Tanya glanced at the tinier on the table then turned her attention back to striving to reach a knot just out of range of her fingernails. The knot defied her and time was running out. Finally, with a great sigh, Tanya ceased her efforts and fell back on the carpet where she lay unmoving save for the heaving of her chest.
As the naked girl lay there, she mentally went back over all the ropes that bound her, checking if she had overlooked any place where there might be a loose strand or a knot close enough to reach. But there were none. She had spent almost every second of the last hour testing the ropes that held her prisoner, seeking that tiny gap in their security she could exploit to gain her escape. There had been and still was none.
The ropes were white cotton clothesline, a rope perfect for binding a young female. It was thick enough so it didn't cut in too badly, yet thin enough to easily knot and fit between legs or arms to cinch down. The bondage technique was as perfect as the ropes. She was bound in a hogtie, one of the most perfect ways to make a girl helpless and make her really feel that helplessness. It had begun with ropes around the wrists as they rested together, palm of each hand facing the other. Those ropes had been cinched down and three knots tied up between the forearms where the fingers could not reach. A couple of feet of rope was left hanging down from the final knot, not because of sloppiness but planning. Next came the elbows, pushed tightly together and then bound with rope wrapped tightly around the arms just above the elbows. Those ropes were cinched down and knots tied. Then the hanging rope from the wrists was brought up to the elbows, wrapped around their ropes and tied in three quite firm knots. Thus it was that the fingers would have to reach all the way up to the elbows in order to loosen the last knots on the rope that bound the wrists together. The female who had done this binding knew full well that the secret to secure bondage is the hands. Keep them bound and all else will stay bound, let them free themselves, and all else will come undone. Tanya's wrists were still bound after an hour of serious, strenuous effort to free themselves.
But the arms were not all that was secured in this hogtie. After testing the ropes about the arms and finding them satisfactory, the girl who was doing the binding bid Tanya sit on a chair. She did and her legs were bound together with more clothesline. First the ankles, a dozen wrappings and four cinches to make them all tight. Then knots firmly tied in the front of the ankles where hands reaching from behind would find them hard or impossible to touch. Then the knees were pushed together and fresh rope wrapped around the legs just above the knees. That dozen windings was cinched down and knots tied.
Only then was the young woman was ready for the additional touch that made it a real hogtie. She was helped down to the carpet and laid out on her stomach. The chair was taken away. Then a length of rope was looped around that rope holding her ankles together and knotted very tightly. Then it was passed up along her body and between the forearms of her tightly bound arms. Then back to the ankles were it was passed between the legs and up. When that was pulled, it brought the feet closer and closer to the hands until the heels of the bound feet were pressing against the palms of the hands. Then that rope was looped around the bondage of the wrists and ankles several times, knotted several times, then passed up to the elbows where the final three knots were tied.
This left the naked girl in a very uncomfortable position, and one that should prove impossible to escape from. After an hour of intense effort, Tanya had to agree: she was indeed helpless.
As she lay on the plush carpet, Tanya reflected upon the coming punishment. She knew what it would be for it was a punishment she had often used herself on the very girl who had put her in this bondage, her friend and roommate Dawn. And she knew that she would hate it long before the end of her punishment period, such was the nature of that punishment. She glanced at the timer again. Three minutes to zero. Tanya rolled onto her stomach from her side, a movement that took some effort with arms and legs as immobilized as they were. But it eased the strain on her body a bit.
She was resigned to the coming punishment, extremely uncomfortable though it would surely be, but not in a fearful way. Actually, a tingle of excitement raced along her nerves when she thought of what was to come. And it was certainly not unexpected for she had known full well before the first rope was looped about her wrists that escape would be as near totally impossible as could be humanly made. She was no amateur to being tied or doing the tying. Neither was Dawn. Tanya knew full well that if she allowed Dawn free reign in the binding of her body, she would not be escaping from those ropes. Yet she had allowed just that, meekly and passively presenting her arms and legs when ordered, and doing nothing to impede or lessen the security of the final product.
The timer rang, a shrill electronic tone that grated upon the nerves. The tone continued for a full minute before the door opened and a smiling Dawn entered. Tanya sighed, knowing that her friend had deliberately allowed the alarm to continue. She could, after all, not do anything to stop it.
"Well, I see Tanya has failed to escape. Tisk, tisk! I had hoped that you would manage to pass this simple test. How are you going to become a world class escape artist if you keep failing these tests?"
"You never seem to be able to pass them, either," chided Tanya. "Perhaps a little more practice on your part...?"
"My, my," said the blonde beauty, "what impertinence! Perhaps we should double the punishment time-just so you learn proper manners to your betters."
"You... You...." Tanya sputtered. "Three hours was all we agreed upon. I expect you to stick to that." The hogtied girl sounded angry but there was a smile on her face. And a real interest as to whether Dawn would stick by the original three hours or pull a fast one on the helpless nudity laying on the floor.
"Well...." said Dawn, making a big show of pondering the question. "You really don't have the right attitude. And last week you left me in that chair far longer than the Punishment Book calls for...." She let the accusation hang in the air. Tanya swallowed, remembering that she had, indeed, exceeded the time defined in the book. Of course, they both did that regularly, but what are friends for, anyway?
"Okay, four and a half hours," concluded Dawn. "I'll split the difference with you and increase the time only by an hour and a half. How's that for fairness?" Tanya muttered something under her breath. "What's that? I can't hear you."
"I said it certainly is fair," said Tanya aloud, sounding like anything but in agreement. "Four and a half hours it is." Dawn smiled and reached down to pat the bare bottom of her friend. "Great! Let's go."
Fifteen minutes later Tanya was ready for her punishment to begin. The two of them were in Dawn's bedroom, a room only slightly larger than most houses. There was plush carpeting and fine furniture in the spacious room, but the dominating feature was the bed. It was made of bare wooden posts, each about five inches in diameter, all solidly bolted together into a framework that included posts at each comer going up to a square framework overhead. There were a couple metal rings screwed into the undersides of the beams on each side. Tanya, with legs freed from the hogtie but her arms still secured behind her, had been led in by a smiling Dawn. There her arms had been freed and she had been told to stand upon a chair placed against one of those posts on the end of the massive bed. Tanya cooperated completely with her new binding, even while voicing protests about the extra time of her punishment. First there was rope wrapped around her tummy and the post, pulled tight and cinched. Then more rope between her legs and around the post with the effect of lashing her hips to the post.
With Tanya's hips and waist solidly against the post, Dawn climbed up on the bed and gathered the arms together behind the post and began binding them with the same ropes that had just come off. The arms were tied with wrists together and elbows linked but not touching. That large post prevented the elbows from being tied together but Dawn gave every indication of trying to make them come together. Tanya cried out and protested the tightness and pleaded for mercy, all of which was ignored as the ropes were knotted tightly in place. Then some larger nylon rope was wrapped around Tanya's chest and the post, first above her ample breasts, then below them. Those ropes were knotted tightly, and Dawn climbed down from the bed.
Tanya was still standing on the chair, her legs the only part of her that was free. Dawn playfully teased an already taunt nipple with the end of some rope, then put her hand on the chair's back. Tanya sucked in breath and gritted her teeth. Tanya's legs came slowly up, allowing her entire weight to be taken by those ropes lashing her to the post. Her body sagged a bit downward but not very much. The ropes were quite tight. Both these girls knew what they were doing and that this naked female body would not slide down the post. The ropes were far too tightly applied to allow that.
The chair was taken away and Tanya slowly let her legs hang down. There was strain clearly written in the features of her face. Dawn looked up at her friend and slowly licked her lips. Just leaving Tanya for the specified amount of time would be a gorgeous punishment, a real torment and yet exciting. But this was not the final configuration of the punishment. Dawn sighed happily and took up another piece of rope.
Each ankle was bound at the end of a length of rope. Then first one foot, and then the other, was pulled back towards the post nearest it. The rope was wrapped around that post and then run back to the ankle were it was tied. Then Dawn went to the other side and tightened up the leg on that side. Then back to the first. Gradually both legs were spread very wide and pulled back towards the comers of the bed behind Tanya.
Real strain was now showing on the face of the captive nudity, increasing with each inch her legs were further separated and pulled back. Finally Dawn judged that the limit had been reached. She might have been able to force out an extra inch from each leg, but this was her friend, and this punishment was to be torment, not torture.
Coming back around in front of Tanya, Dawn gently reached up to touch the strained muscles of those wide spread thighs. It was a beautiful punishment and both girls were enjoying it-in different ways. To Dawn it was a beautiful picture of torment and sexuality. This lovely female body was drawn back into an arch that protruded her breasts and sex outward, as if they were asking to be touched. Or at least admired. As she gazed down the long, lovely legs suspended in midair by their ropes, she sighed with happiness. It was so beautiful.
To Tanya, this position was to be enjoyed in a quite different way. It was horrible, it was torment approaching agony, it was a harsh immobilization of her entire body. It hurt and that pain would grow more as each minute crawled by. She knew that long hours stretched out ahead of her, an eternity to one who had to endure it. But she was also excited, her whole body alive and tingling with the intense realism of this punishment. Before four and a half hours were up, she would hate what was being done to her body. But she also loved it.
Dawn put away the extra ropes in the dresser drawers reserved for them. The chair went back against the wall. Then there was nothing out of place save for the naked beauty hanging against a post. Dawn sighed and longed to touch that lovely body but held back her hand. This was a punishment, and punishments usually did not include sexual excitement, especially not if that excitement allowed the punished girl to reach an orgasm. Dawn unbuttoned her blouse and tossed it towards the bathroom. As she cupped her pert breasts, she considered that a long, cool shower might help. Not much, but it would give her something to do. Perhaps she would shampoo her hair, too. She turned to go into the bathroom.
"Dawn," called Tanya.
Turning around, Dawn said with a sarcastic tone, "Not starting to plead already, are we?"
"Of course not. I failed to escape, so I deserve this punishment. I was just going to suggest that you gag me. Three hours might have been okay but four and a half will push me to the limit. A gag would be better than you having to listen to what I would be saying about you."
"Sensible," agreed Dawn as she headed towards the dresser that held their toys. She selected a ball gag, simple but effective. Then she pulled the chair back over to the comer of the bed and mounted it so she would be nearly level with the punished girl's head. Tanya opened her mouth to accept the large rubber ball. It filled her mouth, pushing down her tongue and wedging itself behind her teeth with Dawn's help. The blonde buckled the strap behind Tanya's head, noting as she did that their breasts were rubbing together. A moan of pleasure came from the gagged mouth before her and Dawn almost moaned herself. She wanted to grab that body, to touch it, to do things to it that would make it jerk and shudder with pain and pleasure. It was an ache deep inside her that was hard to put down. But she only kissed her friend and lover on the gagged lips and got down from the chair. Later, she promised herself as she put the chair away again. Later.
While pulling down her jeans in the bathroom, Dawn told herself that to give in would not be fair to either Tanya or herself. These games of theirs were to be real, very real, or they would not be worth playing. And punishment was to be punishment. She knew that Tanya longed to be touched as much as she wanted to touch that helpless body. But when it was Dawn's turn to be punished, she knew Tanya would fight giving in, and that her punishment would also be real.
Quickly she tossed off her panties and turned on the shower to a rather cold setting. As she plunged into the water, she moaned aloud.
In the bedroom, Tanya moaned aloud when she heard the shower turning on. There had been a slight hope that Dawn would weaken and give in, but the shower lessened that possibility. And it was only fair. After all, punishment should be punishment.
As she hung there, much of her body hurting and muscles in her thighs on the verge of trembling, she reflected upon how all this had come to pass. She was only twenty-one years old but this love of highly erotic games was nothing new for her. By the time she was sixteen, Tanya knew what she wanted and exerted a strange power over most of her peers. She thought back to those years, remembering events in fine detail. Four and a half hours is a long time and sometimes memories are all you have to keep you company.
CHAPTER TWO - Sleep Over Bondage
"I don't know... Are you sure this is okay?"
Mary Ann stood before Tanya, her blouse unbuttoned in front and her hands resting on the front snap of her bra.
Tanya gazed with her dark eyes into the green ones of this seventeen year old girl and spoke with a maturity beyond her own sixteen years. "Then dress and go. Or stay." She paused to toss a coil of clothesline onto the bed. "But ask yourself what it is you want to do. Deep down, inside, what is it that you really want to do?"
Mary Ann swallowed and could not keep her eyes off that length of rope coiled up on itself. "I...." she began then stopped. Her hands began taking off her blouse but her eyes stayed on the rope. The bra followed the blouse to the floor. Tanya smiled slightly at the sight of those firm, young breasts, very much like her own. She found herself attracted to breasts such as these, and to female bodies much more than those silly, immature boys she met at school. She tossed another coil of rope on the bed where it bounced then came to rest beside the first. 'The jeans...." she said quietly.
Mary Ann's hand went down to the button of her jeans. "I don't know...." she began. "Maybe it's...." But her half-hearted protests were cut off by a firm voice. "Either shut up or get those clothes back on and leave."
There was no anger in that voice, only firm command. Mary Ann unzipped her jeans and wiggled out of them. Her hands drifted up hesitantly as if wanting to cover her breasts.
"Turn around."
Mary Ann turned and placed her hands behind her back, crossing the wrists. But she was looking over her shoulder as Tanya picked up the first coil of rope. Tanya knew what she wanted and did it. The first loop went around the wrists only after Tanya turned them so they were palm facing palm. Quickly more turns of the rope bound the wrists together. Then the end was looped around the main ropes to cinch them down. A couple knots were tied between the forearms. Tanya knew what she was doing. At sixteen she had already learned all the basics of bondage and was exploring advanced territory. She knew how to make another girl completely helpless with very little rope, and how to make that other girl feel the helplessness deep down inside her.
She picked up the second length of rope and formed a loop in one end. That she passed around the hands and up the arm until it was above the elbows. Then she pulled the arms together with one hand while tightening the rope down with her other hand. Mary Ann was young and flexible, her elbows easily came together and were quickly bound that way.
"That's tight," Mary Ann said. But her voice wavered, as if she was afraid of protesting.
"I know," was all Tanya said as she jerked tight the final knot at the elbows. Then she turned around the nearly naked girl and looked her straight in the eyes. Mary Ann, being a year older, was a little taller than Tanya but it was obvious to both girls in that bedroom who was in charge. Tanya took Mary Ann's head in both of her hands and kissed the bound girl on the lips. It was not a meek kiss, but one that demanded complete submission. Mary Ann felt her knees grow weak as this younger girl made her feel feelings she had never imaged before. When the kiss was finished, Tanya was smiling and Mary Ann breathless. A tingle was exciting nerves in her sexual parts, and a warmth she had never felt before was burning in her loins.
Tanya reached over to her dresser and picked up a pair of scissors. She neatly snipped the waist band of Mary Ann's panties, first on one side, then on the other. The panties dropped to the floor. Mary Ann made no attempt to stop them but a tiny whine escape her lips. She would be going home without panties, but that was the least of her worries. She was getting deeper and deeper into mysteries she did not understand but which were powerful indeed.
Tanya backed up a step then picked up a belt from the bed. It was a slender belt, one she often used in her jeans. But today it was an instrument both of pain and her authority over this older girl. She lightly tapped the belt against her palm in unspoken promise, then ordered the naked and nearly trembling girl to her knees. Mary Ann sank to her knees without demure, her eyes on that belt. In later years, Tanya would substitute a riding crop for the belt, but at this point it did it's job.
"Struggle," she commanded simply. 'Try to get free of those ropes."
Puzzlement crossed Mary Ann's face but quickly she began tugging and pulling at her bound arms. The threat of that belt was very large in her mind. That fine teenage body was being provided with a wonderful mixture of fear and sexual excitement.
Tanya let her struggle for a few minutes, enjoying the scene very much. It gave her intense a sense of power to watch a beautiful girl struggle against her ropes, a feeling every bit as powerful as the helplessness she felt when the ropes were on her and she was the one struggling hopelessly against them. She could have let the show linger on, but there was more important work to be done. "Stop!" she said and the naked girl stopped. Those firm breasts were raising and falling with each heavy breath. Tanya stepped forward until she straddled the kneeling girl, her feet next to Mary Ann's knees, the belt buckle of her jeans level with the frightened girl's face. "Are you helpless?" she asked evenly.
"Yes. I cannot get free." Mary Ann was not playing a game, she felt the helplessness and only spoke the truth.
"Good. Tilt back your head and open your mouth." Obeying, Mary Ann opened her mouth. Her eyes widened at the sight of the rubber ball with a small leather strap stuck through it. But Tanya didn't give her a chance to question anything. The rubber ball was inside the mouth, and the strapped quickly buckled behind the head. Tanya then stepped back.
It was fascinating to watch the eyes of this naked girl. They were wide with fear and excitement. She tried to push out the ball but it was far too firmly secured. A few sounds escaped around the gag, perhaps words or attempts at words.
"Don't try to speak, you can't," said Tanya casually. She was right, of course, and the girl on her knees was feeling very helpless right then. Her breathing was heavy, there was a blush covering most of her face and spreading down to her chest. Those delightful nipples were erect and a woman smell was beginning to fill the room. Tanya knew that the time was right for the next stage in the training of Mary Ann.
"Up on the bed. Lay on your back," she ordered. Mary Ann obeyed, struggling up to her feet and then laying down on her stomach on the bed. Quickly she turned over and pushed herself to the center of the bed with her free legs. Tanya knelt on the bed between those legs. She teased the furry patch before her with the end of the doubled over belt. Mary Ann's eyes grew wide with fear at the thought of that belt slashing down on her sex.
Tanya dropped the belt next to Mary Ann's face and took her knees in her hands. She pushed and the legs spread wide. Then she lowered her head until her lips were only an inch from the light colored fur of this girl. She lowered herself until she was laying on the bed with her legs hanging out over the end. Propping herself on her elbows, she used her hands to spread apart the labia, noting with satisfaction that the girl was actually trembling and tiny moaning sounds were coming from the gagged mouth. Leaning forward, she gently licked the revealed clit with her tongue. The response was instant. Mary Ann moaned loudly and arched her body upward.
"Shut up," said Tanya, then she went back to performing oral sex upon this naked and bound up teenager. She worked her tongue around the clit, toyed with it, stroked it and sucked gently. She was gentle, very careful to build up this girl slowly, and very skilled for a girl of her age. But she had learned the lesbian arts at the hands of a woman older than she, and learned them well. She slowly built this fine body under her complete control up to an intense orgasm, probably the first one ever experienced by this youth, certainly the first every while bound with tight ropes and gagged. When Tanya was finished, she backed off the bed, leaving a naked girl trembling and withering around on the covers in the grasp of an ecstasy she had never known was possible.
Tanya took some more rope out of her drawer and tied a length to each ankle before her. Then she tied those legs down to the comers of her bed, forcing the girl into a spread position. For a while she simply watched Mary Ann as the bound and gagged girl floated along on intense feelings of pure pleasure. Tanya unzipped her jeans and pulled them off, to be followed her blouse and underwear. Standing at the end of her bed, she spread her legs wide and fingered gently her own sex. It was good to watch the emotions in this captive girl, to know what she was feeling and to feel the tremendous sense of power at having made it come to pass. It was heady stuff for a teenage girl. She could give pleasure or pain, they were both in her hands.
Eventually Mary Ann showed signs of return to the real world, and Tanya crawled up on the bed to kneel beside her captive. She teased the nipples until they were rigid again, fingered the pubic path and what it hid until the bound girl was moaning again. She spread the labia with one hand and stroked the clit with fingertips of the other. Quickly Mary Ann was again moaning and panting through the gag. Her body was trembling and obviously quickly working up towards another orgasm. Youthful bodies were quick to revive and respond.
This time Tanya played Mary Ann's body like an instrument, slowing it one time, then speeding it up towards it's coming climax another. Just when Mary Ann was gasping and trembling on the threshold of a second orgasm, Tanya grabbed one breasts with her hand and dug her fingernails into the soft flesh as she squeezed as hard as she could. At the same time she sped up the work her other hand was doing. The results were as she wanted. Mary Ann crashed into another orgasm and Tanya had all she could do to hold down the thrashing nudity.
When that orgasm slowed down and Mary Ann showed every sign of being off in that never-never land only women can reach, Tanya sighed and let go of the breast. She wiped her other hand on the furry patch. Mary Ann's pussy had proven to be a juicy one. Then she lay down along side her newest conquest.
Tanya breathed deeply and relaxed. Her body was still tense and craved sexual satisfaction but she would wait on that. She considered going down to the kitchen later and bringing back some milk and cookies to share with Mary Ann. But her newest sexual playmate would not be untied for many hours yet. It was all a part of training.
Tanya could have made Mary Ann perform the oral sex upon her instead of the other way around. It would have been satisfying to make the older girl obey under the treat of the belt/whip. But Tanya had played this game before and knew that this way was better. When this night was over, she would have a slave in most every sense of the word. Mary Ann would be so addicted to the sensual pleasures of bondage and lesbian sex that she would do anything to experience them again. Before morning, Tanya would bring her to at least one more orgasm, perhaps two. Such an incredible amount of sexual pleasure was a drug no tender young virgin like Mary Ann could resist. She would be addicted. Any time Tanya asked her over for a "sleep over", Mary Ann would come running. In between, she would beg to be bound up whenever she could. By mixing the pain of laying on bound arms and fingernails in the breasts with the pleasure of multiple orgasms, Tanya was conditioning Mary Ann to a behavior pattern she wanted. A little further along the training, Mary Ann would beg that the belt be used on her bottom, plead for tighter bondage, and even stick out her breasts when ordered to so Tanya could slash them with that thin belt.
And then, when that obedience was complete, Tanya would order her slave to bind her, to put her in painfully tight bondage and toy with her body much as she did with Mary Ann's. Then she would accept the oral adoration of her slave in the fashion she wished it.
Tanya understood this erotic side of human nature better than most adults ever do.
Slowly, over the course of a few years, she built up a stable of submissive females who would obey her slightest wish. Even if that wish was for them to bind and torment their mistress for hours on end. The teenage years were a lot of fun for Tanya.
CHAPTER THREE - Haunted Bondage
It was Halloween, a time of spooks and goblins and high jinx by the young and youthful. But while most teenagers were busy attending parties, out pulling pranks, or even trick or treating, there was a trio intent upon a different purpose.
Tanya was now seventeen and quite a beauty. The shining black hair that lay on her shoulders framed an exotic beauty with dark eyes and full, sensuous lips. The body as a perfect match, full without being a caricature of female perfection. Large breasts that strained at most any clothing she wore, shapely legs and slender hips and tummy, gave her a sexual appeal that none, male or female, could deny. It was not that she flaunted it, it was that she simply was sexy.
The last orange glow of sunset colored the western sky when Tanya and her two friends, Corina and Mary Ann left her house. Each was dressed in a costume and their parents thought that they were going to a party. But other, more sinister plans filled the heads of these seventeen and eighteen year old beauties. They had been invited to many parties, but turned down all. Under Tanya's orders they were going to have their own party.
And what better place for a Halloween party than a haunted house? Theirs was an older town and complete with several houses with reputations of being haunted. But none matched the house on Hill street for atmosphere. Perched upon a small hill the house commanded an area of dozens of acres around it. Of two stories and built nearly a hundred years before, the deserted house was long shunned by the locals, even in bright daylight. And none possessed the bravery to dare it's dusty corridors after the sun had left the sky.
Tanya stood before the house, looking up into its black windows, its gray walls pale in the first light from the full moon just peeking above the eastern mountains. Dressed as a skeleton with bulging breast bones, Tanya took off her skull mask and tossed it aside. She shook out her long hair until it fell down her back. "It's perfect," she purred.
"Perfectly horrible," said the cowgirl next to her. Corina was a slender blonde with fine legs that showed well under the short cowgirl skirt. A loop of rope hung innocently (considering the costume) from her belt while a cap pistol in holster adorned the other side. Western boots, a red silk blouse and black cowboy hat finished the costume.
"I couldn't agree more," agreed Mary Ann from the other side of their mistress. "That is a creepy place." The tall redhead was dressed as a witch in black dress with flowing skirt and sleeves. A peeked hat and a little green make up were all else she needed to be a youthful witch.
"Come along," said Tanya, starting off towards the house without looking back to see if they were following. With nervous glances to each other, the two girls followed their friend. Friend and so much more. Both these girls had undergone training at Tanya's hands and were absolutely loyal to her. They would obey any order she gave.
Tanya's black high heels clicked on the concrete walk as she approached the dark building. The front door hung at an angle, inviting people within but not expecting anyone to comply. Tanya walked through the door, slowing down only when the darkness inside swallowed her skeleton figure.
Slivers of moonlight pierced the dirty windows where glass remained and in places where the glass had been long since broken out. After a minute to let her eyes adjust to the dim light, she casually walked to the curved stairway leading to the upper story. The cowgirl and witch followed, not too willingly. There is something about deserted houses at night at strikes a response in humans, tugs at primitive fears of the dark and of death. It took all their courage to follow the soft clicks of Tanya's heels up the dusty stairs.
At the top of the stairs she turned left into a hallway then left again through a door. From a hidden pocket of her costume, she took a pencil flashlight for the inside of that room was dark. In the dusty floor some footprints gave evidence to the passage of someone across the room to a closet. Tanya followed those prints to the backpack laying there.
"I left this here yesterday," she informed. "It has the supplies we need."
"Couldn't we try this some other place," asked Corina as she held on to Mary Ann's arm. "This is scary."
"Of course, it's suppose to be scary. Haunted house are rarely bright and sunny, you know." Tanya pointed the light at the backpack and said, "Get the stuff out." Mary Ann knelt by the canvass bag to obey. She was always the most obedient one.
Out of the bag came a blanket which was spread out on the dusty floor. Then there came an assortment of ropes and duct tape and ball gags, and a small electric lantern. Mary Ann switched on the lantern to reveal that its lens had been covered with red cellophane to dim the light. It provided a circle of pale red light that hardly touched the tom wallpaper on the walls. Mary Ann placed the last coil of rope on the blanket and looked up nervously.
"Remove your clothes," said Tanya evenly. Mary Ann gulped but stood up to unbutton the blouse.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Corina in a nervous whisper. "I mean, it sounded like a good idea when you told us... But now...." Tanya turned on the blonde girl. "Would you like to take her place?" she asked in a friendly tone. Corina quickly shook her head. "Then shut up. Help Mary Ann get her boots off."
With Corina's help, Mary Ann was soon standing there0 naked with bare feet on the blanket and hands instinctively covering her pubic patch. Her clothes were piled neatly in one comer of the blanket.
"Tape her arms behind her," Tanya ordered. Corina hurried to obey, perhaps spurred on by gratitude that she was not the one being prepared for this ordeal. The duct tape, two inches wide and so solid that a girl could never tear it, went on like rope and with practiced skill. First the wrists were placed together, palm to palm, and locked that way with five windings of tape. Then the heavy duty tape wrapped around the arms just below the elbows, after they were pulled in until they touched. The tape wound upwards to cover the elbows too. Corina performed these tasks with a precision and speed that gave testimony to Tanya's training of both girls.
Mary Ann, while she stood there passively as her arms were taken away from her, looked around nervously, casting an occasional glance back towards the raven haired girl she loved more than anything else. She said nothing as Tanya ordered the tape used to bind her arms to her body at the smallest part of her waist. While she was still standing, smaller fiberglass packing tape was used to tape the fingers together, each being taped to the corresponding finger of the opposite hand. Then more tape was wrapped around all the fingers, making a solid mass and quite preventing any use of them.
More duct tape, shimmering pale gray in the dim light, was used around Mary Ann's legs above her knees. A half a dozen wrappings made it impossible for the girl to separate her legs. And more tape around her ankles assured immobility. A ball gag was tightly strapped into the naked girl's mouth, preventing speech and most noises.
Tanya shone her small flashlight into the dark closet and Corina helped the tape up Mary Ann to hop into the small enclosure. Shining in the beam of the flash light was a series of metal rings screwed by Tanya into the walls of the closet the day before as preparation for this night's activities. Mary Ann was positioned between six of those rings, on her feet and facing out of the closet. While she was left to stand by herself, a rope was tied to one ring at the level of her hips, and then around her waist just above the tape holding her arms to her waist. The rope then went to the corresponding ring on the other wall, then back again. After several loopings of that rope, Mary Ann was quite firmly held between the walls. But that was not all. Two more rings were at the level of her ankles and ropes were used with them to assure that her feet would not be moving.
A third set of rings were screwed into the wall almost at the ceiling. Tanya herself looped rope around Mary Ann's chest above her breasts. The rope went under her arms and was tightened upward until it cut into her armpits. The rope then went from the middle of her chest up to a ring on one side, across to the ring on the other side, and them back down to the naked girl where it was looped around the loop and knotted and sent back through the rings. Several times that was done until the upper part of her body was held in place. Mary Ann could not bend forward, nor shuffle away from the center of the closet. She was quite solidly held a prisoner in the middle of the closet by ropes and tape, neither of which she could possibly break.
As the final knots were tied and Tanya stepping back to admire her handiwork, Mary Ann's eyes were growing wider and wider. Perhaps this beautiful teenager was having second thoughts about the whole scene. But there was nothing she could do. Her nude body was held securely and she would not be freeing herself. She knew that, Tanya knew that, and Corina knew it.
"Struggle," commanded Tanya with a smile on her face. Mary Ann's eyes widened again but she did not immediately obey. "Struggle or I will put alligator clips on your nipples. Surely that will make you struggle." Mary Ann immediately began jerking and pulling at the tape and ropes, throwing her body back and forth with it's bonds like a frightened animal. Which she was in a sense. The treat of alligator clips made her truly afraid and instantly eager to obey any command.
Alligator clips are small metal clamps used in electrical work. They have slender jaws lined with tiny, very sharp metal "teeth," and are held shut by springs. They come in different sizes but several are the right size to clamp onto a girl's nipple. What that is done, as both Mary Ann and Corina have personal experience with, the tiny teeth bite into the tender flesh of the nipple and inflict great pain. Neither girl wished to experience those clips a second time after the first use of them upon their flesh.
Finally satisfied that Mary Ann was truly and completely secured, Tanya gave her permission to stop the struggles. It would have been nice to watch a little longer but there were other activities to carry out this night.
The moonlight was a little stronger as Corina and Tanya left the room. Behind them small whines were coming from the dark closet, tiny utterances of fear from a naked and quite helpless girl who sincerely feared the long night ahead.
Tanya led the way to the second bedroom she had selected for the evening's fun and games. It was an empty bedroom save for the dust and cobwebs. Moonlight cast a distorted square of light upon the floor, enough to allow the girls to not need their lantern. Tanya pointed to the second backpack in the middle of the floor. Corina knelt and unpacked it, first spreading the blanket on the floor then setting out the instruments of restriction in a neat row. Finally she stood up, fluttering, nervous fingers betraying the fear within. Tanya walked to the window and looked out. Far off in the distance were the lights of town, friendly lights that told of comfort and warmth inside safe homes. And very faintly came the cries of children running along streets, happy in their quest to accumulate candy. Tanya turned back to Corina.
