Chapter 7: Tessa. Monday Week 3

Jessica, Sandra and I meet in ‘the hole’ after a long and difficult second game. We at least achieved a tie today, compared to the comprehensive defeat yesterday. The only reason the first game lasted until four o’clock in the afternoon was because the mistresses were initially no better organised than the slaves. At least the first game gave us an insight as to who among us can be relied on in a difficult situation.

Jessica was right when she said that the mistresses would target any slave they considered to be a leader. By the end of the second game, Jessica and four other slaves are having to play while locked in shackles. The restraints slow them down considerably, and intimidate several other slaves from being more adventurous. So far I’ve kept my head down and not attracted any undue attention from the mistresses.

“I can’t see how we are going to win a game,” says Jessica, easing the marks on her wrists and ankles now that she’s free of the shackles. “The best we’ve done is three areas controlled at a time.”

“I agree,” replies Sandra. “I’m also not sure how many of us are trying to win the game. Some are more eager to perform the sexually oriented tasks.”

I admit that I also enjoy some of the sexy tasks. Oiling each other with baby oil was a lot of fun even if it earned the mistresses points to our detriment. Matching and fitting coloured condoms to painted wooden cocks was also fun, even though of no practical use in my life.

“And then there are the timid ones who forfeit points rather than face a spanking,” adds Jessica.

“There must be some way of winning,” says Sandra. “Whoever designed the game must have anticipated the challenges we face.”

Perhaps, although this is the first time these games have been run, so at lot of the rules are untested. The tactics employed by the mistresses have worked far more successfully than ours. Where possible, they rope us together, with the most timid of our group at the ends. Those in the middle can’t free themselves without the cooperation of one of the end slaves. If the task makes it impractical to have us confined in a coffle, then extra mistresses supervise our work. They don’t bother guarding the areas we need to capture, but instead have a roving squad of mistresses to recapture anything we take.

“How do the mistresses know if an area is captured if they aren’t standing guard?” asks Sandra.

“Perhaps they don’t,” muses Jessica. “Maybe they simply patrol each area in turn.”

“Or there’s a central monitoring station somewhere that indicates the areas that are controlled by each side,” I say. “After all, how will the referees establish that all areas are captured at the same time? There are only six referees, and one of them supervises the punishments. The referees can’t be everywhere.”

“Yes! That makes sense,” says Jessica. “But where would such a monitor be located?”

“Clearly where a referee is stationed, and somewhere accessible to the mistresses,” replies Sandra.

“The dungeon!” the three of us conclude at the same time.

We can’t access inside the dungeon at the moment as it is only used during a game. However we can see where the referee is stationed through the metal grill. There’s a small panel of lights on the wall behind where the referee sits. Odds on that’s the indicator panel we are looking for, although we can’t be sure until tomorrow. Of course, having gained that knowledge, there remains the question of what to do with it.

The referees had called an end to today’s game just before seven o’clock even though we hadn’t completed all twenty-four tasks. By that stage it was obvious that time penalties would deny the mistresses a winning score even if the last of the tasks were completed. Thankfully we learned from our mistakes yesterday and avoided risking lily-livered slaves being sent to the dungeon. The forfeited points for avoiding a spanking helped the mistresses to a resounding victory yesterday. Today we didn’t try guarding every captured area, so only a few stout-hearted slaves were sent to the dungeon and endured their punishment.

I remain with Jessica and Sandra as we have something to eat and then take a short break in ‘the hole’. Although we are a long way off winning a game, the festive mood hasn’t diminished so far. Many regard achieving a tie as a moral victory for the slaves, and given our disadvantages, perhaps it is. We are learning from our mistakes, although I’m sure the mistresses are doing the same.

Tonight I’m invited into Jessica’s bed. It’s no different from mine, but at least both beds either side of her are empty tonight. After the frolics of the last two nights, I feel I have a better understanding of Jessica’s preferences when it comes to sex. She’s far more experienced with this lifestyle than me, and my naïvety must be obvious. My clumsy attempts at cunnilingus are tolerated, and with her guidance my technique is improving. In exchange I let her satisfy her fetish for binding my arms behind me. While I like bondage play, my past experiences haven’t included overtly sexual acts while I’m bound. It’s another new experience for me.

We fall asleep in a tangle of arms and legs. At least Jessica unbinds my arms before she falls asleep. Last night I had to endure several hours of discomfort before she woke in the night and realised her mistake. However, she made amends in the morning by taking my turn to tidy the kitchen after breakfast.

Today we are all ready by the time the game starts at eight o’clock. As occurred yesterday, we are let out of the slave quarters in small groups and herded into a room. There we are roped together into six groups of six slaves and one group of four. Shackles are placed on Jessica and five other slaves, one more than yesterday. Since I’m not a regular member, there are few people on either team who know me. Consequently, it’s easy for me to keep a low profile. The mistresses obviously consider me to be ‘safe’, so I’m placed at the end of a coffle of six. Two mistresses, Madame Celia and Madame Yasmine, come and lead us away to our first task.

We are the second group to be marched from the room, so I don’t know if all the other groups are taken away like us. If all seven groups of slaves are supervised by a pair of mistresses, and assuming one mistress is on duty in the dungeon, then all the mistresses are fully assigned. That means that there’s no roving squad of mistresses to recapture any seized areas. This appears to be a change of tactics, probably in response to our own change of game-plan yesterday.

The task we are being set is in the Roman market in Basement One. It’s one of the more boring tasks ... picking up scores of small cubes and stacking them neatly into several wooden boxes only just large enough to take them all. We could do the job a lot faster if we weren’t roped together, but that would also increase the likelihood of one or more of us slipping away. One of the lamps we need to target is nearby, but seizing that in isolation to any of the others would be pointless. However, this is likely to be the only time we will be brought into this room to work, so it’s an opportunity to be considered.

I need to confirm that the panel we saw in the dungeon is monitoring the status of the lamps. As we work our way towards the cubes scattered closest to the lamp, I take the opportunity to study the target area. The lamp is on a large table. Fastened to the lampshade is a small device with a data cable running from it that soon disappears into the fake building façades that line that side of the room. I now recall seeing a woman electrician installing the data line a week or so ago while I was on a working party in here. Intuition tells me that the device is a light detector that sends a signal to the monitoring station if it detects the lamp is on. It’s an interesting discovery, but I’m unsure how it helps us.

On impulse I unfasten my rope bonds and make a dash for the lamp. As I anticipated, the average mistress is incapable of securely fastening a rope tie. The rest of my coffle stops work and watches in bemusement. Like me, they know my escape is pointless.

“Stand still, Slave!” orders Madame Celia as soon as she sees me.

I disobey and flip the light on. I stand defiantly in front of the lamp as the two mistresses look at me in disbelief. They tell the rest of the slaves to lie face down on the floor with their hands on the backs of their heads. The slaves obey, and Madame Celia then turns her attention to me.