LADIES' LODGE: A STORY OF SEVERAL NUDE LADIES

[Harry]

A story of enforced nudity in ten parts. Just how far will these ladies go to win?

PART ONE
"What's this little apron and stuff?", asked ten year old Jessica Maltravers of herbest friend ten year old Gwendoline Foxe, when staying at her house for a day or two.

"Oh it's just Daddy's regalia. He's a Mason."

"What's a Mason do?" asked Jessica.

"They are a Secret Society and they meet in Lodges and dress up and they never tell anyone ANYTHING about what they do. And they all have to go through a nitiation ceremony before they can join"

"Gosh," said Jessica, "can we be Masons one day?"

"No, silly. Only men can join."

"Oh dear! What's nitiation mean, Gwen?"

"They roll up their trouser legs and unbutton their shirts and swear a horrible oath never to tell anyone anything."

"That sounds silly. When we grow up we'll start a lodge for Lady Masons and have a proper nitiation - not something stupid like that!"

Both girls agreed at once that this would be a jolly good idea.

Then Gwendoline's mother called for the two girls to come down for dinner and for eight years the idea was forgotten. Forgotten by Gwendoline, that is.

Gwendoline and Jessica remained inseparable companions all through preparatory school and during their years at Cheltenham Ladies College. They played every sport and played them well, winning all manner of cups and medals for the school. They also got into all sorts of trouble, being bawled out on the Head Mistress' carpet time without number. ("I swear those two are giving me a permanent sore throat," said this long-suffering lady at one point "But I really like the pair. There's no viciousness in either of them - just a bit wild."

They were the most popular girls of their year all the way up the school and by the time they left the Sixth one fine July day, after qualifying for the same Oxford College, there were a lot of tears shed by the hero worshipping girls of the junior school as these two legendary figures went.

They agreed without even having to discuss it that they would spend their Gap Year together, whatever it was they did with it. It was Jessica who suggested how they should spend it.

"Remember when we came across your Dad's Masonic paraphernalia, all those years ago?"

"Sure, Jess, we thought of starting our own lady Masonic movement for five minutes until we were called down for dinner! Golly I'd quite forgotten."

"Well I didn't forget. I've thought about it a lot since then and I vote we spend our Gap Year getting the whole thing off the ground."

"Oh, Jessica! Why not? We women can do anything those pigs of men can and better."

"Quite. The first thing is to recruit some other girls (let's keep it to our own age group to start with) and devise an initiation test which puts the men's pitiful mumbo jumbo in the shade. I think we should advertise in "The Times" for fifty girls and one man."

"What's the man for, Jess?"

"He can devise the initiation test. He'll never be a member himself so he can be above the fray, so to speak. We put ourselves in his hands for the test and then give him something for his trouble and go on and set up the Lodges ourselves."

"And so the following appeared in "The Times" Personal Column":

18 year old girls invited to apply to join the Lady Masons. Why should a lot of boring old men can have all the fun?

The two sifted through the replies and interviewed the ones who seemed the likeliest. Finally fifty girls were selected and told to keep themselves available until they were contacted.

An advert was also placed reading: "Man wanted to devise challenging initiation test for Women's Masonic Society"

They finally picked on a Harold Fitzjames - man of good background and obvious intelligence, who said he would need a few weeks to prepare things and would be in touch.

It was early in September that the long anticipated phone call came.

"Get all fifty girls outside the Guildhall in Gloucester in five day's time at noon sharp."

At the stipulated hour a group of excited, if apprehensive young women were waiting on the pavement outside the Guildhall when a bus drew up and out got Harold Fitzjames.

"Pile in, ladies. We've got a long ride ahead and the sooner we get there the sooner we can get started."

It was past four when the bus was driven down a country track in Cornwall and the ladies were invited to dismount. Harold led them down a path on to a small sandy beach, where a number of hardy end of season sunbathers, all nude, were preparing to leave for the day.

"This is where we start, ladies. As you see this is an unofficial nudist beach, and the nature of the test I have devised makes it a very suitable place to start."

He turned to Gwen and Jess and said, "I'll give you your instructions later."

"Now, ladies I want you all to come up two by two and get a set of instructions. You will take off your clothes and put them in one of these bags."

And so a numbered paper was handed to each pair and their clothes put into a bag with the corresponding number. After making several journeys back to the bus to stow the clothes, he addressed the would-be initiates.

"Here's what you do ladies. The envelopes you have been given contain a map. On the map I have marked the spot where your clothes will be hidden. You find your way there undetected and retrieve your clothes and pass the test. Simple as that. Nothing to it really. You only have to go a few miles in various directions. Good luck and get started."

And so forty eight chattering and excited girls clad only in shoes made off up the path and moved away, gradually splitting up and soon they were all out of sight.

(As a matter of interest, they all made it, although one or two had a few anxious moments - but they do not concern us again.)

Harold turned to the remaining two.

"As the leaders of this enterprise, it's only proper you get a bit more of a challenge. Start undressing - we're running out of time."

They handed him their clothes to be placed in the last unfilled bag.

"I think you've forgotten something, girls!" and he pointed to their footwear.

'Oh, hell,' they both thought, `even getting up off the beach along that nasty stony path is going to hurt!'

"Come on ladies, you won't need those wristwatches or your rings and necklaces etc. Off with it all. You'll get them back OK."

Right. Here is your envelope with your instructions. If you think it too much for you, I will be back in an hour to collect you and give you your clothes etc back and your little enterprise will be over before it even begins."

Bye for now, ladies!" And with these cheery words, Harold Fitzjames, Mason and misogynist departed chuckling to himself. "That's the end of their little game."

As Harold drove the bus away to deposit the clothes in the designated spots, Gwendoline tore open the envelope and Jessica put a hand on one of her friend's shoulders and rested her chin on the other, looking down at their instructions.

"Oh. Gosh! That's impossible. We couldn't even come close!" Both girls agreed.

"Let's sit over here and wait", said Gwen. "Hope he is not too late coming to pick us up, it's getting a bit fresh already."

After fifteen minutes the girls started to shiver.

"Let's practise a few wrestling moves or do some push ups for a while to keep warm," said Gwendoline.

Just as they were starting to grapple and Jessica was putting on a stranglehold, she relaxed her grip.

"Gwen?"

"Jess?"

"Be nice to see the look on that smug bastard's face if he got back and we were gone."

"Even nicer to see him when we collect our clothes!"

"Let's do it!!"

And so the envelope was retrieved from where they had let it fall and the girls climbed up the path off the beach, their faces wincing as their soft-soled feet walked up the flinty surface. At the top they stopped and Jessica wiggled her dusty toes.

"There are going to be four very sore feet by the time this is over."

Gwendoline agreed and added, shivering in the evening cold.

"And four rather blue tits!"

They could still hardly believe they were actually trying this, but they had always been game for any dare at school. They had a reputation to maintain.

Those who wish to follow these girls' further adventures might care to read the following summary of the instructions the pair had been given:-

"The clothes can be collected on Friday 23rd November at 20 Lynemouth Road, Ellington, Northumberland betwen 6 and 10 am. You are to remain unclothed for the entire period. You will NOT steal in order to procure food, and you will NOT beg from strangers either directly or by implication. You may accept unsolicited hospitality, but only for a minimum of one night and must refuse all offers of any kind of bodily covering, including bedclothes. You are allowed to use the warmth of each others bodies at night. I have left food parcels at the locations described. They may have been found by others, but they have been well hidden. I stress that NO protection or covering to any part of your bodies is permitted. I trust you both to stick to what I have stipulated. I know you are women of honour. Good luck, ladies."

The envelope contained a map and a list of instructions as to how to find the food drops. Also a detailed map of the area where their journey was to end some ten weeks later. They would have to make a journey of well over five hundred miles, trying to remain undetected by authority in one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

* * *
Jessica emitted a loud and supremely satisfied belch.

"I like trout, Gwen. Nothing better than freshly caught fish."

"Yes, pity the vegetables were a little unorthodox!"

"Damn fine rabbit yesterday!"

"The best, darling!, but a few courgettes and asparagus tips and new potatoes would have been welcome."

"I vote we ignore those bloody food parcels for now."

"For the while, yes. But we'll need them soon enough!"

The two school friends and would be initiates sank back onto the grass in the warm September sun and considered the first two days of their journey to Northumberland. They were still tramping through Cornwall and getting their feet used to being in constant contact with the ground. The dry conditions and their Guiding experience had made the lighting of a fire of twigs and leaves by means of rubbing sticks together laborious but relatively straightforward. Maybe they could come across a discarded bottle and then they could use the sun's rays to light their fire. They had decided not to risk detection by trying to have a fire at night, and there was always the risk of starting a serious conflagration.

The first two nights had been cold and the enterprising girls who had loved being Girl Guides and had been on many camping holidays had contrived to keep themselves warm, finding some fold in the ground to snuggle in to - the one lying alternately on top of the other, keeping each other warm long enough to get a few hours sleep.

"I'm getting to like that bit in the instructions about the warmth of each others bodies," sighed Jessica.

"It is nice, isn't it?"

"Gwen?"

"What Jess?"

"We can't beg from strangers, but the instructions say nothing about friends and family."

"We're not asking our families for help. No bloody way!!"

"That still leaves friends - right?"

"Right!"

"You were always the memory woman. Start dredging up a few phone numbers out of that lovely mind of yours."

They got to their feet after their meal of trout garnished with various herbs and other hopefully edible leaves and berries. (useful that Jessie had been taught how to tickle trout by a disreputable poacher some years ago) and started to cross over Bodmin Moor.

"Lets hope there aren't too many helicopters buzzing around, Gwen. Not a lot of cover really."

"Oh there's plenty of heather. We'll be OK.

They decided to sleep for the rest of the day, while the sun was still strong enough and continue their journey through the night.

"Hope the skies stay clear. Without the stars we won't have much idea where we are going.

"It's been quite fun so far," said Jessica. "I mean there's lots of edible berries and nuts and stuff at this time of the year and it's still pretty warm in the day and we'll probably be OK until well into October, but those last three weeks are going to be awful, and it gets a lot colder the further north you go."

"We'll be pretty hardened by then," replied Gwendoline. "We'll gradually adjust as the temperatures fall bit by bit."

"We''ll need to."

"We'll think of something", said Gwen "Something within the rules. And we'll be there on 23rd November and see his jaw drop. We've just got to hang on to that thought - that lovely vision..."

"Let's have another look at that foot, Jess," said Gwendoline.

"Not too good, I'm afraid. We need to take it easy for a few days and you'd better lean on me as much as possible till it heals a bit."

And so the two trudged on slowly for another two days, Jessica leaning on to Gwendoline and putting as little weight on her left foot as possible. She had trodden on some thorns and pierced the sole. It had throbbed painfully for a few hours, but there seemed to be no infection and the girls concluded it just needed time to heal.

On the fourth day they located one of Mr Fitzjames' food stores and had their first diet Coke since the journey started. Most of the other items were the sort of iron rations that pilots took with them in the war in case of being shot down.

Jessica still had a slight limp, but her foot was healing fast and they picked up speed and crossed over into Devon, fording the Tamar near Launceston.

As dusk was falling on their fifth day, they decided to shelter under a stone wall, between two fields, hoping the night temperature would not be too low, in order that they might have a few hours sleep before pressing on through the dark.

They were just trying to settle down when Jessica who had volunteered to be first to lie on top, felt something wet and cold in her back. She looked around and there was a friendly little terrier, wagging its tail. It barked excitedly.

A face appeared peering over the wall. It belonged to a boy of maybe fifteen or so, whose face was a picture of amazement.

"I say, you shouldn't be out here like that you know!"

"What's the matter Mark," shouted a female voice.

"Nothing Sis, You go back home and fetch Dad."

"Nonsense Mark, I'm coming to see."

Seconds later a second face peered over at the two despondent girls. Both thought, `Over so soon after less than a week.'

The second face belonged to a girl of maybe twelve years old with pretty golden hair and bright blue eyes. She looked amazedly at the two, and then smiled in delight.

"Gosh, Mark. It's Gwendoline and Jessica!"

* * *

Gwen and Jessica recognised the fair haired young girl as Paula Greene, one of the more promising hockey players in the junior school - and a girl who had always regarded the two with awe.

"Hi, Paula! Nice to see you again so soon! Back to college in a day or two?"

"Yes! Rotten luck, now that you two have gone, there won't be anyone worthwhile left."

"Don't you believe it Paula. WE said that every year and there was always someone to take the places of those who'd gone. One day people will be saying the same about you! YOU will be a legend!!"

"No one will ever be able to touch you two! Remember what the Principal said? These are a unique pair, and our lives have all been enriched by having them with us?"

"I wonder why she was so nice on that last day! Most of our time there she was always bawling us out for something."

"Anyway - why are you here like this - utterly starkers? Have you been kidnapped and left to freeze by some maniacs? No! Course not! You'd both have been far too good for them. Why?"

And so the two friends explained the situation to Paula and her eyes became rounder and rounder.

"Golly, what an adventure! I wish I could join you! Don't you Mark?"

Mark disdained to reply, but he was obviously much stirred by the sight of two nude and well-endowed eighteen-year old girls and he tried to shift his position in order to make his arousal less obvious.

The hugely amused and pleasantly flattered Jessica and Gwendoline did not fail to notice the young boy's embarrassment.

"Do you want to stay with us... Oh maybe not... daddy wouldn't be too pleased. What shall we do, Mark?"

"Er, they could sleep in the barn. We could get them some blankets from the house without being noticed."

"No, Mark!" said Jessica, noting with relief that his body was returning slowly, but surely to normal!, Thanks all the same, but we can't accept any kind of covering - quite against the terms of the test. But the barn would be nicer to sleep in than outside - our first night's shelter in nearly a week."

"We can get you things to eat as well," said Paula, "if it won't mean you are cheating - I know you would never do that."

"Thanks Paula, we can accept your kind offer."

Led by Mark and Paula the two naked young ladies walked to the shed and settled down on the earthen floor.

"Good job we're not scared of spiders," said Gwen.

"Wonder what they're like to eat?"

"Yuck! Gross! Don't come up with any more remarks like that Jessie or it'll be a long ten weeks! Just wrap those nice strong arms and athletic thighs around me and let's get some sleep."

At this point the barn door opened and Mark came in carrying some food and drink for them.

"Hope this will be OK", he muttered, "but we have to be careful no one notices anything missing from the house and gets suspicious."

"Oh!, you're such a good boy, Mark", said Jessie. "Isn't he a lovely boy, Gwen?"

"MMMM!!!" said the two girls together.

Mark blushed and began to back away.

"Sure you don't want any blankets or anything?"

"No, Mark. It's against our rules - worse luck. We have to either keep each other warm or stay cold," said Gwen.

"Maaaaark!" said both girls.

"How would YOU like to keep us warm, darling Mark?" asked Jess.

"We're not allowed any form of covering, you fool," the nervous Gwendoline spoke.

"There's nothing in the agreement about Education!!!" said Jessica. "Remember OUR GLORIOUS BLESSED SACRED LEADER, THE GREAT AND CELEBRATED TONY BLAIR , UPON WHOSE HOLY AND OMNIPOTENT NAME BE PEACE AND ENDLESS BLESSINGS FOR EVER?!!! Remember what he said - 'Education, education and education"?

"Yeahhhhhhh!!!!!!"

"Come on Mark - it's Education time for you!! GET THOSE SILLY CLOTHES OFF AND COME OVER HERE!!"

And the three young people had a warm, energetic and interesting night. Very educational!

* * *

"Gosh Gwen, that was a pretty good night"

The two would-be initiates walked away from Paula and Mark's home filled with bittersweet memories of the night that they had just passed with Mark.

"What a lovely, strong boy," said Gwen in a dreamy voice.

"He just didn't know when to stop, did he?"

"Great night!"

"The best!"

And so the long journey to the North East continued and the friends covered twelve miles by lunch time and discovered another of Harold's food caches. They slept for a couple of hours, having had very little rest the previous night.

On waking up, Jessica said, "I don't really think the Prime Minister meant "Education, education and education" to include the seduction of fifteen year old boys by a couple of randy sex-starved eighteen year old girls."

"No, Jess. I guess you're right. Tony's a decent church-going family man, after all. We were well out of order!"

"Gwen. We should pay some sort of forfeit to make amends."

"Right - let's forgo the warmth of each others bodies tonight. That should even up the score and cool off our carnal lusts."

They covered twelve more miles and slept apart from each other for the first time in the journey. It was a very chilly and uncomfortable night, out in the open and with the weather getting noticeably cooler.

They made an early start in the morning, remembering with nostalgic regret the lovely breakfast Paula and Mark had fed them the day before. The parents of this couple had left the house very early to drive over to Plymouth and Gwen and Jess had been able to enter the house and use the bathroom - the first time they had used a proper toilet since they started out on their initiation. The brother and sister had offered them more food and a bag to carry it in, but the girls had decided that Harold's clear intention was for them to carry nothing with them. Why else had they been told to discard watches and rings etc.?

They had also offered to give Jessica a plaster to put on her sore foot, but the girls had refused on the grounds that this would constitute a form of body covering. In any case, the foot was almost healed by this time and must grow accustomed to plenty more rough usage in the coming weeks.

Gwendoline recalled the number of a friend who had a cottage near Exeter and she called her from an isolated phone box arranging for the pair to be picked up.

Harriet, the friend's name, was outwardly calm when seeing the unclothed state of her two school chums and said nothing until they reached the remote cottage.

"You two always were a wild couple - but this is the wildest yet! What the fuck's going on?"

The girls explained.

"Well, you might have let me in on it, you pair of rotters!"

"If you'd answered our ad in 'The Times' we would have done", said Jessica. "A couple of the girls did and we didn't even bother interviewing them - just admitted them right away. I wonder how they got on?"

A phone call from the cottage ascertained that all the other girls had passed the test and were now awaiting to hear that the two leaders had passed theirs.

"How do you two seriously imagine that you can survive three weeks in November in the North of England out in the open all day and with maybe some draughty old barn - if you're lucky - to sleep in at night? Why don't you stay here until the 22nd November and I'll drive you up to the rendezvous overnight in time to make the appointment?"

"Because we can't stay any where for more than one night" said Jessica. "Any way we're getting pretty hardened already. We'll be tough as old leather by November"

"I know you two are pretty rugged - I never saw anyone take so many hard knocks at any and every sport and never give up. And you passed that survival course last summer, when the rest of us chickened out. But - talk sense girls - no one BUT NO ONE is that tough. Not even you. You've got to come up with a way of keeping mostly indoors for those three weeks or you're dead. I'll ask around and see if we can't get a few people to rally round and come up with a few ideas, and I'll give you both a lift any where you like to name in the morning. All I ask is to be your first new initiate."

And so Gwendoline and Jessica had a lazy day chatting to Harriet and eating three square meals for a change. They had a soft, comfortable bed to sleep on, although , of course, they had to refuse sheets. This time they were able to keep each other warm, in contrast to the previous night of penance for their seduction of Mark. (I don't believe Mark ever complained. HIS only regret was that none of his friends would believe his story of two beautiful naked girls appearing from nowhere - enticing him into their warm and sweaty embraces).

In the morning, Harriet had a brainwave.

"I know you can only stay the one night, girls, but you don't have to leave just yet. Stay most of the day and I'll drive you over to Minehead. My favourite boyfriend lives there. He'll be delighted to see me! And you can sleep in the spare room while we're having fun in his!"

And so the two passed another lazy day and had another comfortable night. This was all turning out to be so much more comfortable than expected, but the girls had an uneasy feeling that they were in for tougher times ahead.

They lay awake for an hour or two, listening to the sounds of the amorous activities from next door through the thin wall. "Golly, Jess - aren't they having a go at each other! - lucky bastards! - I wonder her parents leave her alone a second, let alone for months at a time, living at that cottage throwing Lord knows what wild parties."

"Lucky girl, though"

"Is she ever!"

This reminded them both that their own parents might be getting concerned if they heard nothing of them soon and so they resolved to make the odd reversed-charge call every few days, keeping them posted about their trek across England - minus the unimportant detail that they were both totally undressed! No point in embroidering a tale too much - keep to the bare essentials!

* * *

Next morning four naked people sat eating breakfast. Harriet and Bill, and Gwendoline and Jessica. Despite last night's energetic love-making, Bill and his girlfriend were still all over each other in the most disgusting way and our heroines had difficulty controlling their envy.

"Jessie," said Harriet, emerging breathlessly from a long and rather noisy kiss. "We've got to find ways of putting you two up with people between here and the North East and between now and November. We can surely arrange it with enough guys across the length and breadth of the Kingdom."

"No," unitedly from Gwen and Jessica.

"We aren't meant to have it easy and we don't want it easy. This was all devised to be tough for us. Even these last two days - they've been within the letter of the instructions, but not the spirit."

"We're walking again and sleeping rough and living off the land after you drop us off today. These delightful interludes must be just that - interludes."

"At least take a box of matches with you. You can't light fires by friction, and striking flints and all that, in the rain and you're really going to need a bit of warmth in November."

"Tell you what," said Gwendoline, "we'll give you the details of our itinerary and where old Harold's food caches are. You can get someone to add a few bits and pieces to some of them if you like. We can survive on nuts and berries for the time being and we've already caught a couple of rabbits and three lovely juicy trout. We CAN survive - don't worry about us."

"Promise me I won't have to go through an initiation as fearsome as this!"

"OK," said Jessica, "but one little twelve year old wanted to join us in this adventure the other day. We had a hard job dissuading her! We promised she could join on her eighteenth birthday."

"Why don't we join them Harry?" said Bill. "If these two can do it, we certainly can and we've got our love to keep us warm!"

"Hard enough for two of us to keep out of sight. An army of nude young people tramping across England is bound to attract notice!"

"You can't refuse help from us," said Harriet. "OK. So you must refuse offers of bodily covering but you can't stop people offering other kinds of help. We'll be keeping an eye on you two. That's a promise! Isn't it Bill, darling."

Bill nodded smilingly and returned to his lingual probing of Harriet's mouth and throat. A lot of face sucking went on, only occasionally interrupted by the consumption of breakfast. The sight of them passing food and drink from one mouth to another induced an equal mixture of queasiness and erotic stimulation in Jess and Gwen.

During a brief intermission between gropings and fondlings, Bill returned to the topic of the two girls and their inability to carry any possessions around with them.

"I read this story on the internet a while back. It went on and on for month after month and I grew bored with it after a while. It was about some student in America who was caught streaking on campus and tried to explain that she was doing it because she was a religious nudist - you remember Harry - and she was forced to live a lie from then on. She was barefoot like you two girls and those New England winters are much worse than anything we ever get. Any way the point I'm trying to make is that she was given a little pouch which she could strap to her ankle containing credit cards and money etc."

"God, why bring up that infantile story, Bill?" said Harriet. "Thank Heaven you've got me now to keep your mind off that nonsense!" she turned to Gwen and Jessica. "He used to spend almost the whole day glued to that bloody silly computer. Getting a real nerd until I cured him. Come here YOU!!"

"What I mean is," said Bill after he had extricated himself from Harriet's frenzied attentions, "is that you could do something like that."

"Don't be so bloody silly Bill. That was in America and this is England - and these two girls are REAL not some figment of some guy's over-fevered imagination."

"Yes, Bill," said Gwendoline, " I really think we are meant to travel VERY light indeed! Thanks for the suggestion anyhow. And I believe the young lady in the story got separated from her pouch at some point and had a very long cross-continental journey without it."

"Oh, Gwen, don't say YOU read all this crap as well? Get yourself a fucking life girl!" Harriet moaned.

"Funny idea, that. I mean being a religious nudist!" said Bill. "The most unconvincing thing about a very unconvincing story."

"Well I LIKED it," cried Gwendoline. "And I can see where the religion might come into it. Don't you, Jess?"

"No, Gwen - you do the thinking for the two of us."

"Bollocks, Jess! You know as well as I do, and don't pretend you don't! Out in the middle of nowhere on the moors with the earth under your feet and the sun and wind on your body - it's different, somehow. Something primal about it. They say the religious instinct is planted deep inside us and maybe it's a kind of universal folk memory, going back to the very first humans all those millions of years ago. I mean, they were naked and they only had their hands and their brains to survive. And they DID survive. I just feel like I'm a part of something ancient and sacred, somehow!"

Later in the day Bill and Harriet dropped the two friends off and wished them well.

"Remember you two! We're never more than a 'phone call away! Sorry you won't let us join you!"

And so they were on their own again and very glad to be so.

"I know we're close friends and getting closer, Gwen, but I don't know if I want to be as close to you as those two are to each other. Mind you - you are lovely and soft and warm at night!" said Jessica later that day as they walked over the Brendon Hills.

The sight of a group of hikers resplendent in fluorescent anoraks and stout walking boots gave them a bit of a scare and they crouched in the long grass for twenty minutes until they were all well out of sight.

"Gwendoline?"

"What Jess?"

"May I kiss you just a little bit? I can't get those two out of my mind or out of my pussy, come to that. It looked SO nice, what they were doing!"

"Didn't it though? MMMMMMM!! darling Jess."

"Darling Gwen!"

Both girls had exchanged friendly kisses on the mouth many times as girls do, but what followed on this day out in the open in rural Somerset was a delightful revelation to both of them. They rubbed their tongues hungrily against each others and squirmed with delight as they began to fondle each others breasts and explore their sweet, secret crevices, wondering at the delicious warm moistness down there!

Finally...

"Not bad, eh Gwen? Mind you I'd swap you for Mark any day. His lovely member was more filling and satisfying, somehow than your delicate little fingers, sweet though they are."

"Me too," said Gendoline. He was quite the stallion, wasn't he?"

"Fun if we both got pregnant by him wouldn't it?"

This last remark sobered both girls up somewhat, and they each had a slightly anxious time until their next respective menstruations. (About which - the excellent Harold had made provision for these female needs when stocking the food caches! Not contraception, alas - the girls were clearly meant to eschew the satisfaction of all bodily lusts for the duration. Either that or risk the consequences.)

[Harry]

LADIES' LODGE:
A STORY OF SEVERAL NUDE LADIES
by Harry


PART TWO
"Look what we've got here boys! Couple of randy little lesbians rolling around on the floor - dirty little cows. Come and have a look!"

Gwendoline and Jessica had been two days in the open and the previous night had found a large deserted barn- like building far from any habitation and had gratefully decided to get under cover for the night. The weather was becoming much more autumnal and yesterday had seen a steady drizzle falling all day. The poor visibility had made it easier to cross the M5 by a bridge south of Taunton, which was just about the only good thing to be said about a cold, wet and miserable day.

The option of crossing the Somerset levels had been rejected. Too many waterways and rivers to cross. It was getting too cold for more than one swim a day. And the Blackdown Hills seemed to offer more in the way of cover, with their extensive woodlands, than the more open low-lying areas.

They had been making rather faster progress than they needed to over the last two days and were ready to rest up for a bit. This was why they had decided on a late start and were still lying on a pile of old sacking; passionately and affectionately embracing, at almost nine in the morning. They were in the middle of a deeply satisfying and salivatory French kiss when the five loutish, not exactly sober young men discovered them.

"Dirty little perverts, I know JUST what they need, boys," and the leading one took off his belt,starting to move towards the girls. "Give those arses of theirs a good, long, strong taste of this and then they can find out what sex with five men apiece is like. Filthy little dykes."

"Nasty ill-bred man. Not our sort at all," whispered Jessica. "As for that belt - my bum is tingling already! Let's separate and move towards the door. That should split them up so one of us gets two and the other gets three to deal with."

They moved apart and began making towards the doorway where four of the five were still standing, unable to believe their luck in having two nude girls at their mercy.

As Jessica had hoped, two immediately made for Gwen and two for her. The fifth hesitated and then chose Gwendoline.

"WHAT does that girl have that I don't," thought a hurt and offended Jessica

Both of these two young ladies were about five feet ten inches tall and well built, with fine arms and shoulders and athletic, well-muscled thighs. Not female body builders, but strong, fit girls. Both had impressively well developed chests and flat, hard athlete's stomachs. Gwen was fair-haired and Jessica brown-haired.

"Gentleman really DO prefer blondes, even pigs like these."

"Isn't it a bit early in the day to be drinking, you ugly pig! I heard cider was bad for the brain - now I see it's true. Not good for the looks either. Or the smell, you filthy bastard. Ever heard of soap and water?"

All these insults were deliberately directed at one of the two yobs, and Jessica looked him straight in the eye as she said them. It had the desired effect and an enraged young man threw himself at her - throwing a punch that would have flattened her if it had got any where near its target. Instead she seized his arm and the surprised young man landed heavily on the floor, with his leg twisted underneath him, very badly broken by the fall - as Jessica had intended.

The other man was soon in a similar state and both were screaming in pain.

Jessica picked up a heavy-looking piece of wood that she had noticed, and been edging towards, and with the words, "Stop making that silly noise," she hit them both hard on the head and knocked them cold.

"Hurry up Gwen, we haven't got all day."

Her friend had had a similarly easy time with two of her three attackers, but the third was proving a lot harder to handle and Jessica moved over to assist.

"Back off Jess. You've had your bit of fun. This creep's mine!"

* * *

Gwen had cause to regret this boastful comment a second later, when the guy hit her a blow to the face which drew blood from her nose and raised an immediate swelling under her eye. Angered and spurred on to action by this, Gwendoline whirled around on one bare foot and sent its fellow thudding into the man's jaw and he collapsed on the spot.

"Let's be on our way, Jess. At least we don't have to waste time gathering up all our belongings."

"Golly! that's a lovely black eye you collected, Gwen! It'll look super in a day or two."

And so the two wandered hand-in-hand into the rainy late September day.

"Do you think the police will be looking for us, Gwen? I mean I really hurt my two quite badly. They'll probably be limping for the rest of their lives."

"No. Never. No way those five are going to own up to having let a couple of girls do that to them. They'll say it was a gang of men."

They had, as has been mentioned excelled at sport when at school and had not only gone through the mandatory self-defence classes, but had gone on to practise all sorts of other fighting skills and won cups and medals in abundance. Mr Roberts, the PE master had said they were the best pair since Katie and her friend Angela had left the school, some six years earlier.

"And at least you two girls don't have a thing about fighting each other, like that pair. Best of friends, but when they were in the ring together the sparks really flew!"

This was true. Aggression for them was something to be used sparingly and only on others. They would never fight each other - refusing point-blank to do so many times.

* * *

Gwen and Jessica had come to a deep river two days after their encounter with the five drunken yokels and decided the best thing, once again, would be to swim across. The recent rainfall, which had been cascading down their bodies continuously for days and nights, had swollen the stream to a quite amazing degree. The current was extremely fierce and the girls had been carried far downstream, finally reaching the far bank and climbing wearily out onto a well manicured, if totally drenched, lawn.

They found themselves confonted by a tall and elderly man, who stood smiling down at them under a large golf umbrella. He had a VERY military moustache and was dressed in a sports jacket, check shirt, woollen tie and cavalry twills (cannot vouch for the underwear!) - every inch the retired Colonel!

"Damned fine bit of swimming, girls -By Jove! it was. Stong current here at the best of times. Take my hat off to you both! Come in and have a whisky or something! _ HEY better get your clothes on first - GOD SAKES!! Where are they - where are your clothes - catch your death - bloody chilly morning."

The giggling and delighted pair, realising that they were with a friend even if it was a somewhat eccentric one, replied, "Clothes in Northumberland, Sir. Got to stay starkers for weeks yet--interesting - what!" This came from Jessica and she and Gwen fell into each others arms laughing uncontrollably.

The old gentleman seemed as amused as the girls and laughed heartily himself.

"Come on! Let a lonely old fellow in on it! What the hell's going on? "

And so the two friends standing exposed to the elements and dripping wet with the heavy rain running down their bodies, explained their mission to the old gentleman, who stood dry under his umbrella. Finally they finshed.

"By Golly but you're as damn fine a pair of girls as I ever met, even to get this far! Be bloody proud to have daughters like you, instead of my two useless sons! Hope for old England yet - long as girls like you are around! Proud to meet you! Mind you, ladies - never joined the Masons myself - all that damned silly mumbo jumbo! But your initiation - by Gad!! Splendid!! Eh! Knocks theirs into a cocked hat!! even it was a man's idea."

Then his native chivalry reasserted itself. " Get under this brolly you two - damned rude of me -you must be freezing!"

"No, thanks, Sir," said, Jessica, "we've much worse than this to come in the next few weeks. Got to get used to it. And we're going to see this through, Sir, believe us!"

"Damned sure you will by gad. Back you two down to my last cent! Now you follow me inside. Be my guests for a few hours, EH!!"

And the two dripping and chilly girls followed the old gentleman into his house, relieved to have found some respite from the rain that was beginning to sap even their spirits.

"Sit down, my dears. Never mind the furniture - bit of river water good for it - get these down you!" And he handed them a brandy apiece.

"Thanks, Colonel, murmured Gwendoline as she felt the fine old Cognac warm her.

"Colonel, be damned!" shouted their eccentric host. "General, if you don't mind - General Edward Halliburton, retd. Call me Teddy!"

"Gen. Sir Edward Halliburton, MC, KCB!" said Jessica. "Gosh, Sir. Everyone's heard about you! You've just about done everything - gone everywhere. What an honour to be drinking your brandy. Why my fa..."

"Your father!!! Oh I know him , Jessica. Served under me in Cyprus in the Fifties - damned fine officer. He and Gwen's father think you're hiking across England! Bet they'd have a fit if they could see you now!! EHHH! And for Heaven's sake don't keep calling me Sir; makes me feel a hundred years old."

"How did you know who I am, Sir.. er Teddy? We've never met as far as I know."

"He's very proud of you, Jessica, and with good reason. Showed me your photo the last time we met up in Town for some reunion. You're a lot prettier than your picture," he blushed. "Sorry - not quite what I meant."

"I know what you meant! But you won't tell Daddy about us - I mean our being naked and all that? PLEASE don't do that."

"No, my dear young ladies ! I won't say a word to your parents - except that you dropped in on me and you're both fine - which you are. Cross my heart and hope to die! Wish I could be going with you both - but Doctor's Orders and all that. Got to watch the old ticker. Staying to lunch - what! Course you are. Hang on - be with you in a tick."

And he went to the door and called out. "Two guests for lunch, Emily. See what you can rustle up - there's a good girl."

"My housekeeper and cook," he explained.

Jessica glanced at a photograph of the General and a lady standing by his side. He followed her glance and his brisk, cheery manner deserted him for a minute.

"My darling wife Olivia. Been dead ten years now. Met her when we were both just kids and it was love at first sight for us both. Never stopped loving each other - never any one else for either of us. The pain never goes away, not even after all these years - you just learn to live with it."

"So sorry, Teddy," said Gwendoline.

The General composed himself and resumed his former hearty manner.

"I'd marry her again, and go through it all again knowing what was to come. Wonderful girl. HEY!! I know a way to warm you girls up - come along!"

And he led the way through to a large room at the back of the house where there was a table tennis table.

"Here you are, girls. Get a bit of a sweat up here. I'll leave you to it, if you don't mind. Got a few things to do before lunch."

After two hours of evenly matched activity, the General called through to the warmed up and perspiring pair - LUNCH READY. COME AND GET IT - YOU TWO!!

The general sat at the head of the table, dressed in a very smart suit and the girls sat one on each side dressed in nothing at all except for two very pretty smiles. The housekeeper, showing no sign of surprise at the nudity of the two guests came in and served the meal of roast beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding , carrots, parsnips and cauliflower. She poured red wine into the three glasses, placed the carafe on the table and withdrew. It looked delicious after a diet of nuts, berries and the odd raw fish. It had been a while since they had used one of the food caches, having diverged somewhat from the route marked out on the map.

"Thought I'd dress up a bit - two honoured guests and all that! Start tucking in now - don't let it get cold."

For a few minutes not a sound was heard as the two friends hungrily made up for lost culinary time.

"Lovly meal, Teddy and exceptional Burgundy - best I've ever drunk," said Gwendoline.

"Been in my cellar a long time, my dear. Was going to share it with Olivia after she came out of hospital, but she never did - haven't had the heart to touch it ever since."

The girls were both deeply touched by this and Jessica wiped her eyes.

"Don't look so glum, Jessica! High time it got drunk - can't let wine like this go to waste forever. Glad to share with it you both. Worth waiting for!"

After a delicious sweet (Tiramisu) and coffee and brandy, the general rose to his feet.

"'Fraid I have to go off for my afternoon nap. You two go into the lounge and make yourselves comfortable for an hour or two. See you later."

They obeyed gladly and curled up together on the sofa. The effects of the meal, the wonderful Burgundy and the fine brandy all combined to send the pair to sleep and they slumbered peacefuly with Gwen's head resting on Jessica's breast and Jessica's arms clasping Gwen's soft warm hips until the General returned and awoke them with a tactful cough.

"Now we're all a bit rested, let me have the chance to beat you both hollow at table tennis - come on!"

He took off his jacket and loosened his tie, but made no effort to emulate the young ladies' nudity. For the first few games the General was as good as his word - he really was an ace player. But age had taken its toll and the girls' youth and strength gradually gave them the upper hand.

Finally the old gentleman put down his bat and wiped his forehead.

"Enough! I could have gone for ever once, but 'anno domini' and all that. Let's go and watch the news."

And so they went back to the lounge and the General switched on the television. The first item was the local regional news and a report about the five youths who had been attacked by a gang of twenty bikers, while preparing a disused barn for an illicit "rave".

"Police are still searching for the vicious thugs responsible for this brutal and unprovoked attack, but no clues have been found so far. They appear to have vanished without trace. Ray Brown the most severely injured recovered consciousness this morning and doctors are optimistic that they will be able to save his right leg."

