Throughout the months of fall, Master Bregu's fems were kept busy with preparations for winter. The most vital necessity was the gathering of wood, which would fuel the stoves in Bregu's kitchen and the hearths in his home.

The laborers would cut down dozens of trees and pile them onto wagons, which the draftgirls would haul laboriously back to Bregu's estate to be unloaded. This journey was seldom more than a mile, but even with eighteen draftgirls straining under a femdick's lash it often took an hour or more. And as late autumn progressed into early winter, the amount of wood consumed by Bregu and his fems became truly prodigious. A full wagon loaded with several hundred pounds of wood might last only a day or two. And Bregu insisted on keeping an extra week's supply stacked behind the laborer's barracks in case of emergency.

For weeks ThickThighs would be awakened each day shortly after dawn, fed and stretched, tailed and belled, then harnessed to the huge flatbed wagon with seventeen other draftgirls. They would be driven outside to wait while the laborers were herded, sleepy and shivering, into the bed of the wagon, where they huddled together for warmth against the chill morning air.

For ThickThighs and her harnessmates the only defense against the cold was the booties on their feet and the exertion of hauling the heavily-laden wagon; they eagerly anticipated the crack their driver's whip.

When they reached the woodcutting site, the harnessgirls would simply kneel in the harness and wait while the wagon was slowly filled with cords of wood. On especially cold days, they might have blankets draped over their bodies while they waited. When the wagon was full they were driven home, and the laborers would follow on foot behind them.

Master Golm did not often accompany these excursions. He spent most of his time at the stable, repairing harnesses and carriages in preparation for the deep winter storage.

The end of the year brought some relief from ThickThighs's toil. The harnessgirls began to spend most of the short, cold days in their stalls, sleeping as much as possible to while away the time. Only once a week did they have to haul the laborers out to the forest and bring the wood back home.

And ThickThighs still had the twice-weekly chore of helping to clean out the stables. She enjoyed this break from the monotony of her daily life, though she dreaded the trips to the dungheap through the flesh-numbing cold.

Master Golm celebrated the new year with extra rations for his harnessgirls, then he built a small fire in the center of the stable and allowed the fems to gather round it. The girls, accustomed to their drafty stalls, cooed and giggled like fuckholes as they pressed as close as possible to the warm flames. After an hour or so he doused the fire and sent the disappointed girls back to their stalls, where they burrowed under the straw in an attempt to retain the glorious warmth.

ThickThighs, nestled between StrongLegs and HardRun, had just begun to dream when she was roughly shaken awake. She raised her head groggily, saw Master Golm waking her stallmates.

All three girls rose to their knees, rubbing their bleary eyes.

"Come," said Golm, gesturing, and they followed him to the rear of the stable where Master Bregu's runabout waited. WideMouth was there already stretching another trio of harnessgirls.

When all of them had been belled, tailed and harnessed, WideMouth quickly tied girlskin booties to their feet. Master Golm hung a small lantern from the leading girls, climbed into the carriage and shook the reins.

The air outside was frigid, but fortunately there was little wind. Master Golm turned the girls toward Bregu's house and whipped them to a trot.

Where is master taking us, ThickThighs wondered, at nightfall in the dead of winter?

They carried him up the hill and around the front of the house, where Master Bregu waited pacing on his porch. He did not at first notice their arrival, but looked up with a start when he heard Golm whistle softly. Then he hurried down the steps to the runabout.

"Damnably cold!" he snapped, pulling his heavy black overcoat more tightly around him as he clambered into the seat.

"And dark, m'lord," Golm said. "Are you sure this trip is wise?"

Bregu seemed to hesitate a moment before replying curtly, "Drive."

Bregu clucked at the fems and shook the reins; they started forward obediently. The warmth of the fire they had enjoyed less than an hour before now seemed many years past; they grunted and gasped softly, hoping their driver would lay his whip into them and speed them to a gallop.

They did not have to wait long. As they reached the foot of the hill Master Golm cracked his whip with unusual vehemence.

"Move, cunts!" he barked.

