Chapter 4
Paula was naked and she was helpless. The lusting creature, the thing that had once been her boy friend Carl, was now pinning her writhing body down to the floor of the Arena and thrusting his throbbing organ deep inside her captive flesh.
With a Herculean effort the sobbing girl pushed the half-man off of her body and ran, stumbling and staggering, towards the wall at the edge of the Arena. She could hear the sex-crazed beast behind her, scurrying to retrieve its prize, and the feel of its hot breath made Paula run all the faster. Her heart was pounding in her chest like a jackhammer, and her firm young breasts shook like jelly as she ran.
Sobbing and gasping, the girl reached the edge of the wall. With a mighty bound she leaped upwards, struggling to grasp a handhold on the top of the wall but knowing that she was attempting the impossible. She could hear the jeering laughter of Estrogen and Veena as she missed the top of the wall by at least five feet and came crashing down on top of the man-beast below.
The creature fell backwards in surprise, and Paula saw it stagger and fall. The thing's head struck the wall, and then it slid backwards, bestial forelimbs flailing through the air as it fell.
"Ayaagh!" For a moment the mists fell away, for a moment the thing that had once been Carl was Carl once more. For a moment the man and the monster both battled for possession of the mind within the body. But it was the lusting, slavering beast that won, and in an instant the reasoning look of intelligence was gone and it was a hulking, gibbering beast that confronted Paula on the floor of the Arena.
She screamed and tried to run again, but this time the naked beast was too fast for her. It brought her down in a flying tackle, and then it was upon her once more, pushing her arms down into the dust and forcing her thighs apart with its own muscular hind legs, thrusting her thighs apart and spreading them to reveal the tight glistening pussy that lay between them, the thing that was the object of the beast's desires. This was the only part of this girl that he wanted: her cunt, her sweet juicy cunt. He wanted to feel his hot tingling javelin rip apart the tender flesh of the girl's vagina, and hear her screaming and crying out in pain as his monstrous phallus did the job for which it had been intended.
He was upon her now, and Paula knew by the feel of his weight upon her body that he was there to stay, that nothing she could do would shake him off of her this time. He would stay on top of Paula until she felt his hot cream pour out into her innerness, and then and then only would he consider letting her up, letting her out of the grasp of his glistening cock.
And now she could see the beast's hot swollen organ begin to get bigger, begin to bloat from its own fullness and its own hot desire to possess her body. She screamed and closed her eyes, hoping desperately that by blotting out the light she would be able to prevent this monstrous atrocity that she was going to be subjected to. But even with her eyes shut she could still see the lusting lance forcing its way into her innermost flesh.
The cock went in farther, the cock went in deeper, and the deeper it went the bigger it got. Paula could feel it tearing at her flesh, scraping at her insides, and she squirmed and writhed to try to get away from it. But there was no escape, there was no chance of getting away. The only thing she could do was submit. Submission was the only chance that she had.
No longer able to stand it, the terrified girl opened her eyes ... and found herself looking into the lusting face of her captor. It was no longer the face of a man; it was the face of an animal, a slavering beast that understood one thing and one thing only: the pleasures of the flesh.
Paula was getting desperate. Even as she felt the swollen rod of flesh shooting up and down within her feminine tightness she was frantically attempting to hatch some sort of a plan, some kind of a scheme that would allow her to escape from these maniacs with her body reasonably intact. She knew that such a thing was probably impossible, but by now the girl was desperate.
She bit her lip and forced herself to gaze once again into the lust-filled visage of her animalistic tormentor. As she did so Paula suddenly remembered what had happened earlier: how, when she had struck this beast, his mind had temporarily reverted to that of Carl. Perhaps, she now realized, perhaps one good blow in the right part of the cranium would bring Carl back to his normal self permanently, or at least long enough for the two of them to escape from here.
