Mara was not permitted to have contact with men, besides her father and brothers. She had two eunuchs, Belm and Krosq, that watched over her, and a dozen female servants that helped her dress and bathe. These were her attendants outside the walls of the estate, which she was not often permitted to go beyond. She amused herself in her room and around the grounds throughout the years, reading, making miniature villages out of rocks and leaves in the gardens, accruing a great number of pets (birds, squirrels and mice, mostly), and playing hide and seek with some of her long-suffering servants (the hide and seek was not as fun as it could have been since either Belm or Krosq always had to be with her and it was hard finding good hiding places for both of them, as the eunuchs were rather on the fat side). But Mara was lately becoming bored with her life. She would often wake up in the night with feverish dreams, dreams that left wet spots in her undergarments, dreams with men and situations that made her blush to think on them. She was embarrassed, but also excited by these dreams. She even wished that her father would hurry up and find her a husband, just so she could go to a new estate with new people and perhaps fulfill some of her erotic fantasies.

Mara's father, Jerrold Saturninus, was a strict traditionalist. As a politician in the city, he was renowned for his conservatism and respect for the old ways. He worshipped all the old gods, and followed their dictates to the letter. Worship of the old gods was still practiced in the public sphere, but it had become watered down and less sacred as the years went by. Not in Jerrold's house. When his wife, Anangia, had died in childbirth with Mara, he had thrown himself into the old ways. It angered him that her death had affected him in such a manner, and proper worship of the gods was an appropriate channel for that anger. As for Mara, he was not angry with her, but he was distant. She reminded him of what he had lost. Anangia had bore him three sons before Mara, and he was grateful that he would only have to deal with one marriage arrangement and one dowry. Jerrold II and Phelbus were now married and starting their own families, and twenty year old Trak would soon follow, he was establishing his own political career with his father's help. Jerrold knew that Mara would soon be past the respectable marriage age (which began around thirteen or fourteen), but he was holding out for a perfect match. He had a few young men from good families in mind, but he was waiting for one of them to establish himself in the city before bringing the proposal forward. Any of these young men would have been fools to reject an offer for Mara, not only was she lovely, her father was one of the most powerful men in the city. But Jerrold bided his time. He had at least two years before Mara became an "old maid" and he would use those to two years to make sure she was happy with a wealthy, powerful man.

In the meantime, Mara had seen Chael. She was immediately drawn to him, the first (non-familial) young man she had seen in such close quarters. Reflecting, she supposed she had seen Chael before, the baker's wagon had been coming to the estate since before her birth, but she had not really seen Chael. Not the man with the firm body and the face with the light dusting of hair (it was not as important for Chael to be clean-shaven as if he had been someone of importance). She stared at the front of his trousers, trying to imaging what lay behind, sometimes glimpsing the bulge of something brushing against the fabric...These thoughts always made her blush, but she kept on watching.

A year went by. Jerrold had still not married her off, and by this time Mara would have wept if he had. She only had eyes for Chael. She did not even know his name yet, but she was infatuated with him. "In love", she would have said, but she had neither the experience or maturity to really know what love was. She longed to have him, alone with her in her bedroom, to have him do those things to her that she had only read about, in vague descriptions, in the estate library. Perhaps it would have been better for her, certainly it would have been better for him, if her father had married her off before. However, fate had a different plan for Mara and Chael.

* * * * * * *

Mara was four months past her seventeenth birthday when she was in the kitchen. She had snuck away from Belm and Krosq and was hiding, eating dried figs from the pantry. She was upset because Chael had not come to deliver the bread today, and it was hours past his usual time. She sat, brooding on the kitchen floor. Suddenly, the door opened behind her, the door the servants used to enter from outside. Mara jumped to her feet and turned guiltily towards who she thought was Belm or Krosq, but actually was Chael, carrying a basket of bread. Mara gasped and Chael froze.

"Oh, I'm sorry my lady. I was just delivering the bread for today, one of the horses threw a shoe and..." Chael trailed off as he saw the look on Mara's face. "Are you all right, my lady?"

Mara was breathing heavily. "I...oh, yes. Yes. I am fine."

This was a dream come true for Mara. Her brain whirled furiously, trying to find a way to keep him there. "What is your name?" she asked.

"Chael, my lady. I will not bother you for much longer." Mara held the name in her mind, exploring it, rolling it around her brain. Chael placed the basket on a shelf and turned to go. "Wait!" Mara almost shrieked. Chael turned back towards her curiously. "Yes, my lady?"

"Mara," She said. "Please call me Mara."

"Oh, I could not, my lady. Please, I have more deliveries to make..."

