Owned And Owner (25 page)

‘No, I have to get back, sorry.’

‘You’re missing a hell of a party,’ said Therin.

‘Maybe next time.
But I might see you sooner than you think. Have you ever been to the
Shadowside
races?’

‘Occasionally.
Why?’

‘I was there last week. They were racing
vraags
, believe it or not.’

‘You’re kidding. Did they go in a straight line?’ More men were drifting up to listen.

‘No, they were all over the track.
And off it.
Two of them tangled up and started fighting. The crowd was pretty pissed off – they had to scratch the race and some of those guys are serious bettors. But apparently
jonthe
racing is in decline because they’re getting expensive to
raise
.’

‘Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?’ asked Therin, a grin spreading across his face.

‘I talked to the
Shadowside
director. He’s willing to give woman racing a shot. Why not? It’s a novelty to them.
Might bring in some customers.’
The conversation around them began to buzz.

Miseko
laughed and shook his head. ‘That crowd isn’t going to want to look at women! They think they’re ugly. Don’t they, my pretty girl?’ He squeezed
Vizay’s
breast. ‘We’re known as perverts; they’re not going to want to see us having that kind of fun.’

‘Well, obviously you’d have to keep your cock in your trousers. They don’t care what the animals look like. They just want a good race.’

‘With beasts that stay on the track,’ said Lave.

‘Exactly.
And ours certainly do that. That crowd has never seen anything so well trained.’ He looked around for a minute. The idea obviously appealed to them.
A lot.
‘Just wear something loose,’ he said, his eyes dancing, ‘and save the sex for after.’

‘But what’s the point, then?’ asked
Zleid
. His filly was required to service him immediately after every race.

‘Prize money!’ said Therin. ‘I’ll bet
Vizay
beats your little foot draggers!’

A storm of good-natured teasing made conversation impossible for a while.

‘If this works out,’ Lave said finally, ‘we might want to consider other tracks. There are races at
Hasker’s
Field in a couple of weeks, a kind of fair in my neighborhood. It’s mostly for fun, pretty casual, but I think they give out prizes.’

‘Why not?’ said Garid. ‘Anywhere that might be interested. If
Shadowside
likes the woman races, the director will probably help us get the word out to other
jonthe
tracks.
If it doesn’t get out without help.’

Woman Races

As it turned out they raced at
Hasker’s
Field before
Shadowside
, which required a number of formalities. While
Miseko
filled out forms and gave the bookmakers what they needed to determine the odds, and let strangers come to training sessions and feel the ponies’ legs, Lave was arranging a day out for everyone at
Hasker’s
Field. Garid arrived with
Arleben
and his pet in the morning, the clouds chasing each other across a bright sky. The air was still cool enough to be refreshing against his skin, but he saw his slave shiver a little as
Arleben
led her toward him. ‘Tie her up next to the
aircar
vent for a few minutes till it warms up,’ he said. ‘I don’t want her muscles to get chilled. We can run her on a line a little later.’

Lave came over, met
Arleben
, and chucked the woman under her bridled chin. ‘Can I have a look at her?’ he asked. Garid stood her up and had her display herself. Lave examined the belt closely. ‘What a pretty cunt she must have.
A pity to hide it in metal.’

‘Necessary, though. It’s the only thing that keeps her fingers out of that pretty cunt.’

‘What a bad
jeedy
!’ Everyone could see the slave flinch at these words, and they laughed. The eyes framed by the bridle looked anxiously from face to face. ‘Wait a minute,’ said Lave, ‘is that all she understood?’

‘Spread!’
Garid directed his slave. Her feet moved apart. ‘Kneel!’ She dropped instantly to her widely spread knees. Garid looked at Lave. ‘She knows a few other words.’

Lave laughed. ‘I’ll bet one of them is “suck”. She really can’t understand
Henthen
?’

‘I’m going to hang her up by the tits along with the banners as advertisement for the races,’ he said conversationally to Lave, at the same time stroking his kneeling pet soothingly. She looked up at him with gratitude, and rubbed her head against his leg. ‘See? We just taught her the vocabulary she needs to know.’

‘I have to gag mine to shut her up. But listen, have you thought about a transparent belt? I could make one for you easily if you give me the pattern; I work in plastics.’

Garid was struck by the idea. ‘Could it do whatever the metal does?’

‘Sure. As thin as you like, stronger than metal, easy to clean, shape it any way you want.’

More friends were approaching with slaves on leads. ‘Yes, let’s talk later.’

By mid-morning all the women were being exercised near the fairground. Curious people looked at them over their iced sweets, and then moved on. A young man hung around for a while and watched. He had a dog on a lead, which jumped up on him from time to time, when it wasn’t straining anxiously toward the
meatstick
stands.

‘Do they make good pets?’ the boy asked. ‘They seem awfully well behaved. Where do they come from?
Yarf
, sit!’ An explanation seemed to bring back his primary school history lessons, which were clearly a long time ago in his mind, if not in fact.
‘Female people?
How weird. I – oh, wait a minute, I’ve heard of them…
Down,
Yarf
!’
He shoved his pet’s hindquarters down unceremoniously. ‘Aren’t they supposed to be dangerous or something? I suppose that’s why they’re all muzzled up.’ He looked down and rubbed his dog’s head fondly. ‘
Yarf
wouldn’t bite anyone, would you,
Yarfy
?’ He watched for another minute or two.

Another young man came up and put an arm around him, and they both stared for a while. ‘
Choji
,’ the first one said at last, ‘I’m betting on the one with the short light hair and the smallest chest things. She looks like she really wants to run.’

‘Nah, look at the one with the nose ring. She’s real smooth, the way she moves.’

