Chapter 1 - tolerance and patience.

by pr_squared

- do not use without the author's permission.

Author's Note: I borrowed Lady B's world of diminutive Elves and their Mannish beasts.

Catrin, as the mount was called, loved to escape the confines of her narrow stall in the stable in Glyn Aerona and run free under the open sky. She was a typical Mannish female, some 30 Elven hands at the shoulder. Saddled and bridled, she carried Dai, an Elf, whose diminutive size, delicate features and pointy ears contrasted sharply with his mount’s Mannish size, coarser Mannish features and rounded ears. She stood almost twice his normal Elven height, though no one might doubt who commanded and who obeyed. Now on the edge of breathlessness, her bare skin gleaming with sweat and spit dribbling from the corners of her mouth around her bit, she was finally grateful for some respite.

She wore only her tack. The dense red hair on her head was swept back in two thick braids. Otherwise, her body was completely depilated to facilitate good hygiene. Her throat was collared. She wore a security harness. Her arms were cuffed at the wrist and again above the elbow. The upper arm cuffs were linked by a strong cord that passed behind her back; her wrists were secured to her collar. The harness limited her use of her hands and arms but permitted the back and forth motion that the two-legged mount needed for balance. A bridle held her bit in place and bound her considerable strength to her smaller rider’s will.

She spent long hours alone in her stall. Once she had resigned herself to her new life in the stable, boredom had become her greatest foe. She had made friends though with the other mounts. Tesni, a stunning golden haired girl occupied the next stall and Catrin took great comfort from her company. They frequently chatted when no Elf was around. Tesni had as many years in the stable as eighteen year old Catrin had years. She was Emyr’s personal property and the girls’ acknowledged leader. Emyr was the owner of the stable. Today, even Tesni was excited.

At dawn a stable hand, led her first to the latrine to do her morning business and then to the food trough for her morning meal. Catrin saw the handlers filling burlap bags with the feed pellets that served as her primary sustenance. Two strong draft beasts, Mister Greenjeans, a massive gelding, and always accepting Bella stood harnessed in the yard, waiting patiently for their new burdens. Catrin knew something out of the ordinary was about to happen.

Her excitement grew when Dai appeared to help with her saddle himself. He was the Elf who had captured her and tamed wild girl in her. He had won her undying loyalty. Catrin found her hard service in the stables less obnoxious than she had found her time in service to the Mannish Elders before her capture. Dai demanded much but repaid her honest service with simple kindness.

Dai wore a white linen shirt, sueded leather pants, and his shiny riding boots. Catrin was very aware of the stubby spurs on his worn leather boots and the well-worn crop at his belt. Given the chance, she pressed her lips and tongue against his gloved hand to show her eager affection. With the apparent absence of any treat, she made no effort to hide her disappointment.

Laughing, Dai stroked her face gently as he pulled his hand away. Catrin closed her eyes for an instant to savor his touch and opened her eyes again. As if by magic, an apple core appeared in his hand. He popped the treat into her waiting mouth and signaled to her to kneel. She knelt readily, chewing noisily and savoring the apple’s sweetness. With the bland, if healthy, diet in the stable, anything sweet or salty was treasured. It was their much practiced game.

She knelt on command, leaning slightly forward. She was well used to the routine. Dai laid the saddle on her back and positioned it to rest above her hips. He pulled the belly cinch tight and flipped the top cinch over her head. Two shoulder straps joined in a “Y” and a single strap passed between her breasts to fasten to the belly cinch to keep the saddle from slipping down. Dai ran his hands gently over her breasts as he made certain that the strap lay flat with no binding. Catrin felt a subtle flushing when his hands brushed her sensitive nipples.

He urged her to her feet and Catrin stood. The tail cinch hung between her strong buttocks. Memories of a particularly painful kick from her powerful legs, reminded to him to keep a firm hand on her lead. Should she raise a leg, he could pull down sharply and upset her balance. He reached between her thighs and pulled the tail cinch through. The single strap split into two narrow straps, each passed on either side between her thigh and labium majus and attached to her belly cinch. He ran his gloved fingers over her sex to make certain that nothing pinched. Catrin shuddered at his soft touch and felt herself moisten.

The girls were well cared for in the stable, but sexual relief was rare. The few intact boys were housed well away from the girls. The girls’ restraints made it impossible for them to pleasure themselves and opportunities to share pleasure were few.

Dai pulled the belly cinch a notch tighter and signaled her to kneel once more. Catrin knelt obediently and opened her mouth to accept her bit. Dai could control her easily enough with her braids and she did not really require a bit. However, today would be no pleasure jaunt. Obediently, she tilted her head forward and Dai deftly slipped on her bridle.

Catrin saw Dai’s friend, Braith, up on Lucky, a large gelding who looked more fitted for pulling a heavy wagon than carrying a rider but proved serviceable enough for either task. Lucky seemed not to notice Catrin and she seemed equally oblivious to him. His sizable male paraphernalia dangled limply between his brawny thighs. Had the Elves had thought their mounts as other than animals, such a blatant display might be considered obscene. Like the other geldings in the stable, his penis was circumcised to facilitate hygiene.

The long-lived Elves, living on average four hundred years, celebrate their advanced culture and civilization and see Men, not as “no better than animals” but simply as animals. They stock their barns and stables with Mannish livestock, both male and female, trained for use as riding or draft beasts.

