by Van ©2014
		Chapter 6

Right foot, left foot.  Right foot, left foot.

Jodi hiked the mountain trail, meaning she trudged on the tread-runner's rolling track.  Tragically, she had no choice.  Strapped in a tight, cruelly restrictive straitjacket, her piteous screams stifled by a cruel ball-gag, trapped atop the churning roller by cruel chains... Jodi had no choice but to put one bare foot in front of the other, again and again and again.  Worst of all, she'd been abandoned by the beautiful but callously cruel dominatrix who had kidnapped her, and she was at the mercy of the cruel machine with its cruel computer program that varied the angle of the treadmill as it simulated the cruel twists and turns of the cruel simulated mountain trail of the cruel exercise routine.

O, the drama!  Jodi sighed through her ball-gag.  Cruel, cruel, cruel!

Okay, so far the routine hadn't been all that bad.  During the initial warmup the bed of the tread-runner was perfectly level.  Then, as she "climbed" the first switchback of the trail up "Digital Mountain," the angle increased.  It hadn't been all that taxing, or the duration excessively long.  It was followed by another period of level hiking... then another climb.

Jodi was starting to sweat.  So far, that was the worst part of the "ordeal."  The straps running through her crotch to either side of her pussy and anchoring the bottom of the straitjacket might become a problem at some point, but for now, the tightness of the jacket was actually acting in her favor, preventing the straps from chaffing as she hiked.  Of course, if "Mountain Trek #1 (Beginner)" lasted long enough, that might change.  Also, trudging in her bare feet might become an issue.

Just then, Eleanor returned to her home gym.  Jodi had resolved to glare and stare and "demand" her immediate release—but at the sight of her beautiful, hot kidnapper in legging-pants and a sports bra, both in skintight black Lycra with fuchsia trim—she immediately fell back into her old habit of stunned, leering worship.  The exercise togs hugged Eleanor's incredible body in a most distracting manner.  Her feet were bare, her flat, well-sculpted tummy was bare, and the bra's perfect fit and minimalist straps were doing wonderful things for her breasts, not that they needed any help.  The only thing better would have been no bra, and no pants.  Eleanor's hair was pulled back on a no-nonsense ponytail, and a smile curled her full, beautiful lips, as always.

Jodi did manage to assert a display of at least some degree of displeasure as Eleanor strolled to the treadmill, but the Dastardly Kidnapper's eyes were focused on the details of Jodi's gagged, sweaty face, churning, sweaty legs, and trudging bare feet.  If she noted Jodi's attempt at Righteous Indignation, she gave no sign.

"Are you aware of the growing consensus that walking and running without shoes is good for your feet?" Eleanor inquired.  "Humans were barefoot nomads for thousands and thousands of years.  Sandals or moccasins are good to protect the feet from rocks and pebbles, but arch supports aren't really necessary, for most people."

Jodi had heard the hype about barefoot running, but she wasn't buying it.  She liked her running shoes, thank you very much; or rather, she liked the endless parade of cheap running shoes she wore out in only a few months each.  Anyway, the idea of running without arch supports sounded... iffy.

"Of course," Eleanor continued, "if one isn't used to running in one's bare feet, gradual conditioning is required."  Her smile broadened.  "That's why I'm starting you out with a nice, easy hike of only a few miles."

Jodi sighed through her gag, then her eyes popped wide.  Wait!  Jodi had two issues.  Firstly...  A few miles?  The cartoon trail on the treadmill screen was scrolling from the right, and nothing on the display specified the duration of the program, either in time or distance, so maybe she was in for a long hike.  Secondly...  'I'm starting you out?'  Was that more teasing, or was Eleanor really going to keep her as her plaything/prisoner/pleasure-slave?  If so... She can't be serious!  Someone was bound to come looking for Jodi, eventually.  Libby knew where she was, but Libby might be Eleanor's accomplice.  Candy would certainly want to know what happened to her big sister, but Libby would be the first person she'd ask, and maybe Libby already had a plausible story ready to go.  And Candy wasn't exactly Nancy Drew.

"I've been running in my bare feet for two years," Eleanor said, "and I love it.  Let me show you the sort of shoes I wear when I work in the garden or hike the forest trails."

Jodi sighed through her gag as she watched Eleanor stroll to the French doors next to the window wall, open a small wooden cabinet, and return with a pair of shoes.  Anyway, Jodi could care less about Eleanor's taste in footwear, and—  Oh.

