Magic Short 16 - Sword Swallowing

Maria was winding up her act, which mostly involved producing an assortment of unexpected things and doves from her elegant dress and in the case of the doves, putting them in a cage which she covered and collapsed to produce a pretty white rabbit. She had also floated a small table and toyed with a male member of the audience using a head chopper, that she had initially implied was for a male member and expressed profound disappointment that the man chosen thought that the hole was too big, before resorting to passing the blade through his neck and returning him unharmed to the rest of the audience.

As she refitted the elbow section of the tube through which her arm was in three sections and removed the blades dividing her arm, someone rushed onto stage, handed her a note and rushed off again.

Maria finished reassembling her arm and took a bow, before looking at the note.

The note told her that the next act, a sword swallower, called Susannah Sharp, had fallen ill and asked her to extend her act to cover some of the time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have sad news and some moderately good news to compensate. The sad news is that my friend Susannah Sharp, who was due to follow me on stage with her sword swallowing act has fallen ill. I hope it wasn't something she ate," she smirked.

The mix of sympathy for the unwell performer and mild amusement at Maria's joke swirled round the audience.

As the audience settled, she added, "That brings me to the good news. You will get to see the premier performance of a new illusion that I have invented, but have not done on this stage, because I am usually followed by a sword swallower. To that end I need a brave female volunteer and a she should bring with her a male friend who she trusts. While you decide amongst yourselves if you wish to volunteer, I need to pop backstage to find the equipment and ask the lighting person to bring up the house lights a bit, so that I can see what kind of selection of volunteers I have."

There was a hubbub in the auditorium as the lights were brightened and Maria disappeared into the wings. Almost a minute later she returned pushing a tall apparatus covered in a silvery-grey cloth.

Maria asked for any volunteers to stand, and was surprised when three couples stood. She choose the most confident looking girl and felt that it did not hurt that her man was handsome too. She invited them to come up on the stage.

Maria helped the young woman up on to the stage and left the man to climb up unassisted. She took the time to introduce her volunteer, knowing that she would be able to introduce her male friend at leisure.

The volunteer was named Serafina and her male friend, Maria was told, was called Fabio and was her boyfriend.

When Fabio joined them Maria asked what they thought they had volunteered for. Serafina suggested that, given that Maria had said that she had not perform this because there was sword swallower on the bill, it would make sense if she had held off with the sword through the neck illusion. Serafina also offered the opinion that she had seen it often enough on TV and in various magic shows that she was not afraid of it, but it might scare some of the people in the audience.

"Well, in a way you're right, what I plan is a sword through the neck trick, but it probably won't go as you imagine. But I can assure you that my version is safer, but much sexier, than the illusion you are thinking of. To achieve the level of safety you will need to be restrained a bit so that you don't move the wrong way at the wrong moment; are you ok with that?"

It took Serafina a moment to formulate an answer. "I guess I'm ok. Does Fabio get to help, because he's been saying he wants to try some tie-up games in private."

Maria went to covered equipment and pulled on the cloth. The bottom half of the apparatus was exposed which showed a human-shaped frame standing on the low base. The upper and yet to be revealed half of the device was still hidden by more cloth supported on posts at each corner of the base platform. Maria took Serafina's hand and led her to stand in front of the stick figure frame from which hung various restraining devices.

Serafina looked at the headless frame, to which it seemed she would be tied and gulped, then she looked up at the still covered section of the equipment and gulped again.

"You, presumably, know that at this point the magician will usually ask you to remove your shoes  and maybe your jacket?" said Maria. "Well, today, I shall go a little further an ask you to strip down to your underwear, because for this illusion it is essential that it be obvious (that it is absolutely clear) that there is nothing going on under the clothes."

Serafina glanced at Fabio, who smiled and gave her an encouraging nod, as if to say that she should do as she was asked, because he was here to protect her. He also knew of her exhibitionist streak and was very willing to nurture it; he had a fantasy of going to the theatre or a concert with a naked woman on his arm.

With evident reluctance, the volunteer began to unbutton her blouse. Maria stood behind her and assisted by undoing the belt at the waist of the knee-length skirt and unclasping the waistband. The skirt dropped to the floor as the final button was undone. Maria helped the woman step forward and indicated to the man that he should take charge of the skirt, to give her volunteer the confidence that she would get it back.

Fabio stepped forward and draped the skirt one shoulder and then took hold of the upper arms of the blouse and whispered something in Serafina's ear before helping her out of the blouse, which he draped over the shoulder on top of the skirt.

Maria guided Serafina onto the low platform of the illusion and positioned her with her back against the stick figure frame. She caught up a pair of straps at waist-height and threaded the end of one into the buckle on the end of the other and tightened the belt, smoothing it close against Serafina's waist.