The girls screamed with laughter and clutched each other shaking uncontrollably.

"How do feel about entertaining a gang of twenty brutal, crazed bikers, Teddy?" Jessica finally managed to say.

"What do mean, Jessie?"

"Those five bastards - so-called victims - were going to beat us up and rape us - but we had other ideas."

The General took a while to digest this and then, "Your black eye and sore nose, Gwen?"

"Right, Teddy."

"Well done girls! I said it before, but I'd have loved to have had two daughters like you!"

"You mentioned you had a couple of sons?" said Gwen.

"Yes. Damned traitors - one an Air Commodore and the other a Rear Admiral - I mean to say girls - what's wrong with the Army?"

Both Jess and Gwen could see that the old man was really very proud indeed of his sons and smiled politely.

Finally the General broke off from watching the evening news.

"Both of you are staying the night. No arguments - got suitably Spartan quarters for you. Hard beds, no sheets, and no heating, but at least you'll be dry for a change - then back to wet and cold tomorrow. Don't argue - Dover Sole for dinner and a fine Sancerre to wash it down. Plus more of that Cognac you like so much. "

And so they were persuaded to accept more of the general's hospitality.

As they climbed the hill, next afternoon after a delicious breakfast and another sumptuous lunch they looked down on the bend in the river and the General's house far below. They could see the rain falling on the tennis court bouncing back up into the air with the force of impact.

"What a darling old man!" said Gwendoline, the rain mingling with her tears. "Such an absolutely perfect gentleman. You know, he never looked us up and down or stared at our tits - just put us at our ease. They don't make them like that anymore!"

"And the way he dressed for dinner last night, wearing all his medals, just for us! What a sweetie!"

"I suppose he just misses his wife too much to look at any other woman! Still loves her even after all this time. I hope we can both find something as precious as that love of theirs one day."

"Come off it Gwen - you know we already have."

And the two rain-drenched girls stood on the Wiltshire Downs, and kissed each other hungrily and lovingly. Finally they lay on the sodden turf and held each other in a tender, yet energetic embrace for a very long time.

"What's this, young ladies - trespassing on my land - disgraceful - ought to be damned well ashamed of yourselves - looking like that - call the police - have you run in - explain yourselves!!"

* * *

"Wonder how the Legendary Pair are doing?" said Jessica as she reluctantly drew her mouth back from a sweetly prolonged kiss.

"What pair?" said Gwen.

"Oh, Katie and Angela - the pair we kept being compared to - weighed in the balance and found wanting. Bet they never had any adventures like ours!"

"Katie's a financial wizard and successful journalist - not bad going after less than three years out of Oxford - my Dad says he swears by her column - made a fortune following her advice. And Angie - a little bird told Daddy she's in something VERY hush hush, working for the Government."

"I suppose we'll have boring comfortable jobs like that one day."

(Katie was at that time chained up in the cold in Central Asia . Angie was busily painting her toe-nails.)

"Suppose so, if we survive this. It's getting so bloody awfully cold and this fucking rain is getting on my tits! And up my arse and in my nose and every-bloody-where. Will it ever stop?"

"Don't know, Gwen! It's bringing us closer. I love that part of it. All the years we've been friends I never knew it could be so wonderful as these past days!"

It was four days since that wonderful time as the General's guests and the rain had scarcely stopped in all the while.

They had sheltered by night against a stone wall in the lee of the wind and rain, in a ditch, under a hedgerow and in a small hollow in the ground. They had taken it in turns to bear the brunt of the rain on their naked, freezing backs, each covering and giving bodily warmth and shelter to the other. All this time their love grew. Could there come a time when either would have room in their heart for any other - be they male or female? It seemed impossible.

Jessica remembered the wise, lovely old General.

"That's how it is in war and danger. Chaps go through hell together - look out for one another - they never know a bond like that again - more than ordinary love - it defies description," he had said in his staccato way.

"So maybe when this journey is over the two of us will go our separate ways," thought Jessica: and a pang of sadness went through her heart.

"Promise we'll always be together, dearest Gwen!"

Gwendoline stroked Jessica's soaking wet hair and kissed her on the forehead.

"Promise."

"Your eye is almost as good as new now, darling," said Jessica. "It was a real beauty for a few days! You should have seen it."

"I did, at the General's - remember? It wasn't half bad, was it?"

"Wonder if that yobbo lost his leg or not?" said Jessica.

"Probably not - hope he did though, bloody animals! Hope they ALL fucking did. Serve them right for telling those ridiculous lies. I mean, Jess - TWENTY vicious bikers!! I bloody ask you!! They should each lose a leg for telling such porkies! Let's tell the local paper just what really happened when all this is over. They'll never live it down!"

"Better not, Gwen - you know what an egregious ass the law is in this country. We'd be charged with Grievous Bodily Harm - just for defending ourselves. Let's face it - we knew we could bloody murder them if we wanted to and we did! They were all stinking drunk - scarcely able to walk in a straight line! We went way over the top with them. Best let sleeping dogs lie."

"Guess so, Jess."

"Jess - Let's just do it once again and be on our way."

"Do what again, Gwen?"

"This..."

Later:

"Ooohhhh, Gwen. It tasted so good!"

(Not too sure what that last bit was all about - author)

They arrived at a point between Swindon and Malmesbury and were faced with the problem of crossing the M4 . It was pretty well impossible to walk over the motorway itself and they decided to wait until darkness in a small wood and walk over the bridge when all was quiet.

"That American girl who crossed over that whole vast country had one advantage - whether she existed or not - at least she didn't have to keep crossing main roads and motorways and canals and rivers every couple of fucking miles. The time we waste hiding in bushes waiting for a clear moment to cross. And I dread the next river crossing - I love swimming but it's getting too cold by far," said Gwendoline.

"At least the rain's stopped."

"You know what that means for tonight - bloody clear sky and a sharp frost. Just what we bloody need, I don't think!"

Jessica said, "I think we've earned another night in the warm, Gwen. Trouble is I don't know any one all that locally."

"Same here my sweet. Looks like we're stuck with just our lovely body heat for a few nights longer."

They curled up together and waited for dusk. As Gendoline had predicted the clearing skies caused a sharp drop in the temperature. By the time it was safe to move on over the bridge, their hands and feet were like blocks of ice and both girls were shivering uncontrollably.

"Come on - let's run for a bit."

They ran on in the dark for twenty minutes - constantly afraid of tripping up and breaking a leg and fearful of a car passing them. When they were sufficiently warmed up they left the road and entered a small wood, whose details they could just make out in the light of the half moon.

"Remember Hansel and Gretel in the forest and how the falling leaves covered them and kept them warm through the night, Jessie?"

"Yes, lucky little sods. We try that and we fail the test!"

"How much longer can we go on taking this, Jess?"

"Till November 23rd of course."

"Right"

"Let's hope the next food store's not been raided"

The last one had been turned over and very little that was edible had been left. The girls were beginning to get hungry and weary of the odd raw fish or uncooked rabbit and nuts and berries. Damn this awful rain!

They found a slight dip in the ground and prepared for another uncomfortable night. Jessica lay on top of Gwendoline all night, refusing to change places. She was becoming hardened more rapidly than her friend (not that Gwen was exactly soft, herself) and was pleased to feel the darling girl sleeping quietly beneath her. She adjusted the position of her arms and legs around her companion and lover from time to time to try to give her the maximum amount of comfort and warmth.

"Oh I do so love you, Gwen," she kept thinking through the long wakeful hours of darkness until finally she too fell asleep and awoke with the morning light, feeling colder than ever before in her life, but happy to see how rested her sweet Gwendoline was when she woke up with a smile of greeting and a good morning kiss.

"Well, old thing, we've made it into October. Only another 53 days to go. What are going to do for kicks when this is all over?" said Jessica to her waking friend.

* * *

The awful rain had gone. October had brought with it a change to warm, southerly winds and a return for a while of Summer. Gwendoline recovered quickly from the slight cold which had given Jessica such fear for her welfare.That sense of well-being that had marked the first few days of their adventure returned.

Finding a book of matches at the scene of a vacated picnic spot had made a difference as well, and the next tickled trout was cooked in clay to perfection. Jessica had tied the matches into her hair for convenience. Because of the warm days, they had been sleeping during the hours of light and making good progress during the moonlit nights.

On 4th October, the two woke in the late afternoon on the Cotswolds in a wood between Withington and Compton Abdale. Taking advantage of the remaining hours of daylight they made off across the fields, making use of the shelter afforded by the drystone walls, until somehow they blundered into a grassy area, obviously the private garden of one of those lovely Cotswold stone houses. In the middle of the lawn was a marquee, and a number of cars were parked in the driveway.

"Shit, Jess - how the fuck did we stumble into this? Let's get the hell out before someone sees us."

They were making their hasty way back to the inadvertently crossed boundary, when a hostile-looking man seemed to rise up out of the ground and dived at Jessica, the nearer of the two.

"You're not going anywhere - I'll bloody teach you f*cking reporters to mind your own f*cking business!"

He raised his fist, preparing to knock Jessica senseless, but ended up in that condition himself, with an arm bent beneath him at a very unusual angle - obviously broken.

"Fuck, Gwen - lets beat it!"

They only made it a few more yards when other men appeared and the two were quickly overpowered.

"Bring them to the house, you fools - why couldn't you just have let them leave? Lord knows how to sort this out," said another man who had run up as the pair were being secured. He then did a double take and realised they were both totally naked. A smile appeared.

"Well - these two seem to be just a leetle on the wrong side of the Law themselves! How very convenient. Maybe we can all work something out to our mutual satisfaction! Let's go!"

And the two worried girls were frog-marched into the lovely old Cotswold manor house and locked in the anything but lovely old cellar. They held each other and waited.

They did not have to wait too long and the door opened after twenty minutes and two men invited the friends to come up into the light once again. They complied willingly.

In the drawing room sat the man who seemed to be in charge.

"Well - ladies, you have upset my schedule a little - injured one of my best fighters. That gives you some idea what the worst must be like - but that's another matter. Let us examine the situation. I am guilty of locking two intruders in my cellar for a few minutes, while I decide whether to let them go or call the Police - heavy handed, but not a serious matter, I think!. You are guilty of indecent exposure - not a hanging offence - two pretty girls like you might just be let off with a few not too severe words - maybe not. Depends on the mood of the Station Sergeant - but what would Mummy and Daddy say - to say nothing of the dear Vicar! "And then - you might tell the Law that something odd is going on here and they might decide to investigate - very inconvenient for me and my clients, many of whom are prominent people who would HATE too much publicity. I'll make you two a proposition. You go along with my proposal and you may leave here in the morning, sadder and wiser, but (almost) in one piece."

He explained and left the girls to consider.

"What say Jess?"

"We don't have any choice - not if we want to continue our journey, which I sure as Hell do!"

"Me too."

And so the girls were led by Mr Solomons (their host's name) across to the marquee and into it through a rear flap. Inside the tent were about 100 people, mostly - but not exclusively- men. All people who had gathered for an evening of illegal bare knuckle prizefighting. These people were clustered around a makeshift boxing ring. The murmur of conversation eased as the audience beheld two young, beautiful, weatherbeaten, suntanned and naked women enter the tent. They watched open-mouthed as one of them (Gwen) entered the ring and the other took a nearby seat.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Owing to the injury of one of tonight's fighters I have had to reschedule the evening's entertainment a little. As a penance for injuring Mr. Tommy "Crusher" Hughes - one of your favourites- these two renowned exponents of the Martial Arts will take on all our seven remaining fighters, one by one, until they have either beaten them all or have themselves succumbed. All matches to be decided by knockouts. NO rules. Start placing your bets, Ladies and Gentlemen and let the fun commence."

Jessica could see that a lot of money was being wagered on the outcome - mostly in favour of a VERY early exit for poor old Gwen.

'If they'd only ask my advice, I could save them a lot of money,' she thought.

The first opponent was a much more formidable proposition than the poor sap Jessica had despatched earlier and Gwen was very careful to keep out of trouble and try to tire him out - he was at least fifteen years older than she - before trying anything too clever. After a few minutes, the audience were becoming a little restless and their disappointment at not seeing a girl being beaten to a pulp was disgustingly obvious to the watching Jessica.

After fifteen minutes of skilfully staying clear of the man's kicks and punches and sustaining little injury, Gwen felt justified in dropping her guard, whirling around and bringing her left heel up under the man's jaw. The crowd gasped as he seemed to lift off the ground before crashing senseless on to the grassy floor of the ring.

Gwen looked around, hoping to find a welcome glass of water, but the next opponent was in the ring and closing on her before the first had even been dragged out. Still panting after the exertion of the first match and already dripping with sweat, she was forced to throw herself immediately into the next.

It took her fully half an hour for her to send the second fighter the way of the first and Gwen was desperately tired and even more desperately thirsty. Still no respite was allowed between bouts and the third fight was a frightful ordeal for Gwendoline and she began to take considerable punishment as she was slowed down with tiredness.

By this time the audience were totally on her side and cheering her every successful blow and kick. When after almost an hour the third opponent staggered from the ring bleeding and exhausted, there was an enormous cheer.

As the fourth bruiser stepped into the ring it was obvious that Gwen was totally spent - almost out on her feet and utterly unable to defend herself.

"You fucking coward - hitting a defenceless girl - you'd be wetting yourself if it was ME you had to fight!"

The fourth fighter grinned, raised both hands and then walked over to Gwen, putting his arm around her.

"Well done, Miss. I take my hat off to you! You've earned yourself a rest and a bloody good long cool drink. I wouldn't have dreamt of hitting you - never mind what your friend said."

And so the two friends changed places. As Jessica passed Gwen on her way to the arena, Gwen said, "I've left you the easy bit. Good luck."

Jess stepped through the ropes and extended her hand to her opponent, "Thanks - you're a gentleman!"

"And no coward either, Miss. If I was I'd run a mile from you, if you're anything like your friend."

Into her third foe and with one more to follow, Jessica reflected that it had been a very long and bruising day. And it wasn't over yet.

* * *

On the morning after the illegal fighting, Mr Solomons, together with seven bruised men and two bruised girls sat eating breakfast in the dining room of the old house. It was quite the best meal the girls had eaten since that stay with the dear old General. Time was being divided pretty well evenly between eating and discussion of the previous evening's combat.

"You two are way out of our class. Who'd have thought a pair of toffee-nosed kids like you could wipe the floor with a bunch of old bruisers like us?" said the nice man who had refused to fight Gwendoline and suffered a frightful mauling at the hands and feet of Jessica for his pains.

"We had the best tuition money could buy!" said Gwendoline.

"We took a lot of money last night - very appreciative audience" said Solomons. "And I took a long shot and backed the girls to go the distance and beat you all, so it was a good night all round for me. I'd like to give you a share, girls".

"Think nothing of it," Mr Solomons, said Jessica. "We've got to travel pretty light, nothing to keep the money in. Any way it was a really fun evening - especially when we started it thinking you were going to turn us both in. And this really is a super breakfast!"

Finally the two left to continue their journey. Jessica's fourth and final opponent of the night before accompanied them to that boundary fence that they had stumbled across yesterday. He shook hands, wishing them good luck. "Pleasure being knocked cold by you, my dear," he said to Jessica and kissed her, causing her to wince as she was just about covered with bruises - how had she ever kept going last night?

"We certainly do meet a few interesting people these days," said Gwen. "I recognised one or two people in that audience. I'd never have believed they were that depraved - such respectable people. Give us a bit of leverage over them - a bit of gentle blackmail and all that! I think we can persuade them to help us in the next few weeks."

"I saw a couple I know", said Jessica, "but I wasn't a bit surprised to see THEM there. Creepy couple. I just feel so bloody sorry for all those poor old has-beens who get beaten up just in order to provide their entertainment. Any one of our opponents last night is worth all those sick pleasure-seeking degenerates put together."

"Amen to that," said Gwendoline. "They gave us a great time last night after the punters had all gone."

It certainly had been a very convivial post fight party before everyone had finally gone to bed. The girls were young and healthy, but still felt a little liverish as they wended their way north.

* * *

"I think it would make sense to spend as much time in the South as we can and then try to arrange for Harriet to give us a lift North from somewhere on the last day," said Gwendoline.

"It makes sense, but it smacks of `ckicken' in a way - I don't know about you, but I'd never forgive myself for not braving the Northern weather in November. Still - if you don't feel up to it, then so be it."

Gwen lay next to Jessica on the turf and said nothing - just wondering for the millionth time in these last couple of weeks at the lovely presence of the other. She looked sideways at Jess, covered with bruises. She had two black eyes, a cut lip and a rib cage which hurt her just to look at; it was so completely black and blue.

"OK, Jess! We are destined to move up the country a few miles a day and taste the delights of a North Country November - that's haw Harold devised it. It's all part of the initiation and we've got to go along with it. Scares me rigid, though - the thought of all that cold."

"I just hope we don't get into too much more fighting," sighed Jess. "I'm still sore as hell and it's been four days since that painful evening."

"I'll never know how you kept going as long as you did, let alone how you beat all four," said Gwendoline.

"Me neither! Just stupid pride, I guess."

"My lovely, sweet, brave heroine," moaned Gwen and rolled over onto Jess's bruised body, smothering it with hugs and kisses. Jessica surrendered happily to her friend's affection, despite the pain and discomfort. It was a long time before the conversation was resumed.

They rolled off each other, over onto their backs.

Jessica grabbed at a handful of dried earth and sprinkled the grains onto Gwendoline's pubic hair.

"Stop fucking about, Jess," she giggled, and flicked the particles out of her bush.

"Gwen, darling."

"What?"

"If you're a blonde, why do you have a black bush?"

"Fuck knows. I read a scientific paper about it once. A mysterious topic - pussy fur. Full of surprises. Now let's go to bloody sleep!"

And so they slept in the sun for a while, hoping they would not be disturbed, but so happy to be together that they didn't really care.

They awoke as the sun started to go down and the warmth faded. Time to be pressing on. Tomorrow they were due to borrow a country cottage belonging to a friend of Harriet. This dear young lady continued to be very concerned with her two friends' welfare and had persuaded Dick Hembley, her cousin to lend them his rural retreat in Warwickshire near Shipston on Stour for a night. The key was to be left for them in a (hopefuly) safe and secure hiding place.

"We are passing so many interesting places on our journey - shame we aren't dressed to see them. I've always wanted to visit Blenheim Palace, for instance, but I guess it'll have to wait," said Jessica.

"I'd have liked to visit Jamaica Inn back on Bodmin Moor," sighed Gwendoline. "I loved the book."

"Still, we did get to take part in an illegal prize fight!" Jessica reminded her.

"Wonder what possessed that idiot to think we were reporters, dressed like this? Where'd we keep our notebooks - up our bumholes?"

"I expect he thought we were reporters disguised as naturists! Poor old punchie!"

"Jessie! What's that over there?"

Gwen pointed to the top of the hill.

"Looks like some kind of bonfire. Funny thing - Bit early for Guy Fawkes."

"Shall we take a look?" said Gwendoline.

"Yes. Nothing much has happened since we both got beaten up the other night. Might be warmer near the fire. Let's take a gander."

The girls made their way up the hillside keeping a wooded area between them and the fire and approached cautiously to within a few yards of the mysterious conflagration. What they saw when they peered form behind the trees was remarkable to say the least.

A group of about a dozen people were holding hands and dancing, widdershins, around a large fire. This was strange enough in itself. The fact that they were all masked was even stranger. What was even odder was that apart from their masks - all the dancers were as naked as the two girls.

"Shall we ask if we can join in?" whispered Gwen.

"You must be mad - this is some kind of Black Mass. Can't you count! There's thirteen of them- a witches coven," said a terrified Jessica. "Let's get out of here fast, before we end up on the fire as a sacrifice!"

The girls backed silently away from the horrid ritual and as soon as they were far enough away broke into a run. The comfort of being alone together in the rural heart of Old England had been replaced for the time being by an awful reminder of the fact that there was danger and evil abroad in the world. When they finally found a snug place to sleep, it was more than their new found love that caused them to clasp each other so tightly.

[Harry]

LADIES' LODGE:
A STORY OF SEVERAL NUDE LADIES
by Harry


PART THREE
The girls were glad to wake up to a bright, cold morning after the unpleasant scene they had witnessed last night. They rose and stretched themselves savouring the fresh cool wind as it blew across their bodies and cleaned away the feeling of being soiled by what they had witnessed. To get the circulation going, they wrestled in a friendly but energetic manner for twenty minutes or so, gaining a couple of falls apiece. Finally Jessica sat on her friend's stomach and smiled down at her - both girls were pink all over and a sheen of perspiration covered them from head to toe.

"Time to make a move. I reckon we should be at the cottage in an hour," said Gwendoline.

"No, sweetie, you're staying where you are for a bit!" laughed Jessica as she felt her friend deliciously writhing beneath her in her attempt to get free.

"Don't be a rotter, Jess. I give in - OK?"

"You'll give in when I tell you to..."

And so the struggle resumed until Gwen was sitting on top of a laughing Jessica. She bent down and kisssed her, moving off her stomach and lying next to her, her arms around her darling friend and her hands resting lovingly on her buttocks.

"Maybe we don't have to go just yet."

Finally the two gentle antagonists reluctantly contrived untangle and tear themselves away from each other, making tracks for the cottage and a much delayed breakfast.

They had to wait for an hour hiding behind some bushes, while a pair of engineers did some work on the telephone lines in the road outside the cottage. They cursed as the men decided to have a tea break before leaving. It was cooler today and they were getting hungry. Finally the coast was clear and the pair let themselves into their refuge.

"Just our luck if the key had gone missing," said Jess.

After satisfying their hunger and thirst they made themselves comfortable on the sofa and resumed caressing each other.

"Gwen?"

"Jessie?"

"I love you, but you could do with a shower."

"Ugh! So could you! Smelly cow!"

"Hot or cold?"

"Silly question - what are you a woman or a wimp?"

And so they went up to the bathroom and gasped as the icy cold water cascaded over their bodies. They dried each other off by going into the garden and resuming their wrestling. Finally a triumphant Gwen rolled off her willingly defeated friend and they lay side by side in the anaemic October sunlight until the cold began to get to them and they went indoors.

It was by this time about two in the afternoon.

"Can't we go up to bed, Gwen?"

"At this time - you tired already?"

"Not tired - silly, just can't wait to get at you!"

"MMMM"

As an enraptured and exhausted couple were drifting off to sleep a few hours later, the front doorbell rang.

"Shit, Gwen - who the fuck can that be?"

"Who knows? We've a right to be here - and a perfect right to be undressed if we like in our own home. Let's go and see who it is."

With a little trepidation, Jessica opened the front door and there was Harriet, smiling all over her face to see her two friends again.

Her smile turned to a look of horror as she saw Jessica's bruised face and battered body and Gendoline's black eye.

"Bloody hell, you two - what the fuck's been going on since we last met?"

"Oh we had a fight with five yobbos a few day's after we left you and then took part in an illegal underground bare-knuckle prize fight - all such super fun!" laughed Jessica.

"Sounds it. Why are you so much more marked than Gwen? I always rated you a smidgeon better - not that we ever knew since you were always too fond of each other to put it to the test."

And so they brought Harry up to date on all their adventures. She listened open-mouthed.

"Golly I wish I could have been with you to see you fight all those people - you really upheld the honour of the old school. Good for you two! That General sounds a lovely old man - my Daddy's met him a few times. But that witch thing last night - that must have been scary."

They prepared a meal between the three of them and then relaxed in front of the TV.

"You two seem a lot more friendly together in the last few days! I'm not surprised - we all guessed it would come to that in the end. I'm so happy for you both - you look radiant somehow! I don't think I've ever seen such a happy couple - you're so bloody lucky!" And here Harriet brushed away a tear.

"What's up darling Harry?" asked Gwen going over and putting her arm around her shoulder.

"It's Bill. We had a row and he won't answer my calls and won't let me in to his house when I go over to see him. I'm so bloody lonely and miserable! Can't I come along with you two? I could be a help - I'm not bound by the same rules."

"Oh, yes you would be," said Gwen and Jessie together.

Gwen continued, "You'd be more than welcome, but it's absolute barefoot nudity and it's getting colder already. We're getting used to it, but you'd be thrown in at the deep end. We can telephone Harold and get him to have some clothes ready for you when we arrive. Think about it. Our feet are pretty well hardened by now, but the first days were very painful. You'd have to keep up with us; we've a daily schedule to maintain."

"You mean you'd really let me come - you're not kidding me on. You mean I can really truly join you?"

"Long as you don't mind our love-making, Harriet. I warn you it's getting pretty heavy - lots and lots of bodily fluids being exchanged and we love exploring each other. You won't have to sleep alone though - we'll all keep together at nights - lovely and cozy!"

"And we live off what we can find to eat or get offered to us along the way. No begging. It can get a bit tough and your stomach's going to rumble a lot."

Harriet removed her clothes and shivered a little in the unheated house. She was taller than the other two and her newly exposed breasts were fuller and more voluptuous, though with all the firmness of early youth. She looked at her feet and felt the soles, hardened by her preference for a shoeless condition - no worries there. Only the cold would be a worry.

"Golly, this is going to be different - but if you two can do it, so can I!"

"We're not sure we two can, actually - we'll see in November."

"Course we will. We're the Three Musketeers now. All for one and one for all!"

* * *

"Nasty rotten Harriet," sulked Jessica -" NICE Gwen!" and Harriet went to get the breakfast ready whilst the other two did lots of truly nice things together! Let us leave them to it. I do not encourage voyeurism.

As Harriet busied herself with preparing what might be their last proper breakfast for days, she wondered at her rashness in joining this pair. There was a wildness about them - as Mark had already delightedly discovered -and that probably meant that Harriet would have an epic struggle defending her honour. Was it such a great idea coming on this enterprise just out of desperation at the loss of Bill? It wasn't too late to back out.

"No - I've crossed the Rubicon. Never look myself in the face again, if I didn't go through with it. And they ARE nice looking girls. I was always very fond of them! Most popular pair in the school and I'm lucky to be joining them."

After Harriet had been introduced to the trauma of her first cold shower, the three repaired to the lawn.

"Why can't we use a towel to get dry?" asked a puzzled Harry.

"'Cause a towel is a form of covering - like in that internet story we were discussing with Bill the other day. That girl was given little mini towels to dry herself with, but as I said, this was in America and we are in England - so we get dry by doing lots of exercises."

"What exercises?" asked Harriet.

"Two-against-one wrestling of course, but we've got to catch you first."

And a squealing Harriet was chased around the garden by the other two until she was finally cornered and grappled to the ground. She was a strong girl, though, and not about to submit easily. She soon broke out of the hold and pinned Gwen to the ground for a short time until Jess got her arm around her chest and pulled her off, allowing Gwendoline to get hold of her legs and try to hold her down.

Harriet's free arm swung up and Gwen was given a mighty slap across the face which caused her to loosen her hold long enough to allow Harriet to break free.

"That's not in the rules," said Jessica. "You started the hitting and now we're going to finish it. Grab her shoulders Gwen."

Harriet was held in a full Nelson long enough for Jessica to punch her hard in the stomach, causing her to collapse in a gasping, breathless agony and the fight was over.

The three lay on the ground recovering.

"You certainly play it pretty rough, you two - I'll need to improve my style if I want to stay in one piece."

"No - we'll take turns to be the victim - that's only fair," said Jessica.

"You certainly put up a super show against us. How's the stomach feeling?" asked Gwendoline

"Fine, thanks Gwen," replied Harriet. "Let's us two start on Jessica now!!"

They finally left the cottage in the early evening, leaving it in the same neat and tidy condition as they had found it.

The original pair were pleasantly surprised at the ease with which Harriet was able to keep pace.

"I grew up in Africa, before my parents had to get out to escape Mugabe, and we kids all walked around barefoot there. We even went to school barefoot only wore shoes on Sunday to Church. I just carried on like that when I came to England. Never wore shoes in the hols, even in winter."

"What sort of things will you all do when you start your female Freemasonry thing?"

"Well we'll have to dress up at our meetings I suppose like the men and all stick together and help out when we're in a jam. Sort of exclusive sisterhood, helping women to succeed in a man's world."

"Not restricted to gay women?"

"NO!! said Gwendoline. "Not on your life! Gosh we don't even know what we'll be in a year from now - I can guess, mind you! And all the other girls who joined are most likely as straight as you are! Any way, you've already done enough to get admitted - so stop saying 'you' From now on it's 'we'; OK Harriet darling?"

"OK!!" And all three embraced, Gwen and Jessica thrilling to Harriet's softness and warmth and Harriet feeling a little nervous at the groping of her friends.

It was already dark and the trio were striding across an open hillside, Harriet's long legs were eating up the miles and the others were having a hard time keeping pace. The newcomer was surprised how easily she was coping with the cold night air. The temperature was dropping down to freezing and the cold just seemed to energise her and fill her with a 'joie de vivre' she had never experienced since camping under the stars in Africa as a child.

"Golly, girls, I'm glad I'm not missing out on this any more. You've no idea how this feels for me! I'm not too sure about my fighting skills, though. Ill let you do any fighting that comes along. I'll just cheer you both on!"

"There won't be any more violence. I can feel it in my bones," said Jessica, "from now on this is a journey of Peace and Love for all."

"I wonder", thought Gwen and Harriet to themselves, "hope it doesn't get too boring."

The terrain became too rough and uneven to make much more progress in the dark and the three started to feel around for a suitable place to spend what remained of the night. The best bet seemed as so often before to be under the shelter of a stone wall.

"You lie down first, Harry and we'll lie on top of you and keep you warm, since it's your first night out in the open."

"OK girls, but none of your randy little games, or I take my chances with the cold!"

"You can't stop us thinking all sorts of nice thoughts about you, though," giggled Gwendoline.

"She's lovely and soft, Gwen! Let's have her as our sweet little mattress for the rest of the journey. It's worth waking up with a frozen back every night!"

And so Harriet slept soundly under the body heat of her two companions and they were well satisfied to keep her warm even at the cost of not being totally so themselves. `After all,' thought Jessica, `we're used to it by now. We've got to look out for her. And she sure is lovely and soft - shame she won't let us kiss her, though!'

With this thought, Jessica fell asleep herself and was shortly followed by Gwendoline.

When they both awoke, their backs and sides were like ice, and only their chests and stomachs were warm. They rose to their feet and moved away to be alone together, embracing tenderly. When Harriet awoke a few moments later, the two were in a world of their own and she watched them smilingly. She could only feel happy for them in this innocent and passionate affection but she felt keenly for her own lost love.

"She looks SO nice doesn't she, Gwen," said Jessica as the three lay together on the bed in the cottage.

"Scrumptious. Love those nice big tits - Yummy!!"

"Let's give her a really, long, lovely wet kiss, Gwen - you take the mouth and I'll explore that lovely juicy pussy."

"Get off! Bloody madwomen - I'm not ready for this just yet, never will be I hope. Strictly heterosexual and don't you bloody forget it!"

* * *

Harriet had been a member of the group for three days and they had made reasonable progress along the upland route, crossing the M1 between Milton Keynes and Northampton. They had been quite certain, times without number, that they had been spotted in this most heavily populated region, and had been constantly obliged to take refuge in whatever cover they could find, travelling by night and resting by day - always with one on guard while the others slept.

A turn for the worse in the weather had severely reduced visibility and kept sensible people indoors. This had helped them remain unseen. Gwen and Jess were amazed how inured they had both become to rain and chill, after their weeks on the move, but poor Harriet was beginning to regret her decision to join them - not that she was backing out now! She was so very grateful that the other two were insistent on smothering her in their beautiful, soft warmth every night and she even came to tolerate their occasional amorous exploration of her private parts!

Having Harriet to look after and worry about seemed to bring Jessica and Gwen even more delightfully closer than ever. They had both been a little apprehensive at first that the newcomer might come between them, but these fears were soon forgotten in the pleasure of having someone else with whom to share all the pleasures and discomforts of the journey.

"It's nice to have a lovely redhead around as well as a lovely blonde and a plain brunette," said Gwendoline one morning as they washed themselves in a convenient brook.

"Who are you calling plain - you fucking cow?" cried Jessica. "Come on Harriet - someone needs a good long cold bath this morning."

And both girls sat on Gwendoline and kept her almost immersed in the cold water.

"You're very sorry, aren't you Gwen?" asked Jessica.

"Fuck off!"

"You didn't mean that did you, Gwen?"

"Get fucking lost - you PLAIN bitch"

"Like the cold so much, do we?"

"Piss off - you ARE plain and I'm beautiful!! So there!"

"Sorry?"

"Plain bitch!"

A few minutes later... "Let me up, PLEASE - I'm bloody freezing here."

"Say you're sorry first."

"Fuck off - you plain brunette bitch!"

Several more minutes later... "I'm not plain."

"Yes you bloody are - please let me up, Jessica! I'm fucking freezing here!"

"You stay here all day, if necessary - you're going to take it back and say sorry!"

"Shan't!"

"So you can fucking well carry on freezing for a while!"

Ten minutes later... "OK - so you're not plain-YOU'RE FUCKING UGLY!! - but I love you more than anyone else in the world!"

"That's OK, then," said a delighted Jessica. Get lost for a minute, Harry"

And Jessica lay on her back in the freezing cold stream next to her dear friend and they smiled longingly and lovingly at each other, their hands caressing each other's breasts and exploring their dear, hidden places, until the cold finally became too much for both of them and they rejoined Harriet on the river bank.

"Feeling alright, Gwen?"

"Course I am, darling Jessie - I love a nice lovely ice cold bath - you know that! - and you're so absolutely gorgeously beautiful, you really are - the most lovely darling beautifullest person in the whole wide world."

"You two are mad as hatters!" said Harriet. "But it's bloody good being with you! Can't this lovely time go on for ever?"

"You look SO nice dear darling Harry, now that your sweet little red bush is growing back", said Gwen, "Why did you ever have it removed?"

"Supposed to be fashionable - blame it on Rio!"

"What I say," Jess opined, "is that if men don't like good, honest to goodnes,hairy,REAL women, then fuck them! Who needs men anyway? WE don't need the dirty, smelly, untidy bastards, do we darling Gwen? Oh I do so love your lovely hairy armpits yum yum yum!!"

Harriet joined in the laughter at this, but inside she was not laughing. There was one man she needed, and she needed him more desperately with every passing day!

There were no fish to be had in such a fast flowing rivulet and the trio worked their way downstream until they came upon a still pool.

"Oh! Look girls! Lovely juicy trout - look at our breakfast swimming around!" cried Harriet. "Watch me, girls!"

"Two of us can tickle trout !!!"

"Calloo, callay. Oh, frabjous day!!"

They chortled in their joy.

They all passed this day so pleasantly that the need to be pressing on to their goal took second place to the sheer unadulterated joy of being together, enjoying being young and fit, and ready for all that life can offer.

"I think we've lost too much time over the last two days," said a serious Jessica. "We've got to try and do at least twenty miles today and for the next few days, or we'll be falling to far behind to catch up. We keep having to make detours to avoid all the cities and towns. I never realised just how hard it was going to be at the start."

And so it was that they set out across the hills and into the Fen country. They were between Sandy and Royston and becoming a little too confident for their own good when disaster struck!

* * *

"OK Ladies, I think we've got something to talk about, don't you?"

The three friends had been trying to cross an open flat stretch of country with very little in the way of cover. They knew it was a risky enterprise but it was late in the afternoon and the rain had been falling heavily all day. Only a few more yards and there was a river to swim across - cold but not too wide - and the other bank seemed a much more hopeful prospect - emptiness stretching away into the distance. Just this last few yards to negotiate, and then disaster!

Three men appeared from behind a hedge and one of them was carrying a shotgun!

"We're not doing any harm," said Jessica, "Just going for a swim in the river - no one else can see us, except you and you wouldn't have if you hadn't been spying. Come on girls, lets go!"

"Not so fast, my tough young friends! You think I won't use this?" pointing to his gun. "Just try me."

The girls paused - uncertain what to do. There was something creepy about this man. He looked dangerous and very nasty. His two friends were not prepossessing characters either. One was very old and grinning at the naked, dripping wet girls in a thoroughly sickening way. He gave a new depth of meaning to the expression, "Dirty Old Man".

The other man looked every bit as determined as the one with the gun. He had very little hair and one eye was almost closed. A scar covered the right side of his face and he looked as hard as nails - the victor in a thousand brawls, which had left their mark on him.

The man with the gun was the tallest of the three, grey haired and distinguished looking. He had the looks of a film star - sort of Stewart Grangerish. Handsome and distastefully smooth.

Harriet preferred the rugged type, although not as rugged as Scarface! The other two preferred each other!

"You seem to spend a lot of time undressed, you two - and now we have a third! How does she rate as a fighter?"

"I don't," said Harriet. "These are the dynamic duo."

Jessica recognised him now! He had been at the back of the crowd at the prizefighting and had left as soon as Jessica had despatched her last opponent. He had very pointedly not joined in the applause as she stood there bleeding, bruised and triumphant, her aching, weary arms raised - smiling despite the pain. He had obviously lost a lot of money and was NOT happy!

"I suggest we adjourn to my house, which has the advantage of being both warm and dry. I desire very much to improve our acquaintance - don't argue, ladies!"

And so the trio of apprehensive girls were escorted across the field, through a gate in a high wall and into the garden of a large house.

"This way, please."

They were led into some kind of windowless store room. In a corner was a small wire-mesh cage, which might be used for transporting some kind of animals - large dogs, or whatever.

"Get into the cage - you," said the man to Harriet.

