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Dawn of Dusk - Part 2: Nun - Chapter 10a: Ora et Labora

© 2009 - 2021 Nameless

The main gate closed behind us with a dreadful finality and then the portcullis was lowered. We stopped and waited. Superior Sister Michelle climbed down from the wagon. A few minutes later another Superior Sister, from the wider yellow sashes she had an even higher rank than Sister Michelle appeared. The two talked for a few minutes (their voices were too low for me to understand what they were saying) and then left together. We waited a while more, about a quarter of a bell before anything else happened.

I could see guards patrol at the top of the walls. From what I could see of their attire, they were church soldiers of an order associated with Gabriel, the archangel in charge of Justice.

A low ranking white sister appeared with several gray sisters in tow. All of them carried canes and looked ready to use them at the slightest provocation. At their command we pulled the wagons through another gate into to the second courtyard. We stopped in front of the stables where we were finally untied from the wagons. As usual we formed up in rows, kneeling on the uneven flagstones.

The white sister who gave her name as Sister Cynthia welcomed us to the cloister, which would be our home until we had redeemed ourselves and proved our worth and dedication to Mother Juanita and joined the sisterhood as full nuns. She tried to put a positive spin on the matter, but the cold hard truth was that would be imprisoned here until they allowed us to leave. Undoubtedly some, if not many, of us would never leave it again. Which made the cloister more of a prison than a home. Then she gave a lengthy sermon on the joys of service and self chastisement. After that we prayed and sang several hymns to thank the saints for our safe arrival.

We formed up in a single file and followed Sister Cynthia through yet another gate into a small yard. Set into the high wall facing us were two small doors. She explained, "These are the 'sinner's gates'. Your home is through this gate", here she pointed at the smaller of the two doors. The 'door' was barely knee high and just wide enough for one person but made of heavy timber that seemed at least half a foot thick. "Once you have proved your worth enough to take the oath of a full sister your home will be through that gate", here she pointed at the second gate, which was a little higher than the other one and would allow one to enter without crawling, but all but the smallest of us would still have to bow low when passing through.

"When you have fully proved your worth and atoned for your sins and earned a white robe, then you will live in dormitories here in the main cloister. Unless you are called to serve elsewhere." She paused for a moment and then went on, "You will now enter the sinner's gate one by one." While she had been speaking two of the gray robed sisters had taken up stations next to the door. They peered through the slit in the door, lifted the heavy bar and pulled back the two bolts that locked the door and then slowly swung the door open with obvious effort.

"You will get down on your knees and crawl forward until your head is just inside the doorway. Then you will lift your robe to bare your buttocks and slowly count to ten before moving on. Remember this well, you will always enter the gate this way. Once inside you may stand up and you will move to the end of the corridor without undue delay. Once you exit the gate on the other side, form up in orderly rows on the other side, kneeling on one flagstone each, facing away from the gate and await further instructions. Begin." She pointed at the first sinner in the row.

That girl, a human, approached the 'door' and went down on her knees. As soon as she bared her rear end, the two gray sisters began to spank her with the canes, each concentrating on one side of her rump. I don't think that they used their full strength, but it still had to hurt a lot. The girl managed to remain motionless until the allotted time was up and then she crawled forward.

The next girl, another human, counted too fast and Sister Cynthia stopped her with a loud, "Stop." Then she went on, "You counted too fast. Count slow. Begin once more." The unfortunate girl began counting once more and even though I was quite certain that she counted much slower this time, the white sister forced her to repeat the whole thing a third time. By the time she was finally allowed to move on, her buttocks were bright red and mine twitched in sympathy. After that we all counted slowly.

It took quite a while until it was finally my turn as I was close to the rear of the line. I shuffled forward, went down on my knees and crawled forward until my head was under the arch and then lifted the rear of my robe. I counted slowly to ten while the two gray sisters abused my rear. As best as I could tell, they hit us furs a lot harder than they did the humans.

Finally the time was up and I crawled forward. There was some light in the corridor, but very little. As I left the archway a kind of shiver ran down my spine. At the time I paid little attention to it, but later I realized that there must have been a spell on the archway that drew a little power from us to power the dim glow-stones that just barely lit the corridor. No, tunnel was a better word, it was just two feet wide and less than five high, so that all but the smallest of us had to walk hunched over or risk hitting her head on the ceiling. The tunnel was quite long, more than 50 paces. Suddenly light flooded in as the girl in front of me exited the tunnel.

At the end was another low archway that forced me to go down on my knees again. Later I found out that the far end of the tunnel could be (and usually was) closed by a portcullis that was controlled from inside the tower. I blinked a few times from the sudden light as the sun shone directly into my face. Then I saw what the white sister had meant by 'kneel on one flagstone'. Most of the large yard in which I found myself had a gravel floor, but directly outside the tunnel were five rows of flagstones, each about two foot square, set a little apart. I found the next empty one and knelt there. Then I waited until the rest of our group joined us. As soon as the last one took her place the portcullis clattered as it was lowered.

We had to wait a few more minutes before another gray sister, this one had several white stripes on her robe, appeared. She gave her name as Sister Magda and gave us a short speech about the rules we would have to obey. Mostly they boiled down to what we already knew, obey any command, don't speak except when needed and such. One new rule was that we had to pray every time the bells tolled the hour. There were several small shrines around the area, she pointed out two out in the yard, where we had to congregate to pray under the guidance of one of the gray sisters. The only exception was that we did not have to congregate there for prayer when our current duty didn't allow us to or when we were already in one of the chapels or occupied by some "spiritual" task.

