The man, Maximus, dressed in his brown leather, walked out with his assistant. He went to the barn, where the slaves slept. It was early morning and most of them were up and stirring, getting a drink and waiting for "Hammer" to come bring their early meal. They met up with another assistant and went to receive the messenger from the government.

It was colder this morning, and, in fact, winter was coming. They hoped they would be able to get more clothes, or at least cloth to make them, and perhaps some shoes. Some of the girls were barefoot, saving their shoes for winter; a few had worn out completely. Those shoes being worn were nearly worn out.

The girls were only guaranteed one meal a day, and that was usually early, just after sunrise. The evening meal was, if they deserved it, if there was any food availble, if there were no penalties, generally not guaranteed. The same was true for the male slaves. However, there was not much stock in the last few months, due to the economics of the new law which was to take effect soon.

But Hammer didn't come yet. They called him "hammer" because he had been, before becomming a slave, the son of a carpenter. No one knew his real name. He was only about sixteen or seventeen, and was always given menial tasks because his last master, in a fit of rage, had cut the fingers from his left hand, rendering the hand nearly useless. Malnutrition had taken more value from the slave. As Maximus said, the only good his hand did him now was to provide a wrist for shackles.

The girls chilled and a few even giggled at the cold. They were only given scanty garments to wear ... short sleeveless dresses, or skirts or skirted loincloths (which were most popular since they covered the girls' private parts), and tops that tied on at the neck and waist, or sleeveless vests that laced up the front. Bare arms, thighs, and sometimes cleavage or waists was the norm. Occasionally, bare breasts or even bare buttocks, if there was punishment of some sort; deprivation of clothing was always an element of a punishment. The Master wasted no money on luxuries like clothes.

Maximus met with the government official. It was the second time this month. The first time he had been told that, by order of the king, all licensed slave sellers were to sell off their stock to private owners, or find homes for the slaves they freed. Slave selling was going to be between individual private owners, because the guild of slave sellers had been driving up the prices with fake competition, secretly conspiring within their guild.

Maximus didn't quarrel with the official. It would do no good. But he did ask for, and receive, a one-day extension. By sunset tomorrow, all his slaves would have to be sold to private owners, or freed. And, by law, he would have to find homes for those he freed. He knew that he would not get any kind of good price for his slaves, as potential buyers were waiting til the law took effect, causing the prices to fall. He told his assistants he would pay them and dismiss them tomorrow. He was, of course, pretending to be distraught, not knowing what to do for a living, but secretly he had saved a small fortune over the years, and would be comfortable for a long time.

And of course he could appear to be generous by giving the men, and the wife of one of the men, a smaller amount of money as they left.

He had already contracted most of the girls, decided to keep Hammer and one girl for himself, essentially selling them to himself, should anyone ask, which was unlikely, and that left the two Eastern sisters, Kallie and Teelee. Too young to sell for much, even a tenth or twentieth of their price would have been better than nothing. Firstly , he would at least get a few coins more than he had, now that his stock had become pretty much worthless. Secondly, he would not have to find them homes.

He walked around the house after the official left, talking with his assistants.

Kallie was thirteen, her sister Teelee was eleven. Both were slim, lean, black-haired girls from the East, or from Eastern ancestors at any rate. Maximus won them in a card game. They were scrawny then and they were scrawny now, he thought, never considering they would be healthier if he fed them more. The old miser would short his own wife, if he had one, to increase his profits even a little bit. He would have put his own children on food rations.

Kallie tucked her loincloth skirt over the cloth belt she wore just below the waist, both in front and behind. The result was a short skirt-like flap in front and back, almost bare on the sides, and her private parts were reasonably covered. Her top was a worn out sleeveless vest, low-cut in the front with laces from the bottom of it to about mid-breast, showing her cleavage. Her breasts were about the size of a boy's wooden yard ball, and almost as firm. Her ribs showed when she stretched her arms up. Her tummy was flat and almost concave. Her hair was short, having been cut a few weeks ago to be sold, just barely covering her ears, exposing her pretty graceful and slim neck.

