Chapter 19: Berserker

When morning dawned I made my decision; I would join Eloise in her bed tonight. However, before, after, or even during, the meeting of our bodies I would kill her and somehow escape the temple complex. Knowing I would need all my energy for the forthcoming encounter I spent most of the morning catnapping, catching up on lost sleep.

After a pleasant lunch of quail eggs and saffron spiced rice, I wandered the grounds of the temple. If I was to make good my escape I needed to figure out the layout of the complex; where the exits were, how effective and alert were the guards and other such knowledge. My first destination would be the ravine; chances were it would not be guarded and there might be some hazardous way down to the valley below that only a desperate man would attempt. Before taking less than a dozen steps towards the ravine I was accosted by the High Priest, Premadev Ayvijay Chicowasajay

“Good afternoon, Colonel. Taking a postprandial stroll?”

It seemed I was not going to be able to wander around on my own after all.

“Yes, after being cooped up in The Hole for three nights I need to stretch my legs.”

“I did remonstrate with Her Divinity concerning your treatment, but she made it clear my opinion was not sought or taken note of, and if I continued to carp about her methods of punishment I too would be spending time in The Hole!”

As he was talking a line of manacled Indians filed past heading in the general direction of the maidan.

“Surely there is not another execution, Prem?” I said pointing towards the shuffling line.

He shook his head. “No, they are hostages being used as labourers for the cultivation of the seedlings Kali brought to the temple. According to Her Divinity, the seedlings will develop into bushes whose leaves can be transformed into a substance that brings humans closer to the Gods.”

For a moment I was puzzled by his words, then the implication hit home. Eloise had brought coca plants to the temple and was in the process of growing bushes to produce White Lady. A great deal of White Lady would be required to carry out her plan of undermining the East India Company, and it seemed the ‘several’ sacks from Naples would not meet the need.

Prem had said ‘seedlings’ so it would be sometime before production could take place, but from where had Eloise obtained the seedlings? They could not have been obtained in Egypt so she must have acquired them in India. A memory floated to the front of my brain – coca bushes in the grounds of Mattancherry Palace in Cochin brought to India by the Dutch. Eloise must have known of their existence, and the reason for her visit to Cochin was to obtain coca plant seedlings.

‘Dutch’ triggered another recollection from my memory: The Limburger cheese-loving Dutchman who had visited Blandon Hall, Cornelius Van de Valk. Humphrey Appleby had identified him as a senior member of the Organisation, that shadowy group of rich, influential, and well-connected men who were bent on bringing huge quantities of White Lady, or Colombian snuff as they referred to it, to Europe. Although Eloise was no longer an employee of the Organisation she would know enough about their future intentions and had probably usurped what they planned doing in India.

While I had been thinking about the ramifications of coca plants being grown in India Prem had been talking, and it was only the tail end of his conversation that I took in.

“ ... and I could use them for cultivating the crops we need to feed the inhabitants of the temple. There are a great many mouths to feed but only a few arms to do the work of producing the food.”

His remarks brought me back to the here and now and my plan to escape. I needed information relating to the numbers of Eloise’s accomplices; Thugs, dacoits, Nubians, and anyone else.

“It must be a difficult task for you, Prem. How many mouths do you have to feed?” I said, hoping to disguise the reason for my interest.

He pursed his lips in thought. “What with Kali’s retinue of Nubian guards and African female slaves, plus a dozen or so temple priests and acolytes, and now the girls recruited as temple dancers and Tantrists added to the Thugs, dacoits, and hostages I estimate at least two hundred and fifty mouths to feed twice a day. Quite an undertaking you will agree, Sir Elijah?”

I nodded my head vigorously. “Indeed, Prem, and it says much for your organisational skills that all are looking well-fed, other than the hostages of course. How many hostages are there?” I hoped he would not ask me why I was so interested in numbers.

“About forty; executions have whittled them down from near double that number.”

“I see no huts, where are they housed?”

“There is a large cellar under the main building. The hostages are kept down there.”

“Are the Thugs and dacoits also housed in the cellar?”

Prem snorted in amusement. “Oh no. Thugs consider themselves priests of Kali and have quarters in the main building; the dacoits camp out beyond the maidan. Both groups consider it beneath their dignity to help cultivate the crops that feed them. Fortunately, most of our supplies come from the villages under Kali’s control. There are about six villages, each occupied by at least a dozen Thugs and a similar number of dacoits, ensuring no one leave, and that food is readily available for the temple.”

