Church of Chains

by Sean O'Kane

  Linda gently rubbed cream into the lesser of Paula’s bruises when she finally eased herself down onto her bed. Nothing was said but Paula knew that although Caroline might have sown some seeds of distrust, it was a private matter; something between the members of the group. Both she and Caroline had kept faith despite the punishment.

  It had cost her a lot but she had weathered the crisis.

  Chapter 18

  In the days that followed, the only concession made to the severity of the punishments which Paula and Caroline had suffered was that they were allowed extra rations at mealtimes to build their strength up again. They still had to take their four strokes of the tawse however.

  News of the fact that they had been sentenced to ninety lashes must have gone round like wildfire Paula thought, and the dining room went silent at the first breakfast after their release. All the girls, including the initiates Paula noted, turned to look as Caroline with Paula behind her reached the sister on duty. Caroline stood hopefully in front of her for a second.

  “What are you waiting for girl?” the sister asked coldly.

  Paula saw Caroline’s shoulders slump. Slowly her hands fumbled her dress up to her hips and she bent over. The sister wasn’t satisfied and hiked the dress up farther to reveal the whole of her bottom. Paula heard a few stifled gasps from the initiates and for the first time wondered whether anyone had ever been sentenced to so many strokes of the cane. Caroline’s bottom was a network of narrow, livid ridges and in places there were long scabs beginning to form over the cuts. The sister flexed her tawse and Paula could see her considering where to lay her blows. Caroline’s hands were gripping the edges of the table so hard that her knuckles had turned white. Quite suddenly the sister lashed out and the tawse smacked across the middle of one buttock. Caroline let out an agonised screech and her back arched. The sister struck again on the other buttock and again Caroline screeched, but this time there was an audible sob at the end of it.

  Paula swallowed hard. Caroline had come through everything she had and this was obviously just as bad as anything they had suffered to date. She felt tears come to her eyes. It wasn’t fair! They had had their punishment. Why were they being punished all over again? The answer was obvious really, she thought gloomily. It was so that the others could see, so that no-one would ever dare to do anything like it again. She was roused from her thoughts by the third smack of the tawse. The sister had hit lower down on the buttocks and Paula could see that it had overlaid a place where two strokes of the cane had already crossed. Caroline cried openly and then wailed as the fourth smack came down on a similar place on the other buttock. She stood up shakily and went to get her food, wiping at her eyes.

  Paula felt the whole room’s attention now focus on her as she bent over and pulled her dress up. Like Caroline she gripped the edges of the table as hard as she could and gritted her teeth. The first stinging smack brought instant floods of tears to her eyes and it was all she could do not to scream. It revived all the agony of the caning and added its own distinctive broad sweep of fiery pain. The second one had her breath hissing out between her clenched teeth and her hips wriggling. The third and fourth simply made her scream with all her strength to try and dissipate the agony.

  She, like Caroline was shaking and crying at the end. She wiped furiously at her eyes to try and see her way to where the food was. But once she had collected it and gone to her place, both she and Caroline had to stand up to eat.

  As she ate Paula looked around at the other girls. Some of them were staring at her and Caroline with expressions of contempt. It was as if they were saying, ‘that’s what you get for being that stupid’. On the other hand some of the girls were looking at them with open admiration. Paula presumed that they were admiring the fact that the two of them had taken so many lashes. But underlying both reactions Paula could see the undercurrent of fear and awe at the devastating retribution which the masters had exacted.

  For the next week, at the end of each meal, Paula and Caroline were made to strip and adopt the ‘open’ position by the door of the dining room so that all the others filed out past them and could get a good long look at their ravaged backs. Owing to the constant beatings with the tawse however, the damage to their buttocks was very slow to heal and it was nearly a fortnight before they could approach mealtimes without fear and trembling.

  Chapter 19

  Lights flashed and music thundered. It was a pounding, almost African rhythm, amplified to the pain threshold so that it was impossible to tell where the body ended and the music began. But Chief Inspector Margaret Barfield grimly held her ground against the swaying mass of women all around her and concentrated on the scene on stage.

  The young priest had made his entrance and the women around Margaret had gone wild. The music had increased in volume and cages had been lowered from the flies. Inside the cages had been dancing girls, and it was these which held her gaze. They were naked apart from leather and chain harness and they danced with a wild abandon which set Margaret’s heart thumping. She watched as their hips swayed and their hands snaked down their bodies to bury themselves between their wide-spread legs. Margaret felt her mouth go dry, they were lovely, big-breasted girls. One of them had black hair and for a moment she had thought it might be Paula.

  WPC Cheever was her responsibility and she was determined to find her. She was sure the Church of Ultimate Purification had taken her, but no-one had been able to get any leads. They didn’t dare go public and admit that they had lost a copper. The tabloids would have had a field day, and it could have put Paula in danger. So while her team scratched about for anything they could find, Margaret had taken it on herself to attend some meetings and services held by the Church.

