Before they knew it, the Lady was back. She had brought several new theows with them, two of which needed to be watched still. One of the men had experience with husbandry, so he was sent to help Audrey with the animals once he was deemed ready to serve. He was old, but he did seem to know what he was doing. That was a great help, as several tasks were easier to do with two competent people working together.
One day, Audrey once again witnessed something that made her remember why they all feared the Lady. It started when one churl didn't show up for guard duty, and the Lady ordered a full search. After about an hour, one of Morcefres' men came running. Behind him came the missing churl and a theow, both held secure by other churls. Neither of them had a lot of clothes on.
"My Lady, we found the man missing for churl duty! He was in a room with this theow, and she had him tied to the bed and they were naked! They both claim it was a game and he forgot the time, but it is still against the laws your husband put in place here. From what they said when we caught them, it is not the first time they have done this."
Audrey had never seen such an ugly expression on the Lady's face. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stood very still.
"Such indecency is against everything we stand for!" the Lady shouted. "How dare you besmirch this castle by such heinous acts? Such games you play are not appropriate for anyone, least of all between different classes!" As she said this, she approached the churl. The same restraints he had been tied to the bed with were now used to secure his arms. He looked absolutely terrified.
"It seems you enjoy being restrained. Maybe you would like to be a theow better than being a churl then?" She gave the man no chance to respond. A quick signal to a churl had him gagged and hands and feet shackled in a moment. The worst part was that the man still had no trousers on, so his genitals were visible. It seems he was still suffering from the stimulation the theow had given him as his penis stood erect. The Lady noticed as well.
"That will not do. I do not need to see your parts stick out from under your tunic. I would chop them off, but that would cause too much blood loss. Bring me the chastity belt," she said to Arthur, who had come down to see what the trouble was. He went to the smithy and returned after a few moments with what looked like a very uncomfortable metal belt, with a metal cage meant to fit around a penis. The former churl tried to resist having it put on, but of course it was useless. They tightened the belt until it was squeezing the penis down to where the Lady wanted it to be. It looked extremely uncomfortable.
"Now we can all be assured that you won't continue with your dirty ways," the Lady said with her usual sadistic smile.
The churl continued trying to protest through his gag even as the slave collar was placed around his neck. He didn't even seem to notice that, until they used the attached chains to drag him away from the Lady. He seemed to be trying to beg for relief.
The female theow had watched it all in silence, though trembling with fear. She had been gagged as well and seemed to fear that her punishment would be even worse.
"What about this theow?" the churl who held her asked.
"Give her 20 lashes a day, then keep her in the sack until I decide otherwise. No need to place it too high this time." the Lady didn't even look at the theow as she gave this sentence. It seemed she had already got out her sadistic pleasure for the day, or the theow could have gotten a lot worse. She barely even complained as they dragged her to the lashing pillar. Morcefres gave her the worst 20 lashes she had ever had, with the metal-tipped whip, but apart from screaming, the theow didn't protest. She even meekly walked into the sack the Lady had ordered her into. She knew she was lucky to escape worse punishment. Audrey suddenly remembered how Kaneez had been placed in a similar sack. How they had both spent the night in a stretch-neck. Had they been captured around the same time? Why couldn't she remember?
The theow was in the sack for over a week. Audrey barely even noticed it when some of the churls had fun pushing the sack back and forth between them, like it was a game on the third day. The theow would only be a little bruised, she probably wouldn't even notice, after the brutal whippings. She got water twice a day, and some food in the morning. When she was finally let out of the sack, it took her a long time to be able to use her feet properly. In fact, she never truly managed to get full range of motion in her legs. And she never said a word, for fear of being punished again.
The former churl didn't last long. The chastity belt squeezed his genitals and soon they were infected. The scop's medicines didn't help much, since the source of the infection didn't go away. The man was dead within the month. He was buried with the chastity belt still attached, as a witness to why he died. Arthur got another chastity belt made, and it hung on the wall, as a reminder to the rest of them, what the punishment for such acts could be.
The Lady left on her next round of tours a week later. She left all of the new theows behind, but Ædven was allowed to come with her this time.