Cauldron of Fear (20 page)

'Of course,
Master Handiwell,' Hart said. He shook his head, but it was clear
he did not have the stomach for a further confrontation. He turned
and called back to the line behind them.

'Sergeant
Riley,' he instructed, 'let Fuller have your mount, man. The three
of you with lame horses will proceed on foot, with all possible
haste. We shall send a rider back with fresh mounts for you as soon
as possible.'

Sarah groaned,
but there was no fighting the wave of lust that kept washing over
her. As she lay on her back, legs akimbo, with Kitty crouched over
her, offering her own sex to Sarah's lips as she buried her face in
Sarah's soaking orifice, she knew she was about to climax yet again
and dug her fingers fiercely into the soft flesh of Kitty's pendant
breasts and let out a piercing wail.

Immediately
Kitty lifted her head, pivoted on her knees and pressed her lips to
Sarah's, her tongue forcing entry so that Sarah was able to taste
her own juices plainly. By the fireplace, the two aristocrats
watched the performance with differing reactions: Roderick Grayling
seemed only mildly amused, whereas the fat Henry Soberton leaned
forward in his chair, his eyes bulging as he relished every
intimate contact.

'By Jove,
Grayling,' he said hoarsely. 'They're a splendid pair of fillies
and no mistaking. I simply must have them. Name your price, man.
Name your price!'

'I'm afraid
these two aren't for sale, milord,' Grayling drawled. 'Not just
yet, at any rate. They show too much potential and they could be
worth a ransom by the time their training is finished.'

'Damn your
ransom,' Soberton snapped. 'I'll pay you your price, here and now.'
Kitty, as her orgasm subsided, became vaguely aware of this
exchange and her entire body stiffened.

'It's not just
a question of money,' Grayling replied easily. 'These two have a
potential value even if I decide to keep them here. See how well
matched they are, apart from the one Kitty having larger breasts?
And see how there is also an affinity between them? Such a pair of
beauties could provide untold entertainment for my more valued
guests here,' he explained. 'You don't need to sell a girl outright
in order to turn a profit on her, y'know.' He clapped his
hands.

'Prudence,
have them stop now before their juices soak the rug. I have a mind
to reward those sweet little rumps personally. Get them in
position, please. Topsy,' he called, looking to where the two black
girls squatted in the corner, 'fetch master's little crop, there's
a good girl.' He held his hands up, palms inwards, about two feet
apart. One of the girls leapt instantly to her feet, padded across
the floor and opened the front of the heavy oak chest that stood in
the window bay.

'And I think,
milord,' Grayling grinned, 'that we shall make this a bittersweet
experience for them, to reward them for their enthusiastic display,
eh?'

Hannah stood
watching the shadowy figure in the clearing for a few minutes,
before finally revealing herself. She smiled as she saw how the
girl crouched over the pot as it simmered on the small fire,
dropping things into the steaming water from time to time.

'It's not just
the ingredients, Jane Handiwell,' she said at last, stepping from
behind the tree from where she had been observing the ritual. 'It's
the skill of the cook that counts.' Jane swung around with a start
and rose to her feet, her face even paler than usual.

'Mother
Pennywise!' she gasped. 'What brings you here?'

Hannah
grimaced and walked over to her, stopping a few paces away and
leaning heavily on her stick. 'Not choice, missy,' she snapped.
'No, I'd as soon leave you and your daft friends to play your
little games here, but I need some help.'

'Help?' Jane
echoed. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. 'What help could you
possibly want from me?'

'The use of
younger legs,' Hannah retorted. 'The miller's boy has disappeared
and I need his education and commonsense to help me stop the
nonsense that's going on back in Fetworth.'

'What
nonsense?' Jane demanded.

Hannah smiled
mirthlessly. 'You mean you ain't heard? You ain't heard what that
weasel of a minister and his new crony are doing to my Matilda?'
Jane looked genuinely bemused and Hannah quickly outlined the
situation.

'So they want
money from you, or they hang your granddaughter?' Jane said, when
the old woman had finished.

Hannah nodded.
'That's about the strength of it, yes. But I'll see myself burn in
hell afore I give so much as a penny piece to the likes of
them.'

