Chapter 24

The intruders were huddled on the floor, their masks askew. None of them had been able to defend themselves in any way because they couldn't see her attacks, and their hands were too busy trying to fend off blows. Those hands had been reduced to bloody lumps. While Jack and Nigel stopped, staring at the astonishing scene before them, she whacked each one an additional time. She could have stabbed them, but did not.

"Bastards," she panted. "You think you can violate my privacy, and do with me what you will. Rape is punishable by death, you cretins!"

"My lady!" gasped Nigel. "Have they ... injured you?"

I almost laughed. I know I should have been serious, because this was a serious situation. She was right. Heads could be made to roll based on what had happened this night. But poor Nigel, who had plumbed her silky depths so many times, was worried that the unauthorized plumbing of those depths might have caused her harm.

Penelope let the tip of her sword sag to the floor. She must have been fatigued after her violent reprisals. Her breasts were heaving, and her hair was wild.

"Sit up!" she ordered her erstwhile attackers. "Let's see who thinks they may make the law, and then take it into their own hands."

Jack and Nigel moved to enforce her orders, and pulled off the masks. They almost throttled whip man, who had thought to tie a string around the neck of his sack perhaps to ensure it did not inadvertently fall off as he whipped "the trollop." The man's fingers came to his throat as Nigel all but lifted him off the floor and he gurgled until the problem was recognized. Jack stepped forward with a hunting knife in his hand. The blade gleamed wickedly as he reached to cut the twine, and the bag finally came free.

They were all recognized, of course. The starch was gone out of all of them, particularly Mr. Flagman, who I previously called whip-man. The big one she had pierced in the belly was Aldo Hinkman, much to Jack's surprise, and the one nursing the hand she had struck after running Flagman's leg through was Horace Sinderson. It would be a while before he used either of his hands to mount shoes on a horse's hoof.

Assuming that those hands weren't buried in the grave of a man gone to the gallows for attempting to rape a member of the nobility.

Penny walked around them. She did not take time to don another nightgown. She seemed to flaunt her nakedness to the cringing men. The tip of her bent epee wavered in little circles in front of the men, who flinched and moved away from it.

"Stand up!" she ordered.

While they labored to their feet, she went to the shield and removed the other epee. She tossed the bent one on the bed. She returned to the men as Aldo was trying to pull his pants up. The tip of the epee flashed and a score appeared as if by magic on the wrist above his hand.

"I didn't tell you to pull your trousers up," she said. "I simply told you to stand."

His yelp was cut short, I think by pure will, as the tip of the sword flicked negligently toward him again. He covered the wound with his other hand, but did nothing else as his pants fell back to the floor.

"Let us see the tools these men would have used to tame me with," she said.

"Milady?" said Nigel again.

"I want to see the pricks they intended to force into my body!" she snarled. "Let us see if they are even equipped for the evil they intended."

"Is that really necessary?" asked Jack, looking at his father. He had never seen the man either humbled or cowed, and it was confusing to see him so now.

What I found most interesting at that point was that none of the interlopers seemed to notice that Jack had spoken so freely, and without honorific. Here was a noble woman, standing there naked, with a sword in her hand - a sword she obviously was quite competent with, by the way - and her hired men were acting almost like her peers! It was unfathomable. I intended to speak to both of them as soon as I could.

It occurred to me that I no longer needed to lurk in the passageway. I could now be of use. I hurried down the passageway, out of the secret door and to My Lady's chamber door ... where I found a gaggle of young men and women milling about, dithering on whether to go through that door to see what had become of Jack and Nigel ... or not.

"Stand aside!" I ordered curtly. They did so, and I was relieved not to have to upbraid them.

With as much dignity as I could, I opened the door and entered the chamber. I steeled myself to appearing in front of my naked mistress, and ensured I did not lay eyes upon her.

"What goes on here?" I demanded.

Penny was bent over in front of the criminals, all of whom who were now naked from the waist down. Her hands were on her knees, one of them still holding the undamaged epee.

"Surely you jest," she said. "You meant to attack me with those pathetic things?"

I didn't look at the men's nakedness either.

"Mistress," I said. "Shall I call the constable and have these men taken away?"

She stood up and looked at me.

