A SURPRISE FOR ROBERTA

As the blindfold was taken off, Roberta was somewhat surprised to see herself back in the clearing where she had been twice whipped, firstly when Celestine and Amy had alternately attacked her back from both sides and secondly by Celestine alone. The shame of her reaction to that second whipping still haunted her.

She had received seventy lashes and wept and screamed for mercy after each of them She, Roberta the bravest of the brave had grovelled and pleaded for mercy. Even seventy long years of ceaseless  hard work and pain had not expunged this dreadful memory. She still feared Celestine and obeyed her every command.

Her seventy years as a slave might be over but Roberta was still a slave at heart. Her body might be mightier and stronger than ever, but her spirit was that of a dependant who relied upon her Mistress for guidance and trembled abjectly whenever she as much as frowned.

Roberta looked around the familiar and ill favoured clearing. It was still a horrible place! The same tent was there - or an identical tent was there! For this was a new tent, as new as the one she had been in seventy years ago. The dreaded whipping post, where she had been such a coward, was also where it had been. There was blood on the ground. With nausea she saw hordes of insects devouring the blood and bits of torn flesh. Obviously some poor wretch had recently been put through the same horror that had reduced the once proud Roberta to a compliant serf, afraid of her own shadow.

“Do you wish for your freedom, Slave?” said Celestine, coldly. To think she had been so affectionate to her on the last night!

“Yes, Mistress. I desire to be a free woman. I desire it as I have never wished for anything before. But I await my Mistress’s decision.”

“I am going to whip you again, Roberta, with all the terrible force of my supernatural strength! If you suffer in silence, rather than whine and howl for mercy as you did last time, I may perhaps free you, and then again I may not. Nothing can be certain where my capricious will is concerned! One thing is certain, though. If you utter as much as a grunt I shall enslave you for ever, but there will be no nights of love for you this time. Pain will be your lot all day and all night for ever. You bore me now, Roberta! I really feel I have totally exhausted all the possibilities where you are concerned.”

Roberta obeyed, sick with despair. She knew how impossible were the conditions the diabolical Celestine had set for her freedom. Even after seventy years of being flogged every day and with a skin as thick  and desensitised as hers had become, she would not withstand even one lash from the possessed Witch. She was half inclined to tell the witch to take her to whatever place of torment and slavery she wished. The whipping was no more than a formality. But Celestine was set on causing her more pain. All signs of love had vanished from those wicked eyes. If only the sweet Amy had won!

Inside the tent she saw a whip identical to the one Celestine had used on her to such hellish effect so many years ago. There was blood - almost fresh blood - on the business end. It had been used very recently. She wondered if the poor victim had survived. Today it would be used again. She shook with fear at the thought of the horror that was ahead.

Just as she was about to go outside and present the whip to her merciless Mistress a warm, soft hand touched her arm. She looked around and a tear ran down her cheek. It was Amy! She looked everything that her Mistress was not - kind, loving and full of sweetness by day as well as by night. Amy’s hand excitedly felt every inch of Roberta’s stronger than ever body.

“Darling Roberta! How strong you are! What a wonderful body those seventy years have given you! But I see  to my sorrow that your mind and spirit are humbled and broken. Have courage, my darling! With my help you will soon be the Roberta of old and my sister will have no more power over you. Look down, darling at my thighs, and how the sight of you has made the juices flow!”

Roberta obeyed. Seventy years of being silent by day had made it impossible for her to utter a word. She saw that juices were indeed running down Amy’s inner thighs. She knelt and her tongue lapped up the sweet liquid.

“Take your fill, my sweet darling Roberta. Savour my offering of love and swallow it all! It will give you the strength you are going to need in a few moments when you face your greatest challenge yet. And speak! Make yourself speak. Speak to me and speak to Celestine. Freedom of speech is everyone’s right! How dare she have made you be silent! Just you keep quiet like the brave girl you are and then I‘ll sort her out good and proper!”

Roberta thirstily licked out the willing Amy, sucking up the love juice as fast as it flowed. When she had finished she spoke, the first time she had opened her mouth during the day for seventy long and wretched years.

“You seem to have been fighting again, Amy! I wish you wouldn’t ! You’re far too lovely to spoil your looks like that! That face is as bad as it was seventy years ago, after that struggle which I so devoutly wish you had won! I hope you won this time, after collecting all those  terrible bruises!”

