Harold Saves Her Husband - Complete

After the third and fourth priestesses had enjoyed humiliating me I was nearly unconscious. My gag was soaked with their juices and my face was dripping with them. I shook my head as far as my bonds would let me. My eyes took in the bound, gagged and blindfolded blue-skirted women. Our rescue attempt seemed doomed.

While I was being used as a sex toy the other priestesses had left the room. The four using me were alone. They were standing in a close group whispering together.

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Chapter 19: Blue Skirts or Red?

A familiar face peered around a pillar. It was Lisa. She put her finger to her lips. I thought that a distraction would help. I groaned and thumped my bound legs on the floor. I couldn't make much of a noise but it was enough. The four priestesses looked at me.

Lisa led a rush of the Archers. The four priestesses were swamped by fit active Englishwomen who tied and gagged them mercilessly before they could raise an alarm. The priestesses were silk bound bundles struggling helplessly on the floor. Ambika and her blue-skirted allies were released.

Lisa kneeled beside me.

"Sorry, Harold." She whispered. "We found out this was going to happen, but too late to warn you. Ambika and her friends knew they would be rescued by us. Their capture, and yours, has made Kali and her colleagues overconfident. We have imprisoned all those women who were left with you. If our plan is to succeed we have to leave you as a prisoner."

I shook my gagged head. Lisa kissed my yoni-slicked forehead.

"You are too effectively bound to object, aren't you? We are going to replace Ambika and her friends, but we haven't got anyone who could be sufficiently like you to deceive Kali. Look."

Ambika and her four blue skirts were stripping down to their underwear. With the help of many of the Archers the four red skirted priestesses who had used me were being dressed in blue skirts and tied, gagged and blindfolded, to the pillars vacated by Ambika's friends. One of the Archers was dressing as Ambika.

Once the Archer was gagged and blindfolded, the resemblance was total. Her bonds were apparently tight but she could release herself easily. Her gag was loose. Her blindfold was a single layer she could see through.

Ambika, wearing a red skirt, led her allies, Lisa, and the Archers out of the room through a concealed doorway. Beside me the now blue-skirted priestesses writhed futilely against their pillars.

I saw Kali return with a small group of red skirts.

"Who left them alone?" Kali shouted. "They will be soundly whipped for disobedience."

She came to me, knelt beside me and checked that my bonds were still tight. She stood up.

"Bring him!" she ordered. "We can leave the others to think about their imminent doom. They will die as offerings to Kali when we have succeeded totally."

The blue skirted women struggled violently, trying to warn Kali that they were her allies, not her enemies. Their gags were too effective. Their best efforts emerged as strangled grunts.

"You struggle in vain," Kali screamed. "You will wait for Kali's deadly embrace. Think on that, bitches!"

While she was shouting my body was detached from the pillar. Long scarves were tied around my body and attached to two long poles. Eight priestesses put the poles on their shoulders and carried me off, feet first as if I was in slung in a hammock.

Something strange happened. One of the two women by my head put her hand out and stroked my hair. Was that a message? From the other side a woman caressed my cheek. Although all eight carrying me were wearing red skirts I felt that at least some of them were our friends.

We went down some stairs and through several rooms. Many doors were shut and locked behind us. A secret door opened on a very narrow and long flight of stairs. The red skirts brushed against me as they tried to make themselves and their burden fit the restricted width.

We must be in the cellars of the Palace or even below them. I heard a rumble as if a heavy door was being opened. We went through a thick threshold. I looked at the door as we passed it. Its outer face was stone matching the room we had just left. When that door was shut it would seem to be a solid wall with no opening. It was heaved shut after we were inside.

Unless my friends were already with me, or ahead of me, it would be very difficult to get through all the barriers we had been through. Even the last door on its own would defy gunpowder.

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Chapter 20: The Ride To Heaven

Kali was beside me as I was lowered to the floor.

"Prince Harold," she said quietly but her voice shook with emotion, "we are in the chamber of the Goddess Kali, where the Ride to Heaven begins. At the end of that ride you will be Kali's prey, sacrificed by me to the success of our plan to depose Serena.

She will follow you within hours, as will your wife. I will keep your weapons..."

She rested her hand on the revolver dragging at her side.

"...as a souvenir of the helplessness of Englishmen against the power of Kali. Prepare him!"

