Ragnar's Basement

RAGNAR’S BASEMENT

“I want the money tonight,” said the old man. “By midnight, and not a minute later.”

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the two young women who stood before his table, his wizened fingers stroking his stubbly grey beard. They returned his stare with unblinking blue eyes, and the expression in their pale faces was far from friendly.

“You ask too much of us, Karber,” said one. “We cannot gather the money so quickly. Give us another month to repay the debt.”

The old man shook his head. “No, Lorna Raven. My patience with you and your sister has ended. Repay the debt tonight, or forfeit a year of liberty. Do you not know the law?”

“I know the law well enough,” came the reply. “And for what it is worth, moneylender, my name is Finn, not Lorna.”

Karber chuckled into his whiskers and glanced from one pale face to the other. “You two should wear your names as tattoos on your foreheads. How else does a man distinguish between a pair of identical twins? But I care not whether I am addressing Lorna Raven or Finn Raven, for my demand applies to both sisters equally. So repay the debt, or I will request that you forfeit your freedom and be sold as slaves in the market.”

His gaze hardened as he mused on the price he might be able to set on the twins. With their lithe bodies and short black hair they seemed almost boyish, but their faces were beautiful, and beneath their green shirts their breasts appeared to be pert and shapely. Their close-fitting grey trousers were skin-tight on their long lean legs, highlighting the smooth muscles. Karber guessed that the sisters would sell for a high price, far higher than the value of their debt, so he began to hope that they would not be able to repay the money.

“The paltry sum that you lent to us shall be returned in full,” said Finn. “We will bring it here before the midnight deadline.”

Karber grinned. “How do you propose to raise the money so soon?” he inquired. “Are you intending to turn your swords to brigandage, perhaps?”

“We’re soldiers, not brigands,” Lorna replied.

“Maybe you could sell your flesh like whores?” Karber suggested, his mouth curling in a mocking smile. “The harbour taverns are full of men who would pay well for the privilege.”

“We are neither bandits nor harlots,” Finn protested, her fingers instinctively straying to her sword-hilt. “But we will find a way to repay the debt before midnight. Come, my sister. We have work to do in the town.”

Karber laughed, cackling like a jackdaw, as the twins turned and left the room. “You have seven hours!” he called after them. “Enjoy your freedom while it lasts!”

********

One hour later found the Raven twins sitting on the harbour wall in despair, their eyes downcast as they struggled to conjure a solution to their dilemma. Lorna gazed idly at a blonde woman in a long red dress who sat with a group of fishermen outside a dockside tavern.

“Maybe Karber is right,” she muttered. “Maybe we should become whores for the evening, trading our bodies for a sailor’s shilling.”

“Our debt is sixty shillings,” Finn replied. “So we would need to fuck sixty sailors to repay it. That means thirty cocks each, my dear sister. Can your tender cunt manage that tally in less than six hours?”

Lorna shuddered at the image. “Thirty cockstems! That would be far too painful.” She smiled grimly at her twin. “We would need to spend a month in the infirmary to recover from such an ordeal.”

“Precisely,” said Finn. “So, what can we do to avoid losing our freedom for a year?”

“It will be the end of our military careers if we become debt-slaves,” added Lorna. “The army will consider us a disgraceful pair of fools.”

Finn nodded, pointing in the direction of the dockside tavern. The blonde in the red dress had left her seat among the sailors and was walking slowly towards the twins. Her slim hips swayed as she approached, and her red-lipped mouth beamed a wide smile.

“Good afternoon, warrior women!” she said, halting a few paces from the sisters. “Rarely do we see two rangers relaxing beside the harbour? Have you no duties in the mountains this evening?”

“None,” answered Lorna. “But we are not relaxing, Belmaris. In fact, our minds are in a torment of anxiety. Tell her, Finn.”

Finn gave a weary sigh, before recounting their troubles to the blonde, who listened attentively, her soft dark eyes full of concern. At last, when Finn finished the summary, Belmaris shook her head and tugged one of her long golden tresses.

