Royal Flush Ch. 08

"Should any of the prey remain at large come five thirty, then a long blast from an air horn will be used to indicate that the hunt is over. Those prey not captured become stalkers and, any stalkers without a capture become their prey. If need be we can sort out any final details at the time.

"Now, has anyone got any questions? No questions? In which case, Charlie, let's start with you."

She went over to Charlie and held out the bag. Charlie reached inside and pulled out one of the balls. With a wry smile she held it up so all could see it was red; she was one of the prey. Then Georgina carried on around the room and, one by one, they chose their destiny. There were lots of cheers and groans, depending on the colour selected but no one seemed particularly upset either way. In particular, Felicity, who was sat on Barbara's knee, gave a squeal of delight when she picked out the blue ball while Barbara picked one of the reds. As this went on Tamsin tried to imagine Patience Armitage playing this game and, somehow, she couldn't picture it.

And then it was their turn. Andrea went first, and, with a cry of triumph, extracted the yellow ball. When Tamsin reached inside she hardly needed to look at what she pulled out, of course it was one of the reds.

And then it was down to the last ball. Even before Georgina had pulled it out simple maths said that she had to be one of the stalkers. The other four coloured balls had gone to Andrea, Felicity, Justina and Roberta but that still left the orange ball unchosen and it had to be the one left in the bag.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" Tamsin said rather bitterly to Andrea when, with evening over, they had returned to their room and now lay in bed keeping as far away from each other as possible. Andrea was wearing an oversize tee shirt, Tamsin rather more conventional pyjamas.

"What's not to love? Here we are living the high life and, more importantly, zeroing in for the kill. In case you hadn't noticed that was Princess Charlotte downstairs and, what's more, she's one of the prey. I'm going to do my utmost to catch her and then...."

"And then what?"

"And then it's photo time. Look, Tamsin, shape up, this is it, this is the main event. Even if I don't manage to catch her one of the others surely will and she'll end up as one of the 'slaves'. That means lots of fun and games tomorrow night featuring Princess Charlotte in the altogether and that, in turn, means that there's a pretty good chance we can come away from this with lots and lots of exactly the sort of photographs Angus wants. Let's suppose I do manage to catch her. That would mean I'd be in control of her and I can have her pose any way I want. After that you can just see the headlines. Princess Royal in Highland Lesbian Orgy. The piece practically writes itself. We're there! We've made it!"

"I suppose so."

"You suppose so. God, you're a wet blanket. Cheer up, for fuck's sake. Remember, this is supposed to be fun. Now, we both need to be on top form tomorrow. Let's get some sleep."

Around nine in the morning Tamsin and Andrea drifted down to the dining room for breakfast which, laid on by Bridie, was a full Scottish at its best. All around them the others were tucking in with gusto but Tamsin found that she didn't have much of an appetite. She went over to the sideboard and poked around in the warming trays, trying to find something that wouldn't rest heavy on her stomach.

"For fuck's sake cheer up," Andrea whispered to her. "We're supposed to be really looking forward to this. At least try and look like you're enjoying it."

Tamsin had no reply to this. Andrea was right, of course, and, among the others, there was an air of expectancy and lots of comments about how lucky they were with the continuing fine weather. Tamsin, on the other hand, was finding it increasingly hard to play along. It wasn't so much the stalk that bothered her; that was no worse than the other indignities she had had to suffer. It was more the close proximity to those she was about to stab in the back. Whilst her political views on money and privilege hadn't changed in any fundamental way, now she was actually meeting the enemy, they came across as disarmingly human. Even those she considered spoilt brats who needed to grow up, Felicity Ambrose and Barbara Abercrombie being the most notable examples, weren't actually bad people. No, if anyone was 'bad' it was her, the snake in the grass, the betrayer. Still, Andrea's point was valid so she pinned on a smile, selected enough of the breakfast so as not to insult Bridie, took it over to the table and sat down.

"Good morning, did we all sleep well?" Charlie, having helped herself to a selection from the sideboard, came over and sat down at the table. "Looks like we have the perfect weather for it. Are you all excited? I know that I am."

