36

All through the evening The Mistress had kept her nightgown on -- she still only had a general idea of how The Mistress looked naked -- and now she knew why the girls had problems sitting down after an evening with her.

36

by o_girl ©

Chapter twenty-two

Useful knowledge at work...

Sir Robert's youngest boy got ill. He was an active 12-year old, and had gotten a wound on his knee from a fall while playing with the other boys in the woodlands just outside the city walls.

The wound became infected - and soon most of his leg had an unhealthy colour and an equally unhealthy swelling. The toes beginning to look bluish and much too big for his foot.

The doc was there early and late, but the infection just seemed to get worse and worse and the child got a fever. When she -- quietly -- cleaned his room, she noticed the soaked bedlinen and his sweaty, little face. He also threw himself from side to side now and then and mumbled something in his feverish sleep.

She recognized all the symptoms. Granny had treated many a fever like that -- with good results.

But who would listen to her -- a mere houseslave -- when they had the best and trusted doc in the town attending the child?

She decided to act -- in secret. Once in a while -- very seldom -- she had a half day or a whole day off. Usually she would go walking in the streets and look at the stalls and shops, or maybe just sit on a bench in the park or in the square. Looking at people.

Fortunately, one of those days came up. Maybe because it was summer, maybe because the illness of the child made everybody quiet moving around slowly. There was not much service from the kitchen or places to be cleaned. An eerie silence had descended on the big house.

Although the slaves were not actually allowed outside the gates, she had become friendly with most of the guard crew, so she had often been allowed -- on her days off -- to go outside and down to the small stream just outside. To take a swim in the river running by the place. No one therefore took much notice as she smiled and waved at her friends on the watchtower, and went out.

She had consulted Granny's book before leaving, so she knew exactly what she was looking for.

At the river. Under a rotting tree, she found a carcass of some animal. It had probably been the prey of another animal and that animal had dragged the corpse under the tree to eat in peace. She turned the carcass over with a stick, and found what she was looking for: a 'colony' of small, slimy, black leeches having a party with the leftovers of the carcass. Carefully she picked a handful -- one by one -- and put them in a wet cloth she had prepared from home, and hidden under her cowl.

She then spent quite a while searching for roots and herbs, and she worried somebody might have missed her, when she finally got back through the gate, but the sentry simply smiled at her and asked if she had had a good swim.

Back at her own room, she hid everything under her bed.

Fortunately, the key to the door at the end of the room hung on its hook beside the door. The Mistress had wanted to keep the key with her -- and lock the door from outside, but someone had told her that she had to leave a spare key inside, so the girls could get out in case of fire or other emergencies.

Now she waited till after midnight -- when everything seemed quiet. Then tip-toed to the door and locked herself out. She stood for a long while in the kitchen. Listening for signs of life -- but there was none.

Then she found a good, short knife and began chopping herbs. The stoves were still burning and hot enough for her to cook a pot of 'tea' with a small portion of the herbs. Waiting for it to cool down, she looked for, and found a small flask under one of the tables. Armed with the flask -- containing her 'tea' -- and the cloth with the leeches, she moved silently as a ghost through the big house.

She sneaked into the boy's room -- and stood again listening, but all she heard was the boys rasping breathing and his feverish mumbling.

She lifted the bedsheet off the leg -- and removed the soiled, and unhealthy-looking bandages. Then carefully placed the leeches on the wound. They were hungry and immediately started to 'work' on the mucus filled, open area of the leg. She counted to 1.000 -- slowly and then removed the leeches again, and covered the leg.

Then she gently and carefully lifted the boy's upper body, and forced a little of the 'tea' inside him. She continued to make him drink small sips at a time. Giving him amble time to swallow and hoping that he would not begin to cough and attract the attention of somebody.

Finally, she put him back, tucked him in, and floated silently back to her quarters in the basement.

In the morning, she had trouble waking up -- and as she repeated her nightly expeditions every day, she became more and more tired as time went by. Since activities were low in the house, she managed to hide that she was walking round half asleep most of the time.

Already the second night, she sensed an improvement in the child's condition., The leeches had already taken some of the infection out of the wound, the child was sweating a little less, and his forehead felt slightly less hot.

The mood of the house lifted noticeably day by day -- and the doc was much praised for his efforts as the young master seemed suddenly to improve.

She had trouble as the child was now awake and conscious when she treated him. She did manage to swear him into silence, and as they had had a very good relationship before he got ill, he seemed to trust her. He did not like the leeches -- but she made him understand that they lived off the 'bad stuff' in his wound.

Fortunately, the wound now looked healthy and was healing. Because her leeches were fat and hardly bothered to eat anything when she put them on the wound. It would have been best to have a fresh set every day, but she had no way of getting into the forest, so she had to use the ones she had.

What she did not know was that her activities had been noted by The Mistress. How, she never found out, but as The Mistress always spied on her and watched her, it came as no surprise, when she much later found out who had been engineering her misfortune.

She had almost finished the treatment of the child. Had figured she needed a few days more to be sure he would quite recover. So, she happily sneaked back through the corridors and kitchen. Only to be met by four guards at the front of the door to her quarters.

As they grabbed her, she tried to protest, but one of them stuck a towel in her mouth and tied it at the back of her head. The towel had a knot in the middle -- and efficiently filled her mouth.

A few moments later, she found herself in one of the small cells at the absolute bottom of the cellars. Brutally they ripped her cowl off, united the towel -- and when out -- leaving her lying on a pile of ill smelling straw on the floor.

She had no idea why she had been put here, but imagined it had something to do with her trying to 'doctor' on the child.

She did not know for how long, she was in there. Once in a while a guard would come in, silently place a bowl of soup and a lump of bread on the floor and leave again. Sometimes he changed the bucket in the corner of the cell -- with fresh one for her to relieve herself in.

