<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title>Roberta 05</title> </head> <body> ROBERTA - HANGING AROUND<br> <br> It was all right for Paula! Of course Roberta still loved the little girl It was just that she was somewhat jealous of her right now. Here poor old Roberta was, in yet another fine old mess, and Paula was OK - as per usual! These days it always seemed to be alright for Paula! There was lucky old Paula sitting in a nice warm cave being befriended by the bandit leader while she languished in the bitter freezing cold. How did that girl do it? Why was it always she, Roberta, who seemed to draw the short straw? Not that Roberta wasn't capable of enduring hardship, pain and danger. She was more than capable of enduring her present discomfort and a lot more besides, and for as long as necessary. Roberta was as tough as ever - tougher, even. But it would just be so nice to have a rest from these things once in a while!<br> <br> Roberta had been hanging upside down for ten days now, with her hands tied behind her and about thirty feet up in the air, lowered once a day to be fed and watered. She hoped and prayed that the rope which held her was strong and would not break! In all that long period of suspension she had not seen Paula more than half a dozen times. The little girl always smiled up at her when she did pass underneath. She would give Paula credit for that much. Her friend had not forgotten her - quite. <br> <br> According to the withered old crone who sat in the innermost recesses of the cave, mouthing unintelligible imprecations and throwing disgusting looking stuff into a foully smelling cauldron, in two days time it would be the New Moon. The New Moon was apparently something pretty special to this venerable old woman and its advent might or might not see the end of Roberta’s present predicament. <br> <br> For some reason quite beyond Roberta’s comprehension, the bandits showed great respect to the old hag, but Roberta wouldn't give her the time of day! Roberta was a dyed in the wool rationalist and disliked superstition. The only power our heroine believed in was the power of the sword and of her own wonderful body.<br> <br> Speaking of that wonderful body, at least Roberta wasn't wearing those degrading and uncomfortable clothes any longer! Dressing had been a terrible experience for her after all her years of proud nudity. Once more she was bare arse naked just like a true Golden Guard should be! This almost made up for her present parlous situation up in the trees among the birds!<br> <br> Perhaps the phrase "thirty feet up in the air" is misleading. Roberta was certainly thirty feet off the ground, swaying somewhat in the chill breeze. But the height above sea level was more like five thousand feet. Even the hardy Roberta felt the chill these days! Not that she couldn’t take it, of course! Roberta could take anything!<br> <br> Directly under her was what looked like a primitive fireplace. but was actually an altar. On the day of the full moon a sacrifice was to be made. The said sacrifice was going to involve a great deal more pain for the much abused Roberta. Paula had explained in great detail what the crazy old sorceress had decreed. <br> <br> What they were going to do to her was not that bad. Some people might be dreading it and pissing themselves with fear, but not Roberta! What was in store for her was just a routine bit of torture - the kind of thing she‘d gone through plenty of times already! What got to her was the waiting and hanging around! Roberta was Action Woman personified and this enforced idleness was really beginning to piss her off!<br> <br> ***********<br> <br> The couple’s plan to make for the Palace and a confrontation with those who had framed Roberta, and whose treachery still posed a threat to the King, had come adrift very quickly. Roberta’s hard won liberty had lasted less than two days.<br> <br> Roberta had been far more badly affected by her severe whipping followed by that seemingly interminable swim ashore than either girl realised. They had not gone more than a couple of miles before Roberta had fainted from loss of blood and total exhaustion.<br> <br> Paula had dragged her off the main highway and managed to fashion a sort of shelter for the two of them before she herself had fallen asleep. When the two awoke they had been prisoners. Twenty fearsome looking ruffians were surrounding them and Roberta was quickly overcome, although not before giving a few of them some bruises they would sport for days to come.<br> <br> Soon enough, though, even the warrior woman Roberta had been knocked unconscious and trussed to a pole to which she was tied hand and foot. Paula had been allowed to walk with them. They had no fear that such a tiny girl would get far if she ran for it.