Excerpt from: Bondmaids of Ramswold

 

The harsh roar of quad bike engines filled their ears as April and Niki pounded over the hillside. The four machines careened after them, narrowly avoiding the trees, their drivers shouting wildly at each other to head their pray off this way and that in between swigging down mouthfuls of lager and tossing empty cans aside.

Ahead of the two girls a jagged wall of honey-coloured limestone thrust up through the curving brow of the hill. Inexorably they were being driven towards it. It was too high to climb...there was no way round. A cold hand clenched at April's racing heart. They were trapped! No... there amongst the rocks was a dark cleft she had not noticed at first in her panic. Crouching down she saw a faint spark of daylight in its heart.

April shucked off her backpack. 'In there!' she yelled, dropping to her hands and knees. 'They can't follow...'

Niki dropped her own pack and scrambled after April as she squeezed through the crack with the drunken obscene threats of their pursuers ringing in their ears.

The cleft was narrower and deeper than April had thought, and she had to push hard to force her way through. Its rough edges tore at her clothes but there was no turning back now. They had to escape... to be anywhere else but here! There was one terrible moment of constriction when she couldn't breathe and thought she was stuck, but with a shove from Niki on her rear and a desperate heave she was through.

Suddenly the cleft was opening up and she was scrambling out of the far end with Niki at her heels. But there was no level ground at the other end of the cleft and their exit became an ungainly slither down a steep wooded slope that ended with them sprawled by a small pool.

They were gasping for breath, lathered in sweat, smeared with leaf mould, scratched and filthy, but at least there was no longer sight or sound of their pursuers. They'd made it, they'd escaped, and for a minute they just lay on their backs recovering gratefully.

Although dishevelled, their walking gear of shorts, vest-tops and ankle boots revealed that they were both attractive young women. April had shoulder length straight dark hair, slightly olive skin, a straight narrow nose, deep brown eyes and a wide mouth. A full bust emphasised her shapely figure. Niki was slightly slimmer in build, with a long mane of curling honey-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Her eyes were blue, her nose a little broader than April's and her lips naturally red, full and pouting. Both girls were twenty-three. They'd been good friends for a couple of years since joining the same insurance company and were currently without steady partners, which in part explained their present situation.

Niki sat up, wiped her face with the back of her hand, grimacing as she saw her torn nails, then turned to look at April.

'Next time, right, when you suggest doing the Cotswold Way on foot because its eco-friendly, healthy, low carbon and all that shit, you can stuff it! I'm flying away somewhere where there's plenty of sand and sea and I'm going to eat and drink too much and maybe get unhealthily suntanned, but all the time I'll be thinking at least I'm not being chased over the hills by a pack of fucking drunken quad-bikers!'

April forced a smile. 'I think I'll join you.'

They both laughed, happy to play down the very real terror they had felt only minutes before.

April levered herself upright, wincing as she moved her bruised back, and looked around. The limestone crag was steeper seen from this side of the hill, meandering off left and right until it was hidden by the treetops. Through a gap in the tree line before them they could glimpse part of the broad expanse of the Vale of Evesham bisected by the winding course of the Avon.

'So what now?' Niki asked.

'Well I'm not going back up there to pick up my pack while that lot are still around,' April said, taking her cell phone from her pocket. 'I'm going to call the police and tell them about those idiots before they really hurt somebody.'

'I am really hurt!' Niki insisted. 'Look at my nails... uggh...and what have I got in my hair?'

But although April's phone seemed undamaged, there was no signal.

'My phone's in my pack,' Niki said, 'and I'm not going back up there to fetch it either. Those nutters can have it if they want. I suppose we're lucky we've still got our cards and money. So where to next? Where's the map?'

'In the side pocket of my pack,' April admitted, getting carefully to her feet. 'But if we keep heading downhill we'll come to the A46 eventually and then find somewhere we can call from.'

The tiny pool was perfectly clear so they bathed their cuts and cleaned themselves up as best they could. Then they set off down the hill following a faint path that ran beside the trickle of a stream that ran out of the pool.

The air was fresh and warm, and the lush woods were full of birdsong and buzzing insects. If it hadn't been for their frightening encounter it would have been a perfect day, April thought. She supposed it could have been worse.

After about twenty minutes of steady descent the ground began to level out. The rivulet joined a slightly larger stream that ran off to the right while their path merged with a narrow rough farm track. The woods ended at the edge of a line of small fields, planted with a variety of crops and divided up by fences and hedges. A church tower rose in the distance beyond another belt of copses and hedgerows. In one of the fields they saw four youngish men bent over digging out potatoes. The gate of the field was open, so April and Niki walked through it and up to the labourers.

'Excuse me,' April called out. 'We're a bit lost. Can you help us?'