Maria stood back and allowed Fabio to complete the job of restraining his girlfriend, but keep a watch brief to ensure that Serafina was properly and securely attached to the stick figure frame. This involved cuffs at the young woman's wrists and ankles and strap at mid-thigh and at the middle of her upper arms. Fabio stood back to admire his handiwork and his girlfriend; he found the sight of her arousing standing there unable to move much with her legs slightly apart and her arms held away from her body so that, if she strained, she might be able to touch the belt at her waist, but not do anything about it.

Maria stepped in and checked that the restraints were properly applied and adjusted one of the upper arm straps, more for show than any need to do so. In the process of stepping back off of the base of the device, she reached up and pulled the fabric covering from the upper half of the equipment which was housed in a perspex box at the top of the corner posts of the lower half. Inside box was a complex mechanism, seemingly designed to avoid giving any clue to its function, consisting of gears and racks, pulleys and cables and what might be counterweights. Maria reached up, having thrown the covering into the wings where she had thrown the previous cloth, and lifted down a crank handle, which she soon had threaded through a hole in the clear plastic box and hooked into a loop, thus allowing the complex machine inside the box to be driven and controlled from the outside.

Serafina look upward to see what was causing the reaction from the audience. It was no clearer to her the function of the machinery in the box above her, but she could see something that they could not see. That was a round hole in the base of the box directly above her and another near the front edge of the perspex enclosure.

Maria gave the handle a few turns, which caused things to happen within the mechanism, but to no obvious purpose. "Now that that is set," announced Maria, "there is a final addition to Serafina's bondage that I need to do; so I hope you'll bear with me, because this is the most important thing to get right, for her comfort and safety." She had Fabio help turn the cabinet sideways, so that the audience could see what she was doing. The magician stood behind her volunteer and reaching forward placed her hand on Serafina's forehead and  pulled her head backward until it reached a small shelf jutting from the frame at the back. Maria wrapped a fabric strap tightly around the volunteer's forehead and then adjusted the shelf a little upward, so that Serafina's neck was not bent back so much.

"Serafina, open your mouth and keep it open for a moment!" instructed the magician and she reached up to press a button.

The audience did not notice anything, but they heard Serafina say, "Mmm! Blackcurrant."

To avoid the audience being puzzled by this exclamation, Maria said, "Yes, and that means you are perfectly lined up for the illusion. I used a few drops of blackcurrant drink to check the alignment and I'm glad to say we are ready to go. Just one last thing, would you like a blindfold?"

"Why would I want a blindfold?" the trussed volunteer asked. "I think I'll take my chances, thank you. I don't think that I'm easily frightened."

"Alright, no blindfold. All you need to do is open your mouth at the right time and everything will be ok; and I'll let you know when you need to open your mouth."

Serafina tried to nod as Fabio and Maria turned the whole cabinet back to face the audience.

Maria instructed Fabio that he would be turning the handle and that he should turn it steadily until and unless, it resisted more than it did at the start or she told him to stop, both so that he did not break the illusion or Serafina.

Fabio turned the handle, which caused things to move inside the box above, cogs turned and parts slid against other parts to no obvious purpose.

The first to notice any change was Serafina, forced by the tilting back of her head to look at the hole in the bottom of the mechanism. She visibly tensed. Despite an increase in the intensity of concentration by the audience on the unfolding scene, it took then a further few turns on the crank to spot what Serafina had seen. What they spotted was a spike sliding downward from the box an inch back from the front edge, which was by then sticking down about three inches. Fabio had also spotted a similar round spike hanging down from the centre of the box.

Maria called a pause to tap each spike to prove its solidity and to make the audience aware of the matching spike descending towards Serafina. Then she asked Fabio to continue turning the crank and Serafina to be sure to open her mouth when the spike arrived at her lips.

The spikes descended with tension-building slowness each matching the other, while Maria explained that this was indeed a sword through the neck illusion, but the sword (or more accurately spike, because it had no edges, for Serafina's safety) would be going through her victim's neck lengthwise, instead of through the width as most magician would do. She also pointed out that the forward spike would be coming down at the same rate as the one going down towards Serafina, so that the audience could easily see how far down Serafina's neck the central spike had got.

Nervous for his girlfriend, Fabio continued to the turn the handle that allowed the spikes to drop slowly from the machinery above, with every intention that if Serafina said that she wanted out, he would stop, but if she felt brave enough to continue, not to steal her thunder by stopping before she wanted him to.

Serafina was concentrating on the spike that was descending towards her. It had a rounded point then tapered outward, before straightening at a little under an inch in diameter and seemed to be made of steel. She opened her mouth to ask if she could be let out, but, due to Maria pressing a button on the remote control hidden in her hand, the spike dropped two inches suddenly, so that the tip was in her mouth and pressing her tongue so that she could not make an articulate noise.

