The Summer of Francesca Ch. 23

A week later was the academy's spring concours, a two-day affair to advertise itself and its stock. Excitement among them was high for the competitions. Winners would receive blue neck ribbons and be valued by their owners and prospective buyers; losers wore brown and were tied to posts, holding lanterns in the evening to light the paths.

Branding and severe punishments were deferred, and the air of a festival pervaded the campus. The first day would be devoted to contests and exhibitions; the second to demonstrations and seminars. No auctions were scheduled, but some black-ribbon girls would be made available "as is" at a discount on the second afternoon.

Lying in her cell the first morning, Anne heard footsteps coming up the gravel walk and fear seized her. She remembered her failure in competition at Maude's; would she get the loser's brown ribbon and disappoint Paul? She could not bear the shame.

The attendant was a young woman, and perceptive; she bent Anne over the sink and spoke soothing words to calm her while she stroked Anne's haunches. She fed Anne (that also helped) and wiped a bit of paste off her breasts before leading her outside.

As they passed the main building, a group of attendants were lowering a girl onto Albert; she gasped as she was set on the iron plate and the cold spike penetrated her. They paused to watch Victoria cover her eyes and pet her. Soon her expression turned to a smile and at a shake of the leash Anne proceeded to the stable.

There a groom fitted her with a harness before hitching her to the chaise, a small open carriage for a driver and two passengers. Another girl was already harnessed; Laura smiled and touched her hip to Anne's. She also belonged to Paul, taken on a month before.

With dismay Anne saw Vincent approach with a long coachman's whip; he would be driving them and he would use it on her frequently. He swung into his seat and with a snap to her thighs set the chaise forward.

He drove them to a tent on the great lawn. She saw the first carriage of guests arriving; six girls wearing only harnesses pulled it with a trainer wielding a whip to keep them in line. He cracked it smartly on one girl who was not pulling her share; she squealed and leapt forward. The chaise stood beside the tent ready to take guests on a tour of the grounds.

Anne looked into the tent; later this morning it would be the site of the spanking contest. Trainers set out paddles and bent girls over a leather vaulting horse. Helga, a large somewhat fleshy girl, grunted unhappily as she took her place.

Mme. Byrne and her son Morgan got in the chaise; Vincent used the whip on Anne's buttocks to start them moving along the path that circled the estate. Anne was pleased to see Morgan again; she still entertained hopes of attracting the young man.

Vincent cracked the whip on her and she jumped, tugging on the harness. Laura admonished her in low tones to run with a smoother gait; she was experienced in this, a regular at pulling carriages around the academy.

Anne saw she had fine muscular thighs and sturdy buttocks from regular exercise. Her breasts were small and not in the way of her harness, even as they hung below her bent torso. Their dark nipples contrasted nicely with her pale skin. She would be good in bed, or on the concrete floor of a cell. Anne turned her eyes away. Later maybe they would let her couple with Laura; for now she must concentrate on her work.

Vincent cracked her again with the whip but she was better prepared this time and only twitched a little, though he struck a sensitive place between her cheeks. The chaise approached the forest; he pulled on the reins and the girls slowed as they crossed the wooden bridge and entered it. Once again Anne breathed in the air of the woods, but she was more careful this time to keep her mind on her work.

Back at the lawn, Vincent pulled up and stopped. The passengers got out and Vincent invited Morgan to give the girls a run. The youth took the driver's seat and snapped Anne with the whip to start them.

Anne and Laura trotted at a brisk pace two or three times around the lawn. Once she looked over at Laura's body, glistening like hers with sweat. Laura winked back at her and it was all she could do to look away. Morgan chastised her with the lash. Well, it was better than his indifference.

Back at the lawn where Paul awaited them, Morgan noticed a small arena to be used in the afternoon for competitions. He suggested a woman-fight between Anne and Laura. Paul agreed and the two girls were unbound; they faced each other like sumo wrestlers inside the sawdust covered circle as a small group gathered.

