Dave2112
Level of Cherry Feather
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(This story was originally published as a sequel of sorts to the "Jessica" series of magic, illusion and tickling. It is provided here now as a conclusion to this series that started it all for Yours Truly.)
Tonya was in the cramped dressing quarters of the Las Vegas cabaret she was currently employed in. The Dive, she called it. Not the biggest or brightest of Vegas’s nightspots, but not the smallest or dimmest, either. Closer to that end of the spectrum, though. She realized very quickly out here that there’s a thin line between “showgirl” and “stripper”. And an even thinner one between “stripper” and “*****”. She was determined not to take that route, having seen so many former dreamers wind up selling their bodies rather than simply using them for entertainment. She sighed. Just a little while longer here, Kiddo, just a while longer. All she had to do was be in the right place at the right time…that’s how it worked out here in Cibola, The Shining City of Gold. Well, that and keep Larry’s hands off of her for awhile longer. Larry. The “Stage Manager”. Pimp was more like it. And he wasn’t even attractive to make up for his disgusting manner. Kind of a weasel. Big knot on his forehead, crooked nose. And those beady little eyes. She sighed once again and looked down at her dressing table to begin her nightly transformation from pretty city girl to male fantasy.
Among the make-up, brushes and other tools of her trade was a flyer that she couldn’t remember seeing there before. No one usually came into these rooms except the other dancers and occasionally the creepy stage manager, but any wonder of where the mysterious advertisement originated was lost as her eyes locked on to the large dollar signs embossed along the top, and the following words in golden script:
“Open call for Magician’s Assistants.
The Magic Cellar, a private club catering to the expression of the Arcane Arts, is holding an open call to fill several positions as Assistants to one of our Prestidigitators. You have received this in good faith, as our scouts have seen your show. They are sent by us to not only find the best Magicians in the world today, but to bring some of the land’s most beautiful and talented women into our circle. If you have received this, rest assured that you are highly regarded, as our pre-screening process is rigidly adhered to. You have been selected not only for your beauty, but also for your grace and performance ability. You will be privy to many secrets of our Society, so a further screening will be required. A fee of $1,000 will be paid for simply coming to this screening. If all goes well, you will be given an opportunity to perform with one of our best Illusionists in an upcoming private show. The fee for this performance will be $10,000. Further engagements will be at the discretion of the Society. Enclosed you will find directions and a time for your expected arrival.
Sincerely,
The Magic Cellar.”
Hey….the right place at the right time. She smiled for the first time that evening.
Tonya couldn’t believe this turn of events. At 24, she was already considering her early retirement from performing. She came to Las Vegas with dreams of becoming a glamorous showgirl, but fate had brought her to this dive. She was easily the most attractive woman working there, and that was what brought most of the unwelcome advances from Larry.
She stood up and looked at herself in her full-length mirror. Yeah, she thought, might as well put this to good use before I get too old.
Tonya was 5’9” tall, model height. Her figure was impeccably kept up with regular visits to the toning and tanning salon. Her legs were long and slim, her 36C breasts still retaining the perkiness of youth, and her belly flat and trim. She was not rail-thin as some of the other girls were, she had curves in all the right places. Her hair was dyed blonde in Vegas fashion, and fell like a mane around her youngish looking, blue-eyed face. The face that was once the embodiment of innocence back in Louisiana. She could still get that look, and it served her well in her current position.
“I guess,” she said to no one but her reflection, “that it’s time to get the hell out of Dodge and on to better things.” It wasn’t just the money she wanted (but sorely needed), it was the chance to perform in something real. And a Private Club? God knows who would be there. Talent scouts, other models, who knew? It was a chance worth taking.
She arrived at the building at 6 p.m., just as instructed. Funny, but after years of living in Vegas, she didn’t recognize this street or, for that matter, many of the others that she passed along the way. Must be some new construction, she thought. Always going on around here. She parked her car and stepped out, heading for the strange looking building. It almost reminded her of an old Scottish Castle, but it was somehow…wrong around the edges. A little foggy perhaps. Well, it was getting dark, so…..
She saw no one to greet her, and was surprised that such an allegedly prestigious place had no valet or attendant. She walked up the stone steps in front of the ancient-looking building. Tonya knocked on the heavy oaken double-doors. They swung open in horror movie style. She felt a little trepidation, but, she assured herself, this was a Magic Club. She’d seen enough weird shit in Vegas to be pretty much immune to it. After taking a cautious step inside, she slowly followed a red carpet leading down into a hallway. It was then that she jumped at the man’s voice behind her.
“Good evening Tonya,” he said in a low somewhat foreign accent, “and welcome.”
After recovering from her brief scare, Tonya wondered where the hell he came from. And how did he know her name? Looking behind her, she saw only the door, with no hallways attached. How did he get behind her? Damn, they’re serious about this stuff.
“Thank you” she kindly replied, trying to sound professional. She really needed this job now, having quit on the way out of Larry’s place.
“My name is Maximus, if you would kindly follow me.”
Maximus was a hard person to place, age-wise anyway. He had white hair and beard, but his skin showed no signs of the ravages of age. His eyes, however, shined with some inner…something. Wisdom, perhaps? After the men that came to her former place of business, wisdom wasn’t something she was used to seeing.
Tonya followed the mysterious man down a long hallway lit by torches on either side. She thought she heard the faint sounds of screaming, laughing, or was it just audience applause, from behind several of the closed doors they passed.
“Some of our ongoing… performances…” Maximus said to her. “We cater to those who have a deep love of the Mystical Arts among their other interests. We have spared no expense in bringing our members everything their hearts could possibly desire. We here at the Magic Cellar have uncovered many of the ancient secrets of True Magic, and display them for our vaunted members. I myself have personally studied the Ancient Arts. Rest assured, they are very real, my dear.”
Damn, Tonya thought, these guys are really laying it on thick. Oh well, for this kind of money, I can play along. As she was brought to a room away from the others, Maximus produced ten $100 bills from out of nowhere and handed them to the astonished young dancer.
“Your fee for coming to us. Now, if you will have a seat, my associate will join us for your interview.”
The interview lasted about an hour. Tonya expected most of the drill they put her through, asking how long she’d been in Vegas, what she wanted to do with her performing talents and the like. It was explained to her that the secrets of the Magic Cellar could never leave it, but strangely, she wasn’t made to sign any releases or gag-order contracts. When she asked about this, she was again simply told that the Magic was in fact real, and that she would not need to be privy to any of it’s doings. She decided to just let it go at that. If that’s the way they want to present themselves, so be it. She’d heard of magicians whose tricks were so complex that even the Assistants didn’t know how they worked. This was Vegas after all.
