Church of Chains (11 page)

Chapter 13

They were lined up outside their cells for the last time. But for the first time in weeks they were chained together as they had been in their early days, with a chain running between their legs and fastening to their wrist restraints behind them.

“You’re going before Father Burton, and you’ll have to prove to him that you’re purified and ready to serve the Church, so you’ll come before him in chains. If you let us down, then pray to God for help. Now move!” The brother in charge cracked his whip around the legs of the girl leading and suddenly the mood of excitement turned to one of apprehension.

They were turned to face their right and told to walk. It took a little practice and a few painful jerks of the chain before they got back into the swing of keeping in step. Paula couldn’t help feeling a slight pang as they left their cell corridor for the last time. She had been reborn here, and reborn as someone she would never have dreamed that she really was.

They marched through corridors which were now familiar, past their dining room and the Punishment Wing but then they were turned to their left and taken into the courtyard. And here they saw Brother Davis and Sister Lavinia returning from a mission to pick up the next intake of girls off the street. There was the white van which Paula had almost forgotten, its doors were open and the girls were being taken out.

The van must have been farther a field this time because it had returned much later in the morning than it had when they had arrived. Paula’s group was told to halt and they were allowed to see the huddled line of bewildered girls, gagged and cuffed, just as they themselves had been, take their first look around them. Paula exchanged knowing grins with her companions, she knew they were thinking the same as her; that they would love to be on hand to watch this lot get their first taste of real discipline and hear them squeal.

They were allowed to watch until Brother Davis had herded them to the Pen and then they were taken on into the house itself. They entered by a large, imposing door through which they had never been before and found themselves at the back of the main hall

Normally they either went down from here to the small chapel for prayers or, in the evening they were taken upstairs to the Lounge. But today they were taken down a long passage on the ground floor and at last ushered into a huge drawing room with a vaulted stone ceiling. Here they were halted once again. They were unchained from each other but their hands were kept locked together behind them. Their guards had them kneel down and shuffle on their knees until they were face to face with the wall on the left of the room. Paula could smell the faintly musty odour of old stone as her face touched it and felt its cold strike into her breasts as they too made contact. In front of, and slightly above each girl was an iron ring from which hung two slender chains and Paula noted that each chain had an alligator clip at each end.

They were told to part their thighs and one of the brothers began to run another chain along the line. It was anchored to a further ring set at one end of the line and at the height of their loins. He set about passing it through both of the rings which hung from each girl’s labia. He took his time and repaid them for their flirtatiousness earlier. He let his fingers stray as he reached round each of them and parted their lips to stroke and flick at each clitoris until he had made it erect and eager for more. Then he moved on leaving the girl to moan quietly and contemplate an arousal for which there was no fulfilment.

He took a sadistic delight in taking Paula higher than the others. He reached further round under her belly and pushed his fingers up into her as well as rubbing at her helplessly swelling clitoris. He kept on until she was good and moist, her face pressed against the stone and her eyes closed to concentrate on what pleasure she could get from this teasing.

Suddenly she felt him put his lips close to her ear and whisper. “You’re reckoned to be the hottest one we’ve got my lovely. So don’t go thinking it’s all over once you’re a novice.” He pulled the chain tight between her rings and moved on.

She managed to stifle the groan of disappointment which welled up in her throat as he pulled his fingers out of her and thought instead about the implied threat in his words. She didn’t expect it to be ‘all over’ once she was a novice. She would have been desolate if she thought it was. If she had been allowed to speak she would have told him that she welcomed any further challenge.

When the chain had been fed along the line their hips were pulled tight against the wall. But then the same brother came back and clipped the short chains which hung in front of them to their nipple rings. As each chain had a clip at both ends he was able to adjust them, by looping one end over the ring and then fastening the clip to the right link, to ensure that each girl’s breasts were pulled up and held fast. Paula now found that she had to turn her head to one side to press it as close as she could to the wall, and even then there was a constant and uncomfortable tug on her nipples.

The men stood back and admired the view. And Paula could imagine that ten naked females, legs apart, kneeling submissively and held by their slave rings must have made a fine one. However, as always there was a finishing touch to be added. A metal bar was passed behind all of them and this was fed through the rings on their wrist restraints. Once in place it was lifted a little and pulled back to be slotted into two posts which were mounted in the floor at either end of the line. There was a chorus of agonised groans as all the girls felt their arms painfully wrenched up behind them and held by the bar. It also had the effect of making them press their faces even harder against the unyielding stone to try and alleviate the discomfort.

“Very pretty,” the brother in charge said finally. “If you ladies wouldn’t mind waiting here a while, someone will be along shortly. Or maybe not so shortly,” he laughed and they heard the men leave, closing the door behind them.

There was silence apart from the occasional whimper. Paula was sure that all the men had left and there was a terrible temptation to talk in whispers and try to guess what was in store for them. But until they were novices, any talking was forbidden. It must be a kind of test she decided. Obviously her companions had decided the same because the silence continued unbroken for what seemed like hours. The pressure on their shoulders, the ache in their backs and the pull on their breasts became worse and worse. The groans and cries became nearly constant. But still no-one dared speak.

At last they heard a door open again and footsteps approach. A shadow loomed over them and Paula could see that it was Father Burton.

“Well done,” he said simply. “Release their arms and we will proceed with the rest of the tests.”