Without a word she reached behind her and unzipped the skeleton suit, peeling it off easily. Underneath there was only female flesh, no underwear to interfere with her plans. The high heels remained as her only clothing. "As I told you," was all she said. Her arms were bound behind her back, much as Mary Ann's had been but with clothesline not duct tape. Then Tanya sat down on the blanket that her legs might be bound, the tight ropes cutting in above her knees and at the ankles. The final knot on the ankles finished, she rolled over on her side then on to her stomach. Corina looped another rope around that already binding her wrists and ankles. Directly over the naked girl was a chain hanging down from the ceiling. Tanya had screwed into the ceiling several rings and hung a chain with large links from those. Then she had tested them with all her weight hanging to the chain to convenience herself that it would not give. Corina passed the rope through the last of those links, the one about level with her eyes. Then she passed the rope down to go around the ankles and wrists again and back up to the link. Only then did she begin pulling on the rope. As the loops grew smaller, Tanya's hands and feet became closer and closer. Soon they were touching, the heels tight against the palms of her hands, and her body arched backwards in the hogtie.
But Corina continued to pull. The ropes grew taunt. Then Tanya's arms and legs rose up behind her. The knees left the blanket and her shoulders lifted upward. Her whole body became a bow of strained girl flesh, arched almost to the limits of the female body. Corina stopped and began tying the rope to the links of the chain.
"More," came Tanya's command through clenched teeth. "But, Mistress, this is so tight. Your are hardly touching the floor," pleaded Corina.
The silence from the naked girl on the blanket was her command. Corina pulled the rope again and leaned all of her weight into it. The rope made creaking sounds and the chain rattled a tiny bit as she jerked on the rope. Finally she tied off the rope, making a dozen tight knots in the chain. The excess rope was looped around the chain and the end tied off so all was neat. Corina stepped back and almost gasped.
Tanya was completely off the floor, her nudity suspended in a backwards bow. "Oh, Mistress," moaned Corina. "Please let me lower you."
"The gag," said Tanya. Corina obeyed as both Tanya and she knew she would. The ball gag was tightly buckled in place. Then Corina obeyed an order given her earlier in the evening. She tied a small piece of rope to the strap of the gag and ran that up to one of the chain links. Then she pulled until Tanya's head was held rigidly and probably painfully upright. The naked girl could not lower her head, nor move much else save to flutter her fingers uselessly. It was a very good bondage job, impossibly tight, completely secure and one that would make any girl both suffer and feel utterly helpless. Corina was both proud and miserable. She felt proud of what she had created, and that her mistress would order such incredible rough bondage for herself. But miserable that she was causing such pain for the girl she loved. And the hardest part was still to come.
Corina touched Tanya's cheek gently. The dark eyes, nearly invisible in the dark room, looked at her and she knew she must obey. With trembling fingers she unhooked the back of the witches costume and removed it. Then the bra and panties, and finally the shoes. She stood there, naked in the moonlight and wanting to cry.
Twisting slowly from side to side in the moonlight was her tightly bound lover and she wanted to weep with both misery and joy. She caressed Tanya's hanging breast and gently kissed it. "I'll be back in four hours, as you ordered, Mistress." She stood to go but looked back from the door way. "I love you," she whispered then left.
Corina spent the next four hours hiding in the bushes, running from the delighted cries of children, trying to keep away from the patrolling police cars. Only with much difficulty did she manage to get to the mailbox in front of Tanya's house and remove the folded letter therein which she had to present to Tanya before she would be allowed to untie her. That was Corina's Halloween, a fear-filled naked run at the command of her mistress, all the while knowing that her mistress and her friend were back in a scary haunted house, suffering agonizingly tight bondage. And that only she could possibly rescue them. If she were caught and taken to jail, heaven only knew when she might be able to get back to the house on Hill street.
Mary Ann spent long hours in the darkness, her mind filled with fearful thoughts about ghosts and mysterious things that go bump in the night.
And Tanya? Her naked body swung slowly from side to side, a perfect picture of strict bondage, rough bondage, painful bondage. Yet she was excited. She was suffering and enjoying every second at the same time. She felt incredible power that she had caused all this to happen at her command. And complete helplessness when she wondered if Corina would come back after four hours or not. If she had taken the time to think about it, she would have pitied the vast majority of women who simply have sex a couple times a month, often not very satisfying, always at a level never approaching the intensity Tanya was feeling.
An added excitement came twice when police cars crept by, shining their spot lights into the old house to make sure no kids were playing games in a "haunted house." The lights could not reach into the dark closet where Mary Ann struggled and moaned out her fear and excitement. But they did illuminate the hanging female form. Possibly from the street the policeman might have been able to see the light reflect off female flesh and steel chains. But the car did not stop, and Tanya could being breathing again. If she had been caught, it would have been unpleasant, but she would simply have said that she was bound up like that as a prank by some of the teenage boys, but that she didn't want to press charges. Probably the police would have no choice but to let her go.
When Corina burst into the bedroom, breathless from having run the last half mile, even Tanya was moaning in her bondage. Corina waved the letter in front of Tanya's face then set about lowering and freeing her mistress. When the ropes were finally off and the gag out of her mouth, Tanya said nothing. But she put her arms over Corina's shoulders, the numb hands hanging down, deep red indentations clearly showing from the tight ropes, and kissed the blonde girl with a passion that overwhelmed both of them. For a long time they lay on the blanket, embracing and tongues lashing at each others' sex until the multiple orgasms exhausted them both.
Dawn was coloring the eastern sky when they dressed and went to free Mary Ann from her closet, a girl exhausted from her own struggles against tape, ropes and ghosts.
CHAPTER FOUR - A Post in a Forest
As Tanya hung on the bedpost, in what can only be described as a very uncomfortable position, she reflected upon some of the bondage adventures that dotted her highly active teenage period. By the time she was eighteen, she was an accomplished lesbian lover, an expert at putting young females into tight and escape-proof bondage, and very well experienced herself at being in such bondage. She had a group of lovely young girls who obeyed her every order and would have died for her.
Tanya stretched her neck to the left to ease some of the strain. But there was nothing she could do for her arms behind that post, the tight ropes cutting into her middle or the way her legs were wrapped backwards around the post. She did not bother to try and see the clock, her internal time sense told her that no more than an hour had passed and the sentence was for four and a half hours. Dawn was somewhere else in the apartment, perhaps reading, perhaps watching a movie, perhaps even planning to go out. Tanya knew her friend and roommate, she would not even consider loosening the ropes until the full sentence was up. In her place, Tanya would do no less. They both understood that the game must be real.
This position on the bedpost reminded Tanya of yet another time a few years before when a post had figured importantly in one of her games. It had been in a pine forest a dozen miles from Big Bear Lake, California...
* * *
The young girl's name was Monique, a lovely young girl with dark hair and eyes, and a slender figure. She was quiet, hardly ever saying a word. Most of her classmates in high school would have been surprised to hear how loudly she would moan when she was tightly bound up and sexually excited. But only a couple of them had ever enjoyed such a display for Tanya's club was a very small group.
There were pine trees all around, without a sign of habitation. Although this place on the path was only a couple miles from a major ski area, no one knew of the second, hidden path that led back into the trees. It was perfect for Tanya's need, a place in the forest primeval for her games, secluded yet not hard to get to. The clearing was off the trail, one had to turn away from the tiny path at just the right point and move around a rock formation to find it. It wasn't large, perhaps two dozen feet across. But in the middle of the bare ground was a post, a highly polished, round wooden post of four inches diameter and rising to a height of six feet above the pine needle carpet. Directly in the top of the post was a heavy metal ring, screwed quite solidly into the wood.
It was to this clearing and post that Tanya took Monique one morning, the summer sun rising warm and bright over the mountains. They locked up the car and hiked off down the main trail, apparently simply two teenage girls off for a little hike in the woods. Half a mile down the trail, they cut off through some underbrush to the hidden path Tanya knew of. Another mile and they were far from the beaten path, lost among towering pines, among nature. Monique said nothing on the hike, content to walk along behind Tanya, carrying the pack that held much more than a lunch and change of socks.
The sun was just peeking through the pines, casting beams of golden sunlight onto the ground, illuminating the post awaiting the attention of these humans. Monique looked around, realized they were at their destination, and lowered the pack off her back to the ground. She looked at the post, then smiled slightly. Without an order to do so, she began unbuttoning her blouse, quickly revealing that she wore no bra and that her breasts, while not large, were firm as only a teenager can be, and perky. She tossed the blouse to the ground next to the pack and sat on the ground to unlace the hiking boots. Then she began removing the jeans. Under those she wore only a pair of very small black panties and those went the way of the jeans to join the small pile of clothing on the ground. She again stood up, naked as the day she was born, and quite beautiful. For a slender girl her hips flared just the right amount to be sensual, and her tummy was delightfully narrow. In the morning sunlight, she was a raven-haired nymphet, almost a part of the forest around her, a wild creature rarely seen. She smiled just the slightest and said nothing.
Tanya smiled back, a much wider smile, and pointed to the ground next to the post. Monique sat down obediently and watched as Tanya extracted some lengths of rope from the backpack. She seemed very interested as Tanya wrapped the loops of rope tightly around her ankles, cinched and knotted them down. And as the same process was performed around her legs just above the knees. A third length of rope was looped around that already holding her ankles tightly together. Only the end of that rope was knotted firmly to her ankles, the other end trailing away on the pine needles. But not for long, for Tanya took it and threaded it through the metal ring at the top of the post.
It was a little effort but not much for Tanya to pull on the rope with one hand and use the other to help lift Monique upwards until the smaller girl's body was hanging upside down, back against the post, only the tips of her long hair gently brushing the ground. The rope was passed between the legs and up to the ring where it was tied quite tightly with several knots.
Tanya returned to the backpack for yet another length of rope, this one going around the suspended girl's wrists, but only after they had been pulled behind the post and crossed. They were tied quite firmly with cinchings and knots to prevent any hope of escape. Then Tanya stepped back a few paces to observe her handiwork. And a beautiful picture it was, the slender nudity stretched out almost the length of the post, and quite helpless. As she watched, Monique lifted her head and looked upwards along the length of her body. Probably she could not see those ropes around her ankles, for the binding of her arms behind the post limited how far her head could come away from the wood. Certainly she saw her breasts, and perhaps the ropes around her knees. Tanya liked what she saw, especially the way all that beautiful black hair hung down.
She had originally planned to simply bind this girl to the post in a standing position. But she was simply too submissive and passive to resist trying something much more extreme. And her light weight made it easy to consider hanging her upside down. Tanya sighed with happiness and returned to the backpack for the finishing touch, a ball gag, previously tested to confirm that it was just the right size to fill Monique's mouth but still fit behind her teeth for a tight wedge. She knelt beside the naked teenager and brought the ball before her face. Monique immediately opened her mouth wide to accept the invasion of the bad-tasting rubber, knowing full well that she would be speechless and soon uncomfortable from the way that gag forced her mouth open and made her jaws ache. The strap was tightly buckled behind her head and Monique was silenced.
Tanya considered the picture before her and pondered the addition of some more ropes. She could easily bind that slender waist tightly to the post. It would take away the little bit of movement currently allowed to the hanging teenager, locking her back to the post. She could also bind the legs to the post, perhaps at the ankles and knees. Along with rope around the waist, that would certainly secure her to the wood. She could even tie rope around the slender neck, holding the head against the wood. Those ropes need not be tight enough to hinder the air flow, only tight enough to keep the head from moving around. And there might be other additions, but Tanya knew that this girl was already secured, that she would not be able to free herself. So she gathered together all the clothing and stuffed it into the backpack, which she then put on her back.
She knelt down to kiss a pair of nipples erect with sexual excitement and perhaps a little fear. After all, what girl would feel no fear at the prospect of hanging naked and upside down in a hidden forest clearing for some undefined period of time? And Monique did, indeed, feel fear. It was mixed with a wonderful tingle of excitement that raced through her body. Already her loins were growing heated and she had to resist the urge to clench her thighs together in an effort to make her pussy feel better. Each kiss was accompanied by a quick lashing of the tongue around the nipple, and a wonderful sensation lancing back through her breasts. She moaned into the gag and would have loved Tanya to touch her, to use those fingers and tongue to excite her body to a wonderful climax. But she was far too submissive to ever give voice to that desire. If her mistress, this wonderful Tanya, wished to play with her by withholding sexual excitement and satisfaction, then that was quite correct and acceptable to Monique. And if her mistress granted her satisfaction, that would be wonderful!
Tanya patted the naked flank and walked away without a backward glance or a word as to how long this girl was going to have to hang there. Monique watched the woman she loved walk away and felt terrible longing within. She almost cried out, even with the gag filling her mouth, to beg not to be left alone. But she did not. She had known that she would be left alone in the forest for as long as her mistress wished and had accepted that, even though she had never imagined that she would be hanging upside down.
The morning was long and uncomfortable and very frustrating for the naked teenager. She could move her head a bit and even sway her body slightly from side to side, but that was all the motion allowed her. She struggled against the ropes holding her wrists prisoner behind her but it was useless, she could not reach the knots, she could not wiggled any loops loose. She twisted and pulled on her legs but the ankles were held very tightly by her own weight. And all that struggling was making her very conscious of just how helpless she really was. And that, in turn, was making her homy. She clenched her thighs together, which tensed some muscles around her sex and felt very good. But it was not enough. She could not touch her breasts, nor could she possibly get a hand up to that part of her which cried out most insistently to be touched. It was very frustrating and at times she banged her bottom against the post in anger. It also felt good to do that, but not nearly enough stimulus for her to get near a climax.
When she was not concentrating upon her inner needs, Monique very aware of how naked and vulnerable she was. Anyone passing by could not miss the naked girl hanging from that post. And surely any male hikers who happened upon her would be unable to resist desire. Being that kind of a lesbian, she had no desire for any man to touch her. Far better, she thought, that she hang like this for hours rather than have a man "rescue" her. She heard noises all around her and wondered which might be footsteps. And if they were footsteps, were they Tanya returning to claim her property, or some stranger who might well give vent to his male lusts in the ravishment of her helpless body?
It was a long morning. The sun was directly overhead when Tanya did return. She knew from testing that Monique could hang upside down indefinitely with no problems, a talent very useful for Tanya's kind of games and not found in all women. But this girl was young and healthy and hardly weighed even a hundred pounds. She was sure that when she returned she would find her friend still hanging there and still in good condition.
Of course, there was always the possibility that this bound up teenager would be very homy... Tanya knew completely how well her training had taken in this dark- haired beauty, and enjoyed, as always, making another girl sexually aroused until she was desperate with desire. From the moaning sounds and the flush on her face and neck, Tanya knew that Monique was well along the path to sexual satisfaction, but that she could go no farther down that path without help. It gave Tanya a tremendous sense of power to have such control over another girl's emotions, not to mention the body. She dropped the backpack and slowly, in easy view of Monique, unbuttoned her own blouse. She also wore no bra, and could read the desire in the eyes near the bottom of that post. She smiled, then bent over to remove the boots. Wearing only her tight jeans, Tanya approached a naked and very homy teenager girl who was now making whining sounds through her nose.
What followed was a demonstration in control. Tanya gently spread the labia and slipped in a finger. It came out wet with secretions, this was a pussy all hot and juicy and ready. She held open the labia and stroked the clitoris gently with that moist fingers. The reaction was immediate and powerful. Monique thrust her hips forward as is jolted by an electrical shock. Her whole body arched against the post, pushing her hips towards her mistress, only her heels and the back of her head touching the post. She would have arched even more but the binding of her arms on the other side of the post prevented that. Tanya stroked some more and grinned at the moans of pleasure coming from below her.
The body she was playing with trembled with desire.
But, like a master craftsman, Tanya did not allow this naked female to reach the orgasm she so desired. She worked her up into a high state of arousal, until this body was posed on the brink, then backed off and watched with amusement as the suspended girl shook with anger and frustration. And moaned with both desire and need.
Tanya stretched out the game for a very long time, teasing Monique's body up to almost an orgasm then, with a perfect female instinct, stopping it just short of its goal. But every cat eventually tired of playing with the mouse and eventually pounces for the kill. Tanya spread the lips before her and suddenly put her head down there to lash the most sensitive place with her tongue. In a very short time there was a loud gasp and whine from the gagged girl and her whole body went rigid, then shuddered with pure pleasure. The orgasm went on for a long time as Tanya gently sucked upon the clit. And Tanya left the teenager hanging for nearly half an hour, until she floated back down to earth. Only then was she untied and lowered to the ground.
She was a very submissive and grateful girl when finally free of all rope. But if she thought that her ordeals for the day were over, she was wrong. After a rest including food and drink from the backpack, Tanya again left the clearing to take a little hike of exploration. Behind her a naked girl remained because she had to. She was tightly bound to the post, this time right side up but in a rather uncomfortable position. While she stood with back against the post, her waist had been lashed tightly against the wood, and her arms bound behind that wooden shaft with elbows tightly linked. Then her feet had been lifted up and crossed and bound. Tanya had not only tied the ankles, but also bound the feet to the post as high up as she could, right below the small pubic patch. The spreading of the legs and lifting of the feet upward exposed Monique's sex so much that Tanya couldn't resist toying with such helpless sex. Of course, Monique's gag had been replaced, so the naked girl could not protest what was then being done to her. Probably she would not have said a word, anyway, but she did make a lot of noises as Tanya's talented fingers evoked wonderful feelings in the helpless body. When Tanya left the clearing, she left behind a girl still trembling from another massive orgasm.
Later that afternoon, Monique was ordered to, and did, bind a naked Tanya to the same post, pulling the ropes as tightly as she could. Then she was instructed to insert a slightly larger gag into her mistress' mouth and play with that helpless body as hers had been played with, bring it near a climax then cruelly withholding the ultimate satisfaction. Monique proved quite a good student and managed to keep Tanya excited and frustrated and filled with desire for a long, long time.
It was two exhausted but happy girls who hiked out of the pine forest just as twilight was fading. Monique was kept bound in handcuffs the whole long trip home, and was very glad that her mistress loved her enough to do that.
CHAPTER FIVE - Escape Artists R Us
McGreggor's was a large beer bar that tried to fashion itself after an Irish pub but seemed more a parody than the real thing. But it was popular with both men and women, partly due to the policy of reduced drink prices for females, and the habit of staging contests that in one way or another caused the female form to be displayed in a highly suggestive or downright sexual manner. For example, the wet Tee shirt contests were very popular. Bikini contests were also well received by the mainly male audience, but also popular with the females of the community because of the cash prized awarded.
And one of the most popular contests was the monthly Female Escape Artist contest. Pretty girls would come, dressed in erotic clothing, and challenge the male audience to tie they up so that they couldn't escape. The girls liked it because, in addition to their getting to be tied up and show themselves off wiggling and struggling before an appreciative audience, the man who wished to tie them would have to put up a dollar a foot for the rope he used. If the girl could free herself from the rope, she would pocket that money-if she had a pocket to put it into. If not, then the guy could fetch his money back and the girl was shuffled off into a comer area reserved for such losers, where she would either sit on display or continue her escape attempt. Meantime another girl would take her place on the stage. Those girls in the Penalty Box, as it was known, would be untied after an hour if they couldn't do it themselves.
Oddly, this contest was popular with both men and woman, as would be expected, but also as popular with both those who won an those who lost. The girls sitting in the Penalty Box seemed as happy as if they had won the money, and didn't seem to mind that a great many men were staring at their scantily clad and bound up forms. The fact that portions of that clothing sometimes came loose during the girl's struggles probably added to the enjoyment of all. Since a bikini was the most popular form of dress for this event, tops had a tendency to come off, especially those that were tied with tiny strings. And even if the clothing stayed on, there was still a great deal of interest since the average bikini weighted little less than an ounce, and was often nearly see- through.
Tanya found out about this Escape Artist Contest and could not stay away. Although she was lesbian, she was only mostly lesbian, which left a part non-lesbian. And that part gained a great deal of pleasure out of showing her extremely fine figure off before a male-dominated audience, and especially in tight rope bondage. With her extensive experience, it was a rare male who could bind her sufficiently well to keep her prisoner for the one hour maximum. Tanya didn't mind when a man was good enough to make escape impossible. That was about the only kind of man she could have any respect for. When a man's rope work proved less than adequate, she still tried to put on a good show of body movements and wiggling to make a man's loins ache with desire. She often said that she enjoyed watching their tongues hang out as they watched her struggle against the ropes.
She also collected a good many defaults of money when she escaped, but that wasn't the main purpose in coming to those contests. She simply enjoyed them.
Her usual custom was a black leather bikini that was just a little bit too small for her fine body. She always made sure that it was on securely, no use giving the onlookers more of a show than necessary, but there wasn't much leather used in its construction and a rather revealing show was always presented and enjoyed anyway.
Usually Dawn came with Tanya, often to take part in the activities, sometimes to just watch. It gave her a thrill to show off her body to those men, but mostly because she was taunting them. Look, but you can't touch, she silently said to them. All advances and propositions were turned down by both girls. Both Tanya and Dawn loved the looks of pained agony on the male faces when she and Tanya would sit together at a table and hold hands.
Not that the men present didn't get something. Tanya and Dawn might not let any man take them home, but for a small fee they could tie either beautiful girl with ropes, a thrill not available to most men. And if a hand brushed against a hip or a breast in the process, neither girl protested. And a playful pat on the bottom when the man left the stage was acceptable, too. And did both girls put on a show! They out- wiggled, out-bent, out-struggled, out-squirmed, and out- shook all the other girls while trying to divest themselves of ropes-all of which was closely and intently watched by numerous hungry male eyes.
As it happened, one Friday night there was a special man in the audience of McGreggor's, a man who was to be the catalyst for a major change in Tanya's life. He sat at a table, carefully watching each young lady as she mounted the stage and challenged all comers. A table nearby held a collection of ropes, each in a small box with a sign proclaiming the length of that rope. This man watched with an almost clinical detachment each girl as she attempted to free herself of the ropes. One could almost hear the mental gears grinding away, evaluating each contestant, rejecting most as average, noting those who showed real ability for some undefined future purpose. At the end of the night's entertainment, he approached the table of Tanya and Dawn and politely introduced himself.
"My name is Gary Xavier. I have a proposition for you." He waved away Tanya's instinctual protest before it got started. "No, not that. What I would like to talk to you two about is a job. More of an important assignment, actually."
For a few seconds he allowed Tanya to look him over, his expression not that of the usual sexually hungry male frequenting such places. He was overdressed for the place in his business suit but it was not all that unusual for a business man to drop in after a hard day at the office. He was perhaps late thirties, with just a hint of gray at the temples. He did seem to admire both their fine figures, but not to the point of drooling all over them-the usual reaction. Tanya felt that there was definitely something different about him.
"Does this job require that I get tied up?" she asked evenly, giving no hint whether a yes would make her interested or get him thrown out.
"Yes. In some very grand ways," was his reply. Tanya lifted one eyebrow slightly. A good sign.
"We'll listen to your proposition," she said, stressing the last word slightly to indicate that it had better not turn out to be the same as all the usual propositions she got in that place.
"Very good. It is late and there is a descent restaurant not far from here which serves both good food and serves it late. May I invite you both to a late dinner?"
Dawn gave her friend a glance that said she was game but cautious. Tanya pushed away the half finished drink before her and stood up. She was still dressed in that tight leather bikini that made her look more sexy than full nudity would have. "Let me get dressed," she told Gary. "We'll be right back." She and Dawn retreated to the woman's restroom which doubled as a dressing room. When they returned, they were wearing rather conservative skirts reaching to just above the knees. The blouses weren't see-through as they sometimes were when they felt like teasing.
"That cute bikini fit in that tiny purse?" he asked with a smile.
"Easily. It isn't very big," said Tanya. "So I noticed. You are welcome to drive with me, but if you prefer you can follow me with your own car." He held open the door for them.
"We'll follow you." The restaurant wasn't too far away in terms of miles but a long distance in terms of atmosphere. McGreggor's was a beer bar and like all of those, ultra casual. Donatelli's was upper crust all the way from the musical rock waterfall tinkling just inside the door to the intimate candle lit booths with real leather seats and a wine-red table cloth. Tanya casually accepted the environment as if she frequented the place often. Dawn kept looking around like she didn't believe they were actually there. It was a far cry from beersmelling, rough-edged McGreggor's.
"The steaks are fine," said Gary, "and so is the seafood. Order whatever you like."
Tanya ordered Shrimp Scampi while Dawn settled for a steak and baked potato. Gary Xavier had a steak, too. He didn't bring up the subject of a job until after the meal had been served and mostly eaten. Instead he asked a few casual questions about the Escape Artist contests at McGreggor's and how Tanya and Dawn enjoyed them. The two girls answered politely and enjoyed their meal. It was nice to be in the company of a man who knew how to be a gentleman.
Finally it was time to get to business. The waiter cleared away the dishes and brought a cheesecake for Dawn and a brandy for Tanya and their host. Gary leaned back to stare thoughtfully at his brandy snifter, swirling the dark contents slowly. "I work for an agency of the US government," he began. Then he removed a flat billfold from his jacket pocket and opened it. The ID card within appeared to be authentic and issued by an agency both powerful and known for secrecy and spying. He put the billfold back. "There is a...." he paused as if trying to find the right word, "job that we need to have done. And we don't have any agents available with the necessary skills."
"And we do?" asked Tanya with just a hint of disbelief. "Ah, yes. Actually, you do have special skills that will be needed." He smiled. "How many beautiful young women do you know who could pass themselves off as professional escape artists? And are intelligent enough to gather some top secret information from a foreign source?"
"Not many," admitted Tanya, become more intrigued. "So you need an escape artist. Why?"
"Because the person we wish to get the information from has a fascination with female escape artists. Pretty female escape artists. You could get in where none of our agents have been able to."
"So we go to some unnamed foreign country, get a man there to let us into his... His what?"
"Castle, actually."
"Into his castle. We steal something he certainly won't want stolen and they waltz out of there. All while we're tightly bound up with ropes?"
"Something like that." Tanya smiled. "You are aware that most escape artist acts are phonies, aren't you? The escapes are done with tricks. Even the great Houdini used all kinds of fake devices and tricks. For example, he used to require that handcuffs and the like be displayed in a theater lobby for several days before a performance. Late at night he and his assistance would sneak in, take the handcuffs apart and figure out how to defeat them. If he couldn't then he would sabotage them so he could escape."
Gary pursed his lips. "No, I did not."
"And," continued Tanya, "that any man or woman who really understands bondage can tie a girl so well that she cannot get out. Getting free from those amateurs at McGreggor's is nothing compared to trying to free yourself from ropes put on by someone who knows what they're doing."
For a few seconds there was silence. Then Gary continued, "We have arranged for a nightclub to run your escape artist act. The Baron will be sure to see it, his interest in the field will assure that. And he'll make you some kind of offer for a private show or perhaps a challenge. We know that because it has happened before. Another woman, one Katrina the Great, was approached by the Baron after a performance and offered a great deal of money if she would put on a private performance at the Baron's castle."
"Did she ever walk out of that castle?" asked Tanya. "As a matter of fact, she did. A few months later he offered her a challenge. She would be bound up by him in one of the dungeons of his castle. She would be left alone in the dungeon for one hour. If she succeeded in escaping, she would be given a substantial reward."
"And if she failed?"
"Then she would be the Baron's prisoner for a full month."
"What happened?" asked Dawn over a bite of cheese cake. "She spent a month as the guest of the Baron," said Gary. "But," he continued, "after that she did walk out a free woman. And the Baron gave her the reward money anyway." He paused to let that sink in before adding, "She made some good investments with that money and within a year retired from show business a wealthy woman."
Dawn's eyebrow went up as she looked into Tanya's eyes. Nothing could be read of the feelings behind those dark eyes.
After a while, Gary tried to sweeten the pot. "Of course, you will be helping your country. It is vitally important that we get the information hidden in that castle. Otherwise we would not resort to recruiting civilians. We even tried to train one of our female agents to become an escape artist. Didn't work. She couldn't work out of the simplest of bondage." He sighed. "And we'll pay your expenses to Europe, and you'll be on the company's payroll. Plus there will be a big bonus if you succeed."
"And what if we fail?"
"No bonus."
"And what if the Baron discovers that we're not there to entertain him? Would he get very angry if he found us waltzing out with his secret?"
Gary sighed again. "He'd have you killed. Probably after torturing you both for any information he could get out of you."
Tanya leaned back in the booth and considered her brandy for a minute. Then she put the glass down, looked Mr. Gary Xaiver directly in the eye, and said, "When do we leave?"
Dawn coughed and spit out her mouthful of cheese cake.
* * *
Paris had been rainy and gray, Munich not much better. By the time they reached their hotel room, the rain had stopped but the sun was only a watery light patch in a uniform gray sky.
Both Tanya and Dawn had dinner and turned in early to help recover from jet lag. The next morning they were off to Club Dresden, which turned out to be a nightclub right out of the Twenties or Thirties in an older but still respectable part of town.
They were greeted by the manager, Herr Wolfgang Huttenburger, a middle aged man of the old school. He actually kissed their hands as he welcomed them to Germany and to his club. He expressed delight that they should come all the way from American to perform in this humble establishment. Then he invited them into his office to "take care of the paperwork." Once inside an office cluttered with papers, handbills, and old styrofoam coffee cups, he dropped the pretense and accent.
"Well, once again I'm in the spy business," he commented as he cleared off a chair.
"What happened to the accent?" asked Tanya. "Only use it for the employees and guests. I am over half German but was born in California. The company recruited me because they wanted a station here in Munich and a nightclub is perfect. So many people coming and going. Everybody meets at a nightclub sooner or later." He settled down into a battered but comfortable looking leather chair. "Well, let's see, Gary said that I should book you two as an escape artist act. Lordy, the things I do for my country."
"Isn't an escape artist act a good idea?" asked Tanya, wondering if Gary was getting her into something that just wouldn't work.
"Oh, it's okay. I book them all the time. They are popular with the Germans. If, that is, the fraulein is young and pretty. You two certainly measure up on that account. Fortunately your act won't take as long as a singer, so I can fit you in between my other acts with getting anyone too upset."
"You know why we're to appear here," asked Tanya. "Gary says that you're bait for the Baron. He loves female escape artist acts and would never miss one. And, if you're good, he'll undoubtedly propose a private showing at his castle. That's the way it worked with Kitty."
"You mean the Great Katrina?"
"Well, her friends just call her Kitty. But, yes, the Baron saw her and offered her a good sum for a private performance."
"Did she really spend a month as his prisoner?" asked Dawn.
"As a matter of fact, yes. He proposed a contest. If she could escape from ropes he put on, she would get a reward. If not, she would spend a month as his prisoner. I talked to Kitty right after she got out of that castle. She said that the Baron was polite but she was keep for the entire month in constant restraints, either tied up or chained. He didn't torture her, although a few times she was "punished" for talking back or something like that. And she said the Baron's politeness extended to respecting her body. She was not raped, not even once. The Baron, it seems, was content to keep a naked girl chained up in his place and occasionally watch her struggle to try and get out of some rope bondage. And was she surprised when he gave her the reward at the end of the month. She said that the deal was a big reward if she escaped, but she failed and fully expected to have to spend the entire month with nothing to show for it."
