Punishment Day Festival Pt. 04

Follows Part 3.

FALLS

Yais knelt disconsolately on the floor in the next person in a line of maids and servants waiting to see "The Alpothecary." She didn't know what that was and had been shushed by the girls around her since speaking while in a queue was apparently forbidden and strictly policed. The girls had to stand "properly," hands and their sides, chins up--no fidgeting. She, apparently being a "pet," was allowed to kneel. At least that was something even if it highlighted her demeaning position in the household.

She'd expected the girls to be a bit nasty with the new girl--but they seemed to find her cute and appealing, even though she was at their ages and every bit a girl like they were. Rather than finding her lot appalling and abusive and unfair, they, instead, volunteered to "walk her"--a dreadfully intimate humiliation and had cheerfully fed her in the kitchen--meaning she wasn't required to eat from a bowl at least (she had to kneel and open her mouth and be patient until some of the food was put in--but the food! The food was amazing!).

The morning had passed into midday and then to afternoon with her kept blessedly out of the way of the functionaries preparing the great house for the "event" that was to begin tomorrow as the guests would start to arrive.

Girls on their breaks came by to look at her--and even offer her "treats" from a bowl to make her "beg" (the book she has read on being a pet informed her that failure to beg would be punished by the girls and so she dutifully did). She'd submitted to being petted on the head by a distracted girl who stroked her while involved in another conversation as if she really would enjoy the affection.

It was demeaning, as intended--but it wasn't exactly unpleasant--and the bowl of treats contained some kind of cookies that she found unbelievably delicious. She had never tasted the confectionaries she saw in shop windows and on display in the better parts of town where she was watched or hunted.

Now, having tasted them, she was almost happy to be given the order to beg for one. But she hadn't seen Cais yet--and she had betrayed him. Now, in the afternoon, she sat, fretting, worried about what this Alpothecary was doing to the various victims who entered the room they were in--and exited, apparently, somewhere else--since they didn't come back out.

She felt she MUST get word to Cais that his sister had pried the secret out of her. Why had he left her alone with Virona? Did he have any choice? Probably not--but still--he must have some idea of how perceptive his sister was. She shifted. "Squirming" and, far worse, "Scratching" or playing with her hair would get her disciplined. She had read the rules--and there were many.

"NEXT!!" CLAP! CLAP!

Yais jolted up--she was up--for... something. She came forward and crawled through the door, the almost non-existent wrap she wore giving the girl behind her a good view of her aft.

The room was wood paneled and had been converted into a kind of workshop with burners and small cauldrons and glass jars and all sorts of things she couldn't recognize. The 'Alpothecary' turned out to be a large heavy woman dressed in silks and smelling strongly of strange spices. Her fingernails were painted in odd colors that seemed to shift and run as she moved, bustling about.

"What have we got," The Alpothecary asked, seeming far too happy. "Are we being a pet?"

"Yes'm," Yais answered unsure if she was truly allowed to speak but feeling she'd better say something.

The large woman seemed thrilled.

"We're being punished?" she asked.

Yais nodded cautiously.

"Taught a lesson then," the woman decided. "Well climb up on the table here, pet."

She patted a table covered with fresh wax paper. Yais stood and climbed up, putting a knee up and then, drawing a deep breath, waited on all fours on the table.

The servant who was admitting girls eyed Yais with distrust as though if she took her eyes off her, Yais would do something to get her in trouble.

The Alpothecary was looking in a log book full of scribbles, turning pages, and glancing up at her--then back at the log.

"I--oh!" She found what she was looking for and scanned it. "We're in for quite a time of it, pet." she said, whatever she was reading apparently impressed her.

"Now--let's see." The woman bustled over and begin feeling under her jaw, fingers pressed into her flesh. Yais sat there, worried about what was scheduled to be done with her as the woman took measurements of her head with fairly intricate instruments and then moved to feeling about her breasts and, making her lay forward, inserted something into her anus and after a few moments of doing other things, removed it.

Yais thoroughly hated all of this but while it was humiliating it, at least, hadn't hurt.

"Okay," The woman said. "We're ready, pet. Drink this."

She had a tin cup with some dark fluid in it. The fluid had an unpleasant chemical stink and Yais glanced up at the woman.

