Chapter 10

Philippa stooped over her crystal ball. It had been a rattling good show last night! She had gone contentedly to bed after watching the unbeliever Roberta fight the bandit Alfonso and nearly die, her naked body sliced up time and time again before she forced the coward to give in, even though he wasn't hurt nearly as badly as she. She was without doubt a great fighter - quite the very best. Whatever weapons she used, sword, arrow, her own body or the whip, she always prevailed. But she wished the woman would become a believer. If Roberta did she might be inclined to help her and maybe save her from a bit of grief along the way.

Rodolfo came to back of the cave and greeted the elderly seer.

"How goes, it Philippa? What progress are the brave Roberta and her faithful Paula making? They should have been back at the palace weeks ago. Even on foot they should be back by this time!"

"She keeps being distracted, Rodolfo! And the newly formed and exceedingly active Ladies' League for Truth and Decency make her life a misery wherever she goes, egging on the Councillors and Mayors to work her half to death and then put her on display and whip the hide off her. She, the proud woman, refuses to dress in decent apparel and is whipped from pillar to post! The burning fiery leather kisses fall thick and fast upon that strong back and her torment has not finished yet!"

A reedy and malevolent cackle issued from her withered frame.

"How many times have they thus assaulted the person of one of the King's trustiest servants?" Rodolfo sounded angry. He was angry. Extremely angry - totally pissed off. He had thought Roberta's painful exoneration should have been the end of her troubles with the whip, not the start.

"She has been flogged three times since leaving us behind. And if you take her recent duel with our colleague Alfonso into account - four. One community flayed her twice, despite the help she gave them out of the goodness of her heart. Quite a victim of injustice is our good Roberta! HE HE HEE HE HEEE!"

She started wheezing helplessly and looked close to collapse.

"Well, I don't like it! She needs our help. I'll ride in the direction she took and ensure she meets no more such disgraceful indignities. I'll teach those confounded Decency and Truth Ladies a lesson they'll never forget! Flog a few of them and see how they like it! I'll go and pick out a dozen good riders and we shall be with her inside a week! Then she shall have an escort back to the Palace and suffer no more."

It took the cunning Philippa a couple of fainting fits and a threat to bewitch the entire bandit company to dissuade the chivalrous Rodolfo. With sadness in his heart he contented himself with saying a few prayers for the heroic Golden Guard and her travails in a world where the dreaded Ladies League was going from strength to strength, their spies lying in wait to track Roberta's progress and have her hauled before the magistrates at whatever place she stayed.

He guessed, correctly, that the ostensibly respectable League was in alliance with the rebels. Their supposed Puritanism was merely an excuse to shred the long suffering Roberta's back time and time again. In time they hoped to get the entire Golden Guard either disbanded or fully clothed, either of which eventuality would be a disaster. He cursed these dreadful people. And if he couldn't go to Roberta's aid himself he would send a couple of his best men to see what they could do to help.

He gave them their instructions late that night and they stole silently out of the camp while Philippa still slept. But one had to be up very early in the day to get the better of Philippa! Philippa might be asleep, but her watchful Black Cat was wide awake and taking notes!

As soon as she awoke in the morning, Tiddles (her Black Cat) leapt onto her bed and warned her of Rodolfo's continuing concern for Roberta. She cackled again. Fond of evil cackling, was Philippa!

INTERLUDE

"Twenty Five"

WHOOOOOSH!! CRACK!!!

The latest impact of Roberta' swishy and well used cane, as it came thundering down on to Paula's red, sore arse echoed crisply in the frosty air through the verdant woodland grove.

"Thank you, Slave!"

Twenty Six"

SWISH!! CRACK!!

"Thank you Slave! That will be all for now!"

"Twenty Seven!"

SWISH CRACK!

"Ouch! Are you deaf!"

"Twenty Eight!"

Whoooosh CRACK!

"Fucking stop it this minute, Slave! "

"Twenty Nine!"

Etc. etc,

"Fifty five"

CRACK!

"That's all for tonight, Mistress! But I think I'll leave the Mistress tied up for the night. Sleep well, Mistress Paula!"

Roberta threw a blanket over the naked and red bottomed Paula, who rubbed her wounded posterior for a few seconds before falling asleep. Even before the caning had got out of hand, she had not been feeling too great for some reason.