She told us that we had to earn eight gray stripes before we would be given the chance to take the oath of service, become a full sister and earn the gray robe. The stripes would be awarded for good behavior and for volunteered for extra duties.

Then she pointed out some of the important features. The left wall (as seen from where we knelt) housed rooms for work, chastisement, a refectory and such, while the dormitories were inside the right wall. At the far end was a large barn-like building which would be used instead of the yard when the weather was too unpleasant for us to remain outside. Then she led us to the bathrooms where two low ranking gray sisters supervised us as we used the facilities.

After we had relieved ourselves we had to assemble in the yard once more. Sister Magda explained that here in this cloister the services were held in the evening and since it was close to the appointed time, we would head there now. She explained once more how we had to use the sinner's door and she told us that this was the last time she would tell us how we had to behave whenever we used the tunnel. From now on we were expected to remember this on our own. She did not say that we would be punished if we forgot, but the nasty grin on her lips got the message across loud and clear.

Two gray sisters with canes took up stations next to the door and then the portcullis were raised. When it was my turn I walked up to the door, knelt and exposed my rear. I counted to ten slowly while the two gray sisters applied the canes to my buttocks. Then I crawled forward and walked to the other end of the corridor.

Several gray sisters under the watchful eye of a white sisters took charge of us on the other side. Two tied my wrists to the back of the belt. They also folded out the flaps from my hood to restrict my field of vision. As soon as about ten of us were waiting, two of the gray sisters led us away. We passed through another gateway and ended up in a large yard in front of the main temple. We entered and went down on our knees as soon as we were inside. As we had been instructed to, we crawled with our faces close to the floor. Since we could not see much this way, the gray sisters led us to where we would kneel during the service.

By the time all of us sinners were assembled my knees had already begun to hurt from kneeling on the hard floor. I could not see much, but as we knelt near the back of the temple, I could see the bottom of the robes of most of the sisters that entered after us. Next came the gray sisters who still had black stripes to work off, who knelt in front of us. Then came the other gray sisters, who sat on the rear pews and then finally the white sisters. As far as I could tell, the highest ranking ones entered last.

The last to enter were several initiates and finally the priest. The service was much the same as those we had attended before. The priest gave a lengthy sermon on the importance of our service and such. Then he read from the Holy book, using the old holy tongue of which I understood very little. We prayed and sang several hymns and then, after the ritual benediction, it was finally over.

The attendants began to file out in the reverse order in which they had entered, first the priest with his acolytes, then the white sisters, the gray sisters and then it was finally our turn. As I had been one of the first sinners to enter, I was also one of the last to leave. The gray sisters led us back to the sinner's gate in small groups. My paws were only untied just before I entered the gate.

As before I went down on my knees, exposed my rear and suffered through another painful spanking before I moved on. The sun had not set yet, but it was already below the rear wall when I exited the tunnel. From then on I had to attend the evening service every day in much the same way. Sometimes we had to attend a second service, either in the morning or late in the night. These extra services were on the days holy dedicated to one of the saints or angels of particular importance for the sisterhood. There were only a few times when I did not have to attend the service and that was only when I was really sick or suffering through a particularly harsh punishment or self-chastisement.

And then we finally received something to eat. By now my stomach was grumbling loudly. A gray sister led us to the refectory where each of us received a bowl of watery gruel. As had been the case in the chapter-house in Marenbruk, our paws were tied up and we had to kneel on the floor while the bowls were put on the benches. After a lengthy prayer from the gray sister we were finally allowed to eat. I was still hungry when the bowl was empty and licked clean. The only good thing that could be said about the food was that it was better than nothing.

Afterwards we were allowed to use the facilities, under close supervision, of course and then it was time for bed. To use the term loosely. We slept in cells. I suppose any monk or nun's room is technically called a cell, but these really were cells, if that. Though officially also called cells, even some of the gray sisters, mainly the lower ranking ones who had lived there not too long ago called them kennels. The cells for the lowest ranking sinners, us, that is, were built into the outer wall. Each cell was about three foot wide, three high and barely six long.

About two thirds of the ground was covered by a doubled up reed mat and there was a woolen blanket and a sorry little thing called a pillow that contained no more than a handful of feathers. From the smell neither had been washed recently, say in the last decade.

The door was about two foot square and was barred from the outside during the night. But we actually had a window that looked outside. Again, to use the term loosely. The 'window' was barely half a foot square and the wall seemed to be almost two foot thick. We normally kept the window open to provide a little fresh air, but there was a wooden board to close it when the weather was particularly unpleasant.

We did not get to keep our room but were put into a different one each night. So I crawled into my hole, wrapped myself into the blanket and curled up. Lying on the hard ground was far from pleasant, but it was still marginally better than the stables we had stayed in during the journey. The blanket helped to keep me warm, but I missed having a warm body to curl up with. Still, marching all day had exhausted me and I fell asleep quickly.

I was woken by loud banging on the door. A moment later the door was opened and a voice shouted, "Get up!". I was surprised by the harsh way I was woken up (just by, not that they woke us like this) and still groggy. And I promptly tried to sit up and banged my head against the low roof. I squeaked in pain and heard a chuckle from outside. A quick look out of the 'window' told me that dawn was just beginning and it was still well before the actual sunrise. My limbs protested but I managed to get moving and crawled outside. I almost fell over but caught myself and stood up next to the door and waited.