Paula hesitated, and as she did so she could feel the rock-hard javelin of phallus forcing its way even farther into her pussy. She didn't want to hit Carl, she didn't want to hurt him, but she knew that she was doing this for the youth's own good. She tried to work one hand free to attack him as he ravished her body with his organ.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Paula: what if this didn't work? What if she hit Carl too hard, or in the wrong place, and instead of curing him she only sent him even farther into the pit of depravity in which he was now imprisoned. Paula shuddered at the thought. Then she realized that even if she killed Carl he could certainly be no worse off than he was right now. If she didn't take a chance while she had the opportunity she might not live to tell about it later.
With a little moan of pain Paula pushed one arm free and brought it down as hard as she could against the side of the creature's skull.
He never looked up, he never even slowed down. That powerful column of flesh kept on pumping up and down within her tender body like some sort of a mechanical piston. Paula gritted her teeth and lashed out again.
The only result was a snarl from the man-thing, and then it was snapping at her with teeth that seemed unnaturally sharp. Paula mouthed a silent prayer and then pushed up with both knees, hoping somehow to pull herself free from this grasping, gasping monster that hungered for the feel of her flesh wrapped around his own.
Paula pushed upwards with both knees, bringing the hulking creature off of her body and smashing its head and upper torso against the overhanging wall of the Arena. Nothing: the creature was as vicious and inhuman as possible.
Paula was weeping now; she knew that there was no way out of this, no chance of escape, but still she kept on trying. She pushed the thing away from her again and again, pounding the back of its skull and the base of its spine against the wall time and time again. She knew that if she stopped, or that if she so much as slowed down for an instant, the beast would regain its strength and would be attacking her once more.
Again and again the girl's knees' shot skywards, again and again the thing's skull cracked and rang hollowly against the firm concrete of the Arena's overhanging wall. She was dimly aware that the madmen up above were roaring with approval, that the one named Cyclops was bellowing "Ride 'em, cowboy!" and that another one, probably Tish, was yelling "Ole! Ole!"
Paula bit her lip until she could feel the hot blood pouring into her mouth. How many times would she have to keep doing this, until at last either Carl returned to normalcy or until she spattered out his brains on the Arena floor?
She shot another glance at that lust-ridden face, and saw that it showed no sign whatsoever of becoming the face of Carl again. Had his mind been killed and this man-beast taken over his body completely? Paula didn't know what to think. Once she thought she caught a sign of a glint in the creature's eyes that betokened intelligence, but before she could be sure, the look was gone, and then the creature was snarling and grasping her by the ankles and spreading her captive legs so wide that the girl cried out in pain.
And then Paula saw something that made her heart despair and her blood run cold in her veins: for the huge creature's cock, having been excited by the pummeling it had received against the wall, had now gotten bigger than ever. Paula took one look at the size of the thing and knew that it would NEVER fit inside her aching vagina. The thing would tear her apart!
"No!" the helpless maiden whimpered, and tears of genuine pain and fear were cascading down her cheeks. "Tlease don't! Please don't! It'll hurt me! IT'LL HURT ME!"
The beast did not answer. Possibly he was so engulfed in his own lusting that he was not able to hear her. Or, if he did hear her he didn't care. Because all he wanted was her flesh twisted around his bulging erotic erection. Just the thought of it was a turn-on to him. Just the thought of it made him want to....
"Araaaarggghh!" Suddenly the swollen monstrosity that dangled between the creature's legs quivered and shook, and in another moment it was spewing out its hot molten cock-sauce. Paula screamed in agony, and instantly a steaming gob of cock-cream shot its way into her mouth and down her throat. She coughed and spit, but could not get the stuff out of her body. It burned and stung incredibly, and she was sure that she was going to be sick.
The half-human creature screamed again and again as its hot load of cream shot out and stained the pure white flesh of the captive girl. And then she suddenly saw the face alter and change, and in a short time Carl had become Carl once more.
The orgasm had done it! In the excitement of sexual climax his fevered mind had returned to its normal existence, and once again Carl was not a beast but a man! He was the man Paula was in love with, the man that she had willingly offered her body to in the woods so many eternities ago.
