The Escape Artist

The Escape Artist

By Maximillian Excaliber

Prologue

Nantes, France 1776

Prologue

Nantes, France June 6th 1776

The weather is unseasonably cool for the time of year. The daytime temperature is 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit) and it is the last day a cold front will be in the area before a warm front comes in bring higher temperatures.

Claude Bedeau, Vicomete (Viscount) of Nate Nantes his wife Claudia the Vicomtesse (Viscountess) by marriage, are in in the sitting of the medium sized mansion enjoying chilled wine, cheese and fresh fruit newly arrived from the Indies when he begins to complaining about one of the chambermaid's lack of enthusiasm while servicing him. "I don't understand it, we pay her well and treat her as if she were one of our own family yet she refuses to show me even a modicum of pleasure for my efforts. Why did the woman accept a position in our house if she knew she wasn't going to enjoy our company?"

The two members of the noble class both understand that when he says "servicing" he means having sex, which in their household is one of the duties expected of staff. The employees are not forced. They are highly paid and requirement to do so was made known them prior to employment.

It is important to know at this time that the Vicomtesse is not a jealous woman; she is more than happy to have her husband fuck the female servants all he wants. She knows that when he does, they are always satisfied and that is the problem. The man is a bull in bed and has what in her experience is an unending sex-drive. No single woman, not ever herself, could every completely satiate him. So, as long as he is busy screwing them, he is not wearing her out which provides her the opportunity to seek her own satisfaction else where when she desires it.

"Tell me who the ungrateful wench is and I shall dismiss her immediately." Say his wife angrily.

Her husband replies, "I could do that myself. I'd rather her learn to find enjoyment in servicing me."

"Worry not my love. I know exactly what to do. Giver her to me for two weeks and I promise by the end of that time she will be screaming in ecstasy from every time she services you."

Their time together ends and the Vicomete rises and goes into the village attend to some matters of business he has there.

After her husband is gone, Claudia demands the head-maid to explain why one of members of the staff for whom she is responsible, a young woman named Josephine, is not performing her job in a satisfactory manner.

Ignorant the maid replies. "I'm sorry mistress this is the first I have heard of it."

"Fetch her and we shall find out together."

Just then Marguerite, who is also a chambermaids in the house and Josephine's sister happens to be there at the time removing the dishes. "Excuse me mistress. Please forgive me. It was not my intention to eavesdrop but I couldn't help but her say my sister's name and I think I have some information you may wish to know."

"Go ahead."

Marguerite explains, "It is not my sister's fault. She is inexperienced in the ways of the flesh and is afflicted with shyness so greatly that she is unable to enjoy herself while performing her 'other duties'. Please do not dismiss her. I'm sure in time her affliction will get better."

"That would go against our master's wish and, as it is my responsibility to obey then the task falls upon me to cure her. Now, I want you both to attend to your duties elsewhere while I consider how to do so and, be sure you say nothing of this to anyone."

Late the next morning, after having spent most of the night devising on a solution to the problem, the Vicomtesse awakens, is served breakfast in bed by one of her chambermaids, and is helped to dress, the Vicomtesse sends for the manor's blacksmith and carpenter to come see her study.

When they arrive she provides them a set of plans and asks the men how much time they will need to complete the task.

The two craftsmen confer briefly and agree that a week will be sufficient and tell her so. Before sending them off to begin work, the Vicomtesse instructs the men that they are to work in secret, tell no one what they doing, and send for her when they are finished.

For the next five days, the blacksmith, carpenter and their respective apprentices perform their assigned tasks and are surprised when the Vicomtesse makes daily visits to check on their progress.

On the sixth day, after the last piece is finished the parts are assembled and, satisfied they have done what their mistress asked, send an apprentice with the good news.

The device's construction involved building a cage with a floor, sawing a barrel in half from top to bottom, putting one half of the barrel into the cage, attaching shackles to the half-barrel in the cage and mounting a fucking machine outside the cage behind the half-barrel.

When the foot pedal was pumped down, the wheel rotated moving the cam in the direction of the shaft.