The four youths glanced up in surprise. They were dressed in baggy trousers, laced about their calves and loose smock tops. Beside them was a wooden handcart half loaded with freshly dug potatoes.

'More eco-nuts...' Niki muttered under her breath.

The four had taken a few steps forward and were looking them up and down in apparent amazement. April smoothed her ruffled hair. Even if they were a little dishevelled, surely they didn't look that strange. 'Have you got a phone we could borrow?' she asked.

'Or a bath?' Niki added hopefully.

'Where you from?' one of the young men demanded suspiciously. He had an unruly mop of dark hair and the shadow of a moustache on his upper lip. He might have been seventeen or eighteen, but it was hard to tell under the grime. His companions all looked much the same age.

'Well we're from London,' April said, surprised by the question. 'But we're on a hiking holiday. We were up there on the other side of the hill when we were chased by some idiots on quad bikes and lost all our gear. So we want to report it to the police.'

This did not elicit the expected sympathetic response. Instead a sandy-haired lad said slowly, 'What're... po-lice?'

'They're weirdos...' Niki whispered through her clenched teeth.

There was something very strange about the way they were staring at them, April thought, almost as though they were freshly landed Martians. 'Look, don't worry about a phone. Just tell us where we can get a bus to Evesham... or Tewkesbury.'

'Never heard of none of them places,' a curly-haired one said with a scowl. 'This here's Ramswold land.'

'Sorry, I've never heard of it,' April replied. 'We lost our map, so we don't know where we are exactly.'

'Yokelville central...' Niki muttered.

The dark-haired youth spoke up again but now with excitement in his voice. 'Did you hear what she said? They're from the farland over the hill! They're furriners! Outsiders!'

The surprise faded from his companions' faces as if some great realization had dawned. They began to advance on April and Niki, raising their forks menacingly.

Niki backed away, tugging at April's sleeve. 'Well, we'll just be going, then. Sorry to have bothered you...'

They turned and ran but the lads were quicker, getting between them and the gate, surrounding them and jabbing their forks, their eyes alive with nervous excitement. The ring closed about them, and April and Niki were forced down onto their knees in the dirt, clinging together in a frightened huddle.

'You stay there!' the dark-haired boy commanded. 'Don't you try any of your furriner tricks. 'Wilf!' he said to the blond-haired lad, 'you run like the devil and find old Gurney. Tell him we've caught a pair of outsider women!'

Wilf dropped his fork and sped off through the gate. The others kept their own implements held at the ready while staring at April and Niki in fearful fascination, as though wanting to look more closely but frightened they might catch something.

April tried to keep her voice steady. 'Look, I don't know who you think we are, but we're not foreigners. We're from London!'

'And what's that, then?' dark-hair said suspiciously. 'Some farlander place beyond the hills?'

'You've never heard of London?' Niki exclaimed, shrill with disbelief. 'It's only a hundred bloody miles away! Where have you been living all your lives?'

'Nethervale of course,' curly said, as if there was no other possibility.

'And ... this is Nethervale?' April asked.

'If you have to ask that proves you're furriners!' sandy-hair declared triumphantly.

'But this is the Vale of Evesham,' April protested.

'No more of that talk!' dark hair said, jabbing his fork meaningfully. 'You just shut your mouths until the tipstaff gets here. You can tell him your story and he'll have plenty of questions for you as well.' He chuckled. 'And he'll make sure you tell him the truth back!'

'This is a fucking nightmare!' Niki muttered.

April found it hard to disagree. Of course there must be some sensible explanation. Some sort of back to nature eco-community that she'd never heard of or maybe it was all an historical recreation? They were just taking it a bit too far that was all...

As they waited April heard curly ask dark-hair. 'They look pretty. Do you think they're, you know, normal women underneath like the others?'

'You never can tell with furriners. They come in all sorts. And they carry all kind of strange devices with them. Don't let them touch you...'

It must have been almost fifteen minutes before Wilf returned with the tipstaff puffing along in his wake. He was a large man perhaps in his late forties, dressed in knee britches, a blue frock coat and a tricorn hat. He had a leather satchel slung over his shoulder and carried a wooden staff capped with an ornamented brass crest of some sort. A long leather strap with a wooden handle hung from his belt.

'You see, Mr Gurney,' Wilf was saying excitedly. 'Furriner women, like I told you!'

Gurney mopped his brow with a large handkerchief as he circled round April and Niki, looking them up and down. 'Seems like you were right, lad,' he conceded.

'Looks like you've caught a couple of prime specimens.'

'They says they're from somewhere called Lon-don,' dark hair volunteered.

'Oh, do they now?'

April was fed up with being talked about as though she was not there. 'Now look, we've done nothing wrong. We were chased by some drunken quad-bikers, and we lost out gear. We were only trying to report it, but I couldn't get a signal...' she pulled her phone from her pocket thumbing it on as she did so. It beeped into life and the screen lit up.