She saw that Carl was wondering what he was doing here, that he was about to get up off of her and see where he was. Instantly Paula realized that if Veena and her followers became aware of Carl's reversion to normalcy all would be lost. She could see the twisted, inhuman Frog reaching out with one wizened forepaw to stroke the nerves in Carl's neck, to turn him into a slobbering slavering beast once more....
Paula screamed again, so as not to arouse suspicion, and then wrapped her arms around Carl and pressed him close to her own body. Humping her pelvis up and down so as to make it look as though she were still being raped, Paula whispered hoarsely in Carl's ear: "Listen to me. These people have kidnapped us and they think they've robbed you of your sanity. They think you're like an animal now. You've got to keep pretending, so that they won't catch on to what's happened."
Carl was an intelligent young man. He did not understand what his girl friend Paula was talking about, but he was all too well aware of the importance that he obey her. Lowering his head and growling inhumanly he seized the girl roughly in both savage hands and flung her aside, crawling away from her on all fours as a dog might crawl away from a bone from which all the meat has been gnawed.
Paula saw something then that made her think everything was lost: a minute ago, before Carl had regained his sanity, he had been galloping about on his hands and feet. Now he was moving slowly on his hands and knees. Would Veena or any of her hirelings notice the difference and realize what had happened? Paula hoped not.
There was an applauding sound up above, and for a moment Paula was reminded of what had happened in the woods, of how she and Carl had made love to each other, and of how they had been interrupted by the mocking applause of Frog. But now a look upwards told Paula that the applause came from Hernandez, while Frog and Cyclops were helping Veena to her feet, although to look at her she certainly didn't seem to need their assistance. She nodded to the two men gracefully and murmured something that sounded like "Thank you, my bunyips," and then Frog and Cyclops were both sitting again.
Paula felt as though she herself were going slightly crazy. By now she had heard the word "bunyip" spring from Veena's lips so often that Paula was desperate to find out what the word meant. She had an idea at the back of her brain that if she could only find out what in the name of God a bunyip was all her problems would be solved.
Veena was standing now, and addressing both Paula and the snarling Carl, who was still pretending to be a raging, inhuman beast. "It has been most enjoyable for us to watch you being molested by that mindless monster," Paula heard the female sadist proclaim. "We were particularly amused when he had his sexual climax all over your face and open mouth. It was not the sort of thing we expected at all, and it made a most welcome treat."
Brushing the hair out of her eyes and wiping away a drop of blood, Paula glanced upwards to face the black-clad dominatrix. "Then maybe you'll return the favor and let me get out of here." As if as an afterthought, she added: "You can keep my clothes."
Instantly the eyes of Veena, which a moment ago had been bright and almost amiable, now narrowed into dark-rimmed slits. "No female ever leaves Ravenspur alive except for myself," she intoned harshly. "You have been brought here for the purpose of entertaining us with the sexual indignities that we will force upon your body. You will continue to entertain us in this fashion until your flesh has been torn apart and your blood has been spilled out all over the ground."
Paula shuddered compulsively. She'd heard these people tell her before that the torture was going to get worse, that each successive thing that they did to her would be even more painful and degrading than what had gone before. If they had begun things by having Paula raped by a mindless monster, what would they do to her next? Paula didn't relish the idea of finding out.
Veena made a sign to several of her disciples. "Tish. Hernandez. Go and prepare our female subject for her next torture session immediately. Bertie, take our mindless pet back to his cage in the Menagerie. And if he shows any signs of returning intelligence, report it at once to me, and I will send Frog to take care of it."
"Hey," protested a thin, whining voice, a voice like the voice of a childish, undisciplined brat. "Hey," called out Estrogen petulantly. "How come you never give ME any jobs to do? Huh? Why don't you ever let ME do anything? Huh? Why? Huh? Why? Huh?"
