King of the Castle

"Why did you let us...?"

"You are village women, younger village women. The older villagers like us and know what we have done for them. I didn't think whatever you did it would be that bad. I'm sure you wouldn't really have suffocated Sarah."

"If I admit you are right, what now?"

"You need to know the truth. Ask Sarah to confirm my statement about who owns the castle."

Petra did. After Sarah's gag was removed she gave Petra, Katya and the other women a considerable telling off in the local language. I won't record what she said in detail but 'stupid bitches' was the gist. Sarah confirmed that my family didn't own the castle. We had set up a company with the villagers as ninety per cent owners, five per cent owned by the government, and five per cent owned by the family. The government percentage meant that officials were more likely to agree to any alterations and improvements than if the castle was wholly in private ownership. As for the revolution and its leaders? They were financed by foreigners. THEY were the ones who wanted to sell the country to foreigners. Some of them already had, acquiring assets as Ruritanian nominees to avoid the law about five per cent maximum. Sarah said I could prove her statements about the revolution on line.

Petra asked me. I replied that if we were released I could access the internet, bypassing Ruritania's firewall, and let her see what the rest of the world knew about her revolutionary leaders.

Petra had to consult all the others. There was some fierce argument in the local language but if Sarah and the others wore soft cuffs and if I was shackled to Petra and Katya then we could be released from the Jailer's Daughters. Two women went off to get the cuffs from elsewhere in the dungeons and one went to my room to get my laptop.

The others were released. Their hands were cuffed before their ankles were released and they could stand up. I asked Petra whether the Jailer's Daughter had a femdom element. She answered that if the man inside didn't have the gag a woman could sit astride and wrap her legs around his head. I looked down at the skirt of the Jailer's daughter. Without the upper body the skirt was almost flat in front of my head. I could imagine Madeleine sitting there with my face between her legs.

Finally Petra and Katya clamped a metal belt around my waist. My wrists were cuffed to it. They fitted a studded leather collar around my neck with two leashes. They held a leash each as we moved back up to the Great Hall. There Sarah and the six of us were placed in heavy chairs positioned around the table. Those chairs had been standing against a wall. Our ankles were clamped to the chairs' legs and our waists were clamped to the chairs' backs. Once we were secured to the chairs the padded cuffs were removed from our wrists. My wrists were still fixed to the metal belt round my waist.

Petra set up my laptop. I talked her through how to bypass Ruritania's internet firewall and told her to search for details about the revolution's leaders. She and Katya dropped my leashes as they searched. Their language was colourful as they saw what Ruritania's people didn't know.

While they were busy on line some of the other women brought us a cold lunch. Two of them fed me on whatever I wanted because my hands weren't free. The others could manage except when something was beyond their reach. Whatever they asked for was given to them. The women were becoming more relaxed with us as Petra and Katya told them about the lies they had been fed. These revolutionary women were becoming more disillusioned with their leaders and their cause by the minute. I suggested that they looked for Ruritania's political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. As I thought, there weren't any. But that search directed them to Snopes which detailed the lies told by the leaders of the revolution. All those named as detained by the government were actually living in luxury outside Ruritania.

Petra suddenly slumped with her head in her hands.

"What do we do now?" she wailed. "Our revolution is run by crooks who just want to make money for themselves."

"You could start by releasing us," I suggested quietly. "We're useless as hostages. You can't persuade my father to give the people assets they already own."

"Yes," Petra said slowly. "We have imprisoned you and Sarah uselessly. I'm sorry. You're our friends, especially Sarah. We've known her all our lives and now we've misused her. How can you forgive us?"

Petra walked across to Sarah and removed her restraints. Sarah got up slowly and stood awkwardly at first. Sarah stroked Petra's cheek before she came towards me.

"This is the greeting I wanted to give you when you arrived, Stephen," Sarah said.

She kissed me on both cheeks before pulling my head against her ample breasts.

"I hoped you would realise something was wrong when I didn't."