Teelee, shorter than her sister, was just as slim. Her hair was somewhat longer, coming down almost to her shoulder blades. Teelee's short dress, torn up one side almost to the waist and cut down the front below the level of her half-apple breasts, barely kept her bottom covered. Teelee had developed considerable skill at keeping covered in the short little dress, by turning and bending in certain ways that somehow only girls know how to do.

The meal was late. Finally, Hammer came, rushing because the cooks got up late today and were slow. He had a large bucket and a stack of bowls on a table he wheeled in, gripping it with his right hand, steadying it with what was left of his left hand.

He dished out a bowl of the food, essentially leftovers from the house with some bread and vegetable protein mixed in, a stew that was little better than gruel, laid it down, and dished out the next bowl, one at a time, having only one hand that really worked. The girls, lining up as usual, were particularly hungry today ... there might be a lot of work and it was getting cold.

Kallie got a bowl for herself, and one for her little sister. She placed them on the bench next to their sleeping rolls, and waited for Teelee to get the water. They were about last to be served. Neither had gotten any food yesterday, owing to some bullying of a couple of the older and bigger girls, and both were hungry.

Teelee sat down. They picked up their spoons. Maximus walked in and the girls all stood up, and of course, Kallie and Teelee's bowls were knocked over by the same fat slave that cost them their meal yesterday. Teelee just sank to her knees and cried. Kallie wanted to cry but didn't. They could not afford to miss very many meals, not as slim as they were, not with winter coming, and certainly not two days in a row!

Maximus was in a sour mood. Well, he'd just retire early, he had enough. He'd wanted to work a few more years, build up just a little more savings. He gathered the girls, including the fat slave, up to the front of the barn where his assistants shackled them. Always with their hands behind their backs, in the light but strong bracelets. Only Teelee, Kallie, Hammer (who was not present) and one very curvy red-haired slave named Toar were not secured. They were walked not to the fields, but to the front of the house, where men were waiting to take them away.

Maximus grumbled about the piss-poor price he was getting, but he was really lucky to be getting anything at all. However, he reminded himself, and the slaves that were left behind, that until sunset, they were his, and he could do what he pleased. Kallie begged him, just before he left, for some food for her sister and herself. Anything, please, just a little. The man laughed and walked out.

Just after midday, he came back with one assistant. "All my stock is sold now, except Toar, whom I will keep, and you two Eastern girls, and Hammer." He always called the girls "you Eastern girls" and refered to each as the other one's "sister". "But since I can't sell you ... because no one wants a couple of scrawny children and a cripple, I have to find homes for you and free you by sunset."

"But, til then, you are mine." He had his assistant bind the wrists of the girls behind their backs, not allowing them to gather any clothes. Tied, not shackled or braceleted. But then, at the Master's instructions, the assistant bound their arms, just above the elbows, almost touching, immobilizing their arms and preventing them from slipping their hands over their little butts to get them in front.

Thankfully, both had put their shoes on, sensing something unusual today, and their shoes were reasonably servicable, protecting their feet if not keeping them warm. The girls said nothing, but the rumbling of Kallie's stomach could be heard even by the assistant. He pittied the girls and, when the Master wasn't looking, slipped into each of their hands a squeezed piece of bread. The girls held on tight, knowing that each could feed the other, even with their hands tied, as soon as they were allowed to rest.

They were loaded onto a small wagon, drawn by a single animal, one of the sturdy little horses that could pull for a long time, even if they weren't very fast or good for riding. Hands still tied behind them. Poor Hammer, wearing only a loincloth himself--he usually wore trousers and no shirt--shivering, was leading the horse. Maximus and his assistant rode in the front of the wagon. The girls took the opportunity to eat, each from the other's hands, the bread.

They rode til late in the afternoon, the sky starting to turn gray. They had left the road and were on a path barely wide enough for the small wagon. They disembarked at a command from Maximus. There was a small impression in the side of a large rock, and a rock next to it made it almost seem like a shallow cave. The two girls, arms still bound behind them, stood, confused, not speaking, waiting for instructions, both chilly and hungry and thirsty.