“I lost! I shall tell you the story, which will astound you! You have so much to learn, Roberta, and in such a short time! Soon I shall fight her again and this time I shall win. My undying and passionate love for you and my contempt for her will see me through to a glorious victory! Just you wait and see! You must play your part, my angel girl! First you must take Celestine‘s furious whipping in silence and after that I must fight and beat her. From then on you and I will be together, in equal and loving happiness to bear life‘s burdens and share its joys in loving harmony. No Slave and no Mistress but a devoted and caring couple. Be brave, my sweet!”

“Can’t you stop Celestine hurting me again, Amy?” Roberta was trembling with fear and there was pleading in her voice.

“Yes, I could. I could easily rescue you from the whipping that is to come. But I won’t and you wouldn’t thank me if I did - not afterwards. Not when you’d had time to think about it! And the true Roberta would never ask such a question. Would she?”

“No. Already I feel her contempt for the writhing cowardly worm I have become! You are right. I shall think of you and our life together as my back feels the terrible weight of your sister’s fury. You have given me strength of mind again to match that of my body, Amy! My darling Amy!”

Roberta stepped outside the tent, leaving Amy inside. Soon she was tied up again and as had happened seventy years ago, the whip hissed angrily through the air and on to her stretched back. She felt her lungs burst as the hellish agony sliced through her whole body, and not only her body but her entire being. She remained silent, even though the effort to suppress a shriek of pain seemed to have sapped most of her strength. Would she be able to withstand another sixty nine strokes like that? She must. There was no choice. The cowardice of seventy years ago must be redeemed and the old Roberta reborn in the same crucible of pain that had once destroyed and humbled her.

An enraged Celestine increased her efforts when after thirty lashes her Slave was still obstinately refusing to cry out. She knew that she was causing Roberta far more agony even than seventy years ago and still she kept quiet, even as the flesh was ripped off her body, piece by piece. She reached the seventieth lash and was ready to go on, killing her victim rather than see her gain her freedom, when her sister’s voice rang out across the clearing. Damn that Amy!

“Enough, you evil woman! I am ashamed to call you a sister! Leave her be and fight me again. This time I shall beat you and Roberta and I will be together.”

“So you can enslave the cow as well? Fat chance of that, little sister! She is mine, Amy! Either that or she is nobody’s!”

“I only want her to be free, Celestine. If she will have me then I would like to live with her, but the only thing that really matters to me is releasing her from a foul bondage so that she may once more be the proud woman that destiny has intended her to be. Prepare to fight me again!”

“If you want another hiding, that suits me fine! But we’ll have no referee this time!” laughed Celestine. “I think that the poor whipped Roberta needs a rest!  The bitch is more than half dead already after the going over I gave her! She can stay here, and when I have seen to you and left you stretched out on the ground where you belong, I either make the miserable piece of shit cry for mercy or she dies!”

Roberta saw both young witches go inside the tent and when they came out, both bodies were glistening with oil and both pairs of hands were protected with what looked to the shocked Roberta, still in great pain from her flogging, to be strips of metal. They would cause each other terrible harm if they fought wearing those!

“Don’t wear those awful things, girls! ” she cried.

Despite her weakness she forced herself to speak. “Wear leather like you did last time. Be reasonable! You did enough damage to each other with that - remember!”

“Who told you to speak, Slave!” raged Celestine. Her lovely face was twisted into ugliness with her fury.

But Amy respected Roberta’s judgment in these matters.

“If Roberta thinks we should wear something else, she is the trained warrior around here! She is the expert.”

“She is a Slave. And if she talks again, I shall kill her for sure!”

Then the aged Mother Felicity appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Actually she had been hovering around for some time, in the guise of a falcon, but the two daughters had been to preoccupied to see her.

“Release Roberta!” she ordered Celestine. “Let her sleep. When she is awake again, she shall referee this fight as she did the one before. Do as I say, Celestine and make it snappy! I am very disappointed in you!”

Celestine, looking like a naughty little girl rather than Roberta’s imperious Mistress, untied Roberta and Felicity led her to a couch inside the tent. She lay down surrounded by rows of lethal whips and lines of bottles, all containing various differently coloured liquids. Felicity took down three bottles and poured out some liquid from each into a shallow bowl. Roberta then fell asleep. Her last sensation was of Mother Felicity rubbing the mixture into her shredded back.

When she came round her back had ceased to hurt and she knew that it was healed and smooth, and that as long as she lived it must never be scarred again. Walking outside she saw the two young witches, one who had been her Mistress, tormentor and nocturnal lover and the other, who only wanted  selfless love between equals. The sinister Celestine looked in far better shape than her sister, who still bore the marks of a recent fight in which she had been beaten.  Amy didn’t look like much of a champion, thought Roberta.

