Kerri watched out of the corner of her eye as Alan turned to his workmates. 'Will you strip Kerri and tie her to the whipping post for me? Arse facing out, of course.'
The other youths didn't need asking twice. Kerri let herself go limp as they reached for her dress and began to unbutton it. She'd done the crime so now she'd have to do the time - or rather the whine. She tried hard not to think about the ordeal awaiting her or about her increasing nudity.
When she was totally bare, the youths tied her to the post then Alan ran his birch up and down her naked arse, his gesture gloating.
'Are you sorry now, Kerri?'
'Very sorry,' a quivering Kerri said.
And it was true to an extent. She was sorry she'd ever angered Jeff, sorry she'd been caught swapping the birches. She was even more sorry for her small bare cheeks.
'Let's see how you like being on the receiving end,' Alan said. Kerri felt the air currents around her backside change - then dozens of points of pain sparked against her nether regions. The twigs must have spread out on impact, welting her taut globes and thighs. The ends of the twigs briefly curled around to strike her soft stomach causing additional fire.
As the twigs bit into her buttocks, Kerri flattened her body against the pole. But this caused further anguish to her tummy so she pushed her body back outwards again the little she could. The birch landed on her arse again and she pressed inwards, squealing anew as her breasts were pushed into the ungiving wood.
Kerri kept repeating her strange, pole-tied dance as the birching went on. At last she heard the overseer say that she'd had enough.
'Can I punish her in other ways? After all, she did more than birch me,' Alan said. Kerri tensed, hoping for a negative response.
'Of course you can,' came the overseer's reply. 'But she needs a break from the birching now.'
Kerri relaxed slightly as she felt herself being untied. She put her hands back to soothe her tenderised contours but two of the grinning youths immediately slapped her hands away.
The overseer looked at his watch. 'Time to go home. You can chasten Kerri further at a later date.'
Alan looked petulant for a second then his eyes lit up. 'Can I take her home with me now and punish her further?'
The overseer hesitated.
'I don't think Jeff would like that,' Kerri said quickly, desperate to come to her own defence.
A look of annoyance crossed the overseer's face. 'Jeff trusts us all to do the right thing,' he said sternly. He turned to the expectant youth. 'Yes, Alan, she wronged you so badly that you can take her home tonight and keep her for all of tomorrow, your day off.'
'No,' Kerri said, looking around for somewhere to run to.
'Yes,' said Alan's friends, taking hold of her. Seconds later they used soft cords to tie her hands behind her back.
'Please don't make me walk naked through the streets,' Kerri pleaded.
'I've no intention of doing that,' Alan replied. Kerri was about to thank him when he walked to the far end of the picnic area and returned pushing an adult tricycle. 'Can you tie another rope around her waist?' he asked his comrades. Seconds later Kerri found herself attached by the rope to the back of the trike. 'You can run naked through the streets instead,' he grinned.
Alan rode off downhill at a fast pace, a naked Kerri having to run to keep up with him. When she slackened her stride the rope pulled fiercely at her waist. Soon they reached the streets and he raced on, on, on, Kerri jogging bare-arsed behind him. Pedestrians hooted and gave Alan the thumbs up sign. Kerri could see her breasts jiggling up and down as she raced behind the big bike. She was equally aware of the pain in her rear.
At last they reached a cottage and he parked and let her catch her breath.
'I wish I hadn't tricked you,' she said when she'd stopped gasping. Maybe she could seduce him sufficiently to get him on her side.
'I'm your overseer from now till tomorrow night. One of my rules is that you don't speak unless you're spoken to,' Alan replied.
'Yes, sir,' Kerri muttered, aiming for a pretend obsequiousness.
'I didn't tell you to speak - so that's reason enough for your first thrashing,' Alan said.
He untied the rope from the bike but left it around her waist and pulled her into his house. Kerri carefully negotiated the furniture, her hands still tied behind her. Alan led her through to his large well-ventilated bedroom. 'Lie down on your belly on the bed.'
'What are you going to do?' Kerri whispered.
'That's another instance of you speaking without permission. I'm going to warm your arse with my belt,' Alan said. As he spoke, he tied the rope that was already around her waist to the bed, effectively binding her in place.