Eleanor was holding what looked like a pair of rubber and nylon sandals, the sort of shoes worn for water sports or walking on rocky beaches.  This particular model was like a pair of slippers with Velcro straps, dark gray rubber soles, and brick-red nylon uppers.  The thing was, the shoes had toes!

Footwear for the modern hobbit, Jodi thought.  I'd look like a ridiculous geek in those things.  She gaze shifted from the goofy sandals to Eleanor, then back to the sandals, and she sighed through her gag.  Jodi knew Eleanor wouldn't look the slightest bit geeky in the sandals.  Eleanor couldn't make herself geeky if her chosen costume for the next Comic-Con was "Geek."  She could put on a pair of size thirty-seven clown shoes and they'd instantly become "an interesting fashion choice."

Eleanor tossed the toed sandals in the basket attached on the front of the tread-runner, a basket that was probably there to hold reading material or a water bottle for the runner—a runner who wasn't in a straitjacket and chained in place, of course.

"Well, enjoy your workout," Eleanor purred, kissed Jodi's sweaty forehead, then strolled to the open area in the center of the room and began doing warmup exercises.

Thanks bunches, Jodi silently fumed, and continued trudging the "scenic" trails of Digital Mountain.  Jodi sighed through her gag, again, blinked away a bead of sweat that had rolled into her left eye, and watched as Eleanor spread her legs a few inches apart, raised her hands over her head and put her palms together, and began bending at the waist, first to her left... and then to her right.  The stretched Lycra of Eleanor's legging-pants and sports bra was doing a heroic job of containing the hotness of her toned, athletic, perfectly proportioned body.

I guess Digital Mountain actually is scenic, Jodi decided.

Once again Jodi was being led down the hallway of Eleanor's mansion; however, there had been a major change.  She wasn't mincing!  Eleanor had freed Jodi from the Evil Treadmill of Doom and the padded ankle-cuffs were still buckled around her ankles, but she hadn't reattached the hobble-strap!  No more mincing!

So, Jodi was free to make a break for the front door, naked, barefoot, strapped in the tight straitjacket, and ball-gagged.  All she had to do was outrun Eleanor, race down the driveway to the road back to town, and... hitchhike?  There were two problems, three if you count not being able to raise a thumb with her hands trapped in the sleeves of the straitjacket.  One, Jodi probably couldn't win a footrace with Eleanor on her best day.  And two, this was not Jodi's best day.  She was exhausted.  The tread-runner program may have been labeled "Beginner," but it should have been labeled "Beginner/Excessively LONG."

Jodi wasn't mincing, but she was almost stumbling with fatigue.  She was also sweaty and thirsty.  Eleanor had used several of the other fancy machines for a thorough workout of her own, while Jodi trudged on the fancy tread-runner, but she hadn't hydrated her delivery-girl/prisoner/tourist.  How rude!  With luck, that would soon change, and Jodi wouldn't say no to a spot of lunch... and a nap.

They reached the Mistress bedroom and Eleanor pointed to the bed.  Jodi blinked with fatigue, sighed through her gag, then dragged her pathetic self to the bed and flopped down on its neatly made surface.  She closed her eyes and waited for Eleanor to remove her gag.  She was sure that was gonna happen.  Eleanor was a decent sort (and hot)—not that Jodi had a lot of experience being kidnapped—but Jodi was sure she'd be getting something to drink, at the very least.

Jodi realized Eleanor was doing something to her ankle cuffs, lifted her head to watch, then sighed, again.  Eleanor had threaded the end of a coil of brown rope through the D-rings in ankle cuffs and was tying an elaborate knot.  She then looped the rope around one of the posts at the foot of the bed, strolled to the head of the bed, playing out the remaining rope as she went, looped the coil around the opposite bedpost, tied the free end through the D-ring in the straitjacket over Jodi's right shoulder, and tied another knot.

Jodi was now loosely pinned to the bed.  She had tons of wiggle room, but knew she wasn't going anywhere.  She heaved yet another piteous sigh, then watched Eleanor first shrug out of her sports-bra, then peel off her legging-pants.  Both garments were damp with sweat, as was Eleanor's glorious toned and fit body, as sweaty as Jodi's straitjacketed and bound body.

"I'm going to exercise my prerogative as mistress of the house and take the first shower," Eleanor explained.  She dropped her exercise togs in a hamper just inside the walk-in closet, then strolled to the bathroom.

Of course you are, Jodi fumed silently.  Mistress always gets the first shower.  I'll wait right here.  There, she'd done it herself.  She'd quipped about her own helplessness.

