Harold Saves Her Husband - Complete

The people around him scattered, leaving him alone. He stood still, waiting for me to shoot. Still keeping the Dragoon levelled at him I said (in the local dialect) very clearly and slowly:

"You have expressed treason against the ruler of this state. Do you want to be tried for that offence by my justice or hers?"

He said nothing for a few seconds. Then he was distracted by the entry of a group of George's soldiers who levelled their rifles at him. His shoulders sagged.

"I wish to be tried by the ruler of this state, not by a foreign so-called Prince," he said.

"Very well. You will be."

With my left hand I gestured to the spear-carrying native guards. They surrounded him, tied his hands behind his back and led him away. I carefully lowered the Dragoon's hammer and holstered it. Then I looked at Lisa. Her hands were hidden by her overskirt. I was sure she had her Navy Colts ready for use.

George entered the chamber between his men. After a curt order from him, they lowered their rifles. Then the sergeant took over. The soldiers shouldered arms and marched out.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Prince?" he asked.

"Thank you for your timely arrival, sir, but I think everything is under control now."

"In that case my men will continue their exercise." George bowed to Lisa and me before leaving.

I sat down as the room was clearing. I grabbed a glass of wine and drained it. A female hand refilled the glass. I looked at the hand's owner. It was Pushpa.

"I think you handled that very well, Prince," she said. "That large gun of yours is very intimidating and you have a reputation as a marksman. What a shame he chose local justice, isn't it?"

Pushpa grinned at me. We both knew that John Company justice would have told him not to be so naughty again and fined him a few rupees for the offence. Local law was still as left by the late Rajah. He could be torn apart by elephants or fed piece by piece to crocodiles. There were many barbaric punishments allowed by the local laws. As for marksman, that reputation depended on a lucky shot during the revolt. I doubt that I could have hit him at that range. Pushpa knew that my reputation was undeserved. But if I had missed, Lisa could have emptied her two revolvers into him. She regularly outshot most of our soldiers with rifle or pistol.

"Why, Pushpa, why?" asked Lisa.

"Now I know who, I know why," Pushpa answered. "He was one of the ringleaders of the revolt. Now he supports the late Rajah's third son Sanji who thinks he should be the heir instead of Queen Serena's daughter. This might have been more serious except for the show of force outside. The Queen can tell you more. The challenge to you was meant to be the start of something much larger. Ask her."

"I will," Lisa said "I don't like being threatened. I can get nasty when provoked."

She could. She is much more ruthless than I am.

Chapter 4: Precautions

We left the empty chamber. We followed Pushpa to the former orgy-room with the interesting wall carvings. The King and Queen were wrapped together in a quilt. He was completely concealed except for one hand and his head. He was smoking a hookah and had a blissful expression on his face. Queen Serena's head was turned towards him. Her flowing draperies extended well beyond the quilt. A group of musicians were playing restful music. A group of dancers were gliding around the room.

As we entered, Queen Serena clapped her hands and gestured. All the musicians and dancers left. Lisa, Pushpa and I were alone with the King and Queen.

"Pushpa, get the King taken away and looked after - all night." Serena ordered.

Pushpa left the room and returned with the female dancers. Serena stood up, wrapping the quilt back around the King. Pushpa took the hookah's mouthpiece from the King's unresisting hand. The dancers wrapped scarves around the quilt tying the King inside. They lifted the bundle and took the King away. Serena sat on the gaddi revealed by the removal of the bundled King. Pushpa stood beside her. Lisa and I sat down facing the Queen.

"Serena, what do you mean by looking after?" Lisa asked.

Pushpa replied "The Queen leaves such things to me. He will be well wrapped all night long by women's bodies. Every time he stirs he will be pleasured back to sleep. Part of him might be sore in the morning but probably not. The women are very skilled. He will enjoy the experience."

I sniffed at the hookah's mouthpiece.

"Opium?" I asked.

"Yes," said Pushpa.

"Why?"

Pushpa looked at Serena who nodded.

"Ranjit is standing in for the King. It is possible that he may be assassinated. Even Ranjit is worried about losing his life but is willing to take the risk to save Vishaladeva. In exchange he has asked for one smoke of opium a week and the attentions of numerous women. He is getting both. Tonight he may find that he has too many women even for him."

