SLAVEBOYS FROM MOSCOW & NEW YORK Part 1 Chapters 1-6
By Pueros
copyright 2006 by Pueros, all rights reserved
[email protected]
This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY
Part One - Noël
'Being your slave, what should I do but tend Upon the hours and times of your desire?'
- William Shakespeare (Sonnet 57)
(A large luxurious dacha in a quiet part of the Russian countryside, conveniently close to Moscow, Christmas 1999)
After his excruciating experience on the wheel, 14 year-old Sergei had been too distressed and damaged to return immediately with his Master to the dacha near St. Petersburg. The boy had instead been afforded a spare cell in the basement of the similar country residence near his home city of Moscow at which the most recent auction of new young slaves had just been held.
Sergei's back, buttocks and the rear of his legs had been agonisingly indented with a morass of bloody spike marks. Fortunately, all of these injuries would eventually completely heal and not leave any permanent scars. The young Muscovite had, despite his acute anguish, been sensible enough not to wriggle too much as the wheel was slowly mechanically revolved over several hours, under the initial cruel supervision of the host, and so he had not made his wounds more serious by radical movement.
Nevertheless, the pain induced when Sergei had revolved upwards, causing the full weight of his body to press against the spikes on the rim of the wheel, to which his wrists and ankles were chained so that he was stretched taut in an uncomfortable curve, had been immense. The relief accrued when the boy subsequently moved downwards had also initially been lessened by the fact that he at first believed in horror that the gap between the lower edge of the wicked device and the black concrete floor of the torture chamber was insufficient to allow him passage.
The petrified Sergei only accepted that the gap was just sufficient for most of his slim body after he had been revolved several times through 360°. However, the boy also discovered that his flaccid cock did brush the polished floor on each revolution. This phenomenon became more noticeable, both physically and visibly, with time, as the unruly penis reacted by gradually becoming hard.
The host of the auction and the many guests, who had accompanied him to watch him hurt Sergei, and who included the boy's own Master, noticed this penile reaction, which was common because the wheel had been set up partly to induce such a phenomenon when torturing young males. The spectators naturally stayed to see the equally customary denouement.
Despite Sergei's excruciation and his earlier ejaculation when the butler had sodomised him, his raging young teenage hormones, boosted by previous enforced celibacy and unknowing consumption of strong aphrodisiacs, needed only two dozen revolutions of the wheel to make him cum again. The boy's ecstatic erection was still shamefully spurting semen when he was once more temporarily uplifted to face the ceiling instead of the floor, causing some of the ejaculate to fall back onto his genitals and belly.
When Sergei was subsequently again moving downwards and he was in the relevant inverted position, some of the residual cum even dripped onto his chest and face, thereby completing his humiliation, to the utter delight of the many spectators crowded into the torture chamber. Having watched this pleasant spectacle, the latter throng subsequently departed to leave the boy to enjoy his torture on his own, as the wheel was allowed automatically to turn slowly for a few more hours.
During this generally agonising period, Sergei somehow
managed to enjoy two more brief ecstatic intervals, as he
orgasmed twice more.
(New York, USA, same time)
The Twin Towers were still standing when the exceptionally attractive, fair-haired blue-eyed boy, who lived in a luxurious apartment near to New York's World Trade Center, began to fill a small suitcase for his trip to Africa with his widower father. The man had advised his only child, whose personality everyone considered to be extremely charming, that they should both travel light and so the 13 year-old was only packing what he thought were essentials.
The son had been Christened 'Robert' after both of his grandfathers, who coincidentally shared the same forename. However, the appellation was pronounced somewhat differently in the respective countries of which the elderly men were nationals.
In contrast to the French element of the boy's family, his American relations and friends made use of the English sound of the letter 't' when pronouncing his full name. However, on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, he was most commonly addressed as 'Rob', whilst on the other he was often alternatively and affectionately called 'Petite Pomme', or 'Little Apple', which was a wordplay connected to his home city's nickname.