The bathroom door closed, there was a brief pause, then Jodi heard the shower start running.  She closed her eyes.  Might as well get a head start on that nap, she decided.

Time passed, but no more than three or four minutes.  Finally, the shower stopped.  Jodi hadn't dozed off, but she remained a totally relaxed straitjacketed, ankle-bound, and ball-gagged lump.  Two or three more minutes passed, then Eleanor emerged from the bathroom, nude and toweling her hair with a fluffy white towel.

Jodi gazed at her naked, incredibly hot captor through sleepy eyes.  Wow, that never gets old, she thought, and sighed through her gag.  Jodi was doing a lot of sighing.

Eleanor strolled to the bed, sat, and unbuckled Jodi's ankle cuffs.  She then pulled the captive into a sitting position, untied the rope loosely tethering the straitjacket and its occupant to the bed, then began the long process of unbuckling the jacket itself.

As buckle after buckle was released and the canvas prison surrendered its grip on her otherwise naked and sweaty body, Jodi resolved to at least try and give her kidnapper a fight.  This time she wasn't going to just let Eleanor slap her in cuffs, tie her up, or do whatever she had planned in the way of restraints.  Finally, the jacket was pulled from her body, and Jodi leaped from the bed, turned, and dropped into fighting stance, ready to unleash her formidable (and nonexistent) martial arts skills on her kidnapper.

Still sitting on the bed, Eleanor smiled.  "Adorable," she chuckled, then nodded towards the open bathroom door.  "Take as long as you want, Little Nymph.  I'll be right here when you return."

The ball-gag still strapped in Jodi's mouth put a damper on whatever defiant and/or clever snappy comeback she might have wanted to share, so she rolled her eyes, stomped into the bathroom, and closed the door.  She punched the button in the center of the doorknob, engaging the lock (she hoped), then unbuckled and removed the ball-gag.  Her next priority was a drink of water.  She filled the small tumbler next to Eleanor's toothbrush, drank, then refilled the tumbler and drank again.  Her next priority was taking a tinkle.  Then... the shower.

Eleanor had told Jodi she could take her time, so she did.  Jodi let the hot water cascade over her body for a full minute before even thinking about soap or shampoo.  Finally, after several luxurious minutes, Jodi decided she was clean.  It was time to confront her kidnapper.

Jodi toweled herself dry, including her hair, then used Eleanor's brush and comb set to straighten said hair.  Her brown mop (with frosted highlights) was still a tad damp, but she was presentable, and nude.  Jodi briefly considered wrapping the towel around her torso, but discarded the idea, as well as the towel.  She put her hand on the doorknob, sighed, and opened the door.

Eleanor was still sitting on the bed—or rather, she'd returned to the bed.  The straitjacket and ankle cuffs were gone, but in their place were several neat coils of the same brown rope she'd used to tether Jodi to the bed while she took the first shower.  Obviously, Mistress had put the jacket and cuffs someplace and fetched the additional rope.  She hadn't bothered to dress, however.  Eleanor de Vries was still gloriously nude.

Jodi stared at her hostess, then the rope, then her hostess.  "What's that for?" she demanded, then mentally kicked herself.  She knew what it was for.  "Where are my clothes?"  Yes, that was a better line of attack.

"Your clothes are still in the laundry, Jodi," Eleanor purred, "but you don't need them, do you?"

"I can't go home naked," Jodi huffed.

Eleanor smiled.  "But you can't continue the tour wearing clothes."  She patted the bed.  "Take a load off, Little Nymph.  I know you're tired.  Don't you want to take a nap while I prepare something to eat?"

Jodi stared at the rope.  "I don't wanna be tied up," she pouted.

"But you've only seen some of my collection," Eleanor countered.  "And we've played with steel, leather, and canvas.  What about rope, Jodi?  Aren't you curious to see what I can do with rope?"

Actually, Jodi was curious, but...  This was the first time she'd been free since The Great Seduction at the beginning of the tour.  Had it really only been yesterday?  Anyway... she was curious.  But could she trust Eleanor?  "I..."  She might as well let the cat out of the bag.  "Can I trust you?"

Eleanor continued smiling, but waited a few seconds before answering.  "I'm not sure how to answer that," she said, finally.  "Coercion and subterfuge are parts of the game, are they not?  Can I be your kidnapper if you know you can trust me?  Won't that cheapen the game and lessen the experience?"

"I know I can trust Candy," Jodi countered, "and we still play."

