Chapter 1

ROBERTA

Roberta had wanted to become a Golden Guard from as far back as she could remember. Her parents had given her up to be trained at the age of twelve when it had already become obvious that the blonde girl had great potential.

At eighteen she had first been fully enrolled into the elite unit that guarded the King with their naked bodies, their skill as archers and their prowess with the sword. She had served for one year as one of the reserves, spending much time on patrol in the troubled hills to the North and earning high praise for hardihood, skill and courage. She had been wounded twice and bore her scars proudly. At nineteen she was a fully trained member of the Inner Golden Guard, skilled in swordfighting and a deadly archer. Like all other members of the Golden Guard, she was tall, strong and, apart from her sword belt, bow and quiver, totally naked.

Roberta had worn no clothes now for seven years and would never wear them again as long as she was one of the King's Protectresses. If she lived long enough, she would retire at thirty five. But few indeed of the Golden Guard lived that long, and hardly any of the elite Inner Guard that Roberta had now joined. It was a rarity for one of this
group to see her twenty fifth birthday. These were dangerous times and a Golden Guard would far sooner die than see harm come to her beloved King. Many did perish, throwing themselves upon the swords of those who attacked the royal progress around the troubled kingdom. But no attack upon the monarch had ever succeeded in harming his person - not in all the thirty years of the Golden Guard's existence.

When Roberta had been put forward by her proud parents, she had been one of twelve from her village and the only one to succeed. She had not seen or heard from her family since leaving them and she never would. The Guards were all the family she had or needed these days.

Each day the one hundred members of the Inner Guard were inspected at first light. The Commander would walk down the three rows of tall and sturdy women and inspect them closely. Each sword belt must be immaculately polished and the brasswork shining. The buckle must exactly be one inch above the navel and precisely vertically above it. Even the merest fraction out and the defaulting Guard would be punished at dusk. The bow must be slung over the right shoulder and at an angle of forty five degrees to the line of the body, passing exactly halfway between the breasts. The slightest error would be punished. The quiver must also be worn with total correctness, the top coming one inch over the left shoulder. All items must be spotlessly clean, as must the naked bodies of the Guards themselves. A speck of dirt on any bare foot would mean big trouble for the careless girl in question. Hair was worn long and straight, and must be spotless and perfectly brushed.

Roberta had endured one hundred inspections by this time and had never been found to be at fault. This was lucky, for all faults were punished and there was only one way to punish a defaulting Guard for any offence, no matter how trivial. The whip! Each evening, except when in action, the day's defaulters were lined up and flogged one by one. A dirty sword would get twelve lashes, a dirty belt, ten, a wrongly worn bow, quiver or belt thirty. Dirty feet were punished with ten lashes and untidy hair by twenty. To be picked up on all these would not get one hundred and twelve lashes! For such gross inattention to detail, the penalty was doubled. But this had never been known to happen. The girls were far too proud of their tradition ever to fail on so many points - even the sloppiest of them - such as Bertha!

Last night, Roberta's closest friend - and lover - Bertha had been whipped for having her bow at the wrong angle. Roberta had listened to and watched the heavy whip fall thirty times on that strong back. It was hardly a novel experience for Bertha! A thirty year old veteran had given Bertha her lashes. This woman was incredibly strong and had arms the thickness of Bertha's thighs - and Bertha was a strong woman, like all the Guards. Bertha had cried out near the end of her whipping and received all thirty again for cowardice. Bertha stood next to Roberta this morning, her back was raw and she was in agony as the bow and quiver rested on her torn flesh. But Bertha stood straight and motionless as the merciless and all seeing eyes eyes of the Commandant bored into her. Roberta knew that any fault found today would be punished. Even if Bertha were whipped every day for a month she would never find mercy here! But Bertha had been very careful not to err again!

Roberta stood as the Commandant eyed her up and down. As ever, her heart was racing and her stomach contracted with fear. As yet, she had never been whipped but she knew that some time, maybe soon, she was going to go through what she had seen happen to so many others many times before!

The time for her first whipping was obviously not today! Once again the Commandant passed down the line. Roberta allowed herself a congratulatory sigh of relief! Then the Commandant stopped behind her.

"Your sword belt is twisted, Guard Roberta! I am surprised at you! Report for punishment at dusk. You will be our sole entertainment today! The turn out is very good this morning."