Despite the fact that the word 'pomme' was feminine in gender, Robert did not mind being called such a nickname because he was proud of his home city of New York, or the 'Big Apple'. However, the boy was subsequently to be acutely ashamed when he eventually earned another far less pleasant French title. The derogative was 'Allaitant', a translation of and explanation for which will be provided later.
Robert was the product of a marriage between a father who was a native New Yorker and a mother who was from Nîmes in France. The boy's parents had met when they were both rather impecunious young post-graduate students at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Robert's father, quietly but significantly helped and supported by his new spouse, had gone on from the Sorbonne to become an immensely successful multi-millionaire businessman in the high-technology sector back in New York, where he and his wife had established their main home and where their only child was born. The boy therefore happily considered himself to be an American and New Yorker like his male parent. This attitude existed despite being fluent in French and having both dual nationality and a great affection for his mother's homeland and relatives, whom he often visited and who adored their 'Petite Pomme'.
Robert attended one of New York's most prestigious and expensive private schools, where he was very popular with both staff and fellow pupils. The boy also proved to be gifted academically and in sports, being as able with an American football in his hands as with a soccer ball at his feet. He could also out-run and out-swim anyone of his own age.
Robert had needed the comfort of his extended family and large number of close friends after his mother died of breast cancer tragically young when he was only a 10 year- old. The boy's father had subsequently immediately sold all of his lucrative business interests to concentrate on his only son's upbringing, as well as on charitable works, which had previously been his wife's biggest pastime.
Robert's father, rather naturally in the circumstances, gave significant help to breast cancer research. However, the man also fatefully spent a lot of time and money on African charities, which had been the main causes supported by his late wife.
The history of Robert's maternal family indicated that certain forebears had once been involved in the establishment and administration of French colonies in northwest Africa. They were especially associated with what are now the vast but impoverished Islamic Republics of Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad, on the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert.
Perhaps because of a guilty conscience about France's past colonial exploitation of the region, and familial involvement in such deeds, Robert's mother had directed most of her charitable efforts towards these countries, particularly at the eradication there of a certain still extant social evil. She had even set up her own organisation for the purpose, with the acronym of 'Amasiaf' for short and for which she had used her artistic talents to design a distinctive logo.
The social evil concerned was actually at the forefront of
Robert's bright mind, as he excitedly packed his suitcase
during his school's Christmas and New Year holidays. The
boy's father was travelling to Africa on a brief fact-
finding trip and his son had fatefully successfully begged
to go with him.
(A large luxurious dacha in a quiet part of the Russian countryside, conveniently close to Moscow, several days later)
After spending several days lying on his front on the bed of a tiny basement cell in a dacha near Moscow, whilst the rear of his body healed with the aid of a corrupt doctor's expert attention, Sergei was returned to the similar country residence of his own Master near St. Petersburg. Two limousines and a private jet aircraft provided the boy's transport and, during the journey, he had been able to judge from the snowy and seasonally decorated scenes through the windows that Christmas was imminent.
Sergei was now continuing his recuperation in a more familiar tiny basement cell. As the boy did so, he was excused the generally unpleasant daily exercise sessions.
Such pardon from the daily exercise sessions, however, made the common monotony of Sergei's current existence even more acute. The boy was therefore unsure whether he should be displeased or happy about the situation.
Sergei had discovered that lengthy periods of suffering at his Master's cruel hands in the basement of the dacha, such as that endured on the day of his induction, were actually quite rare, as were the man's perverse parties. Despite his clear cruel lust for his four slaveboys, the multi- millionaire simply did not appear to be present at his country residence with them very often.
Sergei would have known if he was being left alone whilst one of the other three slaveboys suffered nearby because the walls in the basement did not seem to be too thick. The sound of music coming from the entertainment room or of screams from the torture chamber could readily be heard.
Sergei judged correctly that his Master remained a working multi-millionaire, who committed himself to a very hectic business schedule, as well as social life. The boy therefore rightly presumed that the allures of making more money and of enjoying events elsewhere were somehow often greater for the man than the attractions offered by his four exceptionally beautiful young slaves in the basement of his country dacha.