"Go ahead, love. Drink it down and we'll get started."

"It smells like poison," Yais said--she knew this was stupid--resistance was harshly punished--but she didn't want to drink the thick looking fluid and not knowing what was being done, she felt panic rising--

The assistant girl came forward. "We have a funnel and clamps to force your mouth open girl--"

The big woman held up a hand. "She's just scared. Go out and manage the girls--"

The assistant looked like she would much rather get the forced-drinking device but with a look from the big woman she slunk out, closing the door and leaving them alone.

"You're new to this?" the Alpothecary asked. Yais nodded.

"V-very, miss."

"Are they being beastly with you?" The woman asked--Yais was surprised to find that it seemed a real question.

"I--think--not--" she remembered being taken by Cais--and having told him she'd play "her part." Virona had been incredibly annoying but the woman had yet to really... do something horrible to her. "N-not too bad," she answered uncertainly.

"They can be rough until you acclimatize," the woman said. "The draught will make you sleepy and feel a bit warm. It tastes awful but the effects aren't bad."

"W-what comes after that?" Yais asked--still feeling panic crawl up and down her spine.

"Let me see--I will be applying magikins to strengthen your knees and back and neck--improve your flexibility and increase your hearing and sight and, erm, sense of smell."

She looked up into Yais' eyes. "The family is spending quite a lot of coin on you--you must be a 'rare' breed."

Yais stared back. The idea that this woman was going to work powerful magics on her was utterly beyond her frame of reference. She desperately wished Cias was here! The descriptions of those things were understandable but she felt certain there would be some drawback or risk or some other thing--maybe it would hurt? How did one" Strengthen a neck?"

"I don't understand," Yais said--and she was actually trembling. "W-why--I don't--"

The woman came forward. "Calm down pet--breathe deeply---"

Yais couldn't. "G-get Master Cais. I am his pet! Get him! Make sure he knows this is to be done to me! Miss--MISS--PLEASE PLEASE!! GET MASTER--"

She felt certain the woman was going to do something awful to her but she couldn't help it--she had moved back from the edge of the table and huddled against the wall.

The Alpothecary was looking slightly annoyed but she actually took a step back. "No yelling, pet--I'm not going to harm you."

She stepped over to the door and called for the assistant. Yais was certain she was in trouble but she heard Cias' name mentioned and then the Alpothecary came back.

"They're fetching your master, pet. It's not proper for you to sit like a household member but I think we can manage something." In one of the closets off the main room, the woman--moving dexterously despite her great size placed a cushion on the floor and laid a thick cloth over it like a sheet. "There you are pet. Wait for your master."

Yais, feeling both relief and an amorphous anger at this being done to her, settled down and lowered her head and took long ragged breaths.

Time had passed in the dark--the Alpothecary apparently doing things with other girls when she heard Cias' voice and she raised her head. The sense of relief she felt at hearing him close by was deeply annoying to her. He wasn't her friend or, really, her 'master,' she reminded herself, her internal voice speaking sternly. He was a terribly spoiled boy whose interest in her was the theft of an item. She had that skill. Then they would never see each other again.

But she couldn't deny the sense of pleasure when he opened the door--and the look on his face at least faked true concern. He knelt down. "Are you well, pet?" he asked, well aware the big woman was looming behind him.

She made herself nod--not able to speak as emotions warred and roiled in her.

He looked over his shoulder.

"A moment, Doktor Alpathocras. Let me see to her."

The woman nodded. "She's skittish."

Cais nodded and she moved back--the door was still open to let light in and he shifted sitting.

She suddenly felt like she would cry and she wasn't even sure what specifically it was about. She felt an overwhelming sense of embarrassment--whatever was being done here it clearly wasn't meant to injure her.

"I was unavoidably engaged with my elder sisters," Cais told her--his voice as close to an apology as she guessed he got. I thought to let you rest--I didn't realize Virona was waiting to pounce. I was told she was to be working with me."

He shook his head--apparently things had gotten well beyond his control.

"She knows," Yais said softly.her voice shook.

"Knows what?" Cais asked--she could hear the alarm. This was the start of everything going from bad to catastrophic. Cais would have to act to defend himself and that would lead her--where?

"She knows I--we--were supposed to meet," she said, her voice sounded tiny. "S-she made me tell her. I s-said that I got a message to meet you there."

