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black velvet mask, sensed it. Until her frightened mind was occupied with the ritual that was unfolding about her.
    She was a coloured girl. The close-cropped head was bare, the face half hidden by the mask. Her long neck was also bare of any adornment, and protruded from a long black cloak that reached the floor and hid the rest of her completely. At either side of her two similarly clad figures held her lightly by the arms, leading her to the central point of the star. At the tips of each of the four extremities of the star stood other cloaked figures. The one corresponding to the compass designation of north stood on a dais about two feet high. Unlike the others, her enveloping cloak was a rich scarlet.
    All the participants were female, their heads, with hairstyles of various lengths and colours, bare. The blindfolded initiate was positioned facing the figure on the dais. At a signal from the scarlet clad form, the two women at each side of the coloured girl removed her cloak, with a single dramatic pull. The material fell to her feet.
    Her slim body was naked, the skin a burnished coppery brown, the small breasts generously nippled. The scrub of pubis looked insignificant against the smooth planes of the belly and thighs. She stood with her feet slightly apart, gazing blindly ahead. Though she made no conscious movement, her body betrayed her nervousness by its tiny tremors.
    When the figure on the dais spoke her voice was amazingly deep, resonant, almost masculine, yet exuding a sense of powerful sexuality. ‘Do you now avow your wish to become a daughter of our sacred band? Answer.’
    â€˜I do.’ The reply was scarcely audible, a husky whisper. ‘Do you swear on your life that you will obey our tenets, and do you swear to keep the secrets of the society?’
    â€˜I do.’
    Further ritualistic questions and answers followed, the latter being given in the same hushed monosyllables. Then the scarlet leader declared, ‘Daughters, prepare her for the ordeal.’
    With a balletic fluidity of movement and timing, the three figures at the outer edges of the star, and the two escorts of the initiate, slipped off their cloaks to reveal their own nakedness. They came forward and lifted the dark girl off her feet, then positioned her face down on the cold marble, her pinioned arms and legs following exactly the lines of the black shape beneath her. Four of them remained kneeling, holding her by her outstretched wrists and ankles. The fifth advanced to the foot of the dais and picked up a short handled whip, with three slender lashes in soft black leather.
    Her arm drew back, then the wrist flicked and the tails of the whip fell across the flexing buttocks. There was a smothered cry, and the captive girl squirmed and then lay still.
    â€˜Do you swear obedience?’ the voice from the dais intoned.
    The prisoner’s voice cracked on a sob. ‘I dub - do.’ The whip cracked again, and a dark thin line appeared on the brown skin of the behind, the curves of which were lighter than the rest of the twisting body, almost a pale mushroom at the crown of the dimpling cheeks where the marks of the whip were most evident.
    â€˜Do you swear undying loyalty?’
    Again, the sobbing affirmative. The whip hissed again across the burning flanks. The girl was sobbing audibly now.
    â€˜Do you swear secrecy, above all else?’
    The response was loud and shrill through the sound of her weeping.
    â€˜We accept you, Deborah, into our sacred order. We take you unto us. Come, daughters, let us make her one of us.’
    Someone was already tending the abused buttocks, bathing with a cool cloth the angry red tracery of the whipping. The velvet mask, soaked with tears, was now removed, revealing the young face which, smeared as it was, was clearly seen to be beautiful. The five naked figures turned her gently over and spread her again along the shape of the star. Thus her beauty was exposed in every