by Van © 2024
		Chapter 10

"MRRRRRMPFH!!"

Just as Cat had suspected, she was, indeed, stretched on a MEDIEVAL RACK!!  Her feet in stocks at the foot!  Wrist cuffs, ropes, and drum at the top!  A MEDIEVAL RACK!!

She was also naked, gagged with a "medieval" panel-gag of brown leather with an anachronistic, pastel-green Silencilicone gobstopper underneath, stopping her gob—but all of that wasn't what had made her scream (or try to scream).  No, what had made her scream was that she'd lifted her gagged head, taken a quick look around, and realized she was also in a FULLY EQUIPPED MEDIEVAL TORTURE CHAMBER!!  It could only be Amberdale Castle's storied but heretofore off limits Main Torture Chamber!!

Not only that, but she wasn't alone!  All of Cat's fellow Amberdale Castle Rapscallions were present!  She did a quick recheck.  Yes, all of them, except for Hannah, Pru's big sister... but then, so far Hannah hadn't really been a player during Cat and Pru's visit/vacation... but all the rest of them were here!

Just to be absolutely sure, Cat conducted a detailed visual inspection, evaluation, and Rapscallion Roll Call:

Pru Reilly: Cat's girlfriend was naked, panel-gagged in the same manner as Cat herself (gobstopper status unknown), and she was in a standing spread-eagle with her limbs splayed and her butt and back resting against the X-shape of a not-quite-vertical St. Andrew's Cross with wide, thick, brown leather cuffs buckled around her wrists and ankles!

Grace and Lizzie Hardy: The Honorable Brats were naked, also panel-gagged (like Cat and Pru), and standing side-by-side and up on tiptoe with their arms raised over their heads and their wrists locked in thick, wide, steel manacles attached to taut vertical chains!

Brie Walker: The Castle Tours Manager was also naked and also panel-gagged (like Cat, Pru, Grace, and Lizzie).  In addition, she was straddling an authentic torture horse!!  Brie's hoo-haw was resting atop the horse's wedge-shaped horizontal "saddle."  However, Cat noticed immediately that while Brie's lady-bits were being squashed, it appeared a significant proportion of her weight was supported by her feet, or more precisely, by the balls of her feet and her toes!  Brie was standing on tiptoe (like Grace and Lizzie), atop a pair of wooden blocks!  The Evil Brie's pussy was only semi-squashed!

Cat decided Brie's perfidious predicament merited intense scrutiny.

Bondage-wise, Brie's arms were folded behind her back and her wrists crossed, bound, and raised several degrees above the horizontal.  Also, doubled ropes pinned her upper arms against her sides, passed above and below her breasts, and yoked her shoulders.  It was a semi-nasty box-tie!  In addition, taut vertical ropes traveled from the nexus of the box-tie and up to an iron ring attached to a vertical chain that in turn was attached to a beam over Brie's gagged head.

Obviously, the vertical rope-ring-chain tether was there to anchor Brie's body atop the horse and prevent her from falling off if she slumped forward, backward, or to either side.  Also, in the unlikely case that Brie was crazy enough to step off the blocks supporting her weight, ropes were tied around her ankles and to iron rings set in the floor to either side.  The ankle arrangement had significant slack, enough to allow her to kick and flail her feet, to a limited degree; however, the tethering ropes were definitely short enough to prevent her from even attempting some sort of dismount.

The Evil Brie's perch was arguably precarious.  Eventually, her legs, feet, and toes would tire, possibly even cramp, then give out completely and her poor pussy would pay the perfidious price!  Ouch!
 
Poor Brie, Cat thought.  Her feelings towards the blue-eyed brunette had softened significantly in the days since first arriving at the castle and their initial interactions, not that Cat had ever been genuinely hostile.  It was all role-playing.  Brie had been playing at being a heartless villainess.  The blue-eyed brunette was still "The Evil Brie," but Cat had come to accept Sabrina Walker as only... wicked?  Wicked is fair, she decided.

Anyway, Cat's heart was hammering, her blue eyes blinking and wide with alarm, and she was panting through flaring nostrils above her tight panel-gag.  She wasn't really scared, but clearly some sort of terrorized reaction was appropriate to the occasion.