"Did she tell you anything about how the Baron tied her? Anything about his challenge?"
"She did mention that he was about the best person with ropes that she had ever seen. You see, part of her act was to allow men to come up out of the audience and tie her with ropes. Then she would escape from them. Kitty said that most people couldn't tie at all but that they liked doing it and watching her struggle to get out. But sometimes she would run into a man who could really tie and then she couldn't get out. She would struggle for a while, put on a good show, then announce that this man must be an expert. Her assistant would untie her and she would reward the man with a kiss."
"And the Baron was one of those would could tie?"
"According to Kitty, he was the best."
Tanya leaned back in her chair and thought for a few seconds. "Could you tell us where Kitty is? I would really like to talk to her."
"Well... I guess so. Kitty is German. She doesn't know about my nightclub being a cover, so you can't tell her anything about the real reason you're here. But perhaps I can call and tell her that an American escape artist would like to talk to her about doing an act in Germany. She might be willing to talk to you."
"Good. Please do that. It would help me a lot if I knew more about what the Baron might spring on me. And the layout of the inside of that castle of his."
"I'll call her tonight. By the way, how much experience do you two have? How long have you had your act?"
"Well...." said Tanya with a smile. "Actually, we've never done this before as professionals. But I think we can put on a good show, if your males aren't much different from McGreggor's crowd."
"There are differences, but when it comes to watching a pretty young thing struggling against ropes, all males are the same."
"Good. Do you have any place were we could practice?"
"You can use the stage during the days. Just be cleared by five, that's when we open. And Thursday afternoons are out, that's when my regular singer tries out new material."
"Good. Tell me, why is this man called the Baron?"
"Apparently he is entitled to be called that because of his family. The castle goes back hundreds of years and is quite real. Right down to the dungeon, according to Kitty. But I'm sure that family ancestry is not why Gary sent you over here. The Baron was, and probably still is, very loyal to the politics that were the downfall of Germany in WWII. He was an officer in the Germany Army and may very well have contacts with all the underground terrorist movements in Germany. Perhaps the Baron or one of those groups is planning something and that's what you're here to find out about."
Wolfgang paused to see if Tanya would add anything to his conjecture. When she didn't, he went on. "The Baron is wealthy and powerful. And very ruthless. It was said that his troops committed atrocities against civilian populations during the war, often under his personal guidance. But he was never brought to trial. He's a rough customer."
"I'll remember that," said Tanya. "Now I'll need to know where I can buy a selection of ropes in quantity."
"I can recommend you the same places Kitty used to get her materials. Kitty used to like good cotton clothesline for private use but mainly used a quarter inch nylon rope for the act."
Tanya rose to leave. "I don't suppose you can tell me why you want to get into the Baron's castle?"
"No, I can't," she said, honestly as it happens, because she had not yet been told what she would be looking for when she got there. Gary said he would contact her Germany.
"I expected as much. Well, glad to meet you. When would you like to start performing?"
"Give us a couple days to work up the act."
"Okay. I'll have Hans take some publicity photos I can use in the advertisements. Would tomorrow be a good time for him to get some shots?"
"Fine. We'll do some practicing tomorrow. Now, about where to buy that rope?"
* * *
Tanya tossed a handful of coiled ropes onto the bed. They were cotton clothesline and nylon, but a very soft nylon. These shorter lengths had been cut from large packages purchased from a hardware store. Each had a loop tied tightly in one end. When the rope was pulled through that loop, it would create a sliding loop that was perfect for starting a piece of bondage.
Dawn had just come out of the bathroom, fresh from her shower and wearing only a silly grin. "Wow, that's a lot of rope," was all she said but Tanya could read lot's more in her smile. And the way the tip of her tongue moved down her lips. "We start practice, right?"
"Yes. We have to work up an act, the sooner the better. Get your ass over here and I'll fix you up so you can practice while I'm taking my shower."
Dawn practically hopped on the bed. Quickly she was bound up in a comfortable hogtie, at least by their standards. The girl's wrists were crossed and bound and the elbows linked but not anywhere near touching each other. Her ankles were crossed and bound, and the rope connecting the hands and feet allowed a full foot of play.
"Why didn't you tie me tighter?" Dawn asked.
"Because if you don't get free, you'll be spending the rest of the night like that. I am being kind."
Dawn stuck her tongue out at her friend. "You know that the knots are where my fingers can't reach them. And I can't reach the knots on my ankles, either." Then she became dramatic, "Oh, Tanya, I greatly fear that I will not be able to free myself from this horrible restriction. Alas! What is to become of me!?"
"You get a spanking punishment for bad acting," replied Tanya as she disappeared into the bathroom. Alone in the main room, Dawn tried to work at the ropes but she had been right, the knots were not available to her fingers. Finally she quite and lay there, feeling all warm and tingling inside. She had no doubt that there really would be a spanking, but it would be by a loving hand and the sting and burn would only light fires in her loins. She loved this woman who had introduced her to the incredibly wonderful word of restrictions and submission that so few people ever even dream of.
She was practicing in her best announcer's voice, "And now the Great Dawn will be tightly bound with a thousand feet of rope and suspended over this tank of hungry sharks....", when Tanya returned. A hard swat across one cheek of her bottom announced that the evenings activities were about to begin in earnest. Dawn gasped at the sudden pain then sighed with pleasure.
CHAPTER SIX - Conversation with a Kitty
Katrina Derlimter's house was in a well to do section of Munich. Tanya and Dawn knocked on her door while sheltering themselves from the morning drizzle. A long time passed and they tried the door bell again. Finally the door was opened to reveal a pretty young girl dressed in a skin tight latex jumpsuit of bright red. Her blonde hair was disheveled and a strand hung down directly before her eyes.
"Katrina?" asked Tanya, surprised that this "Kitty" would be hardly out of her teens, if that.
The girl shook her head but stepped back and gestured for them to enter. She then led them through a well furnished front room into a kitchen, then down some stairs to a basement playroom. Tanya and Dawn instantly recognized the room for what it was-the playroom of someone who loved bondage as much as they did. There were ropes hanging from pegs all around the walls, chains and assorted shackled of different types either hanging from hooks or laying on the floor. And most of the floor space was taken up with a nice variety of bondage devices including stocks, pillory, posts, a stout metal chair, and a padded bondage table with rings around the edge. On that table was another woman, this one in her late twenties, also blonde with long hair and currently well-bound in a strange position. She was laying on her back, or more precisely on her bound arms, and her legs were bend backwards along her body, numerous ropes lashing those legs tightly down to the edges of the table. Tanya immediately reconstructed the progress of that bondage. First the arms had been tied together behind the back with the elbows together. Then the legs together in several places. Then she was put on the table and one set of ropes used to lash her waist hard down to the table. Then her legs had been bent backward until her feet here directly over her face and straight. In half a dozen places rope was wrapped from those rings up and over the girl, holding her legs tightly down and her whole body in a rather uncomfortable position. She was dressed in a similar latex suit, only this one in electric blue. It went well with her hair.
"I am sorry," said the girl on the table. "I did not realize it was so close to the time for you to come." Her accent was heavy but her English not too bad. "I was practicing with Hildy. I do not perform any longer but I like to keep in practice. You know how it is?"
Tanya nodded. She knew. "Good. Hildy will untie me while we talk. Then we get some coffee, yes? Hildy."
As the young girl began working at knots along the edge of the table, Tanya walked around the bound girl. "Very nice presentation. Can you get out of it?"
"Yes. Well, maybe. If not, it is still practice, is it not?"
"It is," affirmed Tanya. She understood both that this very pretty German girl and her assistant loved playing the same kind of games she and Dawn often did, and that her being so tightly bound up when they arrived was not an accident. She was showing off. Tanya didn't mind. It was a pretty package and she enjoyed looking at those taunt curves.
"Katrina, Herr Huttenburger said that perhaps you could give me a few pointers about performing an escape artist act here in Germany."
"Good old Wolfie," said Kitty with a laugh. "He used to watch me practice my act. I know he wanted to try his luck at putting me in rope bondage. But he never did. Perhaps he didn't want to get involved with his employees, no? And call me Kitty, please."
"Perhaps. Maybe he was just afraid of being shown up. It does hurt a man's ego when he finds that a woman can easily escape from ropes he has tied upon her body. It is a defeat of sorts."
"Perhaps. But Wolfie is a good man. He never... how do you say it, come on to me? Hit me? Hit on me? You know. Many other managers of clubs, they think that every pretty girl they can throw in bed. But Wolfie, he was a gentleman."
"What is the main thing that the German audiences are looking for? What do they like to see in an escape artist act?" Tanya wanted to steer the subject back to acts and eventually to the Baron.
"They like a pretty girl with a good body. But is that not the same where you come from? Yes. I think all men are the same. Here they like to see a pretty girl struggle against the ropes. It is good when she wiggles her body, they like that."
"Do you allow the audience to bind you?"
"Yes. That is an important part. I show off a couple of escapes that are standard. Then I allow audience to come up and try."
"Are the German men good at tying?" Tanya hoped that might lead the subject to who is best and that to the Baron.
"Some. It is something that you have to practice, yes? Some are very good and I know that they have been practicing. Ah, good." That last was uttered with real feeling as her legs lifted from her body. It had been a really tight position. "But it is the women you have to watch."
"The women?"
"Yes. At these clubs men often come with their wives. Or not their wives. You know. I think that they bring a girl they wish to tie up themselves. They think that perhaps the girl will see my act and get ideas. Later, at his apartment, he will suggest that she would like to try an escape artist act, no? Yes." Kitty paused after the ropes around her waist were taken off and she was helped up to a sitting position by Hildy. "But sometimes you get a woman who really knows what she is doing. And usually she wishes to hurt you. You understand? She ties me extra, extra tight. She does not wish me to get free. And she wishes that I hurt. You understand?"
"She doesn't like her husband watching a pretty girl struggle?"
"Yes. But sometimes they just wish to hurt me. I am very careful when I see three or four women, all sitting together. And some, aye! they are strong, like men!"
"So I should watch out for dykes?"
"What is this dykes?"
"Dominant females. Mean. Like a mean man."
"Yes. We have them." The ropes were coming off Kitty's arms, leaving deep red indentations in the skin. She had certainly given Hildy orders to bind her tightly.
"Will any of the audience ask for private performances? Herr Huttenburger said something about you once giving a private performance, or something like that."
Her ploy worked. "You should not do anything with the customers except on the stage. You will get asked to dinner much. But it is better to say no. When I was very young I did private performances, but that was before I became a professional. Only once since did I do a private performance. That was the Baron."
"The Baron?" Tanya prompted.
"Yes. His real name is Helmut von Synder but he prefers to be called the Baron. Says he is entitled to that. Perhaps he is. He has much money. And a real castle. You Americans always think that Germany if filled with ancient castles. Actually there are only a handful left."
"Was this Baron good with the ropes?"
"Good, yes! He was as good as anyone I have met. And that damned Gertie. Gertrude Klaster, her name is. But I have other names to call her. The Baron is like a technician, an expert with the ropes. Each is placed just so, the knots carefully tied just so, you understand. But Gertie, she ties the ropes so tight your eyes pop out! She is good, it is almost impossible to get out of her ropes. And the Baron's, too. I did not escape."
The final ropes were off Kitty's legs then and she slowly lowered herself to her feet. Apparently she had been in that tight position for some time. Tanya could see the signs, hands that hung down while the circulation improved, legs a little unsteady, color of the skin, etc.
"Come, we will get coffee and talk." Kitty led the way back up the stairs to the kitchen and then into the front room. Hildy stayed behind to fix coffee. A few minutes later she brought out a tray with a steaming pot of coffee and cups.
"Could you tell me a little more about this Baron?" asked Tanya. "It sounds like I might meet with him."
"Yes, you probably will. He likes escape artists. He likes tying up pretty women." Kitty made sure that her guests were served before taking up her own cup. "The Baron came to three of my performances. On the third night he came up on stage and bound me. He was quick and sure. With my elbows together and the knots so tight. Then he put me on the table I use and tied my big toes to my elbows. I was quite helpless. It was very good. Later a note came to my dressing room. It offered a good deal of money for a private performance at his castle."
Kitty sipped the hot coffee. "I should not have accepted but the money... I needed it. So I went to his castle with my assistant, Maria. We put on a show. The Baron did not tie me that night, but Gertie did and I could not get out of what she did to me. It was so very tight. Then the Baron said that he had a contest in mind. He seemed to know that I needed money for he offered such a reward that I could not turn down the chance at it."
"But," Kitty said over her coffee cup, "there was, as you say, a catch. If I failed to escape, I would have to spend thirty days as a prisoner in the Baron's castle. He promised that I would not be tortured or raped but that I would be kept in constant restraint at all times." She paused as if remembering. "It was a lot of money. I would have to work my act for years to get that much money. So I said I would do it. If I lost, well too bad. Besides, how many girls get the chance to be a prisoner in an authentic medieval castle dungeon? I might learn some things I could put in my act."
"What was this contest? An escape?" Tanya asked.
"Yes. An escape. The next day the contest would be held in his dungeon. First I was stripped naked and searched by Gertie. No picks or razors or anything was allowed. Then I was taken to one of the dungeon cells. The Baron himself bound me with ropes. That was all, just ropes. He limited himself to fifty feet of rope, no more. And he tied me to nothing, only to myself."
"And?" Tanya prompted when Kitty stopped talking.
Kitty sighed. "I did not escape. He was so good. He bound my hands... Let me show you, I do not know the words." Kitty stood and spoke a few words in German to Hildy. Then she turned around and put her hands behind her and worked them up on her back. Hildy then took the wrists and pulled them until both of Kitty's hands were together, the wrists touching and the elbows touching, and the fingers almost touching her neck. It was a horrible position for an escape artist. Her forearms were pressed together vertically up between her shoulder blades. Tanya could imagine what it would be like to have ropes then binding those wrists and again near the elbows.
"You see," said Kitty. "The hands, they are where I cannot touch anything. I cannot touch the knots, I cannot touch any other ropes on my body. He tied rope around my wrists and then up and around my neck. I do not think that my arms could be pulled down but that made sure. That was all for my hands. Just tied at the wrists, around the neck and at the elbows. I was quite helpless. He also tied my legs together at the ankles and knees then doubled them up with rope around them. Very tight. With no hands to use, I could not work those ropes off. And then he locked the cell door and left." Kitty and Hildy held that pose for a long minute then Hildy let go and Kitty twisted her hands back down. "It was very good bondage," she concluded. "I did not escape."
"And you spent thirty days as his prisoner?" asked Dawn, fascinated by this story.
"Yes. It started that same day. When he came back after an hour. He smiled when he saw that I had not been able to get my hands free. He untied my legs. But he left my hands bound on my back. He put a metal collar around my neck and chained me to a ring on the wall. A short chain. I could walk around my cell but could not use my hands. He locked the door again and told me that I would have to spend the rest of the day with my hands bound like that. It was uncomfortable and I said so but he only smiled."
Sitting back down and picking up her coffee cup again, Kitty added, "It was a very uncomfortable day. Later that night he came and untied my hands. I could not move them for a long time." Tanya could sympathize. "He shackled my ankles and handcuffed my wrists behind me. After a nice dinner. Then I spent my first night in his dungeon. They were very good handcuffs and I had no pick to use."
Kitty fell silent, perhaps remembering that first night. Tanya allowed her some time before picking up the story again. "How were you kept prison most of the time?"
"Usually chains, handcuffs, leg irons, all very good quality. At least once a day either he or Gertie tied me with ropes. Often in the evening, I would be tied up and told to struggle while the Baron watched."
"But you were never hurt?"
"Sometimes I talked back to Gertie. And then my bottom was punished. She can spank like a man. Worse than most men. Men are afraid they will hurt a woman by hitting her too hard. Gertie did not care. She spanked me harder than I had ever been spanked before. And once I threw a cup at her. It was not a good idea. She tied me over a table with my bottom sticking up in the air. Then she whipped it with a riding crop. She always carried that riding crop on her belt. But only that once did she use it on me."
"And the Baron," continued Tanya, "kept his promise? He never tried to have sex with you?"
"No. He did not. He was sexually excited at seeing me struggle. I was kept constantly naked, did I tell you? But he didn't touch me. Perhaps he was having sex with Gertie. Ugh! What a terrible idea. Gertie is a big woman. She, how do you say it, pushes iron around?"
"Pumps iron?"
"Yes. Pumps the iron. She has more muscles than most men. She is very strong. I think she would ride on top if she made love to a man."
Great, thought Tanya. Kitty put down her empty cup. "Exactly thirty days later he let me go. I was given back my clothes and his driver took me away from the castle. And in my pocket was a check for the full amount of the reward he had promised if I could escape from his contest! It was wonderful. I helped my mother and had enough left over to buy this house and quit the show business."
"But you still practice," teased Tanya with a smile. It was answered with another smile from Kitty. Both women completely understood each other.
After a little small talk about German audiences and some interesting experiences Kitty had in Berlin, Tanya brought the conversation back around to the Baron.
"Do you think you could draw me a map of his castle?" she asked.
"Why would you want that?" asked Kitty, puzzled.
"It might happen that I'll meet this Baron. And if he offers me a lot of money, I might take him up. I'd like to know the layout of the castle in case I manage to escape."
"You will not escape from his ropes. I know."
"Yes, maybe. But if I loose the contest and become a prisoner, perhaps I can escape later."
"That would not be honest. The agreement was that if I failed, I would be his prisoner for thirty days. Nothing was said about escaping during that period."
"Perhaps he will make a different agreement with me. But I would like a drawing of the castle floor plan. Please?"
"Yes, I will make you one. But I would advise you not to do his contest. A private performance, fine. You will be well paid for that. But the contest-do not do it. You will loose."
"Perhaps, like you, I need the money," was all that Tanya said.
Kitty drew a floor plan of those sections she knew as they had a second cup of coffee. Then the talked a bit more before Tanya announced that they had to get back to the night club to practice. She was probably just in time, too, since Hildy and Dawn were giving each other looks that would probably have resulted in one or both of them being tied up very soon. But she did promise that she and Dawn would visit again when they had the time. There was much, they agreed, that they could share about escape artistry.
CHAPTER SEVEN - Showmanship, or Doing What Turns You On in Front of an Audience
Tanya knew that she and Dawn had to be believable as an escape artist act or the Baron would see through the whole thing. And she knew that they had to do much more than just allow audience members to come up on the stage and tie her. That would a good part of the act from a time point of view, but there had to be some flashy escapes, like from a tank of live sharks or being suspended over a cage with a hungry tiger. They had no shark tank nor any tiger cage, let alone the tiger. So Tanya had to rely on other escape artists she had seen, plus what she knew of Kitty's act from Huttenburger, although she now thought of him as "Wolfie," a name which the girls thought was cute and Huttenburger seemed to dislike. He kept telling them that Wolfgang was a very common German name.
A photographer made some nice stills, the best of which showed up in an advertisement in the major local newspapers. Wolfie chose the photo to use and made sure that it emphasized good, tight rope bondage, the kind that the Baron seemed to like best. The opening night for their act was chosen and both girls worked hard to prepare a good performance, one they hoped would be good enough to lure in a big fish they hoped to catch.
Late one night, Tanya received a phone call from Gary Xavier who was still in the United States. He said that he would be there for their first performance and would brief them at that time about what they were to be looking for in the Baron's castle. Tanya told him to make sure that he did show up, they would hate to go through all this work only to not know what to look for.
Then came the big night. Club Dresden was packed with an audience eager to see this pretty young American escape artist. From behind the curtain of the small stage, Tanya and Dawn looked out.
"It's no more packed than MacGreggor's," said Tanya. "Yeah, you got a point there," agreed Dawn. "But why am I still shaking?"
"It's show business, you're suppose to be nervous. I wonder if the Baron is out there?"
"He is," came Wolfie's voice from behind them. "I checked. But for the time being, I won't tell you which table is his. It would be better if you didn't think about him. Just concentrate on your act."
"You'll point him out later?" asked Tanya.
"Sure. Better get ready, you're on in five."
Wolfie was gone, attending to whatever duties a club manager has to do.
For a while the two girl checked their equipment and then their costumes. Wolfie had pointed them to a costume maker that many entertainment people used and they quickly had two very nice looking and rather revealing costumes. Tanya wore what amounted to little more than a small bikini, silky black in color with gold trim, and worn over pantyhose to make her legs look better. High heels added to the total effect. She had considered other costumes but preferred something that left her arms and legs as free as possible for the more difficult escapes. The high heels she had added were the type with ankle straps, and a shinning black cape that covered her from neck to ankles. The inside of the cape was bright red for contrast.
Dawn was dressed in a costume that looked right out of some circus, pantyhose disappearing under a tight body suit that showed off her fine breasts to their best. And it was cut pretty low in front, showing a lot of the tops of those smooth globes. She also wore high heels, and was glad for all the practice she had at walking in them.
When they heard Wolfie announce them, Dawn did a last quick check of the clasp to Tanya's cape, and then they walked out through the central opening of the curtain.
It was an impressive sight. A spotlight highlighted Tanya as she strode forward a few steps until she was standing on the edge of the small stage. She walked with head held high and smiling at the audience she could not see because of the spotlight shinning down on her. The cape covered her body but parted with each step to flash some very nice leg at the audience. She stopped and struck a pose with one leg forward, the knee peeking through the cape. Then Dawn stepped up behind her and reached around to take the clasp in both hands. With a flourish she whisked away the cape and walked off stage, leaving Tanya standing there in a tightly wrapped canvas straight jacket.
The audience appreciated the showmanship and applauded. They also appreciated the very nice legs coming out from under that straight jacket. Tanya smiled and did a slow turn so all could see the tight straps and buckles that should have held her a prisoner. Then she began working at removing the straight jacket, twisting her body this way and that, tugging at the sleeves that wrapped around her and buckled in back. The audience watched intently.
Since this straight jacket was one with a crotch strap, it was not possible to pull the jacket straight up by lifting the arms over the head. But she did manage to work one arm tighter around her body and transfer the slack to the other arm which she lifted until she was able to duck her head down and just work it under her elbow. That arm was the one wrapped on the outside and once she had fitted her head through the opening, she was able to flip the sleeve and strap over her head. That left her standing with both arms in front but still within the jacket. With a smile she jumped through the connected sleeves of the jacket, then turned and bent over so that her bottom was presented to the audience. She allowed them to see that she was unbuckling the crotch strap by working it free with her fingers through the thin canvass. Then she turned around and swung her arms up and flipped the sleeves over her head. Once the arms were back in front, it was easy for her to grab the front of the straight jacket with hands through the canvass and pull the front up and over her head. A second later the straight jacket was laying on the floor and she was striking a pose with one arm raised up.
The whole escape had taken barely thirty seconds, and the sophisticated German audience appreciated such good work. They applauded.
The curtain parted and the stage lights came up. Revealed was Dawn and a apparatus resembling nothing more than a scaffolding for building construction. It was made of pipes joined together to form a box about seven feet high and three feet wide. The front was open but the sides and back had X shaped braces. A curtain was hung on one comer of the front and could be slide over to cover the entire front of the device, down to six inches from the floor. Dawn was standing next to it, holding two pair of handcuffs.
Tanya walked up to the device and halted, keeping her back towards the audience and placing her arms behind her. Dawn snapped on one pair of handcuffs around the wrists, then added the second pair just above the elbows. Tanya then walked around the edge of the stage, giving a good look to the audience. The tightness of and restriction caused by the second pair above her elbows was obvious. And it peeked the audiences' attention. They had seen handcuff escapes before but never with a second pair on the elbows.
Tanya returned to the pipe device and stepped within then turned to face the audience, the smile never leaving her face. Dawn took the curtain and pulled it across the front of the framework. Then Dawn began slowly counting to the audience, holding up one finger additional for each count. The only part of Tanya visible was a pair of high heels under the edge of the curtain. The count went slowly so that by the time Dawn had all ten fingers held up, about thirty seconds had really passed.
At a whispered word from within, Dawn took the comer of the curtain and walked across the front, pulling the curtain open. Standing there was Tanya, both arms in front of her, both open handcuffs dangling from one finger. The audience clapped their approval.
All seemed to be going well but bigger challenges were coming up. Tanya handed the two pairs of handcuffs to Dawn and stepped out of the framework to take a bow. Dawn went off stage and quickly returned with the props for the next escape. Tanya turned her back to the audience, braced her lovely legs wide apart and put her hands together behind her. Dawn wrapped a short length of rope around them and then cinched it down and knotted it. Then she fitted a black leather single glove up and over Tanya's arms. There were straps on the top and those were crossed over her shoulders and buckled. Then the glove was laced up tightly with the knots tied at the top, just above the elbows. It was a good tight job and the audience approved as Tanya took a turn around the stage, showing off the single glove and the way her arms were solidly secured behind her back.
While she was doing that, Dawn brought out a bar stool. Tanya perched on the stool to allow Dawn to bind her legs together in plain sight of the audience. The stage was only a couple feet raised off the dance floor and had she sat down on the floor for the binding of her legs, only the first row would have seen what was going on. Hence the bar stool. Dawn, as per instructions, bound the legs at the ankles and again above the knees. Then she went around to behind the bound girl and a ball gag that filled the lovely girl's mouth. Tanya eased herself off the stool to stand before the audience. She slowly turned around, shuffling her feet carefully because of the high heels. It took a minute for her to do a complete turn, during which time Dawn was fixing a small wooden floor in the pipe framework. Then she helped Tanya shuffle over to that piece of wood fixed about two feet off the stage floor. She looked ever so helpless as she slowly made her way across the stage, having to be helped by her assistant lest she loose her balance and fall. She turned and sat on the wood. Dawn lifted a canvass sack to the floor and positioned it so Tanya could swing her feet around and into the opening. It took some working, but in plain sight of an interested audience, she worked the bound girl into the canvass sack. Tanya had to double up her legs and bend until her chin was touching her knees in order to fit. The canvass was just big enough to fit her. There was a rope drawstring which Dawn pulled tightly until the top was completely closed over Tanya's head. There was a large metal clamp that crushed the rope down and had a place for a padlock to secure it. Dawn locked it solidly, leaving the escape artist laying on her left side on the board, three feet off the floor. Dawn turned to the audience, smiled, and took the curtain in one had to draw it across the front of the framework.
The framework was just far enough back so that even those near the edges of the audience could not see what was going on behind there. Which was good, for it hid Tanya's sneaky tricks from prying eyes. First she pulled the nylon cord inside the single glove to release the eyelets along one side of the lacing and the shoulder strap. The glove would have fallen away if she had been standing. A little wiggling inside the canvass pulled the glove to one side and allowed her fingers to reach a small blade hidden in the edge of her costume. That sharp blade made short work of the ropes around her wrists. Then she brought her arms forward and cut the cinch ropes around her knees and ankles. With the rope cut right behind the knots, it easily loosened and almost fell off. Then she reached one hand over her head and worked at the drawstring opening of the bag. There was a small opening to begin with and she worked at that with her fingers. The rope used in the drawstring was carefully selected to have some give to it. Tanya was able to work one hand through the opening. She then brought that hand back and put the blade in it, the slipped the hand back outside the bag. She bent the wrist of that free hand until the blade could reach the rope. It was not easy to saw through the rope while working with her wrists bend like that, but the blade was as sharp as a scalpel and did it's job. The opening suddenly widened and Tanya was able to work her way out of it. She inserted the blade back into the waistband of her costume and unbuckled the gag as quickly as she could. She was aware that speed was important to any escape act. If done rapidly, even a simple escape would puzzle and entertain an audience. Quickly she stood and pulled the curtain open.
If any of the audience had cared to time the escape, they would have found that this American girl had escaped from ropes, single glove and canvass sack in slightly over two minutes. This was about as good as they had seen, and they applauded.
Wolfie then came out with a microphone and announced in German that anyone in the audience who wished could come up and bind the Great Tanya with the ropes provided. If they succeeded in keeping her a prisoner of those ropes for a full ten minutes, they would win a free dinner, and a kiss from Tanya. He scattered a few bad puns and a terrible joke about an escape artist who had a funny thing happen to her on the way to the nightclub-she couldn't make it because she was all tied up. While this was going on, Dawn cleared away the canvass sack, ropes, etc. and brought out some fresh rope, white nylon rope of about three-eighths inch thickness. It was soft so it wouldn't rub Tanya's skin badly, and smooth enough to make tying a really tight knot difficult. It was also not any kind of trick rope with sections that screwed apart or elastic sections woven in. Such tricks might not stand up to close inspection by the person doing the binding. Tanya would depend upon her skill and experience to free herself from whatever she was put into. And the fact that most people simply don't know how to tie a girl up.
The first three members of the audience easily fit into that category-the ropes were loose, not cinched down, and knots were within easy reach. They were all males. The fourth was a woman in her early twenties, and she knew something about the binding of another woman. Her ropes were tight, the wrists cinched down, and the knots at what she thought was a safe distance from the fingers. As it happened, she had underestimated the flexibility of this American girl and those knots were reached, untied and the ropes removed. Since the audience enjoyed watching Tanya struggle and wiggle, the did not seem to mind that she took longer to free herself from those ropes than the first three men.
The fifth was another man, but unlike the first three who were mostly middle aged, he was in his mid-twenties and rather handsome. Unfortunately, from Tanya's point of view, his bondage was the poorest of the bunch. He wrapped some rope around her wrists in front of her and knotted them with a big bow. Tanya looked at the ropes in disbelief, then did a couple seconds careful struggling (careful not to allow the ropes to fall off), and then announced one of the few German phrases she had learned-I give up. She then threw her hands over his head and kissed him hard. She also rubbed her body up against his in a way that left no confusion about whether she found him attractive or not. The audience laughed and applauded when she finally let go of the blushing young man.
Wolfie came on, gave her a dirty look for making him have to give up a free dinner, then announced that Tanya would perform one more escape. Dawn had been getting the props ready.
The final escape was fairly spectacular, given that they had no shark tank or cage of roaring tigers. First Tanya's arms were bound behind her back, the audience easily seeing that the elbows were tightly bound together. Then Dawn put a bar stool in the middle of the pipe framework and helped Tanya to sit on it. Her legs were then lifted up and placed with the ankles against the topmost pipe on the back of the framework. Tanya spread them wide to form a very sexy "V". As Dawn lashed each ankle to the pipes, using a step ladder to stand on, Tanya leaned back and lowered her head so that the audience got a very nice view right down the front of her bikini top. Not that the bikini costume hid much to begin with, but this position, with her laying on bound arms, really showed her off. With both ankles tightly bound to the pipe, Dawn came around and lifted Tanya's body and pulled out the stool. She then lowered Tanya down so that she was hanging upside down, facing the audience, with legs spread wide apart. Her long, shiny black hung down to the floor. For a few seconds Dawn posed with one hand on the curtains, allowing the audience to get a good view of this fine display of both female flesh and bondage. Then she walked across the front, pulling the curtain closed behind her.