Sergei by now knew that his Master compensated for his absence from his dacha by frequently being accompanied by one of his young slaves on his business and other excursions. The selected boy would act in public places as a valet, just as Yuri had done during the man's recent trip to New York.
Sergei himself had so far not yet been chosen for the privilege, apart from his recent horrible and injurious trip to Moscow for a fraternity event. However, the boy's failure to be selected for another trip would soon end and again he would not enjoy the experience.
Given his Master's frequent absences, much of Sergei's first three months of service for the sadist had therefore actually largely been filled with immense monotony. Such boredom was interspersed with only occasional bouts of humiliation and suffering of varying length and cruelty at the hands of the man or his staff.
The staff tended not to overplay their employer's generosity in being willing to share his young slaves' sexual services. They were keen not to damage the boys in some way through overuse, which might engender their boss' anger and so endanger their lucrative jobs.
Consequently, Sergei found that most of his time was spent alone in his tiny cell, naked apart from the cruel transparent chastity cage encasing his genitals. At such times, the daily routine was always monotonously the same.
The boring schedule did, though, provide Sergei with the only way in which he could guess the approximate time. The boy would not otherwise have been able to make a decent judgement because his tiny accommodation was windowless and the cell's fluorescent light was never switched off to indicate day or night
The usual routine would begin with an order, which normally woke Sergei and was conveyed over the intercom, for the boy to cleanse and groom himself in readiness for the doctor's daily visit. The physician would be calling to perform the customary health and welfare checks and supervise the usual enemas. He also now caused the young slave a lot of pain as well as shame by applying the stinging depilatory solution to appropriate areas on the 14 year-old's perfect body.
The doctor would invariably temporarily remove Sergei's transparent perspex genital chastity cage for the purpose of applying the stinging solution to the boy's smooth sexual organs. The young slave's frustrated cock inevitably celebrated the brief freedom from tight restriction in spiked plastic by immediately rising to full erection, aided by his generally recently unsatisfied raging teenage hormones, which were further stimulated by the aphrodisiacs that continued to be furtively included in his diet.
Such penile hardness, however, never lasted for long, even when the doctor next began gently rubbing Sergei's genitals, using hands protected by rubber gloves. Normally such attention would be humiliating but nevertheless stimulating but not when the action signalled the smearing onto the boy's sexual organs of the stinging depilatory solution.
Despite attempting to brace himself as best he could for the resultant genital anguish, Sergei invariably uttered a low pained groan as the shiny viscous fluid, which resembled baby lotion in appearance but not effect, was applied and his sexual organs felt like they were on fire. The boy's cock would also immediately shrink to agonised flaccidity, thereby enabling the doctor subsequently to refit the chastity cage with speedy efficiency.
Afterwards, Sergei could usually not resist looking down at his freshly smeared and re-caged genitals. The boy would be rewarded by the sight of his sexual organs encased in tight- fitting plastic and now shining back at him. The fluid rubbed onto them would be reflecting the light of his cell's two main constantly switched-on sources of illumination, namely the fluorescent tube on the ceiling above and the television screen on a high corner shelf by the door.
From experience, because he had not been informed of the fact, Sergei appreciated that he would not be given any solid sustenance after the doctor finally departed if he was required for sexual service, whilst water from the tap in his cell would be his only drink. The efficiency of the enemas to which the boy had just been embarrassingly subjected was not to be marred by other consumption until his duties had been fulfilled.
Sergei could therefore now always tell whether his Master was resident or expected in the dacha. Food would quickly arrive after the doctor's daily visit if the multi- millionaire was not present or coming. Otherwise, the boy would have to wait to be fed and the delay was invariably prolonged until the man had satisfied his perverted sadistic lusts for the day.
The Master was often inconsistent and erratic in his sexual activity. The man frequently changed his mind about which slaveboys to use, in singles or multiples, and how in order to sate his lusts, and he might also require several deviant sessions before he was fully satisfied.
