"Excuse me," I said.
The guard at the gate of Cant raised his eyes from the book he was reading.
Well - reading. He probably just looked at the pictures. From the bit I glimpsed,
I wanted to look at them too.
"What do you want?"
It was already the afternoon and we have just passed through the forest
after leaving Mrs. Tain. It took us the whole day. After May learned the
whole story about Merta's powers, she wanted to use it to move faster, but
I vetoed that.
I was afraid for Merta, as she was still weak. She got better, though.
I was ready to piggyback her but she walked the whole way.
And now we were here, at the Cant gate and we were ready to enter - after
going through some formalities, of course.
"We would like to enter the city."
"Your name?"
"Zack, sir."
"All those girls with you?"
I nodded. "Yes, you see, they're..."
"I'm not interested in your stuff," he yawned. "This is a free city, you
know. Enter."
So we did.
"First things first," said May. "We should buy something. I mean, Grace
has Mom's old clothes and all of us only have the clothes we're wearing.
Nothing clean. Not even," she blushed, "any reserve underwear."
"Which is a problem," I sighed, "because as far as I know, we don't have
any money."
"It was never much problem for me," quipped Soot.
"Please don't," I said. "We shouldn't make people angry."
"The way I do it, they won't notice anything to be angry about..."
"I said no, Soot."
She sighed. "Well, OK."
Cant was larger than Ceris and as we were coming closer to central plaza,
the crowds were thicker.
"Look at them," complained Soot. "They don't even guard their purses!
One quick pickpocket, that's all we..."
"You say that once again and I'll spank you," I warned her.
Soot wanted to retort, but she thought better.
"We are going to find the local lord," I said. "He might help us."
"And if he won't?"
"As shocking as it might seem to you, Soot, we will have to work."
She uttered a theatric gasp, but I didn't care. I was used to farm work,
wasn't I? True, there might be not much demand for a farm help in the town,
but...
"Let's find him."
The palace was in the middle of the town. Well, palace might be too strong
a word, as it was basically just a house larger than anything around it.
And, yes, there were two guards at the door. Even the town gate itself only
had one!
"We would like to see the lord," I said.
"So would many people."
"Well, we were told to tell him that Mrs. Tain is calling an old debt..."
He actually looked amused. "Again? You're third this year with that story.
All right, you can speak to him. Go in. Maybe the ladies would like to stay
here, though."
"I don't know," I said. "They are prone to get into trouble if I leave
them alone."
"We won't," said May. "I promise."
I hesitated. "I would like Merta to go with me," I said. "As for you...
don't leave the plaza. Don't cause a ruckus. And..." I lowered my voice
so the guard wouldn't hear me. "No stealing and don't try on any clothes
until we know if we can afford it, OK?"
"Yes, Brother," said Grace.
Soot and May just nodded.
"Good. See you later."
I entered the mansion with Merta in tow.
"If I will have to spank only one of them," I sighed, "I will consider
myself lucky."
I've always thought that lords (and rich people in general) should be
small and fat. Lord Jeremy of Cant certainly fit that image.
"Yes?" he asked when we were brought in the big room. "What does she want,
that old witch?"
"Your Lordship," I bowed, "we need your help."
"That - I gathered. Are you on the run?"
"How did you know?"
"Well, my... informers told me about a certain trouble in Ceris two days
ago. You fit the description of the perpetrators. You know, I could simply
arrest you and give you off to the Cerians. That would make them really happy."
I gulped. "Will you do it, sir?"
"No. I have no interest in making Ceris happy."
"And will you help us?"
He looked thoughtful.
"I can't hide you here. That would be quite inconvenient. Even an incompetent
guards will eventually search for you here, and that poses a 'diplomatic
situation'." He snarled those last words. "I'm a noble, but nowadays I have
to be a politician. My family always solved problems by force. With our mighty
army!"
"What happened then?" asked Merta.
"Well, it lost and was destroyed," shrugged Lord. "Politics is weaker,
but much more durable. And you are?"
"Merta, sir."
"They put out your description, girl. But what's strange is that they
didn't say anything about what you've supposedly done. Why are they searching
for you?"
Merta hesitated. "I'm... not sure, sir."
Was she lying? No, I decided. She probably really didn't know how much
trouble her powers could do in the right hands. And what about in the wrong
hands.
Lord smiled. "Have a seat," he said. "I have some matters to attend to.
But I'll be back in a while. Get your friends in the meanwhile. Get a dinner
- dining room is that way."
And we sat down.
I hope the girls are not causing trouble, I mused...
Grace walked around a corner and bumped into someone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see... oh..."
The other person was a little girl, about eight years old. She has been
crying, Grace noted.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "Are you lost?"
The girl looked at her with the puppy eyes.
