West Valley High Day 40: Iron Woman

Author's note: A portion of this story borrows from a story series called "Iron Man" by Ruru67. I have borrowed some of his excellent description of a devilish iron frame as an example of a gibbet that might have been used for punishment of a witch.

*****

October 25
He must not be too quick to subject a witch to examination,
but must pay attention to certain signs which will follow.
And he must not be too quick for this reason:
unless God, through a holy Angel, compels the devil
to withhold his help from the witch,
she will be so insensible to the pains of torture that
she will sooner be torn limb from limb than confess any of the truth.
But the torture is not to be neglected for this reason,
for they are not equally endowed with this power,
and also the devil sometimes of his own will permits them
to confess their crimes without being compelled by a holy Angel.
- Kramer and Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum

Mr. Rydberger came out to visit Susan at 7AM on Tuesday morning. The sun was rising as he approached the naked girl in the pillory. A female student was hard at work tickling Susan's bare feet and Susan was writing in her wooden prison, laughing and crying at the abuse, her head flailing back and forth in the wooden stockade. Susan's senior classmates had begun to gather in the courtyard to see how the witch trials would continue on this second day. The teacher waived the student away from her victim and approached Susan with a water bottle and held it to her lips. She slurped down the water quickly, her first sustenance in over 24 hours. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, and contemplated again using the safe word she had been provided. But after a second bottle of water, fortified with vitamins, she found herself feeling better and declared to Rydberger that she was ready for the day's demonstration.

The teacher released Susan from the pillory and pulled the burlap dress back over her head and arms. The girl was grateful for the cover as it had gotten chilly overnight and she was shivering, despite the small heater that had been placed near her. Rydberger turned to face the class. "Today we are going to discuss further humiliations that were used against suspected witches, both in the colonies and throughout Europe. We are going to start with a rather simple one. Susan, if you could hold your arms out to your sides, please?"

The girl did as she was told and the teacher placed a glass cup in each of her upturned palms. He filled the cups to the rim with liquid. Susan stood still, trying to keep the cups upright. Her arms were already straining having to hold them out to her side. "You might ask yourself, why wouldn't the victim just dump the liquid out? Well, that was the test. The solution would be ice cold as you have here, and again, witches could not handle ice cold water. So if the witch simply dumped the water, it would be obvious she was a witch. So he or she was expected to hold the cups in his or her hands for as long as possible. You see, though, the cups are not filled with ice water but instead a caustic lye solution. So as the solution drips onto her hands, it will burn. This would be seen as another sign of a witch, supposedly cold water burning her hands. She would, of course, likely spill the cups once the burning started, proving she was a witch."

Rydberger turned to the class and began his lecture on the Salem witch trials. Susan tried to stand perfectly still, determined not to spill the liquid. Even though she was fairly sure her cups were not filled with acid, a part of her still worried. She slowly lowered her arms so they were no longer aligned with her shoulders which gave her shoulders some relief although her biceps were still burning. The teacher was halfway through his discussion of one of the trials when Susan couldn't handle the pressure any more and she dropped her arms, the cups clinking to the ground as the liquid spilled out. A few students yelled out 'witch' at her.

The teacher turned and smiled at her. "That was pretty impressive, Susan. I didn't expect you to be able to hold that position for more than a minute. I guess it is those strong cheerleader arms."

"The next punishment for our witch doesn't require much in the way of strength, although endurance shall be required," Rydberger said. He brought out another large burlap sack and asked Susan to step into it. He told her to sit down, and she did, and he pulled the sack over her head and tied it tight, cocooning her in darkness inside it. She shifted as the sack was lifted into the air and she felt herself being carried across the courtyard. Rydberger and two male senior students had picked her up and carried her to a large oak tree in the courtyard. With a rope thrown over one of the branches, the sack was lifted into the air so Susan dangled from the branch, her knees up against her chest, her butt dropping toward the ground.

"Class, we call this the 'witch's cradle'," the teacher said. "It is a simple punishment, as the witch simply hangs from the tree branch. As you might expect, the sun will make it quite warm for our witch. But the real punishment is what the townspeople would do." Rydberger grabbed the end of the sack and pulled it up then let go, causing it to swing in a long arc, twisting as it swung. Susan's body shifted inside the sack, spinning around and back. "This punishment was designed to drive the witch mad, you see."

The teacher added some extra torque to the next swing, causing the sack to rotate all the way around and then come spinning back as it returned towards him. Susan could feel herself getting dizzy already as the teacher continued to spin and swing her body inside the burlap cocoon. She was already sweating profusely and being stuck in the claustrophobic sack was causing her breathing to be labored. The sack was being pulled in different directions, which caused her move inside it to the point she was almost upside down now. Or was she? She couldn't be sure which way was up or down. She tried closing her eyes but that only made the disorientation worse.

