Chapter 5

It was shortly after the start of their third year with Jason that April and August disappeared. They were just over fifteen and a half years old. There was a great commotion over their disappearance.

Daren had been hiding in a cold, dark alley between the Guild Master’s school and Jacob’s house for over an hour waiting for April and August to pass by on their way home from teaching night classes for the apprentices at the school. They had been teaching the classes virtually by themselves for the last six months now.

Daren leaped from the alley with his two helpers as the girls passed. The girls screamed in surprise, but his two helpers, Hector and another man he had hired for this, clamped hands across their mouths and held them securely while Daren tied their hands behind their backs. Then he placed gags on them. The two men pushed both girls into the ally and held them securely.

“SO ... you sluts thought you could escape me, did you? You got me sent to the work gangs for three years. Well, I am back now and you will pay for all of that,” he screamed at them and hit both girl in the face. “You sluts will regret the day you were born before I am done with you. No one does that to me and gets away with it.”

Daren paid the second man, and dismissed him. He and Hector then took the girls to a basement room in a rundown part of the capital. He had rented it specifically for this. It was near a large manufacturing plant that made a lot of noise all day long. He intended the noise to cover his activities there.

He and Hector stripped both girls and secured their hands above their heads to rings set into the heavy wooden column that supported the floors above. The girls were up on their toes this way. He and Hector then ran their hands over the girls, enjoying the feel of their young bodies. In the last three years, the girls had filled out nicely. Their breasts had grown to take a C cup bra, and their hips now flared out sweetly.

After amusing themselves by exploring the girls bodies with their hands, both men opened their pants, moved up behind a girl, and proceeded to fuck them while they shoved them against the column. Both girls cried out at being violated by these animals. They still had the gags in their mouths.

After they finished, Daren and Hector went to a table on the side of the room and had some drinks from a bottle of liquor there. They sat at the table and drank for awhile, until they were hard again.

Both men then returned to the girls and proceeded to roughly probe their young butts. Both girls screamed into their gags when they realized what the men intended. The two men spit on their grubby hands, rubbed the spit on their dicks and proceeded to jam those dicks in the girls virgin butts. The girls screamed and cried in their gags but were helpless. They were deeply ashamed at being violated in this manner. After both men came, they turned to a large mattress on the floor in one corner of the room for a little sleep. The girls hung there at the column, now thoroughly subdued.

In the morning, when the plant behind them had started its noisy work, Daren and Hector rose and moved over to the table for a few more drinks. Hector then moved over to the girls and removed their gags.

“Master, please release us,” both pleaded “We are sorry for what happened to you, but we did not impose the sentences.” Daren came over and hit both girl in the face again.

“Shut up, sluts,” he screamed at them. Then he shook out the whip he had retrieved and tested it on the air. It made a loud cracking sound.

“I told you that when I got you back, I was going to beat you to within an inch of your lives. Well, that is exactly what I intend to do. When I am done, I will sell you to the lowest, meanest dive I can find, and you will be fucked by strangers for the rest of your lives. As much as you have filled out, you should bring a good price even beaten half to death,” Daren told them. “I want to hear you scream,” he added.

Daren then proceeded to use the whip on both girls’ backs and anywhere else he could reach with it, their butts, legs and thighs all received lashes. When he tired, Hector took over. He had been drinking and wasn’t very accurate and didn’t last long. By then the girls had no voice left to scream with, or water for tears. All they could do was hang there in pain and whimper.

Daren and Hector then took a break for some more drinks. The respite did the girls little good. Later both men took turns beating the girls again.

When the girls did not arrive home after school was out, Jason was concerned and checked with Hester to see if they had said anything about staying at Master Benjamin’s for the night. Hester knew nothing.

In the morning, Jason went to Master Benjamin’s studio to check on the girls. Benjamin was glad to see him, but shocked when told that the girls had not come home last night.

Jason, Benjamin and Beatrice then started to check on the apprentices that had been in the class the previous night. All were accounted for, but none knew anything of the girls whereabouts. By mid morning, word was out on the street that two apprentices were missing. By noon a search was ordered by the Guild Master Council. Shortly after that Jacob had reward fliers printed offering a reward of five gold coins for anyone finding the girls. These were quickly distributed and a more general search was started for the girls.

By evening there were City Guardsmen on every street corner and groups of Guardsmen were searching for the girls. After dark, the searches were reduced until the next day. By now the average citizens had seen the reward posters and many spent the night looking for the girls. The money was a great incentive as it represented many weeks or months of pay for the average person.

