Hadine watched with frustration as the other women were led inside a cave. First, she had considered Tina`s rescue mission more than chanceless, but then, when the blonde had used her magic, she had felt rising hope. However, the treason of Lana had brought this to an abrupt end.
„Once I am out of this, I will teach her a lesson or two!“, Hadine thought.
However, she was not in the possition to teach anyone anything. Tied as she was, she could not even scratch her nose and with her loincloth tied in her mouth, she could not even tell Lana how she felt about her. She was doomed to wait for things to come.
Two of the guards came close to her, one carrying a bucket, the other a goatskin flask. Hadine forced herself to raise her head and look at them.
„You must be quite thirsty.“
He sounded reasonable, not gleeful and so, Hadine nodded. Her loincloth not only tasted awful, it also was salty from her swimming trip some hours before and so made her throat burn with thirst.
„Well, we can`t offer Luana a dead body, can we?“
Hadine mmphed weakly when the men started washing her whole body. Of course, they deliberately touched her naked body in the progress, but the cold water also felt wonderful and refreshening. As a side effect, however, it increased her thirst. Now, one of the men took the goatskin flask, pressed the spout through her cleave gag and then raised the flask. Water ran into Hadine`s mouth, soaking her gag and making her retch. Some ran down her chin, but the other man held her head and so, she had to fight down her gag reflex and swallow the liquid running down her throat. Her thirst was stronger than her disgust and Hadine greedily sucked in the water, ignoring what it was mixed with. Most of the water, almost half a gallon, reached her stomach and she now felt stronger, ready to survive, though this meant facing an ordeal that could end with her death.
***
Early in the morning, the cell door opened. Of course, it had not been the comfortable cell they had been in previously. The men had freed Lana from the chain connecting the captives, then, they had taken great care in gagging Tina, stuffing her mouth to capacity with rags before tying a device over it that she had once seen in a medieval museum. It consisted of two rings, one went around her head and between her lips, keeping her gag inside her mouth. It could be tightened by a screw that painfully pushed into her neck. The other ring went over her head and under her chin, forcing her to close her jaw the best she could. The inner side of the steel band also had some knobs pressing into the soft flesh under her chin, increasing the discomfort.
The others had been gagged more leniently, with a balled up cloth and a leather cleave gag, but to ensure they could not free each other, the men had brought a wooden board that could be opened and had four holes in it. Vanessa and Tina only too well remembered having been tied into such a board and indeed, the men locked it around their necks. Now. They had to stand close together, Tina and Caris standing side by side and facing Vanessa and Ella. Since Caris was the smallest, the others had to squat more or less to prevent her from getting strangled.
Like that, they were forced into a small cell that exactly had the size of the wooden board. When the door was closed, they were impacted and forced to keep their standing position.
„Mph!“
Vanessa glanced at Tina. Had she not tried to rescue Hadine, they all could be gone by now. Tina did not turn her head. She still thought that she had done right, though it had turned out to be a mistake.
Ella suddenly started to sob, followed by Caris. If they panicked, they would be even worse and so, in a helpless, yet friendly gesture, Tina reached for Caris`s hands whilst Vanessa took Ella in her arms. After a while, the two girls calmed down a bit and looked at her companions with grateful eyes.
„And who offers some solace to us?“, Vanessa thought, but managed to keep her feelings for herself when the hours slowly passed.
„I hope you slept half as well as I did“, a female voice asked when the captives were taken outside their cell. It was Lana, dressed in a flimsy, yet expensive looking tunic. She was standing close to the leader who had his arm around her and they knew how the treacherous maid had spent the night. They stared daggers at her, but hadn`t much time for that, for they were brought to their knees and instilled water, with their gags still in their mouths. Then, they were led outside. Here, a group of some 50 men, obviously nearly all of the gang, were waiting.
