This story is one of Amalaric's most satisfying reads with a neat compactness that qualifies it for the 'Lollipops' section of this mitchmen survey (Part 9) but it also contains a substantial section describing the nature of life as a slave, making it slightly more suitable for Part 8, 'A Slaves Life', so I've effectively designated it as a 'Part 8 and a half'
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| 819 Amalaric - The Chatterley Estate |
Builders and workmen form a major source of grist for Amalaric's stern mill, but hunky, gardening types are almost equally popular. In this story, Jim Oliver arrives in the UK, fresh out of Aussie horticultural college and lands a job on the Chatterley Estate. These are ancient, hereditary lands centred on an imposing Gothic pile with a somewhat sinister appearance, evident in the image above. Amalaric revives the equally ancient job of 'Forester' for Jim, which is about as near as you can get in the UK to being one of those homoerotic lumberjacks so revered by Tom of Finland.
Amalaric's picture gives a sense of how impressed and pleased Jim is with his new situation. He throws himself into his duties with enthusiasm and his readiness to expose his torso to the summer sun soon catches the eye of Lady Chatterly. She is the sister of the Lord of the Manor and proves to be another Amalaric femme fatale. She duly makes advances and Jim reciprocates, adding her to his own, considerable list of conquests in a nearby barn. The earthy experience so impresses the cultured Lady C that she can't resist bragging about it and disparaging the sex life of her brother, who is gay.
Lord C's explicit characterisation as a gay man is unusual for Amalaric (Bobby and his accomplice in 24 hours are the only other characters I can recall who are described in that way, see Part 3, image 312 et seq). Amalaric's other predators usually seem to have gay leanings, but it's implied and not entirely confirmed by their actions. It's often quite hard to say whether their interest in manipulating other men is really about sex at all or simply a way of wielding power over them.
Having sown the seeds of discord, Lady C leaves on a 3 months holiday to escape the English winter. No sooner has she departed than Lord C accuses Jim of raping her. There are many echoes of the story of Steve Delgado here – a man isolated in an unfamiliar jurisdiction and falsely accused of rape with the key witness conveniently absent (see Part 6, Cruel Justice). However, the motives are different here, putting Jim in prison and out of reach of his sister is the last thing on Lord C's mind.
English aristocrats no longer enjoy the possibilities of cruel, unbridled power available to the ruthless Arizona Sheriff in 'Steve Delgado', (in fact since 'Pride and Prejudice', they've become soft stereotypes for aspirational romance in the manner of Mills & Boon and Disney). Nevertheless Lord C's money and position enables him to threaten the spunky, defiant Aussie with considerable unpleasantness and brutality.
It's a ploy of course, to cajole him into submitting to a private, off-the-record, punishment arrangement (in the manner of Todd Sanders and Ryan in 'Bobby' - see Part 3- Hunks and their Manipulators). In these circumstances, a three month contract of unpaid work, to compensate the Chatterley family for his insult, seems to offer Jim an easy way out.
This is similar to the arrangement Dave McGuinness makes with the banker in '24 hours' in order to pay off his parents' debts. Amalaric's refinement and intertwining of themes familiar from other stories is a pleasing and satisfying feature of this yarn (fans of Wagner's complex music will understand the effect).
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| 820 Amalaric - Jim Waiting For The Master |
Having thus signed away his freedom, Jim reports to the big house next day to begin his reparations with a summary punishment. He is taken down into the basement, forced to strip down to his underwear and humiliatingly groped. Then he's left to stew for seven hours with a flail ominously hanging in plain sight on the wall. Jim's isolation and realisation that he faces an unimaginable, barbaric punishment is nicely captured in the image above. His fears are realised when the lackeys return and chain him to a post. Lord C arrives to cut off his underpants and personally administers a lengthy punishment with the flail.
