Cauldron of Fear (21 page)

'And equally
as well presented for a little rump warming,' Grayling said, and
from the corner of her left eye Sarah saw the young aristocrat
approaching, but he stopped short, at a point roughly level with
the gap between the two helpless prisoners.

'Bit them,
Prudence,' he said, flexing his crop, which appeared shorter and
lighter than the implements carried by the other two men. 'Let them
share this together, as they shared earlier.'

Without
warning Sarah felt her lower jaw being gripped and dragged wide
open and she had barely enough time to see what looked like a
leather phallus being presented to her gaping lips, before it was
forced deep into her mouth and a stout strap buckled at the nape of
her neck, ensuring she could not eject it.

She fought
against the gagging reflex, snorting air in through her flaring
nostrils, her eyes widening as she saw that a second cock - in
reality an extension of the one that filled her mouth - was jutting
from her face on the end of a short metal tube that was perhaps six
or seven inches in length. Where the bar joined the leather phallus
the two ends of another strap hung down, their purpose
unquestionable.

Adam and Robin
took hold of the frame over which Kitty was stretched and began
dragging it closer. At the same time, Prudence took hold of the
projecting leather organ in one hand, using her other to prise
Kitty's jaws apart, as she had just done with Sarah.

Wide-eyed,
Kitty nonetheless made no real effort to resist and, at such close
range that it was difficult to focus her gaze on her, Sarah was
treated to the spectacle of her friend slowly swallowing the twin
half of the foul-tasting member. When the leather strap to this was
likewise buckled tight the two girls were held, heads pulled
awkwardly erect, sucking noisily on opposite ends of the beastly
gag.

'What a superb
tableau, Grayling,' Soberton said, his voice hushed with complete
awe. 'Would that I could have a painter record the scene.'

'Perhaps I
could arrange that, milord,' Grayling chuckled. 'I do know a couple
of aspiring brushmen who can be trusted to keep their own counsel
as to what they might see here. The commission would not be cheap,
however,' he added.

'Hang the
money, Grayling!' Soberton exclaimed. 'Some things in this world
transcend mere gold.'

'I agree,
sir,' Grayling said, 'and you shall see many more of them before
you leave here.'

When he had
finished with her, Jacob Crawley added a thick leather blindfold to
the outside of Matilda's hood, blocking out even the dim light in
the cellar and plunging her into the most complete darkness she had
ever known. With her hearing already dulled by the thick hide
stretched over her ears, she now felt awfully isolated, cut off
from the last vestiges of reality.

She could hear
Crawley's laboured breathing and the sound of something heavy being
dragged into the room, but then, after several minutes - which
could almost have been hours - the chamber became completely silent
yet again. With only the rasping sound of her own breath and the
dull, thump-thump of her heartbeat echoing inside her skull,
Matilda waited.

Her ordeal was
far from over, she knew. Crawley had said nothing, but the vicious
iciness in his eyes when she had simply stood motionless as he had
her, told that he needed to be able to reduce her to a state of
total surrender and that his failure yet to do so had kindled in
him a burning hatred for her in particular.

As for women
in general, Matilda thought, it was almost certain that this brutal
animal had hated the female sex for a very long time. Behind the
blindfold, she closed her eyes and fought back the tears that
threatened to overwhelm her once again.

'Damn!' Matt
Cornwell gasped, staggering to a halt and leaning against a tree at
the side of the roadway. Toby Blaine stumbled up behind him,
panting heavily and dropped to his haunches, wheezing noisily. From
somewhere behind them they could hear the uneven and now faltering
footsteps of Billy Dodds, who had been falling back almost since
the trio first set off after the mounted women.

'S'no good!'
Matt wheezed. 'No way we can keep up with 'em on foot.'

'No,' Toby
agreed. 'I didn't think they were riding that fast, not at first.
D'you reckon they heard us?'

Matt shook his
head. 'Doubt it,' he said, turning to slide down with his back
against the trunk. 'They'd not have heard our boots, not over the
sounds of their horses' hooves. Besides, we was runnin' along the
grass verges most of the time, wasn't we?'