I looked at Serena. Assassination was a possible threat at any time. Ranjit could only be a short-term substitute for the King. There must be another problem. The real target of an assassination attempt would be the real ruler, Serena, not her puppet consort.

"We are wasting time. Serena, what is the real problem? Why do you need us? Why tonight? And I don't mean that hot-headed idiot at the dinner."

"As usual, Harold, you see more than you should. It is unsettling to have such perceptive friends. I asked Pushpa to give you a simple invitation to dinner, yet you arrive wearing weapons and attended by a substantial part of your army including artillery. Yet Pushpa tells me she did not say that I was in danger. Did she?"

"No, Serena, she didn't."

"Then how did you know that I needed such a strong show of support? I admit that I needed it. Without it, tonight might have been very different."

"Because of what Pushpa did not say. She invited us to dinner when we were due to come in two days' time. That meant that your need was urgent. She did NOT explain why. She behaved as if my office walls have ears. Maybe they have. Yet she could have brought a written message or written a note herself. She didn't. My conclusion was that you were in real trouble but you did not know as much about it as you needed. So I took some precautions. So did Lisa."

"That reminds me," Lisa interrupted. "I need to unload some of my precautions. They are uncomfortable when sitting. I'm glad to get rid of them from inside my crinoline. They are heavy."

She reached under her overskirt. I expected her to produce her Navy Colts. She didn't. She produced two fused mortar bombs.

"Lisa!" I yelled. "Those things are dangerous."

"I know. They are fused for contact. If I dropped one, you and I would have been blown to bits. I thought they might be useful if we were attacked by a crowd."

"Useful!" I snorted. "This time, Lisa, you are wrong. There is no way they can be thrown far enough to escape the blast. They are meant to be fired from a mortar."

"I know that. But if we were to be overwhelmed, it might deter the attackers to know that a few hundred would join us in death. I worked it out. Two of these would have brought the palace's roof down in the blast. Everyone at dinner would have died."

I shut up. Lisa is capable of anything. If she were to die, then she would happily take a few hundred with her. I took the fuses from the bombs and put them down carefully.

"Are they as dangerous as that?" Serena asked.

"At least. I don't know what the effect would be inside a building. No one has ever tried because they would die finding out."

"What if Lisa had dropped one?"

"Then we would all be dead and in hundreds of pieces." I said flatly.

Chapter 5: Revelations

I looked at the Queen. She dropped her eyes.

"Serena, you are avoiding the issue. We are not here to discuss Lisa's dangerous precautions. What has happened? Why is Ranjit playing the King? Why him? You are a more likely target for assassination."

Serena's body sagged. Lisa quickly moved to her side and hugged her.

"Come on, Serena." Lisa said "We are your friends. You can tell us if you can tell anybody."

"I know. It is so difficult to accept that a Queen has friends that she can trust. I have Pushpa and her young ladies but their role is limited by what women can do in our society. It is both their weakness and their strength. The nobles who are the originators of most of the plots against me disregard women. But as women they cannot take an active role outside the palace. They certainly can't deal with a military threat. There could have been one tonight. I don't know. That idiot as you described him was supposed to give the sign for something to happen. What - I don't know. The presence of so many English soldiers may have stopped whatever was to come next. He might have been the sign himself. He might not have given the sign because he was afraid that Harold would shoot him. He didn't know that Harold is unlikely to hit whatever he aims at."

"But I wouldn't miss!" interrupted Lisa.

"I know YOU wouldn't. But he wouldn't expect a woman to actually shoot him. He doesn't know what you are like, Lisa. Harold's massive gun might have stopped him giving the sign. I don't know."

"Serena," I said, "You have said several times that you 'don't know' but you haven't said what you DO know. You know something you are not telling us. What?"

"Visha has been kidnapped."

"What!"

"Visha has been kidnapped." Serena repeated and burst into tears against Lisa's shoulder."

I waited until Serena had cried herself out before asking:

"How? When? Who? And most of all Why? Why would anyone kidnap Visha?"

Serena sat up again, wiped her tear stained face with her sari and tried to answer logically.

"How? He was visiting Mohan, one of his step-brothers. We thought we could trust Mohan. We were wrong. The visit was set up just for the kidnap. Ranjit was an innocent dupe used by them.

