The Mistress slowly stepped over to the basement door, and the sound of her four inch heels clicking on ceramic tiles was deafening. She reached the door of the basement and stopped to listen to the gale outside. The sound of the rain beating on the tin roof of the shed sounded like the devil wailing to raise the dead. There was a wind howling through the trees, and the sound was only adding to the coldness of the winter night.

A wisp of a smile was on her lips as her mind acknowledged the task that she was about to commence.

She opened the door by pressing hard on the sticking latch so tight that at first it never moved. Then, with a heavy sounding tap it moved, forcing the business end of the latch the other side of the door to strike the stop. The noise in the quiet of the hallway was horrendous and overpowering the sound outside. It was like music to her ears as she bit her bottom lip lightly in anticipation of what would be taking place in a short while.

As she pushed open door inwards there was the piercing screech of the un-oiled hinges, even that sound had been left to serve her. It was her battle cry informing the guilty that she was getting closer and to prepare for correctional therapy. The crime in this case was a miserable wretch that had dared to leave her domain and had returned looking for mercy, but she was now unsure if mercy was in her to give.

She stepped on the first of the fifteen stone slabs only to turn and close the door. She was taking her time setting the latch once more, knowing that below the willing victim was listening to her every move. Then slowly she walked down the stone steps to the semi darkness below, where she could already sense the smell of fear and hear the sound of him tugging on his bonds.

At the bottom of the steps the Mistress turned and saw the position her most trusted assistant had placed him. Her assistant that was fully naked fell to his knees before her kissing her boots. She touched his blonde curls saying, “You serve me well slave so go to the corner and await my command.”

She watched every step her assistant made as he made his way to the far corner of the room, and baring the sandals on his feet he was as naked as the day he was born. She could see the muscular shoulder blades with the square shoulders, the arms with their toned biceps showing even from a back view the power within. At the corner he stopped and turned and she stared at his magnificence never tiring of the sight she beheld. She stared at his muscular chest with the not too narrow waist, and the legs that showed the same power as his arms. He had a round face with the thin lips with the button nose, and cold steel blue eyes looking back at her. She could see that there was no fear in them because he had no need to fear her, there was only adoration in his eyes. He had no reason to fear her, because she was his Mistress and he treated her like a goddess. His smiling face made her feel warm while contemplating the fate of the wretch that had his head in the yoke. She smiled back at her slave knowing there would be work for him later. His tasks were many but he never showed his tiredness, and in her eyes he could never be weak or fail her in his tasks.

       To her left she could feel the eyes of her charge staring at her, and she knew he was trying to predict her mood. It was that which had brought in to her domain once again along with his many other faults. She turned and stepped to his front looking down into those emerald green eyes, and there was no mistake they were beautiful eyes. The Mistress had hoped that they had lost their magnetic hold on her, but again they were drawing her in and softening her heart.

       There was a gag in his mouth but there were no sounds of pleading, because he and the Mistress both knew that there was no mercy to be found within her soul for him. All that he had now was sadness and a realisation of his fate, and like her he was most probably going over the history they shared. She looked for that little spark of remorse in his eyes but could see none, only a defiance that was alien to her looking back.

       She ran her hand with spread fingers through his coal black hair as she stepped to his other side, and she knew that he had accepted his fate because his head never moved. Her hand travelled over his shoulders still spread while slipping through the knots of thick body hair. He too had a magnificent body that was so powerful and strong, but a weakness of the flesh had brought him back to her. His torso resting on another almost invisible yoke with his legs spread and the ankles fixed with bonds to floor. His manhood was hanging down placid but still looking menacing, and it would be his manhood which she would see to first. His buttocks moved slightly as he realised what she was interested in, but as fast as the movement started it also stopped and it was the first and only movement she had seen.

        Walking over to the table by the wall she undid the clasp on her cloak, and then slipping it from her shoulders placed it on the chair. She was dressed in her riding jodhpurs and brown boots. Covering her torso was a white blouse with a black string bow at the neck. She had no need for the lace garters or the fancy corset pushing her breasts out to the extreme. She knew who and what she was and so did all her slaves that came to see, where they would worship her before receiving their particular need. She was Mistress Stella, the Mistress of Ivy Towers and she commanded respect. She untied the black string bow around her neck, and placing her long auburn hair in a pony tail she used the cord to tie it neat.

