Chapter 15

IN WHICH THE SCENE MOVES BACK TO PARIS - WHERE THE TALE OF CLEMENTINE'S MISFORTUNES BEGAN.

"Nice to be back home, Jules?"

Viola and Jules were settling in to the Paris apartment. Viola had last been here more than four years earlier when she spent her glorious first night with the battered and victorious Clementine. It was dusty and airless, but otherwise exactly as it had been when the happy couple left.

"Yes. But my family have moved to Normandy. So I won't have anything to do or anyone to see. I'm at your disposal utterly, my dear Viola - but only for ten days, then I have to go back to work."

"Good. Get around your old haunts and ask after James. If he's been back here - and he has - he'll have left plenty of tracks. In the morning, I'm going to my country place. I want to see the clearing. I will draw strength from being where Clementine was so badly hurt, just to win my love."

"You're a strange one, Viola! You mean if Clemmy had lost you'd not have loved her?"

"She won, Jules. I knew, when I saw them fighting, what was motivating them both. Rashumba was only fighting because she loved domination and possession and Clemmy was going through all that because of her passionate love for me. I think I knew we were meant for each other when our eyes first met the day they came round to tend our wounds. It was Stella who rubbed my back, but I could see Clemmy loved me and I loved her. I shouldn't have let them fight. But I did, alas!"

"Rashumba would still have pursued Clemmy, you know" said Jules. "And the fight may have proved to be Clemmy's salvation. Estella only became an addict after seeing her friend up against Rashumba and it's that addiction that brought that video into our hands. It's almost as if the whole thing is part of a plan, isn't it?"

"Pretty horrible plan - a plan that puts my darling through all that!"

"Maybe. But Clemmy was proud, Viola. Maybe pride always leads to a fall."

"No, Jules! This is a case of the innocent suffering and I am going to be an angel of mercy and avenging angel rolled into one!"

"Let's get some rest, Viola. We've a busy time ahead!"

Viola let herself into the house. There were the two sets of clothes, folded neatly just as Clementine and Rashumba had left them before going out to do bloody battle for her love. She collected both sets and took them out to her car, taking care to keep them separate. Then she retraced the familiar walk to the wood, not knowing that Rashumba had been this way a year earlier to revisit the scene of her many victories and one defeat. The clearing was smaller than before. The wood was encroaching. In a few years it would be quite overgrown and no one would suspect that stirring, bruising dramas where Amazon had fought bloodily with Amazon had been played out in this peaceful spot. Unless she had it cleared, of course. She thought about it for a while. Yes! She would hire a gardener and get the undergrowth cleared. It was right and proper that the ground on which her Clementine had fought so bravely should be preserved exactly as it had been on that terrible, yet wonderful day.

She stood on the very spot where those two had stood facing up, Clemmy dancing in and out of range and Rashumba solidly blocking Clemmy's blows and dealing out her own more painful but less frequent ones, gradually being worn down and finally being knocked out - not that she, Viola had seen that. She was sorry now that she had not stayed to see Clemmy finish that cow off.

She stood in silence and recalled the sounds of that contest, the blows the two were receiving to head and body and the grunts and gasps of pain from both strong young women. She sighed and went back to her house and locked up.

As she drove back to Paris and her apartment, she saw a car coming towards her. Instinctively she pulled her hat down over her face and hurriedly slipped on a pair of dark glasses she had thought it wise to bring with her. It was as well she had. Rashumba was driving that car! What the hell was she up to? Making a nostalgia trip, just like her, she decided. She noted that her former mistress looked upset.

Back at the Paris apartment, Jules had some sightings to report.

"James is not around but Rashumba comes back on her own a lot. On a recent visit I understand she looked as if someone had attacked her pretty violently, but she claimed she had been in a minor traffic accident. It was mentioned by one wag that she looked just as she had after she lost you to Clementine a few years ago! I think she's just got back here again."