"I'm still wondering exactly how it's going to go," Andrea replied. "It's all right for you lot, you've all done this before. Susan and I won't know the area."

"Oh, that won't matter. It's fun, really, it's fun. Just you wait and see. What about you, Susan, are you looking forward to it?"

"I'm a little apprehensive," Tamsin admitted.

"Oh, you've no need to be. We're all friends here. No one is going to make you do anything you don't want to. Isn't that right, Sophia?"

Sophia, who, like Charlie, had just helped herself to a full breakfast, smiled as she sat down beside them all.

"Well, there was that one time.... No, only joking, Charlie is dead right. After all, if it wasn't fun we wouldn't keep coming back here year after year. I remember last time, I was caught by Zoe and the little minx had me tied up in knots before the day was over. I was hoping to get my own back but it seems like I'm prey again."

"And this year I'm joining you," Zoe said as she too joined the breakfast party. "Ooh, pass the Worcestershire sauce, will you?"

There was plenty of good natured joshing and a certain amount of reminiscing and it was quite clear that this was an event that everyone, stalkers and prey alike, looked forward to.

Eventually breakfast was cleared away and, with the continued good weather, they all drifted out into the garden to enjoy the sunshine. It was around eleven thirty when Bridie came out and went up to Georgina.

"That's the minibus come to take me away on the staff outing so I'll be off. Now, I've left you a cold lunch but you're to look after yourselves in the evening. I'll be back for your breakfasts at eight thirty so don't let me find any mess in my kitchen."

"Don't worry, Bridie, we'll keep it spotless for you. Thanks for lunch and have a good time in Inverness."

"Just you mind my kitchen, young lady," and, with that, she was off.

Now that Bridie had left there was a certain amount of relaxation. Nothing too overt, that was all still waiting on the stalk to actually start, but it was like a schoolroom when the teacher is called away. In particular, the stalk was becoming more and more the topic of conversation now that there was no danger of being interrupted.

"I never thought I would say this in Scotland but with all this sunshine our prey are going to need some protection. Better safe than sorry, after all," Georgina commented. "Zoe, be a dear and fetch the bottles of sun cream from our room, would you?"

Zoe disappeared into the house returning moments later with several bottles of Piz Buin which she put on the garden table. She then set the ball rolling by slipping off her sundress and bra, reaching for one of the bottles and, naked except for her shoes and panties, starting to apply the cream.

"Come on, guys," she called out. "Don't just stand there. Last prey naked is a wus!"

Prompted by this Fiona and Maggie were first to join but it wasn't long before all the prey were stripping off and passing the bottles around. Tamsin, prompted by Andrea, knew that she too had to join in so she got up from where she was sat, went over and started to undress. She was wearing the sun dress they had bought for her when they went to Lady Mary's which was easy to take off so she shrugged her way out of it and laid over the back of a lawn chair.

"Shall I do your back for you?"

Tamsin turned and there was Charlie, standing there with a bottle of sun cream in her hand.

"If you wouldn't mind."

"This is so much easier with two," Charlie said as she smoothed the cream over Tamsin's back. Tamsin looked around her and saw that all the others were also pairing up. Some of the pairs were natural, Henrietta and Frances as well as Fiona and Maggie, were couples anyway, but some had just turned to the nearest person. Most, like Zoe, had kept their panties on but, one by one, they were being discarded in the quest to cover every inch with sun cream. "After all," Angela commented as she took Sophia's panties off, "we won't be wearing them when the time comes."

For, once they had started on each other's backs, it was generally felt that there was no reason to stop there and that it was easier to do each others legs as well. Just how much this was practicality and how much part of the pre-stalk mood was moot. The whole episode was turning increasingly frisky and applying the sunscreen was a good excuse to raise the temperature. It would have been churlish and out of role not to have joined in which meant that Tamsin found herself knelt on the grass ready to work on Charlie's legs. This was almost too much. She remembered the last time she had been knelt before Charlie, or should that be Princess Charlotte when she was in this position. However, she had to push that to one side and, as casually as possible, get on with the task in hand.