"Sis, I'm in trouble. My Dad is a merchant and he drove out of the town
and left me here! Please, I must find him!"
Grace gasped. "He left the town without you?"
The girl nodded. "He didn't do it on purpose. He thought I'm in the cart,
but I had to... had to go."
Grace nodded. She could understand that.
"And now he's gone and I'm all alone in the town! Please, take me to the
gate, Sis!"
"OK, don't cry," said Grace nervously. "Of course I'll help you. What's
your name?"
"Shirley," said the girl. She slipped her hand into Grace's and giggled.
"OK, Sis, let's go!"
"So you are looking for work?"
The restaurant owner was a large man with broad face. His face was perpetually
smiling.
"Yes sir. Only for a while. Me and my brother, we have to leave soon and
we have no money. So I thought... I can surprise him by getting some."
The man nodded. "We have a shortage right now. You are young and pretty.
Can you wait the tables?"
"Well, I often brought food to the table when I was home, sir."
"That could do. Get the apron in the kitchen. What's your name?"
"May, sir."
"OK, May. Try your best. And be polite to the guests!"
"Yes sir! Thank you!"
"You're hired for five hours, until we close down at 9PM. And you also
get a dinner. Not too fancy, mind you."
"Thank you!"
"Grace! May! Soot!"
We were walking along the plaza, but our companions were nowhere to be
seen.
"I hope nothing bad happened to them," I said.
"I don't think so," replied Merta. "Maybe they are just seeing the sights."
"Or they are heading into trouble," I sighed. "We should find them - as
quickly as possible!"
"They are not bad girls," said Merta. She sounded a little bit reapproaching.
"I know. But they have this tendency to... go wild. Not Grace," I corrected
myself, "but Soot and May? Definitely."
Merta smiled. "What if we ate the lunch together? Just the two of us?
They will be here later, Zack, don't worry."
I hesitated. "Well..." The idea had some merits. "OK, then. It's just
their fault for not showing up anyways."
"I want ice-cream!" shouted Shirley.
Grace was beginning to panic. Here she was, in an unfamiliar town, and
with a girl who got more bossy by the minute.
"I'm sorry, Shirley," she tried to explain, "but, you see, I don't have
any money with me..."
"You're lying! Every grown-up has money!"
"Look, I'm in a difficult situation, so please..."
"Sis, I want ice-cream!"
"I told you I don't have..."
"I'm going to cry!"
I'm going to start crying too, thought Grace. She always thought that
children, especially girls, are cute and adorable. Now she started to wonder.
"Look, maybe we should go to the gate and try to find your father..."
Shirley stick out her tongue. Then she kicked Grace in the shin.
"Ouch!"
"Now now," said an unfamiliar voice. It was a middle-aged man with a cart.
"Is that how you're treating your sister?"
"I'm sorry," started Grace automatically, but the man was looking at Shirley.
"You should apologize to her, young lady. And if you won't, I think your
sister should take you over her knee and spank your bare bottom, right here!"
"She can't do that!" cried Shirley, but she looked dubious.
"I think she can't. But she doesn't want to spank you, right, Miss?"
Grace nodded, thankfully. "Yes, that's it. I would hate to spank her."
"So if you make your sister spank you, you will both have your
day ruined," said the man. "So be good from now on."
Shirley pouted. "OK."
Grace bowed. "Thank you very much, sir."
"Ah-hah! That was nothing, Miss."
"Come on," said Grace. "Let's go, Shirley. We have to find your Dad."
"All right..." said Shirley, unhappily.
"Would you like to order?"
"Yes please," said the young man. "Two cantian steaks, please, medium
rare."
A girl who was sitting next to him just nodded.
"Thank you, sir," said May with a smile. "Will that be all? It will be
done in a... oh!"
As she was turning around, she knocked over a vase in the middle of the
table.
"Sorry! I'll get you a new tablecloth!"
"May!" sounded an angry voice. "Table four says they ordered a potato
salad a quarter an hour ago!"
"Aaah! Sorry! I forgot!"
The owner sighed.
"She must be the worst waitress in the world," he complained to nobody
in particular.
Soot was feeling fine, so far. She hasn't even stolen anything. Not that
she couldn't, mind you, it just wasn't... appropriate. She felt that Zack
would be dissapointed. He would try to spank her and...
Actually, she didn't know what would happen then. Would she allow him
to spank her again?
No way, she thought. It hurt way too much.
On the other side - the other girls seemed to think a spanking is a wonderful
think when compared to some alternatives. Soot felt that Zack wouldn't force
her to accept her spanking and that alone made it that much harder to refuse.
Better to stop snatching other people's stuff until the ethical dilemma's
solved.