Given the lack of other suitable large creatures, the Elves had domesticated Men millennia earlier and Elven society. Through trial and error, they had devised diet supplements to increase Mannish strength fully four-fold beyond that of their wild kin. Some are trained for use as riding or draft beasts. Mannish draft animals pulled wagons and turned mills. The long legs of a trained and conditioned Mannish mount can cover 25 miles in two hours. The world offers no other creature large enough to prove so useful in so many ways.

Most Elves admit that Men have some intelligence; after all, they may be trained. Most allow that the creatures have some ability to communicate with each other in their “towns’ but none assert that their disagreeable noises comprise an actual language. Many know that Men in the wild cover their bodies, but no one guesses the motive to be modesty rather than decoration. No one who has mucked out a stable or watched the creatures rutting enthusiastically in public can accept that they are truly sentient beings. An Elf may be fond of his or her Mannish creatures and reward loyal service with kindness but Men are marked as property, bought and sold.

Vast tracts of land are set aside for Mannish reservations. Mannish captives are so easily taken that Elves have little incentive to breed them and raise them from manlings. Enthusiasts, though, have established several breeding lines – one long legged, deep-chested is bred for racing. A second line is also bred; Mannish females who reliably drop twins.

Soon a party of twelve Mannish beasts and their Elven riders had assembled in the yard. Catrin saw her friends Tesni, Brena, Toma, Mady, and Bella, all girls and two geldings, Lucky and Mr. Greenjeans.

To an impatient Catrin, it had seemed to take forever before they were finally on the road. Tesni led as always and set an easy pace. Catrin followed with Mady, Brena, and Toma behind. The others followed. Braith trailed on Lucky, leading the heavily burdened pack-beasts.

Catrin carried Dai easily. Her strength and endurance had increased much beyond that of the wild girl that Dai had captured. The two Elfesses rode side by side on Mady and Brena, still able to chat at the easy pace.

The party included no intact males. In the Mannish settlements and in the Elven stables, Mannish females much outnumbered males. However, among the young toddlers in the Mannish settlement, though, males and females seemed to about equal in numbers. Mannish males were generally stronger and faster than the females. However, intact males were also stubborn, lazy, and eager for violence. Most males in the Elven stables, like Mr. Greenjeans and Lucky, were geldings and used more often as draft animals than mounts. However, some Elves derived a special thrill from their mastery of the powerful, strong-willed beasts. Intact males were kept apart from the females in separate stables.

Catrin ran and luxuriated in her movement and relative freedom. She was naked, except for her leather tack. Her firm breasts bounced as she ran. She was very aware of the straps between her thighs and the delicate friction that suffused her with a subtle tingle. Once she would have been mortified to be on such public display. The nannies in the girls’ village had warned her of her shame. Now she enjoyed the brilliance of the bright sky and the sun and wind on her face and bare breasts. She reveled in the relative freedom of her escape from the confines of her stall in the stable. She enjoyed Dai’s nearness – the real weight of his small body in her saddle – the occasional touch of his gloved hand on her neck and the affection she heard in his squeaky, high-pitched Elven voice.

The girls, though tamed, remained fully sexual beings. Catrin’s fonder reminiscences of her rare encounters with an intact Mannish male from Meical’s stable had fully replaced her distasteful memories of her pleasureless servicing of her Mannish masters. Following the golden haired Tesni’s confidant lead, a certain bold playfulness had fully replaced her prior dread. Waiting at a crossing once, she had rubbed her bottom against the Rheinallt’s boy’s brawny thigh, accidently on purpose. The beast reacted strongly and an embarrassed Rheinallt had to struggle to keep his seat. Dai laughed aloud to witness his friend’s distress. As males were kept strictly segregated in the stable, heterosexual opportunities were rare. The presence of an intact male on a journey such as this would have only been a distraction.

The party stopped for rest and water each two hours. The well-conditioned girls covered fully twenty miles at a sustainable. The well-marked stops offered troughs where the mounts might kneel and drink without removing their bits and bridles. Each had caches of feed for the mounts and at least a crude enclosure. Soon they were on their way again with Tesni leading, followed again by Catrin, Mady, Brena, Toma, and Lucky leading Mister Greenjeans and Bella. At first while the day remained cool, Catrin was impatient with the frequent breaks. She welcomed them increasingly as the rising sun burnt off the morning cloud cover.

Catrin heard a wild whoop. She turned and saw the rider spur Toma. Toma, bored with the moderate pace, responded eagerly. Catrin perked up her head at the challenge. High spirited as she was, she sprinted out after them without waiting for any instruction. Dai was not pleased. He pulled back sharply on her reins and she slowed promptly but with regret. Sadly, this wasn’t the time for play.

She remembered fondly when it was time for play. Catrin had trailed five mounts running in a line. A click of Dai’s heels and she took up his challenge and charged briskly to the front. Once in front, Dai raised his arm to signal the next rider.

Aled had then trailed on her brown-haired Brena. Aled went to her crop and spurs and quickly passed the next four riders and mounts to pull even with Dai and Catrin. Rather than hold her pace, Catrin had sped up to stubbornly hold the lead. She was tired of staring at the leading girls’ bouncing buttocks. Dai had let her have her head that day and Brena couldn’t pass her. Aled complained noisily.

The first day passed quickly. Much distance had been covered. At its end, Catrin knelt and Dai removed her saddle. He inspected her back, shoulders, and belly for abrasions and her feet for injury. She almost purred when he rubbed her down with a soft cloth. He hobbled her loosely and tethered her beside Tesni whom he knew she liked. The days were growing shorter and the nights were already chilly.