They bolted down the road past the stable, and ThickThighs felt the first trickle of sweat down her brow.

An hour later Master Golm turned them off the road onto a narrow and uneven path. He slowed the girls to a trot, so that they could better negotiate the ruts and holes.

The path carried them past one or two small farms, before winding its way into a thickly wooded forest. The single lamp borne by the girls in front flickered feebly in the gloom. Branches whipped ThickThighs continuously. She began to feel a tangle of grass and weeds under her feet, and recognized the sign of a seldom-used trail. Often she heard small animals scampering through the brush as they approached, and once she was startled by the angry snort of a much larger beast which seemed to be just a few feet off the path.

The harnessgirls hauled their masters a mile or two through the forest, and finally came to an ancient wooden bridge across a dry creekbed. Master Golm halted them in front of the bridge.

"Why have you stopped?" asked Master Bregu. "This is the right way. There's the bridge to prove it."

"I don't trust it," said Master Golm. "Doesn't look like it could hold the weight of a fem, let alone -- "

"Drive, Golm!" snapped Bregu. "Do you see another way around?"

"As you wish, m'lord."

Master Golm clucked softly at his girls, shook the reins. He walked them forward onto the bridge, which creaked ominously. ThickThighs flinched as her feet stepped across the threshold of the bridge, half expecting it to collapse beneath her.

But they crossed the bridge without incident. On the other side the path widened, and the forest was much thinner. Master Golm directed them forward at little more than a walk. For several minutes they proceeded at this pace, and ThickThighs realized the masters were looking for something.

"There it is!" cried Golm suddenly. "This is the place!"

Beside the path, set atop a rough-hewn stake about four feet high, was a fem's head. It was short-haired, forehead branded. Fresh blood was pooled at the foot of the stake.

"Now," said Master Bregu. "We wait."

They waited, the fems already beginning to shiver with cold now that they were no longer warmed by exertion. Steam rose from their bodies into the frigid air. After a minute ThickThighs felt NoName's tongue on her head, eagerly licking at the salty sweat. She turned her head toward her harnessmate so that she might more easily lick her scalp and cheeks.

When she was finished, NoName returned the favor, and ThickThighs lapped with enthusiasm. She was half a head shorter than NoName and could not reach the opposite side of the harnessgirl's head, so she licked instead at her shoulder and armpit, nuzzling like a puppy at its mother's teat.

Suddenly a figure appeared at the side of the carriage, no more than three feet from ThickThighs's side. It was short for a master, little taller than the femdick HardBody, but significantly stockier. Its voice, deep and menacing, hissed from beneath the hood of its black cloak.

"Biter Bregu. I was informed that you required my services."

"Yes," said Master Bregu. He swallowed loudly.

"Step down and we will discuss the necessary arrangements."

"Right," said Bregu, without enthusiasm. He climbed down from the carriage and joined the hooded man, who led him a short distance down the trail. They stood, just beyond the light of the carriage's lamp, conversing in hushed tones.

ThickThighs tried not to listen, but she nevertheless clearly heard the name "Lord Animus." Then, ashamed at having overhead her Master's private conversation, she forced herself to listen to the nightnoises of the forest.

Master Bregu and the figure conversed for several minutes; then Bregu returned to his carriage, gnawing anxiously at his lower lip.

"Take us home," he muttered.

They could not turn about on the narrow path, so Master Golm drove them deeper into the woods, away from the bridge. When they had progressed several hundred yards the trail widened at a clearing, where they turned and started for home. Their bodies having grown cold, the fems relished the chance to work up another sweat.

Shortly after midnight they halted before Master Bregu's house, exhausted but warm.

Bregu stepped down without a word to Golm, and hurried inside.

Master Golm watched him go, then gently shook the reins. "Let's get you sluts home," he said wearily.

A loud commotion in the stables awoke ThickThighs the next morning. LittleTits barged into their stall, followed by HardBody. They looked cursorily around the stall for several seconds before HardBody turned her angry gaze on ThickThighs.

"You seen Master Golm, cunt?" she demanded.

ThickThighs blinked her bleary eyes, shook her head without entirely comprehending the question. "No, mistress," she murmured.