Somebody tapped her shoulder and she jumped. She was more distracted than
she thought - nobody should be able to sneak to Soot!
She whirled around.
There was a young man, with brown hair and green eyes. He flashed her
a smile.
"Hi, Willow," he said. "You look great - like always."
"Can you do other symbols?" I asked Merta. We were alone in a big dining
room. Servants brought us food and then left, discreetly. It was very much
like a date, at least according to descriptions I've heard.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I saw that pyramid thing which explodes, the cube that digs in
the ground and that pointed shape for flying," I explained. "So I was wondering
- what else can you do?"
"There is only one more," said Merta in an apologetic voice. "And it's
the hardest of them and not very useful."
"Well, there is Fire, Air, I guess that cube is Earth - so this last one
is Water?"
She nodded. "If we ever get lost in the desert, I can guarantee you we
won't suffer from thirst." She smiled. "Would you like to see it?"
"Won't it damage the room?"
She shook her head. "No. I will only draw a small one."
The symbol was really quite complex. It was a triangle, divided in a complex
way in a number of smaller triangles. Then it glowed...
A transparent ball was hanging in the air. It was comprised of triangles,
but it was still basically spherical. Merta moved her finger and the ball
moved to above my cup and started to spout water in it.
I drank a bit. It was a water... but it had hardly any taste.
"Very interesting," said a voice from the door. "I'm glad you didn't do
Fire, by the way. I'm afraid that would do irreparable damages on the table."
Merta looked up and the ball fell down and fractured. A puddle of water
was all that was left.
Lord Cant was standing in the doorway.
"Sis?"
"What do you want, Shirley?" asked Grace. Since that scene at the ice-cream
shop, Shirley was strangely quiet. Grace preferred her that way. She looked
adorable when she didn't talk. Was I the same when I was growing up? she
thought. No wonder my father was spanking me like there was no tomorrow...
She had to rub her bottom when she thought about spanking. It was a reflex.
She had to make sure it's still there, healed by the herbal lotion.
"Would you really spank me?"
"Well..." said Grace. Would she? "Yes, Shirley, if I had to."
"But you're not really my sister! You can't spank me!"
"Well, right now I'm responsible for you, Shirley. So I have right to
spank you, I think."
"I hate spankings," pronounced Shirley with much conviction.
Grace laughed. "Yeah, I don't like them either. But I can't be spanked,
not right now."
"Why?"
"Well, I was... sick, you see, and the doctor has told my Brother, who
is taking care of me right now, that he can't spank me for some time."
Shirley opened her mouth. "I would sooo like to be sick like that!"
Grace frowned. "No, Shirley. Trust me... you don't want to."
"And does your Brother spank you often?"
"No... not really. But he would spank me if I did something really naughty,
of course," she added. I'm older than she is, she thought. I must set a good
example.
"But you are a grown-up! You could just say that you don't want to get
a spanking!"
"It's not that simple," Grace sighed. "You see, if I would do something
bad... if I would make him sad, or angry, or disappointed with me..."
"Yes?"
"I think it's much better to get a spanking and get it over with than
to see him every day and to know he's still angry at me. Or sad. Or disappointed.
Once I'm spanked, I'm forgiven and whatever I did, he would forget it and
never mention it again. And I can forget it too..." she grimaced, "...after
some time, of course."
Shirley lowered her eyes.
"Does your dad spank you a lot?" asked Grace. "I know mine did. I thought
lots of those spankings was just not fair... But now, I don't really know."
"Hm."
Suddenly, Grace realized it. "Oh, I know! You are afraid that your Dad
is going to spank you after we find him?"
Shirley shook her head. "No, I'm not! Not really..."
But there were tears in the corners of her eyes.
"You did a bad thing by running from the cart," said Grace. "But I think
you got punished enough. I will tell him he shouldn't spank you, don't worry."
"How many plates?" sighed the restaurant owner.
"Twenty, by the last count, sir. And four glasses. And a teaspoon."
"A teaspoon? How the hell you can break a teaspoon?"
"She accidentally stick it between the doorhinges and when she closed
the door, it snapped, sir."
The owner just watched with a horror in his eyes. May was an extremely
bad waitress. She was so bad at it that it was almost art. All his regular
customers ran in terror after they got hot tea thrown on their head, soup
in their lap or, in one case, a direct skull hit with a tankard. But on the
other hand, new customers came, mostly young boys. It seemed to be some kind
of dare. Who can stay the longest in one room with the Waitress of Doom?
And there was quite a crowd of watchers, looking in fascination when May
slipped on a pencil and tore down the curtains. They were buying, too. Tea
and stuff. Anything they could get outside without having to face May.
And the more mistakes she did, the more nervous she was and the more nervous
she was, the more mistakes she did...
