Beyond Charybdis

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Beyond Charybdis Page 18

by Bruce McLachlan


  But there was always the looming and undeniable necessity of sustenance. With her gagged mouth she was reliant on others to keep her alive. She had the means to spend the rest of her life in the sky, but unless she could find a way to become self-sufficient for food, she would be doomed to dependence on others for survival. Perhaps she could convince Poseidon to place a food dispenser of some kind atop the mountain, to reconfigure her suit to give her more freedom, make her a permanent creature of flight that would haunt the skies of his island for the rest of her days.

  All previous allegiance was gone, she had never before experienced anything that came close to this love of flight. Her time in the seas had helped craft it by laying a foundation in the sense of gliding, of being untroubled by gravity and land. But in the depths there was a sense of oppression, of the sea pinning her down, crushing her and smothering her. Only in the air was she undeniably free.

  She could not return to land now; she had tasted untainted bliss. How could she be expected to endure captivity upon solid ground after such giddy thrills as a Pegasus? She was the first, the one who had made it possible. She wanted to stay in this caste, have others created to fly with her, to be the head of an airborne herd of Pegasi.

  The clearing before the mansion beckoned, an area in the crowd already open to accept her, their parted ranks like a makeshift runway. With wings wide she swooped in, her legs dropping free and delivering her into a sudden run. Slowing down, her gallop swiftly dropped into a trot and then a walk, her wings folding into her sides with an absent command, the skills of flight now second nature.

  Looking around, she suddenly felt panic as she noticed that the guests carried a variety of implements of corporal punishment. She looked to the end of her runway and saw Poseidon beside a set of stocks. Far from ordinary, the wooden pillory had two sets of slats at the base to snare her hooves, with an upright sculpted panel to grab and hold her head in place, consciously leaving her helpless rear exposed to the assault of the guests.

  Filled with rebellion Mina turned and cast open her wings, breaking into a gallop as the wind gathered beneath the bared membranes. Her hooves left the grass, there was a shimmer of movement before her eyes and she felt something drop about her neck. The lasso of rope snapped taut as its wielder dug their feet in, the hoop snapping against her collar, the dense material preventing strangulation but proving a most effective anchor. Wailing in horror as she was captured, Mina beat her wings with as much force as she could, the draining power making them more difficult to operate. She screamed to get free, the process of being apprehended after her flight a traumatic and intense one.

  She was succeeding in dragging those holding to the rope when another landed, slipping down over her head as others bounced against her sides and legs, seeking to snare her but being shed before they could tighten. Another lasso did lock to her left foreleg, adding to the variety of bonds helping defeat her, bringing her forcibly back to the soil.

  Mina collapsed onto the ground, driving the wind from her lungs. Before she could fight back hands were upon her once more, pinning her down, and she could do nothing as she was quickly laced into a web of rope. Sobbing, she was lifted up and drawn towards the stocks, the wooden jaws opening to accept her as she struggled, defeated by the humans, for she herself was no longer a member of such a breed. She had become a Pegasus, and it riled her that they had defeated her. She was surely doomed now. They would hold her, whip her, make her pay for her defiance until she was once more tamed and their slave, the light of her revolt extinguished.

  With damning snaps the timbers were closed, the stern hands of the guests steering her into the grooves and trapping her extremities. Despite fighting as best she could, her head was placed in the main slot and captured, leaving her pulling at the stalwart restraints.

  Hands brushed the roots of her wings and she wailed in abject dismay as she felt them being removed. Throwing herself against the pillory with berserker fury she sought escape, the feel of being clipped and turned back into an ordinary creature of the land bloating her mind with the purest rancour and utter resentment. Nothing that had ever been done to her before had ever been this cruel.

