Harold Saves Her Husband Part 03 And Last free porn video

Harold Saves Her Husband Part Three


Copyright Oggbashan July 2014

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

Although apparently set in part of 19th Century India, the locations, incidents, customs and activities are in a fictional world that does not, and did not, exist. These stories are set in an imaginary world.

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End of Part Two:

“We have stopped Kali’s attempt,” I said, “but we haven’t found Serena’s husband the King. Or have you?”

“No,” Lisa said sadly. “We still haven’t found him. Some of the more senior of Kali’s priestesses will be interrogated and threatened with the Ride to Heaven, but I think it will be useless. I don’t think they know, and that Kali didn’t.”

“So we still have to foil Lord Mohan?” I asked.

“Yes, Prince Harold,” Ambika said. “We still have work to do.”

To be continued.
...

Harold’s Note: In this part my friend Jane tells about some of the activities while I was otherwise engaged. Thank you, Jane, but please stop giggling!

Part Three:

We met Pushpa and Queen Serena. The initial questioning of Kali’s followers had seemed to confirm that Kali-on-Earth was acting independently of Lord Mohan. She was incensed that Lisa and I were ‘favoured by the Goddess’ and that Queen Serena was not a follower of the Goddess Kali.

Kali’s plot might have helped Lord Mohan. He might have known and aided it, but none of Kali’s followers seemed to be aware that the King had been k**napped. It was difficult to ask them outright, because the absence of the King still wasn’t known officially. We knew, the k**nappers knew, but both sides were concealing that.

“Where is the King?” I asked Queen Serena.

“What! If we knew that…” she expostulated.

“King Ranjit,” I whispered.

“Of course,” Queen Serena whispered back before changing to her normal tone.

“The King has a slight stomach upset. He is remaining at the encampment and being attended by the doctor. Some of my ladies are helping to make him comfortable.”

I knew what the ladies would be doing ‘to make him comfortable’. Substitute King Ranjit would be sexually satisfied.

“Is he likely to recover soon?” I asked. “I hope it isn’t serious.”

“The doctor thinks that the King should rest until this visit is completed. He is in a darkened tent, well ventilated but the light levels are low.”

Which, of course, would help to preserve the deception that Ranjit is the King.

Ambika joined us.

“I have some information,” she said. “Lord Mohan had encouraged and supported Kali’s attempt on Prince Harold’s life but most of it was her own idea. Her former supporters are being held in cellars near The Ride To Heaven, but many of them seem unhappy with the plot. We can’t keep all of them imprisoned for long. Lord Mohan would find out and get them released.”

“Do we know the ring-leaders?” I asked.

“Yes, Prince Harold,” Ambika replied. “Most of Kali’s priestesses weren’t involved. They have identified the four who were in Kali’s confidence.”

“Those four will have to die!” Queen Serena insisted.

“They expect to,” Ambika answered. “They are preparing for death by praying to the Goddess Kali.”

“Ambika? Do we know what Kali wanted to do?” I asked.

“Yes. She and most of her priestesses are strict traditionalists. They opposed having a King and Queen, particularly a Queen. They don’t believe a woman should rule, except indirectly. They wanted to kill you, Princess Lisa and Queen Serena. They expected to be executed by King Vishaladeva, but that was a price they were prepared to pay.”

“What would have been their reaction if they had been asked to kill King Vishaladeva as well?”

Ambika was shocked at the suggestion.

“Kill the Rajah, sorry, King! Never! That would be sacrilege and against all their beliefs. They would have defended him to the death, and they were prepared to die so that he could rule as sole Rajah.”

“Queen Serena,” I said, “I think it might be an idea to tell Ambika and our friends the truth, why we are here.”

“Are you sure, Harold?”

“I trust them. They have just risked our lives for us. We need allies if we are going to succeed.”

“Then yes. You can tell Ambika.”

“Tell me what?” Ambika asked.

“King Vishaladeva has been k**napped by Lord Mohan…”

“But we saw him!” Ambika protested.

“You didn’t. You saw his cousin Ranjit. He is pretending to be the King while we try to find and rescue King Vishaladeva. We think that the King is held in the old tower, but we can’t get near without alerting the guards. We don’t want to kill them, particularly as we aren’t sure that is where the King is imprisoned.”

“I think we can get into that tower, through one of the secret passages,” Ambika said, “but it would be difficult to search the whole tower. Although it had some passages, one or two have collapsed, or been exposed. Kali knew more about the tower than I do. There used to be a temple to the Goddess Kali on the second floor. It might still be there.”

“We need to know if the King is there. Would any of the four of Kali’s priestesses know?”

“They might, Prince Harold, but why would they help? They expect to die, soon.”

“But if they were told that there is a plot against the King? Would their loyalties to him override their antipathy to us?”

“They might. But it would be a risk. They hate you, the East India Company and Queen Serena. Their devotion to the Rajah Vishaladeva could be stronger than their hate, but I doubt it.”

“Can we put them somewhere out of Lord Mohan’s reach?”

Queen Serena answered that.

“The only place safe for that is your encampment. The buildings here are riddled with secret passages. A few we know about. Ambika knows many more. Kali on Earth knew others. I don’t think even Lord Mohan knows them all.”

“How do we get our captives there? And once there, where do we put them?”

“The troops have built a couple of stone huts already.” Lisa said. ”One is to be the guard room for any soldiers who misbehave. If we used that, and had a few Lady Archers assisting the guards, that would do. Getting them there? Queen Serena’s official coach can have all the blinds closed. We could take four bound women in that.”

“Then we should, as soon as possible,” I said. “But there are several things we don’t know. We don’t know where the King is. He could be in the old tower but might not be. The ladies k**napped at the same time, including Pushpa’s cousin Bhavini, are also missing. But the thing most troubling me is that we don’t know what Sanji is doing. So far everything has been attempted by Kali on Earth or Lord Mohan. We haven’t even seen Sanji, have we?”

“No, Prince Harold,” Pushpa said. “We have no information about the ladies. Sanji has been absent…”

“…Sanji is said to be indisposed,” Ambika added. “He has been in his zenana for days, even before you arrived. The court has been told that he has an upset stomach that is responding slowly to treatment.”

“Do we know if Sanji is actually part of the k**nap?” I asked.

There was stunned silence. We had all assumed that, as he was supposed to be made King Vishaladeva’s heir, he was a conspirator.

“Serena, you know Sanji better than anyone. Is he ambitious? Would he want to be Rajah? Or would he be a puppet for others to use?”