Given the numbers extracted from Prem, I estimated there were about a hundred and fifty Thugs and dacoits in the temple area. It would be a difficult task to escape without being seen, and once it was known Eloise/Kali had been killed there would be a Hue and Cry, and those Thugs and dacoits out in the villages would be included in my pursuers, another one hundred and fifty men to contend with.

I spent the rest of the afternoon noting what areas the Thugs and dacoits guarded and/or patrolled. Military discipline appeared non-existent, and it was only the eight Nubians of Eloise’s guard who were alert and well-armed. The dacoits spent much of their time gambling, and it appeared the Thugs spent their time with their female colleagues, the Tantrists. If the sounds coming from the Thugs’ quarters could be relied on then a great deal of intensive training was being carried out.

As the sun began to set I returned to my room and waited to be called into Eloise de la Zouche’s bedroom. It was after supper when I was summoned. Like a good soldier, I checked my equipment was in working order before going into battle, but before you take the wrong idea it was ensuring the blade of my knife was razor sharp.

“At last, Elijah, you are about to enjoy what you have lusted after for many years.” Eloise was wrapped in a black, silk garment that covered her from shoulder to ankle and was tied at the waist with a scarlet sash. She sat at her dressing table having her long dark hair brushed by a young African girl. “When Zeala here has finished we will adjourn to the bed.” She gazed pointedly at my boots. “I hope you will remove your footwear before joining me. Your trousers and jacket can also go, but please leave on your shirt and drawers as I will take much pleasure in ripping those garments from off your body.”

In spite of myself, I felt John Thomas come to attention. To take my mind from thoughts concerning my marriage vows I asked a question.

“Is Zeala destined to become a temple dancer or a Tantrist?”

“Neither. The African girls are rented out to important and influential men in the East India Company who crave young, unsullied, flesh...”

“Virgins?”I interrupted

“Well yes, if you want to be pedantic, although their extreme youth, innocence, and inexperience are an added bonus as far as the men are concerned. Zeala was the companion to a deputy-governor for a week. Unfortunately, she is the only one of the group who does not enjoy being penetrated daily and was returned. She is not suitable for anything sexual but her blood will go to rejuvenate my skin, so her life will not have been lived in vain.” Eloise smiled at Zeala, who returned it with interest.

It was plain the poor girl had no English, or realised that her fate was to be exsanguinated. This was the cure to bring John Thomas back to flaccidness. However, I needed to know to what extent Eloise had infiltrated the hierarchy of the East India Company.

“So the deputy-governor has another young girl to deflower?”

“Yes, I gave him Marli, who has passed her initiation with flying colours. The man is besotted with her. Other than Zeala and N’reeta, the latter I will have returned as soon as the Armityges arrive tomorrow, all my Africans girls have performed well and ensnared important men. Marli with her deputy-governor, Shara with a district magistrate who enjoys laying down the law in black and white. Ishtal has a highly placed accountant continually examining her assets, and Ulana has a colonel of native cavalry riding her morning, noon, and night. Virgin African girls are in great demand, and I will place an order with Captain Farah to supply me with as many as he can lay his hands on.”

She stood up from the dressing table and spoke in Arabic to Zeala, who bobbed a curtsy and left the room. Eloise crossed the room to the bed and sat on the edge. “At last we are alone Elijah.” She stretched out her arms, “come and reap your reward.”

I unbuttoned my jacket prior to its removal, still attempting to prise out more information from her before joining her.

“Who are these besotted fools, Eloise, and how soon before we take over the...”

“All will be revealed after we have cleaved together in fleshy delight, as all is revealed by me now.” She undid the sash around her waist, and as the silk gown parted she shrugged the garment from her shoulders. It slithered to a silken heap at her feet.

Eloise stood naked before me, her moist, pale pink, fleshy-lipped madge open and inviting, begging to be filled. My eyes travelled up from the triangle of soft, curly madge hair, over her smooth, rounded belly, her trim waist, and then on to those magnificent up-thrust breasts tipped with red cones of succulence, all soon to be garnered in a sweaty harvest. Eloise’s creamy, toned, unblemished skin glowed in the candle light, perfect as the Garden of Eden waiting to be entered by my serpent of a John Thomas. Then my eyes widened in surprise. Suspended by a gold chain around her neck a sapphire nestled in the valley between her breasts. Not just any sapphire but the one I had given to Mimi.

For one ghastly second, I thought Mimi dead, and I felt my demon stirring. I pointed at the gem. “Why are you wearing Mimi’s pendant?”

“Mimi has returned the pendant to you, Elijah, but I thought it would look better on me than on you.”