She was still wondering what she was accused of -- and what she might have done wrong. The child had recovered, so what could be the problem?

Then they came -- four of them again. Got her on her feet, pulled a hood over her head and tied it with a string round her neck. They more carried than led her out and along the corridor.

When the last door opened, she recognized the familiar smell of a blacksmiths furnace.

She did not try to fight or protest. She knew it would be in wain. So, she meekly let them place first one hand, then the other on an anvil, and felt and heard as the iron cuffs were hammered and welded on to her wrists -- then they did the same with her ankles.

Thrown back in her cell, she realized for the first time that this was serious -- very serious.

The only reason for them to fit her with the iron cuffs was that she was in for a treatment like Peter had had -- but instead of the mines, she would be going to the brothel by the harbour -- to be fucked till she was useless -- and then left to die. But first they were going to whip her to shreds -- like they had done to Peter.

She dozed most of the time. Apart from being fed and relieving herself in the bucket in the corner.

She was oblivious to the opening and closing of the door to her cell, when she suddenly heard a familiar voice:

"So here you are. You little bitch. I finally managed to get you!"

The Mistress was standing just inside the door, whip in hand and a broad, nasty smile on her face.

She looked up, but said nothing.

"You thought you could get away with anything -- didn't you? Scheming little bitch! But I found out about you."

Suddenly it all made sense to her. The Mistress had been spying on her.

"This is what happens when you try to poison one of The Masters children!"

"..but I did not...I cured him.... Helped him....."

"I know -- and you know, but nobody else knows, and I had a certified witness: The doctor. He did not like to realize he had been outdone by a housemaid, so when I showed him the herbs from under your bed, he recognized them as very poisonous!"

Everything clicked in place in her brain.

"...will I have a chance to defend myself?"

The Mistress laughed. Her voice filling the little chamber.

"Of course not. Who do you think you are? The sentence has been given, and nobody wants to listen to a sorceress that has tried to kill one of the children. I'll enjoy seeing you go -- but before that I will enjoy even more to see you whipped in public. I even arranged that you will not be taken away straight after the whipping -- you'll hang there for a day and a night. To scare anyone that might get ideas and show what happens to bitches like you!"

She looked at The Mistress -- for the first time in her life, she knew what it was to really hate someone -- and that someone was right before her.

"I'll get my revenge...!"

The Mistress laughed again.

"I'm supposed to be scared now -- am I? Well, you do not seem to have many options. Soon you will be in the harbour brothel, and they know how to make the most out of their stock. You will probably be expensive at first, but as soon as you begin to wear down, you will find the clientele getting less and less desirable.

In the end - I have heard -- death comes as a relief to most of the girls there -- and you can be sure, when you are in that room at the brothel -- there's only one way out - and that's with your feet first -- after you have been used up -- completely. I might even drop by to see how you are doing -- and enjoy myself. They do take female customers, you know -- and I'll take great pleasure in giving you another whipping...."

The Mistress turned on her heels and left. The last thing she heard was The Mistress' laughter echoing through the hallways outside before the door slammed shut.

Then the day came. The door opened and her four guards grabbed her and fitted her with the well-known wooden ball gag with the torturous metal contraption. Then they marched her off. Through the long tunnel, up a set of stairs through a door and into the sunlight.

At first, she was blinded by the sudden sharp light, but as they crossed the square, she became aware that the whole household was lined up -- just like when Peter was punished.

As they tied the ropes to her cuffs and hoisted her up, she found Sir Robert in the middle of the side with the other free people living at the house. -- His face was a grey, stoned-looking mask, and he carefully avoided meeting her eyes.

She looked at the hooded man taking position right in front of her and unfolding his long bullwhip.

Turning her head as much as she could, she just managed to see a similar, hooded man right behind her.

As soon as she was secured and the men stepped back, Sir Robert spoke. His voice booming in the courtyard.

"Does anyone here have a last statement in favour of this houseslave?"

There was a long silence. A bird squeaked somewhere, but otherwise nothing.

Sir Robert continued: "Houseslave 36. You have been found guilty of trying to poison a child of this household. The evidence is overwhelming. Herbs and plants. Identified by the doctor to be poisonous have been found in your quarters. The Mistress has reported you sneaking into the little Masters chamber every night and making him drink a potion that you have mixed with these herbs.

We therefore cannot have you in this household anymore, but condemn you to the Harbour Brothel- but first you will be punished here and now for your offense. The punishment will -- as usual start when the tower clock is five to -- and stop when it starts chiming the hour stroke."

In the short intermission between Sir Roberts' speech and the clock reaching five to, she managed to look round. Everybody was there. All her friends from the cellar -- more or less pale -- all of them -- and The Mistress -- smiling her broadest as the only one in the whole crowd.

Then almost as the clock in the tower gave a loud click in the silence, she heard the swish of the whips and felt the first sting of pain. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Made her mind go wandering off. The landscape she walked in her mind becoming more and more red and more and more hazy, but she did not react to the whiplashes. She hung perfectly still. She would not give The Mistress the pleasure of seeing her body wring and contort under the whip.

She hardly realized it was over -- and did not hear the tower clock, but a little while later, she came round. They had loosened her ropes, so she was hanging relatively loose and free in the ropes.

She lifted her head and looked round. The yard was empty. They had all gone and it was over -- so far.

She went into a painful haze -- and just hung there.

In her half dreaming state, she thought she saw people she had known and was generally hallucinating.

Then through her haze, she thought she saw a familiar face, but thought she was dreaming. A hand lifted her chin and looked at her, she opened her eyes and again thought she saw a familiar face, but could not place it anywhere in her feverish haze......

...to be continued...perhaps.....