“I don’t know, Harold. The ultimatum that Ranjit brought from Lord Mohan was most explicit that Sanji was to be Vishaladeva’s heir. But if I really think about it, Sanji is unlikely to be that ambitious. He is more interested in the pleasures of the flesh than running his estates. He leaves the business to his agent and has a larger zenana than most young men of his age would have.”

“How much larger?”

“A normal size for a noble of his status would ten or twelve women, some of whom would be maids to his concubines. He has twenty, more than the late Rajah had.” Queen Serena said.

“When he came here, he brought forty,” Ambika added.

“Forty!” Lisa snorted. “That sounds like a recipe for disaster. No man can service forty, or even a fraction of that.”

“True,” Queen Serena replied, “but not all of them would be concubines.”

“Even seven concubines would be too many…” Lisa said.

“…if they were like you, Queen Serena or Pushpa,” I added, “but one a night for a week…”

“…even one ordinary woman a night would wear any normal man out, into an early grave.” Queen Serena suggested.

“Then why does he need forty? Is the zenana something other than normal? Are some of them the missing women?” I asked.

“We don’t know, Harold,” Lisa said. “We might be able to find out but first we must get Kali’s priestesses to the encampment. Once there we can question them without risk of being overheard.”

Lisa was right. Within the hour four faintly wriggling silk swathed bundles were placed in Queen Serena’s coach. I felt some sympathy for them. I had been bound just like them when k**napped by Kali on Earth. I couldn’t see or know where I was going and had little idea of what might happen to me. Neither did they.

Serena, Pushpa and Ambika travelled in the coach with their feet on the squirming bundles. Lisa and I rode as part of the escort.

At the encampment a few short words with the Colonel and we had the use of the guard house. The four bundles were carried inside and partially unwrapped. We left Pushpa and Ambika to do the interrogation, and to tell Kali’s followers that Lord Mohan intended harm to the King.

As we left the guard house a sergeant asked all three of us to go to the Colonel. When we reached his tent George was there too.

“Queen Serena,” the Colonel said, “I don’t know who is in the guard house. I don’t want to know. But George has some information for you. George?”

“Your Majesty,” George began, “we have been patrolling well outside our encampment to ensure that we are not surprised by an enemy force. That isn’t likely. I have met their commander, Mahaj. We have agreed to keep our patrols away from each other except during daylight hours. Mahaj seems a reasonable man. His orders are to make a demonstration of force, just as we do.

But today one of those patrols was approached by a young boy who wanted to speak to an officer. He insisted that a sergeant would not do. He was brought here and I spoke to him. He said that he was Hasit, the younger brother of Bhavini, one of Pushpa’s cousins, and that he knew where the a*****ed noblewomen were being held.”

“Did Hasit say how he got out?” I asked. Queen Serena nodded. She wanted that question answered.

“Apparently there is a partially blocked passageway. He was small enough to wriggle through where an adult could not. Hasit thinks, but he is not sure, that his absence will not be noticed because those guarding the women do not enter the area where they are confined. They pass food through a hatch in a door. Water comes from an internal well.”

“Where is Hasit now?” Serena asked.

“Asleep in my tent”, George replied. “He was tired and hungry, poor little chap. Once fed, he fell asleep.”

“How old is Hasit?” I asked.

“I can’t be sure,” George said. “I haven’t asked him. He might be seven, or eight. No older.”

“Tomorrow morning, when he wakes up, I’ll ask Pushpa to talk to him.” Serena said. “George, did he say exactly where the women are held?”

“Hasit wasn’t completely certain because it was dark and they were blindfolded when they arrived at the buildings. His blindfold wasn’t wholly effective. He thinks that they are in cellars underneath the part of the zenana that is occupied by Lord Sanji’s women. The only light in their prison comes from openings very high up near the vaulted ceilings. Even so it is so dark in there that there are lanterns burning all day and all night. He told me and can show where he emerged from the collapsed tunnel under some steps in a courtyard. That was a very long wriggle from where the women are. He wasn’t very clear about measurement. All he knows is that it took him an hour from entering the passage to getting to open air.”

“An hour?” I said. “That could be anywhere in the palace complex.”

“Unfortunately that is true,” George said heavily. “And I don’t think that passageway would be much use to us. Hasit is very small and he found getting through it very difficult.”

George passed me a rough sketch Hasit had drawn to show where he had come out under the steps. It was c***dish, but quite clear.

“I don’t want to know, officially, what you are planning,” the Colonel said. “I wish you well. George can use the troops if necessary, but I would have to pretend not to notice.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said. “We will continue our planning elsewhere.”

We started to walk back to my quarters.

“But we do know where the Lord Sanji’s zenana is,” Serena said. “If Hasit is right and they are underneath that zenana, we have a place to start. And we have an opportunity. The English ladies have been invited to Lord Mohan’s zenana tonight for folkloric entertainment.”

“But that is when we are going to be d**gged!” Lisa protested.

“And we should be there in an hour,” Jane added. “We have forgotten that the zenana entertainment was supposed to happen after Harold’s death on the Ride To Heaven. He was k**napped much earlier than we had expected. The Archers are ready and we should leave in a few minutes.”

“I’m not invited,” said Queen Serena. “Nor are Lisa, Pushpa and her women. It is for the English Ladies only. You’ll be on your own, Jane. Do you think you can cope?”

“Of course we can, Queen Serena. We are not going to drink anything provided in the zenana. The Archers have borrowed their husbands’ hip flasks and as many more as they could find. We’ll be drinking water, but we’ll offer strong gin to the zenana ladies. The results should be interesting...”

“Interesting!” Serena interrupted. “Zenana ladies rarely drink anything stronger than watered wine. Neat gin?”

“...could be even more effective than their d**gged drinks,” Jane continued.

“Sorry Jane,” Serena said. “Even strong gin won’t be that effective. Unfortunately the knowledge of how to produce powerful d**gged drinks is widespread here. A couple of sips are enough to make someone u*********s for hours. Don’t touch ANY of their drinks, unless to do a switch. Even then, they might d**g both glasses.”

“We have to get ready, now,” Jane said. “We can be fashionably late, but not that late. It’s getting dark.”

She left to join the Archers. They would be escorted by some Company troops, but once inside the zenana they would be on their own.

Pushpa sent us a message by one of Queen Serena’s other ladies, Manika.

“We have got some information from Kali’s priestesses.” Manika said. “Pushpa didn’t tell them that Lord Mohan has k**napped the King. We told them that he was plotting to kill the King. As you thought, Prince Harold, they were horrified. They told us anything they knew about unusual activities in Lord Mohan’s palace buildings. The old tower is a diversion, a trap. The only people inside are Lord Mohan’s soldiers. Their instructions are to let anyone inside then close the tower entrance behind them and hold the intruders by force.”