“What happens if Celestine beats Amy?” she asked Felicity.

“Then she has you back. I hate what she has become, but she is of age now and there is little I can do. Amy will do her best, Roberta. She loves you very much. How should my daughters cover their hands for the fight, Warrior Woman Roberta?”

“I suggest they wrap them in leather strips like last time, Mother Felicity. Metal would cause dreadful harm. I can’t imagine what they were thinking of. Celestine took weeks to heal last time, when she had been bruised only by leather bound fists.”

Mother Felicity ordered her two daughters to do as Roberta had decreed. They came out of the tent with their hands once again wrapped in soft leather strips.  Their bodies were both oiled by now and glistening, but Amy’s entire body from the waist upwards was still covered with many bruises from her recent losing fight. Roberta wondered what had been the cause of it.

As soon as Roberta gave the order, the pair started on each other.  Amy made the first strike and sent Celestine reeling backwards. For a bruised and tired girl, she was showing amazing energy today! She followed this up with another hard right handed blow which knocked her sister to the ground. Roberta started counting. It had been agreed that if she counted up to twenty and the felled fighter was still not on her feet, the fight was over. Roberta had no power to stop the contest in any other circumstances.

Celestine made it to her feet at the count of seventeen and looked shaken. Amy was a different girl today! The fight resumed and Celestine managed a bit of a come back, hitting Amy’s already bruised face several hard blows and making her nose, which Roberta guessed to be already broken from the previous contest,  bleed copiously.

But Amy was not to be denied another knock down for long! In the third minute after her first decking Celestine, she felled her sister again and this time Roberta’s tormentor was still lying on her back as Roberta reached twenty. Amy had won - and in only a few  minutes!

“Congratulate the victor, Roberta!” ordered Mother Felicity. “She has given you back all that Celestine had taken from you. Love her and protect her, Roberta, and she will make you very happy for the rest of your life.”

Roberta embraced Amy, who responded happily. She kissed her, trying her best not to touch that tender and very likely broken little nose.

“Thank you for rescuing me, darling! Now that we are together, I fear nothing in this strange new world where all my old friends are either long since dead or very old!”

“Thank you for being so brave under Celestine’s flogging. It was that amazing courage than inspired me to win. Without your brave example I should have failed yet again!”

Amy took her rescued lover’s hand and led Roberta away from the clearing, with its tent full of instruments of torture, and the whipping post with the bloodstained grass around it. Roberta  looked round and saw that Celestine still lay flat on her back. When Mother Felicity threw cold water over her she stirred a little but showed no other sign of life. It had been a terrific punch of Amy’s - right on the button, and sending her straight into dreamland for quite some time!

In a few hours of leisurely strolling, hand in had all the way, they were back at the lake, with the island a few hundred yards off shore. A boat, identical to that which had carried Roberta and Celestine seventy years ago,  was moored on the shore and the two lovers got in. Roberta rowed the couple over to the island. Amy looked terribly tired , as well she might after all her recent exertions, and Roberta was happy to do all the hard work!

“The Palace looks the same as ever!” exclaimed Roberta as soon as the two young lovers, hand in hand and pausing frequently to kiss, had reached the topmost point. Look! The Golden Guard still exist! The defaulters are being led out for their evening whipping! How I wish I were there!

I cannot be a Guard, though. You have to be enrolled as a girl of twelve. Even with my enormous strength, they would not take me at my age. What is my age, Amy?”

“You are just over twenty one, Roberta! And those Guards are your former lover Bertha , who is being punished for the second time in a week and Natalie and Celia, who are both known to you and getting ten lashes apiece!

Roberta almost fainted! As soon as she could speak she stammered her amazement to the laughing Amy.

“How can this be, sweetheart? How can it be?”

“We are witches, Roberta and can play tricks with time that you mortals cannot. You did indeed spend seventy years as Celestine’s slave and sexual plaything. But for me and the rest of the world, it all took place over one night! Never fear! I shall play no more tricks with you and you are mine now! And I am yours!”

“Celestine told me that the real culprits had been put to death, but I see that she lied. For Bertha is one of the guilty ones and she still lives, the miserable traitor!”

Roberta looked at Amy’s battered face.

“So your face was still bruised today after the fight with Celestine! And the whip I took from the tent for Celestine to use on me was stained with my own only half dried blood!”