  Her fight started to subside until she was hanging lose against the stocks, lost in a morose torpor of defeat. They could do what they wanted with her now, she didn’t care. They had taken away her wings, anything else would be a minor infliction compared to this most grievous of mutilations to her. The wings may have been mechanical appendages, but they were more a part of her than any other portion of anatomy. For all the effects they had on her, they might as well have taken her heart, for she could have survived more easily without that than her wings, and the loss of her Pegasus status had effectively performed that mortal dissection anyway, leaving her hollow inside.

  The first blow sank into her rear, the cane sending a jolt of fulgent terror through the costume, sinking its burning weal into her flesh, making her gurgle and squeal, spasming wildly against the pillory. A different weapon struck her, and then another, the guests taking turns to apply a stroke or two of reparation for her refusal to return when ordered. It was now a ceremonial event, a party to tame the Pegasus, giving it a strange sense of closure.

  Her bottom and thighs were alive with pain, each new lash feeding the swell of agony they were applying to her. But despite the unimaginable duress of the ordeal, it soothed Mina to be punished so, to make her feel more like martyr, a captured wretch struggling against the will of her captors, misused and maltreated by her hated oppressors. Her mind was rocking to and fro on the hurricane of pain, her sight wavering, the endorphins pumping through her veins gathering the residue of her excitement from her flight and driving her to higher plateaus where the pain started to merge with pleasure. Despite her misery she was lost in a trance of euphoria, an almost spiritual event as she was thrown beyond all tolerances, her mind feeling as though it were drifting from her body, seeping away in a bid to escape, or set lose by the intensity of the harrowing trial. Grizzling in apathy between the moments where her soul-torn screams battled the ability of the gag, she looked through her tears to see Charybdis standing before her.

  The owner of the underwater domain that had started her on this road of voluptuous craving stood defiant and proud, refusing to join in the circus of punishment. Instead he stood still, arms folded across his chest as he watched Mina’s hidden eyes, staring directly into the mirrored eyepieces as though he could somehow pierce them. At his side was the rubber-clad zombie that seemed to always be with him, never leaving his side, lost in her rubber doom, bound and contorted, utterly commanded by her skin-tight prison.

  The man did not move, merely continued to study her as she was hauled through the full consequences of her act of disobedience. Unable to break free of his stare, Mina was entranced by him, her own eyes locked to his, captured as effectively as her body. The scourging of her rear and thighs continued on and on, the escalating level of mayhem she was being submerged in welling around her, drowning her senses in a banquet of algolagnic horror. Unable to detect anything save her dismay and Charybdis’s eternal scrutiny, Mina started to lose her hold on consciousness, the highs and lows of the day and the severity with which the group were hounding her delivering her into a faint. Darkness encroached suddenly. Without warning the world suddenly started turning as though being spun left and right, making her think briefly that she was flying again until she vanished into oblivion, her overloaded senses shutting down, unable to brook any more input.

  Chapter 16

  Mina was catapulted from her torpor with a sudden jerk, flinging herself against the stocks only to find they were gone. Her hazy vision condensed into more definable confines, restoring her vision as her mind tore off the haze that muffled it.

  Her rear still ached terribly, the whipping she had received leaving it pulsating with an unbearable life of its own. She had no idea how long she had been out, but it had been long enough f
or some drastic changes to be perpetrated on her appearance.

  Her arms were locked behind her in a single triangular sleeve of latex, the dense fabric hugging them together. Her hands were sealed within the tight bag that served as the culmination of the restrictive garment, and two dense straps flung over her shoulders to hold it in place. Another ran across her collarbone to connect the two hoops and prevent any hope of shedding the distressing sleeve.

  The metal hoop at her fingertips had been snared by a slender line of chain, the silver links running up to the ceiling, lifting her arms, forcibly bending her over a metal bar. The steel trapeze was supported by chain, the dense strut digging into her stomach as she was folded over it, her legs splayed wide, a set of latex fetters holding her ankles and spitting forth chain to distant rings in the floor. The bonds kept her legs split and stopped her from falling over the trapeze while serving her lewdly to whatever other forms of punishment were destined for her. Held against it, unable to move or escape, she surveyed her surroundings with a cool detachment, the saturnine temperament conjured in the aftermath of terrible loss and anguish.