All the audience could see was that raven hair hanging down under the curtain. The hair swayed from side to side, occasionally disappeared for long seconds, then reappeared, leaving the audience to try to figure out what she was doing behind that curtain. The framework shook now and then, almost as if the girl bound within was shaking with frustration and anger. About two minutes after the curtain closed there was the sudden appearance of a pair of feminine feet in high heels where the black hair used to be and the curtain was swept aside from within to reveal completely -" free Tanya standing there, all the ropes bunched up and in one hand. She casually tossed them to Dawn and lifted both arms to receive the adoration of the audience.
Dawn quickly got the ropes out of sight before anyone noticed that there were more ends now than before Tanya had begun working on them with her little blade.
The applause was sincere, these people really did seem to appreciate a good show even if there hadn't been any really showy props. What was more important to them was the fact that this young American girl had a most lovely body and face, and the bondage had been sufficiently secure to make them enjoy the escapes. And it didn't hurt that this escape artist wore much less clothing than most, that silky, flimsy bikini would have gotten her kicked off some beaches, nor that she bowed low and gave them all another good look at her assets.
As soon as they got back stage, Tanya let out with a big swoosh of air. She and Dawn hugged each other. There had been a little uncertainly that they could conjure up a decent escape artist show considering that they were not professionals and had only a little time. But although they were not professionals in the sense of being paid performers, they were certainly no amateurs when it came to restrictions applied to the female body.
Wolfie came back to congratulate them. "That was pretty good," he said. "I had doubts before but you pulled it off. After you get finished with this assignment, you can always come back and do your act as a career."
"Thanks, Wolfie." Tanya gave him a hug, so glad was she to have pulled it off. Then she grew serious. "Was the Baron one of those who came up to tie me?"
"No. He stayed in his seat."
"I could hardly see the audience, let along try to figure out which one was him."
"Well, he saw you, no question about that. Now let's see if he takes the bait."
Later that evening, right after the second performance, the fish snapped up the bait, hook, line and sinker.
CHAPTER EIGHT - Invitation to a Challenge
The invitation was delivered to their dressing room after the last performance, a small white card with the Baron's name and title on one side and "I have a business proposition for you" written in an elegant hand on the other side. Tanya handed the card back to Wolfie and said, "Of course. Show the man in."
Baron von Synder was slender, neat in appearance if a trifle old fashion in his evening clothes, perhaps late sixties, and polite. His kissed Tanya hand in the continental manner, then introduced the woman with him as Fraulein Gertrude Klaster. She was, as Kitty had stated, a large woman with more muscles than a woman ought to have. She did, indeed, look like she pumped iron regularly. Her dress was conservative but still revealed that, in addition to muscles, she had a large pair of breasts.
"My dear," he said in almost perfect English, only a trace of accent, "your performance was most entertaining. You are as good an escape artist as you are beautiful."
"Thank you, Baron." Tanya tried for just the right mixture of politeness and wariness.
"I know it is late and you have just finished two shows," he indicated with a casual wave of his hand to the skimpy costume she still wore. "So I will get to the point. I consider myself something of an expert in the application of rope restraints to the female form. And I most certainly enjoy a challenge. But, alas, I rarely find a female who's talents at escaping from such restraints is equal to my own abilities. As I sat there tonight, the thought occurred to me that perhaps you are such a woman, a woman who could provide me with a real challenge. May I propose a formal challenge? My skills at binding a woman against your skills at escaping? With reasonable limitation?"
"No," said Tanya.
The Baron went on as if she had not spoken. "I will limit myself to fifty feet of rope. You will not be tied to any object. You will be given one hour to attempt an escape."
Tanya noted that a small smirk played across Gertrude's lips. The Baron continued, "If you succeed, you will be given a sizable reward." He then named an amount, in dollars US, that made Dawn suck in her breath.
"No," said Tanya again.
This time the Baron chose to respond to her negative. "But why? Is that not enough money to tempt you? And do you not believe you have skills in this area?"
"The amount is too large," Tanya began as she slipped off the high heels she had been wearing all evening. "I simply do not believe that you would give away such a large amount."
"My dear, I hasten to assure you that I have that amount of money and much more. I am an old man, this is simply my hobby. You will be paid. If you escape."
Tanya said nothing but fixed him with a steady glare. "I could use the money," she finally said, giving the appearance of someone having second thoughts. "But I still have trouble believing that you would pay so much money simply to tie a woman up and see if she can escape."
"Perhaps it is that you do not believe you escape from fifty feet of rope put on by an old man...?" he taunted.
Tanya ignored it. "What other limitations did you have in mind?" she replied instead.
"The challenge will take place at my castle. It is a few miles from here, I will provide a car and driver. To be assured that it is a test of your skill against my ropes, you will be naked. It would not be a test of skill were a small blade to be hidden on some clothing. Do you not agree?" Tanya held her emotionless gaze for a few seconds then suddenly smiled and laughed lightly. "So... You wish to see me naked? Would you have applauded louder had my whole performance been in the nude?"
The Baron bowed slightly. "Of course, my dear. You have a most lovely body. It is a shame to hide it beneath any sort of clothing. But the nudity during the challenge is mainly to assure you do not cheat."
"And what do I have to assure me that you do not cheat?"
"Cheat?"
"If I fail this challenge, what is to keep you from keeping me bound up much more than the hour?"
"That, my dear, is exactly what I would do." Tanya lifted one eyebrow. "You see, each party should have something to risk for the challenge. I am offering a considerable amount of money. I'm sure you do not have that much money, so I'm proposing that you offer something else that would greatly please me."
"A roll in the hay?" asked Tanya. "A what? Oh, you mean to have sex with me. No, my dear, that is not what I am talking about. For far less I could have a 'roll in the hay' with any number of girls over on Bitten Strasser. No, what I would expect from you, should you loose, would be to be my prisoner for one month."
"Prisoner?"
"Yes. I would find it most amusing and entertaining to have a woman as beautiful as yourself as a captive in the dungeons of my castle. But it would be only for one month, really a short period compared to the amount of money you stand to win." He smiled. "And I will pay you an amount equal to your earnings as an escape artist, so you will not loose any money."
"Again, what is there to keep you from cheating and keeping me more than one month?"
"You have friends, family, people whom you could tell where you have gone. Just tell them you are taking a little vacation in an authentic German castle. And you may tell them when you will return to the outside world."
Tanya paused with one shoe in her hand, considering this proposal. She looked at Dawn, then at Gertrude, than back to the Baron. "A castle with dungeons, you say?"
"The dungeons are real. But I have fixed them so they are not so dark and dank as they were hundreds of years ago when they were last used for, shall we say, making prisoners of the von Synder family uncomfortable?"
"And this month's imprisonment is to include a daily torture?"
"Of course not!" The Baron seemed genuinely put back by such a coarse suggestion. "You will not be tortured."
"So I'm to sit around in chains for a month. Would I be allowed clothes for that part?"
The Baron smiled apologetically. "It is traditional for clothing to be taken from female prisoners... But I give you my word that I will not force any unwanted sexual attentions upon you. Occasionally I will remove the chains and replace them with ropes. I would love to test my skills against an escape artist of your skills." He spread his hands as he said, "It is only for a month. And it is only if you cannot free yourself from a few short lengths of rope put on by an old man."
For a few seconds the room was silent. Tanya noticed that the Baron's gaze drifted down to her bare feet as if drawn there against his will. He had not lowered his gaze while she wore the heels. Guessing that this was a special attraction to him, she sat on the stool and put her legs upon the table, giving him a good look without appearing to make a special point of it. She stretched her legs as if they ached from the performances and keep her toes pointed.
"Perhaps...." she softly said.
'Tanya, you aren't serious, are you?" interjected Dawn. A whole month naked and chained in a dungeon! Tanya!"
"Who says I'm going to lose?" said Tanya smoothly. "Baron, I'll take you up on this challenge. But...." It was the Baron's turn to raise one eyebrow. "Dawn stays with me at all times."
"What?" said Dawn.
"Done," said the Baron.
Gertrude tried to hide the smirk that teased her mouth.
* * *
The car was, of course, a Mercedes, the driver wore an actual uniform and held the door open for Tanya and Dawn after putting a couple overnight cases in the trunk. The ride took little over two hours and led them up into the mountains, accompanied by gray drizzle from overcast autumn skies. Dawn lamented their ever having left the sunny climate of Southern California, the high probability that they would have to spend the next month chained naked in some drafty old dungeon where they would catch their death of colds. And, besides, he would probably never let them go and they would be slavegirls to an old German baron for the rest of their lives.
In private, Dawn expressed deeper concerns that they were doomed to be caught, tortured and eventually shot as spies, which, of course, they were.
Their first sight of Castle von Synder was not reassuring. It perched like an obscene toad upon a mountain top with shear cliffs dropping away on the right side to a wandering river far below. The girls couldn't see what the cliffs on the left side dropped away to. A couple miles before the castle they left the picturesque pine forests for barren rocks, which seemed to fit the mood of the castle far better. It's walls were of coarse cut stone with streaks of rain water. A few dim lights shone in some of the windows but most were dark and foreboding.
The driver pulled into the courtyard and stopped before a massive front door. As Tanya got out, she noticed a huge iron gate come down across the entrance. She and Dawn both shivered in the light rain and made for the door, hoping there would be warmth inside. They were greeted by a butler who informed that he would lead them to their room and their bags would follow shortly. Their room, as it turned out, was rather large, up two flights of stairs and contained a bed large enough for a dozen men, let alone two American girls. But the windows had glass in them and a cheery fire was burning in the fireplace.
The very proper butler told them that they could "freshen up" and the Baron apologized for not meeting them himself but business had detained him. He would see them at dinner, which would be at seven o'clock, and he would come for them at that time. He closed the door as he left.
"Okay, Tanya, what the hell have you gotten us into?" asked Dawn as soon as the door clicked shut. "This place is right out of the Middle Ages, we're hundreds of miles from anywhere, and after that little challenge tomorrow, we're going to be spending the rest of our lives in the dungeons of this horrible place. I'll bet they have rats down there. Big ones!"
Just then there was a knock on the door. It was the driver with their bags. When he was gone, Tanya cautioned her friend with a whisper in her ear, "Don't say anything about our mission. This room might be bugged."
Dawn's eyes widened as she looked around. There were electric lights and even a stereo in case they should wish music. She. began looking under lamp shades and taking the drawers out of the night stand, looking for electronic bugs, despite the fact that she probably would not know what one looked like if it bit her.
"Dawn, just unpack," said Tanya as she picked up her bag. Dawn followed suit but with nervous glances around the large room. Since the challenge was to be the next morning, they had been invited to spend the night, hence the overnight bags. And, of course, if Tanya failed the challenge, they would both be staying a little longer than overnight. But in that case, they would not need a change of clothing.
Everything put away, Tanya led Dawn into a surprisingly large and modem bathroom. It would be a couple hours before dinner, and not unnatural for the girls to want to take a bath. Tanya turned on the water to fill the immense tub. Soon the mirror was covered with condensation and the room filled with the sound of running water. Tanya drew Dawn close so they could speak quietly.
"There's enough noise so I don't think they can hear us even if this room is bugged," said Tanya. "Just remember to keep a lid on what you say. The Baron probably doesn't suspect that we're anything beyond our cover, but he might have the rooms bugged just on general principle."
"Okay. What did Gary Xavier say?" asked Dawn.
"He finally told me what we are to look for," answered Tanya. "It's any kind of documentation describing a biochemical process."
"Huh?"
"The Baron has developed a formula that will reprogram certain basic human instincts. Gary explained that they have information that he has tested this formula on human subjects in this castle and that it is fully developed. But exactly what it does and what the Baron plans to do with it, he doesn't know. He does know that whatever it is, it's important enough to kill the agent who managed to get what information they have to Gary. He was dying of a gunshot wound when he finally made it to Wolfie's and managed only to gasp out a few sentences before kicking the bucket.
He said it was vitally important that this formula be prevented from being used. Oh, and the code name for this process is Gwendoline. The Gwendoline formula."
"Gwendoline? And that's all?" asked Dawn. "Hell, not much to go on, is it?"
"No, but we have to try."
"Wait a minute!" Dawn suddenly exclaimed. "Did you say killed! They killed an agent because he found out about this! Hey, my mother didn't raise no fool. I think maybe we should forget all this and get out of here."
"How?" Tanya asked calmly. "I... They... Hell! Maybe we could walk down that road. The last village wasn't more than twenty or thirty miles back that way."
"They would have us before we got a mile. Look, we're going to have to play this act out. If I can find what we're looking for tonight, then I'll simply escape from his challenge tomorrow and we'll be driven back to Wolfie. If not, then I will have to fail the challenge so we can spent some more time here."
"Oh, sure, more time. How are you planning to search for secret documents while you're naked and chained up in the dungeon?" Dawn didn't sound too happy.
"Well, if we fail, we'll could just finish out our month and then get set free. But Gary said that this formula was going to be tested on a large area soon and the organization needed information as soon as possible."
Dawn didn't look too happy, so Tanya added something to cheer her up. "Gary also said that if he didn't hear from us within five days, he would put pressure on German intelligence to come in and close down whatever operation the Baron has going here. So figure five days at the worst."
"Well, that's better than a month," Dawn conceded. It would be a waste to not use all that hot water that had filled the tub, so Tanya added some bubble bath before the water was turned off, stripped off her clothes and climbed in. Dawn quickly joined her, both girls fitting easily into a bath tub only slightly smaller than some swimming pools.
As they both lay in the soothing water, it was hard not to relax. And, since the running water no longer provided cover for secret conversation, Tanya turned the subject to other things. "Now, tell me, Dawn, doesn't the idea of being a naked prisoner in a real castle dungeon excite you a little?" she teased.
Dawn had to smile. This was too close to some of her early teenage fantasies to not interest her. "Well, yes," she said slowly. "But for a whole month?" Dawn winked at Tanya to show that she wasn't going to come right out and say that she knew they would only be there a maximum of five days.
"I think it will be exciting. It's one thing to simply have some customer tie you on stage at the nightclub. The escape is usually easy and if you lose, all that happens is you have to kiss him. Or her. But this is something much more real. If I lose, the penalty is so much more. Can you image what it would be like to be a constant prisoner? Constantly chained up or tied up every hour of every day? Sends shivers down my spine."
"I have some idea what that would be like," said Dawn dryly. "You keep me a prisoner for five days one time. Remember?"
"Well, that was just us playing some games," laughed Tanya. "Although it did start with my refusing to untie you after a whole day of keeping you hogtied. I thought it was really cute the way I put on the handcuffs before I untied you. And you didn't struggle much all the times I changed your bondage. Protested quite a bit, yes, but struggle, no."
"I remember very much how it felt." Dawn blew some bubbles off her hands. After a few seconds she added softly, "It was nice...." Tanya leaned forward and kissed Dawn gently on the lips. These two really did care for each other, even if their "games" often got pretty rough by most people's standards.
Dinner with the Baron was formal and held in a dinning room that could have served ten times their number. Gertrude was there, resplendent in her burgundy velvet evening dress. The Baron wore formal attire and Tanya was glad that they had brought their best dresses. She knew that they both presented very attractive packages, her in a very tight electric blue dress, and Dawn in white satin that set off her blonde hair nicely. The dresses on both girls displayed more of their charms than they hid, especially since both dresses were slit up the sides almost to the hips.
Dinner was excellent and the talk casual. The challenge was not brought up and Tanya didn't feel like being the one to mention it. After dinner, the four of them retired to a lounge for brandy and more conversation. It was then that the first mention of escape artists and ropes was made. "I am certainly looking forward to tomorrow's challenge," said the Baron. Gertrude smiled but said nothing as was usual with her. "I hope you are as good as you seemed in your act."
"An act is just that," said Tanya evenly. "A performance, a show, an entertainment for the enjoyment of the audience. You don't believe that a stage magician really performs feats of true magic, do you?"
"Of course not, my dear. I am aware of most of the tricks used by escape artists: the altered handcuffs, the rope with elastic sections, the hidden blades, and all that. But you showed a real ability to escape from ropes, something that very few women have. You are good, I could tell. Just how good remains to be seen, of course."
"Of course," Tanya agreed. 'Tell me, have you ever taken a challenge like this? I don't mean something done on a nightclub stage, I mean a real challenge where the penalty for failure is more than a free dinner?"
Tanya gained a few seconds by sipping brandy. "Once," she finally said. "I was rather young, and perhaps more than a little foolish."
"Pray do tell us about it," urged the Baron politely.
"I was fifteen," Tanya began. "I had a boyfriend then, a boy two years older than myself. He keep telling me that we were old enough to have sex, and to judge from the erection he got whenever we were necking, he was for sure. But I was an innocent lass and still a virgin. I didn't want to give up my virginity to some teenage boy who would probably just go out and find another conquest after he had finished with me. And who would brag about it in the boy's locker room. But he was insistent. Finally I had to do something. I told him that if he could tie me up with ropes good enough so that I couldn't get free before the end of the evening, I would let him have sex with me. You should have seen his eyes grow wide. He agreed and the next time that my mother was out of town, I invited him over."
Tanya smiled at the memory of what happened next. "You should have seen the expression on his face when I took him up to my bedroom and he saw the ropes laying on my bed. I took off my dress and told him to tie me the best he could. He hands were actually fumbling as he tried to bind my arms behind my back. I had been careful to wear my sexiest black panties and lacy bra. Well, to make a long story shorter, he finally finished with the tying of me. He had used all the rope, about two hundred feet in twenty-five foot lengths, and was pretty sure that nothing could get out of the wrapping he had put on my body. He wanted to kiss me right then and touch me, but I ordered him out of the room, telling him to wait downstairs. Watch television or something. I told him that if I couldn't free myself in two hours, he could come up and have his way with me. I thought he was going to come right in his pants then and there. I finally had to hint that if he didn't play the game my way, I would cry rape and get him in trouble. He left, filled with confidence that before the evening was out he could carve another notch on his bedpost."
"And did you escape?" asked the Baron.
"I did. It was almost too easy. When I walked down the stairs, fully dressed, to order him out of the house, his jaw almost fell to the floor. He never asked me for a date after that."
"So it wasn't really a challenge," said the Baron. "You easily got free of the ropes."
"Yes, but he had never tied me before. When I made the challenge, I didn't know if he was good at it or an amateur. He might have easily proven to be an expert and I might have lost my virginity that night."
'True. You did take what was a big chance for a girl your age."
"Right. Very good brandy, Baron." The Baron nodded to the compliment and asked another question. "But, tell me, why did you do it? I mean, you didn't have to give in to his demands at all. You could simply have kept holding him off until he grew tried of a useless chase and gave up. Why did you risk loosing a virginity you claim you did not wish to lose?"
"There was the challenge of testing myself against a man's ropes. Surely you understand that, Baron." The Baron nodded agreement. "And there was something else that I wanted."
"And that was?"
"If I lost, he got my virginity. If I won, I got his sister." The Baron lifted one eyebrow in question, so Tanya continued. "He had a younger sister who was my age and quite beautiful. And she had more than a fair body. For losing the bet to me, he had to deliver his sister to me, completely naked and tightly bound up and gagged. It was painful for him to have to do, but I trained him how to tie a girl so she couldn't get free. Then, one weekend when their parents were gone, he tied up his sister. She thought it was a game and allowed him to bind her. Only after she was completely helpless and gagged did she get any hint that it was not an innocent game. He left the house, his sister alone in the front room of their house and quite tightly bound up.
He had taken her blouse and skirt off, so all I had to remove were her underthings."
"You actually... forced his sister into sexual acts that... Well...."
"That were lesbian? Yes, I did. And she loved them. After that, she and I had sex together, usually with her tightly bound up, many, many times. It was both satisfying for us, and a most satisfactory blow to his ego."
"I can imagine. You are a very resourceful young woman, Fraulein Tanya. Most resourceful." He seemed genuinely in admiration of this beautiful woman who so casually spoke of secret sexual acts. "I would love to talk more, but unfortunately I have some urgent business I must attend to. And perhaps you two are tired from your journey. And certainly you will wish to get a good night's sleep before your challenge tomorrow. Breakfast will be at eight, the challenge at ten. Until them, I bid you pleasant dreams."
He kissed both their hands and was gone, leaving Gertrude to show the girls back to their rooms.
"You certainly impressed the Baron," Gertrude said as they neared the bedroom. "It was a most interesting story."
"It was true," Tanya said matter-of-factly.
"I never doubted it," replied Gertrude. They reached the bedroom and Gertrude opened the door for them. "I look forward to having you as a guest for the next month."
"You make me the loser before the contest even begins," said Tanya with a smile.
Gertrude only smiled. Inside, after the door was closed, Dawn shivered.
"Did you see the way she was looking at you?" she asked Tanya. "Like a cat eyeing a canary?"
"She did seem to like my story."
"Was it true?" asked Dawn. "I don't recall you mentioning anything like that."
"It was true. Several times I left his sister in his bedroom, naked, well bound up, and gagged for him to find. From what she said, he hated having to untie her. It seems he hated loosing out to a lesbian. But I'm sure he found some other virgins to deflower. He was really rather handsome."
"Tanya, you're impossible!" cried Dawn, and threw her arms around her friend.
Later that night, while Dawn made noises in their bedroom, Tanya snuck out to explore the castle. The map drawn by Kitty helped but it was a large building and Kitty had not seen all of it. Two hours later she returned with the sad story that too many doors were locked and those there were not seemed to hold no secrets. She was certain that the secret of the Gwendoline formula was hidden behind one of those locked doors. It would take quite a bit of time to force or pick the locks and check behind all of them. Even without the need to sneak around, it would take a number of days to explore every comer of that castle. Dawn and Tanya fell asleep in each other's arms. Elsewhere in the ancient castle diabolical plans were being made.
CHAPTER NINE - The Challenge
Tanya and Dawn had a light breakfast, no use weighing down your stomach when you're about to do some strenuous exercise. The Baron was not present at breakfast but Gertrude broke fast with them, although not one for much conversation. After the morning meal she led them to a circular stair way that led down into the stone castle and a dungeon that was not to be believed. There was a main room complete with massive fireplace, stone walls, braziers, and assorted torture instruments, and a couple short passages leading off to what Tanya assumed where holding cells. At least she could see the entrance to a couple, complete with iron barred doors. A dungeon from a medieval castle it looked like and was.
Gertrude struck a match and lit a fire in the big fireplace where a pile of wood and kindling was waiting. Then she lit a smaller fire in each of the braziers placed around the room. But it was not for warmth, she pointed out. The whole area was pleasantly warm courtesy of vents emitting heated air. "Forced air heating, you American's call it," Gertrude informed. "All the modem conveniences." She waved a hand to include the electric lights.
"So I notice," Tanya replied dryly. She was examining some torture devices. All were old looking but had been kept functional, clean and well oiled. The pillory yoke swung up easily and without a creak. The pulley on the rack turned freely and quietly. The metal hasps and locks on the various devices were new and shinning. "Use this playroom much?" asked Tanya.
Gertrude smiled. "The Baron likes to keep it in working order. Of course people are not tortured these days. That would not be right."
"Sure."
"Come, I will show you where the challenge is to be." Gertrude led them down one of the passages. It did have several cells for prisoners, each clean and equipped with new padlocks on the metal-barred doors. Most of the cells had a small wooden bench and numerous metal rings bolted into the walls, but one had only the rings and a plain stone floor. It was to that one that Gertrude led them. On the floor were four coils of rope, the soft cotton rope usually called "clothesline."
"You may examine the rope if you wish. It is simply rope, nothing more. You will be bound here. The Baron will use only the rope, you will not be tied to any of the rings. And you will be naked." Gertrude smiled at that statement. She was busy giving Tanya's fine body a good look. The simple slacks and blouse with obviously no bra showed it off pretty well. "You will have one hour, timed from the moment the cell door is closed. The cell will be locked, but that is only to prevent you from gaining any kind of help, either outside the cell or from someone else." She glanced over at Dawn. Dawn lifted one eyebrow and mouthed the word, "Me?"
"Fraulein Dawn will be occupied during the challenge so we can make sure that you will receive no help from her."
"Occupied?" asked Tanya. "She will be upstairs in the lounge with us. She will also be bound up. That way when you fail, you will both be ready to start your month as prisoners of this castle."
Dawn didn't like the way Gertrude smiled. It was not hard to figure that she planned on having two naked female guests for a while.
Tanya examined the rope but there was nothing unusual about it. She hadn't expected there to be. The way that Kitty described the Baron binding her would be good enough to hold any woman prisoner, even a professional escape artist. Kitty had proven that. The Baron did not need to resort to tricks. Good rope bondage applied by an expert is quite sufficient to hold a female body imprisoned. Unless there is some trick applied by the female, that is.
Exactly at ten o'clock the Baron walked in, dressed in a business suit. "Ah, I see you have already been introduced to my dungeons and the challenge cell. Have you any questions?"
"No." Tanya met his inquiring look with a confident one.
"Very good. We will begin by asking both of you to remove your clothes."
Tanya and Dawn complied, a task that took only a few seconds, neither having worn underwear in anticipation of this requirement.
"First, if you don't mind, we will secure Fraulein Dawn. It will be simple." The Baron handed over two pairs of handcuffs to Gertrude who lost no time in securing Dawns arms behind her back with one pair at the wrists and the other above the elbows. Both pairs were locked down very snugly. Dawn looked nervous.
"And now Gertrude will inspect you, Fraulein. Just to make sure you are not sneaking in any type of cheating device."
There was very little of Tanya that was not closely inspected and touched by the hands of the muscular Gertrude. Her legs were pushed apart and the inside of her private parts was checked carefully and a little roughly. The Baron politely checked Dawn's handcuffs while that part of the inspection was performed. Even Tanya's ears were checked and her hair spread and searched. Finally Gertrude was satisfied that this naked girl was nothing more than that.
"Very good. And now with your permission, Fraulein?" The Baron picked up one of the coils of rope and unwrapped it. Tanya turned her back to him and placed her arms behind her, palms together as if she were expecting him to bind her with the elbows together. Instead he gently moved her hands until they were up between her shoulder blades. It took a little pushing but quickly he and Gertrude had her arms just as they wanted them, with the wrists up above the shoulder blades and the elbows together. Fortunately Tanya was flexible enough to endure this position without too much discomfort. The Baron began by binding her elbows together, taking time to carefully place each strand of rope neatly, and to cinch down the windings and position a couple of very tight knots before the rope went up to where her wrists were. Those he bound together with the same degree of care, cinching down the ropes and knotting the end with several very tight knots placed down where her fingers could not possibly reach them.
He then took up the next coil of rope and formed a sliding loop in one end. That he placed around the ropes binding her wrists together, pulling it down firmly, then passing it up and over one shoulder. By passing rope around her shoulders and down under her armpits, he was able to create a simple harness that would serve to hold her hands high on her back. Not that it was likely she would be able to force her hands down with the way her wrists and elbows were bound. The last couple feet of rope went around her neck, firmly but not overly tight. The knots were tied below her wrists.
The Baron .walked around his subject, checking each rope and even shaking her arms to make sure that they were welded in place. Then he picked up the next rope and motioned to Gertrude to help Tanya to the floor. When she was sitting down, he placed her feet together and wrapped rope around the ankles, quite firmly. The Baron gave every appearance of pulling with all his strength on the cinch ropes, forcing the ropes into her flesh. The knots were equally tight.
"I know it will be a little uncomfortable, but I must insist upon a gag. A woman's teeth can be powerful tools in her attempt to escape from rope bondage." Gertrude had left the cell and now returned with a rubber ball and harness type gag. Without waiting for permission, she pushed the ball up to Tanya's mouth, obviously expecting no protest. Tanya opened her mouth as wide as she could to allow in the ball. It forced her jaws wide apart and pushed her tongue down. The straps were buckled on tightly, around her head, over it, and even under her chin. She was quite effectively robbed of words when Gertrude was finished, and her teeth would not be used to bite through any ropes unless she wanted to try to chew through the rubber ball first. And, unlike a child's bouncing ball, this one was made of hard, solid rubber. It tasted terrible.
The last length of rope was used to bind her legs together just above the knees. Those ropes went on with no less force than had those on the ankles, forcing them to cut deep in to the softer flesh up there. Tanya did not utter a single protest as these binding went on, although she was certainly entitled to, considering the harshness of that binding. A small length of rope was left after the last knot on her knees. Gertrude pushed Tanya on to her side not too gently and bent her over until her chin nearly touching her knees. The Baron then passed that loose rope through the ropes around her neck and back around the knee bondage. That looping was done twice then pulled until her chin did indeed touch her knee. The final knots of the challenge bondage were tied under her legs where neither her mouth nor fingers could every reach them. Then they lifted her back into an uncomfortable sitting position. The ropes forced her to stay bent with her breasts pressing against her thighs, a position that actually increased the strain on her bound arms. Everything seemed to tighten down because of her bent position.
The Baron and Gertrude stood there, looking down at the tight package of wonderful female curves, obviously enjoying what they saw. Finally, with a sigh, the Baron informed her that the time would begin as soon as the cell door was locked. He produced a large stopwatch which he set placed where she could see it but just outside the cell bars. Gertrude had already placed a firm hand on the bare arm of Dawn and led her out of the cell. The Baron completed the challenge by clicking the big padlock shut on the door hasp. He bend down and started the stopwatch. Then they walked out.
Alone in the cell, Tanya considered her plight and how she might escape from it. She tested each set of ropes for looseness and availability of knots. There was no question that the Baron was very experienced at placing girls into tight bondage. She vaguely wondered how many girls he had done this to. Kitty, for one, but perhaps many others. Certainly a fair amount, or he would never have gained such expertise.
Tanya found that she could not crawl around much but she could force her legs to bend and finally bring her feet up enough so she was sitting with her feet flat on the floor. She experimented a bit, finding that she could wiggle across the floor in a very slow crawl by using the bending and unbending of her legs. But it was awkward, uncomfortable, and gained her nothing to be in a different part of the cell. She could roll over on her side but she seriously doubted that she could be able to get back into a sitting position if she did.
After considering all aspects of her bondage, testing each rope, Tanya came to the conclusion that she could not escape from this bondage. The Baron was very good and had won this challenge. Or so it would seem. By carefully planning it out in her head, Tanya devised a plan by which she could free herself from these ropes. It would not be easy, but it would win her a great deal of money. Had she found what she came to search for last night, she would have done just that right now. But she had not found the plans Gary wanted her to, and she knew that she would have to stay in the castle until she did. Or until Gary came charging in with the local authorities to save them. Until then she would have to stay in the castle so she could continue to search for the plans. That was obvious. So she sighed and rolled over on her side to ease the strain on her back a bit. And she waited.
Exactly one hour later the Baron returned. He smiled at the sight of his naked prisoner still tightly bound and in his cell. "Ah, so you have failed! How unfortunately for you! But how fortunate for me. I will enjoy having you as a guest for the next month."
Behind him Gertrude and Dawn came in, the two of them a little slower due to the shackles now adorning Dawn's ankles. They were a finely made pair of leg irons, thin bands tightly encircling each ankles and joined with about twelve inches of small but strong chain that tinkled musically went it touched the floor.
"Oh, Tanya!" cried Dawn. "Oh, no!" Tanya looked up with what she hoped was just the right mixture of frustration, disappointment and a little touch of anger thrown in. The Baron knelt down and unstrapped the gag. "You win, Baron," she said dejectedly as soon as the rubber ball was out of her mouth. "I can not get these ropes off. You are very good at putting them on."