The lads and Gurney all took a step back in alarm.

'You put that thing down, girl!' Gurney shouted.

April dropped the phone in surprise. Gurney prodded it aside with the butt of his staff. 'You got any more of them furriner things with you? Turn out your pockets. Now!'

Bemused and increasingly frightened, they obeyed. Gurney prodded the assorted purses, handkerchiefs and combs suspiciously.

'Look, we're not dangerous,' April said. 'I don't know what you're all doing here but we're no part of it and I think it's gone far enough, OK? We just want to get to get to a phone or find a taxi -'

'You speak when you're spoken to, girly!' Gurney snapped, silencing her. 'You're not going anywhere. Now your clothes: get them off... boots and all!'

'What?' Niki exclaimed as April blinked at him in disbelief.

'You heard me!'

'You must be fucking mad!' Niki replied. 'I'm not stripping for some pervert in fancy dress! You can take your stupid game and - aww!'

Gurney had unhooked the long strap from his belt and swiped it across Niki's back. As she doubled over in pain and shock April instinctively put her arms round her only to receive a swipe across her shoulders as well.

Gurney glowered down at the two startled young women. 'There be no more backtalk from either of you! I'm the sheriff's officer for this parish and it's my duty to examine outsiders for any dangerous or seditious items likely to disturb the peace. These furriner clothes look highly suspect to me, so get 'em off...' he raised the strap again '...or else!'

Shocked and cowed, knowing in their guts that further protest was futile, April and Niki stood and with clumsy fingers stripped off their clothes right down to their boots. It did not take long. While Gurney examined each piece of discarded clothing suspiciously the boys gazed with undisguised approval at what was revealed. Bulges began to show under their loose trousers.

Large brown erect nipples capped April's full breasts. Her navel was deep and smooth, her hips wide and her bottom cheeks well rounded. A closely shorn mat of dark curls framed her pubic cleft, from out of which the paler crinkled tongue of her inner labia peeped impudently.

Niki's smaller pinker nipples were even more prominent against her paler skin, perfectly in proportion to her neater, higher breasts. Her waist was tight, stomach flat, navel a deep slot. Her pubic curls were the colour of dark honey. Like Aprils they had been trimmed back from the bikini line, so they hid little of her mound.

When they were totally naked they instinctively squeezed their thighs together while their hands moved across their breasts and pubes. Gurney said sharply, 'None of that! You won't try to hide nothing from me. Lads: hold them fast so I can have a proper look at them!'

Eagerly the boys took hold of an arm apiece and pulled them out straight so they could no longer shield themselves from the men's gaze.

Gurney walked round April and Niki's outstretched and trembling forms prodding them with the butt of his staff. He lifted their breasts, dimpled their backsides, probed between their bottom cheeks and drew the ferrule of his staff through their pubic clefts, making them squirm in utter shame. To April's horror she found the combination of exposure and physical stimulation before so many strange and frankly lustful eyes a freakish turn-on. Her nipples were standing up. So to, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, were Niki's. The boys were grinning even more broadly at the sight. Please let this end, she thought!

'Hmm... usual rutty outsider girl response,' Gurney said with a smirk, observing their unwilling display. 'No doubt about what you are, but I don't see you've anything else to hide. Now, where did you say you were from again? And when you answer I want to hear some proper respect!'

'London... sir,' April said meekly.

'And you don't claim to come from anywhere in Nethervale?'

'No... sir. We've never heard of it before, sir.'

'So you admit to being outsiders... yes?'

'I... suppose we must be, Sir.' April bit her lip, fearful of the strap, and added, 'Please Sir, may we have our clothes back now?'

Gurney chuckled. 'You've admitted you're outsiders and we don't allow outsider girls to wear clothes in Nethervale anymore than we do outcasts. And this isn't over yet, not by a long chalk. Do you think I'm just going to let you wander about with your funny furriner ways disturbing the peace? I've got to take you to the lockup. There's a sessions tomorrow and you can be properly assessed, recorded and marked. Now, hold them still a minute...'

From his satchel he took out two sets of handcuffs formed of a pair of flat metal bars with semi-circular hoped ends held together by a heavy central screw, a pair of choke chain leashes and finally straps strung with ball gags.

The sight of the sinister ironware was too much for April, and she began to tug at the boys' restraining hands. Niki was shaking her head wildly. 'No, this is crazy!' she screamed. 'You can't do this to us!'

'Oh yes I can, girly!' Gurney said. 'And what did I tell you about speaking out of turn? Looks like you need a lesson in proper behaviour. Bend her over, lads...'

