A Jewel in the Dirt - 7. "Without complaint I meet duty and punishment"

The problem resulting from Mistress Alice's gentleman visitor, however, Dante didn't realize until he was standing in front of her door. He could hear a muffled moan and to barge in now because he wanted to go to bed... uh, no, rather not. He turned around, hurried back down the stairs, and caught Seth still in the kitchen, his hand on the light switch.

"What is it?" he asked in surprise, and Dante pointed upstairs.

"I don't think it's a good idea to disturb my mistress right now..."

"Ah. No." Seth shook his head. "Um... well, I guess if you don't really want to sleep with the workers"- Dante actually didn't- "you could ask Frank. He has a slave room, too."

Dante nodded. "Okay..." He hurried back upstairs and knocked on Frank's door.

"Come in." it sounded surprised and Dante opened the door, but remained standing in the hallway. "Dante...", Frank said a touch more surprised and Dante wrung a smile from himself.

"Um... I really dislike disturbing you, but I'd want to disturb your sister even less right now..." Was Frank aware of what sex was?

"Val's here." Frank said seriously, nodding.

"I don't know where to sleep.", Dante said freely after a moment, not knowing how else to explain the matter.

Frank, who had very obviously just been about to go to bed, pointed behind him to the same. "You can stay here."

"Surely you have a slave room, don't you?"

"Uh, yeah, but the bed doesn't have a mattress..."

"Oh. Well then..." Having no choice, Dante nodded, entered, and closed the door behind him- and then watched, stunned, as a blushing Frank threw three stuffed animals and a cuddly blanket out of bed. "Hey, hey, there's no need for that," he said gently, bending down to pick up an owl which had landed not far from his feet. Then he picked up a vintage teddy bear and an elephant, gathered up the cuddly blanket, and set it all down on the empty desk, which was obviously mere decoration here. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Frank looking at him with wide eyes, and on impulse he arranged the stuffed animals next to each other and covered them up. The nuns who had raised him and so many other boys had left a certain lasting impression, though he wasn't sure how much that would help him here.

Frank still looked exceedingly embarrassed.

"Do you have another blanket and pillow?", Dante wanted to know, adding at Frank's confused glance: "Not for your friends, but for me."

"Oh. Uh...yeah..." Frank pulled a box out from under the bed and silently Dante covered fresh bedding before spreading it out on the empty half of Frank's bed.

"Thanks." he said honestly, and Frank nodded mutely. "I'm going to the bathroom for a minute."

Frank nodded again.

In the bathroom, Dante took a deep breath. During the day, at work, Frank seemed pretty normal. He knew what he was doing, was driving the tractor, operating heavy machinery. But here he looked completely lost, with stuffed animals in bed. Dante wasn't sure how to deal with that, after all Frank wasn't really mentally handicapped, he was just...

His eyes fell on the razor at the sink. Great Mother, what must it feel like to be a ten-year-old looking in the mirror and seeing an adult? To what extent had he been told about growing up? Dante shuddered, thought of the nuns with their infinite patience and gentleness, and sent a short prayer to the Great Mother.

Then he stepped back into the main room and crawled into bed as if everything were perfectly normal.

Frank hesitated before doing likewise and then lying down so that he could look at Dante.

Dante smiled cautiously, wondering if he should just say goodnight or if a comment regarding the bedside lamp Frank hadn't turned off was needed, but Frank beat him to it.

"Are you homesick?"

The question stunned Dante so much that he asked: "Excuse me?"

"Are you homesick? You look sad."

"No. I'm just pensive.", Dante quickly calmed the worried tone. "This is my home now."

"Yeah, but... I mean, the home where you were before."

Dante shook his head. "I've been sold too many times to have a real home anywhere."

At first Frank looked puzzled, then he said: "Alice won't sell you." He sounded so convinced of this that Dante saved the rebuttal lying on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he tried a smile.

A strange silence ensued until Frank turned around and turned out the light after all.

"If you need a night light..." Dante began cautiously, but Frank immediately said:

"No, I don't. Sleep well."