Kerri buried her head in the pillow and waited for the first blow but he seemed to be taking his time. At last she twisted her head around and looked at him.
'I'm admiring it before I thrash it,' he said, flexing the long strap between his palms.
Kerri thought of various replies but held them back, knowing that she mustn't speak without permission. She closed her eyes then opened them again and wailed as the leather strap hit her recently-birched spheres.
The youth must surely have been practicing for he knew how to apply a belt. He strapped every centimetre of her taut young orbs and seemed oblivious to her writhing. Kerri squealed and gasped out half phrases to no avail.
When she began sobbing he finally stopped and unbound her from the bed. He sat on the side of it. 'Bend over my knee so that I can examine your arse.' Snivelling, Kerri wriggled about, her hands still tied behind her, until she'd positioned herself across his lap. The bed supported most of her body. Shamed, she buried her face in the quilt.
'Does it hurt?' Alan asked conversationally, beginning to squeeze her glowing cheeks.
'You know it does,' Kerri whispered.
'Address me as Master from now on,' Alan said.
Kerri swallowed hard at her increasing ignominy. 'Yes, Master,' she forced out.
'Do you believe that I could make it hurt more?'
'Oh, Master, please don't,' Kerri said fervently. She wished that he'd untie her hands so that she could place them over her helpless cheeks.
'You weren't merciful to me,' Alan reminded her.
'I know. I'm so very sorry, Master.' She trembled at the thought of what might await.
'It's only 6pm and you're mine until midnight tomorrow. You don't yet know the meaning of the word sorry,' Alan replied. She sensed a smile entering his voice as he continued to stroke her arse. 'You wouldn't let me come this afternoon - but are you as controlled as you expected me to be?'
'Probably not, Master,' Kerri admitted fearfully. She kept her eyes closed and tried to ignore the way he was stroking her punished parts.
'Then let's take you to the nearest Punishment Chamber and put you to the test,' the youth said. He rolled her fully onto the bed, stood up and pulled at her waist-rope. 'Time for another jog behind my trike, Kerri. The residents love watching your tits bounce up and down.'
Helplessly, she followed him outside and watched him attach her waist-rope to the tricycle. He rode off, forcing her to run behind.
This time her shame was intensified due to the hectic colour of her hemispheres and her tear-stained face. How she wished that she hadn't swapped the birches. The journey to the Punishment Centre was only five minutes but it seemed to take an age. Many Alpineglow residents were sitting on their porches and they shouted to her to raise her knees higher as she jogged.
At last Alan parked the bike, untethered Kerri and unlocked the door. He then pressed a buzzer and a young woman responded. 'Fetch Jade. She's probably at home in the red house,' Alan said.
'Why...?' Kerri started to ask then remembered that she should only speak when spoken to.
'You're getting six of the tawse for that latest misdemeanour,' the young man replied.
He led her through another door into a large rectangular chamber with numerous devices and implements. Kerri swallowed hard.
Alan smiled gloatingly. 'Bend over that trunk.'
Kerri obeyed, finding that the trunk was set at a devilishly clever angle. It pushed her buttocks up high and held her head especially low. As her hands were still tied behind her back she had no way of rising up or of protecting herself.
She waited in an agony of anticipation as Alan presumably went to the far wall and selected the implement. She heard leather scrape against concrete then his footsteps approached her extremities.
'Oh please, Master, I'm already on fire,' Kerri begged, fearing that a further thrashing would reduce her to hysterics.
'You spoke again without permission so deep down you must really want this. That's your tariff up to eight strokes,' the boy said.
Kerri clamped her lips closed, determined not to say anything else. She tried to distract herself from her plight by thinking of her previous life in London. Then the tawse whistled across her raised backside and she could think of nothing else.
'Focuses the mind wonderfully, doesn't it?' Alan asked.
Unsure whether she should reply or not, the quivering Kerri nodded.
'Answer me, you naughty girl,' Alan said belittlingly.
'Yes, Master, it focuses the mind wonderfully,' she tearfully replied.