Several gray sisters as well as a few black sisters who already had six or more gray stripes were busy waking us up. One of the gray sisters faced me. She looked at me and then commanded, "Put on your hood. Touch your wrists to the belt at the back and stand straight. Don't move or speak." Once I had assumed the position she wanted, she move on to the next of us. As I thought about it, I finally made sense on the looks she had directed at me: She must have been eager to punish me but I had obeyed quickly enough that she could not justify it.

She did get her wish to punish someone, not all of us woke up fast enough to suit her and several received a painful spanking. Once we were all up she told us, "From now on you will always get up like this and stand just to the left of your cell in the position I just told you to assume. And you will get up quickly after being woken. Is this clear?" I nodded minutely as did the others.

"Good. Remember this well or I will remind you." The nasty grin on her face left no doubt that we would not enjoy being reminded but that she would enjoy reminding us. She walked to the entrance, turned around and commanded, "Follow me". She led us across the yard to a small doorway and down a short staircase. We ended up in a large, dimly lit room. When the gray sister sat down on a small stool that stood in the center of the far wall I shuddered as I remembered a similar room from the chapter-house in Marenbruk.

She confirmed my fears a moment later when she asked, "I hope you sinners remember how to recite the litany properly. Or does any of you need to be reminded?" We shook our heads and when she pointed at the floor we quickly arranged ourselves, kneeling in two half circles around her. At another sign from her we unlaced the top of our robes and bared our upper bodies.

The black sisters began to pass out floggers. Thankfully we used only the lowest grade. He humans, that is, as a fur I had to use the next higher grade. Some of us, I think those who had not woken up quickly enough, also got floggers one grade higher than the others.

The gray sister pointed at one of the black sisters and commanded, "You will lead." The selected one gave no sign that she disliked the duty, she just picked up a flogger, knelt in front of the gray sister and bared her upper body.

The gray sister held up a white patch with a red flogger, "As is our custom your dedication will earn you such patches and you will wear them until the next recital. You will need to earn two of them, one for each side of your bosom. Let us start." She paused for a moment and began to recite, "Holy Mother Juanita, show us the way to redeem our sins. Let us cleanse our souls through work and prayer. Guide us to heaven through hardship and pain."

"Holy Mother Juanita guide us." Whack! We were out of practice a little, so it was not a single sound, but a drawn out series of individual sounds, some loud, some hardly audible. I gasped at the sudden pain.

"Holy Uriel, command us to serve you. Give us work to show our worth. Bless our efforts if you find them pleasing."

"Holy Uriel command us." Whack!

"Holy Gabriel, judge our worth. Judge our work and our prayers. If it pleases you, judge us worthy to enter heaven at the end of our days."

"Holy Gabriel judge us." Whack! We got into the rhythm quickly and the time between the first and the last hit grew shorter with each stanza and soon there was more or less only a single loud sound each time we punished our flesh.

As it always was, my back was already on fire after the first repetition. While I was certain that I (and most of the others) had been quite zealous, barely half of us earned a patch. Thankfully I was among those that did earn one. As before, the patch stung my breast when it was affixed to my skin and continued to cause a little pain as if held in place with a needle.

The gray sister drank some water and then she began to recite the litany a second time. The second repetition was worse as usual. Once more only a little more half of us earned a badge. Unfortunately this time I was not among them. Those few of us who had already earned two badges, less than one in five, did not leave but moved to the back. They put on their robes and had the patches moved to the outside of the robe. They still recited the litany with the rest, but did not have to use a flogger.

I finally earned my second badge on the third repetition. Some of us, perhaps a quarter, still had only one badge, so we recited the litany once more. Thankfully the gray sister took pity on us and awarded everybody the second badge at the end. Most likely it was less from pity or mercy and more a need to finish so we could perform some other tasks.

We were allowed to relieve ourselves and then we headed towards the refectory. As before we received a bowl of watery gruel which we had to lap up without using our paws. To be honest, I felt sick from the pain from my tortured back and had no appetite at all, but I knew that I could not afford to refuse what little food we were offered. It was a struggle to keep it down, but I managed, if only barely.

Halfway through the meal the bells tolled the sixth hour. As soon as the last note had faded the gray sister clapped her hands. As soon as she had our attention, she pointed at the shrine set in the wall off to one side and declared, "Time for prayer. Assemble."

As per her instructions, we knelt close to her with the forehead touching the floor, just as we did in a temple. We recited the litany, provided the responses for a lengthy prayer and finally sang one of the hymns. After a short benediction she allowed us to return to our meal. I found my bowl and began to lap up the rest of the gruel.

The meal was interrupted once more. Our paws had not been tied up, but the gray sister had forbidden us from using them and instructed us to keep them at our back. A human girl had apparently forgotten about that and picked up her bowl to drink from it. When the gray sister noticed it she commanded us to stop. The unfortunate girl had to stand up and face us. While we watched the gray sister removed the two white patches from her breast and affixed two red ones in their stead. The unfortunate girl whimpered, apparently those hurt a lot more than the white patches did.

Then she told her (and us) that she would have to earn the white patches again. But only after removing the red patches with a proper recital of the litany. I shivered, at best that would mean four more recitals of the litany and she would have to use Jophiel (the third grade flogger) for the task. Of course she wouldn't get to finish the meal either. Two of the high ranking black sisters led her away to begin her punishment. Not that we needed the extra cowing, but after this all of us were extra careful not to move our paws a finger's breadth from their position.

After we finished breaking our fast the gray sister led us out into the yard once more. Outside another gray sister, this one of higher rank met us. She had us assemble and then we waited while the two talked in low voices for a minute. Then the newcomer addressed us, "I need some volunteers to help with the harvest. Who wants to volunteer?"

