The Tattooed Princess

Demands of the Master

        For the next cycle of the moon Zaria, Branka and Svetlana settled in to their new lives as captives, living within King Sharvur's fortified palace, situated out on the great stepps of Eurasia. After one month they hardly felt like slaves at all as they spent their mornings walking and riding with Moshtok, their language teacher, learning the Scythian dialect. For entertainment they were allowed to tend to the baby animals in Sharvur's personal zoo. These included numerous birds, baby camels, deer, mountain sheep, and a pair of pure white leopard cubs they were allowed to take back to their rooms whenever they wanted. In the afternoons the girls dined together in a communal room with the many servants who attended to the king in his palace.

            Over this entire time they constantly tried to please the three Slavic women who daily forced them to do the domestic duties of washing their clothes and tidying their rooms—much as their own mothers would have done. These three women were strangely silent of their past and showed the girls no affection while interacting little with them verbally. The teens did not readily understand their coldness, but nevertheless learned to accept it and returned no affection to them in their daily routines.

            In the evenings the three frequently got to attend special banquets held in honor of Sharvur by his many generals and their several wives—usually after a successful raiding campaign in the West. These affairs sometimes included the offspring  of  these powerful families of the clan, and the three teens became familiar with a number of the Scythians'  younger children, giving the girls the opportunity to progress awkwardly through their new language.

            It was following one such banquet, late in the evening, and when the commanders' families had left the fortress that the three girls became aware of a new direction their lives would eventually turn. It was a stark revelation of their future obligations and their duties to Sharvur. Instead of retiring for the evening, the three were collected and led to a small room outside the king's own private quarters, an area of the palace they had not been allowed in until that night. The attending women demanded that the girls change out of their deerskin dresses in the small anteroom and wear certain costumes provided for them.

            For Zaria her new dress was full length, and of silk. It was a jade green color and she had been asked to wear the gold head band Sharvur had given her previously for the late evening affair. She was given a pair of well-crafted sandals which tied at her ankles and laced up her calves, the color of which matched the woven leather sash intended to bring the dress in tight around her waist. The woman assigned to Zaria, whom the others called Ritha, helped the young captive groom her hair back into a braid while Zaria held the polished bronze mirror for her.

            The other two girls were given quite different costumes. They were also silk, but black and brief. They were instructed to wear nothing beneath them and these wraps tied tightly around their waist, covering little of their legs and thighs. Their top garment was no more than a matching scarf tied around their chests from behind and barely covering their young, full breasts. Branka and Svetlana were given no sandals, as Zaria was, and their hair was combed down loose and free. After the girls were dressed and groomed to the satisfaction of their older counterparts, they all waited quietly in the small room for a signal to be allowed inside the larger sleeping quarters of Sharvur.

            Suddenly there was the sound of  tambourines and a flute playing a sensual melody along with a syncopated beat. The older women warned the girls to be alert and prepare to enter the bedroom. They were given the directive that they would climb up and sit on the bed next to Sharvur silently. There they were to listen to the music and watch his private dancers with him. Ritha told the two teens wearing the black costumes that it would be their responsibility to learn the way these young women danced. To follow the erotic moves of their bodies. For it was also explained for the first time that evening that soon Branka and Svetlana would be expected to dance in the place of these women for Sharvur's private entertainment. Zaria was told she would not dance but would keep the king company while he watched them.

            As the thick drape was pulled back separating the small changing room from the king's sleeping quarters, the girls were told to enter silently and take their places seated on the bed next to him. This they did amid the sound of the frenetic beat of the music and the exotic melody of the flute. There were candles placed in front of the large, elevated bed. They were aranged in a large circle  and inside, moving sensually to the beat of their tambourines were two lithe women some five or six years older than than the girls. These young women wore dark blue costumes, the same design as the black garments Branka and Svetlana wore. Zaria took particular notice of the ornate and intriguing tattooes that the young women had on their arms and shoulders. They consisted of fanciful creatures, sunbursts, birds in flight, and the familir panthers.

            Sharvur was seated in the middle of his oval shaped mattress, wearing his own black silk shirt, open at the chest and matching loose pants. His feet were bare and he had a heavy gold chain around his neck. His long graying hair, contrasting with his black beard,  was tied back in a pony tail and seemed to have the sheen of oil or perfume. The room was heady with the smell of incense burning on a table across from the bed, and the walls reflected the candle light in their large bronze mirrors. As the girls approached the bed the king motioned with his hand for them to come quickly up by his side to sit close to him. This they did, though uncomfortably so.

            For several hours the music only changed slightly and the girls amid the candle light twisted, bent and shook their hips and breasts in suggestive ways. All the while they tapped out a rhythmn on their tambourines, making sensual movements with their curvaceous bodies which seemed more uncovered that covered. The girls's initial embarrassment from seeing other females moving so explicitly, soon passed and the two future dancers took in the late night proceedings as but another lesson they would learn and be asked to 'recite.'

            The whole evening, Zaria sat motionless on one side of the king while the two girls on the other. After some time, and when it became evident that the women dancing were tiring from their sustained and  continuous movement, Sharvur clapped his hand twice. This signaled them to stop and the flute player, an older man who had been seated on the floor next to the candles stood and joined in their bowing and departure.

            There was a nervous moment as Sharvur paused and just looked at the three girls so close to him. He focused on their bodies with his eyes and then asked in a simple interrogative word if they liked the dancing.

            "Kir! They said in unison, feigning enthusiasm over their fears.

           Sharvur looked at them all once again, seated on either side of him, and then stared for a long moment into the face of Zaria. She courageously did not look away and kept her eyes connected to his while the girls held their breath. He then made a cryptic little bow to her and flung his hand up into the air, signaling their dismissal for the night.  It was obvious he too was now tired and would finally, and fortunately, retire alone on his bed.

            The girls were escorted back to their rooms by their attendants and told to remove and fold their costumes neatly to store them away. It was made clear by each woman that the girls would have to wear them again in the future—anytime, simply at the whim of the king.   Each of the teens, now alone in her room for the night, could only imagine what this dancing ritual would lead to and what the real conditions of their captivity would soon be.                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                  *     *    *