'So ask me nicely for the next one,' Alan continued.
'Please, Master, punish me with the tawse again,' Kerri forced out. Once she couldn't have said such debasing words - but this was no time for bravery. She'd say and do whatever it took to avoid further torment for her cherry-red cheeks.
Alan obliged and Kerri wailed. Her only consolation was that she couldn't see his face but she was sure he was smirking. She called him names inside her head as he lashed her sentient hemispheres again. She hadn't seen the tawse he was disciplining her with - but she suspected it was a four tailed one. Leastways, the leather was licking into every section of her flesh.
'Keep asking nicely,' Alan instructed her.
'Master, I beg you to beat me with the tawse again,' Kerri whimpered. The bastard did and she cried out and lifted her feet the little she could, her entire being now centred in her burning rear.
'And again,' Alan instructed softly.
'Please, Master...' Her voice broke and she struggled to find the words that would make him show mercy.
'You don't ask nicely, you get double,' the youth explained.
'Master, I deserve to wail under the tawse again,' Kerri said piteously then did indeed wail and wail.
She begged equally prettily for the fifth and sixth tawsing then sobbed as the youth applied them.
'Seven isn't lucky for some, is it?' he asked when he approached the seventh stroke.
'No, Master, but I've been a bad girl and I deserve it,' a very reluctant Kerri said.
Seconds later Alan gave her what she deserved. 'Now for the Grand Finale,' he said. 'I want you to really plead for this. If I believe that you're repentant we can go on to the next part of your re-education. But if I'm not convinced that you're truly humble then I'll make you taste the tawse for a much longer time.'
She had to pass this test. She just had to. Her buttocks couldn't cope with additional strokes.
'I've been a very wicked little girl,' Kerri whispered, her red rump twitching. 'I've been deceitful and malicious. I deserved the birching you gave me when I was tied to the whipping post and deserved to be towed behind your tricycle through the streets.' She forced back a sob. 'And you were right to take your belt to me, Master, to really warm my backside. And I deserved each lash of the tawse.' She took a deep breath. 'Please give me a final flogging now, Master. Please lay it on hard, knowing that it's made me truly repentant, that it's what my disobedient arse deserves.'
There was a very long pause. 'Alright, you get a rest from the leather after this one,' Alan said.
'Thank you, Master,' Kerri said fervently then groaned low in her throat as she felt the fronds lashing into her scorching cheeks.
'Now stay there for the next ten minutes and think about how naughty you've been,' the youth ordered. Kerri did so. She was still lying there, whimpering, when she heard Jade's voice.
'I'm here, sir,' Jade said.
'Call me Master,' Alan instructed.
Kerri strained her ears to hear more. Since when was Alan in charge of Jade?
'As you can see,' the youth said. 'I've already been having a little chat with Kerri's hindquarters and they've promised to be better. The question is, will her other private parts be equally well behaved?'
Kerri squirmed against the trunk, glad that she couldn't see Jade or Alan because they were standing behind her. She sensed that both were staring at her rump.
'I'll do whatever you want, Master,' Jade said in a timid voice. Kerri wondered what had happened to make her friend sound so subdued.
'Good girl. You can start by helping your naughty friend into a standing position,' Alan replied.
Kerri felt soft hands reaching under her armpits and pulling her up till she was kneeling next to the trunk but no longer bent over it.
'Shall I untie her hands, Master?' Jade asked.
'Yes, but I'll be retying them in a moment,' Alan explained.
At his latest words, Kerri shuddered. She felt her friend pulling the cords away from her wrists.
She flexed her arms then shrugged her shoulders up and down to release the tension then looked shyly up at Jade. 'Thanks, Jade.'
The green-eyed girl smiled back uncertainly at Kerri then looked at Alan, clearly waiting for further directives.
'Give her a drink of water then take her over to the Testing Frame,' Alan said.
Kerri got slowly to her feet and followed Jade into a little kitchen. Jade gave her a tall glass of mineral water and a small sweet cake.
'I need lots more water than that.' Kerri grabbed a towel and soaked it in very cold tap water then sat on it to take some of the sting from her behind. 'What's with the cake?' she asked, nibbling its fruited sweetness. 'Does it contain dope?'