"Any problems, sir?" said the watchman who has just joined the crowd.
"No. Not really."
"Shouldn't I arrest that girl?"
"No, sir. I already have my own plans with her."
"I've read books, you know," said Lord Cant. "About geomancy, I mean.
But I never heard that someone still had the talent nowadays. It was supposed
to be a lost art."
"I'm not very good in it," said Merta modestly.
"Still a whole lot better than anyone else I know of, my child!" exclaimed
the Lord. "I would really like to see you try some of the more... advanced
diagrams in the books. It's said that Geomancers possessed unbelievable power!
No wonder Ceris wants to find you. They probably can't stand the idea of
someone else using that power."
Merta opened her eyes wide. "But I want to stay with Zack! I don't want
to have unbelievable power!"
"And I would say it would be the best, yes," nodded the Lord. "But I think
you will have to get stronger. At least a bit."
He smiled. "There is a diagram - one of the simple ones - you could learn
in quite a short time. Please. Would you try?"
As Grace and Shirley came nearer to the guard at the town gate, Shirley
was more and more worried. Grace was beginning to worry, too. She didn't
know what kind of man Shirley's father was. It won't be fair if she gets
a spanking, she thought.
Suddenly Shirley started to cry. She slipped out of her grip and started
to run away, crying.
Grace followed.
She caught with her at an old tree near the town border. Shirley was crying
and sobbing heavily.
"Shirley? What happened?"
"Sis... Sis... I'm so sorry!!!" she bawled.
"What about?"
"I... I lied to you!!! My Dad is not really a merchant! I made the whole
thing up!"
Grace blinked. "What?"
The whole time she was sorry for this... this brat and she was just pulling
her leg? Grace grabbed Shirley's shoulders and shook her hard.
"Now you tell me the truth, you understand?" she scolded her. "I promise
I will try to help you. But you tell me the truth!"
Shirley nodded. "I ran from home," she said.
"Why?"
Shirley started to bawl again. "Because... because... I made a fuss at
lunch. I threw an egg at my Mum. And she told me that I'm... going to get
spanked when Dad comes home!" She sniffed. "I didn't want to get a spanking,
Sis! So I ran away when Mum wasn't looking! I thought that with you, I can
get through the gate, but I... I got scared!"
Grace felt relieved. "And that's all?"
"Yes..."
"Are your Dad's spankings so bad?"
"They hurt!"
"Well, they all do, don't they?" said Grace, philosophically. Mine certainly
did, she thought. I always cried a river when I got spanked. That might be
what interested Feltar.
"I will take you home," she offered. "Where do you live?"
"I don't want them to spank me! Please, tell them to not spank me!"
Grace sighed. "I don't think that you can get out of this with your bottom
untouched, Shirley," she said sadly. "But I will see what I can do."
"Thank you, Sis."
"Now, where is your house? It's getting dark, you know..."
May was panicking!
The job had seemed easy, but whatever she did, it went wrong. The people
outside watched her and laughed at her and she was so embarrassed
she made even more mistakes.
Finally she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "That's enough, girl,"
said the owner. "I think I can close the business for today."
May looked around and almost fainted when she saw the damage. Did she
really rip the curtain in the half? Was there a whole plate anywhere within
the establishment?
"Sir, I'm so, so sorry..." she blubbered.
"Yes, and you should be," thundered the owner. "It will take a lot of
money to replace things you've broken! And what about my customers? You
scared them off!"
May hiccupped. "I'm sorry, sir." There was nothing else to say.
"Now, let's see... you owe me about twenty gold pieces."
"Twenty? But... my wage was only five gold pieces!"
"And the damages are twenty-five, so even after I take your pay, you still
owe me twenty."
I wanted to make some money, thought May, and instead, I lost money!
I'm dead when Zack finds about this!
"However," continued the owner, "the public thought you are a good show.
Can't imagine why. So, here's a deal, young lady. You will make one last
public performance and I will forget about the debt and even give you the
wage I promised you."
Could this be true?
"What performance, sir?"
The owner stepped to the cupboard, opened it, and pulled something out
of it.
It was a wooden spoon. Bigger, and definitely much nastier than anything
May's Mom had in her cupboard.
May opened her mouth.
"I call it 'The clumsy waitress gets her just reward'," said the owner
in a pleasant voice. "It's this or I'm calling the guards. Make your choice."
May broke into crying.
"I'm not Willow," said Soot in a level voice.
"You used to be," answered the man.
"In another life, maybe."
"You lead more lives than is better for you, Willow."
"I didn't expect you here."
"Oh, that's the thing, don't you think? Nobody ever expects me."
Soot sighed. "Why are you here?"
"I saw you in the town. I thought we might think about the old times.
When we were young."