I couldn't reply. Sarah was hugging me too tightly. As she let me go she kissed me on the lips. She stood up. Petra moved her gently aside before she too kissed me and hugged me to her nearly exposed breasts.

"This is the welcome I should have given my friend," Petra said.

"Hey!" Madeleine protested. "That's my fiancé you're smothering!"

"Sorry, Madeleine." Petra said. "You need a welcome too."

Petra kissed Madeleine on both cheeks before dragging Madeleine's head between her breasts. I would have objected but my head was in Katya's cleavage. The other two men and three women were still restrained and unable to resist as they were kissed and hugged by relays of women. They might have been expressing their regret but they seemed to be enjoying that expression too much. When Petra came back to me she turned her body so Madeleine couldn't see before she pushed my head between two naked breasts. As she pulled back I kissed both of her nipples. That was a mistake. Petra clamped my head deep into her soft cleavage.

Eventually all of us were released but the hugging and kissing continued, this time with active partners.

+++

Petra asked me what they could do to stop the revolution. I suggested that they could recall the castle's men folk and the villagers who were hiding from an invasion that wasn't coming.

What I could do, after restoring the Wi-Fi and mobile coverage, was contact Jakob in the capital. I was circumspect in what I said but I let him know we were out of danger and the castle and its staff were safe.

I spent a couple of hours drafting an email to all the contacts my family had in the Ruritanian government suggesting that they should open up Ruritania's internet access and publicise the external websites that told the truth about the revolution. I said that one wouldn't work without the other. People had to be able to look at the websites themselves, not take the government's word for the content.

When I hit send on that email I worried that I, as a foreigner, was making a significant intervention in Ruritania's election. But I owed it to my friends in the country. Ruritania's democratic opposition was not involved in the revolution. They might have different priorities from the current government but they supported the democratic principles and institutions.

I thought hard before I searched for a contact list of the opposition's leaders. I forwarded them the email I had sent to the government.

Within an hour of sending those emails my inbox was overflowing with replies. I spent most of the rest of the day answering queries and suggesting external websites to look at for the details of the 'revolution'. Madeleine, Petra and Katya kept me supplied with coffee and sandwiches. Petra and Katya were often at my shoulders looking with amazement at the names of the Ruritanian politicians sending emails to me. Almost everyone of note who was in the parliament was corresponding with me.

By early evening the Head of State and the leader of the opposition had come to an agreement to allow unrestricted internet access throughout Ruritania. In an unprecedented show of unity they appeared side by side on the evening's main TV news programme to announce that and to give a short list of sites to look at that disproved the 'revolution's' lies. By midnight my emails ceased coming. Ruritania's ageing telephone network couldn't cope with the traffic on the internet.

Most of the others were in the television room watching the large screen for the TV news which continued with news bulletins as the situation developed. I was pleased that I wasn't mentioned at all.

The leader of the 'revolution', who claimed to be a poor peasant farmer, was arrested in his Rolls-Royce as he arrived at an airport to take his executive jet out of the country. He wouldn't have succeeded. His pilot and mechanics had decided not to prepare the jet for flight. Several other leaders were also arrested heading for the borders of Ruritania.

At midnight the television station was showing demonstrations in the main squares of the capital -- against the 'revolution'. They seemed to be more like parties than demonstrations.

The leader of the opposition and the leader of the government appeared again shortly after midnight. They appealed for calm and no recriminations. They both encouraged the people to register to vote and to vote in the forthcoming elections to make a free unfettered choice for who would run Ruritania. They shook hands as their joint statement ended.

The women had been using their mobile phones to contact the castle's men folk, particularly their boyfriends, and the other villagers. Everyone would be back sometime tomorrow. Sarah announced that there would be a party for everyone. It had been intended to be our Halloween party. It still would be but also a time to celebrate the survival of Ruritania's democracy. Instead of six people at the party there would be nearly a hundred.

