Chapter 16: The Temple of Death

At first, I thought I was dreaming. How could Zayne Masters be with Eloise de la Zouche? He was at Palakkad Fort awaiting trial. But if it was a dream it was uncannily lifelike.

“You are not dreaming Elijah,” Eloise said, reading my mind.

“How did I get here? The last I can remember was drinking a glass of --” Realisation then struck me, the drink had been drugged. But by whom, and why.

Eloise answered both my spoken and unspoken questions.

“When my High Priest arrived at Doctor Armityge’s hospital he was presented with you tightly bound to a stretcher and drugged. Doctor Armityge told him that you were a token of his goodwill towards me and hoped for a future business association.” She held up a sheet of paper. “He also handed the High Priest a letter for me, which makes for interesting reading. Naturally, the High Priest was suspicious, but Armityge persuaded him that I would be furious if I learned that he had not brought me ‘my mortal enemy’.” She gave puckish grin, “He meant you, Elijah. So you were carried off, with the High Priest making sure no one followed his party back to the temple.”

I recalled the half-heard conversation between Krish and Lillian, and deduced that the plan they were discussing was getting me into the temple. I assumed Bron and Dom would have followed the High Priest and his men when they carried me, comatose on a stretcher, to the temple. Once the location of the temple had been established a message could be sent to Brigadier Braygon, who would then send the Madras Fusiliers on a rescue mission. It appeared I would be a guest at the Temple of Death for at least two weeks, unless Eloise decided to kill me in the meantime.

“In his letter, Armityge says that he and his wife have a hatred of you that is only matched by mine. I thought the doctor was your friend, Elijah?”

I shrugged. “We have not seen each other for years. Friendships wither and die over time.”

“And it seems his wife also has no love for you. A discarded mistress perhaps?”

“I scarce remember the girl.” My somewhat dismissive answers to her questions were made in order to play along with the Armityge’s plan, whatever it was.

Eloise frowned. “The letter asks for permission to meet me, which I am minded to grant and in a week or two will send someone to guide them to the temple. When they arrive here I shall question them both. Meantime you and I have much to discuss, but first, you must get rid of the native clothes you are wearing and dress as a pukka sahib.” She pointed to my Barratt made boots. “They are not native and you may retain them.”

While she and I had been talking Masters had been silent but scowling at me. Eloise addressed him as she would a servant.

“Sir Elijah needs to be kitted out with European clothing. Have a word with Mahmoud; there are plenty of suitable garments in our baggage. See to it now, Zayne.” She dismissed him with a glance and he, shooting me dagger looks of hate, reluctantly got from his chair and made for the door.

“Oh, and ensure a room is made ready for Sir Elijah in the bungalow,” Eloise called after him. As Masters left he gave the door a vicious slam. Eloise sighed in exasperation. “Since ridding myself of Chastity I have gone back to having men in my bed, but unfortunately Masters was the only European male available. However, when one has an itch one must use the nearest and most convenient tool to scratch with!”

“You left Chastity out in the jungle as tiger bait! What did... ?”

“I lavished Chastity Crudwright with almost as much affection as I gave your sister, but like Rebekah she betrayed me by helping that limp loon Guest escape. I had promised him to Captain Farah who intended selling him as a harem guard to the Emir of Muscat. I had to give Chastity to Farah instead.”

“But she was with you here in India. Why didn’t Farah sell her to a brothel in Muscat?”

“He said there are plenty of European women captives in the brothels of Arabia and the Levant, and thought she would fetch a better price in India. However, when I tried selling her in Pondicherry the Governor forbade me, saying it would cause the natives to think Europeans were no better than Indians. Anyway, by then Farah and his crew, and my Nubians, had availed themselves of her during the voyage from Aden to Pondicherry and she was rather shop-soiled, and in fact more than slightly damaged goods!”

“She did not remain in Pondicherry?”

“No, Farah and his crew, and my Nubians, utilised her on the voyage to Cochin. I expected Captain Farah to keep her available for his crew when he sailed for Muscat but he declined the offer. ‘You can keep her. The woman has exhausted my crew and I need them to be fully fit on the voyage across the Arabian Sea.’ Chastity was useful when I had dealing with important Indians: businessmen, high priests, village headmen and the like. I allowed them to have her for a night or two, and they were so delighted to have a pukka memsahib moaning in ecstasy beneath them they agreed to anything I wanted. However, the last man who used her so enthused about her beauty, agility, passion, and vigour, it made me angry. ‘The woman is like a tigress’, he said, ‘I have bites all over my body’. If Chastity was a tigress I thought she should mate with a tiger, so had her staked out in the jungle to attract one.”

I was still reeling with shock at her remark when Masters returned.

“The guest room is ready, and clean clothes are awaiting Greenaway,” he said with as much ill grace as he could muster.