“That’s very useful, Manika,” Lisa said. “Anything else?”

“They are puzzled by Lord Sanji’s zenana. They knew that there is a large inner chamber on an upper floor that has only one entrance by a narrow staircase from the floor below and windows heavily barred on both the inside and outside. The outer walls are ten feet thick. No one inside could communicate with outside, and if they did get past both sets of bars there is a fifty-foot drop to a paved courtyard. Many years ago it was used for a Lord’s mother who objected to his choice of a bride. He kept his mother in that chamber for twenty years...”

“But if that is known, Manika, why are they puzzled?” I asked.

“Because it is obviously being used to conceal or imprison people. Kali’s priestesses had a spy hole. They could look into the lower chamber. Only half of Lord Sanji’s women are there. The rest, and Lord Sanji himself, never appear. Some of the women carry swords and daggers. Our women don’t do that normally. They seem to be guards, not zenana ladies.”

“Could the King be there?” I asked.

“That is possible,” Manika replied, “but I couldn’t ask them that directly. They still think Ranjit is the King - and here.”

...

Later Note by Harold. Kali’s priestesses and Manika were reporting details of where Lord Sanji and his zenana ladies actually were. They were talking about the real location. We didn’t ask, nor check, that what we were being told agreed with the false information we had been told earlier, confirmed by Hasit, about the official position of Lord Sanji’s zenana.

...

“We need to get to that spy hole,” I suggested.

“Ambika is taking down details of all the secret passageways that Kali’s women know around the zenana. She knows some that they don’t and she will try to draw a diagram of them all and note how the entrances and exits are concealed, and how they are opened and shut. Ambika and Pushpa are surprised how cooperative they are, considering that they are expecting to be executed.”

“Tell Pushpa to tell them,” Queen Serena said slowly and carefully, “tell them that their lives will be spared for their help in protecting the King...”

“But Kali tried to kill Harold!” Lisa protested.

“She failed. She’s dead. I’m not going to execute her priestesses for following her orders. Any objection, Prince Harold?”

I thought of everything I had endured at the hands of Kali on Earth and her priestesses.

“No. If they are helping to save the King, we need them, and they should get some credit for that.”

Lisa snorted. “You’re too soft, Harold!”

“Soft? I’m sure Queen Serena will have some suitable punishment for them. They might see death as preferable.”

“Manika, please tell Pushpa,” Queen Serena said, “Tell them that their reprieve comes from the King, not from me. They might be unwilling to accept my word.”

“I’m sure they will appreciate that. They may be cooperating to protect the King, but they continue to express their hatred of you, Queen Serena, Prince Harold and Princess Lisa.”

“Manika,” I asked. “Would I be able to use the secret passages Ambika is documenting?”

“You?” Manika was shocked. “No! The entrances are all in the zenana complex. You couldn’t, shouldn’t, be inside a zenana. It was bad enough in the earlier rebellion but we hushed up the presence of you and George, and remember that Queen Serena had to help to you leave unobtrusively. We can’t do that here. Any breach of a zenana might cause a popular revolt against the rulers, even against King Vishaladeva himself.”

“She’s right, Harold,” Serena confirmed. “No man except the husband of the zenana ladies can enter. It would be sacrilege and considered as bad as forcible **** – even to walk a foot inside the doorway. You can’t go in. Lisa and I, and the Archers? We can. We will if we have to. But you’ll have to stay away.”

“Thank you, Manika,” Serena continued. “Please let me know if Pushpa and Ambika find out anything else useful.”

Manika bowed. She left to return to Pushpa and Ambika in the guardhouse.

“The Archers will be on their way.” I said. “I feel useless just waiting for whatever they can do. But what I could do is look for the passageway Pushpa’s cousin used, or look for light from a cellar underneath the zenana.”

“What excuse will you have for prowling around in the dark if you are challenged?” Lisa asked.

“I’ll be looking for the Colonel’s pet dog that has run away...”

“But he doesn’t have a pet dog!” Lisa protested.

“I know that. You know that. But Lord Mohan’s people won’t know that. It will have to be a small terrier that might crawl underground. Called ‘Rover’ perhaps and a recent addition to the Colonel’s household...”

“So you’re going to walk around the outside of the Lord Sanji’s zenana shouting “Rover!”? Won’t that be too obvious?” Serena suggested.

“I won’t start near the zenana. I’ll start where Hasit said he came out, see if that passageway is at all practicable for an adult, and then work my way around all the buildings, leaving the zenana basement until early morning when the guards will be at their lowest ebb.”

“Hasit said?” Queen Serena seemed to be thinking hard. “Did we mention Hasit when Manika was here? Did we?”

Lisa, George and I thought.

“No, Serena, I don’t think we did,” Lisa said finally. George and I nodded agreement.

“Pushpa should be told,” Serena said. “She would like to know that her young cousin Hasit has escaped. But it’s not urgent now. It can wait until morning, or I’ll tell Manika if she returns with more information.”

...

I’ll let Jane recount her adventures with the Archers when they went to Lord Mohan’s zenana. It will give me time to think how to confess and play down my own abject failure as a searcher for the Colonel’s mythical dog Rover. Over to Jane.
...

JANE

We, the Archers and I, were slightly late leaving for the zenana. George thought it important that we should know about Hasit, and the information he had given.

By driving the carriages hard with a fast escort of light cavalry we were only about ten minutes after the due time when we walked through the zenana entrance. The two armed men outside the doorway presented arms in a sloppy fashion. If they had been Company soldiers they would have been on a charge sheet for their lack of precision.

Facing the open door was a screen so that no one could see inside even when the door was open. We walked round the screen and we were met by Lord Mohan’s mother, Sadhna. She welcomed us in the local dialect, to which I responded, thanking her for the invitation. She bowed to us. We curtseyed back to her, spreading our crinolines and hoping that our concealed armaments wouldn’t clank or rattle. They didn’t.

Lady Sadhna led us through to a large chamber. We were relieved to see that there was a row of European style chairs facing the clear dance floor. Beside each chair was a pile of cushions on which the zenana ladies would sit. The numbers were exactly equal, one zenana lady for each Englishwoman. Lady Sadhna and I were in the centre on a small platform raised a couple of inches above the main floor.

Once we were seated we were offered drinks, which we declined. We responded with our flasks of gin. Our offer was declined too. That is the custom when first offered. We would be expected to accept when the drinks were offered again, but we knew better than to drink what we would be given.