"Good evening, Wadsworth. That's one of the things I find so delightful about you. You always try so diligently to do what you should."

"As should we all, Milady. May I get you something to foil the chill?"

She laughed. One of the men moved and the tip of her epee flashed to barely touch his chest. He froze. So did everyone else in the room.

"I am naked, Wadsworth," she said calmly, "not chilled."

"Indeed," I said. "Perhaps, then, I could obtain something for you to cover your nakedness with?"

"I am naked because these men insisted on it," she said.

She pressed the tip of the blade against a button on Horace's shirt. He had been most ardent in shredding her nightgown, and baring her breasts. He was not so joyful now. Somehow, she was skilled enough to press on the button, but only make the blade bend, instead of sunder it.

"Just before they decided to rape me," she added.

Horace's horrified eyes looked at the blade, which was kept from his heart by only the thickness and integrity of a single button. Suddenly the thing she had been examining so short a time before began to spout a yellow stream as he lost control of his bladder.

There comes a time in some men's lives when they realize they are in completely over their heads, and will surely drown unless some miracle saves them. Rape was punishable by death. Aldo and Horace hadn't really thought about that. They hadn't planned on being caught. Geoffrey wouldn't have thought about it at all, since that wasn't his aim.

But they all thought about it now, even Geoffrey, who knew that his protestations of innocence on that charge would mean nothing. The intent of the others had been clear, even spoken of, and he would be tarred by the same brush. I think he spoke from terror, rather than the hope that his plea would find any purchase.

"I didn't come here for that," he gasped.

"No," she said. "You came here to rip the flesh from my bones, and mark me for life, because you don't approve of the way I live my life."

"It's sinful!" he blurted. Perhaps the knowledge that he might die produced in him the feeling that he had nothing else to lose.

"You're saying it is sinful to engage in sexual intercourse," she said.

"Fornication!" he insisted.

"You idiot," she snapped. "Adam and Eve fornicated. There was no vicar to marry them. Nowhere in Genesis does it say God had them exchange vows. Marriage is a human custom. No doubt God approves, but it is men who think they are entitled to decide who may and who may not marry, and who may and may not engage in sexual congress. I will face God gladly when my time on Earth is over. I will not face the likes of you, who would cause injury and pain, where I have caused neither!"

"Blasphemy!" he said, but it was weakly, with none of the righteous indignation he had previously displayed. Perhaps he realized it, because he argued on. "You took our children," he insisted.

"Your children would have grown up and left you in any case," she said. "Have you actually spoken to your children? Have you asked them if they are happy? I think not. I think it is more important to you bastards that you choose for them, than that they are eager to live the lives they have chosen for themselves. Just as you felt your desires concerning me were more important than what I wanted ... or the law!"

"We cannot speak to our children," complained Horace.

"You think that, because you sold Marie to His Lordship, that we would refuse your request to see her ... to ask as to her health and happiness ... to let you offer her some small gift to express your fondness?" She looked at Aldo. "Never once since I arrived have you asked that Jenny be allowed a day to spend with her family." Her gaze went to the miller. "Nor have I heard from you, until such time as you appointed yourself the right arm of the almighty God. Sally has never asked to spend time at home. I might add that your son Louis is diligent in his work, but is in no hurry to return to the mill. Now I begin to understand why."

"You tried to corrupt him too!" said Geoffrey, whose righteous indignation was rising again as he was unable to keep his eyes off Penelope's body. "I caught him, trying to sneak away to wallow in the pleasures of the flesh. I stopped him! I beat the sinful desires out of him. My only source of sadness is that I failed to do the same with you!" He spat at her, his spittle landing squarely between her breasts.

I stepped forward, insinuating myself between Penny and the man, lest she raise her sword and kill him on the spot. Only later would I reflect on the absurdity of my actions. Perhaps I was unhinged by the fact that I knew, deep inside me, she was capable of running him through.

"You remain alive only because of My Lady's mercy," I said, my face an inch from his. "No man would gainsay her actions if, while you were attempting to rape her, her blade pierced your heart."

Geoffrey stiffened. "She deserves to be raped, but I wouldn't touch her diseased flesh with any part of my body," he sneered. I had to admit, he was a man of conviction, even under a sentence of death.

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Penelope, Mistress of the Manor

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