'A pleasing young thing,' Delgardo smiled ingratiatingly, rubbing his hands together, a fat wad of American hundred-dollar bills in his back pocket.
'Indeed, the Colonel always prefers English girls. She'll do nicely for him.'
Vanessa was forced to listen to this amicable chitchat whilst two of Delgardo's henchmen roped her arms tightly behind her back.
'And you say she's nineteen?'
'Yes and already well trained. She's been briefly in an Arab's possession and before that she was trained as a submissive.'
Vanessa saw Delgardo glance down at her as he spoke. She winced as a rope was drawn unfairly tight around her elbows, twisting her arms back against each other and pinning them into the small of her back. She grunted in objection but they'd already ball-gagged her and her muffled groaning went unnoticed.
'So how is the Farquerson girl settling in?' Delgardo asked.
Vanessa pricked up her ears at the mention of Zoe then swore through the gag as a rope bit into the soft flesh of her thighs. Having bound her ankles and wrists they were now immobilising her arms and legs with more ropes. Why did the bastards have to make them so tight? Vanessa struggled in protest and for her efforts was rewarded with a sharp slap across her naked rump.
'Oh, she's getting used to life at Shrevra. The Colonel is enjoying supervising her breaking in.'
'Signor Delgardo, this one's ready.'
'Good work Pepe, into the crate with her then. Give her a jab first to quieten her down.'
Vanessa was injected and lowered into a small crate. Bastards... she thought as the lid was fitted over her and she listened to them hammering it down. So, it looks like I'm going to meet up with Zoe again, I wonder whether...
Her thoughts remained unconcluded as the drug they'd administered swiftly took effect and she slumped unconscious against the side of the crate.
She woke dazed to find herself on board a plane. The crate had been opened and she had been dragged out on her stomach. She was vaguely aware of some men unfastening the ropes around her ankles and thighs then drawing her legs apart.
'English girl looks so sleepy.'
'Pretty blonde hair... you too tired to mind anything we do with you, yes?'
Vanessa tried to focus on the leering face close before her. Someone was holding her head up by grasping her hair as someone else drew her legs apart.
'You like to do this, yes? You know what we do with you?'
The man behind her nudged her thighs further apart, then his weight settled over her. His cock was thick: opening her sex with his fingers, he rammed it into her. Vanessa sighed through the ball-gag; the man holding her hair grinned.
'Quick fuck and no-one knows... you good girl... good girl.'
Vanessa had no strength in her limbs and her mind felt too dazed for her to object as the men took it in turns to use her body for their pleasure. After they finished with her, the ropes were fastened back around her legs and she was left to slide back into the welcome escape that sleep offered.
When she came to again the plane had landed somewhere and preparations were being made to unload the plane's cargo. She drifted in and out of sleep as she was transferred to a truck but remained oblivious of what happened from then until the moment the loud clatter of the truck's tailboard falling open woke her with a start.
She lifted her head weakly and gazed around her. As the dust settled from the swinging tailgate she saw three men watching her. Two were natives and the third was a European man of late middle age attired in a white suit with a coloured cravat with a wide brimmed Panama hat shielding his eyes from the fierce sun.
'Welcome to Shrevra, my child.'
He smiled benignly then gestured to the two men who jumped into the truck and clasping Vanessa by her bound arms hauled her from the vehicle.
'Signor Delgardo did not exaggerate when he described you. And so cheap! But then of course he doubtless wished to wash his hands quickly of you.'
The two natives held Vanessa as the man spoke to her. She was still wearing the bikini which the pirates had dressed her in before taking her to the slave market. Her long blonde hair was dirty and tangled and her body was covered with dust from the journey in the truck.
'Get her cleaned up then bring her to my quarters.'
Vanessa was dragged away by the arms, her heels dragging through the dusty earth. She could see the monastery was ringed by high hills lushly planted with rows of green bushes and beyond these in one direction were snow-capped mountains.
'Where the hell is this place?' she asked the girl who was diligently washing her legs with a large soapy sponge.
'Shrevra is in northern India, those are the Himalayas,' she answered, encouraging Vanessa to part her legs so she could wash up the inside of her thighs more easily.
'What's your name, where are you from then?' Vanessa asked.
'Mandy. My name's Mandy.'
'And where are you from Mandy?'