“Where are your manners, Zayne? Our guest will be addressed as Colonel or Sir Elijah, and you can now show Sir Elijah to his quarters. And keep a civil tongue in your head else I will have it torn out!”

Eloise turned to me. “I will see you at breakfast, Elijah, when will discuss my future plans, which include you.”

With that cryptic comment, she waved our dismissal and I followed Masters out of the room. We walked in silence until reaching a small single-storey building, a bungalow as it is known in India.

“Your room is the one on the left of the entrance, Sir Elijah,” Masters said, emphasising ‘Sir’.

“You may address me by my rank, Captain Masters, and how is it you are not in Palakkad Fort facing a court-martial?”

“I asked LePater to lend me his pistol so I could blow out my brains rather than face a court-martial that would bring dishonour to my family, and send my mother to an early grave. The fool believed me and...”

“But your mother is dead.”

“Yes, but he did not know that. LePater demurred at first but I begged him, as a fellow officer and gentleman, to allow me to save what little reputation I had left. The simpleton handed over his pistol and I shot him and escaped from my room. I stole a mount from the horse lines and rode to a village where I knew Thugs were billeted. They passed me through the various checkpoints to Kali’s temple, where I was welcomed with open arms and thighs.” He gave a lewd grin, and it was only with the greatest difficulty I stopped myself from punching his leering face.

He gave an exaggerated salute. “See you in the morning, Colonel,” then spun on his heel and left.

I entered the room, where a bowl of warm water and a full set of English clothes were a welcome, as was the comfortable bed. Laying there I contemplated my future. What was Eloise’s plan for me? I expected it would be painful and probably terminal. With that less than pleasant thought in my mind, I fell asleep.

“Why am I still alive?” I asked Eloise after breakfast the following morning. I had decided to take the bull by the horns and ask straight questions, hoping to receive straight answers.

Eloise looked at me in surprise.

“Why should I want you dead, Elijah? I have the greatest admiration for you. The first time I saw you I knew that you and I are alike, we both have a demon within us and...”

“You want me dead because I killed your husband. You, in turn, killed my former family at Hungerford; you hired an assassin to kill my present family at Tewksbury, and you had a poisoner attempt to kill my children at Clifton – you have a strange way of showing your admiration!”

“It is true that when I first learned my husband had been killed I swore vengeance on his killer. Then I met you face to face in Cape Town and knew you and I are alike.” She gave a broad smile. “You wanted me then, and have lusted after me ever since.”

Eloise looked as ravishing now as she had when last seen in Naples, and no older than when first seen in Cape Town. To my eternal shame, she was correct; I did want her in Cape Town and nearly succumbed, and she still inflames me although I knew her to be a murderous bitch. John Thomas always rises when seeing her, as he was doing at this very moment. Fortunately, I was seated, and the table shielded my tumescence from Eloise’s brilliant blue eyes.

“The fire that destroyed your home and killed your family was due to Cornelius Braxton-Clark. I admit I helped him get the personnel and materials together but was assured by him that Hungerford Hall was unoccupied, and your family were not moving in until December.”

Daft Danny Dobson had been told the same, and thought the Hall empty when he and Maddox set it ablaze.

“As for the assassination attempt at Tewksbury,” Eloise continued, “the Wraith, or whatever name he was using in England, had been hired to kill that simpering princess Alexandrina and her bumptious mother, as well as that annoying factotum Sir John Conroy. The poisoner at Clifton mistook your daughter for the princess. All European females look alike to Egyptians, and I expect your daughters had a more regal air about them than that scrawny Alexandrina.”

“Are you saying you have not tried to gain your revenge for your husband’s death?”

She gazed at me with a soft and gentle look on her face, “Ashby de La Zouche was my father and my husband, my one true love and a man above all others...”

“Your mother could not have given birth to twins fathered by different men...”

“Ashby de la Zouche was my father, Elijah. We will have no more discussion concerning my paternity else I might forget how much I admire you.” Her voice, along with her eyes, had hardened and I saw she meant what she said.

“To continue,” she said, “my father and husband was supreme among men. Ashby never failed to achieve what he set out to do until he met you, Elijah. I have to admire a man who bested Ashby de La Zouche. You also bested Napoleon Bonaparte and dragged him back into captivity. Bonaparte, the man who had conquered Europe, and would have conquered India had you not stopped him. You killed The Wraith, the most successful assassin the Organisation had ever employed. You, my dear Elijah, are invincible, and it is kismet that you and I should finally meet. We are destined to accomplish many great things together, including between bedsheets, and the first phase is already in place!”

Eloise de la Zouche was stark staring mad. I saw the same glow of insanity in her eyes I had seen in her husband’s when he spoke of being made Maharajah of Bengal after Napoleon had defeated the British in India, and made the country part of his empire. Surreptitiously I edged away from the table before speaking.

“Us between bedsheets, Eloise? I am married to Mimi Renoir, as was, your niece.”

“You mean my half- sister’s niece, Elijah.”

