Chapter 1

 

My name is Dinka and I am the emperor's Chief Executioner.

No, I don't actually execute people, although I do authorise such events when called for. My chief role is to see that His Majesty's wishes are carried out, particularly in the areas of law and order and security of the empire. As his cousin, the only son of his father's younger brother, it is an almost hereditary function, particularly as I am also his heir, crown prince, since he has not yet had any children by any of his wives.

The empire I refer to is Mali, recreated by our great-great grandfather back in 2030 out of the ruins of a strife-torn Nigeria. The ancient Mali Empire ruled over quite a large slice of Western Africa but the present reincarnation is much, much bigger. It encompasses most of black Africa north of the equator and many of the leaders of our southern neighbours are making discreet moves to join up with us since our nation is peaceful, stable and prosperous, something that has been lacking in Africa for a hundred years.

Our founding ancestor was not only a great man but a very wise one. He created a constitution that allows a strong and wise emperor to exert a guiding hand over the empire's fortunes while leaving the minutiae of government to democratic institutions. But he also recognised not all his successors would be wise, and/or strong and therefore provided for a mechanism by which members of his family could quietly relegate him to a ceremonial role while continuing the fiction of his rule, but in fact exercising his supreme power in the form of an invisible regency council. As long as he didn't make waves or plot to overthrow them, he was permitted to continue as emperor.

The power has only been exercised once, against my grandfather and no-one in the empire outside of our family were any the wiser that it wasn't him exercising the power of the imperial crown

 

I was having a rare night at home with my beautiful wife, the Princess Mamlaka, and we had decided to retire early with our little son, Mzazi. We both believe in the axiom: a healthy mind in a healthy body and both of us are still very athletic, perhaps even muscular, in keeping with our West African ancestry but also by dint of a lot of effort and a healthy diet. This fitness means that sex for us is a beautiful thing and one we are able to indulge in every night. Not this night though.

With little Mzazi ensconced between us, while we were still naked, as was our wont when retiring, we were just loving him when the wall screen opposite our bed suddenly came alive and the emperor's face grinned in at us.

"Majesty," we both said, almost in unison but we made no attempt to cover our naked bodies. He had seen it all before. I should say here that only the emperor (and me, as head of state security) could access anyone's wall screen and so see into their lives without their permission. Our society was ordered but it was not overly intrusive of a citizen's life.

Our handsome ruler held up his hand. "We are alone, my friends, you may drop the protocol... I am very sorry to intrude on one of your few nights at home, Dinka, but I'm afraid you must come to the palace at once. There has been an uprising in the Province of Dahomey and I think your personal attention may be required. No rush, use your trap since I know you prefer it to the transporter..."

"At once, Uzazi," I said, bounding out of bed, aware that his eyes were on my body which I made no attempt to hide from him. We are both bisexual, as is my wife and while we all prefer making love with the opposite sex, an occasional homosexual encounter can be quite diverting. Uzazi and I had experimented when we were young and I knew he still admired my body.

As soon as he broke the connection, I spoke to the house computer, asking for my valet and my trap to be brought around to the front door. We didn't live in the imperial palace but had a smaller palace of our own, not far away. My valet appeared in seconds and, when apprised of my need to go to the palace, quickly brought out a suitable skirt and sandals, the only garments I required.

The skirt was made of white linen, edged with gold, marking my rank and the dress-sandals were also gold. The skirt sat low on my hips and came down to my mid thighs, showing off my athletic body to a tee. Not that I affected this apparel for that reason. It was standard attire for all courtiers and even for the emperor himself, although his skirt was plain white, with no adornment of any kind, its simplicity marking his rank as emperor.

Our citizens, many going about in only the single brief garment (and particularly those close to the emperor) were therefore required to keep their bodies trim and pleasing. A fat half-naked courtier would clearly look dreadful and so, even into old age, the members of the court were all lean and trim.

I kissed my little son and Mamlaka goodbye, telling her it might be a long night and also that it looked as if I would be going away for a while. She made a moue at me but she accepted it, knowing I was second only to the emperor in the vast lands he ruled and that sacrifices had to be made...

As I emerged from the front door my trap was just pulling up. It had no driver. It didn't need one since it was being pulled by two slaves.