As far as I could tell, all of us volunteered. While I had little hope that the work would be pleasant, it sounded better than what I imagined the alternatives to be. And even if it wasn't I had to volunteer as often as possible to advance.

"If you are selected, go through the sinner's gate." She looked us over and pointed at someone in the first row, "You." The chosen girl bowed her head and moved forward. She selected one more girl from the first row and then it was my turn. I waited my turn at the gate, went down on my knees to bare my buttocks to the two black sisters who spanked all those who went through the gate.

As before several gray sisters under the supervision of a white sister met us directly outside the gate. As soon as I stood up, three of them surrounded me, tied my wrists to the back of the belt, pulled the flaps out of the hood and tied them together, practically blinding me (I could see a bit of the ground in front of me, but that was about it). One of them led me a few paces away.

After a short wait someone grabbed my arm and led me away. We did not walk very far. Probably to the stables in the next yard. I was tied to the yoke of a wagon and the back of my robe was opened to allow the driver of the wagon to 'encourage' me more easily. For the moment I was actually happy about that as the scratchy fabric of the robe hurt my tortured back. I had to open my mouth so they could put a bridle into it, which was fixed in place with a loop around my neck. Judging by the noises as we were hitched to the wagon there were four of us assigned to this particular wagon.

There were several wagons, as far as I could tell. Someone, no two persons, climbed on the wagon behind us and a few moments later one of them called, "Giddy up!" and pulled the reins. Not wanting to feel the whip I threw my weight forward and the wagon began to move. The driver steered us by pulling the reins this way or that. I heard the whip swish through the air and pulled harder.

We crossed the drawbridge into the outer yard, crossed another bridge into the outermost yard and then left the cloister. This much I remembered about the layout from when we had arrived at the cloister yesterday. Once outside we hardly had to pull as the road descended from the hill on which our "home" and prison stood. I could hear the two passengers talk, but their voices were low enough that I could only understand a word here or there. From their voices they were both female. And unless I misread the tone of their voices, the passenger had a much higher rank than the driver.

I almost had to chuckle when I remembered that the nuns of this sect were sometimes called, "God's beasts of burden." How true, at least for us low ranking ones. Unfortunately so from my point of view, of course.

We reached the bottom of the hill and our task became a little harder as the road leveled out. Then we crossed a bridge. Soon afterwards our task became harder still as the road began to climb up the side of the valley. Thankfully the driver vocally encouraged and threatened us more than she actually hit us to get us to move faster. But she did let us feel the whip every now and then and it hurt a lot. Eventually we turned off the road and continued on a path. I could tell because the road had been mostly gravel, while the path was mostly earth and grass, though I could see ruts where the wagons traveled frequently.

Eventually we stopped at the side of the path. Around us people were working in the fields. While they worked they sung the by now quite familiar hymns, so I assumed that most of them were nuns. Every now and then someone deposited something on the wagon. After a few minutes the driver suddenly said, "I think I'd better water the animals. We wouldn't want them to go lame. With your permission, Superior Sister?"

"Of course, Sister."

The driver climbed down from the wagon and came forward. I had to wait a little until it was my turn. When she held a cup to my lips I could see that she was a gray sister with at least two white stripes. I drank the offered water. I was a bit offended to be called an animal, but I did not dare to refuse the water. The air had been quite cool in the morning, but by now the sun was up and it was warming up quickly. The driver climbed back on the wagon and after a while she shook the reins and had us move the wagon forward a few dozen paces.

Some time later the bells tolled the hour. As soon as they fell silent again, the white sister called all the workers together to pray. Since nobody bothered to untie us from the wagon, I just waited. I guess since we were currently beasts of burden, we didn't have to participate in the usual prayers. They recited the litany and a lengthy prayer before returning to their work.

The white sister finally climbed off and then we moved the wagon a few more paces. And then the wagon was apparently full as the driver had us turn it around and then we headed back towards the cloister. Going downhill was exhausting and scary as we had to strain to keep the wagon from moving too fast. I shuddered at the thought about what would happen to us should the wagon run wild. I was sweating by the time we reached the bottom of the valley. We had a short period of almost rest on the level road before we had to tackle the incline up to the cloister. Thankfully the hill was covered with trees below the cloister and the road was on the northern side, so we were in the shade most of the way. About halfway up we passed another wagon.

When we were finally allowed to stop somewhere in the cloister I was quite exhausted. While the wagon was unloaded the driver gave us some water, a small oatcake which we had to eat from the palm of her hand like a horse and then we received a bit more water. Eating and drinking like this was humiliating, but I was thankful for every little bit I received.

All too soon the wagon was empty and we headed back to the fields. Once there we stopped again to wait while the wagon was loaded, moving a little every now and then. When my bladder got uncomfortably full, I just spread my legs a while we waited and took a piss. Nobody seemed to mind and the other 'mules' sooner or later did the same. The bells rung noon just after we started back towards the cloister, but we did not stop. Returning to the cloister the second time was much more unpleasant. I was already more exhausted and by now it was noticeably warmer than the first time. Thankfully the driver did not let us feel the whip all that often and when she did, she did not hit us very hard.

We received some water while the wagon was unloaded, but no food. Instead we were unhitched and led back to the sinner's gate. One by one we were untied and the flaps of the hood opened and then we had to crawl back in, receiving a painful spanking as we did. This time the two gray sisters really laid into our buttocks with their canes.