Around and around and back and forth she went, being swung higher and higher by students and teacher alike, batted around like a cheap piñata at a child's birthday party. She was glad she had not eaten much because she surely would have vomited by now. Rydberger mentioned to the students this was a possibility and then the witch would have spent the day in her own vomit, adding to her humiliation and discomfort. Susan was willing herself not to succumb to that.

The students eventually tired of the game, or maybe the class bell rang, because Susan felt herself slowing to a stop and just hanging in mid-air from the tree branch. The bag was lowered to the ground and untied and she slumped out of it as it was released. The world was still spinning and she had a massive headache and she finally could resist no longer and retched onto the dirty ground beside her. Luckily, only the teacher was present to see her. He came over and helped her to her feet and led her away from the tree to one of the chairs in the courtyard.

"Are you okay, Susan," he asked, genuine concern in his voice. The girl couldn't do much more than nod. "I have one more demonstration planned for this afternoon, and I am afraid it is quite diabolical. Are you going to be able to handle it or should I go get the headmaster?"

Susan spoke slowly, "If I can just rest for a little while, I'll be ready to go this afternoon."

The teacher nodded and told her to lie down on the ground nearby while he went to get her some food from the cafeteria. She hadn't slept or eaten in a day and she felt dazed and weak as she lay down on the grass beside the courtyard. She curled up into a fetal position and closed her eyes, trying to get a few small moments of rest.

Mr. Rydberger was gone only a little while and returned with a plate of food, some soup and several bottles of water. He woke Susan from her short nap and encouraged her to eat the offered food while he left to prepare for the afternoon ritual.

He returned a short while later with a large iron frame in the shape of a human body, with metal arms and legs outstretched in an 'x. A long metal pole extended from the lower end of the frame. Rydberger lay the frame down on the concrete courtyard and removed several bolts and Susan saw the unit split into two pieces. "It's commonly known as a 'gibbet'," he said, seeing that the contraption had caught her eye. "This one has been specially made to your exact measurements. Why don't you come over here?"

Susan got up and walked over and looked down at the two metal halves lying on the concrete at her feet and understood she would soon be caged inside them. The teacher reached over and pulled the burlap dress from her body, rendering her naked once again. The he pulled out two smooth rubber plugs and a tube of lubricant from a bag next to him. Susan understood where those would be going. Rydberger applied the lubricant, then had the girl bend over as he slid the pair of intruders into her anus and vagina. Each of the plugs had a threaded metal rod protruding from the end of them. Susan was surprised at the size of the butt plug as it was rather thin and small and really didn't hurt all that much. The dildo in her vagina, on the other hand, while not overly thick, was shoved very deep inside her cavity.

The teacher ordered her to lie down inside one half of the metal frame. She placed her legs into the metal channels on the lower half of the 'x' and her arms into those at the top. Rydberger reached down and shifted up her hips until the metal rod protruding from her anus was aligned with a hole in the crotch of the frame. He pushed it through the hole and screwed a large metal nut to the end of the post, pinning her to the iron gibbet by her anus. He used the loops on her welded ankle and wrist cuffs to fasten her limbs to the back of the metal frame, locking her in place.

Next came another rubber plug with a threaded rod, which the teacher pushed between Susan's lips to gag her. Her clamped her jaws around the rubber object to hold it in place. He picked up the other half of the metal body and carried it over and placed it on top of Susan's naked form. He grabbed each of her breasts and squeezed them through metal holes in the front of the cage so her teats ballooned outside the metal. Then he reached down to her crotch and began fiddling with the dildo inside her, trying to line up the metal post with the corresponding hole on the front of the cage. Susan felt he was taking a lot longer to do this than was absolutely necessary and the friction as he pulled and pressed on the rod was turning her on. Finally she felt the rod slide into place through the metal and Rydberger attached another nut to this rod, securing her dildo to the cage. He did the same for the metal rod sticking out of her mouth, which locked the headpiece of the cage onto her face. He picked up a socket wrench and several bolts and nuts and got to work securing the two halves of the metal to each other. He also used the wrench to tighten the bolts inside her a few turns, making sure the intruders were securely fastened.

Rydberger fitted a small rubber tube through the middle of the bolt attaching her gag to the metal frame. She felt the tube come through into her mouth and a small drip of liquid hit her tongue. "This is attached to a small pump," he said. "Similar to the one on Krutz' torture chair, but very low pressure. You'll never get more than a few drips at a time, but it will keep you hydrated. Please wiggle your fingers if you can breathe okay." Susan wiggled her fingers, the only part of her body she could still move.