"We are still young, Shawn. But I don't want to talk to you."
"That's a shame. I thought I will explain to you what happened back then."
"I'm not interested. All I know is that you left with the cart and the
whole loot and I was left there to face the guards."
"Didn't you always think that the old image of men as protectors of women
were too sexist?"
"You abandoned me!"
"I would get you out of the jail if you didn't escape by yourself."
"I only have your word for it."
Shawn smiled. "That should be enough, Willow."
"I'm not Willow."
"So how should I call you?"
"Don't."
"Look, I only want to have a chat with you."
"Yes? Then what are those three men with crossbows doing behind you?"
Shawn's smile didn't even crack.
"You are still good, I see."
"Better than I used to be."
"OK, guys, come out. The more the merrier!"
"It's hard," said Merta. "I don't understand what this is supposed to
do."
The diagram looked like a pentagon divided into smaller pentagons, which
formed two circles of five plus the smallest pentagon in the middle. All
Merta's attempts to draw it have failed so far.
I left her to her tries and moved to the opposite end of the table, with
Lord.
"Fascinating," he said. "I never thought that book will be actually useful
one day!"
"Do you know a lot about Geomancers?"
"A bit," shrugged the Lord. "What do you want to know?"
"I never heard about them. When did they... disappear?"
"That was about three hundred years ago, I believe. There was a war, you
see... Geomancers never liked to cooperate - their powers weakened when they
were too close to each other or something like that, you see. But three hundred
years ago, they all combined their powers to stop the most powerful Geomancer
who ever lived."
"What was his name?"
"Hers, my boy. It was a woman. And her name was Raia, the Witch Queen."
"Raia?" I heard this name somewhere... but I couldn't remember.
"Yes, she was the most powerful. Actually, she had only the power, her
technique was supposedly quite bad - but the legends say she had some other
power beside geomancy... and nobody could defy her directly because of that
other power."
"What was it?"
"Nobody knows! But in the end the Geomancers did a spell that was supposed
to break the ties - so all geomancy would lose its power and become nothing
more than meaningless scribbles."
"So you mean -"
"Exactly! Even if Merta has the geomantic talent, the spells themselves
shouldn't work today! Unless - unless they regenerated somehow."
"That could happen, right? If there were no Geomancers, noone would know
the magic is working again."
"Right, my lad, right... but I wonder..."
When Grace and Shirley entered the street Shirley lived in, a young woman
ran towards them.
"Shirley! Shirley!"
Shirley hugged her, crying hard.
The lady turned to Grace. "What happened here?" she demanded.
Grace sighed. She knew the truth will mean bad things for Shirley, but
she also knew Shirley fully deserves everything she gets.
"Your daughter ran from home," she said. "She tried to trick me into taking
her through the gate. But she got scared in the end and told me the truth,
so I took her here."
The lady opened her mouth. "She did what?"
Grace gulped. "She was afraid her dad will spank her so she ran away.
And I promised her that I will ask you not to be too harsh with her. I know
she did a really stupid thing, but she got really scared at the gate. She's
only a little girl.
"So you think she's been punished enough for pulling such a stunt?" said
Shirley's Mum with a dangerous gleam in her eye.
Grace grasped Shirley's hand and Shirley returned the grasp. She sniffed.
"No, madam. I think she was punished a lot, yes. But not enough, I'm afraid."
"Shirley!"
A young man was running down the street towards them.
Shirley gasped. "Dad!"
"I came home from work because your mother told me you were missing! What's
happening here?"
And he listened to the whole story and he was frowning more with every
sentence.
"Well, Shirley," he sighed, "it all started with one spanking you wanted
to avoid, is that right?"
"Yes, Daddy."
"And now? What would be a proper punishment for you, what do you think?"
"Daddy..."
"Yes?"
"Sis here told me that it's better to have my bottom spanked than to have
you being angry at me," said Shirley in a sad voice. "Daddy, after you spank
me, will you forgive me what I did?"
Daddy patted her head. "You seem to have grown up a little, Shirley,"
he said with a smile. "Yes, that's right. After Daddy gives you a long and
hard spanking with your paddle, he will forgive you."
Shirley evidently didn't like the sound of "long and hard spanking", not
even commenting the "paddle", but she nodded. Why, that was no worse punishment
than she was about to get before!
"However," continued Daddy with a sigh, "Mommy has to forgive you, too."
Mommy nodded. "Yes, Shirley. For scaring me like that, I give you a spanking
too."
"Noooo, Mum! Please!"
"Before you go over your father's knee for the paddle," she continued,
"I will take you across my knee and spank your little bare bottom
long and hard."
"I don't want to get spanked twice! Nooo, Mum!"
