Freya's bare feet scuffed in the hot sand as she was dragged through the arid desert. Her wrists were sore and itchy due to the frazzled scratchy rope that bound them together and connected her to her captor who strode purposefully in front of her. In the distance on the horizon stood immense buildings. Vast blocks and pyramids the size of which she had never seen before. That is where they were heading and it scared her. Two days ago she had been snatched from her small village with others like her and marched day and night through the barren dunes. She had heard stories of girls taken from neighbouring villages who were never seen again but thought they were just made up tales to scare and delight children. Not anymore.
As they neared the vast city the desert sand gave way to an expanse of large, flat stone slabs. They gradually encountered more and more people shouting and jostling at each side of them. Beggars, fruit sellers and sweaty grubby men reached out towards them to either get their attention or satisfy their desire for the touch of a young nubile body. Freya squirmed away from the clawing hands before the head of the caravan of girls barked out a command causing the throng of clutching hands to back off. They approached a huge building made up of layered sandstone blocks. The sound of the crowds behind them grew distant as they entered a torch lit corridor. The cool shade felt pleasant after being in the beating sun all day. They walked in line, about thirty of them Freya guessed, deeper, further, into the depths of this vast palace. She felt the heat of each torch on her bare arms as they walked on and in the distance could see a light at the end of the corridor. Soon they emerged one by one into a large bright open courtyard, squinting their eyes as they did so. The walls were lined with gold which reflected the glaring sun that shone down through the open space above them.
They lined up against the walls and faced inwards towards a lavish ornamental pool at the courtyard's centre, nervously awaiting their fate. Before long a rotund, bald, sweaty man wobbled into the courtyard briefly examining each girl as he passed them. Freya caught a whiff of the stale sweat lingering on his skin and struggled not to wince. At the end of the line he turned and Freya lowered her eyes so as not to catch his gaze. She felt sick with fear and looking at the perspiration dripping from his bare chest down onto his fat belly didn't help.
“Ritual! Harem! Ritual! Ritual! Harem!…..” barked the fat man as he walked back down the line.
One by one soldiers pulled the girls away in different directions depending on what the fat man had designated. He arrived where Freya was standing. She didn't know what either word meant.
“Harem!”
She was immediately taken by the arm and dragged to an opening at the other side of the courtyard. A few of the girls in the line just after her began screaming and crying whilst resisting the soldiers. They had been allocated for the ritual. Their wailing became distant as Freya was marched down yet another torch lined passageway with just four of the other girls. She didn't know what was in store for her but she had a feeling that whatever it was, it was better than the ritual.
The five girls were led to a lower room of great length lined with expertly carved large grey slabs of rock. About twenty raised stone baths big enough for just one person and illuminated by a torch light behind each, spread all the way along the wall. The soldiers left and the girls were each taken in hand by an elderly women and led to the head of a bath. The old women nonchalantly pulled away the girls' clothes, stripping them naked. Freya clutched at her garments before her attendant muttered some reassuring words and gently prised them from her and directed her into the bath. The water was warm and soothing. Freya nervously breathed in the flowery aroma from the pale white petals floating on it's surface. This was nothing like her cleaning ritual back home which comprised of bathing in the cold murky waters of the nearby river. She relaxed a little as her attendant cleaned her face, arms, hands and nails. Looking to her right she watched her fellow captors also being bathed. Being from a small isolated village she had never seen another woman naked before. Her eyes became transfixed on their breasts which bobbed just above the surface of the water. All different sizes and shapes. She stared at the girl a couple of baths down. Her hair was long and blonde, her skin pale and her eyes milky blue like the sky in the early morning. But what most fascinated Freya was her nipples. They were bright pink and about half a finger in length standing well proud of her boobs. They reminded her of the hard nodules that sprouted off from the main branch on the old fig tree at the centre of her village. Just as she was relishing that comforting image her attendant lightly slapped Freya's cheek and turned her heard to face forward.
Suddenly there was a clunk, as somewhere out of site a lever was pulled. The water in the baths began to drain away. All the girls looked around as if awaiting further instructions but the attendants just busied themselves and began picking up various kinds of tools from a chest in the corner of the room. Freya sat in the bath watching the water level drop. As it slowly receded it felt like a swarm of hands gently sliding their way down her body. When the warm water line slipped below her breasts the cooler air caressed her brown nipples making them erect. Her whole body began to cling to the bottom of the bath with the suction caused by the subsiding water. As the swirling fluid glided between her legs and slithered across her pussy lips she shivered with excitement. The feeling of the moving water on her skin combined with the fact that her bare body was on display to these strangers surprisingly aroused her immensely.
“Get up!” shouted one of the attendants.
All the girls hastily got to their feet as once again the attendants came and stood alongside them. They promptly began cutting each girls' hair, slicing it away and letting it fall in chunks into the bath below. Freya stood frozen facing forward, too embarrassed to look left or right. She didn't want to see if her fellow captors were looking at her naked body. When the hair cutting was complete the attendants seamlessly then knelt beside the baths and began to apply a lotion to the girls' groins. Freya instinctively brought her hands across to conceal herself only for her to once again get slapped, this time on the hands. She reluctantly moved them to her sides and clenched her fists tightly. She could feel her whole body tense up as the sharp tool glided across her pubic area, swiftly and skillfully shaving her genital hair into a small neat rectangle. Thankfully the ordeal lasted barely minutes and soon Freya was given a final wipe with a cloth before a one-piece white cotton garment was slipped over her head by her attendant. They were then all led out of the room down yet another corridor to some sleeping quarters containing ten empty beds. At the doorway stood a stern looking woman of about thirty years old Freya guessed.
“I am Shani. Your mistress, your guide, your teacher. Go to sleep now. We will begin tomorrow. You have much to learn.”
And with that, Freya and the other girls collapsed onto their beds exhausted, not knowing what the next day held for them but too tired to contemplate it.