<br> <br> After three days marching through the increasingly deserted countryside the party of brigands had paused to rest. It had been then, when they had released the trussed Roberta that they had discovered that she was not the lusty youth they had taken her for, but a woman.<br> <br> “How does a woman get to be so strong?” the leader had asked. “It took six of us to knock you out!”<br> <br> “I am one of the King’s Golden Guard!” replied Roberta. “I am unjustly accused of betraying the King whom I vowed to serve. I was on my way to clear my name when your people surprised us.”<br> <br> “You must be the famous Roberta!” said the leader. He sounded greatly impressed and asked if he might have the privilege of looking at her bare back. He knew what he saw there would tell him that she was indeed the famous fugitive.<br> <br> “Please take these clothes off me, altogether. I am so terribly ashamed to be dressed. I deserve a long and hard whipping for abandoning my nudity - no matter for what reason. I will get one in any case whether I clear my name or not!”<br> <br> So Roberta was completely stripped, making her very happy, and the robber chief examined her back, running his finger along some of the more prominent scars.<br> <br> “You are indeed the much whipped Roberta for whom the King’s men were looking. There is not a back in all the Golden Guard to be compared to yours! I am proud to have seen it and touched it! But you are a wanted woman these days and although we are bandits here and with a price on our heads, but we are not scurvy rebels. We should hand you over to the Law. But first we must consult Philippa.”<br> <br> Roberta gave a solemn promise not to try to escape and was allowed to walk with the bandits. They accepted her offer to assist with the equipment, carrying on her strong back an enormous pack which seemed not to cause her the slightest distress. Mile after mile she strode, barefoot and naked, until the men had to ask her to slow down!<br> <br> Paula revealed that she was an auxiliary Golden Guard and was permitted to remove her clothes. She felt more than slightly nervous as she felt twenty pairs of eyes boring into her miniaturised perfection. The buttocks that had so charmed the King were working their sensual magic on the twenty hardened rogues! But the chief told his men to keep their hands off her. <br> <br> One of the brigands, though, a tall and powerfully built scoundrel, seemed disinclined to obey his leader. On the night before they were due to move on to their remote mountain lair, the dastardly ruffian burst in upon the petrified Paula and would have had his evil way with her, were it not that Roberta heard a scream and dashed into Paula’s tent. The massively strong Roberta stood between his aroused manhood and the sweet innocent object of his base and lewdly primitive desires.<br> <br> “Keep your distance, you bastard! And my friend will not surrender her virginity for such a one as you! Call that pitiful thing a dick?! Put it away you pathetic arsehole before I die laughing! Ye gods! My clit‘s almost as big as that!”<br> <br> Before the situation could develop further the leader, a man called Rodolfo, came into the tent and ordered the would-be rapist Bernard back to his quarters. But the situation remained ugly. Roberta, her eyes blazing with a horrible fury, swore that no roughly lascivious hands should touch her Paula unless it were over her dead body!<br> <br> “That’s not a bad suggestion, Golden Guard Roberta!” laughed the jovial Rodolfo. “If we hand you over to his Majesty in return for a free pardon, you’ll soon enough be dead meat in any case. No more banishment to Hell Island for an escapee! It’s the chop for you next time! After a long session in the Torture Chamber with my good cousin the Chief Torturer! You‘ll be begging to die long before the end! So we‘ll be extremely kind to you and give you a quick exit! That’s the sort of decent chap I am! All heart! <br> <br> This is how it’s going to be, my brave girl! In the morning you fight Bernard to the death and if you lose then Paula is his! Take her back to her tent, men!”<br> <br> “I am happy to die fighting for Paula’s honour. The dawn cannot come soon enough! That swine will never see another!”<br> <br> “Gung-ho bitch, your friend!” said an admiring Rodolfo to Paula as Roberta was led away to await her coming ordeal by battle.<br> <br> “She’s a Golden Guard, Rodolfo! All her life she’s been trained to fight and fight hard. Point her in the direction of the enemy and the said enemy’s history! Call off the fight! Call it off unless you can spare Bernard and won‘t really miss having him around! Roberta will eat him for breakfast! Roberta doesn‘t take prisoners, Rodolfo!”