Mara had not been raised around proper women. She had no idea how women were expected to behave, beyond that they were to obey their fathers (and later husbands), keep quiet in front of high-class men and not be alone with any man who was not family. She was already breaking one of those rules, and in desperation to keep Chael with her she blurted out, "But I'm in love with you!"

Chael looked perplexed. Was this girl insane? He looked around the kitchen, listening for approaching footsteps. If he was caught alone with her, he might be whipped. If she threw herself on him and they were caught, he would be whipped savagely, and he might even be castrated. He shuddered with the thought.

"My lady, please, I must go."

She darted around him so quickly that it caught him by surprise. She blocked off his escape through the back door.

"Please listen to me Chael! I have watched you deliver the bread for over a year now. I have dreamed of meeting you like this for just as long. Please stay."

Chael regarded the strange girl in front of him. He knew who Mara was, of course. He had seen her in the streets before, accompanied by servants at her father's bidding. She was very attractive, but he was little better than a slave and he had never entertained a thought of her. Now she was before him, and she was even more beautiful up close. Her long, dark brown hair fell down her back in waves and through her dress he could she that she was slim, but curvy in all the right places. Her lips were soft and voluptuous, her nose small and round, and her eyes were deep pools of amber framed by dark, curling lashes...

Mara was staring into Chael's eyes as well. He had beautiful hazel eyes and she took in his whole face, the trace of a beard, the curve of of his nose. She breathed him in, sweat and musk, and she wanted him to take her right there in the kitchen. She had no thought for the consequences.

Chael, however, had more to lose than Mara in this particular situation. He was very aware of the consequences that such a liaison would have for a man of his status.

"I cannot, my lady. Please let me pass."

"And I cannot either! Chael, please tell me why you don't want me!"

Tears welled in Mara's eyes as she looked at the ground, and Chael's heart melted. She was so beautiful and she wanted him. His penis twitched as blood began to rush into it. Suddenly his earlier fears didn't seem as valid...He leaned in close to her ear. "Oh, my lady, that is not why...You're beautiful, my lady, the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!"

Mara noticed the bulge growing in his pants and when she heard his words she looked up.

"Really?"

"Yes. I've noticed you before, in the city, with your father. You are renowned for your beauty."

"I am?"

"Yes, you are."

"Then why...?"

"Because you are rich, the daughter of a wealthy politician. And I am poor, the indentured servant of a baker."

Mara's eyes glinted fiercely.

"I don't care! I love you!"

Chael was amused at her ferocity, and also highly flattered. His defenses were wearing away. He thought about taking her, making her his wife. They could run away together.

"You love me? But you don't know me."

"I know your heart and soul. I could see them from afar and I can see them very clearly now. I love you."

The rush of her words sparked more ideas in him. Chael had never been very good with thinking things through. And this idea thrilled him. Running away, taking the most beautiful girl in town with him as his lover. How long had he wanted to escape from his life, the result of his selfish parent's decisions? In that instant, he decided.

"Will you run away with me?"

Mara gasped, overjoyed. This was beyond her wildest fantasies.

"Oh, yes! Yes, Chael, of course!"

Chael realized that he needed a little time to plan. He knew a man down at the shipyards that might help them stowaway on an outbound ship.

"Can you sneak over your back wall two nights from now?"

"Yes! Yes, I can."

"I will meet with you then, my lady."

"Mara." She said.

"Mara." He whispered back. And while she was standing, immobilized by rapture, he passed her, went through the door and was gone.

"Chael." She whispered after his retreating form.

* * * * * * *

That night Mara tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep with anticipation. She wondered how she would make it through the next two days. Finally she sat up, a new idea in her head.

"Belm?"

It was Belm's night for guard duty.The door opened and he hurried in.

"Yes, my lady? Are you alright?"

"Yes, Belm, I'm fine. I just wanted to talk to you. Will you light the lamps?"

"Of course, my lady."

Belm lit two of the lamps in Mara's room.

"Come here Belm."

Belm did, standing in front of her. Mara kicked the covers off and swung her feet over the side of the bed. She was at crotch level with Belm. Belm was wearing a knee-length tunic (traditional eunuch garb) and leather sandals. Mara looked him over, so different from the man she had been close to earlier in the day. Belm was fat, not a fat as Krosq though, he had fleshy arms and legs and a large stomach. On top of his stomach, two petite breasts pushed out the fabric of his tunic, not nearly as large as hers, but breasts nonetheless. Belm's face was round, he had a double chin, and clean-shaven. Mara looked right up into his eyes.

"How long have you been a eunuch, Belm?"

Belm blushed. Memories came flooding back, memories that he often had to suppress. He did not want to discuss this with anyone, he had never had to before, but the girl before him was his mistress, he was her father's slave, and so he obediently answered, "Since I was eighteen, my lady."

"How long ago was that?"

