10 James' first narrative
Alexander and I had listened, horrified, as the beautiful Joshua was chastised and tortured by Bentley and watched as he hobbled out of Bentley's study with a mixture of pity and fear swirling around in my innards. Of course we had heard Joshua receiving eight strokes of the dreaded cane and surmised that he had received them on the 'bare' since the muffled sounds of the strokes had a crisp edge to them which neither Alexander nor I associated with caning over the trousers. Joshua's uncomfortable steps down the corridor made me wonder what exact form of torture Bentley had inflicted upon him but my day dreaming was quickly interrupted by Bentley summoning Alexander and I to his study.
As I walked towards our fate, I allowed the back of my hand to graze Alexander's both for reassurance from him and for an expression of my love for him. Although I had been somewhat forthright in my invitation to Joshua to explore our _s_e_x_ual preferences, I needed to let Alexander know that I was one with him, not just at this moment but for the long term and his slight reassuring pressure in return gave me great comfort.
The ten or twelve paces from where we stood to Bentley's study seemed to take forever to complete. My legs were slightly shaky and my buttocks seemed to be unusually prominent in my mind. I tried to sustain my equilibrium by taking fairly deep breaths.
When we entered Bentley's study the first thing I noticed was the trail of sweat that Joshua's body had left upon the desktop. The late evening sun seemed to focus upon the feint drops of sweat that had clearly come from Joshua's hand and forehead and I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach both in sorrow for Joshua and for fear for both Alexander and I.
Bentley was holding the cane that had so recently thrashed across Joshua's backside. He gave us a quick lecture about our failure to attend the cadet corps parade and his assumption that we had been indulging in what he described as "unnatural practices" and then declared that we would each receive 'six of the best' upon our bared backsides.
The inevitable question of whether we had any valid excuses for our actions was put to us and, to my surprise, Alexander stood his ground and asked just what evidence Bentley has to assume that we had been engaged in "sins of the flesh" as he so eloquently put it.
Bentley was taken aback by Alexander's challenge and could only respond that "it was common knowledge" as to what we did together. Before Alexander could challenge Bentley further, we were ordered to remove our trousers and underwear and I was directed to bend over Bentley's desk.
I did as directed and deliberately placed my hands and my head where Joshua's had clearly been, I think out of a sense of empathy. Bentley used his cane to lift my shirt tail from my backside and then proceeded to prolong my suffering my casually ribbing the cane across my exposed rear. The cane departed and next I hear the dreaded 'thwipp' as the cane flew through the air and sliced into my backside. The pain that engulfed me was intolerable and I realised that Bentley had deliberately taken his position slightly in front of where my backside was poised to make the pain even greater as the cane sought to reach as far forward as possible. It was a crude device that I had seen before but extremely effective from the point of view of the flagellant.
As I awaited the second stroke, my mind registered the pain on my right flank, the furthermost point from where Bentley was standing. I marvelled at how flexible the cane had to be to reach around my rather prominent nether cheeks to reach such a point with its tip.
Bentley took his time administering each blow. The second stroke slashed into the crease between my buttocks and my thighs - a clear sign of Bentley's evil intent - and I cried out at the pain. The following strokes were placed between the first two and each caused me to regrettably emit a sharp cry which I assumed was music to Bentley's ears.
Following the sixth stroke I rose slowly, tears running down my cheeks and I thought, erroneously as it turned out, blood seeping down my wounded backside. As I shuffled miserable towards where was standing, half naked, my blurred vision registered his organ in a state of semi-erection which gave me a shock.
As I took my place and turned, Alexander was walking to the desk and I watched in fascination as he too took his place where the residue of Joshua and my visits to the desk lay. I wiped my tears away and watched as Alexander carefully positioned his hands where the sweat from Joshua and my hands lay and then, slowly, bent forward. To my chagrin, I could feel my own member ever so slightly become aroused as I fixed my gaze upon the perfect white buttocks of my boyfriend.
As I watched Bentley remover Alexander's shirt tail from covering his backside I was intensively rubbing my own backside in a fruitless effort to alleviate the throbbing pain that resided there.
Somewhat detached from the event, I watched as Bentley raised the cane and slashed it down upon Alexander's backside where, immediately, a livid weal started to appear. Alexander was more stoical than I and took four strokes before he gave any apparent sign of the pain he was enduring.
I marvelled at his courage and at the perfection with which the four strokes had been laid on all parallel with the partners. At the fifth and sixth strokes, Alexander's head rose abruptly from the desktop and he gave voice to his agony.
Alexander started top rise from the desk only to feel the cane pushing him back onto it as Bentley said quite simply "for impertinence" and then proceeded to deliver two additional strokes to Alexander's already ravaged nether cheeks. Despite my personal distress, I am certain that Bentley smirked as the final stroke, which cut across the previous seven, brought forth little spots of blood. I could also see that Alexander's legs were on the verge of letting him down as he valiantly fought to stay in position.
To my relief, and more to Alexander's, Bentley directed that he should get dressed. Slowly, Alexander rose and pulled up his underpants and trousers and fastened his belt before turning towards where I stood. My attention was immediately drawn to Alexander's tear-stained face but then, as he moved towards my side, I saw the telltale signs of his having ejaculated during the thrashing and it dawned upon me slowly that this explained why his legs had almost given out on him.
Alexander wiped the tears from his face with his handkerchief and then I and then he shook hands with the vile Bentley and cautiously made our way out of the chamber of our sorrows and down the passage to the nearest bathroom.