Chapter 4: The Castle

The headquarters of the “Congregation” is a large isolated manor at the top of a hill.

Upon arrival, Hugo speaks briefly with a guard and the large entrance is opened and the whole wagon can enter.

Once in an internal courtyard, the cart stops and the three new penitents begin to get to know their new home.

When they got off the cart in the center of the courtyard, they immediately see several structures in the corners of the courtyard that do not promise anything good.

Stages, trestles, pillars, poles stuck in the ground, stairs with pulleys and more.

A stable boy takes care of the horses and leads the wagon and horses through a large vault that suggests that beyond a neighboring courtyard there are stables and animal shelters in particular you can see many large dogs in a large enclosure, perhaps Great Danes, who bark at the new ones arrived.

They have no time to see or ask for much that two other rod-armed guards join Hugo, Etzel, and Father Bernardo and lead the three inside.

After a long corridor they reach a large hall where on the sides near the walls there are tables with guards, soldiers, orderlies, drinking wine, playing dice and cards without paying much attention to the three new arrivals.

A large open fireplace ensures a reasonable temperature in the lounge and also in the adjacent corridors on this late autumn evening.

In addition there are also around several braziers lit here and there and a high conical ceiling culminating in a hole that acts as a chimney allows all the fumes to escape.

A couple of entirely naked females with ridiculously short hair and totally shaved from the neck down, continually take care of carrying around wood and keeping the fireplace and braziers fed.

They have asses and hips abundantly lined with red stripes and eyes full of tears, likely signs of whipping because, although they are always in a hurry and running, every now and then some fire tends to go out and they are probably solicited with whiplash to be faster.

While they have arms, forearms and boobs scratched, bruised by the large and heavy and rough pieces of wood that they are forced to carry with bare arms against the chest.

The chief of the guards on duty approaches and says addressed mainly to the three women with a sarcastic grin: “Welcome to your” purgatory on earth “. The Supreme Master will meet you tomorrow morning and tell you all the rules and duties that are owed by the penitents of the congregation.

For the moment you can wash and refresh after the long journey ... then you can eat and drink in abundance as per our rule, then you will be assigned your accommodation for the night and also for the next nights of the next years.”

After listening to the welcome message ... the three are led by the new guards through another corridor while Etzel and Hugo and Bernardo leave the group to go to refreshment and rest on their own.

As they cross the corridor some other orderlies and in any case shady individuals join the two guards, moved by the curiosity to see the new arrivals.

So when they reach a strange large hall, in addition to the three females, and the two guards, a group of 5 or 6 other curious individuals has been added.

The large lounge they reach looks like a laundry room; on one side along a whole wall there are 4 or 5 holes in the floor with large grates that are evidently drainage holes to drain water or anything else, along a whole other wall there is what looks like a long drinking trough for animals full of water clear current fed on one side by a small tap while on the other end it overflows through a slit where the water falls on the floor to drain into a nearby drainage.

On another side there are still some rough wooden planks and some large shelves with strange objects on them: a series of what look like huge syringes with a capacity of 2 or even 3 liters and a series of huge nozzles, probably to be screwed on the tip, with the most disparate shapes: some seem huge phalluses with large and pronounced heads, others more squat with pear-like shapes, and many other shapes.

And then on the ground a row of many large demijohns containing different liquids and of various colors.

Next to the entrance from where the group arrived there is a row of wooden benches.

The thing that immediately catches the eye is that this large room is absolutely passing; there is an arrival hallway on one side and another that departs from the other.

Anyone can pass by without any privacy for anyone who is possibly in the lounge.

Then in the lounge here and there there are various objects, such as wet patches, buckets, big swipes, while in a corner of the benches there are a couple of piles of dry and folded patches.

One of the guards, addressing the three women, gave some information to the three novices; “The reason you are and will be brought to this room is to defecate, piss and then wash. Extreme cleanliness and hygiene of your bodies is an obligation.

The rule is that every time you enter here you must completely undress and put your clothes on the benches, you will choose a hole on which to crouch and then shit and piss, and then wash your whole body and private parts thoroughly with water and wet rags.

Then you can take a towel, dry yourself and get dressed.”

Then in an authoritarian voice and without regard, he adds: “ ... and then undress, choose a hole and shit and pee. I know the journey has been a little long and you haven’t defecated for a long time, so I advise you to make an effort because then you will only be allowed to shit tomorrow night. In your accommodation you will have a pot in which you can piss, but if it happens that you are forced to shit in it, the lack is really serious and you will be punished with an exemplary punishment.