Melissa’s scream echoed throughout the dark hall. Qwang Gui had outdone himself this time. The bondage machine she was strapped into was truly painful. More painful than anything she had yet encountered. The machine was simple enough, consisting of nothing more than a table high platform with a padded wooden beam across the middle and two metal stanchions about two feet in height bolted to one end of it. it was the application of this simple apparatus that was so painful.

Qwang Gui had ordered her to strip, and she had dutifully obeyed. Then he had instructed her to climb onto the platform and lie across the padded beam. She had done so without hesitation, just as she had done many times since meeting the Shang lord. As her back arched across the padded beam she experienced the usual feeling of helplessness and resignation. To disobey Qwang Gui was unthinkable. All thoughts of resistance had long since been driven out of her. She simply did as she was told and hoped that the experience would not be too painful or drawn out. But she had made a mistake the previous day. She had returned from her daily workout with Chang Jao somewhat elated. That day she had completed all of her exercises and routines without the usual sense of awkwardness she usually felt. Instead everything she had been learning seemed to flow together. It was the third month of her training and finally things seemed to click into place.

The long ocean voyage had finally ended and the ship had reached the Shang Empire. The black ship had sailed into a harbour magnificent beyond anything she could have imagined. It was the Shang port of Chinwa and it had taken her breath away. A giant city spread beyond the waterfront, greater than any city of her world. It made Slandor look like a hamlet, and the crowed harbour with its thousands of ships of all sizes simply dazzled her.

She had been taken to Qwang Gui’s palace. It turned out that the Shang lord was much more important than she had realized. As the ship was offloaded, she had looked for some sight of Vandar, but was unable to spot him anywhere. Then Qwang Gui climbed aboard a litter carried by a dozen slaves. Melissa had been forced jog alongside, a metal collar about her neck and a chain connecting her to the litter. She had been ordered to remove her clothing so that as she passed through the crowded streets of the Shang city hundreds of heads turned to see the incredible spectacle of a naked red-headed woman being paraded before them.

Upon reaching the palace, she had been assigned a room close to Qwang Gui’s where he could have easy access to her and she could continue to serve him. However, for most of her time in the palace, she never saw the Shang lord, at least not during the day. Instead she spent up to twelve hours a day with Chang Jao, training constantly. The remainder of her time was spent perfecting her knowledge of the Shang language and writing. It was a full, exhausting day and she often fell asleep during her sessions with Qwang Gui. But this session was not one of them.

Yesterday, she had returned from her training elated at her success. That had been the mistake. Qwang Gui had noticed her buoyant mood and decided to do something about it. He wanted her obedient and subservient, not confident and independent, and this was his way of reinforcing that. There had been no training session the next day. Instead, she had spent the entire day strapped to the machine.

Once she had arched herself across the padded beam, Qwang Gui had fastened a leather restraint across her pelvis, pressing her bottom onto the platform. Then he had pulled her arms to her sides, and fastened them to the platform with leather straps. Next, he had taken each of her legs and forced them back over her head, securing each of her ankles to the stanchions at the top of the platform. Melissa caught her breath as her body was forced into the unnatural position. If it had not been for the exercise regime
Chang Jao had put her through in the last few months, she would have experienced severe pain. As it was, she was distinctly uncomfortable, and terrible exposed. She was arched across the rounded beam, her shoulders pressed into the platform and her legs spread in a Y-shape. Each of her ankles was almost as far pack as her head and anchored to the top of each stanchion. As usual, her sex organs and anus were wide open to invasion by her torturer. She suddenly began to have a glimmer that this would be no ordinary session. This time Qwang Gui was prepared to inflict real pain.

He began by simply leaving her in the position he had bound her for several hours. After awhile Melissa began to cramp up and she tried to shift her body to ease the growing pain in her hip joints. But nothing she did could stop the slow agonizing increase in pain. She began to breath more and more heavily, as she fought to relax her overextended muscles. But nothing she tried had any lasting effect. Slowly but surely, like water rising in a cistern, the pain increased, until she had to exert all of her willpower to keep from screaming. And then Qwang Gui had returned.