In fact, the only line of questioning that truly took her by surprise was when Maximus’s colleague asked her an astonishing question. This woman she couldn’t figure any better than Maximus. She looked maybe thirty. Long brown hair, with subtle blonde highlights. A thin chain of gold was around her sleek neck, with a pendant in the shape of the letter “J”, of some precious stone Tonya couldn’t identify. The woman had deep eyes that showed, well, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t the wisdom she saw in the white-haired man, but something close, mixed with a kind of sadness. Maybe not sadness, but…some kind of hopeless acceptance. Tonya didn’t know why these epiphanies were coming to her, but there was some unspoken kinship between herself and this strange woman she’d just met. Her query did catch Tonya off guard, though.
“Tell me, young lady. Are you ticklish?”
“What has that got to do with anything?” Tonya asked.
The woman replied “Sometimes during certain illusions a magician will have to prove to our discerning audience that his assistant is truly in whatever box or cabinet she appears to be in. He may briefly tickle her feet or what have you to prove this. We couldn’t have an assistant just lying there having her feet tickled and not respond. It wouldn’t look real, now, would it?”
Made sense, Tonya thought, and she proceeded to give her examiners a run-down of her most ticklish spots.
Inwardly, her interviewers knew that this one was staying…
The stage was dark, and Tonya waited a bit nervously in the wings. She was dressed in a very revealing outfit. A lavender bikini top was layered in sparkles and barely covered her breasts. The bottom of the bikini had a see-through sash attached, covering her like a very short skirt, but leaving little to the imagination. She had lavender pumps on her feet and a headdress with purple feathers sticking out the top of it. She pulled off the outfit well, she knew, and it really wasn’t much different than some of the things she had to wear at Larry’s dive. But this wasn’t a dive. She peeked around the curtain and saw the people of her inaugural audience for the first time. They were men and women of obvious wealth. She thought she recognized some actors and world leaders, but couldn’t be sure. This was it, she told herself, your first real gig…don’t screw it up kiddo. She listened as the stage lights came up. A man appeared in a flash of light and smoke, wearing a white suit. She saw that it was Maximus! She’d been interviewed by the Emcee or perhaps even the owner himself! No wonder she got her first gig on her first day. She could almost smell the money coming her way.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Maximus said in his grand fashion, “Welcome to another evening of Wonder and Delight at the Magic Cellar. You are our honored guests, and we will bring you the finest in entertainment tonight! Our secret Society is here for one purpose only…to bring True Magic and fulfillment of your desire to you. Our first act tonight features a new addition to our small circle of family, and as usual with the introduction of a new assistant, I, Maximus, will perform the first Illusion of the night. So without any further ado, would you please welcome a lovely young lady who I know will bring you….much enjoyment…The Talented and Lovely…..Tonya!!!!!”
Tonya made her entrance in grand but subtle fashion. Years of training to be an object of desire served her to perfection. She walked onto the shadowy stage like she truly belonged there, like it was hers. She raised her arms to wave to the audience, and you could hear the murmurs of appreciation from most of the male members of the medium-sized but distinguished crowd. She took her place obediently beside Maximus, just as she was told to do beforehand.
“You like our new arrival?” Maximus played to the crowd. “I’m sure she is just as glad to be here. Isn’t she just lovely?” Applause followed his remark.
“Now, Tonya, exactly how tall are you my dear?” Maximus turned to her.
“I am Five foot Nine, Maximus” she obediently replied. A rehearsed part of the act.
“Wow, a real tall drink of water, isn’t she folks?” More scattered applause and even a few whistles from the people at the darkly lit tables.
“Now, Tonya,” the magician said, looking between her and his audience, playing it up with the banter of an old side-show pro, “sometimes men feel a bit intimidated by such a tall, beautiful woman. You are quite lovely, there is no question, but let’s see if we can perhaps …shorten you a bit…shall we?”
“You’re the Master, Maximus!” Tonya played right along.
Mystical music started to play, as the lights dimmed and two male assistants dressed in flowing black garb wheeled in a low table. They twirled it around and undulated to the Celtic sounding tune. On this table was a box about 16 inches high and around four feet long. It seemed to made of three sections that were at the moment together to form one long cabinet. Maximus made some flourishes with his arms and opened the lid of the box.
“If you would kindly step up into the cabinet, my dear….”
Tonya did as requested, dancing subtly along with the music as she did so. She needed to put on as good a performance as Maximus, she knew. These people paid good money not only to see the acts of illusion but also to see the scantily -clad young women put into the peril of the confining devices. She was aware of the male fantasy of overpowering and manipulating a helpless woman, and she agreed that it was one of the allures of magic, especially to the men. If they wanted Damsel-in-Distress, they were going to get it.
She was helped up the single step and stood in the box. Maximus laid her down into it until only her feet and head were in sight. Just as planned, she reminded herself. Smooth sailing so far. He began his act by making sure the girl was going nowhere. He showed the audience a flat piece of wood with two arches cut into it. The inside of the arches were padded. This he slid into place over Tonya’s protruding feet. Her feet wriggled around and were quite trapped in place. She had practiced the foot wiggling and had it down. Not too, much, just let them know you’re in there. And smile!
Maximus then showed another piece of dark wood with a larger arch and a smaller hole to either side of it. This was put in place over her neck.
“May I please have your hands, my dear?” he asked Tonya.
She put her wrists through the two holes and Maximus placed a ring over each one that clamped her wrist and attached to tiny clips in the stock. She was now completely immobile.
“Comfy my dear?” Maximus teased her as he tweaked her nose. She wiggled her feet and fingers for the audience, just as instructed. Damn this is going to be an easy ten grand, she thought.
“And now for the Magic to begin!” Maximus announced as the music changed tempo to a middle-eastern theme.
Maximus produced a steel blade about two feet square. He tapped on it to prove it’s solidity, and placed the edge over the box about a foot from where the box trapped Tonya’s lithe neck. This placed it right under where her breasts were. With a push, he slid the blade down into the box. It passed right through and could be seen sticking out an inch under the box. Tonya swore she felt something, which she didn’t expect. She assumed that Maximus knew what he was doing and that it was all a trick. So why did she feel as if something had truly passed through her, only without pain? Like she was told before, she didn’t need to help him at all, she didn’t need to know the secret to this particular trick. Just look fetching and play along. She made an O with her mouth to bring a gasp from the audience.
The second blade was pushed into the same spot. A third blade was pushed into the box at a spot right over Tonya’s pubic bone right below her hips. It, too, made a tickly feeling as it passed through her unsuspecting body. The fourth was placed in the same spot as the last.
