Chapter 3

“The Queen’s Catcher, yes. During the evenings, all dressed in black. Quite contrary to what you see now isn’t it? In the daylight…”

“You’re the…” Shelly swallowed. She dropped to her knees and bent her head forward.

“Queen Mary, yes. Now stop it,” said the queen. “Stop prostrating. If you wish to please me, hand me your clothes.”

Shelly looked around. The sun was low in the sky, but still quite bright.

“It’s your choice, of course, but I have a special place for young girls with appetites like yours, in my garden.”

Shelly had already begun stripping off her clothes before the Queen finished speaking. She handed the bundle to the queen. In her palm, she retained the two bells from their previous encounter, pulled from where she kept them as a hidden in her waistband as a reminder. Shelly held them in place while Queen Mary twisted the fine silver wire. Shelly stood tall and proud as the bells tinkled.

“Ah, silver bells and Cockle Shells, two of my favorite things in the world.” Queen Mary reached down and hoisted the naked young Shelly up to lie naked across the back of her horse. A hard slap across Shelly’s ass caused her to sigh and also caused the horse to trot. And after some time, the trotting and the shock of meeting the Queen, caused Shelly to doze.

Shelly awoke to the echo of hooves on cobblestone as they passed through the tall arch of the castle gate. Inside, Shelly lifted her head to see a group of girls her age, all jiggling bosoms and buttocks, running around naked. One of the girls held a leather strap and was chasing the others. All of them had some number of pink stripes on their bottoms. They paused, lined up and curtsied as Shelly and the Queen passed in front. One of the girls snatched the leather strap from the girl holding it and they all started chasing each other around the courtyard again.

A young woman’s throaty moan caught Shelly’s attention. She looked to see a girl her age sprawled in a chair, her head lolling to the side, while another girl knelt between in front of her, spreading her thighs. The kneeling woman smiled and leaned forward, extending her tongue. Shelly shuddered, remembering the feeling of the Catcher’s tongue.

Shelly heard a slap and a shriek. She turned to see a young woman squirming over the knee of another who was seated. The seated girl was alternating slaps on the jiggling girl’s buttocks. A moan came next as Shelly watched the seated girl begin probing between her companion’s thighs.

“Who’s your girl?” said the woman seated.

The jiggling girl just moaned.

Shelly watched them all with fascination until another gate passed overhead and a high-breasted brunette came forth to take the reigns of the Queen’s horse.

“Thank you, Gillian,” the Queen said as she dismounted.

Shelly was helped down. As the stable hand disappeared with the horse, Shelly began to take in her surroundings. “It’s… It’s…”

“It’s a castle,” said Queen Mary, shrugging. “Wait ’til you see the garden.”

Shelly followed along as they circled around the inner keep to emerge in front of another high gate. On the other side was green grass, meticulously maintained, and several hundred stone statues, all fashioned in the image of women. Even the statue of a Roman chariot had a pair of alabaster young women with bits in their mouths, rather than actual horses.

Shelly stood, fascinated by the realism and detail, until one of the horses blinked. Shelly’s jaw dropped.

The Queen reached out to tug on the blinking horse’s tail. “Lovely, aren’t they.”

The queen swept her arms from corner to corner of the garden. “This is my garden. All I require of my girls is a short time each day as a human statue to add to its beauty. It’s all fun and games after that as you’ve already seen.

Shelly examined the two women with bits in their mouths and tails hanging from behind. They appeared as stone, though on closer inspection, Shelly saw that it was a thin layer of light clay or mud that gave them their alabaster appearance.

“Just a short stint in the garden,” Queen Mary said. “It teaches discipline, I think. Any girl who will do this for me during the daylight is rewarded richly in the remaining hours.”

Mary began walking again as Shelly followed, the two silver bells fastened tightly to her throbbing nipples chimed softly.

“All of these girls were caught, just like you, my lovely Cockle Shells. All of them were warned. All of them were used just as roughly. And they all returned for a third encounter. That’s how I knew they belonged here. A girl with such appetites could never be satisfied with a simple boy from the village, now could she?”

Shelly shook her head. Her original plans to meet a boy in the moonlit forest seemed so distant. Though the season had not yet moved to winter, and the land around her looked the same, Shelly’s world had changed in such a way that she could no longer fathom her previous life.

“Come, let us explore,” said the Queen. She slipped her hand around Shelly’s and wove their fingers together. Shelly traipsed along, her head swiveling back and forth, taking in the sights. There were tall hedges, great expanses of manicured lawn, and statues—so many statues.

There was Venus de Milo, but with both her arms, and Winged Victory, with her head on, and wings that appeared to be made of peacock feathers, so colorful they were. Reclining on an outdoor chaise was Sleeping Ariadne, with her head perched on her arm. Rodin’s Thinker, in female form and covered in a thin layer of gray, sat perched on a rock, chin on her hand.