  When she had first come home and told her partner what she was doing, Lisa had gone mad and Margaret had taken some very severe punishment, but she had stuck to her guns. Lisa was very jealous and dominant, but Margaret found her dominance the perfect antidote to the pressures of a day of being in command herself, over both men and women. She had been very careful not to let on to Lisa how much she had fancied Paula, and made it a simple issue of police work. But even so, she could feel her bottom sting all over again when she thought about how Lisa’s strap had ensured that she wouldn’t stray.

  But here was temptation. And the girls were so obviously submissive. Unfortunately it was the men to whom their submission seemed to be aimed, and Margaret had to remind herself that she was prepared to go wherever she had to in order to find Paula, and once rescued she would be only too glad to sleep with her.

  The young priest was launching into some kind of sermon and she strained to hear above the noise. It seemed to be a tirade against the corruption of modern society, and how all the certainties of life had been swept away. She heard him proclaim the now familiar doctrine of the subservience of women as decreed by the Bible and how the Church of Ultimate Purification would rebuild society in accordance with the commandments. Women would stay at home, criminals would be punished, justice would be swift and terrible.

  All around her Margaret could see the crowd of women responding. And she could understand why. All people wanted was to know where they stood, to have a rank, to have authority they could believe in again. And that desire was being focused through the handsome young man on stage, now being joined by equally well set up young men all in the robes of the Church, to whom the dancing girls made blatant invitations. Some of the women around Margaret were taking off blouses and hurling them at the stage. She saw some wriggling their knickers down and throwing them.

  It had taken Margaret weeks to work her way here. She had attended small meetings and had dutifully lied about her belief in the inferiority of women and how attractive she found the Church’s teachings. At last she had been allowed to attend this; what they called a sacrament.

  The cages were lowered onto the stage and opened. As soon as the girls were released they fell to their knees in front of the men. The priest was saying som
ething about training, but all Margaret could concentrate on was the sight of the girls’ hands working at the fronts of the robes the men wore. A great sigh went up from the crowd as they saw the erect sexes rearing up in front of the girls’ faces and then being taken into their willing mouths.

  There was a surge towards the stage and Margaret began to elbow her way to the front of the crowd.

  She had had sex with men plenty of times before she found that women turned her on more. And if she had to have oral sex with these men in order to find Paula, then that was what she would do. She held in her mind’s eye a picture of Paula’s pretty face. Her large eyes and mane of wavy black hair. And the inviting curves of her figure. She was certain that there were hidden passions in her and she was determined to unleash them.

  And if she couldn’t, a broad hint that future promotion prospects could be in jeopardy had done the trick with nearly a score of pretty young policewomen to date, it would work again.

  She could probably arrange things again so that Lisa didn’t find out.

  Having fought her way to the stage, she held up her hands like the others, imploring the priest to take her. At last he noticed her and reached down, smiling. Up on stage and standing close beside him, Margaret could sense his extraordinary charisma. He radiated a kind of arrogant sexuality which she found she was helplessly responding to. The music pounded in time with her heart and the audience screamed and yelled. In front of her bodies swayed and joined in explicit acts of dominance and submission. The near naked females gleaming with sweat.

  Margaret joined them and when one of the men turned to her she dropped to her knees. His member, shining with saliva from the mouth of another worshipper, jutted imperiously at her own mouth. She licked her lips and then opened them wide to feel the firm shaft slide towards the back of her throat. The salty male taste of the head and the vibrant life throbbing inside the rigid pillar of flesh filled her senses. And suddenly this living shaft thrusting for her throat ignited a fire in her belly and eclipsed the dildo that Lisa wore and at which she had sucked so eagerly before.

  She would find her lovely Paula and have her. But after that...?

  Chapter 20

  The Patriarch himself was coming.

  Word gradually leaked down from the brothers that he was to pay a visit in only a week’s time. At last Father Burton formally announced it after prayers one morning.

  “He is to pay us the honour of staying with us for a few days. And we will show him how you have been rescued and redeemed, and now live only to serve the Church of Ultimate Purification. I intend to show him exactly how submissive you are to the work which he has begun, and which even now is gathering momentum in the outside world.

  “In time to come the Patriarch will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest men of this or any other day. So I cannot emphasise enough the honour which is to be ours. Work will start immediately on our preparations.”

  Paula couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for the new girls whose promotion to the rank of novices would have to be delayed until after the visit. But mainly she felt sorry for herself. It meant that she and her group would not be able to become initiates either. She gazed enviously at the smart white dresses every day now, and dreamed of being able to wear the heeled shoes. But even in her dreams, she wanted them only to show off her submission more enticingly to the brothers. She knew the heels would accentuate the elegant length of her legs and the little white skirt would swirl around her loins so very invitingly. Now the brown shift she wore irritated her, and she could hardly remember the time when that in itself had seemed the ultimate luxury. The marks of hers and Caroline’s caning had long since faded, even their buttocks now showed only the red patches left by the tawse. If there was any lingering distrust of her, none of her group ever mentioned it and Caroline seemed to be a firm friend if anything.