Lady Sadhna clapped her hands. Music started in an adjoining room, clearly heard where we were. Two dancing women entered, stood facing us, bowed before standing erect and still. Slowly they began to swap their hips in time to the music. Their navels and midriff were just visible under a translucent fabric. Heavily sequinned blouses covered their breasts and upper body. Their bright blue skirts shimmered with tiny mirrors as their hip movements made the skirts twitch slightly.

The dancers began to sway from side to side, their skirts sweeping the floor. Two more dancers joined them as the rhythm of the music quickened. At that point the drinks were offered again. We accepted and Lord Mohan’s ladies accepted our gin. Some of them spluttered at the first taste. As the Archers had pre-arranged, we held the drinks as if we were too engrossed in the dancing. Lady Sadhna seemed irritated by our lack of thirst.

One by one, as an opportunity arose, we emptied the drinks beside us, behind us, or anywhere we could. Some of us had not managed it when Marie, who had volunteered to be our test subject and had actually drunk some of what had been offered, showed signs of collapse. We took our lead from her and all of us began to slump, deliberately abandoning our gin flasks.

Lady Sadhna clapped her hands twice. The dancers and music stopped abruptly. Each zenana woman inexpertly produced a knife and waved it at her English partner.

Lady Sadhna spoke slowly and clearly in accented English.

“You English have expressed too much interest in Lord Sanji’s zenana. You will be taken there to see what you couldn’t discover by your spies. Now!”

We pretended to find it difficult to walk and leant heavily on the zenana women who struggled to support our much heavier bodies. Most had to put their knives away and use two hands. We appeared incapable of resistance, taking our cues from Marie.

We had to be pushed and part carried up a flight of stairs and along a corridor. Lord Sanji’s zenana was above Lord Mohan’s, nowhere near the reported location. Once inside we were faced by a few women wearing knives who looked far more competent than the exhausted zenana ladies who had been dragging us along. We were dumped inside and Lord Mohan’s ladies staggered away, some sipping at our abandoned gin flasks.

Under the threat of drawn knives we were forced up another staircase. We pretended to find it very difficult to mount. Marie had to be carried because her legs were not working at all.

This staircase was narrow and circular. I thought it would be easy to defend against attackers from below. At the top was a small landing about ten feet square and a heavy locked door. One of the knife wielding women pushed past the crowd of us and unlocked the door, throwing it wide open. Like Lord Mohan’s zenana, there was a partition facing the door but a much larger space. We were all pushed inside and the door slammed shut behind us. We heard it being locked. Marie slumped down, leaning against the partition.

I signalled to Anne, one the Archers, to go to the right of the partition. I pulled my revolver out of its hiding place but kept it concealed in the folds of my skirt as I cautiously peered around the end of the partition. I hadn’t expected what I saw.

A line of women were sprawled on cushions to one side of the large chamber. All looked tired and drawn. In the dim light I began to recognise some of them as the missing noblewomen. I saw Bhavini. She recognised me. I put my finger to my lips.

“There’s no need for silence, Jane,” Bhavini said. “We captives are alone in here. Our guards come once a day to bring food and water but we aren’t going anywhere.”

She stood up. Only then did I see that she had a wide leather belt or corset around her waist. It was about a foot deep, ending just below her breasts. Fixed to the back of it was a chain, and that chain was attached to a long rail on the floor. Bhavini walked towards me. She had to stop about a yard from the partition, chained like a guard dog.

“Can’t you get that off?” I asked stupidly. Anne and the others had joined me.

“Of course we’ve tried,” Bhavini said tiredly, “but we have no tools except our fingernails, and they aren’t enough.”

She held up her hands. Her nails, which would normally have been carefully manicured, were broken and torn. Bhavini turned round to show the back of the corset. It was wired together, possibly using pliers.

“Archers!” I said loudly. “Use whatever you have to get these ladies freed.”

Some of us had very sharp knives or daggers. It wasn’t easy but in a few minutes they had sliced through all the heavy leather corsets. The noblewomen started walking around freely.

“Bhavini,” I said. “Your younger brother Hasit escaped. How?”

I couldn’t see how Hasit could have got out of this chamber. The stone walls seemed solid except for a ten foot high partition marking off a corner.

“Hasit!” Bhavini exclaimed. “I haven’t got a younger brother Hasit. I haven’t got any younger brothers. My brothers are older than me.”

“Oh blast!” I exclaimed. “He must be a plant to lead us into a trap. Or rather not us. We walked into this one willingly. But it must be a trap for Pushpa or Harold.”

I explained to Bhavini what her fake brother Hasit had said.

“There were no c***dren with us when we were k**napped.” She said. “It was a women-only event, and we were given d**gged drinks. The next thing we knew we were in here, chained up, and feeling very unwell. We know we are somewhere in Lord Mohan’s palace, but not where in it.”

“This is supposed to be Lord Sanji’s zenana,” I said.

“Lord Sanji? I suppose it is. He’s through there with his ladies.” Bhavini said, pointing at the wooden partition. “We can talk to them, pass food and water to one of them who has the longest chain, but they can’t get out, nor could we get in. They are imprisoned too.”

“So he’s not part of a plot to replace Queen Serena?” I asked.

“Sanji?” Bhavini snorted. “Sanji is led by his lingam and nothing else. Whoever holds that in her yoni controls him. His ladies have been amusing themselves with him while we’ve been in here. We can hear them, and him. Sometimes I’ve felt sorry for him. He is ruled by his women and they can be demanding...”

“He’s not ambitious?”

“Ambitious? I think Sanji’s only desire at present is a couple of nights alone in bed. He’s worn out by trying to satisfy too many women. But when he’s recovered, they’ll be welcome back. All he wants is sex.”

“Thank you, Bhavini. We’ll go in and release Sanji and his ladies.”

“While you do, we’re going to use that well.”

Bhavini pointed to a windlass on the far wall, which had been beyond the length of their chains. One of the women started hauling water up and they stripped to wash themselves thoroughly.

Beyond the partition, which I and Anne had entered cautiously, there were eight chained women, a very large bed, and on it Lord Sanji was naked except for the leather corset around his waist. His lingam was standing proudly. Unlike the others, his wrists and elbows were cuffed to the sides of his corset with leather bands. His chain didn’t allow him to leave the bed. There were a couple of bedpans close to the bed, but he couldn’t have used them without help.

Sanji tried to roll over to conceal his erection. His fetters impeded him but one of his ladies spread the pallu of her sari to protect his modesty. It wasn’t very successful because the material was tented by his upright lingam.