"Estrogen," Veena said quietly, but in a tone that any sane person would not have dared ignore. "Estrogen, shut up before I have Frog or Cyclops shut you up."
"But it's not fair," Estrogen protested. "It's not fair at all. You're always yellin' at me but you never...."
"For the last time, SHUT UP!" Paula was intrigued by what had happened. For the first time Veena had actually lost her temper, had lost her control over the situation. Was it possible, Paula wondered, that if she herself were to keep chipping away at Veena in the same way Estrogen did, to keep on hassling her like that, would Veena lose her control enough to make her men rebel? It certainly seemed to be worth a try.
Paula shot a glance in the direction of Carl, who was still growling and pretending to be a mindless beast. He did not look directly at Paula, but somehow the light in his eyes told the girl that he had seen and that he had made the same conclusion that Paula had. For the first time the girl actually began to think that there might be a chance of getting out of this place. Now that she knew Carl was alive and on her side and that Veena had an Achilles heel, there seemed to be a fairly strong possibility of escape.
Paula heard a sound coming from behind her, and turned to see Hernandez and Tish approaching. She had not noticed when or how they had gotten into the Arena, but there they were.
Hernandez reached out with one powerful hand and dragged Paula to her feet by her blood-streaked blonde hair. "Come on, puta," he hissed at her mockingly. "You gotta get ready for your next little party. You gotta get ready." Hernandez wrapped both arms around Paula's shivering waist and stroked her breasts with a hand that was devoid of warmth. He nodded to Tish. "I hold her. You go get the ... come se dice?. . .the you-know what, and bring it back here. Then we put her in it, eh?"
Tish nodded, and there was a conspiratorial look in the eyes of both men that made Paula shudder. It was clear that these two men had something planned for her, something extremely painful and humiliating, and something that they would very much enjoy subjecting her to.
There was a movement at the corner of Paula's field of vision, and the girl turned her head slightly to see what was there.
It was Bertie. He was slithering along the floor of the Arena in that unpleasant way he had, reaching one hand out claw-like to snatch at Carl and take him back to the Menagerie, whatever that was. The sight of Bertie standing bolt upright, moving across the hard surface without lifting his feet, was perhaps the most grotesque thing that Paula had ever seen.
Carl was still doing his animal act, still running back and forth on all fours and lashing out with his hands like some sort of caged beast in a circus. He had not seen Bertie yet, but now he turned to see who it was that was coming towards him.
Suddenly Carl stopped dead in his tracks. The sight of Bertie, the sight of that rail-thin cadaverous grin sliding towards him with one arm extended was enough to scare anybody. Carl was scared, and he took a step backwards. "No ... no!" he called out, forgetting in his terror that he was supposed to be a brutish monster, not a reasoning human being. Paula saw the indiscretion, and right away she knew that the one chance they had had to escape had been lost.
Hernandez had seen it too, for he flung Paula violently into the dust and looked up towards his mistress Veena. "He is hooman again," the man spat out accusingly. "He is un hombre again!"
A moment later everything happened at once. Paula shot to her feet and brought the weight of her entire body crashing into Hernandez, who groaned once and then crashed against the wall of the Arena. A trickle of blood oozed out of his scalp and down the edge of his ear. At the same time Carl, realizing that the jig was up, shot erect and was bearing down upon Bertie, forcing himself to attack that grinning cadaverous madman with a face that was nothing human..
"FROG!" Veena shouted, and an instant later the Frog-thing was lurching across the Arena's rail and then catapulting through space directly towards Carl's head. Paula saw what had happened: Frog intended to rob Carl of his senses and bring him back to his bestial state once more.
Sobbing with grief Paula stepped over Hernandez's prostrate form and raced towards her boy friend, who was already scant inches away from the monstrous Bertie. Carl was heading towards Bertie and Frog was heading towards Carl. It would be impossible for either one of them to stop now....