The four captives ached and moved their necks when the board finally was removed. The men did not tie them up, but each girl was kept by two men by her arms. One by one, they were then led to a pot, forced to squat and to relieve their bladders. The men gently held them in a way they could pull their loincloths aside, but otherwise kept them in a vice grip.
Vanessa just closed her eyes and did the inevitable, knowing that any resistance would only make things worse. Tina also managed to hide her embarrassment, but Ella squirmed and shook her head, blushing as red as her hair. The hooting and laughing of the audience didn`t help either, but finally, she had to obey nature and peed. Caris offered less resistance, but once again cried from humiliation.
„Uuhhmmm!“
„Oh, sometimes, I forget my manners!“
One of the men took the pot and placed it between Hadine`s legs. The proud bounty huntress stared at him with contempt and all the dignity her position allowed her. Then, she shook her head in defiance.
The leader came over and said:
„It`s on you, blondie! I will count to 20 and then, my men will start to whip the other captives in front of your eyes. That is, unless you chose to do as you are told so we can proceed!“
Hadine was a strong woman, but when Caris let out a muffled scream of horror, she felt pity for the poor peasant girl. Now, a very bulky and strong looking man was showing a bull whip to the audience, letting it crack in the air. Then, he showed his strength by shattering a solid looking table with one streak of this terrible whip.
„One! Two! Three!“
Hadine waited until the man had counted to 20. then, Caris was forced to lie on her belly and the man with the whip raised his right. For a few seconds, nobody moved and an almost unreal silence lay over the yard. Then, it was interrrupted by a splashing sound: Hadine had finally given up her defiance.
„Good! Now, we have to take care of a few things! After all, you are meant to please the gods!“
It may seem strange that a bunch of thieves and smugglers were such strong believers, but according to legend, the Brotherhood had been once founded by a son Kurali, goddess of love, had once had with a mortal man. And so, they were devoted to her rather than the god of war or that of the thieves and merchants.
Now, they could see that close to Hadine`s cross, there were three wooden posts rammed into the ground. Each had a horizontal bar nailed on top, forming a „T“. these posts each were some yard in height. Whilst Tina was still held by two guards, the other girls were led to these posts and made to stand in front of them. Then, they had to kneel and the men holding them bent their arms over the horizontal bars.
Vanessa felt the wood press into her armpits as her wrists were tied and her arms pulled down. They also crossed her ankles behind the post, forcing her to open her legs, and tied them together with the same rope that bound her hands. Both Ella and Caris were tied the same way. Now, the leader once again raised his voice:
„Those of you pure and worthy will be allowed to dance in front of Kurali`s altar, but after your escape attempt, we of course have to know one thing: how pure and worthy are you?“
He stopped, enjoying the expression of fear and anticipation on the faces of his captives. Then, he stepped aside and an older man was approaching. He was wearing a robe covered with ornaments and a leather satchel. According to the symbols on his robe, he was a healer.
Without a word, he stepped beside Ella and began to unknot her breast cloth. The girl mewed and squirmed and whe he presented her full breasts to the men, she was blushing all over. Then, he grabbed the ends of her loin cloth and started to pull it back and forth through her belt, causing the cloth to rub over Ella`s most intimate parts. The girl whimpered and pleaded through her gag, but he kept caressing her for several minutes before he finally pulled the cloth away, leaving the girl naked.
Hadine gulped. She knew that, if the man would play such games with her, she would react, thanks to the damned aphrodisiac.
The healer now took a clay bottle from his satchel and poured some liquid over his right hand, thoroughly lubing it before he brought it between Ella`s legs, cupping her pubic mound.
„Mmhrrrmmm! Uuhhhhmmph! Nnnnnnggg!“
Desperately, the girl tried to shake him off or to close her thighs, both in vain. The man started to massage her, however, his moves somehow didn`t look as if he was trying to arouse her. Instead, it somehow looked as if he was searching for something.
Tina understood what this was about the very moment the healer let Ella go and turned to the audience.