The Mistress took one more look at his body before she picked the parachute off the table and walked over to his rear. She squatted down and slipped it around his sack giving it a slight tug, and heard a tiny murmur slip from behind the gag. Then in the box between his feet she picked up the lead weights tossed them in her hand and then put them in the box once more. She picked up the silver ball that was just heavier than the lead weights but more manageable. Mistress Stella lifted it up and hooked it to the bottom of the parachute gently letting his sack take the weight. She knew that this was not the time to be spiteful or cruel. There was no sound escaping his lips this time because he was too busy concentrating on his breathing, posture and movement. She moved to his side and screwed a clover clamp to each nipple, and then hooked a three ounce weight to each one. Stepping back she looked at her handy work and was happy with what she saw, but by the time she would be finished with him those ornaments would feel twice their actual weight.

She stepped back over to the table once more looking at the floggers, and when she returned in her hand she held one only slightly lighter than the cat. She walked around to his left side and stopped, and up until that moment the only sound was the clicking of her heels on the stone floor. She ran the flat of her hand down his back once more and as she lifted the flogger a tear ran from the corner of her eye as the memories flooded back. Thwack, thwack, thwack, the flogger was hitting his back with force until she realised that there was all night to torture him. Thwack, thwack, thwack, her strokes were lighter now and although still painful she could not see his powerful body jerking as much. He would feel the heat in his back before long and then she would show him more of the same on other parts of his anatomy. It was then she decided to change the area at that time, so that when she came to the heavy instruments he would be ready. She had no intention of hurting him she just wanted to show him pain.

She knew he couldn’t answer but asked all the same, “Did you really think I wouldn’t mind, and did you think that I would not look for you just to punish you?” Thwack, thwack, thwack, She was looking down at the expression on his face and knew that he was thinking.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, “I wasted several years of my life waiting for you to make a decision, and when you did make one, it was to run.” Thwack, thwack, thwack, “But to run while my back was turned and leaving no explanation.” Thwack, thwack, thwack, “Ten years we were together holidaying, making love, talking about the future.” Thwack, thwack, thwack “Did you not care enough to say something to me before you did your runner?” Thwack, thwack, thwack “We could have talked it over and maybe compromised somewhere along the line.”

The Mistress still loved him, but she was not about to tell him that because there were things she needed to see first. Thwack, thwack, thwack, “You tried to forget me but that will never happen, no one forgets Mistress Stella and least of all a slave or submissive.” Thwack, thwack, thwack, she looked down and realised her strokes had been getting more powerful as she spoke, but there was no sound leaving his mouth. The next three were not so hard showing him that she was in control once more, thwack, thwack, thwack.

“Do you know I still wear the engagement ring you gave me because it looks so very good on my finger?” Thwack, thwack, thwack, “Was it worth it David, leaving me to run and hide from me for a month. Then to start feeling lonely last night with your only option was to return to me. I doubt that you ever thought about me being lonely. It never occurred to you that I would be worried, and so worried that I would search for you?” Thwack, thwack, thwack. “Am I hurting you David?” She looked down at his head but there was no movement “That’s right I remember now you always were the silent one.”

Thwack, thwack, thwack, Her strokes were now landing on his buttocks and thighs, and the only sound coming from his mouth was the heavy intake of breath. Those were only during the intervals when she had been talking. She knew that he was feeling the pain but she had been teaching him for ten years, he was not just her submissive slave but her lover and protector.

The Mistress looked at his body and it was glowing from the powerful strokes but the skin was not broken. She spent another half an hour on his back leaving his buttocks alone once more, as she had other ideas for those chunks of flesh. When she stepped over to the table once more she looked at the cane, but after picking it up she placed it back in its tray. The strap was a cleaner instrument as she had no need to see welts this early, and the punishment was more a teaching of which he had forgotten the day he ran off. 

She picked up the strap and walked back to his side and once again she run her hand over his back, and could feel that he was still good for more punishment. She lifted the strap up and it was hurting her to hurt him and she couldn’t understand why? He was out of her life and out of my mind, or was she trying to convince herself. Slap, slap, slap, once again she saw his body jerk as the belt touched his back, and realised that once again her emotions were trying to control her hand. The next three were hard but lighter than the ones she had just given him. She bit her lip as she saw the three strap marks as she had not wanted that to happen. There would be marks, but they would only be the marks that he received before he shared her bed.