Petra and Katya were hugging and kissing me so much that Madeleine objected. They responded by kissing and hugging Madeleine too, so much that I had to object as well. They picked Madeleine up and dumped her on my lap before the kissing started again. Petra's breasts were still exposed. Madeleine took her shift dress off and then her bra. She was naked except for stockings. Katya decided that was a good idea so she stripped too, followed by Petra. I was swamped between three naked women competing to see how much flesh they could press against me. Madeleine declared that unfair because I was still dressed. I resisted slightly but I enjoyed it as three determined women stripped me.

Back in our bedroom Madeleine insisted on using some of the restraints. She strapped my hands to the rails at the head of the bed before licking and kissing my body. She slid her erect nipples over my chest before presenting them to my mouth one by one. We were too tired after the excitement to do much so she released me after about twenty minutes and snuggled against my shoulder.

I had another dream. This time I was imprisoned in the lower part of The Jailer's Daughter as Katya's cleft covered my mouth and nose. Petra was standing behind Katya pushing her harder and harder against me. Katya leant forward to wrap her arms around my head. Suddenly we were in darkness. Petra had fitted the top half of the Jailer's Daughter over both of us. Katya and I were locked inside together. The torso of the Jailer's Daughter had clamped Katya's hips tight against my head. I was struggling to breathe. Katya was trying, unsuccessfully, to push herself away to give me access to air. I heard Petra close the lips above us. Both of us would die from lack of air as we struggled to stop me suffocating between Katya's lips.

In my dream I remembered something Petra had said after we had been released earlier. The original Jailer's Daughter had been made air and watertight but the modern versions weren't. They had air vents built into the upper part. No one inside a Jailer's Daughter would suffocate or drown. Petra had told me that Sarah would suffocate just to persuade me to cooperate.

After that thought the dream changed. I was pressed into the massive cleavage of Maria, the Count's wife. My arms were held in an arm binder behind my back. The maids were lacing Maria into the first dress of her bondage. As they pulled the laces tighter I was forced deeper between Maria's breasts. Those breasts were so large that they were closing behind my head as I sank deeper. As Maria was laced into more dresses I was confined tighter and tighter against her soft body. Not just my head but my whole body down to my hips were sinking into Maria. I was being swallowed by her soft plumpness. I didn't know how I could breathe or survive.

The dream changed again. Instead of being restrained and smothered in Maria's layered dresses I was the filling in a sandwich of the naked bodies of Madeleine, Petra and Katya. They were arguing quietly about which one should smother me to unconsciousness. Madeleine said she should because I was her fiancé. Petra and Katya complained that Madeleine didn't have large enough breasts to do it properly. Madeleine slid up my body to press my face against her stomach, saying that if she didn't have enough breast she had a nice plump soft body that could do the smothering.

She has. I woke up with her stomach across my face. I kissed her navel as I slid out from under her. She stirred before snuggling back against my shoulder and pulling one of my hands to a naked breast. I slept the rest of the night.

+++

After breakfast Petra whispered in Madeleine's ear. Madeleine nodded.

"Stephen, please sit in that chair," Madeleine asked indicating one of the heavy bondage chairs.

She clamped my wrists to the arms of the chair, and my ankles to the legs. Behind me, where I couldn't see, Petra gave Madeleine two scarves. Madeleine used one of them, knotted in the centre, to gag me. She tied it in place with the other scarf. Petra came around to stand in front of me. Petra beckoned everyone else, the two men and women and all the maids, to stand behind her. Madeleine stood behind me with her arms draped over my shoulders and down over my chest. It was a defiant message of ownership. I was enjoying being owned by Madeleine.

"Stephen," Petra said, "We're grateful for what you did last night but now we're scared of you. We knew from Sarah that you were an important person in Ruritania. We didn't take that in. But when you can send a couple of emails to everyone who runs the country, and they act because of you? You have stopped a revolution."

I shook my head.

"I asked Madeleine to gag you to stop your protests. We are worried. We abused you. If you wanted revenge..."

I shook my head again.

"Madeleine said you wouldn't but we're still worried. We have changed what we were going to do today. We had to anyway. This afternoon the men will be back and we're having a party to celebrate the end of Ruritania's troubles. This evening will be the Halloween party, just for you six with a few of us women helping. But this morning? We're going back down to the basement for some enjoyment. It won't last long because you six need dancing lessons. This afternoon's party will involve traditional dances and you will participate."