<br> <br> “She fights with no weapons save her bare hands, Paula! No flashy swordsmanship tomorrow. No well aimed arrow. Just her bare hands! Something tells me she won‘t like that too much!”<br> <br> “She’ll still win! No one alive - neither man nor woman - can defeat Roberta!”<br> <br> “We shall see soon enough, Paula. Try and get some sleep. You won’t be disturbed again!”<br> <br> Paula tried to get back to sleep, but excitement at the coming fight kept making her wake up. She couldn’t wait to see her darling Roberta in action!<br> <br> **********************<br> The two antagonists were led out to fight each other at dawn. All the bandits gathered in a circle to watch. A rudimentary ring was already in place, having been prepared overnight while the two fighters were resting and preparing themselves. Roberta was naked as usual and greatly impressive with it! There was a gasp of awed admiration as she stepped into the arena. But Bernard wore clothes, including heavy boots. Rodolfo, in order to be fair to both contestants, ordered Bernard to take off his footwear. He stripped off his shirt at the same time and displayed his massive hairy chest.<br> <br> Bernard looked more angry than Paula could remember any person ever looking before. If any man was totally pissed off and ready to kick arse, it was Bernard on this crisp cold morning! Roberta had better be in good form today! She looked at her face, but as usual saw nothing other than the customary impassive and beautiful mask. The eyes were hard, though. Every bit as cold and hard as the eyes that had appraised her more than a year ago when the two had first seen each other by the roadside.<br> <br> Paula wondered for a few heart stopping moments whether her confidence in Roberta might not have been somewhat disastrously misplaced, as the fight got under way! To start with, Bernard, clearly angered at Roberta’s disdainful appraisal of his prized and nobly proportioned penis, opened the proceedings by sending Roberta flying with a prodigious blow of his mighty fist to her mouth. Blood seemed to be everywhere and Roberta looked stunned for a second. But only a second!<br> <br> Paula need not have worried. It took Roberta a while, and she was to receive a stupendous amount of punishment over the next twenty minutes, but she came right back from that opening setback by blasting Bernard with a mighty kick to his chest. Roberta’s arms pushed her body off the ground and her leg came up like a giant spring right into her opponent’s body. He never saw it coming until too late. It was a magnificently delivered blow that audibly broke a couple of ribs. Bernard grunted in pain and Roberta, upright in a flash, stared at him for a split second with those cold blue eyes. There was death in that stare!<br> <br> In retrospect, Paula could see that it was downhill all the way for Bernard after that. He fought like a tiger, using every dirty trick in the book, kicking and kneeing Roberta’s crotch, stomach and breasts many times in a vain effort to slow her down. Roberta was, as ever, completely impervious to pain and gradually overcame Bernard, absorbing all his blows and contemptuously shrugging them off as if they had been delivered by a baby rather than a grown and powerfully built man.<br> <br> There was something terrifying about Roberta that morning as she tamed her hapless opponent. She gave a demonstration to them all of what a magnificent and highly trained animal she was as Bernard was worn down and softened up for the kill.<br> <br> Finally Bernard had no more to offer and stood bleeding and broken, ashamed to have been beaten by a woman and with no more will to fight. Roberta launched herself at her antagonist, put her hands around his throat and squeezed the life out of him. <br> <br> There was a round of applause for the brave Golden Guard, who wiped the blood off her mouth and put her pack on her back, preparatory to moving out for the last stage of the journey to the mountain hide out.<br> <br> “I see what you meant last night, Paula!” said the Leader as they walked the final few miles. “Roberta is invincible! There can be no one who can prevail against her. What a magnificent, brave and beautiful woman! I desire her, Paula. I worship that girl! But if Philippa deems her to be a traitor we shall have no choice but to hand her over to His Majesty for torture and execution. It will break my heart but I will do it!” <br> <br> “Roberta will never belong to any man, Rodolfo! All the Golden Guards are the same. They can be aroused to passion only by the sweet and firm young bodies of other women. I too am that way. Roberta and I are lovers - or were before she was arrested a year ago.”<br> <br> “You are a lucky girl, Paula! With Roberta to protect you, you need fear no one. But we will take her from you and hand her to His Majesty’s tender mercies if we judge her to be guilty. All will be revealed in time. Truth will prevail and justice will be served. Philippa will see to that!”