"I saw her near my country cottage earlier today. I went to the wood where all this began - when Clemmy managed to beat her and wheremy darling's misfortunes stem from. I should have known Rashumba would never take a defeat like that lying down. I expected her to challenge Clementine to a return, of course and I'd have gone back to her - reluctantly - if Clemmy had lost that one. Clemmy would have made me. But she couldn't take the risk, the coward. So she arranged with James to have her abducted. I bet she's only keeping her affair with James going because of her hatred of Clemmy. He can use his influence to keep her locked up and that's his hold over her."

"He's taking a risk, Viola. I've been asking around and he only works for others - and very shady types they are. He has a boss here who wouldn't like to think of him using his contacts to persecute Clementine. They take a dim view of that sort of private enterprise. I think we should let his boss know and maybe James will be forced to let her go."

"Never, Jules! They'd take out James OK, and good riddance to the bastard, but Clemmy would go the same way. If she got out of there she might have enough to blow away the whole organisation. We mustn't let anyone know unless we trust them utterly. And our Mr Fox is the only guy I know in that category. I think he knows more than he said, as I told you all earlier. He looked at the DVD as if it were no surprise at all. I'm afraid all we are doing here is waiting and watching,. If you want to get back to Estella and the two kids, plus a third on the way by the look of it, I'll understand."

"Stella would never forgive me, Viola. As long as I can be any help, I'm at your side!"

Jules had done the rounds of his former haunts and confirmed that James and his African lady friend were frequent visitors. James had always been fond of going to Abhlovia, but the last four years had seen Rashumba accompanying him more and more often, though the winters there played havoc with her chest.

"She goes there to gloat over Clemmy, Jules. And whip her too I shouldn't be surprised. That always turns her on - the whip. Her whole rotten, sick, contemptible life is a long love affair with the whip and its frequent use on others! Having Clemmy stripped and helpless as she flogs her and makes the blood run down her back - that is her idea of revenge, and she'll never tire of it. Why does James have an interest in that prison in the first place, I wonder. I suppose they help produce something valuable?"

"Some very fine marble is quarried there. And there are mines, mainly copper."

"So Clemmy's either down a mine or labouring in a quarry! With that all over suntan, it must be the quarry. Golly, Jules! I'll never look at a marble slab again without wondering if Clemmy hacked it out of the living rock with her bare hands. Talking of hands, hers were a lot rougher. Yes. She's been working hard all this time. Hard Labour! That's a sentence isn't it, in some countries? I bet it figures in the Abhlovian criminal code! Poor old thing! But she could handle that, and you can see it's done wonders for her body. It's the pain in that face that moves me to tears, not the scars on her back."

Jules spoke. "When we took Clementine and Estella to that club - correction, when James took us all, Clementine was pretty fascinated to see your back being sliced up. She couldn't take her eyes off you. It was only after she went round to check on you next day that she started feeling shame. Estella was the one to make us leave the club. She was very angry and things were pretty rocky between us for a while after that. She hated it from the start. Maybe Clemmy's being punished for her initial wish to see you flogged!"

"She confessed that to me on our first night together and she was in tears, but I didn't mind. I was hoping she might whip me from time to time and we were hoping to experiment on each other! We were looking forward to it - the giving and the receiving. The agony and the ectasy! I forgave her as soon as she told me. And if I forgave, then no one else has the right to punish her!"

The doorbell rang and Viola went to let in the visitor. It was a large young man with an unruly mop of reddish hair. Viola introduced him to Jules. "This is Jeremy Forsythe, Jules. I have told him about Clemmy and hinted at top level Security sniffing at the affair and he's going to investigate. He's the best, Jules! Tell us what you have found out, Jerry!"

"I ran to earth a guy who came out of Abhlovia. He knows of no English girl in prison as such, BUT, there was definitely a tall striking blonde on a labour detail. She tried to escape a few years ago and almost made it out of the country. She was seen by a few villagers being bundled into a police van. The significant thing was that she was stark naked. That's all so far, but the prison system is semi privatised and there is outside influence on its operation. They give the inmates hell and work them hard and that's all the government cares about. This contact did meet a woman who had served a term and she mentioned one set of prisoners who get it tougher than average. They are kept unclothed in the open air, ferociously and frequently whipped for the slightest infringement. The girl was reluctant to say any more, though. Scared they might send her back, I suppose."

