Page 28 of The Taking of House Westwood

Attached to her hips were metal shafts that reached down to a stout length of wood, itself banded in what looked like iron or rusted steel. Three heavy metal wedges encrusted with soil dug into the ground directly behind her, leaving shallow, uneven furrows in her wake. Straps from the woman’s harness ran up and across her torso, framing and squeezing full breasts. Her generous, muscular buttocks flexed and bunched behind her as she struggled with the heavy burden. Her hands gripped the bars tightly, her wrists wrapped in thick cuffs that were chained to the shafts. The slim muscles of her forearms stood out in tense relief against the strain of pulling the plow. Thin leather straps wrapped like snakes around and down the woman’s powerful thighs. Heavy boots covered her feet, ending just below the well defined, bunching calves. A thick black leather collar wrapped around the throat, forcing the woman to keep her chin up. A faint chiming could be heard on the warm breeze.

Sophie swallowed in sympathy when she realized were the sound was coming from. Small shiny bells were clipped neatly to the turgid nipples; the constriction of the clips had turned the tender flesh a dusky, inflamed red.

A deeply tanned man, his arms corded with sinew walked alongside the struggling female, speaking to her in soft tones. He was at least a head taller than the woman, his faded indigo shirt plastered to a broad, sweaty back. The wide straw hat shrouded his face in shadow under the high mid-morning sun.

Arnaud raised a hand. “Escott, come—”

“No, Arnaud,” the Lady said in a low voice. She extended her crop toward Sophie. “Look at the girl. She can’t take her eyes off them.”

Sophie averted her gaze from the toiling woman, chancing a glance at her cruel Lady. The noblewoman was beaming, mirth dancing in her eyes. Arnaud watched Sophie too, a finger tracing the braided leather of his whip.

Sophie looked back at the farmhand and the harnessed woman, unable to stand the cold regard of her Lady and the hated overseer.

The woman was struggling, bending over almost double, the blades of the plow unmoving in the dirt. She jerked forward once, twice, her buttocks squeezing mightily, but the blades appeared to be stuck fast.

“Ach, girl,” her tall companion said, unclipping a broad piece of flexible leather from his waist. He clasped the girl by her upper arm, his tight grip turning her bronzed flesh white, and stooped down slightly. He tapped the leather against her protuberant buttocks. A warning.

Sophie noticed that the lower half of the woman’s broad buttocks shone a congested red, unlike the rest of her sun-kissed skin.

The woman strained harder, grunting. Her lips pulled back, exposing the white of clenched teeth. Still, the plow refused to budge.

The leather cracked against the woman’s buttocks, a shiver passing across the flesh of her haunches. She yelped and the cords of her hamstrings stood out starkly as she continued to struggle.

“Come on, Tani. You can do it now” The man’s voice was low, urgent. “Pull.”

“Please,” the girl grunted.

Sophie could see a tear track down the girl’s cheek to catch at the corner of her mouth.

The paddle slashed up again, the sound echoing like a shot across the empty field, lifting the dense flesh of the bottom in its agonizing embrace. The woman keened, her voice gurgling as she threw her head back. Her buttocks clenched tight, loosened, then tightened once more.

Lady Westwood’s white steed blocked her view of the woman and Sophie looked up, squinting against the sun.

“Interest you does it, Sophie? Would you like a term in the fields with our trusty Escott?”

Arnaud laughed, reaching out to stroke his horse’s neck

“No, Mistress,” Sophie whispered, trembling at the very thought of it.

“Then you will listen and obey, won’t you?” She could hear the threat in her Lady’s smooth voice. “But there is something else isn’t there, girl?”

Oh no, please.

The Lady leaned down, her crop stroking Sophie’s cheek, the leather cold and menacing. “If I were to run my fingers through that juicy cunt of yours, I might find a veritable lake there, wouldn’t I?”

Sophie gasped. “No.”

The Lady smiled, the flat end of the crop playing over the tips of Sophie’s breasts. She held her breath, trembling. She felt so helpless with her arms bound to the horse. If she could just get the rope free somehow, she could run. But where would she run to? Home? She didn’t even know where home was. When Miriam had taken her, Sophie had been lashed securely to the rear of her Lady’s saddle as if she were so much cargo, blindfolded and gagged, then hauled away from her beloved farm to the hellish manor. She’d only known in the most general sense where Westwood Manor actually was — but she hadn’t a clue how to get back home from there.

Arnaud hailed the farmhand Escott, telling him to bring Tani over to them.

The Lady lightly flicked the flapper of her crop against Sophie’s right breast, fire burning into her skin. The Lady pulled the horse around again to return to Arnaud’s side.

Sophie watched as Escott unchained the woman’s wrists from the shafts. He spoke to her in hushed tones as he did so, the woman’s head hanging low, but Sophie was too far away to make out the words.

“Kind of you to come visit us, Mistress,” Escott said, bowing his head. He held a chain in one hand, the links attached to Tani’s bound together wrists. The woman held her hands in front of her naked sex, her eyes lowered. Sweat continued to pour off of her, mixing with the tears on her cheeks. Escott brushed a strand of hair out of Tani’s eyes, and stroked her chin.

Sophie was confused by his seemingly caring gesture; moments before she’d watched him pitilessly paddle the woman as if she were but a dumb farm animal. With palpable dread, Sophie glanced at the plow, now bereft of its beast. She shuddered.

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