The Last War Of Summer - Part 9

by RichardUK

Mike was completely cooperative, stretching his jaws wide while Stuart stuffed one of his cloths into Mike's mouth, then he secured it in place with a second forced between our captive's teeth and tied it off behind his neck. Mike relaxed and let out a sigh then suddenly started mmmpppfhing and pointing at his tee shirt.

"Sorry old chum, there's no time now, roll over and put your hands behind your back." Mike obeyed, his wrists were crossed and tightly bound and in a few moments he was a prisoner once more. We helped Mike up and escorted him out of the tent. The other boys were just emerging from theirs and Chris was squatting on the ground outside.  He was dressed like the rest of us (except Mike!) in blue gym shorts and tee shirt.

"Hi little brother," he called as I lead the others out of the tent. Then he caught sight of Mike and his eyes widened.  "Good heavens, you didn't keep him gagged all night did you?" Unable to speak for himself Mike began vigorously to shake his head but a savage kick on the ankle from James stopped him.

All the other boys were in on our scheme and knew that Mike had in fact been freed but Robert spoke up and said, "Well, we couldn't have him keep us awake all night with his moaning, could we?" I simply looked sheepish while my brother was aghast.

We escorted our hostage back to the other base where our pals were already up and busy. They were shocked at Mike's gag, jumping to the same conclusion as Chris, but we didn't choose to enlighten them. Our bound friend was pushed down onto his log and Robert and David stepped forward and promptly tied his ankles. The stoves had already been lit and within a few minutes we were all enjoying hot coffee and laughing and joking about yesterday's proceedings. My brother was less outgoing than usual but this was perhaps not surprising.

 He looked across at Mike and said, "Don't you think you ought to let him have a drink too?"

I looked at our prisoner and poor Mike was looking very forlorn - everyone seemed to have forgotten he was there, trussed up and gagged. I immediately went across, knelt behind him and made to untie his gag.

In this position I bent closer and whispered, "Mike, I'm going to take your gag off. Please don't say anything, at least for the time being!"  My bound friend nodded his head and I freed his mouth.

As I finished he turned his head and whispered, "I don't think you know how much I appreciate what you did last night. Your secret is safe, for the present at least," and he winked at me.

Ken brought a steaming mug of coffee and helped Mike drink it since his hands were still tied behind him.

Breakfast out of the way we all turned our attentions towards my big brother. "Looks like it's payback time," I gloated with a gleam in my eye.

Chris looked at Peter and Roger, Mike's doughty lieutenants and said, "You're not going to let this scrawny little squirt get away with this, are you?"

Peter and Roger glanced at each other and the former replied, "Afraid so, Chris. We all gave our word yesterday and I don't think we have much choice in the matter. We were quite sure our little plan would result in victory and I guess we wouldn't have let your brother off lightly in those circumstances!"

"I guess not," Chris responded.

"Let's cut the talk and get on with it," I interrupted. "The sooner we have you trussed the sooner we can let him go."  I jerked my thumb at Mike. Stuart had thoughtfully replaced his gag but he nodded his assent energetically and tried to grin at us through his gag - the effect was gruesome!

Chris realized he had few supporters this morning, said "OK", turned round and crossed his wrists behind his back.

"Not so fast, big brother. Take your shirt off first," I instructed. Chris glanced at me surprised, realized I was serious and carefully removing his tee shirt stood before us in only his shorts. I was struck by the fact that they were clearly too small for him but that soon they would be passed on to me for whom they would be once more too large!

"OK guys, tie his hands." Chris once more turned, obligingly crossed his wrists behind his back and waited patiently for my mates to tie his hands, which they did with an energy and enthusiasm which took him by surprise. As they finished, I watched him struggle briefly and his whole demeanour change as he realized he was not going to be able to free himself. We pushed him down next to Mike and I told my mates to gag him.

They quickly produced some cloths but I stopped them with the words, "Not like that!" and I pulled out the wooden peg used on me yesterday.