The empire has no prisons. My great-great grandfather early recognised that they were useless as crime-stoppers. The only people who are kept in custody, therefore, are the criminally insane persons who would be a danger to others if free and if they are certified as incurable, then they are quietly put to sleep, as much for themselves as for their families and the rest of the population.

Instead of prisons, the first emperor reinstated slavery. Commit a serious crime and you end up as a slave. Five years is the minimum but it may be for life. On conviction and sentence, you are stripped naked and remain that way for the duration of your sentence; depilated nude from eyelashes to toes and then put on the block to be sold to the highest bidder.

My two ponies, therefore, were humans and since I have a penchant for the exotic, they were a pair of blond Caucasian types. Both were well-built, tall and athletic, have firm breasts and muscular thighs; perfect for human ponies.

I leapt up onto the seat of the trap, sat back and ordered them to take me to the palace, flat out!

They glanced at each other but sensing the urgency, took off, in perfect unison, their muscular thighs rising high, muscly buttocks clenching and softening and breasts rising and falling rhythmically with each step (yes, I could see them just around the sides of their torsos as their upper bodies swung from side to side with each step.)

They were a well-trained pair, my groom being skilled in training human beings to perform as naked pony-girls. It was a popular use of slaves, although not everyone used females, of course. Where a person needed the greater strength of a male slave, say for long distance work, or to carry more than one passenger, young male criminals filled the bill nicely.

I should mention here that the slaves were not harnessed to the carts by means of wrist cuffs or waist belts. Certainly not. They were being punished and they had to show to the rest of the people how bad their punishment was. Accordingly, it was decreed years ago that they be attached to the traps by means of dildos: two in the case of a female, and one dildo and a genital cuff for the males..

The traps were fairly light. Just a pair of narrow high wheels, like ancient bicycle wheels, and an axle between them with a light seat bolted to it. A pole then came out under the seat and divided in two. About a foot back from the decorative ends of the poles were fitted the anal dildo with either the vaginal dildo or genital cuff attached in front of it.

My two ponies had to harness themselves to it, first drawing the anal dildo into their rectums and then, while holding the two poles up with one hand, slide the frontal dildo down the pole, inserting it into their vaginas as they did so. Once both dildos were fully inside, they could then reach down under their pole and turn the screw that locked the front dildo to the pole, thus ensuring neither could come out.

They had to have a lot of training to accommodate their bodies to these intruders but my two slaves were adept at it now and suffered only a small discomfort from the action of the two large rubber things in their nether orifices. The thing was though, they were very obvious to everyone in the streets and the shame of being harnessed in this way added to their punishment.

In the case of the males, the frontal cuff that went around their whole genital package (scrotum as well as penile root) were required to be tightened just a shade more than comfortable so that once they had erected their penises, also a mandatory requirement, they stayed that way until the cuffs were released, adding to the shame they experienced out in the streets, their rigid boners now waving from side to side like the arm of a metronome with each step.

You may now be able to understand why I vastly preferred this method of transportation than the transporter the emperor referred to. Not that I have anything against those marvels of our modern age. They have made the old super highways quite obsolete for goods and people can so easily be transported electronically in an instant. This has made communication with the rest of the world a matter of seconds instead of hours or even days.

Nevertheless, for local movement, I far prefer my trap and so do the vast majority of people, at least those who can afford the rather high cost of a pair of slaves to haul their trap. For those who can afford only one or two slaves, they tend to prefer to use them as domestics rather than ponies. Still, there are enough with the means to do so to make them a common sight on the capital's streets.

Of course the emperor doesn't use a trap, at least not for state occasions. For them he has a large carriage, rather like those used in the Nineteenth Century and pulled by four or more powerful horses. We don't use horses or at least not equine ones. The emperor's carriage is hauled by a dozen matched human ponies, all very tall and very, very powerful. They have been denuded of every last hair on their bodies, from tip to toe and wear plumes in the imperial colours, royal blue and gold on the top of their heads. It is an extraordinary sight to see a dozen stark naked male slaves, all magnificent specimens, all with large penises rampantly erect and swinging from side to side, all in unison in perfect time with their legs.

But I was quite happy with my own pair of beautiful white ponies. They might not have been the splendid specimens used by the emperor but I am not complaining.

