But as often as the thoughts of duty and reports occurred, she was also equally aware of another, deeper set of feelings running like a dark river beneath. It took a while to admit it to herself, but Kate found this routine of domination and submission oddly fascinating. She had long regarded herself like so many young women from her own time as “emotionally stable.” True, not everyone was able to dismiss (or suppress) any sexual feelings in a world beset by fears of population pressures, infection worries and even close relationship hazards but to earn the title Quality Citizen took determination. Kate had that in abundance.

Yet now there were unfamiliar feelings rising in her. She found herself thinking often about what was happening to her and the other two. In particular she wondered why she didn’t hate Lisa. Perhaps it was because she wasn’t treated in the same way as Bridgit. Where Supervisor Barnes was put to work, Observer Ryan would often simply be kept like a statue – especially when for hours at a time she would have to stand, wrists bound to a ring above her head in an alcove in the lounge or sometimes standing, arms outspread tied to a rod across her shoulders, on a small plinth in the hallway. In a house where Lisa relaxed and Bridgit toiled, Kate simply decorated.

Each morning it was Bridgit who unlocked Kate’s door, carrying breakfast in on her little tray. It was Bridgit, in her web of chains, who released Kate from her bed to allow her stand and stretch, free. It was Bridgit, tightly gagged, who would ease the sleep gag free from Kate’s mouth so she could enjoy the breakfast. It was Bridgit, always in her revealing maid’s costume, who would patiently dress Kate in clean girdle, bra and nylons (as often as not these days the underwear was black as much as white) for Lisa’s orders were that Kate should not dress herself. It was Bridgit who having put some small restraint on Kate, such as a pair of handcuffs or ankle chains, would lead the way downstairs afterwards for Lisa to greet the “guest” brightly.

If all this was done to make Bridgit feel she really was just the serving girl then, Kate concluded, it probably worked. The maid rarely looked happy although it wasn’t surprising as some of the gags she wore looked painful. Gags designed to cause her the maximum discomfort as they stretched her jaw wide apart. They certainly guaranteed her complete silence.

Whatever the mysterious feelings within her, Kate had precious little chance to talk about them to anyone. Even when Lisa chose not to have Kate gagged she was required to be quiet and on the occasions she was permitted to speak to the Mistress, the subject of her own growing intrigue with bondage never came up. More importantly Kate needed to know things from Bridgit but opportunities to talk were non-existent.

There was no occasion after the discussion in the kitchen where the two of them were left together – unless both were gagged and in no position at all to remove one or other gag. The few times Kate had been chained to Bridgit as the maid went about her duties saw them both properly silenced. Kate began to think Lisa had suspected they would find a way to talk and taken steps accordingly. There was no respite either when the Mistress went out to the village on one of her irregular trips. At those times the two prisoners were kept well apart: if Bridgit was in the kitchen, Kate would be bound in her room – or if Lisa saw fit, in the cell.


Tied Up In Time: Sample 2

Kate put down the French magazine she had been studying. Her knowledge of the language was shaky but it was the fashion pictures that attracted her, not the text. She was especially attracted to the pictures of the corsets the models were wearing, thinking how lovely it would be to try those on. Wear them for Lisa, seeking her approval. ‘Of course I’ll come upstairs and wait for the Mistress.’ Kate said as she stood up, adding with a little laugh, ‘ Please lead the way. Maid.’

Kate quickly checked the bottom edge of her girdle and her stockings. She gave her bra a little tug to make sure it was sitting properly on her chest. She appreciated just how much it pleased Lisa to see Kate in her nice underwear, understood how much the Mistress wanted Kate to enjoy wearing it. There was nothing different about any of her underwear, except that Lisa had found some corsetry company in London that could supply lovely deep bras with cups that could be unfastened at the front to reveal Kate’s breasts and her eager, pink nipples. Thus she would still be wearing her bra and still make herself available to Lisa, in the same manner the design of her girdle or corset allowed access between her legs without undressing.

Bridgit as usual was available all the time. As well as her lack of knickers, the maid’s outfit still presented her bare, full round breasts. She still had her nipples ringed but where before the rings had a chain between them or a tray clipped to them, increasingly small weights hung on each of them. Weights that could be increased whenever Kate wanted.

After all, Kate felt she was more or less in charge of the maid now. As the Mistress had other things to attend to these days it was up to Kate what she did with Bridgit. That was one of the reasons the woman wasn’t always gagged: Kate revelled in the feeling of control by having the maid simply remain quiet, whatever happened. The gag was still a pleasant threat – in particular the gag Kate had modified, the one that could be expanded in Bridgit’s mouth by turning the small screw set at the front. Kate’s little baby, she liked to call it.