"Good night..."

~

The beeping of Frank's alarm clock reminded Dante that his own alarm clock might disturb his mistress- the insistent beeping lasted for three minutes before it died away- but there was nothing he could do about it now. He yawned and the mattress shook as Frank rose. Rubbing his face, Dante sat up and then made a sound of protest when Frank's shorts hit him in the head.

"Oh! Sorry!" Frank, who had carelessly tossed the clothes behind him, turned around startled and looked at Dante with big eyes. Well, it wasn't that noticeable with clothes on, but everything about Frank was big.

Dante couldn't help but let his gaze wander, and while he wondered again how the boy inside Frank was handling it, Frank blushed.

"What?"

"Oh, I just thought of two dozen women who would pay a fortune for a slave with your looks." Too late, Dante bit his tongue, but the words were out.

"Why?" Frank looked down at himself and Dante tried to save it with a shrug.

"You're a handsome young man."

The blush from Frank's cheeks spread to his chest and shoulders- so much for saving it.

But Dante shrugged again, yawned, and slid out of bed, stretching- and then he paused, for Frank was looking at him almost fearfully. "What?" he wanted to know in alarm, and Frank pointed.

"You're not wearing a cage like the other slaves."

"Uh... no." Dante didn't need to look down to know what Frank meant. The feeling was still too unfamiliar not to notice.

"It must go away," Frank said forcefully. "Ma and the others will get mad if they see it." What he was saying and how he was saying it made it clear that no one had likely given him some essential explanation.

"That's normal. It'll go away on its own."

"Put cold water on it."

"I could jerk off, too"- he still hadn't had time to try that- "but I don't have time for that now." He shrugged, his mind already on the problem of needing work clothes, when Frank looked at him, frowning.

"What's that?"

Part of Dante wondered why Blaise- who was, after all, so affectionate with Frank- had not even taken his son aside, as would probably be normal, but the larger part of him tried to smile as if it was nothing. Though in the back of his mind, a little alarm bell rang. Miss Carolyn had warned him not to tell her son anything foolish, but apparently no one cared that the son of the house was apparently clueless about the most basic things. "You should probably ask your Pa about that."

~

Fresh work clothes were not the problem. His shoes were also non- Mistress Alice actually brought them to him in the kitchen, completely sleepy, grabbed a bottle of water and disappeared again.

The problem, as Dante uncomfortably remembered when he saw Tom, was another. In an overly friendly gesture, Tom put his arm around Dante's shoulders and murmured to him:

"I talked to Blaise."

Dante got hot and cold at the same time; a fine shiver ran over him when they reached the barn in this embrace and Tom almost immediately groped his butt.

"Oh, well what have we here? Yawning void?" he whispered in Dante's ear and Dante pushed him off.

"Do you seriously think I'm so stupid as to disturb my mistress and her lover?" he hissed. Frank's discordant humming easily drowned him out. "That thing is with my clothes, which I had taken off before dinner."

Tom clicked his tongue disapprovingly, but said: "Hey, Frank, remember, we've got to get the truck ready for the sawmill later."

"Yup." Frank returned cheerfully, and they set about their day's work.

Tom might not have said anything further about the missing butt plug, but Dante knew full well that there was something more to come. It made him spend the entire morning tense and conspicuously just before the time he normally returned to the house to prepare lunch with the others, Tom called him over.

With an uneasy feeling in his stomach, Dante went to the corner where some of the equipment Tom mostly worked with was located. "What's up?" he wanted to know, tapping sawdust off his pants.

"Blaise wants a shipment out no later than the day after tomorrow. We'll take care of that now," Tom replied, nodding to the machine for making the butt plugs. "Set the arms to 25cm and select program 2."

Dante nodded and did as instructed while Tom went to the front to Frank and exchanged a few words with him. When Tom returned, he nodded to the waiting Dante and pulled a roughly cut block of wood from a basket, which he clamped into the machine.

"What's it going to be now?" Dante wanted to know, half curious, half worried it might become something similar to a butt plug- though he couldn't imagine a wooden dildo being pleasurable, no matter what orifice it was in.