'You'd rather
see Matilda under the lash, is that it?'

'No I fuckin'
wouldn't, you stupid little slut!' Hannah's eyes blazed. 'But what
would happen if I paid 'em, eh? There's already rumours that
they're thinkin' of tryin' the same thing with other gals, an' if I
give in, who knows where it'll stop, eh?'

'If
Wickstanner's involved,' Jane mused, 'then maybe he'll be after
Harriet Merridew next.'

'That's one
story I've heard, yes,' Hannah confirmed.

'Well, t'would
serve the hoity-toity little bitch right, I say,' Jane
sniggered.

'You're too
fast with your judgements, Jane Handiwell,' Hannah snapped.
'Besides, you ain't exactly on safe ground yourself. You and your
three friends. Wickstanner and this Crawley pig might be interested
in hearing about what the four of you get up to, out here in the
woods nights, as well as in your bedchambers.'

'There's no
proof we ever did anything, old woman,' Jane snarled. 'Besides, do
you think they'd listen to you?'

'Maybe they
would, maybe they wouldn't,' Hannah conceded, 'but how sure can you
be, young lady?' Jane reached under the folds of her dark cape and
Hannah saw the glint of metal as she withdrew a wicked looking
blade.

'I can be very
sure,' Jane said quietly, 'if I slit your old gizzard here and
now.'

'"If" is a
small word, but a big difference,' Hannah said smoothly. 'You could
no more stick that thing in me than you could let a man stick his
cock in your cunt, you silly little girl.' As she spoke she fixed
her gaze on Jane's eyes and lifted her free hand slightly. A
curious expression appeared on Jane's face and, a moment later, the
knife slipped from her grasp and dropped onto the grass with a soft
thud.

'Now, Jane
Handiwell,' Hannah said, speaking very softly, 'I'll tell you how
this is going to be, right? You came to me once, some years ago,
when you were nothing but a child and I tried to help you, to
advise you. Yes, you do have some of the powers and I tried to
advise you how best to use them, but did you listen? No, of course
you didn't. Instead you used them to satisfy your own cravings, and
draw those other three stupid mares into your web, didn't you?

'Well, what
goes up your hole b'ain't none of my business, I reckon, but
there's a responsibility goes with power and now it's about time
you realised that. Whatever you may choose to do after this night,
that's your affair, but you'll give me what I ask, else I'll show
you what real power is about and no mistaking.'

'If you have
that much power, Mother Pennywise,' Jane replied, 'then why not
turn it directly on those who have your precious granddaughter?
What do you need me for?'

Hannah shook
her head dismissively. 'Shows how little you know, you young fool,'
she said. 'Wickstanner and Crawley both wear the sign of the cross
about their foul necks. Maybe - more'n like, I dare say - they
despoil their damned faith, but the symbols have been blessed and
hold a power nonetheless.

'Besides, they
both lurk in their lair in that church, which is like having the
wall of a castle about them. Maybe my powers would be enough
anyway, but I don't know for certain, so we'll use other more
earthbound methods to begin with. Those idiots in the village are
like children, so we have to fight their ignorance. Your father
will help stop all this stupidity, but they tell me he may not be
back until the morrow, by when it may well be too late. The
miller's boy will make them listen, I know, so we have to find
him.'

'Perhaps he's
away, too?'

'No, that he
ain't,' Hannah said. 'I bin askin', dearie, and he's missin',
that's all. Very convenient that, in certain quarters, if'n you get
my meaning?'

'You think
Wickstanner and this Crawley fellow have got him out of the way?'
Jane asked. 'How can you be sure they haven't just killed him?'

'Oh, I'm
sure,' Hannah said confidently. 'Same as I said, there are powers
you've not even begun to understand, let alone master.'

'So where is
he then, if you know so much?'

Hannah
chuckled. 'Somewhere in these woods,' she replied. 'Exactly where,
I can't be sure, which is why I need your help. Your help, and the
help of your daft friends. Your young legs can move a sight
quicker'n mine and besides, you've got horses.'

'What makes
you think I can get my friends to help in time, old woman?' Jane
said caustically, and Hannah tapped the side of her nose with one
bony finger and looked meaningfully at the simmering cauldron and
crackling fire.

