Harold Saves Her Husband Pt. 03

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 drug 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 drugged 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 held the glass to my lips. I sipped and swallowed.

"Thank you," I said to Banni.

She knew that my thanks were not just for the water, but for demonstrating it was safe to drink.

"Good," Lady Sadhna said, "you can talk."

"Yes, Lady Sadhna, I can talk, but why should I?"

"Because you can be made to talk."

"About what? You haven't asked any real questions."

"What do you know about my negotiations with Serena?"

I looked pointedly at the four other women before answering.

"I know things that you know; you know things that I know; but most of these things are not known to others."

"How obscure of you, but possibly true. Leave us!" Lady Sadhna ordered.

The two ladies beside her looked startled. Deepal and Banni were already moving towards the door. The two noblewomen followed reluctantly, apparently unwilling to leave Lady Sadhna alone with me, even though I was helpless. It was unprecedented for a lady of her rank to be alone with a man who was not a close relative. But Lady Sadhna was above such trifles.

"Well? We are alone."

"But perhaps overheard," I suggested. "if you want me to talk freely we should still use discretion."

Lady Sadhna waved her hand as if dismissing the possibility.

"I hold most of the counters -- you, someone even more important to Serena than you, several of her women and now most of the Englishwomen. Neither Serena nor the Company dare attack me with force while I have such valuable hostages. She will have to comply with my reasonable demands..."

She might have continued but one of the noblewomen ran back in. Lady Sadhna looked very annoyed. The woman whispered in her ear.

Lady Sadhna was even more annoyed, furious.

"Stay there, Harold! Of course, you have no choice. I'll be back soon..."

She rushed out of the room followed by her noblewoman. I heard the door being locked.

I sat still. Lady Sadhna was right. I had no choice. I was shackled to that chair with no hope of escape. But perhaps my suggestion that we could be overheard was right?

"Anyone there? Can anyone help me?" I asked in a loud voice.

Silence. I tried again.

"Anyone there?"

This time there was an answer, a fierce "Shush!" from the wall behind me. I heard a faint grinding sound followed by soft footsteps. I turned my head. Ambika held a finger to her lips. She had a sharp knife in her other hand.

She dropped to her knees in front of me and examined my bonds carefully.

"Blast!" she whispered. "I'm sorry, Harold. I could cut the corset, the cuffs around your arms and legs, but not the chain. You'll still be locked to that chair. Only the key would undo the padlock."

"And Hamsa has it," I whispered back.

"Hamsa? She's part of the plot? I wouldn't have expected that." Ambika whispered.

"She didn't know about the King," I replied. "She's beginning to think she's on the wrong side."

"We are winning. The Archers have found the kidnapped noblewomen, Lord Sanji and his ladies who were captives too, and all of them are back at your encampment. You and the King are the only captives left."

"What happened to the zenana ladies who tried to drug the Archers?"

"I think they are finding the attractions of neat gin," Ambika giggled. "I was close to their chamber on the way here. They were singing very rude songs about men. They were particularly rude about Sanji and Mohan..."

Suddenly we heard a key in the locked door. Ambika dashed across the room to the secret passage behind a tapestry.

The door was opened carefully. I saw Hamsa first. She was holding a finger to her lips. Tamira, Deepal and Banni followed her. Hamsa shut the door quietly and locked it on the inside.

Hamsa whispered:

"Prince Harold. You were telling the truth. The King IS a prisoner here. We're not sure where yet, but we have an idea. I'm going to release you and we'll try to get you out of the palace."

"I've brought your clothes," Banni whispered as Hamsa took the padlock key from around her neck.

Once the padlock was open the chain could be unwound.

"I didn't bring the pliers!" Hamsa wailed. You're still shackled and can't move fast enough."

"Hamsa?" I asked. "Are you saying you believe me, and you will help Queen Serena get her husband back?"

"Yes. I don't want anything to happen to the King. I would prefer him to rule alone, but beside Serena is better than the King being dead or a lifelong captive."