"You'll see in a minute." Tom's grin didn't make it any better. He closed the cover and the machine started after a push of a button. A little later, what looked like a pepper mill came out.

"Oh.", Dante made in surprise.

"It's still missing the finishing touches, of course," Tom lectured a little arrogantly. "It needs the grinder in it, and room for the contents, and so on."

Dante nodded and then busied himself for quite a while making these blanks, until at some point Frank called out:

"I'm going in. Don't take too long, Tom, Ma don't like nobody missing at the table."

"I know! I'll send Dante right after you!" Tom shouted back, walking over to another box.

"Is there really any need to hurry, or is this just a silly excuse?", Dante wanted to know sourly, and half-turned as Tom laughed softly- with a new butt plug in his hand.

"Blaise's delivery really does exist and it's important, but it's already done." Tom smiled, letting the plug circle in his fingers, and Dante gritted his teeth, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "My, my... don't be so aggressive, sweetie. I'll even give you a new one. You know, I understand about Alice, don't worry. Now, show me that pretty ass of yours, will you?" Tom said it so gently, almost lovingly, that Dante felt sick.

"What if I don't?" he asked provocatively and Tom grimaced in mock disappointment. Leaning forward, he whispered:

"Since force majeure prevented you from having your present with you, I'll graciously refrain from deflowering your ass, even though my balls are really itching."

Dante's face grew hot and his chest tight, he could feel all the muscles in his abdomen tighten.

"But hey...", Tom continued quietly, "I'll take a blowjob too. Better than nothing, hmm?"

"I don't want." Dante said firmly and dismissively, but Tom merely smiled.

"Sweetie, I know that. But I don't care. I'm in the driver's seat here." That was as fucked up as it was true.

Dante growled, but offered no resistance- it would probably be futile and dangerous, not to mention painful- as Tom unzipped his pants and shoved them down, underpants and all.

"Oh lala, no cage? There you go! That makes things more interesting, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah?" Dante groused, leaning away from Tom as best he could as Tom put the plug in his mouth and lasciviously licked and sucked on it. But it wasn't until Tom very suddenly kissed him very intensely that he realized there would be no what-so-ever lube this time. Now he did start to struggle, but as suspected it was futile.

Less than a minute later he was hissing in pain and shuddering at the same time as Tom slowly but relentlessly pushed the plug into him, nibbling on his neck as he did so. Tom's mouth then moved back to Dante's and his hands guided Dante's hands to his still wrapped crotch.

Dante had never kissed anyone before, and while he certainly wouldn't have voluntarily chosen Tom to do it, kissing was altogether a nice thing to do; Tom seemed to know what he was doing. And not only was Dante hesitantly and unwillingly freeing a steadily growing dick from Tom's pants, no, it was also coming alive in his still naked crotch, all without him wanting it to.

Tom's hands, rough from working, stroked his dick briefly and he gasped, causing Tom to chuckle. "This," he murmured, licking Dante's lower lip, "could be something very nice and pleasant..."

"Are you serious?" it slipped from Dante's lips in exasperation, and he got a too-tight squeeze on his dick.

"Maybe not," Tom conceded, and a frown flitted across his face. "Down."

"What?"

"On your knees, sweetie, and use your mouth wisely. The faster you are, the more you'll get out of the meal and the less Mistress Carolyn will complain."

Dante stared at him angrily, downright hatefully. His insides bubbled with disgust, but Tom pursed his lips.

"If you don't like it, I can still take your ass. The choice is yours, sweetie." The choice between plague and cholera, it seemed. However, he probably hesitated a little too long for Tom's liking, because he bent over, pressed Dante crotch to crotch against the worktable, and reached for something behind him. Instants later, something razor sharp slid right across Dante's left butt cheek- whatever it was, the warning arrived.

"Okay." Dante whispered, pushing Tom off of him. "Okay, no need for bloodshed."

"That's what I like to hear."