"Fuck off - I'm not getting in there - let's go you two - he's only bluffing. He wouldn't dare!"

The man drew back the safety catch on the gun. "Don't try my patience - you little slut. Get into that cage - FAST!"

Harriet obeyed. This man was not fooling around and he had a terrifying air of ruthlessness. There was barely room for her to crouch down inside the cage, which the man closed and locked.

He motioned towards the other two and the cage was picked up and carried out. The remaining two were left, locked in the windowless room.

"I don't like this adventure, Gwen. Can't we skip it and go on to the next?"

('Fraid not - author)

Shortly after leaving them, the man with the gun returned and motioned the two anxious girls to come with him. He led them to a large, untidy room, which would have made a lovely lounge, given decent furniture and total makeover. As it was, it was a squalid mess.

"Don't sit down ladies," he said as he made himself comfortable on an old leather sofa - just about the only decent furniture in the whole room.

"I admired your performance the other night. I truly did. It was supremely wonderful! You girls possess skill in abundance. Better than that you have sheer raw courage, such as I have rarely seen before - if ever!"

"Thank you," said Gwendoline.

"Yes, thanks awfully," said Jessica.

Both girls had had politeness bred into them from their earliest years!

"Where is our friend?"

"She's fine - and she'll stay fine as long as you do what I ask of you - and you can all leave tomorrow together."

"What do you want us to do - fight a few more people I suppose? We're still pretty sore from the other night but that's fine - just let our friend out of that horrible cage. We give you our word, we'll fight any one you want us to, but PLEASE let her out!"

"Come with me, ladies"

He led them out into the garden and pointed up into a very tall tree. There was Harriet, still in the cage, which was suspended from the main branch and swaying slightly in the wind.

"She stays up there all night unless you do as I ask."

"What do you ask, you bastard?" screamed a desperate Jessica, distraught at the sight of poor Harriet.

"When I saw you in action against those old has-beens, I wondered how you would both do against a really worthy opponent - I mean - against each other!"

"Oh. No. Not that. Never. NEVER!" said Gwen.

Jessie concurred, "We NEVER fight each other. We never will - forget it!"

"It's going to be a very uncomfortable night for your friend up there. Maybe several uncomfortable nights. She comes down when your fight is over and not a second sooner. And you'd better make sure you don't pull any punches - I can tell these things. My friends and I want to see blood and hear lots of good hard punches and kicks"

"Get lost," said Gwen

"Yeah piss off," said Jessie.

The girls were led inside and poor Harriet was left to endure a night of misery.

In the morning they were led out and saw how terrible their poor friend looked after a night in the cold and wet. Blue with cold and shivering - she was also obviously suffering from the cramped conditions in the cage. The wire mesh was digging into her knees and legs.

"Oh Gwen, how could we be so selfish letting her suffer like that? Let's get it over with. I forgive you any harm you do me."

"And I you, dearest! We'll pay these bastards back twenty times what we're forced to do to each other and what they've done to poor old Harriet."

"Only twenty?" asked Jessie. "Let's make it fifty!"

"Done!"

They separated after a long kiss and turned to their captors.

"OK - you bastard. You win, but please free her before we start. PLEASE!"

"Don't do it you two. It'd kill you hurt each other. Don't even think about it" cried Harriet. "Don't worry about me! I'm fine up here - marvellous view!"

"She stays up there until one of you is the winner. The sooner you get started the better for her."

The girls embraced again - they were sick to their stomachs at what was to come and praying for a miracle.

"Don't hold back, Gwen - think of Harriet - try to imagine it's one of those bastards you're fighting. We'll give them a good show - plenty of action - lots of blood - loads of good thumping kicks and punches"

"Where do you want us to do it?" said Gwen to the ringleader.

"Right out here on the lawn - no hang on a minute... and he shouted into the house. Show's about to start, boys, bring out a large sheet"

The two others came out, the old man grinning as if Christmas had come early and the other looking meaner than ever.

They spread out the white sheet on the grass.

"Nice touch, this," said the man with the gun, "It'll show up the blood to perfection!"

Once more the two friends exchanged a brief kiss and hug.

"Keep watching out for that gun, Gwen. If we can get him excited enough - you never know - it might distract him - but I daresay we'll have to suffer first, my sweet. Hitting you will hurt so much, much more than being hit by you."

"Same here - good luck."

And so the two friends started to circle around each other, looking for the first opening and keeping an eye on the man with the gun at the same time.

Jessica struck the first blow, and left herself open to a counter kick to the side of the body right in the ribs. The sound of both blows could have been heard a mile away and the old man was beginning to salivate. His scar-faced friend was looking pretty happy, as well - and the man with the gun was starting to pay more attention to the fight than to his need to oversee the fighters.

Gwen caught Jessica in the stomach with a stupendous kick and followed this up with two punches to the face which drew blood in copious amounts.

"NOW, Gwen!"

And both girls dived at the shotgun, which the man had allowed to drop, pulling it away from him before he could recover his poise. He was soon lying on the ground with a very badly gashed head.

The other two onlookers took one look and started to flee.

The girls pursued them and caught them. The horrible old man soon joined his friend in unconsciousness and Gwendoline and Jessica turned their attention to the third. This tough looking gentleman turned out not to be so tough after all. Remembering their resolve to pay these people back fifty fold, they proceeded to exact payment in full on his person.

There was blood all over the white sheet, but very little belonged to the girls.

The key to the cage was in the ringleader's pocket and they soon got Harriet free.

"Let's get her inside the house, Gwen and find some rope to tie these bastards up."

After a very pleasant breakfast and a few cups of hot, sweet tea, Harriet was soon almost her normal self. Only the red lines on her knees gave any sign of her ordeal.

"Let's go and look at our friends in the garden."

The owner of the house was concscious again. Gwen and Jess proceeded to work him mercilessly over in a thorough fashion, regretting for once their lack of shoes. Finally they locked him in the cage, threw the key over the garden wall and left him suspended and naked as Harriet had been. He looked more dead than alive.

"Goodbye, Sir. Thanks for the hospitality - lovely breakfast! Have a nice day!!"

And so the three friends finally got to swim across the river and were soon lost to view. It was several hours before the other two could free themselves from their bonds and then they had to find the key to the cage. By the time Mr. Henderson (such was this gentleman's name) was let out he was extremely ill. Later that day he was admitted to hospital, suffering from pneumonia and hypothermia. Sadly, he made a full recovery.

Harriet assured both the other girls that she had never had such a comfortable night in her life, but that perhaps one such night was enough! She thanked them repeatedly for being willing to hurt each other to help her. She got quite tearful, not that it was too obvious in the rain.

Gwen and Jessica kept fussing over each other's cuts and bruises, frequently "kissing them better" and walked along with their arms around each others waists, with many long pauses to embrace and kiss.

They found one of the food stores around mid afternoon and ate every scrap. It had been a day to sharpen the appetite!

* * *

"What do you reckon's worse - the rain or the cold?" asked Gwendoline of the other two as they cowered inside a dilapidated shed. It was the night after the Adventure of the Three Perverts. Rain dripped steadily through the roof onto their shivering bodies.

"The rain," said Harriet. "Ye Gods, but did I have a bellyful of that last night! Couldn't even drink it because I couldn't raise my head. When it's cold and clear, at least it's dry - even frost would be preferable to that horrible non-stop soaking."

"Poor old Harry," said Jessica and Gwen together.

"Let's give her a lovely warm night tonight. It WAS our fault she was stuck out in the rain so long. We should have known we'd no choice and just got straight on with it," said Gwen.

"You'd be AMAZED the ways we have to keep you warm, Harriet! In fact you won't just be warm - you'll be positively HOT."

"Oh, shit! I'd sooner be back in that bloody tree than have you two lezzies groping and pawing all over me!"

"You'd like it - really you would, darling Harriet! Admit it!" wheedled Gwen.

"Nice Harriet!" said Jess, rubbing her finger around one of their friend's hardening nipples.

"Well... you are warm and soft. I've never denied that."

"So are you Harry, darling!"

"Can I be first to have her, please, Jessie?"

"OK, Gwen."

Later... "Harry?"

"What, Gwen?"

"You're getting lovely and juicy - you must like it just a teensy weeny bit!"

"Just a bit, maybe! But I'd still prefer my darling Bill to be down there! No offence meant! Night darlings. Have fun with me - but don't wake me!"

And Harriet fell asleep - a victim of exhaustion.

Gwen and Jessica gently sheltered their sleeping friend's body all night long, mindful of their promise to keep her warm, shielding Harriet from the cold rain that was ceaselessy dripping onto them.

Within an hour of dawn, the clouds cleared away and the sun came out - pretty watery by this time of the year. It nevertheless raised their spirits. The memory of their recent ordeal and danger started to fade. Life was good again!

They had covered a fair distance the day before, avoiding such villages as Hatley St George and Great Gransden, crossing the A14 (Ermine Street) north of Caxton, desending to level ground again, finally getting across the A604 south east of Godmanchester. They had swum across the Great Ouse and ended up in the old shed near the village of Over. All this was a diversion from the direct route and they would soon need to start circling to the west before resuming a northerly direction. They had decided to steer well clear of the large towns of Northants, Leics., and Nottinghamshire.

They had not reckoned on such a proliferation of rivers, canals and drainage channels. Sometimes these could be crossed at night by bridge, but there were many times when a swim was the only way to get over and even then they were often forced to wait until no one was around. It was incredible just how many people WERE around in this foul weather. All bloody masochists, the trio had decided. "Why can't they just sit indoors and download porn like normal decent folks," Harriet had bitterly complained.

A few days earlier Harriet had remembered the number of a male cousin, "frightfully good sport - he'll give us a bed for the night" who lived in some fenland village and would pick them up at a pre-arranged spot after dark and drive them all to his home.

Unfortunately they arrived far too early at the pick-up spot and had to find somewhere to hide and keep warm for the rest of the day. By the time it was dark and Harriet's cousin Jason had picked them up, they were getting very dejected and more than ever glad of shared warmth.

Jason's house was right in the middle of the village, but at least the garden was not overlooked by neighbours. Harriet had previously told him all about their initiation test and he seemed not a bit put out at playing host to three naked girls. He was the perfect host, making sure they had all they needed to eat and drink and refusing point blank to let his guests do the washing up, insisting that they needed to rest.

Finally they all relaxed in front of the fire. Jason and Harriet occupied an arm chair apiece and the other two shared the sofa.

After a few minutes... "Your two friends seem to be very fond of each other," Jason said to his cousin, gazing stupefied as Gwen and Jessica made energetic and increasingly breathless love in front of him!

"Are they ever! Those two have been crawling all over each other like that ever since I joined them - and they would crawl all over me too, if I gave them half a chance. Such nice girls once - a bit wild, but OK. What their Mummies are going to think, with their dreams of finding nice suitable young men for them and arranging Society weddings - fat chance of that! Fine advert for Cheltenham Ladies College - I don't think!"

"Makes you kind of feel left out, though, doesn't it? Sorry to hear about you and Bill, by the way."

"If that's some kind of hint, Jason - and it had bloody well better be - lead the way upstairs! These two'll be happy down here - they'd be happy anywhere!"

"Your room's straight ahead at the top of the stairs," said Jason to the two writhing bodies on the sofa. "See you both in the morning."

"Don't forget - no bedclothes you two - you have to pay for your pleasure with goose-pimples Jason," shouted Jessica, her head raising itself briefly from some intimate area or other of Gwendoline.

"Price worth paying - anyway it's a nice warm house."

He was right about that. As the two lay on the sofa they realised that their exertions had left them soaked in sweat. Jessica licked at a drop running down between Gwendolines breasts and then discovered more drops on her stomach and greedily sucked them up as well.

"Let's get upstairs, sweet Gwen - it'll be much comfier on a nice big bed."

An hour later they were fast asleep. For once in the last weeks they were almost too hot.

* * *

The next morning was a repetition in some ways of the scene at breakfast in Minehead when Harriet had been all over Bill and Bill had been all over Harriet. It was heartening for Jessica and Gwen to see Harriet getting over her loss so quickly. They both thought Jason better loooking than Bill - he was six foot four and athletically muscular. They had plenty of opportunity to admire his physique as all of it was on view.

Neither girl had ever seen so much thick, black curly hair on any man's chest before. It went all the way down his stomach until it merged with his pubic bush. With one hand tenderly fondling his penis, Harriet stroked his hairy chest with the other. At one point she pulled several hairs out.

"Gosh, Jason. I bet that hurt!" cried Gwendoline

"Look at his eyes watering - can we have some too?" said Jess - "Come on Gwen. Why should Harry have him all to herself - I want some! I love you, but he's so gorgeous!"

"Fuck off - you two! Get back to licking each others pussies - that's all you're bloody good for."

"I thought it was supposed to be 'all for one and one for all'," pouted Gwen. "Come on, you rotter - share him with us - let's see if he's man enough to satisfy all three of us one after the other."

He demonstrated, to their complete satisfaction, that he was.

"You're really nice, Jason," sighed an ecstatic Jessica recovering from a tremendous climax. "If Gwen and I can each find a boy like you, maybe we'll think about going straight."

As soon as it was dark, the three girls got into Jason's car and he drove them to the next food cache, which they were pleased to find intact. They decided to make the spot their resting place for the night and Jason was easily persuaded to join them. He and Harriet spent the entire night thrashing about on the ground and Gwendoline and Jessica resumed their own interrupted love making.

"You're lots nicer than Jason, Jess - dear boy that he is!"

"You too, Gwen."

Dawn broke and Jason left after kissing all three goodbye and wishing them luck.

"You two are insatiable," Harriet hissed, as the car disappeared from view. "Disgusting pair!"

"We're not disgusting" said Gwen when after a fierce struggle the two sat on top of her, one pinning her legs and the other sitting on her chest. "You don't get up until you say 'Sorry'."

"Wait till I get my breath back and I'll wipe the floor with you - disgusting bitches!"

Somehow, Harriet managed to wriggle free and punched Jessica in the face, bruising her cheekbone. This was a very bad move and the two girls unleashed a flurry of blows which sent her back to the ground where she lay for several minutes before recovering her senses.

They sat on either side of her and waited until she sat up.

"I'm still not going to say sorry - but can't we be friends again?"

"Still friends and we're the ones to apologise," said a remorseful Jessica, tears running down her face. "I don't know what gets into us sometimes. We deserve to be punished for what we did with Jason and to you just now. What forfeit do you want us to pay, darling Harriet."

"Finish the fight you started the other night. Not now, but sometime later when I give the word."

"OK Harry - seems fair enough. We'll hate it, but we've asked for it. We'll be ready whenever you like." But both girls dreaded having to hurt each other again and secretly hoped Harriet would relent - not that they would dream of asking her. They would just have to pay this price for their meanness.

As the day went by the strained atmosphere gradually eased and something of the former gaiety returned. They found a spot to sleep, but Harriet kept apart from the others, arms wrapped around her knees which were up against her chest and trying to stop shivering. The other girls also kept apart and tried vainly to keep themselves warm without the comfort of each other.

Finally, Jessica moved over to Harriet and put her arms around her. Gwen came and joined them.

"Let's all stop being silly, Harriet," said Gwendoline. "It was such fun until Jess and I ruined it - can't we start again and forget the last couple of days?"
"I'd love that darling Gwen. I only seduced Jason to get back at Bill and I feel so cheap and dirty if you must know. But you girls shouldn't have knocked me out - two against one. It was despicable of you. So cowardly and shameful, and you know it! Either one of you could have finished me on your own and it would still have been cowardly of you - you know I'm not in your class! You're not getting out of finishing your little show. I'm really going to enjoy watching you doing to each other what you did to me! Teach you both a lesson. Now let's get some sleep."

A chastened pair could only agree with Harriet. They had attacked her in a fit of rage and felt more and more ashamed every time they thought about it. They had behaved like two vicious thugs, instead of ladies of good breeding. As they drifted off to sleep Jessica and Gwen separately resolved that Harriet would get every bit as good a show as they had been reluctantly prepared to give the three perverts. Not that either was in any hurry. Both girls still fervently hoped that Harriet would relent. Let's be really nice to her, was their shared thought.

By this time they were a few miles from Oundle and heading in a north westerly direction. By midday, they were emerging from a wood, where they had managed to pick a few nuts and berries as well as some mushrooms. Their way was barred by a thick hedge and it was a while before they could find a gap. When they did an amazing sight greeted them.

In the field were about ten small tents and one large one. Out of the large tent a number of people emerged and following them were two young girls, maybe a year or so younger than Gwen and company. The girls were dressed in white gowns and each was being held by two men. They were led to a couple of triangular erections only a few yards from where the girls were watching.

"I read a book once about the penal settlements in Australia," said Gwendoline, "and I have a very nasty feeling about this."

"I know," said Harriet. "They would tie the convicts to triangles like that and flog them - surely they can't be going to do anything like that to those little girls. Who are these people anyway?"

"One of them is very familiar, isn't she? Of course! It's Frederika Forbes-Browne. She left after a year because her parents joined some weird sect and she was going to be educated in the Faith by the rest of the nutcases. This must be some kind of religious convention, I suppose. Maybe the girls have upset the Elders and are going to be punished."

"Not if we've anything to do with it, they're not" said Gwen.

The two girls were stripped of their gowns and tied naked to the triangles, confirming the trio's fears. One of the crowd stepped forward. He was holding a wicked looking rawhide whip.

"I've seen what a thing like that can do," whispered Harriet. "When I was growing up in Africa, I saw a man beaten with one of those things. He was a big powerfully built man but he was screaming for mercy after five lashes. Those two will be cut in half if he uses it on them - we've got to stop this!"

"We might end up sharing the same fate," warned Jessica.

"Maybe, but could you look yourself in the face again if you didn't at least try to help the poor things?"

The three all agreed.

The man with the whip began to speak and the rest of the crowd murmured assent from time to time.

"If you walk contrary to me I will chastise you seven times for your sins."

"Amen."

"Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth."

"Hallelujah."

"But thou didst trust in thine own beauty and playdst the harlot."

"Shame!"

"Behold the instrument of the Lord's wrath!" He lifted up the whip.

"Praise the Lord!" came the answer.

"Behold the messenger of chastisement and the scourge of righteousness!" Brandishing the whip once again.

"Amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah!"

"Come on, girls lets put a stop to this NOW," said Harriet.

Just as the three were pushing through the hedge the crowd started moving away back to the tent and the leader placed the whip on the ground in full view of the two terrified and shivering girls.

"Reflect upon your wickedness and and look fearfully upon that wherewith ye shall be chastised," and he walked back into the tent. The two girls were left alone.

"Harry - you go and see if you can't start some kind of diversion," whispered Jessica. "I've still got this book of matches. Only a couple left. They might come in handy. Look for something sharp to cut the ropes with, Gwen."

And they climbed through the hedge, Harriet making for the rear of the tent and the other two for the triangles. They started to untie the girls bonds.

"Remember us, Freddy? Gwen and Jessica? We were a year ahead of you."

"Oh, yes! It was such a nice year before we had to leave and join up with this awful bunch. I still dream about it. You mustn't let them catch you. They're all mad - even Mummy and Daddy! How do you come to be here undressed like that?"

"Tell you later. How long before they come back?"

"Only a few minutes - maybe ten. They're all praying. Bloody hypocrites!"

Finally the two were freed and started to rub their ankles and wrists trying to get feeling back into their limbs.

"Right you two, get over to the hedge and wait for us. We've got to see how our friend is getting on."

It was just as well they did go to check on Harriet as she had been surprised by two men - some sort of guards - and was being pinned to the ground.

"Thanks for coming so soon, girls," said Harriet as they looked down at the sleeping pair. "I found a few cans of paraffin and was just thinking what to do with them when they jumped me."

When the trio joined up with the rescued girls, the meeting tent was burning well and the cult members were too busy trying to put the flames out either to notice the disappearance of the two girls or to organise a pursuit.

"Sorry, you two. We should have tried to get something to cover you with. It's not a warm day - but you'll have to grin and bear it for a bit."

"You three must be freezing yourselves," said Frederika. "This is Tamsin, by the way - her parents took her away from Roedean to join this fucking freak show. Why are you all nude - and so rugged and weatherbeaten too - you've been this way a while. What gives?"

The three would-be female Masons explained.

"Gosh sounds a better outfit to be in than ours," said Tamsin.

"Why were they going to whip you? That thing could have killed you both - thank God we were around."

"Oh. A couple of local boys chatted us up and gave us a ride in their car. They were awfully sweet and nice and nothing much happened - worse luck. But it was enough to bring those freaks down on us like a ton of bricks - as you saw."

"What do you want to do now you are free?" asked Harriet.

"I've got an aunt who thinks Mummy and Daddy are mad as hatters (which they are - I don't know them anymore) and I can stay with her." answered Freddy. "As for my education - I've been taught nothing but crap since I left the College - how I'll ever catch up now - Heaven knows."

"I've got a much older brother I can stay with," said Tamsin, "but it's the same with me. I've got no chance of getting into Uni for years, if ever, thanks to those bastards."

"Suppose we couldn't tag along with you three for a bit?" asked Freddy.

"Sorry, girls. I think it would be best if we got you on your way."

A phone call to Jason resulted in his appearing an hour or two later with some things for Freddy and Tamsin and he promised to deliver them to their respective relatives. He was getting quite offhand about associating with naked girls. "When you've seen one you've seen the lot," he told himself. A real man of the world!

Once again the three travellers said goodbye to Jason and watched the car drive away.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue back there," said a grateful Harriet.

"Think nothing of it" darling," said Gwen. "What are friends for?"

"It's been an exciting day - that's for sure!" said Jessica.

Harriet smiled. "It's going to be even more exciting in a few seconds, for us all, especially for you two!"

"I think over by that stream should be ideal. You can bathe each others wounds in the water after you have finished. We can all eat afterwards, if you two haven't knocked each other's teeth out - that is!"

[Harry]

PART FOUR
Jessica and Gwendoline leaned over the brook, bathing their faces in the cold water.

"Good of you to let us stop when you did, Harry," said Gwendoline looking around for a second.

"That's OK. I couldn't get any pleasure watching you two, it was truly boring - you are too evenly matched. You could have gone on for hours and neither would have won."

"Admit it, Gwen. It wasn't as bad as all that, was it?" said Jessica. "I mean we're not exactly fragile - either of us. When we go up to Oxford, I vote we stop all this refusing to compete against each other - after all we've fought other friends and no one's trying to kill anyone - why are we so special? Think of the trophies we've missed out on by being so squeamish - don't let's lose any more."

"Just what I've been thinking."

"It's a real beauty - that eye of yours, Gwen."

"So is yours Jessie - a work of art!. My foot hurts a bit."

"You mistimed a kick - I never felt it at all - well hardly," lied Jessica rubbing her sore stomach and examining the deep red imprint of Gwendoline's foot.

"Come on you two let's eat that lovely food Jason left us."

Said Gwendoline after the meal was over, "I thought you'd maybe let us off after today's little dust up - I mean we did save you from those two guys. I think you were a bit hard on us insisting we went through with it."

"I thought about it - and I did stop you after a few minutes. If I'd still been as mad I was the other day, you'd still be slugging it out now until one or both of you dropped. I might still keep you to it - so mind how you treat me."

"You surely don't mean we've still got this hanging over us?" cried an angry Jessica.

"You might have."

"Come on Gwen! We might just as well finish now as later - we've eaten. Now let's get on with it. She can carry us both on her back tomorrow. Hope you're feeling strong Harriet!"

"Right, come on, Jessica."

Fifty minutes later.

I told you it was boring - all you've done is tire yourselves out for nothing."

"It was NOT boring," gasped Jessica taking her head out of the stream to catch her breath. "If you had any idea of the skills we were demonstrating. Some of our moves were BRILLIANT. You're just a bloody Philistine! Gwendoline dear - how do you cure nosebleeds? Look at that stream running pink with my lifeblood - do something sweetheart."

Gwen splashed cold water on to Jessica's back and it actually worked!

A grateful Jess sat next to her friend, her arm around her and examined her face affectionately.

"You've two black eyes now Gwen and I've still only got one. Still I've got a sore nose to even things up."

"Look at that lazy Harriet," said Gwendoline. "Look at her! Fresh as a daisy while we're bruised and exhausted. Mind you we worked up a lovely sweat, cold as it!"

"Do you think she needs a dip in the brook, Jessica?"

"Just what I was thinking! Come on Harriet - bath time!"

"You'll never catch me in the state you're both in. You've bloody crippled each other - look at yourselves!"

They DID catch Harriet in spite of their tired state and dropped her wriggling naked body into the stream, immediately plunging in after her and holding her down in the freezing cold water.

"Let me up you two. I promise always to be nice to you and you can lick my pussy any time you like. Honest you can. Please you two, I'm freezing. I'm not as tough as you are - I can't take this kind of thing like you can. I'm sorry I made you fight each other after you'd both rescued me. I'll try to make it up to you."

"Nice here in the brook, isn't it Jessie?"

"I think so, Gwen And very comfortable with nice soft Harriet to sit on. Let's spend all night here - what do you say?"

"Do you think her skin will go all wrinkled after a while in the water? Wonder how long it takes? Shall we wait here and find out?"

"Please let me up, you two!"

"Who gave you permission to speak, Harriet? Gwen and I are talking. Don't interrupt again! You get an extra five minutes in the brook for that."

"Isn't it pretty the way her bush is moving about in the water, Gwen, like some delicate water weed?"

"Lovely. Shall we just sit quietly for a bit? I feel very full of deep thoughts and they need time to fructify."

Later on... "Shall we push her head under for a bit, Gwendoline? We could look at all the pretty bubbles coming up."

"I don't know, Jessica. Let's think it over for a while."

The two girls continued to hold the frozen Harriet firmly in position. Harriet was much too scared of her friends in their present vengeful mood to utter another word or to put up any more of a struggle. Finally Gwendoline spoke, relaxing her grip on the poor girl.

"Come on she's had enough. This stopped being funny ages ago, if it ever was! Let's get her out and warm her up. Come on Harriet."

And they assisted their friend out of the water.

"Lie down here, darling, we'll soon get you lovely and warm - we're experts - no hard feelings I hope. We're nasty little bitches sometimes, but you should have let us off and that made us mad with you."

"No hard feelings, Gwendoline. I know I should never have made you do what you did to each other. Part of me wanted the excitement of watching you knock each other about - that was bad - made me no better than those awful people the other night. I know I'm going to be the permanent underdog around here from now on, but I do like being around you two - I truly do, if I'm still welcome!"

"Don't be so silly, Harriet - you and Gwen can half drown ME in the morning if you like - that's a promise - IF you can catch me! We quite enjoyed pitting our skills against each other once we got going! Surprised ourselves! And we didn't really hurt each other- didn't try to - to let you into our little secret! So no silly talk of underdogs around here. Let's go to bed and all get warm together!"

Bed was the open meadow where the struggle between Gwen and Jessica had taken place, with great vigour and without much injury. The two kept Harriet underneath them all night and this time she did not complain or struggle to escape.

The girls arranged a meeting with cousin Jason on the next day. They wanted to know what had happened to Frederika and Tamsin. More than that; he brought wonderful ham sandwiches and coffee for them on his visits. They were all beginning to appreciate his delicious breakfasts!

When he arrived he looked startled.

"What happened to you two - you had a few healing bruises last time. Now you've freshened them up a bit and added some new ones. Did Harriet do that to you - surely not?"

"In a way she did," replied Gwendoline with a laugh. "We were just brushing up a few of our kick boxing and associated techniques to entertain her. It was a great way to keep warm."

"Then they threw me in the river and sat on me and wouldn't let me out for ages! We have such super fun together!"

"Sounds like it" he dryly retorted. "Anyway here's your breakfast. It should keep you going for a few hours. Your two friends' relatives came and picked them up yesterday. They would very much like to see you all and thank you personally. You may be asked to give evidence. The police are involved now and they are taking it very seriously. They've questioned the people at the camp and arrested the so-called Pastor and the girls' parents."

"Oh, shit. Can't they wait until November 24th! No! I suppose not. We'll just have to break off and that'll mean the whole Ladies Masonic Society thing's off - DAMN!"

Harriet spoke up. "I'll go and give a statement to the cops. Maybe I can rejoin you in a day or two, if you like. That should do the trick for now. The Crown Court trial won't be for ages and we can all give our evidence then."

And so the three became two again.

"Hope she does rejoin us, Jessica. She's a sweet girl and I'm really going to miss her."

"Me too. I wish we hadn't been so beastly to her! We must be nicer when she comes back."

"If she comes back," said Gwendoline sadly. "When she's got her clothes back on and had a few nice warm nights with Jason, and got used to regular hot meals she won't want to come and put up with our funny little ways again and all the freezing cold. Why did we pick on her so cruelly last night? God, but I really hate myself for that! Please hug me, Jessie - I feel so miserable!"

* * *

It was two days since Harriet had left so to give evidence to the police against the abusers of Freddy and Tamsin . Jessica and Gwen had covered about fifty miles in that time. They were on higher ground now and the days of trudging over sodden marshy meadows and wading or swimming over watercourses were over. At least for a while.

They had found suitable places to sleep at night, but still woken half frozen in the mornings. The thought of just over a month of this - and worse- was beginning to seem very intimidating. And in terms of distance they were getting behind schedule.

They both missed Harriet. The more they thought about her the more bitterly they both regretted that they had treated her so shamefully in the last few days. They especially repented of their cruelty on that final evening, when they had thrown her into a brook and held her under only her head above water, for over twenty minutes until she was half dead with cold. At one point they had threatened to push even her head under and the look of sheer terror on Harriet's face still haunted them with guilt. She might have provoked them into this, but they had over-reacted - not for the first time.

The first night without her they had slept separately and, without their shared warmth, consequently they had shivered all night. Feeling somehow obliged to do something to expiate their guilt they had decided to experience the same misery they had caused their poor friend.

"Harriet was right - we really are going to need help if we mean to finish this," said a shivering Gwendoline as they lay in a ditch on the morning after their second Harriet-less night.

"Oh don't be such a bloody pessi..."

Just as Jessica was half-way through the word "pessimist" the bushes over the ditch parted and a large human penis appeared and was directed by two strong hands in a downwards direction - pointing directly at the two girls. Someone was clearly about to piss all over them!

Both girls did what any nice well brought up young ladies would in such circumstances. They screamed loudly!

More of the foliage was disturbed and a face appeared. The penis was speedily withdrawn and rehoused.

"Gosh - ladies! I'm most frightfully sorry - usually get this ditch to myself - find myself another spot to do the necessary! Stay where you are - might be some help. I mean to say - you must be in some sort of jam! Be right back.

Two minutes later a tall young man dressed in rather oily jeans and anorak pushed all of himself through the bushes and climbed down into the ditch. He was holding some covering for the girls to put on.

"No thanks. We don't wear clothes any more. All those cleaning bills and that awful ironing. I mean - who needs it?" Gwendoline giggled.

"You can't be serious! It's bloody freezing today and you don't look warm at all. Come and sit in my cab for a while and get some heat into you - I'll stay outside."

So the girls climbed out of the ditch and found themselves in a layby where a large lorry (truck) was parked. They climbed up into the warm cab and began to thaw out.

"Please don't stay out in the cold. Come up and talk to us. We trust you - worse luck!" cried Jessica.

The young man hoisted himself into the cab and sat beside them.

"Are you sure you aren't in some kind of trouble - you're covered in bruises - has some swine beaten you both up?"

"No. We did this to each other in a bit of practising - except for a few very faint bruises which date from when we took part in an illegal bare knuckle prize fight and emerged triumphant."

"How absolutely splendid! I like to see girls who make something of themselves - their bodies, I mean. My sister, she's a total wimp - arms and legs like sticks - picks at her food - mopes about in her room all day - pathetic! You two are my kind of girl every time! The days of the little woman sitting at home having coffee mornings and sewing meetings - gone for ever I should hope!

"I was a boxing and rowing blue at Cambridge, myself. Nothing like sport for keeping you on your toes. Healthy mind in a healthy body."

"You seem a bit of an odd fellow to be driving a lorry! By the way, we'd better introduce ourselves - I'm Jessica Maltravers and this is Gwendoline Foxe my best friend and life's partner."

" Pleased to meet you both. Lady Gwendoline Foxe and the Hon. Jessica Maltravers. You two are famous!"

"You didn't say how you came to be doing a job like this, with your education. And how do you know about us?"

"We're new money in my family, unlike you two blue-bloods! Into all sorts of vulgar enterprises! My grandfather started this firm and now I own and run it, together with quite a few others, since my dear old Dad died a couple of years ago. But I prefer driving this thing on my own once in a while to unwind. Change from sitting in some bloody board room with a bunch of stuffed shirts; so a lot of the time I let other people do the hard work and I relax and enjoy myself in my own funny way!

As for knowing about you two - well you caused quite a stir - rescuing two young girls from a whipping at the hands of a bunch of freaks. Quite the heroines - you two and your friend Lady Harriet!"

"You mean it's in the papers?"

"Very much so."

"Harriet went to make a statement, but we want to making finish a little mission we are on first before we have our say."

And they explained.

"What an amazing idea! Pretty devilish kind of initiation, though! I'd let you pass it for just having made it this far! I really would! If you like, I can try to contact this Harold Fitzjames and get him to relax the conditions."

"NO!NO! NO!" shouted Jessica, with Gwendoline nodding agreement. "WE WANT TO DO IT, EVEN IF IT KILLS US!"

"It really has become that important," agreed Gwendoline. "We just couldn't live with ourselves if we didn't see this thing through right to the end. Though it seems to be gettingharder all the time."

"What a great couple! Get out of the cab and into the back, where you won't be seen. I'm going to drive to a transport cafe and get something to eat. I'll bring you two a few morsels to warm you up for the day - never fear!"

Half an hour later, in another layby, they ate a magnificent breakfast with their new friend.

"I can pass the word to our drivers to keep an eye out for you two. But, obviously they mainly use the Motorway and that's no help. Can you memorise my phone number?"

"Gwendoline's got a photographic memory" said Jessica proudly. "We were given a map and loads of detailed instructions at the start of the journey and they're all there up in that sweet, beautiful, adorable head of hers!"

"Which you were kicking and punching so enthusiastically the other day," laughed Gwen embracing and kissing her friend. "Or would have if I wasn't too quick for you."

"Glad you were too quick, my sweet!"

"Where can I drop you two off? I'm going North."

After they had all eaten, he let out of the cab late in the afternoon in a remote part of the High Peak District where the only beings to see their nudity were sheep who didn't seem that interested.

"Good luck girls and keep in touch. I'll be back in London for some boring old meetings, but I'll always be available to answer a call from you two." And he drove away, leaving the two adventuresses to face the cold again after hours of warmth.

"Gosh, Gwen you're covered with gooseflesh and turning blue already," shivered Jessica. "Lets start running - the ground's pretty even - and get the blood flowing."

As they ran Jessie continued, "I've not known it this cold yet; and the wind! Gosh it's like a knife."

"I know, Jessie. It's really bracing, isn't it? See that old house over their - looks like a ruin. Lets take a look!"

By the time they reached the house after an hour's running, they had warmed themselves up and were getting used once again to the open air after their warm day. The building was indeed derelict and they had a shelter for the night. The pump in the garden was working and they could wash and drink. A walnut tree provided them with a meagre supper. Most of the fruit had fallen from the apple trees and gone putrid.

After a cold but bearable night - such a relief to get out of that wind - they went into the overgrown garden and took turns to pump water over each others shivering scarlet bodies. A few minutes of wrestling and kick boxing practice - no actual blows being landed - dried them off and induced some degree of warmness.

They set off to experience a fourth day without Harriet, now doubtless back in her Devon cottage organising some wild party and very relieved to escape from being a perpetually cold victim of the others' cruelty.

They were able to walk all day without having to take cover, although they did see a car in the far distance at one point - too far way to see two nude girls - they hoped.

It was a hungry day for them. The food store had been very poorly sited and someone had long ago comsumed all the stuff they wanted and left the rest for the beasts of the field, who had eaten the remainder. Lack of proper food had lowered their spirits and impaired their resistance to the cold.

"Look, Jess - over there. Are we dreaming or is that a chicken out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Can't belong to any one - only be caught by a fox sooner or later. Let's go!"

And two nude and starving girls, their long untidy hair flying in the wind and their breasts flying up and down as they ran, chased and caught the vainly protesting fowl and expertly wrung its neck.

The rich young lorry driver had given them a book of matches to replace the one they had used to rescue the girls from the loonies. They dined that evening out on the windswept hillside on eatable if rather charred chicken.

"That bird was half starved, poor old thing. We did her a favour by eating her while she still had some meat on her!"

"We've always been kind to animals, Jessie. No one can accuse us of being all bad. Would have been nice to have Harriet to share it with. She could have caught it for us while we cheered her on! Best be pressing on. Maybe there's more ruined houses around here!"

As dusk was falling it seemed their wishes for some shelter from the wind - colder and stronger than ever - were to be granted. A dark old building loomed up in the murk only a few hundred away. It was surrounded by a high wall, but looked as empty as the one the previous night. They moved closer to the house to inspect it. And walked straight into another disaster, the worst yet.

* * *

As the two girls came near the old house they noticed an open doorway leading through the surrounding wall. They pushed through it and entered the garden. This garden was nowhere near as overgrown as the one last night, but there seemed nobody around and they felt safe enough in creeping up to the house itself.

They had only walked a few yards when a genteel female voice shouted from an upstairs window.

"What's the matter with you girls - some kind of attack? Come on in out of the cold - the door's not locked."