"A bondage master?" prompted the older man.
"A bondage master," agreed Tanya. Then she sighed. Gertrude was busy pushing Dawn into the cell across from the challenge cell. A chain was hanging from one of the rings set into the wall, a slender metal collar at the end. That collar was fitted around Dawn's neck. Dawn didn't look very happy.
Gertrude left and came back with another collar with a length of chain attached. She handed that to the Baron who took it and gently placed it on the neck of his new prisoner. The other end he padlocked to a metal ring on the wall with a lock he just happen to have in his pocket. Since Tanya was laying on the floor, and the chain wasn't too long to begin with, it was slightly taunt and would allow her very little crawling distance if she should wish to try to move around the cell.
The Baron left the cell and closed the door. He stood there with the padlock in his hand.
"Are you going to leave me like this?" asked Tanya. "It is not comfortable."
"I am aware of that. Consider it part of your punishment for failing to escape. I'm sure that you are used to that concept. Is it not an integral part of any escape artist's training to be left in bondage that you failed to escape from as punishment for that failure?"
"Sometimes," was all Tanya would admit. If the true be known, both she and Dawn had done just that trick to each other many, many times.
"Then I'm sure you understand. Perhaps you will be freed for dinner. But you can spend the day wondering if you will have to spend the entire night bound as you are now. It is, as you pointed out, an uncomfortable position. Really very uncomfortable for an hour's challenge. But it will probably become extremely uncomfortable in a few hours. Perhaps even painful. Is that not so?"
Tanya did not answer. "So, I have business to attend to. It has been most pleasant having you take my little challenge, Fraulein Tanya. Adieu."
The cell door was locked on Tanya. The cell door was locked on Dawn. Then the two naked female prisoners were alone with their .imprisonment and failure.
"Oh, Tanya! You're tied so tight!" exclaimed Dawn as soon as they were alone. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"It hurts. And, as the good Baron said, it will get worse." She sighed. "But we've done as bad to each other, haven't we?"
"Well... I guess so."
"Remember all those night you spent hogtied? And the times you were tied into a ball and locked into that tiny cage in the closet?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Dawn walked around her cell until the chain to her neck snubbed her short. "Gosh, this is exciting! A real dungeon, and I'm chained up in it! Boy, I wish they had placed us both in the same cell."
Tanya sighed. She knew exactly what Dawn would do it she were in the cell with her. Those handcuffs and collar would not be enough to prevent the lively blonde girl from playing with her helpless friend. And she had to admit to herself that it was really a shame they couldn't. She was excited herself, both from the tight bondage, and from the idea that they would be prisoners for at least five days, a whole month if Gary failed to come through for them. Dawn was right, being a naked prisoner in a real dungeon was interesting, even exciting.
"Well," said Tanya, "one good thing has come of all this."
"And what's that?" asked Dawn.
"This is a really great way to tie a girl," replied Tanya with a smile. "I can hardly wait until I have the chance to try it on you."
Dawn brightened up, and went as close as she could to the bars to study the way Tanya was bound. "Oh, gosh! You really would tie me like that?"
"Of course, the first chance we get. It's wonderful. Your hands are totally useless. I can just see you running around the apartment, all naked and tied like this. And begging me to free you."
"Oh, dear, I can imagine it, too! Oh, Tanya!" Dawn was actually breathing harder at the thought and her nipples were rigid, betraying the excitement within. "Oh, Tanya, please!"
The day was long. As dinner time approached, Gertrude came into the dungeon, gloated over her two new prisoners, and seemed to enjoy the obvious discomfort of the rope- bound girl on the cell floor. Tanya had the impression that this large sized sample of German womanhood would happily leave her tied all night and probably for some number of days after that. But apparently she was under orders for she knelt and untied the ropes from Tanya.
With arms hanging limply at her sides, she cried softly at the pain for returning circulation in her hands and feet, and could offer not resistance as Gertrude gathered her arms behind her and locked them in handcuffs the same as Dawn was secured.
"These are not phony handcuffs like in your act," she told Tanya. "These will not fall off when you press secret place." Another pair of handcuffs joined her ankles and Tanya was shackled for the night. She could sense that. "I bring you some dinner soon. You will eat it like a dog with no hands, yes?"
"If you say so, Fraulein Gertrude."
"Please, we be friends. Call me Gertie. Not so formal, yes?" She smiled and patted Tanya's bottom lovingly, then was gone.
A little later she did return with food trays for both girls, all food and drink suitable for eating with no hands to cut or pick up with. It was good food and they were happy to get it, having missed lunch. Later Gertie returned for the trays and to turn off the light.
It was a long night and the shackles were uncomfortable, but far better than the Baron's tight ropes had been. Both girls slept, uncomfortably, but sleep nevertheless.
CHAPTER TEN - First Day As Prisoners
The morning came, marked only by a gray light filtering down through the high, small windows of the dungeon. Tanya and Dawn had slept well enough for, although they were naked, the dungeons were heated and they suffered not from the cold. They were both a little stiff from sleeping in chains, but that did not make either of them suffer unduly as they were both used to spending the entire night in chains and bondage much tighter than what now restricted their limbs.
Gertie brought breakfast but did not unchained the girls so they might eat it with their hands. Those hands remained locked snugly behind their backs. As did their ankles and the chain securing their necks to the rings in the wall. The trays were placed on the floor just inside the door. The big German woman smiled at them, patted two bottoms, and left them to their breakfast. Since the trays were just out of reach of the chained girls, they had to lay on their bottoms and pull the trays closer with their toes until they were able to kneel and bend their faces to eat the food doggie style.
Gertie returned later, still smiling, and unlocked Tanya's chain from the ring in the wall. Tugging on the chain became the order for the naked girl to get up to her feet, which she did with a little difficulty because of the lack of hands and the ankles joined by a pair of handcuffs. Gertie patted her bottom and told her to come along, then set off on a pace that forced Tanya to snub her ankles painfully with each hurried step. Their destination was a small cell just off the main dungeon torture chamber. It was really a rather large shower with titled walls and floor. There Gertie turned on delightfully warm water and allowed Tanya to cleanse herself as best she could with hands joined behind her back. The water did feel good and helped to get out some of the stiffness. Spending the better part of the previous day with her arms tightly bound up between her shoulder blades had put a considerable stress on the muscles of her arms and shoulders. She stayed under the almost hot water until Gertie signaled an end to the shower by simply turning the water off.
Gertie herself was the one to towel dry her naked captive, taking obvious delight in massaging the large breasts and other private parts far more than needed to assure dryness. Then she was led back to the challenge cell and she was reattached to the wall by the clicking of the big padlock around the end of her neck chain and the ring. Gertie then led Dawn away, smiling all the while.
Dawn was returned later, clean and with skin blushing red from the brisk rubbing of the rough towel. She seemed a little nervous but otherwise unharmed by the experience. When they were alone, Dawn turned to her friend and expressed the doubts. "Tanya, that woman is lesbian! And a sadist! I know it! She wants to do all kinds of things to me, I can feel it."
"She felt it, too," commented Tanya dryly. "Huh?"
"Nothing. You're right, she's lesbian. But there's nothing wrong with that, we're lesbians, too, in case you've forgotten."
"Yes, but that's different." Dawn had trouble putting into words her fears. "She's, well different. When you tie me up with ropes, I get all tingly inside. When she does it, I just get nervous. I mean, she hasn't really hurt me, but... Well, she wants to. Know what I mean?"
"I know. I'm sure we would be treated differently if she were in charge instead of the Baron. But hang in there, it shouldn't be too rough, and it won't last forever.
"Yeah, these handcuffs aren't too bad. And I've worn handcuffs on my wrists and ankles for three or four days at a time. Remember when you left me with ALL those handcuffs on me for an entire day while you were gone? Boy, that was one wild time! Let's see, my arms were behind me, three pairs of handcuffs on my wrists, two pair on just above my elbows, and you used three more pair around my neck. Remember? You locked on cuff around the chains on those on my elbows. Then you locked another to the free cuff. Then another to the free cuff of that second pair. Then you put them up over my shoulder and across my neck and back down to my elbows. Then you locked the end to those around my elbows again. Boy, did I feel chained up! Then you locked three pairs of handcuffs on my ankles and left me lone for almost twenty-four hours! And you took all the keys with you. I know, I looked in the dresser draw where we usually keep the handcuffs and keys. They were all gone. I had to shuffle around the apartment, bare-ass naked, for most of Saturday and part of Sunday until you came back. I think you were visiting Sally."
"If it's any consolation to you, Sally spent that day and that night in far worse bondage than you did."
"She did? Boy, you never told me about that. How did you tie her? What did you do to her?"
Dawn continued her eager questioning about the activities of Tanya and Sally on the day in question, completely forgetting her worries about their treatment at the hands of Gertie. Which was, of course, what Tanya wanted. The other thing she wanted was a visit from the Baron. And she wanted to be tied up that night rather than chained. But it would take some work to get what she wanted. A naked female prisoner rarely decides what is to happen to her.
The day passed slowly and without incident. Lunch was served, good food but eaten with hands locked behind backs and with faces wiped clean by the German woman afterwards. Outside the castle the day continued gray and rainy, but inside the girls were warm despite their nakedness. They talked, they moved around their cells, and they played with their chains. Walking around an exercise yard like normal prisoners in any respectable prison would have been nice for a change but probably too cold to enjoy, considering their nudity. After dinner the Baron came and Tanya's hopes rose.
"How have my two guests been doing?" he asked politely. "I trust your accommodations are adequate."
"Adequate... for prisoners," Tanya said but with a smile to show there was no bitterness. "We are fine. That was not nice of you to leave my arms bound all of yesterday, you know."
"I know."
"But no harm was done," she concluded. Quickly she changed the subject. "I noticed quite a few devices in your main dungeon when I was brought in. They are all as functional as they appear?"
"Of course. The stocks, the rack, even the Iron Maiden all work as they are suppose to."
"I don't think I would like to try the Iron Maiden," Tanya said in a friendly manner. "But I did notice a couple of posts and a table that looked like a bondage table."
"The table was originally meant as a torture table. Those hooks around the edge were meant for ropes and chains, but the main intent was to hold the victim down while pain was inflicted and bodily parts damaged. Or removed. Yet, it could be used for simple bondage."
"If you do the tying, it will not be simple bondage," Tanya said with apparent admiration in her voice. "I'll bet if you tied me on it, I would stay there all night."
For a second Tanya wondered if she had overplayed her hand. The Baron studied her through shrewd eyes as if wondering just why she would want to be bound to the table. Having been the one doing the tying too many times to not understand what could be the result, she moved to counter his suspicion. "Maybe I'm funny but I would rather spent the night in ropes than chains. More personal than chains. More... More intimate, if you know what I mean."
"I believe I do," he said with a slight nod of the head. "Shackles are fine but ropes do make one feel the helplessness much more."
"Exactly," Tanya replied with a slight bow of the head. "You do understand."
"Well, let us see what we can do. Perhaps I could fix you up now and then come down to see how you are faring before I retire for the night. Gertrude, please unlock the doors and bring my guests to the main room."
While the Baron seemed to accept Tanya's story, Gertie obviously remained suspicious. But she did as ordered and soon both Tanya and Dawn were standing in the main dungeon room with wrists handcuffed behind their backs but nothing else. The Baron was setting down coils of rope on the rack next to the table they had talked about. It was a wooden table, but not old, worn and stained wood. The wood was oak, freshly finished and quite solid. The top was flat, smooth and almost large enough for Tanya to stretch out on. She noticed that all of the ropes were cotton the thickness of clothesline, not the thicker nylon type. It was her choice, also, when she placed someone in bondage.
"If you would be so kind as to remove the handcuffs," the Baron suggested. "And you, Tanya, please to come over her and turn your back for me?"
Tanya did as told. Not only was resistance against the much larger Gertie questionable, it would gain her nothing if successful. Right now she wanted the Baron to leave her bound with ropes on that table for the night. And that was exactly what was happening.
The ropes went on carefully and precisely, first around the elbows and then on the wrists, the elbows tightly together, of course. Then some rope was added lashing her arms to her body at the level of her waist and above and below her breasts. All quite tight without being extremely so. After all, she was going to spend the entire night in this bondage, no use making it painful from the start. Well, not too painful, anyway.
Tanya was then laid down on the table, face downward, big breasts flattened by the hard wood. The Baron took one ankle and looped rope around it before pulling it out to the side of the table where it was bound to one of the rings around the edge. Several times the ropes ran from the ring to the ankle and back, quite firmly knotted each time. Then it was time for her other ankles to be bound to the corresponding ring on the other side. This left Tanya with legs spread moderately wide.
"Without arms to help," informed the Baron, "I doubt you would be able to push yourself up to a kneeling position. But, just to be assured of that, I will affix your neck to this end of the table." He proceeded to do so, first placing a leather collar around her neck, then tying rope from it to the nearest ring to her head. That left Tanya without even the ability to raise her head and shoulders up. She was quite well bound face down on the table.
"Quite beautiful, young woman," commented the Baron as he admired his work. "You have such a lovely body. It is a shame that you will be my guest only a month."
Tanya turned her head to see the Baron smiling at her as his eyes enjoyed her bound curves. She also saw Gertie just beyond, also smiling but with no warmth in the smile.
The Baron walked around the table, patting bare flesh here and there, uttering pleasantries and making like she was both a beautiful object and an honored guest. Finally he turned to Gertie with a command that she secure Dawn for the night. Then he left.
Gertie smiled at Dawn and the young girl shivered. Tanya's friend was taken to one of the wooden posts and the handcuffs unlocked only to be locked again seconds later but this time with her arms behind her and wrapped around the post. Another pair of the steel restraints locked tightly around her elbows, pulling her arms back and changing almost comfortable to definitely uncomfortable. Another pair of handcuffs clicked shut around the slender ankles, not that the young nude woman was going to be walking anywhere.
Gertie stood back and pondered the picture. "Simple, yes," she said, "but lacking something... Ah, I know!" A few seconds later she returned with a bit gag in her hands. Like a horse's bit, it consisted of a metal bar that fitted into the mouth. From each end a small length of chain was passed behind Dawn's head and the post then locked tightly there by a small padlock. Gertie stepped back again. "Yes, that is better. The Baron did not say that you had to be comfortable, yes?" Then she turned to Tanya with a shrewd look in her eyes. For a few seconds that held then was replaced with a wicked smile. But Gertie left without a word, clicking off the lights behind her.
Surprisingly, Tanya had not be gagged so she was able to utter some words of comfort to her steel-gagged friend. Only moans and half-formed words were returned, and Tanya knew that the steel bit gag making her friend rather uncomfortable. She wondered if Dawn would be able to get any sleep that night. That kind of gag would grow more and more uncomfortable as the hours passed, making the jaws ache.
Tanya tested her own bondage, carefully noting which ropes her fingers could reach when she twisted her wrists within the ropes and bent her hand. She decided that she could reach just enough for her purpose, then she settled down to wait for the rest of the castle to retire for the night.
But the two naked girls were not allowed complete privacy in their dungeon. After perhaps half an hour a glow descended the stairs before turning into the image of Gertie carrying a candle. The candle was placed on the table beside the tied down form of Tanya and Gertie took up position on the other side. Without a word being exchanged by either woman, the free one removed a large dildo from her pocket and placed it upright between the spread legs. Tanya could not see what was being done but she quickly felt the fingers teasing her sex as she lay face down. Expert fingers they were, for they found the right spots and teased every so gently. Tanya fought it but a woman's body will usually betray her, especially when being toyed with by another woman intent upon producing sexual arousal. Flesh being only flesh, Tanya's body was soon generating heat in her loins and delightful tingles racing along nerves designed to bring pleasure.
When the time was right and a probing finger confirmed the love tunnel well lubricated, the blunt end of the dildo was placed against the opening of Tanya's sex and pushed gently inward. The pressure was not hard, indeed the big German woman worked the artificial penis around, in and out, moving it so the warm, moist vagina accepted it and swallowed it. When it had reached its inner limits, Gertie began working it half out and then in again, pumping firmly away as if a huge male organ was having its way with the helpless female flesh.
Tanya was not super-human, her flesh responded in the way of all female flesh: it flooded her body with pleasurable sensations and wonderful emotions. In short, she reached an orgasm, an unwanted one at the hands of this superior and smug German woman, but an orgasm of reasonable intensity and pleasure. She moaned very loudly and could not hide the shivers that raced along her body nor the way it arched against the ropes as wave after wave of pure pleasure racked her.
It was embarrassing, it was shameful, but it also felt good.
"There, does the Great Tanya enjoy her little climax?" ask Gertie, rubbing a little salt into the wounded pride. "Is good that you did, for there will be many more. I like seeing naked women squirming in the Baron's tight ropes. And how they hate to get a climax from the rubber penis. Now I will put Fritz away, he has done his job. Perhaps you would like to kiss him? No? You will hurt his feelings."
Gertie held the glistening object up before Tanya's face but not too close. Tanya sensed that she really didn't expect her to kiss it, it was more of a taunt than a serious order. Tanya held back bitter words.
It was not, oddly perhaps, that she had not enjoyed the . orgasm. Nor was it that she was unused to having such a device placed within her vagina, nor being worked up to an orgasm by the use of such. She had, indeed, spent many a night in tight bondage with a large dildo tied snugly inside her pussy. Even as she had often done the same to her bound female slaves. It was, in short, an experience she was used to and enjoyed. But always it had been at the hands of someone she loved-not a strange woman who radiated hostile emotions towards both her and Dawn. It was a different act when performed by a stranger.
Having finished her little bit of fun with the helpless prisoner, Gertie walked out carrying the damp tool she called "Fritz." A moment later the lights went out.
Tanya had to wait again, wait until she was sure that the castle had settled down for the night. In the dark and snug confines of the ropes holding her, Tanya fought to stay awake. Having just experienced an orgasm didn't help. Many were the nights when she fell asleep in such a naked and helpless condition, but this night she did not want to.
When finally enough time had passed, Tanya began working her fingers, bending them down to reach those ropes around her wrists. It was hard work, her fingernails could barely reach the ropes, let alone get a hold of them, but she had a secret weapon. As with many women, Tanya wore her nails of moderate length, but hers were different. Two of the mails of each hand were actually artificial nails, bonded to her real nails but made of very thin metal under a covering that looked like nail polish. Once she began sawing at the ropes with those nails, the polish covering the edge wore off, exposing a very, very sharp razor edge. The ropes cut where ever she could reach them. And as each strand parted, a little more freedom was gained enabling her fingers to reach additional windings. Soon her wrists were completely free.
That was the easy part. Next she reached one hand up to sever those ropes holding her arms pinned to her waist. That left only her elbows bound. Normally, the way she was bound down on the table, she will still have been helpless because of those ropes on the elbows, for with elbows joined behind her she could not reach up to untie the rope holding her neck down. But the same length of rope had been used to bind her elbows and wrists, first the elbows then down to the wrists. The final knots were at the wrists, and with those ropes cut loose there was nothing to keep the ropes around her elbows. She worked very hard in the dark to loosen those ropes around her elbows, not easy when your fingers can't reach up that high. But Tanya succeeded and was soon laying with completely freed arms, catching her breath.
Untying the rope around her neck collar was easy, then not much problem to get up to her knees and reach back to release the ropes from around her ankles. After that she was completely free.
The binding of Dawn with handcuffs instead of rope might have presented a barrier to most girls, but Tanya had noticed a paper clip laying on the floor. It was all she needed. Bent into the proper shape, and skillfully used as a pick, it was the matter of only a couple minutes to free Dawn of those steel restraints binding her to the post. Tanya's friend was very grateful to not have to spend the entire night bound with metal bit gag in her mouth. As they were sneaking out of the dungeon, Tanya explained about the fingernails, a trick she had not let Dawn in on.
A long tale could be related of the hour and a bit more these two naked women spent sneaking around the castle, but it would be boring so it will not be told. The important fact is that they did find what they were looking for. It was a small stairway heading down but not to the dungeons. What they found was an extensive biological laboratory, totally modern and quite out of place in a medieval castle. Fortunately, no one was around, giving Tanya the chance to explore. And explore she did. Until, that is, she found the documents laying in plain sight on a desk. Then she spent twenty minutes pouring over the papers, setting aside a special stack that she planed to take with them during their escape. As she read, her frown deepened, as did her resolve to get this information back to the proper authorities.
The two former captives were tip-toeing up the stairs, looking for some kind of clothing they could put on, along with the front door, to make their escape when they were suddenly blinded by bright lights.
"So, you are something more than an escape artist!" exclaimed the cultured tones of the Baron.
As their eyes grew used to the overhead lights in the hallway, Tanya and Dawn could see both Gertie and the Baron holding wicked looking guns on them. The Baron was dressed in a silky dressing gown with his initial monogrammed on the pocket. Gertie wore delicate teddy that look silly on such a muscular female.
"Those are, I believe, my papers, no?" The Baron waved the gun casually to indicate Tanya should put the papers down. "It is not nice of you to steal things from your host."
"Host, hell! You're a demented madman," Tanya retorted heatedly. "If what those papers say is true, you are about to release a catastrophic biological weapon upon the entire world."
"Catastrophic? Such a harsh word, my dear."
"What would you call altering the psychological well being of every woman on the earth?"
"An improvement." The Baron gave no sign of being sarcastic or humorous.
"You're serious," Tanya spit out. "You actually believe you can change the mentality of every woman on earth to make them into docile, passive, submissive creatures with no will of their own!?"
"Of course I can. Since you seem to have read the clinical trial reports, perhaps you would like to see some of the test results. Come along. First we will stop in the dungeon to properly secure you two."
The Baron waved the automatic again and the two naked girls had no choice but to return to the dungeon. Once there, Gertie examined the ropes laying on the table and floor. "These have been cut!" she proclaimed. "But how? She has no knife."
"Defective ropes?" suggested Tanya.
"In a pig's eye!" retorted Gertie. She then began searching around the floor for the missing knife. Tanya held her breath that the large German woman would not think of other possibilities.
"Never mind that now," order the Baron, "get these two bound up. We're going to have to take them to Santa Helena with us."
Gertie looked surprised. "Why not just kill them now? They're spies!"
"Obviously they're spies. But I would like to know who they work for. And how much information has been passed back." The Baron looked fondly around at the stone walls of his beloved dungeon. "We will have vacate the castle, that much is for sure. Some government is on to us. But we can still launch Operation Gwendoline from Santa Helena. Get them tied while I keep them covered."
Gertie obvious would have preferred to kill them right then but obeyed. To express her displeasure she jerked the ropes extra tight as she bound two pairs of arms behind bare backs. When she was finished, there were ropes cutting deeply into flesh above two pairs of elbows and wrists tightly corded together.
"Their legs, too, but only the knees. Leave their feet able to walk," the Baron informed, somewhat uselessly as Gertie was already going to fetch more rope. She bound the bare legs with the same vigor used on the arms, making both girls rather uncomfortable.
"I am not happy at all about your making me have to leave my castle," informed the Baron. "Of course, I will be able to return after Operation Gwendoline is completed. At least I hope so."
"Do you really think that the world will be grateful to you for turning all the women into docile, spineless creatures?"
The Baron laughed. "Of course the men of the world will! At least as soon as they realize what I have done for them. Imagine, every woman in the world totally obedient to every male! Each woman a submissive slavegirl, eager to please her master. And there is an added side effect. When the virus activities the submissive hormones in female nervous systems, there is also a considerable increase in sexual appetite. In the clinical trials, the average increase in sexual desire was eight-five percent. Imagine, every woman in the world submissive and homy all the time. Rope factories will have to work overtime to make enough ropes to hold them all! Handcuff factories will work overtime!" He laughed at the thought, no doubt visions of millions of naked woman tightly bound flashing through his mind.
When the laugher died down, he continued on a more serious note. "One of the major problems of mankind is the constant battle of the sexes. Is that not so? Man vs. woman, male and female fighting all the time. And talk about the frustration! Men simply don't have enough sex. The 'Little Woman' says not tonight, I have a headache. Or she withholds sex as a weapon in some battle to get a new fur coat or something. Think how much easier life will be for men when the women in their lives live only to please them! No more competition in the business place! No more arguments!
"Even those who are not married will be much better off. Any man can score, as you Americans call it, with any woman. What could be better? This Gwendoline virus will reduce every woman to an obedient sex slave. Believe me, the world will be a much better place."
Tanya held her words back. She was obviously in the hands of a madman, no question. What was frightening was that this virus was apparently real. If those clinical trail reports were to be believed.
"Come," the Baron ordered with a wave of the luger. "You shall see what my little virus can do."
The two naked prisoners shuffled with bound knees after their captor.
In another part of the castle there was another dungeon, more of a prison, actually. There were a dozen small cells arranged around a large room occupied with some bondage equipment and a lot of medical type equipment. Two of the cells were occupied, Tanya noted when they entered, by two beautiful women, both naked, both bound and blinking in the sudden bright light. One was a redhead in her mid-thirties. Her hands were bound behind her with the wrists crossed and that was all. In another cage was a cute teenage girl, her hands bound behind her and her ankles crossed and bound. The redhead came immediately to the barred door of her cell, the teenager continued to sit on a wooden bench but turned her full attention to the visitors.
"This is Dr. Melody Smithers," the Baron said with a wave towards the redhead. "She is a brilliant research biologist. It was her work that suggested the Gwendoline virus, and it was she who made it become reality. Isn't that so, my dear?"
"Oh, Baron, please...?"
"What is it you wish, my dear?" the Baron leered.
"Oh, Baron, you know." Melody seemed embarrassed. "Tell my guests what it is you want, my dear."
"Oh, damn! I want sex! Please, open this cell and give me sex! It's been so long. Please screw me...."
"This morning," informed the Baron to Tanya. "It was only this morning that she last had a good screwing. She is constantly homy. Sorry, my dear, no sex for you tonight." Melody sank to her knees and pressed her body against the steel bars. "Then please drop your pants and come here so I can use my mouth on your manhood. Please!"
"In her case, the sexual drive increase was more like two hundred percent. Frigid little bitch she was when she first came here. I used to have to torture her to force her to work on the project. But after the first batch of Gwendoline Virus was made, I used it on her. Now all I have to do is promise a little sex and to let her spend the night hogtied on her cell floor, and she'll work hard all day. Much nicer arrangement."
The teenager girl interrupted, "Please, Mr. Baron, I am so... hungry. My pussy bums. Please...?"
The Baron smiled but shook his head. "Not tonight." He turned to Tanya. "She was one of the experiments. I kept her because she's so cute and I like the way she begs to be tightly bound and suspended by her ankles. She's really very special. I've never seen a girl who so loved to be hung upside down by her ankles. And for hours!"
"Upside down," the teenager said with sudden hope. "Please... ? Please!"
"Maybe tomorrow, Colleen."
Colleen's lower lips trembled and she looked on the verge of crying. "Then please untie my hands so I can touch myself. You tied my legs like this so I can't close them. But I can't touch myself. Please...." The Baron smiled. "They are both so beautiful. The rest of the experimental subjects were shipped out to bordellos in the Middle East. I'm sure they're happy there, getting all the sex they could want and kept constantly chained up."
He turned back towards the door. "But enough of this. We have plans to make." He walked out, leaving Tanya and Dawn to shuffle after him. As the door closed behind them, they could hear the voice of Melody pleading with Gertie to return and do things to her. And Colleen's tearful and frustrated sobs.
After their return to the dungeon, the Baron seemed lost in thought while two naked and bound girls stood by, waiting to hear their fate pronounced. Finally he turned to them with a sigh. "I guess we should prepare you for shipment," he said. "Santa Helena is many hours flying time from here. It would not be practical to simply buy you tickets on a commercial airline." He laughed a little chuckle. "You'll have to go as baggage on my private plane. You won't be comfortable, but there will be nothing you can do about that."
Tanya didn't like the way Gertie was smiling at this news.
"Gertrude, please prepare these two. The standard shipping crates will do. Then call Karl to bring the car around. Then make arrangements for shipment of two-no, make that three crates. We'll take Dr. Simpers with us. I guess we should take Colleen, too. Just as easy as shipping her off to that bordello. Make that four crates. I'll be gathering the notes and other stuff. You 'pack' the crates, right?"
"Of course, Herr Baron."
"Packing" was not a pleasant experience for Tanya or Dawn. The crates were stout wooden boxes with considerable padding inside, more for sound insulation than comfort. Their arms were left tightly bound behind their backs and the ankles were bound. They were both gagged with large rubber wads held in place by tight straps. The rubber tasted terrible. Then they were placed into the mold created by the leather padding of each box. It fit a girl very snugly, but only if she were doubled up into a ball, knees pushed against her cheek and heels pressed against her bottom. When the lip was placed over them and screwed down, the padding fit so closely that neither girl could move the slightest.
Directly before Tanya's face was a opening from which a slow but steady stream of fresh air bathed that part of her face that was not pressed into padding. She would breath, thanks to an air pump somewhere in the padding, probably battery powered. She prayed that the batteries were that kind that just kept on going and going and going.
The padding acted as an insulation and soon Tanya was quite warm despite being naked. Testing the lack of mobility and the tightness of the ropes, she sincerely hoped that the trip would not be a long one. Her arms were so hold in place by the padding that she couldn't even bend her fingers back to cut the ropes around her wrists. She would not be escaping from her shipping crate. But the part that depressed her most was the ease with which they had been caught. She had hoped that the security of the bondage the Baron had put on her would lull them into a false sense of security and they would not bother to check on either of the bound girls during the night. Then Tanya remembered that Gertie was wearing a nightgown. Perhaps she had been awaken by the Baron or some alarm system they had tripped, but perhaps also it was Gertie who had discovered their disappearance. Already once that night she had paid an unexpected visit to the dungeon, a visit to exercise her dildo in Tanya's vulnerable pussy. It was likely that she had been sexually aroused by that little game and came back for some more. Tanya guessed that had she stayed bound to the table, shortly she would have been visited by a homy female and been forced to perform oral sex on her captor. It would have fit the pattern. But instead of a naked and tightly bound down captive girl, Gertie found empty ropes and sounded the alarm.
Tanya wanted to cry. They had come so close. If she had only waited until later, Gertie would have come for her sexual gratification and then gone back to bed, comforted by a lesbian orgasm and the knowledge that those two would remain tightly bound for the rest of the night. Or perhaps she should have waited until the next night to pull her escape. But all that was unimportant now, they were caught and she had not been able to get any kind of word to Gary Xavier. It was still several days until the deadline when the cavalry would come galloping in to save them. Trouble was, they would find only empty dungeon cells and missing girls.
For a long time nothing happened. Faint, far away sounds filtered into her prison, but Tanya could not tell what was happening. Probably Melody and Colleen being packed for shipment.
It must have been late into the night, for Tanya dozed off within the confines of her crate. She was awaken by movement, her crate being picked up and carried some distance, then set down none too gently. A few minutes later she felt the crate being tilted and found herself laying on her back. There were bumps and muffled sounds and not much else to let her know what was going on. Faintly came the vibrations of a motor and she guessed they were in some kind of van or truck.
