Chapter 5
"Good heavens," Astrid said. "What is this? Would you look at her! She has herself wrapped into a coverlet!"
Hedda snickered. "A regular little mummy," she observed.
"No!" Nathalie cried sharply as they tried to unwind the cumbersome wrapper from around her shivering body.
She pinned her arms tightly against herself, locking her wrists in front of her defiantly. Astrid and Hedda grinned across at each other and Hedda shook her head in mock wonder at the girl's ridiculous prudity. Reaching down below her thighs, they grabbed the comforter and pulled it apart. In spite of Nathalie's grip, the material slid slowly away from her, leaving her vulnerably exposed.
"No! No! No!" she cried desperately, clutching for any cloth to cover herself.
"Nathalie!" Hedda scolded. "We are not going to hurt you! Now, please lie back and behave!"
But Nathalie was fighting them almost as frantically as she had the men She strained to sit up-to cover herself-to roll over onto her belly where she would not feel as revoltingly exposed, but they held her down. She lashed out at them with both arms and legs, flailing as helplessly as a pinned butterfly. She was no match for their combined efforts but struggling with her was not getting the job done either. Astrid snatched up a comforter and threw it over her. As if by magic, Nathalie's frenzy calmed. She stared up at the two pretty Norse women for a moment. They looked no older than she.
"Thank you," she whispered gratefully.
"That is better," Hedda answered with a deep sigh. "We have our job to do, Nathalie."
"We will help you all that we can, pet," Astrid promised, "but please do not get us into trouble."
"I'm sorry," she mumbled apologetically. "I am so terribly frightened after-"
Her voice trailed off to nothingness. She could not speak of her ordeal.
"Then turn over onto your tummy, dear," Hedda ordered, "and let us get on with it."
Meekly, Nathalie rolled over. Astrid pulled her arms out and Hedda lifted the comforter up to expose her legs. She was grateful enough having her torso still covered that she did not object.
Each took a flask from the cart and poured sweetly scented oils into their palms. Setting the flasks aside, they rubbed their palms together briskly. As Astrid began to knead Nathalie's shoulders and arms, Hedda started working the fragrant oil into her feet and ankles.
"You have nice skin," Astrid commented. "It is of a fine texture and grain. A bit pale perhaps, but lovely."
"She has certainly never worked in the fields or gone barefooted," Hedda agreed.
"My father was the parson in the village," she told them. "I buried him only yesterday, and my mother a fortnight before."
"A pity," Astrid murmured.
The soothing hands of the women calmed Nathalie's pounding heart and soon she became drowsy. As Astrid rubbed the warm oil in beneath her arms, she sighed and gave herself up to them completely. The fingers touched the swelling edges of her breasts but stopped before she could become alarmed, and a warm, voluptuous feeling overcame her-soothing and warm but not dangerous or erotic. Momentarily content, the aches and pains that lingered seemed to dissolve under the kneading palms, and the glistening fingers healed the rope burns on her wrists and ankles.
"Before long," Astrid told her softly, "this will all be over. They will find another and tire of you.
Then you will be moved down to our quarters, and life is not at all bad there."
"Is there no escape possible?" Nathalie asked, and though the question was of much importance to her, the words came out slowly and lethargically.
"Perhaps," Hedda told her. "We have thought some about it, but no one has ever managed it alone."
Hedda's hands moved to Nathalie's upper legs, sliding higher and higher with every stroke. The fingers worked nearly to the thighs, but it was the thumbs, curled around to the inside of her legs, that began to worry the girl, for they stopped just short of touching her privates at the top of each stroke. As her natal lips began to tingle and burn, her heart speeded rapidly and again she was afraid.
It is wrong! her inner self accused. You should feel nothing. Nothing!
Annoyed with herself, she began to squirm, shifting about restlessly. The two women glanced across at each other and smiled. Hedda's hands drew farther and farther away from the danger zone and Nathalie relaxed, although the tingling sensations in her loins would not be stilled. She tossed and turned, chiding herself for her lack of self-control. Then Hedda raised the blanket and, taking fresh oil, she began rubbing the girl's sweetly rounded rump.
Laying the blanket aside, Astrid started down the girl's back and soon the two women's fingertips were overlapping as they worked across her flesh.
"There," Astrid said, stepping back to study the girl. "That side is done nicely, I think."
"Yes," Hedda agreed, and together, they rolled the girl over onto her back.
"Please," Nathalie whispered. "Could I have the blanket back?"
"No, dear," Astrid answered as gently as possible. "Just relax and it will be over soon."
"What is to happen to me when it is over?" she wanted to know.
