Elsa ignored the people congratulating the married couple. Her eyes searched for someone to remove the nipple clamps. The midwife released them and Elsa shrieked when the circulation returned to the little nubs. “Keep her raised until morning, widows.”
Elsa spent a miserable night. Her clit was still perked and aroused, causing her pussy to clamp in distress and drive Jason’s cum deeper inside her. At dawn she was lowered, and within two weeks she was vomiting in the morning.
In the evening, Elsa was stretched on the sofa, with her ankle and wrist cuffs secured. Charlotte and Jason stopped by to stroke her breasts and growing belly. When the baby began moving, they would lay their heads on her stomach and whisper loving words over the womb of their incubator.
Sometime after the weather had warmed again, Elsa felt the first twinge. The widows had been using a personal slave for the past few months, to ease Elsa’s chores. They sent her for the midwife, herbalist, Preacher, elder and new parents.
Once more, Elsa was restrained in the second room. This time, she was held in a squatting position with her collar chained to the ceiling, her wrists cuffed behind her and her thighs and ankles chained to the floor. Her legs were exhausted from bearing her weight, but the collar would choke her if she tried to collapse. For six hours, she pushed through painful contractions, pleading for mercy through her ring gag.
Her audience sat across from her, obviously enjoying her suffering. The midwife knelt in front of her, guiding the healthy baby boy into the world. The herbalist helped clean the child, and they wrapped it in a blanket and presented him to Charlotte. Elsa never saw his face. Instead, she was left to hang and expel her birth waste, while the midwife checked her.
She pressed Elsa’s soft stomach while thrusting fingers up into her bottom. “The breeder is fine, Preacher. I will issue you the date for the next wedding as soon as she is back on cycle.”
For a month, Elsa was forced to lean over the table, her breasts hanging over a bowl while Shirley and Bertha milked her. A slave delivered the milk to Charlotte to feed her son. A week after that, Abram’s son Victor began his bonding visits.
Chapter VI
From the time Jill was secured with the widows and the midwife confirmed her ability to be bred, Gabrielle began working with her tithe, building Mara’s stamina with hours of running and exercise routines. Elijah delivered Edna’s harness and gear to Caleb, and while Paula spent hours polishing the leather and the wood on the cart the jailer checked the wheels and replaced the bolts on the poles.
Edna stopped by and sat on the porch with Gabrielle while she studied Mara. “She’s soft… nothing like Alice. That girl can work from dawn to dusk, without a single complaint.”
“She’s working out well for Artie?” Gabrielle confirmed.
“Oh, yes. Alice is wonderful with her care and encouragement. She’s careful to make sure he knows she understands what a powerful man he used to be, and his depression is much better. Alice has brought him over to the work camps this morning and Jason is giving them a tour of his old station. It was my tithe’s suggestion, and Artie’s eyes lit up. I could never get him over there before, because he was afraid the workers would make fun of him. Alice gives him confidence, and Jason has threatened the workers with a week on the wheel if anyone shows him disrespect. He’s a fine young man, Gabrielle.”
“I heard the elders gave Holden permission to breed the girl.”
“It’s a shame Lucy did not get caught earlier before she ruined Linda. Holden is grateful to me, even though a breeding with Alice will not produce nearly as pleasant a featured child as Linda would have done. Holden is hoping for grandsons, and he feels Alice’s strong physical traits are a plus.”
“I’ll cross my fingers for boys, then.” Gabrielle agreed that a breeding with Lonnie would not produce an appealing daughter.
“Overall, it was a successful acquisition. Barbra is doing fine in the kitchen, and a camp worker is petitioning Abram to court her. They’re working out the details with the Preacher and elders, because the girl never was a released tithe. She avoids her family, except for the young girl. Vera lets Jenny collect their meals occasionally. She’s settled in beautifully with the other children. Youngsters are very resilient.”
“I’ve heard Nancy and Joseph have their hands full with the other twin.”