"Yes, I'm sure that's true," Eleanor purred, "but our game is at a higher level, no?  A much higher level that the game you play with your little sister."

Jodi found herself nodding, then stifled herself.  "I don't want to be tied up," she huffed.

"Of course," Eleanor shrugged.  "Now, as for trust...  I think you know I'm not a bad person, Jodi."

"As beautiful kidnappers go, you seem very nice," Jodi conceded, and there was no sarcasm in her manner.

Eleanor's smile widened, and was that a hint of a blush coloring her cheeks?  Jodi wasn't sure.

"Thank you, Little Nymph," Eleanor said, then patted the bed, again.  "Sit."

Jodi walked to the bed and sat.  She was still conflicted, but... this was a fun game, in a stressful, exhausting, terrifying, sexy sort of way.  And Eleanor was entirely correct about all of this being at a higher level than any game she'd ever played before.

Eleanor lifted a bundle of rope, released the hitch securing the coil, shook it out, and doubled it to find the center.

Her back to Eleanor, Jodi stared straight ahead.  A doubled loop of rope dropped over her head and tightened around her upper arms and torso, just below her breasts.  "I hope I don't regret this," she muttered under her breath.

Eleanor smiled and made a second doubled pass around Jodi's body, just above the first pair of strands, then pulled out the slack.

Rope tightened around Jodi's upper body for the next several minutes as Eleanor's efforts coalesced into an elaborate and inescapable box-tie.  Neat horizontal bands of rope pinned Jodi's upper arms to her upper body, passing above and below breasts and imparting additional perkiness to the slightly squeezed globes.  The ropes were cinched between her arms and torso, and yoked her shoulders.  Additional strands lashed her wrists against her spine and pinned her thumbs and the palms of her hands against her arms.  Everything was uniformly tight, without being too tight, and something like a third of Eleanor's efforts had seemed to be devoted to weaving and wrapping the free ends of the rope around itself behind Jodi's back.

"What is this stuff" Jodi asked, about halfway through the process.

"Linen," Eleanor answered, "boiled, dried, and treated with Jojoba oil."

"Linen?  Old rags?"

"No, silly," Eleanor chuckled, "it's made from the fibers of the flax plant.  Although, the idea of rope woven from strips of old rags is interesting."

"It's soft," Jodi noted.

Eleanor leaned forward and kissed the side of Jodi's neck.  "Only the best for my Little Nymph."

The rope was indeed soft, and the few knots or hitches Jodi could see from the front were both functional and decorative, almost like macrame.  And from all the tugging and pulling that was happening she assumed the same was true of the web of ropes behind her back, as well.  Anyway, when Eleanor tied her final knot and climbed off the bed, Jodi knew herself to be well and truly tied up.

Still kneeling on the mattress, Jodi executed a decidedly ineffective "courtesy struggle."  Everything was tight and nothing shifted, but nothing pinched her skin, either.  There was a little give as she tried to roll her shoulders and arms, but she could tell that was both a property of the rope and a testimonial to Eleanor's skill as a rope-rigger.

Finally, after a minute of halfhearted effort, she flopped onto the bed, rolled onto her right side, and gazed up at Eleanor.  "Good job," she sighed.

"Thank you, Jodi."  Eleanor reached down and ran her hands over the ropes dimpling Jodi's left arm.  "The box-tie has always been my favorite," she said.  "Properly applied, there's minimal strain on the shoulders.  A prisoner can be box-tied for a very long time without causing harm, even for days."

Jodi stared up at Eleanor.  She's kidding.  She's trying to scare me... and it's working.  She watched as Eleanor lifted the first of two remaining rope bundles and released the hitch securing the coil.

Eleanor rolled Jodi onto her back, folded her right leg until the heel of her foot nudged the back of her thigh, then tied a quick and simple frog-tie.  She looped and hitched rope around Jodi's ankle and upper thigh, and also looped rope around and through Jodi's bent knee.  She then stretched the remaining rope to the upper right bedpost and tied a quick knot.  Eleanor then picked up the second coil and gave Jodi's left leg similar treatment, this time tying the rope around the lower left bedpost.

Jodi was now on her back and more-or-less in the middle of Eleanor's giant bed, with her frog-tied legs lewdly splayed.  This left her greedy, treacherous pussy completely exposed and vulnerable, of course.

Meanwhile, Eleanor had opened the drawer of the bedside table and produced a pair of scissors and a roll of tape.  She then sat on the bed and scooted forward until she could lift Jodi's upper body and rest her head and shoulders on her lap.