Hedda shot Astrid a quick, warning glance.
"Nothing so bad as what happened before," was all that Astrid would say on the subject.
Pouring the oil directly onto the girl's cleft, Astrid began to massage the shining liquid into her full, spongy breasts.
Nathalie turned her head to the side. She could not bear to look at what was being done to her. The feel was too erotic-too sensuous. It carried clear to her loins, where the tingle soon burst into a flame.
"They are beautiful," Astrid commented, but though her tone was calm and matter-of-fact, her touch was not. The fingers grazed across her flesh, leaving trails of gooseflesh. Nathalie moved about restlessly as the masseuse twirled the perked nipples.
Hedda had worked up past Nathalie's knees, her thumbs again coming dangerously close to the heated flesh. Nathalie was fairly certain the girl would not actually touch her, since she had been that close once before and moved away, yet she held her breath, her loins aching with the heavy thump, thump, thump of her throbbing pulse.
Over and over, they almost touched the fiery flesh, only to slide away and attack again. Then they touched and Nathalie jumped with a start as the fire shot out through her body to every extremity.
"No!" she whimpered.
"Hush," Hedda whispered huskily. "Spread your legs and you won't feel it so much."
Nathalie did as she was told, and Hedda began working down the valleys between her puffed lips and the inner leg. It helped very little and she could not bear having her legs parted-her scarlet slit gaping before the woman.
"Unnngh," she moaned, and moved her legs back together. All she succeeded in doing was to trap the girl's hands hard against her loins, and the fire washed hotly across her body.
"Ohhh," she whimpered, and parted her legs with a start.
Astrid had worked down to her belly and now she poured oil into Nathalie's mound and began pulling the hairs gently, working the glistening oils in until her forest of hair shone.
"Enough!" Nathalie gasped, but the woman paid her no heed. Instead, Astrid poured oil slowly into her gaping meat and Nathalie sucked desperately for air as the fluid trickled down her hot, moist inner flesh.
"Snuggle her tits," she whispered to Hedda as she lowered the ball of her finger to work the lubricant into Nathalie's throbbing meat.
"No! No! No!" the girl cried as Astrid beat out a light staccato against her throbbing bud.
Hedda moved up to caress the ripe breasts, reaching down to quiver her tongue hotly against a hardened nipple. Nathalie writhed miserably as the terrible aching sensations threatened to engulf her completely.
"Ohhhhh! Dear God, make them stop!" she moaned, but the delicate finger continued its erotic massage. With one last desperate effort, she jerked away from them and managed to roll over onto her stomach, tightly locking her arms and legs against her.
"Friends!" she spat. "You are no different than they. You are vile animals, all of you!"
"We are just doing our job," Astrid answered innocently. "We are done now."
Nathalie raised herself up onto her elbows and stared at them. "You mean it?" she asked.
"Yes, dear," Hedda assured her. "We are finished."
With a deep sigh, she allowed Astrid to pull the blanket up about her and then watched them replace the various oils in their proper place on the cart.
"Just one more small thing," Astrid said, and before Nathalie could object, the older girl slipped a leather bracelet around her wrist and locked it into place.
"What is that?" the girl demanded.
"You must wear wristlets and anklets while you are in this room," Hedda explained as she snapped one onto her ankle. "They are not uncomfortable. You will soon forget you have them on at all."
"My clothes!" Nathalie suddenly remembered. "What am I to wear?"
"Your pretty pink skin, for the present," Hedda laughed, and Astrid locked the last wristlet in place.
"No!" Nathalie cried. "I could not bear it. I must have clothing!"
Astrid smiled. "I imagine you will have clothing by nightfall, my dear. Yes, I am certain of it."
Hedda nodded. "It will not be long, for you, though I doubt that you will enjoy what they bring you. Try not to fight quite so much, my dear. It will only make things harder."
"What do you mean? What will they do to me?" A million questions were racing through her brain now, demanding to be answered. Already, it was too late. The two girls had the door unlocked and were pushing the cart out into the hall.
"Come back!" she cried, but they were gone. Her loins ached and her body was totally miserable. Even worse, she felt lonelier than she had ever felt in her life.
Why did I not start asking questions the instant they entered? she asked herself angrily. I should have demanded the answers-insisted upon some sort of an explanation.
There was too much fear, her other self answered. They will come again. Now is the time to think how best to put their next visit to good use!
She wrapped the coverlet around herself again and went to sit at the edge of her hearth. The fire was warmly refreshing. Perhaps, now, she could think.
It was already too late, for at that moment, Nathalie heard another click at the door.