Outside the tunnel a gray sister was waiting for us. Once the four of us were assembled she led us into a small room, one I also learned to hate. Two high ranking black sisters were waiting there. She told us that we would have to keep our nails and claws short. The black sisters used clippers to cut off the offending claws and then handed each of us a file. "File your nails as short as possible."

I did not like that at all, but did as I was told. The two humans had an easier time of it and were finished much quicker. There were two "chairs" to sit in while the gray sister inspected the result of their effort. The "chairs" consisted of a stool and a kind of pillory that had four holes in a line. They had to put the wrists into the two inner holes and the ankles into the outer and then they were locked in place.

The gray sister inspected the toes and fingers one by one, touching up what was left of the nails as she did so. Suddenly the girl whose nails were being inspected gave a little cry and I saw that one of her toes was bleeding. The gray sister gave her a nasty grin and I realized that she had wounded her deliberately. I quickly found out that they always did that whenever a nail did not meet their standards by too big a margin. Or whenever they felt we had to taken down another peg or just when they were in a nasty mood. She wounded one of the unfortunate sinner's fingers as well and then continued with the second girl.

I realized that I had stopped to watch and returned to the task of filing down my own claws, working harder than before. Several digits of the second girl also failed to meet the gray sister's standards and were filed down to the flesh. When she was done with the two, she put some medical smelling gunk on the wounded spots. From the faces of the two, the gunk must have hurt like hell, but it did stop the bleeding. The two were freed and told to wait.

They gave us two furs a little more time to work on our claws with the help of the black sisters before it was our turn to be inspected. Out limbs were restrained and then the gray sister inspected me. As I had feared, she found several fingers and toes that did not meet her standards and she filed the nails off a little further. And also the tip of the digit in question. That hurt a lot but I managed to remain silent apart from a few grunts.

After she had inspected the cat femme in the second pillory she put some of the gunk on my wounded toes and fingers. I barely managed not to scream, that hurt more than having wounds cleaned with spirits.

Finally they released us, told us to stand up and then they led us outside. Every step hurt and I tried desperately to curl my toes in a way that put the least weight on the wounded ones. Not all that successfully, I must add.

Once we were outside in the yard once more the gray sister told us, "If you are tired, you may rest for a bit in your cell. If you prefer to do something useful, I could use a few volunteers to keep the place clean. Does any of you want to volunteer?"

I barely managed not to grind my teeth, but it was clear what she wanted us to do. So I volunteered, as did the others. "Follow me." We followed her to the side with the dormitories. While most of the yard was gravel, there was a strip of tiles about a yard wide along the wall. The tiles were currently very dusty. Suspiciously so, I was quite sure that they had been reasonably clean in the morning. The tiles changed color every ten paces or so, alternating between two different shades of gray. She told us, "Each of you will clean up one section. When you are done, you will stand on the gravel at the center of your section, facing the wall and wait until someone inspects your work. The brooms are in there." Here she pointed at a chest that rested against the wall.

It did not seem like a difficult task until I saw the "brooms" we had to use. One could only call them brooms because dusting was apparently what they were to be used for, though I would normally have used "brush" for something that small. The handle was less than a foot long and the head was no more than four inches wide. We looked at each other and made faces but none of us dared to say anything. The gray sister assigned the sections and told us to begin.

As I had suspected, dusting the tiles was no fun. I had to crouch or kneel to use the tiny broom. And the "broom" was not only tiny, but the bristles were quite sparse so I had to go over each spot several times to get it reasonably clean. And I was quite certain that "reasonably clean" wasn't going cut it. To make things worse, the area we had to clean was along the northern wall, which meant that we were out in the sun. They had closed the back of the robe as soon as I was unhitched from the wagon and I began to boil in the heavy thing within minutes.

We were not the only ones that had to perform nonsensical tasks just to tire us. In the rear part of the yard were three piles of stones, about a dozen paces apart. Three groups of six sinners each labored to move the stones. The first group carried stones from the first pile to the second, the second group carried those to the third pile and the last group carried them back to the first pile. The stones looked quite big and must have weighted at least twenty pounds each, if not twice as much.

After a while four more sinners emerged from the gate. I did not hear what the gray sister asked them, but apparently the same as she had with us. It did not take long before they began to clean the other four sections (there were eight in total) of the tiled strip.

A gray sister watched from the south side where she could sit in the shade. She sat at a small table next to the shrine and wrote on a scroll occasionally. Most likely recording our performance. While she did not look in our direction very often (as far as I could tell), I did not dare to slack. Most than likely other eyes were watching us from inside one of the buildings as well. I was quite sure that they were only waiting for any chance to find fault with our efforts to give them an excuse to inflict some extra punishment on us.

Soon the bells rung the first hour after noon and the gray sister called us to pray with her. I set down the brush gladly and knelt at her feet with the other sinners. We recited the litany, sung a hymn and recited a prayer. As much as I disliked to pray to the celestial saints and angels, I was glad for the short rest in the shade, which was over all too soon.

I returned to my task. We toiled for more than two bells. By then I felt faint from the heat and from crouching down so much and my back and limbs hurt. Since we had not received anything to drink since we started the task, I was parched. My mouth was completely dry and my stomach was beginning to grumble.

Suddenly the gray sister got up, approached and told us to put the brooms away and to wait for the inspection. I did as she had commanded and then stood facing the wall as I had been instructed to. We had to wait quite long. The longer I waited the worse my unease became as I began to notice one less than perfectly clean spot after the other.

