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The Last War Of Summer - Part 6 Matthew crept up the ditch to the exit, carefully looked all round and climbed out to the cover of the bushes. I joined him a few moments later. Together, we cautiously made our silent way towards the enemy camp. As we drew near we could hear voices and other muffled sounds. We looked at one another in the gathering darkness, mystified and unable to explain what we could hear. Matthew shrugged and crept forward again. At last we reached the edge of the clearing and immediately understood. The scene was lit with an oil lamp and in the clearing were Mike, John and my brother. What shocked us was the fourth member of this little tableau. Matthew's brother, Paul was lying on the ground, each of his wrists and ankles tightly lashed to the stakes to which I had been bound briefly earlier that day. Although a little older than me, Paul was if anything slightly shorter and consequently his limbs were stretched unbelievably taut. His shoes, socks and shirt had been removed so he was only clad in his blue gym shorts. Mike was kneeling beside the prisoner assaulting his bare ribs with his fingertips. Paul was writhing around trying to escape the tickling but staked out as he was it was impossible. The sound we had heard was the strange gurgling noise produced by his giggles - he was very securely gagged. He was bathed in sweat and his face was filthy, the dirt streaked with the tears which were running down his face. Matthew made to run forward (he was very protective of his younger brother) but I held him back. "Don't be foolish - you will get us both caught!" I hissed, and he subsided just as Mike finished his assault. Paul, whose back had been arched under the fierce attack, relaxed and let out a deep sigh as he lay still. Mike lifted the prisoner's head quite gently and untying the knotted cloth, pulled out the gag. John knelt beside our buddy and held up a water bottle and the bound boy drank deeply. When he had finished Mike allowed his head to fall back, stood up and looking down at the captive said, "We can put a stop to this immediately - just tell us what we want to know and we will truss you up nice and comfy and leave you alone." "I told you already, I don't know where any of them are. I haven't seen a soul since late afternoon. Please don't tickle – " Before he had finished pleading, Mike had nodded to Chris who leant down and deftly inserted the wad back in Paul's mouth, leaving him mmmpppfhing in vain. The second cloth was pushed between his teeth, Mike raised his head and once more the gag was knotted tightly in place. We saw Paul stiffen and his back arched in anticipation. He was giggling before Mike so much as touched his taut skin! For five minutes the tickling continued and Paul writhed, sweated and giggled into his gag as tears streamed down his face. At last, it ended and the poor boy relaxed again in his bonds. Once more Mike took off his gag but before he could ask a question Paul pleaded, "Please, please stop. I can't tell you what I don't know!" As this last scene unfolded, Matthew, full of indignation whispered that we must do something and we decided to storm in with our pistols "blazing". As Paul stopped his pleading we charged out into the open and were rewarded, first by a look of open mouthed surprise on the faces of our three adversaries and second by the satisfying sight of wet patches spreading on three shirts. John and Mike turned to face us, accepting defeat but Chris charged out of the clearing and made good his escape (not strictly according to the rules, but we had two more prisoners). They were made to lie down and I covered them as Matthew crossed John's wrists behind his back and lashed them together tightly. The yelp the prisoner emitted as he cinched it off, suggested he was not being too gentle. He now turned his attention to Mike, tying his hands palm to palm before taking a second length of rope and binding his elbows. Mike was less supple than some of us younger members of the troop and I guessed Matthew's efforts were causing him some discomfort but I chose not to intervene - he was after all, only delivering the pay off for the assault on his brother. With the prisoners hands secured, Matthew got on with gagging them while I turned my attention to Paul. He was still lying tightly bound to his stakes and had watched wide eyed as we launched our rescue. Despite his mouth being free he had said not a word throughout, patiently waiting for us to finish securing the captives before releasing him. Free at last, he rubbed his wrists and ankles briefly and pulled his trainers on, however there was no sign of his tee shirt and he was forced to remain shirtless like Stuart. Then at last he spoke, "We must get away from here quickly - I don't want to be captured by Chris again!" Neither did I! We decided to take these two new prisoners back to our tents and secure them there (the den would be getting crowded and there was a risk of being spotted trying to get two more bound boys into hiding). Mike and John were helped up and they did not resist as we lead them quickly away. We left their eyes free since they were not being taken to our foxhole. Arrived at our camp, we quickly pushed our captives into a tent, bound their ankles and completed a tight hogtie. Matthew decided against freeing Mike's elbows - he was still sore at Paul's treatment although our rules of engagement were quite clear regarding "tickle torture" and we all accepted this including Paul! We now crept out and rejoined the others in the hideout, taking extreme care to ensure we were not observed. Paul had not seen it before and was amazed on entering. It was illuminated with torchlight but no sign was evident from outside. The four prisoners were still sitting dejectedly with their backs to the dirt wall, their tightly bound hands uncomfortably behind them and their legs, bound at the ankles, hunched up. Robert was in the process of giving them a further drink, and consequently Mark and Simon were not gagged. The former was pleading to have their blindfolds removed but this was strenuously refused. The gags were soon replaced and our prisoners silenced once more. We gave a brief report on what had taken place and described how Chris had escaped. Our pals were jubilant when they heard that we now had Mike and John bound in one of our tents making a total of six prisoners. Three of the opposition were still at large in addition, of course, to my treacherous brother, and only James was unaccounted for from our side although we had every reason to believe he had still been free when we rescued Paul. We were within half an hour of the time limit, and on the basis of the number of prisoners held, we would be the clear winners; and under our "rules of engagement" those boys held captive by the winning team at the conclusion were liable to remain as our prisoners. It had been decided earlier in the day that any such unfortunates might be held overnight. Only John and Geoff were subject to a parental curfew (they were not camping over the weekend) and would have to be given up. I had been considering what we would do at the end and I now told my buddies I had some proposals to make. I first pointed out the treacherous behaviour of my brother and reminded them how Paul had been tortured without mercy. Ken butted in to remind them of the treatment meted out to me earlier and we received nods of assent from our mates. My suggestion was that we should first secure all our prisoners in our camp, leaving them under a light guard (say two boys). The rest of us should then proceed to the enemy base under a flag of truce. It was possible that they had by now captured James, but if not they would have no bargaining power at all. We should then offer to free all our hostages in exchange for Chris taking their places. If they were holding James, he would be released automatically under our "rules". They would probably want proof that we were holding their six compatriots - we would bring them to our base still under the flag of truce and show them our prisoners. None of the enemy would see our den...
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