A Firebug Gets Punished

As I stood, tied to the support beam of the bar, I tried to figure out why Sir had stopped tickling me.

I had apologised and said I wished I had never burned down that library. It was just something I said in the heat of the moment to beg for mercy; I honestly wasn't expecting any kind of reaction, let alone the relaxing of my torture.

Somehow I felt more shame saying those words than I did being stripped, or paraded around naked, or spanked, or mocked, or tickled. And yet I also felt cleansed. Standing on that porch, naked as the day I was born, hands tied behind my back, in full view of a passing (and occasionally staring) public, my heart felt lighter and my spirit calm. I am naked, I am tied up, I am in full view of the public, I am humiliated, and I brought that on myself.

I felt the the wind on my breasts, the rope around my wrists, and the eyes of passers-by on me, and it felt right. You burn down a library and a guy will come to you, strip you naked, tie you up, and march you across the countryside. If I had not burned down the library, I would be wearing however much or little clothing I liked with unbound hands. I was cruel to the world, so the world was cruel to me.

My thoughts were interrupted by the young woman from before walking up to me. She was scowling.

"That was awful, the way he treated you."

"I deserved it," I said. "Like you said, I was dumb enough to get caught."

"No. Nobody deserved to get tickled until they cry like that. I don't care what you did."

"That's an interesting perspective."

"I'm gonna help you here," she said, walking over to my back and pulling a knife out.

"No. Don't. That's not gonna end well for either of us."

"What?" she said, slicing my ropes and unbinding my wrists. I kept them clasped together, just in case. "Come on. We can get out of here by the time he gets back."

"No, we can't. Look, you've already doomed yourself, but I can save myself from further punishment." I surprised myself with the casual way I spoke.

"What are you talking about?" She tried pulling on my arm to move me. "Let's go!"

There was a click-clack sound. "Stop."

It was Sir. He was behind the woman, pointing a loaded crossbow at her.

"Damn it!" she said. "What the hell is wrong with you, lady?"

"Don't talk to her. She is my prisoner. I'm an ENF catcher operating in the name of the king, you are interfering with my work, and there is a specific punishment for that. Take off your clothes."

A grin came across my face.

"What?"

"Take off your clothes."

"I'm not doing that! Fuck you!"

"I'd do what he says."

"Be quiet, Lara."

"Sorry, Sir."

"You're all crazy!"

"Take off your clothes, or I'll take them off you myself."

"You try and you'll be cut." She brandished her knife.

Sir's eyes flickered over to me for half a second. He knew that I knew what was about to happen. He waved one hand, and a tentacle emerged from the roof of the bar porch, grabbing her by the wrist.

"What the--"

Another wave, and another tentacle emerged, grabbing her other wrist. They tentacles held her arms high above her head.

"What's this?! What's this?!" she spat. She started kicking her legs, and Sir waved his hand again. Tentacles emerged from the floorboards, grabbing her by the legs. Sir lowered his crossbow entirely, walked up to her, and grabbed the knife out of her hand. "Don't you fucking dare! Don't you fucking dare, you asshole!"

Sir looked at the knife, balancing it and flipping it in his hands. He then raised it to the woman's shirt and tore into it.

"Augh! Stop it! Stop it!"

He cut her shirt down the front, revealing her fine breasts. Her face went red and she squealed and wiggled, jiggling them. Sir continued down her pants, tearing them up with the knife.

"Oh noooooooooooo!"

It was hard to feel too sorry for her. If she hadn't ignored my warnings, she would have avoided this.

Sir walked over to me. It was then that I realised I had kept my hands behind my back the entire time; I had even held my wrists together.

"Good girl, Lara," said Sir. He turned me around and tied my arms together in a kind of reverse-prayer pose. He then led me over to his horse and climbed up.

"Hey!" cried the naked woman. "What about me? You can't just leave me here!"

"Yes I can," said Sir indifferently. "Those tentacles will disappate by sundown. I assume by then you'll have learned not to interfere in the work on ENF catchers." He clicked his tongue and his horse started walking, pulling me along. I looked back and saw the crowd starting to build around her. These are people she knew and had to see every day.

Oh shit. That would be me soon.