'You were
thinking of spending the night out here by yourself, then, was
you?' she cackled.

'That's Mary
Watling,' Matt Cornwell whispered, as the three boys watched the
dark figure climb up the riverbank from beneath the bridge. 'There
ain't no other woman round hereabouts is that big!'

'Yeah, that's
her all right,' Toby agreed. He squatted down, thinking furiously.
'So that's three of 'em,' he said, 'if'n I'm right about Ellen
Grayling. Three women, Matt. Women, not men.'

'So what you
sayin', Toby?' Matt Cornwell was far from slow, but he did not
possess his friend's reasoning powers.

'Not sure what
I'm sayin', not yet,' Toby admitted. 'But think of it this way -
everyone's gotten into their head that there are these four men who
keep stopping the coaches down from London, right? God knows how
many they've done so far, yet no one has ever got the slightest
idea about who they are.

'Now, I ain't
no magistrate, sheriff or nothing, but if I were, I reckon I'd be
thinkin' as to which four men in the area were known for bein' seen
in each other's company a lot, see? You can bet the soldiers've bin
askin' around all the villages for several miles both ways.'

''Spect so,'
Matt agreed, 'but I still don't see what you're geddin' at,
Tobe.'

'Well, think
about this,' Toby said, as Mary Watling strode past them at a
distance of no more than fifty yards, 'with the rewards the coach
company is offerin', you'd think someone would've talked, even if
just to say that these blokes and these blokes were all pals, or
whatever.'

'So?'

'Well, my pa spends a lot of time in the
Drum
, an' he gets to hear most things,
but he ain't said nothing, which means that no one's bin' able to
point a finger at four men as might be likely robbers, yes? But
then, they wouldn't, would they?' Mary Watling drew level with the
trees where the boys had last seen Kate Dawson leave the road and
turned into the woods herself. 'Not if the robbers was mostly
women,' Toby concluded.

Matt's eyes
grew very round. 'You ain't suggestin' that...?' He shook his head.
'No, that's daft, Tobe. Ellen Grayling is a nob, for a start.'

'So? Maybe she
just fancies a bit of extra loot, Matt.'

'Well, yes, I
suppose—'

'Maybe she's
in love with the man who's leading them all,' Billy suggested,
breaking a silence he'd maintained for more than a quarter of an
hour. 'Perhaps he's poor an' she's tryin' to help him get enough
money so she can marry him?'

'Perhaps,'
Toby said, but without enthusiasm or conviction. 'And then again,
perhaps not. Then again, still,' he said, grinning anew, 'who says
the fourth robber has to be a man?'

The second
part of the 'entertainment' for Lord Soberton was prepared with
careful elaboration, beginning with the reappearance of Adam and
Robin, each man carrying an elaborate and curious looking
contraption made from sinister black iron bands and rods.

These they
placed in the centre of the room, spaced a foot or two apart, so
that they resembled two four-legged animals, with spindly legs,
long thin necks and circular bands where the heads should have
begun. Looking at the two stands, Sarah realised immediately that
the circular bands were intended for hers and Kitty's necks and
that the strategically placed smaller bands on each of the four
legs were intended to secure wrists and ankles.

Her instinct,
when Robin placed his hand upon her shoulder, was to try to resist,
but the sight of the wicked crop dangling from his belt was enough
and she allowed him to lead her demurely behind the nearer of the
two stands and dutifully shuffled her feet wider, so that he was
able to cuff each of her ankles to the respective back legs.

Facing her,
Adam was carrying out the same procedure with Kitty and both girls
were pressed forward at the same time, so that their stomachs and
chests rested on the near horizontal flat band that formed the back
of the 'animal', their breasts hanging on either side of it and
their arms drawn down the forelegs and cuffed in the same way as
their legs had been.

Next, the two
circular neckbands were opened and the girls were required to lay
with their necks inside the lower halves. The top semi-circles were
then swung closed and locked by means of a simple catch. Finally,
two broad leather straps were produced and buckled about the girls'
waists, pinioning them even more firmly.

'I say,
Grayling,' Sarah heard Henry Soberton chuckling, 'what a splendidly
ingenious idea. Like a couple of little ponies, just right for the
mounting, eh?'