“Sixty shillings to find,” she mused. “And only six hours in which to find them. Even an expert whore such as myself would be hard pressed to reach that target!”

“Any scheme or idea that you can suggest would be appreciated,” said Lorna. “But we fear that we are doomed to lose our liberty at midnight.”

“You could rob somebody,” Belmaris suggested. “A wealthy merchant, perhaps?”

But the sisters shook their heads in unison, and Finn said: “We are too honourable to turn our swords to evil deeds.”

Belmaris shrugged, grinning mischievously and rubbing her hands. “Then only one option remains. You must prostitute your bodies for the tavern-rats and wharf-drifters.”

“No!” cried Lorna. “We have already discounted the idea, for it involves too much fucking, and we might not survive such an onslaught of cockstems.”

“I am not referring to fucking,” the blonde explained. “I am thinking rather of an erotic display.”

The twins frowned, their blue eyes darkening as they stared suspiciously at Belmaris. But she merely grinned again, clapping her hands in gleeful anticipation.

“Easy money!” she insisted. “No probing cocks or groping hands. All you have to do is writhe around on the floor and put on a show for an audience of men.”

“But we’re sisters!” Lorna protested.

Belmaris lifted her eyebrows and looked at Finn, who blushed deeply before clutching Lorna’s hand.

“Dear one!” she whispered. “Last week, in the tavern, I told Belmaris about our special bond of affection. She knows everything.”

“But it is meant to be our secret!” Lorna hissed angrily.

“Trust me, Lorna,” said Belmaris. “Your sister was very drunk when she told me about what you two do together. But I will not repeat the story to anyone, I swear.”

Lorna buried her face in her hands and groaned. “Hellfire! A public show! I’m not sure I can do it.”

“Will we raise enough money to repay our debt?” Finn inquired.

Belmaris nodded confidently. “Yes. Even after I take my ten percent commission for organizing the spectacle.”

“You rogue!” said Finn, chuckling as she aimed a kick at the blonde’s bare feet. Belmaris dodged gracefully and laughed.

“Off you go, both of you!” she said. “Time is short, and I have much to do if this event is to be a success.”

“If we do this deed, our secret will be common knowledge,” Lorna complained, gazing sadly at the ships in the bay. “We’ll be damned as deviants!”

“Better to be damned than unfree,” said Belmaris. “Now go! Meet me in one hour, at the door of Ragnar’s warehouse in the Old Harbour.”

She turned and flitted away, scurrying eagerly back to the tavern, her blonde hair catching the sea breeze. The twins stared after her for a while, until Lorna gave her sister a playful slap on the back of her neck.

“This is all your fault!” she groaned. “First, your inept dice-playing encumbers us with a huge debt. Then, to make things worse, you recruit us to help a dockside whore in a crazy money-making scheme. If I loved you less, dear sister, I would cut off your witless head!”

“At midnight you’ll thank me,” Finn retorted. “But in the meantime we should prepare for what is to come. I suggest that we bathe in the river-pool, then take a light meal, before meeting Belmaris.”

“Agreed,” Lorna replied, rising to her feet and smiling grimly. Together, hand in hand, they walked slowly away from the waterfront.

*******

Ragnar’s warehouse was one of a cluster of ancient stone buildings in a derelict area of the port. It had lain empty and disused for many years, but beneath it was a large subterranean chamber hewn out of the living rock, a sunless cave with a bare flat floor and a low roof. Whores often brought their customers to that place, especially when secrecy or discretion demanded it, and the cave was known among the harbour folk as Ragnar’s Basement.

The evening sunlight still glowed in the dockside streets when Belmaris guided the Raven twins down to the chamber. While she lit candles in the alcoves and niches, the sisters stripped off their clothes and sat together in the middle of the floor, naked and nervous, shivering despite the airless musty warmth of the cave. Belmaris promised that the first spectators would arrive at any moment.

“I’ve spoken a few quiet words in many influential ears,” she explained, tapping her nose with her finger. “I know the right people for this kind of show. Mark my words, you’ll have money to spare at the end of it.”