Consequently, confirmation that the Master had finally sated his perverted appetites for the day could arrive late and only then would an unused boy be stood down from waiting to be summoned. Whether any appetites, for food rather than sex, possessed by the young slaves, used or not, would then be met depended on two factors.
One was the lateness of the hour, as the domestic staff usually could not be bothered to feed the boys beyond the early evening. The other related to the physical condition of those young slaves upon whom the Master had vented his generally cruel sexual desires, as they were often now too pained to be worried about food.
Boys, even those not summoned for sexual service by the Master, could therefore often pass the day without any sustenance whatsoever, apart from the water provided by the taps in their cells. However, the resultant feeling of starvation would be psychological rather than real. The doctor was accurately kept informed about what the young slaves did consume because he controlled their diets carefully in order to ensure their health and welfare, albeit not out of kind concern for them. His consideration was for his employer, who did not want sickly sex toys but rather pristinely lively ones.
The first indication that the Master was not resident or expected was the arrival, shortly after the departure of the doctor, of cereal in milk contained in a light plastic dish, accompanied by a spoon and a cup of the same material, with the latter filled with orange juice. Sergei correctly presumed that such fare, which would be pushed on a tray through the narrow flap at the bottom of his cell door, represented breakfast and meant that another morning had come to the outside world.
After consuming the breakfast, and returning on top of the tray a now empty plastic dish and cup and used spoon back through the narrow flap, Sergei would then have little to do other than contemplate his own thoughts whilst lying on his bed. Viewing or reading pornography by either watching the television or perusing the illustrated literature stored on the little bookshelf next to him tended to be unattractive, although not because the consistent theme was pederasty. The boy was instead reluctant to do anything that might stimulate his caged cock to want to grow and, despite still considering himself to be basically heterosexual, he now knew that the relevant scenes and words did indeed somehow induce such a reaction.
The deeply bored Sergei would wait like this for hours until the daily summons came to frequent the dacha's large well- equipped gymnasium. In addition to the boys' food and for the same reasons, the doctor also monitored the young slaves' exercise regime, as spending whole days lazily lying on beds was not good for their bodies.
On days when the young slaves were required by their Master, the boys would, of course, have no need for physical exertions other than those imposed on them by the multi- millionaire. However, when the man was away, rigorous daily exercise sessions in the dacha's gymnasium were prescribed for all expect those needing rest to help them recover from recently inflicted injuries, as Sergei was now requiring.
The large well-equipped windowless gymnasium was actually inside one of the metal doors in the sinister corridor outside the boys' cells. There, the young slaves, naked apart from their genital chastity cages, would exercise in a group under the supervision of one of the domestic staff, a big muscular brutal-looking man in his mid-50s who had once been a Red Army physical education instructor.
The exercise routine was always the same. The boys would initially have to sprint several circuits of the gymnasium, with the one coming last literally earning a black mark. Their instructor used a rubber stamp coated with indelible ink to impress a little ebony circle onto the young miscreant's right arm.
The boys subsequently practised some gymnastics. They attempted to use a horizontal bar and then rings to pull themselves up from the floor, which was covered in cushioned matting, and also indulged in rope-climbing, walking along a narrow beam, which required good balance, and vaulting over a wooden horse. The associated energetic floor exercises, conducted to the instructor's accompanying shouted orders, included handstands and summersaults.
Fortunately, most healthy Russian boys are accustomed to performing such gymnastics at school and so the four young slaves all proved at least competent at these exercises, thereby earning few further black marks for errors. However, when they first practised in their current states, they also felt rather peculiar doing so wearing their leather slave collars, wristlets and anklets, plus their genital chastity cages, silver nipple and cock rings and little frenum barbells of the same precious metal on the underside of their penises.
This impression of peculiarity was exacerbated when, due to their energetic movements, particularly whilst inverting themselves for a handstand or summersault, the boys' nipple- rings also flipped around, sometimes uncomfortably so. However, they eventually became accustomed to exercising whilst so adorned with the regalia that their Master had deemed appropriate for his young slaves.