„This girl is a true virgin!“
The men applauded and the healer slightly bowed. Then, he went over to Caris and removed her clothing, too. The petite girl squirmed and moaned even more, forcing the healer to use both his hands to keep her down. Sure, the idea of getting examined with the hand that had just been inside her friend wasn`t very appealing. Finally, the procedure was over.
„This girl is no longer a virgin!“
Under other circumstances, the way Ella stared at her friend with disbelief would have made Vanessa laugh. Obviously, this had been Caris`s sweet little secret so far. The leader went close to Caris, playfully waving his index finger.
„Well, who was it? A strong athletic farmer`s boy? Or don`t you remember, because you drank too much during bonfire night?“
Caris turned her head away and the leader left her alone. Vanessa, who was next in line, steeled herself for what would come now, but now, the leader said.
„This girl here sure has had men before in her life. I can see that in her eyes and so, we don`t need to examine her. However, she has hurt one of us!“
„Yes, she kicked me in the balls!“, one of the men cried in a high pitched falsetto and this sign of self irony made the men burst out laughing. Vanessa, who remembered the man with the whip, tried not to show her fear. The leader came close to her.
„If we were brutal savages, we would hurt you, too!“, he said, pinchingon eof her nipples. Vanessa bit down on her gag to oppress a squeal of pain.
„Or, if we were men of the law, we would force you to give this poor man a little – compensation!“
This time, he brought his crotch close enough to Vanessa`s face to show her what kind of compensation he was talking about. She almost waited for him to try that on her, for then, she would give this men a reason to speak in a high pitched voice for the rest of his life.
„However, we are true believers in the goddess of love and so, we will forgive you!“
Vanessa waited for the punchline. She knew that this man had something evil in his mind and he didn`t disappoint her.
„Of course, you must forgive yourself!“
He took out his short sword and tested it`s sharpness with his thumb. Then, he loosened Vanessa`s breast cloth. He threw it up in the air and held his hand with the sword under it. The light cloth unfolded in the air and flew down to the ground. Though it was as light as a feather, the sword cut through the cloth and the two halves fell to the earth.
„You must stand in front of Kurali, naked and bare!“
He slowly pulled her loincloth from between her legs, repeating the procedure of cuttin git into halves. Then, he brought the blade to her pubic mound. Vanessa didn`t dare to move as she felt the cold steel there. To her horror, he scraped over her body, cutting some of her pubic hair, but not hurting her in the progress.
„Then, you must get to your knees and decide whether you can forgive yourself!“
The man now bent forward and held the sword`s top between the girl`s legs. Vanessa wriggled to raise her body, trying to avoid the vicious blade. He slowly let his hand follow her moves, forcing her to get as high as her bonds allowed her to do. Vanessa now was on the top of her knees, straining her upper arms to keep some of her weight with her shoulders. It was an uncomfortable position and she sure would not be able to hold it for long.
The man pushed the sword`s handle into the ground. Now, it`s top was just a few milimeters from Vanessa`s crotch. If she lowered her body for just an inch, she woud impale herself. The man said in a friendly tone.
„If you can forgive yourself, Kurali will forgive you, too!“
He then turned his attention to Tina who had watched the punishment of her friend with horror, still held by the two guards.
„You, however have to be punished for using witchcraft against my men. But I want to be fair. The idea for your punishment was whispered to me by a little bird during the last night!“
He smiled at Lana who answered his smile in a way Tina would have loved to pull out her shiny white teeth one by one. But then, her attention was distracted as the guards led her close to Hadine.
„Mmhmmph!“
Uuhhmm. Mmhhmmph!“
Both women protested as Tina was tied to the other one. Her body was pressed against Hadine`s and then, her arms and legs were tied spread eagle to that of the bounty huntress. Tina could feel Hadine`s big breasts press against her own and she reflexively thrust out her butt to avoid close contact of their loins.
