One Year Later...
(Actually, it was The Next Midsummer,
but let's not quibble.)
Once the immediate
overburden was removed, it was confirmed that the First Dig was
the site of a small hamlet or cluster of family farms.
This had already been strongly suspected by Jill and her
colleagues (Mel) based on their initial evaluation of the GPR
data. The outlines of round and rectangular foundations
had been unmistakable. Cultural artifacts (pottery shards,
broken tools, etc.) were still limited, but the excavation had
only just begun. It was too early to assign a reliable
date to the site. Jill's gut told her it was Late
Pre-Roman, but she was keeping an open mind.
Mel was thriving as Dr. Jill's Trusty Sidekick; however Lady
Clifton, Bailey, and her mentor were conspiring to kidnap the
"Little Scamp," ship her off to a stately and prestigious
campus, and force her to pursue advanced degrees in
ancient garbage analysis with all expenses paid by a generous
Cumberdale Archeological Institute scholarship. In fact,
Jill found her a faculty sponsor for the Masters program at the
University of Manchester. It wasn't difficult. The
sponsor in question was a CAI affiliate, made regular visits to
Dig #1, and was already familiar with Melody's intellect and
work ethic.
Upon hearing the news, Mel had made a scene, crying like a baby
and protesting that Lady Helen was being too generous.
(Everybody thought it was absolutely adorable.)
Her Ladyship would have none of Miss Melody's histrionics and
ordered the maids to strip her naked, bind and gag her, and tickle
the fool out of her bare feet and diddle her
silly until she stopped making a scene. Dr. Jill had been
away from the estate at the time and knew nothing about it.
And speaking of Dr. Jill... as allowed by her busy schedule of
supervising the dig (and grubbing in the dirt herself), the
Resident Archaeologist completed all three of her formal
initiations (rope, steel, and leather), and started
exploring Her Ladyship's Dungeon! So far, she'd been
stripped naked, tied up and gagged, dragged (led) down to the
Dungeon by Bailey and Her Ladyship, and had experienced one of
Helen's racks, her horse, and had been flogged down in
the Flagellation Chamber! Many additional "Torture
Engines" remained on the tour, but Jill was busy and wasn't
exactly in a hurry to check off each and every hideous (but
harmless) torment waiting down below and add them to her life
list of bondage experiences.
As for Mel... it was more or less the same, although during her
visit with the horse she'd shared the device with a naked,
bound, and gagged Elfrida! That is, Skylar tied the two of
them face-to-face, boob-to-boob, and tummy-to-tummy with their
hoo-haws riding (and squashed upon) the wedge-shaped
ridge! And it wasn't the only shared predicament the
pageboy-maid had inflicted on Melvin and her pixie-haired and
glasses-wearing colleague. In addition to The Dungeon, the
maids introduced Mel to hidden venues in Bastillon
Cottage suitable for the seclusion of naked, bound, gagged, and
reluctant damsels. This included a decidedly cozy chamber
up in the attic, an upright stone sarcophagus in an alcove in
the labyrinth of the hidden passageways, and a very solidly
built steamer trunk in the back of a currently unoccupied guest
bedchamber.
And oh-by-the-way... neither Dr. Jill nor her plucky sidekick
knew anything whatsoever about the other's membership in and
continuing participation in the activities of the Bastillon
Cottage Bondage Society! That's right! Jill was totally
unaware that Melvin was the maids' naked, bound, gagged
prisoner on a semi-regular basis (Dig #1 schedule allowing), and
Mel was totally unaware that her gorgeous and brilliant
mentor was a regular "victim" of Her Ladyship and/or Cousin
Bailey! They each knew they were making personal
visits to the Dungeon and/or being the naked, bound, and gagged
diddle-buddy of their respective playmates, but didn't know
their fellow archaeologist was anything other than...
vanilla!
Go figure!
This was not by chance. All of the
non-archaeological residents of Bastillon Cottage conspired to
maintain Jill and Melody's mutual ignorance. Nobody
initiated a "game session" without notifying Bailey. As
Her Ladyship's senior servant it was only logical to add Kink
Coordinator to Bailey's many duties and responsibilities.
Lady Clifton simply told Bailey that she intended to do
something unspeakably perverse, restrictive, and erotic to Dr.
Jill, of course, whereas The Maids had to beg permission to so
something similar to Poor Melody.
This drastically reduced (and nearly eliminated) the probability
of a naked, bound, and gagged Dr. Jill being dragged through
Bastillon Cottage's secret passages by Her Ladyship and/or
Bailey encountering a naked, bound, and/or gagged Poor Melody
being dragged to some insidious (erotic) fate by one or both of
the maids.
The same went for an off-duty archaeologist being dragged to a
Dungeon cell to be tormented (entertained) on one of Her
Ladyship's horrific (but ultimately harmless) torture engines...
only to find the engine in question was already being used to
torment (entertain) the other off-duty archaeologist...
which would have been awkward.
That said, the non-archaeologist members of the Bastillon
Cottage Bondage Society were well aware that when the
inevitable happened and Dr. Jill learned that the adorable
Melvin was also playing kinky games—or vice verse—the
fallout was going to be epic and delightful.
The suspense was delicious and they hoped it would
continue.