"For what you did, Shirley, even two spankings aren't enough. What do
you think, Miss?"
"Will you only spank her with your hand?" asked Grace.
"Yes, my dear. She will only get the paddle from Daddy."
"I just want you to know that in the end she told me the truth. And she
decided to go back on her own."
"But she was deceiving you," pointed out Daddy. "Maybe she should get
a dose from you, too?"
Shirley started to bawl on the top of her lungs.
Grace shook her head. "No, sir. She is a child and she should be punished
by her parents. I'm... quite a naughty girl myself, sir. At times." She patted
Shirley's head. "I forgave Shirley already. She was just a scared child,
sir."
"Sis," whispered Shirley. "Will you stay with me?"
"Can I hold her hand?" asked Grace. "I mean, while she is..."
Mommy nodded. "Yes, my dear. But you better hold both of her hands."
Standing in the shopwindow was the second worst thing today, thought May.
But it wasn't bad enough by itself, so the restaurant owner forced
her to hold a little card.
It told the world that a "Clumsy Waitress will get a bare-bottomed spanking
in this restaurant at 9PM".
And it was already 9PM! The window was lighted by candles so everyone
would see her well.
The crowd has already formed. May couldn't do anything but cry until she
couldn't see the people.
What the hell did get into you? she thought. How could I think that being
a waitress is easy? And now all of these people will see me getting
a spanking with that spoon! But still...
The guards would take her into jail, she knew that. Oh yes, Zack would
get her out, definitely, but he wouldn't be happy with her. Not at all.
I can bear this, she thought. It will be the worst experience of my life,
but at least Zack won't know how incredibly stupid I was.
And in the shop, she saw the restaurant owner. He nodded to her.
She dropped the card and ran inside - anything to stop this humiliation!
But the inside of restaurant was packed. All places were taken.
Except a single chair in the middle of the room. The owner was standing
next to it.
"Well," he said, "ready for your last performance in my restaurant?"
May swallowed the retort. "Yes, sir."
All the other waitresses were here, too, watching intently.
"You all know what is happening here and why is it happening,"
said the owner. "So we will get on with the spanking, shall we?"
A mass cheer was a reply.
The owner led May towards the chair and had her bend over the backrest.
She put her arms on the seat. A chef stepped in and held her hands.
May felt her skirt being raised, then her panties being lowered. Both
actions were very popular with the general public. May realized she is facing
them - so they don't get to see her bare butt. A small mercy.
The owner leaned towards her.
"I'm going to give you twenty-five hard strokes with the spoon," he told
her. "You chose this yourself, remember. And I think it will be a very good
lesson for you. After the spanking, we will let you stay here until you stop
crying, then you get your wages and I don't ever want to see you in my restaurant
again. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes, sir."
"You will count each stroke. And before I begin, you must ask me, loud
and clear, to start your spanking."
"Please, sir..."
"Sorry. You have to."
May swallowed her tears. "S..sir?" she said in a whimpering voice. "Could
you please... could you..."
"Yes?"
"I'm very sorry, sir," cried out May, "that I was such an awful waitress.
I know that I deserve a spanking, so please... could you spank me, sir?"
Owner nodded. "With pleasure."
And the wooden spoon landed on May's bottom.
She screamed. It hurt terribly! The guests clapped.
"One! Sir."
Another strike.
"Aaah! Two, sir!"
And another.
"Three, sir!"
And it still continued.
"Where are you taking me?" asked Soot. She didn't even try to fight. These
men were killers.
"A man we both know wants to talk to you," said Shawn.
"Feltar?"
"Oh, I thought names are not important to you?"
One man was holding each of her hands. Use of hidden pins was out of question.
When you're have an advantage, it's best when noone else knows about it...
But this time, someone knew.
She felt Shawn's hand on her shoulder.
"You work for that ogre?"
"Maybe," said Shawn. "A powerful man has many friends."
"He was just a watchman! A bad one!"
"And now he's a Commander. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"
"I'm going to scream," said Soot, but it wasn't very convincing.
"Oh, yes, you will," nodded Shawn. "Feltar does that to people."
Shirley was still crying when she entered the room.
The official spanking chair was moved to the middle and the Mommy was
sitting there.
Shirley wanted to run away, but Grace was holding her hand.
"You can't run away from your spankings forever, Shirley," she told her.
"Your Mommy is waiting."
Shirley had to remove her skirt, which was a custom in her family.
Grace let Shirley go and she looked at her with a scared expression.
"I will hold your hands," promised Grace. "But this is something you must
do by yourself."
Slowly, Shirley stepped to her mother. "Mum?"
"Yes, honey?"
"I'm sorry I've worried you. Please... spank me well."
"I will, honey. Drop your panties and bend over."