The twins stared at her mournfully but gave no response, other than to draw up their knees and clasp their arms around their legs, shielding their nudity. A moment later, they heard muffled voices in the warehouse above, followed by footsteps on the steps leading down to the cave. Presently, a group of rough-looking men appeared, striding into the basement with ale-jugs in their hands and excitement in their eyes. There were nine of them, all clad in white shirts and loose-fitting calico trousers. Their ages were hard to discern, for their faces were sunburned and weatherbeaten, but Lorna guessed the youngest to be in his teens and the oldest in his fifties.

“Sailors!” she muttered, nudging her sister.

Most of the men halted a few paces away, but three advanced drunkenly towards the seated twins, who instinctively clenched their fists.

“Careful, boys!” Belmaris advised, blocking the sailors’ path and ushering them back. “These two are rangers, skilled in the craft of killing, so if you value your necks you should rejoin your friends. And remember the rules of the show: keep your hands to yourselves!”

The drunken trio groaned and retreated, muttering as they stood among their comrades. Belmaris collected a shilling from each sailor and emptied the coins into a leather purse, winking at the twins as she hid it in a pocket of her dress.

“Let the show commence!” she cried.

Finn and Lorna hesitated, their pale cheeks flushing pink as they returned the sailors’ stares. Then, without any word being spoken, the sisters rose to their feet, standing with their arms at their sides and their nakedness fully exposed. A volley of whistles and appreciative grunts issued from the sailors, and they licked their lips in anticipation, their leering eyes roaming over every inch of the twins’ pale slender bodies. Among the muttered comments Belmaris heard the eldest seamen express his amazement at the duplication of such flawless beauty, and she laughed as she tugged his brown beard.

“Gelmo, you old dog!” she chuckled. “Did you think the ale had given your eyes double vision?”

With a flick of her head she signalled to the twins that they should turn around. Their movement drew another burst of whistling and hooting from the audience, together with much praise for the pertness of their buttocks and the slim curves of their hips. Old Gelmo observed that, from behind, the sisters looked like boys, with their athletic figures and close-cropped black hair, but his comrades mocked him with jeers.

“You’ve come to the wrong place, Gelmo,” said one. “If it’s boys you want, you should be strolling down by the East Dock instead of paying a shilling in Ragnar’s Basement!”

The raucous hubbub faded to whispers when Finn and Lorna faced each other and began kissing, their hands running slowly over each other’s hips and shoulders. The kiss seemed to calm their initial nervousness, allowing them to immerse their minds in their own world of pleasure, to shut out the leers and lewd comments. They relaxed, accepting the challenge of the task that lay ahead, feeling now a unified determination to achieve their objective. Finn broke from the kiss and whispered in Lorna’s ear, and together they sank slowly to the floor. Belmaris had spread several blankets on the dusty ground, and upon these the twins now lay on their backs, their feet towards the audience and their legs slightly splayed.

Yells of encouragement came from the sailors when each sister moved her right hand down to her crotch, and nine pairs of eyes widened in delight to see long pale forefingers stroke slowly back and forth along two identical pink slits. Above each slit a neat triangle of dark bristles received circular caresses from a long-nailed thumb, the twins moving their hands in perfect unison as they masturbated for the spectators.

Finn lay with eyes closed, her eyelashes fluttering on her cheeks, but Lorna peered up at the sailors, seeing the unfettered drunken lust in their faces and noticing the bulges growing in their trousers. Beyond the grunted cheers and lewd mutterings she heard footsteps on the stairs, and felt both relief and a twinge of uncertainty when a dozen men arrived to swell the throng. Some of the newcomers were sailors, but others were dockside labourers, or ropemakers, or carpenters from the shipyard. She recognized their trades from their clothing, but she was glad that none were men of her acquaintance. Despite assurances given by Belmaris, both sisters feared that someone whom they knew might come to witness the spectacle.

The increased numbers meant that the spectators were obliged to arrange themselves in a semicircle, between whose arms lay the naked twins. After Belmaris had taken a shilling from the latest arrivals, she clicked her fingers and caught Finn’s attention. Finn knew what was meant when the blonde harlot briefly flicked out her tongue, and she nudged Lorna, who opened her eyes and understood immediately.

A cacophony of cheering and applause greeted Finn when she crawled up onto her hands and knees to crouch between her sister’s legs, her pale round buttocks presented to the nearest spectators, who leaned forward to peer into the dark cleft of her ass.

“Stand back!” Belmaris called out. “No touching!”

Shrill whistles and excited yelps burst from the throng when Finn’s tongue reached out to lick Lorna’s cunt. Lorna gave a soft moan, her spine arching upward, her own tongue licking her lips as she lay purring like a kitten. Finn planted a series of small kisses along her sister’s slit, before clamping her mouth over it and thrusting her tongue deep inside the moist pink hole. Lorna’s hands ran through Finn’s hair to caress her neck and ears, feeling the skin smooth and warm beneath her fingertips. She peered over Finn’s bobbing head and saw her sister’s hips swaying in a leisurely rhythm. It was then that she noticed that two of the spectators had unfastened their trousers and were furiously rubbing their erect cocks. One was the middle-aged sailor Gelmo, the other a fat shipwright with tattooed arms and a ruddy complexion. Drunken lust flared in their eyes, their faces grimacing as sweat trickled down their cheeks.

Lorna now saw other men following the lead set by these two, and soon half a dozen sailors and a couple of carpenters were masturbating as they watched the twins. Old Gelmo was the first to ejaculate, climaxing with a snarl of triumph as he aimed his cock-juice at Finn’s buttocks, the first jet of semen overshooting to squirt across her hips. The second jet was less powerful, spattering onto her ass-cheeks, but the exertion made him stagger backwards into the supportive arms of his comrades. At that moment, the fat shipwright squealed like a hog and sprayed a stream of white fluid along Finn’s narrow back. Another jet followed, and a third, the hot semen pooling in the cleft of her spine before spilling in sticky rivulets down her flanks.

Finn ignored the onslaught and continued to give her sister exquisite oral pleasure. Dimly through the raucous clamour she heard new spectators arriving, her ears listening carefully for the chink of shillings. She could not guess whom the newcomers might be, but was surprised to hear a woman’s voice greeting Belmaris. Lorna, on the other hand, could see what was happening, her keen eyes counting at least fifteen additional spectators, among whom were two smartly-dressed young women who arrived with a group of wealthy merchants. She calculated that Belmaris had collected almost forty shillings already, and she smiled at the apparent ease of the task.

Briefly Lorna closed her eyes to savour the delightful sensations of her sister’s tongue, opening them a moment later when she felt moisture on her forehead. For an instant she wondered if the ceiling had sprung a leak, but then she sensed the warmth of the droplets and realised that the fluid was semen, squirting from a nearby sailor’s cock as he rubbed himself to a grunting orgasm. His second squirt splattered across her face and over her mouth and left eye, its stickiness clinging to her eyelashes and blurring her vision. She became aware that the audience had now formed a circle, its front rank standing barely four feet from her head. The noise of shouts and yells and drunken laughter rang in her ears and she wondered if a fight was about to break out, for the throng seemed to be swirling and boisterous. But she saw that the jostling was to allow those at the rear to come to the front, where they could gain a better view of the twins and masturbate if they so wished.

A pleasant tingling began to grow in Lorna’s belly and she readied herself for her climax, her fingers clawing at the red blankets and her lips parting. She began to gasp and writhe, her movements arousing the front rank of spectators to ever more frantic cock-rubbing. Out of the corner of her right eye she saw an arc of semen shoot from the throng to spatter across her breasts. Another mighty jet squirted from the opposite side, splashing into her half-open mouth and dribbling down her neck. She closed her mouth, tasting the salty flavour and swallowing the fluid, before issuing a long low moan as her orgasm engulfed her. Even as she lay gasping, a stream of cock-juice spurted onto her quivering belly, trickling into her navel to form a milky pool. To the delight of the audience, Finn raised her head and began to crawl slowly along her sister’s body like a white cat, pausing to lick the semen from Lorna’s skin, lapping it from her navel, from her belly and breasts, from her neck and face. Loud applause and cheering showed the spectators’ appreciation of the deed, but it also made them hungry for more, and Belmaris knelt beside Finn to whisper in her ear.

Finn nodded, lolling aside to lie on her back and murmuring instructions to her twin. Lorna smiled, wiping gobbets of semen from Finn’s hair and caressing her pale face. The riotous clamour of the audience continued as loudly as ever, and still the front rank of the circle was a melee of jostling bodies and oozing cocks.

Lorna propped herself up on her left elbow and with her right hand began caressing Finn’s breasts, coaxing the pink nipples to hardness by gently squeezing the teats. Her hand cupped the round underside of each breast, demonstrating the firmness of her sister’s pale orbs. One drunken young sailor seemed to regard the gesture as an invitation, and he reached down to grope Finn’s bosom, only to be hauled ignominiously aside by a couple of burly shipmates.

“No touching!” Belmaris yelled above the din.

Lorna ran her right hand down Finn’s belly and over the mat of dark bristles, where her fingers lingered to weave through the soft hairs. She moved her body closer and bent her head to kiss Finn’s right breast just above the nipple. She repeated the kiss on the other breast, before licking the nipples, allowing her tongue to trace slow delicate circles around the base of each swollen teat. Only when Finn lay squirming and moaning did Lorna’s hand emerge from her triangle of pubic hair to explore her glistening cunt, a finger slipping inside the pink flesh while the thumb gently teased the clitoris.

Finn’s eyes closed just in time, as a powerful spray of semen spattered across her face and into her hair. Another, from a different source, spurted through the air like a white fountain and struck Lorna’s cheek, even as she kissed and licked Finn’s right breast, leaving in its wake a trail of sticky globules that curved over the upper surface of the orb. To the crowd’s satisfaction, Lorna licked the breast clean of every drop, her reward being two successive jets of cock-juice that lashed across her back like whips of sticky white thread.

A flurry of feet on the steps signalled the arrival of more spectators, though neither Finn nor Lorna saw the newcomers. A strange new shout went up, with several male voices yelling Rat! Rat! in unison. Finn opened her eyes, lifting her hand to wipe cold semen from her cheek, and saw the crowd of men parting to allow a young girl to jostle her way to the front. There she was grabbed by a huge sailor, who hugged her like a rag-doll to his broad chest before kissing her feverishly all over her face. Other sailors crowded around, but the burly mariner pushed them away. Finn watched in amazement as the girl, who was no older than eighteen and clad in a dirty tattered dress, dropped to her knees to receive the big sailor’s stiff manhood in her mouth. Her unwashed mane of brown hair straggled around her hunched shoulders as her head bobbed at his loins, while his comrades loudly demanded similar attention as soon as her task was done.

Finn wondered who the ragged girl was, and whether Belmaris knew that she had come to the place. At the same time she herself took a series of deep slow breaths, steadying her senses as Lorna’s gentle fingering teased her to orgasm. Two jets of semen spurted simultaneously, from opposite directions, to collide in the air above her body. Hot white droplets scattered and fell, spattering her belly and breasts, but Lorna dutifully licked the flesh clean, barely flinching when a one-eyed ropemaker crouched down to spray his ejaculation directly into her face. The man gave a raucous laugh, rising up to squeeze the residue from his shrinking cock so that the last droplets trickled onto the floor at his feet. His laughter was echoed by giggles from the well-dressed women who had arrived earlier with the two rich merchants. These four had jostled their way to the front rank and seemed rather out of place among the drunken mariners and the shabby dregs of the wharfside. Lorna licked trickles of semen from her lips and stared up at the women, meeting their gaze and seeing excitement mingled with disdain in their eyes. One of them, an elegant and beautiful blonde, whispered in the ear of her male companion, who smiled and beckoned to Belmaris. Lorna could not hear what the man said to the harlot, but she nodded and gratefully accepted a purse of coins from his hand, before moving along to speak with Old Gelmo.

Lorna saw the old sailor give a yellow-toothed grin, and with two of his shipmates he grabbed the ragged girl, even as she swallowed the final ejaculation of the burly sailor. Semen still oozed from her mouth as she was hauled to her feet and stripped, her tattered dress torn off her skinny body by a dozen groping hands. Once more the shout went up from the throng Rat! Rat! Rat! and to a chorus of wild yells the naked girl was pushed forward from the ranks, stumbling over Finn’s feet to fall cursing beside her on the blankets.

Belmaris stepped forward, holding a silver coin between her fingers and pointing at the girl. “Join the show, Rat, and this shilling is yours to keep!”

The girl grinned nervously, displaying a set of perfect pearl-white teeth. With dirty fingers she brushed tangles of hair from her face, wiping away a spatter of semen that left a grimy streak on her chin. Still breathless after her climax, Finn twisted her head to look at the girl, who returned the gaze with uncertain green eyes. Finn smiled, reaching out to caress the lean sunburned face, trying to ignore the stream of cock-juice that spurted suddenly from a nearby cock to spatter the young urchin’s uncombed brown hair.

“They call you Rat?” Finn inquired softly, trying to reassure the girl despite howls and jeers from the impatient crowd.

The girl nodded, and Finn smiled again. “Well, Rat, do not be afraid, for you are now under our protection. So, come close to me, and let my sister be your guide.”

Without a word, Rat snuggled under Finn’s arm and nestled against her body, keeping her gaze fixed on Lorna, who caressed Finn’s right breast and indicated to Rat that she should mirror the movement. Finn lifted her gaze to the elegant blonde whose whisper had suggested the threesome and saw again the same expression of disdain. The woman’s thin lips snaked in a mocking smile which so enraged Finn that she almost sprang up to answer the challenge, but her sister’s voice advised against such a response.

“Leave it, Finn!” Lorna hissed. “The slut isn’t worth the trouble.”

Finn relaxed, avoiding the blonde woman’s stare by closing her eyes. She smiled, feeling Rat’s soft caresses like the flutter of moth-wings on her left breast, the delicate touch contrasting with Lorna’s firm confident squeezing and kneading. She heard Rat’s muttered curse and opened her eyes to see a fresh trail of white fluid across her own breast as well as on the girl’s hand.

“Lick it off!” she advised, and Rat obeyed with a nod, her small pink tongue cleaning the back of her hand before swirling around Finn’s nipple to lap up the warm cock-juice.

Rat then watched attentively as Lorna first kissed, then gently sucked her sister’s right nipple. The girl mirrored the action without further prompting, imitating Lorna by using her teeth to nibble the teat.

“Gently,” Finn whispered, hugging Rat in the crook of her arm and stroking the thick tangled tresses.

The threesome was an unexpected bonus for the spectators, who shouted their approval, applauding every lick and caress. The circle was now five ranks deep, the most recent arrivals struggling to toil their way to the front to gain a better view. Premium space on the front rank was now restricted, the two merchants and their fine ladies having secured their position by bribing Gelmo and another sailor to preserve it at all costs. At any one time, six or seven stiff cockstems were being energetically pumped on the inner rim of the throng, most ejaculations being aimed at the trio of writhing bodies but some missing the target to spatter the legs and feet of bystanders. Finn and Lorna shared a wry smile when a ruffianly wharf-drifter roared himself to a climax, spurting his juice in a high arc that showered the elegant blonde’s expensive velvet cloak. The rest of the audience erupted in laughter as she vainly tried to wipe away the messy stains, and even her own companions chortled at her misfortune.

Lorna whispered to Finn, who in turn spoke gently in Rat’s ear. The girl nodded and sat up, before crawling to lie on top of Finn, her skinny suntanned body dark against the warrior woman’s white flesh. Finn ran her hands along the girl’s flanks and over her small buttocks, planting tender kisses on her face. Rat reciprocated by parting Finn’s lips with her tongue and kissing her eagerly, almost feverishly, pausing only to lick splatters of fresh semen from the pale beautiful face. Finn felt small firm breasts pressing against her skin and grinned at the tickle of tiny hard nipples, grinning again at the squelching noises emanating from her belly as Rat wriggled fish-like in sticky dregs of cock-juice.