The grateful pair pushed open the front door and found themselves in a hallway. They waited until an elderly and rather shabbily dressed lady came down the staircase and smiled at them.

"Come into the kitchen. I expect you could use a hot drink and you can tell me all about yourselves and whatever misfortune has robbed you of all you possess - even your clothes."

They were led into a large and very old fashioned kitchen; the sort you see in period films. The girls were each given a steaming mug of Bovril and some wholemeal bread and butter. They both felt that yet another life - saving deliverance from cold and hunger had materialised in the nick of time!

"We are trying to get to Northumberland without clothes or money and without being spotted by the Law," explained Gwendoline in answer to the lady's questions. "We've had a few close shaves, but kept out of trouble so far - well almost! We aren't able to stay more than one night anywhere - it's in the terms of our 'dare' you see."

The lady smiled again. "I think you'll find yourselves here for more than just one night, my dears. There's so much to do about the place. RICHARD, COME INTO THE KITCHEN DEAR!"

"I'd like you two to meet my son. He'll be keeping an eye on you now that you have come to work here. Here he comes - Look, Richard - We seem to have solved the servant problem at last."

A large unkempt unshaven man entered the room.

"Aren't they strong looking girls, Richard? Look at those backs and those arms and shoulders and strong muscular thighs! We'll get them to work in the garden tomorrow. Tonight they can start sweeping and cleaning the house. We won't have to clothe them; they don't like wearing anything - dirty little trollops. Keep your hands off them Richard - 'touch pitch and be defiled.'"

An alarmed pair started to their feet and prepared to leave in a hurry. Things seemed to be taking a bit of a turn for the worse. Richard drew a hand gun from his belt and waved the two back to their seats. The lady proceeded to tie their arms behind the chairs.

Richard replaced the gun and took off his leather belt.

"If you keep us against our will, you'll be in big trouble", said Jessica. "This is unreal."

Richard started to bring the belt down rhythmically slapping the palm of one hand.

"You call me 'Ma'am' when you address me. And you call Richard 'Sir' when you talk to him. You NEVER speak until spoken to, if you know what's good for you."

"FUCK OFF!" shouted both girls together, but with a sickening awareness of their helplessness and the similar way they had intimidated Harriet the other day. A few chickens seemed to be coming home to roost!

Richard brought the belt crashing down onto the table, causing the crockery to rattle.

"Next time it comes down on those flawless young backs of yours. It's time you learned some manners, you foul mouthed little guttersnipes."

"Sorry to swear. What we meant was 'Get Lost'," said a quietly defiant Gwendoline

At this, Gwendoline was released briefly, only to be tied up facing against the wall, her arms above her head. Richard raised his belt.

"Don't hurt her! Please we'll do as you say only please, please don't hurt her!"

"You're going all wimpish and cowardly Jessica - shame on you!" said Gwendoline. "I'm disappointed."

"Go on," she said to Richard, "beat me as hard as you like, you ugly fucking freak, but I don't kowtow to scum like you. Not now and not ever - so get fucked!! And we won't be doing much work if we're more than half dead."

"Good old Gwen." said Jessica, rather unwillingly shamed into emulating her friend's courage. "Let these shit-faced arseholes do what they like to us!"

Neither girl would agree to address these people as they required and after tiring himself out on them, Richard finally gave up. They were left, suspended side by side to recover.

"How's your back feel, my darling" asked Gwen.

"Painful. How does it look?"

Gwendoline bent her head round and tried to look at her friend's back.

"Not too bad, dear old Jessica. Lots of red marks and a few really nasty weals - but at least there's no blood. He didn't break the skin. It's still the loveliest back in the whole wide world! Can't wait to kiss it all over and over again! How's mine - not so good, I guess?"

"Sorry Gwen, but it's not good at all. Not too much blood, thank God, but you've a lot of weeping sores. He really laid into you for being the defiant one. How could you go through all that and not make a sound?"

"Don't forget, Jessie! I'm the daughter of an Earl! I might not make a big thing about it, but I don't crawl to anybody - let alone degenerate bastards like that! No bloody way!"

"I wish I'd been the one to get the worst of it, rather than you. This was my daft idea! Now I wish I'd never thought of it. If we get out of this, the whole silly thing's off and we just get you into a nice warm bed and plenty of tender loving care - especially from me!"

"Shut up, Jessie. We'll still make it in November - you'll see."

"Not if we're stuck here we won't."

"Jessie?"

"Yes, darling?"

"I can't put my feet on the ground. I've got to keep standing on tiptoe. If I don't, my wrists hurt so much when they pull against the cords."

"I know, my love. It's the same with me. These two creeps have done this kind of thing before. Still - we can keep this up for hours - right?"

"Right - it's a piece of cake."

"Gwendoline?"

"What, Jessie?"

"Will you marry me?"

"We already are married, you silly goose."

"I'm going to be so good to you - just you watch!"

"Me too."

After a couple of hours the nasty couple came back and released the two lovers. They sank to the ground and rubbed their wrists in an effort to get the circulation flowing. It was agony for a while.

When they had recovered they were told to follow their host and hostess. At the top of the main staircase was a long corridor, covered in dust. (Ever seen a movie called "The Omen"?) They were set to work sweeping up the detritus of what must have been at least ten years of wilful neglect. When this had been done they were given polish and rags and forced to make the whole floor shine. Neither wished to endure another beating and while still refusing to use any kind of respectful language to their captors they obediently and industriously did as they were told in all other respects.

Finally they were thrown into a small room and locked in.

"Let's have a look at that back, lovely Gwen."

"What's the verdict, Jessica my darling?"

"I think you'll live. If you don't, you'll have me to answer for!"

"Isn't it wonderful, my darling lovely girl? We've all the rest of our lives together from today!"

"Not much of a honeymoon suite - but who cares?"

And so the two lovers slept in each others arms. No matter what might lie ahead, they had finally admitted their lifelong love for each other. Nothing could ever defeat them now!

* * *

The door of their prison burst open early next morning and Richard came in and put a plate down on the floor. He motioned the girls to back up against the wall and they obeyed, still fearful of his gun. The old lady came into the room, holding a couple of chains which she used to secure the two to a couple of hooks on the wall so that they were reduced to kneeling on the floor. All the while a very menacing Richard kept his gun trained on them.

Richard left and returned a few seconds later with a large copper saucepan which he partially emptied into the dish.

"Eat up you sluts. That's all you get today and you've a lot of work to get through."

With these few brief and carefully chosen words, he left them.

"Looks horrible, Gwen. And so horribly humiliating. But we'd better try to eat it. After you with the trough!"

And the two took turns to eat from the dish like a pair of dogs.

Richard came back a few minutes later.

"Nice meal - sluts?"

"Whoever taught you to cook should be fucking shot - you arsehole!"said Gwendoline.

Richard took of his belt again and raised it in the air, but did not use it on Gwendoline - yet.

"Good job in the house last night. Work in the garden today. Get moving!"

"There's only two of them, Jessie. She's obviously senile and he looks a half-wit. Surely we should have sorted them both ages ago!"

"Don't underestimate them, Gwen. They lured us into this place by leaving that door open - bet they had us under observation for hours as we tramped across the hills. And he knows how to use a gun, my love. We've both done a bit of shooting - don't tell me you can't tell a pro when you see one. He could shoot us dead as soon as blink and we can't take the risk he wouldn't. And even without the gun I have a gut feeling he would be no pushover."

"I wonder? I tell you this, my darling, he and his gruesome old mother are going to regret the day they met us."

"You've said it."

They emerged into the garden and noticed at once that the east wind was as strong as ever. It slammed into their naked bodies like a solid wall of ice.

"Start cleaning up the lawn - you two naked whores."

The first hour was spent picking up fallen leaves and piling them on to a heap lower down near the wall. They were not allowed the use a rake and it was a couple of hours before the mad couple were satisfied.

"They are a lazy pair," said the mother. "Tie that insolent one to a tree let the other one dig the foundations of the new shed."

"We've marked out the profiles - you slut - all you need to do is dig the foundations out. Only a couple of feet! Finish it quickly and we won't beat your friend. Not too much anyway."

The pair retreated inside the house and poor Gwendoline was left tied to a tree her feet not touching the ground. Jessica toiled away to save her from further punishment.

After two hours she finished and Gwendoline was freed. The two were left alone for a few minutes while Jessica comforted her friend and massaged her wrists and ankles which were chafed by the ropes.

"Darling Gwen - how are those wrists?"

"OK Jessie, my love."

"I missed working beside you so much. It's not too bad when we're together!"

"I hope they don't separate us again. It was SO cold tied up all that time and not being able to move to keep warm!"

"Never mind - at least we're together again now!"

"Darling Jessie!" But was there a hint of coolness in Gwendoline's voice?

Richard declared the break to be over and they were issued with saws and told to start cutting dead wood from the many trees in the garden. They had to climb up into the branches to do this in most cases - something they had been experienced at in happier times. It was dangerous work without any kind of safety harness and their hands were so affected by the bitter cold that they found it hard to get a proper grip. Harriet fell a couple times as rotten branches gave way under her. She was unhurt except for a few scratches and the application of an angry Richard's belt. Both girls were beginning to be scratched and grazed as their unprotected bodies rubbed against the rough bark. It was only when darkness was falling that they were brought back into the house, not before being hosed down with cold water.

When they finally came inside feeling colder and more exhausted than ever before in their lives they were set to scrubbing the kitchen and conservatory floors on their hands and knees. After this they were made to go down to the cellar and bring up solid fuel for the kitchen range.

Another two hours of sweeping and polishing the parquet flooring in the main reception rooms followed. By this time they were barely awake and oblivious to the attentions of Richard and his belt. Again Gwen got far more than her fair share of attention. They were not allowed to rest until the rooms were so well polished their floors were like mirrors.

When they were locked up at almost midnight, they fell asleep and lay without having the energy to say a word to each other.

On the morning of the second full day of servitude they were allowed to eat separately although still chained in such a way as to force them to eat in the same degrading manner.

Immediately they were sent back to continue the arboreal pruning. They were making up for years of neglect of this garden in a very short time. By mid day the pair declared themselves satisfied with the state of the trees and put the girls to collecting up all the fallen timber, sorting out the twigs from the more substantial branches and sawing the latter into logs for the winter fires.

Soon a great pile of logs was building up and the girls began to sweat in spite of the awful wind which continued to whip across the exposed hillside. Their arms ached from it all. Only nightfall gave them any respite, when they were allowed finally to quench their terrible thirst and again hosed down.

Once inside the kitchen the dripping and shivering pair were put to scrubbing floors again. This job was easier as they had done it so thoroughly last night. Afterwards it was the upper floors of the house which they were forced to clean. It took them until almost midnight to brush all the bedroom carpets to the satisfaction of the odious old woman and her son. Finally they were locked up again to sleep a few hours before the beginning of their third day.

"O Darling,Gwendoline! I can't take much more of this. My arms ache and my knees are sore from all that scrubbing and brushing. My back still stings from that bastard's belt. We must make a move tomorrow - better be dead than any more of this! And you're a whole lot worse - your poor darling back! - he's still picking on you all the time for standing up to him the other night - we MUST find a way out in the morning."

"I'm OK Jessica! A hide like leather! But it would be nice to have a change of scenery - I can't wait to be heading North again. We'll keep our eyes open and take the first chance that comes our way!"

* * *

Jessica stood outside as the cracking sound of leather landing once again on Gwendoline's already sore back rang out ten times. She clenched her fists in fury and anguish. Fury against this man for daring to touch her friend and even more against her own failure to help. Anguish as she thought what they were both going through, but Gwendoline so much more.

"What have you got to say for yourself now?" she heard him say.

"Fuck off, you ugly pig."

'Oh please stop being so bloody brave - this is killing me -never mind you.' she thought as the hiding was resumed.

Finally Gwendoline came out - pushed through the door by Richard, her flushed face showing only her contempt for her captor and betraying not a sign of pain. Her back was red and marked with weals. There was a small cut under one shoulder blade which bled slightly.

"Fuck off you bastard," she repeated and Richard made no further response but directed them out into the garden. He looked at Gwendoline's flaming red back and felt a grudging respect for her bravery. This is the one to work on all right, once we've broken her, her friend would be easy, was his conclusion.

The first hours were devoted to more sawing up of logs, with Richard standing over them, looking very alert. No chance seemed to be coming their way. How much longer was this nightmare going to go on?

"How's the back, Gwen - or is that a silly question?" asked Jess during a momentary break.

"Fine - Never felt better."

It was so terribly obvious that she was lying that Jessica started to pray as she had never prayed before, beseeching the Almighty for something to go right for them for a change.

Richard told them to carry on piling leaves and twigs onto the heap they had started the day before. Finally he bade them both to back off about twenty yards. He took out a box of matches and then rested the gun on the ground, keeping his eyes on the girls in case they made any kind of move. He lit the bonfire.

A sheet of white flame shot up into the air and in all directions and the heat caused Richard to jump back to avoid being incinerated. The gun was temporarily forgotten in his panic.

It took Gwen and Jessica only a few seconds to reach him, Gwendoline picking up the gun and pointing it at a singed and shaken Richard.

"How do feel about being knee-capped you low-life - or do want a taste of your own belt? I'm in a good mood - the choice is yours. Go and fetch that old bitch out, Jessie - she's going to watch her darling son being crippled."

Jessica obeyed her friend, awed by the new note of authority in her voice. In a couple of minutes the mother was being forced to look on as Richard stood quivering with fear before an icily relentless Gwendoline.

"Come on you two, they're not worth wasting time over - let's be on our way again!"

And a naked Harriet jumped down from the top of the wall.

Without once taking her eyes off Richard, Gwendoline shouted out, "Good to see you back again Harry, about time too! Sorry to disoblige but we've both been beaten and humiliated over the last few days - take a look at our backs, especially mine. They're both about to pay for it with interest. Go into the house Harriet - you too, Jessie after you've both secured Ma'am and sonny boy here - and start trashing it - make it uninhabitable, except for the larder and kitchen. We'll lay them waste after we've eaten."

"What's come over her?" asked Harriet as she and Jessie left the old lady tied up on the lawn and Richard tied facing a tree, both nude in the bitter wind. Acting on Gwen's instructions the other girls had cast their clothes on to the fire.

"I don't know, Harriet. I've never seen her like this before. With her in this mood, I pity those two - that's all I can say - despite what they've done to us."

"Gwen's been so phenomenally brave these last few days - she put me to shame on our very first night here. They took it out on her because she was so defiant - stupidly so, I thought. I got beaten a bit as well, but they were unmerciful to her and she never gave them the satisfaction of showing what she was feeling. She just kept on defying them until they got tired of beating her and stopped. She's been so wonderful, Harriet - more wonderful and so much stronger than I ever could have thought possible of her and we've been friends since we were born."

They spent an hour going over the house smashing anything breakable and pulling off bed and furniture coverings, throwing them out of the windows. They left the library intact - a respect for learning was more powerful than a desire for vengeance. Also there was some priceless porcelain and other objects d'art and these were spared for the same kind of reason.

They rejoined Gwendoline to find her applying Richard's belt to his red, bleeding back, ignoring his cries of pain and showing no signs of tiring. The sweat was pouring down her lithe young body and her face was scarlet with exertion. She did not stop her steady remorseless chastisement until the poor man lost consciousness.

"Get some water, you two - got to bring him round. I've not halfway finished with him yet. GO ON YOU TWO!! HURRY UP!!"

They obeyed and Richard was revived. His beating continued until his entire back was raw and bleeding. Finally Gwendoline came and stood over him as he moaned weakly.

"Did you enjoy that, Arsehole, like you enjoyed doing it to me? Maybe that'll teach you to abuse a couple of girls, who never meant you or your evil old mother any harm."

"Let's get them inside. They are going to get us a delicious meal and then we'll be on our way."

"We didn't expect to see you again Harriet - that's for sure. We thought once you got your clothes on and started eating regularly again, you'd never come back to our unpredictable ways," said Jessica.

"I've been naked since we said 'goodbye'," Harriet replied, "except for when I went to the police to give a statement and answered all those questions from the Press."

"I spent a few days with good old Jason - we cried off the sex - I still love dear old Bill too much, but he seemed to appreciate being waited on by a naked lady! Then he had a message from some business man who owns a transport firm, among other things who said he knew where I might find you two."

Jason dropped me off as soon as we saw you in the distance and I spent ages trying to catch up with you. I found the remains of a scrawny chicken and a fire and guessed you had passed that way! Later on I saw you go through the doorway into this garden (It looks so nice doesn't it, after all your hard work)."

"By the time I got to the house the door was locked, so I waited until dark and climbed over the wall and saw you two through the window - with poor old Gwen in particular taking a terrible pasting - good for you, Gwen - not kow-towing to them. I can't understand why you didn't refuse to work for them - just let them do their worst?"

"We thought about that - but reckoned if we went along with them to some extent we would get out once in a while and have a chance to make a break for it," said Jessica. "I'd have been willing to call them Sir and Ma'am, just to keep our backs unharmed, when they started on Gwendoline, but she wouldn't hear of it. I'll never forget her courage if I live to be a hundred."

"I just don't truckle to inferiors - that's all," said a blushing and embarrassed Gwen. "You two should know - 'specially Harriet."

"That's all old hat in this day and age. This is 2001," said Harriet.

"Not for me it isn't. My ancestors came over with the Conqueror and I've never once been allowed to forget it," said Lady Gwendoline. "I suppose it was you that tampered with the bonfire, Harriet?"

"Yes, I watched for two days while they made you do all that work and couldn't see a chance to help. Then I saw that heap of old leaves and rubbish and thought of pouring paraffin over it. I was afraid he might notice the smell, so I unmade it and put a can of the stuff I found in a shed on the ground and put it all together again. It was a risk - I mean he might have made one of you light it, but it worked and here we all are again!"

"How did you survive out there in the cold on your own?" asked Gwendoline.

Oh, I sheltered in their shed and kept alive on eating apples and stuff they have stored there. Made sure I made myself scarce before dawn. Pretty basic fare, but I'm still alive and kicking!"

The three adventuresses finished the meal their erstwhile captors had prepared and complimented them politely on the excellence of their cooking. They then proceeded to make the kitchen and larder a messy squalid wilderness and left. Gwendoline emptied the gun and tossed it beside Richard.

"I'll put the ammo somewhere safe. I suppose you know it's a criminal offence to be in possession of a hand gun - I'd report you, only I'm too busy."

Jessica kissed her Gwendoline's sore back as they entered the open air.

"Don't fuss so, Jessie - I'm perfectly OK! We don't have time to waste being lovey dovey anymore. We must press on. Get a move on you two!"

And the others obeyed, falling back a little, following their leader into the Derbyshire countryside. As she watched Gwen's determined figure striding ahead, her handsome bottom shimmering with each step, Jessica felt a pang of loss. She knew that she had offended her brave, friend by her momentary willingness to cave in and that she had irretrievably lost some of Gwen's respect, and maybe her love.

She held Harriet by the hand and tried to fight back her tears.

Morning came all too quickly. It seemed that scarcely had their eyes closed in sleep than the door opened noisily and their meal was put down before them. This time they were allowed to eat in a civilised manner. Two large mugs of coffee formed part of this meal.

"You did well yesterday - this is a reward. Show us a bit of respect and things could get better."

"Fuck off" said Gwendoline and tossed the remainder of the coffee on to the floor. She had thought of throwing it in his face, but his ever visible gun made her change her mind.

"Wait outside, you," he said to Jessica. "I've got something to settle with your impertinent friend. It'll be all the worse for her and you if you try anything."

* * *

The three sheltered in the lee of a stone wall and prepared for sleep.

"Sorry you two, I have a little job to do - all those rotten apples - back in a tick."

Now that they were alone for a few minutes, Jessica put her arm on her friends shoulder. "Sorry to have let you down, Gwendoline! I just didn't want to see you get hurt because I love you so much - is that so terrible?"

There was no reply, except maybe for a slight pressure from Gwen's hand on Jessica's thigh and Harriet returned. They tried to sleep, despite the howling wind. At least it was dry.

Morning came and Gwendoline went up the hill to spy out the lie of the land and prepare a plan for the day's walking.

"Stomach better, Harry?"

"Nothing was ever wrong. I can eat pretty well anything and not feel ill- famous for it! Just a ruse to leave you two alone for a bit. I hoped you'd maybe get things sorted. Something's wrong between you two and it's getting worse. You may both have half killed me a couple of times and I still resent it, but I hate seeing you drift apart like this, I really do!"

A tear rolled down Jessica's face.

"I let her down. She's always had a back like a ramrod and she's just the same inside. I'd always thought I was the same, but when they had her against the wall ready to beat her, I was scared - not just for her but for me! She knows that and, bit by bit, it's been growing in her mind ever since. I'm a coward and she doesn't know the meaning of the word."

"I hope you two make it up. I love you both and always looked up to the pair of you at school. I have to say, Gwen has shown herself to be a pretty special lady these few days. We've got to realise that and back her up from now on. And it was she who let me out of that stream, when you would kept me under a lot longer."

"Oh, Harry - darling - I've had nightmares about the look on your face that time when I suggested pushing your head under. I'm so awfully sorry. We just seemed to become different people in that week - nastier people."

Gwendoline came back to them.

"There's a little stream over the other side of the hill - we can wash up and all that. I want to see a friend later today so let's look out for a phone booth. I need to look at a map - this part of the world's not too familiar to me and I'm disoriented after the last few days. And we mustn't get boxed into some conurbation. Hurry along now, we don't have all day!"

When they reached the fast flowing mountain stream that Gwen had spotted they washed away the grime and sweat of the previous day and night and Gwendoline looked at the other two.

"Might I ask a favour of you both?"

"Anything, Gwen," said Jessica, her voice breaking despite herself. "You know that."

Gwendoline went and knelt in the water.

"Would you bathe my back, please, girls? It's not feeling so good for some reason."

And then Jessica splashed water over Gwendoline's still sore back, which had taken so much over the last few days.

"Thank's dearest - that feels a lot better! I'll take that nice kiss I was so rude about yesterday! Why didn't Harriet help - not still sore with us I hope?"

"It doesn't take two to bathe one little old back and I couldn't rob Jessica of the privilege. And it was good to see - it really was! We ready then, boss?"

Gwendoline resumed her leading position and they finally found a remote phone box and contacted a friend of Gwen and Jess, one Francesca, who agreed to meet up with them in twenty minutes.

This lady, who had not seen her buddies for over a year was amazed to see this naked trio, and shocked at the sight of Gwen's back.

"You'd all better come back with me. Daddy's abroad and Mummy is in London for a couple of days and our neighbours are all blind and very old. Get in the car, all of you and here's something soft for you to rest your back on, Gwen dearest. You look awful."

"I don't need anything to rest on and I'm fine. I'm only staying with you because these two wimps need a rest. I could go on forever. She then fell fast asleep and Jessica gently eased a cushion behind her.

Francesca started the car and soon they were in her parent's Derbyshire retreat, eating eggs and bacon and drinking strong hot coffee.

Despite her protests, Fran insisted on bathing Gwen's back and applying various creams and antiseptics.

"I don't think there's any infection old thing. You certainly are a tough one! And don't go banging on about all that Norman blood. I've heard it all so many times before! Now let's take a look at Jessica."

Francesca treated Jess's much more minor scratches and said, "Whoever did this certainly had it in for poor old Gwen over and above you, Jessie. She's been hit five times as much."

"I got 160 and she got 25 and some of them were just little slaps. Every one of mine was meant to hurt and they all did! I counted them all and I gave them back double and a few more for luck. And we ARE an old family with a distinguished military record over the centuries and I didn't let them down - did I Jessie?"

"No, my love - you most certainly didn't and they'd have been so awfully proud of you. I certainly was!" and Jessica burst into uncontrollable tears. "I'm sorry I got so scared, Gwen. Please forgive me!"

"Nothing to forgive - I was scared too, and I was praying for it to stop, but I just thought of my grandfather who died at Arnhem and his father who was wounded at Gallipoli and all the rest of them going back over the years - you've seen their pictures, Jessie - would you want to upset any of grim looking fellows! So I couldn't have called that piece of shit 'Sir'. It would have killed me."

Jessica smiled through her tears, but she knew that a girl like Gwendoline would have acted no differently, whatever her family background. She was a girl in a million and it was Jess' great joy to be her friend.

Francesca persuaded them to stay the night and Gwendoline slept on her own in the best bedroom lying on her stomach with a profusion of unguents and ointments working to heal her back as she slept.

Harriet and Jessica shared the other spare room and both reflected that whether they ever reached their goal or not a far more important test had been passed than some initiation into a secret society. The three-way friendship that had come under such strain had passed through the fire and been strengthened to such an extent that it was now unbreakable.

Whatever might or might not happen to the Ladies Masonic Movement - this was one bond which would last as long as the three were alive on this earth together.

[Harry]

PART FIVE
"I think we ought to let Gwen sleep in a bit longer", said Francesca as she re-filled Harriet and Jessica's coffee cups and went to do some more toast.

"She should be in bed for a week, not prancing about naked o'er hill and dale at this time of the year! Can't you talk her out of it?" she shouted at them from the kitchen. "It's not as if this jaunt was her idea in the first place - you thought it up, Jessie. Why don't you call it off?"

"It's been a dream of mine since I first suggested it to Gwendoline when we were little girls. She forgot about it almost at once but she's become as keen as me lately and that awful few days made her more set on it than ever - I hardly know her any more. I wouldn't have the nerve to suggest we stop now! I'll go up and see how she is."

Almost immediately Jessica reappeared.

"She's not in her room. What can have happened to her?"

The answer came a few second later when a dripping Gwendoline pushed her way through the back door into the kitchen.

"Hi, Francesca! it's strictly against the rules, but I'd better dry myself off before going into your nice breakfast room and ruining the carpet."

"Oh we can't have you breaking your precious rules, go and drip over my carpet my all means you mad bitch! It'll dry out before Mummy and Daddy get back - I sincerely hope!"

"Gwen! Where have you been?" asked Harriet.

"Where you two are going RIGHT NOW! For a swim in Francesca's pool. I did twenty lengths and so will both of you. Don't even think about getting out before. Now! - I could just murder some eggs bacon and sausage! See you later, girls - go on MOVE THOSE FAT BOTTOMS INTO THE POOL FAST!!!"

Jessica and Harry obeyed with some reluctance and were soon swimming up and down in Fran's open air pool. Jessica unwisely dived straight in. This was a show of bravado which she pretty quickly regretted. The icy water caused every nerve ending to send angry signals of protest to her brain. "SHIT," she screamed, "you can die doing things like this - the heart just stops beating."

Harriet was more cautious and lowered herself in feet first. It still sent shock waves up her body, and it took some courage finally to immerse herself totally. After a few seconds the pain subsided and she began to almost enjoy the experience - to her surprise!

They swam together and paused between lengths to exchange the odd word.

"Why is this pool not drained for the winter?" asked Harriet.

One more length.

"Her father's a lunatic, that's why!"

Another length.

"Swims every day all year round. Complete and utter nutcase!"

They completed twenty lengths and saw Gwendoline standing by the pool, looking fitter and lovelier than she had ever done.

"Don't get out. I'm coming to join you for a few more lengths!"

And the three swam another twenty lengths at the end of which, Gwendoline had to help her friends out, so numb and stiff were they both by then.

"Wasn't that wonderful, darlings? I'm going to take up all year swimming after this. The way your body positively burns all over when you get out - I really get myself off on that. Fantastic!"

The other two were far too cold to speak. The phrase "teeth chattering" perfectly described their condition for some minutes as returning circulation became total agony which only subsided slowly, the pain in their fingers shooting all the way up their arms.

"OK Harriet it's you and me against Jessica."

And their first two against one impromptu wrestling session for some time sufficed to warm them all up and dry them off. Francesca watched all this from the drawing room window in amazement and some slight envy - not she had the slightest intention of joining in!

"Any interesting news in the last few weeks?" asked Gwendoline of Francesca as they relaxed in the lounge, sipping mugs of hot chocolate.

"Not really - something about an attack on a reclusive mother and her son - the police are looking for a gang of ruffians - described as very dangerous! Oh! You remember Katie O'Brien - she was at your school, wasn't she?"

"Sure was! A legend in her own time. Jessie and I were always being compared to her - to her advantage."

"Well, she was recently rescued from some Middle East jail after being stitched up by a corrupt policeman and persons unknown. She was there for weeks and nobody realised. They all thought she had taken a break and gone sightseeing. She was very cagey about the details - refused to give any interviews."

"Poor thing! I suppose she just wants to forget it! I know I would," opined Harriet. "And I bet you two are a match for her and that friend - Angela. I bet you could beat them at anything! It was partly remembering how they always competed against each other that made me want to see you two do the same."

"We'll never be like those two in that way," said Jessica. "Will we Gwen?"

"No, Jessie - never! Come over here for a couple of hours - I missed you last night. Fran won't mind watching us - she's a big girl now."

"Just don't leave any stains on the sofa - that's all I ask," an open-mouthed Francesca said after twenty minutes or so of watching the confusion of writhing, intertwined arms and legs. "Come on Harriet, I suggest we leave these two very acrobatic people to it. It's begin to give me a few disturbing ideas I'd rather not have! I'm going all wet - never mind what it's doing to them."

Harriet and Fran sat at the kitchen table.

"Do you think they will always be like that?" asked Harriet.

"Not a chance," replied Francesca. "Gwendoline is her father's only child and his heir - it's one of those funny titles that can pass through the female side. She'll find she's too concerned to pass on her precious Norman genes and the family title to spend her life with Jessica. Jessica must know that herself deep down."

"I guess so," sighed Harriet a little tearfuly. "They look SO happy together."

"You mark my words, when this is over she's going to start looking around for a suitable fellow. You'd do the same in her position."

"The Hell, I would," Harriet said vehemently. "My Dad's a Marquess and so bloody what! The whole thing's so fucking mediaeval and pathetic! This is the Twenty First century, for Heaven's sake! I want to make it in life on my own because of WHAT I am not who I am!"

"We're all the result of who are family are and were - it's biology, genetics, heredity. You can't escape from your ancestry Harriet and it ought to be a source of strength, not something to dismiss! I wish I had that sort of family history - going back so far! You've got a lot to live up to, and you're afraid you might not have what it takes. Gwen knows she can't let her side down; and in the last resort, Jessica wouldn't want her to. People think it clever to sneer at 'Noblesse Oblige' and traditional values and all that, but Gwendoline's just started to realise what it's all about. That's what fired her up to carry on."

"Shall we go and join them - try and prise them apart?" said Harriet

The pair had withdrawn from each others' arms and were standing over the table studying a detailed map of the next stage of their route north.

"Are you sure you can go on so soon, Gwendoline? That back could still do with a bit more rest," a concerned Fran asked.

"Well it's not going to get any rest! I'm OK I swam forty lengths of your pool this morning."

"Not all at once like we did," said Harriet. "You had to take a break."

"Are you telling me I couldn't swim forty lengths of that little piss-hole of a pool in one go?"

"Yes."

"Well, just watch me!"

And before her friends could protest, she was away and running over the lawn past the tennis court and throwing herself back into the water.

"Are you two just going to sit there? Get on in after her - NOW!" shouted Francesca.

The first thirty lengths were easy enough, but all three girls had to struggle to complete the remaining ten. They were joined by Francesca for the last few lengths. She helped Jessica and Harriet out, but Gwendoline refused any assistance - even going on for a couple more and following after the others.

"Aren't you three going to wrestle again? I'm going to get myself a towel - hang on until I get back."

Three shivering girls waited for Fran to return. When she did... "You and Jessie against me, Harriet."

"You sure you want to take us both on - doesn't seem right!" from Harriet.

Gwendoline threw herself onto Harriet and forced her to the ground, sitting on her breasts. Jessica grabbed Gwen around the waist and tried to pull her off Harriet, but Gwen somehow managed to throw her off and onto the ground next to Harry; and Gwendoline was on top of them both for a few seconds, before the effort of holding both down at once became too much. It was a full twenty minutes before the inevitable happened and Harriet held Gwen's legs firmly in place and Jessica sat on her chest her hands keeping Gwen's arms on the ground.

Francesca counted up to five and Gwen's shoulders remained firmly pinned for this time and so the other two were declared the winners.

"Gosh, look at the time you guys; we won't have much daylight left if we don't make a move. Thanks for putting up with us Franny - tell your Dad he's made at least one convert as far as winter swimming is concerned - can't vouch for the other two!"

"He'll be tickled pink to think it had FOUR people using it today and I was one of them! I might just join him now and again - Mummy will think I'm as mad as he is! Bye for now and good luck!"

* * *
"All that down there," said Gwendoline as the three lay on the grass looking down from the hillside, "will be mine one day."

"What do you mean Gwen, your father's got at least thirty years to live."

Gwendoline did not reply for a few moments.

"I hope so, Jessica. But he's signing those farms and a lot more over to me when I leave College."

"To avoid inheritance tax, you mean?" said Harriet.

Gwendoline nodded.

"You only have to live seven years after a Deed of Gift for it to be effective. Why so soon?"

"Dad has aged a lot recently."

"You never said! We haven't ever had any secrets before."

The three were looking at a trio of farms lying in the valley.

It was the morning after they had left Francesca's house. They had swum in her pool and Francesca had joined them, casting off all her clothes and swimming a couple of lengths with them. In future her father might be surprised to find a companion for his morning dip!

They had not slept well. The grass was covered with a light dusting of frost.

Harriet and Jessica lay on either side of Gwendoline. They both shivered, but Gwen made no move to get up.

"Can't we visit that farm and ask for some food from the farmer?" asked Harriet pointing to the nearest house.

"Fat chance. He's easily Daddy's worst tenant. The man's always behind with his rent and complaining and asking Dad to pay for repairs that are due to his negligence. Dad's too easygoing. When I'm in charge it'll be another story. He'll be out of that farm so fast his feet won't touch the ground."

"What would the poor man and his family do then?" cried Harriet. "And he's the one who works the land, not your father."

Gwen and Jessica usually tried to ignore Harriet's irritating Marxism, but this was too much for Gwendoline.

"WORK," she exploded, "that idle sod and his Neanderthal brood don't know the meaning of the word! Look at the place! You can see from here how neglected it is!"

Harriet did not look convinced, but held her peace. She and Jessica were feeling colder by the second. Their skin was blue and covered in gooseflesh but Gwen seemed impervious both to the frost and her companions' discomfort.

"Can't we DO something, Gwendoline? Some exercises to get the blood flowing?"

She continued to recline on the grass looking down on a very small part of her future inheritance, lost in thoughts of her possible coming bereavement and future burdens. It was only when the other two reminded her, for the umpteenth time that they were freezing, that she came out of her daydream.

"Sorry, girls. Just getting a bit morbid."

"You two against me, this time?" asked Harriet.

"I'd have thought you'd had enough of being sat on, darling!" laughed Gwen, "But if you're quite sure - don't blame us! Come on Jessie!"

Harriet put up an amazingly fierce resistance against the others and it took them forty minutes to subdue her, by which time they were, if not warm, at least not quite so cold.

"I'd forgotten just how comfortable she was to sit on, Jessie - she's so soft and warm!"

"Remember how she said we could lick her pussy whenever we liked?"

"After you, Jessica."

Gwen laughed as Jessica moved off Harriet's legs and tried to take her up on her recent promise. It was not easy! The said limbs flailed about in such a dangerous manner that Jessie soon gave up. They all rose.

"Maybe we should find a less violent way of warming up in future," said Gwen. "I mean someone could break something and where would we be then?"

"Rubbish!" said the other two together.

Harriet spoke for both of the other two, "We don't try to hurt each other or try anything too fancy - we're always pretty careful - and it's fun."

"Where do we go next, Gwen and Jessie - I saw you looking at all those maps in Francesca's place?"

"Keep going North unil we hit the Pennines! We will have to be careful when we get to Saddleworth Moor - very near Manchester. This is one of the worst parts of the trip as far as conurbations are concerned. That fictional Tami had it easy with all those wide open spaces!"

"Who was Tami?" asked Jessie.

"You remember the story Bill was talking about in Minehead? You know - the American student who had to pretend nudism was her religion, just so she didn't get thrown out of College - silly berk!" Harriet said, impatiently.

"Oh, I remember. That story seems to upset you, Harry! I thought it sounded quite a good tale. I wonder if anyone will ever write about us!"

Gwendoline agreed. "I loved the story of her journey across America - made me want to go and see it all for myself. Not that I ever will - going to be too busy."

"We haven't been held prisoner by a bunch of loonies for a few days - I should think we're about due to fall into some crazy person's clutches any time now! I wonder what kind of off the wall type it will be next?"

Gwendoline's little joke produced no sign of amusement.

"You seem to ask for trouble some times, Gwen. You scarcely heal up after that awful beating you got and now you want more! What do you say, Jessica? She's tempting Fate talking like that!"

"Let's look for some nice little stream, Jessie! Harry needs another bath!"

Harriet stopped smiling at this and Gwendoline quickly put one strong, golden-skinned arm around her ivory-white shoulders. "Sorry, sweetheart - that was unforgiveable. Am I forgiven, please?"

"Sure - but you gave me a fright. It all came back to me how you held me under so long - mind you, it served a purpose. When I went back to Jason's place I felt so hot indoors - kept getting out into his garden to cool off!"

Harriet continued, " I'm getting awfully hungry - can't you remember any one around here we can scrounge a meal from?"

Gwendoline frowned. "Maybe one guy - a bit of a risk that he might tell Mummy and Daddy - but if you two agree, I could try it - our combined charm might persuade him to keep mum!"

The three girls studied each other carefully. None had had any depilation for weeks and it struck them just how hairy women's bodies could get in a very short time!