The intimacy of being front to front, limb to limb, was increased when the man slowly removed Tina`s breast and loin cloth. She now was stark naked, too, but her breasts and pussy were at least not visible for the public. Not like her butt on which she now felt the man`s hand. He pressed her forward, until she could feel that her pubic mound touched that of Hadine. She looked at the other woman with dismay and Hadine just closed her eyes.
Drawing by hugues66
„Had you severely hurt or killed one of my men, it would have been the bull whip for you! But now, it will be just – this!“
Two men stepped to Tina`s sides and when she turned her head towards them, she could see that each of them was holding a stick, some foot in length. From one end, several leather straps were dangling. It almost looked like a toy whip and there were no knots, let alone weights, in the straps.
„Uuhhmmph!“
The first man had hit her bare skin. It did hurt – not very much, but Tina could feel a painful tingling, as if someone had slapped her with his bare hand.
„Mph!“
The other one joined in. Again, Tina felt the little pain run through her and she involuntarily squirmed in her bonds. Hadine protested and wriggled in her bonds, too, but now, the men had found their rhythm. They hit Tina`s bare shoulders and back, her upper arms and tighs and, most of all, her butt. The light whips did not cause real laceration, but soon, her skin had reddened and she was covered with sweat.
And Tina reacted to it. First, she had just bitten down her pain and tried to remain calm, but more and more, she had squirmed and moaned under the perpetual beating. And then, it had happened. As before, another feeling had started to grow inside her.
„Uuhhmmmn! Mmhhmmm! Mmhhmmph!“
It had started as a little spark, ignited by the strays of pain spreading from her butt. Sudeenly, she felt a warmth in her loins that had nothing to do with the hot, nude body she was pressed against. Tina knew that it would happen. It had happened before and she desperately tried to fight it down, ut every blow was like nourishment for the little spark, making it grow into a white hot flame of lust burning between her legs.
„Uuhhmmm! Nnnggg! Mmhhhrrrmm!“
She thrust forward her lap, grinded her pubic mound against Hadine`s, who squirmed under the intimate attack. Her breath accelerated, her moans became deeper and longer, occasionally interrupted by high pitched squeals when a blow was especially well placed.
Inches in front of her own eyes, she could see Hadine`s blue eyes, wide open and with a wild expression on it. She seemed to scream „No“ with all her might, shaking her head heavily and trying to soothe her companion, but Tina continued to thrust against her on every hit she felt on her sensitive bare skin.
Hadine bit down so hard o her gag that her jaw muscles hurt. First, it had been just humiliating, to be forced to pee in front of all these men watching. Then, it had become frightening, when they had had their way with Ella, Caris and Vanessa. It had been clear to her that there was an ecalation in treating the captives, with her and Tina as the climax.
And „climax“ was exactly the problem in her current predicament. Hadine wasn`t into girls and it had been just both humiliating and inconvenient when the men had tied Tina so close to her and then stripped her nude. But then, the flogging had started and the other woman had begun to squirm and to rub and grind her naked body against hers. Tina`s pubic hair had brushed over her own, clean shaved pubic mound, her breasts had been squeezed by Tina`s and literally mashed each time her fellow captive took a deep breath. The fact that they were now both covered with sweat only made things worse, for now, Tina could move even more. And move, she did. Tina thrusted forward every time her backside was hit, she squirmed in her rigid bonds and she gasped and moaned, causing her bust to heave. Hadine could feel Tina`s hard nipples pierce into her flesh and she was more than aware that her`s had reacted to the constant caresses, too. The veil of sleep, thin as a spider`s web, was yanked away from the sleep of her nerves, still under the influence of the balm. The stimulation, under normal circumstances just a humiliation, turned the vage tingling between Hadine`s legs into a blazing flame once more and more and more, she squirmed and writhed in her bonds, too.