Finally a higher ranking gray sister, she had four white stripes, came to inspect the sections of the floor we had to clean. I was not very surprised when she found numerous dirty spots. She declared, "I am disappointed with you. None of you have lived up to the standard expected of a Sister of Mother Juanita. Do you wish to be encouraged to perform better in the future?"

Seeing no better alternative, we all chorused, "Yes, Sister." I added, "Please instruct and encourage me to do better in the future."

"Come with me." On the other side of the shrine (from the table at which the gray sister sat) was a piece of furniture apparently intended for our punishment. A heavy wooden bar about four paces long and five inches wide was positioned at a little above hip height. "Stand there, shoulder to shoulder and place your hands on the bar, palm up with your hands right next to each other." Once we had assumed the position, she commanded, "You will each receive ten strokes with the cane on each hand. Do not move until I give you permission to."

The gray sister stood up, picked up her cane and approached. She asked the girl to my right, the first in the line, "Do you wish to be encouraged to work more diligently in the future?"

"Yes, Sister." The gray sister began to whack her hands. I shivered at the loud noise and the way her face screwed up from the pain. Then it was my turn. The gray sister asked the same question and I asked to be "encouraged". I barely managed not to cry out in pain when she hit my palm the first time. It hurt a lot! The further strokes were no less painful, but at least I was prepared for them. When she was done with me she moved on the the girl on my left.

Once all four of us had received the first half of the punishment she returned to the first girl and asked if she wanted to receive further encouragement. We all agreed and received the second half of the punishment. I barely managed not to cry out loud, she hit really hard and when she was done both of my paws hurt terribly.

I had not noticed at first, but several of the sinners who were supposed to carry rocks from one pile to the next had stopped to watch us get punished. The high ranking gray sister had pretended not to notice that, but as soon as our punishment was over she sprung into action. She called, "Stop and don't move!" and then sorted them into two groups, those who had stopped the task and those who had kept going. Those who still had a rock in their hands were told to put it down on their designated pile. She led them back to where we were waiting with our paws still on the wooden bar.

She turned to us and commanded, "You go and move the stones from pile one to pile two. You", here she pointed at me, "from pile two to three, and you two from pile three to one. Go."

"Yes, Sister." We hurried to obey, not wanting to give her any excuse to punish us further. My paws hurt so much it took me three tries to pick up one of the heavy rocks. It must have weighted thirty pounds or more. I have no idea how I managed to carry it the whole distance, but somehow I did manage it. While I struggled with the heavy rock, I heard the gray sister pronounce the punishment, or as she would have put it, gave the sinners a chance to to be encouraged to do better. Those who had kept working were offered a "chance" to ask for five strokes on each hand, those who had stopped got twenty-five on each hand.

They started with those who had earned the lesser punishment and sent them to join us at our task as soon as they had received their share. I honestly have no idea how those who had earned the harsher punishment managed to lift the rocks afterwards, but they did, even if some of them did drop a rock every now and then. Thankfully they were careful enough not to drop it on their feet.

The rocks were heavy and rough enough to hurt the already sensitive skin on my paws. I imagine that their edges had originally been sharp as well, but long use had blunted them somewhat. Still carrying them was hard work. While the pain in my paws slowly lessened, the rest of my body began to ache quickly, particularly my back.

Not long afterwards the second group who had to clean the tiled strip were inspected and, as their work was also not acceptable to the gray sister, punished. Then they joined us at carrying rocks. Every now and then other sinners joined us or were led away to help with other tasks. They always balanced our numbers so none of the three groups could get ahead of the others.

I was heartily glad when the bells finally rung and we could take a short break from that back-breaking task to pray. I wondered if that was the idea: to get us to enjoy the stupid prayers as the lesser evil. When we were done, the gray sister asked, "I need eight volunteers to provide comfort to our valiant defenders." Here she looked up at the church soldiers patrolling at the top of the wall. I looked up as well and saw one of them look at us in a way that I did not think was a fitting way to look at a nun. My eyes almost popped out of my sockets when I put two and two together.

Still I volunteered, as did all the others. And I was among the chosen eight. As far as I could tell none of those who had earned a serious punishment earlier were chosen. The gray sister told us to remain here while she sent the rest back to carrying rocks, making sure that each group was about the same size.

Then she led us to a doorway near the inner wall and told us to wait. I was glad for the rest, though by now I was getting really thirsty. It had been more than three bells since we had received any water and the sun had burned down on us most of the time while we labored.

A short while later a gray and two black sisters approached us. The gray sister opened the door and told us to follow her. Behind the door was a short corridor and then a long room that had several small windows near the ceiling to the outside of the cloister. Enough to let in some air, but they made it impossible for anyone to look in. With some interest I noticed that the door could be barred from the inside while the door at the other end of the corridor could be barred from the outside. The room had a second door that led, as far as I could tell, into the tower that stood where the outer wall met the wall between the sinner's section of the cloister and that for the gray robes.

In the room stood eight pillory like devices. The devices were very low, so that our head would be about hip-high when we were locked in. The gray sister assigned each of us to one of them. She told us to take off the robe and hang it on the peg behind the pillory. On other pegs hung leather masks and she told us to pick one. There were three different ones, one for a human and two for furs with different sized snouts. I tried both and picked the one that fit better, though neither fit well. The mask could be opened at the rear and had several straps to close it. It had a hole for the mouth and a few small holes for the nose, but none for the eyes or ears.