The entire trip became a tangle of muffled sounds and movement for the girl within her black prison. From the "popping" of her ears, she guessed that an aircraft flight was happening, but little else. For long periods she drifted off into a half sleep, but never long. Constant pain in her arms was a companion that allowed for little rest. And her jaws ached from being forced open by the rubber wad she was coming to hate.
She could not be sure if it was a couple hours or a couple days before the lid finally came off and sunlight burst upon her naked body.
Barely able to turn her head, she could see only bright sun and blue sky, then rough hands were lifting her out of the crate. Those rough hands set her down on her feet but her legs could not take the weight and she sank to a rough-cut rock floor. A slight breeze from somewhere teased her sweat-soaked body as she lay crumpled there. As her eyes grew used to the bright light, she could see Gertie standing there with hands on hips and a smug look on her face. Two men were lifting Dawn from another crate, the young girl looking rather dazed and half unconscious. Already freed from the wooden prison but still bound by ropes, Melody and Colleen lay on the ground only a few feet away. The doctor seem unconscious but Colleen was looking around with eager eyes, apparently none the worse for her ordeal.
All four sets of legs were unbound from the ropes but before any effort was made to release their arms, silvery shackled were locked snugly around their ankles. The connecting chain was no more than twelve inches in length, which would allow a shuffling walk but no more. When Tanya's turn came to have her arms freed, they hung limb and useless at her side. Then the circulation returned and an agony of pins and needles and other assorted pains almost brought tears to her eyes. Before her arms were anywhere near recovered, they were gathered behind her back and the wrists locked firmly in handcuffs.
The crates were cleared away, giving the four naked females time to regain use of their limbs, until finally they were ordered to their feet and marched out of the small courtyard and through a doorway. All Tanya could see of the Santa Helena was a deep blue sky and rough-cut stone walls all around her. From not far away came the sound and smell of the ocean, but what ocean it was she could not tell.
A short descent down some stairs brought them to a familiar sight: a dungeon. The wall weren't the same color of stone as the Baron's castle had been, but they still were appropriate for the rack, pillory and torture table Tanya saw before they were locked in separate but adjoining cells. All of them were soon asleep, hungry for food but more hungry for restful sleep after an ordeal of what they later were to learn had been fourteen hours secured in those shipping crates.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Welcome to Santa Helena
It was the next morning before the girls awoke, each needing a lot of sleep after an ordeal of immobility, pain and darkness that would test any woman. Fortunately all came through with only some stiffness here and there, and a painful memory. And each was happy to see food being brought in and set within each cell. It was simple food, but welcome and palatable. The shackled girls had to eat without the benefit of hands as those remained firmly locked behind their backs. Hunger drove each to her knees to bite and lick until the plates were clean. Then to suck up water served in glasses which considerately contained straws. At mid- morning Tanya and Dawn were taken from their cells.
The day was warm, the sun bright, not with mid-summer heat but a slightly gentler warmth that felt so good to the two naked girls after a dismal week in rainy Germany. Separated from the other prisoners of Santa Helena, Tanya and Dawn had been taken up from their dungeon cells to be chained on the roof of the large white-washed house that belonged to the Baron. Upon their arrival on the roof, one of the silvery shackles had been unlocked from an ankle and relocked through an iron ring solidly set into the roof, probably just for that purpose. Both girls were shackled to the same ring, and both still wore handcuffs upon wrists behind their backs, but such restraints seemed minor compared to some of what they had to endure during the last few days, very minor, indeed, when compared to being tied into a ball and locked inside that shipping crate.
"Tanya, what is going to happen to us?" asked Dawn with a trace of fear in her voice. "They're not going to kill us, are they?"
"Not right now," replied Tanya with more calmness in her voice than she felt inside. "They would probably like to know who sent us."
"Oh, so they're only going to torture us until we talk." Dawn didn't sound much relieved. "I don't like torture," she added with a tiny tremor in her lower lip. "I mean real torture, not what you do to me."
"I know, honey. We'll just have to see what happens and hope for the best. Perhaps Mr. Xavier can find us. It was his intent to rescue us from the castle, you know."
"I know. But this isn't the castle. I don't even know where we are, how can he?"
"My guess is that we're on an island in the Indian Ocean."
"What!" exclaimed Dawn. "How can you tell?"
"The Mediterranean would not be this warm at this time of year," Tanya explained. "That means we were flown to a place near or below the equator. The south Atlantic doesn't have much in the way of islands, and the south Pacific would have been a much longer flight from Germany. My guess is that we're either off the south coast of Africa or some part of the Indian Ocean. You'll notice how much higher in the sky the sun is that from Germany."
"I hardly saw the sun when we where there. But it does look higher than I remember seeing in California. Gosh, was it only ten days ago that we were back in California?"
"Time flies when you're having fun." Dawn glared at Tanya but couldn't stay angry. "Oh, Tanya, you silly. We're not having fun... Are we? No, silly question. We're about to be tortured and then killed by a mad scientist. I don't think that's having fun."
The two naked girls couldn't put their arms around each other but they pressed their bodies together and kissed warmly. Just as the kissing began to reflect their sexual desire for each other, a voice interrupted their sharing of affection.
"You're quite right, you know." It was the Baron, standing there in a burgundy dressing gown, white silk shirt, black tie, slacks, and highly polished shoes. "We are on an island off the north coast of Madagascar, not far from the Seychelles. I own the island and pay large bribes into the right pockets for the authorities to forget that I'm here. So when my private plane lands at my private airstrip, there are no customs to go through, no questions asked about what is in those creates unloaded from the plane."
"So you have an island. How very nice," commented Tanya dryly. "Bought with money looted from Europe during World War II?"
The Baron laughed. "Actually, you're right. And, yes, I was a high ranking officer in the armed forces of my country. But I suppose your agency briefed you on my background, so we won't go into that."
Tanya remained silent, not wishing to openly state that she really didn't know much about the Baron. The comment about the source of funds for this island had been a shot in the dark, a barb, nothing more.
"I hope you girls are enjoying some sunshine. I wouldn't want those wonderful California tans to fade."
"What are you going to do with us?" asked Tanya, striving to keep her voice even.
The Baron walked to the edge of the roof and look over the short railing. For a few moments he seemed lost in the beautiful view of barren rocks and wind-swept ocean stretching off into infinity. But presently he returned to the naked and chained females. "I intend to find out who you work for, although I am pretty sure I know already. Making you talk will be fun, especially for Gertrude. She does so love to make a young woman scream. I have seen her nearly strip all the skin off a girl's back and butt with her whip. She spaces out the lashes so that the girl doesn't faint and the agony is prolonged."
"And when you've tortured all we know out of us...?"
"We'll see. I am fascinated by your escape artist ability. How did you manage to get out of those ropes in the dungeon?"
"Professional secret."
"Ah! Well, I'll not push the subject right now. I will, of course, find out eventually. Perhaps I'll device some tests for you-you know, little bondage situations to challenge your abilities. I also wonder, considering how easily you escaped from the dungeon the other night, if you could have defeated my original test. The one with your hands high up on your back. Could you?"
"The only way to find out is to try it again. How about a little reward to sweeten the great experiment? Say, if I escape, we get to go free?"
The Baron laughed loudly. "I do like you," he said with a smile when his laughter calmed down. "I do like you."
He was still smiling when he walked away, leaving the two naked girls still tethered to the roof.
By standing, Tanya could see a bit of the island they were on. To the direction the Baron had been looking there was a dark blue ocean, broken in a few places by a lighter shade of green near the land. What she could see of the island proved to be barren rocks and sand with only a occasional hardy but stunted tree managing to survive an unfriendly landscape. The Baron hadn't stated it, but she was pretty sure that this house was the only building on the island, and even if they were able to escape from it, they would be trapped in a land with little or no food and water.
The torture began that evening, and Gertie was the first Inquisitor.
* * *
Dawn was taken into a special alcove of the dungeon and bound tightly to a metal chair which, in turn, was bolted to the floor. Her arms were bound behind the chair's back, her legs to the front legs, and her body held against the hard metal by numerous bands of rope. She was then gagged with a large rubber wad held in her mouth by straps. Thus she was prepared to witness the what Gertie called the "interrogation" of her best friend. Most others would call it "torture," but then most other people would have been more honest about the matter.
Tanya was brought in wearing shackles on her ankles, each step being short and snubbed by the hard metal encircling her ankles. The handcuffs were removed from her wrists, leaving her with free arms, but only for a few seconds. She might have considered attempting to overpower the larger Gertie but for the fact that her ankles were so closely locked together. It would not be a very fair contest. So she meekly submitted to having her wrists encircled with leather bands which were then attached to chains hanging down from holes in the ceiling. At the touch of a button by Gertie, those chains slowly receded into the ceiling, pulling up Tanya's arms and eventually her whole body. The strain of taking her entire weight by her wrists clearly reflected on her face but she said nothing. Gertie removed the ankle shackles then left.
Dawn made some sounds through the gag, probably offers of sympathy but hardly words. Tanya simply smiled back, a reassurance that this punishment was not overly painful-not yet, anyway. Neither of the two naked girls had any doubts more was to come.
The Baron put in an appearance, accepted Tanya's silence in reply to his question about who had sent her to spy on him. He obviously expected nothing less. Upon leaving, he then turned the hanging woman over to a smiling Gertie.
The first stroke of her whip was a complete surprise. Gertie had walked around behind the hanging girl and delivered a wicked blow directly across the ass with the full strength of her arm. Fire burst into life in Tanya's bottom, and a sudden, shocking pain lanced through her body. She jerked instinctively and arched her body forward. A gasp of pain escaped her lips.
For a few seconds Tanya's legs jerked in response to the sear of her bottom. But then they calmed down and hung again limb, toes pointing towards the floor. Tanya hung her head and closed her eyes. She knew that another lash of that terrible whip would soon come, but she chose try to ignore it.
The second stroke did come, but not on the bottom as Tanya had expected. Instead the fiery pain burned across the backs of her thighs, even more terrible than that across her bottom. She cried out with the pain and her free legs again danced in mid-air.
Gertie, smiling from ear to ear, walked around in front of the writhing female. "This is not the worst whip I have," she informed. "Nor it is the easiest. It will leave marks that will not fad for days. And it creates much pain, no?"
"Yes, it creates much pain," agreed Tanya. "It is terrible."
For a while Gertie was content to stand before her victim, watching the painful emotions crossing that beautiful face and admiring the full curves of that fine body. The weapon that had brought those tears to this girl suddenly lashed out again with a backhand stroke. Tanya's body jerked backwards and a thin red line appeared across the front of her thighs, exactly half way between her hips and knees.
Gertie waited until the jerking legs calmed down before telling Tanya, "If you think that hurt, imagine what it would be like were I to hit your across those beautiful breasts. I think you would scream, no?"
Dawn gasped behind her gag and Tanya did not answer the question. Turning, Gertie threw a smile in Dawn's direction. "You'll get your turn, my little sweetie. You'll get your turn."
Dawn paled under her California suntan. Turning her attention back to the target for that moment, Gertie took two steps to the side and lashed out with the black braided leather whip to plan another scarlet line along the smooth skin of Tanya's flank. By the sixth stroke, the escape artist was crying and making no effort to hold in her gasps and cries of pain. But it wasn't until the thirteenth vicious slash against her tender skin that she spoke again.
"Please! Please, no more. I can't stand it."
"You will stand it," stated Gertie flatly. "You have no chose. If you faint, I will throw water on you until you are awake again. You will stand it." Then she laughed, the wicked laugh of someone who enjoys inflicting pain for its own sake.
The whipping continued. On the fifteenth stroke, another one across the front of her thighs, Tanya broke down and begged for mercy. "Please, stop this! It's terrible. It hurts so much."
"Are you prepared to tell us who you work for?" asked Gertie sweetly.
"I... I can't," said Tanya. And with those words guaranteed herself continued pain.
Again and again the whip lashed through the air to impact on soft girl flesh. Again and again the cries of agony echoed through the stone dungeon. Red marks crisscrossed the curves of her bottom as well as the front and backs and outsides of her legs. Somewhere around the thirtieth stroke of pain, Tanya screamed. Unlike the muffled cries of pain that preceded it, this was a full scream of pain, frustration and anguish. It pleased Gertie very much. Quickly she lashed out three more times to make the scream return and bounce off the stone walls of the dungeon. She was very pleased.
Sensing that her victim was very close to breaking down, Gertie positioned herself directly in front of the trembling body and administered the most unkind cut of all. The leather whip kissed both breasts squarely across the nipples. Instantly the loudest scream echoed off the walls and the naked body convulsed, the knees pulled up and legs held tight together as if trying to curl into a ball. Tanya pressed her knees against her breasts and unleashed a long, heart- wrenching cry of pure pain.
Then she told Gertie the name of the agency she had been recruited by, followed by pleas for the agony to stop. Gertie only casually commented, "That's what we thought," and continued the whipping with a terrible blow across the bottom.
Tanya, a girl who had spend most of her adult life exploring female domination and pain, was being taught new lessons by this German woman. Never had she experienced such pain, never had she inflicted such pain upon another girl. Compared to this, all the torments she had every inflicted upon other females had been tokens of love and almost kind. Tanya, a woman who virtually owned other women as love slaves, was reduced to a slavegirl mentality herself. Her entire universe became the fiery pain in her body, nothing else mattered, no other thought entered her mind, save the desire to stop this pain.
With a practiced feeling for such things, Gertie knew just when to stop the pain. When she lowered the sweating, limp body to the hard floor, she knew that she had administered exactly enough pain. Freed of the leather bands around her wrists, Tanya, without orders, grasp the leg of Gertie with both her arms and hugged it, weeping grateful tears that the ordeal was over and the pain had stopped. Meekly she turned when told to do so and placed her arms behind her back for the steel handcuffs to be locked on the wrists. She even offered her ankles for the leg irons without being told to, then struggled to her feet to stand with head hanging before the woman who had, for at least that moment, tamed her.
Tanya was led back to her cell where, kneeling at the feet of the big German woman, she paid the ultimate lesbian tribute by performing oral sex with her head buried between Gertie's thighs. It was humiliation heaped upon pain but Tanya could only think of that terrible pain and would risk nothing that would bring it back.
Tanya had a strong will, far stronger than most women, but even the strongest must bend before the onslaught of so much pain. The whip marks burned all through the night, a constant reminder to Tanya that she was a prisoner and completely helpless.
CHAPTER TWELVE - More Santa Helena Punishments
The next day the whip marks hurt, but not the scold and deep pain of the day of the whipping. Dawn, from her cell, looked at the marks streaking the skin of her friend and wanted to weep. The younger girl had only be returned to her cell that morning after spending the entire night tied to that chair and wearing the rubber gag that filled her mouth and made her jaw ache most of the night. It was with some difficulty that she was able to speak that morning.
"Tanya, those marks... They're on your bottom and all over your thighs. And even your breasts!"
"I know," replied Tanya, and, in truth, it was hard for her not to be aware of the placement of each slash upon her soft skin. "I know."
For a while Dawn just stood at the bars of her cage, unable to take them in her hands because of handcuffs locked behind her back, and looked at her friend. "Tanya... In a way they're pretty. Oh, I don't mean that. I cried when that terrible woman whipped you. Really, I did! But these marks... They're all different colors, you know. Purple and blue and black. They're almost pretty...." Dawn sounded uncertain, as if she were trying to say something but couldn't find the word. Tanya suspected she understood but said nothing. The memory of the pain was still too fresh in her mind to consider those marks anything but reminders of that pain. Still... There had been times when she had marked up a friend, Dawn and others, many others... Nothing like this whipping, for sure, for she was not the sadist Gertie was. Yet there had been marks placed upon soft female skin, marks that stayed for a day or two, marks that were beautiful in their own way. But any marks place upon soft flesh by Tanya had been with a wide belt and without the intent to cause serious pain. Gertie had no such restrictions. Her arm was strong and the whip she used wicked, even if she proclaimed it not the worst of her collection. She had meant to hurt Tanya and she had achieved that goal. Tanya had never been so hurt in her life.
As the hours stretched out with only the slow movement of a shaft of sunlight upon the cell floor to mark the passage of time, Tanya thought a great deal about the ordeal she had gone through the day before. In a very twisted bit of logic, she was grateful to the sadist German woman for having given her a lesson in the infliction of pain and a much better understanding of what real pain can do to a girl's mind. She found herself affected by that pain. Where she should have hated Gertie she found a strange form of submission. Not that she was ready to kiss the feet of her tormentor, but there really was no hate. Instead she found herself thinking that she might well do anything the larger woman asked simply to avoid a repetition of that pain. And that idea seemed right.
She had used tight rope bondage and mild torment to bend other girl's will to hers. Painful treatment, true, but nothing like what she had gone through. Perhaps she was merely the tip of the iceberg, Gertie a much larger chunk. Maybe they weren't really much different in kind, only in degree.
Early afternoon came and with it a visit from the object of Tanya's considerations. Gertie ordered Tanya to stand and turn slowly around to display her marks, then she grunted with satisfaction as all were revealed. Tanya even held her arms as high as she could behind her back that the whip marks upon her bottom would be clearly visible.
"Very good," said Gertie. "In the coming days those marks will fade. A couple weeks and there will be nothing but smooth skin again." She laughed. "Then I can mark it up again, no?"
She turned to Dawn's cell without waiting for a reply. "And you, sweetie? Would you like to be marked up like your friend? It can easily be arranged."
"No, please no." Dawn coward in the back of her cell and visibly shook at the thought. "Please no."
"I will when I feel like it. One day it will happen to you." Gertie seemed to be looking forward to seeing that day come soon. "But not today. The Baron wishes to see what Tanya the Great looks like today, and in a special way." Gertie unlocked the cell door and gestured for Tanya to walk out. The handcuffs upon her ankles make walking slow and each step had to be taken carefully or it would also be painful. The walk to the same dungeon area where she had been whipped took ten uncomfortable minutes. Once there the handcuffs were removed from her wrists but only for a few seconds. A small leather band, much like that which had encircled her wrists the day before but smaller was now placed around her thumb and tightened down. A second loop went around the thumb of her other hand, and Tanya had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The thought of resistance flashed through her mind but the steel bracelets upon her ankles made her swallow it down. She could not possibly win against Gertie's superior strength with her ankles locked close together. Probably not even were she free of those shackles.
The leather bands were like slip loops, the more the free end was pulled, the tighter the loop became around her thumbs behind the big knuckle. It came as no surprise when Gertie attached those free ends to the chains hanging down from the ceiling, the same chains that had been used to suspend her with feet off the floor.
"Hanging by the thumbs?" said Tanya. "Not very original, is it?"
"It works," was all that Gertie said, and Tanya, although having never hung by her thumbs before, did not doubt that statement.
Gertie touched the button and Tanya watched as her hands rose before her face and continued on up towards the ceiling. When the chains and leather loops became taunt, she began to get an idea of what this was going to feel like. It was a bad feeling. The bands grew very tight around her thumbs as the strain increased. Soon she was standing on tip toes, pushing up to ease the pain. But the pull of the chains was relentless and slowly her toes left the stone floor. The naked and whip- marked girl moaned aloud. "This hurts," she said through clenched teeth.
"It is suppose to," replied a jovial Gertie. "It is bad, I know, but it will grow worse. A few hours of this and I will have to come back and gag you. You will be screaming, you know."
"Just like I was screaming when you cut me with that whip?" asked Tanya.
"Different." Gertie ignored the sarcasm in the question and took it seriously. "Different kind of pain. You will see."
"Gertie, I'm afraid that you'll do damage to my thumbs. They're not made to take all my weight like this. I'm sure they will be ripped out or the bones broken. Or something."
"You will hurt, that is all."
"How do you know? Have you done this many times?" The pain was making Tanya forget her resolve to be submissive and not evoke additional punishment. "Silly questions, huh?"
..
"Is stupid question, yes. Of course I have done this many times. And no thumbs were ever ripped out of hands. It will bum and hurt and you will scream. But the thumbs will not be harmed. A girl's body can take much more than you imagine. Isn't that good?" Tanya did not answer the question. Instead she grit her teeth and held back both retorts and moans of pain.
Gertie halted the upward travel of the chains when Tanya's toes were a good two feet off the floor. This put Tanya's breasts at the level of Gertie's eyes. Tanya followed her gaze to the bare breasts and the one clear whip mark that cut parallel across both breasts just at the nipples.
"If I had cut across the nipples more times, you would have screamed very much and for very long."
"I'm sure." Tanya didn't want to say a thing but Gertie seemed to be waiting for a comment.
"Some day you will see." Gertie turned for the door. "Does that mean you two won't be killing us soon?" asked Tanya. Perhaps she could get some information out of this sadistic woman.
Gertie turned back and smiled. "Not for a while. Perhaps. When I've finished playing with you." Gertie's reply wasn't making Tanya feel any better. "It could happen, you know, that enough torture and you will wish for death."
She turned and left without giving Tanya a chance to reply. But no reply would have come, Tanya was too shaken inside by the truth in what the woman said. This imprisonment was different from that in the Baron's castle. There she had a means of escaping from rope bondage and the knowledge that in a few days the cavalry would come charging to her rescue. But on this island she was a complete prisoner, helpless and in the hands of people who liked to hurt her.
Alone in the dungeon, with thumbs burning and sharp pains shooting back down her hands and arms, Tanya knew only that she had to get out of there. Better to take your chances with the ocean or a deserted island than stay here.
She began to bring her two reinforced fingernails to the leather bands. It shouldn't take long to saw through the leather and let her drop to the floor. She would worry about the handcuffs on her ankles when she was down. The trick, she thought, was to cut through both of the bands at the same time so she would not find herself hanging by one thumb. The strain on two thumbs was terrible and she did not want to find out if a human girl could hang by one thumb.
But her escape attempt was cut very short by the sound of footsteps and a male voice. "Good afternoon, fraulein." It was the Baron come to see what havoc had been caused by his assistant upon the flesh of this naked female prisoner.
"My, my, but Gertie has done quite a good job on your skin, my dear. She is very good with that whip. I have seen her make a girl dance and scream for hours on end before she passed out and could not be revived." He walked two full circles around the hanging girl. "I once saw her hang a girl like you are now, and then mark her from the bottoms of her feet to her neck. I did not count but I'm sure there were at least a hundred marks upon the poor girl's body. She screamed for a long, long time. And when she was let down there was no way for her to rest that did not hurt. Her bottom was ever so sore to sit upon, and there were so many whip marks that she could not possibly lay in any position without some marks hurting. You understand? It was a very good whipping."
"Do you like causing such pain for a girl?" asked Tanya, making no effort to hide the strain or pain in her voice.
The Baron smiled politely. "I sometimes find it amusing to watch a Gertrude hurt a girl. But I am much more interested in putting them in tight, escape-proof bondage. You don't know how hard it is to find a woman who, like yourself, is an expert at escaping from rope bondage. Or even to find a girl who is half way good at it. I will enjoy testing my ability to tie against your ability to escape. Do you not look forward to many such contests?"
"Yes, I do. You are quite good, Baron. Most men don't know how to tie a girl at all."
The Baron bowed his head at the compliment and in agreement. "Then we will certainly engage in such contests."
"Would you care to try one now?" said Tanya, hoping that the Baron would let her down and stop the pain in her screaming thumbs.
"Not right now. I would prefer to wait until those whip marks have faded. It does not take long, you know. You are young and healthy."
"I would really like to test your ropes now," she hurriedly added.
The Baron looked her up and down and nodded. "I understand. But I will still wait a few days before our first contest. Yet I am not without compassion. Hanging by your thumbs is quite painful, is it not?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, I will lower you some. Gertrude will not be happy but you have obviously suffered by her hand enough for now." True to his word, he touched a button and the chains lowered until Tanya's toes were firmly on the floor but not her heels.
"Thank you," she said sincerely. There was still a great deal of strain and pain but with the toes taking some of her weight, she felt it more bearable.
The Baron bow his head again and left. Tanya waited for a double handful of minutes before considering again the application of her altered fingernails to the leather bands. There was still pain but not as much. She could take this for a while. And there was still the handcuffs upon her feet. If she cut the leather bands, she would still have to shuffle very slowly on chained feet and not be a match for anyone she came upon. And if she managed to reach the outside of this large house, the idea of being naked and with chained ankles upon the barren landscape she had seen was not attractive. On the other hand, if she simply waited until the Baron had her totally bound with ropes, she should be able to free herself completely. Then she would be much more able to deal with her captors and make an escape.
So Tanya did what many women could never have done. She balanced upon toes and tried to ignore the pain in her thumbs when she could easily have stopped it. As time crept on, she also had to ignore the pain in the arches of her feet. Human females were not designed to stand on toes for very long, the muscles protested. She was soon quite uncomfortable but resolved in her intent to not try an escape yet.
Gertie came, saw, and shook her head. "That old fool," she muttered, "doesn't know how to treat a slavegirl. Not at all. All he cares about is his ropes."
But she lowered Tanya all the way to the floor. Between aching feet and thumbs screaming with returning circulation, she made no attempt to hinder Gertie as she removed the leather straps and locked her wrists together behind her with the same pair of handcuffs she had worn all morning. It was most unpleasant having to walk on aching feet, but this was one happy prisoner to see the inside of her cell again.
Dinner came and went and the two girls spend an uneventful night in their cells. Just before falling asleep Tanya could hear the sound of classical music floating into the high windows. Wagner, she noted. A few minutes later came the unmistakable sound of a woman's scream. Somewhere on Santa Helena a woman was being tortured.
* * *
The next morning Gertie marched both Tanya and Dawn out into a small courtyard where a strange sight awaited them. It was a barren courtyard, barely fifteen feet on a side, and its only feature was a square of concrete in the middle. Four metal rings occupied the comers of the concrete and, as the girls got closer, they could see that the surface, while basically flat, was studded with numerous rocks set into the cement. There were very few square inches without at least one sharp edge sticking up. None were very large, but the effect on any girl having to lay on that square would be most uncomfortable. And the four rings suggested that one of them would, indeed, be laying on stretched out on that rough surface.
"We have a staff here," began Gertie when the girls ceased their shuffling steps beside the concrete. "There are ten men and five women in the regular staff. Keep that in mind." She smiled but neither of the naked and chained girls felt any humor. Gertie gestured with her hand and two of that staff, both large men with swarthy complexions and Mediterranean features stepped forward to remove the handcuffs from Dawn. The leg irons were also removed, leaving her momentarily free of restraints. But that was not to last long. Strong male hands picked her up, spread her arms and legs wide and lowered her face down onto the concrete pad. Two pairs of handcuffs were used to lock her wrists to two of the rings, and two pairs of leg irons used to secure her ankles to the others. Dawn gasp aloud as her naked flesh came in contact with the sharp little rocks but she neither pleaded nor cursed. In a few seconds she was spread-eagle and face down with very little slack in the chaining of her limbs.
"And uncomfortable position to spend the day, no?" asked Gertie, then continued without waiting for a reply, "but that will not be all for her." Again she gestured and the male servants removed the handcuffs and leg irons from Tanya. Against their superior male strength she could do nothing as they lifted her and then lowered her over her friend. She fought but it only delayed the securing of her limbs by a few seconds. These were large and very strong men. Her eyes blazed with anger but she held her tongue as the men stood back. Tanya was now spread-eagle, locked in place with handcuffs and leg irons the same as Dawn, but she was face upwards, laying on top of Dawn. There was no way she could take any of her weight off her friend. Until unlocked, all her weight would be pressing down on Dawn, driving her flesh hard into the rocky torment.
"Very good. Now your friend is most uncomfortable," said Gertie, addressing Tanya. "But you are quite comfortable, no? You are laying down on a padded, most comfortable bed." Gertie slowly walked around the two naked girls. "Such an interesting sandwich! It would be interesting to have put you face to face. Such nice breasts pressing together and your pussies where you could almost rub them together. But we have something different planned." Gertie smiled very wickedly. "Remember I said we have a male staff here...?"
"You bitch!" spit Tanya between clenched teeth. Gertie continued without acknowledging the insult, "They are faithful to us and we like to reward them from time to time. A couple months ago they enjoyed the test subjects for the Gwendoline virus but they have not had that pleasure for a while. I'm sure they are, as you Americans say, horny enough to screw a tree. You will not be bored today." And she walked away, leaving two naked and helpless girls to the mercy of a pair of leering men.
What followed was quite simply rape. The two men shed enough clothing to bring into view and play their rigid rods, and both girls had to suffer through the ordeal of a rape- Tanya being the one actually having her vagina invaded by unwanted male members, and Dawn having to endure the doubled weight of a man and woman crushing her body into a harsh surface. With each thrust of male loins into the helpless girl, there was a cry of pain from Dawn, and a laugh from one or both of the males. It was only a few minutes before they satisfied their lust in the helpless girls, but it seemed terribly long to them. With a laugh and some words in a foreign language, the men left them alone in the tiny courtyard.
"Oh, Tanya, I'm so sorry," said Dawn through her tears.
Tanya, who was crying also, said nothing. The anger within her was turning to a cold hatred. She was no virgin to the male form of sex, and had enjoyed it most of the times when she had allowed a man to have his way with her. And often those times had seen Tanya tied down during that sex, but this was different. This was rape.
It was a long day. And there were eight more male members of the staff, meaning that she had to endure eight more shafts driven with uncaring and unloving thrusts into her sex. Even through her body responded as any female body with, it never came close to orgasm and she gained no pleasure from the acts. The afternoon brought a repeat from most of the men, their vigor and lust having replenished by then.
That evening the girls were unshackled from the square of concrete. Tanya stood awkwardly as the handcuffs were locked on her wrists behind her back. Her vagina hurt and she could hardly walk, although some of that may well have been psychological. A woman's body really does crave sex, often in massive amounts, and can take far more than most women are aware. Dawn cried when the lifted her from the concrete, her front was an angry patchwork of chaffed skin, tiny cuts and bruises. The poor girl possessed larger than average breasts and they seem to have suffered the most. Her hands were also locked behind her back, then both of them were marched off to their shower of cold water blasted against their skins, and then a simple meal eaten without the benefit of hands from metal plates on the floors of their cells.
The next day saw a repeat of the violation of naked, helpless females, this time with Tanya face down on the concrete pad and Dawn laying on her back to be ravished by unwanted male rods. She called them names, cursed and cried. But they only laughed at her pleas and ignored them. Perhaps they didn't even understand her language.
The third day saw a reprieve as the girls were left alone in their cells, naked and wearing handcuffs and leg irons, but unmolested. The next day their torture began again.
* * *
"What is going to be done with us?" asked Tanya as she was being led away from her cell. She was naked, as usual in Santa Helena, her wrists locked behind her with handcuffs and her ankles joined with leg irons that allowed only short steps.
"The Baron still wishes to test your escape artist skill," said Gertie. "But he is busy and I have been given permission to play with you as I wish."
"You call chaining us down and letter those men rape us 'playing'?"
"Of course. You were not harmed. And if you think that hurt, wait until you see what I'm going to do to you today!" She laughed, apparently in a good mood that day. "You two did work you way into the Baron's castle under false pretenses, intending to steal information and hurt us. Hell, you're spies! Spies are usually shot! After they're tortured, of course. Ah, here we are."