Amy nodded. “And the blood around the whipping post was also yours. And another thing, my angel. Don’t, bother looking for that clearing again! No matter how hard you search, you will never find it!”

Roberta had absolutely no wish whatever to revisit that spot. It might be where she had met Amy, now her  life’s partner, but there were too many other far less happy memories bound up with it. Then her mind turned to the present.

“I have to go to the Palace, Amy. I need to right the wrong that was done me. Will you be alright to stay here until I return for you?”

“I shall come with you, darling. You can’t do what you have to do alone! In any case, I want to fight by your side and maybe die with you. For if you die there is no point in my living a second longer in a world where you are gone. There is much I know that can assist you.  Don’t stop me, I beg you!”

There were tears in Amy’s eyes and Roberta knew that she could refuse this girl nothing. Being tied to this delightful creature was still slavery, albeit a sweet and lovely kind of servitude!

“We are equals, are we not? How can I stop you! And how could I ever deny you anything! You seem to know so much, Amy. I‘ll let you lead the way!”

“I hoped you’d say that! I am still a witch, darling Roberta. Remember that when things look bad. I have great powers and they are all at your disposal until your honour is restored and I become a mortal like you. You’d like me to be as you are, would you not?”

“I love you as you are, Amy. Witch or mortal - it’s all the same to me!”

“Now you are free, Roberta, you will age like anyone else. I could not bear to see you grow old and die and not share the same destiny myself. All I want is to walk the same journey as you by your side until we are both buried in the same plot of ground, our bodies touching in death as they did in life!”

“Right! That was so beautiful of you. What now, Butch?”

“We swim across the lake to the little beach where we are nearest the Palace. The water will be cold, but not too cold for you, my hardy friend and lover!”

They scampered down the grassy slope to the water and dived in. It was indeed cold. It had only been a day or two since she had last plunged into this freezing water on which pieces of ice still floated. Amy swam beside her, a sleek and sinuous fish once more.

“It’s OK for you, Amy! Fish can take it better than warm blooded animals like me!”

“Sorry, Roberta!” said Amy, spluttering beside her. “I’ll suffer the same as you from now on. I was a nice fish, though, wasn’t I!”

“The sweetest fish I ever did see! But it would have been sad if some angler had caught you! Although I’m sure you’d have dealt with the situation.”

The pair exchanged no more words until, cold and tired, they made the little beach near the Palace. Amy was shivering badly and Roberta could see that the slightly built young witch had overdone it. She ought to have let her go on being a fish! In order to warm her up again she put her powerful arms around her and drew her close against her body. As warmth began to return to the near frozen Amy, the pair kissed and fondled each other, getting more and more excited by the second.

“Will you go on being naked once you are a mortal?” asked Roberta. She would miss that lovely ethereally nude girl’s sweet body if it were to be clothed, although Amy would wear fine clothes and display them to perfection.

“It might be advisable, Roberta. Nude women get into trouble with the law, unless they are Golden Guards, their auxiliaries, or the King’s latest favourite parlour maid! You found out yourself how painful it can be to offend the Ladies’ League! Lady Paula is nude again, by the way. When she is Queen it will be different, but for now she is the King‘s special Nude Lady.”

“I think we should stay here for the night!” continued Amy, now warm again, but still keeping close to Roberta. “For one thing, it’s really nice to be so close to you and for another, the conspirators  are not due to strike until a few hours after dawn. So we have time to get to know each other. How does that grab you?”

“Fine! You’re the boss, Amy!”

“No, I’m not. But I do know a few things you still don’t. So you’d best do as I say when the day comes. You do remember what you were told the other day? About Felicity being in on it all?”

Roberta nodded.

“Well, the bad people suspect her of being aware of their plans and she has been framed much as you were. The poor girl is being tortured as we speak. She is strong, Roberta, but only mortal as you are. Although she is only a half sister, I feel so desperately sorry for her. If we could make our move now, I would be happy to do so, but it is hopeless until the well in the Private Courtyard is uncovered by the Water Carrier. Our way in is via the well shaft. One hour after the water has been drawn for the day, the well will be unattended but still uncovered. Then we can get  into the Royal Apartments.

“How heavy is the cover on the well?”

“Tons and tons. It takes a special winch to lift it and a team of horses.”

“I’m a lot stronger than I was a couple of days ago. It was only two days ago for you but it was seventy years for me. I could raise that cover easily. I know the way to the Torture Chamber from the Private Courtyard. I’ll disable the three torturers, free Felicity and bring her here.”

Amy shook her head, tearfully.

