CAULDRON OF FEAR

by

Jennifer Jane Pope

Chimera (UK £5.99 - Pub. January 2001)

This is my next book from Chimera and, as you can see, is scheduled to be in the shops early in 2001.

Set in the latter half of the seventeenth century, in an England governed by Cromwell and ruled by fear and superstition, this is a tale of ignorance versus wealth and so-called education, where, despite the fact that the the notorious Witchfinder General, Matthews Hopkins has supposedly died in disgrace some fifteen years since, his acolytes continue his nefarious work in the more remote villages and hamlets.

Greed, torture and a clandestine white slavery network are all intertwined here, where the wrong word, a misinterpreted glance, or simply a pretty maiden spurning the advances of a powerful admirer, can lead to a gruesome death, or, worse still, a life of degradation, humiliation and constant agonies.

Add a handful of would-be genuine witches, with their own speciality of abduction and torture and life in rural Hampshire starts to become more than just a little precarious.

And now for the promised extract ....

Her name was Miranda Parkes, but the people here persisted in calling her Kitty, not just refusing to acknowledge her real identity, but actively punishing her with their cruel whips if she dared try not responding to the name they had given her, let alone when she tried to insist that they use her correct title.

`Here you are Kitty,' the young overseer had told her, gripping her jaw between a powerful thumb and forefinger and jerking her face up towards his own. `You're Kitty here and you'll be Kitty from now on, unless your new master decides to rename you.'

`But I'm not a slave,' Miranda squeaked, defiantly. She clenched and unclenched her fists in desperate frustration, but her wrists had remained strapped to her hips as they had been when she had first recovered consciousness in this awful place. `I'm not a slave,' she repeated, futilely. The overseer, whose name was Adam, released his grip on her and pushed her away from him.

`Is that so?' he smirked. `Well, you look like a slave, right enough, for no free woman I ever knew would stand before men shamelessly showing off her titties like you do.' Miranda felt her cheeks redden, for she had almost managed to forget that she was kept so terribly near naked.

`It's not my choice to be like this,' she whispered, lowering her eyes, grimacing as she saw how hard and extended her nipples appeared. `If you would permit me, I'd cover myself suitably.'

`I think your appearance is suitable enough,' Adam laughed, `for a slave girl.' He slapped the short leather crop against his high boot, making Amanda wince. `And that's what you are, Kitty, whether you like it or not, so the sooner you start learning how a slave should properly behave, the easier it will be for you.' He flexed the crop meaningfully.

`So,' he said, silkily, `what's it to be, or shall I add a few more stripes to those rosy little bottom cheeks?' Kitty winced again, for if the immediate pain of the whipping he had given her that first evening had faded, the memory had not and she did not have to try too hard to recall each of the six burning stripes he had laid across her buttocks. She let out a long breath.

`I don't want to be whipped again,' she said, quietly.

`Master,' Adam reminded her. She sighed again.

`I don't want to be whipped again, master,' she corrected. `What is it you want me to do?'

`Whatever I tell you,' he said, smiling now. `It won't be that hard to learn, I promise you. Now, step up closer and present those slave girl titties for my inspection.' Swallowing hard, Amanda took a pace forward and forced herself to draw her shoulders back, thrusting her generous mounds into even greater prominence. Adam's free hand reached out, hefting the left breast carefully, kneading one side gently with his thumb. To her chagrin, Amanda felt a tremor run up and down her arched spine and an involuntary little squeal escaped her lips before she could check it.

`Very good, Titty Kitty,' Adam purred, evidently pleased with the reaction to his touch. `Look down now, see how your teats swell to my caresses. Why, I swear that if you weren't wearing your slave harness then you'd throw yourself wantonly upon me, you brazen little trollop.'

He let the whip drop at his feet and now his left hand began to explore, but this time much lower down, pushing between the stiff leather strap between her thighs and searching, first for her recently denuded mound and then for the swollen lips that had now begun to throb as though they had developed a will of their own.

`Ah, naughty Titty Kitty,' he breathed, his mouth close to her right ear. `What's this then, are we all wet down here? And so hot, too. Would you like me to take care of this hungry little cunny, Titty Kitty?'

`Yes, master.' Amanda could not believe that she had said that and was on the point of drawing back when common sense and self preservation interceded. To resist now, even to object, could only bring one inevitable and painful result and after all, she told herself, reasonably, she was no virgin. Besides, she had to admit, he was handsome, even if his manner towards her was brutish.

Slowly, she raised her face, until her eyes met his.

`Yes, master,' she repeated, quietly but now surprisingly calmly, `I think I should like that very much!'

Cauldron of Fear will be available in all good UK bookshops, in many bookstores in the USA and also via either Chimera's own website, at www.chimerabooks.co.uk or www.amazon.co.uk, using on-line ordering with credit/debit cards.

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