When a bare-bottomed Shirley was well-positioned across motherly lap,
Grace kneeled next to her and held her hands. "Please, madam..." she said,
"give this naughty little girl a good spanking."
Shirley squealed as the first swat landed.
And second swat.
And the others.
One thing had to be said for the restaurant owner - he was not a cruel
man. After ten or so swats, May was crying so hard she could barely splurt
out the number, but he always patiently waited until she did so before administering
the next. He was, after all, spanking like a bussinessman - no pointless
moves, only to quickly and efficiently burn her bottom as much as possible.
Smack.
"Bwaaaa! Aaaa! Twelve, sir!"
Smack.
"AAiiieee! Thirteen, sir!"
You're halfway there, she thought. Hold up!
Grace had watched a couple of spankings, but she was never participating
in them - except as the bawling girl sprawled over the knee, of course. Now,
she was holding Shirley's hand as her Mum's hand was slowly making her bottom
fiery red.
Here's a little girl that is in terrible pain, she thought. She's crying
because it hurts so much - and she has to get a paddling afterwards.
And I won't do anything to help her - although I could.
Because if I did, it would, in the long run, do more damage than it will
prevent now.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as Shirley was desperately trying to release
her hands from Grace's grip, "but there is no other way. You must get your
punishment."
Only the crying was her answer.
Smack.
"Nineteen, sir!"
May didn't have strength to cry anymore. Her eyes were red, but there
were no more tears. And the wooden spoon was still falling.
Smack.
"Twenty, sir!"
After Shirley's Mommy finally released her daughter, she hugged her and
told her she loves her and she forgives her.
Shirley then hugged Grace and she was holding her until her Daddy brought
the paddle.
It was a small wooden paddle, the type that wasn't sold anywhere. Daddies
had to make their own paddle for their daughters - and the tradition said
that the old paddle had to be burned after it couldn't be used anymore (the
girl in question usually did that herself, with much glee - although she
generally got a new and worse paddle right away). You didn't use it on another
girl. That was something that Wasn't Done.
As paddles go, this one had an inscription.
"Whatever you do, Shirley, we love you."
Sirley didn't protest when Grace led her to her Daddy.
"Hmmm..." said Daddy after Shirley was turned over his knee. "Mommy spanked
you real good. I think we might postpone your paddling to tomorrow, what
do you say?"
"Tomo..rrow, Sis won't be here any..more," sobbed Shirley. "Ple..ase,
I want my pad..dling now, Dad..dy."
"OK, Shirley," said Daddy. "Miss, you hold her well. She squirms a lot
when she's getting a paddling."
Then it started.
Smack.
"Twenty-three, sir!"
It sounded the same as spanking, someone has just turned the dial to higher
volume setting. Shirley cried and squirmed that much that her father had
to leg-lock her.
The paddling took only a bit over a minute, but it seemed much longer.
Then, a hug and a message of love, and then Mommy came and took Shirley
to bed.
"She always falls asleep quickly after a spanking," said Daddy.
Grace nodded. "She cried a lot," she said.
"It's hard to see your daughter cry," said Daddy, sadly. "It's terrible
feeling when you have to spank and hurt your children."
"Really?"
"But that's how it should be. It must be something you hate, so you won't
do it unless there is absolutely no other way."
"Today, there wasn't," said Grace.
"Thank you, Miss. Who knows who the girl could approach?"
"It was nothing."
"I will reward you in any way I can. I mean it."
Grace smiled a bit. "There's one thing I would like to ask you."
She told him.
Daddy blinked. "Are you sure about that?"
Grace nodded. "Absolutely."
Smack.
"Twenty-five, sir!"
Strangely enough, when the spanking stopped, it was worse. When
the new pain no longer cried out to be heard, May started feeling the murmur
of the old pain. She was sick even thinking of sitting down.
The owner leaned to her again.
"The chef will release your hands now," he said. "Please, try to not put
them to your bottom right away. If you manage to get your panties and drag
them back up - although it will hurt a lot, I know that - people will always
remember how brave you were after your spanking."
Then her hands were released and May did stop the impulse to grab
her bottom and make sure it's still there, and she did pull her panties
up, although she cried with pain while doing it.
Then she was led to the kitchen.
"Here's the five gold pieces," said the owner. "Or maybe I should give
you extra? You took your punishment very well..."
"Those people paid to see me spanked!" cried May. "Didn't they?"
"Well, there were drinks, some meals..."
"They had to pay to get in here!"
He conceded. "Yes."
"And I bet it was a good advertisement, right?"
"Great! I might have to change the name of my restaurant..."
"I will take the five gold pieces of my wage," said May coldly. "Not a
penny more. These are the money that belong to me. Everything I've done in
here, everything I destroyed, I paid for it fully. One gold piece per swat.