‘Too small, she’ll never keep up. And her chest things will weigh her down.’ They giggled. ‘Yeah, mister, what are those things, anyway?’

They directed this at Garid, who had taken hold of his slave’s reins next to the bridle and was walking her in their direction. She was just warmed up and glowing with exercise, and was placing her feet with grace and precision, despite the close control of her head.

‘Sit,
jeedy
!’ he told her. She was on the ground sitting on her heels instantly. The dog sniffed her.

‘What are what things?’ Garid asked. They pointed.
‘Oh, those.
Haven’t you seen
hajedies
nurse their young? But these aren’t nursing,’ he said, forestalling the next question. ‘They’re always like that.’

‘And don’t they use their forelimbs? Why do you keep them tied back like that?’

His friend nudged him. ‘They’re dangerous, stupid!’
Yarf
was beginning to circle to sniff from the other side, and his owner yanked on his leash. ‘Get back,
Yarf
!’ he said, casting a wary eye on the female.

‘We had a watchdog like that – remember,
Desh
? We had to keep it in a pen. Do you keep her penned up when she’s not racing?’

‘Yes, in a cage or on a chain.’

‘What are the rings for?’

‘To chain her up when she’s naughty.’ Garid smiled.

‘I bet she won’t move when you’ve got her tied by one of those!’ The young men laughed. ‘What’s her name?’ asked
Choji
. ‘I’m betting on her.’

‘
Jeedy
.’

‘Okay. Good luck.’

‘See you, boys.’ His slave obeyed his signal to rise, and walked with her restricted, graceful step at his side, moving so that her face never pulled away from the controlling hand at her bridle. And a slavering
Yarf
finally managed to pull his owner to the
meatstick
stands.

Garid handed his slave over to
Arleben
for watering and a quick rub down. He broke the sterilization seal on one of the wooden stalls usually used for
jonthes
, and
Arleben
led the slave toward the stall by the bridle. ‘Hang
on,
’ said Garid, ‘I’m going to hood her. There’ll be other slaves nearby.’ He removed the bridle and fitted the leather hood with its gag, blindfold and ear padding over her head, and locked it on.
Arleben
nodded approvingly.

‘Have you spoken to the other owners about their slaves’ talking?’ he asked.

‘Mm-hmm.’
Garid adjusted the hood a little more, smoothing it back so that the nose ring was more accessible. It just peeked out through the breathing hole. ‘A couple of them were a bit lit-up about it. It’s a great excuse for punishment. The others didn’t much care.’

‘Couldn’t be bothered, you mean.’
Arleben
looked vexed. ‘They’re making a real mistake, letting these rascals talk to each other. Can’t you convince them?’

‘It’s not my job to tell them how to discipline their females. But I’m damned if I’ll let mine hear
Ranize
spoken.’ He fastened her nose ring on a short chain, down low at the back of the stall. Making her stand would be more appropriate, but he didn’t want her tired out before the races. She settled down on her heels facing the wall, blind and deaf and patient. Garid locked the bottom half of the stall’s door, leaving her visible through the open top half. He made sure that
Miseko’s
staff was on guard as planned. Then he and
Arleben
went off to stroll through the fair.

The races started in early afternoon with a glider competition and a remote control miniature
aircar
meet. Some local
jonthes
were raced across country, starting and ending on the
Hasker’s
Field track. Then it was time to prepare for the woman races.

Spectators watched as the females were harnessed up. There were nine women entered. The track wasn’t that wide, so they did heats of three. The crowd gathered curiously for the first race, and Garid, who was waiting for the second, spotted several men taking bets. The announcer checked on the filly’s names, stumbling over unfamiliar
Ranize
consonants in one case, but having no trouble with the one named
Shimmer
in
Henthen
.
Miseko
won that heat with
Vizay
, as the owner group had expected. The spectators, not having seen her run full out, lost some money.

The crowd was bigger for the second heat, wrestling having finished in the next field. Garid, settled in place in his sulky, directed his small steed with reins and whip to the starting line. The announcer, practicing ‘
Ikstha
,
Ikstha
,’ and looking irritable, was pleased to hear that the next animal was simply called
Jeedy
. ‘Very sensible,’ he commented, ‘as long as none of the others start calling their animals what they are; then we’ll have
a confusion
.’ He stepped up onto his podium.

‘Second heat in the woman races, folks.
Three likely looking animals at the start.
Teats on the far side – and aren’t they big ones?
Is-
ketha
… sorry,
Ikstha
, in the middle, and
Jeedy
on the nearside.
And what cute little critters they are.

‘And they’re off!
Teats takes
a short lead –
Iketha
right behind her. Little
Jeedy’s
struggling to get up to speed.
Iska
moving up – will she pass Teats? No, they’re even, but now Teats has the advantage on the curve and stays in the lead.
Jeedy
up to speed but well back.
Here we go round and into the stretch – they’re going full out now – drivers using their whips –
Jeedy’s
moving up. Teats is falling back a little, it’s
Iktha
ahead, it’s
Iktha
, now
Jeedy’s
moving up fast, look at that!
Jeedy’s
in second place,
Iksa
going full out, not enough, here she comes, it’s
Jeedy
by a – by a…!’

Garid’s
filly won her heat – by a nipple ring, according to Therin. The crowd enjoyed the tight race and exciting finish, and was buzzing loudly.
Choji
came by and offered congratulations, flashing his winnings on his way to the drink stands. Garid tried to keep something between him and spectators until his erection subsided. The sight of his pet’s harnessed buttocks still flashed before him. He let
Arleben
wipe her down and walk her round to cool off. Garid had been dismissive of the idea that they couldn’t race the women without using them for sex, but it turned out to be no easy task. The number of spectators watching the performance made it far lewder than any of them realized.