Anyway, they were in a fully equipped torture chamber—Pru, Grace, Lizzie, Brie, and Cat—they were all naked, and they were all securely restrained in various torture-chamber-appropriate manners!  Obviously, Lady Paulina was totally okay with the situation as she'd secured Cat herself!  Also, Cat considered it a safe bet Her Ladyship had personally secured all the Rapscallions, including her own daughters!  The exception was the absent Hannah... but then, for all Cat knew, Hannah was naked, bound, gagged, and sequestered in inescapable captivity someplace else.  Who knew?

Anyway, Lady Paulina was right there, smiling and resplendent in her pretty summer dress and sandals!

"Now that we're all assembled," Her Ladyship purred, "I'd like to have a word with you as a group."  Cat's former black bag/hood had been in her right hand, but she'd just tossed it onto the seat of a heavy timber chair with a multitude of dangling leather straps where it joined a pile of similar lumps of black cloth.  Cat surmised they were the hoods Her Ladyship had used to preserve the surprise for all the other Rapscallions when she dragged them down to the torture chamber, probably one at a time, and secured them in place.

"I assume I have your full attention?" Lady Paulina inquired.

The Rapscallions exchanges puzzled looks, then nodded their panel-gagged heads. 

"Very well," Her Ladyship continued.  "I've decided you girls are too old for silly games."

The Rapscallions blinked and exchanged additional gagged and perplexed looks.  Clearly, they were collectively confused.

"You're no longer children," Lady Paulina lectured.  "It's time to move on to more serious games."

Huh? Cat thought profoundly.

"Towards that end," Lady Paulina continued, "I've discussed the matter with some of my dearest, oldest friends.  They concur, and we've agreed upon a course of action."

Another round of blinking ensued.

"I've invited them to the castle," Her Ladyship explained, "and they've all accepted.  Barring unforeseen mishaps, they should start arriving within the hour.  So... ladies... please wait here."

With that, Lady Paulina abandoned the Rapscallions (including her beloved daughters but not the absent Hannah) to languish in their various ghastly predicaments!

"MMMMPFH!!"

That was the collective consensus, but it didn't prevent Her Ladyship from strolling to the door and making her exit.

Creeeee—Creeeee-thud—Click!

That was the sound of the heavy, iron-banded, bolt studded timber door being opened, the gorgeous 50-something aristocrat crossing the threshold and closing the door behind her, then turning the lock.

What followed was a little more than an hour of truly premium languishing.  Cat took the occasion to make additional observations and form several conclusions.  Specifically...

Cat's Rapscallion friends appeared to be more confused than distressed... not genuinely distressed.  After all, Cat assumed they'd been tricked into their current horrific predicaments by Lady Paulina Hardy, the Dowager Countess Wrenbury, of Amberdale Castle!  Pru and Brie had probably bounced on Her Ladyship's knee when they were giggling tots, and without a doubt The Honorable Brats had also endured maternal knee bouncing.  (Hannah might also have experienced aristocratic knee bouncing, but she wasn't naked, bound, and gagged in the torture chamber and therefore not a subject of Cat's ruminations.)

Anyway, none of Cat's fellow prisoners appeared to be in significant pain, even after more than an hour of languishing... not even The Evil Brie, who was astride the Hobbyhorse of Horror.  Were they all in a stringently restrained dither after Lady Paulina's enigmatic announcement about the impending mysterious guests?  Yes.  In significant pain?  No.  Maybe it would be different in two hours for Grace, Lizzie, and Brie, when their toes and feet started giving out, but Her Ladyship had said her visitors would be arriving "within the hour," so things should start happening... soon.  Cat just hoped that whoever they were they'd all arrived promptly and weren't in one of the drawing rooms taking a timeout for tea and cake.

Also... while the Main Torture Chamber was extensively equipped with truly scary furnishings, none of them were actually ancient, meaning authentically medieval, meaning more than a few decades old... a century at the most.  Cat had taken the tour at the Tower of London and she could tell the difference.  The oldest and least renovated parts of the White Tower were obviously authentic.  The timbers were black with age and had a patina very difficult (if not impossible) to imitate, not when viewed up close and personal.

The Torture Chamber furnishings and accoutrements that Cat could see from her restrained position, which included her own rack, Pru's St. Andrew's cross, Brie's horse, The Honorable Brat's chains, the bondage chair, and a bondage table, were medieval in design and made to appear old, but the iron and steel hardware was all in good condition and the wood dark but not centuries old.