"It all figures, Jules. We know Clemmy spends a lot of time nude - maybe all the time - and we know she has been flogged. That's where she is. If we can convince our Consulate that she's there and produce proof, perhaps they'll get her out, maybe by doing a deal of some kind."

"We need a witness -someone who has seen her there and will be willing to say as much. Maybe an ex member of staff. People must resign and retire from jobs like that from time to time." said Viola.

"I wonder if all the girls involved in the fights are prisoners" mused Jeremy. "I got hold of all the tapes and they look as though they are. All over tans and signs of having been very roughly used. So tracing the source of the tapes might not help us too much. But I will see what that turns up."

Then the telephone rang. It was Estella in England. She sounded harassed, with the two children raising Cain in the background. But her voice was trembling with excitement.

"I've just got hold of a new tape. It came from Paris. Most of the action looks to be in France itself, but there's another fight with Clementine in the same desert location. And it's much better quality. It looks like they've decided to take the risk of marketing her stuff. The fight was utterly, but completely awesome, Viola. Clemmy was up against a girl every bit as good as she is - in fact I would say better. They were both wearing gloves - the sort the Romans and Greeks wore. You could see both fighters were a bit wary of getting hurt at first, but then they started mixing it and exchanging some ferocious blows. There was blood everywhere Vi. Those two really went to work on each other and they didn't seem to be feeling a thing, although it hurt me just to watch! And Clemmy won! Actually I was surprised it ended when it did, because it was supposed to go on for fifteen rounds and ended after twelve. The other girl didn't come out of her corner, although I think she was probably slightly ahead at that point.

"But the thing that concerns me is that the other girl, who's called Amanda, is NOT a nudist. She had tan lines - Her body including her tits was tanned but her tan was fading. And she obviously sported a tiny little thong during the summer. I bet it looked sexy on her, 'cause she's a beauty with a great bum! And her skin didn't have the same weathered look to it either AND her back has no whip marks, just a few old rope burns from past fights. I think she may be French, Viola. I think the guys James works for may have started using trained women from outside Abhlovia to put up against Clemmy and her mates. If we could only trace that girl, she might be very useful to us. I'm coming over with the kids. If you can't put us up I'll book into an hotel."

"Come here, Stella" said a weary Viola. Not those two kids again! She loved Estella, especially after that girl had treated her sore back so gently a few years ago, but she loved peace and quiet even more!

After three days of trying to fit six people into an apartment designed comfortably to accommodate two, the party moved out to Viola's country cottage, which had three bedrooms and a nice large garden of about fifteen acres. Jeremy had sat through the new tape and Amanda's image was pretty well engraved on his memory. He had seen the tape a dozen times but still could not get over it.

"How can two nice looking girls DO that to each other?" he kept asking. "I mean, they're both good looking young women - or were before they got themselves beaten up and had their noses broken. I just don't get it! And they won't make an awful lot of money doing that. There just can't be that much demand."

"I know most people agree with you, Jeremy." Estella replied. "But you'd be surprised how many of us there are who love it. And the fighters love it too, or they wouldn't do it. I've talked to several over the last few years and they all fight willingly and put their heart and soul into it. They train hard and live just to be ready for those minutes in the ring. And they aren't all lesbians either. Not by any means. Clemmy isn't totally that way. I should know - we shared several boys when we were younger! And as for money - Clementine isn't making ANY. All the profits are going to friend James and his shady bosses."

"Do you have any contacts over here, Estella - in this female fight scene, I mean?" asked Jeremy.

"I've been over in America for the past three years. But I'll get in touch with a contact there and see if he knows any French female fight clubs. He's bound to know someone who can put us on to something. It might mean a wait of a day or two, so keep on digging, Jerry!"