„I! Must! Fight! This!“
Hadine tried to activate every remnant of strength and self control she still had. She bit down on her gag, forced herself to concentrate on the most unerotic things she could imagine – like getting her head blown off when she didn`t, for example. It was an almost epic battle between her will to live and her will to cum – to cum and finally, finally soothe the fire between her legs.
„Uuuhhmmm! Mmhhmmm! Mmhrrmmmm!“
For Tina, however, it had been just a battle between lust and modesty and with the burning and titilating sensation on her butt and back, the latter never really had had a good chance to win. More and more, she was giving in do her desires, moving her hips faster and faster and rubbing over her unwilling companion`s body all her bonds allowed. If only she would have been able to touch herself where she needed it most! A hand, a crotch rope, even a stick -
Tina pressed her pubic mound against Hadine`s, tried to literally squeeze some more stimulation out of the other`s soft flesh. Just the little push to get her over the brink!
WHACK!
One of the men had changed his position and whipped her between her legs. The blow wasn`t too hard, but when some of the leather thongs hit her swollen labia, this was it. With a scream that even made the audience shudder, Tina finally exploded. Wave after wave of passion strayed through her womb and through her whole body. She spasmed and clenched, causing the cross the two women were tied to, made from thick wooden sticks, to shake. Her body fluids soaked both her and Hadine and she let out a deep, long, throaty groan, more the sound of an animal than that of a human being, before she finally collapsed, literally passing out for a few seconds.
Perhaps, her wild moves had saved Hadine`s life. The bounty huntress, now a helpless slave of her own arousal, had been thrashing in her bonds, thrusting against Tina with ferocious energy and getting closer and closer to the Holy Grail of relief and death, when Tina had acidentally hit her nose with her forehead. The hit hadn`t even caused her to bleed, but it was a different kind of pain, a ggod one, so to say. It had distracted her the little bit from her ecstasy that was necessary to one last time fight back her orgasm whilst Tina was letting her`s run free. Finally, in the nick of time, Tina slumped, allowing Hadine precious seconds of recovery.
„Wow, and that was just a punishment! Tomorrow, Luana sure will be more than pleased!“
They untied Tina from the cross and quickly hogtied her, leaving her lying on her belly with her wrists tied to her ankles. Tina weakly squirmed in the sand, moving her bound limbs with discomfort, since even the soft touch of her hands against her reddened butt hurt. She was covered with sweat and totally exhausted and when a guard pourde a bucket of water over her, even some steam was rising up from her body.
Hadine, now in full view and well aware of her hard and erect nipples and her swollen clit and labia, almost demanding for a man, was on the one hand begging that they would not follow that demand. On the other hand, she wanted to be touched, to be finally brought to the same heaven Tina had just been – though it would have been heaven in another, terminal sense, too. She could see the bulge under the leader`s loincloth and his hand was approaching her body, but suddenly, a tiny hand grabbed his arm.
„You really should spare her for Luana, Master!“
Lana! The treacherous little bitch had perhaps just saved her life. Sure not from mercy, but because she didn`t know how strong the explosion of the neck ring would be. And a dead leader of the Brotherhood was not what the wilful maid could want.
Hadine was granted a bucket of cold water over her body, too. Then, the leader turned his attention towards Vanessa. The thief now had small pearls of sweat on her forehead and her bust was heaving. Not from arousal, but from the strain it meant to keep her body as upright as possible. This meant balancing on the tops of her knees whilst she had to carry some of her weight with her sore shoulders. The girl hadn`t even fully realized the show Tina and Hadine had been offering, for she had been fully occupied with not letting her body sink on the blade pointing at her labia.
The men picked up his sword and Vanessa sank down, letting out a groan of relief. When he asked her if she had learnt her lesson, she nodded and a part of her really meant it that way. For the moment, all fighting spirit had left her.