Petra signalled to someone out of my sightline. Katya came to stand beside Petra. Katya was holding something covered with a scarf.

"But first we have to acknowledge what Stephen has done for us."

Katya handed the covered object to Petra who walked towards me. Madeleine slid her arms off me. Petra removed the scarf to display a metal crown. She put it on my head before walking backwards.

"We have crowned you, Stephen, as King of this castle. We're sorry we can't do more, but we can acknowledge you as our King and saviour."

To my surprise all the local women executed a simultaneous and graceful curtsey. My friends bowed to me.

Madeleine removed the two scarves gagging me. I was still secured to the chair.

"Thank you, Petra and everyone, but please, please, keep this quiet. The emails I sent started something that I couldn't have done alone. The people of Ruritania have done everything. My role should be forgotten. I thank you for crowning me, but I am still just Stephen, Madeleine's fiancé and your friend."

Madeleine kissed me before I could day any more. I heard Petra telling the maids what to do for our next session in the basement. Or rather I heard some of it. Madeleine's kissing was too enthusiastic.

Everyone left. I was still restrained in the chair.

"Hey!" I shouted. "What about me?"

"You can contemplate the uselessness of Kings," Madeleine retorted but she could see Sarah coming across to me.

"I'll sort you out, King Stephen," Sarah said quietly as the others left.

"I feel embarrassed and worried about the consequences of last night," I admitted as Sarah unfastened the shackles holding me to the chair. The crown wobbled on my head. When my arms were free I lifted the crown off and looked at it.

Sarah stood back.

"The consequences? Ruritania should be very grateful to you but I don't think you appreciate the local consequences, Stephen."

"Local?"

"Yes. The maids who supported the revolution were persuaded that they were 'oppressed'. Their men weren't convinced. We have had little to do with events in the capital and the local women have always run their men. If anyone was oppressed it was the men, even if they didn't necessarily realise it. It had led to disagreements between the women and men and even two broken engagements. Now the women know they were being duped? The friendships and possibly even the engagements are probably being mended. I know of two friendships that have been restored just by phone calls. This afternoon's party could finish the process and King Stephen will be responsible for bringing peace back here."

Sarah pointed at the crown I was still holding.

"To us, that is real. It is a genuine Royal crown from the time when this part of Ruritania was a separate small kingdom. Your grandfather found it in a sealed cupboard when the castle was being renovated. Until this morning it was kept in the safe and sometimes on display in a secure display case. Its intrinsic value is small because it is made of brass. Its sentimental and historic value is enormous. It was the crown that the King wore every day, not the formal crown for state occasions. The women have given you a real coronation. You ARE the King of the Castle..."

"...but I'm still run by women?"

"Of course. If not by our local women then I'm sure Madeleine will make sure you do what you are told to do, with love of course. She might not be as obvious about it as to shackle you to a chair, but you'll know you belong to her. She wrapped her arms around you just before she knew you would be crowned. That was very deliberate and a clear statement to all of us. You may be our King, but you're Madeleine's man."

I held out the crown to Sarah. She shook her head.

"No, Stephen. You'll have to wear it this afternoon. Even when you're not wearing it you'll still be our King."

"If I am, then you, Sarah, are my governor of this castle. You have been ever since I first came here. Why did you let the women lock you up?"

"You knew I'd consented?"

"Not necessarily consented, but not resisted. If you had shouted at them? They would have stopped at once."

"They were silly. I knew that they wouldn't go through with it but I had to get them into an awkward position so they would have to admit they'd been fooled. Their embarrassment caused a swift rejection of the revolution. Even if they had held the castle for the revolution what would be the point? It is miles from anywhere but the village. The villagers would carry on as normal just ignoring the women. There would be no siege, no attack, just a boring self-imprisonment. The occupation wouldn't last much longer than a couple of days, and would probably end because they wanted fresh milk and bread. Stupid women."