Caleb released the lock on the grill and the two men grabbed Maria, tied her wrists behind her back and, without a word, dragged her to the rear of the van. Father Thomas went through the grill after them and climbed into the front. Maria took a last look at the church before the two men threw her down in the back, slammed the doors and drove off.
Maria lay in the darkness on the floor of the van. She was bounced about roughly as it sped through the streets, and when it went around corners at speed she was flung against the ribbed metal walls. She was unable to protect herself and gasped through the tight gag as she hit the sides and rolled about the floor. She was covered in mud and her black skirt was dirty and crumpled, her white blouse hung in tatters from her shoulders and she felt bruised and disgusting. After a while the van stopped and she was thrown forward in a heap.
The doors opened and the men dragged her out. She was blinded by the light at first, but soon saw that she was being dragged through the large double doors of a mansion house. They opened into a large hall with a high ceiling and bare brown walls upon which hung dirty oil paintings of monks and nuns. The men dragged her in roughly by the ankles and as the doors were slammed shut behind her, tossed her down on the floor.
"Take her to the dining hall Brother Arnold."
"Yes, Father."
Brother Arnold grabbed Maria's wrists and hauled her through the hall and down a corridor, then he flung open a door and threw her into a room full of men sitting at long trestle tables. They all wore brown robes with loose, brown cords tied around their waists. Father Thomas came into the room and stood at the door.
"This child needs some intensive training, Brothers. She has found too much pleasure in our punishment and she has to be ready for the Mistress soon. I implore you to help her expel her dreadful fantasies, to make her ready to serve as a slave and bring her to salvation."
"Ah, a muddy slave to be sure," said one.
"Filthy little slut!" said another.
They started to jeer and bang knives and forks on the trestle tables.
"Dirty bitch!"
"Filthy whore!"
Maria cowered on the floor and looked nervously around like a frightened animal.
"Here slave," said one of the Brothers, holding out his bowl, "fetch my food and be quick about it!"
Maria was too terrified to move.
"Fetch my food, slave!" he shouted angrily.
She crawled over to him and looked up helplessly, drew herself onto her knees and bowed her gagged face. The Brother leant down to her and sniffed at her muddy hair. She pulled away but he grabbed her hair and pulled her head back sharply.
"I want serving, you fucking bitch. Here!"
Maria did not know what he wanted her to do, she could not take the bowl because her wrists were tied behind her back and she could not speak because of the gag that pulled tightly across her mouth. The Brother yanked her hair tighter and she breathed hard through her nostrils, her eyes widening as terror swept over her and she felt her skin flushing with fear.
One of the Brothers jumped up from his seat and held a knife high above his head, then he rushed over to Maria and held the blade in front of her face. She tried to draw away but her hair was pulled even tighter. The shiny blade of the knife was pointed at one of her cheeks and she shivered with fear and tried to pull away but it was impossible. Her nostrils flared wide as she panted in panic, staring at the blade of the knife, shivering and shaking and consumed by a hot surge of frantic terror.
"Fucking bitch!" shouted the Brother with the knife. "Fucking disobedient bitch!"
He drew the knife back a little then put it underneath the tightly pulled handkerchief that strained across her mouth. She stopped breathing and waited, frozen with terror, then, with one sudden movement, he slashed through the handkerchief. The tension across her cheeks was broken but, as the handkerchief fell away, she still kept it clasped between her teeth.
"Drop it, you dog!"
Slowly, she unclenched her teeth and the handkerchief fell onto the floor, her mouth was sore but she opened it wide and started screeching straight away.
"Please, please, please -"
"Get my food bitch!" shouted the Brother with the bowl, then, without warning, he pushed it between her teeth. "Get my fucking food and keep silent!"
The metal bowl crashed noisily against her teeth and she fell back under the shock. He pushed it at her again and this time she gripped it tight. The metal felt stinging and cold against her teeth and its edges forced the sides of her mouth out wide as she looked around for instructions. The Brothers were pointing and jeering at her as she sat like a dog carrying a food bowl, then she saw that they were all pointing towards a large table with food on that stood at the far end of the room. With the bowl firmly clenched in her mouth, Maria tried to stand, but a Brother knocked her back down to her knees.
"Get my fucking food slave! But crawl! Slaves do not stand in the presence of their masters! Crawl like a dog and fetch my food you dirty slut!"
Holding the bowl in her mouth, she shuffled on her knees towards the food table. She felt dirty and humiliated as she crawled between the jeering Brothers and the metal bowl hurt her mouth and her knees were sore.
"What have you brought us here Father Thomas? A filthy slut to be sure. Covered in mud and yes, unless I'm mistaken, no panties on. Brothers, Brothers, I do believe our slutty slave has no panties on. A filthy bitch with no panties on. Come on bitch, I'm waiting! Where's my food?"
She struggled on between the Brothers, then one of them lifted the muddy hem of her skirt and revealed her smooth bottom.
"Yes, no panties Brothers! What a slut!"
"Spank that little bottom, Brother. Give her a good spank for not wearing her panties!"
She flinched as his hand smacked down across her bottom and her teeth bit hard into the metal bowl.
Spank!
She screamed as she fell forward under the heavy smack, then he held her skirt up high and brought his hand back again, this time even harder.
Spank!
She shrieked but as she shuffled forward her skirt fell back down and covered her naked bottom. She ducked and cowered as she made her way between them, all the time clenching the bowl between her teeth until finally, she got to the table and stopped. A fat Brother stood in front of her holding a ladle above a huge, wooden bowl.
"Soup?" he asked
She waited.
"Soup?" he demanded.
Maria nodded slowly.
He dipped the ladle into the big bowl and drew it out full and spilling over with hot soup, then, clumsily, he poured it into her bowl and hot soup splashed over the sides. It ran scoldingly down her chin and onto her breasts. She tried to hold the bowl steadily between her teeth, but could hardly bear the stinging of the hot liquid as it poured over the sides. Then he ladled another helping into the bowl. It sloshed all over the sides but although she stung with the pain of the hot soup dribbling down her chin, she did not dare let the bowl go.
"Take it to your master, slutty slave!"
She turned and started to make her way back to the table. As she shuffled along on her knees all the Brothers shouted and jeered and more of the soup slopped over the sides. She gripped the bowl hard in her mouth and pressed her lips against its sharp edges but still soup splashed out, running down her face and trickling across her breasts. When she arrived at the Brother who had sent her for the soup there was hardly anything left in the bowl. He reached down and pulled it from her mouth and she flinched in pain as he wrenched it from between her teeth. He lifted the bowl and turned it slowly upside down, a single drop of soup dripped from it and the Brothers started to shout loudly and bang the tables even harder with their knives and forks.