When Cuchillo approached the little grove, he first thought that Nascha had found the white girl. However, he soon had to see it was the other way round: Nascha, with her hands tied behind her back and obviously gagged, was standing on a rock. Around her neck, there was a noose, tied to a branch above her head. Standing beside her, Cuchillo could see not only Arina, but also two more women, a brown haired white and a black one.
Drawing by hugues66
„Stay where you are, or we will hang her!“, Arina shouted when he was still some 100 feet away. She had put her hand on Nascha`s back, ready to push her from the rock.
Cuchillo stopped. He saw that the girls had no weapons. With a swift attack, he could perhaps save Nascha and then hunt for them. But that „perhaps“ was just not good enough.
„We want your horse and your weapons! Get from your horse, put your weapons to the ground and run away! Once we have the rifles, we let her go!“
Cuchillo slowly dismounted, then he equally slowly put the Sharps and the Spencer rifle to the ground, followed by his knife.
„You also have a revolver“, Arina shouted.
The Apache looked somehow appreciative, then, he took the revolver from his saddle bag and laid it beside the rifles. He still held the reins of his horse in his left.
„Good, now get away quickly!“
„My horse obeys only me. It will follow me if I go“, the Indian said in a calm voice. The girls seemed a bit clueless for a moment, then, Zenobia spoke:
„Tie the reins to that rock, then go!“
She pointed to a bigger stone that was about halfways between him and them. Cuchillo slowly stepped forward. Since he was only wearing his loincloth, they could clearly see that he had no further weapons.
However, that was not true. Around his wrists, Cuchillo was wearing broad leather bracelets. In one of these, a throwing knife was hidden. Actually, it was that knife and not the big Bowie knife lying beside his other weapons that had earned him his name.
When he had reached the rock, Cuchillo quickly reached for the knife and threw it at the rope that connected Nascha to the branch. Despite the distance of some 50 feet, he hit the rope perfectly and Nascha`s neck was no longer trapped. Before the girls had even noticed what hat happened, Cuchillo had jumped back to his weapons and now held the Spencer rifle in his hands.
„I think, we should start negotiations once more“, he said.
***
„All right, let`s go to Tucson!“
Garth and his men had quickly rummaged the hut, found the gold and were about to leave. They had shortly wondered why a coffin was standing in a corner, but since it was on the one hand bulky and of no real value on the other, they had not thought twice about it.
„You can put the dead body in it, if you find some time!“, Garth said towards Viola and Winona and left the hut after his men.
„Mmmmph!“
„Uuuhhmmmmm!“
They had made short work with the two women. After getting them inside, they had just tied their hands and feet and hogtied them before stuffing their mouths with some rags and tying two bandanas between their lips. This tie would not keep the girls forever, but it would give them a head start, even more since both would hardly call the Marshal.
Both Winona and Viola immediately started to work on their bonds, but suddenly, they heard a man`s voice saying:
„Don`t struggle too much. After all, we will soon have to restrain you much better anyway.“
„Mmhhhmmmmmph!“
Winona froze to her tracks when Hawk suddenly rose. Her first thought was that he had come back from the land of the dead to take revenge on her. However, he just got up, cleaned some dust from his clothes and reached under his jacket.
„It`s like they say, the Holy Bible holds rescue for us all“, he said, showing them the Bible that he had carried with him as a part of his disguise. It`s cover showed two bullet holes.
A moment later, Malcolm stepped in, holding a gun in his hands.
„I saw these riders get away! But you seem to have everything under control.“
Hawk nodded with a bitter smile: „ More or less, but they have taken the money with them.“
Malcolm looked down on the two women who were lying to his feet and fearfully looked up to him. He grabbed Winona`s hair and said:
„Somehow, I am sure you had your fingers in that, you, eh, rhymes-with-witch!“
Malcolm sometimes remembered his mother`s saying of not using swearwords and so, he paraphrased what he intended to say. Hawk giggled and Malcolm grunted:
„Well, my mom always threatened me to wash my mouth with soap if I said evil words.“
However, Hawk seemed to think of something else.
