here my dear’ said the mother ‘we have purchased a set of whips and punishment canes to chastise the vile servant, lest he displease you!’
The three free human beings stood triumphantly, and mocked and berated the caged, animal-like slave on the floor for some time. Eventually, the mother and father left the new Mistress and slave alone in the bedchamber. Now the foot servitude can start in earnest!
END OF CHAPTER ONE….
CHAPTER TWO
It seems that the Senator Lord Tiberius was indeed correct about his delightful daughter’s lack of discipline and control over her new property. She began by introducing slave Paulus to the rudiments of foot servitude through the almost continual use of the word PLEASE! This was unheard of in the Ancient Gynarchy!
‘Slave, please lick the dirt off my sandal straps!’
He did his best to impress his new mistress by removing as much of the dusty, encrusted detritus that clung so strongly to her well-worn footwear. To his utter surprise, he actually got high praise for his efforts!
‘Well done slave! They have not looked so good for many a year; it seems Pater will not have to buy new sandals for me this year. HA!’
The whole process seemed to pass by very swiftly, but in actual fact had taken nearly two hours! Paulus was starting to feel the effects of his tight confinement. The cramp in his legs was starting to take hold and the tight-fitting hoop that had been closed around his neck when the door to the cage was riveted shut was making it hard for him to breathe easily! His face displayed his discomfort plainly!
‘What is this? Do my feet displease you, slave? Or do you simply hate licking my sandals? Perhaps my new slave needs some encouragement?’
Paulus felt terrified and swiftly responded to his mistress:
‘No, no, most merciful Mistress Livia! This humble slave merely feels the discomfort of the long, enforced confinement of the slave cage, most powerful and beautiful Mistress!’
‘Oh, is that all?! Well, I am sure you will get used to it. Anyway, it cost my Mater and Pater a great deal of money! You should be proud to have a nice, new expensive home to live in! Art thou not grateful, slave?’
‘Please forgive this foolish slave, mistress; this is indeed a most fitting and grandiose home for such a humble footslave to reside in, most respected domina-mistress Livia!’
After much laughter on her part, it became apparent that slave Paulus would not be released from his cramped quarters any time soon!
The next order came from Mistress Livia, and all seemed to have returned to normal.
‘Slave, remove my sandals and lick off the dirt that blights the soles of my precious feet, please!’
There it was again, PLEASE! He simply had to keep trying to impress her. He was truly grateful for his sweet new Mistress’s efforts in saving his body from the callous Mistress Janetus and her vineyard slave-fields! He gently and reverently unlashed her pretty, perfectly formed, pasty white, bare feet. The leather sandal-straps seemed to need some assistance in being unwound. The sweat from her noble feet was causing the sandal material to adhere to her soft, feminine foot flesh!
Finally the sandals dropped from her feet. The heavy hide material that made up the sole of the shoe had deep indents from her toes and heel. The soles of her feet were nearly black! It took some extreme tongue work on the part of the newly enslaved, male property in the ‘palatial’ cage!
Mistress Livia continually giggled as his tongue went to work thoroughly over every part of her bare, nominally-white soles! This was quite strenuous for the new slave’s aching body; he had been given no water since his arrival and his tongue was therefore quite rough and ‘ticklish’ - hence the continual laughter and involuntary flinches from the pretty, blonde mistress above him. He naively assumed that her laughter meant her approval.
All was soon revealed.
She examined her now glistening feet with a proud expression on her Goddess-like face!
‘Well done, slave! Unfortunately, I hate being tickled like that and being made to laugh out loud; it is most undignified in a lady of my rank! I suppose I had better punish you?’
This almost sounded like a question to which he should answer!
Mistress Livia opened the package of punishment implements purchased by her doting parents. She decided that the whip would not be effective, as she did not have adequate access to his bare back in the constrictive cage. She therefore picked up a punishment cane and began fingering the sharp point at one end! She looked over at the slave who was straining to see what was happening, just in time for him to swiftly avert his gaze once again to the floor.
She began prodding around his torso with the sharp stick, and then moved on to belabouring his buttocks through the bars of the cage. It was an uncomfortable experience, but nothing like the auction-Mistress’s whip! If truth were told, it actually didn’t bother the slave all that much! He felt he should respond with a few cursory cries of pain as she was taking the time and effort to chastise him:
OH! OOW!
‘Sorry about that, slave. You deserved it, though! Let that be a lesson to you for the future!’
‘Oh yes, most powerful and feared mistress!’
Had his ears deceived him, or had she actually apologised to him for punishing him?!