<br> <br> Roberta and Paula were taken to see Philippa as soon as the brigand band arrived. Roberta was not impressed! This old lady stank like a pile of rotting fish! What a stench. She almost threw up! Paula, too, looked a bit pale about the gills.<br> <br> “We must wait until the new moon before we know your innocence or guilt.” wheezed the old hag. “Take her away and hang her by her feet from the Altar Tree high enough to keep the birds company. Feed her daily but do not release her bonds until the day of trial.”<br> <br> It was a relief to be out in the fresh air again after being so close to that horrible unwashed hag! The disgusting old woman stank out the entire cave. What were Rodolfo and Company doing by allowing her to be in such a dirty state?<br> <br> **********************<br> <br> After ten days, though, Roberta’s relief was a thing of the past. She had been skilfully enough tied so as not to impede her circulation, which was pretty smart of these rough brigands considering that the circulation of the blood had not yet been discovered!<br> <br> But she was bored and she was cold. And she was worried about Paula. The thought of any of that bunch of ruffians laying a hand on her virginal purity enraged her. Roberta wanted that virginal purity for herself and she was a very possessive woman! She struggled again to free herself, but it was hopeless. <br> <br> Paula had come out one morning, as Roberta was being lowered for feeding, and explained to her tethered friend the nature of the test to which Philippa was to subject her. There was excitement in her voice as she told the hanging Roberta about her impending fate!<br> <br> “On the day of the New Moon, Roberta, you are to be lowered to a couple of feet from the ground and whipped. I have seen the whip they will use and it is a good one, well worthy of you! Your blood will be collected in a ceremonial bowl and used by Philippa to see if you are innocent or not. It won’t be a very big bowl, Roberta, and as soon as it is full to the brim they will stop whipping you and raise you up again. Philippa will sleep on her thoughts overnight and pronounce sentence in the morning. It shouldn’t hurt too much, darling - not like that last terrible flogging on the Hell Island”<br> <br> Roberta had been less than impressed by all this mumbo jumbo. Whatever happened to psychological interrogation? Where was the science in all this?<br> <br> “Do you seriously believe this old bag is genuine, Paula? Come on Paula - please! Any fool can see she’s just a crazy old woman who badly needs a bath! What does she intend doing with my blood after I‘ve shed it so painfully? Drink it?”<br> <br> “She will recite ancient and powerful spells over it. She will cast it on the Sacred Flame and read the messages in the smoke. And you are wrong to mock her, Roberta! Very wrong! I hope they really hurt you when they whip you. It will serve you right. It is a very wicked thing to mock the wisdom of people such as Philippa! I am horrified at you, Roberta! Horrified and sick! After your wicked words I‘ll enjoy watching every second of your whipping and I pray it will teach you to mend your ways!”<br> <br> Paula had not spoken to her since that conversation and, although she smiled at her when passing underneath, Roberta knew that her friend would watch her next whipping with more than the usual satisfaction that these occasions gave her. Paula was a devout believer and she had clearly been shocked by Roberta’s mocking words.<br> <br> During the time they had spent together after her escape and before her collapse and capture, Paula had told of several meetings she had had with sundry sorceresses in the year they had been apart. If only a fraction of what the little girl had told her was true, then Roberta had indeed been very foolish to talk so disrespectfully about the old lady! And Philippa, by the exercise of her psychic powers, would surely know every unkind word that Roberta had uttered concerning her. And whatever other qualities the old hag might possess, she certainly looked to be capable of great vindictiveness!<br> <br> Roberta prayed that the bitch was indeed a fake! But she prayed in vain! Philippa was the best! Sorceresses didn’t come any more genuine! And Philippa had it in for Roberta! Did she ever have it in for her!<br> <br> **********************<br> <br> “Are you sure there is no more kind and painless way of collecting the blood you need from Roberta?” Paula was asking Philippa the night before the New Moon.<br> <br> “She mocked me, Paula. That great muscle-bound, bone-headed female thug mocked me and she must pay! I shall see she is punished for that! But have no fear! If she is as innocent of treachery as she claims, I shall see that she is set free and enabled to pursue her enemies, who are also His Majesty’s foes!”