Taking more - that would mean I've sold myself for entertainment of those
perverts."
"Five gold pieces. I understand."
When May was going out of the restaurant, limping a bit, the owner called
after her: "Don't take too seriously what I said! Anytime you're in town,
you have a free meal here! See you!"
"No," murmured May. "I'm never going to see you again."
For a few days, she will have bruises, she knew that. She will have to
be extra-good girl so Zack would have no reason to turn her over his knee.
She wanted this to stay her little guilty secret.
Unfortunately, this meant she couldn't spend the money. Zack would want
to know where she got them and she didn't want to lie.
Grace was going through the night town. Zack must be getting worried.
Her and Shirley. She taught Shirley that sometimes the spanking just can't
be avoided, and Shirley taught her...
She taught her that hurting a person we love is the hardest thing a human
being has to do at times.
When the time comes, she will be ready.
In pocket, she had a brand-new adult-sized paddle with an inscription.
She dictated it to Shirley's Daddy.
"I'm not afraid of spanking.
You don't be afraid to spank me well."
It was six days before she could be spanked again. Absent-mindedly, she
wondered how soon after that she feels this paddle on her bottom.
There was a little gate that nobody guarded. It was locked.
Well, it had been locked.
Soot was ushered through and towards the forest.
Towards a tent built behind first few trees.
Inside.
And there was Feltar.
He looked different. His face was twitching.
"Where is she?" he whined.
"Who are you talking about?" asked Soot.
He slapped her. Then he left his hand in long enough to caress her face
slightly.
"You know who I'm talking about. Her. My lady. Her Majesty, Queen Raia."
End of Chapter 5
And now, as an extra...
May's Readers' Corner:
Greetings!
I'm May and this is the first of my regular appearances. I'm here to
answer the questions you, readers, might have. Basically, send a message
with "May's Readers' Corner" in subject line to Fulgur and I will answer
you in the next chapter.
Well, today's questions are... Huh? None? Oh, that's right... First time
here, sorry.
Well, then, I have a question for you. If you read this chapter through,
you know that I got a bad spanking here. It was terrible! But I withstood
it because I didn't want Zack to know.
But, uh, now I have my bottom bruised, and I have trouble sitting...
Do you think he will notice anyway?
Write me to tell if he should find about my spanking. And should he find
about it... what should he do? Please, don't tell him to spank me again,
please don't...
Oh, you want to know when the next chapter is due? It won't probably
be as soon after this one as the recent ones were. Not that Fulgur couldn't
write it up quickly, but I think he wants to take it more easy and to get
some reader contributions first. He likes it when people read his stories.
And he is really happy when they like them.
But at least, I can tell you the title of next chapter: Legend of the
Witch Queen!
If you didn't like this chapter, for any reason - don't tell me, tell
Fulgur! He says this is not necessarily the final version of the story. Maybe
if you all write to him and tell how much you are sorry for little poor me,
he will undo that terrible spanking I got!
Oh, and there is one more request - personal one! Next time I will do
this corner, I would really like a picture of myself so all of you could
see me! Or, better yet, two pictures! One of me nice (with skirt) and one
of me naughty (with spanked bottom). I'm always getting into trouble, might
as well be flexible, right?
This is May (standing up right now), signing off!
May's Retrospective Readers' Corner:
Ah, the sweet, sweet memories - not!!!
Well, here is where the tradition of May's Readers' Corner started - and
I feel a bit weird having to add another one on top of it. But hey,
it's necessary.
I was really concerned Zack will find out about my spanking! Well, he...
wait a minute. Maybe you are reading this story for the first time - so I
can't spoil it to you! Oh, Fulgur would probably paddle me if I did!
And as you can see, I really did get my pictures. I got more of
them than I can really use, in fact.
Fulgur had a funny idea - well, he calls it funny - about that
brute who spanked me. Maybe, he muses, he found out how much a good spanking
can improve restaurant ratings? Maybe he will put some extra clauses in
the employee contracts - and offer much higher pay than anyone else? Maybe
he can even find a girl who likes to get spanked (as if!) so every
day the guests will have at least one "performance" guaranteed?
Hmmm... but that has nothing to do with the current story. That would
be more like a spin-off. And it's probably not the kind of stories Fulgur
is good in. So... here's the deal: he offers this idea to you. If you would
like to write a story from this restaurant, by any means! One day, it might
be of some use...
Oh, please, if you do, make something really bad happen to that
bastard!!!
Oh, and I almost forgot! The picture of Shirley getting a spanking from
her Mom is the first spanking picture from Crosschan! Everyone here thanks
here for that - except Shirley, of course!
May's Readers' Corner:
May's Retrospective Readers' Corner: