The Dark Library by JJ Argus Read Free Book Online Page B

open the one on the left and found
herself in a long, low room with odd contraptions spaced about.
They were clearly torture devices, and from the evident age of the
wood they looked like the original contrivances. Hannah gazed at
them in fascination. She had always loved history, and the thought
of seeing, and even touching, torture devices which might have been
used six hundred years ago was quite exciting.
    There was the rack, obviously. There were
shackles hanging from the ceiling in places, perhaps to hold people
suspended. There was the wheel, to be bent back upon, and a
whipping post. There was a much-scarred table with shackles spaced
at the corners, to be used for God knows what, and a small cage
hanging from the ceiling!
    One item made her blush to see it. It was a
T-shaped frame, with shackles along the top and a very phallic
looking thing projecting up and out from the vertical portion. She
imagined some poor man – or woman – bound to it, impaled through
the bottom, and otherwise hanging there! How horrible!
    Beyond these were the cells, with shackles on
the walls. Her heart was beating more quickly, and she imagined
being imprisoned in one of the barred cells, shackled to the wall,
awaiting the tender attentions of the torturer. She stepped into
one of the cells, making sure the door was not the type to swing
closed and lock her in, and examined the walls, looking to see some
sort of sign of previous tenants. But perhaps, if they were
shackled they couldn't do anything like scratch off the days on the
wall.
    The shackles seemed fairly obvious in their
operation. They were hinged, and the locking tongues fit into one
of several little holes, depending, she supposed, on the thickness
of the wrist to which they were bound.
    She turned and pressed her back against the
stone wall, then raised her arms dramatically, imagining she was
locked in there, helpless, perhaps even … naked... awaiting the
cruel attentions of a lecherous jailor!
    Perhaps someone like Lord Carling.
    She felt a throbbing between her legs which
was echoed a moment later by a tingling in her nipples. She felt a
temptation to strip herself, to press her naked body back against
the stone, and let her imagination run riot. But no, there was no
way she was going to risk being exposed to Carling yet again! The
man had already seen far more of her naked body than was anywhere
close to being decent!
    But.. the heat in her body was rising at the
mere thought of doing it, of being naked, pretending she was a
prisoner, and the heat was making her certainty waver. What were
the odds he'd come down just then? But no, not going to happen, she
told herself firmly. The clothes are staying on!
    She examined the shackles again, and felt a
sense of breathlessness as she slipped her wrist into one. She
closed it, letting the little metal tongues slip into the opening
so it was locked firmly around her left wrist. Then she turned the
old key in the stiff lock to lock it. Her breasts were hot now, her
chest tight, as she turned and pressed herself against the wall,
laying her head back.
    She had trouble balancing the flash and the
key, and so turned around again, unlocked the shackle, and then set
her flash down before returning. The key didn't really need to be
held she realized, for the lock was stiff and it stayed in on its
own. She locked the shackle around her left wrist again, then
closed the other one and pressed her wrist against the wall to snap
it together. She didn't try to lock it, however. That wasn't
necessary to her fantasy.
    She turned her back to the wall and felt her
heart beating excitedly as she looked out at the bars, then the
darkened room beyond. She wished she'd thought to close the door of
the cell, but she'd not wanted to risk it somehow locking. Still,
she pulled firmly against the shackles, wanting to bask in the
sensation of ancient imprisonment.
    It would have been so much more exciting had
she been naked, though. She wondered if she