After the gymnastics, further sprinting was required, this time on the moving platforms of running machines, which was followed by ones simulating cycling and rowing. In each new session, the instructor would establish slightly higher targets for the boys to accomplish on this equipment, in terms of distance achieved in a fixed time. He also set similarly increasing goals for the subsequent lifting of weights.
Further sprinting of circuits around the gymnasium was immediately followed by four now sweaty and tired bodies, all usually displaying at least one black mark on their right arms, literally making a splash. An adjacent basement chamber, directly accessed through a broad door-less arched entrance, contained a swimming pool, about 15 yards long by 10 wide, which was full of very cold water, whose temperature was deliberately kept low by special refrigeration equipment. The Master did not want to spoil his slaveboys by providing fun amenities.
All of the boys loved swimming but not in this freezing water, into which they, however, did not dare to hesitate to dive and which was perfumed to make unnecessary any subsequent need for a shower to restore their bodies to sweat-less sweet-smelling perfection after their rigorous exercises. The performance of the chilling breaststroke over several lengths of the pool concluded the session's formal components and so the young slaves were naturally happy for two reasons to finish their race as quickly as possible.
First, the boys could then haul themselves out of the cold water. Second, the young slaves could begin to recover from their inevitable exhaustion without having to face other tiring physical challenges.
Unfortunately, one of the boys tended to be less happy than the others at the conclusion of the session. He was, of course, the one displaying the most black marks on his right arm.
The instructor liked to vary the suffering now to be endured by the worst performer during the day's exercise session, whose identity would be determined by another tie-breaking length swum in the freezing pool if there had been a draw. The cruel man also proved to be quite inventive in using the gymnasium equipment for the purpose.
One example of such cruel ingenuity was demonstrated on the sole occasion so far that the naturally very fit and athletic Sergei had earned most black marks. The boy had done so mainly because he had hurt an ankle during one of the vigorous exercises. The injury was only slight and did not linger too long in the wake of the session, especially after the doctor had treated it with liniment and massage, but it had hindered his capabilities at the time.
Whilst the other boys watched, the instructor removed Sergei's genital chastity cage and padlocked his leather wristlets to the gymnastics rings, adjusted so that the 14 year-old was uncomfortably suspended above the floor. The man then fixed a little but strong metal clip, located at the end of a length of sturdy cord, to his young victim's cockring.
This cord was usually utilised to tie the thicker climbing ropes out of the way to the walls when they were not in use. However, on this occasion, the instructor found another use and began to pull.
Sergei's naked body, on which his released penis had as usual become erect to celebrate its temporary freedom, was consequently drawn by his genitals in the direction in which the cord was being pulled. In response, acute agony immediately overwhelmed the groin of the boy, who began to believe that either his sexual organs would be ripped off him or the cockring would be. He did not think that the latter option would be much better, as the circumference was so narrow that surely his balls would in the process be crushed or torn away too.
In the event, none of these threats actually materialised. By the time that the sadistic instructor had pulled Sergei's naked form by the boy's genitals to an angle of about 45° to the floor, and tied the cord to the study horizontal bar apparatus to keep the young slave there, the 14 year-old's sexual organs were still in place, albeit excruciatingly so.
Before removing the black marks on the boys' arms with special solvent, the instructor normally concluded the exercise sessions by requiring the young slave who had earned the most to offer his orifices either for sodomy or fellatio. However, Sergei's anus and mouth had at the time still been his Master's exclusive preserve and so the man had required the second worst athlete on the day to fulfil the function.
Whilst a tearful Sergei, who somehow avoided begging for mercy because of the proscriptions against talking without permission and exhibiting cowardice, breaking either of which would only incur further punishment, remained agonising stretched in the air by his genitals, Sasha was therefore being sodomised. The instructor again found use for a piece of gymnastics equipment for the purpose. The sex act proceeded whilst the boy was resting facedown over the vaulting horse.
After eventually returning to their cells very tired and possibly also still very hurt after the daily exercise session, a midday luncheon of cold sandwiches would be delivered to the boys. However, a hot evening dinner was later supplied, after a long afternoon boringly spent lying on the bed, unless a salad had been deemed more appropriate according to the careful dietary calculations of the doctor. This final meal of the day would be provided on a plastic tray, with multiple compartments to house the various ingredients, and be eaten with cutlery and be washed down with juice in a cup made of the same cheap material.
Sergei did not believe that his multi-millionaire Master was being parsimonious by providing only plastic utensils. The boy instead thought that safety was a more likely reason, including ensuring that the young slaves did not attempt any self-harm, given the miserable nature of their existences.
Sleep, frequently fitful and often induced not only by tiredness but also by the utter monotony of such a life, would subsequently eventually overwhelm the boys until the whole daily cycle restarted. Given this routine, there should be little surprise that the young slaves were often unsure whether they were displeased or happy at being excused the exercise sessions in order to assist their recuperation from injuries.
Sergei was now in such a dilemma, not knowing whether
recuperating from injuries in such a boring manner was
better than being subjected to the daily gymnastics sessions
or even his Master's perversions, either of which at least
broke the monotony. The boy's associated melancholy about
his present circumstances was made worse by the fact that he
knew that many people in the outside world were celebrating
and enjoying Christmas.
(Agadez Départment, Niger, Africa, same time)
Robert, who had been comprehensively inoculated in New York against African diseases, and his father spent several pre- Christmas days in Niger's capital, Niamey. This city was in the relatively fertile and agricultural southwest of the country, which was watered by the river after which the nation had been named and its tributaries.
Currently being winter in the Northern Hemisphere and close to Christmas did not really affect the prevailing climate in Niger. The country being situated on the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert ensured that the weather was extremely hot.
In Niamey, Robert's father had vociferously and publicly criticised local politicians for being ineffective about a certain social evil still extant in their country. The man's views were later reported in the 'New York Times' and other distinguished media throughout the world.
Robert and his father had then relocated, via a locally hired four-seat private light aircraft, to the dusty ramshackle town of Agadez in the eponymous desert-like northern region, or 'départment', of Niger. In doing so, they had flown over the vast country's central zone of pasturage.
Robert and his father subsequently flew from Agadez's rundown airstrip, heading for the far northeast of Niger and the remote town of Madama, which was located on a plateau fringing the southern Sahara. They proposed to use the place as a base from which to locate nomadic Tuareg tribesmen and check firsthand on the continued existence of a certain social evil. Unfortunately, their light aircraft never completed the journey.
The first time that the shocked pilot realised that he was out of fuel was when the aircraft's single engine began to splutter, whilst they flew over the Ténéré du Tafassasset Desert. The relevant storage tank had been deliberately under-filled and the associated gauge sabotaged to provide a false reading. Some of Niger's politicians had not liked criticism from such an important man as Robert's father, which threatened their international aid, much of which actually corruptly went into their own pockets.
"I'm going to have to make a crash landing," the pilot had then announced, whilst desperately searching the arid rocky terrain below for a suitable spot on which to do so. He had already found that the radio was also no longer working and so no distress call could be made.
Unfortunately, nowhere below appeared ideal for the crash
landing. Consequently, the pilot was eventually forced to
glide towards an area that he knew meant trouble, although
hopefully less than if he made an alternative choice.
As the aircraft descended, Robert's father climbed from the
front double-seat to his son's similar sitting position
behind and covered the boy with his own body, completing his
action just as the aircraft hit the ground.
(Ténéré du Tafassasset Desert, Agadez Départment, Niger, Africa, 1 hour later)
When Robert finally regained consciousness, about an hour after the crash, he instantly knew from the chill on his father's face and hands that his parent was dead. Sight of the man's still-open but lifeless eyes had then confirmed the boy's deeply distressing diagnosis.
The greatly grieving and copiously tearful Robert had, apart from receiving a knock on the head that had rendered him temporarily unconscious, miraculously survived the crash unharmed, thanks to the selfless protection of his father's body. However, the boy realised that he was still in grave danger when he next discovered that the pilot too was dead and that the now roofless aircraft was a complete wreck in the middle of a virtually uninhabited desert.