Many hands unfastened me from the carrying poles, loosened the silk bonds on my legs and stripped my lower body. I was exposed from my feet to my waist before my ankles, calves and thighs were tied again.

Several hands stroked my exposed penis. Despite myself I became erect.

I was carried across the chamber, up a long flight of steps and turned so that I could see the Ride to Heaven. It was a large statue shaped like a woman with her legs splayed wide exposing her yoni. Her arms were at her side arched outwards from her body with her hands poised on her hips. Her mouth was open as if in a scream of sexual frenzy.

The statue was mounted on four large wooden wheels set on a very wide track of grooves cut into the stone. The Ride was resting against a block of stone richly carved with erotic couples. A few feet ahead the track began to fall away. I could see it disappearing into the darkness and dropping down a gradient. Once the wheels were over the edge of the drop they would accelerate down the track.

"Show him the Goddess!" Kali ordered.

The women carried me back down the steps and across the chamber. I could faintly see that the track was cambered for a tight curve and returned behind the ramp on which the Ride to Heaven was standing.

There was a massive statue of the Goddess. She appeared to be sitting against the wall with her legs splayed. The tracks ran between them and under her yoni's lips. There wasn't enough room for the Ride to pass beneath them. There were ominous stains between her lips. I suspected that those stains were the remains of the unsuccessful candidates for the post of Chief Priestess and victims of the Ride to Heaven.

While I was forced to watch, a very large soft cushion was strapped across the upper part of the lips of the stone yoni. Whoever impacted on that cushion might be shaken but would survive. All the stains were feet below that cushion.

The priestesses carried me back and laid me on my back on the statue. My legs were between her outstretched ankles and fastened to a ring set in the stone bed she was on. Silk scarves were tied to my bonds and to the statue's arms. My head was secured against the statue's belly.

Kali loomed over me. Her face was sneering at me as she lifted her skirts and impaled herself on my erection.

"You will be my victim as well as Kali's," she hissed.

"Wait!" A priestess said urgently. "You can't ride like that, Kali. You'd be thrown off on the curve."

"True. I had forgotten that," Kali said. "What should we do?"

"Secure you loosely so that you stay on."

"Do it!"

Kali bent forwards, her face inches above mine. Her hands and ankles were tied to the statue but with some slack between the tight knots on her and those on the statue. While she could move, there was no way she could release herself.

She tensed her yoni around my erection and squeezed.

"Start the ride!" she ordered.

The car began to move very slowly as its weight was pushed up to and over the edge of the ramp. It rumbled ominously as it started down the incline. Kali was pounding up and down on me as we accelerated across the chamber. As we entered the curve she was thrown to one side releasing my erection. She scrabbled to push her yoni back on my lingam, only to be thrown in the other direction as the Ride straightened out.

She was screaming in frustration as we rushed towards the fatal stone lips. I couldn't see how far we had to go because her grimacing face was in the way.

I felt the stone belly beneath me split. My head and body dropped into a soft satin lined recess. Kali's body was wrenched from above me with the sound of smashing bones. I fainted as the Ride slowed to a halt. Women rushed to me and quickly untied me. Ambika's lips kissed me. She helped me off the Ride. As I stood up, staggering, I could see that at least a third of the women in the Chamber were standing with their hands in the air, covered by the Archers' pistols.

The Archers were all dressed as red-skirted Priestesses. They had thrown their veils back to reveal their friendly English faces. One by one the captured Priestesses had their hands tied behind them, their ankles hobbled and hitched into a long line. They were led out of the chamber.

Lisa grabbed me and kissed me fiercely.

"We didn't expect Kali to go on the Ride so soon. We had meant to save you before then. But... She's dead. You're not, and we have captured her supporters."

Ambika brought my belt with weapons. My revolver was as I had left it. The cylinders were still uncapped. I took six percussion caps out of the pouch on the belt and fitted them. Kali couldn't have fired my revolver without them. Even if she had remembered the caps, the recoil would have knocked her over.

"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."

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Chapter 21: Where is The King?

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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!

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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 kidnapped. It was difficult to ask them outright because the absence of the King still wasn't known officially. We knew, the kidnappers 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 kidnapped 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 kidnapped 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 kidnap?" 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 kidnapped 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, after a few short words with the Colonel, 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.

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Chapter 22: Hasit's Escape

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 abducted noblewomen were being held."