Harriet's auburn locks were matted and untidy. It could do with a wash, the other two thought. The cold was doing nothing for her skin tone.

Jessica was covered in scratches as the result of an argument with a bramble bush earlier in the day. Her feet were filthy and her legs were caked with mud.

Only Gwendoline, with her fine, smooth skin and golden hair - hair which seemed miraculously to look after itself and shone as brightly as the late autumn sun - still possessed some remnants of female charm. But even she was by no means free from blemishes. Her back still bore plenty of evidence of Richard's unpleasantness to her. She also had her fair share of scratches and had been stung by nettles on her arms and thighs.

"I think we ALL could use a bath - never mind Harry!" was Jessica's judgment. "We look an absolute fright - even you Gwen. Sheena the Queen of the Jungle always kept herself so smart and pretty - how the fuck did she do it?"

"Because Tanya Roberts had the make up department of an entire film production company on hand!" laughed Gwen. "Maybe they'll do a film about this journey one day and the girls playing us'll look perfectly groomed all the way through! Any way let's find somewhere to wash ourselves and then try and find a phone box we can use."

They found a rather muddy brook and washed off some of the accumulated grime. After this they pressed on looking for a phone box that was out of sight of any habitation - not an easy task. Finally they saw one near a layby.

"Oh shit!" said Harry. "Someone's parked a lorry to make a phone call. Haven't people heard of mobiles?"

The other two were sheltering behind a stone wall while Harriet poked her head over the top. After a few minutes she hissed, "I think he's coming out - yes! Quite a dishy guy!"

"What firm does the lorry belong to?" asked Jessica.

"Josiah Benskin - Hauliers."

"That's Andy's firm!" cried Jessica. "We must attract his attention."

And so all three girls emerged into view and waved frantically as the lorry's engine roared into life and it began to move ponderously away.

* * *
Andrew was just driving off when he saw out of his rear mirror, three naked girls frantically waving to him. He smiled delightedly and stopped. As they drew level he wound down the window.

"Hi girls - got a new recruit, I see!"

"Thanks to you, sweetheart - when Jason got your message I was haring after these two like a shot!"

"You will be Lady Harriet I presume?"

"I'm no bloody Lady - happy to prove it to you any time, mate!"

"What can I do for you three?"

"We are very hungry, darling Andy," said Gwendoline.

"Hang on ladies. I'll be right back - give me twenty minutes!"

He was as good as his word and twenty minutes later his lorry returned.

"Got a few bits and pieces from the cafe - should stave off the old hunger pangs for a few hours. Mind you don't leave polystyrene cartons all over the place. Keep Britain Tidy and all that! Care to join me up here, ladies?"

"No room for all of us in that cab - go on Jessica you go and talk to Andy!"

With this she placed her hand under her friend's bottom and pushed her up into the cab next to Andy, who handed two packages down to Gwen and Harriet.

"There's room for us all, Gwen - easily -what the fuck are you playing at. I'm fucking frozen out here and we have to watch those two all warm and cosy while we freeze and shiver - are you finally plumb mad?"

"I know what I'm doing. And a nice bit of cold will do you good! Can't have you getting soft on us - the worst weather is still to come."

Jessica climbed up into the cab assisted by Gwendoline's affectionate hand on her rear end and settled down on the seat next to Andy, knees spread out and her legs crossed in front of her.

"Sorry about my dirty feet on your nice seat!"

"They are loveliest little feet in the world - an honour to have them here!"

For a few minutes she was too busy eating to speak.

"Thanks, Andy - you're a true friend. 'Fraid I've a terrible confession!"

"What could that possibly be?"

"I'm plain Miss Maltravers - don't know where you got the Honourable bit from. My friends out there in the cold are the blue-bloods. I'm just a prole like you."

"I thought your father was a Lord Justice?"

"Yes - but that doesn't make him a Lord - Only a Sir. I'm as common as muck compared to those two!"

"Nothing common about you, Jessica - a very rare young lady!"

A few minutes later Jessica spoke again. "When this is over I think we should all take you out to dinner. You've been so good to us!"

"Thanks, Jessica. But I've a much better idea! Why don't just the two of us go out for a meal and a show and back to my place afterwards?"

Jessica blushed. "I wonder what Gwendoline would make of that? You know what we are to each other!"

"So I'm wasting my time, darling lovely Jessica?"

She turned even redder, the flush covering her breast and throat as well as her face. Suddenly aware of her nakedness for the first time in weeks, she moved her hand to cover her private parts which had been plainly visible up till then.

Andy moved closer to her and placed his arm around her shoulders.

"I take it that pretty blush means I haven't been entirely wasting my time cruising around trying to get a glimpse of you, these last few days? I KNEW when we met that you felt something too! I want to spend all the rest of my life with you, Jessie!"

Jessica was never able to recall in later years, exactly what happened next. After what seemed an age she reluctantly drew her mouth away from Andy's and rested her head on his jacket.

"Well - you'll have to spend more time in the office in future doing your real job, running your firm. No more cruising around picking up nude girls! You mustn't let your grandfather's work go to rack and ruin - you've got to keep the business strong. I want there to be something to hand on to our children. Oh Hell what will Gwen think - darling Andy - I've betrayed her. She'll be so unhappy!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, my love - you didn't see the wink she gave me when she pushed you into the cab!"

"That's looking jolly friendly up there!" said Harriet and then realised what she was saying. She put her arm around the distraught Gwendoline.

"I'm sorry, Gwen - how could I be so tactless?"

Gwendoline hugged her friend.

"Let's go behind the wall - Harry. I need a while to pull myself together. I don't want Jessie to see me like this. It WAS my idea to get them alone together, after all said and done - just that now it's worked so well - I feel so bloody wretched!"

When they were settled against the same stone wall out of sight of the embracing couple, Gwendoline sobbed out her heart for a few minutes and then gradually composed herself.

"I've known for a while now that all this betwen us couldn't last - maybe I always did. I'm going to have to marry one day and have kids and so will she. And I could see the other day that Andy was taken with her - I mean really terminally smitten - and it wasn't one-sided either. But we've been through such a lovely time Jessica and I - I think I must have kissed every square inch of that lovely adorable body a hundred times over! At least it was she who left me and not the other way around. That would have hurt me much more."

"What's going to happen to the journey, Gwendoline?"

"I don't know - I hope we can go on, but Andy will have his ideas about that. It was all her inspiration anyway even if I do seem to have taken over lately. I don't suppose they'll leave us here all alone. She'll come and tell us in a while."

As she spoke they heard the engine start up and the lorry could be heard moving off. As the noise faded away, Jessica came around the wall and sat beside them.

"Sorry, Gwen. I feel a real louse about this - and at the same time I feel so happy! Andy said he was sure you wouldn't mind."

"I mind plenty old thing - you can see how I've been crying! But it IS for the best and I hope it works out between you."

"Andy say's I'm still all yours until we finish the initiation, but he wants me handed over in one piece on 23rd November! Actually I insisted and he had to agree. I can get him to do anything I want already!"

"Jessie - you mean you let him drive away and we still have nowhere to sleep tonight except the chilly outdoors? I bet Andy is sore as hell after seeing before him an eternity of lying next to you at night - and now it's postponed for a few weeks."

Gwendoline decided that they must use the remaining hours of light to walk as far as possible. She had hoped to utilise Andy's services to take them many miles North, and Jessie had allowed him to leave them stranded! She had his number in her head, though and would be in touch with him sooner than he might think!

It was late afternoon and a weary trio were wondering where amid all the windy bleakness they could find a reasonable place to rest for the night, when they heard a female voice raised in distress.

"Please help me. You must. I'm so desperate - PLEASE!"

* * *
"Please help me."

The cries were coming from a clump of high trees a few hundred yards away and the three girls made their way towards the sounds. They saw an elderly lady running towards them.

"This way, please - you must help!"

"Come on you two," said Gwendoline. "Don't just stand around like a couple of spare dicks at a wedding! The woman needs help."

Jessie and Harriet obeyed uncertainly and unwillingly. They had been involved in too many situations on this adventure to be about to plunge unthinkingly into another! But Gwendoline was running swiftly towards the lady, her bare feet and long legs racing across the turf, and they followed.

As soon as she saw she had attracted the trio's attention the old woman pointed towards the trees, which now that she was closer to them, Gwendoline saw to be part of the garden of a large house. She followed the old lady into the garden and the poor old person pointed up into one of the taller trees.

The other two caught up in a few seconds and Gwendoline said impatiently, "About time - what kept you?"

"This lady's young cat has got a bit too venturesome and climbed up this tree and can't get down again - you can see her up there, poor little thing."

Gwendoline pointed to one of the upper branches where a meowing little half-grown long haired tabby cat could just be seen.

"Oh, it'll get down OK," said Harriet.

"Right. It will," snapped Gwen, "because I'm going to bring it down. Give me a hand up."

"Doesn't she have a ladder?" asked Jessica.

"NO! And stop wasting time and help me up!"

And so Gwendoline was hoisted up on her friends' shoulders and managed to grasp the lowest branch of the tree. Although she collected more abrasions and scratches on the way up to add to an already over large collection, it did not take her too long to get to the upper branch where the distressed kitten was continuing to keep up a wailing serenade of meows.

"How can a tiny little lady like you make such a noise?" asked Gwendoline as she made her way along the branch towards the cat. She could only go so far before the branch began to creak in a very threatening manner - any further and it would probably break sending her and the kitten to their deaths.

"What's she called?" she shouted down to the old lady.

"Sheba."

"Come on Sheba - nice little Sheba - come to Gwendoline," and she extended one hand in an inviting friendly way, keeping her balance by gripping tightly on to the branch with both thighs and her remaining hand. For what seemed an age the little creature stayed where she was. It was getting colder all the while and Gwendoline, forced as she was to be absolutely still was beginning to feel it. Finally Sheba was sufficiently reassured by Gwendoline's patient, affectionate manner to begin edging her way towards her with frequent pauses while she plucked up her feline courage, all the while getting closer to her would-be rescuer.

When Sheba was well within touching distance, Gwen allowed the little cat to inspect her for a few moments, before picking her up with one hand and gently clasping her to her shoulder. As soon as she felt Sheba was sufficiently calm, she started shuffling back towards where the branch met the tree, further scraping her already sore bare thighs and bottom as she did so. She paused to prepare for the climb down and to calm the kitten who was beginning to become panicky again.

"Don't you have lovely sharp claws, darling little Sheba! When you're a big lady, can I have one of your kittens - I'd love to have a little friend just like you. Anyway sweetie-pie; it's time we got you down!"

The downward climb was a nightmare for the watchers below and several times they were sure Gwendoline was about to fall, but she always steadied herself while maintaining her grip on the kitten.

When she finally made it to the bottom-most branch she dropped Sheba down to Harriet's outstretched hands and jumped the eight feet to the soft ground below, landing safely.

The old lady was overcome with gratitude to Gwendoline and joy at being reunited with Sheba who both submitted to being smothered with kisses.

Finally the lady stepped back and looked at the three naked girls, all bedraggled and covered in mud and dust - covered with scratches - Gwendoline the most of the three.

"Whatever are you three up to? You must have weeks like this! This brave girl in particular needs those cuts seeing to - come inside dear."

"You two wait outside," said Gwendoline. "You can shiver a bit longer - serve you right for letting me do all the hard work!"

Half an hour later Gwendoline returned. Her hair had been washed and all her cuts treated with antiseptic - she smelt like a pharmacy!

"The old lady has offered to let us stay the night inside. I want to sleep out in the open air as usual, but I'll let you two decide."

"We are rather cold out here, Gwen," said Harriet. "Sorry not to have been more help - but you seemed to be doing fine on your own! I agree though, we should sleep outside as long as we can stand it."

"Looks like I'm outvoted then - let's start looking for a suitable spot!" said Jessica.

"We can use her garden to sleep in. There is an outside toilet and a pump to wash ourselves under and she will bring us out something to eat in the morning. Luxury really!"

The other two could not help feeling left out of things - but of course it was Gwendoline who had risked her life to rescue the cat. And Jessica was still feeling guilty for accepting Andy's offer of marriage "I mean, how long have I known him, and I've grown up with Gwen - and she was so wonderful this evening - she always is nowadays!"

So they slept on the bare ground again, Gwendoline weeping inwardly as she felt Jessica's warmth beneath her - knowing that for the first night in weeks, that sweet body was no longer exclusively hers to enjoy and never would be again.

* * *
Jessica and Harriet woke up in the morning to find themselves clasped in each others arms for warmth and with Gwendoline not with them. They separated and began to look around in the early morning gloom.

"I bet she sneaked off inside the house and left us out here to freeze all bloody night - I wonder about that girl sometimes - she seems to have some kind of power mania lately combined with sadism!" said Harriet as she rubbed her hands and feet which always seemed to end the night totally frozen - only her thighs and body keeping enough heat to sustain life. Jessica was similarly engaged.

"Watch what you say about her, Harry! She's still my best friend! She just got up early and went off for a walk or something - I bet you. Look - here she comes!"

And Gwendoline, pink all over from a cold shower and a morning jog around the field rejoined her two co-initiates. "She's always looked the most beautiful girl in the world," thought Jessica, "but there's something else about her today - I love you Andy, but I love you too darling, darling Gwen! Can't I have you both?"

"Time to rise and shine, you two -and get yourselves under that pump fast - you both stink to high heaven - YUCK!"

"Just a bit of good honest sweat, Gwen" said Harry.

"It's a whole lot more than that - believe me! Now get under the pump, before I pass out!"

The newly washed and shivering duo returned to find the old lady and Gwendoline in conversation.

"I have just been telling your friend that Sheba and I would love you to join us inside for breakfast. I understand from Gwendoline here that you all of you don't like being indoors, but I promise to keep the windows open and not turn on the heating until you have gone."

"You really have gone fucking mad haven't you Gwen," muttered Harriet as they all made their way inside the house. Gwendoline ignored her friends' fury and picked up a purring Sheba who had recognised her rescuer.

"How's dear little Sheba after her fright? There!" and she kissed the little cat and allowed her to sit on her knee while they all ate. She fed frequent morsels to her new furry little friend and seemed more interested in her than the three humans.

At one stage she seized the remainder of a sausage from Jessica's plate, saying, "You don't really want all that enormous sausage, Jessie - open wide Sheba darling - eat it all up - there's a good little pussikins!"

Finally they left Mrs Jenkinson's house, but not before promising to return after they had completed their mission. The grateful old lady assured Gwendoline that she could most certainly have one of Sheba's kittens when and if she ever produced a litter.

Sheba herself followed Gwendoline out of the house and half way across the field before finding herself at the limit of her territory. She uttered a farewell meow as her lovely rescuer disappeared from view.

"You really are so ridiculously soppy about cats, Gwendoline. I mean totally obsessed to the point where it's bloody pathological! I wondered if you weren't going bonkers back there the way you were fussing and gushing over that kitten! You and that old dear would make a fine pair!" a shivering Harriet muttered. "And another thing - I haven't been out of the cold once for days - at least Jessie had a warm up in Andy's cab and you got to wash your hair in the house last night."

"I said before Harry - a bit of discomfort is good for you, and I think I must arrange some more pretty soon for all of us! The old lady told me there's a reservoir just over the hill. We're all going for a lovely swim soon. Isn't life grand!"

Harriet and Jessica both expressed themselves of the opinion that life was nothing of the sort and that Gwendoline was a hard as nails bitch who expected too much from her friends, but they both joined her in the water and didn't dare emerge until Gwen had finished swimming herself. They were both so numbed and paralysed with cold that Gwendoline easily beat them afterwards, wrestling them both to the ground and sitting on them until she warmed them both with the heat of her own body.

They had covered five miles at a pace varying between a run and a jog before they felt comfortable.

"OK now you two?"

"Thanks Gwen," gasped Harriet, " it's quite a feeling of achievement isn't it to go through all this and survive? I suppose you're quite right to keep pushing us to the limit - even if we don't always think so at the time - but I'm still going to get you for it when all this is over!"

"Tell you what, girls. Next time we get offered hospitality, we accept. Aren't I good to you?"

What both the others were both thinking was that the next time might be never - certainly not for days. And they were both yearning for a few hours of indoor warmth and a bed that was not hard, cold, dirty and damp. These feelings were reinforced when the clear crisp, dry cold of the last few days gave way to a clammy drizzle and visibility was reduced to just a few yards. They all soon became dripping wet as they continued through the murk and rain.

"Maybe we should try to get under cover to sleep tonight said Gwendoline as the afternoon drew on and the weather seemed to be getting worse - "I don't mind for myself, but you two need a break - keep a look out for any kind of place with a roof and we'll toss down there for the night."

"If we can find anything," groaned Jessica. "This must be just about the bleakest place I've ever seen in my life. It would be perfect for the Blasted Heath in Macbeth. To think I brought us all on this jaunt in the first place. I know you're loving it these last few days Gwen - but we're just ordinary flesh and blood - not some fucking Wonderwoman character!"

"I don't feel any better than you two - I've learned to cope with it, that's all, and so can you two if you only put your minds to it. And you're both going to! Just for that piece of defeatism we stay outside all night - rain or no rain. We've done it before and we'll do it again!"

So a couple of hours later the three huddled together under a drystone wall for yet another exposed and miserable night with only each other' warmth to keep them alive. They slept only fitfully and kept changing around to allow one to be covered by the other two. It was getting light when they finally awoke and saw that they were being observed by a man standing them, with a beaming smile on his face.

"Ladies - how lovely to see you. Especially you my dear"

The second part of his greeting was directed at Gwendoline.

"You must come with me into my home. There is something very important I want this lovely fair-haired, golden skinned vision to do for me! So strong as well - Oh those arms. What power they seem to possess!"

The three girls got to their feet and studied the gentleman warily. Both Harriet and Jessica remembered Gwen's joke about it being about time for them to meet up with another loony and they concluded that this gentleman seemed to fill the bill admirably.

The cold misty rain had not ceased all night and this odd person was dressed only in indoor clothes and was soaked all through - not that it seemed to bother him. He wore a dark blue suit that must have cost him a small fortune and the kind of city shoes that are definitely NOT meant for hiking around the Pennines. His shirt and silk tie must also have been expensive and the entire complement had been reduced to a state of utter soddenness.

None of this seemed to bother the stranger and he continued to beam at them as the water trickled down his nose and dripped onto his clothes.

"Please follow me, my dears. I live over yonder - a walk of only a few minutes. Just taking a morning stroll when I came upon you. What a delightful surprise - the answer to all my dreams for so long!"

"A morning stroll, dressed like that - definitely the next loony you were talking about, Gwen," said Harriet. "And you are the one who seems to be in line for whatever madness he has in mind."

"You want to get inside, don't you! Well here's your chance - do you want to take it or not? Don't bother to answer - I've a great curiosity to find out what he wants. Let's go!"

[Harry]

PART SIX
"He's right about one thing, Gwendoline. You have got wonderful arms and shoulders - you and Jessie."

"You're no weakling yourself Harriet - why he picked me out from the rest of you is a real mystery!"

"Cause gentlemen always prefer blondes - that's why," said Jessica as the three followed the odd gentleman to his home. This was a former farmhouse whose wintry greyness fitted in perfectly with the dreary weather. "They always prefer Gwen to me - even those drunken louts who tried to rape us were keener on her."

"Old Andy's the exception, though," laughed Gwen with a terrible sadness in her heart at the thought of her loss. "He obviously prefers the dark mysterious type." And she inwardly thought how passionately she shared Andy's taste!

Once inside the old farmhouse the gentleman showed them all into the stone - floored kitchen and invited them to prepare themselves something to eat.

"I'm an atrocious cook and my housekeeper won't be back for a few hours - there's plenty of stuff in the fridge. Make yourselves at home my dears. I can wait until Mrs Travers comes to get my breakfast."

"If he is a nutcase, he's a very generous one," said Gwendoline. "Let's get on with it you two."

They were just finishing their third cup of tea when the owner of the house reappeared, wearing a dressing gown and slippers. He had obviously got out of his soaking wet clothes and had a hot bath.

"Would you ladies like to use the bathroom - I have two, so two of you can share one and this golden-skinned, strong, proud young lady can use the other - allow me to show the way."

Jessica and Harriet were uneasy at being parted from their friend and self-appointed leader, but Gwendoline displayed no sign of uneasiness and the three separated.

"In here my dear - would you like me to run you a nice hot bath?"

"No thanks I'll take my usual cold shower - like to watch?"

"If I may - if you don't think me too terribly naughty! I can be awfully bad sometimes and then I need to be punished severely! You look so wonderfully strong my dear. How beautiful you look with the water running down all over you! I'll be downstairs when you and your friends are ready."

And with these words the strange fellow left Gwendoline to continue her ablutions undisturbed.

When all were gathered together again in the farmhouse sitting-room the three explained to Mr O'Toole the reason for their being naked out in the rain.

"What a fascinating story my dear young people! I think I can help you along the way; I have a friend who lives twenty miles away from here and it would be on your route. I'll phone him and drive you over there this evening. That way you will have two nice warm nights and days away from the elements. Now - isn't that a splendid idea?"

Jessica and Harriet were becoming increasingly worried about the situation, but Gwendoline accepted his offer with thanks and asked him what was the special service he wanted her to perform.

"I wonder if you would care to come upstairs with me young lady. I have a very special personal and private room I would like you to see. Your two friends will be very comfortable down here."

This was true enough, for both Harriet and Jessica were dozing off on the sofa and not even their unease at seeing Gwendoline go upstairs with Mr O'Toole could rouse them from a much needed slumber. "She can take care of herself," was Jessica's final comment before falling fast asleep. Harriet was unable to reply - being already in the arms of Morpheus.

Mr O'Toole escorted Gwendoline up to an attic room and opened it using a key which he took out of his dressing-gown pocket.

Once inside the room, Gwendoline looked around her. Mr O'Toole's earlier remarks about naughtiness and punishment began to make sense as she surveyed the array of ropes, canes, whips and various kinds of restraints which filled the place.

Gwendoline raised her arms and flexed her muscles.

"I THINK I am strong enough to punish you - you NAUGHTY boy!"

"Please tie me to those rings." He pointed to two iron rings hanging from the ceiling.

The man then took off his dressing-gown, revealing himself to be naked under it, to Gwendolines no great surprise. She was not much impressed with what she saw - Mark had been far more generously endowed!

"Take those slippers OFF," she snapped; she was already warming to her role as a naked dominatrix.

"And kneel on the floor and kiss both my feet - every toe - PROPERLY!"

When he had done as he was told she raised her right foot and presented the sole to him.

"Lick the sole of my foot all over and then the other one." She could not repress a slight queasiness in her stomach as he eagerly complied.

"Now get up, you BAD boy and raise your arms so I can tie you up. Oh you ARE in for it - I bet you're scared already aren't you - you WICKED boy!"

"What now?" she asked as the tying up was completed. When she had been in the Girl Guides she had not in her wildest dreams thought that her knowledge of knots would ever be put to this kind of use!

"The long whip on the dresser, my mistress - yes, that's the one. I say 'Mercy, Mistress' when you are to stop. You look so stern and strong! When you are ready mistress!"

And so Gwendoline proceeded to apply the whip to poor mad Mr O'Toole's back - a back which bore evidence of having received such treatment many, many times before. She was gentle at first and gradually stepped up the force of her blows, inflicting a crescendo of pain on her host until he cried out for her to stop.

Gwen lowered the whip with some reluctance (she had been really getting into it!) and inspected her work. The back was red all over, but there were no cuts - just a few weals.

"Do I untie you now, Mr O'Toole?"

"Later my dear. I daresay Mrs Travers will see to it when she returns later. She knows about my special needs and frequently ministers to them - although never as deliciously as you! Thank you so much. I shall always be grateful to you!"

He explained how he had for many years had a fantasy about being whipped by a naked and strong young blonde who walked into his house one night and how the previous night the yearning had become so strong that he had gone out walking in the rain to calm himself down.

"Imagine my amazement when I saw the woman of my dreams sleeping in the fields near my home in the rain - looking so strong and untamed as if she were some elemental force of Nature. I knew at that instant that my fantasies had become reality."

"I'm only too happy to oblige! Don't take this as a destructive criticism, Mr O'Toole, but rather as a constructive suggestion, but wouldn't it have been even better if you had had a large mirror on that wall facing you so that you could have seen me whipping you? I mean that would have been so much nicer for you wouldn't it?"

"Upon my soul, my dear - but what a splendid idea! What a fool I must be not to have thought of it before. I'll have one installed tomorrow and you must come back after you complete your journey and we can have another lovely time together! I'm sure to have been very naughty by then."

"Be my pleasure. Now I had better see how my friends are - both of them fast asleep I should think. I may take a little nap myself! It's been a delightful time - but tiring!"

* * *

Gwendoline pulled the attic door to and began to go downstairs. She had to pause at one point and sit on the staircase, too helpless with laughter to continue. She sat for several minutes with tears running down her cheeks at the memory of that ludicrous scene in which she had played such an active role!

Finally she recovered sufficiently to complete her return to the ground floor and was about to rejoin her friends, still sound asleep, when the front door opened and in walked a woman who must be the famous Mrs Travers - housekeeper cum dominatrix. This good lady took in the sight of a flushed, perspiring and naked blonde goddess standing in the hallway with remarkable equanimity as though such appearances were a daily occurrence in the O'Toole home.

"Are you a natural blonde, young lady?" asked this woman calmly. "Unusual for a real blonde to have a dark bush - not unknown, but unusual."

Gwendoline assured Mrs Travers of her bona fides and the lady smiled.

"I take it you have been 'servicing' my employer! I'm sure you did an excellent job - my word, but you are a strong one!"

"Yes, I left him tied up. He said you would come to see to him."

"Oh. I'll 'see to' him alright, young lady - and how! I'm not good enough for him any more - EH!! I'll see to him all right!"

With these words the good lady ascended the stairs with remarkable agility for one of her bulk and the sounds of renewed chastisement of the naughty Mr O'Toole could soon be heard. It did not continue long - to Gwen's relief, the poor chap had already had more than enough!

She rejoined Jessica and Harriet, who were still fast asleep and looking the picture of innocence and sweetness, despite their nudity and wild unkempt looks. She took an armchair and soon sank into a deep sleep herself.

She was dreaming that Mrs Travers had tied her to the iron rings and was about to commence whipping her. There was a mirror on the wall facing her so that she could see the anticipatory fear mixed with excitement on her face as a leather clad housekeeper raised a fearsome whip in the air, when she was awakened by a discreet cough.

Gwendoline awoke to see a smartly dressed Mr O'Toole and a smiling Mrs Travers standing in the doorway.

"Lunch will be served in the dining room in exactly one hour. I hope you young people have had a good sleep."

"Thanks, Mrs Travers - lovely. I was having such a nice dream - you woke me just as it was getting really interesting!"

"You seem to double up as a 'bottom' young lady" said the housekeeper as she caught sight of Gwendoline's still scarred back. Unusual - very. I'd have taken you for a confirmed 'top'!"

"Sorry, but I'm not with you," said a puzzled Gwen.

"Obviously you are not a professional or you'd know what I meant. Who did that to your back?"

Gwendoline explained. Mrs Travers disappeared and returned with a box from which she produced various ointments and other fluids. She bid Gwen lean over the arms of the chair and began to apply various things to her back. She told her to get up after a few minutes and instructed her only to lie on her front for the next twenty four hours.

"It's not healing as well as it should be my dear. You've been having too rough a time out in the open all day and every day - you don't want to keep those marks for the rest of your life. Not a lovely girl like you - that would be a crime against humanity!"

Gwendoline thanked the housekeeper. Such kindness and from such an unexpected quarter.

"Mr O'Toole was tickled pink meeting you, my dear! He's looking twenty years younger today! You've really done him a power of good!"

Gwen had to fight very hard to suppress her amusement at the notion that whipping could ever be therapeutic! She was able to say with a straight face that she was pleased to have been able to repay his kindness to them in this way.

Mrs Travers and her employer left the girls to their own devices before lunch and Gwendoline woke them up. To their question about what Mr O'Toole had wanted of her she replied by suggesting a pre lunch walk, even though the weather was getting worse by this time and the rain was falling in sheets.

Despite their reluctance to exchange the cosiness of the house for the merciless rain which the wind drove into their unprotected bodies turning them red in seconds, they submitted to Gwendoline's bidding as ever nowadays and she explained what had happened in the attic. It was a while before the other two were able to stop laughing. Finally Harriet spoke.

"I was saying to Jessie yesterday that you had a sadistic streak - now I'm sure! And now can we get back indoors - please Mistress Gwendoline?"

"Yes, I suppose we'd better get back or we'll never be dry in time for lunch," said Gwen. "Pity, though. I'm getting totally pissed off with all this comfort even after a few hours. I just can't wait to get back to normal!"

Mrs Travers tut-tutted over Gwendoline's back and reapplied the preparations which the rain had partly washed off her.

"I know you're an extremely brave young woman, but you MUST give that back a chance for the next day or two - you really must!"

Mr O'Toole nodded his agreement and observed that it was a monstrous thing to have marred such loveliness - to say nothing of the agony she must have suffered.

"I'd like to take a whip to that scoundrel myself," he concluded.

"No need for that, Mr O'Toole - Gwendoline pretty well flayed him alive once we turned the tables on him - thanks to our arsonist friend here!"

Over lunch Gwen mentioned her dream about Mrs Travers being about to whip her and that good lady vigorously protested her total refusal to lay so much as a finger on her even if paid by Gwendoline to do so.

"I only do it for John here as a favour now and again - except this morning when I confess to having been just a little jealous and put out!"

The girls went outside again after lunch and walked over the neighbouring and deserted hills for a few hours before returning for dinner. Mrs Travers again reproached Gwen and applied more stuff to her back.

The evening was passed playing a variety of parlour games and they all retired to bed at midnight. Gwendoline was given the best guest room and the other girls shared the other. With some qualms in this eccentric household Gwen submitted to having her hands tied to the bed posts so that she would not inadvertently turn over on to her back in her sleep.

"You should be well on the mend by morning, but give it another day and night to make sure, my dear," were Mrs Travers's parting words as she turned off the light and gently closed the door, leaving Gwendoline to enjoy her first comfortable night in quite a while.

* * *

Gwen woke early the next morning and panicked as she realised that both her hands were tied to the bedposts. As she became more wide awake she remembered how Mrs Travers had urged this on her as a way of preventing her lying on her still sore back and her fear subsided. All she had to do was wait until someone came to free her. She drifted back to sleep.

When she awoke next the sun was shining through the window and Mrs Travers was untying the bonds.

"For your own good I should really leave you here all day Lady Gwendoline - that would stop all your nonsense of tramping around in the rain, but it is a lovely day and I think you can go out, and force those poor friends of yours to suffer with you!"

"How do you know who I am?"

"I have a good memory as well as you my dear."

Mrs Travers did not enlarge on this somewhat cryptic reply and Gwendoline made her way to the en-suite bathroom. As she sat on the toilet she reflected on the many places whose fertility they had all enriched over the last weeks and revelled in the luxury of civilised amenities once again - she still hoped to be back in the open before long, but recognised the good sense of Mrs Travers in urging her to give herself time to heal properly.

Her back to the mirror and using a small hand mirror she inspected the damage for the first time since the visit to Francesca. What she saw caused her to gasp with horror and any doubts about the good housekeeper's advice were immediately banished. There were several deep cuts which were as inflamed and weeping as they had been the last time she had seen them - it was not a pretty sight at all.

Quickly finishing her toilette she sought out Mrs Travers and asked her how her injuries looked compared to yesterday.

"A lot better my dear. The infection has almost gone and the cuts will start to heal naturally in a day or so. You just haven't been giving yourself a chance these last few days - you are a wonderful young lady but you're still only flesh and blood. I'm so glad I had a chance to get to you with my herbal remedies in time - you'll be good as new in a week. You must have been in a terrible lot of pain ever since this happened to you - admit it!"

Gwendoline nodded. "Yes, I've just ignored it and forced myself to keep going - Lord knows why! I mean it's only a silly dare when you come to think about it and not even my idea in the first place."

"Oh come off it, Lady Gwendoline - you know it's a splendid idea! And full marks to you for keeping your friends up to the mark, when they were ready to give up. And remember dear, tomorrow you will be right as rain!"

"Is there anywhere we can go for a swim around here? We used a reservoir the day before yesterday and could make it there and back today - or would that be bad for my back?"

"I'd advise you to give it a rest for today, Gwendoline my love - I really would!"

"OK - but the other two haven't anything wrong with them - I'll take them out and make sure they get their dip!"

And Gwen escorted Harriet and Jessica to the lake that Mrs Travers had told her about. She stood over them and made sure they stayed in until they were so cold they could scarcely struggle out of the water. She looked on as they exercised in the usual way to get warmed up, feeling awfully left out. Only the thought of the awful possibility of her scars being there for life caused her to obey Mrs Travers's advice and leave her friends to wrestle without her.

"I'm really glad you've decided to give yourself a break, Gwen," said Jessica on the way back to the house. "I was getting so worried about you this last day or two - it's amazing how quickly that back is healing now you're being sensible at last and after what she put onto it - she must be some kind of magician!"

"And to think I had a dream in which I was tied up in the attic and she was about to start whipping me - and really she couldn't have been kinder to me if I had been her own daughter! Funny thing - but I was kind of excited as well as frightened in the dream - quite sorry to wake up. I was starting to go wet!"

"I hope your experience hasn't turned you funny, my dear old thing!"

"We never know where life is leading my lovely dark mysterious Jessica. The wilder shores of love and all that!"

"I can always tell Andy it's all off my darling! Just say the word and I'll never desert you again!"

And Jessica put her arms around Gwendoline's neck and kissed her on the mouth for the first time in days. Gwen felt herself sinking into a delicious sweet ecstasy of which an orgasm was the only culmination. It was such glorious bliss to feel her lover's body pushed against hers with such passion once more!

"No, Jessica - it's over that way between us and should never have started in the first place. I loved it all and I won't ever be sorry - but I have to pass on my title when I inherit it, and I will need a husband to do that! And he - whoever he is - will get all of me - nothing held back! And Andy loves you to distraction - I can tell that, my darling. I could see it in his face the first day we all met. It would kill him to lose you now - you mustn't even think about it!"

"Come on you two - I'm hungry and lunch is in twenty minutes. Make up your bloody minds and let's get going! Gwen's right you know, Jessica! Smart-arsed bitch she's always fucking right! Doesn't it make you mad?"

They continued back to the house in silence - Gwen and Jessica held hands but avoided each others eyes.

After an early dinner, John O'Toole prepared to drive the trio over to his friend's house. Before leaving, Gwen put her arms around Mrs Travers and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks for everything - I'll never forget what you did for me.

"My pleasure my dear - by the way." A conspritorial look came over the housekeepers face and she drew Gwen to her and whispered. "That dream! You looked pretty hot to me when you woke up! Maybe I shoudn't be saying this but I have a kind of whip that is designed not to cut the skin. It needs to be done by an expert - but I am the best! Hurts like hell, I can promise you that! But no broken skin - just a few bruises. You know how to contact me - any time!"

"Maybe - I don't know. I mean - it excites me a lot, but I really don't know!"

And Gwendoline followed her friends out to the car. She was about to get in, when she turned back to Mrs Travers and called out, "Hell - yes!! I can't bloody wait!! I'll be in touch! Get plenty of exercise and build up those muscles just for me!"

"What was all that about, darling," asked a puzzled Harriet. Jessica didn't need to ask. She knew! Poor old Gwen, she'd finally flipped!

John O'Toole's friend was almost normal. He could not have been completely so to have accepted the presence of three naked and very attractive eighteen year old girls in his house as though it were an everyday happening, but he made no demands for the kind of "Special Service" that Lady Gwendoline had provided for his buddy.

They all spent a stimulating evening discussing everything from world affairs to the latest West End shows and the time passed quickly until it was past midnight.

This time Gwendoline shared a room with Jessica and Harriet had a small adjoining room.

"Darling Gwen - you surely CAN'T want to be beaten again after that horrible three days. Please try to be sensible."

"She told me she can do it without causing permanent marks and I was attracted - I can't begin to tell you how it made me feel! I imagined the sound of it cracking down onto my skin and I could feel the gooseflesh all over my body - I shall have to try it out! I know it sounds hateful to you, but as I said to her, I can't wait!"

"It's my fault darling. I let you down at that awful house causing you to take that dreadful beating, and then I left you for Andy! And it's all started you on this path. You must promise me to fight it, my sweet dear friend! It's so horribly sick! PLEASE!"

Gwendoline fell asleep with her best friend's tearful pleas ringing in her ears and she dreamt of nice normal things that night.

* * *

"I've been out of my mind these last few days - how you've put up with me I can't imagine. Shall we go back to how it was?" asked Gwendoline next morning as they set out once more to continue on their walk to Northumberland.

"Rubbish, Gwendoline! We'd be lost without you! Don't back out on us now! It's only been you that's kept us going this far. And it's only you can get us through to the end. Don't let us down Gwen!"

Gwendoline lowered her head and tears were flowing down her cheeks. "I don't want to be in charge any more! I was so fucking mad when we disarmed Richard - I didn't know myself - but I'm plain old me again now."

"You'll never be that again - like it or not Gwendoline you're the leader and we need you. We'd never have made it as far as this if it hadn't been for you driving us on! Don't fail us now!" Harriet was almost in tears as she embraced Gwen.

"What about Jessica?"

"Same here my old darling! I remember shielding you from the rain and keeping you warm every night earlier on when you seemed to be the weaker one, but that was then and this is now. You've grown this last few days and we really do need you - so snap out of it - don't let us down!"