When? Last night. Visha was supposed to stay there overnight and return this morning. He didn't. Instead I got a set of demands brought by Ranjit.

Who? I think, but I don't know, that it is Visha's younger stepbrother Sanji or if not him personally then people acting to put Sanji on my throne.

Why? Their demands make that very clear. They want me to abdicate so that Visha can rule alone and Visha has to make Sanji his heir. Visha would be a puppet King with them, whoever they are, ruling through him. My daughter would not rule after me. Their ultimate aim is to restore the male line of succession. Neither Visha nor Sanji have sons. After Sanji the succession would be open for the strongest noble to grab. They also want the English to leave us alone."

Serena stopped. "Pushpa. Please arrange some drinks for us and check that Ranjit is fully occupied. This is going to take some time." Pushpa left. Serena watched her go.

"There was a hint in the demand that only I can interpret. They want Visha to father a son. That son would cut Sanji out of the succession and the infant son would rule through a Council of Regents, that is the nobles. If a son is born, Visha would not live long after its birth. If I abdicate my life expectancy will be shorter than Visha's. They do not want ME to have a son. He might be as intelligent and determined as his mother."

"And you haven't told Pushpa this?" asked Lisa.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Some of the high ranking ladies have vanished as well. I suspect that the noble ladies are to be mated with Visha. Whoever of them conceives will be married to Visha. A King or even a Rajah can have several legitimate wives. Visha has only one wife, me, so far. He finds me enough of a handful.

One of the missing ladies is Pushpa's cousin. Pushpa might become cousin to the Queen Mother. So I can't trust Pushpa."

Lisa cut in "If you can't trust Pushpa you might as well abdicate now. She knows all your secrets, and ours. You must continue to trust her or your rule will be crippled."

"I know, I know." Serena sighed. "I have to trust Pushpa. Without her, I cannot rule."

"Think, Serena, you know Pushpa better than we do." I said. "Yet Lisa and I would trust Pushpa with our lives. What does your heart say?"

"It says that I trust Pushpa. Not only that I must trust her but I should I give her my unqualified trust."

"Then tell her, Serena. She needs to know."

"You are right, Harold. Yet Sanji, Mohan, and the other conspirators, whoever they are, have been much cleverer than I expected. They have plots within plots and many of those involved do not know the full extent of what is planned. Most of the nobles are unsettled just enough to want me to take a less prominent role and appear to rule through Visha. They still can't accept a woman as ruler. It hasn't helped that some of their wives have become unsettled in their traditional roles. The wives are demanding more involvement in their husbands' business and even taking a more active role in bed. Some of the nobles are scared stiff of their women's new found assertiveness.

One of the older nobles provided justification for their fears. He likes young concubines. It was said that one of his youngest was displeased by his pathetic sexual fumblings. She complained. He argued with her but she overpowered him, tied him up in her sari, and left him like that all night long. His senior wife had the concubine whipped. He had been found by two of the female cleaners. Within hours the story was all round the town. Of course the story changed and became more lurid. By the time one of Pushpa's ladies heard it for the third time it included details of her pissing over his bound body and forcing him to lick her backside, neither of which happened.

Even the original story wasn't the truth. The noble liked being wrapped in women's clothes as foreplay. That night he couldn't manage an erection so his concubine wrapped him tighter and tighter. He fell asleep. She got bored so she knotted him with tightly wrapped saris before returning to her own bed. She had done it on several occasions and he had enjoyed it. She intended to return to him before dawn but this time she overslept.

She was whipped for her carelessness in causing him such embarrassment but the damage had been done. The cleaners were whipped as well when the noble's senior wife found that they had told their friends."

"I can see the effect of that story on some of your nobles," Lisa said "They feel threatened. But surely not threatened enough to revolt?"

"No, for the majority of them. They want a return to the old values even though their lives and estates were at risk from the caprices of the former Rajah. What they would really like is my benevolent rule but with the traditional women's roles maintained. That is why they are sympathetic to the idea that I should rule through Visha. They protect the conspirators who want far more but don't admit how much they want to change." "I think you need to call Pushpa back, Serena," I said. "She has to know that you trust her and we need her advice." "Are you sure, Harold?" Serena asked. "Yes. We MUST trust Pushpa." "Very well." Serena clapped her hands. A female head peered cautiously round the door. "Send Pushpa to me." The head nodded and withdrew. Pushpa entered a few seconds later. Serena looked at me.