"Ten years or so."

"Why were you made a eunuch, Belm?"

Memories of an auction block accosted Belm. Shouting and bidding.

"Your father had me made me into a eunuch to take care of you, my lady."

Mara wondered why she had never been curious about this sort of thing before. Seeing Chael up close had awakened her curiosity about men, she supposed. Men, and what men could be made into.

"Let me see," she said.

"What, my lady?"

"Lift up your tunic and let me see."

Belm hesitated slightly, then obeyed. As a slave, he had to obey. As a eunuch, he had no rights. This had been ingrained in him for ten years. He lifted his tunic.

Mara stared at what remained of Belm's genitals. She had seen pictures of the full male anatomy in books (and had often imagined those pictures hanging between Chael's thighs). But what she saw now was very different. Belm's penis was a tiny, shriveled nub poking out of his crotch. Below that was nothing, just some puffy folds of skin. Without asking, Mara reached out and touched what was left of Belm's empty scrotum. Belm winced, but did not object. Mara pulled on the soft, loose folds of skin, but they didn't stretch very far. As she played with his empty sac, she asked,

"How did they do it?"

Belm was staring straight ahead, trying to ignore the girl playing with his useless purse. He grunted with shame as he remembered.

"They tied a tight leather cord around the top of my bag. Then the cutter slit both sides open, pulled out my testicles and cut them off with a hot knife."

"Did it hurt?"

"Yes, my lady, it hurt immensely."

He remembered his screams as the deed was done. The shame as his balls were thrown to the dogs...Then he relaxed. He had come to terms with this years ago. He was a slave, and as a slave's life went his had not been a bad one. He had not missed his balls in years. Mara released his folds of skin.

"May I put my tunic back down, my lady?"

"Yes Belm." Mara sighed, wishing it was not Belm but Chael in front of her, Chael with his full, working masculine package...

"Are you ready to go to sleep, my lady?"

"Yes Belm, please put the lights out."

Belm obeyed and opened the door to leave.

"Goodnight Belm."

"Goodnight, my lady."

* * * * * * *

Two nights later, a seeming eternity to Mara, she climbed the ivy over the back wall of her estate. It had been easy. She had stolen some of her brother Trak's old clothes, bound up her hair and donned a hooded cloak. Then she climbed out her window, making sure to shut it all the way. Climbing down the ivy to the back gardens, she ran to the wall and went over. Chael was waiting in the shadows of an oak tree. Neither of the two could believe their good fortune. Mara had been fantasizing about Chael for over a year, and Chael had trouble grasping the idea that one of the richest, most beautiful girls in town wanted him, him, a poor baker's apprentice. Chael knew the risks, but his judgment was clouded by her beauty, the curve of her breasts, the way she was looking at him now in the moonlight...

It had taken him two days to make the arrangements, but his friend at the docks could get them passage (and legitimate passage, not as stowaways) in the morning. He had a room reserved at an inn on the outskirts of town. He had taken one of the baker's horses, the baker slept so soundly that he wouldn't realize his horse was missing until long after Chael and Mara were at sea.

"Are you ready, my...Mara?"

"Yes, Chael."

And she kissed him, a deep passionate kiss. It surprised him at first, but then he swept her up in arms as they kissed, and Mara felt her insides melting like butter as he did. Chael set her down and they walked to the baker's horse.

* * * * * * *

A quarter of an hours' ride brought them to the inn, Mara carefully hiding her face. It was an inn of ill repute, obviously designed for prostitutes and their clientele. The room was shabby and dirty, but neither Chael nor Mara cared. Chael locked the door, and then neither could get their clothes off fast enough.

Looking at Chael naked in the dim candlelight, Mara felt herself growing wet with anticipation. Chael's chest and groin were covered with curling mats of brown hair. Leading from his navel to his crotch, the hair made a little trail that she followed with her eyes until they feasted on what he had between his legs. Chael's penis was already erect, anticipating what they were about to do. It was large to Mara's eyes, but only a little above average by the rest of the world's standards. Below it hung his balls, his sac already tightening to his body. His balls were also a little above average, and Mara hungrily stared at his genitals.

Chael was also staring. Mara's breasts were large and round, but pert, with pointed nipples. Her waist was small, leading down to her curvy hips and bottom. Her crotch was covered in fine, dark hairs, and Chael stared hungrily at the slit between her legs that would soon bring him so much pleasure. Chael had never been with a woman before, he had only fantasized alone in his bed at night, and now the moment was upon them...

Mara approached Chael and gently felt his balls, tugging on his scrotum and feeling the firm roundness within. So different from Belm's sad, empty sac. She move her hands up to his penis and began to rub, and Chael moaned with pleasure.