„Talking of witches, that gives me an idea.“
***
At gunpoint, Cuchillo had forced the three women to line up in front of him. Then, he had told them to strip naked. None of the three had hesitated for long. Arina had been nude in front of the Apache before and Andrea and Zenobia were still too moved by the fact that they had escaped death that they did not mind just another embarrassment. In addition, none of them had much to put off. Andrea and Zenobia were only wearing their repaired nightgowns and their knickers, Arina the Indian`s vest, the boots, and a pair of knickers.
When all three women were stark naked, Cuchillo handed the rifle to Nascha and took his knife and a big coil of rope. He cut six pieces, each about two yards in length. Then, he stepped behind them and tied their arms at wrists and elbows, pulling the ropes tight as he did so.
„Please, let us go, we have nothing to do with you, we aaaauuuuhhmmmmph!“
Andreas had started to plead with him, but Cuchillo clamped her mouth shut from behind. Nascha put the gun aside, stepped in front of the reporter and slowly slid her knickers down her legs.
„You have gagged me, so, this serves you right“, she hissed. Cuchillo grabbed Andrea`s scalp and pulled, forcing her to arch her head back and to open her mouth in pain. Gleefully, Nascha stuffed the knickers deep into the woman`s mouth and tied a strip ripped from the discarded nightgown between her lips. Cuchillo carefully checked the knots. Then, he shook his head and loosened the cleave gag. Before Andrea could do anything, he stuffed the wadded knickers in even deeper, then, he brutally reapplied the cleave, making it cut into the corners of her mouth. The reporter retched and her breasts, thrust out from the elbow tie, was heaving.
Next, it was Zenobia`s turn to be gagged. She opened her mouth wide, seeing no point in being defiant. She saw that Cuchillo had chosen the black pair of knickers that belonged to Andrea. Once again, Zenobia had to chew on these, but this time, they tasted different. Andrea had been obviously quite aroused by their earlier encounter, too, and some of that had been soaked by the panties.
When Zenobia was tightly cleave-gagged, Cuchillo saw that Arina was having a brawl with Nascha who held a wad against her mouth. The girl definitely did not want to be gagged with a pair of knickers again, especially not with those of another woman. Nascha had chosen the white frilly ones from Zenobia, ignoring Arina`s own knickers lying in front of her.
Cuchillo stepped behind the squirming and moaning Arina, reached around and squeezed her nipples. The girl let out a squeal that quickly turned into a groan when Nascha stuffed the smelly undergarment into her mouth. After another minute, the farmer`s girl was thoroughly gagged with the knickers and the cleave, too.
Cuchillo now looked from the row of panting and moaning women, who were trying to cope with the vile tasting mass in their mouths and with the stringency of their bonds, to Nascha.
„Now, it`s your turn. You are a brave woman, but you have once again been overpowered by girls. If you want to stay with me, you have to learn better. Accept punishment or go.“
Of course, Cuchillo had spoken in Apache, and so, the three bound and gagged women watched with disbelief as Nascha picked up Arina`s knickers, put them into her mouth and turned her back to Cuchillo, allowing him to bind her wrists and elbows and to tightly cleave-gag her, too. Then, he turned his attention to the ropes still lying around. He cut the two hangman`s ropes into halfs and tied nooses to the other ends, too.
„Oh no, he`s going to hang us, too“, Zenobia thought with fear when she saw the four nooses lying side by side. He said something in Apache and Nascha came over, stepping into one of them. Cuchillo brought the noose up to her waist and tightened it, bringing the knot to her back. Then, he threaded the rope`s end between her legs and through the waist rope, right below her navel.
„A crotch rope“, Zenobia thought, but Cuchillo only pulled the rope until it hung between Nascha`s knees and let the long end lie on the floor.