“Ladies, and Lord Sanji,” I announced, “We have come to remove your fetters. We are all still imprisoned for the moment, but we can make you more comfortable.”

Anne brought several of the knife-carrying Archers into the room. They cut through the ladies leather corsets to free them. I took one knife, and working with the lady who was protecting Sanji’s modesty, I cut the bands holding his wrist and elbow on one side, moved to the other side, and released that arm too. Sanji rolled to be face down as I cut through the back of the corset beside the wired lacing. His waist was reddened and sore from the chafing.

Another Archer and one of Sanji’s ladies had cut a length from a spare sari, one of many in a heap beside the bed, to make a makeshift dhoti for Lord Sanji. Once dressed, he wanted to go through to the well. I stopped him, and sent Anne to check that the noblewomen were fully clothed again. They might have been said to be some of Sanji’s numerous zenana women, but they weren’t. It would have been very improper for him to see them naked.

I let his ladies go to the well first, and then he washed his upper body.

The Archers cut up some of the spare saris into long strips, having checked with Lord Sanji’s ladies that they weren’t special. The ladies assured us they weren’t. They were old saris that had been tossed in to them when they were first imprisoned.

“Ladies, and Lord Sanji!” I called quietly but forcefully. “We are now, all of us, going to get out. Before we do, please go into Lord Sanji’s room until we come to get you. You will hear a loud noise. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe.”

It sounded like a gaggle of geese calling as they all moved into the inner room with most of the Archers. Anne produced some small silk bags of gunpowder from inside her crinoline. Many of the Archers had similar bags.

She pushed one bag as far as she could into the keyhole of the outer door, and two others into the small gap between the door and the frame. She made a hole in each bag and pushed a short length of quick match into each. She signalled for us to withdraw, produced a tinderbox and lit a small candle. With the candle she lit the quick match and ran to join us.

Seconds later there were three loud bangs in fast succession. It would have been better if they had been simultaneous, but quick match burns erratically. The Archers armed with guns rushed to the doorway. The door had been shattered and blown outwards. The two women outside had been knocked down the stairs and were lying there groaning.

There was a rush of the knife-armed women from below. They stopped suddenly when faced by a number of levelled guns. All of them were brought into the chamber, past the partition which was now lying on the ground, and into Lord Sanji’s inner room. There the Archers, the noblewomen and Lord Sanji’s women tied them up with the strips of sari. They were tied cruelly tight and effectively gagged. The women wanted revenge for their incarceration.

We shut the door to the inner room and secured it as best we could with the chains formerly attached to the leather corsets. It wouldn’t hold them in for long, but first the women guards would have to free themselves from their sari bondage. Working together it would be possible. All we wanted was sufficient time to leave the building before the alarm was raised, hoping that the explosions hadn’t done that already.

We were fortunate. The sound of the gunpowder hadn’t travelled beyond the lower room. In silence we carefully followed one of Lord Sanji’s women who had been in these zenana buildings before. Within five minutes the whole crowd of us were in the open air and had met George’s cavalry. We crammed everyone into our carriages and drove the overloaded vehicles slowly and carefully back to the encampment. Once there it was as if we had upset an ants’ nest. Soldiers were rushing around erecting tents and building a fence to provide a protected area for the large number of rescued women.

I went to report the successful rescue to Queen Serena and Lisa. They were delighted until I mentioned Bhavini’s fake brother Hasit.

“Oh shit!” Lisa said. “Harold has been gone a couple of hours already, checking Hasit’s story. He must have walked straight into a trap.”

“Ambika might be able to find out what has happened to him,” Serena suggested.

She called Manika, who had been hugging her married sister, one of the rescued noblewomen, and asked her to fetch Ambika from the guard room.

Once Manika had left I said quietly:

“Hasit’s story shows that there is a spy in our camp. His story wouldn’t have been plausible if Pushpa had been with us. They must have known that Pushpa was busy escorting or interrogating Kali on Earth’s four priestesses. Pushpa would have disowned Hasit immediately.”

“We ought to ask Hasit to explain himself,” Lisa said. “Is George about?”

“He is still with the cavalry,” I said. “I’ll ask him to come.”

George came back with me.

“Hasit? The boy? I checked just before we left. He was asleep in my tent.”

“Can you wake him and bring him to us?” Serena asked.

“Is that fair?” George protested. “The lad was worn out.”

“Please,” Serena said. “This is important.”

“Very well, Queen Serena,” George said ponderously. “I’ll obey, even if I have to carry a sleeping Hasit.”

George was back within minutes looking sheepish.

“I fell for it,” he said. “The old trick of a bundle of blankets in a bed. He’s been gone for hours.”

I explained to George that Hasit was a fraud intended to lead us into a trap, and Harold had probably fallen into it.

“I wondered slightly,” George said. “Hasit’s insistence on seeing an officer was odd. I suppose they thought an officer would be more gullible than a cynical sergeant. They were right. I accepted Hasit’s story too readily.”

Ambika arrived. Queen Serena explained about Hasit’s deception and our worries that Harold had become a victim again.

Ambika agreed to try to discover, from the new map showing more passages that she had known, what, if anything, had happened to Prince Harold. She would disguise herself as a servant woman. With all the visitors to Lord Mohan’s palace, another servant woman would not be unusual, or noticed.

...

That’s the end of my account so far. Harold will continue with his story, and I’ll try not to giggle too much.

Jane.

...

HAROLD

Ambika was right. No one takes much notice of women and even less of servant women. That had been the downfall of the native conspirators in the first foiled plot that led to the deaths of the Rajah and his Ranee. I should have been more careful.

My intention was to approach the steps described by Hasit openly. It might be after dark, but it wasn’t unusually late. I had climbed those steps several times when visiting the palace, so the only unusual thing I would have to do was to look underneath them.

If queried, or challenged, I could use the story of looking for the Colonel’s mythical dog, Rover.

Searching around the basement of the zenana would not be so readily accepted. I intended to conceal myself until the early hours before going anywhere near the basement of Lord Sanji’s zenana. One thing began to puzzle me. The building suggested by Hasit wasn’t where I thought the main zenana complex was. I had an impression that the zenana was entered from an inside courtyard and had no walls to the outside of the building complex, unlike the one Hasit described as Lord Sanji’s which was a projecting wing connected to the main palace by one wall only.

Hasit’s description matched what was general knowledge about the whereabouts of Lord Sanji’s zenana. Perhaps it was in a different part of the palace because Sanji had brought many more women than a usual zenana complement? I might find out, later.

But first, I had to look under the steps.