The cam pushed through a hole in the beam supporting the shaft. On the other side of the beam, where the shaft exits, was attached a dildo. As the shaft slid through the beam, the dildo was pushed into the target orifice. The target orifice usually being a woman's vagina. During this process, tension was placed on a spring on the cam side of the shaft. As the pedal rose, tension was released forcing the shaft back in the direction of the cam which pulled the dildo from the target orifice. In other words, when the wheel rotated half a turn, the dildo went forward; as the wheel finishes its rotation, the dildo returned. Both the half-barrel and fucking machine could be mounted on a wooden platform.

The apprentice returns with their mistress and she wastes no time inspecting the device.

"Very good, now move it to my antechamber and tell the head-maid to meet me there.

Four hours later, after being disassembled, moved and then reassembled, the Vicomtesse orders the head maid to...

"Find Josephine, Lucie, Marguerite and Marianne and bring them here."

Three minutes later, the head-maid arrives with the handmaidens in tow.

"Josephine, our master is most displeased by your lack of enthusiasm for your duties."

The young handmaiden knows very well what the Vicomtesse is talking about but feigns ignorance and hopes she is wrong, "Am I not cleaning his chambers to his liking mistress?"

"No, I am speaking of your other duties."

"Oh." Josephine looks suddenly very nervous.

"Did the head-maid instruct you as to what your duties would be when you were hired?

Her voice cracking, Josephine replies meekly, "Ye... Yes mistress."

"Do you not wish to serve our master?" The Vicomtesse asks.

"Yes mistress; its just that..." Josephine tries to explain... "I don't know how to..." Tears fill her eyes. "I... I..." She begins crying.

The Vicomtesse tells the woman what her sister has said.

"Does Marguerite speak the truth. Is that why you not are able to let-go (an old term for orgasm)?"

Yes mistress. It's not that I don't want to but I can't. I become ashamed of my nakedness and then I just can't. My sister said it is an affliction of the mind.

Worry not. I can cure you of your affliction. Would you like that?

Oh, yes mistress.

"Good!" Says the Vicomtesse and then orders Marguerite and Lucie to remove the canvas covering the object, which they do. Still covered is the working part of the apparatus.

"This apparatus is le remède à la timidité (The Cure for Shyness), we shall use it to rid you of your

affliction.

"Mistress! You would have me cage like an animal?"

"Oh no Josephine, you misunderstand. The bars are not there to keep you in, they're there to keep others from taking advantage of you while you are being cured."

Now go inside so we can cure your affliction.

Maidens, remove her clothes and secure her to the apparatus."

The Vicomtesse unveils the part of her creation containing the wooden dildo and orders Lucie to move it into position.

Josephine, glances over her shoulder, spots the dildo being positioned behind her and says fearfully, "Mistress, I am naked for all to see, is that not enough?"

"No, you must also learn to let-go when you service a man." Next the Vicomtesse begins telling the others what they are to do...

"Marianne, uses your hand and apply this oil to le pénis en bois (the wooden penis).

Lucie, you shall operate the apparatus. Sit upon this seat and rotate the crank."

The woman does but goes too fast and the lubricated wooden dildo rams suddenly hilt-deep into Josephine's pussy.

Josephine is surprised by speed and depth of faux penis's sudden intrusion into her womanhood and grunts in displeasure.

"Stop! Go slowly!" Orders the Vicomtesse and when the speed of movement is still not to her liking, insists... "Much slower." Lucie complies.

"Now continue turning the crack like that until she is about to let-go but stop before she does." She then hands Marguerite an hour-glass and says, "Each time Lucie stops, turn this over.

Lucie, watch the hourglass and, when the last grain of sand reaches the bottom, resume operating the apparatus at the speed you are now, no faster nor slower!" and then asks everyone, "Do you all understand what you are to do?"

The handmaidens tell her they do after which Lucie inquires, "May I ask how long you wish me to operate the apparatus?" and is told, "Until I tell you to stop."

So it was that by the end of the second week, Josephine was over her shyness and when she went to service her master she came as soon as his cock entered her. It didn't hurt that the young woman had just left her mistress's antechamber where she's spent the previous hour receiving another treatment during which she was not allowed to cum.

Over the centuries the story would be changed. Claudia's role in the device's creation would be forgotten.

No one ever noticed that the handwriting on the plans was decidedly feminine. It simply wasn't convenient to take the time to make a comparison whose results might challenge historical perceptions of the female's role in 1700 high society.

