THE TWO COMPANIONS

PART TWO

(In which Inara must teach two more and meets her master.)

As Inara groggily awoke, she became aware of the presence of two men standing over her. She kept her eyes shut and assessed her situation. The companion was lying on her back on some kind of bed with her wrists bound with what felt like plastic zip ties. Her legs were bent and from the cool air on them, she was evidently naked from the waist down with her gown bunched up on her belly. From the sounds of the street outside, they were on at least the second floor of a thinly walled building. Moreover, she could feel a certain cloudy haze around her thoughts tempting her to relax and drift with her emotions. That combined with a burning at the corners of her eyes told her one thing: Drops! Instantly adrenalin flooded her system as she realized that she was in deep trouble.

“It looks like she’s coming around; go outside and keep watch while I start breaking her in. We’ll take turns until she’s ready to cooperate.”

The other man whined “But it’s my turn to be first.”

“Listen, go-se for brains, I’m the boss and I’m always first!”

Inara heard the door close. She opened her eyes to see a rough and scruffy man removing an incongruously fine linen shirt and unbuttoning his pants. “Ah yes, my little coney, I’ve checked you out and you’re prime stuff alright. Everybody on Boros knows I’m the boss of this town, why didn’t you come to me first before you tried to peddle your wares in my jurisdiction? Now you’ll just have to learn the first lesson of life around here, Always give your betters their due.” With that he began to lift her calves up onto his forearms.

“You’re never going to get away with this, I’m a companion!”

He paused and laughed. “Yes, and I’m the King of Londondinium, with a shiny hat on my head. Now you just relax, if you please me I’ll make you part of my stable. If you don’t, you’re still screwed only you’ll be doing it as a slave on some dump like Higgins’ Moon begging to sell what’s left of your