They switched positions, Tom leaning against the table and Dante pulling his pants up reasonably neatly before kneeling. Tom's privates were fortunately not half as massive as Frank's, but still Dante swallowed hard before hesitantly putting his lips to them. He had no idea about such things, merely knew jokes and tales, but at least he knew that blowjob was not to be taken literally. For the moment Tom tasted pleasantly of nothing and was - judging by the faint smell - probably freshly washed. With his eyes squeezed tightly shut, he let his tongue explore the piece of flesh, from front to so far back that he didn't have to gag, the soft head with the tiny slit and the strange collar, over the veins and as best he could all around.

After what felt like an eternity of humiliation, Tom's low approving hum grew louder, became a half-suppressed moan, and his hand clawed at Dante's hair, defying all protest. The work slave's hips began to jerk, slowly at first, then faster and faster, and Dante, who had been holding onto the work table almost from the start to keep from losing his balance, was now literally clawing his fingers into its edge, even though Tom's hand on his head was holding him still.

This was no longer a blowjob, here his mouth was being raped.

To make matters worse, Dante began to gag and of course Tom came right at the worst possible moment- Dante coughed and spit it into his lap, disgusted, filled with nausea and knowing he would never be able to erase these memories from his mind. At least Tom let him go and he fell backwards onto his butt, crawling back a bit and carefully moving his jaw before licking his lips and trying to catch his breath.

Above him, Tom grinned in bliss. Apparently, he didn't care about the mess in his crotch- a last white drop still clung heavily to his tip- because with erratic fingers he pulled up his underpants. "Lunch?" he asked dozily.

Dante spat hatefully beside him on the sawdust-covered floor and scrambled to his feet with aching knees. The scratch on his butt burned; his mouth felt almost sore. He gave Tom the deadliest look he was capable of and stalked away.

~

Lukewarm water ran over Dante's fingers holding the butt plug while he stared at himself in the mirror. He still had a horrible feeling in his mouth- even hours later. Sure, they were just slaves, but violence among slaves had until now been something that belonged into cheap factories and the like, although certainly no one there would think of just taking the cage off a slave. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, wondering if he should just endure this kind of treatment or not- his cooperation with Tom had been mere punishment, after all, and was coming to an end.

"Dante?" Mistress Alice's voice made him flinch, but before he could react, she had already yanked open the bathroom door. "Before I forget, you have to- What have you got there?" With a fine frown, she looked at him and he opened his mouth for a reply, but immediately shut it again. "Dante..."

"Mistress, I..."

"Let me see."

He opened his hands, which he had closed almost protectively around the plug, and she made a startled sound.

"Is this yours?"

He hesitated, looking for an answer and finding none. He could have just said yes, should have said yes, but he licked his lips and shook his head.

"If it's not yours, what are you doing with it? Wait, this thing is made of wood...?" The look of horror that flitted across her face gave Dante the ass-kicking he needed.

"Mistress! Please, listen to me! I can explain!" he asked her hurriedly and turning off the water she nodded, albeit tensely.

When he finished his explanation- starting with his first encounter with Tom- Mistress Alice chewed on her lower lip.

"Go take a shower, I'll talk to Ma."

Horrified, he looked at her. "But mistress! If you punish Tom-"

"He must be punished," she interrupted him coolly.

"He'll make my life a living hell!"

"Go take a shower, Dante."

Dante didn't move. "Mistress..."

"Then stand up for him." she said coldly after eyeing him.

"What?"

"Plead leniency for him. He must be punished, Dante, and Pa will get his share too"- Dante was almost glad he hadn't said anything about Blaise's private business with the plugs- "but if you ask for leniency, I will- as far as I can- grant it. I know Tom, it's not like that. But you're damned well mine, and I hate it when anyone handles my things improperly."

He nodded hastily.

"And you'll be punished, too," she added.

"Yes, mistress." he said quietly, lowering his eyes. He hadn't lied to her directly, but he should have told her.

With pointed fingers she took the plug and rushed out, the door slamming shut behind her.