Jade looked horrified. 'Hell no, I don't do that any more. It'll keep your blood sugar raised, help you think.'
'Think about Ape Man? I'd rather not.'
'But you need to think clearly so that you can carry out his orders,' her friend said.
Kerri reached for the mineral water. 'Cake-providing aside, why are you here?'
'Because I helped you punish him before - punish him wrongly. Now the overseer has determined that it's natural justice if I help him chastise you.'
'Just pretend,' Kerri said plaintively. 'I'm not sure if I can bear much more.'
Jade hesitated. 'I'll do what I can but he can be really exacting. He has a bad reputation, particularly with women older than himself.'
'Damn, I must be at least five years his senior,' twenty-six year old Kerri said.
'I've heard that his older sister used to torment him when he was a child. It's left him with some psychological hang-ups,' Jade explained.
That was all she needed - an ape man with a sister complex.
'He's been merciless so far,' Kerri admitted, shifting carefully on the soaking towel. 'He towed me through the streets completely naked and used a tawse, a belt and birch.'
'Maybe this next test will be the last,' Jade reassured.
Kerri swallowed hard. 'I doubt it - he's getting to keep me all day tomorrow as well.'
'Maybe you can take his mind off punishing you by...' Jade stopped talking as a muscular figure appeared in the doorway and frowned.
'Exactly how long does it take to drink a glass of water?' Alan strode into the kitchen flexing his belt. 'Jade, get that green dress up over your arse. You're due six for keeping Kerri talking.'
Wordlessly, Jade did as she was told. Kerri pushed her chair out of the way so that Alan wouldn't hit her with the belt in error. She realised belatedly that she was still sitting on the wet towel and that this would enrage him. Tensing inside, she carefully pulled the towel out from under her, dropped it to the floor and kicked it under the table and out of the way.
By now Alan had yanked Jade's olive knickers past her knees and was lining up his belt. Kerri watched as he applied the six strokes in fairly quick succession to Jade's flinching hemispheres. 'I'd have spent longer,' he said matter of factly, 'but I've got Kerri to sort out.'
'Yes, Master. Thank you, Master,' Jade gasped when he stopped thrashing her. She edged her pants up, wincing as the elastic waistband touched her scourged backside.
'To the Testing Frame,' Alan said. Jade led the way, apparently a past veteran of the machinery. Kerri followed behind, dragging her feet.
'Spread your legs,' Alan said when they reached the furthest corner of the room.
Kerri did, looking for metal hoops in the floor that would hold them in situ. Instead, Jade bent and began to fasten silken ropes to her ankles and knees. She stood up and fastened other bindings to Kerri's shoulders and wrists.
'How does this work?' Kerri muttered nervously.
'Watch and learn,' Alan said.
Jade payed out the ropes and began to attach them to various appendages and pull them taut. Kerri realised that she was now attached to a complex pulley system. The ropes held her arms out at the sides and kept her legs equally spread apart and taut.
'That's not all,' Alan said, clearly noting her consternation. 'See what happens if you're bad?' He nodded to Jade and she pulled on one of the levers. Immediately the top half of Kerri's body was dropped and pulled forward so that whoever stood behind her now had access to her bent-over arse. 'Pull her up nice and tight again for the testing,' Alan continued with an anticipatory grin.
Kerri whimpered as she was pulled back into place. She now had as much self-control as a puppet. Not that puppets writhed under birches or belts...
'Try to move,' Alan instructed.
Kerri pulled at her arms and legs but only succeeded in the tiniest of wriggles.
'Shall I tighten her further, Master?' Jade asked deferentially.
'No, I find a tiny amount of writhing quite attractive,' Alan said. He stared coldly at Kerri. 'Your small movements will show me if you're becoming aroused.'
'Yes, Master. Thank you, Master,' Kerri muttered sullenly. She looked at Jade but her friend immediately averted her gaze.
Alan glanced at the clock. 'We'll start your test in two minutes. It's very simple. You don't orgasm until I say so - and any infraction of the rules earns you the hottest arse.'