Maximus began. "I've told you about the new law. I could not sell you. I couldn't even give you away. So I must find homes for you. Well, here it is. After sunset, you are free. Enjoy your new home."

Kallie wept, understanding that, quite legally, he was abandoning them, stranding them here in the woods. No food. No tools. No clothes. No supplies. Just their little slave rags, the worn out shoes on their feet, and the ropes that bound their arms.

Maximus called Hammer, a boy of perhaps seventeen. Shaggy hair. Very lean. Bright blue eyes. Although Maximus called him worthless, Hammer could read and write, and was often given the task of translating contracts from across the border. Both Kallie and Teelee could read and write, but they kept it a secret, as it would cause a lot to trouble in the slave kennels if it were known.

Hammer came around. "You are mine til sunset, after that, you are free," he told the boy.

"Like this? Way out here?"

"You can share a home with the Eastern girls, if you don't bleed to death first." the man said, and with a laugh, drew his sword and hacked off the boy's right arm, at about the elbow. The boy howled and fell, clutching what was left of his arm, screaming, his useless left hand unable to staunch the flow of blood, horrified at the loss of his other hand. The man wiped his sword on the boy's loincloth, put it into its scabbard, climbed into the wagon, and drove away, both girls screaming, the boy writhing in pain.

The girls, both with arms still bound behind them, the boy unable to untie them, would have to untie each other. They set about it. The boy could do nothing, and was on his feet before the girls could untie themselves. He staggered away, knowing he was going to die, going as far as he could go into the woods before loss of blood caused him to pass out. The girls, calling for him to return, wisely occupied themselves with freeing one another's arms.

By the time the girls got their arms untied, it was dark. They couldn't find Hammer and knew he was dead or dying. The sky was gray, turning black, and cold. They huddled in the depression in the rock, and shivered themselves into a short fitful sleep.

* * *

The next morning, they awakened. Hungry, cold, and thirsty. They could not stay here. They would have to leave their shelter, and even Teelee could understand that. With nothing to gather or pack, they set off, glad for at least their shoes, in their brief outfits that would provide them no real protection from the coming winter.

At midmorning they found the body of Hammer, but having no tools, could not bury him. He had carried his severed arm, somehow, and it lay next to him. Well, at least he would take one hand with him into the afterlife.

"Poor Hammer. He was always fair, always gave everyone the same amount of food, always nice to everyone. It's just not fair!" Teelee cried. Teelee had liked the boy, having sort of a crush on him. Especially when he had his shirt off.

They wandered along the narrow path til it came to a road. They had no idea where it went, only that they didn't want to go anywhere near the house of Maximus. They hugged each other and cried in delight when they found a stream. Water! And some little berries, edible if sour. Enough to add a whole hour to their life expectancy.

But by late afternoon they had come to a road, and there were a few people travelling on it, to the village to which the road led. They staggered along, trying to stay out of everyone's way, being cold and weak. Of course, everyone considered them as slaves, given their dress, not knowing they had been "freed" and, according to law, given a "home" ... a rock in the middle of a clearing.

"It's only a matter of time before someone realizes we're alone. We'll either be treated as runaways, or we'll be captured and re-enslaved" Kallie said.

"I don't care", Teelee replied. Anything for food."

"Wait here," Kallie said, standing her beside a large signpost.

Kallie approached several of the travellers, and it wasn't but a few moments before Teelee realized what she was doing. Her vest laces loostened, the skirt-loincloth lower on her hips, spread a little on the sides ... Kallie was offering herself to travellers for food. Teelee was horrified! The diseases that some of these people carried! Nooooooooooo.......

Teelee ran toward Kallie just as a man slapped her and called her a whore. Several other men, not as clean-looking as the first, approached, apparently friends or companions of the first, the taller one with the red beard acting as leader.

"Well, what have we here? Escaped slaves? Or slaves on an errand ... hey, wait a moment ..." the other men surrounding them and hands closing on the arms of both girls. The big man, with the big belly and red hair and beard, grabbed Kallie's face, squeezing her jaws. A hand went over her briefly. "This is just a little girl!"

