“Speak.”

“Mistress... I have a need. If you would release my arms I could relief myself.”

Haria smiled a little. She got up, unlocked the chain and slid it out of the ring. “Come.” She led him down to the park. At the bottom, close to the lake several huts stood. She entered one. Inside was a toilet. He looked at the toilet with relief, then turned as if expecting her to open his fetters. She smiled, then pulled on a string of his loincloth. It came off. He blushed furiously and turned to hide himself from her but Haria tugged at the chain.

“Do your business. Sit! It is a disgusting habit of men to stand when they could very well sit.”

He relieved himself under Haria's cool eyes, feeling that his embarrassed blush was spreading over his whole body. But his humiliation wasn't over yet.

“Mistress... I need to clean myself.” Haria smiled. She wasn't about to make things easy for He. Seeing him squirm from embarrassment was part of the training. She finally led him down to the lake where he could clean himself awkwardly, despite his fettered hands. He took the opportunity to give himself a thorough wash but finally had to leave the protective security of the water again only to endure Haria's administrations as she wrapped the loincloth back around him.

She fed him again and had him drink from her palms. She took him to the park where he was exercised like a horse, running, trotting, skipping and jumping until he was lathered in sweat. For that she strapped a harness around his chest and fastened his arms at the elbows to the harness. He could run but he could not raise his arms much higher than his chest.

He welcomed the exercise. It took his mind off his family and for the first time since this nightmare had begun he was completely by himself, concentrating just on the running. He would need to keep in shape if he wanted to escape.

During the night he talked to his wife in his mind. The days were cast off, the humiliations he endured put away as if he'd finished a scene. He went into every day as if he was going for a shoot, putting himself into his role, pretending he was following just a script. His role was that of a man being trained into a slave and he played his role to perfection. But every night he longed for his wife, his children.

Haria was very satisfied with He's progress. There were moments he baulked at things, but that was only to be expected. Sooner or later he would obey her every command. When he had performed well she petted him, and caressed him, telling him how proud she was of him. He seemed to come to a point where he watched her every movement to try and understand her desires before she even uttered them. Finally He was rewarded with the Golden Chains of perfection and she gave him his new name. Kharan, the Faithful.

It came as as a complete shock to her when Kharan disappeared. One morning she came to find his room empty, the shackles open, the sharpened knife he had used as a skeleton key still lying next to the shackles. Kharan had gone. Haria felt the sense of betrayal, of pain she would never have expected at the realisation that his devotion had all been make believe. And then she found the small figurines. A woman and two children, whittled out of soft chalk he had found who knew where. They were polished as if they had been rubbed and held for hours. Haria looked at the three crude little figurines, then she put them carefully away.

Maybe it was the first time she understood what love was. That she felt love herself. And she understood that true love let go. She didn't raise the alarm, she didn't call out for a hunt. She crossed the lake, listened around and then made one phone call.

The police picked him up a few hours later, bedraggled, exhausted, tired. They asked him questions but had to accept that he claimed not to remember what had happened. In the evening he was home, with his wife, his children. He looked at his wife's lovely face and felt that finally he could let go. That night he cried in her arms, relieving himself of the past few months.

Here lay his power... for her he could be strong... with her he could be weak.

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