Showered and in clean clothes, he finally knelt in the living room next to Tom. Besides Mistress Alice and Miss Carolyn, only Miss Britney was present, scowling as she sat on the couch.

"So, Alice... your sentence?" Miss Carolyn sounded dangerously calm, and Dante stared wisely at the floor. Although it wasn't his sentence, he felt guilty, and he had his hands clenched in his lap.

"Five lashes for every day Dante spent with that thing." Mistress Alice's disdain was clearly audible.

"Makes twenty." Miss Britney commented, pointedly bored.

"And thirty for the rape," Mistress Alice continued coldly.

No, Dante thought, he felt not guilt, but shame.

Tom took an audible deep breath. Fifty lashes was a lot and Dante suspected that such things were not common here.

"Ten more for the threats."

"Ma, you should add another ten for betraying Pa's trust," Miss Britney interjected smugly. Seventy...

Tom hissed and Dante swallowed hard. Even for a man like Tom, that would get him a visit to the hospital.

"Mistress," he whispered, "Mistress, please..."

"Hmm?"

"I pray you leniency." He looked up, looked at his mistress, who looked back at him, unmoving.

"Speak." she said after a moment with a minimal nod.

"I pray you for leniency on Tom's behalf. That... that thing is not an instrument of torture and...", Dante forced himself not to look away, but he did have to take a deep breath and his face burned, "and it wasn't anal rape." He felt as small and helpless as he had last as a child. In the upper class, every slave fought for himself or in temporary alliances if it helped oneself. Farm life was different.

"You pray for leniency..." Mistress Alice finally said thoughtfully.

"He hurt my pride more than he hurt my body."

"Pride." Miss Britney snorted snidely.

"Alice?" Miss Carolyn followed up.

Mistress Alice pursed her lips. "Two lashes a day and twenty for rape. Makes twenty-eight. Plus five for the threats."

"Thirty-three." chirped Miss Britney in between.

"We'll make it thirty-five," Mistress Alice declared, but now turned to her mother. "But I'll give the extra two to Dante in addition to the four he got for his silence to me."

Miss Carolyn nodded. "Good." Still she was dangerously quiet. "Six lashes for Dante." She nodded to Dante, who accepted his punishment with a nod. He could live with that, and he hoped, he prayed, that Tom appreciated the gesture. "Thirty-three lashes from Alice for Tom. Britney's right about abused trust, so I'll put ten on top and confiscate the key to your cage." Miss Carolyn paused. "Execution tomorrow morning. Now it's time to eat."

Dante was still waiting for the catch of the matter, but murmured humbly "Yes, Miss Carolyn." while the others also made their agreement- or rather acceptance- known.

Miss Carolyn and Mistress Alice hurriedly left the living room, but Miss Britney stayed behind for a moment, so Dante thought it better to remain on his knees.

"Oh, Tom..." she purred, coming closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Dante saw her put a hand to Tom's cheek. "Did you have to do that?"

For whatever reason, Tom didn't answer and Miss Britney stalked away.

Dante rose hesitantly and glanced at Tom, but he knelt there stone-faced, not moving.

Maybe, Dante thought, knowing himself how unlikely it was, this was the first time he would be whipped. Maybe he was just now realizing that not everyone kept their mouths shut. Maybe... well, there were a lot of maybes. But since he couldn't and wouldn't do anything more, he turned to his duty in the kitchen.

~

Morning came quickly and relentlessly.

Not knowing what was next for him, Dante wore his house clothes and met Frank for breakfast with a rather forced smile.

Frank stood in the kitchen doorway for a moment before actually entering. Did he know what had happened? Frank had told Dante a lot about the farm and his work, but nothing about how he spent his free time and to what extent he was in contact with Tom and the other workers while off the clock. Judging by the awkward silence that prevailed, Frank had to know something, but he later took his leave to work with a nod and Dante prepared tea for his mistress.

Tense, he then knelt beside her bed until she mumbled something unintelligible, followed by: "Go to your room, I will come and get you."