Gwendoline looked utterly unconvinced by her friends' protestations and sank squatting on the ground, looking pensive.

"Sorry girls, but the fire seems to have gone out."

Jessica spoke, "OK, Gwendoline. I know exactly what the trouble is and I take back what I said last night - you go back to that house when all this is over and let that woman whip you senseless if that's what you really want. I still say it's weird and not nice and not the Gwendoline I used to know so well, but I'll always love you whatever happens. Nothing will ever stop you being my first and best friend. If it turns you on that much, then go for it by all means - just don't ask me to come and watch!"

Gwendoline cheered up at this and quickly resumed her familiar decisive manner.

"Thanks for that Jessica. I know you don't understand and why should you? I don't completely myself. But this thing really has turned me on so much! - Part of me is absolutely shit scared at the idea and the other half is incredibly excited - it's like nothing I've ever known in my life before! My stomach churns whenever I think about it! It'd only be just the once, I'm sure of that, but I'll never be satisfied until I know just how far I can go with it. I'll tell Mrs Travers in advance not to stop until she's exhausted no matter how much I plead with her to!"

The matter was never again discussed by the three girls, but Gwendoline did return to John O'Toole's house and after she had undressed completely and given him his promised repeat beating (with the mirror now in place) she submitted her naked, weather-beaten body to Mrs Travers's tender mercies. That good lady was as good as her word, not breaking Gwendoline's skin, but inflicting such pain as she had never known before in her life, only stopping when too exhausted to carry on. Gwen thanked her profusely afterwards, paid her handsomely and drove away with her bruised back tingling pleasantly - never to see the odd couple again and never to feel another masochistic urge as long as she lived. But she treasured the memory to her dying day. She had proved something to herself, although she was never sure exactly what!

"I suppose you realise we are now into November - just over three weeks to get to our goal. I won't explain why just yet, but we don't need to worry too much about completing a quota of miles every day - I've worked everything out, so don't ask questions - trust me!"

"I wonder how easy it would be for someone to climb to the top of that hill like we are - no climbing boots, no gear - what do you say, girls?"

"It looks awfully stony and very steep. Do you think our feet would be up to it, Gwen? I know we've got pretty hardened up down there but we usually stick to grass when we can and that looks pretty formidable," was Jessica's opinion.

"I doubt we could do it, Gwendoline," said Harriet. "I've been barefoot most of my life, as you know, and it would tax me to the limit - best forget the idea."

"Just think of the glorious view from the top, though! If you two can't face it then wait down here. I'll see you later!"

And Gwendoline started climbing up the scree slope of a fair sized and barren mountain side, sliding back down a yard for every two she made upwards. She was soon just a tiny moving dot as she climbed ever higher, making faster progress as the going became firmer and she got clear of all the fallen rocks and the hill became grassier.

"Oh! Come on, Harriet - we can't keep on letting her get all the glory and she might hurt herself and need our help."

They did not catch up with Gwendoline until they reached the top, where as their leader had said, the view was breathtaking.

"Glad you came?"

Both girls agreed it had been worth it, even at the expense of grazes and cuts galore to knees, elbows and feet.

"Look at my little toe, Gwendoline - it's absolutely raw. If I get gangrene I'll sue you!" said Harriet as she leant back and recovered her breath. All three were sweating, despite the cold, altitude and strong east wind.

"Do you think going down will be easier, Gwen?" asked Jessica.

"In some ways, but we'll collect a few more abrasions when we hit the scree again - bound to - unless there's an easier way - you know a gentler slope on the other side."

There was indeed an easier way down, but they were horrified to see a party of intrepid walkers climbing up it.

"Looks like the hard way down - shit!" said Jessica and Harriet agreed.

"Rubbish - I'm not having you two hurt any more - at least not today! I think we should brighten up these people's dull boring old lives. Just think what sad types they must be - nothing better to do than walking around the Pennines in this terrible cold! Let's go and give them a treat!"

* * *

"Good morning all - nice day we're having," said Gwendoline cheerily to the five walkers.

"Ay lass! `Tis a reet champion day and all the better now Ah've clapped eyes on thee! Thah's a sight for sore eyes and naw mistake! And thy two mates! What say you lot?"

His companions seemed to differ, the male ones enthusiastically taking one side and the two ladies seeming somewhat uncertain as to their reaction to the sight of three naked ladies striding down the hillside - one of them a striking blonde beauty whose long golden hair streamed behind her in the wind - just the sort of girl to capture men's hearts with effortless ease!

"Why are you all undressed in this weather - to say nothing of common decency - have you all no shame?" asked one of the ladies - a hatchet faced middle aged person.

"You mean I should be ashamed of the body the good Lord gave me? Not on your life! - I've never been prouder of it than these last weeks - you should try it yourself! - no disrespect and all that," said a defiant Gwendoline, backed up by vigorous nods from the other two.

The leader of the group laughed heartily.

"Well said, Lass, thah'rt a girl of spirit and naw mistake! Ah wish Ah'd met up with thee afore Ah got meself hitched to sour old Bessie here! Eee bah gum, Ah do!"

"I think we must be in Yorkshire!" said Gwendoline.

The girls outlined to the group the nature of their journey and the explanation seemed slightly to mollify the lady who had spoken so sharply to Gwen.

Harry the group's leader expressed his concern at the raw state of Harriet's toe.

"Tha'll need to keep that out o' harm's way for a day or two, lass - Ah've some stuff here to clean it up a bit - watch out luv, it'll sting thee!"

He was not kidding, thought Harriet as she winced with pain. The toe started to throb less after a few minutes and she thanked him effusively for his kindness.

"Ah'll say this much - but ye're a great set of lasses - specially for a bunch of Southerners - Ah've been reet proud to meet you all!"

Later the climbers continued on up the hill, after sharing their midday meal with the three girls. Harriet limped a little for the remainder of the day, but they were all glad for the diversion and the food problem was solved for a few hours!.

"When you meet the right guy, Harry, you'll know!"

"Can't you get some sense into her Gwendoline? That's a brilliant brain going to waste - society needs talent like that!"

"Shut up, Harry or that'll be two mountains I chase you up tomorrow. You're definitely due to go up one AND have a nice cold swim in some mountain lake, while we watch and cheer you on. So get to sleep - you're going to need all your strength tomorrow! You know - you really are so fucking insensitive sometimes."

"Sorry, Gwen - I forgot," whispered Harriet and kissed her cheek in a gesture of apology.

"You're still going to be punished, so don't crawl - take it like a woman," said a furious and almost tearful Gwen. She turned toward Jessica and the two slept in each others arms.

"Why can't I keep my big mouth shut," moaned a distressed Harriet to herself as the other two slept and she was faced with a night without shared warmth. She knew there would be no mercy tomorrow from Gwendoline who never forgot and never went back on her word. "Serve me right for opening that wound again - as Gwen said - face it like a woman." And she finally slipped into a troubled sleep.

"I think I've had enough hill climbing for the rest of this year", said Harriet as they prepared to sleep later that day. They had found a disused hut - probably a former shepherd's refuge and had sat for several hours talking animatedly among themselves repeating jokes that they had probably told each other several times already and speculating about the future after November 23rd.

"Shame on you, Harry - this is easily the best part of the country for this kind of thing and we really have loads of time on our hands. If we can't find a nice lake or something to swim in, were going for a really hard climb tomorrow - that's a promise. We might even fit both in! Today was just a warm-up! I won't have defeatism around here - you should know better by this time, naughty Harriet."

Jessica said as they gradually settled down, "I don't think I'm going up to Oxford next year, I'm going to marry Andy as soon as this is over. I'll probably have given birth by next October - hope so anyway."

"After all the money your father paid for your education and all the sacrifices women have made to secure equal rights and opportunities and you just want to go and be the little woman looking after some man and bearing his children! What's got into you, Jessie?"

"Well isn't that convenient! A nice lake and a really rocky slope right together. Could have been made to order. Feeling fit Harriet? Swim across the lake and climb up the hill - then come down and swim back. We'll still be here when you return - if you return! What are you waiting for, Harriet - Christmas?"

"I really truly am sorry for what I said last night, Gwen. I mean my foot still hurts a lot!"

"Yes and it'll hurt a lot more when you've finished, probably the other one as well. You should have thought about that before shooting your great stupid mouth off - unless you want us to go on without you. It's up to you - make up your bloody mind one way or another. You make me sick you pathetic little whiner."

"OK - but I'm truly sorry Jessie and Gwen - see you both later."

And a tearful Harriet waded into the lake and swam across to the other side. She was frozen to the very marrow long before she got across and could scarcely drag herself out onto the shore. She looked around and Gwendoline was standing, her arms crossed over her firm and flawless breasts and with a look that was as mercilessly implacable as ever. Even at that distance Harriet could see that there was to be no let up. `Best press on,' she thought and immediately started up the slope.

As Gwendoline had predicted the sore toe was soon joined in its affliction by a couple of its fellows and she was bleeding a little from several minor abrasions by the time she got to the top. She looked down and in the remote distance Gwendoline was still watching. She seemed to be carved in stone, so still was she standing.

The climb down was no easier as she kept slipping and sliding. Her elbows were totally raw after several falls onto her backside and when she finally made it to the bottom, feeling more dead than alive there was still the swim back and still Gwendoline stood watching.

Neither of her friends made any effort to assist her from the water at the other side and she staggered up to them almost ready to faint from exhaustion.

"Well done Harry. Very promising beginning. Jessie and I haven't had our bit of exercise - let's all go."

"Gwendoline - you surely aren't forcing the poor girl to go through all that again with us? She's all in - look at her!"

"I said `come on' are you deaf? Come on BOTH of you."

Harriet had to be helped up the last part of the climb by Jessica - Gwendoline making no move to assist the distressed girl. Finally they all rested on the top. It was getting rather far on in the afternoon by this time.

"I'm disappointed in you Jessica - you have interfered with my punishment of Harriet. It only means she will have a bit added on later. Don't help her again. We must get back or it will be dark. You go first Harriet and you follow on behind me Jessica."

By the time the girls had climbed back down and swum across the lake they were all tired but Harriet looked quite terrible and Gwen had to steel herself for the hundredth time during the day to suppress her growing pity for her.

"We'll bed down over there where the grass looks fairly soft - not you Harry - not until you have another swim across and back."

"No Gwen - I won't stand for any more..." And Jessica stopped when she saw the look on Gwendoline's face.

"That's better Jessie - unless you want to join her! Off you go Harriet. Come on Jessica lets get to sleep."

Harriet had just got into the water and swum the first few strokes across when Gwen called to her to come back and join them and get herself warm. Her day of misery was over!

As she lay between the two, she again kissed Gwendoline on the cheek. "Sorry again Gwen - mind you I think you were really far too hard on me!"

"Don't push your luck Harriet - plenty more lakes and hills around here! How do you feel?"

"Tired and sore - but not that bad really, although I don't know why that should be!"

"I do."

"Oh?"

"You took your punishment like a woman - just like I said you should - except for a little bit of whining early on - I'm proud of you. I was going to let you off loads of times, but I made a promise, even if it was a vindictive and horrible one and I had to go through with it."

"You're a funny one Gwen - you really are! What are we all in for tomorrow?"

"Oh some artist friend of mine that I met on holiday last year has a place somewhere near. He's famous for his landscapes or hopes to be one day! Just as well he is around here - we haven't eaten much today and you in particular must be very hungry after all the calories you burned off! Think you can bear to be hugged by me after all I've put you through? I did offer to stand down you know."

"I know - I almost wish you hadn't been persuaded - almost but not quite! Like another kiss, Gwendoline maybe somewhere a bit more exciting this time?"

"As long as you don't bite my tongue off!"

* * *

"Stop that, Jessica - she walks under her own steam and for God's sake keep up with me, both of you!"

Jessica had just offered to give a bit of support to Harriet whose face was drawn with pain as she struggled to match the cracking pace that Gwendoline was setting them all. They had been walking for three hours, since waking up beside the lake that Harriet had swum across four and a half times yesterday. After a few minutes bathing her sore feet she had been bidden to get started by a newly icy Gwendoline. The warmth she had briefly shown her the night before had totally gone.

Midday came and Gwen decreed a short break. Jessica took this opportunity to whisper to her friend as Harriet washed and bathed her feet in a little rivulet.

"Why can't we help the poor girl? Can't you see she's in agony?"

"It's part of her punishment. Let her keep her self respect and stop trying to help her. This is something she needs to cope with herself."

[Harry]

"You're being so horribly cruel, Gwen - I almost hate you for this!"

"Alright Jessie - offer to support her and if she accepts, then so be it!"

"Come to that Gwen, I was the one who raised the subject of Andy that night - why didn't you take your spite out on ME?"

"Harriet rubbed more salt in the wound."

They got started shortly after this and Jessica offered to help Harriet only to be refused.

"OK Jessie. Thank, but no thanks. I'll be alright. The soles of my feet are not too damaged - hardly at all. Remember I have spent more of my life barefoot than either of you two. It's getting easier all the time."

And certainly Harriet seemed to be making less heavy weather of it during the afternoon session, easily keeping up with the others.

Gwendoline's artist friend, Jim, lived in a bleak, grey-stoned former farm cottage which nestled under a gaunt and rocky outcrop that seized Gwen's adventurous imagination the moment she saw it. She determined to climb it next day, although it looked virtually non-climbable.

Jim looked utterly amazed at the sight of the three wild-looking and naked girls who appeared at his door. He was at an upstairs window when he saw them and seemed totally at a loss.

"Come on Jim - you've seen me naked before - remember? Let us in - there's a good fellow!"

His face disappeared from the window.

"When did he see you naked, Gwen?" asked Jessica.

"I met him last year when Mummy and Daddy rented a private beach in Crete for a month. They had to go home after the first couple of days - I was naked thereafter and Jim and a couple of his friends dropped anchor offshore and stayed around a couple of days before moving on. I thought he was taken with me, but he's never been in touch since. I spotted his address on some of his notepaper when I swam out to the yacht and they asked me on board."

"You mean we've just dropped on him out of the blue? That's taking a bit of a risk!"

"He's the only person I know even remotely near here and I fancy somewhere warm to sleep and a good square meal."

Finally the front door opened and a red-faced Jim appeared and invited the three inside. The all gasped at what they saw. A full length portrait of a naked Gwendoline hung in the hallway, greeting all visitors to the house. In the sitting room were several other portraits of her.

"Gosh! Gwen - aren't they marvellous?" gasped Jessica. He's got all the details - even down to your black bush!"

And in a whisper, "He must really be crazy about you."

An ever more red-faced and embarrassed Jim invited the girls into the kitchen and rustled up a simple meal of bread and cheese for them.

"I'm right in the middle of a bit of a clear-out at the moment. Moving all the furniture out of one of the bedrooms and putting all my canvasses in there. Heavy work and I really must finish it now I've started - take it easy in the sitting room for a couple of hours and I'll be right with you."

"Well, Jim! Isn't this your lucky day! Harriet loves a bit of hard work - don't you Harriet? Off you go with Jim, now Harriet! We'll take a bit of a nap. Jessie and I are exhausted, but Harriet never stops. She's a wonder, that girl!"

So poor Harriet spent a couple of hours helping Jim shifting furniture and Gwen and Jessie slept like logs on Jim's comfortable sofa.

When they woke up it was almost dark and a dust covered Jim and Harriet joined them in the sitting room.

"I don't know what to do about dinner. Not a very ambitious cook myself."

"Oh - Harriet's a wonderful cook - aren't you Harriet" said Gwendoline. "Just show her where everything is and she'll do the rest - then come back here and talk to us - dear old Jim!"

Jim took Harry into the kitchen and showed her the contents of the larder and fridge. She frowned.

"Typical bachelor's establishment! No bloody culinary imagination! Never mind I'll fix up something - leave it to me!"

"No Harriet - I'd like to help and I want to talk to you about something." He closed the kitchen door.

"Start peeling these potatoes and carrots and put them in the saucepan - don't light the gas just yet - I'll let you know when. What do you want to talk about - Gwendoline?"

Jim reddened again.

"I suppose you've seen her pictures all over the house? I met her last year for a couple of days in Crete and I haven't been able to get her out of my mind since - too scared to ask her to see me again. Silly of me!"

"Very silly - do you know how to chop up an onion - No - leave it to me! - So you sit here eating your heart out and painting her picture instead of being a red blooded man and asking her out. Talk about pathetic! What kind of a man are you?"

"A thirty year old man - that's what. Falling in love with a seventeen year old girl. One look at those ice cold blue eyes and I was lost - scared as a fifteen year old asking his first love for a date! Any way enough of me - why are you being used as some sort of drudge? You look ready to drop - poor girl!"

"Because I deserve it. Don't waste your sympathy on me! I think Gwendoline likes you a lot more than you realise, Jim. She mentioned you last night for the first time, but there was something in her voice - I don't think yours is a lost cause - have courage! And now leave me to my servitude and join the others. Dinner will be about an hour from now."

"Who told you to sit down with us, Harriet - you can eat when we've finished."

"I don't know or care what you have against this girl, Gwen, but she is a guest in my house, who has worked like a Trojan all afternoon and cooked a lovely dinner for us while you two were sleeping and idling. And she eats with us! I'm ashamed of you - I really am!"

"No, Jim! Gwendoline is right. If you knew all about it you'd agree with her. I'll be in the kitchen if you want me for anything. I told you not to waste your sympathy on me."

And Harriet withdrew to the kitchen.

The meal proceeded in embarrassed silence for a while until Jim once again fell under the sway of Gwen's charm and loveliness. He quite forgot Harriet until she came to serve the sweet and coffee.

After Harriet had had her meal and completed clearing away and washing up she was allowed to join the others for the hour before bedtime.

"I don't want to sound inhospitable, girls but I only have the one small spare room - but there is a tent in the garden - I suggest two of you use that, and one has the room."

"Jessie and I will have the room, Jim; and Harriet can sleep in the tent - out you go, Harriet and don't forget to close the door to behind you."

Harriet obeyed meekly and the other three chatted for a few minutes until Gwen motioned Jessie to go upstairs.

When they were alone, Gwendoline smiled at Jim and said, "I loved all those paintings of me, Jim! I never imagined you cared about me that much. Why did you never get in touch?"

"As I was saying to Harriet, I was scared. I suppose it's the age difference - that and the fact that I never thought I'd have a ghost of a chance with a lovely girl like you - dull old stick like me!"

"YOU scared of me! You silly goose! I was in absolute awe of you! I was yours for the asking and I still am." She blushed all over at this and lowered her gaze in embarrassment.

Jim was at her side in an instant and the two were soon entwined in what could best be described as a passionate embrace, and one which seemed to last an eternity.

"Looks like both Jessica and Harriet are about to spend a lonely night," breathed an ecstatic Gwen drawing back from the most beautiful kiss of her life. "I'm so happy, my darling Jim!"

"Gwen, my love - what about Harriet? Why don't you let me arrange to send her home, if you are so angry with her?"

"She can go if she likes. I'm determined not to let up on her if she stays with us, but you won't need to arrange her return - I've taken care of that myself."

The doorbell rang and Gwen put her hand on Jim's arm.

"I think I know who that is, sweetheart. You go up to bed. I'll join you in a couple of minutes."

Harriet shivered inside the small tent and drifted in and out of sleep. She was totally exhausted after all the hard walking and harder work of the day, but the cold kept waking her. She was curled up in a ball to keep at least her body warm, but she knew she was in for a miserable night. She had just woken again when the zip on the tent flap was opened from the outside and a head poked through.

Harriet shrieked with delight and surprise.

"Oh, Bill! Oh my darling, lovely Bill! I've missed you so terribly!"

* * *

Gwendoline closed the front door on Bill and ran lightly upstairs and into Jim's bedroom. She tweaked of the bed covering and jumped onto the bed beside him.

"No cover for us three girls until we complete the test! If you want to enjoy me tonight you can't have blankets yourself - tragic eh!"

"I'll learn to live with it, my darling! At least I get to see all of you this way! Do you know what I've been wanting to do this last fifteen months?"

"I can't even begin to guess!"

(I suggest we leave this happy couple to their night of a thousand and one delights and withdraw discreetly - author)

Bill continued to push his way into the tent, but Harriet stopped him.

"You mustn't come in and you mustn't touch me, darling Bill - not now. Not while I'm still being punished by Gwendoline. I'll come out and talk to you."

"Why can't I touch you? I've been wanting to ever since just after you came to my place and I wouldn't let you in - please let me kiss you and then take you home. I've got some clothes in the car for you. And who's the precious Lady Gwendoline to be punishing you and what for anyway?"

"The same reason you broke off with me, my love. I'm a sarcastic self opinionated know all and I annoyed Gwen once too often, just like I did you. So here I am out here on my own in the freezing cold, while Gwen and Jessie cuddle each other indoors. And I'm not allowed to call her Gwen any more and she doesn't call me Harry - and I always admired those two so much. I was so pleased and proud when they let me join them and I've gone and messed up yet again with my nasty sharp tongue and big mouth!!"

"Come back with me, Harry darling. Leave this silly game and let them get on with it!"

Harriet shook her head.

"It sounds ridiculous, I know; but I want to see this through. Promise you'll be waiting for me in three weeks. That's all I ask - just run along now and leave me - I'll be fine. Honestly I will. I'm as tough as old leather by now! You can have one kiss, but keep your hands off me!"

Bill kissed her briefly and prepared to leave.

"Gwen said she was ninety-nine percent certain you wouldn't come with me - then she corrected it to a hundred percent and said she was sorry to have doubted you at all."

A few seconds later Bill drove away and Harriet returned to her attempts to get some sleep. She was deeply happy to be reconciled to her lover and glad that Gwendoline should have faith in her.

It was a little after four in the morning when Harriet's fitful sleep was interrupted by Gwendoline coming into the tent and shaking her awake. She bade her come into the house and ushered her into the kitchen.

"Look at that floor, Harriet. It needs cleaning. There must be an inch of grease on it and the walls are a disgrace as well. Move the chairs outside and shift the table over against the wall and then scrub the floor hard. You'll have to get down on your hands and knees and really put your back into it. Come on - you haven't got all day."

Harriet bitterly reflected that she might have known what sort of thanks she would get for her decision to stay Gwen and Jessie. She put the chairs outside and prepared a bucket-full of floor cleaner. When she came to shift the table she realised that it was a very solid piece of furniture indeed and started to push it across the floor. Gwendoline looked furious.

"Don't scrape it on the floor, Harriet! You'll wake the others - try to have some consideration for once in your selfish life! If you're too feeble to pick it up, get underneath and try to lift it on your back."

Harry did as she was bid and after a great effort she succeeded in raising the heavy old table clear of the ground and over against the wall.

"There! Well done Harriet, you've got a useful bit of muscle there! Nothing to what you're going to have! I'll make sure you develop a whole lot more these next three weeks!"

"When you've finished scrubbing the floor and cleaning the walls, there's lots of dusting to do. I'm not having my kitchen looking like a pigsty!"

Harriet looked up with a delighted smile and said, whilst continuing her energetic scrubbing of the grimy floor, "You mean he finally plucked up the courage to propose to you? That's wonderful, Gwendoline!"

Gwen smiled.

"Thank you Harriet. We'll expect a cup of tea in bed at seven-thirty. Milk but no sugar. Have breakfast ready by eight. I want this room to be positively sparkling when I come down next. I'm really tired, Harriet; so I'll leave you to it. No slacking or you'll be very sorry indeed. Leave the outside door and the window wide open so it's nice and cold for you in here. We don't want you tempted to sleep on the job. Oh - and thanks for staying with us - I appreciate that!"

With those final words, Gwen returned to the sleeping Jim's side and woke him up in order to renew their love-making yet once more. When they finally fell asleep they did not wake again until the weary Harriet came in with the early morning cup of tea.

"I'd like to paint you Harriet - that glorious hair colour would go so well with the golden Autumnal tints. It would mean posing outdoors for a while this afternoon - the light won't be right until then - so if you think that's too uncomfortable, forget it." Jim was speaking to Harriet at breakfast as she waited on the other three, resigned by this time to her new role as a servant.

"She'd love to help, wouldn't you Harriet - a bit of cold's nothing to you is it? I'd like some more toast, please and Jim's cup is empty - you really shouldn't need me to tell you these things, Harriet - you should be watching out for our needs like a good little girl."

Harriet readily agreed to pose for Jim that afternoon and went to get more tea and toast. Jessica said nothing. She was getting ever sorrier for the long-suffering Harry and more and more disgusted and mystified at Gwen's harshness. "Enough is enough" was what she was thinking - "she may be a sharp-tongued bitch but she's learnt her lesson by now and she did help us get away from Richard and his horrible mother."

As Harriet made more tea and put more slices in the toaster in the still cold kitchen she began to wish she had gone back home with Bill. She had hoped Gwen would soften to her as a result of her loyalty, but things were getting worse, if anything. She fought down the urge to cry and went back to the dining room, resuming her position of an attentive, hovering servant, determined to do the job well and finally win some praise from Gwendoline.

"How long would it take me climb that rock over there, Jim darling?" asked Gwen when breakfast was over and Harriet was in the kitchen clearing up, assisted by Jessica who had decided to brave Gwen's displeasure and give the poor girl a bit of support.

"You couldn't climb it alone - even for two it would be difficult - not to say bloody dangerous"

"I won't be alone. JESS and HARRIET - come in here a minute!"

The other two girls appeared.

"Jessie, you've given this lazy girl enough help - come and sit down and talk to us for a bit. You! Finish up in the kitchen and then we're going out together - go on, move it!"

"I'm climbing that rock out there, Jessie - fancy coming with me and Harriet?"

"I'll miss out on this one, Gwen and if Harry has any sense she won't go either. Stop being so nasty to her, please darling Gwendoline - for the sake of what we were to each other!"

If Gwendoline was moved by this almost tearful plea she showed no sign of it and when the exhausted Harriet returned from the now sparkling kitchen she quickly ushered her out of the house, telling Jim she would deliver his model to him in time for her posing session later in the day.

The night had been a clear one and there was still a bit of frost on the ground which numbed the girls' bare feet as they walked across the grassy approach to the towering rock and raised goose pimples all over their bare bodies. Their breath turned to steam as soon as it left their mouths.

The nearer they got to the rock the more stony the ground became underfoot and an angry Gwendoline struck Harriet a painful slap on her handsome rump leaving a clear red imprint of her hand on the ivory white skin.

"Stop trying to avoid stepping on the sharp stones, you miserable little coward - you don't see me doing that - go back and do it again and I'll be watching every step you take!"

When they finally got to the foot of the rock Harriet felt as if her feet had been cut to ribbons, although an inspection of the soles revealed no damage - it had hurt a lot, but that was all.

"How do reckon we can get up that, Gwendoline. It looks OK till we get to that overhang about half way up - it looks awfully dangerous to negotiate that feature, though."

"Yeees," said a pensive Gwen. "You can partially back out if you like - I didn't realise it was such a challenge from a distance. I'll need to climb on to your shoulders to get past that overhang. You could wait there for me until I got back."

"I'd like to come right to the top with you. Please, Gwendoline - I don't want to miss out."

"Good for you - lets make a start. Climb up on to me and then pull me up after you on to that ledge. It looks reasonable from then on until we get to that obstacle."

This was a true observation on Gwen's part. There were plenty of foot and handholds and a sweating and aching pair of girls finally arrived at the overhanging rock. There was a narrow ledge under it and one would need to get onto the other's shoulders and see if there was a possibility of getting over.

"You go first, Harriet - climb up onto me and see what's above."

Gwen hoisted Harriet up and she was able to see over the top of the rock.

"It's OK Gwendoline - I can pull myself up and reach down to you and drag you up. You might collect a few scratches on the way up - that's all."

Within five minutes both girls had successfully climbed to the next stage and the rest of the ascent was fairly straightforward, although very arduous and when Harriet and Gwen finally stood on the top they ached all over and were covered with scratches and bruises.

Gwendoline put her arms around Harriet and kissed her lips.

"Thanks for coming Harry."

"I wouldn't have missed it for anything Gwen - friends again?"

"Oh - darling Harry - will you ever forgive me? I'm so terribly sorry. Don't pose for Jim out in the freezing cold this afternoon - have a long, long sleep until we need to be moving on. You've really earned it."

"I'm sorry to have been such an acid-tongued cow so many times. It lost me my boyfriend for a while and your respect. I've learned something by all this."

They stood and looked down at the house far down below and felt the exhilaration of conquerors.

"Gwen?"

"What, darling Harry?"

"How did Bill know where to find me? You told him to come and get me didn't you?"

"I phoned him a few days ago and told him we'd be with Jim about now. I also told him how much you still loved him and missed him and he obviously missed you terribly. He wanted to take you back with him - but I'm glad you didn't go. He'll be there on the 23rd."

"I'm dreading the end of this now, Gwen. Now we're friends once more I just want it to go on forever."

"Me too, Harry. I don't want to wear any item of clothing ever again as long as I live! Golly, Harry but you look a sight - those lovely tits of yours are all scratched and you're black and blue all over. Those poor old knees of yours - what with all that housework and today's clambering up here! I doubt he'd paint you now even if you wanted him to!"

"You look a dreadful mess too Gwen, but I like you that way. You've still got that lovely golden hair - it's a marvel how it always looks so good, but the rest of you - oh dear!"

They surveyed the wonderful view one final time and then helped each other down. When they finally reached the bottom, Gwen picked Harriet up and carried her over the flinty area she had earlier forced her to hurt her feet on. She gently put her down when they reached the grass and they walked back to the house hand in hand and chatting animatedly as though the last few terrible days had never happened.

"Go and get some sleep, darling Harry. I'll get lunch and bring you up a nice cup of tea in a couple of hours. She can't do any modelling for you today, Jim - she's worn out and we all need to be ready to move on tonight - we can only stay one night in the same place."

"If I want to pose for Jim, then I will. I'll be ready when you want me, Jim - just let me get a bit of shut-eye for an hour or two."

[Harry]

PART SEVEN
After over two hours of holding the same position in the cold afternoon air Harriet was beginning to regret not taking advantage of Gwendoline's kindness in getting her out of the assignment. It was not a comfortable pose at all, involving as it did keeping one foot raised almost off the ground with only the tip of her big toe on the ground and almost all her weight on the other. One hand was resting lightly on her hip and the other touching her breast, which Jim assured her looked fine despite a few scratches acquired during that insane dangerous climb earlier on. Jim was intent on his painting and seemed oblivious of her discomfort.

I was not only the cold that caused her distress, but the agony of not being able to move a muscle for so long. The prospect of seeing the final result was all that sustained her - she had so admired his portraits of Gwendoline that she really very badly wanted him to paint her as well. And he had only done Gwen from photographs! Think what a painting using a very present and very live Harriet would look like! And one thing he had said before starting work was that he hoped to submit the painting to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

The light was beginning to fade, but Jim seemed intent as ever on continuing when Gwendoline came storming out of the house and furiously told him to let Harriet go inside and get warm.

"Can't you see the poor darling is just about fit to drop - you heartless sod!" And she picked up her fainting friend who had virtually lost the power of movement by this time and carried her indoors.

"Thanks for coming to the rescue, Gwen. Mind you, I can't wait to see the final result and I'm glad I did it, but he doesn't know when to stop. Is he like that in bed?"

"No," giggled a blushing Gwen, "I have to keep waking him up, poor old fellow! After all he is thirteen years older than I am and I don't think he leads a very healthy life. He needs to look after himself better and get a lot more violent exercise. And I'll make sure he does; there's a lot of spare fat to lose before I marry him and he'll have to keep it off thereafter."

"Don't worry, Gwen you'll manage him OK. I think he's scared of you, like I still am!"

"Yes - he's a bit of a wimp, but such a darling man. Do you know I had to virtually throw myself at him last night!! But once he'd got the message, everything was so dreamy!"

Gwendoline carried Harriet upstairs, laid her on the bed and got on it after her and began warming the frozen girl up, enfolding her in a tender embrace which might have made Jim rather jealous if he had been present to watch!

"What about all those extra muscles you are going to make me develop, Gwen?"

"You'll get them, but I promise I won't be a bitch to you any more - not ever, even if I do still drive you hard. Just get some sleep, Harry my love - we'll need to be off in a few hours."

After an evening meal which Harriet insisted on cooking and serving as if Gwen were still enforcing her former harsh regime, Jim told them all to pile into his station wagon and he drove them through the dark to a field fifteen miles away in the general direction they were headed. He left them the small tent which Harriet had occupied the night before and made sure they were provided with enough food to last them all into the next day.

"Just leave the tent in the field, ladies. I'll come by and pick it up sometime tomorrow. Good luck, although I daresay we'll meet a few times before the 23rd." After a very tender and lengthy farewell to Gwendoline, he drove away.

Gwen thought with regret of the house - now her future home -that she was not to see for a few weeks. She supervised the erection of the tent - this had been one of her particular fortes in the Guides. It was much warmer with three bodies to heat the enclosed space and a more comfortable and less lonely time was in store for Harriet, although the groundsheet had been left behind and they were forced to sleep on grass.

"I suppose we will be sleeping under the stars again tomorrow night - best make the most of this," Gwendoline said as they settled down for the night. "Unless we meet someone like the three perverts or Mummy and Richard - at least we wouldn't freeze if we were held prisoner again, unless poor old Harry gets stuck in a cage again."

"Remember me saying you lot would never survive the November cold and frost? I never thought back then I'd end up going through all this with you two," murmured Harriet.

"You've suffered more cold than either of us this last few days, you poor dear - what with my making you do all that swimming and hill climbing . You DID volunteer to be my Jim's model, though - can't blame that on me."

"It'll be worth every shiver and every agonising cramp to see myself at the Summer Exhibition," she replied.

With this vision of future celebrity in mind Harriet fell asleep to be followed in seconds by the other two. Gwendoline's last waking thoughts, now that the long initiation rite was nearing its end were of the future beyond this journey. She looked ahead to her statement to the police about the religious child abusers, to telling her parents about her engagement to Jim and taking him to see them. Above all she felt growing excitement invading every part of her mind and body at her ever more fiercely feared but longed-for ordeal at the hands of Mrs Travers - she writhed in ecstasy at the thought of that good lady daily working out thereby to strengthen her arms so that she would be able to bring down the flail all the harder on her bare back - all that Harriet had gone through would be nothing compared to that! She hoped her friends were already asleep and would not notice the smell of female arousal.

Jessica's last thought was that if the experiences of this three were any guide, considering the ease which they all seemed to having in finding themselves husbands, one essential feature of any of their lodge meetings would be a creche.

They would all have been wise to ponder the old adage about fat ladies singing.

* * *

Harriet returned to the shore after swimming across the reservoir and back twice - as opposed to the others' once. Ever since being forced into that combined double swim and hill climb by an incensed and vindictive Gwendoline she had deliberately pushed herself to outdo her friend and leader to Gwen's great admiration and amusement.

Gwen had decided that she might as well continue using Harriet as the workhorse of the group, since it seemed to be what she wanted and in the two days since they had left Jim's Harry was beginning to feel that promised extra muscle coming on - or she liked to kid herself she did.

She had appointed herself as the 'one' in the two against one wrestling which they were finding ever more helpful as a way to keep warm in the raw upland November cold, and it was already taking the other two longer to beat her even after a couple of days. They had crossed a shallow river earlier today and she had carried them across on her back, wading waist deep and saving them from the cold water at the cost of enduring it three times herself.

Harriet thought it strange when she saw her friends were out of sight and as she swam closer to where they should be, she started to feel slightly anxious. Coming out of the water, she looked around for them. They were nowhere to be seen. She shouted but there was no reply. It was as if they had been spirited away into thin air.

(Don't worry, folks - they have not been taken away in a flying saucer - author's note)

There had been no sound of engine noise, so wherever they had gone it must have been on foot and that meant they could not be that far away. If they had been forcibly abducted just as she had started out on her swim, they could only have been gone for ten minutes - you can't get too far in that time. They had to be within sight of where Harriet was standing or in a building within sight. The trouble was that there were no likely looking buildings - only an old and very dilapidated shippon which seemed to be open to the four winds.

She approached it carefully, resisting the impulse to run towards it to warm up. She cursed herself for her silly bravado, which had caused the trio to be split up again. She felt that something was terribly wrong.

For whatever reason, Harriet decided to circle around the building and approach it from the other side. It did not seem possible that she could have been seen by anyone, but she sensed danger.

The other side of the building was up against a stone wall and she climbed over this and crept up to the old cowshed. There were no windows, but quite a few holes in the old structure and she was trying to peer through a gap when she was seized from behind by several hands and dragged around to the other side and through a wooden door, which she noticed had a very new and shining padlock and was very substantial for the door to a disused building.

"Found another of these dirty little naked tarts, chief," said one of Harriet's captors. "Wonder how many more of these we've got wandering around like this - shameless disgusting sluts."

Jessica and Gwendoline were inside against the far wall and tied to a couple of chairs and Harriet soon joined them. The old cowshed was filled with about twenty unsavoury looking men all dressed in some kind of uniform.

"How did you two manage to get caught?" asked Harriet, feeling terribly scared.

"You don't argue with the kind of weapons they had trained on us," said Gwen. I was going to shout at you to get away and get help, but they had other ideas - sorry Harry, but these people are dangerous - you can smell it somehow."

"It's obviously some kind of political extremist group and we've stumbled on their armoury and meeting place. Not only that, but they've obviously got some kind of thing about public decency and the decline in moral values - as you could tell by the charming way that guy described us all. Don't worry - I'll get us out of this. At least these are no Boy Scouts - luckily for me, if not for you!"