Despite this realisation, Robert was for a while in the immediate aftermath of the crash incapable of doing anything other than cry whilst hugging his dead father. However, the boy's bright mind eventually recovered sufficiently from his acute anguish to enable him to decide that he could not remain where he was presently located.
The usual extremely cold desert night would soon descend and Robert therefore reckoned that he had to seek better shelter and preferably help before he froze to death. The immensely sad boy actually would not have minded to exit life at that moment, having now just lost his beloved father to become an orphan. However, he knew that his late parents would not want him to die so young in such circumstances and so he motivated himself at least to attempt to save himself for their sake. He was helped by the thought that they would want him eventually to carry on with their charitable causes, which he now pledged to do in their honour and memory.
Collecting the aircraft's rather small, light and inadequately equipped emergency supply case, Robert therefore set off to walk across the surrounding rocky desert plain, guessing the best direction to take and reluctantly leaving the dead bodies of his father and the pilot behind. The boy, copious tears falling onto the sandy surface at his feet, had previously done his best to cover the corpses with loosened panelling in order to try to protect them from the various scavengers that undoubtedly roamed this arid environment. However, the young American was unsure how effective his efforts would prove to be when challenged by voracious carrion-eaters.
At the time of the crash, Robert had been wearing only a thin red t-shirt and a pair of light blue jeans, with black briefs underneath, plus brown sandals without socks. However, the boy wisely supplemented this attire by carrying some items retrieved from his suitcase before he began to traverse the surrounding desert. He thought that he would need to wear the extra garments to protect him from the overnight cold if he could find no quick assistance.
Robert's most immediate worry, however, was the fact that the aircraft's emergency water container had split during the crash, wastefully spilling the contents. Apart from that contained in a little bottle in the small supply case the boy was also carrying, he therefore had no supply of the precious liquid to save him from rapidly dying of thirst.
Consequently, the need for Robert to find speedy help was
urgent.
(Ténéré du Tafassasset Desert, Agadez Départment, Niger, Africa, 2 days later, Christmas Day 1999)
Robert had needed his spare clothing, as he had just spent his second freezing night, which happened to be Christmas Eve, under the cloudless starry African sky, with only a shallow rock crevice sheltering him from the chilling sandy wind. However, the boy, as he fitfully attempted to sleep in such circumstances, considered the howls and other sounds of sinister animals to be the most disturbing elements of his current distressful plight, especially as he appeared to be the only human to share their habitat.
Nevertheless, as a rather bedraggled Robert awoke at dawn on Christmas Day, not to the prospect of opening presents but to resume his northerly walk through a desert, he did appreciate that his main worry for the daytime was his now complete lack of water. The staggering struggling boy, who was plagued by flies and was accompanied by vultures circling him overhead and the likes of hyenas tracking him at a respectful distance, correctly doubted that he would survive long without a taste of the precious liquid.
The best Christmas Day presents that Robert could now obtain for himself were water and safety. Unfortunately, the boy was only to secure one of these desires.
The relentless sun was later high in the cloudless sky when the now very slow and comprehensively sweat-covered Robert experienced his first mirage. After the hopeful boy eventually staggered to the scene where he expected to discover tents located near to a little green oasis, he instead disappointingly found nothing but dry rock and sand.
Robert's confusion and distress then caused him to begin unthinkingly to drop the items he was carrying. The delusional boy also eventually encountered three more mirages during the course of the long hot afternoon.
Robert had therefore decided to ignore the latest tents that appeared before his tormented eyes, believing them to be a mirage too, until a brown-skinned man, attired in a blue indigo-dyed Arab-like robe with veiled head-dress, and mounted on an ornate saddle on a camel, came riding out to meet him. As the adult did so, the white boy was just beginning to collapse to his knees.