END OF CHAPTER TWO….
CHAPTER THREE
A month passed by in pretty much the same way. Every day he was ordered to cleanse his Mistress’s feet and sandals. Every now and then he would be prodded, or even beaten on the buttocks through the cage, with a whippy punishment cane. However, Miss Livia actually found that a more guttural cry of maleslave pain could be induced by stabbing the slave’s bare soles through the bars; in particular the right one! He was completely unable to defend himself!
The mistress/slave couple actually believed that real progress was being made! Mistress Livia had even consulted her powerful mother with regard to releasing the slave from the cage in her bedchamber. The response was unexpected. Livia’s Mother proclaimed that little progress had been made with Mistress/slave etiquette, and improvements still needed to be made!
She then ordered a regular slave to the bedchamber with a small hammer and sharp chisel. He was there to slice through the bronze rivet that held the boxlike iron cell so rigidly shut! The release from the sarcophagus was intense! Limbs returned to life and the near constant pins and needles eased at last! Mistress Livia’s Mother then proclaimed that Mistress and slave were to attend the vineyard of Mistress Janetus for correct instruction in how to manage a slave, and the correct level of respect that should be shown by a slave to his Mistress! This filled Paulus with dread!
As the cart approached the vineyard, cries of pain could be heard over the midday sun. Paulus could see, through the cracks in the planks of the transportation cart, that many of the heavily chained men had crippling injuries on their bare backs and torsos!
Furthermore, he had never seen such cruel, heavy restraints. All of the slaves were wearing leg irons that were the thickness of a lady’s arm around each ankle, and forged with a short chain of equal weight and girth!
The rickety cart ground to a halt and Mistress Livia could be heard to shout:
‘Janetus, we have arrived!’
Mistress Janetus was busy whipping the formerly chubby slave that had been restrained next to Paulus all that time ago in the market square of the local town! The whipped slave was almost unrecognisable and had lost half his body weight already!
‘Sorry for the delay, Livia. This one had not picked his hundredweight of grapes, so I was busy giving him a hundred lashes of the scourge! Now he should be able to count to one hundred without any problem! HA!’
The kindly Mistress Livia was somewhat shocked and sickened to see the state of the former, healthy slave-man at the auction! She grimaced and turned away!
‘That is what I am going to fix for you, my dear! Your mother explained that you have a distinct lack of bloodlust and ability to effectively punish a slave!’
She then gestured to the pair that they were going to take a tour of the vineyard. All over the fields, men half-naked and starving on a ration of three ounces of stale bread and water could be seen trying to avoid the evil gaze of the cruel vineyard-owner, Mistress Janetus! To ensure that the slaves did not supplement their meagre ration of stale and dirty bread with nutritious, succulent grapes, they all wore some kind of metal face-gag to prevent food from being stolen.
The innocent pair looked on aghast at the terrifying sights and sounds of the slave-vineyard. Meanwhile, Miss Janetus shouted over the rumble of the wooden cart-wheels rolling over the rough ground that Mistress Livia’s role was to convince her that slaves were good for other things than simple manual labour, and that footslavery would be one of these hitherto ignored avenues of pleasure for her:
‘I can assure you, my dear, that it holds no obvious pleasure for me to have my feet worshipped by something as ugly as that!’ (kicking slave Paulus in the face with her leather-shrouded feet as she exclaimed).
They arrived at one of Miss Janetus’s favourite stopping points on the vineyard - the stocks.
Occupying the stocks was a badly sunburnt, forlorn-looking felon. Miss Janetus announced that he had committed no crime or injustice as such; he had merely grimaced at the sight of the stocks when they were passing them on the way to the pressing house. She made inquiries, and found from his previous mistress that he used to scream in the sun when she used to confine him to the pillory as a punishment.
‘I simply couldn’t resist; and neither could he! HA! I therefore set him in the stocks about four years ago, as an amusement. I did not want to waste his valuable irons, so had them struck off for use on a younger slave. This one will never need to walk again, you see! As he is my favourite, I personally feed him twice a day with bread and cheese to keep him going. Of course, he repays the compliment by screaming when I finger his sunburnt flesh!’
How terribly cruel, thought Mistress Livia!
They arrived at the vacant pressing-house. They all dismounted from the horse-drawn cart on to the dusty floor. In front of them was a huge set of pressing stones with a sort of cut-out where the grape juice was collected. The terrifying moment came when Paulus was grasped by the right arm and pulled up by Miss Janetus!
‘Right lad, it is time for you to meet my dreaded scourge! Now hold still!’