Pru had told her Amberdale Castle's "sinister facilities" were a prime example of a "Romantic Dungeon."  Its faux medieval torture engines and restraints had been manufactured in the recent past, meaning the Victorian or Edwardian Eras, with the Regency being a possible outlier.  The Rapscallions were surrounded by props and playthings, not authentic medieval artifacts.  That said... everything was obviously totally functional and the restraints inescapable.  It was amazing... as well as bone-chilling and deliciously scary.

The minutes crawled by.

Now and then the Rapscallions individually squirmed and twisted their restrained bodies, seeking some degree of comfort, but no attempt was made to strike up any sort of discussion.  That was just as well as their gags rendered chatting and comparing notes futile impossibilities.

More minutes crawled by...

Finally, the torture chamber door was unlocked—Click!—and opened—Creeeee!

	Jane Seymour guest starring as...		Gemma Arterton guest starring as...
	Lady Jane Tydwell		Hon. Cressida Tydwell
	Characters introduced in Immured, VAN's FiCTiON story #30.

As promised, Lady Paulina had returned, and she was still wearing her pretty summer dress and sandals.  With her were five strangers (strangers to Cat, anyway).  They were all strikingly beautiful (like Her Ladyship), as well as stylishly and expensively dressed for the season (also like Her Ladyship).  The newcomers smiled as they visually examined the captive Rapscallions and strolled forward.

"Some of you are already acquainted," Lady Paulina stated, "but proper etiquette requires a full introduction, so..."

Her Ladyship indicated a pair of brunettes standing side by side.  "Ladies, meet Lady Jane Tydwell and her daughter Cressida."

Cat and her fellow Rapscallions gazed at the Tydwells while they smiled back.

Lady Jane was in her sixties, Cat decided, or possibly even her early seventies!  There were a few wrinkles and her skin tone was showing signs of age, but she was in exquisite shape and carried herself with graceful poise.  Lady Tydwell was a remarkable and classically beautiful woman.

The Honorable Cressida—(Since Jane was a Lady, Cat assumed Cressida was Honorable.)—was in her late 30's (probably) and was just as beautiful as her mother.

Good genes, Cat decided.

Joely Richardson guest starring as...		Lily James guest starring as...
Lady Jocelyn Caerwyn		Hon. Charlotte Caerwyn
Characters introduced in Tourist Trap, VAN's FiCTiON story #46. (Charlotte is mentioned but not seen.)

Next, Lady Paulina indicated a pair of blondes, one platinum and the other slightly darker.  "And this is Lady Jocelyn Caerwyn and her daughter Charlotte, all the way from the Isle of Caer."

Cat had no idea where the "Isle of Caer" might be located, but decided Lady Jocelyn, the platinum blonde, was in her sixties, younger than Lady Jane and about the same age as Lady Paulina... maybe.  In any case, she was also gorgeous and in exquisite shape.

The dark-blonde was The Honorable Charlotte Caerwyn.  She was about the same age as Grace, and the two blondes (one naked, gagged, and semi-suspended in chains and the other very much not) had locked eyes and were smiling, Charlotte quite openly and Grace with her eyes only.  Clearly the blondes knew each other and were friends.  Cat could tell.  In any case, Charlotte was beautiful, shapely, and very easy on the eyes.

	Jenna Coleman   guest starring as...
	Lady Jo Gladburn
	Character introduced in My Little Pony, VAN's FiCTiON story #63.

Lady Paulina indicated the fifth and final newcomer.  "And this isLady Jo Gladburn, the Marchioness Fernwood."

Lady Jo was equally beautiful, in a cute-as-a-bug sort of way, with a truly stunning dimpled smile.  She appeared to be in her early thirties and was the shortest person in the Torture Chamber, only something like five-foot-two (1.57 m).  As a snap judgement, Cat decided she was absolutely adorable, even under the current circumstances.

Cat reflected that there was now a great preponderance of nobility in the Torture Chamber.  The commoners (Cat, Pru, and Brie) were outnumbered three to eight by gorgeous, smiling, aristocrats.  Granted, The Honorable Brats were naked, bound, and gagged, just like the plebeians, but clearly a good ol' fashioned peasants' revolt was an absurd impossibility.

Next, Lady Paulina made the complementary introductions required by etiquette; however, rather than using graceful gestures as she presented each of the Rapscallions and gave their names, professions, and personal links to the Hardy family, she placed a gentle hand on each of their persons!

