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"What message, darling!"

"The one from the Town Tormentor at Rockwell Green! It doesn't really matter - not important."

"I could see your message got passed on, Roberta. If it was important."

"It was just asking me to remember him. Quite trivial."

"You were still an unbeliever in those days, Roberta. My mother and my sister and I grieved over you for your sceptical ways. It took so much pain and so much hard and degrading work to beat it out of you. It was worth it, though, wasn't it darling?"

"Well worth it, sweet love!"

Roberta was recalled to the present time by getting her second lash in as many minutes. She really wasn't concentrating today! And the fact that it was her last day was no excuse to slack! All this residue of seventy long years’ hard work had got to be disposed of by nightfall. She put all her thoughts to one side and worked harder than she ever had before. So hard did she work that all was finished two hours before her day was officially done.

Roberta was told that Celestine would not be in her room until the usual hour and was obliged to remain in the sun as its rays gradually became less hot and the red rim set below the horizon. Wherever she was due to go after today, she hoped it was a bit greener and cooler than this!

Finally the hour for the last night of love arrived and the pair were together again. Celestine washed her lover's strong body and bathed her wounds for the last time.

Six hours passed and Roberta awoke wondering what came next.

"Seventy years soon pass, do they not, my love." whispered Celestine gently.

"Too soon, Mistress. Are we still to be lovers?"

"That is up to you, Roberta. Now that you are stronger than ever, there are great things for you to do. Put this on!"

"This" was a blindfold. Roberta, unchained at last, was led to the horse and walked, not knowing where, for three weeks. When she was finally allowed to see where she was, she gasped in total amazement.

Chapter 13: A Surprise For Roberta
As the blindfold was taken off, Roberta was somewhat surprised to see herself back in the clearing where she had been twice whipped, firstly when Celestine and Amy had alternately attacked her back from both sides and secondly by Celestine alone. The shame of her reaction to that second whipping still haunted her.

She had received seventy lashes and wept and screamed for mercy after each of them She, Roberta the bravest of the brave had grovelled and pleaded for mercy. Even seventy long years of ceaseless hard work and pain had not expunged this dreadful memory. She still feared Celestine and obeyed her every command.

Her seventy years as a slave might be over but Roberta was still a slave at heart. Her body might be mightier and stronger than ever, but her spirit was that of a dependant who relied upon her Mistress for guidance and trembled abjectly whenever she as much as frowned.
Roberta looked around the familiar and ill favoured clearing. It was still a horrible place! The same tent was there - or an identical tent was there! For this was a new tent, as new as the one she had been in seventy years ago. The dreaded whipping post, where she had been such a coward, was also where it had been. There was blood on the ground. With nausea she saw hordes of insects devouring the blood and bits of torn flesh. Obviously some poor wretch had recently been put through the same horror that had reduced the once proud Roberta to a compliant serf, afraid of her own shadow.

"Do you wish for your freedom, Slave?" said Celestine, coldly. To think she had been so affectionate to her on the last night!

"Yes, Mistress. I desire to be a free woman. I desire it as I have never wished for anything before. But I await my Mistress's decision."

"I am going to whip you again, Roberta, with all the terrible force of my supernatural strength! If you suffer in silence, rather than whine and howl for mercy as you did last time, I may perhaps free you, and then again I may not. Nothing can be certain where my capricious will is concerned! One thing is certain, though. If you utter as much as a grunt I shall enslave you forever, but there will be no nights of love for you this time. Pain will be your lot all day and all night for ever. You bore me now, Roberta! I really feel I have totally exhausted all the possibilities where you are concerned."

Roberta obeyed, sick with despair. She knew how impossible were the conditions the diabolical Celestine had set for her freedom. Even after seventy years of being flogged every day and with a skin as thick and desensitised as hers had become, she would not withstand even one lash from the possessed Witch. She was half inclined to tell the witch to take her to whatever place of torment and slavery she wished. The whipping was no more than a formality. But Celestine was set on causing her more pain. All signs of love had vanished from those wicked eyes. If only the sweet Amy had won!

Inside the tent she saw a whip identical to the one Celestine had used on her to such hellish effect so many years ago. There was blood - almost fresh blood - on the business end. It had been used very recently. She wondered if the poor victim had survived. Today it would be used again. She shook with fear at the thought of the horror that was ahead.

Just as she was about to go outside and present the whip to her merciless Mistress a warm, soft hand touched her arm. She looked around and a tear ran down her cheek. It was Amy! She looked everything that her Mistress was not - kind, loving and full of sweetness by day as well as by night. Amy's hand excitedly felt every inch of Roberta's stronger than ever body.

"Darling Roberta! How strong you are! What a wonderful body those seventy years have given you! But I see to my sorrow that your mind and spirit are humbled and broken. Have courage, my darling! With my help you will soon be the Roberta of old and my sister will have no more power over you. Look down, darling at my thighs, and how the sight of you has made the juices flow!"

Roberta obeyed. Seventy years of being silent by day had made it impossible for her to utter a word. She saw that juices were indeed running down Amy's inner thighs. She knelt and her tongue lapped up the sweet liquid.

"Take your fill, my sweet darling Roberta. Savour my offering of love and swallow it all! It will give you the strength you are going to need in a few moments when you face your greatest challenge yet. And speak! Make yourself speak. Speak to me and speak to Celestine. Freedom of speech is everyone's right! How dare she have made you be silent! Just you keep quiet like the brave girl you are and then I'll sort her out good and proper!"

Roberta thirstily licked out the willing Amy, sucking up the love juice as fast as it flowed. When she had finished she spoke, the first time she had opened her mouth during the day for seventy long and wretched years.

"You seem to have been fighting again, Amy! I wish you wouldn't! You're far too lovely to spoil your looks like that! That face is as bad as it was seventy years ago, after that struggle which I so devoutly wish you had won! I hope you won this time, after collecting all those terrible bruises!"

"I lost! I shall tell you the story, which will astound you! You have so much to learn, Roberta, and in such a short time! Soon I shall fight her again and this time I shall win. My undying and passionate love for you and my contempt for her will see me through to a glorious victory! Just you wait and see! You must play your part, my angel girl! First you must take Celestine's furious whipping in silence and after that I must fight and beat her. From then on you and I will be together, in equal and loving happiness to bear life's burdens and share its joys in loving harmony. No Slave and no Mistress but a devoted and caring couple. Be brave, my sweet!"

"Can't you stop Celestine hurting me again, Amy?" Roberta was trembling with fear and there was pleading in her voice.

"Yes, I could. I could easily rescue you from the whipping that is to come. But I won't and you wouldn't thank me if I did - not afterwards. Not when you'd had time to think about it! And the true Roberta would never ask such a question. Would she?"

"No. Already I feel her contempt for the writhing cowardly worm I have become! You are right. I shall think of you and our life together as my back feels the terrible weight of your sister's fury. You have given me strength of mind again to match that of my body, Amy! My darling Amy!"