"Duck, Carl, duck!" Paula shouted, hoping that her boy friend would hear and understand. For one moment she was afraid that he wouldn't, but at the very last possible instant Carl's body wavered and then suddenly stooped. But he was traveling too swiftly to be able to stop, and then Carl's body was crashing into Bertie's legs and shivering from the impact. But Bertie never wavered; he stood exactly as firm and unwavering as if he had been made out of stone.
Something flashed by Paula's eyes, something that caught her on the side of the head and flung her into the dust. She was dimly aware of the airborne Frog shooting past like a skyrocket, streaking straight towards the spot where Carl's head would have been if he hadn't ducked. Frog had seen that Carl was no longer there, but sailing as he was through empty space and having nothing to push against Frog was unable to change direction. He sailed directly over Carl and crashed heavily into the Arena floor beyond, howling obscene imprecations as he went. An instant afterwards Frog's body was a twisted mass of writhing limbs, quivering and bleeding on the concrete floor.
The next thing Paula knew she and Carl were in each other's arms, and then he had her by the hand and they were both pelting away from the half-human carnage. "We've got to run!" Carl was shouting, and even as he said it they were going even faster.
"Tish! Bertie! STOP them!" Veena bellowed, and from somewhere or other Paula saw Tish streaking straight towards them. Up until now Tish had looked like the weakest physically of all of these people-other than Estrogen, of course-but now there was a grim determination in his eyes that made him look as though he could move the Earth.
But Carl was determined too, for he let go of Paula's hand and rushed at Tish with a howl of rage in his lungs. For an instant the two bodies shivered with the brute force of the impact, but then Tish was on his knees and groaning, and Paula and Carl were once again hand-in-hand and running for their lives.
Ahead of them was a door, one of the two doors that led out of the Arena, and even before either of the two fleeing teenagers could reach it they knew that there was no way they could get that door to open. They both turned, panting from fear and exhaustion, to take on all who would oppose them.
Veena was down inside the Arena now, and beside her was Cyclops, while Estrogen was dancing around in the background and making puerile remarks. But this was not what frightened Paula, what made her despair of any chance of salvation.
What scared her was Bertie. Bertie was only a few feet away from them now, and coming closer with every passing second. It was nerve-wracking, the way he moved so slowly, so agonizingly snail-paced, especially because
Paula had already seen how rapidly he was capable of moving. Bertie's arms were sticking straight out from his body, and his hands were extended claw-like and grasping, reaching out towards his chosen prey.
"Get them, Bertie," Paula could hear Veena whispering, and the voice was all the more chilling because it was so quiet. "Do what you like with the male, but save me the female. I am not yet done with her."
"My God," Paula could hear Carl say beside her. "What the hell is wrong with this guy? How can he walk like that?" It was a damned good question, and Paula promised herself that, if it was the last thing she ever did, she'd find out how Bertie managed to propel himself without making obvious movements in any of his extremities.
Bertie was coming closer now, and as Paula saw the frozen expression on the madman's face she suddenly knew that this was a man it was impossible to stop. She could run from him, she could hide from him, but sooner or later he would be there, sooner or later he would catch her....
Carl was standing up now with both feet wide apart and his legs braced firmly in the position a man takes when something he cares for is being threatened. "Come one step closer," he called out to Bertie in his most challenging tone. "Come one step closer and I'll tear your guts out of your body. I'll spread your blood all over this goddamned Arena."
Bertie came closer.
Paula screamed.
"DAMN YOU!" shouted Carl, and then he was hurling himself towards Bertie, both hands reaching for the tall man's throat.
Slowly, mechanically, Bertie extended one arm and turned it in midair. The hand caught Carl across the side of the head, and he groaned and fell. He did not look as though he would be getting up for quite some time to come.
Veena was standing nearby now, and she was flanked by Cyclops and Estrogen. "Take the female, Bertie," Veena commanded. "Take the female and bring her to me. Do not hurt her ... YET. The time for hurting will be soon, but not now."