Rat became a shield against the showers of semen, the girl’s back, buttocks, legs and hair receiving a succession of hot spurting ejaculations that would otherwise have splattered Finn. Lorna remained unprotected, resigned to the onslaught and no longer bothering to wipe the white slime from her face and body. Her hair stuck up in black spikes where she had tried unsuccessfully to rub away the clammy globules, but now she recognized the fruitlessness of the task and instead looked forward to a hot bath.

She sat upright, offering a prime target for one masturbating sailor who crouched beside her to ejaculate over her breasts, his bulging purple cockhead barely inches from her face. His boldness paved the way for other spectators, who stepped closer to the naked threesome despite a tirade of warnings from Belmaris. Engorged cocks were soon spraying their fluid from short range, enabling their owners to aim with lewd precision at the women’s mouths, breasts or intimate parts. Undaunted, Lorna persevered with the task and wormed her right hand beneath Rat’s buttocks to fondle the girl’s cunt, feeling the slit tight and moist as she probed it with her forefinger. Rat began to gasp and shudder, but kept her lips clamped to Finn’s mouth. maintaining the kiss even when Lorna’s expert caresses brought her swiftly to orgasm.

A spray of semen across Rat’s twitching buttocks marked the bustling crowd’s approval, whetting its appetite for further acts of debauchery.

“Skewer the ass!” a rough voice yelled, and the call was echoed from elsewhere among the crowd, rising to a boisterous chant. “Skewer the ass! Skewer the ass!”

Lorna responded by pulling Rat off her sister’s body and rolling Finn onto her belly, signalling to the girl that she should kneel between Finn’s legs. While Rat made herself comfortable, Lorna knelt beside Finn and leaned over to massage her pert buttocks, squeezing the firm flesh and listening to her sister’s appreciative moans. Then, to the obvious delight of the crowd, Lorna held the buttocks apart and invited Rat to explore the tight cleft between them. The girl pushed her forefinger into the cleft, finding Finn’s rosebud deep within and teasing it with gentle caresses. The squirming of Finn’s slim hips excited the front rank of spectators, several of whom were already stimulating their cocks to a second or third orgasm. At Lorna’s suggestion, Rat’s finger penetrated Finn’s asshole and wriggled along the sensitive fleshy tunnel, twisting and turning, curling and tickling, until Finn lay gasping on the red blankets. Her eyes were half-closed and her lips were parted, presenting a target for Old Gelmo, who squatted beside her head to empty the feeble dribble of his third ejaculation into her mouth. But it was Rat who again bore the brunt of the barrage, her kneeling position placing her less than a pace away from the front rank of onlookers. White globules adorned her tousled hair like misshapen pearls, and she cursed at the sensation of semen trickling down her spine.

Lorna stuck out her tongue and pointed to her sister’s ass. Rat immediately understood, bending forward to crouch with her head between Finn’s thighs while Lorna continued to hold the buttocks apart. Some among the throng had never before witnessed such a deed and they stared in astonishment as the girl’s tongue licked slowly along the dark cleft. Hoarse drunken yelps and a lone female shriek betrayed the crowd’s delight when Rat pushed her tongue inside Finn’s rear passage. The girl was a novice at the task but tackled it with enthusiasm, lured by the prospect of earning a silver shilling. Never before had she pleasured a woman, but already she found it more to her liking than being groped and poked by a gang of hairy sailors in the dockside alleys. She knew, nevertheless, that Finn’s exaggerated gasping climax was feigned for the benefit of the spectators, who cheered and clapped.

Rat looked at Lorna, who in turn looked over at Belmaris. The blonde harlot nodded, striding into the circle to stand above the naked glistening trio.

“Friends and guests!” she called out, waving her hands to quell the noise. “Listen to me, you dogs! The show is ended, and the performers are weary. Go now back to your taverns and raise your cups to the artistry of tonight’s cabaret!”

