Twins of Trallis: Sandstorm

"Oh! A dancer," the eunuch dreamily twirled around the room chattering on as she ducked under the water washing the grime of travel from her hair. The eunuch seemed barely to pause for breath as he prattled on about life in the Lords palace and as her skin began to prune she realized she would have to emerge from the luxurious bath.

The door to the room banged open and Mahan stomped in. He had a thunderous expression and the eunuch quickly excused himself and went to join his cohort at the doorway. Without a word her master stripped his clothes and sunk into the bath with her. Picking up a loofah Nyx closed the distance between them and began to scrub his back slowly starting at his shoulders and working her way down. Mahan slowly relaxed under her gentle touch and the warm water.

He turned to her and embraced her gently, "We will be going to the council of nine and the great fair with Lord Iken," Mahan looked down at Nyx sadly, "I fear it will be a dangerous journey for you, my tiny dancer."

Nyx felt herself lifted and her legs wrapped round his hips. She gasped as he entered her and pressed against him. Mahan's hands travelled over her back as she slowly rose and fell on him using her arms and thighs to move her body making waves in the water around them. He took her tenderly and after the last week of savage passion she looked into his eyes sensing sadness there. Nyx leaned in to kiss him as she maneuvered easily against him in the water. The kiss became deep and passionate eliciting a groan from Mahan. He pushed her back against the side of the bath and began to thrust up into her with force.

Nyx clung to him as the water splashed around them. Her lips pressed against his neck as she whimpered in pleasure. He held her tightly as he erupted inside her groaning deeply, his knees buckling momentarily, dipping them beneath the water. Nyx came up spluttering making him smile and smooth her hair from her face. Climbing out of the tub Mahan placed her on her feet and wrapped a towel around her.

"Tomorrow," Mahan began, "I will officially present you to Lord Iken." He watched her and as she looked up at him she could tell he was reticent to continue. Pulling the towel from her body she closed the distance between them and began to dry his muscled chest and torso. He growled and pulled her close again wrapping his arms about her.

"The Lord will ask you to dance for him, you must be at your best, your most available, show all of your heat and feminine need," he let his words sink in, "You need to make him want you for all to see. Make him wish to own you, make me proud and honored to be your owner."

"You want him to take me from you?" She tried to stop the sadness that threatened to overwhelm her. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears as she looked up at him.

"NO!" Mahan roared, "I MUST let him take you so you can be safe until we can discover who hunts you and why."

Nyx let a tear roll down her cheek, "As you wish, Mahan." Sadness seized her heart and she dropped her head looking at his feet as she let her tears fall.

"You must make me proud my tiny dancer, show the Lord I own the most valuable slave in the entire realm," Mahan forced a smile to his face. "But tonight you still belong to me," he picked her up and carried her to his bed.

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Nyx trembled as she waited to dance for the Lord her nakedness was something she had lived with since early childhood and she had long ago gotten over dancing for large groups of men but the dance she was about to perform was meant for an audience of one, her Mahan, not a large gathering in the Lords banquet room. The one thought in her mind that stilled her nervousness over the lewdness of the dance was that she needed to make Mahan proud, she was a slave and slaves did what they were commanded to do.

Nyx heard the gong that preempted her entrance and padded softly the dance pit, toes curling as they were covered in fine soft grains of sand. Kneeling at the base of the slender pole she unwound the leather tether attached to the ring there. With deliberate grace she flowed up on lithe limbs and swayed wantonly to the edge of the pit closest to Lord.

Nyx sunk into a wide kneel her body quivering with arousal at the feel of the leather tether in her hands, her leash, her bond and she lifted her face to look up at the Lord. "May it please you to attach this tether to my collar please Lord Iken."

Feeling his fingers around her neck and the collar pulled to tie the tether, Nyx closed her eyes briefly imagining Mahan there rather than the Lord before her. "Thank you, my Lord," her voice was a nervous whisper. Nyx crawled back to the centre of the pit, sensuously stretching her limbs like a leashed wild cat. Nyx tilted her head up to the Lord, fire within shining in her eyes as she regarded him, her lips glistening and parting as her tongue snaked out over them painting her smile. She shimmied down into the sand, her lithe limbs stretching; a soft purr escaping as she rolled to her back the steady beat of the musicians drum adding rhythm to her movements.