Gwendoline shook her head as a sign that conversation should cease and Harriet did not ask what she meant by that last sentence.

The man addressed as Chief came over to Harriet and asked her if there were any more of them. She was slow in replying - not knowing whether to pretend there were friends around who would soon be looking for them and he slapped her across the face.

"Leave her alone you piece of shit," shouted Gwendoline, "dirty, stinking motherfucking coward!"

The man turned his attention to her at that at punched her in the face and then doubled her up in agony with several hard blows to her stomach the sickening sound of which made Harriet wince as she thought how Gwen had deliberately drawn these thugs' attention to herself to save her, Harriet from what she was now suffering.

"Keep your dirty little mouth shut, or you'll get some more."

The majority of the men then started to drift away, leaving the chief and two others behind. Presumably they were all going home or to work after whatever meeting they had just had.

The remaining three left the old building a little later after standing around a defiant and cursing Gwendoline for a few minutes, taking it in turns to hit her many more times. They promised to be back shortly to continue teaching her a lesson in manners and decency.

"Oh, darling Gwen - why do you always have to be so stupidly brave - it's as if you want to get hurt?" said Jessica.

"I refuse to hide my feelings for that kind of lowlife. Anyway, it's time to be going. I don't like it around here - don't know about you two..."

She started to writhe about in her chair and soon had her hands free.

"I told you they hadn't been in the Boy Scouts - at least not the fucking cretin who tied me. Surprised he can dress himself in the morning or wipe his own arse."

The other two had been much more efficiently tied and it took a few minutes for a bloody-faced Gwendoline to release them.

"Go and see if you can find out what they are doing out there Harry - be very careful, sweetheart - don't let them spot you. You and I are going to start another fire, Jessica if we can find the wherewithal. There looks to be some kind of kitchen behind that screen."

There was indeed a sink and a primitive stove and in a cupboard a box of matches. The two girls started to pile up anything that would burn easily in the middle of the building putting the gang's arsenal of weapons on top of the heap.

Harriet signalled and mouthed, "I think they're on the way back."

"You two get ready to light the fire - I'll deal with these three."

"NO - Gwen. I'll help," said Jessica. "There are three of them and look at the state of you after what they did to you. You don't want to be tackling them alone!"

"Do as I fucking well tell you, Jessica - or you'll be in line for a bit of what I gave Harriet and don't think I wouldn't - go on and start making a bit of a blaze."

Gwendoline did wonder a little during the few minutes that followed, why she had been so stupidly proud as to refuse Jessica's offer of help. She knew, though that she was honour bound to exact revenge herself for the injuries they had inflicted on her. She sustained an awful lot more before the three crypto-fascists were all neatly laid out in a row in front of her.

The first one - the Chief - came through the door first and he was quickly nursing two crushed testicles as Gwen adroitly brought her knee up into his groin. The other two were alerted by this time and showed once more their total lack of scruples when it came to hitting women. Jessica stood by ready to come to her friend's aid should they get the upper hand, but they did not have Gwen's speed or skill and finally joined their still writhing chief on the ground. Jessica and Harriet tied them up with the rope that had recently bound them.

"Well done, Gwen - you certainly showed them!" said an admiring Harriet. "But you look a terrible mess you poor dear! You'll need to get that face seen to."

"Never mind that now. Get these three into the field - we don't want them being burned alive - not even scum like them. See if you can fish their car keys from their pocket - they must have a vehicle parked somewhere fairly near - I want us a long way from this little blaze when the fire brigade and police arrive. I think there's plenty of evidence of their wrongdoing around here to put them behind bars for a while!"

Two hours later, Gwen was bathing her battered face and body in the waters of a mountain spring and feeling and looking a lot better. She was bruised and cut about her face but mightily relieved that no bones had been broken. The beautiful Gwendoline had long had a horror of breaking her nose, being always very vain about her appearance. Her stomach was red from the punches it had received and bruising was already apparent on her ribcage - it hurt her to touch herself anywhere and she prayed there had been no internal damage. (One of her first acts when returning home was to be to have a check-up, only to be told by the family physician that she was in better shape than ever and could go on to have a whole army of children if that was what she wanted).

"How are you feeling now, Gwen?" asked an exhausted Harriet who had just carried her on her back for the last five miles over the moors.

"Awful, darling. But I get the feeling I might just live! I do wish my good old Jim was here. Not that he'd have been any use against those guys back there - couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag, that one."

"Could you two teach me to be as good a fighter as you?"

"Of course, Harry - we'll certainly make a beginning. It'll take time and lots and lots of really hard work - we can only give you a start and you'll have to keep it up for months - years, even to be any good like us - Rome wasn't built in a day and all that - you'll take a lot of hard knocks along the way - don't worry, we'll be gentle with you, although it might not seem that way at times! We'll begin your training on the morrow."

"How do you feel about carrying me a few more miles, dear Harry? I don't think I've any internal bleeding - it would surely be starting to show by this time, but we should err on the side of caution and I did promise you some extra muscles after all!"

"Be my guest, Gwen - you saved me from their tender mercies - it's the least I can do."

* * *

"I'd love it, but the answer is, NO! You went through absolute hell on account of saving me from being roughed up. I still can hear that wicked bastard's punches thudding into your poor belly. I know it must still hurt you awfully! And that might have been ME he was doing it to! That more than makes up for all the things you put me through - a million times more! And what you put me through was no more than I deserved and did me a power of good anyway. SO - let's hear no more crap like that - boss."

"You're surprising me more every day, Harry, in all sorts of lovely ways!"

And then Gwen continued, pouring out her joy.

"Oh, Bliss! I love all the things that are happening to us. I truly do! Isn't it so heavenly and utterly fine to be three young, healthy, proudly naked girls exulting in our lovely God-given bodies? Don't you both realize by now that we can take on any challenge the world can throw at us and still be ready for more? Isn't it so intoxicating to have got where we have? The world is ours!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd been drinking, Gwen," said Jessica.

"I know just what you mean, my revered Gwendoline," said Harriet.

Harriet was rather out of breath after carrying her beloved and injured leader, Gwendoline for five hours, but managed to gasp out, "I wonder - why we seem - to attract such - trouble. It just doesn't -- seem fair - all we - are, are -three - nude girls - just minding - our - own business."

It was the evening of the day that they had tangled with the Neanderthal paramilitary thugs and another cold night was in prospect.

On that famous occasion Harriet had been on the verge of being beaten up by the leader of this unsavoury group but Gwendoline, conscious of her responsibilties as leader, had taunted the guy with a few well chosen insults and so saved her friend from injury, although only at the cost of receiving a terrible beating herself . Harry had been carrying her on her back all day, both to show her immense love and gratitude and give Gwen a chance to recuperate; she was beginning to get used to the feeling of that weight resting on her and those warm arms clasped around her neck. She almost hoped to be allowed to carry Gwendoline like this for the rest of the journey.

"Put me down now, dearest Harry - thanks a trillion my love," said Gwen in a faint voice. "But I think I can fly solo from now on in. Let's try to sleep by that wall - it should keep this fucking awful wind off us."

Jessica and Harriet both willingly endured a cold and miserable few hours to ensure that Gwendoline had the benefit of whatever little warmth was going that night and were greatly relieved to see her looking so much less ill when morning came. Gwen woke and smiled wearily at her two beloved companions.

"Sorry, girls but I can't go on like this. I've got to have at least one day and one night's rest in a warm bed - one of you try and find a phone box and get hold of Jim for me. I've really had it - awfully sorry and all that. You were right Jessica - I was a fucking idiot to take on all those three when you could have helped me."

"No you weren't, Gwen - it was YOUR job to fight those guys and you did it. I'd have stopped Jessie if she'd tried to help you," said Harriet. "I know what makes you tick by now, having learned the hard way. You're cruelly hard on others but a fucking sight harder on yourself and I love you so much for that. Don't - oh please don't - disappoint me, your greatest admirer. Don't weaken now! You don't need Jim - just get up and pull yourself together! We're going on! And don't fret my dearest Gwen - these shoulders are broad enough to carry you to the ends of the earth!"

"You lovely girl, Harry! I'll walk by myself as long as I can - but I feel as weak as a kitten after yesterday - so be prepared for a heavy load!"

Lady Gwendoline did not need any further assistance from Lady Harriet and she gradually became her old confident and somewhat insufferable self as her strength returned - much to the joy of her two friends who had both been utterly dismayed at her loss of will. Jessica marvelled at how Harriet had been able to shame Gwen into snapping out of her defeatism.

Gwen for her part was pondering her shameful failure and mulling over a proposition to put to Harriet. At last she made up her mind.

"Harry, my sweet! How would you like to be in charge for a few days and then you could punish me for my spinelessness earlier on? You could chase me up hills and make me swim freezing lakes. I don't suppose you'll find any housework for me, but you never know!"

* * *

It was the morning of 9th November when the three girls awoke to find that fog had descended. They could scarcely see to the edge of the field where they had slept. The last few days had been cold, but crisp and dry and they had hardly felt any discomfort now that they had grown so used to surviving in the open for so long. But this clammy, pervasive, damp cold was new and most unwelcome.

"We had to expect this sooner or later, but it's come at just the wrong time. I don't even know what direction we should be going in any more" said a despondent and shivering Jessica.

"Well I do - this field is aligned pretty well north/south. Just as well someone can think ahead around here," said Gwendoline. "I suggest we make a move if we don't want to die of exposure. Your kick-boxing lessons will have to wait a day or two, Harry. Give you time for that black eye to heal a bit!"

They proceeded cautiously for a few hours and the murk showed no sign of lifting, when the shadow of a building loomed up in the fog.

"Can't we shelter here for a bit, Gwen?" pleaded Jessica who was not at all convinced that they were going in the right direction. "We're probably just going round in circles anyway - this is madness, going on in this awful fog."

"OK, just for a couple of hours or so, but we are getting behind schedule - not that that matters if this goes on." Gwen did not elaborate on the last few words.

The building seemed to be another of those disused agricultural structures that had been such useful shelters to them in the past and they were less cautious in approaching than they ought.

It was only when they came nearer to the place that they realised it was a dwelling and an occupied one at that!

"Let's knock on the door, Gwen," said Jessica. "We hardly ate anything yesterday and I can't take much more of this. We can pretend to be lost and asking the way." A likely story!

"I agree," shivered Harriet. "This fog gets into the bones and you need rest Gwendoline. You're beginning to look really ill again. Who cares if we fail in our mission - we've our whole lives ahead of us, don't let's throw them away just for some impossible initiative test that we've already passed by any reasonable standards."

"I might look ill, but I'm perfectly OK. But if you miserable pair can't take it any more, then let's turn ourselves in, by all means." And Gwen knocked loudly on the front door. Footsteps could be heard coming along the hall and the door opened.

"Jim? Good Lord! My darling. What are you doing here, sweetheart - the answer to three maidens' prayers!"

They all pushed their way eagerly into the house without waiting to be asked. Jim had still not got over his surprise at seeing his fiancee again so soon, when they all threw themselves onto the rug by the sitting room fire and began to thaw out.

He explained that the dwelling had belonged to an elderly aunt of his who had recently passed away, leaving all her possessions to him as her only living relative. He had only heard from his lawyer the morning after their departure and had been here for the past couple of days. So if Gwen had tried to contact him in her temporary despair the day before, she would have been out of luck.

"I'm just doing a bit of a stock-take in preparation for either selling the place or moving in. I can't decide just yet. Fancy a bite to eat? There's a pretty well-stocked fridge."

Harriet went to investigate and before long the smell of cooking began to spread throughout the house. After twenty minutes she appeared with a plate of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and sausages for Gwendoline.

"Here you are Gwen. Get this inside you - coffee follows in a jiffy. Get seated round the table the rest of you - I'll be serving you in a couple of minutes."

Soon Harriet produced equally full plates for the others.

"Are you sure you won't join us, darling Harry? Don't you think your act as a servant has gone on long enough?" said Gwen as she turned to look at Harriet standing by the table, ready to refill cups and plates as desired.

Harriet ignored this and looked at Jim. "Any nice hard work to do in this lovely house, Jim? I'm trying to build up my body to match these two superwomen here. No task is too heavy for me - I want to be worked until I drop!"

Before Jim could answer, Gwen interrupted, "SIT DOWN and join us you darling silly girl. Stop making me feel guilty! Seriously though Jim - she would love to help out with a bit of heavy work. She's in serious training now and it would be good for her. That's better dear - come and sit next to me."

Gwen put her arm around Harriet's neck, pulled her face close to hers and kissed her tenderly and passionately on the lips, inserting her tongue deep into her mouth, not drawing away for several long minutes. Jim looked on in amazed embarrassment - as did Jessica who had her own reasons to feel jealous.

"I've been so rotten to this sweet girl - I'm going to spend the rest of my life being especially nice to her to make up for it. If anyone objects to that - it's just too bad! Don't worry Jim - I've plenty of love left over for you, as you are going to find out very shortly, just as soon as we've finished eating!"

After breakfast Gwen raced up the stairs followed more slowly by Jim. She frowned angrily at his obvious lack of fitness.

"You're still young Jim and yet you move around like a clapped out old man! And look at that disgusting gut! I'm going to take you in hand and we'd better start today. I'm a lovely, healthy young girl, even if I am a bit battered at the moment, and I take it very personally when my lover keeps falling asleep when he ought to be shagging my arse off! Now let's get on with it and don't worry about my bruises. I like a bit of pain, especially when it's on account of being well and truly fucked by you!"

Jim was utterly shocked and not a little disgusted by Gwen's brutal crudity and hurt by her mercilessly accurate description of his physical condition, but he soon forgot all that in the heavenly joy of making love to this exquisite being who, only a few days before he had imagined to be quite unattainable.

Jim had fallen asleep after making love. Gwen looked adoringly at him for a few seconds and then decided it was time to begin his physical rebuilding. She punched him in the stomach as hard as she could and he awoke, sitting bolt upright and clutching his abdomen with a look of pain and surprise.

"Out of that bed you idle bastard. Today you begin to sweat as you've not sweated for far too long. Look at me, Jim! Look at my body, there's not an ounce of surplus fat anywhere and there never will be - look!"

And she swivelled around slowly, letting him see her sheer physical perfection. He looked again at her firm breasts, thighs and buttocks and her flat firm and muscular stomach and strong arms and shoulders and felt shame at his own run down condition. He had really let himself go to seed in the last year, since Gwen had been so enthralled by this handsome and talented artist and he had fallen so utterly and hopelessly in love with her.

"If you really truly desire the privilege of being allowed to screw this lovely young girl you see standing before you every day whenever you feel like it, all you have to do is lose that gross fat belly, stop slouching around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and generally get yourself fit. We can start now - and DON'T put those clothes on - you don't need clothes to exercise. What do you have outside in the garden?"

"A tennis court - minus the nets and a swimming pool - empty."

"Right - we can use the tennis court to start with. I think we'll get you running a few dozen circuits to loosen you up a bit. And start filling the pool, darling - we all want a swim and you are going to join us. Now let's get outside and start demolishing all that disgusting fat and building up lots of lovely strong muscles!"

The fog was starting to clear a bit by this time and Gwendoline could make out more of the details of the house and its surroundings. They would have avoided it had they been able to see as much as was now visible. Jim gasped as the cold air hit his naked body and wondered why Gwen showed no reaction, until he realised that she and her two companions had grown used to this kind of temperature long before this. They reached the tennis court and Gwen gave him a preparatory talk before making him start his hours of exercise.

"You know how I got these bruises, Jim?"

"No - I thought it was a fall or something."

"Well, some of my injuries were when I was tied up and beaten by three men and the the rest which are worse were caused by them after I had got free and fought and beat them all senseless. When we had just started out on this adventure I and Jessica were attacked by five thugs who were going to rape us. I demolished three of them and Jessica did for the other two. We got mixed up in an illegal bare knuckle prize fight and between the two of us we defeated seven male pugilists one after the other. You see what I'm getting at? I could destroy you any time I wanted to and I don't like that! I don't want to marry a weakling and a wimp. Please give me something to look up to apart from your talent as a painter. Please my sweet! Start running round the court and I'll see about filling that pool - don't stop until I get back."

She found how to turn on the water supply to the swimming pool and left it to fill up and then went back inside the house, looking round to see that Jim was continuing to obey his imperious young fiancee's instructions. She grinned broadly to think how his feet would be a mass of blisters when he had finished and rejoined her friends who, as she expected were fast asleep in front of the fire. She joined them and dozed off herself, waking up with a guilty start - poor old Jim!

"Wake up you too. Jim wants to work out with us in the garden - he's suddenly got bitten by this fitness bug. We ought to humour him! Shame for him not to have a bit of company - let's go."

When the three girls got outside, Jim was on his hundredth lap around the tennis court and sweating despite the cold foggy November air.

Gwen signalled to him to come and join them and he was happy to comply, being in the terminal stages of exhaustion by this time.

"Mind if we all take part, my darling? Why should you get all the pleasure? Jessica will race you round the court a few times and after that you'll think of lots of other energetic vigorous things to do together and I'm going to give darling Harry her kick-boxing lessons for the day. Isn't this such great fun - all improving our bodies and naked together as Nature intended!"

"Thanks for telling the others this was all my idea," gasped an utterly exhausted Jim later that day as he dried himself off. He had just swum in the killingly icy water of the refilled pool with his three hardy and untiring guests.

"I don't want to humiliate you Jim, even if it is for your own good as well as my selfish desire to be seen on the beach with a hunk rather than a weed. And I would NEVER show you up in front of anyone else. To change the subject, I've got a favour to ask of you - in fact lots of favours."

"All you have to do is ask - my lovely, bossy future wife and it's as good as done!"

"I want you to keep track of us for the rest of our journey and make sure we get fed every day. The guy who arranged this initiation left food supplies hidden for us along our route, but they've all been rifled or ruined in some way or other for days now. We need a new supplier or we'll never survive in this weather - not if we're half starved. So I think you should be waiting for us every night when we make camp! And one more favour - don't get dressed until we leave tomorrow evening. There's no need to be shy with us - we're three very nice girls! And why should you get to look at us and not we at you?"

"So you think an obese old man is worth looking at, do you?"

"You're not that bad-looking sweetheart, in fact you're still a pretty handsome guy - just not quite up to my highly exacting standards - but you will be, darling, you will be!"

[Harry]

PART EIGHT
"Time to get that fat arse out of bed!" Gwendoline stood over Jim, her arms folded over her breasts and looking sternly down. "Time for an early morning half-hour run followed by a twenty minute swim and then another half hour run - and mind you keep this up after we leave later today. You have two slices of toast, tea without milk and fruit juice for breakfast - no more fried breakfasts for you as long as we live together! I think a banana and a cheese sandwich should be fine for lunch - and NO eating between meals. Only one cooked meal a day (in the evening), and make sure you always go to bed feeling a little bit hungry - you've a lot of weight to lose. Trust me - in a few weeks you'll be the trim fellow I fell in love with last summer."

"And I've got to endure all this misery, just so I can hang on to you?"

"Yes."

"You bitch - no wonder Harriet's so scared of you! I must be mad to put up with all this - you going through it with me?"

"You bet - only I run and swim faster and further and for longer, that's all. Let's wake up the others and they can enjoy all this as well. Then I'm sure good old Harry will do a lot more heavy labouring for you - she's coming on so well that girl."

After the three had finished their morning marathon and eaten breakfast - watched by an envious and tired Jim, who had quickly swallowed his meagre meal, he and Harry went upstairs to continue clearing out unwanted furniture. Harry carried each piece out into a garden shed where it was to be kept for the time being. She had some difficulty with one large wardrobe and Gwen offered to help, but Harriet determinedly refused and somehow carried it downstairs and out of the house, without pausing once for breath. She was covered in dust and sweat by the time she had finished.

"I think we should make this place our home," said Gwendoline to Jessica as they watched the toiling pair. "The trouble with the other place is that it's too small for when the children start coming along and that wonderful rock would always be tempting me to climb it alone. Nor does it have a pool and a tennis court. Shame I got poor old Harry to clean up that kitchen for nothing! She can start on this one in the afternoon."

"Will you go on living here when you inherit the family seat and that lovely place in London?"

Gwen looked desperately sad as she always did at any hint about her father's precarious health. "No - we'll move in right away when the day comes. I only hope it won't be for a very long time!"

She changed the subject. "Harry's doing incredibly well with the kick-boxing training. She wants to fight one of us for real, just to see how she could do. What do you think - bit too soon?"

"She's a big girl, Gwen! It's her choice. I'll give her ten minutes tomorrow and hold nothing back - she won't be coming back for more for a long time."

"OK. But don't hurt her too much, Jessie. I won't tolerate a massacre. I'll be watching."

"You're getting very fond of her, aren't you?"

"I admire the magnificent way she put up with all the shit I gave her a few days ago. She never complained, except just a bit at first, perhaps. She's a very brave girl and I rate courage over all other qualities."

"All the more reason not to interfere on her behalf tomorrow. Let her learn the hard way that you can't run before you can walk. Just keep out of it Gwen - she'd thank you for that!"

Gwendoline's icy blue eyes looked angrily at her best friend and Jessica wilted.

"I don't like it Jessie - but as you wish. Just remember this, my friend, she's coming with us all the way and if she can't stand up, thanks to you, then you can be one to carry her."

"Don't worry Gwen; I won't kill your precious Harry - not quite!"

"It's never pretty to see jealousy. Just don't hurt her, even if you would love to."

Jessica scowled angrily but did not reply. Gwen later urged Harry to withdraw her challenge, but she angrily told her she knew perfectly well she was in for a torrid time but had to find out how well she was progressing, even though it meant getting a bit bruised in the process. Let them get on with it then, was Gwen's sad conclusion.

Harriet prepared a magnificent lunch for Gwen and Jessica and a superb sandwich for Jim. Once again she refused to join the others at the table despite Gwen's almost tearful pleas, and waited on them as if she had been born a servant rather than the daughter of a peer.

"Can I do anything else for you before we all leave?" she asked Jim after clearing away and washing up.

"Don't let her, Jim," said Gwen. "Come and sit with us for the afternoon, dearest Harry and watch all this crap on the television like a good girl"

"If you're so keen on hard work - why not make a start on that wilderness at the bottom of the garden," said Jim gratefully. "I'd like all those overgrown shrubs and brambles totally taken out and the whole lot dug over. I have visions of a lawn there. You won't do that this afternoon, but if you made a start I'd be for ever in your debt."

"Who says I can't do all that? Just watch me!"

And Harriet went out into the garden in the raw November cold and comprehensively demolished all the shrubs that Jim had pointed out to her, ignoring all the sharp brambles, scratching her skin and hurting the soles of her feet. By nightfall she had finished the job completely and was in a state of triumphant exhaustion.

Gwen put her arms around Harriet's stinking, sweaty, dirty, naked body and kissed her.

"You really are a wonder, Harry. I do love you so much!"

Jessica looked on in a rage.

"Just you wait, you bitch. When I'm through with you, your own mother won't know you." She kept this angry thought to herself, but the look on her face spoke volumes. Harriet saw it and wished she had never been so silly as to issue her challenge, but it was a little late to be backing out now.

* * *

11th November.

The three girls woke up well after sunrise to find that the ground outside their sleeping place was covered with frost. The sky was totally free of cloud and the sun was dazzling so low in the sky was it. They had spent the night in a cabin belonging to Jim and occasionally used by him. It was situated on a particularly bleak part of the moors and he had painted some of his best work in this area - so he claimed. The place was full of his stuff and also contained an oil stove which had given the three a pleasantly warm night. Only another twelve days and nights to survive and the initiation would have been completed. It would be touch and go whether all three girls' resolutions would last out.

Despite Jessica's protests that they could not possibly venture out until the frost had gone, Gwendoline insisted -with Harriet's enthusiastic agreement - that they all go for a morning jog around the moorland and even see if there might not be some stretch of water deep enough to swim in. With a shivering Jessica bringing up the rear, the girls found themselves about two miles away from their night - time refuge and looking at a sparkling and extensive stretch of water, blue under the cloudless November sky.

"Good - there's only the odd bit of ice floating on the surface here and there. You go in first, Jessica. Harry and I will follow in a minute or two after I give her a bit more training for this stupid fight you both insist on. You don't get out until we two have finished our swim - you ARE going to be cold by the time it's all over."

And in a whisper, Gwen continued, "Of course you could always decline Harry's challenge and forget about all this nonsense and then we'd all go back to the hut for a few hours and be nice and warm."

Jessica responded to this plea by moving twenty yards back from the edge of the pool, running towards it and jumping in - landing in deep water yards out into the middle. She swam across to the other side and came back to the centre, treading water and announcing that it was absolutely lovely and she would like to stay in all day.

After Gwen had put Harry through a few more moves the other two got into the pool and cooled off. Gwen sadly decided after ten minutes that Jessica was totally obdurate and ready to freeze to death rather than pass up on her chance to demolish poor old Harriet , who was picking it all up very quickly, but not quickly enough. She signalled that they should all emerge and go back to the artist's cabin and warm up in front of the stove before going on.

By mid-day the frost had gone and they set out on the walk to where Jim was due to meet them with their evening meal and hot drinks. Apart from a couple of times when they had to take cover and wait shivering while parties of hikers passed by, the day was incident free and Jim duly appeared at the rendezvous.

He and Gwen disappeared behind a convenient wall for a very long time and the other two ate their meal in silence until Jessica spoke.

"I'm really going to love altering that lovely face of yours, Harriet. You won't ever be pretty again - I promise you that!"

"You and whose army? You don't scare me, Jessica," sneered Harry. "I'm far stronger and getting stronger every day - you're frail."

"We'll see. It's not brute force that decides these things."

Gwendoline rejoined them after bidding Jim a lingering and loving farewell until the morrow.

"Good! Having a nice talk are we? That's better, girls. It's been deadly the last couple of days with you two being so nasty to each other."

Jessica managed to twist her face into a semblance of a smile and Harriet beamed happily and said she had always loved Jessica and would continue to do so, no matter what.

They decided to take advantage of the remaining hour of light to continue before finally finding some sort of shelter in a fold in the ground, so shallow as to give scarcely any protection from a stiff breeze which had been increasingly biting at their hardened bodies for the second half of the day. Only their physical proximity kept them from dying of hypothermia and even so they felt more dead than alive when morning came.

For once in the last few days, Jessica was glad of Harriet's ample form pressed against her for the whole night - she had to admit that it was indeed a strong and well muscled body that was lying both beside her and partly on top of her. Maybe she would be not such a pushover after all. When she was sure Harry was asleep she ran her hands along one of her thighs and realised that this girl, properly trained would have the strength to give a kick that could fell a horse. She put a hand on the upper arm and shoulder and almost gasped at the layers of muscle she felt there. Maybe I will think again, she thought, before falling asleep herself.

12th November.

"Another night like that and we're finished" moaned Jessica as the three of them got to their feet and stood in a circle, their arms wrapped tightly around each other and keeping as close as they possibly could. "My feet are completely numb after hurting all night. I mean - look at us all. We've so many ice hard goose-bumps on our skin you could use us as sandpaper!"

Harriet disagreed.

"Nonsense - we're still alive and after a night like that we can survive anything," she said. "By the way - I loved the way you were fondling all my muscles last night, Jessie. Made you think twice about your chances against me - I'll bet."

A furiously blushing Jessica said nothing by way of reply to this last comment, and suggested they be making a move before they froze solid.

Once again the ground was covered by frost and their feet seemed to cry out in agony at the cold. They all mechanically resolved to press on and try and ignore that terrible pain in their lower extremities - a pain that no amount of massage or exercise seemed able to alleviate. Finally the weak autumnal sun rose high enough to warm the ground a little and by noon they were all three beginning to feel that, after all, they might survive the day - although the prospect of another night as cold as the last made even Gwendoline and Harriet feel afraid.

As for Jessica, her enthusiasm seemed to be ebbing away by the second for the project which had been her idea for so many years. Only the desire to administer a chastisement to the Harriet who had so unaccountably supplanted her in Gwendoline's affections continued to provide her with any degree of motivation. She hated the cold and that never - ending nakedness which seemed to expose her body to every gust of wind, every sharp stone and every thorn and bramble. She wanted to be clean again and use a proper toilet instead of the open heath. She ached to be warm and wear lovely clothes and go to parties and do all the things their former school friends were doing at this second.

And just as she was giving way to despair an energetic Springer spaniel seemed to appear from nowhere jumping up at them and barking in a friendly way, obviously delighted to have met these strange people so unexpectedly in the middle of the moors.

* * *

November 12th - continued

"What a lovely doggy!" cried a delighted Jessica - all her troubles and misery forgotten as she bent down and hugged the unexpected visitor. After having her face licked, she picked up a stone and threw it energetically as far as she could (which was quite a long way) for the animal to retrieve. The friendly and energetic spaniel scampered after it and brought it back to her, dropping it on the ground at her feet and looked up eagerly, panting and grinning. She was about to throw it again, when Gwendoline, who had been looking out for the dog's owner, pointed at a figure in the middle distance coming in their direction.

"Looks like Fido's owner," she warned. "Fat chance of avoiding detection, not now you've gone and made friends with his dog. Let's hope he likes meeting three dirty, cold and very naked girls when out walking his pet."

"If he's a red blooded male, he should be delighted - and what if we could use a wash? We're still any normal guy's idea of heaven, as long he has a strong stomach!" was Harriet's reply to this.

They would not have long to find out. The gentleman was coming towards them at a very brisk pace. It soon became clear that he was not young - possibly in his late fifties. He was tall and thin-faced with an irritable air, like a fussy schoolteacher. The three became all the more apprehensive the nearer he came. His expression seemed to become more forbidding all the while and they dreaded that he would report them to the authorities at the earliest opportunity. Visions of disgrace and incarceration came before their eyes.

"He looks a really sour-faced bastard," was Jessica's verdict. "Do we have our fight in jail, Harry or wait until we get released?"

"Let's wait until we get out," said Harriet, "These Women in Prison flicks are so corny and utterly crass - let's not add to the genre. You're a lucky girl to get a reprieve."

"Reprieve - bollocks. You're the one whose been reprieved - but I'll still pulp you when the day finally comes."

"Shut up you two. As if we aren't in enough trouble," ordered Gwen.

And they waited until the man came up to them and smiled in a friendly way. All the sourness which characterised his face in repose disappeared and a look of eager delight spread over his features.

"Good morning ladies. I see you've made friends with Victor here - not my dog - walking him for a sick friend who can't get out and about for a few days. Delighted to meet you. I see you three all love the fresh air and open country like me."

"Good morning, Sir," replied Gwendoline. "I'm very relieved you don't seem to mind our nudity - it's become such a part of me that I can't imagine ever dressing again as long as I live - can't speak for the others."

Harriet nodded her agreement and Jessica neither said nor indicated anything.

Gwen continued, "My friend here seems to have fallen in love with Victor. He's certainly a healthy active dog - must keep you fit trying to keep up with him."

"Oh! I don't know where he gets the energy from. My goodness, I don't. But what brings you three lovely people to this remote spot at this bleak time of year?"

Gwendoline explained something of the nature of their endurance test and how they were nearing the end, much to the relief of Jessica. She also told the stranger how much the experience had changed her and how grateful she was to have found out so much about herself these past two months. Jessica contented herself with reflecting that all she had learned was what terrible things bitter cold could do to the human body - knowledge she would be happy to do without right then. Harry said she was glad to have discovered how much physical potential she had and did not explain further. The man listened to them and seemed to come to a great decision.

"I have to deliver Victor back to his owner," he explained. "When I have done that, would you like me to come and pick you three up and take you to my house for a chat and a meal and maybe you could stay for the night or two nights even?"

"We can only stay one night in the same place, I'm afraid - but we'd be delighted to accept your offer. We could use a shower, I'm afraid. We must all stink to high heaven," said Gwen.

The man earnestly assured them that they smelt only of delicious femininity and the wild open moors and promised to collect them in about half an hour's time. He directed them to a track which was about two miles away and promised that when they reached it he would be waiting for them.

He was as good as his word and within an hour they were disembarking from his shooting brake and staring around them at the extensive grounds of his fair-sized house. They went inside and were given a cold lunch and a hot drink. Their host smiled at them.

"I have a splendid idea, which I hope you will all like to go along with. Seeing such strong healthy girls has made me want to see you in action! What about a bit of a race of an unusual nature? I was thinking of a rickshaw race. I have a couple of these equipages in the stable. Splendid way to get the blood flowing. There is something intoxicating about the sight of a woman running - such grace and poetry."

He led them out to the stable and showed them the two vehicles. Gwendoline and Harriet eagerly agreed to the idea and said the gentleman and Jessica could be the passengers and that they would race around the grounds of the house. A problem arose from the disparity between Jesscia's and Jeremy's (Jeremy was their host's name) weights and it was agreed to place a sack of flour in the chariot with Jessica. The bathroom scales were used to ensure absolute fairness.

Jessica could not understand her two friends being so immensely keen on such a weird idea, but went along with them for the time being, and she still did not care to offend Gwendoline.

When the rickshaws had been taken out and cleaned and were fit to be used, Jeremy and Jessica took their seats and the other two girls stepped between the shafts and raised them, ready for the word to start. Gwen was to pull Jeremy and Harry Jessie.

"Perhaps I should explain the course, first of all," said Jeremy. "You start by running down the driveway until you reach the main gates and then turn left and run around the ground, making a complete circuit and return here by way of the driveway. I have a couple of riding crops, if this is to your taste."

Jessica pricked up her ears at this. A chance to flick Harriet's shoulders a few times! Sadly for her, Gwendoline icily rejected this idea and Jeremy concurred albeit with a disappointed sigh. He had wanted to flick not Gwen's shoulders but her backside over which he had been fantasising ever since he had first seen her.

Very well, girls - GO!

* * *

Just as Jeremy was about to order the race to start, Gwendoline remembered that Jim would be at their next meeting place only to find nobody there. "Sorry, Jeremy, but I have to phone my fiancee or he'll be going on a fruitless errand and be worried over nothing."

Jeremy stopped smiling and his face resumed its original severity.

"Of course you must tell him, my dear. What a shame you didn't think of this earlier. Run along and please be quick."

"Sorry, Sir. I'll let you two use riding crops on us both after all - just to make up for the delay."

Gwen ran inside the house and Jeremy resumed his good-humoured expression. He reached behind him and produced the crops, handing one to a delighted Jessica, who could not resist a preliminary try-out on Harriet.

"Have fun, Jessica. It's my turn tommorrow!" Harry said after a second.

"That bloody well hurt," was her unspoken reaction." Must try to do something about this."

Gwendoline returned and placed herself between the shafts and raising the crossbar announced she was ready to start.

Jeremy gave the order to start and the two started off down the drive. The gravelly surface was painful even to Gwen's and Harry's hardened feet and both girls proceeded gingerly until a sharp blow to Gwendoline's bottom caused her to break into a run and leave Harriet behind. Harry gritted her teeth and forced herself to run faster, trying to ignore the pain. Jessica raised her crop and prepared to raise a few weals on Harry's shoulders, but was thwarted when her intended victim sharply jerked the shafts upwards, causing Jessica to lose her grip on the riding crop, which flew out of her hands and fell onto the ground and bothered Harry no longer. Jessica contented herself with yelling encouragement which took the form if insults and abuse.

"Move that fat arse, you fucking cripple," was the kindest of the many unpleasant things which she said to urge Harriet to greater efforts.

By the time the end of the driveway was reached, Gwendoline still had the slight lead over Harry that she had gained at the start and whenever the other girl was starting to overhaul her, a stinging tap on her quickly reddening bottom caused her to up her pace a little. She realised somewhat guiltily that she was really enjoying this little foretaste of her forthcoming ordeal at the hands of Mrs Travers, even deliberately slowing down a little whenever Jeremy appeared to be ignoring her bum in order to attract more of his pleasantly painful attentions to it!

Harriet's more muscular thighs started to give her the advantage as soon as they reached the grass and she soon drew level with Gwen who despite all her efforts, to say nothing of Jeremy's energetic cropping, was unable to regain her lead. By the time the driveway was reached again she was a good length behind and grateful for the gravel surface, which she could deal with so much better than Harry - she realised that she loved the pain it caused her feet just as much as she did the stinging to her bottom. She steadily cut into Harry's lead and by the time they reached the finish the girls were level. They were both covered in sweat and gasping.

"Splendid race! Let's go round again and try to get a decision out of this," cried Jeremy as he contemplated his handiwork in the form of Gwendoline's scarlet posterior. A close observer might have noticed a bulge that he had not had earlier.

"It's not fair only one of us having a whip. Can I go and find the one I dropped?" asked Jessica, who had not enjoyed herself as much as the other three. Sitting still in the rickshaw with nothing on had made her very cold while her two companions were working up such a sweat.

"I think the best idea is for Jeremy to give up using his," said Gwen. "I'm afraid we've both been enjoying it a lot more than is good for us!"

This was a very accurate observation. As she looked round, she quickly noticed the signs of Jeremy's arousal and had herself been feeling a delicious and increasing warmth between her legs from the first slap she had been given. As a healthy normal girl she felt ashamed of her mounting sensual preoccupation with physical pain and the exquisite enjoyment it was giving her. She only hoped that the excellent Mrs Travers would be able to beat this welcome/unwelcome perversion out of her system for ever.

Gwendoline immediately started off at a cracking pace at the start of round two and Harriet once again had to psych herself up to brave the cutting gravel surface. Jessica's insults were quite a spur as well!

She was still behind Gwendoline at the end of the driveway, but not by as much as the first time and Gwendoline realised that she was going to lose this one by quite a margin unless she could pull something extraordinary out of the bag on the last leg.