Pleased with the affect she had caused, Mara moved to the bed and lay spread eagled on it, her legs open, her vagina opened before him, inviting him in. Chael almost flung himself on top of her, panting heavily. He positioned his penis at the front of her opening and made his thrust.

Mara gave a cry of pain. Chael stopped.

"What's wrong?"

Mara whimpered. "It hurts."

"Oh." Chael stared stupidly at her, the waves of pleasure receding from his penis. "Is there...what can I...?"

Mara lay back and closed her eyes. "Sometimes when I would think about you, at night, I would rub my nipples..." Mara put her hands to her breasts and began rubbing the tips of her nipples with her fingers. Chael brought his hands up and imitated the motion. Mara began to writhe and moan in ecstasy.

"Oh...yes...Oh, Chael..."

"Can I try again?" Chael asked.

"Yes, but slowly, please..."

Chael focused on positioning his penis at her entrance once again. He was almost ready to begin again...

Suddenly, the door crashed open and several men rushed into the room.

Mara and Chael looked at them in shock, too surprised to move or speak. The first man in the room immediately ran towards the bed. Grabbing Chael by the balls, he pulled him off of Mara.

Chael shrieked in agony as the man twisted his balls and he rolled over Mara and lay beside her. The man released his scrotum, and Chael immediately grasped it himself, holding it, moaning with pain.

One of the other men had thrown Mara's dress at her. "Put it on!" the first man barked at her, and she obeyed, terrified. Once she was clothed, two of the men grabbed her by the arms and began to take her outside. "We're bringing you back to your father, girl. No need to worry." Mara couldn't find her voice, "But...but..." was all she managed to get out as they escorted her into the street. Belm and Krosq were waiting in front of three of her father's carriages. As she approached the first carriage, Jerrold stepped out. Addressing the eunuchs he said, "Take her back to the estate." Turning to the men he said to one, "Go with them." To the other, with malice in his voice, "Bring me to him."

"Yes, master," said the eunuchs.

"Yes, sir," said the men.

Belm bundled Mara up into the carriage, then he, Krosq and the man followed, closing the door. Mara still hadn't found her voice, she was so confused. But now she was scared, scared for Chael and what was about to happen to him. She didn't know what they would do, but she didn't want him to be punished because of her. As the carriage pulled away she managed to squeak out, "Chael!"

* * * * * * *

Chael was also confused. But mostly he was terrified. And in pain. He was still cradling his testicles, the pain slowly receding. There were four men in the room, surrounding him, blocking any chance of escape. His mind raced, who were they?How had they found out?

Senator Jerrold entered through the broken door, followed by one of the other men. When Chael saw the senator, he instinctively grasped his balls a little more tightly. Jerrold looked coldly at him.

"Well, boy? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Chael's voice shook as he said, "We...we're in love, sir."

"Love!" Jerrold spat, "Love is for poets and little girls. Mara is still a girl, true, but you are a man. You are too old for this nonsense!"

Chael said nothing.

"How long have you and my daughter...?" Jerrold did not finish the thought, but let it linger in front of Chael.

"This is our first time. Sir."

"Thank the gods. They tell me you had not successfully penetrated her. Is this true?"

"Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir. I mean, her hymen is still intact, sir."

Jerrold thought for a moment. "If that is true, I will allow you to live."

Chael swallowed nervously. "Th-thank you, sir."

Jerrold looked at him. "Do not thank me just yet, boy."

"What, sir?" Chael knew where this was going, but the small hope in the back of his brain was repressing the repugnant idea. The slim chance that the Senator would have mercy on him, that he would only have him whipped or put in the stocks...

Jerrold was ignoring Chael now. He turned to one of the men and asked, "How soon can it be done?"

"That depends, sir. Do you wish him to be gelded, or docked and gelded?"

"What?! No!" Chael looked up, horrified.

"Oh, just gelded," Jerrold replied, "I want him to live through the experience. And have a long, sexless life after that."

"Please, sir! Please don't do that to me! Please have mercy!" Chael had jumped to his feet, but the pain in his balls, and the hands of two of the men on his shoulders, prevented him from getting very far.

"Somebody gag him." Jerrold said, dismissing Chael with a wave of his hand.

"No! Don't take my balls! Please don't take my balls! I...mmmmffff...!" One of the men stuffed Chael's open mouth with rags while another took a strip of cloth and tied it around Chael's head, holding the gag in place. A third grabbed Chael's arms, and tied his hands behind his back. He continued to try and beg through his mouth stuffed with fabric, but it was muffled and unintelligible.

"Someone shut him up!" Jerrold commanded. The first man again grabbed Chael by the balls and squeezed. Chael screamed into his gag, and fell back on the bed sobbing.

"So, when can it be done?"

"Tomorrow morning, sir. I'll send for the best cutter straightaway."

"Thank you. I will ride with you. The rest of you, take this boy to my estate and keep him locked up until tomorrow morning."

There was a chorus of "Yes, sir" from the men in the room. Two of them hoisted a still sobbing Chael to his feet and dragged him from the room, Jerrold and the three other men following.

* * * * * * *

When Jerrold arrived at his estate, he summoned first Mara's head female servant, and then for Mara herself. Belm and Krosq brought her to his study and he dismissed them. He stared in silence at Mara for a few minutes. Mara stared at her feet. Finally, Jerrold said,

"Keila tells me that you are still a virgin."

Mara did not look up. "Yes, father."

"Then you will be happy to know that I have only yesterday finalized marriage plans for you and Aulus, the fifth son of the Felix family. He just became a successful lawyer this year, and he and his father are honored by my request and have graciously accepted."

Mara was still looking at the floor. "Yes, father."

"Look at me, when I speak to you."

Mara looked at her father, no emotion showing on her face. Jerrold continued,

"I know that the trauma of being kidnapped and nearly raped by that baker's boy is affecting your ability to be happy right now. All I can promise you is that he will never be able to hurt you or any other girl ever again."

Mara gasped, "No! Is he dead?"

"No, daughter. He is locked away safely. Tomorrow I will have him made into a eunuch for daring to touch you."

Mara began to cry. "But I love him, father! I want to marry him!"

Jerrold fought back his anger. He knew that Mara was stubborn, and that commands and threats would not make her obey him.

"You only think you do, Mara. He has spun these lies in your head to make you an easy victim for his savagery."

Mara shook her head defiantly, "No! I love him. Please don't have him made like Belm! I want him!"

Jerrold shook his head. "No. It is already decided. Tomorrow, the baker's servant will become a eunuch. After that you will be married to Aulus." Mara opened her mouth as if to protest, but Jerrold cut her off, "You will obey me, Mara, and you will not dishonor our family. Your brothers, the memory of your dead mother, and myself are all counting on you."

Mara's face tightened. Years of being trained to obey and be silent had taken their toll on her. She nodded. Jerrold smiled at her.

"Good. And remember, if anyone finds out about this awful night, you will tell them the truth, how you were kidnapped and abused and rescued, and not the lies this man has fed you about being in love."

Mara nodded again. "Yes, father."

"Now go to bed," Jerrold's voice was tender. "You must be exhausted from this ordeal."

"Goodnight, father," Mara said as she left the study. Belm and Krosq stood at attention outside the doors, and they escorted her to her room.

All night, Mara cried and could not sleep. She thought of Chael, locked up somewhere. She wondered if he knew what his fate would be. She hoped he didn't, it would be kinder. She wished that they had had more time together, that they had been able to consummate the relationship. She thought about Chael's beautiful balls being sliced out by an angry knife while he screamed in agony. She thought about his wonderful penis shrinking away to a useless nub, his firm body becoming flabby and soft like Belm and Krosq were. She cried for Chael and for his balls. But she would obey her father. She knew she had been wrong to try and run off with Chael, and though she wished they had gotten away, she had no more fight left in her. She said goodbye to Chael in her mind, and began to wonder what her life with Aulus would be like.

* * * * * * *

Chael also spent a sleepless night, locked in the basement of Jerrold's estate. His balls ached from the abuse they had taken, and his mind raced with the fear of what was going to be done to him in the morning. There were eunuch slaves all over the city, and occasionally a freeman would commit some crime heinous enough to warrant the removal of his testicles, but he had never thought it would ever happen to him. He had seen one man castrated, a slave, and the way the slave had screamed and struggled he imagined the pain to be unbearable. But more than the pain was the horror and shame. Unable to please a woman, the ability gone from the body and the desire gone from the mind. Unable to ever be a father. Unable to be strong. Unable to lift your head up in the company of other men, realizing that they all had sacs of balls hanging between their legs, and you had nothing. Reduced to a fat, sexless, nothing. Something in-between man and woman. Because you were unable to keep your balls, the only true test of manhood. And he was going to die a virgin! He had never known the pleasures of a woman, and now he never would. De-balled, his penis would be useless. Chael wished that he had been able to make it with Mara. But thinking of Mara made him angry. She had seduced him, and he was going to lose his manhood because of her!

Chael finally drifted off into a nightmarish sleep, full of knives and blood and his high-pitched scream and the laughter of Jerrold.

* * * * * * *

Chael woke early in the morning, and the fear hit him all over again. He was still naked, and his morning erection was on his belly. He sat up, wishing he could masturbate, shoot his sperm one last time as a man, but his hands were still tied. Rubbing his member against the wall of the basement only chafed, and he gave up. His balls were still a little tender from the night before, but he knew that would soon be the least of his worries. He was also still gagged, and the rags were damp and uncomfortable. He squatted and pissed, succeeding in avoiding his own body with the stream. He felt a little satisfaction at the thought that he was defiling Jerrold's basement, but that was fleeting. He searched all around the basement, looking for some way to escape or to try and fight, but there was nothing and he soon gave up.

As time went on, Chael became frenzied with fear. He almost wished he were already a eunuch, the unbearable waiting was as torturous as the operation could ever be!

Eventually, four of the men from the night before opened the door to the basement. Chael made a dash at them, but they were bigger and stronger and his hands were tied. They caught him halfway up the stairs, and brought him back down to the basement. Two of them held his arms, one held his legs together, and the fourth man took a strip of thin leather from his pocket. He said nothing as he took hold of Chael's testicles, yanking them to the bottom of his sac. Chael threw back his head and yelled with the pain, but the gag muffled his cries. The man looped the leather tie around the top of Chael's scrotum and tied it, pulling it as tightly as it would go. Chael's legs buckled and he sagged, but the three other men held him up. Chael felt like he was being kicked in the balls, over and over again, the pain undulating from between his legs. He grunted and gasped, but could do nothing. The fourth man produced a second tie and tied it just beneath the first. Tears of frustration and pain welled up in Chael's eyes. It hurt so badly, and it wasn't fair! It wasn't his fault!

The four men began to drag him up the stairs, and Chael walked with them, his struggles useless, the pain rising from his bound balls every time he took a step. He mentally kicked himself for wishing earlier that they would get the operation underway, waiting seemed like heaven compared to this.

The men opened the door and Chael blinked from the bright sunlight. The men dragged Chael out into the garden. There was already a heavy table in the center of one of the larger lawns. Jerrold, his three sons, two of the other men from the night before, the baker, a slave who was obviously a eunuch, two female servants, and another man, probably the cutter, were waiting around it. Chael looked at the table. It was thick and wide, capable of supporting a man two or three times his size, and had leather straps at the top, bottom, and across the middle. The pain in his balls was slowly being replaced by a dull, throbbing ache, and Chael renewed his struggles, but to no avail. The four men held him, while one of the other men cut the ropes binding his hands. Then they hoisted him on the table, fastening a strap around each of his wrists and ankles and one low across his chest. The cutter wasted no time. He began to wash Chael's tied scrotum with soapy water, scrubbing far too hard for Chael's comfort. Chael's penis had long since wilted from fright, and the cutter called one of the servant girls over to hold it out of the way. She blushed, but did as instructed. Chael stared at her, her breasts, her shape, he felt her small hands on his penis, but he was too scared and angry to get hard at the moment. He stared at the woman, not a beauty, but not plain either, nice, normal looking. The kind of woman he should have been chasing, not running off with a rich beauty...

The cutter finished his ministrations and pulled out a razor. Chael squirmed and flinched as he brought it towards his genitals, but the cutter merely shaved his pubic hair away. He scraped the razor over Chael's sensitive scrotum, and Chael whimpered, the intensity of the feeling and the knowledge of what was to come almost unbearable. Finally, Chael was cleaned and shaved. The cutter and the servant girl stepped back, Chael's penis flopping down between his legs once more.

Jerrold stepped forward, looking Chael in the eye. Chael's balls still ached, but not as badly as before. Jerrold gave them a flick with his thumb and forefinger, and Chael winced and cried out.

"Alright boy, you are about to lose your balls, and I've gathered this group of witnesses to watch. Your baker has kindly sold your servitude over to me. As soon as you are healed, I will decide what I want to do with you. You still have three years of service left, but as a eunuch your rights will be revoked and it will be my decision. Do you understand?"

Chael nodded, helplessly.

"I am going to have your gag taken off for the procedure. However, if you say one word about my daughter, I will put it back, and you will have your penis sliced off in chunks. Do you understand?"

Chael nodded again.

"Good," Jerrold motioned to Belm. Belm came over with a knife and cut the cloth holding Chael's gag, then pulled the rags out of Chael's mouth. Chael coughed and spat. He looked at the eunuch standing next to him. His soft, flabby body, complete with breasts, and complacent nature...Gods, he did not want to be like that eunuch!

"Please, sir! Please have mercy!"

Chael's voice came out in a rasp, but he soon recovered.

"Please don't make me into a eunuch!"

Jerrold had turned towards the cutter. "Do him now. Make sure he survives."

The cutter nodded. Chael went crazy, struggling against the straps and banging himself against the table.

"No! No! Please don't take away my manhood!"

The cutter approached him, a sharp knife in his hand. He patted Chael on the thigh.

"Your balls are already dying, boy. Those ties are strangling them. If I left them on for a few hours, you'd still be a eunuch."

Chael looked down towards his tied off balls. "Please take the ties off! Please don't cut me!"

He looked at Jerrold, "I'm sorry, sir! I'm sorry, I'll never do it again!"

Jerrold smiled at him, "You're right. You won't."

Chael's eyes went wide and he screamed in frustration. "DON'T CUT MY BALLS OFF! PLEASE DON'T CUT MY BALLS OFF!!!"

The cutter motioned for the servant girl to return. "Hold his penis out of the way again."

"Yes, sir." The girl obeyed.

The cutter grabbed Chael's aching scrotum and quickly made a slit in the left side. Chael yelled even louder.

"NOT MY BALLS!!! DON'T TAKE MY BALLS!!! GODS, PLEASE!!!"

The cutter pulled Chael's left ball through the slit and set it on the table. Immediately, he moved to the right side of Chael's sac and made a second cut.

"AAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!! GODS, NO! I DON'T WANT TO BE A EUNUCH!!!"

The cutter pulled the right ball out and set it on the table with its twin. The pain was horrible, but Chael had felt worse pain before. Psychologically, though, the pain was killing him. He felt his balls sitting outside their protective sac, about to be taken from him forever. He was vulnerable and weak and he would become even weaker in the days to come...

The cutter had turned and replaced the first knife with a knife that had been sitting in a pot of smoldering coals. He came back between Chael's legs.

"NO NO NO, PLEASE NO!!!" Chael screamed.

It did no good, the cutter burned through the cord of Chael's left ball. Chael shrieked. It was the worst pain he had ever felt, and he knew that he would feel it again one more time. There was an ache deep inside of him, running through the severed cord and into his thighs and stomach. He whimpered,

"It hurts..."

He gasped for breath, and then the cutter severed his second cord. Chael shrieked again, knowing all was lost. His manhood was gone, no longer attached to him. He was a eunuch.

The cutter quickly sewed up the sides of Chael's sac. Chael moaned, but said nothing, lost in a haze of pain and shame. When he was finished, the cutter dismissed the servant girl again, and she dropped Chael's penis, which came to rest over Chael's empty scrotum. Suddenly, the cutter was by his head, holding something for Chael to see. Chael looked up in horror, looking at his own severed testicles in the cutter's hand. Before he could truly comprehend the sight, two of the men were forcing his mouth open and Chael understood.

"Oh, NO! That's my manhood...Please don't make me eat my own manh...."

The cutter shoved Chael's balls into his own mouth, then moved his jaw up and down. Chael resisted, but he was tired and in pain and he felt himself bite one of his own testicles in half. The realization of what he was doing, and what had been done to him, fully hit him, and he began to cry. The cutter made him chew his balls into little pieces, and then swallow.

Jerrold spoke from somewhere above his head. "Take him to the guest room until he heals. Make sure his hands are tied and have someone guard him at all times."

The cutter's voice then, "Sir, I will return in a week to remove the stitches."

"Very good. If you and the baker will follow me, we will finalize payments."

"Lead the way, sir," said the baker.

Chael felt hands on him, unstrapping him from the table, carrying him. He closed his eyes, still feeling the pain shooting up from between his legs. He was made to stand and walk, but he found that he had to waddle, as he was rewarded with sharp blasts of pain if his legs came too close together.

FInally, the new eunuch and his entourage reached the guest room. Someone helped Chael to lie face-up on the bed and he felt others tie his arms to the bedposts. Then they left him, lying with his legs spread wide, his only companion was the burning pain in his crotch, thighs and stomach. He closed his eyes, more tears rolling down his cheeks, and drifted off to sleep.

* * * * * * *

A week later, hours after the cutter had removed the stitches from Chael's empty bag, Mara entered the guest room.

Chael was sitting up, naked, his arms still tied, but loosely, his legs now tied as well, his back and head propped up by pillows, his lower half covered by a sheet. His eyes were closed. Mara stood directly in front of him until he opened his eyes. When he saw her, his eyes squinted in anger.

"What do you want?"

He could not mask the bitterness in his voice. Mara looked hurt, but quickly regained her composure, smiling gently at him.

"I wanted to see how you were doing."

"How do you think I'm doing?!" he snarled at her. Her smile faded, but she sat on the bed at his feet. Chael turned his head away from her.

"I still love you." she said.

He turned back to her, full of anger.

"Love? You don't know what love is, you naive child!"

"Maybe not." She was trying to be patient with him, trying to understand his anger over his loss. "But I think I know better than you do."

"I was never in love with you!" he spat. "You seduced me, convinced me it was a good idea to run away together!"

"I did no such thing." Her voice rose an octave. "You wanted to run away!"