Nyx delicately trailed her fingertips softly up over her pale thighs. She arched her back slightly off the sand as fingers brushed across her belly following the line of the tethering strap to gently caress the rising and falling swell of her chest. Her hands continued to lift up to her collar and the end of the tether fixed there. Pulling at the tether that enslaved her, she growled softly. Nyx rolled to her tummy, her hips pressing to the floor as she rose on her hands, arms straightening; head lowered, the tether pulled taut. Soft pink tipped breasts swayed between her arms as she moved sensuously to the beat.

She had not danced on the sand of a true dance pit for so long and she felt the added energy it gave her as the fine grains seemed to ebb and flow as a tide would with her movements and coat her body in a sparkling golden glow making the dance entrance the watchers further. Nyx lowered back to the sand her arms stretched out over her head. Stretching to her full length her feet gliding together making her peach cheeked ass quiver. She rolled wrapping the tether strap about her before arching her back, her hair falling softly on her shoulders she pressed her hands into the sand and stretched up on straight arms. The curve of her back lifted her hips from the floor as they began to roll softly, her desire to please feeding the gentle movement. The sand pooled and moulded about her as if caressing her perfect curves.

Nyx flexed the wiry muscles, the lines of her body glowing with golden sand, delicately reflected in the firelight of the torches. She arched her head back; her long amber tresses curling around her shoulders and back, the tether tightening again. Green eyes, like those of a captive beast, shone with heat and a small growl issued from her red lips. She pulled her shoulders back to display the pale breasts topped with swelling buds, and the mesmerized men, in particular the Lord who was the focus of her dance, felt every illuminated curve of the delicate creature invite their touch. Falling back and rolling the tether caressed and ensnared her further dulling the golden glow of the sand coated skin.

Nyx trailed her fingernails lightly from her thighs across the smooth belly of her undulating body as the music increased its tempo slightly causing her back to arch. Her breasts rose and fell as she panted her heat softly, rolling to her belly and drawing her arms and legs below her, she drew her tongue across sharp white teeth growling, her hips rolling. Nyx crawled forward the tether pulling a line between her swaying creamy breasts and over her moistened sex. She felt the leather tighten the tangles about her body halting her progress.

Nyx lifted her head as she pressed her hands into the sand her body achingly bound and fully opened to pleasure, the tether sliding between her thighs and teasing her. She softly collapsed to the sand, lifting her head to gaze unrelentingly at the Sand Lord, her tawny mane clinging softly to her glistening skin, the music stopped and she collapsed to the sand panting softly.

Lord Iken stood abruptly at the end of the dance and stalked toward Nyx drawing a curved knife from his belt, she trembled as she watched wide eyed thinking she had offended him somehow. Swiftly he cut the leather strap that held her to the pole in a quick swipe and picked her up in surprisingly strong arms carrying her from the room.

Wasting no time he threw her onto a pile of cushions, lifting her hips he entered her from behind and fucked her hard and unrelentingly. She cried out in pleasure as much as the pain of losing her Mahan, she was glad she did not have to look at the Lord as he took her as his own, rutting with her like a dog in heat until he came explosively. Sitting back on the cushion he indicated she should kneel before him and he called for a servant, issuing hasty orders she barely heard.

"I understand why Mahan was reluctant to share you, very seductive dance and such a tight fuck hole," the old man leered at her. "I will enjoy using you more when time permits." The servant returned with a chest leaving it on the floor beside the lord. Lord Iken seemed to consider the contents of the chest before asking, "Are you happy with Mahan?"

Nyx's eyes brightened and a small smile touch her lips as she nodded, "Yes, Lord."

Not wanting to alienate one of his most loyal and influential chieftain's Lord Iken smiled in return, "I will not take you completely from him then, but to show I share your ownership now," he plucked a gold disc from the chest and fixed to one of the rings on her collar. "This is my mark. It will ensure your protection from those that hunt and wish to take you."

"You will attend me whenever you are summoned. Do you understand?" Lord Iken looked at her with a serious expression. "In return I will let you stay with Mahan unless I have need of you."