Roberta stepped outside the tent, leaving Amy inside. Soon she was tied up again and as had happened seventy years ago, the whip hissed angrily through the air and on to her stretched back. She felt her lungs burst as the hellish agony sliced through her whole body, and not only her body but her entire being. She remained silent, even though the effort to suppress a shriek of pain seemed to have sapped most of her strength. Would she be able to withstand another sixty nine strokes like that? She must. There was no choice. The cowardice of seventy years ago must be redeemed and the old Roberta reborn in the same crucible of pain that had once destroyed and humbled her.

An enraged Celestine increased her efforts when after thirty lashes her Slave was still obstinately refusing to cry out. She knew that she was causing Roberta far more agony even than seventy years ago and still she kept quiet, even as the flesh was ripped off her body, piece by piece. She reached the seventieth lash and was ready to go on, killing her victim rather than see her gain her freedom, when her sister's voice rang out across the clearing. Damn that Amy!

"Enough, you evil woman! I am ashamed to call you a sister! Leave her be and fight me again. This time I shall beat you and Roberta and I will be together."

"So you can enslave the cow as well? Fat chance of that, little sister! She is mine, Amy! Either that or she is nobody's!"

"I only want her to be free, Celestine. If she will have me then I would like to live with her, but the only thing that really matters to me is releasing her from a foul bondage so that she may once more be the proud woman that destiny has intended her to be. Prepare to fight me again!"

"If you want another hiding, that suits me fine! But we'll have no referee this time!" laughed Celestine. "I think that the poor whipped Roberta needs a rest! The bitch is more than half dead already after the going over I gave her! She can stay here, and when I have seen to you and left you stretched out on the ground where you belong, I either make the miserable piece of shit cry for mercy or she dies!"

Roberta saw both young witches go inside the tent and when they came out, both bodies were glistening with oil and both pairs of hands were protected with what looked to the shocked Roberta, still in great pain from her flogging, to be strips of metal. They would cause each other terrible harm if they fought wearing those!

"Don't wear those awful things, girls! " she cried.

Despite her weakness she forced herself to speak. "Wear leather like you did last time. Be reasonable! You did enough damage to each other with that - remember!"

"Who told you to speak, Slave!" raged Celestine. Her lovely face was twisted into ugliness with her fury.

But Amy respected Roberta's judgment in these matters.

"If Roberta thinks we should wear something else, she is the trained warrior around here! She is the expert."

"She is a Slave. And if she talks again, I shall kill her for sure!"

Then the aged Mother Felicity appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Actually she had been hovering around for some time, in the guise of a falcon, but the two daughters had been too preoccupied to see her.

"Release Roberta!" she ordered Celestine. "Let her sleep. When she is awake again, she shall referee this fight as she did the one before. Do as I say, Celestine and make it snappy! I am very disappointed in you!"

Celestine, looking like a naughty little girl rather than Roberta's imperious Mistress, untied Roberta and Felicity led her to a couch inside the tent. She lay down surrounded by rows of lethal whips and lines of bottles, all containing various differently coloured liquids. Felicity took down three bottles and poured out some liquid from each into a shallow bowl. Roberta then fell asleep. Her last sensation was of Mother Felicity rubbing the mixture into her shredded back.

When she came round her back had ceased to hurt and she knew that it was healed and smooth, and that as long as she lived it must never be scarred again. Walking outside she saw the two young witches, one who had been her Mistress, tormentor and nocturnal lover and the other, who only wanted selfless love between equals. The sinister Celestine looked in far better shape than her sister, who still bore the marks of a recent fight in which she had been beaten. Amy didn't look like much of a champion, thought Roberta.

"What happens if Celestine beats Amy?" she asked Felicity.

"Then she has you back. I hate what she has become, but she is of age now and there is little I can do. Amy will do her best, Roberta. She loves you very much. How should my daughters cover their hands for the fight, Warrior Woman Roberta?"

"I suggest they wrap them in leather strips like last time, Mother Felicity. Metal would cause dreadful harm. I can't imagine what they were thinking of. Celestine took weeks to heal last time, when she had been bruised only by leather bound fists."

Mother Felicity ordered her two daughters to do as Roberta had decreed. They came out of the tent with their hands once again wrapped in soft leather strips. Their bodies were both oiled by now and glistening, but Amy's entire body from the waist upwards was still covered with many bruises from her recent losing fight. Roberta wondered what had been the cause of it.

As soon as Roberta gave the order, the pair started on each other. Amy made the first strike and sent Celestine reeling backwards. For a bruised and tired girl, she was showing amazing energy today! She followed this up with another hard right handed blow which knocked her sister to the ground. Roberta started counting. It had been agreed that if she counted up to twenty and the felled fighter was still not on her feet, the fight was over. Roberta had no power to stop the contest in any other circumstances.

Celestine made it to her feet at the count of seventeen and looked shaken. Amy was a different girl today! The fight resumed and Celestine managed a bit of a come back, hitting Amy's already bruised face several hard blows and making her nose, which Roberta guessed to be already broken from the previous contest, bleed copiously.

But Amy was not to be denied another knock down for long! In the third minute after her first decking Celestine, she felled her sister again and this time Roberta's tormentor was still lying on her back as Roberta reached twenty. Amy had won - and in only a few minutes!

"Congratulate the victor, Roberta!" ordered Mother Felicity. "She has given you back all that Celestine had taken from you. Love her and protect her, Roberta, and she will make you very happy for the rest of your life."

Roberta embraced Amy, who responded happily. She kissed her, trying her best not to touch that tender and very likely broken little nose.

"Thank you for rescuing me, darling! Now that we are together, I fear nothing in this strange new world where all my old friends are either long since dead or very old!"

"Thank you for being so brave under Celestine's flogging. It was that amazing courage than inspired me to win. Without your brave example I should have failed yet again!"

Amy took her rescued lover's hand and led Roberta away from the clearing, with its tent full of instruments of torture, and the whipping post with the bloodstained grass around it. Roberta looked round and saw that Celestine still lay flat on her back. When Mother Felicity threw cold water over her she stirred a little but showed no other sign of life. It had been a terrific punch of Amy's - right on the button, and sending her straight into dreamland for quite some time!

In a few hours of leisurely strolling, hand in had all the way, they were back at the lake, with the island a few hundred yards off shore. A boat, identical to that which had carried Roberta and Celestine seventy years ago, was moored on the shore and the two lovers got in. Roberta rowed the couple over to the island. Amy looked terribly tired, as well she might after all her recent exertions, and Roberta was happy to do all the hard work!

"The Palace looks the same as ever!" exclaimed Roberta as soon as the two young lovers, hand in hand and pausing frequently to kiss, had reached the topmost point. Look! The Golden Guard still exist! The defaulters are being led out for their evening whipping! How I wish I were there!