Jeremy left them after this conversation and Estella added to Viola's phone bill, being in deep conversation with numerous buddies for the next couple of days. Finally they got the call they had been waiting for.

"There's a club just off the Avenue Clichy. I understand they have some pretty good women on their books." said a breathless Stella. "It's a start! Shall we check it out?"

Estella couldn't wait to see the inside of this gym and maybe watch a couple of girls sparring, so poor Jules was left to mind the children as the rest of them drove into Paris. They found the club easily enough and found a man who looked to be in charge, one Marcel Lefèvre, and Estella, who was lapping up the whole ambience, had her wish granted.

A private bout was taking place between two small but compact girls who were really going at it. She sighed a little to see that they were wearing gloves and breast protectors, but noted approvingly that the referee did not stop the fight just because of a bit of blood coming out of one girl's sweet little nose. After three rounds one girl, not the one with the nosebleed, was put down and just failed to get up in time. Stella applauded and Viola smiled at the winner who was quite the prettiest girl she had seen for a long while. A pretty and lethal redhead, she reflected.

The bout over, Marcel was able to attend to his visitors.

"Oui! I know Amanda! She is the best girl here. She does all styles of fighting, some of which are very dangerous and I don't allow in my club. She is hard as nails, that one and brave as they come. If she were a man she would be famous, but as a girl, she is unknown. And she did go to Abhlovia a few weeks ago, but not as part of my outfit. Some shady guys offered her a handsome sum and she went.

"It was a hard and exceptionally brutal match and she said she had to cry off part of the way through because she needed to be ready to fight again soon after. But she is always talking of her opponent - these women, they fight like tigers, but they respect each other - and Amanda was very taken with Clementine, who is a prisoner - a most mysterious prisoner! I know chère Amanda would love to finish what they started the other week - and Clementine also - she said the same before they took her back to prison. But it seems they will not let Amanda back into the country. It is very sad!"

"We'd like to talk to her, please. Is she here today?"

Marcel regretted that Amanda was out of town, recuperating from a recent encounter in which she had won but been badly hurt in the process and ordered to take a long rest. He would tell her about the two visitors. Estella and Viola went to the apartment, telling Jules that they would be in town for a couple of days.

They were getting ready to go to bed at half past eleven when the doorbell rang. Viola went to the door and there was a tall and rather battered looking young woman of about her own age. Her nose had once been straight and handsome, but had been broken several times and still seemed to be healing after a recent injury. A plaster adorned her brow. Dark haired and with near black eyes the late night caller had the proud bearing of an athlete.

"Amanda?" asked Viola, who recognised Clementine's late opponent as soon as she saw her...

"Yes! I came as soon as Marcel sent me your message. They tell me I am still not fit, but what do they know - these doctors! It's my body they are talking about and I know it better than anyone! May I please come in?"

Stella hurried off to make fresh coffee and the three settled down around the fire. It was a cold night and there was a wind howling around the building. In the apartment it was cosy and all three thought of a fourth person, out of doors and naked, most likely exposed to just such a wind as this. They shivered at the thought.

"I wanted to fight Clementine again and I applied for a visa next month when I shall once more be fit. But I was turned down. I had cleared my engagement book so we can fight to the finish, she and I, and see who is the better. She is a wonderful fighter, Viola. If only she could join our fighting club - we could do battle against each other several times a year, the two of us and be such wonderful friends out of the ring."

"You both put up a fantastic show, Amanda" said Stella. "I watch a lot of girl contests and you two really struck sparks off each other. There was chemistry there, and I'm surprised you seem to like her! It looked like you wanted to kill her - and she you!"

"That is only during the fight, Estella! And I never want to kill anyone - just beat them and knock them out! Like I would have knocked Clemmy out - maybe!"

"Never! You'd never beat her!" Viola and Estella both blurted this out at once. Amanda laughed.

"Well - I would be glad to set your minds at rest. Bring her on, girls and I will show you! But we must be serious - we three. Your friend, she is in the very deep shit and we can't do a thing about it!"

