The Bronze Horse

THE BRONZE HORSE

By JAR

CHAPTER 3

When the sun was setting and the heat had started to go out of the day he came over to where I was resting in the shade and said TOLAY.   Next he draped a bag around my neck.  Mounted My back and order me to rise.   He walked me to the tree and untied the neck rope.  By pulling on one end or the other of the stick or as I now though of it as a Bit, he steered me away from the camp and up the slope.

When we got to the top he stopped me and looked around for a couple of minute then we set of in the direction he had selected.  After about 10 minutes he gee’d me up and I was made to walk faster.  Then after a bit longer he had me jogging along.  As I ran my breast would bounce around but he seemed to ignore this and with the stick in my mouth I could not talk or protest at the humiliation he was putting me through. 

If I tried to slow down he would hit my bottom with the stick he was carrying and after a few very hard ones it was less painful to let my breasts bounce.   I could see why he had chosen this time of the day as it was much cooler and we were able to make good speed.  He would make me run for about 15 minutes then walk for 10 minutes.  We had been going for about 3 hours when I was pulled to a stop.

He patted me on the head and said “TOLAY”, it took a few seconds to understand then I knelt down.  Before he got off he wrapped the neck rope around both of my ankles thereby ensuring I could not get up, run off and leave him.  Sneaky bastard, I though.  He got off and gave me a long drink and only took a sip himself.  I could see that the water bottle wasn’t large and he went up in my estimation for saving most of it for me, who was doing all the work. 

I was allowed to rest for 10 minute or so.   Then he mounted me again.    For the first 10 minute I had to walk till the stiffness was gone.  We went on like this all night and as the sun came up I was very tired and could only manage to walk.  My legs where like lead and I could not run if my life depended on it.  My anger was also slightly modified by my fatigue but I was determined to get my revenge on Fred as I now called him.

He found an overhang and dug a shallow scrape up against the face and pushed me down into it.  Again he had hobbled my ankles together so I could just about put one foot in front of the other.  I did not care as I was too tied to run any were.   When I was in the scrape he used the dry sand to rub off the sweat and he massaged my legs till I fell asleep.

It was late in the day when I woke up and he gave me a long drink of water then feed me by hand.    We stayed in the shade till the sun was very low then again he fitted the stick Bit in my mouth and once again he mounted me and we set off.   One of the things that helped me was going over the plans of the things I was going to do to Fred when I had him arrested.

It was another long night but I found the going easer after the stiffness wore off.   I was still bothered by my breasts bouncing about.  The muscles of my chest had been sore by the time we had stopped this morning and although the soreness had mitigated during the day while I rested it had soon come back as we had started out.   This added to the other bruising I had all over my face and body made me feel very sorry for myself.

The sunrise came and as the morning started to warm we found a place to rest under some tress.   A small pool of muddy water lay in the shade of the trees. Fred tied the neck rope to the base of the tree and I was able knee walk to the muddy pool and somehow manager to drink from it.  The water had a horrible taste of mud and other things that I did not wish to think about, but it was wet and sated my thirst.  I was so tired that I was soon asleep.

I was not very happy to find when I awoke, just after midday, that he was not there.   With my ankles hobbled and my arms held bound behind my back and the neck rope tied to a tree I was defenceless to any animal that came along.  My worst fear was soon realised when an hour later a Leopard came to the water hole.  I froze and hoped that it would not notice me and go away.  After it had drunk it sniffed the air and realised that some thing else was nearby.  I though I would wet myself in fear as it came towards me.  It stopped about 8 feet away when it saw me in the shadow of the tree.  It went into a crouch but seemed unsure of its self.  It was then I noticed the milky look of its eyes and realised that it could not see very well.

It edged forward so I shouted at it and it ran off about 10 meters before it stopped and again went into a crouch.   It edged nearer and nearer and when I shouted again it had no effect.  At this point I did start to pee myself, as I was so frightened, I could feel it pool under my legs.  The cat was about 8 feet from me and seemed ready pounce when Fred came charging up and plunged his spear into the side of the leopard.   He pulled it out and took several steps back. The leopard turned to face him and I could see masses of blood pulsing from the wound.  It was mortal wounded and death was only a matter of time.   It tried to attack Fred but a thrust of the spear into its face put it off.  After about 10 minutes it could not stand up any more due to the loss of blood and Fred finished it off.