Daren and Hector had been sleeping off their latest bout of drinking and didn’t get up until well after dark. The noise from the plant had stopped when it closed. Leaving Hector to watch the two girls, Daren went out to locate someone to sell the girls to. He was amazed to see all the Guardsmen on the street and the searching going on. It was being carried on by many citizens, especially those in the shadier parts of town and in need of the money. They were giving everyone they encountered sharp looks. When Daren saw one of the reward posters, they were everywhere by now, he was seriously shocked.

Still he continued on his intended mission. After stopping at several very rough taverns and a couple of the worst whorehouses in the city, he was at his wits end. No one even wanted to hear about a couple of girls for sale. No one dared to take a chance on acquiring any girls now, not with the present search going on. All girls were way too hot now to be acquiring new ones.

Daren returned to his rented basement room in dejection. He had thought that he could make a quick profit on the girls and be gone before anyone could come looking. Obviously, he had been wrong. On arriving at the basement, he found August on the floor. Her bonds had come loose and she had fallen to the floor. Hector had not done a good job in securing her. On seeing Daren, she implored him rising her right hand.

“Please, Master, release us. Have we not suffered enough?” Daren flew into a rage and stomped down on her hand and then kicked her in the ribs. August passed out on the floor from the renewed pain.

Daren went over, and kicked Hector.

“Get up and secure that slut, fool. Do a better job this time,” he ordered him.

Hector went to secure August while Daren went over to the table and opened a new bottle. Hector joined him shortly. Neither man saw the face that appeared for a few seconds at the window high in the basement wall and then disappeared.

Unknown to Daren, he had been followed ever since the third place he had visited. The follower was not a good citizen. He was simply one of the low-lifes of the world, trusted no further than one could reach. He was, however, a very sly individual, and had remained out of sight while Daren made his inquires. In the dark, it was easy for him to follow Daren back to his basement hideout and then peek carefully through the window and see the two beaten girls there, He, like most of the city, knew of the reward.

He did have a problem though. The City Guard was after him for some of his former misdeeds. He dare not approach them. As luck would have it, he remembered seeing Marshal Sean in several establishments that night. The Marshal would be more approachable than the Guard, as he wouldn’t be aware of his past misdeeds. He hurried off to locate the Marshal.

Pinky found Marshal Sean in the fourth place he tried. The Marshal was not glad to see him.

“What do you want, Pinky?” Marshal Sean asked when Pinky approached and asked to talk to him.

“Marshal, this is a very private matter,” Pinky said, deferentially.

“That means it must involve money, knowing you as I do,” Marshal Sean said. “Well, what is it?”

“Please, Marshal, not in here. This is very private,” Pinky stammered.

“All right,” Sean replied, and turning to the owner of the place said, “I need to use your back room for a minute, Will.” Then turning back to Pinky, “This had better be good.”

In the back room, Pinky asked, “Will I get the reward if I lead you to the girls?”

Sean’s hand shot out and he gripped the front of Pinky’s shirt, lifted him from his feet, pulled him up to his face, and looking into his eyes said, “If you know where those girls are you had better spill it now. I have a personal interest in those girls, and I don’t want any shit. If you really know where they are, I will see that you get the reward.”

“I ... I followed this guy earlier. He went into a basement and I looked in the window. There were two young girls in there. They were badly beaten. Even if they aren’t the ones missing, he shouldn’t have beaten them like that,” Pinky told Sean.

“All right, go out the back way. Meet me in five minutes on the corner. I will bring some guardsmen, and we will see who these girls are.”

“Marshal, I’m allergic to guardsmen,” Pinky said in fear.

“Don’t worry about it. You will be safe with me, and if these are the right girls you will be a hero and won’t be bothered,” Sean told him.

Marshal Sean was on the corner five minutes later with six guardsmen, when Pinky emerged from the shadows. The Sergeant of the Guard immediately recognized him.

“This man is wanted, Marshal,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it, Sergeant. He is the one leading us to our quarry, and he is under my protection.

“All right, Marshal,” the Sergeant said in resignation. Pinky led the way to the building where he had seen the girls. The guardsmen were familiar with it. They had been there a number of times in the past.

“Where are they?” Sean asked.

“In the basement in the back toward the plant over there,” Pinky answered, pointing. “There is a window there. You can look in.”

Sean approached the window carefully and peaked in. From the light of the candle on the table he could just see the girls and part of the room. The mattress was hidden from his view. He crept back to where the guardsmen were.