"Would you be willing to swear to having fought with a prisoner in Abhlovia and identify the said prisoner as our friend?"

"But of course." Amanda's voice was earnest, but there was a look of unease in her face. "I love that girl! I do anything to help. We get her out of there. Then I K.O. her! She out cold when I 'it 'er and she stay down a long time! I got a punch like the sledgehammer! We use those gloves again. My doctor 'e tells me not to be so damned silly, but 'e can go to 'Ell!"

"You mean you'll wear those gloves again, Amanda." asked a breathless Estella. Her eyes positively glittered. To think she might be present and smell the sweat on the two fighters bodies as the said bodies were pounded by those dreadful metal studded gloves! What Bliss! Viola, too, was excited. She had seen Rashumba fight and had loved seeing her opponents bite the dust.

"Oh, Yes. When I chatted to Clemmy after our bout, we both agreed. We would wear the same gloves next time we met and we will both fight to a finish. One of us will be on the floor and for a long time! I think I will win, but I don't care. As long as we settle it - she and I. My club - they will not like it. We 'ave to find somewhere private to fight."

"I know just the place" said Viola. " I have a cottage in the country and in the grounds is a clearing in a wood. You two can fight there, on two conditions. First that we get Clemmy out and second that we are allowed to watch!"

"Of course you can watch. I wonder how Clemmy will like not having the audience, though. I think she likes a crowd to cheer her on."

"She'll have me to cheer her on." said Viola.

"And me!" added Estella.

"And who will cheer me?" asked Amanda "I bring some friends along too. But first let us see this wood. And I 'ave almost never fought without rules. Clemmy she tell me she has always fought without them and without rounds seconds and intervals. She would have the advantage."

Amanda accepted an offer to stay the night with Viola. She had no nightwear and refused the loan of some of Viola's, saying she always slept naked. She stripped off and lay down on the sofa in front of the fire.

"I will be fine 'ere, my two new friends. Sweet dreams!"

Viola and Estella went off to bed, but not without a backward glance at the recumbent Amanda who had already fallen asleep. They could see how much fighting experience this twenty one year old had had. It was not only her face that was marked, but her entire body bore a myriad of scars, both big and small.

They were to learn later that Amanda had been a wild one from her earliest years and the expression "born fighter" applied to her with a vengeance. Three times she had been expelled from school for her aggressive behaviour and once she had been sentenced to a year's hard labour for brawling in the street and leaving her opponent in hospital for a week. They had put her, nineteen years old at the time, in with some of the most depraved and desperate women criminals in all France. If she had not been a hard case before, she was afterwards, even though she only served six months before being released after new evidence cleared her of starting the affray.

But of late she had calmed down and was as nearly a respectable member of society as she would ever be - which was near enough to stay out of prison, and no nearer!

Jules, little Estella, little Jules, Amanda, Estella and Viola stood in the clearing. The undergrowth had already been cleared, on Viola's instructions. It was the first time Estella had been here since that incredible day, when Clementine had risen so magnificently to the occasion and won Viola as her prize. But what a terrible price she had paid - and was still paying, even as they stood there!

Little Jules, in Estella's arms, looked around and gurgled. Little Estella asked if there were fairies here! Amanda looked around and seemed satisfied.

"I like this place! It has a good feel to it. I can see why it was chosen to be the arena for so many battles between women. It is the Glade of the Amazons! And I shall be privileged to fight 'ere, win or lose! But please, mes amis, do not leave me lying on the ground if I lose like the last one to taste defeat in this place! Take me back to the 'ouse and afterwards we all 'ave a great party to welcome Clementine back again! And now - the difficult bit! 'Ow do we get her out?"

"I think I must make contact with Rashumba." said Viola. "But how? She seems to have vanished off the face of the earth since I saw her the other day!"

The party left the wood and started back to the house. It was Amanda who spotted the black girl in the distance and she nudged Viola and pointed.