"So they finally got you for something, Bobby!" said Bertha as the two reported for duty. They were to be on guard outside the Royal apartments.

"I can't think how I was so careless, Bertha! I go over every little thing a dozen times before morning parade. But she was right enough! My belt was twisted and now I'm going to get thirty, just like you did last night! At least I won't be just about the only one with a smooth back after today! Let's face it! It had to happen some time! I suppose it won't be that bad. I mean to say, I've been badly wounded before now!"

"It's not the same, Bobby. In the heat of battle it's one thing. Tied up and helpless it's another! You'll see! And feel! How you will feel!"

Being on guard meant standing utterly motionless for eight hours with one hour long break, followed by six more hours of standing like a statue. Then Roberta reported to the camp prison for punishment. Her heart was pounding with excitement and fear. She had always known this moment would come and was pleased in a sense that she was finally about to be initiated!

"Remove your equipment, Guard Roberta! I suppose you know what I am about to say?"

Roberta slipped off her sword and belt and the quiver and bow. She laid them on the table in front of the Commandant and stood at attention and totally naked. She replied to the Commandant's question.

"I am to be well whipped, Madam Commandant!"

"Yes. You wore your sword belt incorrectly on parade. I was very disappointed in you! I expect nothing but perfection from you, Guardswoman Roberta! And I will have perfection in future! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Madam Commandant!"

"And you were seen to move today when on Palace Guard." Roberta had expected this. Someone would have noticed. Someone always did!

" What have you to say to that?" asked the Commandant.

"I did move, Madam Commandant! I flinched like a baby after being stung by a wasp and I am deeply ashamed!"

"In a few minutes, you will be stung by more than a mere wasp! Very badly stung indeed!"

"Yes, Madam Commandant!"

Roberta felt totally wretched. She had disgraced herself twice in one day. She swore to herself that if she survived the impending marathon whipping she would never again let the Golden Guards down in such a woeful fashion. Flinching from a wasp sting! How utterly, but utterly, pathetic! And she had been badly wounded twice and kept fighting until loss of blood made her faint! She'd be shedding more blood soon, and deservedly so! She was nineteen now - not a nine year old!

"I award one hundred lashes for your lapse on duty and a further seventy for the belt. I know thirty is the normal tariff for the belt but you should know better, Guard Roberta. I expect so much more from you than from the others and I will make your punishments far more severe than theirs when you fall so badly by the wayside. Put up your hair so that your bare back may escape not an iota of the pain that it so richly deserves! Then report to Senior Guardswoman Felicity!"

Senior Guardswoman Felicity was the strongest of the Golden Guard. She was a giant of a woman and stronger even than the Amazon who had made Bertha cry out the day before. Roberta was to be punished with all the severity the Guards could bring to bear upon her, so deep was her disgrace. A hundred and seventy! That was something of a record for a first offence! In fact it was a record for any punishment since Roberta had been a member of the Guards. Only three Guards had ever been punished so severely and one of those had died under the lash, long before her punishment was complete.

Walking behind the massive Felicity, Roberta reflected that she was maybe half an inch taller than the woman who was about to more than half kill her. And she had easily as much muscle as her Punisher. If she lived long enough then she herself would one day be wielding a whip on future generations of raw recruits. But Roberta knew she had much to learn before she rose high enough to be giving rather than receiving lashes!

"Can I trust you not to move?" asked Punisher Felicity "I mean - do I have to secure you or will you take your lashes bravely?"

"I-I'll try to be brave, Madam Punisher!" Roberta would sooner die than not be brave!

"Good girl! My! But you're a strong one! I've never seen you this close before, Golden Guard Roberta! We must have a test of strength - you and I - when you have recovered! Don't worry! You will walk away from this flogging with your head high and proud. And I will not humiliate you by securing you!"

Roberta stepped to the whipping post, raised both arms as high as they would go and placed her feet wide apart. She nodded and said "yes" in a clear and confident voice when asked if she were ready.

"ONE" Called out the Commandant.

The whip hissed through the air and the watching Guards saw that smooth and powerful back being flayed for the first time. Roberta almost bit her tongue to stop herself crying. Bertha had been so right! This was nothing like being wounded in battle! This was sheer hellish agony made even worse by the knowledge that she was abysmally disgraced and justly condemned. And she had one hundred and sixty nine more lashes to take before she could lower her arms and walk away.

