Ravie froze, her senses heightened by the darkness. She held her breath, straining to listen. Had the sound been a footfall, she wondered, or just her imagination. Cupping her hands under her chin, relieving as much of the weight of the chain as she could she slowly started to edge down the dark corridor. One end of the chain dangled free, the end that had been hooked unreachably high, the other end was still welded to the ring, the ring that had been forced through her septum only hours before. As she took another step, her naked body shivering in the cold air, a faint gleam of light could just me made out ahead. Ravie pressed her welted back against the wooden panels that lined the passageway, gritting her teeth against the sharp pain, and considered her options.

At least she had options, only a couple of hours previously it had looked like her ability to make any choices at all had gone. She had been walking, casually wandering along the path by the river. Binoculars in hand she had been hoping to spot a kingfisher; her friends in the ornithology club had told her that the brilliantly coloured bird had made a nest near here. Stopping near a semi-sunken rowing boat, she had crouched down in the bulrushes at the edge of the river, and settled to wait. What happened next remains a mystery, she heard the footsteps approaching and the quiet chatter of female voices; then her mind is a blank, no memories remain of what happened between the river, and the 'house'.

Ravie took another step forward, the chain clinking quietly. She could feel the tiny trickle of liquid running down her upper lip, tasting the metallic tang of blood. Her nose still ached terribly, the heavy chain pulling at the cartilage even though most of the weight was held by her hands. Her hair fell across her eyes, but there was no way to push it away, she dared not use her hands, for to drop the chain would be unthinkable, the noise may alert 'her' and the pain would be unbearable.

Her next memory was of fear. She came to lying on a cold stone slab, in what seemed to be a medieval cell. She had sat up, and looked around in the dim light, trying to pull herself together. A cell was not right, there was no tiny window with bars, there was no manacles hanging from the wall. This was no caricature of a castle dungeon; this was simply a room, with a bulb, and a door. Getting off the slab, she walked over the stone flagged floor, and went to try the door. This is the point at which the fear nearly overcame her - there was no handle, the smooth wooden door was unopenable. She scrabbled at the thin gap between the frame and the body of the door, but it didn't move one iota. Becoming desperate, she banged on the door with her fists, calling for help, pleading for rescue. Neither came, of course, but someone else did...

Taking a deep breath, she slid towards the light, keeping her bruised and bleeding back against the dark wood, ignoring the pain. In spite of the chill air, beads of sweat covered her skin, trickling down her skin. Her heart thudded in her chest as she slowly approached the thin line of light that spilled out from under a door. Stopping at the frame, her listened intently, petrified in case the door opened, and 'she' came out. Hearing nothing, she moved, and leant against the door, pushing it open with her shoulder.

She banged on the door for what seemed like hours, her hands bruised and her throat raw. Eventually she sat back down, helpless. She heard a noise, and jumped as the door creaked open. She stood, "Oh thank you !", she said, but the dark shape in the doorway said nothing

As her eyes became accustomed to the light flooding from behind the darkened figure, fear struck deep into her very soul. It wasn't because the figure remained silent...but because the pale blue eyes that fixed Ravie was the coldest she had ever seen.

Edging back until the stone slab blocked further movement, Ravie clutched the edge with trembling fingers....

"What do you want. Why am I here?" Sudden realisation struck, she was naked, holding one arm across her chest... a hand fluttered ineffectually over her mound. The figure moved from the doorway with astonishing speed.. a hand gripped Ravie around the throat... forcing her to arch backwards across the slab, feet scrabbling against the floor she was forced down; head slamming against the stone. Dazed and disorientated she was vaguely aware her arms were being roughly pulled above her head and drawn to each corner.

    Turning her head.. through pain glazed eyes watched heavy restraints snap around her slender wrists, felt soft womanly hands roughly grabbing each ankle forcing her legs wide, until she lay sobbing, a pale starfish spread-eagled against the cold stone. It was then, and only then the woman spoke. "Welcome to my world, a world you will never ever leave." The words softly spoken were nonetheless chilling; cold fear knotted Ravie's belly.

    Blinking into the harsh light Ravie quickly gathered her senses...the corridor in which she found herself led directly into a courtyard. Moving on, hands cupping the length of chain she slowly emerged into the light. A sudden movement at her side, followed by a quiet laugh almost caused her to drop her heavy burden. Swinging around she was confronted by the woman from the cell.

"I was wondering when you would find your way here." The voice sounded faintly amused. Ravie found nothing amusing in the scene that confronted her. In the centre of the courtyard a naked young woman was harnessed by a crude yoke to a large wooden beam. Leaning forward, toes digging into the hard sunbaked earth, slowly trudging in a circle she drove a huge millstone grinding corn. At the opposite end of the beam an identical yoke swung empty; instinctively Ravie knew that this was why she was here.