I arrived at the palace at nine and my trap was admitted through the household gate. There were guards in attendance, of course, but they were purely ceremonial. The electronic protection surrounding the palace was quite sufficient to prevent even a nuclear missile from penetrating, if such weapons had still been in use on the Earth.

The guards all wore a facsimile of my skirt except theirs were in the imperial colours. They were a mixture of male and female and even the female guards wore only the skirt, their splendid breasts on open display.

By this you will have realised we are very proud of our bodies and shield only our genitals from public display. This adds to the citizen's desire to keep his or her body in fine trim and you therefore see very few fat people around.

At this hour, there were few courtiers around. Only the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary were in attendance on my cousin.

"Ah, Dinka, come in," he said as I was ushered through the door to his private study.

The Prime Minister, who was also a cousin of ours although rather more distant, briefed me on the situation. It seemed there had been a palace coup and the provincial governor had been kidnapped together with his principal officers, including the police chief, and the TV stations had been taken over. The police were now under the control of the deputy who had been bribed with the offer of the chief's job once things were stabilised.

Of course it was all ridiculous. We were already transporting thousands of troops into the provincial capital and in an hour or so, it would be back in our hands, hopefully with the governor and his people safe.

"What I want you to do, Dinka," said the emperor, "is to go there immediately. The rebels must be made an example of. Spare no remedy within the law to punish them. There will be no court hearings since they have placed themselves outside the law by their actions. Make the punishments appropriate but also very, very rigorous.

"They have been guilty of treason and death is the appropriate penalty. I would prefer it, however, if you were to devise an even worse penalty than mere death. Make it as shameful as you can, make it last a week or more and in the end, consign them to ultra-hard labour for the rest of their lives."

"Yes, Majesty," I said bowing my head in obeisance and glancing at the PM before leaving the room.

I knew my cousin was not a cruel man. Indeed, he was often very lenient towards his enemies but this time, I knew he had hit the right note. His government was benign and promoted prosperity for all its citizens. There was no freedom these rebels sought. It was just a grab for power and as such needed to be put down ruthlessly.

I would do just that.

I returned home to tell Mamlaka I would be gone for a few days, perhaps a week and then prepared myself for transportation.

This is a perfectly simple operation. You merely dial in the location you wish to move to and then activate the device. You feel nothing and are instantly (or at least at the speed of light) in your desired location, in this case the army camp General Yayo had already set up for his troops to retake the capital. As I arrived, he greeted me and advised that the rebels were already in custody.

He paused a moment or two, grinned and then invited me to guess who the leader was.

"Not Kwenu?" I said,

"Kwenu," he confirmed, grinning hugely now. He well knew I had had a run-in with this magnificent creature once before. She could have been anything she wanted within the system. She is an aristocrat but she has been a rebel all her life. Her previous brush with the government had been back in the imperial capital where she had openly scorned the emperor. He had been magnanimous towards her, merely requiring her to make a public apology to him.

I grinned now as I realised I was going to be punishing her this time and I actually relished the task.

I am not sadistic. Not really. Mamlaka and I play at little games such as spanking and the like but it is only sexual foreplay. But the emperor had been specific. He wanted these rebels made an example of and I would do just that.

She was really a striking person. Tall, of course, like all who come from the aristocrat class but she was also strikingly athletic. Not to the extent achieved by those former body-builders. She certainly wasn't gross, but her body was spectacular and I was looking forward to seeing her stripped stark naked. She wasn't really beautiful, not in the classic sense, but she had high cheek bones, really black eyes around perfectly white surrounds and her skin was pure milk chocolate and as smooth as silk.

"Who are her lieutenants?" I asked the general. He gave me the names of a man and woman both of which were known to me as trouble makers of greater or lesser degree.

"And how many troops?"

"Only a few dozen," he said. "How she hoped to be successful is a mystery. She must have known we would have her and her underlings within hours..."

"She is a born rebel, General. Well, she's done it this time. His majesty has directed me to be most rigorous in devising punishments for them all."

"What will you do to them, Your Highness?" he asked.

I smiled. "I don't know, yet. I want to see them first, talk to them. Find out the answers to the questions you have just raised. I will know what to do when the time comes, though."

"I'm sure you will. You always do," he added with a smile.