Remaining casual was far from easy. She squeezed some cream out onto the palm of her hand and started to sooth it into Charlie's calves. This, in itself, was deliciously erotic and, as she moved higher it just got hotter. She looked up and smiled shyly and the smile she received in return told her that any feelings she might have were completely mutual. She squeezed out some more cream and was, by now, working around the top of Charlie's thighs. If she were to continue then....

"Shall I take these off?" Charlie asked, hooking her thumbs into the waistband of her panties.

"Err... let me." Tamsin reached up, took hold of either side of Charlie's panties and pulled them down, letting Charlie step out of them. She tossed the panties onto a chair already laden with discarded clothes and turned back to her work. Charlie looked so perfect and it was all Tamsin could do to stop herself leaning forward and giving a little kiss. Just one, surely that wouldn't matter. In the sexually charged atmosphere that filled the garden at that moment she wasn't sure anyone would even notice. However, she had to pretend that this was just for sun protection so she set to work on Charlie's hips and buttocks.

"You missed a bit," Charlie said once Tamsin had finished. She took the bottle of Piz Buin from Tamsin, squeezed some out onto her finger tips and massaged it into her groin. "That's better. We don't want any sunburn down there, do we? Now, come along, it's time I returned the favour."

Now it was Tamsin's turn to stand while Charlie knelt in front of her and applied the cream. This seemed slightly wrong to Tamsin. Sure, this wasn't the first time Charlie had applied sun cream on her but that had been with her as a puppy girl and she had been the one on her knees. However, it didn't seem to bother Charlie and, unlike Tamsin, Charlie was less covert about the sexual angle of what they were doing. She wasn't just applying the cream, she was massaging it in and her hands felt truly wonderful. Tamsin closed her eyes so as to savour the sensations. If only... if only....

It seemed to Tamsin that it was mere moments before Charlie reached the point where her panties were getting in the way and, without asking, Charlie hooked her fingers into the waistband and pulled them down. This brought Tamsin back to the here and now. She looked down, exchanged smiles with Charlie and stepped out of her panties so that they too could join the pile on the chair. Charlie then set to applying the cream to Tamsin's hips and buttocks and, when the time came, to Tamsin's crotch as well. However, there was only so much she could do under cover of applying the cream, and, truth be told, only so much Tamsin wanted her to do with so many others around. Even so it felt like all too soon before they were finished.

Tamsin looked about her. It hadn't quite been an orgy and everyone had been careful to keep the sexual aspect under control but it was quite clear from the flushed faces of all involved, not to mention the five spectators, how much this had been some sort of foreplay before the main event.

"I think it's time for lunch," Georgina announced. "Zoe, dear, can you organise laying the table? I'm assuming we all want to eat out here on such a lovely day."

"Come on girls; if we all help it will take no time at all," Zoe said as she headed for the house. All the prey followed and, to Tamsin's slight dismay, none of them seemed to feel any need to get dressed again. Indeed, they seemed to be revelling in their nudity and, as if to emphasise the point, Fiona went over, picked up the pile of discarded dresses and took them into the house. It would appear that, by getting undressed, there was an unspoken understanding that the game had now started. The ten prey were to remain naked, fetching the meal and waiting upon the five remaining stalkers.

As Zoe had suggested, with ten of them helping, it hardly took a moment to fetch the cold luncheon that Bridie had made for them and bring it through to the garden where they laid it out on the patio tables. Again Zoe led the way, by going to Georgina, curtseying and asking if she could fetch anything for 'Mistress' Georgina. Despite the fact that it stuck in her craw to do so, Tamsin felt that she had to follow suit and went over to Andrea to ask what she would like.

"Nice bit of schmooze with the princess," Andrea said quietly after Tamsin had fetched her a loaded dinner plate. "You've got that coy act down to a fine art. I saw you rubbing in the old suncream. I didn't think you had it in you."

Tamsin just looked at Andrea. And then she twigged what she had meant. Apparently she thought that, while applying the sun cream, Tamsin had been flirting with Charlie so as to entrap her. The idea that there might actually be something between them was so inconceivable to Andrea that she had completely missed it. Mind you, Tamsin was a long way from sure exactly what, if anything, there was between them.