I passed under a gateway into a courtyard lit by flaming torches on all four walls. A line of a dozen servant women were systematically sweeping the flagstones. Near the steps there was a light handcart piled with what looked like old clothes. Cleaning rags, perhaps?

That handcart would shield me partially while I checked under the steps with the dark lantern I was carrying. I walked boldly towards the steps. The servant women parted, and bowed as I passed, before resuming their sweeping. The women were close to the steps but the steps were behind them. If they continued in the direction they were sweeping I would have ample time to duck under the steps and be out again before they turned round.

I checked before jumping quietly down beside the steps. My dark lantern jammed slightly before opening. I couldn’t see where Hanit had come out. There had been a doorway there. I moved closer.

The servant women piled on to me from both sides of the steps. My lantern fell as many bodies flattened me. A cloth was stuffed deep into my mouth and many hands restrained me. Within seconds my arms and legs were tied with long scarves. Another scarf was wrapped several times around my lower face, holding the gag in place. I was lifted out from under the steps and lowered to the handcart. They tied me to it, the last strip of material across my forehead. My eyes were still uncovered, and in the light of the torches a woman’s face appeared in front of me.

“Greetings, Prince Harold,” she said in a surprisingly cultured voice. “We had hoped to catch someone in Hasit’s trap, but thought it might be Pushpa, or Ambika, or another of Serena’s women. We hadn’t expected such a prize as you. Lady Sadhna will be pleased with us. She will offer you her hospitality for a while, and you are in no position to refuse her kind invitation, are you?”

Lady Sadhna? Oh shit! We thought she was against Lord Mohan’s plots, not supporting it, or even directing it. The Archers would be entering Lord Mohan’s zenana shortly, and Lady Sadhna will be there to greet them. Would they escape that trap? I hoped they wouldn’t prove as incompetent as I had been.

Two small women took the handles of the cart. An old sari was d****d over my body and lightly knotted to the sides of the cart. I could still see the torches through the sari, but no details of where I was being taken. I heard the other women start sweeping again, probably hoping to catch more of us.

I fumed against my own stupidity. Here I was, a helpless bundle, gagged and bound and wheeled away to an unknown fate by two tiny women I could have easily carried on each shoulder. If my wits had been about me I could have possibly fought off the whole dozen of the fake servant women, or at least have made my capture more difficult. But I had been defeated and captured because I had underestimated women, and assumed that servant women were beneath my notice.

I heard the cart’s wheels rumble as we passed out under the archway. I tried to keep some idea of where we were going, but once out of the courtyard it was too dark for me to see anything through the sari over my eyes. I tested my bonds. They were too effective. I could wriggle my fingers, curl my toes, and that was all.

Some minutes later, after crossing some cobblestones, we seemed to be in another building that was unlit, or so dimly lit that the light didn’t reach my eyes. Finally we passed through about four consecutive doors. I heard the hinges creak as they were opened and shut behind us. The last one was firmly locked once we were through.

I heard a tinder box being used and then light came through. Several wall torches had been lit. The sari was untied at my head and pulled down from my face. I looked around as far as my eyes could turn. My head was held firmly in place.

This was a low-ceilinged, mean chamber, probably part of the domestic quarters. There was no decoration on the ceiling and the upper parts of the walls, all I could see.

Two women, not the ones who had been pulling the cart, but taller women dressed in finer clothing, appeared in my line of sight.

“Comfortable, Prince Harold?” One said. “We will unload you shortly. We regret that Lady Sadhna cannot receive you at present. She is entertaining some of your Englishwomen for the next few hours. However we have devised some entertainment for you, or is it for us? Anyway, you cannot object, can you?...”

Effectively gagged as I was, no, I couldn’t.

The four women removed the sari and unfastened the bonds holding me on the cart. It was a struggle for them, but they carried me a short distance and put me on a large mattress on the floor. It was soft, and much more comfortable than the bare wood of the cart.

“Now, Prince Harold, we are going to ensure you are properly dressed for your audience with Lady Sadhna. These strips of old sari are unbecoming for such a distinguished visitor. Our seamstress will take some measurements to make certain that your attire is correctly fitted...”

One of the small women produced some lengths of string. She measured around my waist, about a foot further up my chest, around my wrists, elbows and ankles. She went to a heavy wooden chest and reached inside it. The taller woman who had been talking to me moved into my line of vision before I could see what was being taken out of the chest.

“Your countrymen produce some useful tools,” she said. “These, for example.”

She held up a pair of pliers.

“These were made in Birmingham. The wire they are used on comes from Manchester. The chains? I don’t know. From somewhere in England. But the main items are made by our local craftsmen.”

They untied and totally stripped me carefully. They gave me no opportunity to escape from my bonds as they gradually replaced the cloth strips with leather cuffs attached to a larger version of the leather corsets described by Jane. At the time, of course, I didn’t know that the k**napped ladies had been forced to wear them. The wire lacing at the back was tightened with the Birmingham pliers. The corset had attached leather cuffs put around my wrists and elbows, holding my arms to my sides. Those cuffs were also locked by the pliers. Finally they put leather cuffs on my ankles. There was a very short chain between them. If I could stand I might be able to shuffle a few inches at a time. I could move my hands two or three inches from my sides. I was still firmly gagged.

I was embarrassed that their wandering hands had caused me to have an erection. Although their hold had been firm, their hands were soft, and their silken clothing had been brushing against me.

“There’s one last English product, Prince Harold.”

She held up a large padlock. She looked at it.

“Messrs Chubb,” she read out. “Messrs Chubb will stop you roaming too far.”

She uncoiled the chain from the back of the leather corset and took it to a heavy metal hasp embedded in the wall. The padlock linked the chain to the hasp. She locked it, took the key, threaded it on a piece of the string that had been used to measure me for my shackles, lifted the loop over her head and pointedly dropped the key into her cleavage.

“While it might be interesting for you to try to retrieve the key, Prince Harold, I don’t think we have allowed you enough free movement to make such an attempt feasible.”

She laughed at me.

“There is no need for your so-far enforced silence to continue and we want you to have the use of your tongue.” She continued. “It would be pointless to shout for help. We are in the disused cellars of a redundant wing of the palace, the wing carefully described by Hasit as the place of imprisonment of the k**napped women. But they were never here. Anyone who might try to investigate around this wing will be intercepted by more servant women in larger groups than caught you. We had thought you, and or George might try to look in, so we provided enough women to overwhelm one or two fit men. They still could if there is any attempt to rescue you.”

She gestured to one of the smaller women who moved to my head and carefully untied the scarf holding my gag in place before pulling the sodden cloth out of my mouth. The other small woman held a cup of water to my lips. I had to sip carefully, swill the water around, and swallow some before I was able to speak.