“At first, the girl stared into space and refused to acknowledge them. Nancy managed to snap her out of that, but what she ended up with was a caustically snippy belligerent brat. If this was her attitude on the flatlands, no wonder Barbra doesn’t miss them,” Edna replied.
Their gossip wore on for another hour, and Mara learned that Suzy was doing well with Anna. The petite tithe never stood a chance against her Mistress with Samuel’s threats, and her unfortunate arousing screams made her the target for punishment for the least infraction.
Finally, the conversation turned to Mara, and Gabrielle had her stand before the stern older Mistress. She pinched and prodded Mara’s body, and said, “Another soft one. Sarah must not have been able to get the girl to do a damn thing, on the flatlands.”
“She did tell Eli that the girl was stubborn, and with our restrictions on raising them, it’s difficult to get a well toned tithe up here. Of course, Sherry was a runner and Hallie managed to get your Alice to grow into a strong young woman.”
“Out of all of the offerings, Alice is the most physically fit and has the best attitude,” Edna agreed. It did make up for her plainness.
“You’ll need to work on her endurance and build up her muscles, before you hook her to the cart. She could injure herself and end up being useless if you rush through her training.” Edna pointed out stress points that needed to be firmed, and Mara shivered at some of her training suggestions.
After two weeks as Gabrielle’s tithe, Mara learned the frightening couple would not cause her permanent injury. Their sadistic games were painful and humiliating, but tithes were a luxury and source of pride for the Mistresses that could not be replaced except during their scheduled posting. Gabrielle would not risk a ten-year wait if something happened to Mara.
It was a numbing acceptance Mara was beginning to understand as she realized that there was no way for her to escape. The best she could hope to do was to please her Mistress and Master, and concentrate on avoiding punishment. Unfortunately, as she discovered, not all painful experiences were the result of Mara not conforming to their wishes. Some torturous encounters were merely for their enjoyment.
Mara hated to run. She despised the sweaty exercise that left a stitch in her side and her legs aching. When the training regime Gabrielle decided on was mentioned to Elijah, Mara thought of the discomfort of her bared breasts bouncing and pulling on her chest, but, as she soon found out, that was the one thing she did not have to worry about.
Paula delivered a series of shining black leather straps. “My Master says that you wanted these finished first. He drilled a few adjustment holes, because your tithe is more slender than Alice was.” Paula wrinkled her nose in distaste as she stared at Gabrielle’s tithe.
Mara ignored her. She was getting used to the snubs from the other tithes. When she collected their meals, she always stood in Barbra’s line, and the twin who had managed to escape service as a tithe would sneak Mara a wink or slight smile. Mara understood that Barbra would not risk her acceptance with the other kitchen workers by actually speaking with her. Tara continued to be the only tithe to befriend her.
Mara’s wrists were latched behind her back, and she stood still while Edna wrapped the strange harness around her. “Pull these tight against the chest wall, Gabrielle. They will keep her breasts from stretching the muscles and causing her to sag. When the circulation cuts off, they will become quite painful and make an excellent guidance system.”
This did not sound good to Mara, though when the straps were tightened around the base of her breasts it did not seem to hurt… at first. Within a few minutes, her breasts were beginning to ache, and the
throbbing continued to build as her poor boobs swelled and began to discolor.
“It won’t damage her?” Gabrielle asked.
“Not permanently… and as she’s not being used for breeding…” Edna shrugged. What the hell difference did it make? “For the first few days just have her walk with the harness and remove it at night. She’s a McEnroe, so I suppose she has their same overreaction to a little discomfort. Play with her breasts while they’re bound until you think she’s able to begin running.”
When Mara learned she was going to be pulling Gabrielle in a cart, she expected the rigging to look the same as for the men who pulled wagons of wood and supplies. They seemed to merely have their wrists strapped to long poles. Mara did not see that they also had a thong binding their testicle sack, bound much like her breasts and attached to a bolt beneath their cart.
Mara’s breasts began to ache, and she clenched her hands and bit her lip to keep from pleading with her Mistress. That always brought punishment. Finally, tears began to flow and Debra wondered if her Mistress knew the bands were too tight. “Mistress?”