"TWO"

If Roberta had found the first lash hellish, then this second one was double hell! She pressed her hands against the post and gripped hard to stop herself lowering them and trying to escape this torment. She had promised to be brave and brave she must be!

"THREE"

Could it really only be three? Did she really have virtually all of her ordeal still ahead of her? She would never make it! But still her arms were raised and her hands clutched the post. Still her feet were apart and still she moved not a muscle as the whip came down a fourth, fifth six, seventh and eighth time on that already bloody back.

Bertha, who had received sixty the previous night stood with all the other woman as the Golden Guard's most highly decorated heroine was punished. Bertha had helped Roberta put her belt on that morning. Bertha had made sure it was twisted! But Bertha had not reckoned on that wasp! As the Commandant's voice signalled the thirtieth lash and the flesh of her dearest friend was torn into yet again, she felt the tears pricking her eyes and she swallowed hard. It was unheard of for a Golden Guard to show emotion as she watched a sister Guard being punished. At this rate she would be getting another whipping tomorrow. She forced herself to look straight ahead.

"FIFTY"

By this time Roberta was convinced that she had been very wrong not to have her arms secured. The effort of will required to keep them above her head was becoming far more than she could have ever imagined.

"What if she moves?" whispered Bertha to Rosemary who stood next to her.

"They tie her up and finish the one hundred and seventy and then give her them all over again. She's going to move soon! Poor kid!"

"ONE HUNDRED"

The one hundredth lash descended on to the soggy back. Roberta had never been whipped before and she was suffering far more than a more hardened Golden Guard would have been. But she had kept her position and not moved once. The watching women all admired her. This was courage of the highest order!

"SECURE THE PRISONER!" shouted the Commandant.

So Roberta's arms were to be tied and she was to receive the rest of her lashes unable to move even if she had wished to. Why had they been so merciful to her? She could scarcely believe her good fortune. But she knew what she must do!

"Permission for the prisoner to speak under punishment, Madam Commandant!" Roberta called out.

"What is it, Guardswoman?"

"I can take the rest of my lashes without moving, Madam Commandant!"

"Very well! Order to secure is withdrawn!"

"ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY"

The final lash fell, as heavily laid on as the first. Not once had Felicity eased up on the errant Golden Guard. Roberta was ordered to return to her barracks. She would receive no treatment for her horribly injured back and would be on duty again next morning, expected to do a full day's Palace Guard duty. And if she moved again, it would be one hundred more lashes on a torn back.

"I am so sorry, Roberta!" sobbed Bertha. "I was so angry at you for always being Miss Goody Two Shoes that I twisted your belt. I thought you'd only get thirty, Roberta. I had no idea a wasp would sting you!"

"Forget it, Bertha! I ought to have dressed myself! If they had known you had helped me I dread to think what would have happened! You did well to get me whipped! It was high time for me to feel the lash on my back. And I'd have got it for the wasp in any case! As you see, I'm fine! In a week I'll have healed. You spoke the truth about the pain, mind you! It was like nothing I've ever experienced or imagined before! But I'm still here, although I think I'll sleep on my stomach for a few nights!"

And Roberta lay face down on the cold stone slab which was all any of the Inner Guard slept on for their entire service, no matter how high they might rise. Even the Commandant slept thus!

PAULA

Paula had lived in the same village for nineteen years and now she had come to the capital city to live with her aunt and uncle for a short time. She was due to become a servant at the Royal Palace. But first she was to see the sights of the big town and take a trip to the coast. It would be the first time Paula had seen the sea. She was immensely excited! All Paula's family had been servants at one time or another. Her father had recently retired as a head footman and her mother had been a cook. Paula was to be a chamber maid.

Her Uncle drove the wagon and Paula and her Aunt sat and admired the view as the sea came in sight. It was blue in the Spring sunshine and the Winter cold was already tinged with a bit of warmth. Although Paula still wore her winter clothes and was glad of them.

"I feel so sorry for the King's Golden Guards in this weather!" said Paula. "How can they stand being bare in this cold, I wonder!"

"They have been bare since childhood, Paula! By the time they enter the King's service they are well used to it!"

"I bet they still feel cold! Poor girls! So awfully young and likely to die at any time! They say that eight out of fifteen were killed in the last attempt on the King! They are so brave, and to think they are all women like me!"