Tain had already learned that lesson, and Tandro was taught the same thing thoroughly before he was allowed to go back to kneeling. When another dancing girl was brought in Killen looked like he wished he could cry, and

Tain didn’t really blame him. She’d wondered if those insertions would be as terrible for a man as they were for a woman, and now it looked like the question had been answered.

The second dancer was used by another of the men in the room, and then a third dancer was brought in. After the third dancer was used by a third man, Killen was ordered to his feet and back to the wooden form. There had been some conversation with the man in the vest while the third girl danced, and this time it was Killen who hadn’t done something in the proper way.

And there was a definite change from when Killen and Tandro had been switched and even from when Tandro had been punished alone. When the first stroke landed on Killen’s backside he squeaked out an “Ow!” as he danced in place. The second stroke of the switch made him yell even louder and dance harder, and the third stroke made him cry. All the men in the room were laughing and so were the dancing girls, but that didn’t stop Killen’s performance. Every time the switch struck his bottom he howled and cried and danced with the pain, and Tandro now looked as if he wished he could close his eyes.

I’ll bet Killen was ordered to act like a girl during the punishment, Tain thought once she’d gotten over the shock of seeing Killen doing something she would have sworn he’d never do. That man wants something from his two prisoners, and he knows he has to break them or he won’t get whatever it is. But he can’t afford to break them too far or he’d be using a whip on them instead of a switch. I wonder what it is that he wants…

That was another question Tain knew she couldn’t answer, so it went on the mental shelf along with her previous question and any others of the same kind that would come along later. She felt tempted not to watch the way Killen was being humiliated, but remembering that other persona he’d forced on her made her change her mind. If Killen survived what was done to him, there would now be a chance that he’d have a better understanding of just how awful the time had been for Tain.

Killen continued to howl and dance for a while after the switching stopped, and the tears definitely kept streaming down his face. Once his noise quieted a little he was ordered back to his place, and the way he limp-hopped back made his audience laugh all over again. It was hard for Tain to tell whether the male laughter or the female was worse for Killen, but when the man was back to kneeling his expression reminded Tain of Ennie.

The next few hours dragged by much too slowly. Each of the girls danced a second time, and after each dance a different man took the girl’s use. Just about every man in the room got his jollies, all except Killen and Tandro. Those two were only allowed to watch while others were given relief, and it was perfectly obvious that they had no relief of their own.

When serving slaves began to enter with trays of food, it became clear that the man in the vest had called a meal break. Everyone was given the choice of actual food, but the everyone didn’t include Killen and Tandro. Those two were given bowls with spoons, and Tain didn’t have to look into the bowls to know they contained that cereal slaves were most often fed. Even the dancing girls were allowed real food, but the two newest slaves had to make do with the cereal.

Tain watched as Killen and Tandro stuffed down their food, obviously under orders to eat the tasteless fare. Once they finished they just knelt and watched everyone else eat real food, and once the others finished the dancing started again. The two kneeling men seemed to get a small amount of respite from their bodily demands during the meal, but once the dancing started again they went right back to where they’d been earlier.

More time went by, leading Tain to wonder how long it would be before darkness fell. It also came to her to wonder if Killen and Tandro would be left here in this warehouse or taken somewhere else once it was dark enough out. If the man in the vest left and took enough of his people with him, freeing Killen and Tandro shouldn’t be hard at all. But if the two men themselves were taken somewhere else, Tain would have to try to follow—without being spotted and captured.

Finally, at long, long last, the man in the vest stood up and stretched.

He said something to the two men still kneeling at his feet, and the two tried to stand up. After so long a time kneeling Killen and Tandro must have been in a lot of pain, and watching them force themselves to their feet showed Tain how much trouble they were having. Tandro actually fell on his first try, but the native spent no time at all lying still in an effort to ease the pain he felt. His second try was immediate, and this time he made it erect. Once both of the men were standing, they headed for the door they’d come out of so many hours earlier. Their progress was on the slow side, but once they were through the doorway the door was pulled closed and two of the men in the room stood beside the door, one on each side. With that done the man in the vest spoke to the rest of his people, and then he led the way to a door opposite Tain’s watchpost and to the left. The dancers brought up the rear with one of the men walking behind them, and in just a couple of minutes the room was empty of everyone but the two door guards.

Tain had shifted position on a regular basis during the past hours, so when she left the opening she’d been watching through she had no real trouble moving. She ghosted to the end of the corridor to the left, being very careful now, and got to the end of the closed-in area in time to see the man in the vest and the rest of his people leaving the warehouse through the door in front. Once the door closed Tain took a deep breath and let it out slowly, knowing that she had a fairly hard time ahead of her. She now had to wait for the two guards to be relieved, and only then would she be able to move. But first…

First she waited a short while to be certain the man in the vest and the rest of his people were gone, and then she made her careful way back to the warehouse across the street. There was no one outside, happily, so getting back to the other warehouse wasn’t hard at all. Tain slid through the darkness to the back of the warehouse and went through the door carefully, then groped around for the candle and firemaker that had been left for her use.

When the candle was lit, Tain moved slowly toward the door that hid the living quarters the escaped slave women had been using. By now Risdin ought to know she was here, but it was possible the woman had taken a break. Tain had almost reached the door when the door was opened, but Risdin didn’t step out. She simply opened the door widely enough to show she was alone, and then she waited.

“There are guards on my friend and I have to wait until the guards are replaced before I can do anything, but hopefully it won’t be much longer.” Tain had stopped a few feet from the door and her voice was relatively soft, but still loud enough to carry to where Risdin stood. “How are you doing?”

“Aside from being surprised I haven’t had a heart attack, I’m not doing badly at all,” Risdin answered, her grimace showing she wasn’t really joking. “How badly did they hurt your friend?”

“Physically they didn’t do anything to him that hasn’t been done to women, but how he’s taking it psychologically is another matter entirely,” Tain answered with a sigh. “If a man isn’t used to being treated like property, it can do a lot of harm to his mind.”

“You can’t mean they tried to make him a slave?” Risdin returned, her expression now looking shocked. “It isn’t possible to do something like that to a man.”