“Returned it! What do you mean?” I was flabbergasted. The sapphire pendant was Mimi’s pride and joy. Returning the pendant was tantamount to her telling me she no longer loved me, as if returning the gold wedding band I had placed on her finger the day we were wed.

“After learning that you debauched Lillian Skinner, hoodwinked Krish Armityge, blackmailed Caroline Ashford, and murdered Jarvis Braxton-Clark, Mimi saw you in your true light and realised you are a monster.” Eloise spoke every word with a glint of malice in her eyes. “Mimi said you know how much she values the pendant – valued the pendant – and would know by her returning the jewel she no longer wishes to be your wife!”

“But the Armityges told a pack of lies.”

“So you say, but Mimi believed them and now wants no more of you.” Eloise came closer to me, her breath warm and fragrant. “It is all for the best, Elijah. Once you have tasted me no other woman will do for you, and you would have cast Mimi aside like a used rag. Now you can marry me without any hindrance.”

I stared at her in disbelief.

“Cast Mimi aside to marry you? I would not marry you if you were the last woman on earth. You bathe in the blood of murdered young girls and send men to a barbaric death on a whim. I despise you, you wrinkled old crone!”

As I spoke her face had crumpled and she suddenly looked her age, with the wrinkled neck, sagging teats, and blotched skin of old age. She then shouted for her guards, and before they arrived she had regained her former beauty.

“Throw him in The Hole, and fetch me Fayid the Flayer,” She screamed. “Elijah Greenaway’s hide will decorate my bedroom tomorrow evening!”

I made no resistance as I was hauled away. Mimi no longer loved me and I had died inside.

“There’s already someone down there,” the thug sat by The Hole announced.

“Well get him out and put this fellow in,” Mahmoud said.

He and another Nubian had carried me from Eloise’s bedroom along the cloistered corridor to The Hole.

“Can’t do that. The man with the key is having his turn with the Tantrists. It would be more than my life’s worth to interrupt him. Lock your prisoner in the cellar. There are plenty of empty cells.”

Mahmoud scowled but did as advised. I was taken back to the main building and then down a flight of stone steps. I could hear the sounds of other occupants in adjoining cells but it was so dark nothing could be seen, not that I wanted to see anything. I was dead.

I was then flung into an empty cell, landing on the floor in a heap. I heard the key turn in the lock, and Mahmoud and his companion’s footfalls as they left the cellar. I remained on the floor sobbing until no more tears were left to fall, but continued weeping inside.

As I sat on the floor of my cell awaiting the dawn, and my probable death, I pondered on what made the Armityges tell such monstrous lies about me, and how a wife, who I thought loved me with all of her heart, could believe those lies?

Krish Armityge had joined the 2/69th Foot in 1812 after the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo. I knew him by sight and we would exchange pleasantries when meeting, but it was not until the regiment was stationed at Hounslow in 1816 that he and I became friends. What had induced a close friend like Krish Armityge to turn against me? There could be only one answer ... Caroline Ashford.

Caroline and Krish had been lovers for several years but she had fallen in love with me on the night before my duel with Jarvis Braxton-Clark. At the time I was unaware of her marriage to Braxton-Clark or her relationship with Krish Armityge. When she confessed to Krish that she loved me more than she loved him his response was befitting a man of his superior sensibilities, that her happiness was his prime concern, and if that meant being with Jack Greenaway rather than with him then so be it.

After Caroline and I were married Krish rarely visited us, and he confided to me that it was because of his envy and jealousy at seeing Caroline and me so happy together. However, when he left for India in 1821 he assured me he bore me no ill will, and that he was pleased that the two people he loved the most in the world had found each other, and happiness. I believed him then, but now it seems he had been less than truthful. Krish had never forgiven me for replacing him in Caroline’s heart, and then marrying her. When he learned of her death he blamed me! He reasoned, in a twisted and biased form of logic, that if Caroline had not met me she and he would have carried on with their liaison and she would still be alive.

I did have some sympathy for him. Losing the love of his life twice, first Elena, a Portuguese princess who was forced into a dynastic marriage to an Austrian Archduke, and then Caroline, who married his supposedly best friend, would unsettle the equilibrium of the most stable of men and turn them into a scheming charlatan.

The reason that Lillian Armityge, nee Skinner, gave such a distorted version of the truth concerning our relationship was easier to deduce. Shortly after I rid her of her pimp, Barton Seagrave, Lillian declared her love for me and I did not reciprocate. I was near to doing so, and it was only the thought of Mimi Renoir that held me back.