  Her mouth was free, her lips untroubled by any form of intruder for the first time in as long as she could remember. It felt strange to be free of her pony uniform, it had been a companion for so long that she felt almost dependent on its impositions on her, her body relying on them after such long and arduous friendship.

  The room obviously pandered to what she had correctly assumed was to be more education as to the folly of disobedience. The black tiled walls were adorned with numerous hooks, each holding a vast variety of weapons, while shelves held toys and other implements of darker intent. A few trunks ran the base of the walls, leaving gaps on either side of her where an alcove reached back to access a featureless door. Immediately before Mina was a single metal door that was set in the wall, the material obviously far more dense than the others, revealing that this was probably the entrance.

  In the corner behind her was a room within the room, the tiny box chamber a confining cell of steel with a restricted door. The portal had a slim hatch at the base to introduce food and another hatch higher up to allow a view on the prisoner within. Was this to be her new home, a cell to be confined in when not being tormented for her crimes?

  A strong light above poured a stark white beam down, spotlighting her, leaving her in a dazzling column of light while the rest of the room accepted only the most minor illumination.

  Mina lowered her head, letting it hang limp as she wept freely, lamenting the loss of her wings and her pony status. Tears rolled down her cheek and fell to the floor, splashing on the tiles as she mourned softly to herself.

  For seemingly hours she hung on the trapeze, the discomfort growing steadily. She occasionally tried to find an easier position, but that only served to heighten the distress, quickly making her resume the normal docile pose that the bondage had so meticulously enforced upon her.

  There was a click and a hiss of strain as the door peeled back into the wall, revealing that it was a dense vault-like slab operated by heavy hydraulics. From the darkness beyond came movement and two people emerged into the hesitant light outside of the main beam that exposed Mina. The first was Poseidon, the man dressed in leather trousers, with tall boots and a loose waistcoat of the same polished hide. His look was grave.

  Behind him was a young woman, her youthfulness making her appear almost as a mere girl. She had a playful innocent expression, her painted ruby smirk matching deep hazel eyes that sparkled in the glow, rimmed with subtle shades to highlight them. But there was nothing young or spry in the darkness behind them, in the malevolence that skulked behind her eyes, making her exude a cultivated and barely suppressed malice.

  A cascade of shimmering tan hair fell about her shoulders, the strands highlighted in places to bring them to an almost golden shade, the parted veil revealing her peaked eyebrows. Her body was slender, her chest and arms completely bare. Her breasts were round and attentive, lifting her nipples upon buoyant flesh. Her subtle curves were smothered from the hips down by latex trousers, the polished skin fastened with laces at the back, leaving the front smooth and unblemished. She walked barefoot, her toes and fingers long and filed to points before being painted the same sanguinary hue as her lips.

  The door whirred shut behind them, and as the woman stood still and to attention before it, Poseidon walked towards Mina.

  ‘That was very foolish of you, slave,’ he stated firmly. ‘Disobedience will not be tolerated here.’

  ‘Please, master, let me go back, I’ll be good, I swear, I just got carried away,’ she wept, desperate to feel the close embrace of the uniform, to have her wings again.

  ‘It’s too late for that, slave,’ he replied callously.

  ‘Master, please, don’t do this to me, I beg you,’ she whimpered, her voice burbling the heartfelt words. ‘I can’t take it. I can’t lose my wings. I’ll do anything for you, I’ll undergo any torture, just let me return afterwards. I don’t want to live without them.’

  ‘What you want is of no consequence to me, slave,’ he commented, walking back and forth before her, gesturing absently with his hand, his eyes raised as he pronounced sentence over her. ‘You transgressed and you will be punished as an example to all the other slaves I shall transform into Pegasi.