I was crying a lot and I think Fred though that I was injured as he quickly came to me and checked me over.  I gave him a mouth full of abuse for leaving me alone then broke down and cried again.   He hugged me till was able to get control of myself again.  I think he realised how frightened I had been.  

One I had recovered he skinned the cat and over a fire cooked the meat which he hand feed to me. In the end it turned out to be not a bad day after all as I was full up with food, something I had not been for several weeks now.

Again as the sun went down he packed up the camp, placed the stick in my mouth, which I now just accepted as inevitable so did not try to fight it.  While he packed up the camp I knee walked as far as the neck rope would allow and relived my self. 

The big meal had left me with a problem, I need to defecate.  This was the first time it had happened since I had meet Fred and I found it very embarrassing.   When I was finished I then realised that had no way to clean myself.   I squatted there unable to decide what to do when Fred tugged on the neck rope and pulled me back to the camps site.

Fred loaded the rest of the meat from the cat, which he had wrapped in the pelt, and hung it around my neck. He straddled my back, removed the hobble then jerking the bridal got me on my feet.   I had a bit of a struggle as there was a lot more weight than I was carrying before.  I was not used to getting up with this amount of weight and not being able to use my arms.

After untying the neck rope we set off into the gathering darkness and again he gave me time to work the stiffness out of my muscles before he had me at a steady jogging pace.  We stopped every hour for water and a small amount of food.

He had seemed to find ways to humiliate me sine the first time we had meet.   Whether this was by design or just a coincidence I did not know.  During the night he developed a new trick.  The cold night air had made my nipples stand out so he grasped them between his toes and would steer me by pulling on one or the other.   It did have the advantage of helping to stop my breasts bouncing about.  My chest muscles were starting to get very sore from the bouncing of my breasts.   He also would put his hands over my eyes so I had to rely on the toe/nipple thing for direction.  Bastard I though.

To my surprise we did not stop when the sun came up and I had to carry on making our way up into the foothills that we had come too.   The climb although still gentle was sapping my strength.   Just before mid morning I was very tired and only wanted to walk, my legs were just rubber.  

If I tried to slow down, from the pace he had set, he used the springy stick on my bum and thighs.  Both were now a mass of red lines that stung like fire, but the pain was enough to make me draw on some inner strength.  I knew it would not last for ever and at some time I would collapse.

We came to a gully and he slowed me to a walk as we entered it.  I was so glad to be able stop running and just walk.  After about 100 yards it closed down to a very narrow track for about 50 yards.  I had to sort of crab along sideways or my elbows would bang on the sides.  Then the gully opened out to about 10 feet wide and he pulled me to stop.  I noticed that on the other side of the flat space was a cave.  The entrance appeared to shimmer like a heat haze but it was too cool in the gorge for that but I was too tired to figure out what it meant.  So we were either going into the cave or turning around and going out the way we came. I did not think that was likely, as Fred had seemed too sure when entering the gorge.

Over the last few nights, he had got me to go into a run from standing still by pushing forward with the bridle stick and then kicking me in the stomach.  This he now did and I automatically ran forward and across the open space and into the mouth of the cave with out thinking.  As we entered the cave I felt a bit faint and giddy and the world seemed to swirl about but I kept running.  It felt for a moment I was running in treacle.  Then I saw the exit from the cave and we were outside in the sun again.

I felt strange but could not work out why.  We jog for about half and hour then stopped.   I was allowed to drink and eat.    I don’t think either of us wished to stop near the cave.   He kept me at a walk for the next 3 hours but with stops every hour for food and water, so it was mid afternoon when we saw his village.    The hope of my release returned.  In a few hours I would be free and Fred behind bars.  I could hardly wait to see the look on his face when I had him arrested.

We entered the village and I was surprised to find that basically they lived in huts made of mud bricks some of which looked quite large.  The village looked like it had seen better days and many of the buildings were nothing more than ruins.   I had noticed since we had passed through the cave that the landscape was poor scrub land.  Dry and poor looking soil every were, littered with stones.   A few trees were scatted around the place but it looked closer to dried up desert than lush farm land

As we approached the village people would stop what they were doing and stare at us.  One by one they followed us until there were about 20 men, women and children.  They were a silent group even the children were not making any noise.  In fact the whole group looked down and cowered.  Unlike Fred they were dressed in what could be best described as normal clothes.   Most of it was old and tattered and of poor quality. 