Silence. "I d-didn't tell her why," she said her voice broke. "I'm sorry Cias--M-master-Cias--she knew s-something was wrong and I didn't know what to say!" Tears were flowing now--tears that would help absolutely nothing. Things were broken and there was no fixing them.

He ran his hand through his hair.

"Okay--okay--Yais--I will deal with my sister."

He paused and put a hand on her shoulder and she cried even harder.

He started to say something but then thought better of it. "My sister and I--the whole family--we have some pretty esoteric training," he said. "It's not your fault she saw something was hidden. She's hard to fool. We both are." He patted her shoulder. "I didn't realize she'd used our elder siblings to separate us."

A pause. "Did she, erm, toy with you?"

Yais sniffled. "Not overmuch," she managed. Oh, she was a mess. That seemed to placate him. "Okay--let me deal with her. For now we still have things we need to do."

She shifted closer to him. "The--the magics--the--"

"The Alpthecrat--" he said. "She is capable of mixing potions and chemicals and such--in ways to alter the body. It's usually done at great expense to make elders somewhat younger---but the Art can do other things. In this case, my elder sisters have seen fit to... improve you?"

She looked at him. "Improve me??" It sounded ridiculously outrageous and... hugely insulting.

He nodded. "The, erm, improvements are to make you a, ah, better pet."

She felt her face color.

"Why? I'm not a good enough pet for the great house?" Her ire wasn't fake and she clung to it after he embarrassing sobs of moments before.

He rolled his eyes in a way that made her want to slap him--claw him--or, hmm--maybe bite him?

"It's to allow you to better, erm, crawl and such. Crawling isn't good for the hands and knees and such. And, I guess be more flexible in intimate situations--like that."

He paused. "The expense here is truly steep, Yais. They are serious. There's no chance we'll avoid it--"

He looked at me. "Go ahead and let her work. It... shouldn't harm you." he settled on.

"Doesn't mean it won't hurt," Yais grumbled but she nodded. "Don't leave--" she said as she crawled out.

"I'll stay."

The fluid was, indeed awful but Yais drank it down and reclined on the table. She felt like the world was in a sink's drain--swirling in a circle. The feeling of dizziness was strong enough that she gripped Cais' hand for stability even though nothing was moving.

"In a few moments you'll feel yourself going down," the woman said. "Just go with it--don't fight the sensation."

Indeed the 'drain' feeling seemed accurate---She felt as though she and the table and Cais' hand, which she clinched was teetering--accelerating in circles and going to collapse into the floor. She moaned in slight alarm and held fast to Cias' arm, pushing her face into his shirt.

She heard them talk--a question from Cais--and answer from her--but then she was swirling down into soft darkness.

She dreamed.

In her dream she was naked save for the collar in the grand bed with Cias. He stroked her and she whimpered in his ear that she needed him--that she needed him inside her. In the dream she rolled her hips so her sex moved against his thigh and she felt her oil spill over him.

His hands stroking her hair and back didn't relieve the awful pressure but she nuzzled and kissed him all the same. Finally, in what she told herself was the logic of a dream, she was beyond patience and so she bit him--hard--hard enough to hurt--on the shoulder--and he smacked her bottom.

"Master, Yais is a bad pet!" she declared as he shifted to the side--"master has to PUNISH her!"

And the dream shifted as he rolled atop her, forcing himself in, punishment style as she yowled into the pillow, thrusting back against him--their union making we noises as they slapped together.

AWAKENING

Yais blinked. She lay in one of the closets on a cot. She was naked, and felt ... odd, but not badly.

Cais sat by her on a crate of some supplies, grinning down at her. She was naked and aroused.

She blinked at him. And scowled. "What master?"

She asked--sniffing the air. Her own arousal was a stink in her nose--the room reeked of it. She flushed at the intensity of her own smell--the slight scent of urine on her nether regions. Then, looking at Cais, she smelled his body-scent. It wasn't horrible by any means--but she blinked in surprise. She smelled... an erection--the strong scent of precum. She felt her flush deepen.

"Punish me, master, punish me!" Cais jovially mimicked her voice. Her eyes widened.

"What are you talking of?!" she demanded.