The volunteer made a few choking noises which quickly stopped as she got used to the feeling of the spike in her mouth holding down her tongue and continuing slowly towards the back of her throat.

The audience hummed at the sudden panic expressed by Serafina's restricted body language, but settled as the choking noises subsided.

Maria took this moment to call a temporary halt to the Fabio's handle turning and to check in with Serafina asking if she was ok to continue. She measured for the audience that the tip of the spike was level with the top of of the volunteer's neck.

Thinking that the spike would be lowered to the base of her neck and then withdrawn, Serafina, who had practised suppressing her gag reflex by giving Fabio head, gave the only signal she could practically make; a thumbs up.

The magician drew the audience's attention to this gesture and instructed Fabio to continue turning in the same direction.

Serafina felt the tip of the spike enter her throat and she concentrated on not choking on it, which to begin with was not a problem until the straight section of spike entered her throat. Meanwhile, Maria produced a red silk square and tied onto the forward spike under the excuse of making it easier for the audience so detect the progress of the spike down Serafina's neck.

There was another moment of telegraphed panic as the volunteer felt that all of the spike within her throat was parallel-sided and it was not stopping, but this was soon calmed by realising that she was feeling no pain and not having as much trouble breathing as she had expected. She assumed that the tip had somehow been withdrawn into the barrel of the spike and that the spike down her throat was no longer coming down; meaning that somewhere in the machinery above the turning of the handle was not pushing the spike further down her throat, but continued to push the other spike down to give the impression her spike had penetrated further it really had. With this comforting lie in her head, she waited for whatever was going to happen next.

Fabio was getting more obviously nervous for Serafina's welfare, but in the absence of any instruction from Maria to stop or any indication from his girl that she was in distress, he felt that he needed to keep going, especially as Serafina seemed almost more relaxed than she had at the start of the illusion.

The red cloth tied to the forward spike moved further and further down in front of Serafina's body until it reached groin-level, when Maria untied it again and taking hold of the spike gave it a twist and guided it to land on the base of the apparatus, then laid it down and attached a clip so that it did not roll away.

Moments after she heard the thud of the forward spike dropping, Serafina felt something happening inside her groin. It began with a cool feeling in her vagina and then a full feeling there. She moaned around the intruding spike in her throat, which clued the audience in to the fact that something more was happening. As the moments passed she felt that her panties were being pulled away from her crotch and suddenly came to the realisation that they were being pushed from her pubic area by the spike that was down her throat, through her and trying to leave via her nethers.

Most of the audience could detect that something was happening to her panties as they were being stretched away from her groin. At this point Maria intervened and pulled the panties aside by enough that the spike could continue its downward path without damaging the volunteers panties or exposing her more than minimally.

Maria called for Fabio to stop turning the handle when the tip of the spike was at knee-level on Serafina and obvious for the entire audience to see. The magician asked Fabio to check that the spike that stuck down from between Serafina's legs was part of the spike that descended from the mechanism above and into her mouth. To this end she supplied him with a small hammer with which to tap the spike. The sounds made by the spike when tapped convinced most of the audience that it was a single solid metal rod. A side-effect on Serafina was that she could feel the vibrations caused by the testing of the spike, which added to the arousal cause by having a thick metal rod penetrating her private parts, even if she was a little worried about how the spike had made its journey from the base of her throat to her crotch.

Maria asked Fabio to return to the crank handle and start turning it in reverse. As expected the spike reversed direction and began to rise and at a noticeably quicker rate. Serafina could feel the friction inside her as the spike pulled upward.

As the tip of the spike disappeared back inside Serafina's groin, Fabio felt something catch, but without instructions he put a little effort into his cranking and it quickly returned to its former resistance. At this point, Serafina felt something happen that pulled on the waistband of her panties and then the pressure was gone; and by the feel of it so were her panties. This development did not go unnoticed by the audience, most of whom cheered.

Soon the top end of the spike's taper appeared from between Serafina's lips and was followed by the point dragging her panties from her mouth. Moments later, the spike disappear into the mechanism above and dropped the panties on Serafina's face.

Fabio stepped forward and took the underwear from his girlfriend's face and tucked it into his trouser pocket.

Maria released the strap holding the volunteer's head back and then took out the keys to release the cuffs at her volunteer's wrists and ankles, while telling Fabio to unbuckle the straps so that Serafina could take her bow and get dressed. Not all the straps that Fabio released were those holding Serafina to the stick-figure frame; he also undid the strap on her bra. She smiled as he pulled the garment down her arms.

Maria lead the couple in a bow to the audience who cheered greatly, chiefly influenced by Serafina's nudity. The magician offered to take them backstage so that Serafina could get dressed in privacy.

Fabio kissed Serafina and told the surprised magician that he did not think that was necessary and lead his naked and smiling girlfriend back to the audience saying that he did not want to miss the next act.