Chapter 10

"I'm afraid it's time for your piercings."

"Why should you be?" Lila asked tartly, "I'm the one getting them."

"The Sheik will be here to watch. I can't do anything to make it better; I'm sorry."

"I wouldn't let you anyway," Colette concluded.

Colette set up the brazier with the iron rods that would be used to cauterize her piercings. She also set up the piercing clamp. It was a punch borer, much like the device leather smiths use to punch holes in pieces of leather, only it was sharper, larger, and meant for softer, more pliable tissues.

Manu called up the Sheik to let him know they awaited his pleasure. He soon arrived accompanied by his apparent favorite slave Aisha. It wasn't clear that she appreciated that honor was Lila's thought on seeing her. The curvaceous girl always seemed to be on the verge of panic when the fat man was around; that was, of course, hardly surprising.

Aisha and Lila pushed one of the easy chairs into the dungeon area so Al-Mansour could remain comfortably seated while watching the events. In the center of the dungeon there sat a simple and ingenious device. It consisted of a wood backboard, rectangular at the top that tapered at the bottom that sat at a slant on the floor; it was held in place by a wide beam. Lila knelt in front of it so that her back rested on the board and the narrow bottom part fit nicely between her legs. A notch, carved at the top, for her neck, allowed her to recline her head back on the device. On the sides of the device two metal manacles immobilized her wrists and, higher up, two leather straps did the same for her arms. Her ankles were attached to the beam by another set of straps. Despite knowing what atrocities were to follow, Lila docilely knelt by the device and let Aisha attach her arms and legs to the instrument.

When Manu asked her to, she reclined her head back into the wooden notch and calmly watched as he fixed her head in place with a tight leather strap across her forehead.

"The rings we are going to use is much larger than the rings usually used on slave girls," Manu's voice was even, didactic, "also we do not have time for the usual healing time, so we shall cauterize the holes with these little red hot iron rods."

Lila tried to concentrate on her breathing, forcing herself to take even, deep breaths, although she felt panic churning in her stomach. She feared losing control, even though, now, tied as she was, it would not make a difference. Still, she retained a measure of pride and, for her it meant not losing it.

"We shall start with her nose," He placed two bungee equipped hooks at her nostrils pulling her nares open.

Manu took the punch borer and placed both ends of it inside defenseless Lila's nose. The tips of the instrument sought, not the little space between the cartilage and the tip, where it wouldn't fit anyway, but the solid cartilage of the septum. Lila closed her eyes.

The sickening crunch of the punch cutting through her nose hit her, a fraction of a second before the pain bore into her eyeballs. She screamed, fighting her straps, as the taste of her blood dripped into her mouth. Between screams she swallowed her own blood. Of course, the worst was yet to come.

In a rapid motion, Manu removed the punch borer from her nose and deftly inserted the red hot iron rod he held in a pair of fine tip pliers into the bloody hole he had created. She felt as if half of her face was burned off. Her deafening shrieks lasted a long time, even after Manu had removed the rod from her scorched nasal passage and replaced it by a heavy copper ring, a little larger than a quarter in diameter and about half a centimeter in thickness. Her shrieks became cries, which then became whimpers; finally, when only tears remained, Manu released her head strap and she was able to raise her head.

The heavy copper ring, hanging from her nose, brought a different sort of sharp pain every time it moved. The pain, intense, seemed to drive a nail directly into her brain. She struggled to contain her tears. She knew the next two rings would go on her breasts, right through the areola, behind her sensitive nipples.

"Release her," said the sheik, "I want to use her mouth."

Aisha released her straps and helped her to her feet. Lila knelt in front of Al-Mansour and, hiding her reluctance, dived under his robe to find his erect penis. Never very clean, the sheik enjoyed receiving oral sex from his slaves finding their disgust and humiliation stimulating.