Chael couldn't remember how the conversation had gone. There was so much of his old life he was trying to forget, trying to make room for his new life, the one with the empty place between his legs. He gave up arguing.

"Just go away."

"No!" Mara was outraged. "You're blaming me for this, aren't you?"

"I have no balls!" he screamed at her. "I had my balls cut off because of you!"

"You wanted it too!"

"You seduced me!"

"You seduced me right back!"

"Go away!"

"No, I don't have to go away. I don't have to do anything you say." There was a mean glint in Mara's eye. "You see, I'm the daughter of the owner of this estate, and you're his nutless slave."

Chael flinched as if she'd slapped him in the face. But Mara was just picking up steam.

"You took control of the situation, and I went right along with you. But as soon as it backfires, whose fault is it? Mine! Not ours, mine!"

"But nobody thinks it's your fault! I took the blame, all of it! You got off completely free, and I lost manhood!"

"Completely free? I would gladly have taken a punishment for you. I cried all night for you. The morning you were...punished I begged my father to spare you! He told me to stop or he'd make you eat your own testicles..."

Chael's body spasmed involuntarily, and he felt the bile in throat. Mara looked at him in horror.

"Did he...? Oh gods. Oh, Chael!"

She moved as if to embrace him, but he jerked away from her.

"So, you made it worse for me Mara. Ever since I met you that's what you've done. Made it worse for me."

Mara stood.

"You know how they discovered up Chael? Your baker, the deep sleeper. He heard you galloping off on his horse and raised a hue and cry. Belm checked on me when he heard the noise, only I wasn't there. Belm went to my father, who put two and two together and since he has contacts everywhere in this city it wasn't hard for him to find us. So, that was my fault, was it?"

Chael said nothing. If only he had taken the horse out more slowly. Or not taken the horse at all, they could have walked. If he had only been smarter, he would still have his balls...

"I think I understand men better now." Mara said. "Thank you, Chael, for your lessons. There's only one more thing I want to learn."

Mara ripped the sheet off Chael's lower half. Chael had not looked at his crotch since his balls had been cut off, but now he looked in fascinated horror. His flaccid penis drooped towards the bed, and beneath it - nothing. Just some folds of empty skin where his balls had once hung. Nothing there now, they would have been resting on the bed if he was still a man. Mara crawled on the bed, up between his legs, and took his empty scrotum in her hands.

"Mara, please don't!"

"Why not? I want to feel what a former man has. Well, I've felt Belm's before, but his was so shrunken it might as well have not been there."

The shame was rising in Chael. He remembered how Mara had played with his scrotum when it had been stuffed with his proud balls. And now, she kneaded his empty pouch with glee. As Chael watched her play, he lost all hope and began to cry.

"Aw, don't cry little eunuch!"

He couldn't believe what she was doing to him. But then again, he hadn't known her very long. It had been so foolish to try and run away with her. And now he would pay for his mistake for the rest of his life.

Mara turned her attention to his shrunken penis. "Does it still get hard?"

"Once or twice." Chael whimpered pathetically.

"Hmm." She said, and began to play with it, rubbing it, after a few minutes, Chael felt it twitch.

"Oh," he gasped. "It's working!"

Mara continued to massage his penis, and it began to stiffen. Soon it was as hard as it would get. Chael stared at it. It was nowhere as firm as it would have gotten when he was a man, and the sensations from Mara's rubbing were less pleasurable than he remembered. Still, his penis was hard.

Mara lifted her dress, revealing her naked crotch, and lowered herself on Chael's eunuch penis. She did not allow him to penetrate her, but she rubbed her clitoris against his helmet, moaning with pleasure. Chael felt something too, not as much, but something, and seconds after Mara's orgasm he felt a spasm. Both Mara and Chael looked down to see his penis spurting some clearish liquid from the tip.

"I didn't know eunuchs could to that!" Mara gasped.

"Neither did I," he said.

"Well," Mara pulled her dress back down and crawled off the bed.

"Tomorrow I will be married," she told him. "And my father is giving you as a gift. After all, I, the wife of a rich, rising lawyer, will be needing a companion eunuch."

Chael looked at her, gauging her meaning. Mara smiled at him.

"My father is not completely heartless. Of course, he does not realize the fun that you and I will have for as long your body holds out. I will see you in a few days."

With that, she left the room. Chael stared after her. He was confused. They had been fighting, then she was eliciting an orgasm from him that he didn't even know he had. And now he would be her personal eunuch, and they would pleasure each other without her new husband's knowledge. Chael reached down with his loosely tied arm and felt his empty scrotum for the first time, fondling it in his hand. He felt shame and anger still, but also, a strange hope. Mara had not been worth the loss of of his balls, he thought. But maybe, she might make the loss more bearable.