Chapter 4

"Who was that, Albert?" asked Miss Merridew, Francesca's housekeeper.

"Somebody for the mistress. I said she was away from home. The lady didn't give her name."

"You should have asked. It might have been important. I'm worried about her up in those cold hills without a stitch of clothing all year round. I know she's used to hardship, but I still think of her as the little girl who came crying to me after the old Master had beaten her. I worry a lot. She always wrote once a week and we've heard nothing for months. I'm going to get in touch with her Commanding Officer. I can't take any more."

Two weeks later, Miss Merridew received a letter. The gist of it was contained in one heart chilling paragraph.

"Private Francesca Moroni is currently serving twenty four weeks rigorous detention for serious disciplinary offences. After completion of this sentence in two weeks time she is to receive a thousand lashes and return to detention for twenty weeks then to receive three hundred lashes and be detained thereafter for fifty two weeks. After this she will be discharged in disgrace. No communication with Private Moroni will be allowed until the completion of her sentence and discharge from the Service."

Miss Merridew took the letter to Albert, whose hand was trembling as he handed it back.

"We must help her." said the poor lady "A thousand lashes! It will kill her. I have a feeling about that call the other week. You should have asked for her name."

A call to the telephone company was successful in tracing Joanne's attempt to make contact. An appointment was made for three days time and finally Miss Merridew was ushered into Joanne's office.

"You know about my friend Francesca? How is she?"

"She rejoined the army, Minister. Together with her friend Frieda Brown they signed up. They were so excited about it and are with the elite group they helped to found in the War of Liberation."

"The Naked Amazons! I know of them. I was a founder member myself. The founder member! But the discipline became too harsh for me to stand, especially when I was at the receiving end of it! Those two are tough and high spirited young ladies, Miss Merridew. I can understand their wanting to get back to that kind of life for a bit. Peace is very dull for some people! How is she coping with the cold and snow up there?"

"She was doing fine at first. I think she had got into a few scrapes like the wild girl she is, but she sounded really happy. She was with Frieda and those two are so much in love! I don't approve but when I see how happy they are together, maybe it's right for them! But I haven't heard from her for months and I contacted her Colonel and got this reply." With tears in her eyes she handed it to Jo. The Minister read it and handed it back.

"Francesca must expect to be flogged in that outfit. Nearly all offences, however trivial, are punished and the least little thing gets a whipping. They have no milder punishments, except the cage, which is worse in some ways. She went into it knowing she would collect her fair share of lashes. It's that sort of set-up, I'm afraid. I had gentler ideas, but was overruled - rather painfully! They are proud of their toughness and savage discipline. Fran and Frieda would have known that from their past experience and all new recruits are warned, and there's never a shortage! They turn a lot of girls away! But this punishment does sound excessive to me and a bit odd and illogical. I'll look into it right away. By the date, I fear it may be too late to stop the flogging. Don't worry, Miss Merridew! I know Francesca well and I am sure she will survive it!"

Miss Merridew looked far from convinced.

"The lines have been down to that area for a while." Joanne continued. "They've had terrible storms up there and their radio equipment seems to have been damaged. I'll go straight up and see for myself."

As soon as her distressed visitor had gone Joanne asked for the reports from the Amazon camp. She read the terrible catalogue of Fran and Frieda's increasingly severe floggings with mounting horror and disbelief. The bit about their being caught making love in front of a bevy of schoolchildren made her smile. Those two hadn't changed and they richly deserved every last lash of that particular whipping!

Joanne conceded that they had been dealt with fairly up to the final punishment. It was a harsh unit and they would not have been the only ones whipped in that time. She checked the punishment register and found that her friends' names figured very prominently. They had received more than three times as many lashes as all the other offenders put together! What were they playing at? They were astute girls and capable of keeping out of trouble if they wished. It was quite obvious that they were deliberately bringing all this on themselves, but as Miss Merridew had said, Fran had been a happy girl up to the final terrible sentence.

Something must have happened up there to make the Colonel deal so harshly with them. Then her eye alighted on one item. A visit by General Schwarz! So Annie was behind this! It was Annie who had once ordered the pair to take eight hundred lashes, extended by two further fifties. Obviously her former playmate, once such a sweet little thing, had a long memory and bore them a continuing grudge. Francesca, newly promoted, had ordered one of Annie's floggings and Frieda had done the honours. Now she was seeing that they were repaid with compound interest!