“Thank you,” I said to the woman still holding the cup. She smiled at me.

“Who are you?” I asked the taller lady.

“Me? Or us?”

“All four of you.” I replied.

“Perhaps introductions are in order. I am Hamsa, one of Lord Mohan’s sisters.” Hamsa pointed to the other taller woman. “She is Tamira, one of my cousins. The lady with the cup is Deepal, one of my handmaidens. The lady who removed your gag is Banni, Tamira’s handmaiden. As well as being our handmaidens, Deepal and Banni are our friends.”

“I wish I could say I was pleased to make your acquaintance,” I responded. “I might have been, in different circumstances.”

“But that,” Said Tamira, pointing at my erection, “suggests that you are pleased to meet us despite your protestations.”

I might have made a retort but my mouth was stopped by a kiss from Deepal. My lips responded despite myself. Deepal’s lips were sweet.

“Deepal!” Hamsa spoke loudly. “Wait!”

Deepal seemed reluctant to stop kissing me.

“Deepal,” Hamsa continued, “remember, we want something from Harold first, and Banni starts.”

Deepal moved aside.

“Banni wants you to kiss her,” Tamira said.

Banni lifted her sari and petticoat and stood astride me.

“There!” Tamira said firmly.

Banni lowered her yoni until it was an inch from my face. Her petticoat and sari dropped around me as my lips met hers. What could I do? Protest? Bite? Be forced? Lie back and think of England? Or enjoy the pleasant taste of a young woman’s yoni?

Of course I chose to enjoy Banni, and to work towards making the encounter enjoyable for her too.

She began to moan and groan above me and her movements became more insistent. She was close to an orgasm when my erection was suddenly engulfed in a warm wet place. I held back, trying to concentrate on pleasing Banni as Deepal pounded hard on my hips. I could tell it was Deepal. Hamsa or Tamira would have been a much heavier load.

Soon Deepal was expressing her enjoyment as loudly as Banni. It was difficult to restrain my own excitement. If I hadn’t practiced holding back with Lisa, Serena and Pushpa, I would have been lost in Banni and Deepal’s ecstasy. My long experience of satisfying demanding women before allowing my own release was enough. The two of them shuddered almost simultaneously. I still held on. There were two as yet unsatisfied women.

Banni uncovered my head. She and Deepal climbed off me.

“Well, Prince Harold,” Tamira said, wonderingly, “I knew you were favoured of the Goddess, and there were rumours of your prowess, but I have never known anyone resist those two, particularly together. But the night is young...”

Tamira straddled me to ease my erection inside her. I looked up to see Hamsa’s yoni descending towards my face.

Soon I was back in action. Tamira and Hamsa had a slower rhythm than their handmaidens but it was just as effective at arousing me and them. The two of them were groaning loudly as they went through several orgasms. Finally they were done and I was covered in sweat, but still defiantly erect.

But Banni claimed it. Within less than a minute of her frantic squirming I had ejaculated inside her. A smile spread across her face as she recognised her achievement.

“Prince Harold,” Banni said, still straddling me, “you have proved why the Goddess favours you, but even you have a limit.”

“Of course I have,” I replied. “I enjoy sex too, and I have been delighted to be introduced to you four. I just wish we were on the same side...”

“I might wish that too, Prince Harold,” Hamsa said, “but as Lady Sadhna’s daughter and niece we have to support her aspirations for my brother.”

I sighed.

“What is wrong with Queen Serena ruling the country, with King Vishaladeva at her side?” I asked. “I would have thought as ambitious women you would have sympathetic to the changes she wants to make.”

“I might not agree with making Lord Sanji a puppet king.” Tamira said. “He is nothing but a penis with a man attached. All his limited brains are down there. But my aunt wants her son, and his sons to be the real rulers. There are enough frightened men to support him.”

“Men frightened of women,” I retorted, wincing as Banni climbed off. “They should welcome proud women standing beside them, not try to shut them up in zenanas as if they were dangerous a****ls.”

“That will take generations to change,” Hamsa said. “We have to live with the reality of now, and now means women exert influence indirectly, as Lady Sadhna does, and will do. If we accepted women as rulers, then I might be the heir to Lord Mohan, with my husband as consort. But that would never happen. Our people wouldn’t accept me.”

“Would Lord Mohan be a better puppet than Sanji?” I asked. “He is supposed to be the plotter. I’m beginning to think he’s not. He’s another puppet with his strings pulled by his mother, isn’t he? A puppet, just as you four are – doing her dirty work.”

“Sanji would be better than Lord Mohan,” Banni blurted. The others were horrified by that statement.

“Why?” I asked. “Why would sex-driven Sanji be better?”

“I suppose there is no harm in telling you,” Tamira said. “Cousin Mohan, Hamsa’s step-brother...”

I raised my eyes at the ‘step-brother’. Hamsa nodded.

“...is unpleasant.” Tamira concluded.

“More than unpleasant,” Banni said. “cruel, demanding, vicious.”

“That’s enough!” Hamsa said. “We may not like him, but he is our Lord.”

“If Queen Serena wins, he won’t be. What then? Who might replace him if he is removed?”

“Removed?” Hamsa asked. “What do you mean, removed?”

“What is the local penalty for treason?”

I had said the unmentionable word. Hamsa’s face paled.

“Treason? We are trying to get King Vishaladeva to rule alone, not commit treason.”

“And in trying, you imprison him?”

“He’s at your encampment, with Queen Serena. How can he be imprisoned?”

“King Vishaladeva is NOT at the encampment. He is held somewhere in this palace, by Lord Mohan, or perhaps by Lady Sadhna, and has been for many days.”

“But we saw him, beside Queen Serena...” Tamira started to say.

“That wasn’t King Vishaladeva,” I interrupted. “That was Ranjit, pretending to be the King. Lord Mohan and Lady Sadhna must have known that he wasn’t the King. Are you saying that you didn’t know the King had been k**napped?”

The four of them looked at each other. Their astonishment seemed genuine.

“And he’s probably wearing one of these,” I added, rattling the chains at my wrists. “That alone could deserve the death penalty.”

I was nearly as surprised as they were that they didn’t know about the King’s k**napping. No wonder we had been unsuccessful in finding out where he was held if the knowledge of the King’s k**napping was so secret.

“How do we know you are telling the truth about the King?” Tamira said. “You could be lying.”

“I’m not. You have my word as an English gentleman. King Vishaladeva was k**napped when he visited Lord Mohan. The only reason I am here, and the Company troops are here in force, is because the King has been imprisoned. Very few of us know. Most think Ranjit is the King. But you didn’t know? What did you know?”

