CHAPTER THREE

Heroic Lilly

Marina was getting used to the town by now and becoming increasingly impatient. Mr Marcelinus was willing to help but worried about some people hanging about near his house. So she was staying with his servant at her small dwelling  for a few days until he was sure it was safe for her to go back to his.

Marina was curious about the beautiful young white girl who fought from time to time at the market. She had not seen her for a couple of weeks and was worried for her.

Then one day she heard a collision in the street near where she was staying. Two rickety old vehicles had collided. One of them was a taxi, similar to that which had taken her to the hotel months ago,. Perhaps it was the same taxi.

The servant, who had been  on a shopping expedition, came running into the house. She looked extremely excited.

“Miss Marina, a prison van smashed into a taxi. The driver of the van was killed, a prisoner badly hurt  and the other prisoner escaped after overpowering the only uninjured guard. They are looking for her”

“Her? A woman overpowered a guard? She must be some woman!”

Marina was about to go into the street when there was a commotion outside. Voices approached and then went off into the distance. Then she looked into the yard. There was the eighteen year old fighter! So her suspicion had been right! It was she who had taken advantage of her first ever chance to flee from her tormentors!

“Come in! Quickly! We have a cellar where you can hide in case they come back. I may not look it, by the way, but I am white too!”

They hurried Lilly (for it was indeed she) into the cellar,

“I tell boss  white lady escape.” The servant left.

Marina went downstairs again and spoke to the escapee.

“Hi, I’m Marina. I’m English. I saw you fight a few times. You are good. I’m afraid I also saw you kill that older woman on my first day here.”

Lilly hung her head and a tear trickled down her face.

“I’m Lilly, and I’m English, too. The girl I killed  was called Martha, from New York,  and was my best friend. I don’t suppose you understand, but I had to do it. She told me to kill her before the fight. It was a death fight - like in the arena in ancient Rome! But when it came to it she fought hard to live and to beat me. I’ve had more bad times than I care to think about in these past two years, but that was easily the worst! Please believe me! I hate myself now!”

“Two years? You’ve been in prison since you were only a child of sixteen?”

“I was a bit wild at the time and ran away, ending up here. When it became known I was lying about my age  I was put in prison. My parents will think I am dead - which I might as well be. The guards said I was a promisingly strong girl and would do much hard work.  Then Martha noticed me and took me under her wing. She saw my potential and taught me to fight and I quickly became quite good. Six months ago she said I was ready to join the team.

We entertained the prison  guards  and a lot of bigwigs, including our disgusting Consul, Mr Fucking Hargreaves and his equally abominable American colleague, by beating the shit out of each other! I hate those bastards! There’s a lot of betting takes place at the prison fights.  My third fight was against Martha in front of all those jeering people who come to see white women disgraced by being nude in public and having to fight each other. But I was told that if I refused to take part, I’d go to the quarries and the mines.

“There was a girl, three years ago, who sickened of being a fighter and was sent north. Brave girl! I was too keen on keeping my privileges. I might be courageous enough in the ring but I am a coward where it really matters!“

“I don’t blame you. I can‘t think you‘ve anything to be ashamed of. The true villains are the scoundrels who put you in such a horrible position.” said a sympathetic Marina. “You don’t know who the other girl was? The one who was a good fighter but refused to carry on with it?”

“Angelica - or something like that”

“Angelina, Lilly. She was my dearest friend since we were both three. I’ve come here to find her and either take her home or end up working side by side with her. As long as we’re together, again I’ll be happy.”

“It’s more likely you’ll end up slaving away with her. A hell of a lot more likely!  If you’re thinking of staging a rescue, forget it1 There‘s no way you could get near the mineral workings. All the staff are vetted and you‘ll not fool them for a second. I bet you don‘t even speak a word of the language.”

Marina spoke a few words and Lilly looked impressed, but she still shook her head.

“It’s clever the way you use that lisp , but it won’t fool them for long. I only see one solution, Marina! Someone must get a message to Angelina and persuade her to change her mind about fighting for them. Then she’ll be brought back to the prison,  here in this town. She’d stand a chance of getting away, like I did. I know she was good - very good. If I gave myself up, I‘d be sent up there for sure and get to see her. I‘d tell her you were here and that friends were able to get you both out of the country by boat. Then maybe one day you‘d both raise such a stink that all the rest of us would be freed. I‘ll go back.”

“Are you sure, Lilly? You’d do that for my friend?”