<br> <br> “Roberta is not stupid, Philippa! She may have had her eyes closed to the truths that you and I both know, but she is not stupid. But you are right about her disbelief being a great sin. Her hide must indeed be cut into ribbons with the whip - again and again and again!”<br> <br> “She has been a foolish and wayward young woman, Paula. Talk of her stupidity has even reached these remote hills. If she had not been so wild and not incurred so many whippings she would not have been such an obvious suspect after the attempt on the King‘s life. She has only herself to blame for much of her misfortunes!”<br> <br> “You talk as if you already knew her to be guiltless! And yet you insist on shedding her blood!”<br> <br> “I feel her to be a true and loyal servant of the King. You are closer to her and you know. But I must put her to the test, Paula. Her blood must be painfully shed and due process observed. And I won’t be mocked - not even by the bravest and best of the Golden Guard! She will bitterly regret the things she said.”<br> <br> “She was wrong to say what she did, Philippa. But she will not regret her words. No matter what pain she suffers she is a wilful woman. It is her weakness and at the same time her strength. But I shall rejoice to see her punished.”<br> <br> “Whether you rejoice or not is immaterial, Paula. For Roberta will be horribly punished in the morning!”<br> <br> “Good! Serve her right! Will you tell me my fortune, please Philippa? Before tomorrow?” <br> <br> “I know your fortune and your future, Paula. It is one of happiness and great wealth. I also know Roberta’s fortune. Hers is one of great danger and much terrible pain, but she will be doing what she loves to do and doing it well. Hers will also be a happy life, in her own way!”<br> <br> “I will sleep now, Philippa!”<br> <br> Paula walked to her own quarters. Terrified to offend the old seer, she fought down her own innermost feeling of revulsion at the increasingly unwashed, verminous and noisome condition of the old woman. Roberta had more than just a point!<br> <br> ******************************<br> <br> “The New Moon is here, Roberta!” spoke Rodolfo as he superintended her lowering on the great day. “You are to be put to the test today. Depending on the outcome this morning, the evening of the next day will either see you on your way in chains to the Palace or being tended for your terrible wounds.”<br> <br> “I suppose it’s useless asking you to take my word of honour - my sacred oath as a Golden Guard?”<br> <br> “Quite useless, Roberta! Bernard had some friends among us and they have been looking forward to your whipping, I really can’t disappoint them. A leader has responsibilities to entertain his men. You may be a leader yourself one day and will find these things out!”<br> <br> “I didn’t hear anyone cheering for him when we fought. And you all applauded my victory!”<br> <br> “Save your breath and your strength, Roberta. You will need both - your breath to scream and your strength to stay alive under the relentless terror of the lash!”<br> <br> “Bollocks! I can take a good, long and hard whipping - harder than any you weaklings can give me! You’ve seen my back! Do your worst! You won’t make me scream and you won’t kill me. And Philippa needs a bath, the dirty old cow!”<br> <br> “You are brave, Roberta! Brave and foolish. Before the day is done you will be a wiser woman after your suffering. Clean her down, men! Make her sweet smelling and soft of skin for her torment!”<br> <br> Once more Roberta’s head was shaved completely smooth. It was explained that the blood might run into her hair if she were not once again denuded of her golden locks. She was thoroughly washed and a sweet smelling cream was rubbed thoroughly into her back. She felt the toughened skin melt and soften under its magical influence. With sick dread she knew that when her back was kissed by the fiery hot touch of the lash, her skin would be as soft and sensitive as that of a new born babe! But she had survived her first whipping with a soft skin and she would survive this!<br> <br> Roberta hung suspended with her head several feet off the ground for several hours and then a group of brigands came out of the cave. They carried a wooden frame which they positioned above the Altar. Roberta’s feet were untied, but only briefly. She was soon tied up again, this time with her powerful legs spread wide apart above her and her feet secured to opposite ends of a horizontal bar. Her thick, brawny arms were temporarily left hanging so that they almost touched the ground. They tied her hands to a bar at the base of the frame and her body was taut as a bowstring and she was spread-eagled in a vertical position. She told herself that it would all be over soon and prayed that her name might be cleared, no matter how agonising the means of doing it might be.