Unknown to Tonya, the audience knew what was going through her head. They had seen it before from the new girls. They all thought that it was a trick, until the real fun started. The members of the audience knew why they paid so much money to be a part of this society. They all knew that the Magic here was quite real. And magic wasn’t the only interest that this secret club catered to, as Tonya was about to find out. The night a new girl was “broken in” was a special occasion in the Magic Cellar. And Tonya was tonight’s main attraction…
Maximus proceeded with his astounding illusion. One of the male assistants grabbed the end of the box containing Tonya’s trapped feet while Maximus himself grabbed the box near her head. With a pull from either end, the box was pulled apart, as the section containing her legs separated from the rest! The assistant at the end then grabbed a hold of the next section of the box and the two repeated the process as the small section in the middle was pulled away from the part containing Tonya’s chest and head. The assistant disappeared into the wings as Maximus, looking a bit like a modern-day Gandalf with his white hair, beard and suit, stepped to the side of the completed illusion. The box was now in three separate sections. Tonya was breathing a bit heavily as she began to get nervous for the first time. She felt separated, but couldn’t begin to describe how. She now wished that she actually knew how the trick worked, at least she’d feel a little more comfortable. But she relaxed. He was a professional, she told herself, and it really didn’t hurt, right?
“And now, my dear members, let me prove to you the reality of what you have just witnessed.” The audience leaned forward in unison. He walked to the section containing Tonya’s wriggling feet. “I don’t think you will really need these shoes, my dear…” They were removed by the magician, slowly and with much flair, to reveal a pair of soft, silky feet. The painted toes wriggled about as the cool air hit her feet. Then Maximus did something that made Tonya jerk as much as she could in the confines of the device that held her in something far more devious than bondage.
“Tickle Tickle Tickle…”, the mage laughed as he placed a single finger at each soft, flawless sole and wriggled it over the sensitive skin.
“Oh NOO!!!! HAHAHAHA…STOP!!!!!” Tonya was somewhat prepared for this part as per her earlier briefing, and she intended to put on a good performance, even thought she was currently a bit mystified. The audience laughed along at her predicament. Maximus continued to run his fingers over the girl’s wiggling soles as she began to laugh a bit more heartily. After about thirty seconds of this, she was a little out of breath. They usually don’t tickle your feet that long, do they?
“Oooh, she’s a ticklish one, isn’t she folks?” Maximus said to the sound of the applause. “I wonder what we have in here…..” And Maximus stopped tickling his assistant’s feet to walk over to the small box that lay between the two larger sections.
He flipped a small latch and a door opened on the side of the box. Revealed was the smooth flank of the young woman, from the ribs to the hip. The concave section of the side of her belly was exposed to the audience. The skin shone under the stage lights, and the surface could be seen to subtly ripple as the cool air now struck that part of her sexy body.
“Oh…Tonnnyyyaaaa…..” teased Maximus as he held a wriggling finger at the outside of the box.
“Oh no don’t PLEASE?!?! Not there! This isn’t fair!!!” She was frightened of the tickling of her trapped middle, but was still trying to play the part.
“Kootchie Kootchie Koo….” Maximus toyed as he placed his finger against the smooth surface of the helpless girl’s side. He picked up the pace and ran the finger from ribs to hip and back again. Each pass of his tickling finger brought more pressure and a more serious sensation. He wasn’t tickling like any magician she‘d ever seen, but more like the men in those kinky videos her roommate did for extra cash.
“Tickle tickle tickle!!!!! KitchieKitchie!!” Maximus was relentless now, using all of the fingers of his hand to tickle the trapped girl’s mid-section. He even added a few squeezes to a soft spot right above her protruding hipbone, which brought Tonya to hysterics, her lovely laugh echoing off the stone walls.
“OHNOOOOO!!!HAHAHAHAHEEEHEEHAWWWWWNNOOOAAAAHHHH!!! ! PL-PLEEEAASSEEE…SSSTTOOOOOOOPPPP!!!!..OOOOOHHH….AAAHH HHAHAHAHAHNONONO!” Tonya’s head was thrashing and her hands were clenched in tickled agony. She knew this was part of the act, but, as with her feet, it seemed to be going on longer than the brief tickles she’d seen Vegas magicians give their divided assistants. She was also beginning to notice the unusual reaction of the audience. Some of the men had their hands over their crotches, and some were fondling the women that were with them. All were in utter rapt attention at her torment. Unusual behavior for a group of people, she thought between spasms of laughter.
Maximus then stopped tickling the poor girl and faced his audience. He spoke, and all was finally revealed to Tonya. Her private questions were answered, but in the years to come, she wished they hadn’t been.
“Ladies and Gentlemen….Tonya!!!!” more applause and a sea-change of the air of the place. It was starting to fill with the unmistakable psychic feel of lust and hedonism. It was as if the very smell of the place had changed. Trapped in her magical prison, she was suddenly somewhere she did not want to be anymore.
“It is always such a pleasure to break in a new member of our stable of assistants.”
(Did he really say “stable” Tonya thought to herself.)
“While the outside world may not believe in True Magic, we here at the Magic Cellar are proud to bring it to you, our esteemed guests.” And Tonya was right in her earlier assessment. She could now see Heads of State, Oil Sheiks, famous actors and actresses, sports figures and newscasters from around the world. All wealthy, and all able to afford a hidden lifestyle.
“We are proud to bring you the most ticklish young women for your enjoyment and merely ask that you all continue your vow of secrecy at this place. Let the Magic Cellar forever be a place to practice what we all love, without interference from the outside, small-minded world.”
“Wait a minute!” Tonya screamed out, “Let me out RIGHT NOW!!! Keep your money, I don’t want any part of this freak-show! I mean it…Let me Go!!!”
The audience, quite used to this reaction from the new girls, laughed as Maximus approached the foot of the box once again. “Now, now, my dear, we’ll have none of that. Just relax. You are here among us now, part of the family. Oh, the wonders of Magic you will be shown as you remain with us…for the rest of your life.” His voice had changed as well. It sounded not kindly and entertaining as before, but almost lusty…and surely a touch evil. As he was saying this, he was tying a string around each big toe of her feet and tying them together. He pulled the string that was left and tied it back to a loop of metal at the end of the box, just over the foot-stocks. This quite effectively pulled the helpless girl’s toes back and held her soles stretched and her feet unable to even wriggle. They were perfect immobile tickle-targets. Another assistant had taken the box containing her bare midriff and stood it up on the table, giving it a quarter-turn. There was a latch like the one on the side, and it was flipped to open a door on what was the top of the box. The audience now had a perfect view of the front of Tonya’s sexy middle. The ribs heaving in her fear, the slim waist quivering over the luscious hips. And a perfect oval of a belly-button right in the center of it all. Maximus wheeled the box containing her feet over to a dark-skinned man sitting at a table directly in front of the stage. The male assistant occupied himself by stroking the tender skin of Tonya’s exposed belly, not tickling, but in an almost detached sort of way.
“Your Highness, would you care to mind this while I attend to other matters?”