He studied her for a full minute enjoying her discomfort. She was covered with a fine sheen of sweat, a condition that always excited him. He smiled to himself, she would be drenched in sweat before he was through with her. He moved beside her and ran his fingers over the smooth muscular contours of her exquisite body. As much as he touched her, he never tired of the experience. He watched her emerald eyes as hands touched her most intimate places. The device he had placed her in had drawn her body as tight as a drum. Every muscle of her body was taut and trembling with the strain. He licked his lips. This session was going to be particularly delicious.

Melissa’s eyes widened as his fingers parted the lips of her vulva. She could tell from Qwang Gui’s demeanor that this session was going to be special, and that meant painful. She watched him intently, as he proceeded with his examination of her body. She hated the way he touched her, but there was nothing she could do about it. In her mind it was still part of her agreement with him. She had promised that she would do anything to save Vandar and her subjugation was part of that promise.

“You are getting stronger dai zhu,” he said, in a variant of the name he called her. This term meant “red dog,” a reference to her brilliant red hair.

“You are more confident. More dangerous. You need discipline. I intend to supply that discipline.” As he spoke, he picked up an item from a small table a few feet from the platform. Melissa followed his every move, wondering what was in store for her. At first it looked innocent enough, but then she blanched. In all the time Qwang Gui had “played” with her, he had never done anything to mutilate her body. But what he had in his hands was intended to do just that.

She thought of protesting, but realized that was exactly what would give Qwang Gui the greatest enjoyment. Nevertheless, she whimpered in fear as the Shang lord pulled the folds of her vulva together. Involuntarily, she wriggled her backside, as he moved his free hand toward her. “Uggnnh!” her grunt of pain was forced out of her as a gold ring was clamped through her labia majora, just below her tiny clitoris.

The pain was not great, at least not compared to what Qwang Gui had done to her on previous occasions, but it was something she had never imagined being done to her. The one inch ring symbolized her subjugation, a humiliating reminder of what she had become. But Qwang Gui was just getting started. He returned to the table, and came back with two shiny bits of metal. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she tried to follow him as he moved behind her. “Please no,” she thought. What he held in his hand promised considerable pain.

Qwang Gui was enjoying himself. He loved watching the face of his victim as he deliberately telegraphed his intentions. It built up fear and tension in his victim. The redheaded beauty’s eyes were wide with fright, as he pinched her right nipple. Then they went even wider, becoming deep emerald pools of fright as he touched the razor edge of the metal hook to her trembling flesh. He watched as she tightened her jaw, preparing herself to fight the pain. He shook his head. He had subjected this beautiful woman to more than three months of degrading treatment, as she still had some vestige of pride. But soon, he would break her. Then he could mold her as he saw fit. Make her into one of his own. In the meantime, he was enjoying the process of breaking her. He was in no hurry. Sooner or later she would crack under the repeated sexual degradation and outright torture. He turned the hook, twisting it into her soft flesh.

Melissa writhed in pain as her nipple was pierced and then let out a squeal as Qwang Gui hooked a small chain onto the end of the hook. The mere act of tugging on the hook was painful in the extreme. He looped the chain over a light crossbar connecting the two stanchions and attached a small weight to it. A sob escaped her lips as he let the weight drop, pointing the tip of her breast upward. Then he produced a second hook and impaled her left nipple, repeating the process of attaching the chain and the weight.

Melissa’s mouth opened in a silent scream. Beads of sweat stood out all over her body as she fought for control. Qwang Gui had forbidden her to protest when he tortured her, and she had learned that to disobey was to invite much worse punishment. But the awkward position he had forced her into, and the multiple piercings left her in terrible torment. It took all of her resolve not to scream in agony. Panting like a dog, she waited to see what the Shang lord would do next.

But it was not Qwang Gui who was to cause her further pain but a man she remembered well. Into the room came the huge form of the executioner who had dispatched the pirate crew when Melissa had been captured and the man she had been forced to have sex with in order to save Vandar’s life. He was naked to the waist and carried a whip composed of strands of horsehair.

Melissa tried to hold herself still, but she was filled with fear at the sight of the huge Shang warrior. Her first encounter with him had been most painful. It had been the beginning of her shameful degradation at the hands of the Shang, a degradation that was not yet over.