  The novices were to dance for the Patriarch and Sister Helen began to drill them mercilessly. In the kitchens Brother Waite, the cook, began ordering massive quantities of food and the novices worked flat out each morning preparing a huge range of dishes under his direction which were to be presented to the Patriarch and his party.

  It was the group he was bringing with him which provoked as much excitement as the man himself. It was rumoured that he never travelled without the members of his Inner Circle. These were the women who served him most closely and were the subject of envy and gossip. Sister Lavinia told them that some of them had once been sluts themselves who had been trained as they had been. Once Paula learned that it was possible to rise to the dizzy heights of serving the very man whose vision and power now controlled every aspect of her life, she knew what she wanted. Every other ambition she had ever had now seemed shallow. She had to become a member of the Inner Circle.

  While every girl in the monastery was kept busy, the brothers themselves worked tirelessly. Lengths of timber piled up in the courtyard and the sounds of drilling and hammering filled the house. No-one would tell them what was being constructed but the knowing grins of the brothers left all the girls with a tingle of anticipation in their stomachs. It was bound to involve them in some way. Father Burton would want them to display their submission and the brothers were experts at devising ways of doing that.

  On most nights now they were left to go to bed. Even the activities in the Lounge were restrained as the long hours took their toll on the men. But one night when Paula was sitting on her bed listening to Linda relay the latest gossip about the visit, Sister Lavinia came for her. She hadn’t had Paula since the night she had put her on the whipping stool and at the sight of her Paula’s heart jumped a beat. She walked slowly along the room until she came to Paula’s bed.

  “Paula and Caroline, report to the Games Room now,” she said.

  All the girls exchanged glances. Why the two of them again? Paula stood up, her mouth suddenly dry. Sister Lavinia turned on her heel and they followed her out. They went in silence the whole way until she ushered them into the Games Room.

  If Paula had been nervous before, her heart fell even further when she entered. No less than ten of the brothers were seated round the room. Some of them with initiates either on their laps or sitting at their feet. Brother Davis stood in the centre of the floor and he had a horsewhip coiled in his hand.

  Sister Lavinia indicated that they should go to stand in front of him and then she left the room. All eyes were on them and no-one spoke as they came forward.

  Brother Davis was in no hurry and let them stand, legs apart, hands behind their backs and eyes down, until he was good and ready. He walked slowly round them and only spoke when he stood in front of them again.

  “Father Burton wants to make quite sure that before the Patriarch arrives, all the slaves are totally submissive to their masters and to the Church. You two are the only ones who’ve given us any trouble, so we are going to see if you’ve learned your lessons. Do you understand?”

  “Yes Master,” they chorused dutifully.

  “Now as your offence was fighting. You are going to show us all just how much your punishment taught you to love one another and work in unity for the Church of Ultimate Purification. We are going to watch you while you do it.”

  Paula and Caroline exchanged sidelong glances. Paula had no idea what Caroline’s experience with other women was, but her own was limited to her one time with Sister Lavinia. But here she was going to have to perform in front of an attentive audience.

  “Strip!” he told them. Obediently they discarded their short dresses and stood naked. Brother Davis turned them so that everyone could see their backs. “Good as new,” he observed, “so we’ve decided to whip you first, just to get you in the mood.” Here he came close to Paula and fondled her left breast, “You always go better for a whipping.”

  Slaves who had suffered ninety lashes, he said, didn’t need tying for the paltry ten he was going to give them. Instead they were taken over to the huge fireplace and made to lean over the bar at which Pau
la could remember so clearly being whipped before. They stood side by side and braced their hands on the mantelpiece. This left them nicely bent forward and Brother Davis gave them the ten lashes each which he had promised. It was the first time since their punishment that either had been whipped seriously.

  He alternated between the girls, giving Paula one stroke and then switching to Caroline. Being whipped by the brothers again revived the pleasure Paula took in it. It was like being back in harness, this was where she belonged.

  The sound of the whip cracking across her back, the bright shafts of pain as the lash curled lovingly around her ribs and made her breasts judder and ripple, all awoke the fires in her sex. She glanced over at Caroline as she got her lashes and loved the way her head went back and she gasped at each impact. The thought of making love to her in front of the men suddenly seemed exciting, she herself jerked under another lash and then watched Caroline’s pretty little breasts sway as her stomach clenched when the long lash whipped round to bite into it. She saw Caroline look over at her and their eyes met while Brother Davis lashed at Paula’s buttocks. They smiled at one another as he targeted Caroline’s buttocks next. She closed her eyes briefly when the whip landed with a fleshy smack and Paula wanted to feel with her hands how the weal would trace a ridge across the smooth skin. The gasp Caroline made didn’t sound like pain. And Paula herself found she had now to concentrate on thoughts of the long days of her punishment to prevent herself getting too excited. By the time they had each had ten lashes, they were both eager to please the brothers in any way they wanted. Just a little whipping, Paula thought, and we do anything. She couldn’t prevent a delicious surge of arousal at that thought.

  “Now,” Brother Davis said standing back and coiling the whip neatly, “in the middle of the floor.”