HardBody turned toward StrongLegs and HardRun, who were looking sleepily up at her.

"Have you seen Master Golm?" HardBody asked.

"No, mistress," they said, shaking their heads.

The femdick growled angrily, turned and stalked out, followed by LittleTits.

Why were they looking for Master Golm, GoodFace wondered? Why would he have disappeared?

The two femdicks dropped to their knees before Master Bregu, who was standing in the middle of the stable.

"Master, HardBody is sorry, Master. She does not know where Master Golm is, Master."

"Where the fuck is he?" growled Bregu, genuinely perplexed. "He's not anywhere on the estate, and he didn't take any of the carriages or wagons. He must have gone somewhere, on foot. But where would he go?" Bregu scratched his head. He looked at the femdicks kneeling before him. "HardBody, when you went up into Master Golm's loft, what did you find?"

"Master, nothing, Master. Just His bed and His chest of belongings, Master."

"Did you look in the chest?"

"Masteryesmaster. It was open, Master. But there was nothing in it."

Master Bregu seemed alarmed by this information. "Nothing? It was empty?"

"Masteryesmaster."

"Damnation! Why would he pack his things and leave in the dead of winter?"

Master Bregu narrowed his eyes and looked toward the stall where ThickThighs still knelt watching through the half open gate.

"Harness up the runabout and the carriage," he told HardBody. "I want you, LittleTits and DarkHair to search every road within 10 miles."

"Masteryesmaster," said HardBody. Then, "Master? What if we find Him, Master?"
"Then find out why he's left. And bring him back if possible."

The two femdicks exchanged an expression of deep doubt and anxiety.

"Masteryesmaster," said HardBody.

ThickThighs soon found herself harnessed to the runabout with StrongLegs and HardRun, straining under LittleTits's merciless whip.

The femdick drove them down fifteen or twenty miles of winding roads in the vicinity of Master Bregu's estate, but they found absolutely no sign of Master Golm. When they returned to the stables late in the afternoon ThickThighs was exhausted. Her breasts and fingertips were turning blue with cold, and her toes had grown numb despite the girlskin booties.

DarkHair had already returned, and LittleTits halted next to her carriage as the laborers WideMouth and ThinLips unharnessed the mounts. The two femdicks stepped down from their carriages to await HardBody's return. After awhile they grew bored and grabbed ThinLips, threw her to the ground and began to use her in tandem. They were clearly well-versed in teamwork, never once getting in each other's way as they sunk their phalluses in the squirming girl's holes.

WideMouth watched surreptiously with a mixture of distate and envy. The task of unharnessing, stripping and wiping down the half-dozen draftgirls took twice as long for WideMouth working alone, and the femdicks used ThinLips mercilessly the entire time.

Finally, with dusk fast approaching, WideMouth was guiding ThickThighs, StrongLegs and HardRun back to their stall when the front stable doors opened and HardBody entered. WideMouth and the harnessgirls stopped short, staring.

The femdick was on foot, her body streaked with dirt and sweat. The braid of her long blond hair was undone, and it fell raggedly about her shoulders and back. One of the chains between her lower lip and her breasts dangled freely from her lip; her right breast was dark with blood where the ring had been ripped from the aeriole. Both eyes were black and swollen; a large discolored knot stood out on her cheek.

LittleTits and DarkHair rushed toward her, reaching her side just as she collapsed onto her knees.

"Mistress!" cried DarkHair. "What happened?"

HardBody winced, setting her right arm in her lap. ThickThighs noticed the forearm was deeply bruised, probably broken. "Found Master Golm," said the femdick weakly. "Several miles southeast. He wouldn't tell me where He was going. I told Him Master Bregu demanded He come home. He ignored me, so I hit Him with the whip."

Every fem listening gasped, even the harnessgirls in the nearby stalls.

"He was enraged," HardBody continued. "He attacked me, we fought. He took Master Bregu's carriage and continued on."

"We should tell Master Bregu, mistress," DarkHair advised.