"I am a bad pet," he continued, smirking. "All the while being quite... active.. in your sleep."

Oh fuck. She winced. Fury at him--at herself--at everything.

"May I--may pet have her clothes?" she asked acidly. The book had suggested that 'speaking pets' refer to themselves in the person-third.

"Yes, here," he held out the all-too brief wrap. Blushing furiously she slipped it on, and wrapped the cloth around her waist. It barely felt less nude to wear it.

She was, she realized, acutely aware of the smells in the other room. These were not pleasant.

The scent of the Alpothecary was... curated. Her rolls of flesh sweated and stank--but there was some design to them. She could smell the woman's thick arousal. Hints of menstrual blood, smells of mixtures of herbs and powders rubbed painstakingly into the flesh and burrowing in. She smells suggested exacting discomforts in the woman--but... some power? Some... increased potency about her?

The other scents were... disciplinary. A boy servant had been given an oil to drink that would flush his bowels and lubricate his rear from the inside for hours.

A broth that the some of the girls were drinking dried their lower channels such that if they were taken there for the next entire moon, it might be both less comfortable for them and more intense for the man doing so.

A chemical caused rampant arousal towards members of the same gender--a chemical whip to drive the drinker in ways they might not be otherwise inclined--

How did she know this??

Cais had stood by her cot. "Ready to embark, naughty pet?" he asked, still clearly taken with the humor of her talking in her sleep. She growled. "Yes... master," she finally said and slipped off the cot.

Oh! She put a knee down on the floor and slid sideways to admit the other and the feeling was shocking. She gasped and stared at her knees and shins.

Rather than the mild discomfort of crawling around on hands and knees, instead she felt her knees--still looking as they had before--seem to grip the floor and her thighs felt full of explosive force. She marveled at her legs--she felt like she could crawl as fast as she could sprint--perhaps now even faster?

"Come pet--you'll get used to it--" Cais said stepping to the door and checking outside. Her hands were different as well--the bend at the wrist to lay them flat felt natural and, in fact, when she bent her elbows slightly, she felt the same explosive force there that had been added to her thighs! She could spring forward--like--like a cat, she thought with a sudden, dismal realization.

She looked up at Cais, now being down felt far more natural if no less demeaning. She could smell his arousal increase as he looked down at her crawling and, appallingly, her own arousal caused by... something or other. She grimaced. She was beginning to despise her body's decisions about what she liked and didn't.

She felt like she was gliding, almost weightless, across the floor next to Cais. Her body was lithe--light--but now she felt nearly weightless. She saw him glance down at her periodically--his eyes running down her spine towards her lower quarters.

He wasn't using the servant's labyrinth--he took her through the main passages and she was, again, strongly reminded of the generations of art the family had accrued.

And so much of it was dedicated to dominance and discipline. Statues of boys, squatting, their members erect, their hands upturned held a table top. A girl in a painting pleasured herself amid rumpled bed-sheets, the artist depicting a stern governess directly outside the door, clearly ready to pounce on her misbehaving charge.

Yais was unhappy to find she both envied the young woman delicately but passionately touching the delicate folds of her sex and felt robbed of seeing her punishment for this brazen act.

Now she crouched, the position feeling far more easy and comfortable than it would have yesterday. She knelt by his feet on a tiled floor in a room with columns holding a vaulted ceiling. There were several groupings of furniture scattered throughout it--each could hold a fairly large party sitting or lounging comfortably.

Before her, on the raised floor were four machines--leather couches the subject would straddle, laying forward, their postiers raised to a set of wheels that had dangling rubber tubes in small clusters as well as straps of varying stiffness. The wheels were on arms that looked cleverly articulated so that they could be turned this way or that for the mechanical administration of blows.

The leather benches were styled as saddled horses where the saddles bore rubber phalluses positioned where the subject would sit. Each of the four sported distinct differences in manufacture from one with a frightening phallus with bulbous eruptions along its great length to another whose implements were done in white leather and had some straps covered with an exotic fur that Yais recognized as that of a Arachline--a thing with many legs and a cat-like body whose fur stung terribly if touched.

A tall, stern woman was overseeing two comely boys who were clearly terrified of her and worked to clean and polish and oil the various elements of the mechanics and inspected the leather wrappings or the fit of the shackles.