Her words were acknowledged by a volley of applause, and by a shower of coins that fell among the sprawling limbs of the breathless threesome. Rat scrabbled around on the semen-stained blankets, trying to grab the money, but Belmaris gently kicked her out of the way.

“Put away those dripping cockstems!” the harlot ordered, pointing at several spectators who were still rubbing their foreskins in the forlorn hope of an encore. “Fasten your breeches, boys! Then leave this place, before the harbour constable arrives.”

“He left two minutes ago,’ said Old Gelmo, hastily buttoning the front of his trousers. “But I hear that he enjoyed the display.”

Belmaris nodded. “Good! But no doubt he’ll expect a discount the next time he fucks me in the tavern yard. Now off you go, Gelmo, and take your scrawny shipmates with you.”

Finn sat up and shuffled closer to her kneeling sister. Together they watched in silence as the cave rapidly emptied, two brawny carpenters remaining behind to assist Belmaris with any troublesome stragglers. The wealthy merchants were among the last to depart, one of them grabbing Rat’s arm and dangling a purse of jingling coins in front of her face.

“Leave her!” Finn snarled, clutching the man’s wrist so tightly that he grimaced in pain. “She no longer needs your filthy money!”

Cursing, the merchant withdrew, backing away to join his companions on the stairs. The blonde woman in the velvet cloak chastised him for his cowardice and stormed up the steps, casting a final venomous glance at Finn.

When the last spectators had left the cave, Belmaris thanked the two carpenters and bade them be on their way. Soon, only she and Rat and the Raven twins remained, and the quartet gleefully counted their earnings.

“Eighty-seven shillings!” said Lorna. “Not bad for an hour’s work.”

Finn nodded, weighing a bulging purse in the palm of her hand. “This whoring business is easier than I thought. More profitable than soldiering, I reckon, and probably less dangerous.”

“I think not,” said Belmaris. “But you girls have performed well this evening. Even our little Rat has earned her shilling.”

“Give her five shillings,” said Finn. “She looks like she needs a new dress and a steel comb.”

Rat grinned, her eyes shining as she accepted five silver coins. Her grimy fingers closed tightly, protecting her new-found wealth, but she looked up at the tall twins and frowned.

“Will you take me with you?” she asked.

Belmaris tugged the girl’s hair and caressed her ears. “These fine women are warriors. Their home is the barren wilderness and the bloody battlefield. You cannot go with them when they leave this town. Stay here, Rat Girl, and let Belmaris teach you her trade.”

Finn and Lorna dressed quickly, muttering at the sticky residue that blotched every inch of their bodies like a white rash. Rat gazed at them wistfully, wondering if they would answer her request, until Belmaris put a cloak around her bare shoulders and guided her towards the stairs.

********

It was an hour before midnight when Karber was shaken from his drowsiness by the returning Raven twins. With bleary eyes he counted the money carefully but seemed disappointed that the debt was now repaid. He had already planned the sisters’ enslavement, a dark corner of his mind resolving to keep one in bondage at his house. He inquired as to the means by which they had acquired the money, but they refused to divulge it.

“No doubt you will learn the truth before long,” Lorna explained.

“Who is the child?” he asked, pointing to the girl who stood beside Finn. “She looks like Rat, the harbour urchin, though washed and scrubbed and dressed in clean clothes.”

“The same indeed,” said Finn. “And an urchin no more. Nor is she a child, but a young woman of eighteen, and ripe to join the army. Tomorrow she returns with us to the mountains, where she hopes to become a ranger cadet.”

Karber shook his head. “A soldier? That little minx knows only how to thieve and deceive.”

“Her qualifications are indeed admirable,” said Finn, as she and her sister turned and left the room.

Karber stared after them for a while, musing on the twins’ shapely bodies as they walked down the long corridor. With a regretful sigh he bemoaned his lost opportunity to snare them as debt-slaves. He would gladly have accommodated either Finn or Lorna in his cellar for a year, chained and naked, the image making him lick his dry wrinkled lips.

“Life is so cruel to an honest man,” he muttered, as the twins and their young companion disappeared from view.

***********