One by one, he applied similar rope ties to the other three captives. Arina still tried to fight, but as a reward, he pulled her crotch rope tight between her legs before letting the end of the rope go. Andrea and Zenobia saw no way to avoid the strange addition to their bonds and offered no resistance.
Cuchillo now stowed his belongings on his horse. Then, after a short hesitation, he took the long stick Arina had brought with her, and put that on the horse, too. Then, he took the four ends of the crotch ropes, tied them off to the bundle lying behind him on the horse`s back and mounted his horse.
When it started to walk, the ropes between their legs quickly tightened and the four captives had no other choice than to follow the rider. All four were barefeet, but they tried their best to keep the speed of about five miles an hour Cuchillo made the horse walk.
Drawing by hugues66
***
The fire of the last night had completely annihilated Andrea`s house and damaged five others. So, at noon on that Sunday, every citizen of White Skull was either in church or sleeping from exhaustion (the fire fighting had lasted for several hours). In addition, „Reverend Chicken“ had told both the Deputy Marshal (Marshal Penn was still out on the manhunt) and the priest a hair-raising, but convincing lie:
„Yesterday, a quarrel broke out between Miss DeRainiers men. A severe quarrel. One man got killed and the others have gone away. Miss DeRainier is truly in a mess. Mrs. Douglass, the wife of my friend here“, he pointed at Malcolm, „has taken care of her and brought her to their hotel room, but there is still that dead body. So, we have promised to take care of that. Of course, we would be glad if you could keep that to yourselves.“
A expected, the two men had blabbed it everywhere, but so, no one found it suspicious that the two men had a coffin on their open wagon, stopped it beside the bank house and carried the coffin inside. One might have wondered why the two men seemed to have some difficulties in carrying the wooden box inside, but there was nobody to watch them anyway.
Once Malcolm had closed the door behind them, Hawk took his pliers and pulled off the six nails he had applied before. Of course, a coffin usually was not nailed close before the dead was embedded inside, but this special coffin was already inhabited.
When the lid was removed, both Viola and Winona rose their upper bodies and blinked at the men, their faces still reddened from the effort of screaming through their gags. All the way from Hawk`s hut to the bank house, they had desparately tried to alert someone outside, but the two men had kept the wagon a few steps away from the few people they had met and the sounds of the wheels had absorbed their frantic moaning.
Both women had been stripped naked before the men had tied and gagged them. Winona was still wearing her white bootlets, her stockings and her black garter belt, but Viola now had only cloth in and around her mouth and nowhere else.
Both girls were tied the same way. The men had started by tying their wrists and elbows and had encircled their arms and upper bodies with much more rope, pinning their arms to their bodies and making any escape impossible. Tight double strands of rope disappeared in the thatches of boths` pubic hair, belonging to tightly applied crotch ropes that were tied off to their thumbs. Their legs were folded to a triangle and their ankles were tied to the opposite knee, forcing them to sit in a lotos position.
The men had removed the gags Garth and his gang had used to them and had stufffed their mouths with their used knickers. Or rather, Winona now was chewing on the knickers of Cassandra she had been gagged with earlier and Viola had Winona`s in her mouth. The pair belonging to Viola currently rested in Malcolm`s pocket.
Above this gag, a tight cleave with a knot in it was tied, followed by another, broader cloth that covered their mouths from nose to chin. As an additional layer, Hawk and Malcolm had first secured the gags with straps of wet leather before finally tying white cloths over both girls`s mouth and nose. By squeezing their nipples, the men had found out that both girls now were effectively silenced.
Drawing by hugues66
They had then seated them face to face inside the coffin. They had forced Winona and Viola to bent forward, closed the lid over them and nailed the coffin. Then, they had brought the package to where it was now.
When Malcolm and Hawk went upstairs for Cassandra, taking some pre-cut ropes with them, they found the bank manager where they had left them. She had not been able to free herself, though the film of sweat on her body showed she had really tried.