HardBody nodded, looked up at WideMouth. "Run tell Master what has happened. Hurry!"

"Yes, mistress!" WideMouth scampered out the door, breast bells clanging. The three harnessgirls, abandoned by their keeper, stood in silence, staring at their feet.

"How long ago did you see Him, mistress?" asked DarkHair.

"Hours. He has gone many miles by now. It is too dark to search anyway."

For the first time HardBody took notice of the carriage-pullers standing quietly nearby. "Put those cunts in their stall!" she hissed.

"Yes, mistress," said DarkHair. She quickly herded the fems into

the stall, shut the gate behind them and returned to her stricken mistress.

All three harnessgirls sank wearily into the straw. StrongLegs eyed the feeding trough morosely; it had not yet been filled. HardRun curled up under a mound of straw and was snoring heartily within seconds.

ThickThighs, tired as she was, could not take her mind off the mystery of Master Golm's departure. She peeked through the gap between two slats in the gate, and watched as ThinLips hurried up to HardBody carrying a pail of water. The laborer tentatively began to wash the dirt and blood from the femdick's body, flinching as Hardbody cursed repeatedly in pain.

Several minutes later Master Bregu arrived, tense and agitated.

He shooed away ThinLips and bent over HardBody. "Tell what happened," he demanded.

HardBody repeated her story, with a few additional details: She had found Master Golm early in the afternoon several miles southeast of Bregu's estate. After he took her carriage and rode away, she had walked home. He was many miles away by now.

ThickThighs, listening discreetly from her stall, expected Master

Bregu to be enraged by Golm's conduct. Instead, he seemed deeply disconcerted.

He turned to LittleTits, beckoning her to him.

"I have an extremely important task for you, cunt," he told her,

placing one large arm almost tenderly round her shoulders. "My life may

depend on it. And yours as well." He led her toward the rear of the stable, delivering detailed instructions which ThickThighs could not make out.

Twenty minutes later LittleTits departed with great haste in a

carriage drawn by six fresh harnessgirls. Master Bregu left a few minutes later with HardBody and DarkHair at his heels. WideMouth and ThinLips closed the stable doors behind them, then returned to their stall for the night. In the silence and gloom ThickThighs lay down and fell quickly to sleep.

* * *

"Get up, cunts! Get your fat asses out of the straw!"

ThickThighs awoke with a start, roused by Master Bregu's strident exclamation and a pair of stinging blows to the hip from his riding crop. The Master was standing at the center of the stall, holding a lantern in one hand and his crop in the other, poised for another blow.

ThickThighs scrambled whimpering to her feet, eager to convince the Master that she needed no further incentive to obey.

Unappeased, Master Bregu struck her twice across the ass as she rose, then turned his attention to StrongLegs and HardRun. Both fems seemed disoriented, rising lethargically. The Master laid into them with a barrage of threats and swipes of his crop that left both girls cowering against the side of the stall, moaning piteously.

"Move it, you sacks of shit!" he bellowed as he left the stall. Stumbling and confused, all three girls struggled to keep up.

The stable was pitch black except for Master Bregu's single lamp, and even through the cracks in the doors and walls ThickThighs could not see the slightest glimmer of dawn. Why was Master in such a hurry to leave, and at so strange an hour?

In every stall she could hear fems stirring, awakened by the Master's outburst; above the gate to one stall she caught a glint of lamplight off two pairs of eyes peering curiously at them as they passed.

At the rear of the stable they were met by WideMouth and ThinLips, who were only slightly less bleary-eyed than the harnessgirls. WideMouth held an unlit lamp in both hands, and was hopping up and down to keep warm.

Master Bregu took her lamp and lit it. "Get these sluts harnessed to my runabout," he commanded. "Now!"

"Masteryesmaster," murmured WideMouth, teeth chattering. She took the lamp and turned toward the little carriage, followed by the harnessgirls. ThickThighs expected to be given at least a brief stretching, but the laborers immediately set about harnessing all three fems.

Bregu returned a minute later with three more carriage-pullers. When all six girls were harnessed, he snapped his fingers impatiently at WideMouth and ThinLips.