"I cannot be a Guard, though. You have to be enrolled as a girl of twelve. Even with my enormous strength, they would not take me at my age. What is my age, Amy?"

"You are just over twenty-one, Roberta! And those Guards are your former lover Bertha, who is being punished for the second time in a week and Natalie and Celia, who are both known to you and getting ten lashes apiece!"

Roberta almost fainted! As soon as she could speak she stammered her amazement to the laughing Amy.

"How can this be, sweetheart? How can it be?"

"We are witches, Roberta and can play tricks with time that you mortals cannot. You did indeed spend seventy years as Celestine's slave and sexual plaything. But for me and the rest of the world, it all took place over one night! Never fear! I shall play no more tricks with you and you are mine now! And I am yours!"

"Celestine told me that the real culprits had been put to death, but I see that she lied. For Bertha is one of the guilty ones and she still lives, the miserable traitor!"

Roberta looked at Amy's battered face.

"So your face was still bruised today after the fight with Celestine! And the whip I took from the tent for Celestine to use on me was stained with my own only half-dried blood!"

Amy nodded. "And the blood around the whipping post was also yours. And another thing, my angel. Don't, bother looking for that clearing again! No matter how hard you search, you will never find it!"

Roberta had absolutely no wish whatever to revisit that spot. It might be where she had met Amy, now her life's partner, but there were too many other far less happy memories bound up with it. Then her mind turned to the present.

"I have to go to the Palace, Amy. I need to right the wrong that was done me. Will you be alright to stay here until I return for you?"

"I shall come with you, darling. You can't do what you have to do alone! In any case, I want to fight by your side and maybe die with you. For if you die there is no point in my living a second longer in a world where you are gone. There is much I know that can assist you. Don't stop me, I beg you!"

There were tears in Amy's eyes and Roberta knew that she could refuse this girl nothing. Being tied to this delightful creature was still slavery, albeit a sweet and lovely kind of servitude!

"We are equals, are we not? How can I stop you! And how could I ever deny you anything! You seem to know so much, Amy. I'll let you lead the way!"

"I hoped you'd say that! I am still a witch, darling Roberta. Remember that when things look bad. I have great powers and they are all at your disposal until your honour is restored and I become a mortal like you. You'd like me to be as you are, would you not?"

"I love you as you are, Amy. Witch or mortal - it's all the same to me!"

"Now you are free, Roberta, you will age like anyone else. I could not bear to see you grow old and die and not share the same destiny myself. All I want is to walk the same journey as you by your side until we are both buried in the same plot of ground, our bodies touching in death as they did in life!"

"Right! That was so beautiful of you. What now, Amy?"

"We swim across the lake to the little beach where we are nearest the Palace. The water will be cold, but not too cold for you, my hardy friend and lover!"

They scampered down the grassy slope to the water and dived in. It was indeed cold. It had only been a day or two since she had last plunged into this freezing water on which pieces of ice still floated. Amy swam beside her, a sleek and sinuous fish once more.

"It's OK for you, Amy! Fish can take it better than warm blooded animals like me!"

"Sorry, Roberta!" said Amy, spluttering beside her. "I'll suffer the same as you from now on. I was a nice fish, though, wasn't I?"

"The sweetest fish I ever did see! But it would have been sad if some angler had caught you! Although I'm sure you'd have dealt with the situation."

The pair exchanged no more words until, cold and tired, they made the little beach near the Palace. Amy was shivering badly and Roberta could see that the slightly built young witch had overdone it. She ought to have let her go on being a fish! In order to warm her up again she put her powerful arms around her and drew her close against her body. As warmth began to return to the near frozen Amy, the pair kissed and fondled each other, getting more and more excited by the second.

"Will you go on being naked once you are a mortal?" asked Roberta. She would miss that lovely ethereally nude girl's sweet body if it were to be clothed, although Amy would wear fine clothes and display them to perfection.

"It might be advisable, Roberta. Nude women get into trouble with the law, unless they are Golden Guards, their auxiliaries, or the King's latest favourite parlour maid! You found out yourself how painful it can be to offend the Ladies' League! Lady Paula is nude again, by the way. When she is Queen it will be different, but for now she is the King's special Nude Lady."

"I think we should stay here for the night," continued Amy, now warm again, but still keeping close to Roberta. "For one thing, it's really nice to be so close to you and for another, the conspirators are not due to strike until a few hours after dawn. So we have time to get to know each other. How does that grab you?"

"Fine! You're the boss, Amy!"

"No, I'm not. But I do know a few things you still don't. So you'd best do as I say when the day comes. You do remember what you were told the other day? About Felicity being in on it all?"

Roberta nodded.

"Well, the bad people suspect her of being aware of their plans and she has been framed much as you were. The poor girl is being tortured as we speak. She is strong, Roberta, but only mortal as you are. Although she is only a half sister, I feel so desperately sorry for her. If we could make our move now, I would be happy to do so, but it is hopeless until the well in the Private Courtyard is uncovered by the Water Carrier. Our way in is via the well shaft. One hour after the water has been drawn for the day, the well will be unattended but still uncovered. Then we can get into the Royal Apartments."

"How heavy is the cover on the well?"

"Tons and tons. It takes a special winch to lift it and a team of horses."

"I'm a lot stronger than I was a couple of days ago. It was only two days ago for you but it was seventy years for me. I could raise that cover easily. I know the way to the Torture Chamber from the Private Courtyard. I'll disable the three torturers, free Felicity and bring her here."

Amy shook her head, tearfully.

"We can't risk the plotters getting wind of our presence, Roberta. It could be months before they tried anything again and you need to be restored to favour soon. You have waited too long as it is. I'm afraid Felicity must suffer a few more hours of hideous agony before her ordeal is over. It breaks my heart, though whenever I think about it."

Roberta comforted the weeping Amy and the pair settled down to wait for the well to be uncovered. As soon as Amy had calmed down Roberta asked a question on a matter that had been puzzling her.

"If witches don't age, then how come Philippa and Mother Felicity are so old looking?"

Amy smiled.

"It suits them to look old, darling. But they can take on any shape or form or appear to be any age! Don't worry, sweetheart! I'm still only seventeen."

"And your sister? How old is she?"

"Twenty. I did well to beat her today, didn't I? And to almost beat her the other day!"

"Very well indeed. And another thing puzzles me. I would have though you would have healed almost overnight. You healed my back in hours, stripped of flesh though it was."

"I fought against another witch, darling. Any hurt we cause each other has to heal naturally. We can heal your back for you in seconds, especially if Mother thinks it was wrong to hurt you in the first place, which she did. Celestine is in big, big trouble, by the way, or will be when she wakes up after I KO'd her!"

"She should be awake by now! It's been hours!"

"Not the way I hit her. The timing was prefect, sweetheart. If she is awake she'll have a nasty headache!"