Bridgit was leading the way out of the lounge, towards the stairs. She would have a little difficulty on the stairs with such a short ankle chain but that was inevitable, thought Kate. It was the sort of thing a maid had to endure. More importantly, the maid would walk up the stairs as Kate had recommended to the Mistress, holding her short skirt up to her waist behind her, so anyone following could see her naked backside, glimpsing the lips of her shaved sex.

Not for the first time Kate wondered what Bridgit thought of her. Probably not very much these days, she reflected, watching the maid’s pale, wiggling buttocks in front of her going up the stairs. Firm, round buttocks with the faint purple-red stripes from her last whipping still visible, a whipping Kate had really enjoyed delivering. Just for the fun of it.


Tied Up In Time Sample 3

Kate prayed her toes wouldn’t leave the floor. Someone was screaming and Kate realised it was her.

The agony between her legs didn’t subside, but it didn’t get any worse. Her weight, suspended by her shoulders and the thin, sharp edge of the horse, was enough to rack her with the most intense pain she had ever known. But the horse had stopped lifting her and her toes hadn’t left the floor. They could help support her – just.

‘How do you feel now you know what pain is?’ The words floated through Kate’s numbed senses. For a moment she had trouble placing the voice. It was Marion. The Mistress must have told her to address the punished woman.

‘The Mistress says you have to learn, just like I did. Now I’m ready to serve her. Aren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Kate’s voice was racked by sobs. ‘Please... I want to serve the Mistress.’ She also wanted to say, ‘But you’re going to the future... you don’t know who you’ll be serving. It won’t be the Mistress. It will be someone who is cruel and doesn’t care, someone offensive in a bitter world.’ She bit her lip again.

‘The Mistress wants you whipped,’ Marion sounded quite happy. ‘Mistress wants you to feel real pain.’

For some reason Kate gasped, ‘I’m here to serve.

The first blow of the whip took away what little breath Kate had, the long stinging fingers of the whip ends spreading over her arched back. It was Bridgit wielding the whip. Marion would still have her arms bound and the Mistress would simply want to watch it all: the maid would apply the whip more than generously.

The blows were steady and rhythmic. Each one stung and each one that caught a growing weal on poor tortured Kate would sting so much more. Soon the woman perched on the horse had her back and buttocks covered in angry red weals and still the whipping continued. Kate was crying, screaming, pleading for mercy. She knew it was pointless but it was all she had. It was just what the Mistress would want to hear.

For a while Kate hoped she would black out, but the agony was pitched just enough to keep her conscious. Then, just when the waves of redness and blackness seemed surely to envelop her, the whipping ceased.

Slowly the horse slipped away and Kate let her heels down to give her pained legs some relief. Bridgit’s hands were on the breast clamp and slowly, agonisingly slowly, the jaws eased apart. ‘Pity I have to take it off,’ whispered Bridgit with a hint of malice as the device was finally removed. ‘If I had my way it would stay on a lot longer!’

Then came more relief as the elbow chain was lengthened and gratefully Kate was able to straighten her whip-marked back, a fresh wave of pain consuming her as her body returned to a more normal position. The ankle cuffs were removed but not the elbow chain: Kate simply had to stand with her legs spread and the evil horse an inch below her tortured sex.

There was the merest sound of feet on the cold floor and the Mistress was gone, trailing Marion behind her. Bridgit stood immediately in front of Kate and regarded her.

‘You took your punishment well, all things considered.’ Bridgit’s voice showed no warmth. As the Mistress had gone, there was no trace of any silly accent either. ‘It hurts in here and in your way you did yourself a favour. Praed likes strength. Even if it only means you can have more beatings.’ The maid’s long fingers were tracing the vivid red line left by the clamp across Kate’s bust, making the prisoner wince. ‘Don’t think though that I didn’t want to break you. I would have done more to you, simply because I know I’m on my own now. You’ve become part of her – your dear Mistress. After this no doubt you’ll do everything she wants and more.

‘I told you she was good at psychology. She worked on your vulnerability until she had you. No doubt you noticed she has Marion in her grip too. Maybe she thinks I am, but maybe not.’

Kate took a deep breath and tried to marshall her thoughts. ‘Why are you telling me this?’ Her voice was faltering, mirroring the pain running through her body. ‘You got your revenge. What more do you need to say?’

The maid dug her fingernails into the red weal on Kate’s left breast and the captive twisted in pain on the end of the elbow chain, the inside of her thighs scraping the outer edges of the horse.

‘I’m telling you as a warning.’ Bridgit’s eyes blazed. ‘Something for you to think about, how you’ve betrayed TiSysIn and your principles. And I’m telling you now because soon I will be gagged and put to work – or even back in that damned cell. I probably won’t get much chance to tell you what I think in the future.’ Bridgit snorted derisively. ‘In her version of the future!’

All copyright Angela Steele 2007 All rights reserved