Jodi watched as Eleanor ripped a six or seven-inch strip of tape from the roll, then snipped it free with the scissors.  The roll was about three inches wide and the tape was translucent, with a regular pattern that made it look something like a closely woven fabric.  "Do you have to gag me?" Jodi sighed.

"It helps keep the bubbles in the champagne, Little Nymph," Eleanor chuckled, then leaned close and kissed Jodi's pouting lips.

"It's mean," Jodi huffed, then pursed her lips together.

Eleanor stretched the strip between both hands, pressed it over Jodi's mouth, then smoothed the tape with her fingers.  The milky tape covered her lower face from just under her nose to the tip of her chin, and nearly from ear to ear.  There was no wrinkling in the tape, and the three-dimensional shape of Jodi's lips was quite prominent.  Eleanor smiled down at her precious prisoner.  "In afterthought, I realize I should have worn panties under my exercise pants," she purred, combing her fingers through Jodi's bangs.  "Then I'd have something to stuff in your pretty little mouth."

Jodi blinked in surprise.  Panties?  Damp, sweaty panties?  A shudder of disgust rippled through her helpless body, including her pussy.  Okay, her pussy had something on its "mind" other than disgust, but still...

"Time for you to take a nice nap," Eleanor continued, "but first..."  She eased Jodi off her lap, stood, and walked around the bed.  "I know just what you need to help you relax."

Jodi watched Eleanor sit back down and lean forward.  Relax?  I'm pretty relaxed right now, and—Oh!  OH!  Eleanor had reclined on her stomach, parted Jodi's labia with her fingers, and given her pussy a slow lick!  Jodi shivered in her bonds and tried to close her legs.  The frog-tie ropes made that impossible, of course.  Her thigh muscles tensed with the effort, and in response to Eleanor's tongue.  Meanwhile, the first lick was followed by a second, then a third, and now Eleanor was doing more intricate things with her tongue, other than simply dragging its wet surface across some of Jodi's favorite nerve endings.

"Mrrrrrpfh!"  As gagged expressions of Scandalized Outrage go, Jodi's scream was pretty much a bust.  She could just as easily have been shouting for joy.  Eleanor's tongue was good!  Eleanor's tongue was really good!  And obviously quite experienced.

Eleanor paused and licked her full lips.  "Pay close attention to what I'm doing," she purred.  "I expect you to at least try and demonstrate what you're learning at some point in the future."  She then extended her tongue and returned to the task of probing and teasing Jodi's pussy.

Jodi struggled in her bonds for all she was worth.  Is she kiddin' me?  Pay attention?  How can I NOT pay attention?  "Mrrrrrm!"

Slowly, inexorably, Eleanor brought Jodi to the cusp of orgasm... kept her there for what felt like a minor eternity to the quivering, shivering captive... then carried her over the brink to a crashing multiple orgasm.

Before departing to let Jodi enjoy her nap, Eleanor released her legs from the frog-tie.  She then crossed Jodi's ankles and used one rope to first lash them together, then tether them to the lower bedposts.  She then hitched the second coil through the nexus of rope behind Jodi's back and used the free ends to tether her to the upper bedposts.  However, she was careful to leave her "Little Nymph" plenty of wiggle room.

Eleanor then strolled into the walk-in closet.  There was a pause... and she emerged dressed in sandals, a fresh pair of jeans, and a sleeveless cotton blouse.  Smiling her gloating, infuriating, gorgeous smile, she returned to the bed, leaned close, and planted a kiss on Jodi's tape-gagged lips.  "Sweet dreams," she purred, then left the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Well, Jodi mused, that was... something.  She closed her eyes, squirmed in her bonds, and composed herself for sleep.  Or not.

Why did I do it?  Why did I let her tie me up again?  Okay, technically it was the first time Eleanor had tied her up, as her previous bonds had been steel followed by leather, rather than rope, but...  Why?  She sighed through her tape-gag.  Maybe you can tie someone up with something other than rope, she thought, in a more general sense.  I'll have to look it up.

In any case, it was now clear that given half a chance, Eleanor de Vries could tie up Jodi Hodges whenever she wanted, using anything and everything in her collection.

I need to put my foot down, Jodi thought.  Unfortunately, her feet were lashed together and she was tethered.  She wouldn't be putting anything down until Eleanor untied her.

Jodi had some thinking to do.

Instead, she drifted off to sleep.