The contest did not last long; Laura quickly hooked a foot behind Anne's knee and brought her down. Anne struggled in vain beneath her, working herself into the sawdust as Paul counted to ten and declared the winner. She kissed Anne boldly on the mouth; seeing this, Paul said "Do her" and she reached between Anne's legs.

She found the sensitive nub within and massaged it; a crowd gathered around the circle, drawn by Anne's cries until Paul was satisfied and said "Enough". Anne's body was drenched in sweat and she could barely move.

The woman stood over Anne in the sawdust; when at last she rose to thank her conqueror she was covered with it. The audience laughed at the sight, and Paul handed Anne to attendants for washing off.

When they returned her to Paul, Laura was pulling Mr. Lum in a one-girl cart. He must have liked her performance because he bought her afterwards for his club in Macao. Anne never saw her again.

Inside the tent Mme. Byrne stood talking with three college co-eds who looked up at their approach. Anne was still wet between the legs from the memory of Laura. She couldn't help it or dry herself with her hands bound.

Paul took one of the students aside and showed her how to use the stiff leather strap on Helga; he said she would need to know this later. Alex practiced for several minutes under his guidance. Helga responded poorly to the exercise; she would later receive a brown ribbon in the competition and be tied to a stake for lantern duty outside the main building.

When they emerged from the tent, they saw a trough set up on the edge of the field for the inmates' lunch. Already a long row of buttocks and thighs was visible as girls bent over their midday meal. Paul led Anne on her leash over to it.

Anne leaned into the trough between two girls and began to feed. The morning's paste had worn off she was hungry from her exercise.

It was filled with chopped vegetables like the meals Martinique gave her, and she dug in at once. The parsnip cubes were her favorite but she ate whatever was in front of her, even the potato peelings and carrot tops. A year ago Anne would have turned up her little nose at the idea of such fodder; but she had learned much since then.

Paul tugged on her leash and she stood up. By now the tent had been cleared and round banquet tables set up for the guests' lunch. She knelt at one between Mme. Byrne and the students. It brought back memories of banquets she attended in her former life, seated on a chair and served by waiters in crisp white uniforms.

Mme. Byrne let the students pet Anne like a dog, and one of them gave her a cookie.

As they chatted, Paul explained the afternoon events. He had entered Anne in the landscaping competition, and the college girls would be assisting him in the dressage parade. Anne learned their names.

Lucille was small and delicate; she would hold the leash and go in front. Tall Sloane was to walk a bit behind her, keeping Anne's head up. The short athletic Alex held the leather strap.

They finished their lunch and Lucille took the end of her leash. As they proceeded across a field they saw the steeplechase: a dozen naked girls chosen for their speed and agility, their hands clasped behind their necks, jumped hurdles and water barriers while the crowd bet on a winner.

Anne knelt on the lawn with five others for the competition; like her their hands were bound behind them. In front of each, white lime marked out a square of grass. It was tousled up and each girl was to lick her square into the best possible order.

The students stroked her and said encouraging words. Morgan was to grade her performance; he stood over her with a notepad. As he gave the signal to begin, she remembered her error at Maude's when her breasts disturbed her work and started to groom at the far end. With Morgan watching, she tried to use her tongue enticingly.

This did not work out well. Distracted by her attempt to be alluring she licked up some of the lime, erasing the border and filling her mouth with a bitter taste that made her gag. Two demerits there. In her efforts to recover she licked up a spider and had no choice but to swallow it.

She grew anxious and tense; she was failing again, in front of the young man she most wanted to impress. Anne forced herself to remain calm, pretend nothing had happened, and resume her work.

At the end she crouched before her judge with her head to the ground while he assessed her performance. He called it "average" and gave her a grade of C. At least she avoided the brown ribbon and the post, and she had his attention for a few minutes; maybe she appealed to him, just a little?

Her thoughts wandered as the judges compared notes. The white powder she ate reminded her of a jar of poison she saw once in a garden supplies store. Girls here were never poisoned, that seemed odd; it would be so much simpler.