"I'm surprised a sweet thing like you is so bloodthirsty! I'm glad you beat her, though! You'll never know how glad!"

"I'll be nothing but sweetness from now on! At least to you!"

Amy looked beseechingly at her lover.

"Do you forgive me for helping Celestine whip you? It was a sort of punishment to you for having been a disbeliever. And also it was a kind of coming of age gift for Celestine. You were incredibly brave. But I knew you'd never hold against Celestine the second time. You have nothing to be ashamed of, my love! And you more than made up for it today, because Celestine hurt you so much more this time!"

"Why was it not possible for me to be quiet the other day? It's still hard not to think of it as seventy years ago!"

"It was the power she had over your mind, Roberta. If she'd only stepped on your toes you'd have most likely let out a yelp! It was partly your fault. You desired her so much that you had surrendered a goodly part of your will to her. But you are alright now, my sweet. Now you are ready to put right the evils that threaten the kingdom. Soon you will be back where you belong and the Golden Guard will be purged of its traitors. You know who they are, don't you?

"I know. The Commandant herself and my slimy former lover Bertha. But who prepared the drug that put me into such a sleep that I allowed my weapons to be removed?"

"It was a renegade witch, Roberta. Your friend Paula tracked her down and she fled the country, but not before telling Paula where your sword etc and the remaining potion could be found. She insisted it had to be you who recovered your weapons for yourself or she would make the proofs disappear for ever. Hence her having to organise your escape first.

"You'd have been allowed to finish all this a long time ago, but Philippa was furious with you about the things you said. As a witch myself I have to say you got what you deserved when you were whipped at the bandits' cave and subsequently."

"Well, I believe now. Knowing what I do, it amazes me that I ever had doubts. What must I do to clear myself, Amy?"

"You must take two of the Golden Guard with you when you go to find the proofs. You must have witnesses because your word alone will be useless. The King's two trusted Personal Guards will not do for this purpose, as they will be needed to protect His Majesty. And poor Felicity is unable to go. Any two guards will do, darling. They are all trustworthy except for the two traitors, and we know who they are."

"The rest room is attached to the private Courtyard. There's always a few of us there at any time," said Roberta. "Getting from there to the living quarters shouldn't be too hard. What will you be doing while I'm sorting that out?"

"I'll be flying around, waiting for you. I think I'll be a raven again. But try not to be too long. You'll have maybe twenty minutes before you must be back at the well.

Beatrice and Jenny were settling a minor difference. They were both interested in the same little wench who worked in the kitchens. The wench wasn't too bothered which of these fine young Golden Guards appropriated her. All the wench wanted was to stir up a bit of trouble and she had succeeded!

"Why don't you fight each other for me? Meet in the rest room just after dawn. You've got the morning free tomorrow" the little girl had told them the night before.

"We'd both of us be whipped for fighting. You've seen Guards punished. It isn't pretty! And it wouldn't be just a dozen. There's not been a fight for years, but the last time there was, the guilty pair were given a hundred apiece. Sorry, Lily, we don't fancy you that much!"

"Scared of a few lashes, eh? Call yourselves Golden Guards! Cowards! Roberta wouldn't have minded getting hundred if a girl she wanted was at the end of it! She was a heroine, that one!"

So here they both were, squaring up to each other with the sweet Lily as the prize for one and the whip as the punishment for both. Silly girls! As if there weren't plenty of pretty wenches like Lily adorning the Palace! The King's ever eager eye for a pretty face ensured that female beauty was a commonplace around here!

Both of the infatuated nineteen year olds had discarded their sword belts and other impedimenta. Only two others were watching and this was two too many as far as the rivals were concerned. With total privacy there was a chance their damaged bodies might not draw the Commandant's attention until the bruises had faded. Not much of a chance, though!

One good thing was that Senior Guard Felicity, that hawk-eyed officer, was in disgrace and being tortured horribly in the dungeon. As the first fierce blows were being struck in this rather pointless fight, Felicity's head was being raised from the water tank after almost two minutes' submersion. She drew a deep breath and was immediately under water again. This had been going on all night so she knew the drill backwards by now.

During her all too brief moment out of the tank she saw the brazier being heated up. More hot irons looked like being applied to her before too long. It would be a change from being half drowned!

The Town Tormentor from Rockwell Green had arrived at the Palace the previous evening and was assisting the Chief Torturer in his interrogation of Felicity. Felicity had formed a deep dislike for this man, whom she suspected to be gay. She was unusual, if not unique, for a Golden Guard in being deeply in love with a man whom she hoped to marry in a year when her service was over. Being tortured by a real man was one thing, but having this fairy dunking her in the tank and neatly jotting down his findings in a little notebook was an insult!

Meanwhile, back in the rest room, Beatrice had just landed a beauty of a right slightly under Jenny's left eye, raising a huge lump which would take at least a week to go down. This was two minutes into the fight and it was not going poor old Jenny's way at all.

During the years of training, these two had often been paired against each other during the unarmed combat sessions and Jenny had always lost, especially in the kind of bare fist fighting that the wicked little minx Lily had insisted on for this contest. Why she had agreed to fight Beatrice for the favour of this silly little bitch she couldn't work out, especially now, as Beatrice thumped her other eye and almost closed it. But a Golden Guard, once in a fight, never gave up. Jenny fought on, grimly determined that she would not be disgraced.

Beatrice landed a direct hit on her opponent's nose, cracking it and cutting it open. Jenny, on the verge of defeat, saw an opening and hit Beatrice hard in the gut, making her rival grunt but doing no serious damage. Beatrice paused for less than a tenth of a second and replied with a huge thudding blow to Jenny's tummy. Jenny dropped her guard and clasped her tortured stomach with both hands. That was the last she knew for several hours!

Amelia and Joanna applauded Beatrice's not exactly unexpected victory as Jenny flew across the room and slid down the wall after thudding into it from the impact of the deciding punch. It had been too one sided a fight for it to be that interesting, which was why only a couple had bothered to come along and watch. Poor old Jenny never had a chance.

This pair only applauded for a couple of seconds and they found themselves grasped from behind. All the Golden Guards were strong young women, but the grip that held Amelia and Joanna was unbreakable.

"Help, Beatrice," they both croaked.

Beatrice, the easy victor against Jenny, came running to their help but a mighty kick struck her square on the jaw and sent her spinning across the room to join Jenny in a protracted period of unconsciousness. When, hours later, they woke up in the cells, chained to the walls with only rats for company, and with the prospect of a very severe flogging in front of them, they both agreed that Lily had not been worth the trouble!

Lily had not really fancied either of them in any case. She was another of these rarities around the place who preferred the opposite sex to her own. Having got a couple of arrogant self satisfied dykes to beat each other up and then get horribly flogged for their pains pleased her greatly! There was not much future in the Palace environment for a trouble maker like Lily. There was only one way to go for a girl who had an attitude like that. She was fired soon afterwards.