I was suddenly aware of being naked in front of people even it they were not very tall.  My heart crashed as I realised that this was not a place that would have a Police Force that I could get too arrest Fred.  The people did not look surprised to see him riding a very tall naked woman and were not going to help me that was for sure.

Fred rode me pass the group to the other side of the village.  We must have gone about a 50 yards down the dirt road before we turned off on to a smaller track which lead to a long building were his wife, an old woman and two girls stood waiting for him.  We stopped and his wife smiled up at him and I was pleased for Fred after the lack of welcome he got from the rest of the village.  The older of the two girls came forward and caught the rope from around my neck as Fred passed it down to her.   She gave it a sharp tug downwards.  She was only about 2 foot tall and wore a faded dress that had seen better days but it looked clean never the less.  She looked very sure of herself.

When I did not kneel straight away she tugged the rope again and hit me behind the left knee with a swish she carried in her hand.   I was too tired to fight so I knelt and bent forward to let Fred dismount.  He removed the pelt and food from around my neck and gave it to the mother.  Both of them left to enter the house.

The other girl gave her older sister some leg irons with a straight 18-inch bar between them.  They were soon around my ankles.  Still holding on to the neck rope she said something I could not understand but when she jerked the rope in an upward direction I assumed she wanted me to stand up, this I did.

Up to this point the old woman had not said a word but had stared at me, looking me up and down, inspecting me.  She was very old but I felt frightened of her.  There was something about her, I tried to look her in the eyes but after a few moments I found that I could not look her in the face, I had to look at the ground.   In that moment she was able to dominate me. 

The older of the girls was still holding the neck rope and with a sharp tug led me through a wide doorway to a courtyard inside.  It was difficult to walk as I had to make each leg go out and round because of the solid bar between my ankles.  She led me slowly to one end of the yard.  In the corner there was a lean-to with a thatched roof but no sides.  Right in the corner was a large stone about 2 Feet Square with a chain through a hole in the middle.  On the end of the chain was a metal neck collar.  This she locked around my neck.  I was too tired to care.

The old neck rope and stick in my mouth were removed.  This was the first time I had not worn the rope for over 2 or 3 weeks.  My neck was sore were it had rubbed my skin.   The girl, who I had heard her father, call Minnie or some thing like that, put down a bowel of water for me to drink and then some dried grass as a bed.  After a quick drink I lay down and fell asleep I was so tired. 

I did not wake up till it was starting to get light.   I was bursting for a pee and a poo.  I looked around my new home and there was nothing, no bucket or any thing at all that I could use other than the dirt floor.  

Suddenly a wave of depression flooded over me and I cried.   Was this to be my life from now on, housed in a stable and treated like an animal?  I am a human being with schooling about to start university not some horse to be treated like a beast of burden.  I stamped my feet but of course that did not help the situation.

Despite my anger, frustration and despair, I still needed to go to the toilet.  I waddled over to the farthest point I could and squatted down to relieve myself.  I suddenly had the feeling I was being watched and looked up to see Minnie standing in the door of their house at the end of the courtyard.  She came down the yard and stood about 6 feet away and watched me go to the toilet.  This only fuelled my embarrassment.   Angrily I told her that I should have a toilet to use and not have to go on the floor like an animal.

She seemed surprised and amused that I could talk but of course could not understand what I said.  When I had finished, I moved to the centre of the shed and Minnie went and got a bucket from the other end of the yard.   Using a wooden shovel to scoped up my poo and put it in the bucket.  I was glad to see she had left the bucket where I could use it next time.  I wondered if she could understand me after all.

She moved to the front of the shed and sat on the ground and looked at me.   I realised that if I could communicate with her my life would improve a lot.   I knelt down about 6 foot away.    I did not want to frighten her off.   I nodded my head at her and said Minnie then tucking my chin down on my chest said Jenny, my name.  I repeated this several times but she did not speak or respond and I wondered if she was able to.  