The men laughed, and the leader looked at Teelee, squinted, and said: "and this one is even younger than the other."

"Who cares, they're Eastern," a voice said, but the girls were already being dragged, most of the bystanders wandering away or watching from a safe distance. The girls were pulled behind one of the small buildings where the men had left their horses.

"Please, please don't hurt us," Kallie said, trying not to cry, worried about her little sister whose skirt was already being lifted by two of the men. "All we want is a little food. I'll sleep with you ... one or two of you maybe ... for some food for me and my .. my friend."

The men mocked her and more than one of them said that she would service more than one or two ... and her little friend with her.

Their mouths were gagged with dirty clothes, not preventing them from speaking but muffling their vocalizations somewhat; generally the girls knew that if they made much of a verbal fuss, they would likely be injured. Kallie felt bad when poor Teelee's shoes came off, and the men didn't bother to try to pick them up. Her worries, and Teelee's, were increased more when their arms were bound behind them, wrists crossed, rope going to the necks, rags tied around their eyes like blindfolds, and the squirming crying girls thrown over the saddle of one of the horses, the one with no rider.

About two hours later, they were pulled off the horse. Their blindfolds were pulled off. They were thrown near a campfire where a rather fat middle-aged woman was cooking something. Kallie's stomach growled. She could smell the food. Teelee had almost worked her arms free, they having been tied rather hurriedly, but they were pulled back and re-tied, and she cried into her gag as her little dress... the only thing she had left in the world, was torn from her body. And thrown into the fire. Moments later, Kallie's top was cut off, by the laces, and her loincloth/skirt was pulled off, cut by the waist-cloth tied around her waist which held it all up. Kallie whimpered when her clothes, too, were burned, as well as her shoes.

Kallie knew they would be raped. There were laws providing some protection for children, even slaves, especially free children. But she knew the law would be no protection now. She was not a virgin. She could take two or maybe three of the men before she became so sore she'd have to stop. But she knew there would be no such mercy for her, or for poor Teelee who was a virgin. Teelee was crying.

Kallie stood, naked, flat tummy, slim hips, just a little fluffy pubic hair, little round titties with pink nipples, hands bound behind her, always behind her. She smelled the food. She could wait no longer .. "ohhhh ... oooooog" she said thru the gag. The gag was pulled off.

"What did you say?"

Kallie couldn't even see which spoke to her, aware only that some were discussing, arguing in fact, which would get to use them first, and when. She looked up. It was the woman, and Kallie put on her best pleading face (easily done under the circumstances) and whispered weakly (not an act) ..

"Please, please some food for me and .. the other girl. Please, we haven't had anything to eat in ... so long ... we're starving ... please, I'll do anything if you just give her some food."

"Anything?" the woman said. Kallie nodded, just before she passed out.

Teelee was squirming, trying to kick weakly, twisting her skinny eleven-year-old body in the arms of the men who held her. The woman, shouting, began giving orders.

"Enough, you can take them later. Can't you see that they won't last one damn fucking? They're tired and cold and hungry!

The men, surprisingly, relaxed. Kallie moaning on the ground at their feet and Teelee struggling with hands on her arms, the woman gave orders. The girls were taken into a tent and tied up.

Later, Teelee's voice was whispering: "Kallie. Kallie. Wake up, please!"

Kallie opened her eyes.

Teelee's arms and legs were bound to the pole behind her, elbows pulled back in what Kallie and she had come to know as the technique to prevent a girl from slipping her hands over her butt to get them in front of her. Her knees were bound to the pole too. Her little titties were stretched apart, almost flat on her little chest. Her ribs showed. Her pelvic bones, like Kallies, were showing in the front.

"Teelee, what ..."

Kallie groaned in pain. She was also tied up, her wrists and elbows bound tightly behind her, her ankles tied to her wrists, laying on her side. She was quite immobile, and her arms and shoulders ached. Her fingers were numb. She was very weak and her head hurt. "...are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

"No, the woman made the men tie us up and leave us alone." Teelee tried to be brave but her voice broke. "They took our shoes. And our clothes. And burned them all up. What are we gonna ..."