  As the girl drew level, Ravie shuddered with revulsion, she could see her body was criss-crossed with livid welts. where one had bisected another fresh blood oozed from the broken skin. A chain from the girls pierced septum drew a  gasp from Ravie's lips, it ran upwards toward the heavy beam; holding the tortured girls head erect.

With weary resignation she passed. Ravie following with her eyes.. the girls back and buttocks were lacerated with almost as many cuts and welts as both her breasts and belly. A whip cracked... the girl froze... The empty yoke swung back and forth; dangling in front of Ravie's nose.

    A steel two-pronged hook attached to a leather strap was slipped into Ravie's nostrils. Pulling on the strap the woman forced her head back further against the stone slab. Eyes watering with pain, upper lip drawn back; she began to whimper. “Please, let me go .. What are you doing”, but her pathetic pleading was ignored by the woman. Giving the strap one, last, fierce tug, she fixed it to the stone, holding Ravie’s head back, her top lip pulled into a snarl.

“There now”, she said, her voice light, almost friendly, “I hope you are not too uncomfortable,, but these things have to be done !” She moved slowly around the prone form, her fingertips dragging over Ravie’s skin, her nails leaving faint red marks, marks that faded after a few seconds. “You skin is beautiful”, she said, “so smooth and soft.” Ravie stared at her, tears running from the corner of her eyes, and dripping onto the slab. “What are you…” she began to say, but the woman bent and put her hand over Ravie’s’ mouth. She leant next to her ear and whispered “Hush my dear, don’t make me cut your tongue out!” Then, smiling, the woman left, the door closing behind her.

She stared at the cruel contraption, almost mesmerised by it. She turned to the woman, her eyes filled with fear, “Why ? Why me ?” The woman chuckled softly, a smile flitting over her face. “Because I want to, because I can !”

Slowly, Ravie began to step back, away from the woman, edging back towards the corridor.  Without warning, the woman lazily flicked her wrist, the whip snaking out and landing across Ravie’s chest. “Aaaeeii ! ”  she screamed, dropping the chain and clutching at her right breast. The chain poured onto the floor, feet after feet of thick steel, pulling Ravie to her knees with the weight and the pain.  Shaking, the trickle of blood from her nipple running down her breast, she knelt on the hard earth trying to gather the chain back into her hands.

A shadow fell across her as she scrabbled on the ground. “Hurry up, I haven’t got all day !”  She looked up, lifting the heavy chain; the woman stood above her, coiling the whip, her fingers touching the supple leather with a sensuous grace. Slowly Ravie stood, the throbbing pain in her breast lessening slightly, the angry red welt lying directly over her right nipple, the end of which still trickled a tiny bit of blood. “Come on, let’s get you hitched up”  said the woman, her voice warm, friendly; the words menacing, striking fear deep into Ravie’s being.

She heaved with all her might at the straps that pinned her down, but none of them gave so much as an inch. Ravie had lay on the slab for what seemed like hours, her neck was wracked with pain, twisted harshly back. Suddenly, light flooded into the room, as the woman returned, “Sorry about that, it took longer than I thought”, she said breezily, stepping over to stand above Ravie’s head, placing a bag onto the floor. “Now, we better get you fixed up – and remember, any sound, other than screams of course, and out comes your tongue !” the woman chuckled, her soft fingers gently caressing Ravie’s cheek. She bent, reaching into the bag, and pulled out a large punch, the plier-like tool designed for making holes in leather. Moving to the side, she lifted the punch and eased it up against her septum. Ravie’s screamed, and again jerked at the cuffs

“Noooooo  !”

But the woman simply smiled softly, and began to squeeze the handles together

It didn’t take the woman long to attached Ravie to the yolk. The heavy wooden collar holding her securely, her wrists pinioned. The woman stepped back, and appraised the dispirited girl for a few minutes, admiring her form, her strong looking legs, and her barely marked back and buttocks. “I’m sure you will do well here, and if you don’t…” the woman arm barely seemed to move, but the end of the whip lashed into Ravie’s left buttock, leaving a thin angry red line. Ravie gasped with shock, jumping away from the whip, her feet scrambling for purchase.

The woman smiled at Ravie, “Oh, I nearly forgot …”, she stepped forward, and picked the chain up from where it dangled on the floor. Reaching high, she flicked the chain over a pulley, and then pulled. Ravie screamed as her nose was pulled high, her neck arching cruelly back.

“Aaaaaeigghhhhh !”

The woman laughed, fixing the chain tight “I know it hurts a bit dear, but it does make you look so pretty” Then, taking a seat in the shade, a cool glass of water at her elbow, she called out – “Let us begin girls”. Her wrist and forearm moved with surprising speed and first Ravie, then the other girl screamed out, blood trickling from the newly broken skin, then they both began to push, the heavy stone starting again to grind the corn.