“Those are the girls all right. I could only see part of the room. I don’t know where the culprits are.”

“Don’t worry, Marshal. We are familiar with this building. There are only two entrances to the basement, and they don’t connect. There is a wall across the basement splitting it in two. If they are in this end, this is the only way in or out,” the Guard Sergeant told him.

“All right. Station one man at the other entrance, just in case. Then I will take two men in with me. You others guard this entrance. No one comes out unless I bring them out - understood?” The guardsmen all answered “yes”. They knew his reputation well. Pinky faded back into the darkness, as inconspicuously as possible.

Sean hit the door with his shoulder and bounced. On the second try, the door shattered and he burst into the basement room. Two burley guardsmen were right behind him. Sean skidded to a stop right in front of Daren, who had a knife at August’s throat as she hung at the post.

“I’ll kill her,” Daren roared. Sean didn’t even blink. Instead his left hand shot out as quick as a snake as he seized Daren’s wrist with his hand, pulled it outward and snapped it downward and then back up breaking Daren’s wrist in one move. The knife fell from Daren’s useless fingers, and Sean punched him in the face with his right fist, knocking him out and breaking his nose. The two guardsmen, in the mean time, had secured Hector, who was still drunk.

“Sergeant,” Sean shouted, “get a doctor down here immediately. These are the two missing girls and they’re in bad shape.”

“Yes, Marshal, immediately,” the Sergeant replied as he sent a man to get the nearest doctor, and to alert the Commander of the Watch. The others were deployed to hold back the crowd that was sure to gather in short order as word got out.

The doctor arrived quickly. The Physicians Guild had alerted it’s members and had people on standby all over the city. The young man who entered the basement with his bag wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted him.

The two men in the corner in handcuffs and leg irons, he had expected. The broken and bleeding nose and broken wrist were nothing new to him. However, the sight of the two girls lying face down on the dirty mattress with their bloody and bleeding backs, butts, and thighs gave him a start.

“My God, who did that?” he asked, after regaining his composure.

“The two animals in the corner. What can you do for the girls, Doctor?” Sean asked.

“I will need to examine them before I start on their backs. They really should be moved before I do that. Let me check them over first though. We will need stretchers to move them, Marshal, and blankets to cover them with,” the Doctor said. He proceeded to examine both girls and noted the other problems they had. The stretchers and blankets were sent for.

“Have you given them any water?” he asked.

“No, we have no water here, and these others only had whiskey,” Sean replied.

“I have water. Hand me one of those cups,” the Doctor asked as he opened his bag. He poured water into the cup and raised the first girl and got her to drink some of it. She was crying and moaning but there were no tears. He refilled the cup and raised the second girl up to have her drink. She was the one with the injured hand. He got her to drink some, and lay her back down on the mattress. He then removed materials from his bag to splint the girl’s hand. While he was doing this, the stretchers arrived along with two Master Physicians. They immediately addressed Marshal Sean.

“Marshal, the Guild Council sent us to see to the girls injuries. The Council is very concerned that something like this could happen here in the capital. We will need to take them to our clinic to properly care for them. We will do that in a few minutes, if that is all right.”

“Yes, surely, Master Physician,” Sean replied. They went over and conferred with the young Doctor who had arrived earlier. They then examined both girls. One applied the waiting splint to August’s hand. The young Doctor was sent to care for the criminals, and the two girls were carefully placed on the stretchers, covered with a blankets and borne off to the Physicians clinic by eight burley guardsmen, four to each stretcher. There was a sergeant with a lantern leading the way.

The crowd that had gathered, even this late at night, parted in silence to let them through. It was apparent to all that the girls were badly injured. After being patched up by the young Doctor, the prisoners were marched back to the guardhouse. The crowd was not in a good mood on seeing the prisoners. Marshal Sean would have none of it however.

“These men will be seen by the Royal Judge and punished according to the law,” he roared at them. “There will be no trouble here, Is that clear to all of you?” All in the district knew the Marshal, at least by reputation, none were eager to invoke his anger.

The Master Physicians and their patients soon arrived at their clinic. The girls were placed on well padded examination tables. These were after all Master Physicians in the capital. One could hardly expect less. Besides the Guild Council was paying for everything.

The first thing they did was to shorten the remains of the girls hair to just below shoulder length. Much of it had been cut by the whip and was now embedded in the cuts on their backs. These would need to be removed - a painful process.