Qwang Gui, bent his head close to hers. “Do you remember Zin Chai, dai zhu? I’m sure you do. You gave yourself to him to save your lover. Too bad it was a wasted gesture.”

A thrill of horror ran through Melissa’s belly. Wide eyed, she turned her face to Qwang Gui’s. He smiled cruelly. “Oh, I did not break my word. I did not order him executed.”

Melissa almost sighed in relief, but there was something about the gloating tone of Qwang Gui’s voice that told her there was something he had not told her. “You want to know where he is don’t you dai zhu? I will tell you, but first you must entertain Zin Chai.”

Melissa knew then, that something horrible had happened to Vandar. That Qwang Gui had broken his word. A terrible feeling of absolute despair descended upon her, and then Zin Chai, went to work on her.

The horsehair whip swished through the air. It was really nothing more that hundreds of strands of horsehair bound to a wooden handle. It was too light to break the skin, but swung with all the strength Zin Chai could muster, it delivered a stinging blow to Melissa’s tight backside. It hurt her, but was not debilitating. However, coupled with the agonizing stretching of her body, it was painful in the extreme, and Melissa gasped as the strands flailed against her derriere.

Zin Chai swung the whip again. And then again. He kept up a steady tempo, raining blow after blow upon her quivering flesh. At first the lash only stung. But as the punishment wore on, it began to hurt, as her tortured flesh reddened under the continued abuse. Melissa began to flinch even before the whip landed, and then began to twist her body in a futile attempt to escape the punishment. But any movement, however slight, only served to aggravate the torturous agony in her pieced nipples. Each time she flinched, her breasts bounced, and the razor edges of the hooks cut into the quivering flesh. She began to whimper.

Melissa lay exhausted, too weak to protest as Zin Chai raped her, receiving his reward for the several hours her had devoted to her torture. Blood dripped from her ravaged nipples. She had almost torn the hooks loose in her desperate struggles. Her beautifully rounded bottom was a mass of welts from the repeated blows of the horsehair whip. The pain of the lash had eventually become so incredibly excruciating that she had screamed herself hoarse, but nothing she did helped to lessen the pain in any way. Instead, it increased it, sending waves of unbelievable pain through her hip joints. Her bondage was so brutal as to be almost crippling, but nothing she did reduced her agony in any way. Eventually, she was too debilitated to do anything more than lie on the platform, and let Qwang Gui and Zin Chai do what they wanted with her. The rape was the final humiliation. This too seemed interminable. Zin Chai took his time in satisfying his lust, and eventually Melissa lost track of what was happening to her. She lay in a trance, barely conscious, while the Shang executioner pounded her mercilessly, until finally, with a groan of immense pleasure he climaxed and withdrew his dripping member from her ravaged vagina.

Qwang Gui, who had watched her torment the entire time, bent over her. Except for the heaving of her tortured breasts, Melissa might have been dead. Blood from her bleeding nipples coated her torso, and dribbled from her violated vagina. But as he leaned close to her, her eyelids flickered, revealing a glimpse of her enchanting green eyes. He knew then that she was still conscious.

Melissa was aware of the presence of the brutal Shang lord, but was too weak to respond to him. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She recalled that he had promised her something, although she was having difficulty remembering exactly what it was. Then it crept back into her mind. “Vandar,” she croaked.

“I see you still want to know what became of your lover,” Qwang Gui said. “I am surprised a woman of your spirit had not asked sooner. You should know that I kept my word. I spared his life. He was not executed. He did, however, have quite a long swim when I had him thrown overboard.” He sneered, twisting his mouth in a cruel smile as he saw the look of abject despair sweep across Melissa’s face. “Do not worry dai zhu; I doubt that he had to swim far. You see, the bodies of the pirate scum that we executed attracted a great many sharks. I am sure they had no objection into taking their food while it was still alive.” He laughed, a cruel harsh chuckle, as tears filled Melissa’s eyes and she wept as her heart broke. Turning away, he hummed a little tune. He had finally broken the redheaded bitch. Now he would rebuild her in the image he desired.