Tamsin went back and loaded a plate for herself and, following the example of the others, went back and sat on the grass beside Andrea so as to eat it. As she did so she looked about her at the other prey. They all seemed so much more self assured about being naked. But then, as far as Tamsin was concerned, they had reason to be. They all seemed to have so much more grace and poise. Moreover, each and every one of them sported the sort of tan you only get with regular holidays to the sunnier places on earth. By comparison, the last holiday Tamsin had gone on was a wet week under canvas in the Lake District at the behest of a lover who enjoyed that sort of thing.

And then Charlie caught her eye and they exchanged smiles. Suddenly Tamsin felt a lot better.

"Well, much as I'm sure we would all like to lie here all afternoon," Georgina said after a while, "time is getting on. Maybe if we could have the dishes cleared away and then all prey to meet outside the front door in thirty minutes. How does that sound?"

There were all round murmurs of assent.

"Well, we had better get on with it then. Roberta, darling, can I call upon you to drive the other Land Rover?"

Thirty minutes didn't leave that much time for doing the all the clearing away and stacking the dishwasher but, with the ten of them working together, the work got done and they were all on time, ready and waiting outside the front of the house. Now the excitement was palpable. Two Land Rovers came around from the stables and parked up in front of them; Georgina driving one, Roberta, the other. Georgina got out and stood before them holding a bundle of protective goggles in her hand.

"Ladies, your carriage awaits," she announced as she handed out the goggles. "Jump in the back and hang on tight. It's quite a bumpy ride and we don't want any accidents. Once we are past the loch I will stop every couple of hundred yards or so and get one of you to jump out. That way we'll get a good distribution of prey across the moors. Remember, don't forget to wear your goggles, please don't cross the deer proof fence and don't come back past the house. Any questions? No? OK, jump in!"

The prey all bundled in and they were off.

The loch was half a mile or so up a rough track and, even with Georgina driving quite slowly, they were all having to hang on tightly as they were thrown around in the back. It soon became apparent that, as well as hanging on to the Land Rover, it was best if they hung on to each other. This caused a certain amount of girlish giggling and Zoe used it as an excuse to openly play with Maggie's breasts.

Once they were past the loch Georgina stopped the Land Rover. No one was keen to go first but Georgina turned round and called out, "come on, some one. Fiona, you're at the back. You're first. Out you get."

Fiona jumped over the tailgate of the Land Rover, put on her goggles and, after looking around for a moment or two, headed towards a small copse. Two hundred yards later it was Sophia's turn and, after that, Tamsin got out.

Tamsin felt alone and incredibly exposed. The Land Rover was busy heading off up the track and, in the other direction, she could see Sophia making her way through the heather. She had to get off the track, that much was obvious but where should she head for? There was sparse woodland bordering the burn which fed the loch but that wouldn't give much cover and woodland seemed a little obvious as a place to hide. On the other hand the moors appeared featureless. However, the bracken was about knee high and, if she lay on her belly, she could remain out of sight. Picking a sheep track at random, she headed off away from the track.

She had gone maybe two hundred yards or so when the path, quite suddenly, dropped down into a gully. A small stream had cut its way through the peat and left a trench several feet deep. Compared to pushing through the bracken this would be easy walking and she could get even further from the track. With a bit of luck she might even survive until five thirty! Her competitive streak came to the fore and she felt she could beat this thing, so she left the sheep track and made her way along the gully, splashing occasionally in the stream. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only five minutes or so, she had had enough. This would be her hiding place. It was out of sight from the track and, she felt, sufficiently off the beaten path. What was more, sticking out of the side of the gully was a large, flat rock. Perfect! Just the place to sit and wait.

She had found herself a nice little sun trap and, out of the wind, it really was quite warm. She sat back and, leaning against the bank, she let her eyes close. She hadn't really slept last night. Andrea had been snoring all night but that was just an excuse; she wasn't sleeping well most nights nowadays. She would toss and turn trying to reconcile herself to what she had got herself into. Andrea and Angus seemed to have no qualms at all. If only she could say the same. On the other hand, here she should be safe for a little while and it really was very peaceful and, even on the unforgiving rock, quite comfortable.

She closed her eyes, just for a moment or two.