Cassandra mewed through her gag and wildly thrashed about her lower legs when Hawk had freed them. When her legs were free completely, Malcolm removed the blindfold, cut her from the chair and rose her to her feet. The bank manager squeezed her legs together and squirmed, blushing all over and mmphing desperately.
„Oh, I understand. And since it`s going to be a long journey-“
He went for Cassandra`s sleeping room and came back with her chamber pot. They forced the reluctant woman to squat over it, each grabbing her by one arm and looking down on the naked Cassandra.
„Mmmhhhrrrrr! Hhhhmmmph! Nnnnngggggg!“
She violently shook her head and tried to raise from the crouching position.
„It`s your choice, the next break is in about 24 hours.“
Cassandra let out a groan of deep and sheer desparation. She blushed even deeper and lowered her head, but Hawk grabbed her scalp and forced her to look up at them. Then, they waited.
Cassandra, panting, sweating and whimpering, fought for a few more minutes, but finally, she closed her eyes and relieved her bladder.
When she was finished, they tied her up like the other two captives. Cassandra mewed with embarrassment and pain as the crotch rope was applied and definitely did not appreciate to sit in a lotos position when being stark naked, except for her bootlets, stockings and garter belts.
When Cassandra was sittting on the carpet, trying to cope with the burning sensation between her legs, Malcolm reached under his jacked and took out a pink piece of silky cloth.
„The way you have tied up that lovely robber before showed me you were interested in her choice of underwear. So, I`ve saved her knickers for you.“
He held the knickers close to Cassandra`s nose.
„Uuuuhmmmmmm! Nnnnnggggg!“
Cassandra mewed with disgust and turned her head away. These knickers smelled as if Viola had worn them for at least two weeks whilst being in the saddle – which more or less was true. Besides, Cassandra had a horrifying suspicion why Malcolm had brought these with him.
It was an unfair fight. Cassandra already was stringently trussed up and Hawk forced her to arch her head back by pulling on her hair and kept her trapped between his legs whilst Malcolm undid her original gag and slowly, but thoroughly worked every piece of the foul tasting knickers behind her teeth, filling her mouth and cheeks to capacity and almost touching the back of her throat.
„Ggghhhmmm! Uuuhhmmm! Nnnnggg!“
Malcolm reapplied the cleave gag and the other cloth over it. He then secured this gag with a wet leather band and another cloth tied over the woman`s mouth and nose.
They carried their victim downstairs and heaved Winona from the coffin, only to force Cassandra to sit on her place opposite to Viola.
Drawing by hugues66
Malcolm started to speak.
„As you may know, all of the money is gone. However, we are both grateful that we have survived our encounter with the bandits unharmed and so, we have some good news for you, Ladies. We have decided to be as generous as possible.“
Malcolm waited for the three girls`s moaning to die down till he continued:
„We will get you two to Tucson where we can send telegraph to our employers. We will tell them that you both got killed in a fight. If they will say that this is okay and we both still have our works, we will let you go. If not, we will have to get you to New York, but, with a little bit of luck, you will both be free after just one day of a bit inconvenient travelling.“
The news obviously did not sound that good in the ´women`s ears and the fearful and horrified expression in their eyes was the last Winona saw of the two before their upper bodies were once again forced down by the lid. Hawk carefully nailed the coffin close before he turned his attention towards the redhead sitting on the floor.
„You, my little witch, will be free by tomorrow morning, too. But since you have risked my life and accidentally nearly took it, you deserve a little punishment.“
„Mhhmmmmph! Uuuhhmmmm!“
Winona squirmed and moaned when they carried her to the bank counter room. There, Malcolm threw two long ropes over one of the ceiling beams and brought them down whilst Hawk brought a broom, much to Winona`s astonishment.
With some effort, Malcolm managed to thread one of the ropes between her upper arms and her back and pulled it tight, forcing her to kneel on her lower legs and pulling the slack out before tying it off. It was a straining position, but not especially painful. Hawk now carefully pushed the broom between her open thighs and Malcolm tied one end of the other rope to it`s upper end.