Here was one of the many small rooms in the basement of that large house. This one was little more than a closet and held only two items beyond bare walls. One was a metal ring set into the ceiling, the other a metal pipe coming out of one wall and going into the opposite. The pipe was a plumbing pipe, half an inch in diameter, plain and cold metal, nothing more. It was about four feet off the floor.
Gertie had two of her male servants with her to do the actual work of manhandling the naked female prisoners around. They removed the handcuffs from Tanya's wrists but left the leg irons on while they bound her arms with ropes. The palms were together and the elbows tightly crushed by the ropes. They were not gentlemen. Only after her arms were tightly secured behind her back did they removed the leg irons.
"This," said Gertie, "is a version of the classic Horse. As you will note, they are lifting you so you will straddle the metal pipe. Now they are binding your legs together at the ankles and above your knees. They have been told to make the ropes very tight, as tight as they can. They know they will be punished if I come back at the end of the day and find you have slipped any of them off. As you are well aware by now, all your weight rests upon that pipe and that rather thin pipe is most uncomfortable as it presses into your crotch. Believe me, it will grow worse as the hours crawl on." She laughed at that thought. "Much worse.
"You will also note that one of the guards is bringing in a ladder on which to stand while he ties rope from your wrists to that ring over your head. Now he's pulling on that rope. See how your arms go up behind you? Shifts your weight forwards, doesn't it? Now that pipe is burying itself into your pussy, no? Good, he is tying the rope end to your elbows where your fingers cannot reach it. He is very good with the ropes, no? I taught him how to tie a girl. When he started, he was too gentle, afraid to hurt the girls. Now he ties as tightly as he can. And he is a very strong man, no?
"Good, you are finished. The ladder is gone, the guards are leaving. My, my, but they did bind your legs together most tightly. Those ropes are really cutting into your thighs, aren't them?" Gertie took a step closer. She reached out and grabbed a handful of breasts. Her fingers dug in like claws. "You will have many hours here to suffer. You will think your pussy is being crushed and destroyed. It will feel like that. But nothing permanent will come of this." She gave a vicious twist to the breasts as she let it go, evoking a gasp of pain. Then she backed the two steps to the door. "You may scream if you wish. And you will be screaming. Every girl does. This room is soundproofed, you need not worry about disturbing the rest of the house. And see this hasp on the door? I will locked it with this padlock. Not only are you tied with rope, you are locked in. That wall next to you is an outside wall, it will grow hot as the sun shines on it. It will become very hot in her. Very hot, indeed. If you are lucky, you will faint from pain and heat. If not, you will be aware of every second of the agony."
She smiled at Tanya and slowly, dramatically closed the door. Tanya did not hear the click of the padlock, but she did not doubt that the door was locked as Gertie had promised. Within her prison it was total darkness. The ropes were tight and already she could feel heat coming off the brick wall next to her.
Tanya had herself used a device similar to this. Only hers was not a thin metal pipe but a wooden board, wider and much less painful for the woman forced to ride it. She was well aware from her own experience that the pain would indeed increase with the slow crawl of time. Eventually her pussy would become numb but would still ache terribly. Her toes were a good half foot from the floor and could give her no relief. Her arms had been pulled up viciously high behind her. That forced her body forward until her hair hung down to drape around the metal pipe. But it also lifted her hands well above her shoulders. The ropes cutting into her wrists were so tight that she could already feel her fingers going numb. Straining, she found that she could just touch the ropes with her special fingernails. Perhaps, with a lot of effort, she could saw through but she was not sure she could get them all. And there was still her bound elbows. But the main reason she did not strive to free her wrists was the locked door. It was quite a stout door, beyond her ability to break down. If she freed herself from these ropes, she would still be a prisoner. And doing so would only make Gertie look for the means of her escape. Surely the false metal fingernails would be found and removed. Tanya vowed to save them until a real escape possibility presented itself.
But that decision would be painful. Gertie was absolutely right, riding the pipe horse was a torture for a naked girl. That metal cut cruelly into the soft flesh between her legs, much of the weight resting on her sexual parts. And her arms and shoulders would be screaming in pain before the morning was gone. She had placed enough girls in positions like this, although milder, and been there herself enough times, so that she knew. This was going to be a long, terrible day.
With no light, time became hard to guess at. In her dark prison, Tanya whined when the sharp pains shot upwards from her pussy, and moaned with the terrible ache in her shoulders and arms. At times her fingers weakly fluttered in helplessness and her resolve to not cut the ropes wavered. Perhaps it was fortunate that after a few hours her hands became so numb that she could not even feel her fingers.
Sweat oozed from her skin and trickled down her flanks. The wall only inches from her radiated heat, making the small room an oven. Her whole body became drenched with sweat and she found herself thinking more and more about water.
At a point that was really only four hours into her torture, her mind began to play tricks on her. She became certain that the entire day had passed and they had forgotten to come for her. Screams echoed in the dark prison as she yelled that she should not be left her all night. The idea even tormented her that perhaps she had been abandoned permanently, that Gertie's plan was to let her suffer in agony until she died. How many days would that take?
At times her whole body shook and she jerked against the ropes. That did nothing but send sharp pains shooting up from her crotch, but she could not help it. She cried and yelled and moaned, almost without being aware of all the pitiful sounds she was making. If Gertie had placed a microphone in the torture chamber, she would have had a most interesting background music for her day's activities.
Tanya did faint a few times, but the relief was not long and always she returned to a reality of pain and suffering.
She was unconscious then the door opened and did not respond to the light. Gertie had a bucket of cold water thrown on the naked, bound girl. Before untying her, she took the opportunity to taunt her prisoner.
"Remember how you feel right now," she told Tanya. "Tomorrow your friend, Dawn, will ride this pipe horse. She will feel what you have felt today. Remember that tomorrow." She accented her taunts with a hard slap to one breast. Then she allowed her guards to removed the ropes from her legs and arms, then lift her off the pipe. The girl they lowered to the floor began gasping as circulation returned to the punished pussy and her arms. She lay on the floor, a limb female form, to be pitied but also somehow beautiful in her suffering. Gertie smiled as re-awakening nerves sent electric shocks through Tanya's sex. The sounds that came out of the sweat-drenched girl were a cross between a whine and a quiet scream.
Eventually they locked her wrists behind her back, reattached the leg irons to her ankles, and then carried her back to her cell because she could not walk.
Gertie had been right. The pain was terrible and Tanya felt as if her sex had been crushed and destroyed. But the next day she was able to walk with only some soreness. By the next day, her pussy was back to normal.
She was left in her cell the day after her torture on the pipe horse. But she suffered very much that day. Early in the morning they marched Dawn away to place her on the pipe horse. Tanya cried for her friend.
The limp body they brought back that evening looked more dead than alive.
It was four days later that Tanya next saw the Baron.
* * *
The Baron's first challenge at Santa Helena came after Tanya's pussy had fully recovered from riding the pipe horse. Despite what she had felt at the time, it finally stopped aching and seem to be functioning normally. Perhaps she would one day have a chance to see if it could still achieve an orgasm-she had felt it so crushed and damaged that she was not sure it could ever give pleasure again.
After dinner the Baron and Gertie showed up at Tanya's cell with a smile on both faces. "I have finally found the time to entertain my principle guest," he informed politely. "I am so sorry to have neglected you up to now."
"That's quite all right. Gertie has been seeing to me," said Tanya with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "She even gave me a riding lesson."
"I'm sure she did," replied the Baron smoothly. "One thing that Gertrude and I share is a love of leaving naked young ladies in tight rope bondage all night. I think it is time for us to give you a little test. You will be bound in an uncomfortable position and left in a cage for the night. In the morning we will see if you have escaped from the ropes. If so, you will win a little prize: a day's relative freedom with no punishments. Perhaps an extra nice dinner. If not, you will have suffered through an uncomfortable evening and will remain so bound for the rest of the day-twenty-four hours total. I think that is fair."
Tanya did not state if she through it was also fair but inwardly she smiled. She was looking for a chance to escape from rope bondage and an all-nighter would be as good a chance as she got. But the Baron had mentioned a cage...."Gertrude, please bring our guest to the area for her test." Gertie smiled evilly and Tanya felt her spirits sink. That smile from the large German woman also meant discomfort for her.
As Tanya was led from her cell, shuffling on chained feet, Dawn looked sadly at her friend. She wanted to say some words of comfort but nothing seemed appropriate. Besides, she would probably have been too afraid of consequences if she did give voice to her feelings. That young woman was scared of her captors.
In the main dungeon area the trio halted and Gertie knelt to remove the shackles from Tanya's ankles. The Baron was busy arranging small coils of rope on a table. The handcuffs were removed and Tanya found herself rubbing free wrists in front of herself, a rather unusual position since she entered the Baron's captivity. He caught her glance towards the door. "Not a good idea," he said evenly. "There are guards, this is an island, and you're simply a naked woman. You would be caught in minutes. And then you would spend the night in punishment, not simply a little test of your escape artist abilities, but something far worse. Now come over here and put your arms behind your back."
Tanya realized the truth in his statements and did as she was told. They had not yet discovered her little trick with the false fingernails. She had to save that secret weapon for the right time to escape or it would be wasted. If she disappeared mysteriously from tight bondage once again, especially if the ropes were cut, they would know something was amiss and search her completely until they found the secret. The fingernails would very probably be found. So she had to wait until the time was right. Against handcuffs and chains her fingernails were useless, but the right rope bondage would come alone, sooner or later. She hoped sooner. Not only did she want to escape, but she had to complete her mission and get information about Operation Gwendoline back to Gary Xavier. She had seen the effect of that virus upon their fellow captives and shuttered to think what would happen if it were to be released on the general public. Tanya was not opposed to submissive females, but she liked to train them one by one herself. And she only picked girls who had an inner need for such treatment. She would never force it upon a woman for whom it was truly opposed to it. She had bound, chained, tormented and even tortured many females but all where her friends and all still loved her even through their suffering. And she shared that suffering with them. It was an act of love, not a viral-induced submissiveness such as the Baron wished to unleash upon the world.
The ropes went around her wrists, locking them together tightly with the palms together. That rope was cinched down by expert hands and knotted tightly several times. Then the rope was passed up to loop around her elbows and pulled them together. It took him only a few seconds to secure her elbows tightly crushed together and finish the bondage with numerous knots both as tight as could humanly be made and placed well away from questing fingers. A new length of rope was looped about her waist and tightened down cruelly. The rope was then passed down between her legs and up to her wrists. Gertie spread the lips of her sex wide to accommodate the rope while the Baron looped it over the ropes holding her wrists together. It them came back between her legs, through the vagina lips and back up to her waist where it was pulled so tight that she stood on tip toes. Again the rope repeated this journey, pressing tightly into the soft feminine flesh of that most private place. When the final knots were secured at her wrist in front, these ropes not only provided a very snug reminder that she was bound, but also had the effect of holding her arms down and against her back. If she pulled on her arms, it would only cause those ropes to dig deeper into her flesh. Her hands were going to stay pressed against her bottom for this night.
But that was not all the bondage to be applied to the lovely escape artist. Next came more rope around her legs but only at the ankles. She was ordered to sit on the table and her ankles crossed and bound very tightly as she looked down at them. Then a leather collar was buckled around her neck. Tanya knew what was coming next-she had bound other girls in the same position too many times to not recognize it. A very short chain was attached to her neck collar by a padlock. The chain then went down to her ankles there it was passed under the bound ankles and back towards her neck. With a strong hand upon the back of her head, Gertie forced Tanya to bend until her chin was almost touching her ankles. The Baron then reached in and locked the other end of the chain to her neck collar. When both of them withdrew, Tanya could lift her head only an inch and would be held in that bent over position. Since she had experience both in being in that position and in applying it to other girls, she knew that, while only mildly uncomfortable then, it would grow more and more uncomfortable as the hours passed. By morning her back, shoulders and arms would aching terribly.
"Gertrude, I think that gag would be appropriate. We wouldn't want her trying to bite through the ropes around her ankles, would we," said the Baron sweetly.
"No, sir," answered Gertie, a gag made from a large rubber wad and several leather straps already in her hand. She gave the gag to her Baron then took Tanya's long hair and held it back while he placed the rubber wad in her mouth. Knowing that it would be useless to resist, she opened her mouth wide to accept an object she would really rather not have to endure for the rest of the night. It filled her mouth and forced her tongue down. Speech would be impossible, but that was not the only purpose of this type of gag. The other was punishment. Her jaw would be aching long before the dawn's first light. With her tongue pushed down so much, swallowing was very difficult and she would possibly drool most of the night. Just a little more torment to add to the rest.
The Baron walked slowly around the naked and hunched over girl, inspecting each rope, each knot, nodding with approval, and noting the way that the bent over position was adding stress to her bound arms, especially the elbows.
"It will be interesting," he finally concluded, "to see if you can escape from this. I doubt you will be able to. There is far too much stress upon the arms and wrists to allow any movement. And if the fingers cannot move to work at ropes, very little can be done, right? Oh, I forgot, you cannot answer! Well, this position will be a challenge. Now it is time to place you in the cage. That is, of course, in case you manage to free yourself from the ropes so you will still be our prisoner. Gertrude, please." The cage was a box of iron bars, each half an inch thick with only an inch between them. It looked as if it was strong enough to hold a gorilla, let alone a naked and tightly bound woman. One side swung open and possessed a hasp so it could be locked. There was a ring welded to the top of the cage and a chain going up from there to an electric hoist on the ceiling. The cage was easily lifted up until the bottom bars were at the level of the table. The two of them then lifted and placed Tanya in the cage. The door was then closed and locked with a rather large padlock. With a smile, Gertie then pressed the button to lift the cage until the bottom was at the level of their heads where it slowly twisted in the air.
Tanya moaned, partly at the discomfort she was feeling, and partly at the realization that this was not her chance to escape. She might well free herself from the ropes, but the iron bars of that cage would defeat her utterly. The Baron and Gertie left without another word. They turned off the light, leaving Tanya still twisting in the darkness. It was going to be a miserable night and she dare not use her fingernails to ease her suffering for fear that her only secret would be discovered. The bottom of the cage was also made of iron bars, a fact that insured her even more discomfort. It didn't help much either that the cage was only a few inches taller than her bent over form, and only a few inches wider in any direction. It had obviously been originally meant as a punishment cage, an uncomfortable box to hold a naked woman and keep her suffering. The tight ropes added considerable to the discomfort and a part of Tanya longed to cut them off. But she had to tell herself she could not. She sighed through her gag. It was going to be a very long night.
Even in her discomfort, Tanya found it possible to catch little cat naps, bits of sleep that were not very restful but helped to pass the long hours in darkness. Someplace in the middle of the night, as the ache in her shoulders and back forced her to emerge from a light sleep state, she found a different feeling had invaded her steel and rope prison. Without having chosen to do it, she was pulled on her arms, making the rope through her crotch tighten and press against her most tender parts. It hurt, but only some. But it also felt good in a strange way. As she became more awake, the naked female recognized the signs of sexual arousal within her loins. Too many times she had awaken in the middle of the night to find herself tensing against tight bondage and feeling sexual desire to not know what was happening. She allowed her body to follow its own dictates and was soon building up nicely to a pleasant orgasm. The tight ropes, the discomfort itself, and her naked condition all added to a feeling that could only be described as homy. And she was grateful for the ropes through her crotch for they gave her the means of obtain what her body wanted.
Cruelly bound, suspended in an iron cage in the dungeon of a madman, Tanya found that her pussy still functioned after a terrible ride on the pipe horse. It was a relief to know no permanent damage had been done. And it helped her make it through a very unpleasant night.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Staked Out
The Baron visited Tanya the next morning to find a cramped, stiff and very uncomfortable naked woman still bound in the ropes as he had put them on. As expected, her shoulders and back ached but the worst part of the terrible ache in her jaw, having been held wide open by that horrible gag all night. When the gag was removed, she could not speak enough to answer his questions as to how comfortably she had spent the night. Instead she cried with relief as her jaw slowly returned to its normal position. She cried aloud again when the ropes were peeled from within the folds of flesh of her pussy. The rope had grown very tight in there during the night. If either the Baron or Gertie noticed any signs of Tanya's having obtained multiple orgasms during her long hours in tight confinement, they made no comment.
The rest of the day was spent in her cell, shackled only with handcuffs and leg irons, a blessing compared to the other ordeals at the hands of these two. No mention was made of her fate, nor of her spying. It seemed her captors were content to merely keep her prisoner for their amusement.
Dawn was taken away at mid-morning and not returned to her cell until after dinner. She was sulky and didn't want to talk about what had happened to her. Only later did Tanya manage to get her to admit that she had spent the entire day laying on her back on that concrete slab with the small rocks, spread-eagle by tight ropes, and made available for the lustful entertainment of the male staff of Santa Helena.
The next day brought a continuation of the punishment for Tanya, this time by a most ingenious means. She was led to the roof where a wooden board was bolted to the edge. It was only a thick plywood panel, solidly secured and with a single ring bolted in the middle. Tanya's leg irons were removed along with the handcuffs. Immediately her arms where bound behind her with rope, tightly and with the elbows together. A short length of rope was left hanging down from her wrists. Then two of the male guards, grinning furiously as they worked, picked up Tanya and lowered her over the board, arms on the inside, the rest of her body on the outside. As they held her in place, Gertie passed that rope hanging down from her wrists through the iron ring and pulled. The guards lowered the naked female until the board was cutting deeply into her armpits. Then Gertie tied the rope, after making sure it was as tight as she could make it. Then the guards let go and Tanya found herself in a very uncomfortable position. Her total weight was taken by the board cutting into the soft flesh of her upper arms. Her whole body hung limply on one side of the board, her arms taunt on the other side.
Looking down was not a good idea. That part of the house was near a cliff and there was at least three hundred feet of empty air beneath her feet before the rocks and crashing surf. Her legs were free but could do nothing. She tried to push her feet against the board to ease the strain but could do little. And she could only hold that position for a minute before she had to hang again.
Gertie looked around the edge of the board and smiled. "Very simple, no? But effective. You are quite the prisoner.
Even if you were to free your hands, you would only fall to your death. Yet most of you is free of restraint, no? Have a nice day, as you say in your country."
Then Gertie was gone and Tanya was alone with the sea, the breeze and her pain. As the hours passed, the strain became pure agony. She felt as if her arms were being tom from their sockets. Had there been some slant to the board, she might have been able to ease that strain but the board was perpendicular and only minimal relief could be found by pushing her feet flat against the board and arching her body. But when she had to return to hanging, the pain was worse in her shoulders and arms. Soon she learned that simply to hang and endure was the best she could do.
In the late afternoon, with the sea breeze blowing her long hair around and the sun beating down on her bare skin, they came for her. The same two guards lifted her from the board as Gertie untied the knots on the rope holding her wrists down. When they lowered her to the roof, she was crying from the agony of returning circulation and aching muscles. They shackled her in the usual restraints, handcuffs behind her back and leg irons, and took her down to her cell.
The next day Gertie made a mistake. It was a simple one. She allowed Tanya to share the same torture as Dr. Melody Smithers.
Melody was already in position when Tanya was brought in, astride a version of the pipe horse that Tanya already had suffered upon. This one was made not from metal pipe but from two boards attached at their edges to form a wedge. The device was then bolted to the floor with that edge upward so that a girl might be placed upon it as if she were riding a horse.
"This is a more correct version of a 'Horse'," explained Gertie. This one is in some ways easier than the pipe and more painful in some other ways. That edge is sharper than the pipe but once it buries itself into the flesh of your pussy, it takes your weight better. See how the wood is cutting into Dr. Melody? And note the discomfort showing on her face."
The young female doctor was well bound and would not be getting of the horse without help. She was naked, the norm for prisoners of Santa Helena, with her arms bound behind her back, elbows together. Each of her ankles was encircled by a loop of rope which was, in turn, pulled tautly to a ring at the side of the small room. Her wrists were tied upward behind her to an overhead ring so that her hands were almost the level of her head. She, as Tanya had been on the pipe, was forced by the ropes to lean forward and take much of the weight directly on her sex. She was not gagged but Tanya noted that she held her tongue.
Her handcuffs were removed and her arms bound tightly, elbows, of course, tightly together. Then she was lifted up to straddle the horse, facing Melody. She gasped as her weight was lowered onto the edge. It was, indeed, sharp and cut into her. When the guards were looping her ankles with rope and pulled them wide apart, Gertie was busy binding her wrists up towards the ceiling. When the ropes were tied off, her head was only a few inches from Melody's.
Gertie amused herself pinching four nipples that hung down, taking turns with which girl she evoked a gasp of pain from. But finally she tired of that sport and left the two naked females to their suffering.
Once alone, Tanya tested her bondage. The ropes pulled her legs so wide that she couldn't take any of her weight with her thighs against the wooden wedge. That would have helped. The ropes around her arms were tight and well tied but she might have been able to cut through them. She certainly could have cut the rope holding her arms up, and probably those around her wrists. After that it would have been a struggle to fee her elbows, a necessary task if she hoped to reach down far enough to cut the ropes around one ankle. But even with freed arms, she was not sure she would be able to reach her ankles. The position astride the wooden edge was not an easy one to bend down from. It would take a very flexible girl to reach an ankle. She wasn't sure any girl was that flexible.
But the final decision was made for her when she heard the click of a padlock upon the door. Gertie, with her usual Germanic sense of doing things properly, had locked them into the "horse room". So much for escaping. Even if she freed herself and Melody, they could not prevail against the stout metal door of the room.
"This is terrible," said Melody through clenched teeth. "It hurts my vagina so."
"Don't get too worked up," replied Tanya, "it will get worse."
"Worse?! Oh, no!"
"After a while you will swear that you whole pussy... vagina, is one huge ache. And later you'll be sure that very serious damage is being done to it. This is, I take it, your first time 'riding the horse' as Gertie puts it?"
"Yes. Oh, how can we stand this? It is terrible." Melody strained to look up into Tanya's eyes. "How... How long will we be left like this?" she managed.
"Probably all day," replied Tanya, truthfully. "I was last time."
"Oh, no. I'll die. I'll be a screaming, insane wreck by the end of the day."
"You may be screaming, but you'll survive. A girl's pussy can take more than you think. And a girl can tolerate more pain than she thinks."
"I don't think I can tolerate that much pain very well," said Melody. "Of course, if that is what the Baron wants, then that's the way it will have to be." She sighed. "Whatever her wants. I just wish he would screw me more often."
"He's an old man," said Tanya. "Besides, he had other things on his mind. Like that other girl, what was her name? Colleen! Want to bet he screws her? And probably tortures her, too."
"Maybe. She is often taken from the cell. Sometimes she comes back looking satisfied. Sometimes she is gone all night. She says that Gertie likes to tie her really tight and sleep with her. She makes Colleen use her mouth and tongue for lesbian lovemaking before she goes to sleep. Then she gags Colleen and leaves her in bed all night. In the morning she makes Colleen lick her vagina again."
For a while neither girl said anything. Then Melody added, "I wish it were me that Gertie took to bed. I get so homy that even being forced to make love to a lesbian would be good."
Tanya didn't say anything about her own opinion of lesbian lovemaking, a subject on which she was an expert. Instead she let the scientist talk, which Melody seemed to want to do a lot.
During the course of the long ordeal, Melody did most of the talking and Tanya learned a great deal about Operation Gwendoline. A lot of the technical data was beyond her but some of the basic ideas was explained in simple terms. Basically, a virus was to be released into the water supplies of major cities. Two different viruses, actually. They would enter the population but, unlike the usual virus, would not make people sick. Instead one would alter certain hormonal glands and the other change certain coded information in the brain, information that governed the submissive/dominant nature of the individual. And they would effect only females. That had taken the longest to arrange, sex specific reactions. All females who the virus entered would become extremely docile, submissive and obedient. They would also experience an increased sex drive, often doubled or more. As the virus spread, millions would be effected, ultimately ninety-nine percent of the population of the world.
And the project was nearly done. All the research and experimentation had been done. That was why Dr. Smithers was down in the dungeon being tortured instead of up in her laboratory. It only reminded for the required quantities of the virus needed to be made and then moved to the distribution points.
Tanya was surprised that Gertie had not gagged both of them, but she was glad. And she learned far more than either Melody, Gertie or the Baron would have ever expected. As the other suffering girl talked, an idea formed in Tanya's mind. She asked some very pointed questions and got some answers that cast a whole different light on the entire operation.
But she was still no nearer to escaping or informing the proper authorities than she had been when she first enter the Baron's castle as his guest. She could only pray that an opportunity would come up for escape.
That evening Tanya watched as Melody was unbound and lowered from the horse first. The poor girl could hardly stand and was able to walk only with help. She spread her legs wide and continuously moaned.
When it was her turn to come down from the horse, Tanya did about the same. It was a terrible ache in her loins and it could not be ignored. Added to that was a lot of electric pains from crushed flesh returning to life.
The next day came the first real chance for Tanya to escape.
* * *
She and Dawn were taken from the house for a day of punishment out in the deserted wastes of the island. They had been informed that the island, although large, was uninhabited. Gertie bragged that they would still be prisoners even if they managed to escape from the restraints she would put them in. And, of course, she didn't expect them to escape.
The place of their punishment was a flat area about a mile from the house. There were two poles set into concrete pads, each about two inches in diameter and made of a gray metal. The poles were at least seven feet tall and quite solid. Tanya's handcuffs were removed first, leaving her with shackled ankles and no ability or desire to flee. It would have been useless, but mainly she wanted to be bound to the poles. She had seen the large handful of ropes in Gertie's hands and hoped that only rope would be used on them.
She was pushed against the pole and her arms pulled around behind it. Then the wrists were bound and the elbows. The pole was small enough so that the elbows could be bound together with only a bit of additional strain. Additional rope was then wrapped around her waist, both pinning her arms down and cutting deeply into her middle. Gertie took delight in adding yet more rope around her chest, just below the breasts.
Gertie motioned for the guard who was holding Dawn to unlock the leg irons from Tanya's feet then pull them behind the post. The ankles were crossed and bound together behind the post, a position that forced Tanya's weight forward even more uncomfortably than had been the case. When the final knot was tied, she found that she could only put her toes on the concrete. And that her pubic patch and sex were open and available. She hoped that Gertie didn't have anything planed for that availability.
Dawn was bound in the same manner as Tanya watched. Gertie, like the Baron, paid careful attention to each winding of rope, each knot, to make sure the bondage was inescapable. And it would have been had it not been for Tanya's secret weapon.
For a while Gertie inspected each girl's bondage, jerking here and there to make sure the ropes were as tight as possible. Then she stood before Tanya with a leer on her face. "Try to get out of that, Tanya the Great! I think you will not be able to. It is hot out here, no? You will get very hot and thirsty this afternoon. But tonight... Ah, tonight! You will get very cold. It is the way of this island. Hot during the day, cold at night. But you will see."
She put a hand between Tanya's legs and roughly kneaded her sex until the captive girl cried out. Then she rudely inserted a finger. Tanya gasped in pain. Her sex was not ready for the entry of anything and it hurt.
"I'll bet you would like me to play with your sex until you come," said Gertie. "But I won't do that. Tonight I will take that cute little Colleen to bed with me and make her lick my pussy half the night. Think about that while you shiver out here." With a laugh she turned and left.
Tanya waited until they were alone. "Dawn," she said, "did you notice any kind of radio in the house?"
"Radio? No. Oh, wait! I think I heard some kind of static one time while I was being taken to the roof. You know that stairway with the blue door? Well, off to the left there is another door. One time that door was open and I heard something that sounded like those radios you see in the old movies. Sort of scratchy noise with a voice."
"Have to be good enough. Let's wait until night and then we'll try to get to it."
"What good will that do?"
"Gary told me a frequency that we could put out a distress call on. If that radio is the right kind... Well, we'll just have to try."
"And why do we have to wait until tonight? I'm not very comfortable tied like this," Dawn pouted. "Why can't we get untied and wait in comfort for the night?"
"Because I expect that we will be visited before dark. If we're not here, then everyone will be on the alert before we can sneak back into that house. If we wait until everyone had gone to sleep, we have a better chance of sneaking in."
"I guess you're right, but I don't like it." Dawn sighed a large, dramatic sigh. "This would have been more fun if you had tied me like this. Hey, remember that time in Big Bear Lake when you tied me like this to a tree? I was scared when you left me alone but it was fun when you got back. Gee, I wish this was like those good, old times."
"Just pretend I tied you to the pole."
"Not the same...." Dawn did her pout again. "When we get out of this, could you see about getting us a house with a big backyard? A big, very private backyard where we could put a pole like this in the ground? There's some games we could play on warm summer nights...." Tanya let her friend ramble on. She missed those carefree days of innocence, playing all kinds of sometimes rough but always loving games with ropes and chains and straps. She did not make any move to free herself, and she knew that Dawn would not be able to do it herself. It was not very comfortable but she had endured worse. Her pussy was still sore from riding the wooden horse yesterday. That had been much worse than simply being lashed to this pole.
Tanya had been right. About the middle of the afternoon two figures approached from the direction of the house. It was the Baron and Gertie.
"My, my, but Gertrude has indeed secured you two for the day. And she tells me that she would like to leave you two out here all night, as well. I can see no reason why that should not be done. You will, of course, be uncomfortable from the tight ropes. But you are used to that. And you might get a little cold, but it does not drop below freezing. I think you'll be most happy to see your cells tomorrow. Oh, by the way, don't be surprised if Gertie doesn't come for you until later afternoon. She's been known to do that."
Gertie smiled sweetly at the two naked captives. Tanya took that to mean that she planned to make them wait until most of the next day was gone before relieving them from their ordeal.
She wished very much that the Baron had come out alone, there was some things she wanted to tell him but could not with Gertie standing right there.
The Baron inspected all the ropes on both girls, nodding with satisfaction at the way they cut into the flesh of their prisoners. He left with the certainty that they would both be still lashed to those poles when Gertrude finally saw fit to fetch them back. In the meantime, he would enjoy thinking about those two lovely and very naked ladies having to endure discomfort out there all alone.
Dawn and Tanya were again left alone. The afternoon breeze picked up as it usually did and whipped both of their long hair around their faces and the pole. At times Tanya hung her head and tried to get some rest. It might be a long night and she didn't need to be sleepy. She advised Dawn to do the same. From a distance if must have looked is if both girls were exhausted from useless struggles against their bondage.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Escape Attempt
Tanya almost waited too long. The tight ropes holding her arms together and lashing her body to the pole had impeded the circulation of blood within her veins. When she finally decided the time was right, she found that her fingers would hardly obey her commands. She twisted her right hand around in an attempt to reach the ropes holding her arms lashed to her waist, but was not even sure if the one fingernail with the metal edge superglued to it was reaching the ropes. Nevertheless she applied as much pressure as she could in an attempt to saw the fingernail against the rope.
Several times she had to let her hand drop to hang limp while aching muscles rested. It was not easy to force her hand up enough to work on the ropes, and the thought occurred to her that perhaps she would not be successful in her escape attempt, trick fingernail or no. But she continued. There was no way of knowing how long it would be until the next opportunity, perhaps not until it was too late and the Gwendoline virus had been unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.