Two other teachers had joined Mr. Rydberger in the courtyard and they helped him lift the metal cage upright and carry it over into the grass where a metal cylinder had been hammered into the ground. The three teachers lifted up the cage and lowered the pole into the cylinder so the frame and the naked girl trapped inside it now stood upright in the open space.

The senior History students had begun to gather for afternoon lecture and gathered around the exposed girl. Mr. Rydberger began his lecture about the use of human-shaped cages like the gibbet Susan was currently trapped inside, He explained how the victim would be exposed to the elements, animals and insects and often left without food or water. He talked about how pirates would be executed by hanging on a gibbet near the water as a deterrent to other pirates. "While gibbeting was not very common in the colonies, there is some evidence of it being used against witches in England and perhaps here as well," he said. "Now, use of sexual torture was not as common in gibbeting, but I thought it was a nice touch today."

Susan Mitchell was thinking otherwise as the weight of her body pressed down on the dual impalers in her vagina and anus. The dildo in her vagina in particular was as deep as it could possibly go and the pressure was proving to be quite painful. She tried to relieve the pain by lifting herself up slightly, but with her ankles bound, she couldn't offer herself much relief.

The lecture droned on and Susan mostly tuned it out. Around two, clouds began to build and the air turned colder. Mr. Rydberger called for the class to return inside to his classroom and walked over to talk to Susan. "It seems we might be in for a little bit of rain," he said. "Of course, a witch would be left to suffer her punishment no matter the weather. But if you wish to be relieved, I can inform the headmaster. Please wiggle your fingers if you wish to go inside."

Susan kept completely still. She was not going to show any weakness to the headmaster, any visible sign that he was succeeding in his desire to break her. But she knew, despite herself, that it would happen and happen soon. Her punishments had been bearable but she knew he could make them worse and worse until she agreed to whatever it was he wanted from her. She only wished she could figure out what he really wanted.

The rain began later in the afternoon and the temperature began to drop. Susan was shivering in her metal prison but the cage itself was keeping much of the rain off her skin, save for the cold water striking against her exposed breasts. The rain remained a light drizzle throughout the early evening before abating. This allowed Rydberger to roll the small heater back out into the courtyard and aim it at Susan's bare buttocks and back. She was grateful for the warmth but knew this meant she would likely be spending another night here in the courtyard.

Sleep was impossible in the iron cage with the twin objects invading her pressing deep inside her. Her breasts ached from being squeezed through the metal holes in the front of the cage and her ached from being pried open. Susan managed to drift into and out of short naps, each time waking herself as she realized she was living the nightmare in her head.

Shortly before dawn, Mr. Rydberger returned to the courtyard. He found Susan still in her metal cage, her eyes vacant and staring into the distance. He reached up to touch her left breast and she shuddered at the touch. Picking up the socket wrench, he started unbolting the front of the frame, starting with the bolt holding her gag in place, then the one supporting the dildo in her vagina and finally the bolts securing the front panel to the back. When the last bolt was removed, he pulled the panel loose from her breasts and let it fall to the ground with a metal clang. He removed the gag from the girl's mouth and then got to work unscrewing the bolt holding her butt plug in place and then released the girl's arms and legs. She fell into his arms and he carried her nude form over to one of the benches.

"Susan, how are you," he said. Susan opened her eyes and looked up at her teacher. She saw the look of concern on his face, the fear he had taken the demonstration too far. She blinked her eyes several times and then reached up and grabbed his hand.

"That was incredible," she said.

Rydberger looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. He figured she must be delirious and picked up a bottle of water and held it to her lips. She greedily drank down the water. He reached for another bottle and then stopped when the girl said, "Sir, make love to me. Please. I need it."

The teacher shook his head. The young cheerleader repeated her request. Rydberger asked again if she was sure. "Yes, I need to be fucked. I need to be fucked now," she said. Susan looked at her teacher with determination. She could feel herself slipping away in the cage and she needed to regain control. She needed to decide how she would be used. She knew Krutz would be in his office, watching this on video and she wanted him to see her making her teacher have sex with her.

Susan sat up and reached for Mr. Rydberger's pants button. She fumbled with it for a moment and then snapped it open and pulled down his zipper. He pulled back only slightly as she reached into his underwear and grabbed at his half-erect penis. She smiled a little smile noticing he was already partially erect. It didn't take her nimble fingers very long to coax a full erection and then she laid back down on the bench and placed one foot on either side of it, exposing herself to the teacher. He reached down and pulled out the large dildo from her sopping wet vagina and positioned himself on top of her. Slowly he began to penetrate the young girl, and Susan relaxed as the teacher began thrusting himself inside her. After a day of having a large dildo shoved roughly in her vagina, the warmness of his penis felt incredible and she closed her eyes and thought back to her day in the iron cage and felt the strongest, most intense orgasm she had felt in a long time wash over her.