„Mmmhhrrrrrrrhhmmmm!“
Winona mewed and her eyes bulged when they lifted the broom until the stick pressed against the soft flesh between her legs – and against the rope already there. They adjusted the stick before tying it off. From a distance, it now looked as if Winona was riding the broom and tied as she was, she could not change this humiliating and inconvenient position.
Drawing by hugues66
„A good way of showing them you are a witch! But I am sure, instead of burning you at the stake, the cashiers will release you – tomorrow morning, when they get here.“
Winona`s muffled curses followed the two men who now left to get the heavy coffin back to their wagon before leaving for Tucson.
***
After a straining trip of about one hour, Cuchillo halted his horse at a wide brook. The four damsels sank to their knees, panting heavily through their noses. Especially Andrea was more than grateful that the trip had ended. She was 33 and not quite a sportive woman, and besides, she was suffering from the aftereffects of her last ordeals. It would have been strenuous to walk fast pace under the best circumstances, and being naked, bound and gagged sure weren`t the least good circumstances. But, whenever she had slowed down her pace the tiniest bit, a sharp tug between her legs had told her that side stitches were the better option.
However, it turned out that Cuchillo had not stopped to just give them a rest. He loosened the rope Andrea was leashed to and pulled her behind him into the water. One could see that it was shallow and so, Andrea didn`t resist much, she even felt some refreshment for her aching feet.
Some yards away, a tree`s trunk was lying crossways in the brook. Cuchillo went there and forced Andrea to lean to the trunk and to bring her bound arms over it. The water now reached to the woman`s upper thigh. Cuchillo took the rope dangling from her crotch and went below the surface. Andrea`s eyes widened and she flailed with her legs as he reappeared behind the tree, threaded the rops end through her elbow tie, and pulled. Again, the reporter`s eyes bulged and she screamed into Nascha`s knickers in her mouth as her crotch rope tightened up and disappeared between her labia. Cuchillo, however, wasn`t finished. He brought the long end back to her front and put it through her waist rope before bringing it back to the other side of the tree again. Andrea tried to kick him, but with the water reaching to her thighs, it slowed down her movements. Now, three parallel strands of rope were running through between Andrea`s legs. Cuchillo, now once again behind the girl and the tree, grabbed her scalp and arched her head back, pressing it against the trunk. Then, he slung the end of the rope aropund her head, just between her lips, and tied it off. Now, Andrea had to keep this strenuous position, unable to move her head or her arms and with the ropes trying to find a way inside her. She wildly thrashed with her unbound legs, causing the water to splash, and screamed and screamed into her gag, now reinforced by the tight rope.
Cuchillo came back to the horse, where Arina and Zenobia looked at him with fearful eyes whilst Nascha showed no emotion. He took the long stick from his bundle, then, he loosened Zenobia`s leash. She tried to get away from him, but Cuchillo just forced her to sit on her butt and tied her right ankle to the end of the stick. Then, grabbing her left ankle and using the stick to push her legs wider and wider apart, he tied her other foot to the other end of the stick, forcing Zenobia to sit with her legs widely spread.
„Mmmhhhppphhh! Nnnggggg! Hhhhrrrmmmmm!“, she protested. Arina joined in, but Nascha remained silent and Andrea could not be heard over the splashing her flailing caused.
However, this was the end of Cuchillo`s evil ideas so far. He loosened the rope around Zenobia`s waist and through her legs and put it to his horse. Then, he stepped behind the Black. Her eyes widened with fear as she saw him drawing his knife, but he just cut her elbow ropes. Then, he padded her shoulder before he mounted his horse and forced Arina and Nascha to follow his horse or to suffer from the consequences.
***
Some two hours later, when just crossing a wide plateau, Cuchillo once more stopped. He had seen an approaching dust cloud on the horizon that turned out to be five riders heading for him. Cuchillo dismounted and took his Sharps rifle. The riders were still some half a mile away, but with the two women on the trowrope, he could not accelerate his horse enough to reach the mountains before they had reached him.