“I killed my best friend, Marina - a woman who was like a mother to me. If I helped your best friend I might be able to get back just a bit of self respect and stop hating myself so much. I’ll be off. It’s wrong to endanger you by hanging around any longer. I’ll be sent up north in a few days and  put to work soon after that. With any luck, Angelina should be back in town within ten days.”

“Are you really set on this, Lilly? I’m sure my friends will get you to a fishing boat and away from here if you wish. It seems so horrible to be going back after your miraculous escape! What will they do to you, apart from sending you to the quarries?”

“Come along to the market tomorrow at the same time that they have the fights! You’ll see a public whipping - of me! But it won’t be that bad. I’ll keep the marks just about  for ever,  but they won’t want to impair my ability to work. I want you to watch me being whipped, Marina. Knowing there’s just one friendly face in that crowd will help me a lot! Please be there! I know you'll feel sick, but be there. That's all I ask!”

And Lilly was gone. Marina was inclined to stop her, but realised that what the girl had said made sense. Nobody could get within twenty miles of the mineral workings without being spotted. Only Angelina’s returning to the prison offered any hope of rescuing her. But her heart bled for poor Lilly!

Next day, Marina went to the market, as Lilly had told her. At the usual time for these public entertainments, just after midday, Lilly, stripped naked, was led to the ring where a whipping post had been erected. Her arms were stretched vertically above her head and her hair was tied up to expose that strong and lovely back for its ordeal. Marina forced herself to look.

“Poor girl! She looks so young!” muttered a man near Marina. But nobody answered him. He was very likely in the secret police and trying to trap someone into betraying anti government sympathies. But Marina could feel the sympathy emanating from many people around her. She knew instinctively  that Lilly had more friends in this watching crowd than the lone Marina.

Marina was near enough to the front for Lilly to see her and a brief glance passed between the two. The watching woman felt pity and admiration as the naked Lilly was secured. There was a look of defiance on that beautiful face as she stared haughtily at the waiting mob. Then the first lash fell and her smoothness was marked by a diagonal red stripe. Before the second lash struck her the first had started to ooze blood. They gave her thirty which she took in silence. Marina was close enough to hear the victim breathe and she never uttered a sound. When they had finished with her, her back was a horrible sight, raw and bloody. Lilly had been right about getting marked for life! The bastards had cut her to the bone in places.

The girl must be superhuman, thought Marina. Every stroke must have been agony. But she had been in many fights in her brief life and that couldn’t have been exactly a picnic! Lilly was used to pain and that flogging had not been as hard to bear for the tough young fighter as it would have been for Marina, who had only watched the first few lashes before turning away in sick horror. Just hearing what was being done was almost more than she could take.

They cut her down and one of the three guards put his hand on her arm as if to support her on the way back to the transport. She brushed his hand away and walked back under her own steam, head held high. There was a ripple of sympathetic applause which clearly rattled the uniformed presence. Having a white woman publicly whipped was a move that seemed to have backfired. The girl had really shown her quality and the crowd had admired her for it. Lilly was soon in the van and being taken back to jail, and a journey in chains to the quarries.

***************

Before she was taken to the infirmary to have her wounds treated by having salt applied to them, Mr Hargreaves spoke to her.

“What a shame I shall not be seeing you display your skill and courage in the arena again Miss Chambers! But  you will still be useful to us up in the quarries quarrying precious minerals. You will work many years under the sun in the pitiless heat and grow old and bent in the service of this country and ours.

Lilly spat in the bastard’s face and had the satisfaction of seeing that smugness replaced by a snarl of rage as he hit her across the mouth and walked away wiping her spittle off him.

“Horrible man, that” said the head guard, as he led Lilly to be treated with salt for her torn back. “And don’t think you’ll be up in the quarry for ever! A few months to allow you to contemplate the error of your ways and you will be back and fighting again! You are far too good to waste up there! And who knows? One day you may be freed or at least made into a guard. You’ll never go back to your own country but things can be good here.”

Lilly knew she would not be returning from the quarries. Angelina would be coming back and that would mean Lilly could be dispensed with as a fighter. And Lily, now that she had defied them once by escaping and then taken that lashing in silence, was not about to agree to coming back. Either Marina would escape from the Island with Angelina and get outside help or she would indeed labour in the quarries until she became too old and was shot.

After months of taking the easy way out even to the extent of killing her friend, Lilly was  comparatively at peace with herself. At last she had done the right thing!