"Shod their feet. Quickly!"

"Masteryesmaster," cried the fems, rushing to obey. As WideMouth retrieved several pairs of booties, she asked, "Master, what sort of ass-sticks do you want them to wear, Master?"

"Forget the ass-sticks!" he snapped, glancing anxiously toward the front doors of the stable. "Forget the bells, too. And hurry the hell up!"

"Masteryesmaster."

Master Bregu hung his lamp from his lead fems, urging the laborers on with a spirited tongue lashing. When they had finished with the harnessgirls, he gestured toward the rear doors of the stable.

"Open them, quickly," he commanded, then turned to the runabout and climbed into the seat.

As the laborers flung open the doors, the carriage-pullers began hurriedly stretching themselves as best they could within the constraints of the harness to remove the kinks from their sleep-stiffened bodies.

"Move, cunts!" bellowed the Master, his whip falling with sudden savagery on the girls' backsides. Sobbing they lurched forward and ThickThighs, accustomed to the presence of an ass-stick, broke wind prodigiously as she strained against the traces.

They exited the rear of the stable into the face of a chill breeze from the north; Master Bregu directed his girls to the right, flogging them spiritedly as they approached a small bridge.

They sprinted across the wooden planks, Master Bregu lashing them with merciless insistence. At a gallop they left the stable behind, carrying their Master north into the gloomy night.

For an hour Master Bregu forced his fems to maintain a breakneck pace. Their sobbing and whimpering grew steadily louder, until he could no longer ignore it, and he slowed them briefly to a trot.

ThickThighs, cold and exhausted, struggled to keep her head up and her stride steady. The road was narrow, bounded on the right by a ditch choked with neck-high reeds, and on the left by a tangled hedge. The road was in poor condition, rutted and pocked with deep holes, but Master Bregu did not slow his girls any further.

Occassionally ThickThighs and her harnessmates stumbled in the uneven road, and Master Bregu would urge them on with threats and invectives as they strained to sustain the pace he had set.

Suddenly NoName, directly ahead of ThickThighs in the harness, lurched slightly to the right to avoid a large pot hole. ThickThighs, already in mid-stride, felt her foot come down on the edge of the hole. She cried out as her ankle twisted painfully; her knee struck the ground, and a moment later her face and shoulder were driven into the road.

She heard Master Bregu yelling at her, felt the sting of his lash on her buttocks. Spitting out dirt and blood, she tried to get her feet back under her while the carriage still had momentum. But when she put her weight on her right ankle it seemed to explode with pain, and she cried out in agony and fell again.

Master Bregu yanked the reins, and the harnessgirls halted. ThickThighs climbed to her knees, gasping and crying, her face almost resting in the dirt.

Bregu climbed out of the carriage and knelt beside her.

"What the fuck happened?" he snapped. Without awaiting a reply, he grasped the girl's right foot and tested it roughly. ThickThighs lurched in the harness and squealed in agony.

"Broken!" hissed Bregu. "By the gods, why am I so cursed?"

He began to unstrap ThickThighs from the harness, muttering angrily. When she was freed he pulled her to the side of the road and laid her facedown by the carriage. He squatted over her and took hold of her topknot, yanked her head up.

"Ye Gods," he muttered, "please grant your unfortunate worshipper a safe journey in exchange for this sacrifice."

ThickThighs felt the blade of a knife against her throat and she squeezed her eyes shut, trembling as she waited. For a long moment nothing happened, and she was unable to quell a brief whimper.

Then she felt the blade dragged across her neck and the flesh parting easily beneath. She gagged, her body twitching; blood spilled from the wound and oozed down her neck.

She clawed at the dirt and moaned, tasted blood in the back of her throat. Master Bregu released her topknot, and with his booted foot rolled her body into the reeds beside the road. She tumbled down the shallow embankment to the edge of the creek and lay facedown by the trickle of water, breathing raggedly.

On the road above she heard Master Bregu lumber into the carriage and crack his whip at the five remaining harnessgirls, yelling for speed. ThickThighs closed her eyes, and welcomed the darkness.