"Pushpa," I said, "Serena tells me that your cousin has been kidnapped. Is that true?"

"Yes, Prince Harold, my cousin Bhavini was kidnapped with the noble ladies."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, Prince Harold, when you say 'Why'?" Pushpa asked cautiously.

"I mean why was Bhavini kidnapped with the others? You must have a good idea why she was included."

Pushpa burst into tears. Lisa and Serena rushed to hug her. They looked accusingly at me.

"Before you answer my question, Pushpa, you must know two things. First. I know why Bhavini was kidnapped. Second. A few minutes ago Queen Serena said that she cannot rule without you."

Pushpa looked at Serena who nodded.

"Then I can answer your question, Prince Harold. Bhavini was kidnapped so that Queen Serena would be unable to trust me."

Pushpa looked at Serena who was still hugging her tightly.

"It seems that the kidnapping failed to destroy my Queen's trust."

"It made me doubt," said Serena "but Prince Harold made me look in my heart. There I found no room for anything but complete confidence in you, Pushpa."

Pushpa wriggled out of Serena and Lisa's embrace and sank to the floor. She lifted the hem of Serena's sari to her lips.

"Thank you, my Queen," she said. "and thank you, O Prince and Princess."

Chapter 6: Renewing Alliances

She had barely enough time to finish her sentence before she was swept up in an orgy of hugs and kisses that enfolded me as well. At the end I was sitting on the gaddi vacated by Ranjit. Pushpa was on my left knee, Serena on the right and my head rested back against Lisa's slightly swollen belly as she sat on my shoulders. The only flaw in my bliss was the pressure of Lisa's two Colt pistols against my ears. Lisa felt them too. She lifted her overskirt, unbuckled the gun belt and laid it aside. She removed my sword and pistol as well.

Lisa said "I think we need to celebrate Serena's confidence in Pushpa. That decision has foiled the plotters. How shall we mark our renewed alliance?"

Serena whispered in Lisa's ear. Lisa nodded.

Then I was blindfolded by her overskirt as she dropped it over my face. Pushpa and Serena pulled it tight around me and held it there with the weight of their bodies.

From above me Lisa said, "Assertive women can be enjoyable, can't they, Harold?"

I couldn't reply because her hands were gagging me through the skirt. I couldn't move either because the three women held me tight.

"I think that his silence means that he agrees," Serena said.

I relaxed and enjoyed their wandering hands. They were whispering to each other but Lisa's enveloping skirt prevented me from hearing what they said.

Serena's hands were busily undoing my trousers. Pushpa had slid off my knee and was removing my shoes. Soon I was naked from the waist down.

"Perhaps he too likes being wrapped as part of foreplay," suggested Serena. "Shall we see?"

I heard the slither of silk. I was pulled from the gaddi to the floor with Lisa sliding down with me. She kept hold of my head under her overskirt.

On the floor the three women moved quickly to strip me completely and swaddle me in Serena and Pushpa's saris. I saw glimpses of the lithe naked bodies of Serena and Pushpa as they tightly wrapped me with their silk saris tied in place with their petticoats' drawstrings, leaving my manhood uncovered. Lisa swamped me with her crinoline again. In the darkness under her dome of skirts I felt her straddle me before she lowered her bush towards my face. She held herself poised above me. Just before she lowered herself on to my face she said:

"Harold, we three women have decided to have a ceremony to mark the alliance of Serena, Pushpa, you and me. We could have drunk a toast to each other but that did not seem to be enough. We wanted something much more intimate. We three also have something else to celebrate. All of us are pregnant. We have decided to hold the ceremony ON you."

She dropped on to my face squashing any protest I might have made. I felt another woman straddle my middle and lower herself on to my erection. Hands were gripping my ankles as Lisa and the other began a slow rhythmical movement on me. I was gasping whenever Lisa let me breathe. Even then the air I gulped was becoming stale under her stifling skirt and petticoats. Their pace grew faster and faster as we became more and more aroused. I was desperately holding back on until I felt the woman who was riding me shudder into a series of climaxes. She cried aloud as Lisa crushed my face deep into her sweaty crotch. That did it. I could not hold back and I too shuddered in release.