“Whatever, I am married, and I take my marriage vows seriously.”

“I am glad to hear it as I am a very jealous person.”

I hurriedly changed the subject. “You say the first phase of your plan is already in place. What do you mean by that, and what is the object of your plan?”

Eloise’s next question had me flummoxed.

“What is the population of India, Elijah? To be more specific the size of the population of those parts of India under the control of the East India Company.”

“I have no idea.”

She pushed a sheet of paper across the table. “These are estimates for the three Presidencies, but do not include the princely states.”

I looked at the sheet and was amazed at the figures.

Bengal; 22 million.

Madras; 14 million.

Bombay; 6 million.

“How many Britons are employed by the East India Company in the three Presidencies?” She then asked.

Another question to which I had no answer, and I just shrugged and shook my head. “No idea.”

Eloise smiled. “Neither have I, but compared to the numbers they rule it is a mere handful. How many sepoys are there in a native regiment?”

This was something I could assay an answer. “Assuming a native regiment has a similar establishment to a British battalion with ten companies of between eighty and hundred, about eight hundred to a thousand men.”

“And how many British officers in a native regiment?”

Once again I thought the numbers would be similar to the British establishment; each company having a captain, a lieutenant, and an ensign. A lieutenant-colonel commanding, a major as second in command, with an adjutant and a surgeon.

“No more than thirty-five, probably less.”

“Can you see the direction I am heading, Elijah?”

“Yes; you are highlighting the huge disparity in numbers between those in command to those under command.”

“Precisely. The ruling elite is small, and it would not take too much effort to undermine. That is my plan; to bring down the British establishment ruling the three presidencies and replace them with Anglo-Indians!”

Clearly, she was insane, but I kept my composure and went along with her. “How, why, and when?”

“The how will be by the well-proven method of bribery and corruption. Men are weak and easily tempted from their duty by offers of female flesh, alcohol, money, prestige, or narcotics. Overindulgence in fornication, alcohol, and narcotics can lead to addiction. I will bait my hook with tasty young girls, arrack, and opium laced with White Lady for my fish to nibble, and then gaff them when they are hooked, that is, when they become fully addicted. To feed their addiction they will then do anything and everything I demand. The why, because it is possible, and the when ... soon.”

I was surprised Eloise had used fishing terminology and it must have shown on my face for she smiled. “I lived on the banks of the river Loire for many years. Fishing was my passion.” She lowered her voice to a husky, sensual, contralto that brought John Thomas to full attention. “Now my passion is you, Elijah Greenaway. It will only be a matter of time before you come crawling into my welcoming bed and salope, or madge as you English know it.”

I covered my consternation at the path her conversation was taking by asking a question.

“You have produced White Lady here in India?”

She shook her head. “Not yet, but I, or rather several Indian apothecaries trained in Ayurveda medicine, are working on it. Several sacks of White Lady, or Colombian snuff as it is more widely known, accompanied me when I left Napoli. I distributed a few sacks in Egypt but it was dangerous to sell the product there as it merited a beheading if caught. Even my protector, Abdullah Bulbul, would have been unable to save me.”

She had a faraway look in her eye as if remembering her time in Egypt with pleasure, but then she revealed her real thoughts. “Bulbul was a fat sweating pig of a man who had no idea how to pleasure a woman. I submitted to his amateurish fumbling and animalistic grunting solely to discover where he kept the key to the Alexandria treasury. Once located I left him, and Alexandria, with most of the treasury’s contents. Shortly afterwards I met Chastity and rediscovered the joy of sex.” She smiled at me lewdly. “Although most women know instinctively how to bring a female to climax few men have the skill to fully awaken a woman. I have it on good authority that you are one of the few, Elijah, and I look forward to experiencing your dexterity. But that is a delight yet to savour, and I was telling you of my plans to bring down British India!” She moved from seductive houri to efficient businesswoman effortlessly. “My strategy is to discover the weaknesses of the most influential and important men in the administration and military of the East India Company. I will then target them with whatever is their pleasure/weakness. Zayne Masters is addicted to virgins. I let him vent his lust on one of my African girls in return for him allowing Thugs to attack a specific band of travellers...”

I interrupted her. “Masters had been protected from whatever misdeed he committed by his father. Had he known his father was dead he might not have fallen in with your plans...”

“But he did not know and did as I ordered,” Eloise flushed in anger, and knowing how volatile a person she was I quickly changed tack.

“But why did you attack that particular group of traders?”

Her anger faded, and she continued. “They were carrying opium. My Vedic apothecaries are working to produce a White Lady/opium amalgam. Opium is a soporific while cocaine is an enhancer. Together the two will be more addictive, and produce higher highs and lower lows, than individually. Once my fish are hooked on the drug of choice I will have them work for my benefit rather than for the East India Company and Britain. Eventually, the whole administration will be rotten to the core, and ripe for takeover by Anglo-Indians...”