There he sat on his bed, watched the hands on his alarm clock, and finally pulled out of his backpack one of the two books he owned. Religious texts, suitable for children and with pictures. He wasn't so devout that he found real support in it now - he didn't really need it either - but there were a lot of nice childhood memories attached to the worn book and in fact he got a little lost in it, so that he flinched violently when Mistress Alice entered his little room - dressed for a cool morning outside. It was a little before nine.

"Come." she said simply.

He put the book on the pillow and followed her through the house and finally outside. Almost immediately he began to shiver and his bare feet were not happy either, but he said nothing.

Mistress Alice was silent as well, as they walked across the grounds toward three tall stakes which Dante had only seen from a distance so far. Their purpose was obvious now that the entire household had gathered around. All the slaves- dressed fairly warm- and also the three children, which astonished Dante the most.

Together with his mistress, Dante joined the circle around the stakes and after a moment of silence, Sarah began to say a petition prayer to the Great Mother in a slightly trembling voice- asking for obedient and hardworking men.

Dante felt a little fooled, but before he could mentally comment, Miss Carolyn barked: "Step forward and strip!"

Dante stepped forward and cast a quick glance at Tom, but he still looked stone-faced and did not return Dante's gaze. So he undressed, dropped his clothes on the dewy grass, and then raised his brows in surprise as a short stocky man with raven black hair stepped up to them.

"Hands." he growled to Tom, and then, with a nasty-looking rope, tied Tom's hands together in such a way that he practically hugged the stake. It was Tom himself who hooked his bindings into a hook well above his head- the man wouldn't have been able to reach it- and then he grunted as the man pulled on one end of the rope.

A moment later, Dante knew why Tom had grunted: he had to stand on tiptoe to hook his bonds and his back was uncomfortably stretched. Lashes on tense muscles were no walk in the park.

"The crime will not be discussed in public," Miss Carolyn said as crisp as the air on this cloudy morning. "Tom will receive forty-three lashes, Dante will receive six. Execution falls to Robert Horner this time, thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Always, Miss Mitchell, always." Robert grumbled, disappearing from Dante's sight; at least that explained why he had looked familiar to Dante.

"Maisie, dear, are you counting for us?" Miss Britney then asked, honey-sweet, and in Dante's horror that the children were being dragged into it, the girl replied:

"Of course, Aunt Britney."

And then the hiss of the whip was his only warning before the firm leather painfully kissed his skin. He swallowed a surprised cry of pain and Maisie said brightly:

"One."

He endured the six lashes without a sound and although his back burned and throbbed, it was endurable.

Tom's silence broke with lash number seventeen with a half-suppressed cry.

"Pa," Jack asked into the relative silence in an innocent little voice, "Pa, does it really hurt that bad?"

"I guess so," Daniel replied quietly. "But if you're a good boy, you'll never have to find out."

At strike number twenty-five, the screaming turned into a raspy grunt that turned into a whimper a little later.

Dante had leaned his forehead against the stake and was shivering with cold, though Tom's sounds did their part to make him shudder.

When it was over, Blaise cut their bonds and Dante stumbled backward two steps before regaining his balance.

The circle of onlookers dissolved. All the faces Dante saw were deliberately expressionless - except for Jessy, who was pale and crying silently, and Frank, who was also pale and looking almost ashamed.

Tom had fallen into the arms of two of his comrades and was being carried by them more than he was walking; Dante could see that Robert had worked Tom with precision evenly from his shoulders to the backs of his knees. A particularly violent shudder shook him and he reached for his clothes, but his shirt and shorts were too damp to put on, so he merely slipped into his underpants.

"Dante." Mistress Alice stepped toward him.

"Mistress."

"Go to your room."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Alice?" Frank asked cautiously half into Dante's reply, but Dante nodded to his mistress and turned away.

Miss Carolyn and Blaise were just entering the house; Daniel had playfully thrown Jack over his shoulder. If Dante guessed correctly, it would have normally been Blaise's job to do the whipping, but he had a punishment waiting for him, too.

How might a woman punish her husband, a free man? Actually, he didn't really want to know.