“But of course!” said Alexi Borodoff, Crown Prince of Mordavia.
Maximus picked up the box and set it on the table in front of the Prince and his beautiful wife, Shallah.
“Oh, silly me in my old age,” joked the magician, “I almost forgot…” He strode over to Tonya’s head and pulled two of the long violet plumes from her headdress. “You don’t mind my dear, do you?”
“Please don’t do this to me,” Tonya said to Maximus as he removed the showy ornaments.
He leaned in close to her ear, “Just relax darling, you have a long night ahead of you…”
Maximus walked back over to the foreign Royalty.
“On the house, Your Majesty” he said with a bow, handing the exotic Prince the wicked feathers.
The Prince ordered two more drinks from the lovely waitress, as he set to amusing himself while Maximus continued his act. He ran the feathers slowly up and down the girl’s disembodied feet. He spent extra time working the tips under the toes. Methodically, he began Tonya’s initiation into the true nature of this most secret of all clubs.
“NOO!!!!AAHHAHAHAHHEEEHHEEEE..Oh GGGAAAWWWDDDDNOOOOO!!!!!!! OHNOOHNOOHNONONONONO!! ST-STOP IT P-PLEEEAAASEEEAAAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!”
Tonya of course could not see her tormentor’s actions from her vantage point, and this made it all the more unbearable.
Meanwhile, Maximus picked up the box containing her bared and helpless midriff. People began raising their hands in some strange sort of gesturing. Maximus knew how to read these signs and was taking the box over to the couple who had just bid the highest amount of money for the privledge of keeping the section at their table for the rest of the show.
“With regards from the Cellar, Mr. President”, said Maximus as he placed the box on the table of the middle-aged couple. As Maximus returned to the stage, the man placed a finger into the box, and ran it down the complete length of the poor girl’s flank. He stopped to wriggle it around her navel and then repeated his previous torment, a slow, torturous trail over the most sensitive nerve bundles of the lovely torso in front of him. The woman at his side also joined in the entertainment, raking her fingernails over the side and hipbone of the poor girl. The flesh in the box was wiggling from side to side, but could find no relief from the torture of two ticklers in the throes of tickle-lust. Tonya truly lost it when the woman began kneading her side over the hip, squeezing in an out, as the man poked her ribs and played his fingers over them like some fantasy piano made of ticklish flesh.
“NOOOAAAAA!!!!!!!OHGODOHGODOHGODSTOOOOOOOOOOPPPP!! !!!! P-PLEEEEAASSEE AAAHAHAHAHEEEHEEEHHAAAHAHAAAAIIIGGGHHH!!!!!
The rest was becoming a blur to Tonya as the show continued into the night. Other illusions were brought onto the stage, these with the helpless assistants, who were in reality slaves to these arcane masters, already inside the cabinets of a myriad of designs. All had one thing in common, however. Each was dedicated to the removal of a ticklish part of a sexy young female body and given to a rich audience member for his or her torturous enjoyment. Tonya was already all over the room, so to speak. The Prince and his wife gave her helpless feet little respite from their tickling ministrations. Twenty feet away, the President (of what, she never found out) and his wife were not letting up on the torture of her squirming, quivering mid-section. Pokes, prods, light tickles and even the occasional raspberry over her navel…all was brought to bear on the helpless girl’s midriff. Even the box containing her head wasn’t spared as a young woman whom she did not recognize won that particular bid. Tonya was at her table, facing the woman, who had opened the front panel on this box to reveal her breasts. The woman spent much effort in getting her fingers wormed into Tonya’s underarms. Tonya’s hands were flexing violently every time the tender flesh was invaded by a tickling digit. The woman was also kissing her lips, and seemed very lustful, either from drink or the very scene of the night here.
After several hours and a string of fantastic illusions, almost every table had some ticklish part of female anatomy on it. The drinks were flowing and conversations were started. Maximus had left his guests to their enjoyment, excusing himself to oversee a performance in one of the Cellar’s other rooms. Heads of State were discussing politics, actors chatted about their recent roles, all the while the sound of hysterical laughter from many helpless young women filling the room. At one table, there were two professional football players with one unlucky assistant’s boxed feet. They were going over the plays from the previous game…by drawing them out with a pen on the poor girl’s wiggling bare soles! After they were done with one, Tonya noticed them dipping a cloth in a glass of something at their table and cleaning the feet, only to draw out yet another play. At another table, an assistant’s midriff was left horizontal, the top panel opened, and a game of some sort was played on the belly of the hapless female. Still others took to drawing or painting on the detached body parts. And in the cruelest of uses, a man had a box which revealed the deep hollowed armpit of one of the victims. He was dropping small amounts of his drink into it…and licking it off. Tease after tease, torment upon torment was visited upon the many young women who made up the Magic Cellar’s stable.
After a while, many of the girls were gagged with scarves or tape, so as not to disturb the conversations of the important guests. The screams were reaching unimaginable heights, and little joyous laughter remained, only the sound of pure, evil tickle-torture. The denizens of the chamber played with the ticklish body parts as if they were mere table decorations.
Hours passed with the gagged and helpless Tonya coming close to losing consciousness from the electric feelings her tickled parts were sending to her brain. This was torture, plain and simple. Larry’s dive seemed like a tropical island from another lifetime as the tickling never ceased, never stopped. There was no relief, there was no sense of reality, there was only tickling, tickling and more tickling.
Later that evening, as the restored Tonya lay in her bed in the room provided for her, she let the tears come to her eyes at last. Not the tears of torture she had shed throughout the night, but tears of pure hopelessness. She had managed to talk to some of the other girls and the stories were sure to give her nightmares. Some of them had been there for months, others years. They were not hurt or treated badly, they were well-fed and given a fair amount of respect as a part of the hierarchy of the mystical place. At the top of that hierarchy was Maximus’s mysterious associate. She came in to talk with Tonya after a while. It turned out that she was the evil mage’s first and most cherished assistant, from way back, she said. She was in charge of the girls, and rarely had to make an appearance onstage. But even she was not spared completely, Tonya learned, for when Maximus or another of the great Magicians invented a new illusion, it was she who was first to be subjected to it. Tonya was told that all she had to do was cooperate and behave, and she would not be harmed in any way. In their own way, the residents of the Magic Cellar even came to love their girls.
But every night, another show. Not every girl was in every show, but most of them appeared at least four times a week. Four nights of pure hell, four nights of endless cruel tickling at the hands of those who bid on their disembodied parts like inhuman playthings. Tonya prayed that she would one day find a way out of this horrible place, but after her first several shows, she was becoming aware that she prayed in vain…
From the outside, The Magic Cellar could be seen, if anyone was around, to shimmer at the edges and suddenly vanish into the dark of the night. And the next week, a lonely, broke exotic dancer in Philadelphia found a flyer on her dressing table with golden dollar signs embossed at the top…
The End (?)