Although she positively tore along the drive towards the finishing line, she failed by a whisker to catch Harry who grimly held on to her lead despite the increasing agony to her sore feet.

"Let's make it best out of three," gasped Gwendoline. "And Jessie can go and find her crop. I was heaps better with a bit of encouragement at the right time! You have any objections, Harry?"

"None at all. I'll pay her back tomorrow and with interest!"

Gwendoline knew what a vain promise this was and her heart bled for the poor girl who had incurred Jessica's dislike so soon after Gwen had befriended her. She so wished they would both make it up and then all three could be friends again.

The third race was a draw like the first and Harry's back and shoulders were even redder than was Gwen's rear end. She had not bothered to repeat her earlier trick, realising that Jessica would be ready for her this time and hardly likely to be outwitted the same way twice.

Jessica was more cheerful by now and less cold, having had a bit of exercise wielding her crop ceaselessly down on her friend - or former friend. Harry had started to hate her in the last twenty minutes with a venom she had never before felt towards anybody.

"Let's have another three races," said Gwen. "And I'll swap places with Harry."

This was agreed to and both girls went unchastised as Jeremy compassionately realised Harry had been through more than enough already and Jessica sensed that Gwen was developing an unhealthy obsession that she, Jessica, was not about to encourage.

Harry was declared the overall winner and the four returned inside the house. Gwen and Harry were hot from all the effort, but poor Jessica was blue with cold and shivering horribly after sitting still for so long in the dying hours of the day with the temperature dropping like a stone.

"Time for us all to go and have a nice cold shower before dinner," cried Gwendoline and all three went up to the bathroom. Jessica knew it was fruitless for her to resist and prepared to be made to feel even colder then she already was. `Never mind,' she thought, `I'll deal with Harriet in the morning.'

* * *

November 12th - Continued.

After the six "chariot races" which their amiable, if eccentric host had persuaded the three girls to participate in were over, two of the trio were sweating and hot. Gwen had pleasurably acquired an extremely sore bottom which still tingled wonderfully, giving rise to much continuing moistness in her private parts. Harriet had a sore back and shoulders, which she inwardly knew to be but a foretaste of her ordeal at Jessica's hands (and feet) on the morrow. Jessica was extremely cold having had little exercise and that only in the third race when Gwen had selfishly agreed to the two drivers' being given their riding crops back, just so she could enjoy once again that delicious stinging of her handsome rear. When she had seen what Jessica had done to Harry, she was full of remorse and had insisted on changing places in order to save the poor girl further misery from the jealous Jessica.

Jeremy promised to have dinner ready for them when they had finished their shower and toilet and had time to rest after their tiring ordeal. He politely and charmingly refused Harriet's offer of help. He explained that he was a very good cook who took extreme pride in his prowess and allowed no one apart from himself into his kitchen.

Gwendoline was first into the bathroom and took a quick look around.

"Oh -look girls there are only the two shower heads. You two get under first and when Harry has finished, I'll take her place. Jessica can stay under until we have BOTH finished - serve you right for being so cruel to dear old Harry and wanting to beat her up tomorrow. I do wish you two would kiss and be friends again - all this enmity is making me really upset and miserable."

Jessica made no reply and stepped under the shower next to Harriet. Gwen turned on the water, making sure Jess had much, much more pouring over her than Harry. She directed her to move over a little so she could have her head directly under the ice-cold cascade.

"It looks so much more symmetrical, Jessica when it drips equally off both your tits. And stop that silly shaking and shivering - try to enjoy yourself and stop being such an old misery!"

Several minutes had passed and Harriet was beginning to feel uncomfortably cold, but forced herself to stay under for rather longer than she would have normally done. She wanted Jessica to suffer, both in advance of what she was going to do to her the next day and also for what she had already done. She smiled to herself as she heard Jessica's teeth chattering and saw in the corner of her eye how uncontrollable her shivering had become. Somehow Jessica endured the ice-cold hell that Gwen had decreed for her until, after what seemed an age, Harry finally stepped out and Gwen took her place.

"Just tell Harry the fights off and you can go downstairs and warm yourself by the fire. Go on, Jessie my sweet - it's not like you to be so mean."

Jessica made no reply and Gwen finished her shower and stepped out. Jessica started to follow, but Gwen told her to stay where she was until she either changed her mind or dinner was ready.

Harriet felt pity for poor frozen Jessica and intervened.

"Let her out, Gwen. I wouldn't let her back out even if she offered. We both want this fight. Just stop interfering, please."

And so Jessica was finally given the chance to get some warmth back into her three-quarters frozen body.

"You won't save yourself by being nice to me," she whispered to Harriet. " I'm still going to pulverise you."

"I heard that, Jessica," stormed Gwen. "Back under the shower and wait until dinner is ready. Go on - make it snappy! I'm putting you on your honour to stay there. I know you can be trusted - you'd better be!"

And Harry and Gwen left Jessica to shiver under the cold water, went downstairs and sprawled in front of the roaring open fire.

"I wish you wouldn't be quite so hard on her, Gwendoline, but you know best I suppose."

Harriet sighed ecstatically and continued. "It's so lovely to be nice and warm for a change, although I don't want us to get soft."

She stroked Gwendoline's shoulder and then noticed her still sore rump. "Golly Gwen, he certainly made a lasting impression on that sweet bottom of yours! Just as well you loved every minute of it! I hated what Jessica did to me and I hated her for a while."

Gwendoline inspected the damage to her friend's back and was able to assure her it was looking less red and angry all the time. Harry allowed Gwen to embrace her and soon heat and tiredness overcame them both and they fell asleep in each others arms.

They woke up when Jeremy came in to tell them that dinner would be ready in twenty minutes. He asked where their friend was and Gwen said that she was cooling off upstairs. She looked up at the clock and realised that Jessica had been under the shower for over an hour and a half. She left Harry and went up to tell her frozen friend to get dry and come downstairs in twenty minutes.

Jessica had bravely obeyed Gwendoline and made no attempt to get out from under the shower. She looked as if she might expire at any second. Gwen picked her up and carried her downstairs and laid her on the floor in front of the fire. It was not until a minute or two before dinner that she stopped shivering and some warmth started to come back to her. When she was capable of speaking again she turned to Harry and snarled at her that she would take her to pieces on the next day and scatter the bits all over the moors for the crows to eat.

On this delightful note they all trooped into the dining room and took their seats around the table. Gwendoline declined Jeremy's offer of a cushion to ease the discomfort to her whipped bottom and sat down heavily, relishing the return of the pain to her sore cheeks as they made violent contact with the hard surface of the chair.

The conversation soon turned to the subject of the contest between Harry and Jessica. Jeremy expressed himself flattered that they should wish to grace his establishment with such a spectacle and suggested that they use the lawn in front of the house and wait until the frost had gone from the grass. Gwen rejected such a late start, saying they had several miles to cover to meet Jim and she was missing him very much already. If they insisted on fighting, she said, then they could jolly well do so with frozen feet and serve them both right for being so stupid and stubborn.

Having settled this, the talk turned to general pleasantries for a while until Harriet said she hoped Jeremy had enjoyed himself flaying Gwen's bottom earlier in the day. He blushed scarlet at this and apologised to Gwendoline for any pain he had caused her, but she did have such a lovely posterior, just made to be spanked every now and again. Gwen assured him that the experience had been at least as enjoyable for her as for him and it was only concern for Harry that had stopped her allowing him to use the crop on her even more. Jessica's heart sank at this - Gwen had never shown any sign of this weird obsession with pain before the visit to the Travers/O'Toole establishment and it saddened her to see her dear friend, who she still loved desperately, turning into a compulsive masochist.

Jeremy refused all offers of help with washing up and drying and the three retired to the lounge where Jessica continued to thaw out after a day that had been the coldest of her life and seen her spirits sink to their lowest ebb ever. Only the encounter with the delightful dog and the chance to attack Harriet with the riding crop had rescued the day from utter disaster. She was sure she would have nightmares about her time in the shower for the rest of her life, and then she reflected that she had, after all said and done, survived - and tomorrow she would demolish Harriet. That made her feel much better.

[Harry]

PART NINE
November 12th - continued

Jeremy kept the girls chatting for hours before they finally were able to get upstairs to bed. His earlier attentions to Gwendoline's handsome buttocks had apparently sated his designs on those battered glories, (not that Gwen had had nearly enough) and he behaved as though the presence of three naked ladies in his house was the kind of thing that happened too often to be remarkable.

When they were finally ushered to their room, Harriet and Gwendoline decided to share one bed and Jessica was left on the other. The temperature in the bedroom was appreciably lower than that in the warm rooms below and Jessica ruefully prepared for a none too comfortable night as she heard Gwen encouraging Harry not to be worried about the next day.

"You'll be fine, darling Harriet - you've had the best teacher anyone ever had! You give her a demonstration of how good I am. Don't let me down my love: make sure you give her a real thumping! And now wrap those lovely strong arms and gorgeous powerful thighs around me and keep me warm. Night girls!"

During the ensuing night, Gwen was the warmest of the three since Harry was lying on top of her and obediently wrapping her arms and legs around her, with her back exposed to the cool air. Harry was next warmest and poor Jessica kept waking up and shivering throughout the night. By the time morning came she was more determined than ever that she was going to teach this girl who had come between her and her childhood friend a lesson she would never forget. Gwen was aware of this and was torn between her relish at the thought of seeing two other girls fighting over her and sorrow that either one of them was going to be hurt - perhaps I'll forbid it at the last minute was her last thought before falling asleep - enfolded by Harriet's strong arms and legs and with her powerful warm body pressing down on her.

November 13th

As the girls sat over their early morning meal and waited for the sun to rise, Jeremy made a few suggestions relating to the forthcoming duel between Jess and Harry. His suggestion of dividing the action into three rounds of four minutes with two minute intervals was accepted. It was agreed that there would be no referee - both girls being trusted to observe the minimal rules that had been agreed to. Jeremy offered to second Jessica and Gwen happily agreed to look after Harriet.

Three hours later, Gwen was bathing Harriet's bruised face with cold water and commiserating with her on her injuries.

"Never mind, Gwen at least I stayed on my feet all through - she didn't put me down once."

Gwen smiled at the memory of the contest. The adrenalin had fairly pumped through her at the sounds and sight of blows raining down on her two friends. They had both held absolutely nothing back and it was a wonder that neither had sustained any serious injury. Jessica had emerged as the winner, but Harriet had every reason to be proud of her performance and both girls had shaken hands and embraced warmly when it was all over.

This time it had been Gwen who was cold in the morning chill and Jessica and Harry had been pink both with exertion and the impact of the blows they were landing so regularly and heavily on each other. By the time it was over, they were sweating profusely and steam was rising from their bodies as well as their breath.

Jessica came into the bathroom and again congratulated Harry on putting up a wonderful performance. Gwendoline left them together to continue their welcome reconciliation and went downstairs to see Jeremy about something.

When the two former opponents came down, Jeremy was nowhere to be seen and Gwen was standing by the window and looking into the distance.

"Golly, Gwen! That arse looks as red as ever this morning. I'd have thought it might have cooled off a bit over night," said Harry.

"It did - but good old Jeremy's just freshened it up a bit. Very stimulating! He used his belt this time. He's pretty strong, considering how thin he is."

Her two friends came and stood one on either side of her. Harry patted her rump and Gwen squealed delightedly, asking her to slap her again only much harder. Jessica felt sick as she heard Harry complying vigorously.

"What's happening to you, Gwen?" she moaned. "Try to control yourself and don't you encourage her, Harry. And what ever is Jim going to think when he sees you tonight? Those bruises will take a week to go down."

"Oh, I'll think of something to tell him, and we aren't going to see him today. Jerry has arranged for us to stay with Victor's owner tonight. You'll be glad to see him again - Jess! So we can stay here all day and go over there this evening. Hope you don't mind too much, but I agreed we'd do another race this afternoon. Don't worry, Harry! Jessie will go easy on you this time! I only agreed to it because I so very much want to be getting it on the arse again from good old Jerry!"

"Are you two sure your feet will be up to going over that stony drive again so soon?" asked Jessica who was really more worried about enduring another two hours freezing while the other two kept warm.

Harry and Gwen assured her that they would be fine, which indeed they were. After the race was over, again the three went up for a shower, but this time Jessica was spared the horrors of the previous day. Gwen was beginning to feel that perhaps the repeat was not quite as enjoyable as the first race, to her acute disappointment. Their host had proved slightly squeamish this time and belaboured her rear a little less vigorously. In truth the sight of Gwen's bruised and swollen arse was rather less appetising than that of her smooth and untouched one had been. Even so - he had landed a lot of really stinging and satisfying smacks and she was fairly happy, if not quite as ecstatic as before.

"You look a really nasty mess, Gwen," said Jessica as she looked at her friend in the shower. "You've got such a lovely body - much nicer than mine. Why do you let that man abuse it like that? It makes me terribly sad to see you getting hooked on something so sick."

"I think your bum looks nicer when it's its normal colour and shape, myself," said Harriet. "It looked really good last night, all nice and red after the races, but after what he's done to it today it's getting really yucky. Best give it a rest for a week or two. When it's back to normal, Jessie and I will both love to kiss it, but the way it looks now quite turns the stomach."

Gwendoline looked shamefaced and realised her friends were in the right. It was hurting all the time and the exhilaration was fading fast. The thought of how she must look sobered her up a bit too. Jessica was dead right about Jim - she would have an awful lot of explaining to do!

It would never do to go through the rest of her life dominated by this particular fetish. She MUST do something to cure herself and she had a pretty firm notion as to what that would be.

After cooking the three girls another superb dinner Jeremy drove them over to his friend's house and Jessica was reunited with a boisterous and delighted Victor.

The friend turned out to be just as eccentric as Jeremy, except that his attention was directed more at Harriet - somewhat to that young lady's concern, as she had absolutely no wish whatsoever to submit her shapely and unsullied rear to the rough treatment that Gwen loved so much!

"I see old Jerry has been having a bit of fun with you my dear!" he said as he contemplated Gwendoline's flaming bottom.

"It was very much a mutual pleasure, Gavin," replied Gwen. "We each have what the other wants; I have a delightful bum and he has something to hit it with! But, I should warn you that my two friends are very much off limits - and I am resting."

"Quite so. I can see you all need a bit of R&R! Your friends both look a little battered - especially this lovely redhead and your delightful posterior has done great and valiant service to my good friend Jerry and deserves a medal!"

With this he knelt down behind Gwendoline and kissed her bruised and battered arse with great tenderness and reverence. The other two girls giggled hysterically.

Gwen asked their new host if he had any strange ideas as to how they might entertain him on the morrow and he laughingly excused them from any further exertions.

"You all need a rest, as Jerry has explained to me. I really applaud your vision. I see a worldwide network of women who will be there for each other, whenever any of their number is in need. You have my whole hearted approval for what you are doing. I shall be thinking of you all during these closing days of your mission and willing you to come through with flying colours!"

* * *

"I'm sure you will," said the other two in unison.

Indeed Jessica seemed to have altered so much since meeting Andy and it seemed to Gwen and Harry that if the idea of a female masonry were to endure after this business was over, it would be they who would have to provide the driving force to get the thing off the ground. The two separately resolved that they would - somehow they both instinctively realised that their lives might one day depend upon it.

"What will you do, my darling Gwendoline?" asked Jessica.

"I know one thing I'll be doing as little as possible - if at all."

The others looked enquiringly.

"I don't want ever to wear clothes again - not as long as I live. I love being naked - I'm so grateful to old Harold back in September. He has set me free and I bless his name forever!"

"You'll have to wear something to marry Jim," said Jessica.

"That's the only fly in the ointment, but I like the guy and I have to produce an heir - so I'll have to go through with it."

"You only LIKE him - is that a basis for a lifetime together?" asked Jessica.

"It's how our kind have always lived, Jessie," explained Harriet, "marriages of convenience. The sad thing is that poor old Jim probably hasn't got the message."

"Oh, I love the darling fellow OK. In fact I'm totally crazy about him. I was only teasing. But the Lady Masons will always have first call on my loyalty - That's what I promised darling Harry last night and I repeat the same solemn promise to both of you today. We must all fifty of us have an oath-taking ceremony just as soon as possible after this is over. I loved what Harriet said when she first joined us - 'all for one and one for all'. Let's all three of us pledge to that now and sign our names in blood. What a shame all Harry's copiously flowing blood was washed down the drain yesterday - it would have come in useful."

November 13th - continued

The three girls were very tired. It had been a strenuous day for all of them in a variety of ways.

Harriet and Jessica had fought each with much fire and fury in the morning and both were badly bruised, especially Harriet who had only managed to land one blow to every two or three that the vengeful Jessica had so skilfully landed on her. Jessica's kicks and punches had all been expertly timed and shrewdly delivered, rocking the other girl back on her heels time and again. Harriet's lovely delicate face had been a bloody mess by the time it was all over, mainly owing to a blow to the nose that had landed very early on. Only Harry's superior strength had kept her from being knocked down many times and enabled her to stay in the contest right up to the end.

Gwen kept recalling the punishment that the red-head had taken and hearing again and again the sounds of Jessica's feet and fists hitting her almost at will. She was half ashamed of herself for the erotic excitement this memory still caused her. I'm developing into a rather nasty person, she thought. Still, she had helped Harry clean herself up afterwards and been mightily relieved to find the damage to that exquisite face to be only superficial. She more fiercely admired Harriet than ever after yesterday, and looked forward to the coming night when she would be able to fondle and caress her lovely brave friend, feeling the strength of that lithe, powerful and wounded body beside her and on top of her.

In the afternoon after the fight, Gwen and Harry had once again participated in Jeremy's second favourite activity and pulled the two rickshaws in a strenuous and fiercely contested race around the estate, inflicting yet more pain and damage to their sore feet, and giving Jeremy the chance to indulge his far and away most favourite activity for the second time that day and complete his methodical devastation of Gwen's battered but still bewitching bottom, to her continuing deep satisfaction. Gwen had quite easily won this time because Harry had still not recovered from the mauling she had received from Jessica, who had happily lost the animosity she had been harbouring for the past days. Jessie abstained from using the riding crop on Harriet - in fact she threw it away after they had only gone a few yards and Harry gratefully did her very best to secure victory for them both but was just too worn out to be able to beat a Gwendoline whose adrenalin was pumping incredibly powerfully under the twin stimuli of the competition and the beautiful, if somewhat diminished, beating her sweet aristocratic buttocks were receiving from the eccentric Jeremy.

The two rickshaw girls spent much of the rest of the afternoon massaging and extracting bits of grit from the soles of their feet and soaking the said feet in a hot footbath provided by the concerned Jeremy. After a few hours of this recuperative therapy they both felt they were able resume the journey, although they might need to tread a tad carefully for a few days yet. They both agreed, albeit for differing reasons, that it had been well worth it. Harry had furthered her reconciliation with Jessica, and Gwendoline had continued her bizarre voyage of self-discovery. Both girls had exercised their bodies to an extent that had lifted them to new levels of exhausted and pleasurable exaltation.

Their new host, Gavin did not keep them talking all night like the loquacious Jeremy and they were able to retire early. Their room contained one large bed and all three were able to sleep together. Gwen took up the middle position and after a long and affectionate French kiss to Jessica who promptly fell asleep, she turned to Harriet and began to caress that strong but battered body - as she had been longing to all day.

"I'm so proud of you, my lovely dear Harry. I'll never know how you stayed on your feet through that colossal pounding Jessie gave you - but I'd never have forgiven you if you hadn't. We're two of a kind - my sweet darling Harry. I never give up and nor do you. I love you so much, so very, very much! You'll always be able to rely on me if you're in trouble. I swear it! Nothing and nobody will ever stop me coming to help you."

Harriet winced as Gwen hugged her bruised ribcage, but told her not to stop, just squeeze even harder. Being loved by her two role models was worth all the pain and humiliation they had both put her through. She finally fell asleep and Gwen lay awake wondering where they would all be in a year's time.

Happily for her own peace of mind she did not know that in a few weeks her own life would be changed for ever by the death of her father and that she would soon be catapulted into managing his estates and various companies and being henceforth known as the Countess of Bembridge. As it was, she looked forward to her marriage to a rising artist and starting a family while at the same contriving somehow to keep in very physical touch with Jessica and Harriet - especially dear brave Harry with her gorgeously developing physique!

Harriet dreamed as she drifted into a deep slumber of her recently formed ambition. She wanted to become a manual labourer and do the kind of work that strong, rough and tough men did and do it as well or even better than they. She wanted backbreakingly hard work to be her lot from dawn until dusk, doing all the heaviest and most exhausting tasks that were there to be done. She wanted to develop the body of a female Goliath! If dear old Bill didn't like the idea of a wife with bulging muscles and a hard six pack stomach then dear old Bill could go and get fucked. She saw her way ahead very clearly and and the vision caused her pussy to become as wet as Gwen's had after her delightful arse-whipping.

November 14th Nine days and counting!

"What will you do, Harry, my angel, after this is all over?" asked Gwen as she offered to share her toast with the bruised redhead. "Off back to your hedonistic round of parties and bonking with Bill I suppose!"

Harry swallowed the saliva-soaked bit of toast and smiled. "I want to find something hard and physical to do. The harder the better. This journey has changed me in all sorts of ways and I feel I have discovered my body for the first time. I want to let it take over my life for a while and see just what challenges it can meet. What about you two?"

Jessica laughed and said she just wanted to be a good wife and hopefully a good mother as well.

* * *

November 14th Continued

Gwendoline borrowed a clean and sharp razor blade from Gavin and performed the task of cutting the ear lobes of all three. The blood dripped rather more freely than they might have wished into a bowl provided by their generous host and they were all able to sign a solemn pledge of perpetual loyalty one to another in their mingled blood. Although Jessica had been inclined to ridicule this idea, she was amazed to find herself shedding tears as the simple but solemn ceremony was completed.

"Do you think our ears will ever be the same again after that?" she asked.

"I should hope not!"

Gwen uttered this, but Harriet nodded her agreement and spoke, quietly but passionately, a few heartfelt words of her own.

"Love needs its scars! I intend no profanity whatever, but we must all be willing to suffer if we are to know true love and what we three have just done is a beautiful demonstration of that. We are all bound together in ways that our forthcoming marriages and relationships, excellent though they will be, will never supersede. Let's face it, girls - that's what this journey has been all about. That's why I have willingly been through hell and back to earn your respect and friendship - it's because I love you both so much. Every bruise and every hardship has been so well worth it. I love you two forever."

The rest of the morning was spent lazing around and recovering. Harriet and Jessica gently rubbed healing ointments into Gwendoline's battered and misshapen posterior and tut-tutted over the fearful damage it had suffered. Gwen smirked in a self-satisfied way as their ministrations only served to inflict yet more wonderful lovely pain to her super-sensitive rump!

"Gwen, sweetheart - did you really enjoy being beaten by Richard in that awful house. Is that why you were so brave? You really loved it, didn't you?" asked Jessica.

Gwen laughed at this.

"I absolutely fucking hated it at the time. I so awfully wanted to cry out for mercy but something stopped me. And I hate it even more now, but only for a different reason. I remember it and it sexually turns me on in retrospect. I was changed by that and not by any means for the better - I realise that much. It was only when I was asked to whip poor old Mr O'Toole that the idea of sadomasochism really got a compulsive grip on me. It's a grip that gets stronger all the time and I hate myself for it and at the same time it makes me come gloriously alive! But let's talk about something nice, shall we?"

And the matter was not raised again until the mission was over, at which time Gwen asked Harry to do her a very special favour. More of this later.

Before they left the house of quiet Gavin, they watched the weather forecast on the television and were heartened to learn that the wind had moved to the South and unseasonably warm weather could be expected for the next few days.

"Just as well, girls. No one to stay with within fifty miles of here," said Gwen. "Mind you, I was looking forward to a few really hard cold nights with that wonderful Harry to enfold me with her lovely strong physique. I think redheads have such scrumptious body odour. Someone should bottle it and put it on the market - they would make a fortune!"

The other two girls exchanged knowing glances. Poor old Gwen was really flipping her lid! In spite of this, they knew that she was the one to lead them to the goal. Even if she was becoming ever more unstable and unpredictable, she was still far and away the most delightful and charismatic human being either of them ever had or ever would know.

* * *

November 14th - Continued

Jim was horrified at the sight of the three girls when he met them late in the evening to deliver food and drink. He had imagined that they had been enjoying a couple of days of rest and here they were looking as if they had been in a battle. Gwen saw little point in lying to him and gave a full account of their experiences. His face lengthened when he saw how her eyes came alive and sparkling as she told of her voluntary and enjoyable beatings at the hands of Jeremy.

"I never you thought you were into all that kind of thing, my darling girl. I hope you never ask me to lay a hand on you - I simply couldn't bear to hurt you, even if you do like it. As for Jessica and Harriet, I hope you two won't do anything like that to each other again. You're both far too lovely to go around suffering and inflicting that kind of injury - you don't want to end up like some ex-pugilists I know, believe you me."

All three tried to look suitably abashed and shame-faced, although inwardly they were still full of pride. Harry dearly hoped that her many bruises, which she had sustained at Jessica's hands and feet would not fade away too quickly.

Gwen kept proudly fondling her bottom and hoped IT would not heal too quickly either. I wish I had a mirror to look at it properly, she thought.

He took Gwen aside and they made love for the first time in days. The others listened to the sounds of their passionate copulation and their minds turned respectively to thoughts of Andy and Bill. In the absence of these two they decided to make do with each other and continued their reconciliation until, finally, Gwen rejoined them and Jim drove away.

"How nice to see you two such good friends again," said a delighted Gwendoline, the after-effects of her recent love-making still trickling warmly down her thighs. "I hope these last few days will be the very best of the whole enterprise. I have a good feeling about it. If you've finished with Harry, Jessica, can I have her for a while? Pass her over to me! Come here sweetheart."

And with this she proceeded to cover Harriet with caresses which were gentle at first and then increasingly rough and passionate. She kissed both sets of lips in turn with a hungry wildness that pretty soon had the redhead moaning and writhing in ecstasy and coming inexorably to the only orgasm of her young life that had not involved either Bill or her cousin.

"Come on Jessie," Gwendolione gasped as she finally rolled off a panting and sweating Harriet. "Come and get your share - there's enough of her to go around. Plenty for both of us. I'll take the pussy and get that all juicy again and you look after those lovely tits and wonderful mouth and tongue!"

"No thanks, darling. I find it quite entertaining enough just watching you perform - you are amazing, Gwen."

"Come on Jessie," pleaded Harriet. "Do as Gwen says. I can take it, believe me. This is incredible being loved by one of you after the other - now both of you darling girls can have me at once - please!"

November 15th

After the sexual gymnastics of the previous night all three girls slept until well after sunrise. It had been a mild night with the temperature never falling below fifty and these three weather-hardened Amazons hardly needed each other to keep warm - although they had all been very closely entwined all night, after finally falling into an exhausted and blissful slumber. It would be hard to say exactly where the love-making ended and sleep began. Love was certainly resumed as soon as they woke up and continued until nearly mid-day as the temperature rose to near spring like levels and the sweat began to pour off their writhing and twisting bodies. Finally they all fell asleep again and it was late afternoon when they finally made a move onwards.

"Golly, but I never thought I'd enjoy that sort of thing so much. It just wasn't real! Remember when I first joined up with you I kept telling you to lay off me? If only I'd known then what I was missing!"

"We've corrupted dear old Harry," laughed Gwen. "I hope you are ashamed of yourself. You can see I am! First we corrupt each other and then her. What a naughty pair we are for sure!"

Jessica did not answer but tightened her grip on her two friends' waists as they strode three abreast with Jessica in the middle across the deserted moors making for their next rendezvous with Jim. They had wasted so much time that they broke into a run for the final ten miles, giving more painful punishment to Gwen's and Harry's feet which were still terribly sore after the Rickshaw races. The surface was grassy in parts but the soil was very thin and many sharp flinty stones and pieces of rock showed through it and they did not have time to negotiate their way around them.

Jim had been waiting for about twenty minutes when they finally arrived, full of apologies and gasping for breath. Gwen in particular looked astoundingly attractive with her chest alternately expanding and contracting and her stomach heaving in and out after the exertion. Beads of sweat stood out on her forehead and upper lip and her body glistened all over. Jim had never seen her looking so utterly captivatingly lovely and he knew that he would forgive this marvellous creature anything, just as long as she stayed with him.

"Any objections to me staying the night with you three?" He asked. "I can't bear to be away from you Gwen. I think I'm falling in love all over again - I thought I was insane about you before, but I don't believe what I'm feeling right now. Please let me stay."

"As long as you take all your clothes off and don't put them on until you leave in the morning and give a good account of yourself - I mean no falling asleep when you should be shafting me till I beg you to stop (fat chance of my ever doing that) - I'd love to have you. Let's find a spot where the others can't see us. Have a lovely night girls - sorry I can't join you for this one!"

They found a spot under a spindly looking bush and lay down side by side. Jim shivered a little.

"Poor darling," whispered Gwendoline in his ear. "Never mind, my sweet. I'll pretty soon warm you up and here's how..."

Gwen was as good as her word and by the time a drained and weary Jim fell asleep beside his still wakeful loved one, he was sweating. She looked lovingly at him for a while and after bending over him and tenderly kissing his penis, she lay down beside him, enfolded him in her arms and slept like a log herself.

* * *

November 15th - early

Jim and Gwendoline resumed their frenzied love-making as soon as it was light and they were both fully awake.

"I suppose we could have slept on the back seat of your car," said Gwen lazily as she tenderly stroked Jim's back with the tips of her fingers. "It would have been inside the rules. But then we couldn't have used it again and I have plans for the last night which include it! Anyway it was lovely lying all night under the stars next to you, feeling your warmth against me and listening to you breathing so peacefully."

Jim agreed it had not been as cold as he had feared and said he would treasure the memory for as long as he lived. Gwen promised lots and lots more memories, each one even better than the last, and the two kissed and parted until the evening.

Gwen walked over to where the other two had settled down and roughly pulled a semi-comatose Harriet away from Jessica immediately launching herself with a sustained eagerness into a repeat performance of the night before. Jessica was so tired that she slept through it all and the two bodies went through all manner of frenetic and enthusiastic contortions, both girls crying out, groaning and screaming with pleasure by turns. Both were dripping with sweat and love by the time exhaustion overcame them.

"You really go at it don't you, Gwendoline," moaned an admiring but totally shattered Harriet, when she was finally released from Gwen's frantic attentions. "I can't imagine where the energy comes from. I'm supposed to be the muscle goddess around here but you're a lot stronger than me, even if you don't look it!"

"Have a nice rest Harry. I think it's Jessica's turn for a bit of activity. Come and join in when you've recovered."

Jessica, who had felt left out of Gwen's life recently, responded eagerly to her ferocious and undiminished energy and soon she was as exhausted as Harry. Gwen sat and looked smilingly down at their two sleeping bodies, occasionally digging her pretty big toe in to one or the other's ribs so that they would wake up, cursing Gwen for a stupid, annoying, mad bitch before going back to sleep.

Finally she rose to her feet and aimed two mighty kicks one to each of her friends, taking special care to aim directly at Harriet's most bruised rib, and told them to get up and be on their way. Harry rubbed her battered side and complied grumblingly, saying that not everyone was like Gwen - some people were just made of flesh and blood. Little did she know that the time would come when she was to be put through the most awful hardships, and these last days of their initiation would seem like a Paradise, the memory of which would help to sustain her in her time of trial.

"Did you have to kick me there, Gwen? You must have known it would hurt like hell!"

"Sorry, old thing. I guess I've a sadistic streak a mile wide. You can kick my bum if you like, as hard and often as you want."

"Yes. But you'd LIKE that, you bloody sweet and lovely pervert! Any way - here goes."

"OH! More, Harry! More, please!"

And Harry, laughing hysterically along with Gwen kept bringing her hand down on to that lovely red bottom for the rest of the day. Not too hard, but enough to make the countryside resound to the cracking of her palm against her best and dearest friend's buttocks.

Jessica looked on disapprovingly. It was a bad mistake to encourage the girl, she thought. She had a serious psychological problem and Harry was wrong to treat it as a joke. She had to admit that the horseplay was making her friend very happy indeed - she had rarely heard Gwendoline laughing with such abandon and merriment and the infection of it finally overcame even her bad humour.

Gwen noticed her favourable change of mood and called out.

"Come and take over the other side, Jessie. Harry's getting tired having to slap both cheeks - go on - don't worry, I won't break."

Jessica smilingly declined and Harry thereupon decided enough was enough and the three walked on in silence for the rest of the day until they saw the familiar form of Jim standing by his vehicle and watching out for his beloved's arrival.

"I wonder what he would think if he knew what you were getting up to with us after he left today?" asked Harry.

"I hope he'd be proud of my stamina. He's going to have to accept that you are both a precious part of my life. He'll just have to share me with you two! At least until the end of the journey - then I'll be totally his - well almost!"

Jim explained that he was forced to go down to Town for a couple of days and had arranged for the girls to stay with two friends of his, who had rather reluctantly agreed to put the naked trio up in their places. One had a flat over the garage and the other a cabin in the garden. They would not be able to enter the houses in question and would have to use outside washing and toilet facilities, but at least there would be food, drink and shelter from the elements.

"Sorry I can't come up with anything better, my darlings, but people can be funny about the human body, even when they are as utterly divine as your three. I will see you in a day or two - terribly sorry, Gwendoline, but there's no time for making love (Or shagging as you so charmingly prefer to call it) tonight. I must dash. I hope your two friends can give you a bit of comfort!"

"We will, Jimmy!" yelled Harriet as he drove off after a quick kiss for Gwen and a wave to the others.

"I think he knows about us," said Jessica, "and he doesn't seem to mind."

"He minds plenty," said Gwen. "I think I'd better sleep apart from you two from now on." She thought for a moment. "Hell - I'd catch cold if I did that. Let's get started as soon as we've eaten. You and Jessie can share me tonight, Harry. Really give me the going over of a lifetime. Do you remember in 'Blue Velvet' when Isabella Rossellini asked that kid to hurt her? Don't be afraid to hurt me. I'll be angry with you if you don't."

And with these words she burst out crying and sobbed uncontrollably until the others became dreadfully anxious for her. Harry put her arm around her and she pushed her away. Finally she calmed down and went over to a stone wall and curled up against it as so many times before in these last few weeks and fell asleep. The others joined her, one on either side, and tried to get some rest themselves. It was happily another very mild night and Gwen did not suffer from the unaccustomed absence of a soft warm body pressing against her any more than did the other two.

November 16th

Gwendoline dreamt of Jim all night and thus awoke happy in the morning. She carefully avoided disturbing the other two and went off for a quiet walk on her own. The shame she had felt at betraying her future husband and playing around so shamelessly and disgustingly with Harriet and Jessica, who both had relationships of their own which she had caused them to betray, was less strong now. She realised that there were some problems which time alone would sort out. The best course of action was sometimes inaction - to go with the flow and not ask too many deep and ultimately imponderable questions.

Jim still loved her - that was obvious. And she loved him and Jessie and Harry. She'd even contemplated making Jessica her lifetime partner for a while until the impossibility of it became obvious and Andy made his providential appearance. She still ached for her sweet touch. Love was too big a thing to confine and regiment. It was big enough to enfold her darling future husband and her dear lovely friends at one and the same time. Jim was an intelligent and sensitive man who had seen a lot more of life than a callow eighteen year old girl like her. He understood all of what she was going through. Of that she now felt utterly certain. His parting kiss last night might have been brief, but something about it had imparted to her much more meaning than a million words could have conveyed. She was safe with him and this knowledge restored her spirits. She made her way back to the other two and lay beside them, her arms wrapped lovingly around them and fell asleep again for a while.

Although sleeping, the others instinctively moved closer to their troubled friend and when all three awoke they were almost as entwined as on a previous occasion.

Harry drowsily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and then kissed Gwen tenderly on the lips.

"Don't blame yourself for what happened. We both loved it just as much as you did and we all have to take responsibility. I don't give a shit what Bill thinks of what you two -especially you Gwen - did to me and with me. It was beautiful and pure love. Men don't have any idea about some things. I love Bill and you two love Jim and Andy. Why can't we all love each other as well - I mean physically as well as spiritually and mentally? I say we've earned it these last few weeks. What we have built up between ourselves is precious and something to be very proud of - not ashamed."

"She does go on, dosn't she?" muttered Jessica with a smile. "I agree with her one hundred percent all the same. You shouldn't be ashamed of anything Gwen. I bet Jim agrees with me on that. It says in the Marriage Service, 'forsaking all others', but we aren't married yet and we have our freedom still. Let's enjoy it while we still have it. That make sense Gwen?"

"Pretty good sense, Jessie. I was up and about for a while earlier on and came to similar conclusions. I still want to lay off all the heavy physical stuff for a while if you don't mind. My cunt belongs to Jim from now on - keep your distance from it. Look but don't touch!"

"You don't think he'd like to lend it to us for a while?" asked a pouting Harry. "First of all you introduce me to all these adorable delights then you put them off limits. Women! Give me men any time!"

After a period of silence, Harriet spoke again.

"Your body belongs to you and you alone, Gwen until you give it to Jim at the proper time, and even that I have my doubts about. It's too much like slavery to me. A modern marriage has to have a bit of flexibility in my view. We live a different world even to the one our parents lived in."

"OK girls, you've talked me into it, but we've a long hike ahead of us to reach Jim's semi-hospitable buddy. You can both lick my pussy tonight, if that's what you really want you disgusting pair! And now, let's walk!"

* * *