Nyx nodded her understanding, "When we go back you will kneel beside my seat, thighs wide to show the proofs of my vigor. Tonight you will stay with me. I will talk to Mahan about arrangements for you. Come," he stood and strode back to the feasting hall expecting her to follow.

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Nyx had spent the last week serving two masters; Lord Iken summoned her often to ask of her past and use her body but it was her private time with Mahan she craved. Surprisingly Lord Iken seemed to be aware of the bond between Nyx and Mahan and tended to send him out of the palace on business when he summoned her to him.

Preparing for travel again she packed her dancers' chest the only thing she truly had of her own. She wore the bejeweled underwear and diaphanous loose leggings of a slave girl which were always in ample supply regardless of where she was in any oasis, but her chest held her prized possessions. She loved to dance and had found a thrill like no other of innate sensuality when dancing for the Master she truly desired, Mahan.

Dancing in the sand seemed to give her a newly found awareness of the lines of her body. It was as if the sand itself knew her and played with her as she danced. Mahan had a dislike of sand indoors and she had always danced on tile for him but as she went through her daily routines and exercises within the dance pits of the palace, it was as if her hands glowed and the sand danced with her.

For his part the more heated and passionate her dancing was the more Mahan praised her and gifted her bells, beads and ribbons of silk to add to her chest, eventually supplying her with a bigger chest as she gathered more than she could keep. She was; she admitted to herself, in love with Mahan. His harsh gruff public side as well as the softer caring lover she new in private.

His expectations filled her world and she was quietly thankful that Lord Iken had not interfered with that. She was honest with Mahan about when and how the Lord commanded her presence to the point where his moodiness relaxed and he took the less than urgent errands he was sent on with a grain of salt not punishing her as harshly for being desirable to his lord. In truth he would have punished her more had she not tantalized him as she did, but he hated to share and half wished Iken had taken her as his own so he could brood with reason.

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The nine realms of Trallis co-existed under a tentative pact that saw a council of nine come together on a central wooded ridge each year during the harvest season. Over time the council meeting had become a wondrous festival that spanned the waxing and waning of a harvest moon. All items could be traded at the fair, richly crafted materials, exotic foods and wines, and although frowned upon by some of the realms, a small slave trade flourished on the outskirts of the fair each year.

Within the tent of the Nine, tensions were high as two men, both leaders in their own realms glared at each other across the dark polish wood of the table. The hostility between the southern men of the mountains and the horse lords of the plains was legendary and incursions into each other's territory often sparked small wars between the two peoples.

"The trade routes need to remain neutral territory, regardless of whose realms they pass through!" Lord Arimus shouted.

"Then you should open your borders as well, and allow passage through the mountains to the cold waste beyond," The hawk nosed Lord Haef responded, "many young warriors wish to test their skill against the great white beasts that dwell there."

The quietly spoken Lord Ekeynui of the rainforests raised his hand and spoke quietly, "It is true that the trade routes are neutral but Haef also has a point, we all have opened our borders for trade except you Arimus, why is that?"

Arimus stood to accuse the horse warriors once again of being thieves, but was stopped by the hulking Lord Gabriel of the cities of Stone who roared, "Enough! Must we argue this same point every year?" He looked at the two men then turned to the other members of the council, "I say let them declare war and have at it. I am tired of their petty squabbles."

Lord Nadra banged the table, "Here, here. Now can we go find some of the wines I know Lady Fia has brought with her from the fens?" He leered at her as he went on, "I would invade your beautiful lands and take you into bondage lovely Lady but all my men would be roaring drunk before the first two villages fell."

Fia smiled at him, "Charming as ever Lord Nadra, but slave chains just wouldn't suit my delicate disposition."

The swampy wastelands that bordered the northern seas were an inhospitable place, especially for women who were seen for the most part as beasts of burden and traded as such. While the slave traded existed in most of the realms in a wholly clandestine way, political prisoners and unwanted bastard children were often sold to the wastelands and the desert people where a slave class was part of the accepted population and fed the seedier side of the annual fair of the council of nine.