Tonya was in the cramped dressing quarters of the Las Vegas cabaret she was currently employed in. The Dive, she called it. Not the biggest or brightest of Vegas’s nightspots, but not the smallest or dimmest, either. Closer to that end of the spectrum, though. She realized very quickly out here that there’s a thin line between “showgirl” and “stripper”. And an even thinner one between “stripper” and “*****”. She was determined not to take that route, having seen so many former dreamers wind up selling their bodies rather than simply using them for entertainment. She sighed. Just a little while longer here, Kiddo, just a while longer. All she had to do was be in the right place at the right time…that’s how it worked out here in Cibola, The Shining City of Gold. Well, that and keep Larry’s hands off of her for awhile longer. Larry. The “Stage Manager”. Pimp was more like it. And he wasn’t even attractive to make up for his disgusting manner. Kind of a weasel. Big knot on his forehead, crooked nose. And those beady little eyes. She sighed once again and looked down at her dressing table to begin her nightly transformation from pretty city girl to male fantasy.
Among the make-up, brushes and other tools of her trade was a flyer that she couldn’t remember seeing there before. No one usually came into these rooms except the other dancers and occasionally the creepy stage manager, but any wonder of where the mysterious advertisement originated was lost as her eyes locked on to the large dollar signs embossed along the top, and the following words in golden script:
“Open call for Magician’s Assistants.
The Magic Cellar, a private club catering to the expression of the Arcane Arts, is holding an open call to fill several positions as Assistants to one of our Prestidigitators. You have received this in good faith, as our scouts have seen your show. They are sent by us to not only find the best Magicians in the world today, but to bring some of the land’s most beautiful and talented women into our circle. If you have received this, rest assured that you are highly regarded, as our pre-screening process is rigidly adhered to. You have been selected not only for your beauty, but also for your grace and performance ability. You will be privy to many secrets of our Society, so a further screening will be required. A fee of $1,000 will be paid for simply coming to this screening. If all goes well, you will be given an opportunity to perform with one of our best Illusionists in an upcoming private show. The fee for this performance will be $10,000. Further engagements will be at the discretion of the Society. Enclosed you will find directions and a time for your expected arrival.
Sincerely,
The Magic Cellar.”
Hey….the right place at the right time. She smiled for the first time that evening.
Tonya couldn’t believe this turn of events. At 24, she was already considering her early retirement from performing. She came to Las Vegas with dreams of becoming a glamorous showgirl, but fate had brought her to this dive. She was easily the most attractive woman working there, and that was what brought most of the unwelcome advances from Larry.
She stood up and looked at herself in her full-length mirror. Yeah, she thought, might as well put this to good use before I get too old.
Tonya was 5’9” tall, model height. Her figure was impeccably kept up with regular visits to the toning and tanning salon. Her legs were long and slim, her 36C breasts still retaining the perkiness of youth, and her belly flat and trim. She was not rail-thin as some of the other girls were, she had curves in all the right places. Her hair was dyed blonde in Vegas fashion, and fell like a mane around her youngish looking, blue-eyed face. The face that was once the embodiment of innocence back in Louisiana. She could still get that look, and it served her well in her current position.
“I guess,” she said to no one but her reflection, “that it’s time to get the hell out of Dodge and on to better things.” It wasn’t just the money she wanted (but sorely needed), it was the chance to perform in something real. And a Private Club? God knows who would be there. Talent scouts, other models, who knew? It was a chance worth taking.
She arrived at the building at 6 p.m., just as instructed. Funny, but after years of living in Vegas, she didn’t recognize this street or, for that matter, many of the others that she passed along the way. Must be some new construction, she thought. Always going on around here. She parked her car and stepped out, heading for the strange looking building. It almost reminded her of an old Scottish Castle, but it was somehow…wrong around the edges. A little foggy perhaps. Well, it was getting dark, so…..
She saw no one to greet her, and was surprised that such an allegedly prestigious place had no valet or attendant. She walked up the stone steps in front of the ancient-looking building. Tonya knocked on the heavy oaken double-doors. They swung open in horror movie style. She felt a little trepidation, but, she assured herself, this was a Magic Club. She’d seen enough weird shit in Vegas to be pretty much immune to it. After taking a cautious step inside, she slowly followed a red carpet leading down into a hallway. It was then that she jumped at the man’s voice behind her.
“Good evening Tonya,” he said in a low somewhat foreign accent, “and welcome.”
After recovering from her brief scare, Tonya wondered where the hell he came from. And how did he know her name? Looking behind her, she saw only the door, with no hallways attached. How did he get behind her? Damn, they’re serious about this stuff.
“Thank you” she kindly replied, trying to sound professional. She really needed this job now, having quit on the way out of Larry’s place.
“My name is Maximus, if you would kindly follow me.”
Maximus was a hard person to place, age-wise anyway. He had white hair and beard, but his skin showed no signs of the ravages of age. His eyes, however, shined with some inner…something. Wisdom, perhaps? After the men that came to her former place of business, wisdom wasn’t something she was used to seeing.
Tonya followed the mysterious man down a long hallway lit by torches on either side. She thought she heard the faint sounds of screaming, laughing, or was it just audience applause, from behind several of the closed doors they passed.
“Some of our ongoing… performances…” Maximus said to her. “We cater to those who have a deep love of the Mystical Arts among their other interests. We have spared no expense in bringing our members everything their hearts could possibly desire. We here at the Magic Cellar have uncovered many of the ancient secrets of True Magic, and display them for our vaunted members. I myself have personally studied the Ancient Arts. Rest assured, they are very real, my dear.”
Damn, Tonya thought, these guys are really laying it on thick. Oh well, for this kind of money, I can play along. As she was brought to a room away from the others, Maximus produced ten $100 bills from out of nowhere and handed them to the astonished young dancer.
“Your fee for coming to us. Now, if you will have a seat, my associate will join us for your interview.”
The interview lasted about an hour. Tonya expected most of the drill they put her through, asking how long she’d been in Vegas, what she wanted to do with her performing talents and the like. It was explained to her that the secrets of the Magic Cellar could never leave it, but strangely, she wasn’t made to sign any releases or gag-order contracts. When she asked about this, she was again simply told that the Magic was in fact real, and that she would not need to be privy to any of it’s doings. She decided to just let it go at that. If that’s the way they want to present themselves, so be it. She’d heard of magicians whose tricks were so complex that even the Assistants didn’t know how they worked. This was Vegas after all.