She told us stand behind the pillory, to put our feet into the shackles and close them. And then to put on the mask. Attached to the hole for the mouth were two small wooden blocks that went between my rear teeth to make sure that I could not close my mouth completely. I closed some of the straps. Someone, I think one of the black sisters, closed the rest of the straps and tightened some of the others. With the straps closed the mask was very uncomfortable, in particular it squeezed my ears pretty painfully.

Then she gently but firmly pushed my head and arms into the cutouts in the pillory and closed it. Once all of us were locked in place they left. I could barely hear the door when they closed it as they left since the mask muffled all noises.

Nothing happened for a while and I had time to think. By now it was pretty clear to me what would happen soon and I wondered how the superior sisters justified doing this to us. After all, many of had been sentenced for sleeping around and now they gave us to the soldiers as playthings. Did they pretend not to know what they would do to us? Or did they think that it was alright for a male to use us as long as we did not enjoy it? It was an interesting question, but unfortunately one I wouldn't dare to ask anytime soon. I wondered if I would ever find out for certain.

Then I heard a door open and several soldiers entered. Their steps were heavy, they likely wore the heavy boots most soldiers preferred. I could hear them bar a doorway, likely the one through which we had entered. I couldn't tell how many there were but there were more than us, at least a dozen. They smelled bad, most of them smelled as if they had not bathed for a month or more.

I could not understand them all that well, the mask muffled their voices and they spoke a local dialect, but I didn't need to understand all the words to recognize the crude comments about us. It did not take long before they began to feel us up. Since we still wore the chastity belts they could not get at our female parts, but they touched and squeezed everything else, especially our breasts and buttocks. A couple of painful swats convinced me to lift my tail out of the way. That earned me a few very crude comments, "Slut!" was about the nicest, but the words hurt less than the alternative.

I heard the clink of a belt buckle, almost gagged at the rancid male scent and then a still rather flaccid cock was shoved into my mouth. It tasted even worse than it smelled and now that my nose was directly in his male hair the stench was really bad. When I didn't start licking right away he put a hand around my neck and squeezed. Not enough to hurt badly but I got the point quickly enough and began to lick him.

He seemed to like that and released my neck. I could feel him grow bigger and harder. He laughed and said something like, "What a slut! She sucks cock better than any whore!" (he used some words in the local dialect that I wasn't quite sure what they meant, but the general sense was clear enough). Assuming I got the word correct, I wondered how he knew how a whore sucked cock. After all, the faithful were not supposed to deal with whores and church soldiers should have lived by stricter rules than normal folk, at least I would have assumed so. On the other paw, they were soldiers and the officers probably looked the other way as long as they made a proper show of piety during during the church service, rather than risk unrest among the ranks.

One other thing seemed a little unfair: If we did not do as they wanted, they punished us. And if we did, then we obviously had to enjoy doing it and were called sluts or worse. Still, the words hurt a lot less than the beatings, so the choice of what to do was easy enough. And to be honest, while I resented the negative connotations of the word, I definitely resembled the rest, was proud of it, in fact. A fact that I had to conceal from the rest of the sisterhood at all costs, of course.

As I licked the grime of his male parts and he became more aroused, the whole thing became much more pleasant. He was young and healthy and very male, after all. Not all that well hung, but certainly well enough to please a female, should he put his mind to is. When he pulled out just as he was getting really hard, I realized that he was also big enough to be a pain in the ass, literally so. I tried my best to relax the muscles around my tailhole as I expected him to use me there soon.

While I concentrated on that, one of his friends suddenly shoved his cock into my mouth. For a few moments I was distracted by that and the first male used that to assault my rear. He set his cock against my tailhole, pulled it apart a bit and then forced his way into me. Much more quickly that I would have liked. The sudden intrusion hurt a lot, but I as far as I could tell it wasn't bad enough to do any real damage. My squeaks of surprise and pain were quite muffled by the other male's cock.

Not all of the other's squeals and screams were muffled. As best as I could tell, I could hear three to five of us clearly, from which I concluded that there were between eleven and thirteen males with us, assuming all the males were using one of our holes and not just watching.

The male who was now using my mouth was just as dirty as the other one had been. But once I got over the initial surprise and shock at the dual assault and the pain in my rear lessened, I began to almost enjoy this. Soon more than almost.

Just before I really let myself go, I had a thought that sobered me for a moment. What if I did climax and they told the superior sisters about it? I had no idea if they ever spoke about what happened when we sinners "offered them comfort", but I had a good idea what would happen if they did. I would be expelled from the sisters and end up at the end of a rope or worse.

No matter how much I wanted to have a little fun, wanted release, I decided that I could not risk it. Had I been able to, I would have ground my teeth in frustration. Of course the wooden blocks between my molars kept my mouth open, and even if they had not, I couldn't risk biting the male who used my mouth. Thinking about it, he probably deserved it for using defenseless females this way, but I knew that it would not end well for me if I did bite him.

So I began to fight the rising heat radiating from my lower body. The male using my rear entrance was rough and used me without any regard for my enjoyment. Still, his male pole felt better with every thrust. And by now I was getting used to the unwashed fur of the one using my mouth that his male scent and taste excited me further. He pulled out a little and I realized that he didn't want me to suck him off, most likely as he wanted to use my tailhole as well as soon as the first one was done with it.

So I was both relieved and disappointed when the male behind me came and filled my ass with his cream. He pumped into me a few more times and squirted a bit more cum into me and then pulled out. He smacked my rump and made a few crude comments about me, but I could tell that he was pleased. A moment later his friend pulled out of my mouth. Then they traded places.