Gabrielle glared down at her, and slapped her swollen breasts. “Ow,” Mara shrieked, and Gabrielle slapped the other side.
“You will not interrupt my visit with Mistress Edna,” she cautioned.
Mara glanced at the older woman, and she noted the satisfied smile and the sadistic aroused hint in her eyes that all the Mistresses seemed to share at a tithe’s punishment. She was ordered to kneel, and the pressure became so agonizing that Mara no longer followed the Mistresses’ gossip.
Gabrielle did not even release her wrists to let her collect their meal. She had Edna walk by the kitchen on her way home and order the meal be delivered. By the time Elijah came home, Mara’s breasts had a bluish tint to them and her nipples were swollen and puffy. She had been silently crying for hours, consumed with the need to loosen the harness. The slight brush of her bound arms against them sent waves of agony through the tortured mounds.
Elijah walked up and began massaging them, and Mara sobbed. “Please, Master.” She was rewarded with his grip tightening and squeezing them, and she shrieked.
“Do you think she will be able to run?” he asked.
Gabrielle walked up and began to pull at the tormented girl’s nipples. “Edna says that because of her bloodline it might take her a little longer to become accustomed to it.”
Mara discovered that when the harness was removed and blood flowed back into her breasts it was an excruciating pain rivaling her Master’s squeezing fingers. For the next few days she cried when the harness was wrapped onto her, and although she spent all day silently begging for it to be removed, when the moment came she was terrified.
As with most of their tortures, Mara reluctantly accepted the harness and worked to get her mind off obsessing over her agony. When Gabrielle noticed the girl was not constantly staring at her breasts and crying, she ordered her to run. Mara was told to go to the tree line and back, and she managed to keep her breasts from swaying too painfully with a light jog and fast walk. When she returned to Gabrielle, she was covered in sweat and she looked at her Mistress’ furious green glare. Her eyebrow was arched… never a good sign… and Mara shuddered.
“I told you to run,” Gabrielle reminded her. In the blink of an eye, a riding crop slammed down on Mara’s breasts. Her knees buckled and she sank to her knees, screaming. “Get up, and do as I ordered,” Gabrielle demanded. She pulled her tithe up by the top strap of the harness, and Mara scrambled to get her long legs beneath her and rise.
There was no sense earning more punishment by pleading, and Mara’s lip quivered as she turned towards the trees. The bouncing was painful, and she was gasping for breath by the time she was halfway across the pasture. There was no way she could run the half mile, and she was sobbing by the time her aching legs shuffled in a forced jog up onto the porch. The crop slammed down again and Mara crashed to her knees, sobbing. Gabrielle lifted a cup of water to her lips, and left her kneeling for a few minutes. Eventually, she ordered Mara to run again, and the exercise continued for the rest of the afternoon. By evening, she was exhausted and barely made a gasp when the harness was removed.
Her training continued for two weeks, and Mara was amazed that she had built up enough strength to run the whole way. She also discovered that if she ran smoothly it was far less painful on her breasts. Gabrielle added more laps, until Mara could run back and forth to the trees five times without stopping. It surprised her when her Mistress joined her occasionally, and she remembered the woman’s speed when she had easily caught her at the auction.
Mara was harnessed to the cart, and Gabrielle began to train her to drive her with frequent corrections from the whip at her side. Most evenings, Mara’s bottom was almost as sore as her breasts, but Gabrielle had her cart pony and loved to travel to visit Mistresses and watch the envy in their eyes. At least once a day, Gabrielle would have her pull her through town, or occasionally on longer trips to visit her daughters at the settlement near the work camps.
The other tithes gave her hateful glares, as if she was being rewarded with a special treat instead of being whipped like an animal and forced to haul her Mistress. Her legs and body firmed up with tight, lean muscle, and eventually she barely noticed Gabrielle’s weight as she pulled the cart.
Towards the end of the summer, Mara knelt beside her Mistress at a wedding. It was her son, Jason, and a pretty woman named Charlotte. After the service, Gabrielle and Elijah brought her to a small cabin at the edge of town. She explained that Jill was kept with the widows, and told what she was to do during the horrible degradation of clan breeding.