In fact, the only line of questioning that truly took her by surprise was when Maximus’s colleague asked her an astonishing question. This woman she couldn’t figure any better than Maximus. She looked maybe thirty. Long brown hair, with subtle blonde highlights. A thin chain of gold was around her sleek neck, with a pendant in the shape of the letter “J”, of some precious stone Tonya couldn’t identify. The woman had deep eyes that showed, well, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t the wisdom she saw in the white-haired man, but something close, mixed with a kind of sadness. Maybe not sadness, but…some kind of hopeless acceptance. Tonya didn’t know why these epiphanies were coming to her, but there was some unspoken kinship between herself and this strange woman she’d just met. Her query did catch Tonya off guard, though.
“Tell me, young lady. Are you ticklish?”
“What has that got to do with anything?” Tonya asked.
The woman replied “Sometimes during certain illusions a magician will have to prove to our discerning audience that his assistant is truly in whatever box or cabinet she appears to be in. He may briefly tickle her feet or what have you to prove this. We couldn’t have an assistant just lying there having her feet tickled and not respond. It wouldn’t look real, now, would it?”
Made sense, Tonya thought, and she proceeded to give her examiners a run-down of her most ticklish spots.
Inwardly, her interviewers knew that this one was staying…
The stage was dark, and Tonya waited a bit nervously in the wings. She was dressed in a very revealing outfit. A lavender bikini top was layered in sparkles and barely covered her breasts. The bottom of the bikini had a see-through sash attached, covering her like a very short skirt, but leaving little to the imagination. She had lavender pumps on her feet and a headdress with purple feathers sticking out the top of it. She pulled off the outfit well, she knew, and it really wasn’t much different than some of the things she had to wear at Larry’s dive. But this wasn’t a dive. She peeked around the curtain and saw the people of her inaugural audience for the first time. They were men and women of obvious wealth. She thought she recognized some actors and world leaders, but couldn’t be sure. This was it, she told herself, your first real gig…don’t screw it up kiddo. She listened as the stage lights came up. A man appeared in a flash of light and smoke, wearing a white suit. She saw that it was Maximus! She’d been interviewed by the Emcee or perhaps even the owner himself! No wonder she got her first gig on her first day. She could almost smell the money coming her way.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Maximus said in his grand fashion, “Welcome to another evening of Wonder and Delight at the Magic Cellar. You are our honored guests, and we will bring you the finest in entertainment tonight! Our secret Society is here for one purpose only…to bring True Magic and fulfillment of your desire to you. Our first act tonight features a new addition to our small circle of family, and as usual with the introduction of a new assistant, I, Maximus, will perform the first Illusion of the night. So without any further ado, would you please welcome a lovely young lady who I know will bring you….much enjoyment…The Talented and Lovely…..Tonya!!!!!”
Tonya made her entrance in grand but subtle fashion. Years of training to be an object of desire served her to perfection. She walked onto the shadowy stage like she truly belonged there, like it was hers. She raised her arms to wave to the audience, and you could hear the murmurs of appreciation from most of the male members of the medium-sized but distinguished crowd. She took her place obediently beside Maximus, just as she was told to do beforehand.
“You like our new arrival?” Maximus played to the crowd. “I’m sure she is just as glad to be here. Isn’t she just lovely?” Applause followed his remark.
“Now, Tonya, exactly how tall are you my dear?” Maximus turned to her.
“I am Five foot Nine, Maximus” she obediently replied. A rehearsed part of the act.
“Wow, a real tall drink of water, isn’t she folks?” More scattered applause and even a few whistles from the people at the darkly lit tables.
“Now, Tonya,” the magician said, looking between her and his audience, playing it up with the banter of an old side-show pro, “sometimes men feel a bit intimidated by such a tall, beautiful woman. You are quite lovely, there is no question, but let’s see if we can perhaps …shorten you a bit…shall we?”
“You’re the Master, Maximus!” Tonya played right along.
Mystical music started to play, as the lights dimmed and two male assistants dressed in flowing black garb wheeled in a low table. They twirled it around and undulated to the Celtic sounding tune. On this table was a box about 16 inches high and around four feet long. It seemed to made of three sections that were at the moment together to form one long cabinet. Maximus made some flourishes with his arms and opened the lid of the box.
“If you would kindly step up into the cabinet, my dear….”
Tonya did as requested, dancing subtly along with the music as she did so. She needed to put on as good a performance as Maximus, she knew. These people paid good money not only to see the acts of illusion but also to see the scantily -clad young women put into the peril of the confining devices. She was aware of the male fantasy of overpowering and manipulating a helpless woman, and she agreed that it was one of the allures of magic, especially to the men. If they wanted Damsel-in-Distress, they were going to get it.
She was helped up the single step and stood in the box. Maximus laid her down into it until only her feet and head were in sight. Just as planned, she reminded herself. Smooth sailing so far. He began his act by making sure the girl was going nowhere. He showed the audience a flat piece of wood with two arches cut into it. The inside of the arches were padded. This he slid into place over Tonya’s protruding feet. Her feet wriggled around and were quite trapped in place. She had practiced the foot wiggling and had it down. Not too, much, just let them know you’re in there. And smile!
Maximus then showed another piece of dark wood with a larger arch and a smaller hole to either side of it. This was put in place over her neck.
“May I please have your hands, my dear?” he asked Tonya.
She put her wrists through the two holes and Maximus placed a ring over each one that clamped her wrist and attached to tiny clips in the stock. She was now completely immobile.
“Comfy my dear?” Maximus teased her as he tweaked her nose. She wiggled her feet and fingers for the audience, just as instructed. Damn this is going to be an easy ten grand, she thought.
“And now for the Magic to begin!” Maximus announced as the music changed tempo to a middle-eastern theme.
Maximus produced a steel blade about two feet square. He tapped on it to prove it’s solidity, and placed the edge over the box about a foot from where the box trapped Tonya’s lithe neck. This placed it right under where her breasts were. With a push, he slid the blade down into the box. It passed right through and could be seen sticking out an inch under the box. Tonya swore she felt something, which she didn’t expect. She assumed that Maximus knew what he was doing and that it was all a trick. So why did she feel as if something had truly passed through her, only without pain? Like she was told before, she didn’t need to help him at all, she didn’t need to know the secret to this particular trick. Just look fetching and play along. She made an O with her mouth to bring a gasp from the audience.
The second blade was pushed into the same spot. A third blade was pushed into the box at a spot right over Tonya’s pubic bone right below her hips. It, too, made a tickly feeling as it passed through her unsuspecting body. The fourth was placed in the same spot as the last.