“We knew that some of the noblewomen had been brought here and imprisoned with Lord Sanji’s women in what was supposed to be his zenana,” Hamsa said. “We were told that they were hostages to try to persuade Queen Serena to let the King rule alone, as anyone we captured tonight would be.”

“We didn’t expect to capture you,” Tamira added, “but thought you would be even more valuable as a hostage than the noblewomen. You are so important to Queen Serena...”

“...and to the Company. Don’t forget them. Their troops are close and could use the heavy artillery to reduce this palace to a heap of rubble if they have to.”

“But they wouldn’t!” Hamsa protested. “Not while we hold the noblewomen, you, and if we believe you, the King. They can’t run the risk of killing all those.”

“Perhaps. If all you had captured was me – the Colonel might decide that I was expendable and he could order a bombardment anyway. But he can’t risk killing King Vishaladeva. If the King was rescued? The guns might start firing within minutes.”

Hamsa and Tamira moved away from me and conducted a fierce argument in whispers. Banni and Deepal sat down beside me.

Deepal whispered to me:

“What will happen to us? Banni and I? We don’t want to be pulled apart by elephants or thrown to the sacred crocodiles. Nor do our colleagues who helped to capture you. We were just doing what our mistresses told us to do.”

“We enjoyed you,” Banni added. “We don’t want you hurt. We don’t want to be killed for helping a plot we knew little about.”

“I don’t know what will happen,” I replied. “Hamsa and Tamira should be even more worried than you are. You were following their orders. They have been lied to. If they had known that the King had been k**napped, would they have been in the conspiracy?”

“No!” Deepal whispered fiercely. “They like King Vishaladeva, and Serena. The King is a good man and treats everyone he meets equally – even servant women like us that others ignore. We would be happy with him as King but who is King doesn’t really matter to us. We would still be servants, and have to obey orders.”

“Hamsa and my mistress Tamira are obeying orders too,” Banni said. “Lady Sadhna’s orders. But now they are unhappy that they have been lied to.”

Hamsa and Tamira ended their whispered conversation and came back. Deepal and Banni kissed me before standing up.

“While we might accept that you are telling the truth, and might agree with some of what you say,” Hamsa said carefully, “we have a duty at present, and that duty obliges us to take you to meet Lady Sadhna. She will expect you to be gagged silent. You will be, but not as cruelly as you were before. Just don’t abuse our mercy by trying to speak. If you are not gagged effectively, please pretend that you are. Promise? Or we will stuff your mouth so full you could suffocate.”

“I’ll promise, Hamsa,” I said. “That will be more comfortable for me.”

“While you are with Lady Sadhna,” Tamira said, “we will try to confirm your statement that the King is imprisoned in the palace. If we do? We’ll have to think where our loyalties lie. That won’t be easy. Meanwhile, you are still our prisoner.”

Deepal didn’t put any cloth in my mouth at all. She wound the long scarf over my lower face, tight enough to stay in place, but not cutting into me as it had done before.

They loaded me back on the hand cart. Hamsa unlocked the chain from the wall and locked it to one of the side rails of the cart. If I could climb off and hobble away, I would have been dragging the cart with me. A different sari, of thicker opaque material, was tied over the whole of me. It didn’t restrain me but I was effectively concealed and in darkness.

Deepal and Banni wheeled me away. I could hear Hamsa and Tamira walking beside me. One or other of them opened and closed the doors as we passed. From time to time a hand gently stroked me through my covering.

Eventually we reached some stairs. I heard whispers before the whole cart was lifted and carried up the stairs. We went through several more doors before we came to a stop and I was uncovered. The padlock was opened. Hamsa and Tamira helped me to stand up. Deepal and Banni pushed the cart out of the room and returned.

The four of them pushed and half carried me to sit me in a heavy chair facing an empty gaddi. The long chain was passed several times around me and though parts of the chair. The padlock was locked to the loops of chain at my waist. I might have been able to start to stand but not upright. The chain was too short for that. One by one the four women kissed me on the forehead. One of Banni’s tears dropped on my cheek.

They left me alone in the empty room. I tried struggling. It was useless. I was pinioned too securely. My gag might be ineffective but I had promised to pretend that I was unable to speak. I’d keep that promise.

I heard the door open behind me. Lady Sadhna sat on the gaddi facing me, flanked by two noblewomen I didn’t know. I nodded my head to greet them, the only movement my bonds permitted. I was acutely conscious that I was naked except for the leather corset. Deepal and Banni, who had followed the three women, stood either side of my chair. Banni was carrying the sari that had concealed me on the hand cart.

Lady Sadhna made a gesture. Banni covered my lower body with the folded sari.

“Well, Prince,” Lady Sadhna’s voice seem to sneer at the word ‘prince’, “Harold, we had not expected you to be snared in Hasit’s trap. He is a clever lad, isn’t he? Small for his age which can be useful. He is twelve years old but if necessary he can pretend to be much younger.”

One of the women picked up a wine bottle from beside the gaddi. She poured a small amount into a glass. Lady Sadhna took the glass, sniffed at it as if it was obnoxious, and gave it back. The glass and bottle were replaced beside the gaddi.

“That wine is d**gged. The Englishwomen who came this evening have drunk it, and they are my prisoners. Soon you might be drinking some. But not yet. You are another useful piece for bargaining with that upstart Serena. She will want you back, and those of her noblewomen who are enjoying our hospitality, restrained just like you. I will want a high price for you. What do you think I should ask?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t answer. I was gagged. Even if I had been really gagged as I should have been, why should I answer anything? Were Jane and the Archers really prisoners? They might pretend to be, but I trusted them to foil any attempt to d**g them.

“If you had searched for the basement suggested by Hasit, you would have been caught there. That trap is still active and maybe I will have more pieces of value before the end of this night. But first I want some answers from you.”

I shook my head again.

“Remove his gag,” Lady Sadhna ordered.

Deepal stood between me and the gaddi and helped as Banni untied and unwound the scarf over my lips. She made a production of pulling the non-existent cloth from inside my mouth, and bundled the scarf as if that cloth was in it. They moved back to stand beside me.

“Want a drink to moisten your mouth?” Lady Sadhna asked, pointing to the glass of d**gged wine.

I shook my head and moved my mouth as if I was trying to regain the use of speech.

“No? Not the wine? Then give him some water.”

Banni went to a jug and poured some water into a glass. She made a point of sipping some, in my line of vision, but concealed from Lady Sadhna. I took the hint. The water was safe. Banni