Town Meeting

Elm returned home after the match. Her mother was there with a glint in her eye. 'There is going to be a big announcement at the meeting later tonight.' She said.

Elm smiled back. Both of them knew what they were talking about, even though in theory it was all still a secret in the chief's mind.

'I had better get you ready' her mother said.

Elm stripped naked, and her mother wrapped her in a white silk sari. This single piece of cloth was wrapped around the bottom and tucked in, then up and around the breasts and tucked in again. It was not held in place by anything else. Then she put on the thin leather wrist and ankle cuffs, each with a small steel ring. These simple trappings were enough to mark out Elm as a slave ready to be handed over to her new Master.

All Elm had to do now was make sure she maintained her dignity at the tribe meeting.

The meeting started as the Sun was setting. First the chief made the announcement that everybody had been expecting. Astric had now proved himself a man and would be moving into his own hall. Elm bowed her head as custom dictated while everyone around cheered and waved. Astric looked across the crowd with a satisfied grin on his face. He was obviously pleased with the allocation.

Next the result of the match was announced, as if anyone did not already know it. The chief was pleased with the performance of the team. He called for the prizes to be brought out. The three women were led out in front of the Heruli by collars around their necks. They were all very beautiful and very shapely.

It was normal for the women to be assigned to the outstanding players. The first two were dispatched but before he announced the recipient of the third, the chief paused. The he announced that the last woman was to be given to Astric. There was a pause while the crowd took in this information. This meant he had gone from no slaves at all to two in one single day. This was most unusual. But the crowd collectively decided that they approved and a huge shout of approval went up.

The Heruli

The Heruli were an unexceptional tribe in the North of Melonia. Our story begins one spring when Elm had just turned 19. She had caught the eye of one of the single young men of the tribe, one Astric. The rumours among the girls of the tribe were going round that he had asked the chief to have her as his slave. Rumours of that nature were rarely wrong and Elm had found herself getting quite excited at the air of expectancy that it had raised.

But this particular Spring morning there were other things on everyone's mind. Herul was playing Fantan at pack wrestling. Fantan was a slightly larger tribe, which gave them a small advantage. Everyone was gathered at the Herul end of the pitch. To one side standing in a line were the thirty women put up as the forfeit for the match. A similar line was visible at the other end of the pitch, but the Fantan women were too far distant to make out their details. But you could be sure that the Heruli stewards had picked the choicest and most attractive females available just as the Fantans had selected the pick of the Heruli.

The rules were simplicity itself. All the men of the appropriate age were stripped to their waists but were not allowed any weapons. The obect was simply to grab members of the other team and lock them in cages at your end of the pitch. You could not leave the pitch under any circumstances. Rescues were permitted. At the end of the two hour span - without breaks - the score was simply the difference between the numbers of captives on either side. The winning side would then pick that number of women from the forfeits. The women would be allocated by the chief, with the expectation that those that played the most prominent role in the match would be awarded the prizes.

Fantan had a good track record at pack wrestling and there was some trepidation among the Heruli that this match may not be one that would have a good ending. But they got off to a good start. They had some promising new younger men who had done well in previous matches, and who had - secrectly because it wasn't really in the spirit of the game - been training and practising. Chief among this group was Astric. He had been working to perfect the trick of one man bending down to produce an obstacle over which a larger player could be pushed over.

It didn't take long for Astric's tactics to start to take effect. The Fantans were soon pushing hard against the Heruli, but although they outnumbered them about 60 to 50 and had several much larger men leading their charges they were not making much headway. This was largely because the Heruli led by Astric targeted and frequently felled the most threatening of their enemies. In fact the way the play was largely in the Heruli half was almost an advantage. They were nearer the Heruli cages and amazingly managed to spirit one of the Fantans into captivity almost unnoticed in the first hour.

As the game progressed the Fantans got steadily more frustrated and more aggressive. But they also got more tired. As the game got into its last half hour they fell still more frequently, but were now less able to recover. With so little time left, Astric and his friends started dragging their victims off once they had felled them. This was risky because it weakened the Heruli still further. And this led to the capture of a couple of Heruli. But they had captured more. As the horn sounded to end the match the score was an amazing five Fantans down to only two Heruli lost.

The captain marched to where the now dejected Fantan supporters were standing. Bows were exchanged. The stunned Fantans congratulated their opponents on a noble performance. The three most attractive women were selected and led back across the pitch to the cheering Heruli. The men were bruised, bleeding and exhausted. But full of pride at what they had achieved. Elm, caught up in the excitement of the game, was jumping up and down clapping her hands drenched in joy.

Mel's Mind World

I have been thinking about the perfect world I would like to live in.

This is a planet colonised by humans from Earth, but they have been specially selected to fulfill the roles they should play.

This world is ruled by an emperor. He has absolute power and can do whatever he likes. But he has been chosen because he is very intelligent, fair minded and has a keen sense of justice. He only has a small police force to keep law and order because everyone else lives in small villages of 100-200 people, and these look after most of what goes on.

Each village has a headman appointed by the emperor. He has a lot of power but has to keep within the rules laid down by the emperor and can be replaced if his people complain to the emperor about him.

The main activity of the villages is a sport played by all the able bodied males. This is a sort of mass wrestling match played against other villages. These take place every week, and the winning team gets to choose to take one woman from the losing team's village.

The chief allocates women to men and can rearrange things as he sees fit. Women are expected to defer to men generally. But they only have sexual relations with the man who as been allocated to them as their master. The master has the right to inflict physical punishments on the women. These are carried out at weekly village meetings with a full explanation given in advance. The woman can appeal to the Chief, or if she isn't happy directly to the emperor.

I will think about it and put some more details up.