Unknown to Tonya, the audience knew what was going through her head. They had seen it before from the new girls. They all thought that it was a trick, until the real fun started. The members of the audience knew why they paid so much money to be a part of this society. They all knew that the Magic here was quite real. And magic wasn’t the only interest that this secret club catered to, as Tonya was about to find out. The night a new girl was “broken in” was a special occasion in the Magic Cellar. And Tonya was tonight’s main attraction…
Maximus proceeded with his astounding illusion. One of the male assistants grabbed the end of the box containing Tonya’s trapped feet while Maximus himself grabbed the box near her head. With a pull from either end, the box was pulled apart, as the section containing her legs separated from the rest! The assistant at the end then grabbed a hold of the next section of the box and the two repeated the process as the small section in the middle was pulled away from the part containing Tonya’s chest and head. The assistant disappeared into the wings as Maximus, looking a bit like a modern-day Gandalf with his white hair, beard and suit, stepped to the side of the completed illusion. The box was now in three separate sections. Tonya was breathing a bit heavily as she began to get nervous for the first time. She felt separated, but couldn’t begin to describe how. She now wished that she actually knew how the trick worked, at least she’d feel a little more comfortable. But she relaxed. He was a professional, she told herself, and it really didn’t hurt, right?
“And now, my dear members, let me prove to you the reality of what you have just witnessed.” The audience leaned forward in unison. He walked to the section containing Tonya’s wriggling feet. “I don’t think you will really need these shoes, my dear…” They were removed by the magician, slowly and with much flair, to reveal a pair of soft, silky feet. The painted toes wriggled about as the cool air hit her feet. Then Maximus did something that made Tonya jerk as much as she could in the confines of the device that held her in something far more devious than bondage.
“Tickle Tickle Tickle…”, the mage laughed as he placed a single finger at each soft, flawless sole and wriggled it over the sensitive skin.
“Oh NOO!!!! HAHAHAHA…STOP!!!!!” Tonya was somewhat prepared for this part as per her earlier briefing, and she intended to put on a good performance, even thought she was currently a bit mystified. The audience laughed along at her predicament. Maximus continued to run his fingers over the girl’s wiggling soles as she began to laugh a bit more heartily. After about thirty seconds of this, she was a little out of breath. They usually don’t tickle your feet that long, do they?
“Oooh, she’s a ticklish one, isn’t she folks?” Maximus said to the sound of the applause. “I wonder what we have in here…..” And Maximus stopped tickling his assistant’s feet to walk over to the small box that lay between the two larger sections.
He flipped a small latch and a door opened on the side of the box. Revealed was the smooth flank of the young woman, from the ribs to the hip. The concave section of the side of her belly was exposed to the audience. The skin shone under the stage lights, and the surface could be seen to subtly ripple as the cool air now struck that part of her sexy body.
“Oh…Tonnnyyyaaaa…..” teased Maximus as he held a wriggling finger at the outside of the box.
“Oh no don’t PLEASE?!?! Not there! This isn’t fair!!!” She was frightened of the tickling of her trapped middle, but was still trying to play the part.
“Kootchie Kootchie Koo….” Maximus toyed as he placed his finger against the smooth surface of the helpless girl’s side. He picked up the pace and ran the finger from ribs to hip and back again. Each pass of his tickling finger brought more pressure and a more serious sensation. He wasn’t tickling like any magician she‘d ever seen, but more like the men in those kinky videos her roommate did for extra cash.
“Tickle tickle tickle!!!!! KitchieKitchie!!” Maximus was relentless now, using all of the fingers of his hand to tickle the trapped girl’s mid-section. He even added a few squeezes to a soft spot right above her protruding hipbone, which brought Tonya to hysterics, her lovely laugh echoing off the stone walls.
“OHNOOOOO!!!HAHAHAHAHEEEHEEHAWWWWWNNOOOAAAAHHHH!!! ! PL-PLEEEAASSEEE…SSSTTOOOOOOOPPPP!!!!..OOOOOHHH….AAAHH HHAHAHAHAHNONONO!” Tonya’s head was thrashing and her hands were clenched in tickled agony. She knew this was part of the act, but, as with her feet, it seemed to be going on longer than the brief tickles she’d seen Vegas magicians give their divided assistants. She was also beginning to notice the unusual reaction of the audience. Some of the men had their hands over their crotches, and some were fondling the women that were with them. All were in utter rapt attention at her torment. Unusual behavior for a group of people, she thought between spasms of laughter.
Maximus then stopped tickling the poor girl and faced his audience. He spoke, and all was finally revealed to Tonya. Her private questions were answered, but in the years to come, she wished they hadn’t been.
“Ladies and Gentlemen….Tonya!!!!” more applause and a sea-change of the air of the place. It was starting to fill with the unmistakable psychic feel of lust and hedonism. It was as if the very smell of the place had changed. Trapped in her magical prison, she was suddenly somewhere she did not want to be anymore.
“It is always such a pleasure to break in a new member of our stable of assistants.”
(Did he really say “stable” Tonya thought to herself.)
“While the outside world may not believe in True Magic, we here at the Magic Cellar are proud to bring it to you, our esteemed guests.” And Tonya was right in her earlier assessment. She could now see Heads of State, Oil Sheiks, famous actors and actresses, sports figures and newscasters from around the world. All wealthy, and all able to afford a hidden lifestyle.
“We are proud to bring you the most ticklish young women for your enjoyment and merely ask that you all continue your vow of secrecy at this place. Let the Magic Cellar forever be a place to practice what we all love, without interference from the outside, small-minded world.”
“Wait a minute!” Tonya screamed out, “Let me out RIGHT NOW!!! Keep your money, I don’t want any part of this freak-show! I mean it…Let me Go!!!”
The audience, quite used to this reaction from the new girls, laughed as Maximus approached the foot of the box once again. “Now, now, my dear, we’ll have none of that. Just relax. You are here among us now, part of the family. Oh, the wonders of Magic you will be shown as you remain with us…for the rest of your life.” His voice had changed as well. It sounded not kindly and entertaining as before, but almost lusty…and surely a touch evil. As he was saying this, he was tying a string around each big toe of her feet and tying them together. He pulled the string that was left and tied it back to a loop of metal at the end of the box, just over the foot-stocks. This quite effectively pulled the helpless girl’s toes back and held her soles stretched and her feet unable to even wriggle. They were perfect immobile tickle-targets. Another assistant had taken the box containing her bare midriff and stood it up on the table, giving it a quarter-turn. There was a latch like the one on the side, and it was flipped to open a door on what was the top of the box. The audience now had a perfect view of the front of Tonya’s sexy middle. The ribs heaving in her fear, the slim waist quivering over the luscious hips. And a perfect oval of a belly-button right in the center of it all. Maximus wheeled the box containing her feet over to a dark-skinned man sitting at a table directly in front of the stage. The male assistant occupied himself by stroking the tender skin of Tonya’s exposed belly, not tickling, but in an almost detached sort of way.
“Your Highness, would you care to mind this while I attend to other matters?”
“But of course!” said Alexi Borodoff, Crown Prince of Mordavia.