Bertie understood. He came towards the fear-stricken Paula. She screamed, and turned away, and closed her eyes, but even then she could feel the grip of Bertie's hands upon her flesh ... and the grip was like ice. No living, breathing man could have hands that cold, and at the touch of them Paula screamed louder than she ever had before.
But Bertie had her in his two powerful hands, and he was dragging her back towards
Veena and the others. Veena nodded to Bertie to release the girl, and a moment later Paula was on her knees before the black-clad Countess of Ravenspur.
Veena pointed an imperious finger down at the cowering blonde girl. "You have attacked three of my most trusted men," she accused. "Tish and Hernandez and Frog. I grieve for the first two, for they were faithful to me, but it is what you have done to Frog that is the least forgivable. For Frog was one of my two bunyips. Now I have only the other one, Cyclops, as well as Bertie. I shall have to make Bertie my new bunyip."
"You have me, Veena, you have me." Estrogen was dancing up and down at Veena's feet, like a little dog craving a single scrap of attention. "Remember me, Veena? I'm still here."
"I know you are, and I regret it deeply. Be still, fool." Again Paula found herself wondering why Veena tolerated this stinking slobbering thing called Estrogen, why she kept the man around when her other five underlings were so much more capable. Well, now that three of them were out of commission Paula reckoned that Veena would need every man she could get.
The woman in black leather was talking to Paula now. "When I brought you here I promised that you would be subjected to a series of sexual humiliations, each one more grueling than the ones that had gone before. You have been through the first one: the rape by a man who had lost his mind. It was amusing, it was stimulating-particularly the part where he ejaculated in your face. But it was not entertaining enough. I have plans for you ... very big plans."
She turned towards Estrogen. "At last you have a chance to be useful. I sent Tish to obtain the, ah ... apparatus for our next little sex-game. He was waylaid en route by our male prisoner, as you yourself saw. Be good and bring me the apparatus."
"Sure thing, Veena." In a moment Estrogen was off, like a boy on his way to a candy shop. Then Veena turned to face Cyclops. "Cyclops, my bunyip. I wish you to examine Frog, and Hernandez, and Tish, and tell me how extensive the damage is. I will need them shortly for the ... ah ... activities which we have planned for this voluptuous young girl here."
Cyclops nodded obediently. "Yes, Mistress." Then he trudged towards Tish, who lay moaning softly, to see exactly what could be done.
Veena was about to say something, but just then a loud rattling noise made her turn in the direction from which the sound had come.
Paula turned too, and she saw that Estrogen had returned. He was pushing some sort of wooden platform on wheels. The thing had a large vertical board like a monolith rising out of its centre, with a hinge running horizontally across the middle.
Attached to the board's four corners were four metal shackles, in just the right places for a girl's wrists and ankles, should anybody be in the mood to spread-eagle a girl to the board. There was absolutely no doubt in Paula's mind for whom that device was intended.
Paula turned to confront Veena. "You ... you can't put me in that thing!" she protested.
Veena gave the impression of being politely bored. "Do you think so? Then we shall have to prove to you how wrong you are."
Paula stepped back until she felt the hard coldness of the door against her naked buttocks. "But ... but I won't DO it! I won't and you can't make me!"
Veena closed her heavy-lidded eyes and blew out a languorous cloud of cigarette smoke, which made chills run down Paula's spine because there was no cigarette to be seen. "So we cannot make you obey our wishes, child? Not only CAN we but we WILL make you obey us. Very, very soon you will be in a position to appreciate the delights of sexual submission."
Paula was determined not to give up, to prove to these maniacs that she hadn't lost her nerve. "If submission is so nice then why the hell don't YOU submit?" she challenged. "Why don't YOU submit and let ME be the one with the whip and the spear for a change?"
Veena opened her mouth to answer this, but before she could do so there was a noise behind her and Cyclops came trudging forward. "What word have you?" Veena inquired of the single-eyed madman.
Cyclops stepped forward, reaching up with one finger to tap the black surface of his eyepatch as a token of his servitude. "Pardon, Mistress," he said. "Tish has been hit rather hard but I can't find any real damage. He should beon his feet again any minute now."