“We can’t risk the plotters getting wind of our presence, Roberta. It could be months before they tried anything again and you need to be restored to favour soon. You have waited too long as it is. I’m afraid Felicity must suffer a few more hours of hideous agony before her ordeal is over. It breaks my heart, though whenever I think about it.”

Roberta comforted the weeping Amy and the pair settled down to wait for the well to be uncovered. As soon as Amy had calmed down Roberta asked a question on a matter that had been puzzling her.

“If witches don’t age, then how come Philippa and Mother Felicity are so old looking? “

Amy smiled.

“It suits them to look old, darling. But they can take on any shape or form or appear to be any age! Don’t worry, sweetheart! I’m still only seventeen.”

“And your sister? How old is she?”

“Twenty.  I did well to beat her today, didn’t I? And to almost beat her the other day!”

“Very well indeed. And another thing puzzles me. I would have though you would have healed almost overnight. You healed my back in hours, stripped of flesh though it was.”

“I fought against another witch, darling. Any hurt we cause each other has to heal naturally. We can heal your back for you in seconds, especially if Mother thinks it was wrong to hurt you in the first place, which she did. Celestine is in big, big trouble, by the way, or will be when she wakes up after I KO‘d her!”

“She should be awake by now! It’s been hours!”

“Not the way I hit her. The timing was prefect, sweetheart.  If she is awake she’ll have a nasty headache!”

“I’m surprised a sweet thing like you is so bloodthirsty! I’m glad you beat her, though! You’ll never know how glad!”

“I’ll be nothing but sweetness from now on! At least to you!”

Amy looked beseechingly at her lover.

“Do you forgive me for helping Celestine whip you? It was a sort of punishment to you for having been a disbeliever. And also it was a kind of coming of age gift for Celestine. You were incredibly brave. But I knew you’d never hold against Celestine the second time. You have nothing to be ashamed of, my love! And you more than made up for it today, because Celestine hurt you so much more this time!”

“Why was it not possible for me to be quiet the other day? It’s still hard not to think of it as seventy years ago!”

“It was the power she had over your mind, Roberta. If she’d only stepped on your toes you’d have most likely let out a yelp! It was partly your fault. You desired her so much that you had surrendered a goodly part of your will to her.  But you are alright now, my sweet. Now you are ready to put right the evils that threaten the kingdom. Soon you will be back where you belong and the Golden Guard will be purged of its traitors. You know who they are, don’t you?

“I know. The Commandant herself and my slimy former lover Bertha. But who prepared the drug that put me into such a sleep that I allowed my weapons to be removed?”

“It was a renegade witch, Roberta. Your friend Paula tracked her down and she fled the country, but not before telling Paula where your sword etc and the remaining potion could be found. She insisted it had to be you who recovered your weapons for yourself or she would make the proofs disappear for ever. Hence her having to organise your escape first.

You’d have been allowed to finish all this a long time ago, but Philippa was furious with you about the things you said. As a witch myself I have to say you got what you deserved when you were whipped at the bandits‘ cave and subsequently.”

“Well, I believe now. Knowing what I do, it amazes me that I ever had doubts. What must I do to clear myself, Amy?”

“You must take two of the Golden Guard with you when you go to find the proofs. You must have witnesses because your word alone will be useless. The King’s two trusted Personal Guards will not do for this purpose, as they will be needed to protect His Majesty. And poor Felicity is unable to go. Any two guards will do, darling. They are all trustworthy except for the two traitors, and we know who they are.”
“The rest room is attached to the private Courtyard. There’s always a few of us there at any time.” said Roberta. “Getting from there to the living quarters shouldn’t be too hard. What will you be doing while I’m sorting that out?”

“I’ll be flying around, waiting for you. I think I’ll be a raven again. But try not to be too long. You’ll have maybe twenty minutes before you must be back at the well.

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

Beatrice and Jenny were settling a minor difference. They were both interested in the same little wench who worked in the kitchens. The wench wasn’t too bothered which of these fine young Golden Guards appropriated her. All the wench wanted was to stir up a bit of trouble and she had succeeded!

“Why don’t you fight each other for me? Meet in the rest room just after dawn. You’ve got the morning free tomorrow” the little girl had told them the night before.”

“We’d both of us be whipped for fighting. You’ve seen Guards punished. It isn’t pretty! And it wouldn’t be just a dozen. There’s not been a fight for years, but the last time there was, the guilty pair were given a hundred apiece. Sorry, Lily, we don’t fancy you that much!”