He had never been a coward and he wasn`t afraid of dying in battle, but here, without any covering and with only a few bullets left, this was rather suicide than a heroic last stand. Besides, there were Nascha and the white girl. They sure would try not to hit Arina, but he could not be sure about their aiming qualities. And, they sure would show no consideration towards Nascha.
Cuchillo took a long look on both women, standing face to face to him, naked, bound and gagged. He had to make a desicion. Arina was a beauty, young and with a perfect figure and a skin like curd.
She was the 18 years old white princess of his dreams.
Then, he turned his head towards Nascha, who had shared his life for over a year now and who had always stood behind him. She was older than him, some ten years, but still a beautiful woman. He saw a single drop of sweat glistering on her right breast.
With a sigh, Cuchillo made a desicion. He loosened Arina`s leash from his horse and threw it to the ground. Then, he freed Nascha completely from her crotch and waist rope. He helped her to sit on the horse, with his face towards him, and rose up himself.
„That does not keep you from staying bound and gagged until I have decided that your punishment is over!“, he told her as he spured the horse and rode towards the mountains where he could easily shake off any persecuter.
However, he slightly smiled when he said so and the way Nascha`s eyes glanced and her thighs pressed against his told him that she anticipated to stay together with him.
Arina had once again sunk to her knees. She could not beliefe that her predicament was about to be over. She could hear the yelling of the approaching men and she could see that her uncle was among them.
„Arina!“, she heard him yell.
„Mmmhhmmph!“, she answered.
„Oh my god, she`s completely naked!“, she heard another man call out. Arina blushed. She had almost forgotten about her nudity, and now, this last humiliation came to her mind. However, she was not the only one that showed a reaction to the man`s words.
„Turn away your eyes from my innocent niece`s body, you filthy bastard, born by a leprous Mexican whore!“, her uncle scolded the man who had mentioned her nudity.
„Innocent? After four days with this savage? Ha! I would not bet a cent on that!“
Her uncle let out a terrifying scream, jumped from his horse, pulled the mother man from his and soon, they had a brawl in the dust. The other men dismounted their horses, too, half laughing, half trying to pull the two quarrelsome men from each other.
Arina rolled her eyes in frustration.
„So, that`s how it looks like to be back in civilisation“, she thought. Then, she started to giggle hysterically into her gag whilst tears ran down her cheeks the same time.
***
„If I get on in that speed, we will be free around wednesday“, Zenobia thought.
However, she persisted. It had taken her some hour, interrupted by breaks from exhaustion, to pick on the knots that tied her wrists together. But now, finally, the first of the several knots had loosened.
„Now, it`s just some three or four more tight knots until my hands are free. Then, the rest will be a child`s play!“
„Uuuhmmmmphh! Mmhhmmmmph!“, she moaned through her gag towards Andrea, trying to make her grunts sound optimistic.
Andrea answered with a faint moaning and a weak move of her right leg. She had totally overexerted herself in her futile fight against her bonds and gag, but she still was alive and awake.
„At least, this Apache did not want to kill us“, Zenobia thought. Sure, he had left them behind, naked, bound and gagged, but by cutting her elbows free he had enabled Zenobia to work on her wrist ties with more efficiency. He had wanted her to get free, sooner or later.
Zenobia had to pause once again to relax her numb and tingling fingers. She looked over to her friend. With Andrea`s head arched back, she could only see her chin, her gagged mouth and her nose beside a few tresses of brown hair.
„If I am free, I hope I will find the right words to tell her about my feelings towards her. I know that she likes me, too. And besides, she has definitely enjoyed our – being together, too.“
Of course, she could not be sure that, for Andrea, this had really just been a reaction to being in an extreme situation, as she had told. Perhaps, she would be disgusted by Zenobia`s feelings. Perhaps, she would go off her. Perhaps-
„Somehow, it was easier when we were both bound and gagged“, Zenobia thought and continued to work on her wrist tie.
***
The end