At that moment the woman came in, with a hunk of meat in one hand, chewing it. She looked over both the girls and nodded, apparently in appreciation. "The two of you are next to worthless," she said. "but my boys like you. They like you for the bed. So you get to stay around for awhile, while I figure out a schedule for your use."

"Please, please give us some food, please ... we're starving. At least give her a bite," Kallie pleaded, indicating her little sister. The woman laughed. "Later, later. First, though, you get a drink. Gandor! Gandor!

A boy came in, probably no more than fifteen, dirty, wearing trousers and no shirt. This was no slave boy. He was well muscled and reasonably lean. He carried a big skin, probably of water. It was the woman's youngest son.

"Give 'em something to drink, and don't untie them!" The woman said, chomping on the meat and turning to leave, her dresses brushing the dirt on the floor.

The boy, leering, walked up to Teelee, holding the skin and allowing her to drink. Her throat was so parched that she could barely swallow, and it was a miracle that the boy knew not to try to give her drinks too fast. She moaned, still thirsty, when he pulled it away after a few swallows.

Then he went to Kallie, laying on her side on the floor. Kallie thought she might try to beg the boy to untie her or loosten the ropes a bit, but decided against it, and sighed as the sweet taste of cold clear water went down her throat.

The boy was not stupid. He went from girl to girl, letting each drink a little bit, not because he didn't want either to wait, but because he knew they could only take a few swallows at a time, or at least had correctly guessed it. He did get a good feel of Kallie's little titties and rubbed his finger on poor Teelee's bald cunt lips. When the skin was about half empty (surprisingly not too much had dripped), he patted Kallie's ass and then left.

* * *

It was night. Dark. Very late. Kallie stood, naked, starving, shivering in the cold air, outside the tents. The campfire seemed to provide no warmth. Kallie's wrists were crossed and bound behind her. Always behind. Her ankles were tied, too, about six inches apart. She could shuffle or hop, but not run or even walk fast. At least her bladder was empty.

Teelee, sobbing, was standing on the other side of the fire. Neither girl dared run ... where would they go? How far could they get? Teelee was already plotting how fast she could get her hands in front of her and then perhaps untie them with her teeth. The bindings were pretty far up the wrists, but she thought she might be able to. She determined to not try til she had enough time to stand back up, if she was unable to. Kallie's arms were shorter than Teelee's, compared to her body, and she probably couldn't do it by herself, but then, Teelee could untie her later ...

"All right, boys," the woman was saying as she led her six sons out of one of the tents. "No one fucks the girl here til they're stronger." None of the men argued with her, though several leered at the girls. The woman was apparently the boss here, perhaps a family matriarch.

The girls were brought face to face. Kallie and Teelee were standing, front-to-front, cheek to cheek, their left cheeks touching, while a belt was buckled around their necks, so that they could not step apart. As Teelee was a few inches shorter, Kallie had to bend over just a tiny bit. Their waists were bound together, then their knees, then their arms, Kallie's left elbow to Teelee's right, Teelee's left to Kallie's right. Their breasts rubbed together. They were wrapped in a blanket and left on the floor of the smaller tent.

Laying on their sides, the woman teased them with chunks of meat and pieces of bread. The girls were crying, pleading for just one bite. Eventually a crumb was put to the lips of the younger girl, who swallowed it with no satisfaction. The woman laughed, toying for hours with the girls, but giving them only morsels of bread and little tiny pieces of the meat. They were allowed to drink from a small water skin, managing to swallow more than was spilled. But it was the first food the girls had eaten in several days. At least they were warm! Uncomfortable, but warm.

Kallie, however, calculated that the amount of food they actually received would not keep them alive. Maybe for a day longer, probably not. Not unless they were given more, as the woman proposed to do. In the morning, she had indicated, they would receive a bit more food, until their little tummies could start digesting the food again. She despaired that her poor sister and she would be given only enough to be kept alive, as more torment.

They manage to sleep fitfully, cramped and uncomfortable but at least warm.