Lord Iken spoke softly in his lilting accent, "Let's adjourn to my tent, I have brought some new promising dancers with me and I happen to have a nice large stock of Fennish Red thanks to the lovely Lady Fia." He smiled; each of the council members was expected to entertain the others with a lavish party at least once during the fair and he had been preparing this night to appeal to each of the council member's particular tastes as well as to draw out the shadowy figure who hunted a slave girl.

..............................

The huge canvas feasting tent of the of the sand people was lit with flickering torches radiating soft golden light over the richly coloured silks of the cushions and ornate chairs randomly placed throughout. Men and women stood easily around in the edges of the cavernous marquee in small groups as serving girls dressed in diaphanous multi hued materials walked among them with jugs and platters of delicacies from their homeland.

Nyx sat with the eunuchs she had been assigned that first night in the sand palace. They filled her head with all the information she would need as each of the lords and ladies of the nine realms entered and took up positions with their retinues. Nyx mapped out her dance in her mind. It had to be just right for her Mahan to view reactions to her unveiling. She had been allowed to practice with the Lord's musicians for tonight's dance but her stomach tied in knots as she attempted to remember her story and the dance that went with it.

Mahan appeared beside her and spoke sharply to the eunuchs, "Her eyes must be covered as well. Should any ill fate befall this girl you shall share in it trust me." Stalking off without waiting for a reply the eunuchs helped her lower the gauze to conceal her eyes limiting her vision somewhat.

"Well, he seems even grouchier tonight, if that's at all possible," one of them whispered to her.

Nyx giggled with him but her stomach knotted tighter, she knew her Mahan well enough to know that he was anxious more than angry. His moods always seemed dour and full of concealed rage when in public. He was a man to be feared, the Sand Lord's right hand man and chief of his own vast oasis.

The night wore on as the guests were plied with rich food, drink and the entertainments of the dancing girls of the sand people. The slow sensuous beat of the drum seemed constant to the changing melodies of the pipes. Lord Nadra was well on his way to drunkenness or so it seemed when he bellowed, "These are the same dancers you brought last year. Where is this new entertainment you have for us?"

"Ah," said the Sand Lord, "I have a dancer so exquisitely beautiful in her dance I am loathe to share her with you all, for fear you will fall in love and offer me money I cannot refuse for her ownership." He put on a shrewd face and took another drink of cup, "Perhaps though for the recipe for the Koumiss from the Southern Mountains."

"Bah there is no such girl who could pry that recipe from Arimus," Nadra shook his head, "we have tried many times over the years."

"We shall see. A small wager perhaps, ten crowns say she holds everyone enthrall for the entirety of her dance," Iken held out his hand to the drunken Nadra.

Nadra slapped his palm, "Done!"

Iken winked and grinned, clapping his hands loudly to gain attention. "Nadra and I have somewhat of a bet on the next dancer, which Lord is honest enough to hold the wager for us."

"What wager is this?" Lord Gabriel stepped forward.

"If I told you, it may influence the outcome, my dear fellow," Nadra drawled, "Hold the coin there's a good man." Nadra threw his ten crowns into a makeshift pouch formed from a piece of dancing silk left behind and tossed it to Gabriel. Iken held out his hand and Mahan placed a small pouch within it. Not bothering to count he too threw the money to Gabriel and settled back onto some cushions for the dance, grinning at Nadra.

Turning his head to Mahan, he murmured, "Show time."

Mahan nodded to the eunuchs, who brought the shrouded girl forward before removing the heavy dark outer swathes of fabric. Gliding with elegant grace, Nyx was a rainbow of fluttering silks that whispered with each dainty step that drew her to the middle of the pit of ivory sand. Slowly she turned full circle to acknowledge her audience, every inch of ivory flesh hidden. Small hands lifted up to the heavens crossing at tiny wrists as she awaited the erotic call of the flutes to begin.

Nyx peered through a translucent veil that barely masked the purity of her face, her hidden emerald eyes misted with sweet pleasure, oh how she loved to dance. Soft music filled the late hour taunting her sleek curves into swaying sensuality, narrow hips gently undulating becoming one with the sweet melody of the flute. A soft white veil of concealment marking her virtue mingled with tawny silken tresses.