Part 4: Meet the Pain.
When she woke up in the morning, he was no longer beside her. She just stayed in bed and mused about how she had asked him to bastinado her feet last night. She remembered him saying how much he would love to see her feet squirm and twist under the rod and wondered how it would feel when he had absolute control over her feet. She was sure he'd make a really good job of it and it would be really painful and all at once she felt lots of butterflies in her stomach. She went to the bathroom briefly. She wanted to be in bed when he returned. He hadn't shown up yet, so she slipped under the blanket once again and waited.
Suddenly, the door opened. BB had to turn the enormous tray in his hands 'fore and aft', as a sailor would say, so it would fit through the doorway. She saw his face for the first time without the mask and her heart skipped a beat.
"Breakfast," he shouted cheerfully ", tea or coffee?"
"Whatever you have."
He put the tray at the left end of the couch, moved the small table in front of the right one and put another chair there.
There were scrambled eggs with bacon and baked tomatoes, different kinds of jam and cheese, plus butter, croissants and all kinds of rolls. Everything was fresh, quite a logistical feat.
"This is not my usual diet. I had something like that when my decathlon training was in full swing." Claudia grinned.
"You'll probably need something substantial." He just replied and that brought up pictures of the bench, waiting for her next door.
"You are probably right, I'll start with egg and bacon."
For him it was the croissant first and egg and bacon afterwards.
"You seem to need something substantial too," she teased him " don't you?"
"I have a serious job at hand." he replied and gave her a very affectionate look yet it was probably not only that one but also the thought of the birch that made her knees feel a bit week for a moment.
When they were both full, Claudia said:
"I want to take a shower before we go over there. But no show today," she grinned.
"That's all right, I'll clear everything away," he pulled a sleeping mask out of his pocket and put it on the table," After the shower I want you to walk outside so that your soles are a bit dirty. I'll imagine you're a cocky Pavee who needs to be tamed." She gave him a questioning look, so he explained " That's an Irish word for traveling people in that country, so you'll be a traveling girl, these are especially unruly and need a very firm hand in my imagination." She immediately felt the butterflies again.
He pointed to the floor in the middle of the room. "When you're back here, kneel down naked on the carpet wearing the mask and place your hands behind your head. Expose your breasts properly and stretch your feet backwards, so that I can inspect them. If they are not well prepared you'll receive extra strokes. You must not make a sound."
"Yes, Sir." she just said, bowing her head low.
He loaded the tray and disappeared. Claudia took her time in the shower. After she had finished she went out into the garden and walked around a bit, making sure her feet were slightly filthy. Before entering the house she wiped them on the doormat. She lifted her right foot and arched it, to take a look. Her ball, heel and the instep were now just that little bit dark, it seemed ok. When she came back into the room, he wasn't there. She put the leather straps around her wrists and pushed the carabiners through the bails. Then she put the mask on and took the position that was not really comfortable. The fact that she had to have her hands behind her head and pull her breasts out was no problem, but pressing her right heel into the paddle marks on her right cheek really hurt. On the other hand she couldn't have the weight on her left side all the time and so she rolled her hips back and forth and tensed her thigh muscles in between so that her bottom didn't touch her feet at all. But that did not last very long. 'What will it be like?' she thought again, and was sure that he wouldn't be as squeamish with her as her friend.
She breathed a sigh of relief when he came. He went around her. His fingers suddenly touched her arms from below, stroking back and forth once, twice and then circled her armpits briefly. She controlled herself to be still, with all her strength.
He had been serious about inspecting her soles and her heart beat quickened as she heard his steps behind her. How many extra would she get? "Your soles look exactly as I wanted them, you're a lucky girl. Let's go." He pulled her up and led her over to the punishment room.
He stopped her in front of the bench and took off her mask.
"Lay down, feet there." He pointed to the end with the crossbar. As she lay there, her lower legs angled upwards, her feet just about fitted over the round wood and he tied her ankles to it so that her feet were quite close together and the soles were perfectly horizontal. Quickly he fastened the leather straps around her knees, her waist, and hung the carabiners on her wrists in matching rings on the feet of the bench. He went over and pulled some birch twigs out of the water. He chose one that was about arm's length and as thick as a pencil at the end, and laid the rest on the floor. Slowly he pulled the rod across the sole of her right foot. Claudia breathed deeply. He took his time and tried out how best to reach the sensitive skin of the arch of her foot. Finally he was satisfied.
"Here we go," he said " you have been very sassy ,haven't you?"
"Yes Sir, I surely deserve to be punished." She liked that additional twist.
" Since you admit I will let you chose your punishment. How many strokes to start with? "
"Ten," she said firmly.
"Should we really make it ten right away?" he asked.
She thought it over for a moment. If she begged for mercy, he would stop anyway, she was sure of that, but she said
"I deserve ten, no less."
She waited, breathing deeper now, but she kept her feet still and held them close together.
The first blow took her by surprise, it hit the balls of both her feet, the tip landed on her left. She drew in her breath sharply and could not suppress a loud "Uh-hmm...". Despite her training and the very firm skin it burned more than decently, he did not spare her at all but she managed to keep her feet still. Now the rod touched her right foot, the tip was right on the arch of it. She heard the short whistling, the blow hit exactly where she had felt the rod before. Her foot jerked, the pain was much worse than anything she had done to her feet before. She threw her head up and gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. Her whole body tightened against the straps that held her. She rubbed the sole tightly against the other foot. After a few moments the rod hit the left foot, which was protecting the right one. This time she cried out and her feet changed again, but the pain was so bad on both of them that she changed back and forth several times with the rubbing. He had really practiced, because although her feet were moving all the time the rod bit into the skin again very close to the previous stroke.
He looked at the welts on her soles deciding where to place the next one, while her feet squirmed and nestled to and caressed each other like in an intimate ballet, a ballet of pain, to which the rod set the beat in this act. It whistled now again and struck the unprotected skin and forced her feet to squirm and twist and turn over and over again, she could not prevent it. He now gave her some time. Claudia gasped, she had tears in her eyes. When she had agreed that he'd apply the birch to her feet, she hadn't expected that it would be so terribly painful. She breathed like she had learned in the prenatal class. Finally she had herself under control enough to be able to hold her feet next to each other again. The rod touched her right sole in the middle. This one time she was happy about her big feet. At least there was room for several strokes before the welts started to lie on top of each other.