They twisted Niki's arms round and pushed her head and shoulders down so she that bent forward with her bottom sticking out. She squirmed feebly between them, but she could not pull free of their hard strong hands. Gurney took out his strap, positioned himself and slashed the leather across her pale smooth bottom so that the cracks rang out across the field mingling with Niki's shrill cries of pain, making her flesh jump and shiver. April watched her friend's suffering in helpless numbing disbelief. This could not be happening...

Gurney stayed his hand. Niki's bottom ceased to writhe, her legs gave way and she sagged to the ground between the boys holding her. An angry blush was blossoming over her twitching buttocks.

The farm lads laughed at her collapse. Gurney grinned. 'That's more like it! Now your turn, girl...'

The boys holding April bent her over in the same way and Gurney wielded the terrible strap across her buttocks. Thwack, thwack, thwack! She screamed with the full force of her lungs. She'd never felt such pain before. In her whole life she'd never been spanked or even slapped. Now it felt as if she was on fire. She'd die!

The pain ceased and April found herself on her knees in the dirt with her arms still firmly clasped by the pair of boys at her side. Her bottom was pulsing and throbbing with waves of pain. Her chest ached from screaming, her face was wet with tears. She could not get a grip on what had happened. All that she knew was that it was no dream or game but all too horribly real.

Niki had been pulled back up onto her knees beside April. Her woebegone face was tear-streaked. Fearfully they both looked up at Gurney.

'As a reward for catching them so smartly,' Gurney said generously to the attendant lads, 'you can tup the pair of them. It's clear they're self-willed little furrin tarts who need some breaking in, so don't be gentle.'

The boys' faces lit up. 'Cor, thanks Mister Gurney!'

Eagerly they began dragging April and Niki over onto the narrow verge of rough grass at the edge of the field. Niki was moaning incoherently while April could not believe what had just been said. Did "tup" mean what she thought it did?

As Gurney looked on approvingly the lads threw them down on their backs in the shade of the hedge. The grass was a sudden shocking cool balm against their burning buttocks. Their arms were pulled up above their heads with wrists together and forks were driven across them and deep into the ground, pinning them down. Their legs were kicked wide apart, exposing their rich treasures.

'Keep 'em like that!' dark-hair warned them.

'Two of them and four of us,' curly said. 'Who goes first?'

The lads played an urgent game of rock-paper-scissors while standing over the spread legs of their prizes. Dark hair and sandy won.

The winning pair took their pleasure, ripping down their own trousers and plunging into the valley of April and Niki's thighs, sinking their hard cocks into the honey pots at their junctions. They thudded into them vigorously, uncaring of the girls' comfort, riding them hard, slapping and mauling their breasts and biting their hard nipples in rough delight. April and Niki grunted and whimpered under the onslaught, too dazed to resist. The boys smelt of smelt of earth and sweat...

Like all young men they came too quickly, spurting hotly deep inside their captives' vaginas. The pair had hardly caught their breaths before Wilf and curly were pulling them aside to have their turn. They wiped their friends' sperm from April and Niki's reddened pubes with handfuls of grass before ramming their own rampant erections inside to refill the fleshy voids so recently vacated.

Again it was over so quickly, leaving April and Niki sprawled limply on the grass, trembling and crying softly, too fearful to close their legs, their matted pubes gaping and oozing pale dribbles of sperm. The cruel realization penetrated April's stunned mind that, to heap torment upon her misery, she had been perversely aroused by the animal vigour of her violation and yet left unfulfilled and needy. Meanwhile their four young dominators, flush-faced and beaming foolishly, pulled their trousers back on.

'Well done, lads,' Gurney said. 'I think that's knocked the fight out of them.'

The boys pulled the forks out of the ground, freeing April and Niki's wrists. Gurney stood over them and prodded their stomachs with his staff butt until they blinked away their tears and looked him fearfully in the eye.

'This is how it is, right,' he told them gravely. 'As long as I present you in court at the proper time I can do what I want with you. Nobody cares if your cunny slots are reamed and arses red, see? You're outsider girls who've come uninvited into Nethervale. Now you have to abide by our laws. They say you're worth a little more consideration than the beasts in the field, but not by much.' He thudded his staff into the grass, making them flinch. 'Now on your feet or I'll give you such a walloping you won't be able to sit down for a month!'

Shakily they got to their feet, their legs feeling like rubber, painfully aware of the boys' grinning faces as they witnessed the shameful state to which they had been reduced by their efforts. Sperm and juices began to trickle down their thighs.

They did not resist as Gurney cuffed, gagged and leashed them. The terrible demonstration had served its purpose. They knew their place in Nethervale now. He gathered their clothes and possessions up into a bundle and then tugged on their leashes. 'Now, you come with me...'

And meekly, fearfully they trailed after him like docile animals as he led them out of the gate and down the lane to Ramswold. Behind them the boys resumed their digging, chattering excitedly about how they had captured and tupped two exotic outsider women.