Cat and Pru had their sculpted abdomens caressed from just above their pubic bushes to just below their breasts!

Brie received a gentle squeeze of her left breast, then a pat on her tummy!

Lizzie and Grace endured gentle pats on their naked butts and motherly kisses on their foreheads!

Cat, Pru, and Brie blinked and blushed in helpless embarrassment, while The Honorable Brats blushed and glared at their mother.

The visiting peers and their Honorable Brats were all clearly appreciative, including the diminutive and adorable Lady Jo, who, as far as Cat knew, might or might not have one or more Honorable Brats of her own, but if she did have offspring they'd be far too young to witness the current scene.

They can all afford to be appreciative, Cat silently fumed, referring to Lady Paulina and the newcomers.  They aren't the ones naked, bound, and gagged.

"There will be a welcoming banquet in the Main Dining Room, of course," Lady Paulina announced, "with plenty of opportunity to catch up or get acquainted... but let's all get to know each a little bit right now, shall we?"

What followed was a casual but one-sided meet-and-greet.  It was also a one-sided and decidedly hands-on meet-and-greet!

That is, Lady Paulina and the new arrivals strolled around the Torture Chamber and had a pleasant chat with each and all of the, uh, victims.  Lady Jane and her daughter remained together, Lady Jocelyn and her daughter did the same, and Lady Paulina acted as Lady Jo's escort, probably so the adorable little brunette wouldn't be the odd gorgeous aristocrat out.

Oh-by-the-way, and just to be clear, the aforementioned hands on aspect was the smiling, beautifully dressed, and gorgeous noblewomen taking liberties with the helpless bodies of the naked, bound, and gagged captives!  Abdomens were caressed!  Breasts were cupped and squeezed!  Thighs were stroked!  Palms were placed on pubic bushes and pussies!  Cat knew it was happening to the others (Pru, Grace, Lizzie, and Brie) but was somewhat preoccupied because it was happening to her!

The Honorable Cressida remarked to her mother that she recognized Cat from the last London Fashion Week, and Lady Jane responded that she remembered her as well.  Cat didn't remember seeing either of the Tydwells, but that was understandable because, like all her fellow models, on the runway she was totally focused on being a haughty, pouting beauty and hardly noticed the audience, even the thirty or forty celebrities sitting in the front rows.

The Honorable Charlotte remarked to her mother that she'd seen one of Cat's handful of movies, then smiled at Cat, gave her right breast a gentle squeeze, and complimented her performance... which Cat remembered as three scenes in which she was "Amanda," one the main character's girlfriends who listened to her complaints about her boyfriend but did nothing else.  She'd had exactly one line: "I told you he was wrong for you."  Anyway, she politely nodded (as Charlotte continued playing with her breasts and Lady Jocelyn rested her hand on her left thigh).

Lady Paulina, with Lady Jo smiling at her side, politely inquired how Cat was "holding up" and whether or not she was "enjoying herself."  Cat tried to muster the required frigid glower in response, but was distracted by her hostess' right hand, which was stroking her lady bits (meaning Cat's lady bits).  And while that was happening, Lady Jo was toying with her erect left nipple (meaning Cat's erect left nipple)!  Cat found squirming, shivering, and tugging on the rack's wrist cuffs to be quite easy.  Glowering was not.

Finally, after all of the newcomers had had ample opportunities to indulge in one-sided chit-chat and grope and caress all of the Rapscallions' persons... their hostess made another pronouncement.

"The hour's growing late," Lady Paulina observed, "and we all need to freshen up and dress for dinner, so... allow me to show you to your rooms."

Cat watched as the aristocrats who weren't naked, gagged, and chained up on their toes (Grace and Lizzie) made their exits, smiling and now chatting among themselves.

Creeeee!  Click!

Once again the Castle Rapscallions (minus Hannah) had the Main Torture Chamber to themselves... with time on their helpless hands.

Cat tugged on her cuffed hands for the umpteenth time.  When is somebody going to show up and release us so we can freshen up and dress for dinner? she silently pouted.

After several long and mildly infuriating minutes... perhaps twenty... 

The door was unlocked—Click!—opened—Creeeee!—and Hannah strolled into the Main Torture Chamber, solving The Mystery of the Missing Reilly Sister.  She was smiling, dressed in one of her reasonably expensive working business outfits, and not bound, gagged, or restrained in any way.  Go figure.