The girl looked at her for a moment, as she seemed to have to think hard about the answer to this simple question. Finally, when she replied, her tone had changed and her answer was mechanical.
'Oh, I lived in England before here, but this is my true home.'
Vanessa shook her head in disbelief and glanced across to where a monk stood sternly watching over the two girls. Although her restraints had been removed, the leather straps lying pooled on the flagstones nearby, she knew she'd have no chance of escape in her present condition. Everywhere around the monastery monks were to be seen as well as the native guards that they employed to man the heavy gates and to patrol the high stone ramparts that encircled the buildings. The more Vanessa looked around her the more she realised that the place was as much a fortress as it was a supposed spiritual retreat. What Vanessa found most alarming was the way that Mandy seemed resigned to her life here.
'I have to wash you properly so this has to come off,' Mandy announced, fingering the black bikini thong that Vanessa wore.
'Oh, sure...'
Vanessa lifted her bum up, taking her weight on her hands and allowing the other girl to pull the material down her legs.
'Lie back and let me wash you.'
Vanessa did as she was asked, more than happy to part her legs a little more and close her eyes so that she could focus more clearly on the pleasurable sensation created by the girl lathering between her legs and diligently washing her pussy.
'Mmm...' Vanessa pulled the straps of her halter neck bikini from her sun-tanned shoulders and loosened the bow that knotted the material under her breasts. She felt Mandy remove the garment and rub the soapy sponge over her breasts. For a few moments Vanessa was able to escape from her plight by giving herself completely to the feeling of having her breasts gently caressed and massaged. Suddenly though a loud crack broke the silence followed by Mandy letting out a cry of pain.
Standing over them was the monk who'd been guarding them. He had removed the leather belt that drew his cassock around his waist and with the buckle end grasped in his hand he'd brought the other end of the belt down across Mandy's back. She looked up at him, trembling with fear. Vanessa glared at him with unconcealed loathing. The monk stared down at them both with cold fury.
'Mandy! You dare take pleasure where it is forbidden? You know the rules: no intimate familiarity with other slave girls! Go to the whipping poles and tell Brother William what you have done!'
The man swung his attention to Vanessa as Mandy scrambled to her feet and scurried away.
'As for you, well you're new so you obviously don't know the rules. In which case you'll be spared a whipping. Think yourself lucky you're going to get off this time with just a dozen strokes of the cane!'
'Take a hike!' Vanessa swore and snatching up the soapy sponge she threw it at the man's face. As he ducked she jumped up and fled. She knew she had no chance of escape but she wasn't going to meekly submit to their rules. If they wanted to punish her, they'd have to catch her first!
It took less than five minutes before Vanessa realised that she was trapped. In her bare feet she'd easily out run the first monks who chased after her. She had sprinted around the back of one building and then shot down a narrow gap between two mud huts and jumping some bins had emerged in a small courtyard. Natives and monks were now converging on her from all directions and in a panic she flung herself through a door and fled inside. The room she'd entered seemed to a meditation hall, its walls and floor were polished wood and to her dismay there was no other way out.
'I'm sorry... please...'
Vanessa backed herself into one corner as a handful of monks closed around her. She held out her arms, placing her wrists crossed against each other in a gesture of submission.
'Bind her wrists!'
Vanessa stood dripping wet and shivering, meek as a lamb as her wrists were bound with rope.
'Take her to the Hall of Redemption!'
Zoe was summoned along with the other girls and told to leave the job that she was working on immediately. Since she had just started on peeling a vast pile of potatoes she was happy to oblige, though her curiosity soon had her wondering what was so important that all the girls were receiving a peremptory summons.
She hurried as best she could in her high heels down the corridor from the kitchens, anxious not to be seen to be slow to respond to the order. It seemed a long time ago now that she had last balked at carrying out any orders for the monks and the more willing she had become to serve, the easier her life had become. She opened the door at the end of the corridor and hurried across the quadrangle to the Hall of Redemption, which was where she had been ordered to go to.
After the incident in the kitchen with Mandy and the porridge, Zoe had, after her whipping, been led by the novice monks to their quarters to show her thanks and to demonstrate how well she was learning her lessons. These were the newest monks in the commune; there were eight of them sharing a dormitory that could take up to a dozen. She was not sure if the novices were acting with the permission of the Masters but she was too wary to dare ask.