Damsels in Distress Read Online Free PDF Page B

companion had paled and that she held her hand before her face, as if fearfully. She sprang back as the dwarf stopped in front of their cell.
    He held the torch up to peruse the captives. He was an ugly creature with a bulbous nose and thick black beard. Less than five feet in height he was powerfully built and seemed almost as wide as he was tall. He wore a dirty leathern tunic, though his stocky legs were bare. There was a coiled whip of braided brown leather stuck into his belt.
    ‘Well, well,’ the dwarf said to the girl, his eyes on Lady Eleanor, his voice a deep growl like that of a mastiff, ‘my master spoke truly, Lady Lynet, our latest guest truly graces the castle Saunce Pite with her beauty.’
    He unhooked a large iron key from his broad belt and unlocked the cell, and both girls stepped back as he entered, closed the door behind him and put the key back on his belt, and then shoved the flaming torch into a bracket on the cell wall, his predatory eyes glinting as he perused his prey.
    ‘My ladies, would you be so kind as to disrobe?’ he said, mocking them with a bow.
    There were some sighs of relief from other cells, and Lady Eleanor felt the colour spring to her cheeks. ‘I will do no such thing!’ she snapped. ‘I will speak with your master. I am Lady Eleanor of Surluse—!’
    She got no further, as still smiling the dwarf lurched forward and grabbed her by the wrist, and with a cunning twist he easily forced her to bend forward with her hand held up behind her back, then ripped the gown off her with one vicious tug. The sound of tearing cloth was accompanied by more gasps from other cells, and the chuckling of Dagonard as he pulled the remnants of her shift off and flung them into a dingy corner.
    ‘So, you are a proud one, milady,’ he mused, licking his rotten teeth with a broad tongue. ‘I am glad; I like them proud. Pride comes before a fall, they say. But not here, my proud beauty. In the castle Saunce Pite pride comes before a taste of Dagonard’s whip.’
    In a trice she found herself forced over to the rusty ironwork. The dwarf produced a leather thong from a pocket and proceeded to bind her wrists together. Though Eleanor struggled hard it made no difference. He held both her hands in his one, almost crushing her fingers as he tied her, but this seemed little effort to him. Once her wrists were bound he climbed nimbly up the horizontal iron bars of the door to the cage until she found her hands stretched high above her, and with a deft movement the dwarf tied the loose ends of the thong to the grill.
    Lady Eleanor stopped struggling, her dire situation suddenly all too plain. She was naked, secured to the cage door. The wide eyes of the maidens in the cells across the gloomy passageway, their knuckles white as they gripped the bars of their cages, seemed to reflect back and amplify her own terror.
    But Dagonard had not finished yet, and Lady Eleanor gasped as he seized her left ankle and hauled it to the side. A horizontal bar of iron formed the base of the cage door and she found her foot forced onto it before her ankle was secured there by another thong. Next he grabbed her right foot, and she caught the eye of a damsel in the cage opposite. A sweet-faced blonde as naked as Eleanor herself now was, apart from a brutal iron collar and chains, the girl put a hand over her pretty mouth and blinked at her with horrified blue eyes, for Lady Eleanor’s legs were now forced far apart and her hands were tied high on the grill, the balls of her feet barely resting on the iron bar at the base of the door.
    There was a moment’s quiet and then the dwarf gave a low whistle. ‘My lady,’ he growled, ‘on my life I swear, never did I behold me a nobler arse!’
    Eleanor could not stop a squeal of indignation escaping her lips as he slapped the object of his admiration. Then she felt two strong hands grasp her bottom cheeks and squeeze. She tried to avoid looking into the eyes of the girls in the