She lashed the slave’s hands to a wooden beam high in the eaves of the barn-type structure. He could hear his heart working hard; the fear was making him sweat profusely! Silence rained momentarily, then:
SWISH… CRACK!
AAARRGH!!!
The first lash of possibly the cruellest, most ignominious, punishing lash in history!
Mistress Livia was given the handle, and told to lay on the second stroke! To his utter horror Mistress Livia’s second stroke was harder than the first delivered by Mistress Janetus! Miss Livia even laid on a third with no instruction!
She was about to deliver a fourth punishing blow when Miss Janetus suddenly grasped her delicate forearm and shouted:
‘STOP! Too much at this early stage and he will be good for nothing in the future!’
The slave was cut down by two of the nameless, fieldworker slaves as Mistress Livia was pulled to one side by Miss Janetus:
‘I see we are making progress, my dear? That fire of dominance is burning inside you after all!’
A couple of chairs were provided by some slaves, and the two maidens were provided with wine and snacks. Meanwhile, slave Paulus was being tightly bound by the nameless minions, and forced foot first into the crushing stones! Was this to be his fate? Crushed to death between two giant, granite stones in a grape press?
Two of the slaves jumped up on top and inserted wooden beams into a crank mechanism that loudly creaked and pressed the top stone down until it touched the bare back of slave Paulus. He was about to scream for mercy when the stone juddered to a halt! Miss Janetus then announced that the second phase of the respective training was to commence!
Mistress Livia laughed heartily at the site of her slave clamped between the stones, and spat her grapes across the room, landing on his head! The girls were moved closer in their seats by the waiting slaves. Miss Janetus then turned to Livia and said:
‘So what exactly does a footslave do? And why do I need one?’
‘Well, lady Janetus, it’s quite a sensation to be so masterful and dominant, making someone worship your most humble, unkempt parts must be truly humiliating for the slave, and empowers the Mistress to a state of almost Goddess-like importance!’
‘Well, let us see what all the fuss is about then, slave! Would you like to worship my feet?’
He was truly never more terrified than at this point in his wretched life!
‘YYYYes ,Mistress Janetus. This slave begs for the honour of worshipping your feet, domina!’
‘Well, I had better get one of these morons to help you then, as your puny, male body is completely under my control at this moment in time!’
At this point she signalled to one of the mute slaves to assist in the removal of her footwear. Janetus wore a strange set of leathers bound up to her thighs with strong leather bindings. They completely hid her feet from view, unlike the common Gynarchy sandals. At this point she announced that it was normally so late in the evening when she fed her slaves, that she would oftentimes sleep with her unusual footware still bound to her feet.
With the bindings finally removed, it took two slaves’ efforts to pull the leg-coverings fully off, making a loud whooshing sound! The slave immediately baulked at the noxious aroma erupting from within, as if Pandora’s Box itself had been opened! The stench was completely alien to the slave now referred to as foot odour in the modern world!
The face of Miss Janetus was not a happy one to behold! She clicked her fingers, and the slaves atop the mechanism wound the stones in half a turn! Paulus could hardly breathe! His face turned red:
ARGH!
‘Let us try again, shall we slave?’
He attempted to draw himself closer to her unkempt, sweat drenched feet. They were covered in filth and had a smell similar to poor quality wine as it turns to vinegar! But he had no choice but to obey!
He opened his mouth wide to accommodate the masterful, right foot of cruel-domina, Miss Janetus!
Another involuntary flinch of disdain was forthcoming from the slave! Click went the feminine fingers! Another half turn was administered to the punishing apparatus holding the delicate, male body of the underworked footslave in its vicelike grip! The pressure was intense at this stage.
‘I see what you mean, Livia! It is strangely invigorating!’
Likewise, Mistress Livia was engrossed in watching the life being literally pressed out of her footslave, just because her friend Janetus had commanded it! Nobody bothered to enquire after the slave’s opinion from this stage onward in the proceedings. It seemed that all three individuals were learning a great deal from this pressing experience!
END OF CHAPTER THREE….
Fast forward two thousand years and Miss Libby was putting down her long awaited copy of ‘A slave’s tale’, panting with excitement already! Her dirty, sneaker-clad feet were busy being nuzzled by her own personal footslave. She slammed the book shut after placing a bookmark in the page following chapter three. She then withdrew her modern-day feet from the slave and looked down at him with disdain saying:
‘Better get ready, slave! My friend Janet is coming round to show us her new multi-tailed punishment whip! HA!’
It seems that little has changed in the Gynarchy of Barbaria, down through the ages!