Ravie screamed, cried, pleaded, begged, but to no avail. The woman just sat next to her, a soft, almost tender smile playing over her lips, as she squeezed harder and harder on the punch. Lances of pain shot straight into Ravie, immeasurable agony consumed her. She jerk and pulled against the bonds, her tendons standing out as if made from steel. Suddenly there was a terrible crunching noise as the tool punched through her cartilage, the jaws meeting. Blood poured out, covering her mouth and chin, pooling on the slab. Ravie’s eyes bulged in their sockets as the pain reached new heights. Ravie screamed like she had never screamed before, her body quaking with pain. lights flashed in her brain, lightning stabs of agony. Eventually, mercifully, she passed out, her tongue lolling from her bloodied mouth. The woman smiled, and slowly leaned over, and kissed Ravie’s blood covered lips, her tongue sliding over them, tasting her pain.

The woman then bent to her bag, and started to lift out the coils of chain…

It seemed like an eternity for Ravie; around and around she trudged. He thighs quickly began to ache, her muscles trembling under her pale skin.. She glanced often at the other girl, her ‘partner’, but not once she look back. The sweat ran down Ravie’s body in tiny torrents, the salty liquid stinging as it seeping into any of the myriad of cuts and welts on her back and thighs. The whipping also continued unabated. Each time they passed by the woman, she would smile, occasionally offer words of encouragement, but always. without fail, the whip would find a target. Breasts, back, thighs, stomach – she varied each time, but her aim was always true. And each time the lash landed, and either girl cried out, she would giggle, her musical laugh echoing around the courtyard.

Ravie came to slowly, her first conscious thought was one of soreness, a dull throbbing pain in the centre of her face. She lifted her hand trying to touch, the ease it, but her wrists jerked to a stop a few inches above the slab, the leather cuff and steel chain doing their job. The hooks in her nose had gone, she could move her neck. Twisting gently, looking left and right, she could see nothing but the drab walls of the cell; but something caught her eye, a dark object below her nose. She tried to peer down, but could see no clearer.

The door opened, and the woman returned, her heels tapping on the stone paving on the floor.

“Ah good, I see you are awake”, she said, chattily, “everything OK ?”

“Let me go, plea….”, Ravie began to reply but stopped, as she spoke her mouth had felt something, something heavy lying over the top lip. Seeing her reaction the woman smiled, and picked up a length of thick steel chain that was resting on the stone next to Ravie. Slowly, hand over hand, she fed the chain through her fingers, letting it drop to the floor.. She eventually stopped, and looked down at the prone form.

“I need to show you something”, said, her honey-like voice soft, “well, no show you exactly, more like a demonstration”.

And with that she jerked the chain that she held.

Ravie stiffened, her head pulled up, agony exploding from her face, from her nose. Through teary eyes, she saw the heavy chain running from the woman’s hands straight to her nose, the weight of the chain pulling at her newly pierced septum. Desperately, Ravie held her head up, bending her neck forwards, her shoulders pulled back by the cuffs.

“Does that hurt ?” asked the woman, a smile on her face, her blue eyes like ice. “I hope it does, it is supposed to !” she continued, “The ring in your nose is a little addition that I thought might prove useful. It is rather thick, I’m afraid, I didn’t have any thinner ones. I added the chain, since I happened to have it in my bag. I hope you don’t mind ?”

Unable to speak coherently, Ravie’s mind was in turmoil. What was happening to her. Abducted, imprisoned, humiliated – this could not be happening. She could feel the blood trickling from her nose, running into her mouth, incessant pain from the ring.

The woman gathered all of the chain in her hands, and placed the pile on Ravie’s stomach. Allowing her to rest her head back on the stone. “I’ll leave this here, don’t let it fall, it may hurt rather a lot if it does.” She said, laughing lightly. She stepped close to Ravie, her hand reaching out to caress Ravie’s bloodied nose, her fingers brushing the ring. “I wish you could see how well I welded the ring, you can’t see the join at all !”, and with that she gently brushed her Ravie’s hair from her face, smiling into her fear filled eyes.

“Please”, Ravie began, “why are you ..” but the woman put a finger to her own lips

“Hush, dear”, she replied, then turned, and walked out, closing the door behind her

They trudged round, their feet scuffing the hard packed earth, sending little bits of dust into the air with every step. Ravie was thirsty, more than thirsty, parched. Her mouth was open, sucking in lungfuls of air, as her body dug deep into its reserves, feeding her muscles. The woman had long gone, retreating into the cool of the house as the sun reached the zenith. Ravie had tried to slow, even stop, but it was impossible. Her silent companion continued to push forward, driving the beam forward, resisting every attempt to communicate or slow. ..