  ‘You, however, will not be amongst them again... ever!’ he snapped, turning to Mina to see her reaction, his spiteful malice suddenly snapping her from despair, turning it instantly into choler.

  ‘Bastard!’ she roared, fighting the bondage, desperate to break free. ‘I’ll kill you! Let me go back or you’ll not live to see another Pegasus spread her wings!’ Diplomacy and begging had gained nothing; threats were her last recourse.

  ‘Oh, such a little harridan, aren’t we, slave?’ he stated lightly, standing before her, taunting her with how ineffectual she was. ‘I can see I’ll have to upgrade the punishment devices on my other Pegasi if they all get as moody as you after a flight.’

  ‘I escaped before, I’ll do it again,’ she vowed.

  ‘I doubt that, slave. I’m going to ensure your security. You’ll not slip the rule of your owners again.’

  ‘Let me go!’ she howled, interrupting him before he could continue, her limbs aching from battling the bonds. ‘Let me out!’

  ‘Tut, tut, little slave,’ he chuckled, making Mina sag, sobbing afresh. ‘You should know by now that fighting is useless. You’ll never fly again, I can promise you that.’

  ‘Please, master,’ she mewled, her heart tearing from being denied a chance to ever experience the giddy thrills of being airborne again. ‘Please don’t. Not this, anything but this.’

  ‘Ah, the whimpers of regret. Your tears amuse me, slave, but they are not a currency I am inclined to accept. You see, I have made the necessary arrangements, and there is to be no changing them now.’ He stepped back, waved to the girl, and she sashayed forward, slinking with grace as she moved beside him.

  ‘This is Rache,’ he announced, stepping behind her and taking hold of her shoulders, showing her off to Mina’s appalled eyes. ‘I use her for special circumstances, employing her skill while she waits patiently for this day. She is deaf and mute, so feel free to scream all you want; you’ll not affect her in the slightest. She will be responsible for exacting my chastisement on you.

  ‘You will be held here, and will not leave. Here, Rache will be your absolute ruler, and will ensure you suffer. She is an excellent sadist, and will slowly escalate your trials over the years to ensure you never get used to them. There are a few monitoring devices, so I may comfort myself some nights with your screams of anguish or sobs of despair. Or I may even terrify disobedience out of other slaves with images of your tortures. You’ve proven your physical superiority, your endurance and stamina, and they’ll now serve me well as you become the most terribly abused slave on this island, one who I can be sure
will live out a long and nightmare life of degradation, agony, and despair.’

  Letting go of the girl he wandered behind Mina and laid his hands to her bottom, making her struggle against the touch, loathsome of the man who now intended to rob her of the object of her obsession.

  ‘But first, before I leave you to Rache’s not so tender mercies forever, I think I’ll make use of this hole one last time,’ he announced.

  ‘No!’ she roared, writhing against the latex that served her up to her captor. ‘Fuck you, Poseidon! Don’t touch me, you bastard!’ She heard a zip lower and yelled curses until Poseidon addressed his malevolent gaoler.

  ‘Rache, if you would silence her?’ he said lightly, rubbing his length against Mina’s rear, her buttocks clenched frantically, trying to stop him from entering her, her every fibre resentful of his rule. If he would not give her what she wished, he would get nothing from her.

  Reading his lips, the girl stepped forward and turned on her bare-soled feet. Mina gazed into the rubber-clad rear of her, the material stretched taut across her seductive buttocks. The scent of it caught her nose, catching the reins of her fetishism.

  The sight suddenly moved down and then rose towards her, pressing the cleft of her rear against Mina’s face and then using it as a means to crane her head back. Mina wailed against the smothering sheet as she stared wild-eyed along the naked spine of the female. Her neck throbbed as the woman pushed herself firmly against Mina’s face, totally stopping up her mouth and nose, leaving her unable to escape or respire.

  Leant over, holding to her knees, the girl merely stood still as Mina tried to snort fresh breath through the wall of latex across her face, unable to make anything save resonant moans against the living gag.

 

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