<br> <br> Then the witch came out carrying a bowl which she placed directly underneath her newly shaved head. The blood would drip into this receptacle which a very apprehensive Roberta observed to be quite large! She was about to shed much blood if that were to be full to the brim! The next move on the part of the old crone made Roberta’s flesh creep!<br> <br> Philippa stuck her bony finger into Roberta’s juicy cunt. Then she sucked at the succulent fluid and smacked her lips greedily. She repeated this process twice and finally rubbed her finger around the rim of the sacrificial bowl.<br> <br> “We would be happy with menstrual blood, Roberta! And we would need only a drop or two of that potent fluid to see into your heart and soul! It grieves me that you’ve already had this month’s period!”<br> <br> “Yeah! I bet you’re all eaten up inside, you old bag! Why don’t we get on with it? These creeps are getting horny waiting around to see me whipped. I can see how they get their kicks! Let’s give them something great to jerk off about shall we, the sad bastards! FUCKING WANKERS!!”<br> <br> “You do yourself no favours Roberta. But I suppose you must be pretty bloody stupid to be a member of the Golden Guard! Only sick masochist bitches who are tired of living would be in that outfit in the first place!”<br> <br> “How dare you insult a fine body of women! We protect the King. We will die for him. Long Live the King!”<br> <br> “Yeah, yeah, yeah! We’ve heard it all before Roberta! Why don’t you grow up!”<br> <br> “Fuck off you smelly old bag!”<br> <br> “Sticks and stones, Roberta! Sticks and stones! And now for your sticks and stones. Leather sticks and leather stones. The finest hide our country can produce! And all to shred the newly softened skin of naughty Roberta who should learn to watch her dirty mouth!”<br> <br> “Yeah! And you should wash your dirty body!”<br> <br> “Very funny, Roberta. Quite a wit on the quiet, aren’t we!”<br> <br> Having failed to get the better of the exchange, the witch moved away from the victim. Roberta’s nostrils ceased to wrinkle in disgust as a breath of clean air entered her lungs for the first time in minutes!<br> <br> Rodolfo took the witch aside.<br> <br> “I hate to raise this with you, Philippa! But Roberta has a point. You have been letting yourself go a bit these last two years or so. We can arrange privacy for you, if you like to have a bath. No one will see you. I promise you! And whatever you do, Roberta will be well whipped for her insolence! Very well whipped. We‘ll teach that young madam a very painful lesson in good manners today!”<br> <br> Philippa grunted sourly. To be honest with herself she did realise that her personal hygiene was not of a particularly high standard these days. She recalled her days as a young apprentice witch, many years ago and how she had retched at the stink of her first Mistress Witch. Maybe she might take a shower later on.<br> <br> Paula was brought out of the cave to watch. She looked astounded when she saw Roberta’s smooth back.<br> <br> “It’s a miracle! She doesn’t look like my Roberta at all! Could you let me have some of that ointment? It would be marvellous for my wrinkles! Not that I’ve many - just a few around the eyes where I smile because I‘m such a happy girl! Don‘t give her any though. The sooner her back is back to its former scarred condition the better for her pride!”<br> <br> “She won’t have long to wait now!” joked Rodolfo.<br> <br> “Can I touch her back, please Rodolfo. Just once before it gets shredded?”<br> <br> “Be my guest, Paula. I’m sure Roberta will thrill to your gentle touch!”<br> <br> Roberta certainly did feel Paula’s tiny warm hand caress her back. It was years since she could remember having that much feeling in that area of her body. Even before her first whipping she had been hardened by years of nakedness in all weathers. She was certainly going to feel the coming lashes! She looked down at the bowl. It looked depressingly large!<br> <br> “Be brave, Roberta! Make me feel proud of you as they whip your hide to ribbons! And learn from this and try not to be rude to prophetesses in future! Let today’s punishment be a lesson to you, my darling! I meant what I said the other day and I still hope this hurts worse than anything you’ve ever felt before!”<br> <br> “Thanks Paula. Just what a girl needs! A loyal friend. I won’t cry, Paula. But it’s not to make you proud of me! It’s to stop me being ashamed. And she DOES need a bath! I don’t care how great a sorceress she is. Soap and water are plentiful enough. Admit it! She stinks!”<br> <br> Paula withdrew and Rodolfo gave the whip to Antonio who, now that Bernard was dead, was the strongest of the band.