Michelle stood next to Henry when she took the mic from Iron Shaft.
She made a good sales pitch, if a bit obviously rehearsed, praising his qualities.
When she was done, Rose took her mic and gave it to Nyoto saying "your turn."
"Like Mistress Rose said, Josh is just in the country and tonight is the night I met him."
"So I'll share what I know so far, he's handsome, intelligent and a real gentleman."
"A good dancer, excellent with his hands and a great kisser."
"I can't really describe him physically so perhaps I should just show you?"
This elicited quite a few hollers and Nyoto walked to Josh, who simply nodded slightly for his permission and grabbed both sides of his shirt and tore it open, buttons flying everywhere.
With a few good tugs she removed his shirt, took his hat and let her hands slide over his sweaty chest.
"Oh and ladies, he shaves all the way" she finished with a grin.
The crowd reacted to the show Nyoto gave and the cheers kept on even after both masters demanded silence.
Nyoto and Michelle were escorted off stage and the bidding started with Henry.
"The opening bid is 10 thousand dollars, who bids more?"
Yelling started in the pit and the phone girls made signals for bids.
Soon Henry was at a 100k and he smirked at Josh, daring him to get more.
Josh just shrugged, he was new at this and had no ego to match in this town, he just waited.
When the bidding started on Josh there was less noise coming from the pit but the bids went just as fast, the phone girls signaling more.
When Josh reached the 100k as well, the auction was paused.
Both had made more than the other people auctioned so the race for the final prize was between them.
Josh had been standing at ease with his hand behind his back for a while now and silently he wondered how much longer it would take.
Henry must have thought the same thing because he started to look a bit bored.
"Oh are we boring you?" Rose said when she saw Henry stifle a yawn.
Laughter rose from the crowd and Rose strutted provocatively towards him.
She was quite a sight, swaying her hips lips and Henry's head turned to watch.
Josh saw her starting and kept his eyes front and center, he felt that this was a test again.
Trying his best not to watch her or follow her fine figure with his eyes, he did his best to stay focused and look straight ahead.
"This one has discipline," Ironshaft said, walking towards Josh.
"What do you think of Mistress Rose?" Iron Shaft boomed in the microphone "can I play with him, will he break?"
"I don't know," she replied, standing face to face with Henry.
"We have never had such a contest" she continued turning around to face the crowd.
"What do you think? Shout aye for a test of character or nay and we continue the bids"
The crowd was whipped to a frenzy and when Master Ironshaft unrolled his whip, the aye's had it.
Back at the table, Nyoto had rejoined them and all were watching intently.
"What's a test of character?" asked Jonas in general.
Nyoto answered under her breath "a whipping."
"A real whipping?" Jonas asked disturbed looking at his son on stage.
"As real as allowed by law" she answered "no skin may be broken but it will hurt."
"I didn't agree to this" Jonas said and was about to stand up.
"Relax" Ashley said "I know Iron Shaft, he's an expert, it will sting but no more than the poke he already got from Rose, I should know, he has whipped me before."
To prove her point she showed her perfect skin on her back, no scar to be found.
Slightly more at ease, Jonas resumed his intended watch.
Megan cuddled a little closer to him, holding his hand beneath the table.
Like a predator circling its prey, Ironshaft walked around Josh and Henry.
Josh just kept his focus and tried to relax a bit more, hoping he was right about Rose.
Rose had moved Henry a bit closer to Josh so the both stood in line to the audience.
She deftly removed the leather top from Henry's outfit and the shirt he wore beneath.
Some women in the crowd started screaming again when Henry was topless next to Josh.
"For each stroke of the whip, the price goes up by 5 thousand dollars" Rose whispered in the microphone "the first to yell out will lose the prize."
"Are we ready for the test of manhood, to separate the boys from the men?" she shouted to the crowd.
It went wild, the auction pit was overflowing with women wanting to see the action up close.
The pathway in front of the stage filled up with spectators, all wanting to be as close as possible.
Josh could actually make faces out in the crowd despite the backlight, so close were they.
"Here we go" Ironshaft yelled and in quick repetition he lashed at both of them.
The crowd became even wilder, shouting and screaming.
When the first stripe of the whip hit him, Josh was surprised at the light touch of the sting.
It hurt but not too badly.
Ironshaft kept his pace and soon both their prices were increased by another 100 thousand just by whip strokes alone.
At twenty seven lashes Josh really felt the pain and had to work hard not to show it.
When the whip came down for the thirtieth time, Henry shouted.
Thinking he had won, a small smile appeared on Josh's face.
It disappeared instantly as the whip was now just aimed at him, twice the speed it stung so fast and so quick that Josh lost count until he also had to yell out.
Only then did he notice that the crowd had gone silent.
"Forty eight" Ironshaft said, respect obvious in his voice.
"I don't know about you people" Rose said "but I am looking forward to meeting this fine specimen in private."
The bidding was finished but more than a few women tried to place bids on Josh.
With an end total of nearly half a million dollars, Josh was a very expensive price.
Ironshaft placed an ice pack on his back causing Josh to gasp again.
"Well done Josh, well done" Ironshaft whispered when securing the pack.
"Thank you all for a wonderful evening" Mistress Rose spoke to the crowd "I hope you enjoyed the show and congratulations to the winners of these two fine men."
"I would like to thank them and the organizers on behalf of all the children for the proceeds, I have just been told that we passed the million mark tonight so an applause please."
The crowd applauded with gusto and Josh smiled, pleased with the fact that he had helped a good cause.
He only hoped it would help him sleep later on as well, his back started to hurt more and the ice pack helped but not by much.