“Scared of a few lashes, eh? Call yourselves Golden Guards! Cowards! Roberta wouldn‘t have minded getting hundred if a girl she wanted was at the end of it! She was a heroine, that one!”

So here they both were, squaring up to each other with the sweet Lily as the prize for one and the whip as the punishment for both. Silly girls! As if there weren’t plenty of pretty wenches like Lily adorning the Palace! The King’s ever eager eye for a pretty face ensured that female beauty was a commonplace around here!

Both of the infatuated nineteen year olds had discarded their sword belts and other impedimenta. Only two others were watching and this was two too many as far as the rivals were concerned. With total privacy there was a chance their damaged bodies might not draw the Commandant’s attention until the bruises had faded. Not much of a chance, though!

One good thing was that Senior Guard Felicity, that hawk eyed officer, was in disgrace and being tortured horribly in the dungeon.  As the first fierce blows were being struck in this rather pointless fight, Felicity’s head was being raised from the water tank after almost two minutes’ submersion. She drew a deep breath and was immediately under water again. This had been going on all night so she knew the drill backwards by now.

During her all too brief moment out of the tank she saw the brazier being heated up. More hot irons looked like being applied to her before too long. It would be a change from being half drowned!

The Town Tormentor from Rockwell Green had arrived at the Palace the previous evening and was assisting the Chief Torturer in his interrogation of Felicity. Felicity had formed a deep dislike of this man, whom she suspected to be gay. She was unusual, if not unique, for a Golden Guard in being deeply in love with a man whom she hoped to marry in a year when her service was over. Being tortured by a real man was one thing, but having this fairy dunking her in the tank and neatly jotting down his findings in a little notebook was an insult!

Meanwhile, back in the rest room, Beatrice had just landed a beauty of a right slightly under Jenny’s left eye, raising a huge lump which would take at least a week to go down. This was two minutes into the fight and it was not going poor old Jenny’s way at all.

During the years of training, these two had often been paired against each other during the unarmed combat sessions and Jenny had always lost, especially in the kind of bare fist fighting that the wicked little minx Lily had insisted on for this contest. Why she had agreed to fight Beatrice for the favour of this silly little bitch she couldn’t work out, especially now, as Beatrice thumped her other eye and almost closed it. But a Golden Guard, once in a fight, never gave up.  Jenny fought on, grimly determined that she would not be disgraced.

Beatrice landed a direct hit on her opponent’s nose, cracking it and cutting it open. Jenny, on the verge of defeat,  saw an opening and hit Beatrice hard in the gut, making her rival grunt but doing no serious damage. Beatrice paused for less than a tenth of a second and replied with a huge thudding blow to Jenny’s tummy. Jenny dropped her guard and clasped her tortured stomach with both hands. That was the last she knew for several hours!

Amelia and Joanna applauded Beatrice’s not exactly unexpected victory as Jenny flew across the room and slid down the wall after thudding into it from the impact of the deciding punch. It had been too one sided a fight for it to be that interesting, which was why only a couple had bothered to come along and  watch. Poor old Jenny never had a chance.

This pair only applauded for a couple of seconds and they found themselves grasped from behind. All the Golden Guards were strong young women, but the grip that held Amelia and Joanna was unbreakable.

“Help, Beatrice!” they both croaked.

Beatrice, the easy victor against Jenny,  came running to their help but a mighty kick struck her square on the jaw and sent her spinning across the room to join Jenny in a protracted period of unconsciousness. When, hours later, they woke up in the cells, chained to the walls with only rats for company, and  with the prospect of a very severe flogging in front of them, they both agreed that Lily had not been worth the trouble!

Lily had not really fancied either of them in any case. She was another of these rarities around the place who preferred the opposite sex to her own. Having got a couple of arrogant self satisfied dykes to beat each other up and then get horribly flogged for their pains pleased her greatly! There was not much future in the Palace environment for a trouble maker like Lily. There was only one way to go for a girl who had an attitude like that. She was fired soon afterwards.

“You two are coming with me!” said Roberta. “I need you to be witnesses. This could be a big day for you two. Come along girls and don’t struggle. I’m a hundred times stronger than the pair of you put together!”

“I can believe that!” gasped Amelia. “Look here, Roberta! If we agree to come with you, will you let us go? You’re strangling me. I don’t think you know your own strength these days! Breaking rocks does wonders for the physique!”

“Will you both give your word, on your honour as Golden Guards? I promise you I only want you for a few minutes. After that, take me to the King!”

To Be Concluded