Refugees

The Countess’s graceful neck bowed in defeat. “You have the advantage of me; you can do what you wish with us. If I agree to serve you, I ask only that you find mercy for my daughters.”

The Master replied harshly, “This is not a negotiation. Will you serve me, or no?”

A tear dripped from Althea’s lip to the floor as she said in a barely audible voice, “Yes, I will serve you.”

“And you two,” the Master said, turning to look down on the frightened twins. “Do you both agree to serve me as well?”

They looked at their mother for guidance. She hesitated, and then nodded her head slowly.

“Yes, we agree,” the girls chorused.

“Then that’s settled,” the Master said. “Now, Countess Althea, lately of New Bristol, my first command is that you remove your clothes so that we can see your noble tits and ass.”

Althea had half-expected some order of this sort, but the suddenness and crudeness of it shocked her into an angry response. “How dare you give me such an outrageous order?” she shouted. “I agreed to be a servant, not to…”

Her speech was cut short as a soldier, responding to a gesture from the Master, seized her from behind, and crammed a wad of cloth in her mouth. Before she could react to this assault, she found that her wrists had been tied together behind her back. An instant later, a band of cloth was tied over her mouth, keeping the cloth wad contained. Then, she was dragged forward to the base of the stage, and thrown face down over a metal folding chair. The twins were held by guards as their mother was assaulted, and could only look on helplessly.

The Master came down from the stage to stand over the writhing Althea.

“Bring the wooden paddle,” he directed someone Althea could not see from her head-down position. “Thank you,” she heard him say.

The Master placed his boot on the small of Althea’s back. He pulled up on the rope that tied her wrists until the Countess felt as if her shoulders were about to be dislocated. She tried to scream at him to stop, to release her, but only meaningless muffled noise emerged from the gag.

“You are off to a poor start as a servant,” the Master said, and swung the paddle down on her helpless rear end.

The paddle was a made of solid oak, an inch thick with numerous holes in it. It was similar to paddles that have been used on naughty schoolchildren for generations, capable of producing a painfully red bottom but no lasting damage.

The Countess had never been so much as spanked as a child, and had no experience whatever in being paddled. To her, each blow of the wooden paddle felt as if fire was being applied to her bottomcheeks. The Master seemed to know exactly how long the pain of a blow from the paddle lasted; at the exact moment the pain faded he would strike again. The beating went on for ten minutes, although to Althea it seemed a lifetime of agony.

At last, the Master paused, paddle upraised. “Do you feel more inclined to obedience now, Countess?” he asked.

She nodded vigorously, dislodging tears that fell and splashed on the ground.

“Then listen carefully to my instructions, bitch,” he said. “As soon as the gag is removed, you will apologize for your disobedience and thank me for correcting you. After that, you will follow my order to strip down. Do you understand me?”

The Countess nodded again.

Removing his boot from her back, the Master seized a handful of golden hair and pulled Althea upright. He removed the gag, untied the Countess’s hands and waited, staring down at her, paddle still in hand.

“I… I am s-sorry that I was dis- disobedient,” the noblewoman stuttered, barely able to force the humiliating words out. “Please forgive me, sir.”

“Go on,” growled the Master.

“Er… I thank you for correcting me,” she said, then lowered her face into her hands, weeping.

“Now, will you obey me?” the Master asked in his dangerously calm, icy voice

“Yes, yes, right away,” Althea said, fumbling with buttons. She slowly removed her blouse and riding breeches, and stood trembling in her silk undergarments, hesitating for a moment.

“Get on with it,” the Master growled.