"You two are coming with me," said Roberta, "I need you to be witnesses. This could be a big day for you two. Come along girls and don't struggle. I'm a hundred times stronger than the pair of you put together!"

"I can believe that," gasped Amelia. "Look here, Roberta! If we agree to come with you, will you let us go? You're strangling me. I don't think you know your own strength these days! Breaking rocks does wonders for the physique!"

"Will you both give your word, on your honour as Golden Guards? I promise you I only want you for a few minutes. After that, take me to the King!"

Chapter 14
Paula
On this particular morning, when Beatrice and Jenny were brawling over the maid, Lily, and Roberta was once more inside the Palace confines, Lady Paula had slept poorly for some reason and kept yawning. The Queen was sinking faster these days and the King, or Teddy, as she had learned familiarly to call him in the last few months, was at the poor lady's bedside a great deal, waiting for the end, which could not long be delayed.

Although a loving and attentive husband in his wife's final days, as a conscientious ruler he still needed to attend to important affairs and this he did for three hours each morning. He liked to have the Lady Paula standing by during these tedious sessions. She would stand near the large windows, sometimes looking out over the small Private Courtyard and sometimes the main courtyard where the nightly whippings of defaulting Golden Guards took place. Last night Bertha had received her second punishment in a week, getting twenty lashes this time, weakly applied as usual. Why the Commandant didn't dismiss her, Paula could not make out. She probably wasn't even a good lover! Paula couldn't imagine her to be a good anything! Although the Commandant and she were getting to be almost an embarrassment recently with their ill concealed affair.

When not staring at the goings on outside, Lady Paula contented herself by looking around the large Presence Chamber and the myriad of petty officials and humble petitioners who pestered poor old Teddy until he became almost frantic.

The two Golden Guards, stood discreetly on either side of the entrance, scrutinising all the visitors as they came in and never taking their eyes off them until they left. Since the attempt involving Rowena and her alleged collaborator, the traitor Roberta, security was very tight. The only other naked woman visible to the visitors was the Lady Paula, who tried to look haughty, as befitted a Great Lady. Even after several months' experience, Paula still occasionally found that nudity and haughtiness did not always go too well together - but she was getting there and these days the diminutive former parlour maid was the haughtiest nude in the Kingdom!

This particular morning, while Jenny was being pulverised by her comrade and friend Beatrice, Lady Paula was watching the dried blood from last night's flogging being washed off the polished marble flagstones where the whipping post was situated. She knew that only one defaulter had been spotted at today's morning parade, and that was Charlotte, one of the two Personal Attendants on the King. As in Roberta's time the two personal attendants were inspected separately, one at a time - so that the King was never left unattended even for a few seconds.

Paula had witnessed the inspection and had been incredulous when Charlotte had been summarily sentenced to one hundred lashes for her slovenly turnout. The Commandant had personally inspected both girls. Paula had seen Charlotte and there had been nothing in any way amiss with her appearance. She wondered whether the increasingly erratic Commandant was losing her reason.

If Charlotte had been shocked and terrified at the savage and unwarranted award, she did not show it. With that calm acceptance of discipline that was the hallmark of the elite Guard she had saluted smartly and returned to her duties. Paula stole the occasional glance at the soon to be flogged Charlotte and marvelled at her calm demeanour. Once again Lady Paula, who had served as a frequently punished auxiliary for a time, wondered why there was so much competition to enrol in a unit which treated its members so harshly and, in this case, so monstrously unfairly.

She went over to the opposite window and looked down at the Private Courtyard. Now that the well had been uncovered and the day's supply of water taken up, there was not a tremendous amount of activity there, in fact it was as quiet as the grave. Even so, there did seem to be some violence going on in the Guard's Rest Room. If a fight was in progress then the two quarrelsome Golden Guards in question had best be careful not to be found out! Quite a few unexplained bruises and cuts had been overlooked in the past few months, despite a likely breach of the strict rule against unauthorised brawling, but a crackdown was about due. It could just be that this particular quarrelsome couple would be made an example of.

Paula rather hoped the pair's fighting each other would not be found out. In Paula's opinion, it was better to get these petty squabbles settled quickly rather than allow resentment to fester, and a good quick fight, such as appeared to be in progress right now, was the best way to go about it. And this had been Roberta's view.

In any case, the Lady Paula was getting to be a bit sick of all the punishments of late. Some of them, like the impending flogging of poor Charlotte, had been as grossly unfair as they had been savage. There should be a better way of regulating the Golden Guard than bloody and capriciously awarded floggings every night. Not that morale seemed to be adversely affected by so many women's painful and disfiguring experiences. But, by this time, Lady Paula was tired of watching. Seeing Roberta on the punishment stand had been different, of course! But that had been a long time ago and in any case she had long since forgotten her former Mistress.

Looking up, she saw a raven perched on top of the opposite roof. The bird seemed to be staring right into her eyes and with unnatural intensity. It winked! Paula nearly fell through the floor. She knew enough of sorcery to be well aware that this was no ordinary bird. Something significant was afoot today! Perhaps the creature constituted a threat of some kind. She was undecided over whether to have the bird shot when she felt a great need to leave the Presence Chamber for a few minutes. It was not an upset stomach, but a compelling feeling that she needed to be outside, that drew her away from the King's side.

Coming out into the open courtyard she felt the cold air against her tender skin for the first time since leaving the now forgotten Roberta. Because of the King's insistence on her twenty four hours a day seven days a week nudity she had never felt much like coming out of doors in the winter. And although it was now springtime it was still far from warm. Today, in particular, was chilly in the extreme! She looked at the two Guards on duty outside the Royal apartments, where Roberta had once mistakenly thought a wasp had stung her, almost two years ago. Both Guards stood rigidly upright and unmoving. Paula felt colder than ever merely by looking at them with their tall and almost naked bodies. She felt colder still when she realised that they would be standing there, motionless in the chill breeze, for seven hours until at last they were relieved.

She decided to walk around the Guard's living quarters and, as soon as she was out of sight of the two gate guards, she felt a hand on her bare shoulder. Looking round she saw a naked girl, younger than she and clearly not a Golden Guard or an auxiliary. Paula knew all the auxiliaries well and this delicate raven haired beauty with the battered face and bruised body was not one of them.

"Go straight to the King, Lady Paula, and tell him you are not well. Then go to your room and lock the door. Do not come out until you hear my voice telling you that all is safe. Hurry! There is no time to lose. Don't worry, Lady Paula! All will be well - I promise you!"

Paula immediately obeyed this amazing woman, who seemed not to feel the early morning chill any more than did the hardy Guards. She realised, as she sped to the King's side that she ought to have asked this strangely compelling apparition what right she had be here in the first place let alone naked and issuing orders to the future Queen.