He did not take any notice of Caris and Ella, both still too horrified to even squirm. Instead, he spoke to his men:
„When I have – worshipped Kurali, we will go and see if our information about the treasure caravan are true!“
His men laughed and some even applauded him when he led Lana inside one of the caves. The mentioned treasure caravan obviously was quite big, for nearly all the men prepared to leave. When their leader came back, alone and with a broad smile on his face, he ordered only four of them to stay behind and man the exits.
„And leave your fingers from the girls! Don`t forget, they are meant for the goddesses!“
Then, singing a war song, the gang left and three of the four guards went for the outlook. Just one man remained in the yard, looking lustfully at the naked, bound and gagged girls.
„Leave you to the goddesses! Pah, it`s easy for him, since he now has a mistress!“
He looked around, examining the captives. Letting his eyes wander over Hadine, he said:
„Well, actually, I am not into blondes!“
He walked away, stepping over Tina who was still lying on her belly, since it would have been too painful to turn on her backside. The marks of the whip were already fading and would be gone by dusk, but now, it still hurt.
„So, you want to try something as sharp as that sword between your legs, Honey?“, he asked Vanessa who looked at him with contempt. Obviously, she wasn`t his taste either, for he just groped her boobs once before he turned his attention to Caris.
„So, you have already tasted a man? Maybe, you would like a comparison? Someone who will make you forget about that spotty farmer`s boy that had you first!“
Caris squealed into her gag, but she also exchanged an anxious glance with Ella next to her. It was clear what this nam wanted. He wanted to be the first one to have sex with Ella.
„Nnngg! Mmhhmphh!“
Ella shook her head no and writhed in her bonds as the man approached her. He sat down beside the frightened girl and rummaged through the bag tied to his belt. Then, he showed Ella what he had searched for: a wooden ring, some two inches in diameter, with straps tied to it.
„I will remove your gag and put this in your mouth, Ginger! Then, you won`t be able to bite – but you still will be able to swallow!“
Even the innocent Ella understood what tha meant and her horrified moaning mixed with the man`s gleeful laughter. He let the ring swing in front of her eyes and Ella stared at it as if she was about to be hypnotized. Then, he put it away.
„Pergaps, I should teach you a few things about men first. You know, we are not all bad. Sometimes, we can be even quite gentle.“
He put his hands on Ella`s ample breasts and began to squeeze and knead them. The girl moaned and tried to shake him off, but to no avail. He put her nipples between his thumbs and index finger and when he looked at her face, he could see that her expression had changed a bit. She still seemed frightened, but also seemed to anticipate what he was doing. He gently squeezed her nipples and Ella let out a sigh that didn`t sound too reluctant.
„So, have I found the right spots already?“
„Mph!“
The man increased his fondling and looked into the girl`s eyes. Ella had a strange expression on her face. She was not looking exactly at him, but slightly to the side of him. She was looking over his shoulder!
Before he could turn around, the stick landed on his head with a cracking sound. His eyes twisted and with a grunt, he collapsed on the ground.
With a satisfied sigh, Vanessa slipped the bull whip whos stick she had used to knock out the guard. She still was gagged and pragmatically, she now let it untouched and reached for the unconscious man`s knife instead.
Immediately after he had taken his eyes – and hands – from her, Vanessa had started to pick on the knots that bound her ankles. They were tight and her fingers almost numb from being tied up so long, but she persisted to work on the rope.
All the time, she had tried to signal to Ella that somehow, the girl should try to distract the man. And somehow, the girl had understood the wordless message. She had forced herself to relax and even managed to fake that she liked getting her breasts fondled by him, buying precious seconds for Vanessa.
When her ankles were free, the rest was quite easy. Since the rope was the same that also had tied her wrists, she could get her arms over the bar and get to her staggering feet. Vanessa had bitten down the pain in her legs and had brought her bound hands to the front. Instead of picking on her gag, she had looked for a weapon and once she had grabbed the bull whip, she had once more signalled Ella to persist and sneaked behind the careless guard.
Now, once more, freedom was more than just a vague hope!
***