The device's name would be altered by historians to fit what they conjectured its purpose was. Le remède à la timidité, The Cure for Shyness became L'entraîneur d'esclaves sexuels, The Sex Slave Trainer and the reason the device was created, to cure a young woman's anxiety over sex was forgotten.

Chapter One -- Claude Bedeau, Vicomte of Nantes

The date is January 1st, 2017. The time is eight o'clock at night. The place is an old, but recently renovated warehouse owned by Magda Murdoch, a professional escape artist and entertainer. The upper level, which used to be office space, and overlooks what was once a warehouse storage area has been converted into an open concept apartment. Three friends are sitting around the dinning room table discussing old times. They are Magda, her assistant and lover Dorie Dietrich and, once professional rival, now long time friend Erica Weisz.

Magda is a very vibrant forty-five years young, has black hair, brown eyes and the well toned body of a professional swimmer.

Dorie, who despite a feminine sounding name is male, is forty-four, has brown hair, brown eyes, and physique of a male gymnast.

Erica is also a very vibrant forty-five years young, has red hair, green eyes and the physique of an Olympic decathlete. She is a retired professional entertainer... an escape artist whose stage name was Harriet Inidouh.

Erica believes she is simply there to celebrate the New Year with her friends. She doesn't know that they have spent the last year preparing for the event.

Magda takes a drink of sparkling water, then says to Erica casually, "I know you're retired but are you still accepting challenges?"

"If you're talking about escapes, yes; though I haven't had anyone try me in over a year." Replies Erica, who picks up her glass of red Sauvlgnon Blanc sips afterward.

In a mysterious manner, Magda asks, "Suppose I told you Dorie and I have a device from which even you can't escape?"

Dorie turns to the magician and says, "Why are you baiting her like that? You know there's no possible way to escape the box. It's out of her league. Hell, it's out of everyone's league!"

Erica feels insulted and demands...

"I'd say show it to me!"

Magda leads the woman from the living area to the workshop below; Dorie follows.

In the center of the massive workshop is a mysterious item covered with a large white canvas tarp. Dorie removes the tarp revealing the item beneath it.

The item is a large, clear plastic box resting upon what appears to be at first glance a black granite pedestal. The pedestal is seven feet wide, seven feet long and three feet tall. Resting atop the pedestal is a clear plastic looking box whose outer dimensions are seven feet by seven feet by five feet, width, length and height.

Erika walks around the device, examines it closely and sees that the sides of the box and top are actually a double-wall of plexiglass which appears to be at least an inch thick and that the floor, which is sloped so as to be higher at one end than the other, is covered with black foam rubber and. Erica decides the raised end is probably the front of the box and is correct. She continues her examination and discovers placed all around the inside of the box's inner walls are metal vents which Erika is sure are there to allow something to flow between the walls and the pedestal below. 'Is it a water-trap?' She thinks to herself, then notices the lack of a drainage system and decides otherwise. She resumes her examination and observes attached to the floor in each corner of the box is an eye-hook and attached to each eye-hook is a one foot long chain at the end of which is a three-inch wide heavy duty padded leather shackle. Each shackle is designed to be buckled about the limb and the buckles secured by three combination locks. Laying dial down on the floor in one corner of the box are twelve combination locks. Recessed in the center of the box just in front of the cylinder is a six inch metal bar through which has been place an equally wide padded leather belt. Then Erika's eyes fall upon something that puzzles her. In the center of the box stands a twelve inch round cylinder. The cylinder, which runs from the box's floor to its ceiling, is covered with the same black foam as the floor. Because the cylinder seems totally unnecessary Erika can't figure out why it is there.

"Does it have a name?"

Dorie tells the escape artist, "L'entraîneur d'esclaves sexuels. It's a modern version of the escape proof box created by the Claudia Bedeau, Vicomtesse of Nantes in 1776. Vicomtesse is another word for Viscountess."

Erica doesn't recognize the name and her French is so bad that she can't even begin to translate what it means.

"Claudia Bedeau? I don't recognize that name. What kind of escapes did he perform?"

The magician explains, "The Vicomtesse wasn't an escape artist, she was an inventor."

Magda laughs and adds, "Among other things!"