Ten minutes later she was in her room, locking and bolting the solid door behind her. As she lay on her bed she thought about that strange naked dark eyed and beautiful girl. For she was very, very lovely, despite her battered face and black and blue body. The girl had clearly been attacked recently - either that or she had been involved in a pretty ferocious fight. It had been a fight, decided Paula. Without having any reason to do so, she knew that the girl was a warrior - of a sort.

Paula had only once seen a woman involved in a fight using her bare fists and that had been when Roberta had fought and killed Bernard at the bandit's camp several months ago, not too long after she had helped her to escape. She found herself fantasising about Amy's injuries and how they had been acquired. As she constructed a likely scenario, involving this slim but obviously very exciting young woman, she found herself becoming sexually aroused.

What Paula needed was a proper relationship, one that went beyond being slapped on the bottom from time to time! But the King's loyalty to his dying wife meant that this was impossible for now. So Paula was forced in upon herself. Physical violence had always been a thing that turned her on sexually, even if the nightly floggings had become stale entertainment of late. She had masturbated times without number when watching the long suffering Roberta's back being whipped to a bloody mess and also when she had relived these unpleasant episodes later.

Now she found her hands reaching down to that familiar place between her legs as she writhed on the bed, imagining Amy exchanging hard blows with whatever opponent had done such damage to her and ultimately triumphing. For she had no doubt that Amy had triumphed; that had not been a recently defeated woman who had told her what to do with such authority.

Twenty minutes after she had locked herself in her room, feeling more than a little ashamed of her timorous behaviour, a commotion could be heard from down below in the King's Presence Chamber. Soon after this, footsteps became audible running towards her room and there was banging on her door and shouting at her in a rough and coarse voice to come out in the name of the People - whoever they were! She still had a dagger in her room and she ran and got it out of the drawer where it had lain for months. If the intruders did manage to get in she would not die without putting up a fight.

The sounds increased in volume and intensity, with curses, shrieks and, finally, the groans of dying men. At last silence returned. A knock on the door was accompanied by the sound of Amy's voice telling her that it was safe to come out. She opened the door and saw several bodies lying in the corridor. She recognised two as belonging to recently recruited servants. Obviously the Palace had once more been infiltrated by rebels. Roberta, with her uncanny knack of spying out traitors, would have spotted them right away, had them arrested and sent down below for the Chief Torturer and his buddies to play with.

"Come with me, Lady Paula!" said the bruised young woman. "And why don't you put on some of those fine clothes that have been languishing in your wardrobes? I realise that Her Majesty, the Queen, is still alive, but it is nevertheless wrong for you to be naked. The King will assuredly agree when he sees how fine a lady you are in those wonderful garments! Get dressed and come with me!"

Once again it did not occur to the Lady Paula to disobey. Not that it wasn't a very welcome command! She had been longing to dress up for ages and was heartily sick of shivering all day! Long gone were the days when she had found nudity exciting.

On returning to the Presence Chamber Paula saw a very disturbed scene. The King, her adored Freddy, had been slightly wounded and was having his arm dressed by a surgeon. Five very dead-looking bodies were being taken away by members of the Golden Guard. And overseeing these clearing up operations was Roberta, wearing her sword, arrows and quiver - and not only that!

"What HAS been going on?" asked an astounded Lady Paula, dressed in all her finery and looking very imperious. "Is it OK for me to stop forgetting Roberta now, Freddy?"

Roberta
"You must be mad to come back here, Roberta!" spluttered Amelia as she was released from the blonde giant's iron grip. "They'll kill you this time, after torturing you so horribly that even you will scream for mercy. Why didn't you get out of the country when you had the chance?"

"Shut up, Amelia! Come with me and be quiet, or I'll send you both to dreamland like those two idiots over there!"

"Yes, they are a couple of fools!" agreed Joanna, who was rubbing her arm and trying to restore some feeling now that it had been released from Roberta's brutal grasp. "And it wasn't even much of a fight! Pathetic, in fact! Jenny should be whipped just for being so bad at unarmed combat. She needs six weeks non-stop training to bring her up to scratch, does that one!"

Both girls found themselves being propelled towards the living quarters and were astonished when Roberta pushed them inside the Commandant's room. This was a kind of holy of holies as far as ordinary Guards were concerned. It was an open secret that Bertha was brought here for the purpose of being made love to, but no other Guard would dream of setting foot in here!

"You are mad, Roberta! Fucking insane!" said Joanna. "I hope you make it clear you forced us to come in here. Mind you, people only need to look at you to see nobody could resist you. You are totally amazing these days! How did you get such an amazing body? I want one just like it! You aren't a mere human any longer!"

"Pull the bed to one side and stop talking. You two are really beginning to piss me off," ordered Roberta. She felt like telling Joanna that she, too, could have a body like hers - if only she had seventy years to spare!

It took both Joanna and Amelia five minutes to shift the heavy bed, revealing a square stone underneath it. Roberta then ordered them to pull up the flagstone by the metal ring in the middle. Once again it took both strong and sweating women a long time. When they saw what was under the stone they gasped in sheer astonishment. Inside the recess was the uniform of a golden guard together with a small packet.

"That's very like your sword, Roberta! It IS your sword! And it's your belt too! I see your number etched on it! How did your uniform get here?"

"It was hidden here after I was drugged and robbed," replied Roberta. "See that sachet? That's what is left of the drug they used to poison my food. The stupid women were afraid to be seen disposing of them so they hid them here. Also the witch who prepared the potion wanted the evidence to always be where you have found it. Don't ask me why! I can tell you from personal experience that these witches are a law unto themselves! I suppose she wanted the Commandant to be under her power. Bertha and the Commandant conspired together in this diabolical plot. They were behind the attempt to kill the King that night and they wanted me out of the way. When the plot failed they had me accused and convicted. And this morning they are going to try again to assassinate the King and his beloved favourite, the Lady Paula."

"How do you know they are going to try again?" asked Amelia, still not entirely convinced. Joanna was completely convinced, though and was having difficulty keeping her hands off Roberta's incredible muscles! She worshipped her already!

"Never mind that! We must warn His Majesty! One of you must go and rouse the rest of the Guard and then come to the King's Presence Chamber. You, Amelia!"

Amelia went to sound the alarm and returned pale-faced to tell Roberta that the entire Guard except for the two unconscious fighters, the pair of gate guards, the two personal guards and the three of them were asleep and could not be roused.

"Drugged, the lot of them; just like me! We have no time to lose, girls!" shouted Roberta. "Don't ask questions! I don't know all the answers myself! These bloody witches play their cards very close to their chests - even my dear sweet Amy!"

In a few minutes the three Golden Guards, together with two hastily alerted Gate Guards, were at the door of the Presence Chamber. The two Personal Attendants looked at Roberta with the same amazement that her presence had caused Amelia and Joanna a few moments ago. Hawk-eyed Roberta took in the scene at a glance and didn't like what she saw. Talk about arriving in the nick of time!