Jo armed herself with the dossiers containing the pair's complete record, showing just what brave fighters these heroines of the Revolution had both been. She ordered her driver to take her to the Amazon camp right way. Six hours later she was getting out of her car.

She shivered, despite her heavy warm coat. It might be Summer, but it certainly wasn't too summery up here. The rain was coming down in sheets and there were pools of water everywhere.

Naked women, rigidly standing to attention and looking fit and strong as oxen, were out to form a guard of honour for the Minister. Joanne took one look and realised how soft she was nowadays. As she inspected the ranks she saw how none of these hardy women showed any sign of discomfort as they stood firmly to attention in the heavy rain. This weather would have caused her no problems a few years ago!

And Joanne saw how the Corps had changed since those days of struggle. These women were hard, tough and very, very tall. They must have been amazed when the elegant Francesca and tiny Frieda had joined them! But Joanne knew that her friends would have had little trouble sorting out even these big women! They would soon enough have earned the respect of their peers!

After inspecting the guard, Joanne saw that a punishment was in progress, despite the atrocious weather. The rain, turning to hail, must be hurting that back as much as the whip. The Minister asked to watch for a time. This defaulter had been awarded seventy and was taking them in silence. Joanne could see that she must be a recent recruit and was clearly not finding it easy to keep quiet, even though the whip was very much lighter than that used on her all those years ago. Lighter whip or not, the blood was already flowing, fifty lashes into her seventy, being washed away by the rain and only a pale pink pool could be seen at her feet as she received her punishment in impassive silence. Finally the seventy were completed and the girl was cut down, undisgraced. Joanne admiringly watched as she walked away to go straight back on duty. Everything about her spoke of pride in her status as an Amazon, an Amazon who had just been through a very painful rite of passage, an experience that would have most men - let alone women - howling for mercy after less than a dozen blows from the whip, which had been wielded by three very strong women, each taking turns to give ten before making way for one of the others.

"What was her offence?" asked Joanne of the officer who had greeted her at the gate.

"She left her bedspace in an untidy condition. A trivial offence, you might think, Minister! But we allow no imperfections in our new recruits. Later on when she has completed a year with us, that sort of thing might be overlooked as long as her fighting abilities are satisfactory. But in the next twelve months she'll certainly be back again where she just was and getting more of the same, only worse."

The Colonel welcomed her into her office and Joanne wasted little time over the opening civilities.

"I want to see Privates Brown and Moroni, please. They are dear friends of mine and I am very concerned about the way they are being dealt with. I checked on their disciplinary records, which make colourful reading, and I reluctantly agree that you were fair with them prior to this last award. I can't imagine why they were so badly behaved, but my guess is they were deliberately provoking you into having them flogged. I have a vague idea why and if that is the case then it is indirectly my fault and I feel duty bound to help them if I can."

"They are both in punishment cages some way from here, Minister." replied Colonel Roberts. "They were brought down to the cells three weeks ago to recoup their strength in advance of their second thousand lashes which they took, as ever, without a murmur. It was yesterday and now they are back in their cages. General Schwarz wanted a much more lethal whip used on them, but I took the liberty of only allowing its use for the final fifty lashes. I'm afraid it did terrible damage, but they came through. Such brave and tough girls! They'd make wonderful soldiers if they stopped fooling around. Why do you think they are being so stupid?"

"I was whipped a lot myself, Colonel. I think they wanted to outdo me, just to show me I am not the woman they are! I screamed a lot under the lash and cried when I was in the cage. I wasn't too brave Colonel! I just think they want to show me how much better they are, as if I didn't know that already! I might be a sort of founder of your outfit, but one look at that Guard of Honour was enough to tell me I would not last five minutes if I joined today!"

Joanne tossed the files containing both girls' records over the table. The Colonel read for some minutes and put the folders down

"SO!! Private Moroni is the old Duke's daughter! And a former acting Colonel! I knew the name, of course, but didn't connect it with this particular tearaway! They both have wonderful war records, Minister. You must be proud to call these two your friends! I must say, after reading that that I am proud to have had them under my command! But they have both committed offences and must be punished. Of course, Moroni, as such a high born woman, could apply for and receive leniency, but Brown would have no grounds to appeal."