<br> <br> ***************************<br> <br> ROBERTA IS WHIPPED - AGAIN<br> <br> <br> The others might not have noticed but Paula saw Roberta move under the first lash! That had really hurt her! The leather was cutting into her like a hot knife through butter. Blood had started to trickle out of the long vertical stripe even as the second landed. A trickle was already making its way down her back as the sixth lash struck at her. By the twelfth cruel blow, blood was dripping into the bowl. By the thirtieth lash the bowl was half full and the flow was increasing by the second. <br> <br> The bowl was full after seventy lashes and Rodolfo ordered the whipping to stop. Roberta was put back on the original rope and hoisted back up into the air. She was told that she would learn her fate in the morning. Philippa took the full bowl into the cave, muttering mysteriously in her chanting voice as she did so. <br> <br> Roberta might have managed to avoid crying out, but Paula had seen her move many, many times as the sacrificial flogging had proceeded. Philippa had been right when she had promised Roberta would have a day to remember! The Golden Guard had been writhing long before she was done with.<br> <br> Paula, needless to say, had disgraced herself again! Her squirming and groaning had shocked even the hardened brigands who had all come to think of her as such a sweet and refined person! Many of the bandits had, as Roberta had mockingly predicted, been stuffing cloth into their breeches in a vain effort to keep the stains from their pumping semen showing through the material.<br> <br> As the assembly moved back into the cave, leaving Roberta to suffer further torments as she hung and bled, a cry rang out from her defiant lips. “WANKERS! YOU TOO PAULA! YOU JUST CAN’T KEEP YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM YOUR CUNT, CAN YOU,YOU FUCKING SLUT!”<br> <br> Blood continued to drip onto the ground for some minutes, until it finally stopped. Paula came out of the cave several times, and each time she looked up and saw that Roberta was conscious and with a look of satisfaction on her face. She had come through once more! But she might think twice before scoffing again at those with psychic powers! <br> <br> *********************<br> <br> Next day the brigands gathered at the altar and Roberta was lowered. Not a word was said as they awaited the arrival of the sage Philippa and her verdict. Finally the aged crone tottered out of the cave.<br> <br> “Roberta is an innocent and wronged woman. She has always been a loyal servant of the King. We should send her back to the Palace to restore her good name!”<br> <br> Roberta was untied and resumed a right way up posture for the first time in two weeks. She staggered a little at first as she readjusted to her regained freedom. Paula came and stood by her, ready to support her if necessary. But Roberta was a tough woman and indicated curtly that she needed no help. And she was still a bit sore with Paula!<br> <br> “I see - and smell - that you took my advice about the bath, Philippa. It took a whipping for me to convince you, but it was worth it! Come on Paula! We have a long way to go and much to do!”<br> <br> But everyone could see that Roberta was going nowhere just yet. Her back was too badly torn after the previous day’s sacrifice and she had lost too much blood. Paula had little difficulty persuading her friend to delay her departure for at least a week.<br> <br> “And your hair will be growing back a bit then. I’m not saying you don’t still look great, but I prefer you hairy to bald.”<br> <br> Rodolfo offered to send some of his men to escort the couple part of the way and to tell the King of Philippa’s findings. Roberta declined the proffered escort, angrily saying that she needed no protection and could look after herself once she was fit and well again. After what she had done to Bernard and in view of the mighty effort it had taken them to subdue her and beat her senseless in the first place, despite her weakened condition at the time, Rodolfo took her point!<br> <br> “You must be armed for your trip - both of you. Yes, Paula! You are a Golden Guard now! Take your pick of our armoury, the pair of you!”<br> <br> So Roberta buckled on a sword belt and chose the best sword the brigands had to offer. As she slung the bow and quiver over her shoulder she felt her old self once again. Soon she would expose the true traitor and be restored!<br> <br> Paula also armed herself. She contented herself with a bow and arrows and a small knife instead of a sword. She guessed she would be little use in hand to hand combat.<br> <br> AS soon as Roberta was well enough, and with her hair already a couple of inches long, they set out.<br> <br> </body> </html>