Then Roberta opened the saddle bags and went through Paula's possessions. She paid particular attention to the couple's store of money. There was quite a tidy sum here! Roberta's hard work had certainly gone some way to fulfilling Philippa's prophecy of wealth and happiness! But this store of gold pieces, sizeable though it was, could hardly be called a fortune. And Paula, despite the way she always got to sleep in comfort when they stopped off at various towns along the way, was hardly that happy. She guessed that Philippa's forecast referred to a time after the journey was over. Not that she believed all that hocus pocus in any case!

Roberta was satisfied that they had enough here to last for almost a year at the rate it was being spent. The grateful father, for whose daughter's sake Roberta had almost died in a suicidally unequal struggle, had given them a lot - far more than he could afford - and she had tried in vain to refuse his offer.

There was no need for Roberta to offer her powerful body in exchange for more money. Nothing seemed to be in the way of getting on with the journey and restoring her good name.

But, as the attentive reader will have gathered, Roberta still had three more good, solid whippings to endure before we get to where we came in at the beginning of chapter six. (She didn't count the fight with Alfonso, and nor should we). And who can say what further troubles are still in store for her, even then?

In the morning Roberta went to get the pair some breakfast. It was two days since they had left the grateful father. This gentleman and his friends had made both girls very welcome for three very pleasant weeks. Roberta, when she had recovered sufficiently from her wounds, had asked to sleep outside at night and the understanding townsfolk had agreed, allocating a fenced off section of the village square, providing her with privacy as well as fresh and freezing air!

Paula had become rather too well used to comfort, though. Getting back to normal was not exactly a welcome experience. Roberta had just caned the little girl, partly because Paula liked it and partly because she was beginning to resent her airs and graces. Damn it all, she was only a jumped up parlour maid with a bottom His Majesty liked pinching!

Having got a nice breakfast of fried fish, Roberta went to waken her. She was horrified to see that Paula was shivering and seemed not to recognise her Mistress/Slave. When she felt her forehead, Roberta realised that she was burning up with fever. The girl needed to be taken somewhere warm - and quickly.

It took Roberta, cursing herself for mistreating her beloved so cruelly the night before, only seconds to get Paula on the horse. She had to hold her to stop her falling off and she never loosed her grip until they were in the town they had been hoping to bypass but now needed to visit urgently.

"Will you give my friend a room? And she needs a physician and nursing through her fever. We can afford to pay you well." she asked the innkeeper.

The host's wife helped Roberta put Paula, now in a raving delirium, to bed.

"Why are you naked? Are you her slave? Or have you been attacked and stripped by robbers? You have been wounded many times. You must be the notorious Roberta who fled the King's wrath and this is Paula his favourite whom he seeks with forgiveness in his heart."

"You seem to have got the general drift of things! I was accused of treachery but was guilty of no more than stupidity. I hope to clear my name. I did not know Paula was in the clear. If I had I would have sent her back. The rigours of life on the road are clearly too much for her. Look after her well. I will be back to see how she is in seven days. One way or another, her fever will be over by then!"

"It's best you leave the town if you won't wear clothes. You could be in for a whipping, a week in the stocks or both. Return to your camp and wait there for a messenger to bring news of your Paula." The man's voice was kindly and full of concern, making what followed later that day even more of a shock.

Roberta went back to where the pair had spent the night, after first leaving enough money to pay for Paula's accommodation and care. She also left all of her friend's clothing and other possessions. On her way back to the clearing she cursed again. It might have been the same whether she had caned Paula or not. But she bitterly regretted the violence to her little companion's person.

"I won't touch her again!" she vowed as she led the horse away. For some reason she didn't want to mount her friend's steed. Her place, both as a Slave and as a warrior, was on foot. The Golden Guard had never been mounted and, on those long powerful tireless legs, could cover many miles in a single day, keeping up their relentless running for hour after hour - as Paula had so admiringly seen on that day that their eyes had first crossed. How she missed the Guard, the camaraderie, the hard work and harder discipline! A soon as Paula was well again she would press on and allow no more distractions to impede her progress.

Hardly had she settled herself back into the encampment and prepared for a long stay than twenty men came crashing through the undergrowth, armed with sticks and swords. Without any warning, Roberta was clubbed to the ground and beaten unconscious. She tried to fight back but it was quite hopeless against so many.

When she came round she was tied face up to Paula's horse, her body painfully arched backwards and her hands and feet tied together under the animal. In this very painful position she was taken back to the town. It would seem that the Ladies' League had struck again!

But it was not the puritanical women who were responsible for Roberta's arrest. It was Paula, as Roberta soon found when she was taken to a cellar and strapped to a table, her hands and feet secured to each of the four corners. In a niche was a brazier and a pair of bellows. In the coals, being heated white hot, were two irons. Roberta had been through this before, as her belly and chest still bore witness!