“I’ll bet you wish you had stayed with me because if you had have done you would not be here in this position.” Slap, slap, slap, “All those good times we had together David and you threw them away.” Slap, slap, slap, he was still silent but she could see a tear drop in the corner of his eye, and she knew that she was getting to his brain. She could see him in thinking mode, because when he was thinking his eyes picked a spot to look at then he would do nothing but stare at it. She looked at his torso and it was glowing red, and when she softly ran the flat of her hand over his back she could feel the intense heat of his body. 

She stepped around him once more as she returned the strap to the table, and once again she picked up the cane. She turned and looked at him and she knew that she was wearing him down, David was strong but his mind was weak and she had been taunting him from the start. He could not reply and she knew that was what he hated about ball gags. She held the cane more firmly and it felt good, and it was the right time but only a taste for what was to come later. Stepping back behind him she looked at his buttocks noting that the marks from the flogger earlier had gone, once again his thick skin had come to his aid.

She brought her hand back with the cane remembering that she was once his Mistress and she knew his limits. Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, “No doubt you had forgotten all about the cane David, but life has a tendency of coming around and hitting you in the ass.” She smiled at her pun but it was short lived as she remembered what this was all about. Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, she looked down at his face that was still looking like he was thinking and saw his tear run down a cheek. She was hurting him mentally and that was not her intention, because she only wanted him to be weak and understand the pain his actions had caused her. She run her hands over his buttocks and felt the welts but again because of the thick skin there were no cuts, and tomorrow there would be no marks, there never was.

She walked over to the table once more and placed the cane once more in the box with its kind, and then turning to where he was in the yoke once again looked at his manly body. She turned and spoke to her assistant in the corner, “Remove his head from the yoke and cuff his wrists to the ceiling.” She then put her cloak on the table and sat down as her assistant carried out her orders. He was meticulous in his work and it was twenty minutes before he had complied fully. He had removed the yokes and cleared a space to the front of David, because it was now time for the ultimate punishment.

She walked over to where David was now spread-eagled and removed the weights and the clover clamps. As she did so she looked at his face, and saw the pain shoot through to his brain along the nerve highway. She squatted down and placed them in the box between his feet once more, and then while looking at his now erect manhood she removed the ball and parachute. Standing back up she looked at him in the face, “You know what is about to come next David, and I am now going to take the gag from your mouth. You will then receive an undetermined amount of lashes of the horse whip, but I know that you won’t let me down.”

She walked to the wall and lifted up the vicious looking implement, it was a thin two metre length of glass fibre with a two metre length of platted leather at the end. Then as she walked back to the front of David her assistant was removing the gag. By the time she was in position her assistant was standing in the corner once more. David was looking at her every movement, but his sad expression never changed not even when she drew her arm back. Zip, the length of leather whipped around his chest, but only a little grunt came from his mouth.

“This punishment that you are receiving David is a reminder never to forget me ever again.” Zip, this one was lower and she watched his eyes close as the leather coiled around his body and the tip struck his belly, three more he received before she placed one around his waist and she knew that one hurt him. She could see there were tears in the corner of both eyes and he was weak now, not in body but in mind. There was still no sound coming from his mouth but she never expected any, he had received this many times while being trained. Zip, the stroke wrapped around his chest close to the armpits and she watched as his tears flowed like rivers down his face.

She pulled back her arm and was just about to cast another hot stroke when he cried but it was not in pain. “Please Mistress I beg of you forgive me, and I am so sorry for the pain I caused you.”

She lowered her arm and walked towards him, “That was all I wanted David, a show of remorse and your admittance of guilt. Will you ever leave me again, David?”

“No Mistress Stella.”

“What else won’t you do David?”

“I will never forget to treat you with the respect you deserve, and I will always worship you.”

She dropped the whip on the floor and put her arms around his body, because it had been so long, and in fact too long. “I forgive you David and a line has been drawn, your act of desertion will never be mentioned again.” Then as she kissed him on the lips she felt one of his tears run down her cheek, and she knew he was back to stay.

       She pulled away and walked over to the table where her assistant was holding her cloak. He slipped it over her shoulder and she fastened the clasp, and as she walked to the stone steps she looked back at her assistant once more. “Take David down, and once you have oiled him fetch him to my bedroom, we have a lot of time to make up.”

       Her assistant smiled back as Mistress Stella added, "You serve me well."

                                       THE END