She then got up and walked off and into the house, I felt despair that I had failed.  A couple of minutes she reappeared carrying a bowel and jug.   She entered the shed and put the bowel down in front of me, and said a word, which I took to be “eat”, as the bowel was full of porridge like matter.  It was a bit bland but it was warm and I ate it as best I could.  As the level went down I had a job getting to the bottom of the bowel.  So when I pushed my face into the bottom of the bowel and it got stuck on my face.  Despite my best efforts I could not get it off.

I heard her laugh and she pulled the bowel off.  I smiled at her as she continued to laugh.  Again I said Jenny and she responded with a similar sound after several goes she was quite good.  Her Grandmother came down the yard and Minnie put her finger to her lips for me to be quite.  So it was to be a secret.  Well her Dad knew I could speak but that did not count.

Her Grandmother looked at the bruises on my body and said something to Minnie who ran off and out of view.    She continued to inspect me and when I tried to move away said in perfect English I was to stand still.   I was stunned that she could speak English and I started to beg her to release me.   She told me to sit and be quite while she explained a few things to me, for reasons I could not explain I did just this.   It was like I was a child in school.

She explained that she had been a maid to the Daughter of a White couple from England and had come to this place by accident when the plane she was travelling on had crashed.   She had been the only survivors.  She had walked until she had found the cave and had used it too shelter from a storm.  When she had left the cave had used the other entrance and after a long walk ended up at the village.  As she was short she had blended in with the villagers and lived here ever since.

She told me that they had very little rain over the last 10 years and the soil had dried up and the crops had failed.  Some people had left but those that had stayed could only grub a poor livening from the soil.  They had no farm animals except for a few goats.  That made it difficult for them to use the farm equipment.  In the end it had been abandoned and allowed to rust etc.

She then asked how I came to be walking in the Desert with my arms tied behind my back.  I explained about the holiday.   Then being kidnapped by the Gang of Bandits and the rape they had subjected me to over such a long period.   How I had ended up at the water hole that Fred had founded me at.  

She asked if I thought I might be pregnant after being raped, and I replied that I was pretty sure that I was, due to the length of time that they had held me captive and the date of my last period   But I intended to get an abortion as soon as I was released and could return home to England.  

Up to this point she had been friendly and I was starting to like her.  Well she said that will not be happening, you will be staying here and spend the rest of your life providing motive power for the farm machinery in the village.  Initially I was too stunned to say anything but that soon changed and I started to scream at her to release me immediately.

She laughed and told me to shut up, reinforcing this command with a few well placed strokes from the stick she had in her hand.  She went on to explain that in this country the inhabitants use people as Horses as they had no large mammals, not even Cows.  

Many years ago they had come across a group, of what to them, was very tall animals that somehow had come through the cave.   They had captured them and used them to pull carts and other things.  Over the centuries they had been bred to fill all the different needs that they had.   From strength for heaving and pulling to stamina for pulling a coach a long distance.

Over the years they, the people they now referred to as horses, had become not much more intelligent than an animal and had lost the ability to talk, only grunt etc this was a result of the selective breading programme.  As they had filled all the needs for working machines or moving things the locals had never discovered even steam engines or electric.

She explained that Fred and the village were very poor and that now he had found me I would be the start of a new heard for him.  The bonus was I was pregnant now.  This would give Fred time find a way to have me mated after I had this foul.  They would continue to keep me pregnant until I was unable to have any more fouls.

She went on to tell me that the horses (people) on this world were only about 5 foot tall and as I was much larger at 6 foot 7 inches I would be the start of new bread of much stronger horses.   As the herd expanded they could be cross bred etc till they had a big enough herd that some could be sold for a lot of money.  Then when I was too old to work any longer I would be put down.  

She told me that as all other horses could not talk, I would not be allowed to either.   For the time being if I promised not to take she would not operate on me.  She was to be the only person I was allowed to talk too.  If she found that I had been talking to anyone she would operate and cut my vocal cords and I would never talk again.   I could use grunts or horse like noises to communicate with, but strictly no talking.  Did I understand?

I burst into tears and pleaded with her not to do this to me and to have pity on me.  She shook her head and went back to the house.    About half an hour later Minnie and Fred came out of the house carrying lots of stuff and headed for my shed.  I wasn’t sure if this was good or bad.  Fred was now dressed like the rest of the village with an old shirt and trousers these held up with string.