Maximus picked up the box and set it on the table in front of the Prince and his beautiful wife, Shallah.
“Oh, silly me in my old age,” joked the magician, “I almost forgot…” He strode over to Tonya’s head and pulled two of the long violet plumes from her headdress. “You don’t mind my dear, do you?”
“Please don’t do this to me,” Tonya said to Maximus as he removed the showy ornaments.
He leaned in close to her ear, “Just relax darling, you have a long night ahead of you…”
Maximus walked back over to the foreign Royalty.
“On the house, Your Majesty” he said with a bow, handing the exotic Prince the wicked feathers.
The Prince ordered two more drinks from the lovely waitress, as he set to amusing himself while Maximus continued his act. He ran the feathers slowly up and down the girl’s disembodied feet. He spent extra time working the tips under the toes. Methodically, he began Tonya’s initiation into the true nature of this most secret of all clubs.
“NOO!!!!AAHHAHAHAHHEEEHHEEEE..Oh GGGAAAWWWDDDDNOOOOO!!!!!!! OHNOOHNOOHNONONONONO!! ST-STOP IT P-PLEEEAAASEEEAAAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!”
Tonya of course could not see her tormentor’s actions from her vantage point, and this made it all the more unbearable.
Meanwhile, Maximus picked up the box containing her bared and helpless midriff. People began raising their hands in some strange sort of gesturing. Maximus knew how to read these signs and was taking the box over to the couple who had just bid the highest amount of money for the privledge of keeping the section at their table for the rest of the show.
“With regards from the Cellar, Mr. President”, said Maximus as he placed the box on the table of the middle-aged couple. As Maximus returned to the stage, the man placed a finger into the box, and ran it down the complete length of the poor girl’s flank. He stopped to wriggle it around her navel and then repeated his previous torment, a slow, torturous trail over the most sensitive nerve bundles of the lovely torso in front of him. The woman at his side also joined in the entertainment, raking her fingernails over the side and hipbone of the poor girl. The flesh in the box was wiggling from side to side, but could find no relief from the torture of two ticklers in the throes of tickle-lust. Tonya truly lost it when the woman began kneading her side over the hip, squeezing in an out, as the man poked her ribs and played his fingers over them like some fantasy piano made of ticklish flesh.
“NOOOAAAAA!!!!!!!OHGODOHGODOHGODSTOOOOOOOOOOPPPP!! !!!! P-PLEEEEAASSEE AAAHAHAHAHEEEHEEEHHAAAHAHAAAAIIIGGGHHH!!!!!
The rest was becoming a blur to Tonya as the show continued into the night. Other illusions were brought onto the stage, these with the helpless assistants, who were in reality slaves to these arcane masters, already inside the cabinets of a myriad of designs. All had one thing in common, however. Each was dedicated to the removal of a ticklish part of a sexy young female body and given to a rich audience member for his or her torturous enjoyment. Tonya was already all over the room, so to speak. The Prince and his wife gave her helpless feet little respite from their tickling ministrations. Twenty feet away, the President (of what, she never found out) and his wife were not letting up on the torture of her squirming, quivering mid-section. Pokes, prods, light tickles and even the occasional raspberry over her navel…all was brought to bear on the helpless girl’s midriff. Even the box containing her head wasn’t spared as a young woman whom she did not recognize won that particular bid. Tonya was at her table, facing the woman, who had opened the front panel on this box to reveal her breasts. The woman spent much effort in getting her fingers wormed into Tonya’s underarms. Tonya’s hands were flexing violently every time the tender flesh was invaded by a tickling digit. The woman was also kissing her lips, and seemed very lustful, either from drink or the very scene of the night here.
After several hours and a string of fantastic illusions, almost every table had some ticklish part of female anatomy on it. The drinks were flowing and conversations were started. Maximus had left his guests to their enjoyment, excusing himself to oversee a performance in one of the Cellar’s other rooms. Heads of State were discussing politics, actors chatted about their recent roles, all the while the sound of hysterical laughter from many helpless young women filling the room. At one table, there were two professional football players with one unlucky assistant’s boxed feet. They were going over the plays from the previous game…by drawing them out with a pen on the poor girl’s wiggling bare soles! After they were done with one, Tonya noticed them dipping a cloth in a glass of something at their table and cleaning the feet, only to draw out yet another play. At another table, an assistant’s midriff was left horizontal, the top panel opened, and a game of some sort was played on the belly of the hapless female. Still others took to drawing or painting on the detached body parts. And in the cruelest of uses, a man had a box which revealed the deep hollowed armpit of one of the victims. He was dropping small amounts of his drink into it…and licking it off. Tease after tease, torment upon torment was visited upon the many young women who made up the Magic Cellar’s stable.
After a while, many of the girls were gagged with scarves or tape, so as not to disturb the conversations of the important guests. The screams were reaching unimaginable heights, and little joyous laughter remained, only the sound of pure, evil tickle-torture. The denizens of the chamber played with the ticklish body parts as if they were mere table decorations.
Hours passed with the gagged and helpless Tonya coming close to losing consciousness from the electric feelings her tickled parts were sending to her brain. This was torture, plain and simple. Larry’s dive seemed like a tropical island from another lifetime as the tickling never ceased, never stopped. There was no relief, there was no sense of reality, there was only tickling, tickling and more tickling.
Later that evening, as the restored Tonya lay in her bed in the room provided for her, she let the tears come to her eyes at last. Not the tears of torture she had shed throughout the night, but tears of pure hopelessness. She had managed to talk to some of the other girls and the stories were sure to give her nightmares. Some of them had been there for months, others years. They were not hurt or treated badly, they were well-fed and given a fair amount of respect as a part of the hierarchy of the mystical place. At the top of that hierarchy was Maximus’s mysterious associate. She came in to talk with Tonya after a while. It turned out that she was the evil mage’s first and most cherished assistant, from way back, she said. She was in charge of the girls, and rarely had to make an appearance onstage. But even she was not spared completely, Tonya learned, for when Maximus or another of the great Magicians invented a new illusion, it was she who was first to be subjected to it. Tonya was told that all she had to do was cooperate and behave, and she would not be harmed in any way. In their own way, the residents of the Magic Cellar even came to love their girls.
But every night, another show. Not every girl was in every show, but most of them appeared at least four times a week. Four nights of pure hell, four nights of endless cruel tickling at the hands of those who bid on their disembodied parts like inhuman playthings. Tonya prayed that she would one day find a way out of this horrible place, but after her first several shows, she was becoming aware that she prayed in vain…
From the outside, The Magic Cellar could be seen, if anyone was around, to shimmer at the edges and suddenly vanish into the dark of the night. And the next week, a lonely, broke exotic dancer in Philadelphia found a flyer on her dressing table with golden dollar signs embossed at the top…
The End (?)