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| 821 Amalaric - Jim Leads Them To The Scene Of The Crime |
The flogging is just the beginning of Jim's ordeal. Next, he is forced to lead them, still stark naked and raw with pain, to the barn where his lust led him into this trap. The strange procession is joined by curious servants and estate workers as they pass by. Jim shows them all where he had sex with Lady C. Having thus apparently confessed to the 'crime', he is tied down over bales of hay in the same spot and subjected to a rather different sexual invasion by first the Lord himself and then a succession of burly estate workers. Although Lord C is gay, Amalaric gives us no reason to suppose his men are, their participation in Jim's deflowering seems to have more to do with laddishness opportunism and loyalty to the Lord than sexual desire
This scene and Jim's preceding sexual encounter with Lady C are explicitly described which is unusual for Amalaric. All his stories are infused with erotically loaded events but sex does not usually go beyond forced milking, though more is sometimes hinted at.
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| 822 Amalaric - Jim Is Fitted With A Chastity Device |
As a final insult and fitting punishment for his supposed misdeeds, Jim is forcibly fitted with a chastity device (which I think is the only example of such a gadget being employed in Amalaric's stories). He is told that it will only be taken off when he is under supervision - at work, for example. This curious blend of sexual sadism and pragmatism is typical of Amalaric's enslavement arrangements.
In this picture we see that Jim's new appendage seems to be something of a wonder for the estate workers who linger and ogle the embarrassed young Aussie. The nephew character who tormented Tanner in his enslavement story (seen in image 815 from Part 8) also drops in to enjoy Jim's humiliation, hovering with characteristic furtiveness in the background (second left in the grubby vest). This connection gives a hint of Jim's vulnerability to opportunists in his new subservient position.
The long-standing Anglo-Aussie tradition of fierce sporting rivalry and ruthless one-upmanship will give a pleasing twist to Jim's plight for many Brits.
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| 823 Jim Is Put To Work In The Fields |
If Jim imagined he would simply return to his old job after this traumatic punishment he soon finds he is mistaken. He is transferred to new quarters - a secure, bare prison cell where his most intimate routines are closely monitored and the food is frugal. He is put to work on unskilled, labour-intensive tasks like tending the windswept fields (above). This one looks like it's going to need a lot of weeding and he's not been given any tools to do it with. As a concession, he is allowed to wear underpants for work but is shacked with leg irons to prevent escape. In the weeks that follow, the estate men prove to be enthusiastic enforcers of Jim's servitude, an authentic if anachronistic adaptation of the British Estate tradition of loyalty to the Lord.
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| 824 Jim Is Put To Work In The Quarry |
We also see Jim working in a quarry, manually shifting stones. It's back-breaking work and he hates it as much as the muddy, quarry slave illustrated in picture 817 (from Part 8). The other estate workers delight in 'supervising' him, reminding him of his slave status and administering corporal punishment from time to time. They make sure he's denied any pleasure and given no opportunity for private, sexual relief when he's out of the chastity device. He stumbles across a copy of the original 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' while clearing a barn, but it is taken away from him, an interesting irony.
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| 825 Jim Oliver Milked |
Any worries Jim might have had about the estate workers wanting to molest him or repeat his treatment in the barn prove to be groundless and after a month he discovers why. Like Tanner (in Part 8, image 808 onwards), he discovers that there is to be a formal process for relieving the sexual frustration arising from his enforced chastity and it is conducted at monthly intervals.
Lord C performs the task personally in the salubrious surroundings of the Ballroom of the Big House. It's something of an honour for Jim, since a humble barn or cellar serves for most slaves. Chained to a pillar (above) Jim faces this latest humiliation with manly dignity. Lord C brings in his pals and cronies to watch as he forcibly milks his frustrated slave. Inevitably there's a spillage onto the carpet which necessitates an immediate punishment for Jim. There's no shortage of volunteers amongst these public school types to carry it out.
As they discuss the forthcoming Garden Party, Jim realises that his duties as Lord C's slave will not be limited to hard, physical field work. Other tasks, intimate in nature and no less humiliating are coming his way. Still, at least there are only two more months to go........well, that's what he agreed to anyway.......
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The Garden Party is described in an appendix to Lord Chatterley's Forester at Gay Bondage Fiction. It's by a different author, Red1skin, but has more pictures by Amalaric (first chapter of both parts free but it's a subscription site).
This mitchmen series on the 'Art of Amalaric' continues in Part 9a 'Lollipops' and you can also read the entire series starting from Part 1 - 'A Slave To Passion'
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