Shelly watched The Thinker wink as she and the Queen passed by. Her nipples tightened and ached as she thought of when it would be her time to pose in the Queen’s garden. A light breeze blew and Shelly shivered, causing her silver bells to ring.

“What’s on your mind, little one?” the Queen asked.

“The coming winter, your highness.”

Queen Mary stopped and turned to Shelly. “We move them into the great hall, of course. Just as we do on the hottest days of summer. No girl is ever left to suffer in the elements.”

Shelly let out a long sigh and continued to admire the sights.

“Come, let me show you my latest prize.” The Queen strode onward with Shelly in tow. “My rose garden.”

Shelly took a moment to absorb the sight. Scores of girls her own age were bent over rows of long, waist-high, wooden trellises. Their feet were planted on the ground on one side and their heads pitched forward so that their hair was sweeping the ground on the other. Only their lovely pink bottoms were up in the air. Shelly watched another girl moving along the rows, bearing a leather strap that she used to to keep those bottoms shining with a rosy glow.

“My gardener, Clarice. She keeps these pretty maids all nice and rosy.” said the Queen. “Clarise, come meet Cockle Shells. She’s new here. Still deciding if she should stay, I would imagine.”

Clarice curtsied. After a moment’s hesitation, Shelly did the same.

“Would you like to take a turn as a rose, Shells? Just for a moment.”

Shelly looked at Queen Mary. Mary shrugged.

Shelly nodded and was led over to the trellis. Clarice whispered to one of the rosy-bottomed girls who held out a hand and let Clarice help her to a standing position.

“I think you’ll make a lovely rose, Shelly,” Clarice said as she helped her mount the trellis. “Ready?”

Shelly nodded. She moaned as the first kiss of the strap caused a sharp sting and slowly spreading warmth across her backside. Her bells tinkled with the shudder that soon ran the length of her.

Crack! The strap came down again. Shelly’s bells rang out.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Shelly moaned.

“Lovely. Absolutely lovely,” the Queen cooed. Clarice ceased her ministrations.

Shelly felt a warmth spreading across her buttocks and smiled as she pictured the Queen admiring her rosy backside. The girl next to her in the row turned her head and winked. Shelly smiled broadly as Clarice took her hand and helped her to her feet.

Queen Mary paced a slow circle around Shelly where she stood. “Absolutely lovely,” she repeated as she paused to pinch Shelly’s rosy buttocks. “Thank you, Clarice. You do nice work.”

“Thank you Miss Mary. My pleasure.”

The Queen took Shelly by the hand and pulled her close. With her other hand, she flicked Shelly’s bells one at a time. “Cockle Shells, with the silver bells, do you see now how my garden grows?”

“Does the thought of being part of this excite you?”

The Queen dropped her hand from batting a the bells, to pressing up against the growing wetness between Shelly’s thighs. She pressed in with a single finger and rubbed. “Oh, of course it does. There’s no denying what kind of girl you are.”

Shelly tried to nod in agreement, but ended up shuddering instead, as the Queen pistoned in and out with a sudden vigor.

After much moaning and squirming by young Shelly, the Queen pulled her finger out and held it in front of Shelly’s face.

Without prompting, Shelly slurped greedily.

“I would dearly love to give you the castle tour, but after seeing your appetites today,” The Queen peered around over Shelly’s shoulder. “and how well a rosy bottom suits you, I think maybe I should have you here in my garden first.”

“Yesh,” Shelly mumbled around the Queen’s finger.

“And how would you like me to take you, Cockle Shells with the silver bells?”

Shelly paused for a moment, the Queen’s finger still lodged in her mouth, pressing against her tongue. She held up her hand, bringing her finger and thumb into a circle. She pushed her other hand through the opening.

“That’s a girl,” the Queen chuckled. “And where would you like it?”

Shelly just shrugged.

“Such spirit.” The Queen popped her finger from Shelly’s mouth and led her over to a stone sculpture made in the image of a fallen oak, perhaps originally for sitting upon. But Shelly knew the true purpose, as moonlit visions of the Queen’s Catcher filled her mind in a serious of jumbled thoughts.

“You’re going to do so well in my garden,” the Queen cooed. “I do hope you decide to stay.”

A faint tinkling of bells, accompanied by a twinge and a surge of moisture, let young Cockle Shells know the Queen spoke the truth. She shivered at the coldness of the stone log against her stomach, followed by a cool splash of jelly over her tightest entrance.

She moaned softly and clenched, as she felt a single finger pressing deep inside, knowing that she had made the right decision in coming here. A second and third finger, as Cockle Shells moaned yet again, gave her confidence that when the Queen asked her to stay, she would indeed say yes.

“Such a lovely bottom,” the Queen cooed. “I’m so glad I caught you.”

“Uhhng,” was all Shelly could manage in reply, as she felt the Queen slip in, and clenched around her wrist.

A show of hands: Who wants to be the Queen? Who wants to get caught? Who just wants to visit the castle to take it all in?

We haven’t gotten the inside tour yet, so there may be room for a sequel here. I’d love to know what people think about that.