One of her captors removed one of the white hot irons and held it before her face. She felt the heat even though it was a foot away from her. The man touched her chest, exactly where it had been seared more than a year ago in the torture chamber at the Palace. She smelt her flesh being scorched and saw the blue smoke rise from her body. The pain was worse than a thousand floggings! Three more times she had the iron held against her writhing body and the iron was put back to be re-heated. The second iron was taken out of the flame. After five applications of that, Roberta fainted.

On recovering consciousness she found herself in a body shaped cage, scarcely large enough to hold her, and suspended from the ceiling. Her stomach and thorax hurt from the many terrible burns and she felt weak and sick. Not a single word had been said to her by the silent and masked torturers, but she knew why she was being tormented. And she knew they had hardly started on her! And she knew that, as a disobedient Slave who had physically assaulted her Mistress, she deserved it!

The physician had examined Paula carefully and seen the marks on her bottom. These were clearly the result of a vicious and wickedly unmerciful caning. The plight of this sweet little girl angered all who saw it. Had they known that the caning was consensual, all might have been well. But Paula started talking and shouting.

"Stop, Slave! Beat me no more. Stop it, Slave!!"

Immediately a posse was despatched to seize the wicked and disobedient Slave and make her pay a hundred times over for what she had done to her Mistress, obviously a great lady.

Paula woke up. She was in a strange room and in a strange if comfortable bed.

"Suzie!!" she said. But this was not that room. This was a larger and more airy and light chamber than the cosy room at the inn where the cat had been so affectionate. A woman sat in a chair, asleep. She woke at the sound of Paula's voice.

"I'm not called Suzie, Paula! We have nobody called that here! You look better suddenly. My word, but we have been so worried about you! I'll call the physician!"

An elderly man soon hurried in and looked at the patient. He felt her forehead and smiled.

"We are well on the mend this morning! You have had a terrible time, Paula. Terrible!"

"Where is Roberta? Can I see her, please. My darling Roberta!"

A worried look passed over the kindly physician's face.

"Your darling Roberta? Surely you cannot mean that cruel woman and rebellious slave who beat you so badly?"

"How dare you call her cruel! There is nothing cruel about her. She is the best and kindest of friends! And she's not a slave! That's just a silly game we play! As for the caning - that's my idea. Call me weird, but I like it! Now, where is she? What have you done with her?"

The doctor hurried out. Half an hour later, a pale and hardly recognisable Roberta was brought into the room. Two men were holding her, without whose aid she would have collapsed. Her upper body was covered with horrible burns and she seemed not to have eaten for days. Paula screamed at the sight of her and leapt out of bed, running across the chamber and embracing her darling companion.

"What have they done to you, my sweet. What have they done!"

"No, Paula! I will not cane you."

"Just a few gentle ones? Pleeeeease!"

"NO!"

It was ten days after Roberta's release from the torture chamber and as usual she had made a miraculously rapid recovery, but the memory of all the nasty things they had done to her was very fresh in her mind. In view of the trouble it had recently got her into, the very idea of caning that delightful backside again brought her out into a cold sweat!

Even after she had detailed all the things they had done to her, Paula still wanted to be chastised. Selfish girl!

For all of seven days Paula had been ill and raving and for that same seven days they had kept Roberta in that dreadful room, giving her no respite from pain, day or night. Last time she had been tortured she had hardly known what was happening because of her drugged condition, but this time her mind and perceptions had been razor sharp and crystal clear. It had not been fun!

After the burning with white hot irons she had fainted. On waking she had been in a coffin shaped cage and hung from the ceiling. A deep bath had been placed directly under her and heated until it was scarcely bearable to be immersed in it. Needless to say, Roberta had been lowered into the nearly boiling water, gradually feeling the scalding hot liquid cover her entire body. Countless repetitions of this treatment had taken up most of the remainder of her first day.

Next day they had subjected her to the near drowning experience from which the King's Chief Torturer had derived so much simple pleasure over a year ago. The Village Tormentor, a master of his craft, had been interested to see how long Roberta could spend with her head under water and live to tell the tale. He had a theory that people could be got used to longer and longer immersions over a period of time. Roberta had been his far from willing guinea pig in this interesting experiment. After her release he had told her, his eyes shining with mad enthusiasm, that she had been able to last over a minute longer at the end of his programme of experiments than the beginning.

Roberta was convinced that her thumbs were far flatter than she remembered them before the thumbscrew experience, although Paula assured her that she could see no difference in shape.