With sighs of relief they felt the bar lifted down and then pulled out from between their wrists. They had passed the first test.

Two girls from the end of the line on Paula’s right were released. Their wrists were also freed and they stood up and began to rub their shoulders and flex their arms. The brother who had whispered to Paula was now in attendance and he allowed them a few moments before taking them through a door which Father Burton had passed through while they were being released. The rest of them were left alone, but they were too pleased at having passed the first test to jeopardise everything by talking now.

Paula and the girl on her left were the third pair to be taken. They went through the door and found themselves in a sumptuous office. The carpet was deep and their bare feet sank deliciously into it. At the far end of the room, under a large window was a desk, and behind this sat Father Burton. He beckoned them over and the brother who was standing behind them, put a hand in the small of their backs and pushed. They approached nervously and stood uncertainly before him.

“First you will repeat the vows that Brother Davis has taught you,” Father Burton told them abruptly.

Haltingly to begin with they started repeating the vows which had been hammered into them after morning prayers, day after day. “I vow to serve the Church of Ultimate Purification with my body and my soul. I vow obedience to the rules laid down by the Patriarch and I vow obedience to all who act in his name...” They vowed to repay the church for their redemption by working in any way they could to its betterment. Above all they acknowledged that they were subservient to their masters and that complete obedience was the most important way in which they could serve.

When they had finished Father Burton said he was satisfied that they had learned their words adequately and that aspects of their vows would be tested in due course. For the moment they would be taught the correct way to make them.

“Now you have the chance to begin to serve, you must learn that more will be expected of you. You will have seen and maybe begun to learn that when you stand in front of me or any other person who the church has put in authority over you, you will stand with your legs apart, your hands behind your backs and you will look down. Failure to do this from now will be a punishable offence. Do it.”

They did as they were told, and were then informed that Sister Lavinia and Sister Helen would be attending to their deportment in future. “The way a woman holds herself, the way she stands and moves is every bit as important in pleasing her master as any other of her actions,” Father Burton told them.

He went on to tell them that on the command ‘drop’ they were to get onto all fours immediately. On the command ‘kneel’ they were to kneel back on their haunches, part their thighs and again place their hands behind their backs. Finally they were told that if the command ‘Open’ was given them, they were to stand with their legs wide open and their hands clasped behind their heads with their elbows pulled back level with their shoulders. As soon as they adopted this position Paula realised that the command meant exactly what it said. They would be open to anyone to examine any part of their bodies.

They were tested on these commands until Father Burton was satisfied and then in the respectful stance they had been taught they repeated their vows. They had hardly finished when there was a knock at the door. Telling Paula and her companion to remain as they were, the brother opened the door and one of the initiates came in. She held a sheaf of papers and went straight to Father Burton, and stood beside his chair. “They require your signature Father,” she explained.

He spread the papers and began to scan them. Paula managed to raise her eyes enough to watch and was amazed to see that quite casually the hand that wasn’t busy went straight between the girl’s legs. She was standing in the same posture Paula was and she saw how easy it was for him to get up under the short dress. His long fingers stroked at the insides of her firm thighs for a moment before going farther up. She saw the girl’s body make a subtle shift and she guessed she was accommodating the fingers in her sex. When he had finished the paperwork he looked up and told the girl to drop, then he waved Paula and her companion away. The brother guided them to a door on the other side of the desk, and as they left Paula caught a glimpse of Father Burton swivelling his chair to face the girl. However she had no time to wonder what she would be commanded to do for the Father because in the next room Brother Davis was waiting for them.

He was dressed in a full robe like the Father and it bore the same red X, but his was brown. He stood beside an arrangement of metal bars fixed into wooden posts. In his hand he held a long cane.

“You have two more tests to pass. Here your willingness to suffer pain for the Church will be tested. In addition your obedience will again be tested.”

Paula listened in dismay as the nature of the test was outlined. Each of them would take two strokes at a time while they were bent over the bars. The one who wasn’t being caned would be made to stand just behind the one who was. In that way she would be able to see exactly what punishment was coming her way. They would not be tied, they would not be told how many strokes they were to receive and each order to bend over would only be given once. Paula glanced at her companion and saw her swallow nervously.

“This beating is given solely for your instruction in total obedience. It is neither for your punishment nor my pleasure. Number Three, I will start with you. Bend over.”

Paula braced herself, but the idea of refusing never even entered her head. She bent over the first bar which was at waist height and then reached forward for the second bar. This was set slightly higher and far enough away from the first to make her stretch forward. She didn’t need to be told to open her legs. She spread her grip on the second bar to brace herself better. Although she didn’t have to bend right over and grasp her ankles, she was well stretched and knew her buttocks were nicely taut.

Brother Davis gave her no warning. There was the briefest of whirring noises behind her and a Thwack! immediately after. Paula had thought that she had experienced everything that could be inflicted on her. She had been on the receiving end of the crop, the horsewhip and a variety of lesser whips and straps. And as she had settled herself she had thought that a caning couldn’t be all that much worse; if at all.

But the very first stroke drove the breath out of her and left her gulping stupidly, her eyes staring ahead of her in disbelief. As she drew in her breath again the second stroke landed and she shrieked with all her might. So concentratedly did the thin shaft deliver its pain that for a second there was a delay and then the full force of it arrived. And went on growing. Even as Paula dazedly straightened up she was swallowing and gulping for air as pain raged through her body.