The soiled cock was shoved into my mouth. The taste of shit filled my mouth and at first I gagged a little, but then I began to lick him. Reluctantly, but I did not feel that I had a choice. I was still distracted by that when his friend forced his way into my rear entrance. He was slightly better hung, but as I was already stretched and well lubricated, the pain was hardly worth mentioning.

At first the bad taste in my mouth helped to keep my arousal in check, but the taste lessened with every lick and then my arousal became worse than before. It became a real struggle not to come. He pulled out of my mouth twice so they could hear the squeaky noises I could not keep in with my mouth open as I struggled against my rising excitement. They mocked me for them, of course, but then he plugged my mouth again and commanded me to suck harder.

I managed to get him off and he filled my mouth with his cum. Moments later his friend, who had obviously paced himself came as well and filled my ass with his seed. The hot cream filling me from both ends drove me crazy and I almost came. Somehow I managed to hang on until they stopped their assault on my senses and pulled out.

Then I had to clean the second male and suck him off as well. That was a lot less unpleasant than the first time. Either I was getting used to the bad taste or he did not taste as bad as my rear entrance had already been mostly cleaned by the first male. Probably a little of each. Meanwhile his friend amused himself by squeezing my breasts and buttocks.

Suddenly someone gave the command to leave. A last slap on the rump and a last rude comment, the clink of buckles as they dressed and then they left. I heard them unbar one door and then the other closed and then we were alone again.

We had to wait a while before I finally heard a door open and several people entered the room. I heard something heavy being put down somewhere in front of me and then the stocks were opened. Since I was near the center of the line, I had to wait a bit more until it was my turn.

The gray sister, I recognized her voice, commanded, "Take off the masks." I managed that on my own, but the two black sisters had to help some of the others. I saw that they had brought three buckets, two of them full, one empty.

"Come here and rinse your mouth. Spit the water in that bucket when you are done." The black sisters filled two cups and handed them to two of us. Both took a sip, but one of them spit it out right away. Which earned her several painful spanks from the gray sister's cane. She instructed, "Swirl the water around a bit, then spit it out. Repeat until the cup is empty."

The other girl did not look as if the water tasted good at all, but she managed not to spit it out. The black sister refilled the cup for the first girl to the brim. Then I noticed the scent and realized that it was soap water. Wash your mouth with soap indeed. When it was my turn I did as instructed. The water tasted so vile that I would have preferred to clean a male pole that had just used my tailhole. Of course this wasn't something I dared to say out loud.

When we had all rinsed our mouths, the black sisters washed our rear end and wiped off any juices that had dribbled down, both on our faces as well as the rear.

Then we put on our robes and left. The gray sister sent us to carry rocks and we resumed that task as if nothing unusual had happened in between.

I picked up a rock and struggled towards the next pile with it. Very quickly I realized how glad I was to have had a break to regain my strength. It felt strange to think of getting raped as a break, but that is what it felt like to me. I had been doing hard work since the morning and any time I could stop moving was welcome, even if a disgusting male used my orifices for his pleasure.

It was already getting late and soon the gray sisters began to send us to the sinner's gate in small groups. They always did it that way. I doubt that they really expected us to try to rush the gate and escape or if they were simply careful, but they never sent us there in a group of more than half a dozen or sometimes eight at a time.

I collected my spanks and crawled through. I was tied up and partially blindfolded. Then they led us to the temple in small groups where we had to kneel with our faces pressed to the floor. Once everyone was assembled we had the usual service. The sermon was a little different and the priest read a different section of the Holy Book (of which I could not understand any more than I had at the previous sermons) but the rest was pretty much the same. The last only if we had to perform a task outside which required eight of us, though in that case they often sent us in two groups of four each.

We headed to the temple and suffered through the usual service. At the end we waited until the higher ranks had left the temple and then we were led back to the sinner's gate. We crawled through and then we finally received our evening meal. By now my stomach was protesting loudly, and not just mine. Several of us were even worse off, as far as I could tell those who had incurred the gray sister's ire during the day. They were told that they would have to fast and stand vigil for the night. One particularly stupid girl protested, which only earned her further punishment. The unfortunate ones had to wait and watch the rest of us eat before they were led away to the dungeon and then the chapel.

We received the usual gruel, but the portion we had today was noticeably bigger than what we had received yesterday. But even that was not nearly enough, considering how hard we had worked during the day, but enough to fill my stomach, for the moment at least.

Then we were taken to the kennels. Each of us was assigned to one of the holes and had to stand next to the entrance "door". The gray sister had us open the front of the robe and then spread it wide [as if flashing someone] and commanded us to stand still until she gave us permission to move again. Then she left.

A minute later two high ranking black sisters came in. They carried braziers hanging from the end of long poles. But instead of incense they burned something really foul smelling. Unsurprisingly they wore masks. They walked around, waving the things at us and poked them into our cells to make sure the foul smelling smoke got everywhere. Soon most of us were coughing or struggling not to. We had to stand there for about a quarter of a bell before the two were done and left.

Once they were gone, the gray sister poked her head into the doorway and told us to close our robes and to retire to our cells. I crawled into the hole the gray sister had assigned me to and curled up in the blanket. I was so tired that I fell asleep quickly, even with that horrible stench filling my nose.

I have no idea what they burned to get that smoke and while it stank so badly that it made my stomach turn, I was pleased to find that it was at least good for one thing: it killed most (but far from all) of the lice I had accumulated after days, weeks without grooming my fur. I would have really preferred a hot bath and a proper grooming, but I doubted that I would get that anytime soon.