'Too late now,
anyhow,' Toby said. 'They're well ahead, though it ain't maybe
quite so bad as it seems. Only one place they could be headed for
now, unless they're intendin' to ride towards Winchester.'

'Well, there's
a few more places between here and Winchester,' Matt pointed out,
'but I know what you're gettin' at. Grayling Hall is over this
ways, ain't it?'

'Yeah, 'bout a
mile and a half up the lane and then turn off,' Toby confirmed.
'Makes sense, I s'pose. If Ellen Grayling is involved they'd do
worse than hide Miss Harriet's cousin somewhere on the Grayling
Estate. It's big enough.'

'Ever bin in
there?' Matt asked. His breathing was slowly returning to normal
and he used one sleeve to wipe the cooling perspiration from his
face.

'Only once,'
Toby replied. His features clouded at the memory. 'Went lookin' fer
rabbits, about a year back now. Took me dad's old crossbow so's not
to make any noise to draw attention, like, but there was a couple
of keepers, skulkin' in the woods like they was poachers
themselves. Fired on me, they did,' he added indignantly. 'Maybe
not aimin' exactly for me, but too fuckin' close for comfort an'
they wasn't firing buckshot. One ball took a branch clear off only
about that much above me head!' He held his hands about a foot
apart to demonstrate the closeness of the unknown man's aim. 'Yeah,
damned nearly shit meself, I did.'

'So, you don't
fancy takin' a little look around the Grayling place now, I
s'pose?' Matt said, and Toby gave him a disdainful look.

'Not a
chance,' he replied firmly. 'Besides, what's the point? Like I
said, it goes on for bloody miles in all directions. We could walk
around all night and find nothin' at all.'

As he finished
speaking the shadowy figure of Billy came limping up, slumping down
into the soft grass at the edge of the roadway and collapsing into
an exhausted heap.

'So what now?'
Matt demanded, ignoring the younger lad.

'Go back and
tell Miss Harriet what we seen and what we think,' Toby said. 'Then
she can tell whoever she needs to and maybe send for the
soldiers.'

'To search
Lord Grayling's place?' Matt all but shrieked. 'You got to be
jokin', Toby Blaine! They wouldn't dare!'

Roderick
Grayling, Sarah quickly realised, was not a man who liked to be
hurried in anything he did, yet his outwardly languid demeanour hid
a ruthlessly efficient nature and a meticulous attention to
detail.

Having allowed
Henry Soberton a few minutes in which to appreciate the aesthetic
delight of the way in which he'd had his people position the two
girls, he returned to the fireside, unstoppered one of the wine
carafes that stood on the side table there and poured fresh glasses
for himself and his guest. Soberton, clearly very excited at the
scene before him, took his drink almost absently, reluctant to turn
away from the sight of the two girls so blatantly displayed and
presented.

'What next
then, Grayling?' he asked impatiently. 'Do we tup the little
beauties?'

Roderick
laughed and lifted his glass to his lips, sipping with exaggerated
appreciation. 'Certainly not, my dear fellow,' he said at length.
'Wouldn't do for a member of one of the oldest families in the land
to be dipping his wick in the posy of a rough flower. No, these
little rosebuds need careful cultivation before they'll be ready
for the likes of us.'

Hearing these
words, Sarah heaved an inward sigh of relief. Almost anything, she
told herself, was better than the prospect of being abused by the
fat nobleman - even the whipping it was now obvious they were both
going to receive. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, steeling
her nerves and wishing it would be over, but Grayling was still
unrushed.

'It amuses
me,' he said, strolling back across to resume his position almost
between the two spreadeagled girls, 'to watch a pretty pair like
this being brought back to the boil with finesse - finesse and a
little cut and thrust. The trick is,' he continued, pausing to sip
his wine yet again, 'to try to bring both wenches to a climax at
the same time.

'You see how
they've been placed, so they cannot but gaze into each other's
eyes? Of course, they can close their eyes as this one has now.' He
tapped Sarah lightly on her left buttock with the tip of his crop;
it was the lightest of blows, but Sarah nevertheless jumped,
pulling instinctively against her bonds.