"That pair talking to the King! Who let them in? Are you two blind?" shouted Roberta who was now wearing again the weapons that had once been stolen from her.

Two men looked around and saw seven Guards coming straight for them, swords drawn. Before they could do anything they had been overwhelmed, disarmed and killed. At the same time at least twenty other armed men burst into the room and Roberta and her six companions automatically formed a protective circle around the King, preparing to do what they had been trained for and defend him with their lives.

Then another naked woman appeared, herself armed with a deadly looking sword. It was the awesomely lovely Amy, fresh from ordering the Lady Paula to safety, and she neatly killed two of the attackers before taking her place at Roberta's side.

"The Palace is crawling with these bastards, Roberta! I must go and protect your drugged comrades, for they are helpless the way they are. It's going to be a busy few minutes! Have courage! We shall defeat them and you will be the one to kill the most. Just leave a few for me! It's going to be a really super fight!"

With these words, the incredible Amy vanished. Roberta had a vague idea that a raven was fluttering overhead and then she was slightly wounded in the side. From then on the fighting was too fierce for her to notice anything save the flashing blades of the rebels who had gained access to the Palace with such ease, thanks to the foul treachery of she knew who.

Against seven of the Golden Guard, even the score of attackers stood little chance. Roberta alone accounted for six in as many minutes and the group, fighting as one, soon had the odds against them reduced and then eliminated. The four surviving attackers surrendered their weapons, kneeling and begging for a mercy the scurvy knaves would not have extended to their conquerors had the positions been reversed...

"No prisoners!" ordered Roberta, whom no one thought to disobey, despite her fugitive status. The wretched rebels were summarily slaughtered where they knelt.

"We've saved the Chief Torturer some work," joked Roberta as she sheathed her bloody sword and turned to see how the King was. His Majesty, a worthy descendant of a long line of warrior kings, had taken his part in the recent battle and was slightly wounded. Roberta saw that the hurt was trivial.

"Where is the Lady Paula and where is the Queen?" he asked.

"Paula is safe and the Queen was not a target this morning," answered Roberta. "They know she has not long to live."

Amy reappeared after seeing that the drugged Guards were no longer in danger. A few, who had drunk hardly any of the affected water, were recovering already and preparing to rid the Palace of the remaining invaders. Several rebels were trying to get into Paula's room but Amy and Charlotte were sent to deal with them and it took only a few minutes for the pair to slay the lot. At one point Amy was impaled to the wall by a rebel sword. She pulled the weapon out of her body and killed her astounded attacker before he had time to draw breath. No trace of any wound could be seen on her!

"You've got an unfair advantage, Amy!" laughed Charlotte. Charlotte was beginning to realise that her coming whipping might not after all take place and this made her happy, despite the continuing danger.

By this time more and more of the Golden Guard, less heavily drugged than the others, were beginning to recover. Hearing the commotion, they all made for the sound of battle and after no more than twenty minutes from the time the attack started, the rebels had all been arrested and put to death. The Commandant and Bertha were run down and captured several miles away from the Palace, attempting to flee.

The two traitors were loaded with chains, tied to horses and dragged across the rough ground back to the Palace. The pair were then brought before the King. Bertha was trembling in every limb, but the Commandant was defiant and unafraid, despite knowing she had only a short and horribly painful future ahead of her.

"I won't ask you why you betrayed me, former Commandant," said the King, with a richly dressed Paula at his side. "But I want to know all about your fellow conspirators. I want names and I want them all - fast!"

"I will say nothing! Long live democracy. Long live the Republic!" replied the former Commandant.

"To the torturers with her," said the King and the former Head of the Golden Guard was dragged away.

Bertha was by far the easier nut to crack - as Roberta had known she would be. She told all she knew and was then taken away herself to be tortured. It was at this point that Amy remembered her sister, still in the dungeon and still being tormented by the Chief Torturer and his gay friend, the Town Tormentor of Rockwell Green.

"May sister Felicity be released, darling?" she asked Roberta.

Roberta looked at the King, who nodded.

"How could we have forgotten that poor woman's plight? Release the wronged Felicity at once, Commandant Roberta! Then be back here. We have much to discuss today with you! But first you should have your wounds treated."

"My so-called wounds are no more than scratches, Your Majesty, if I may be permitted to say so! I shall indeed be back in Your presence soon!"

After giving instructions for the still comatose Jenny and Beatrice to be locked in the cells, prior to being sentenced for fighting, she went down to the dungeon, that dread chamber where she had been tortured almost to death eighteen months ago.

Felicity
Felicity hadn't quite got it right about the Torturers' schedule. Her immersion experience was indeed drawing to a close, but the heated irons were nowhere near hot enough as yet to be applied to her chest and stomach. These people were perfectionists to their fingertips - artists, in fact! While the torturers were waiting for the dreaded irons to become white hot, she was put on the rack and given a bit of a quick stretch. Like Roberta before her, she was to be convinced for the rest of her life that this very painful experience had added inches to her height!

The Town Tormentor was given the task of turning the ratchet, just as son as a furiously struggling Felicity had been firmly secured to the horrible instrument. It took all seven of the dungeon staff to subdue her and, with the exception of Julian, the Town Tormentor, they were rugged and hairy-chested men with terrific muscles and hard, hard bodies which they left uncovered above the waist. As she was wrestled into submission by these macho men, Felicity reflected that life down here wasn't all bad!

"Who are your dastardly fellows in this evil plot against the Throne?" asked Julian in his prissy self important voice. What a fucking fairy, thought an enraged Felicity as her joints cracked and strained and her sinews and ligaments tore away from their moorings. She'd need weeks of rehab to get over this!

"I am a loyal member of His Majesty's Golden Guard, you pathetic fairy arsehole! God, if I had just five minutes with you, my friend, you'd know a thing or two about the practical side of pain - not just the theory!"

Soon the irons were deemed sufficiently hot to be applied to the muscular Felicity's magnificently sculpted body and a fresh stage in the "interrogation" began. Felicity, like Roberta a few months ago, smelt the odour of burned flesh and saw a spiral of blue smoke ascending into the dank dungeon air from her freshly scorched chest and belly.

In a few minutes time, iron number one had started to cool off and was no longer glowing so fiercely that it hurt the eyes to look at it. It still hurt the body to be touched by it, though. Did it ever! Iron number two was taken from the fiercely glowing brazier and applied twice, thrice and four times to the squirming, writhing body of Senior Golden Guard Felicity. As iron number two began to glow less fiercely and the first one was ready to be used again, even Felicity wondered how much more of this she could take without screaming and begging them to stop.

