Worldofbaalos

A morning breeze chilled the ranks of galley slaves on the un-sheltered open deck of Gallo's galley. Tala felt her bare skin pimple and her ruby nipples harden as she woke from sleeping slumped over the great oak oar. Cool , now she thought but later when the sun beat down on her and her companions she'd boil and sweat as she labored to pull her oar through the sluggish green sea. Then the sharpness of the cool air on her skin would be a delicious memory. Gallo walked on the narrow deck raised above and between the galley slaves. His eye recorded backs  cut by the lash and mentally noted he would have that wench doused with sea water. He couldn't afford a slave to die at the oar today. And anyway the shrieks of a slave as the salt worked into the red weals improved the morale of his crew. He picked out the barbarian slut he'd purchased at the market. Pale skinned as any new slave would be, he saw how his lashmaster had enjoyed himself on her back  driving her to...

The stench of the Pits lifts when you enter the auction hall. It is a series of arenas for the display and selling off of all kinds of stock for the house, the villa, the mill, the fields or the galleys. Gallo had inspected several wenches for the oar bench and had settled on a half dozen who had the back to pull the oar for a season or even more. If he could get his coffle of galley slave flesh he would be happy to take what the Sultan's inquisitors could supply from their stock of runaways, thieves and traitors. Stock for the galleys, like that for the mill or fields, is shown to best advantage by the auctioneer. They might be hung by the wrists from the hook as most slaves are. Or more likely to be made to squat, the better to show the strength in their legs for pulling a plough or an oar. A wench destined for the galleys, the slave squats to show the strength in her thighs for when her whole body needs to take the weight of the oar cutting into the water. T...

Inspecting new flesh is an art said Gallo. A slave may be artfully presented by the slavers, hanging from a hook, their limbs oiled and torches lit to cast shadows over musculature. But Gallo knew you needed to inspect stock in the Pits  closely before bidding. This fresh slave from the Northern Lands seemed healthy. She will do for the oar bench for a few seasons Gallo and his nephew, pomades to their noses, ventured into the Pits. Slaves were displayed in chains. Some stretched from high rings. Their bodies shining from sweat triggered by the humid heat of the deep dungeons or fear of servitude. Gallo enjoyed to see the freshest of stock, new captives being broken into slaves. He enjoyed explaining to his nephew how new slaves were yoked so they couldn't feed or touch themselves. They learnt how their bodies were no longer their property but that of their masters. A new captive is locked in a slavers yoke to break their spirit and allow bidders to in...

Although retired, Gallo still knew how to fit out a galley for a voyage. Looking down the oar deck, he noted too many narrow backs of runaways or thieves spared the cross but sentenced to pull a galley oar. A few broader tanned backs of field slaves were dotted almost rows of slaves who pulled on the oars at the drumbeat of the oar master. A liberal use of the lash helped keep the slower slaves match the pace of the stronger wenches, the extra exertion glossing their naked hides with oily sweat. "You need new flesh", Gallo shouted to his nephew who owned the galley Hispe. The young man nodded. Hispe was a day from port so a new stock of slaves would need to wait. Until then these  galley slaves would have to do, even if it meant flaying their backs to make today's run. Free flesh from the Inquisitors was something no galley owner could turn down. But a captain soon despaired of having too many runaway household slaves pulling their oars, making their whip...