Chris looked at me with pleading eyes and said, "you wouldn't, would you?" I made no reply but simply nodded with a smile on my face. Most of the group did not know how I had been silenced yesterday but Ken and Colin had made their indignation known during our discussions yesterday evening and immediately stepped forward. Wrapping the peg in a cloth, they approached Chris who, unlike me, accepted his fate resignedly and opened his jaws to receive the gag. It was quickly tied in place, another boy stepped forward and tied his ankles and Chris was at our mercy.

I now stepped behind Mike and whispered, "OK pal, freedom time," and removed his gag. He didn't say a word as James untied his ankles and I freed his wrists, but sat for a few moments rubbing the circulation back.

Then he whispered, "Thanks Richard, I won't forget!"

With Chris now having effectively taken Mike's place, the others crowded round asking what my plans were. We had discussed this at some length before turning in last night and Matthew had been very keen to stake him out and subject him to the same torture that had been inflicted on his brother I did point out that in my experience he was not very ticklish but after a short debate I agreed to go along with the plan. We told the others who laughingly approved but we would need to move the stakes (carefully positioned for James and me) since Chris was much taller. Four boys set to, to remove some from where they had been hammered into the dirt while Chris watched with a rueful expression on his face.

Meanwhile, Peter and Roger approached from either side, grabbed my arms and pulled me to one side of the group.  For a moment I was afraid they had some evil plan affecting my welfare in mind, but Peter spoke quietly.

"Mike told us about last night!" I showed my indignation. "Don't worry," he reassured me, "the secret is quite safe. All the others believe you kept him trussed and gagged and they won't hear the truth from us. However, we just wanted to tell you we think it was really generous of you to free him, particularly as we had some carefully laid plans for you and your mates and I doubt we would have been so forgiving." They saw my look of surprise and laughed.

"Don't think we are going soft - next time you should fear for your skin, but today we are yours to command and will assist in humiliating your brother in any way we can!"

A shout of triumph told us the workmen had finished extracting four stakes and Roger shot off to fetch the mallet.  On a flat piece of ground, he drove one of the pegs back into the earth and we all turned towards Chris. He looked pleadingly at Peter and Roger and said something which came out as an Mmmpppfh but the two boys laughed at him. Many hands grabbed him and dragged him over to lie on the ground.  His ankles were untied, his legs seized by our enthusiastic assistants and within a moment one of his feet had been lashed to the protruding stake. He was given no chance to struggle (almost an impossibility since he was now lying on his bound hands), his legs were stretched far apart and Roger happily wielded his hammer as he drove the second stake in. Within moments his other leg was immobilized. It only remained to secure his wrists. As Paul freed his hands his arms were grabbed, he was pushed back on the ground, stretched out, the stakes were hammered home and his wrists lashed to them. Chris rolled his eyes in desperation and lay still.

We spent a few minutes in jubilant triumph over my helpless brother then left him to struggle ineffectually while we made a start on clearing the camp site since some of our fathers were coming later that afternoon to collect our bulky gear. All would have to be ready by then but we would have lots of time for entertaining Chris.

It took us an hour to stow all our gear sorting it into neat piles for collection and then we returned to our prisoner.  He had clearly been struggling although we had allowed him precious little movement and was already hot, sweaty and disheveled.

"We had better give him a drink," I said. I knelt down beside him, raised his head with one hand and began to untie his gag.

As I did so I spoke softly to him, "A bit uncomfortable isn't it?" Chris looked sorrowful and nodded his agreement.

 "Don't worry, we'll give you something a little softer to chew on when you've had your drink.  Do you know what Matthew has in mind for you?" Chris shook his head. "Well, he was really upset at Paul being tortured yesterday. A bit unreasonable really because we all accept the rules of engagement and have been interrogated at one time or another but he is very protective towards his little brother. I thought you were like that once but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, prepare yourself well - Matthew means business!" I was speaking in jest really so was a little shocked by the colour draining out of his face - perhaps my brother was more ticklish than I believed...

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