Mara felt sorry for her friend, but she reluctantly admitted to herself that she was relieved to have been spared being bred. From what she had heard through Mistresses’ gossip, Jill was treated well by the two widows and not subjected to many of the cruelties the tithes suffered.
Mara spent the first winter delving deeper into Elijah and Gabrielle’s sadistic tortures. They were quick to punish her for any hesitation to obey her Mistress’ orders. Skids replaced the wheels on Gabrielle’s cart, and Mara was given a warm cloak and fur boots to wear for their runs.
Elijah enjoyed the use of her body, but generally he left her punishment and sadistic tortures to Gabrielle. Mara had become much less afraid of him, and in front of the warmth of the fireplace, she became silently compliant while she nursed slowly on his cock and he rested his head on the back of his chair, closing his eyes and stroking her hair. Mara was aware that her pussy continually throbbed and leaked as she smelled his scent and caressed his shaft with her tongue. Some mornings, he plunged into her emptiness while Gabrielle wound the harness onto her breasts.
Gabrielle would look at her tithe’s blue eyes heated with arousal while Elijah relieved himself. It was not unusual for a tithe to become enamored with her Mistress or Master, as they were the only real contact she had while bound to tithe service. It tended to make the slave much more judicious in her efforts to please them, and Mara was molding well into this acceptance. Minerva praised Gabrielle on her accomplished training of her tithe.
The weather warmed, and soon Elijah was preparing to leave on the first summer acquisition. Justin would be going with him, and Mara smiled when the handsome young man appeared at the door dressed in the intimidating black garb of the acquisitioners. Angela was holding his hand and standing by his side. Mara learned they would be married at the end of the summer. With her usual calm efficiency, Gabrielle was busy organizing both his union with the pretty redhead and the double ceremony joining her twin daughters to the Branson twins.
Mara was surprised by Gabrielle’s depression when Eli was gone. She had not noticed it during the second trip last summer because she was busy suffering through the beginning of her cart training. Mara tried to go out of her way to ease her Mistress’ loneliness, and at night Gabrielle would pull her up beside her and Mara would wrap her arm around her Mistress until she fell a
sleep. It was obvious the woman was totally devoted to her husband, and it was the only time Mara had ever noticed a weakness in her confident manner. It made Mara uneasy, and she was almost as relieved as Gabrielle when her Master returned.
It seemed as though time was passing quickly, and in a few years Elijah was approached for the position of principal elder. Shawn was stepping down after fifteen years, and with the exception of a few McEnroes who threw George’s name into the hat, Elijah won a sweeping victory with the clan’s vote. Even though he was often called on to make decisions and edicts, and the Preacher joined them at least once a week for dinner, it was nice to have the Master home at night.
Mara was halfway through her sentence as a tithe, and she found herself becoming uneasy at the thought of being released. Because of her contract to Gabrielle and Elijah, the other tithes and released servants were afraid of her. None of them wanted to bring attention to themselves by befriending the tithe of the principal elder. It was bad enough when Elijah had been lead acquisitioner, but now it was very much worse.
For Mara, her time spent as a tithe was lonely, and it caused her to form an even stronger bond with Gabrielle and Elijah. Although they continued to use her and punish her for any mistake, infrequent as those mistakes now were, Gabrielle had begun to talk with her occasionally. She even laughed and pointed out another mistake the clumsy new tithe had made.
The poor girl was a natural klutz, and Mara watched her staring at her stew bowl, walking so slowly it would be chilled by the time she set it on her Mistress’ table. The gravy still managed to spill over the side when she stumbled, and Gabrielle whispered, “Could you imagine her pulling a cart?”
“Mistress Pauline has quite a chore ahead of her if she doesn’t want to eat cold biscuits every night,” Mara replied. She straightened with her Mistress’ compliment and acknowledgement concerning her ability to proudly run her through the settlement while the other tithes glared at her through envious eyes.
The Tithe That Binds Page 11