Veena seemed pleased. "Good. We will need him for the little sex-play I have planned for this female here. And what about the others? How are they?"
"Well, Mistress," Cyclops went on. "Hernandez hit in the side of the head pretty bad. Skull fracture, but a simple one. I don't think he'll heal fast enough for our next sex-act."
Veena scowled. "His services are useful but not essential. Neither are those of Tish. The one I worry about is Frog, my bunyip. How is he, Cyclops?"
The eye-patched man paused before answering. "Well...."
"How IS he?" Veena's eyes snapped and glowed with the red fires of Hell. Cyclops looked as though he were afraid to answer, but also as though he were even more afraid NOT to answer.
Finally he spoke: "Well, Mistress, Frog's taken a pretty bad fall...."
"He's taken worse ones."
Cyclops shook his head. "Not like this one, I'm afraid. Broken bones and lots of blood. If we ever glue him back together it'll be a miracle."
"No, it won't," Estrogen said, and there was a conviction in his voice that made the others take notice, even Veena. "You don't know Frog like I do, Cyclops. You could cut off that guy's arms and legs and he'd still keep comin' at yuh. Maybe he's a little fucked up right now, but he'll be in A-number I shape pretty damned soon. You wait and see. That guy's bones heal like they were never broken."
Veena dismissed this with a wave of her hand. "We have no time for that now. We must continue our course of sexual indoctrination and discipline for this unworthy child here before she attacks any more of you." Veena made a gesture to Bertie. "Bertie, until such time as Frog proves he has regained his worthiness, you are my second bunyip. Cyclops, I am promoting you to prime bunyip. Bertie, take our male prisoner here, the one that this girl calls Carl, and escort him to the Menagerie. I have uses for him, particularly for the part of him that dangles so invitingly between his legs."
Suddenly the look on Veena's face changed completely and she was once again the hard-core taskmistress. Turning towards Cyclops, she snapped: "Prepare her for the apparatus."
Paula tried to struggle, but there was no time. Cyclops and Estrogen had snatched her by both arms and a leg and were dragging her, kicking and screaming, towards the wooden platform that waited like some sort of executioner's scaffold.
"Please!" Paula entreated, trying to choke back the sobs as she beseeched them for mercy. "Please! Let me go! I'll do anything you say! Anything at all! Only let me go! LET ME GO!"
There was no answer. The girl was flung bodily face downwards upon the upright slab of plywood, and strong hands reached out and bound her wrists to two of the shackles. Then her ankles were seized, and pulled so far apart that she screamed in sheer unbounded agony. There was a double click as the hard bands of metal locked themselves round the sobbing girl's ankles, and then Paula was naked, spread-eagled and helpless.
Veena was pleased with their handiwork. "Excellent." She nodded to Cyclops. "Operate the crank, please."
"Yes, Mistress." The one-eyed pervert reached for a crank and turned it, and as it revolved Paula could feel her torso from the waist upwards begin to bend forward. The wooden slab was hinged, and now the upper portion was falling downwards slowly, so that the two halves formed a shape resembling a 7 or an inverted L. It was as though Paula had been bent over a tabletop, with her feet on the floor and her arms and breasts flat upon the table's surface.
The crank stopped turning, and now Paula's , naked ass was extended towards the world. She had an idea that her ass was the part of her these people were interested in right now.
Veena made a sound that seemed to indicate approval. "Good work, Cyclops. Now, if you will all stand back and give me room...."
Paula was unable to see Veena, who was standing behind her. But the girlraised her head and saw a mirror in front of her face, and in the reflection in the glass she could make out Veena standing a few feet from Paula's captive buttocks, standing proud and erect as she reached towards the leather belt at her waist and extracted the whip.
And, as Paula watched helplessly, the hand in the black leather glove tightened around the whip as it withdrew the flail from the belt and raised it towards the roof of the Arena....