The rope finally parted and one strand hung loose down in front of her. With a sigh of relief, she began straining and wiggling to work that length of rope off. But it quickly proved of no use. That rope must have been cinched down by other ropes in back. Again she attacked what ropes she could reach with straining fingers.
It was far later than she expected when those ropes around her waist and arms finally fell off. That gave her more freedom of her lower arms but they were still bound and ropes were still wrapped around her chest at the level of her elbows. But it was progress and it encouraged her to press on. Besides, she knew that if she didn't free herself that night, the severed rope would give away her secret the next day. She could now twist her hands around and work her magic fingernail up to those ropes around her wrists. Again the cutting of those ropes took longer than she wanted, with many stops to let her fingers rest.
But finally she felt slack in what had been tight ropes. She shook and wiggled until they fell from her hands. She let her hands rest before attacking the rest of the ropes. Her hands might have been free, but she was still very much a prisoner of the pole. Fortunately Tanya was very flexible and quite knowledgeable in all matters involving the binding of the female body with ropes. She worked her arms around to one side, then forced her finger up to those ropes around her body just below her breasts. She was able to bring more force to bear in this cutting and they parted faster than the first set had. After that it was easy to bend down to her knees and reach down to cut through the ropes around her ankles.
There then remained only one obstacle: her elbows. They were still bound behind her back and knotted separately. And it is nearly impossible for a girl with bound elbows to reach up and touch those ropes. Fortunately she didn't have to untie the knots, only reach any of the ropes with the tip of one fingernail. That she managed with much twisting of her arms and the contortions of one hand. Still it took a long time to cut the first rope and many rest stops. When that rope parted, it was fortunately a key cinch rope and its failure allowed her to work the rest loose by shaking and wiggling. When the final rope fell to the ground, Tanya wanted to lay down and cry. It had taken her almost three hours of hard work to free herself, much more than even she had expected. She cursed herself for not having started earlier.
Freeing Dawn was easy with unfettered hands to work at the knots. The younger girl's ankles were the first unbound, followed by the rest of the ropes. The bondage position had been rough on Dawn, she almost fell to the ground when the last of the ropes came off. And for a while she could not use her arms. In the cold night air the two friends hugged each other, pressing their bodies together not only for warmth but companionship and out of love.
There was a guard back at the house, but only one and not a very attentive one at that. He was easily seen by the approaching naked women and avoided by the simple maneuver of going into the house through a door on the opposite side. The house, although large and guarded, was not really a castle or fortress, there were many entrances and it was easy to sneak into.
Prowling the dark corridors, the girls checked out room after room. The most fortunate find on the ground floor was a room apparently meant as an armory, for it held numerous weapons from swords to fully automatic rifles. Tanya looked over the selection before picking a 45 automatic. She would have liked to take an Uzi or some other assault weapon, but she was not familiar with them and needed a weapon she could handle. Her father had taught her to shoot a 45 when she was a teenager. She might not be a marksman, but she could hit what she aimed for most of the time. Especially big targets.
Dawn professed an total lack of knowledge of firearms and Tanya thought it better not to allow an excitable girl to run around with a loaded gun. The ammo and extra clips were stored in a cabinet and her automatic was soon loaded. Feeling much better about having a weapon, and armed with a flashlight she found there also, Tanya led the way towards the stairs leading upward.
There was a door where Dawn had said there would be, and behind that door a radio room. But then Tanya was stumped. There were several different kinds of radios, all covered with dials and knobs, and all incomprehensible to the naked women. But Tanya was a smart woman and it didn't take long for her to figure out that the proper radio would be the one what she could dial in the frequency Gary had given her. The first time she struck pay dirt. After the power came on, she entered the frequency on a keypad and it displayed back at her. Turning the switch marked "Power" to full, she took the microphone and began a plea for help in as loud a voice as she dared. First she asked for help then listened but no reply came, only static that sounded frighteningly loud in the night. She finally stated her position as best she could and gave a quick summary of the Gwendoline virus. She emphasized that the target date for release of the virus was only two days away.
It was a shot in the dark. Not knowing if that radio had enough power to reach the authorities, she could not be sure if rescue would ever come. She could only depend on her own resources.
"If we stop the Baron and Gertie here that may prevent their plan from going into effect. I hope so. Let's go see where our gracious host and hostess sleep at night."
Before leaving the radio room, Tanya found a heavy book and set the microphone on the desk with the book resting on the switch. Someplace she had read that doing that would cause a signal to be continuously sent out and that it could be traced somehow by people with the right equipment. They closed the door behind them and hoped that the radios would not be used for a long time.
"What's our plan?" whispered Dawn in the hallway.
"Plan?"
"Sure. They always have a plan in the movies."
"Dawn, this isn't the movies. I don't have any plan, I'm making this up as I go along."
"I think I heard that in a movie, too." After a few seconds of silence, Dawn replied, "But shouldn't we have a better plan than that?"
Tanya didn't bother to answer. Inside she wasn't too sure what she was doing herself, only that she had to do something. To wait for a rescue that might never come would be foolhardy. "It's night time," she finally said to Dawn. "Perhaps we can overpower the people here one at a time. There are enough cells down in the dungeon to hold them all. But first let's look for the Baron and Gertie."
"That's a good plan," said Dawn admiringly. Tanya wanted to sigh but they had just reached a section on the second floor that probably held bedrooms. She hissed for Dawn to be quiet then opened the first door as slowly as she could. It was a bedroom but empty of even furniture. Same for the second and third. On the forth try they found Gertie.
The big German woman was asleep in a massive bed. Holding her hand over the front of the flashlight and allowing only a tiny crack of light to shine through, Tanya entered the room and looked around. In that feeble light they could see that the bed was covered with red satin sheets. Numerous coils of rope lay scattered about, along with a couple pairs of handcuffs casually tossed aside.
Gertie herself was cuddling with another woman in her arms, the teenage Colleen, her blonde hair mixing with the dark hair across the pillow. Positioning herself at the head of the bed and pointing the 45 automatic only a foot in front of Gertie's face, Tanya whispered for Dawn to throw back the covers. As the sleeping forms were revealed, Tanya uncovered the flashlight to shine it full in Gertie's eyes. The German only took a few seconds to awaken.
"There's a very big automatic pointed right at your head," hissed Tanya. "Make a move and I'll blow your brains out all over that pillow." She didn't feel as brave as that talk but she had heard it once in a movie and through it fit the occasion. Gertie sucked in breath but did not move nor say a thing. Tanya ordered Dawn to close the door and turn on the overhead light.
The room by full light revealed even more coils and piles of rope scattered about, alone with a collection of whips hanging on one wall. Laying next to the naked Gertie and still in her arms was an also naked Colleen, well bound and gagged. She was slowly becoming awake and her eyes were wide with fear and excitement. What Melody had said to Tanya while they rode the wooden horse had been correct: Gertie liked to keep Colleen very tightly bound while she used her as a bed warmer. The young girl's arms were bound behind her back with thin cord that cut with what had to be considerable pain. Her legs were likewise bound. Even the ball gag strapped into her mouth was not designed for comfort.
"Dawn, get Colleen out of the bed and untie her," ordered Tanya, shifting around to make Colleen available to Dawn and never taking the big automatic off Gertie. But as Dawn reached for the ropes at her elbows, Tanya suddenly told her to stop. "She's been given that Gwendoline virus," Tanya pointed out. The reaction in Gertie's eyes told her that her guess had been right. This obedient and very submissive girl would more likely be an ally to those who she considered her master and mistress, not to a couple of other girls who wanted to free her. "Leave her bound and gagged," said Tanya. "Take some rope and tie her feet to the end of the bed. I'd rather she not be able to leave this room, even if only by crawling."
While Dawn obeyed, both the look Gertie gave her and the look of excitement in Colleen's eyes told her that this slavegirl was just that in every meaning of the word. She would do anything to please her mistress, even if that meant turning on Tanya and Dawn. Besides, the pretty young girl seemed happier with the ropes left on her. There had actually been a flash of distress when Tanya gave the order for her to be untied. That Gwendoline virus was powerful stuff!
When Dawn had finished binding Colleen's ankles to the leg of the bed, Tanya motioned to some of the rope laying around. Then she ordered Gertie to turn over and place her hands behind her back, which she did but only after expressing her displeasure with a snarl. Dawn, having been trained by Tanya, was quite good at binding a woman's hands. She did the job very professionally with tight ropes and several very tight knots placed where the fingers could not reach them. More rope went around her ankles, then the those ropes were linked to the wrists and Dawn began pulling for all she was worth, arching Gertie into a very tight hogtie. The muscular German girl arched quite nicely as Tanya did not fail to note. There was something special about binding a woman who was as well developed as this Gertie. Perhaps she would have to look into taming a few girls who pumped iron. After finishing the hogtie, Dawn tried to make the elbows come together but Gertie's shoulders were simply too big. But she bound them as close as she could get them and the ropes were really cutting in when she tied the last knot.
Only after Gertie was securely bound did Tanya relax and put the automatic on a dresser. A little searching revealed one of those rubber wad and leather strap gags in a dresser drawer and the girls lost no time in applying it to the unwilling mouth of their new captive. But just as the gag was being forced into the resisting mouth a voice from the doorway made them freeze in their tracks.
"Gertrude... Time to kick that floozy out of bed and get to work. We have to arrange for that shipment...." The Baron's voice trailed off as he entered the bedroom and beheld the tableau before him. Before he could react Tanya had the gun back in her hand and was pointing it at his midsection.
"Please come in," she invited. "And don't make any sudden moves or loud noises. I wouldn't want to shoot you."
"I'm sure you wouldn't," he replied, recovering some from his shock. "I see you seem to have gotten the better of Gertrude."
Gertie spit out the rubber wad and cursed. "They snuck in while I was asleep, damned little whores."
The Baron shook his head slightly. "I apologize for her rude language. Comes from a lack of education."
Tanya walked around the bed to motion with the gun towards a chair. "Sit," she said. The Baron sat. By then he was back in control of at least himself if not the situation. Tanya bit her lower lip as she thought furiously how to control the situation. She really didn't want to shoot anyone, that statement had been true. But she had to make sure that Operation Gwendoline was stopped. Especially if there was really a conspiracy within a conspiracy as she suspected.
"I had a long talk with Dr. Smithers," she began. "The good doctor was most informative about your little project. But then she was riding that wooden horse and talking helped take her mind off the pain. A few of the things she said just didn't add up. Do you know much about genetic research?"
The Baron shook his head. "Not really. I leave all that up to subordinates."
"Well, you should have learned something about your little project. Did you know that it would be only a minor change to the production process to alter the virus to attack males and not females?"
The Baron turned pale. "No, I did not," he said slowly. "Then it would be the males of this world who turned docile," she pressed her point home. "Imagine, every man in the world a sniveling, cowardly slave to any and all females! Women would literally take over the world almost over night. I can see by your face that you haven't thought of that possibility."
"But this is ridiculous!" protested the seated man. "I... We... We are trying to make the world a better place.
Women have always been the reason men are so aggressive. If all women were obedient, sexy creatures then men would be much happier. There would be no more wars! Surely you can see that?"
"I can see no such thing. But whether your plan would have worked or not is irrelevant. The fact is that someone has been making changes to that plan. Someone ordered Dr. Smithers to make certain changes. Someone who took advantage of her increased sexual appetite after she was given the original virus. Someone who gave her the bondage, sexual stimulation and abuse she now craved. Someone who had a different master plan. Someone who let you and your money arrange for the manufacturing and distribution of this virus, all the while laughing at you because you were bringing about the downfall of all males, not the women!" The Baron was almost white and sweating.
"Someone who was in a position to give orders in your name. Someone who hates all males. Isn't right, Gertie?" Gertie cursed in German for ten seconds then said some words to the Baron. He was beginning a heated reply in German when Tanya cut him off. "Speak English!" she commanded. With the big hole at the end of the 45 staring him in the face, the Baron complied.
"Gertrude, how could you! I trusted you! I thought you agreed with me that making all women docile would help mankind? I thought you wanted that, an infinite number of submissive females for you, too."
"Help mankind! Hah! You're like all the other men, stupid. You men rule only because most of you are bigger and stronger than women. Like stupid brutes you've dominated women for centuries, making us work like slaves in the houses and bear your children. You use our bodies for your own pleasure and never care about whether we've enjoy the act of ravishment or not. I spit on you men!"
"Sounds like too many premature ejaculations have soured her on men," commented Tanya. "Look, you two, I'm not going to start a debate on which sex is better. I think the best thing is to leave the human race alone and let each person work out whether he or she wants to be dominant or submissive. Or switch when they feel like it. Operation Gwendoline is going to stop right here and now."
Neither the Baron nor Gertie seemed happy with that declaration. Finally the Baron muttered, "I guess I should thank you for telling me about this traitor. Would have been a ghastly mess if things would have gone her way."
'To say the least," said Tanya dryly. "Tanya, you're a woman. You're a dominant. You should understand that it would be a much better world if women ran it!" Gertie was not about to give up.
"Dawn, get that gag in her mouth. And don't be gentle." She kept the gun on the Baron. He might be an older man but she was not going to take any chances.
"Baron, you and I are going to go that the radio room and you'll make some calls. You're going to tell your operatives that there has been a mistake and all the Gwendoline virus has to be brought back. Sort of a recall by the manufacturer, you might say. Dawn, tie Gertie to the bed. Make sure that she can't move. Use all this rope if you have to, but make sure that she's not going to get free."
"Gladly, dear." Dawn seemed delighted at the assignment. "Mind if I pinch a little nipple as I do it?"
"Be my guest. There is a lot of pain we owe to Gertie. She hasn't been kind to us. Now, get up Baron."
Dawn was happily gathering up more rope when Tanya followed the Baron out of the bedroom. Through windows she could see the dawn forming in lovely shades of gold and pink.
The Baron's eyebrow rose at the sight of the radio with the microphone key held open but he said nothing. Under her orders, he sat down and produced a logbook with the frequencies of all his operatives. Then he began calling them, one by one, and ordering them to return to Santa Helena and bring all the supplies of the Gwendoline virus. In response to questions he even told them of a new date for the operation after they've picked up the corrected virus. Tanya stood behind him with the gun lightly pressing against his head. But the older man didn't seen to want to try any tricks. He wanted that virus brought back just as much as Gwendoline did.
The process took a while, and some of the operatives hard to contact. But finally the Baron announced that every bit of the virus was returning to Santa Helena. Tanya believed him.
Which left her with the problem of what to do then. A little questioning of the Baron revealed that there was a boat on the island but it was a six hour cruise to the nearest civilization, even if she knew which direction that was. All the aircraft were gone right then but several would be undoubtedly flying in later that day.
"Then I suggest we find someplace to sit tight and wait for transportation off this island," she informed him.
The Baron was smiling. "I went along with your orders because it is what I wanted to do also. But now I wonder how you're going to control all the personnel on this island plus the additional operatives flying in. You gun has only six bullets, you know. And I'm not sure you are capable of killing anyone."
"Don't find out the hard way," she said as firmly as she could. Actually, she was wondering the same thing. She'd never fired a weapon at a person and really didn't want to now. "Let's start rounding up your staff, one at a time. There are some nice cells downstairs to hold them."
A noise behind her made Tanya turn. But suddenly the gun was knocked out of her hand. Standing before her in the door way was a naked Gertie, arms and legs still indented and red from the ropes, and a big assault rifle in her hands and an angry look on her face.
"Bitch!" she spit 'at ,Tanya then reached out and grabbed her hair with a free hand. Tanya was thrown out of the radio room by a strong arm to fall to the floor in the hallway. Gertie stepped outside and glared down at the naked form on the floor. But she caught a movement behind her out of the comer of her eye. It was the Baron standing up. He had no weapon and was probably only reacting instinctively, but Gertie leveled the rifle and fired a burst that threw the older man back against radio equipment. As he collapsed to the floor, Tanya could see a surprised look on his face.
"Your usefulness is at an end," snarled Gertie. "Stupid men!"
Gertie turned the weapon back to Tanya. "You will die for this. But I will make sure it is a slow death. And you've only delayed the operation a bit. I'll call the operatives back and tell them it was all a mistake. Operation Gwendoline will soon be back on schedule. And you and that miserable friend of yours will be slowly dying. I don't know how, but I'm going to make sure you take a long time to die. And that it's painful."
Tanya didn't doubt the sincerity in Gertie's voice. She slowly got to her feet when ordered to. "I don't think that you'll be calling anyone," she said with a trace of satisfaction in her voice. "You've not only shot the Baron, you've also shot up the radio." She grinned at the look on Gertie's face as she looked and realized that she had, indeed, blasted some holes in the radio equipment. With a snarl she ordered Tanya to turn around. The two naked woman, one a captive again, marched to the dungeon.
Dawn was already there. "I couldn't help it!" she exclaimed as soon as- Tanya and Gertie walked in. "Some guard came in and he had a gun. I had to untie Gertie. I'm sorry, Tanya, really I am."
"Don't blame yourself," comforted Tanya. "It as a long shot to begin with."
"No talking!" barked Gertie. One of the male guards was already in the room, having just finished shackling the nude Dawn with handcuffs and leg irons. At Gertie's orders he locked a pair of handcuffs on Tanya's wrists behind her back. Then her ankles were locked together by a pair of handcuffs, not leg irons. Handcuffs had a much shorter chain and made even walking difficult. Gertie went behind Tanya and pushed the handcuffs an extra notch tighter so the metal cut into the flesh.
"Put them both in cells and double lock the doors. This one seems to be able to escape from ropes far too easily. I have to see about fixing a radio." Gertie left in a hurry, leaving the guard to carry out her orders.
When Gertie returned, she was furious. "No one here can fix that radio. But it matters not. When the operatives come in, I will just send them back out again. They're used to taking orders from me. Operation Gwendoline will be delayed a few days, that is all."
"Do your male guards know about the switch in the virus?" asked Tanya. "Do they know that in a few weeks they will be submissive, obedient wimps?"
"It matters not. I will tell them that I will give them an antidote. Those fools will believe it."
Tanya didn't know what to say. She was back in the iron- barred cell, naked and shackled tightly. And she had not done a thing to do more than delay Operation Gwendoline. Within weeks a majority of all males would be under the rule of any and all women. The impact on society would be immense. But Gertie didn't care about collapsing economies, panic in the streets or major upheavals of social order. All she cared about was this mythical ideal of a world run by women. Tanya sighed with despair.
"Too bad you and your friends won't be around to see the new world order," Gertie said proudly. Fanaticism shone in her eyes. "I will come up with a most unpleasant way for you to die. Most unpleasant."
"I would prefer to die of old age," said Tanya. "I hear it's an unpleasant way to-go."
"Jest if you wish. Soon you will be screaming in pain."
Gertie was gone, leaving Tanya and Dawn with little to look forward to. It was a long day.
Surprisingly they were fed a good dinner that evening and even given a shower. Even with the fear of what fate awaited them, both girls had managed to sleep that afternoon, so tired were they from their ordeal on the poles, and being up all night. It was late at night when Gertie came for them.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - A Slow Torture, a Slow Death
The next morning Dawn and Tanya were taken from their cells and marched to a barren patch of ground just outside the house. There they saw a freshly made device which they did not like the looks of at all. Two large poles had been set into the ground, a third pole stretched across the tops of them and bolted firmly in place. Across the bottom of that top pole were four metal rings bolted in place, each about three feet apart. Dr. Smithers and Colleen were already in place, both women hanging upside down by their ankles from the first two rings. The hands of both girls were bound behind their backs and high up between their shoulder blades, in a manner very similar to the Baron's test for Tanya.
The guards busied themselves with removing the handcuffs from the two new captives and replacing them with ropes that bound their arms up high on their backs. Rope looped around their necks assured that they could not pull their arms down. Only when the arms were secured did the leg irons come off and two pairs of ankles bound with ropes. One guard had to use a ladder to pass rope through each ring, and it took two guards to hoist each girl off the ground until she was hanging head down with long hair just brushing the dirt. The ropes were tied off and the guards withdrew.
Gertie stepped forward. This morning she wore black leather pants and a white silk blouse. The outline of her big breasts and taunt nipples pressed against the thin material. In her hands she held a riding crop which she tapped lightly against the palm of one hand. She was smiling.
"Did you ever hear that old saying, 'To skin someone alive'?" she inquired. "Well, that is exactly what I intend to do with you trouble makers. All of you. I will whip you until I have whipped every bit of skin from your bodies. It will take a long time and the pain will be more than you can believe. And it will take a long time. A very long time. You will hang here and I will whip you all day. And into the night if necessary. You will scream for mercy, but there will be none," she boasted. "You will prey for death long before it comes."
From her inverted position, Tanya could see the wicked glow in Gertie's eyes and believed this madwoman would do just that. She had promised a slow and painful death, and it looked as if that was exactly what they were going to get. There might be slower ways to die, but probably not too many that were more painful.
Gertie stood behind Tanya. She playfully tapped the bare flesh of the round bottom with the end of the riding crop, then swung with all her might. The sound was a surprisingly loud thwack! followed by a cry of pain. Tanya bent at the waist in response to the sudden pain, then straightened back to hang again with her head at the level of Gertie's knees.
"One," said Gertie. "Of course, I'll probably loose count, but perhaps you would care to count for yourselves. You have a nice weal rising there but no blood. Later, after I've bruised and marked most of your skin, I will switch to a real whip, one with tiny metal teeth woven into the lashes. That will cut the flesh from your bodies. Just a little bit with each stroke but the pain will be terrible."
"You're mad," said Dawn through clenched teeth. "Let us down. You can't just whip four girls to death like this!"
"Who says I can't? Since the unfortunate accident to the Baron, I seem to have inherited this island. And a lot more. I am the law here, none else. I will enjoy whipping each of you, then throwing your bleeding bodies to the sharks. After Operation Gwendoline is successful, I will go to any country I wish and bring back a hundred of the most beautiful women I can find. Then I will whip the skin right off them, if I wish. And then a hundred more. No one can stop me."
"Gertrude, we are your slaves," said Melody, shaking her long hair from her face. Her face was tear-stained. "We live only to serve you. Please let us continue serving you."
"You would do anything I ask?" taunted Gertie. "Anything."
"Then I ask you to scream very loudly as I slash all the flesh from your body."
Melody swallowed and meekly uttered, "As you wish, Mistress." Her head then hung back down.
Mad, totally mad, Tanya told herself. This woman has finally gone off the deep end into total insanity. But the terrible part was that there was nothing she could do about it.
Switching to the next girl in line, Gertie slashed Dawn's bottom with two quick cuts that brought froth a loud gasp from the beautiful young blonde. Then she went down the line of naked, hanging girl flesh and slashed Colleen's bottom until it was bright red with black and blue marks. She lashed with frenzy of blows, a dozen, then two dozen covering every part of the bare flesh. Colleen jerked around like a fish on a line, and screamed. A small scream at first, then a lustier one as the blows continued to rain down upon her unprotected flesh.
When Gertie stepped back the young girl was sobbing loudly. She walked in front of Melody and tapped her breasts with the riding crop. "Power," she said. "Power. I can do anything I like. It is wonderful." Then she cracked the riding crop against the side of a breast and enjoyed the loud cry of pain that came from the scientist.
The pain shocked the female scientist out of her submission a little bit. "But I did everything you said," protested Melody. "I changed the process. I made the virus affect men, not women. If you wish to hurt me, then do it. You can whip me every day. I am your slave. But why kill me?"
"Because it pleases me."
So incredibly well did the Gwendoline virus work that Dr. Melody Smithers accepted that bit of illogic and shut up. During the next hour she gasped, moaned and screamed, but uttered not another word of protest or pleading.
The riding crop is a good instrument to use on the soft flesh of a bottom. It makes a nice sound and mark. It can inflict a great deal of pain without causing serious damage. But for the breasts of a female there are better instruments. Gertie, only after having marked the total area of four bottoms, switched to a thin leather strap and began whipping the eight unprotected breasts presented for her enjoyment.
Female bodies jerked and twisted but could not avoid the strap. It left marks on the soft flesh and strung terrible when it landed on a nipple. Soon all eight nipples were very sore indeed, and each vicious slash of the leather brought froth a new scream. With their arms bound behind them and high on their backs, the girls could not protect their bodies. All they could do was to try and see the blow coming and twist away from it. Some strokes landed off target but most landed exactly where Gertie aimed them. She was, after all, very experienced in this exercise.
"Arrrgggghhh!" cried Colleen when the first downward slash landed against her pubic patch. Her young body jerked closed as if she were trying to curl into a ball. Gertie went to Melody, knowing that when she returned to Colleen, the young thing would be hanging open again, too exhausted to keep bent to protect her pussy. Then she would again lash that thin leather strap squarely down on the girl's sex. She wondered aloud if perhaps she should not have bound the girls with legs spread wide instead of ankles together. That scared them even more than they were already frightened.
Eventually, after the noon hour, Gertie tired. Not of the sport but her arm was tired from so many swings of the riding crop, strap and a small whip with a very stinging tip that she liked to use on pussies and across nipples. She picked up a new whip, larger than the others, with tiny sparkles of metal in the braided leather near the end. It made a different sound when she swung it through the air, more of a whistling sound. Carefully and slowly she gave each girl a single stroke with this new whip, the blow squarely across the bottom. Each stroke brought a thin line of blood and a fresh scream from maiden throats that thought they had run out of screams.
Promising that the afternoon would bring more, much more, of that whip on their bodies, Gertie bid her captives a temporary goodbye while she had a lunch.
Colleen hung limp, perhaps unconscious. Melody cried softly. Tanya moaned softly, unable to hold in that expression of suffering. Dawn whined a bit, then shook all over. Of the four hanging girls, only Dawn seem to have enough energy to try to fight the ropes while they hung alone in the mid-day sun. She jerked her arms against the ropes, twisted this way and that, and cried when she could not move a single rope the tiniest bit.
In the bright sunlight four sets of bottoms were crisscrossed with marks and throbbing with pain. Eight breasts were also cruelly marked. All the hanging girls also bore a pattern of marks across their thighs, both front and back, and a fair amount even on the sides of their legs and hips. Four sets of ankles ached from the tight ropes digging in. All in all, there hung four very pained and suffering girls.
After an hour Gertie returned. She picked up the wicked whip with the metal teeth and approached her victims with an evil smile on her face. She stood before Tanya, obviously lining up her whip with those battered but still lovely breasts. The strong arm drew slowly back. Tanya, though half closed eyes, watched in mute and unwilling fascination as the black leather beast prepared to cut the flesh from her breasts.
Suddenly there was a shot. Gertie frowned and the whip hand lowered. A second later there were more shots and she dropped the whip to dash for the house.
Over the next few minutes there were shouts, the sound of gunfire, and even small explosions, probably grenades. But the hanging girls could see nothing of what was happening. Then there was silence.
From the house a single figure approached. He was dressed in combat fatigues and held an assault rifle at ready. Behind him more uniformed men stood by the house.
"Well, Tanya, you do get yourself into the damnedest situations."
Tanya smiled up at Gary Xavier and then fainted.
EPILOGUE
It was a dark and raining afternoon, an unusual occurrence for southern California that time of the year, but the rain was warm, topical moisture brought up from Mexico. In the hills overlooking a section of the California coast, there snuggled a very private house. The grounds were surrounded by a tall fence and many trees and bushes, assuring privacy to those who lived within. Rain pattered against the white walls and ran in tiny streams off the red tile roof.
From the house a woman emerged, a lovely young woman with dark, very long tresses and dark eyes. She wore only a tiny black bikini and high heels and walked with an easy grace, like some wild animal or a trained dancer. Faded marks covered portions of skin where the black material failed to conceal, marks from what must have been a terrible whipping.
Walking across a patio and along side a pool, this dark haired woman hummed a quiet tune as she made her way along a path of flagstone blocks towards an area of pine trees like a tiny forest. She didn't seem to mind the water gently falling on her body. The path led between some trees and into a small clearing.
There was another woman in that clearing, a younger blonde who's skin also carried the fading marks of an awful punishment. Her head hung down, soaked completely from the rain, as she rested, if that is the right word, against a wooden pole. Someone had bound the naked girl to that pole, first the arms behind the post and cruelly bound with rope, then more around the waist, and more around the whole body, quite firmly lashing her to the wood. Ropes outlined her large breasts, making them stand out straight. Drops of water crawled down the slope of their mounds to hang from the nipples before dropping to the ground. Her legs had been pulled up under her, crossed and lashed tightly with rope to each other and the pole. That caused her knees to be wide spread and her private feminine parts easily visible and available. She looked up as the first girl approached.
"Do you like the pole?" asked the one with free limbs.
"It's fine," replied the blonde. "Even better than I expected. It's amazing how you can tie me with my feet completely off the ground and I don't slide down this pole."
"The ropes are very tight."
"Yes, they are. Oh, Tanya, I love you. And thank you for putting in these poles. It was very nice of Gary to agree to let you have the reward money from the Baron's account. Plus the reward money from our own government."
"It was enough to buy a rather nice house for us, wasn't it?" Tanya agreed as she smiled. "Pretty nice pay for a few weeks work."
"Work! We were tortured and nearly killed!" Dawn pointed out quickly. "But you're right. I do love it here. The dungeon in the basement, the wonderfully huge bed we have, even these poles. But why did you have them put in four poles?"
"There is Melody and Colleen, remember? And we might have visitors sometime."
"Yeah. How are they doing?"
"Melody's thrashing around in a nice, tight hogtie in that padded room. Colleen's hanging by her ankles from the ceiling over Melody. I left a small vibrator inside each pussy. They're both very happy."
"I know the feeling. This pole is so very good for tying a girl to, isn't it? And that horizontal beam over there is nice, too. When are you going to tie me to that? And how? And that little steel cage hanging from that tree...."
"You'll find out the whens and hows soon enough. Don't rush things." The raven haired girl leaned against the next pole and reached over to tease one already taunt nipple. The bound up girl moaned and closed her eyes.
"Please... Oh, please...." she begged.
In response, Tanya slowly traced a line with her fingernail down the flat tummy, over the wrappings of ropes and into the pubic patch. Another moan of pleasure greeted the wandering of those fingers into that pubic patch. The bound girl strained to push her pussy against the hand but the ropes gave her very little play. She moaned. The rain began to fall a little harder.
After a minute the pleasure-giving fingers withdrew, evoking a very loud moan from the bound girl. Tanya stood before the nakedness of her friend and pressed her body against the one tied to the post. Their lips met with passionate intensity. Fingers played with the captive female body, teasing it, exciting it, urging it along that path to sexual satisfaction. But they stopped just short. The fingers withdrew and the free body pulled away.
"Tanya, you're terrible. Don't get me this close to an orgasm and then quit. You're terrible!"
"True," replied Tanya. "But I've seen you do the same thing."
Dawn only moaned and strained her rain-soak body against the ropes. Then she cried .out in genuine agony as she saw the gentle curves of Tanya retreating into the rain mist.
"Don't leave me like this," she moaned. "Please...." The high heels of the retreating figure made a clicking noise on the flagstone blocks. She had a very satisfied smile on her face as she walked through the warm rain. Very satisfied. She would come back and give her friend the sexual satisfaction she so urgently desired. All in good time. Anticipation often makes the pleasure more intense. For now the moans and pleas faintly reaching her ears were pure pleasure.