After apparently asking some unanswered queries in an indecipherable language, which Robert was later to discover was called 'Temajeg', the mounted man, armed with a sheathed sword in a scabbard, eventually gave up his questions in favour of dragging Robert onto his camel. He then rode with his young prize back to the local assembly of goatskin tents.
Some subsequent shouts resulted in the appearance from inside a tent of an older similarly dressed and armed man. Robert was later to discover that this adult was the leader of the inter-related ninety-strong Tuareg tribal group, which was currently encamped close to a waterhole and some oasis animal pasturage.
The older man, whose sole visible feature on his veiled face was his eyes, was accompanied by a rather pretty black boy of Robert's own age, who was attired only in a skimpy brown one-piece camel-hide loincloth. However, the 13 year-old also strangely displayed around his neck a broad silver- coloured steel collar, with four affixed rings at the front, back and sides, and similar smaller adornments on his wrists and ankles.
The boy's collar, wristlets and anklets were all clearly engraved with the outline of a scorpion. He also exhibited what looked like a portrayal of the same arachnid in dark paint on the middle of his chest, although the precise nature of the mark was difficult to discern because of his black skin.
The dishevelled and parched Robert was dismounted from the camel to be presented to the family elder, who began to address the white boy in disjointed French, which was the official language of Niger and which the young bilingual American could understand. In reply, the 13 year-old tried to explain his background and current distressing circumstances to the man, who rather incongruously then started to smile.
Meanwhile, the rest of the tribal family group, comprising other veiled men and unveiled women, some with headscarves, plus their offspring, gathered to surround their elder. They wanted to see the dirty white boy in a grubby t-shirt and soiled pairs of jeans and sandals, who had suddenly appeared in the midst of their encampment. As this crowd gathered, Robert noticed that other much less well-dressed adult women with blacker skin, also sporting brass wristlets and anklets, plus some similarly adorned young children continued nearby to attend to menial chores.
After hearing Robert's tale without comment, the family elder asked the boy, in his apparently very poor French, whether he would like some water. The young American naturally accepted the offer with intense enthusiasm.
The black boy in the loincloth and with the strange body ornamentation was subsequently seemingly commanded in the local tongue to run to collect a large pottery beaker full of water, with which he quickly returned. However, he did not then give the cup to Robert but instead handed it to the family elder.
The family elder proffered the beaker to the desperate Robert but only after initially addressing the white boy in the man's own Temajeg language and finally strangely concluding his brief discourse with a question in French. The latter enquired "Do you agree?"
Robert was, of course, confused by the latest exchange of words but was too desperate for the water to query the situation. The boy therefore simply replied "Oui" to whatever the man was asking, which he believed could not be of great significance. His young throat was soon rewarded for his positive answer with the delightful pleasure of receiving the much-needed refreshing contents of the cup.
Meanwhile, the black boy collected a chair for the family elder to sit on. The tribesman did so just as Robert finished his drink.
"So, American," the now sitting family elder subsequently advised Robert, in accented but suddenly surprisingly articulate French, which indicated that he had once received an excellent education somewhere, "by your own agreement and later symbolic acceptance of my life-saving water, you have pledged yourself to be my slave for life." "You may serve alongside this young Hausa," the man went on to inform, whilst referring to the black boy and simultaneously licking his lips under his veil at the thought of also being attended by the young white beauty, "as my intimate personal servant."
"Remove your clothes," the tribal elder next proceeded to command of the tricked and aghast Robert, "as you'll no longer need such garments. In future, you'll only wear, if anything, a loincloth like the young Hausa here, as well as an identical but ebony slave neck collar and similar wristlets and anklets, which will be without linking chains only when you can be trusted not to attempt to run away."
"Also like the young Hausa and my other male slaves," the tribal elder continued, "your genitals will additionally be tightly ringed and your chest will be branded with my mark, as permanent reminders of your servile status!"
The tribal elder finally concluded his shocking announcement, whilst simultaneously indicating his awareness of what day it was in the Christian calendar, by wishing the appalled Robert "Joyeux Noël!"
(To be continued in part 2 - 'Esclaves')