"Good afternoon," Hannah purred as she smiled and strolled to the St. Andrew's Cross and its captive, her little sister.  "You should all hurry up to your rooms and get dressed," she suggested (ordered).  Then, still smiling and having released Poor Prudence's wrists but not her ankles, Hannah retraced her steps and made her exit, leaving the Torture Chamber door open behind her.

"GORMLESS MINGEBAG!!" Pru shouted at her rapidly disappearing sister's back after removing her gag.  She then awkwardly bent at the waist, unbuckled her ankles, stepped off the cross, padded to the rack, and released her lover.

"Gormless mingebag?" Cat inquired with a grin as soon as she was ungagged.

"My pet name for Sis," Pru explained, then focused on the pastel-green Silencilicone plug she'd plucked from Cat's mouth and was still in her hand.  "Oh, pretty."

"Keep that thing," Cat suggested in a near whisper as she climbed off the rack and stretched.  "I'll sneak it out in my luggage if you're too chicken."

"Her Ladyship won't mind," Pru smiled.

Then, the vacationing models/actresses set about releasing the remaining Rapscallions.

"Do you know what your mother is talking about with her 'too old for silly games' nonsense?" Cat inquired as she released the elder Hardy sister.

Grace shook her head.  "Haven't a clue."

"Well, yes, that's a given," Pru chuckled as she released Lizzie, "but do you know what your mother is talking about with her 'too old for silly games' nonsense?"

"Very funny," Grace huffed  She glared at her little sister as Lizzie covered her mouth and giggled.  "No," the Senior Brat confessed, then turned her glare back to Pru.

They left The Evil Brie for last, standing around the horse in a naked, smiling, and openly gloating group of four.

Brie glowered back, naked, box-tied, gagged, up on her toes, and with her pussy being semi-squashed on the narrow ridge of the horse's "saddle."

"Do we really have to untie her?" Cat asked, earning herself an especially ugly gagged glare from the prisoner-of-the-horse.

"Mother will ask where she is if we just leave her down here," Grace stated.

"She will," Lizzie nodded.

Pru and Cat exchanged a disappointed look, then sighed.

"Well, Cat sighed, "I guess we need to get her down off this thing."

"I guess," Pru conceded, then glanced down at the blocks under Brie's toes and the balls of her bare feet.  "It would be a great pity if somebody accidentally kicked those things out from under her."

"A crying shame," Cat agreed with a sinister smile.  "I imagine it would be quite painful."

"Excruciating," Pru nodded.

"Agonizing," Grace concurred.

"Stop it!" Lizzie scolded fer fellow Rapscallions not riding the horse.  She also stomped her right bare foot, her blue eyes were flashing, and her lips were downturned in a mildly petulant pout.  "We need to get her down... now!"

Cat, Pru, and Grace exchanged grins.  Cat thought it was very cute the way the baby of the Rapscallions was speaking up for The Evil Brie.  Maybe there was something going on between them... other than Brie doing horrible but ultimately harmless things to Lizzie when nobody was looking.  That was what Cat had come to assume was the extent of their relationship.  Anyway...

Cat, Pru, and Grace shared a Truly Tragic sigh (followed by another grin), then set about the difficult task of rescuing Brie without slamming her full weight (and her lady bits) down on the horse.

They succeeded, and once Brie was off the insidious torture device, her bare feet on the stone floor, and had been untied and ungagged, she put her shapely nose in the air and stomped (padded) from the Main Torture Chamber.  "You're all gormless mingebags!" she decreed as she crossed the threshold, "every single one of you!"

The remaining Rapscallions laughed (or giggled, in Lizzie's case) as they followed.

Pru made no attempt to hide the pastel-green sculpted gobstopper in her right hand, but neither did she bring it to the others' attention.  The five brown leather panel-gags remained behind, as did four additional Silincecone mouth-plugs that had recently occupied Rapscallion oral cavities—black in the case of Brie—pastel-blue in the case of Grace—hot-pink in the case of Lizzie—and what might charitably be called a hideous shade of purple in the case of Pru.  Cat and Pru didn't care.  They had the one they wanted.

Cat paused to look back at the rack.  Well, she mused, that's one I can cross off my Damsel-in-Distress Bucket List.  She shifted her gaze to the horse... the business end of which might still be a little warm from The Evil Brie's crotch.  That one can wait, she decided, then hurried to catch up with the rest of the naked but not bound and gagged Rapscallions.