"Tell me something about it."

Magda begins a monologue... "The original was smuggled from France to England during the last days of the French Revolution by the Vicomtesse and has undergone some upgrades over the past two-hundred and forty years.

The first upgrade occurred in 1802 shortly after the Vicomtesse died. Having no sons, she left the device to her daughter, Charlotte. The first version employed a hand-crack. Charlotte learned of steam technology and replaced the hand-crank with a steam engine. The steam engine was said to have been so loud it completely drowned out the screams of whoever was in the box.

"Screams? What made them scream? What was the danger?" Interrupts Erica.

Magda sighs, as if annoyed, and tells her, "There was and is no danger. No one who has gone into the box has ever been harmed."

"Then why were they screaming?" Retorts Erica.

Magda says mysteriously, "The only way to find out is to get in the box. Now may I continue?"

Erica agrees.

Magda picks up where she left off. "Charlotte had a daughter. Her daughter's name was Juliette. It was Claudia's wishes that the legacy be passed on, when Juliette turned eighteen, she was given the device on her eighteenth birthday. The year was 1783.

In 1811, Juliette too had a daughter. Her daughter was named Nina and, in keeping with tradition, the device was passed on to Nina on her eighteenth birthday.

Nina was a fascinating figure because she became a member of the a secret society similar to the Hellfire Club.

In 1838, Charlotte died at the ripe old of age of eighty,

In 1850, Nina had a daughter whom she named Camille.

Juliette died in 1865.

Camille turned eighteen in 1867, again keeping with tradition, the device was was passed on to her. Camille became pregnant at the age of forty and had a son, which she named Claude II after her great-great-great grandfather. However, because Claude II demonstrated himself to be irresponsible at an early age, Camille broke with tradition and decided to wait before passing on the device.

In 1900 Camille replaced the steam engine with an electric motor.

She dies at the age of 84. The year was 1934.

Claude II inherits her estate, lost most of it to creditors in less than two years and became a gigolo. In 1936, he placed the device in storage and traveled around Europe for the next four years until World War II and the German occupation of France strands him in Paris.

In 1940, when he was fifty-two, Claude II met an American woman named Eva Barnes. Eva was a thirty-three year old journalist at the time. The two fell madly in love and remained so until May 30th 1942. That is the when the Waffen SS rounded up a random group of people from the streets of Paris and shoot them in reprisal for the assassination of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhardt Heydrich.

Claude II had the misfortune of being one of them.

After his death, Ava found an envelop containing his will. In the will he explained that the device was the only thing left of his family's legacy, how the legacy worked and that she should have it. What Claude did not know when he died was that Eva was pregnant with his child, a baby girl. Eva named her Camille Bedeau so that Claude's legacy could continue.

When the war ended in 1945, Eva went to London took the device with her back to the United States. She died in 1976 at the age of sixty-nine and her daughter Camille inherited the device.

Camille died the next year at the age of thirty-eight during childbirth but not before naming the baby Charlotte Bedeau, after the girl's great-great-great-great-great grandmother on her father's side. Charlotte would later learn of the legacy from an aunt on her mother's side.

Charlotte was adopted and her inheritance placed in trust until her twenty-first birthday.

The lawyer who set up the trust, a man using the name Jesuis Voleur, was actually an unlicensed fraud. He stole the device and embezzled most of Charlotte's trust.

In 2015, Voleur was murdered by the disgruntled ex-husband of a former client. It seems he was not only a fraud and a thief but also an adulterer. His entire estate was put up for sale to satisfy creditors and the device was auctioned off. I was the winning bidder.

I got everything including the removed parts, Claude's original journal and complete design schematics."

After hearing her friend tell the story, Erika inquires.... "What happened to Charlotte?"

Magda answers in a disinterested tone, "She went into the entertainment business."

"That's an interesting story but it still doesn't tell me why she built it or what it does." Informs Erika, who wants to accept the challenge but is hesitant.

Magda offers no clue and says flatly... "I'm not going to tell you. Climb inside and you'll find out after I close the lid. There are, however, a few minor stipulations... First, you will enter the box blindfolded and remain so until I have secured you into position and secondly, you must wear the same thing Houdini wore when escaped from Scotland Yard."