'However,'
Grayling continued, running the end of the crop delicately up
Sarah's spine, 'it is my experience that, after the first few
lashes, they find themselves unable to continue like that. Perhaps
they derive a little comfort from watching their friends suffering
the same sweet agonies, I don't really know, but you will see that
they will gaze intently at each other as the moment of their final
surrender approaches.'

'I must say,'
Soberton observed, waddling over to join his host, 'that their
expressions are truly delightful. Those fat cocks in their mouths
seem to do something for them, eh?'

'Indeed,'
Grayling chuckled. 'A gag in a woman's mouth always produces such a
sweet look of what could best be described as surprise. See how the
eyes appear so large and so round.'

'Not half as
large and round as this one's bubbies,' Soberton said crudely. He
stood almost over Kitty, staring down at her with evident lust and,
as she reopened her eyes, Sarah could not but notice the huge bulge
in his tight breeches. 'Would you mind, sir?' Soberton stooped, his
free hand indicating Kitty's right breast, which hung so invitingly
below her.

'Be my guest,
milord,' Grayling replied blandly. 'But don't titillate her too
much just yet.' Greedily, Soberton bent further, his hand cupping
the heavy breast and kneading it without any thought for its owner.
Kitty groaned and writhed as far as her bondage allowed, the sudden
motion of her head tugging Sarah's head with it, much as Sarah's
earlier convulsive reaction had caused Kitty's head to mirror her
own movements from side to side.

Sarah stared
into Kitty's huge eyes, seeing her friend blink several times, her
features etched with the strain of trying not to respond to
Soberton's clammy touch, but although the gag had the effect of
dulling her face's ability to display emotion, it was clear to
Sarah that Kitty's large mounds tended to take over any natural
reticence.

'I think that
will do now, my friend,' Grayling warned quietly. 'We don't want to
pre-empt anything now, do we?'

With obvious
reluctance Soberton yielded his prize and stood back. 'So what
now?' he demanded.

Grayling
inclined his head slightly. 'We leave them awhile,' he said. 'Allow
them a short time for contemplation and anticipation. Meantime, you
mentioned earlier the possibilities of a painting, so I thought you
might like to come and view my own private gallery. Come, there is
much to see and these two little coquettes won't be going anywhere
in a hurry, will you my pretties?'

Laughing
lightly, he delivered a dismissive swat to each pair of raised
buttocks in turn and then, lifting his wine glass, quaffed its
remaining contents in a single draught.

Matilda was
left in her enforced isolation for what seemed to her to be yet
another lifetime. Lack of proper sleep, combined with her
continuing ordeal, had left her so exhausted that she actually
slept, rather than dozed, hanging by her wrists and totally
oblivious to the acute discomfort this caused.

How long she
slept she had no idea, but she was eventually awakened by the
sounds of voices and the scraping noises of something heavy being
dragged across the floor. For several seconds she had to
concentrate to make sure that she was actually awake again, for
with the blindfold still securely in place her world remained as
dark as pitch.

Confirmation
was not long in coming. She gave a small gasp as rough hands cupped
her breasts, hefting them indelicately and then she felt warm
breath upon the top of her chest, as her latest assailant leaned in
closer.

'Nice to see
you're still with us, missy.' Immediately she recognised the voice
as belonging to one of Crawley's henchmen; Silas she guessed,
though it scarcely mattered, she conceded, as his hands continued
to rove all over the body she was helpless to defend.

'What do you
want?' she hissed, realising it was a superfluous question. She
heard his harsh laugh, echoed by another, similar, though coming
from slightly further away.

'Well, we
thought as how you might like some company,' Silas leered, 'seein'
as how this is almost certain to be your last night on earth,
like.'

'My last
night?' Crawley had made the threat clearly enough, but even now
Matilda found it difficult to believe he would carry it through.
She heard the second man - presumably Jed - snicker to himself in
what seemed the far distance, but it was Silas who continued
speaking.

'Well, missy,'
he breathed, 'unless your granny pays the tithe for your
absolution, which she appears not willin' to do, then I'm afeared
we'll have no choice, see? We'll have to hang you on the green,
same as Master Crawley said.'