The midday sun is full and bright, giving a sparkle to every tiny drop of spray as our small boat lifts and dips with each slight swell of the ocean.
I close my eyes to hear better the quiet lapping of the waves against the wooden prow.
The spray casts a salty hint into the summer wind that I catch as I breathe in time to the swaying of our little boat.
It is peaceful and soothing and in direct contrast to Ally's naked arms and upper torso straining and sweating to drag the oars through the deep ocean.
Ally's quiet grunts, forced out with each extra exertion, are arousing in their primal expression.
I like it when her limits are pushed.
Thoughts of Ally make me long to gaze upon her once again, even seconds after closing my eyes.
Her face is flushed with effort, her naked and oiled flesh working hard against the tide.
Her nipples, aroused by the sea breeze stand erect and prominent as she heaves and pulls us towards my secret place. As always Ally faces her ordeal with silent submission and a sweet, stoic determination.
Her silver bracelet, her chosen symbol of my ownership, flashes with the brilliance of the sunlight.
She is a pleasure to behold, a white lily in her hair.
Behind her, lauding herself in her supremacy over Ally, Amanda sits holding a palisade that darkens the red orchid in her hair.
I declared her first and Ally second only two weeks ago, hence Ally's nudity and strenuous task at hand.
Amanda trails her fingers in the water as it goes by.
Leaning forward, the hint of a wolfish sneer upon her lips, Amanda scrapes her nail along Ally's back. She is writing something.
Finally sitting back again, Amanda uses her boot to wobble Ally's exposed belly and grins nastily at me.
"Faster, flabby Ally."
It is a calculated attempt to undermine my attraction to Ally.
Ally continues the burden of carrying us across the water and Amanda smiles with gloating satisfaction.
It takes a while, but as we round the buttress of the headland the temporary abatement of Ally's torment swings into view; the cove that harbors my secret place.
When the keel of the boat scrapes the sand, jolting us to a halt, Ally slumps over the oars, delicate breasts squashed against hard wood, panting hard.
"Help me out of the boat then, bitch."
Amanda stands and holds her hand out for Ally to support her. Ally clumsily swings a naked leg over the side of the boat and once she has her naked feet secure in the sand under the foamy serf, she takes Amanda's hand and helps her ashore.
Amanda takes a handful of Ally's belly and wobbles it up and down. Ally's silent acceptance of the indignity of Amanda's treatment is borne only of her devotion to me.
"Well done, flabby Ally."
Amanda's sprightly grin at me befits her delight at her own wit. I have Ally carry my small trunk up the beach, safe from any incoming tide. We wait for her.
I stand and admire my two submissive women, their innermost selves unfolding in the sunlight as I continue this cruel game:
Ally, entirely naked and exposed to the slight summer breeze, the faint hairs on her arms erect, her intimate parts aroused by their exposure to nature, her hair blown gently across her face.
She wears this private cove, its aqua marine sea, harsh rocks and golden sand as though they were hers to command.
Amanda stands haughtily under her palisade in a red bathing suit and matching translucent sarong that wafts in the moving sea air, giving glimpses of her tanned thighs.
White lily and red orchid.
I bid them scour the shore and bring me what ever present the tide has willed they find.
I leave them to search. I have matters to attend to.
Just beyond a rocky outcrop lies the cave, my prepared and waiting stage for this final blossoming of events; my secret place.
The cave lies shady, cool and green. Its damp and rugged walls welcome me from the harsh heat of the sun.
Within the cave, at its center is a flat slab of limestone, smoothed by the ocean and covered with limpets amongst the dank seaweed. This natural tableau of rock serves well as a table for the two wine goblets and prepared dainties for Amanda and I.
This is my planned stage for the final humiliation and dejection. All things must end.
Walking further into the recesses of my secret place I light the candles that wait in the candelabras balancing in the shadows of the cave.
Their small flames send the shadows dancing to their corners and provide a grotesque illumination to the three strange statues that stand positioned around the cave.
Pleased that my delicate preparations remain untouched and ready I leave the cool sanctuary of the cave to watch the two women walking along the sand.
Ally, naked in the clear sunlight walks with her feet in the foaming spray, luxuriating in the closeness to nature, I have no doubt.
Suddenly she stops and bends down, retrieving my gift that only her devotion to me could choose.
I cannot see what it is from this distance.
Amanda, having watched Ally from the shade of her palisade, puts out her hand. Ally looks up at her, bows her head sadly and places her find in Amanda's outstretched palm.
Amanda, in turn, picks up the nearest thing to her and hands it to Ally.
They turn and walk back towards me.
"Well?"
Amanda hands me a shell, the layers wrought with holes burrowed by the searching roots of kelp. It is beautiful, a symbol of the holes within ourselves that offer others access too our most intimate being. A most thoughtful and inspired offering.
I give Amanda a smile in gratitude and she is pleased with herself.
Ally hands me a bunch of dried and withered kelp. It is old, decrepit and rank. I can see no value to this offering. Ally looks ashamed as I take the kelp.
We walk on.
I reveal the cave, and I watch the two women contemplate my secret place.
In the innermost sanctum of the cave, in its deepest hole where the flotsam lies reeking and ugly, is a statue of Medusa. Candlelight gives her cruel mouth and sharp teeth a gruesome reality, snake hair appearing to writhe in the flickering light.
"Ugh, gross."
Amanda's voice echoes against the dank walls, ugly and loud.
Further round is a bust of Perseus holding aloft the severed head of Medusa, a different aspect of the same myth.
It receives a similar note of disgust from Amanda.
Largest and most prominently displayed is an intricate carving of Anchises bowed before the glory of Aphrodite.
"These statues are just horrid!"
As Amanda's words reverberate off the walls I glance at Ally and catch the moment of realization in her eyes.
Ally takes a moment to read the stories these statues tell and how they interweave to reveal their secret meaning. I am mesmerized by the sweetest and faintest of smiles that flits across her lips and just as suddenly is gone; A smile of sweet recognition of my thoughtful preparation.