No, there was nothing like seeing another girl strangled before your eyes to keep you in line. But weren't there formulas that could produce an equally motivating show?

She gave up trying to figure it out; it was that "cerebral" nature of hers again. Her masters knew best.

The students allowed her a bowl of water for which she was grateful, and they led her to the site of the dressage competition.

It was already underway. She saw inmates parading before the judges giving their best performance and wondered how she could compete. Some of them had rehearsed a routine, and there were no rules; the judges could reward or punish as they pleased.

With three girls ahead of her, Morgan released her bracelets and ordered her down on her hands and knees. He handed her leash to little Lucille and took the "rudder" from an attendant.

This was a long wooden stick, bent at the end with a rubber tip and a rounded point for easy insertion. He eased it to the hilt deep into Anne's belly. Like the leash, it was used to convey orders: turn left or right, speed up, slow down, stop.

He called Sloane over; she was to take Anne by the hair to keep her looking forward. Sloane was long-legged and wearing a micro-skirt; Anne would have to fight the temptation to look at her.

He gave Alex the stiff leather strap. Her role was to use it on Anne's rear and thighs from time to time, to correct her mistakes, or speed her up, or "just because". The students giggled as they anticipated the fun of disciplining an adult.

Alex gave Anne a practice swat that sent her forward on her face. Paul said "Get up, Anne" and they practiced on the lawn until it was Anne's turn to perform. Morgan taught her to respond to the rudder, and she learned to bear Alex's swats.

The hardest part was not looking over at Sloane's legs, so shapely and close. The girl had to pull her up and make her look ahead several times, each one with a taste of Alex's strap, before she got it.

The judges laughed at the sight of the quintet slowly making its way into their view; but at the end they gave her a red "honorable mention" ribbon. She bent down and kissed the ground at their feet, filled with a childlike joy. Perhaps (she wondered in the back of her mind) she might even be making a little progress with Morgan.

He steered her back to her cell accompanied by the students. The end of the guidance stick was warm within her and swayed to his movements as he walked. It was a good feeling to have him inside her even like this, and if she got no further with him she would be content.

At the cell an attendant waited with a bowl of paste, her dinner tonight. Morgan pulled the rudder from her belly - gently, she thought - and she knelt while he bound her hands and attached the tether.

Then to Anne's astonishment he told her to take him in her mouth. She obeyed at once, scarcely able to believe the miracle. He was already hardening as she kissed it, and she devoted all her thoughts to pleasing him.

The students who had been chattering among themselves fell silent. Lucille knelt beside Anne bringing her face very close and watched as she received him and wrapped her lips around the growing member. A few curly hairs entered with it and she played with them a little before settling down to caress him with her tongue. He was young, and boys were sometimes excitable; she must encourage him slowly. Not too slowly, not to bore him, just enough to keep him rising in her.

She heard Alex and Sloane whisper among themselves but paid no attention. Her world was concentrated on the point where she and Morgan joined. He rose, and rose, and she felt his body tense just before he released himself into her.

The force of it set her back and she struggled to keep her balance, on her knees with her hands behind her. He came in waves that repeated with diminishing force. She drew the last of his seed into her and held him softly in her mouth until he should decide to leave. She was unable to move, to think, hardly remembering to breathe.

Eventually he did and she knelt with her head down in homage to him. He spoke a word to Sloane, who put a hand under her chin and pulled her head up. Through tear-filled eyes she saw him holding her feed bowl and a spoon. Sloane continued to hold her chin with one hand and grasped her hair with the other.

As he fed her dinner the paste mingled with his seed in her mouth and prolonged her enjoyment.

When he was done, he turned on his heel and left without a word. Sloane bent down and kissed her breasts and Alex gave her a gentle slap on her behind with the leather. Lucille stood up slowly as if hesitant to leave. Alex called to her and the girls followed him out, leaving Anne alone in the gathering darkness. She heard someone lock the door on the outside.

She lay down on the stone floor and tried to compose her mind; she did not know what they would expect of her tomorrow, but she needed to be ready for it.