Then the door burst open and the chamber was soon full of her comrades, led by Roberta. And Roberta was wearing the Commandant's insignia! Roberta looked stronger than ever - and mad as hell! Was Felicity ever glad to see her! With Roberta, at her side and armed with a sword, was her favourite half-sister, darling little Amy. Poor Amy looked a bit knocked about and the protective older sister Felicity, despite her weakness after nearly two days of non stop torture, couldn't wait to sort out the person responsible.

"Who did that to you, Amy? I'll teach them to hit you! Just let me get at the bastards!"

"Celestine did it, but don't worry! It's all taken care of, Felicity. You should have seen what I did to her," replied Amy proudly looking down at her bruises. "And when Mother has finished with her, there won't be much left of her for you to do anything to! Mummy's really, but really, pissed off with her this time!"

"Two of you take Felicity to her quarters," ordered Roberta. "Don't even think about reporting for duty for at least a week, Senior Guard Felicity! I've been tortured myself and I know how long it takes to get over it!"

Finale
Shortly after Felicity had been freed, the ex Commandant was brought down to be tormented herself. Within minutes they had attached her to the drowning machine and her head was being immersed in the tank. Roberta left the torturers to their grisly task. The last she saw of her former Commandant, that once mighty lady was spluttering and gasping prior to going under again!

Roberta felt no pity. She had been shocked beyond measure at the traitorous woman's words of defiance. Democracy! Whatever next? The very idea!

Twenty minutes later, Bertha, screaming and weeping, was brought down and strapped to the table. Soon the white hot irons were searing her flesh and her screams were so loud that they could be heard all over the Palace. The King, upset by the irritating noise, ordered her to be gagged.

Three days later, the pair were brought up to be hung upside down and whipped in front of the entire Golden Guard. This was the first flogging since the abortive rebellion.

The ex-Commandant, silent to the end, died under her lashing, which was what the King had decreed and Roberta had intended. Bertha was given far fewer lashes and within a week, shaven headed and hobbling on whipped feet like Roberta eighteen months ago, was led off to a lifetime's hard labour on Hell Island.

As soon as things began to get back to normal, the two rivals for the fickle Lily's love were brought before the new Commandant.

"What have you to say for yourselves?" asked Roberta.

"We were both guilty of fighting, Madam Commandant," said Beatrice, speaking for both girls, now firm friends once more after several days in a dark cell to think things over and reflect deeply on the error of their ways. "We are truly sorry for letting the Golden Guard down."

"I award twenty lashes each. And Jenny needs to be trained in unarmed combat! I saw enough of that fight to see that her performance was a disgrace! It really sucked, Jenny! Until I judge you to be fully fit to carry out all the duties of a Golden Guard, you are stripped of your uniform. In six weeks you will fight Beatrice again. I do not necessarily expect you to win, but you must put up a very much better show next time! Since your little set-to was instrumental in at least two of the Guards being away from the refectory and happily not being drugged, I suspend the whipping for now. Should you offend again, be assured that the lashes will be added to your punishment on that occasion."

"Golly! I can't believe we got off so lightly! That would have been a hundred for sure a few days ago," said Beatrice as the pair went back on duty, Beatrice to guard duty and poor Jenny, minus her equipment, to be trained to fight bare handed. (Long before her six weeks intensive training were done she was to be one massive bruise! But, when the time came to fight her friend and rival again - officially and in the line of duty this time - she managed to last a very respectable length of time against Beatrice, to whom she was able to do a lot of damage, before being knocked out, and was reinstated.)

"I imagine she's been whipped often enough herself to know the lash is not always the answer," said Jenny. "I guess there will be a lot less blood on the parade ground of an evening in future! She'll make life much harder in lots of ways, but our backs won't get shredded so frequently, and when they do it will be because we really deserve it."

The guard Charlotte, who had been awarded one hundred lashes shortly before the attempted coup, was similarly let off her punishment.

"I know you fairly well, Charlotte! You do make the odd slip up, but this time you get the benefit of the doubt. I imagine you were punished as a way of upsetting you and making you less attentive. You more than made up for any fault in your turn out by your bravery on that day. We could not have done it without you!"

The King appointed the totally rehabilitated Roberta to temporary command of the entire Army as well as the Golden Guard. Her first action in this capacity was to lead an expedition against the now banned Ladies' League for Truth and Decency in the part of the country where she had spent so many painful hours being flogged for doing no more than wearing the King's uniform - albeit a very exiguous uniform!

The League's ringleaders were brought back and handed over to the Chief Torturer, who, together with his friend from Rockwell Green, made many very interesting discoveries concerning the ability of humans to stay under water for longer and longer periods. These findings were to be the subject of a scientific paper submitted to the Torturers' Annual Convention later that year - a paper which earned both men tremendous kudos. Both of these accomplished and dedicated torturers rose, in time, to the very top of their profession.

Alfonso's band were also hunted down and killed, except for the leader, who was also brought back and given three horrific weeks in the dungeon before being taken to the Men's Hell Island, where he found many fellow bandits with whom to labour and toil. He was joined by more and more as the years went by.

Felicity left the Golden Guard three months after the coup and married her long-time gentleman friend. Roberta was glad to see her go. Felicity was a fine woman, but she had exercised an unfortunate influence on some of her younger comrades who had begun to show disturbing signs of a sexual and romantic interest in men. Roberta soon stamped that out, and for a while, the floggings resumed their previous severity until Sapphic love once more became the norm.

As Roberta succinctly put it, "I want to lead a band of hard women, not a bunch of silly giggling girls!"

Amy and Roberta remained quite inseparable for the rest of Roberta's exceptionally long tenure as Commandant. Despite throwing herself into the thickest part of the fighting on hundreds of occasions, Roberta, although horribly wounded time and time again, did not get the glorious death in battle that she had wanted as a romantic girl. Mysteriously, her wounds always healed quickly and left no scars.

The Queen died a month after Roberta's return and Paula became Queen soon after. She had several sons in the years that followed and the future of the Royal House was assured.

When Roberta finally retired, she and Amy went to live together near to where she had first met Queen Paula. On their first day of retirement Roberta looked at her face in the mirror. Something had been puzzling her for a while, now.

"I seem to look younger all the time, these days, darling Amy! And so do you. Have you an explanation, you adorable little witch?"

Amy blushed prettily, looking hardly seventeen years old, despite being every second of thirty-eight.

"Actually, Roberta, you're a witch like me these days and have been since I fought Celestine for the second time. Mummy decided on it when Celestine behaved so badly. My bad sister looks older and older these days, being no longer a witch herself after you took her place. Oh, Roberta my sweet! We're going to have such fun together, casting spells on all and sundry!"

"Nice spells, I hope," said Roberta. She doubted it, somehow. Amy was a mischievous little darling, even after all this time!

"Of course, sweetheart! Well - fairly nice ones! Don't look at me like that, Roberta! It's not our fault if some people don't have a sense of humour! Is it?"

The End