The Physicians used ether, a recently rediscovered chemical, to put the girls to sleep so they could work on them. They cleaned away the dried blood and washed their entire backs, butts, and thighs. Then they began the tedious task of removing the hair from the cuts that it was embedded in. The worst and largest cuts were sewn back together and a generous amount of the yellow salve was applied to their backs, butts, and thighs. Finally a treated cover cloth was applied to their backs and tied in place. The girls were then moved to beds in the recovery room and an senior apprentice was posted to watch over them.

Word of the rescue soon reached Jacob and Jason from the Guild Council, also the news that the girls had been taken to a clinic. When they arrived there, there was already a crowd gathered around the clinic. The City Guard was keeping them back, but passed Jacob, Jason, and the members of the Guild Council. They were met by the Guild Master of the Physicians Guild in the clinic waiting room. He briefed them on the girls condition and then all sat and waited for the doctors to finish their work.

It was some time before the two doctors emerged. Both were worn out and groggy from the ether they had used. They assured all present that the girls would survive. Their backs were in bad shape and the wounds would be painful for awhile, but should be healed in five or six weeks.

They also reported that both girls had been violated, both front and rear. The one girl had a very bruised hand. It didn’t appear to be broken, but would be quite painful for awhile, and she would not be able to use it for a good month at the least. The girls would have to sleep on their bellies for at least several weeks and should remain in bed for at least one week.

“Are the girls on the black bean?” they asked.

“Yes, of course,” Jacob answered. “Why?”

“The men used them sexually, and they could have gotten pregnant. If they are on the bean, all should be fine there,” the Physicians assured them.

Jacob and Jason were at length allowed to see the girls. They would be coming out of the ether soon, and the doctors felt it best if they saw their Masters when they woke up. It would assure them that things were going well.

Both men were shocked at the sight that greeted them when they entered the room where the girls were. The girls were lying on the bed face down. Their legs were spread revealing the medication on them and on their butts. The cover cloth hid the worst of their backs. Their lovely, long, red hair had been shorn at the shoulder and their faces were bruised and battered. They presented a pitiful sight.

The apprentice came over and informed father and son, “They will be coming to soon. The one has started to stir. It will be good for them to see familiar faces when they awaken.”

Jason moved over between the beds. He couldn’t help but cry for his poor abused girls. They were so sweet and innocent. Why had this happened to them? What kind of animal would do this to these two sweet girls?

August started to moan as she came out of the ether. Her throat was very dry and the ether had not helped that any. She tried to speak but no sound came out. Jason was there in a flash with a cup of cool water for her. He helped her raise her head so she could drink. Initially much of it went down her chin to the bed, but she did manage to get a good bit of it down. She reached for her Master with her left hand as that was the side he was on.

“Please, Master,” she begged in a whisper, “the pain - make it go away, please.” She lay there and whimpered, still too dry to be able to shed tears. Jason turned toward one of the doctors, who had come into the room.

“Can you do something for their pain?” he asked in desperation.

“There is alcohol, but they are dehydrated already. There are various opiates, but the cure can be worse than the problem. What they need now are liquids and nourishment. Soup is being prepared for them now. After that sleep is the best thing for them. There are some natural pain killers in the cover cloths on their backs. They take time to work, but will reduce the pain soon. That is all we can do at this time.” the Master Physician told him.

Soon the soup arrived and Jason had started to feed August when April began to stir. August stopped eating and clutched Jason’s hand.

“Oh please, Master,” she whispered, “You must go to April. She feared the pain much more than I did. She was frantic before. She will need you more than I do. Please care for her.”

“Yes, I will go to her, Sweetness. Father will feed you the rest of the soup,” Jason assured her. Jacob came over and took over the duty of feeding August while Jason went to April’s side.

April came to with a scream from the pain that only came out as a hoarse whisper. Jason was there when she opened her eyes. When she recognized him, she clutched his hand and tried to cry but had no tears. Jason raised her enough to allow her to drink from the cup of water he had for her. She drank some but could only whimper, later she drank more. She said nothing, only holding to Jason as a drowning man would to a life preserver. After a time tears came. Jason fed her soup also. Still she said nothing only held on to him fiercely.

Trouble came when the doctors wanted Jason to leave for the night so the girls could get some sleep. Instantly, a wail of grief and fear came from April, who became hysterical. On seeing this, the doctors changed their minds and allowed Jason to remain with both girls for the night. They gave the girls some medicine to make them sleep. Jason slept in a bed next to April who could not release her hold on him for more than a few seconds without screaming in abject fear.