"Ambika!" I whispered loudly. "Our friends..." I emphasised the 'friends', "...need help."

"Friends?" Tamira queried.

"Friends," I repeated as Ambika approached us.

"Ambika!" Hamsa exclaimed. "Our Chief Priestess of the Goddess?"

Ambika bowed.

"And my friend," I said as Ambika started to cut the cuffs and corset from me.

"I am pleased to meet your new friends," Ambika said, "but you now have many more, Prince Harold."

"More?" I queried.

"Yes. Lisa and Queen Serena have pardoned Kali's four priestesses because of their help. They apologised for their treatment of you..."

I couldn't help myself blushing.

"That sort of treatment?" Banni asked.

I nodded as I started dressing myself.

"Then I suppose your new friends should apologise too," Hamsa said.

"You didn't?" Ambika said.

"We did," Tamira replied.

"And you found out why he is favoured by the Goddess?"

"Yes," Deepal replied, echoed by Hamsa and Banni.

"And Lisa declared Kali's priestesses as her friends -- all of them," Ambika continued.

"All of them?" I queried.

"Yes, Harold," She replied. "All. That's about thirty women. Then your other friends are all my priestesses that follow the Goddess, about fifty, and Pushpa and her ladies..."

Hamsa laughed.

"Harold. You've got a larger following that Sanji ever managed. And so many priestesses? Are you sure you aren't a God as well as a Prince?"

I had finished dressing.

"Sorry, friends, but we really should be elsewhere, soon!" I said. "If Lady Sadhna comes back, or someone unlocks that door, we're in trouble. Ambika? Please get us out of here -- fast!"

Banni grabbed the bottle of drugged wine as the six of us went behind the tapestry and through the open panel. A few yards inside there was a torch burning on the wall, and unlit torches beside it. We lit one each and followed Ambika through yards of passages, through concealed doors even though the passages themselves were secret.

After the last door we went down a long circular staircase. A dozen or so steps creaked loudly. We went through an archway into a cellar. There were three identical archways around the walls. It seemed as if the cellar was used for many meetings. There was a battered table surrounded by old chairs, a well, some cooking utensils and a basic fireplace. An open chest held a heap of folded saris and other women's clothing. I recognised wine boxes and several crates of bottled India Pale Ale. A pile of straw mattresses could have been used for sleeping.

"We can talk here safely," Ambika announced. "There are no spy holes near here. Anyone coming near us would be heard. All the accesses to this cellar have steps that make a noise. There is a way to leave silently, but not to enter."

"Do we know where the King is held?" I asked.

"We don't," Hamsa answered. "We know that he is a prisoner, but not exactly where."

"I don't, yet," Ambika admitted, "we should know soon. There are many women prowling every part of the palace, my priestesses, and Kali's followers as well. We suspect that the King might be near the stables -- the elephant stables. As soon as they find exactly where he is someone will come to us. If they haven't found him within the next hour we will get negative reports."

I walked over to the beer crates. I took a bottle and opened it. I had a thought as I poured it carefully into a pewter tankard.

"Banni," I asked, "why did you bring the drugged wine?"

"I thought it might be useful -- for those guarding the King. If we could persuade them to drink it, we could rescue the King without harming the guards. Like us, they would only be following their orders and don't deserve to die for that."

"That is a good idea, Banni, if we could find the King."

I lifted the tankard to my lips. The ale was at the ideal temperature and tasted like nectar.

"Ambika, or any of you, do you know why there are so many secret passages? Who else knows of them?" I asked, idly.

"All our palaces have some," Hamsa replied. "I knew that there were a few but not how to use them. I had no idea there was one from Lady Sadhna's chamber. I didn't know this room existed."

"Nor did I," Tamira said. "I knew of the Consort's staircase that leads to Lord Mohan's bedroom, but most women know about that. I knew there were spy holes in many of the main rooms but not how to get to them."

"I think only Priestesses knew how to use the passages," Ambika added. "The Goddess' priestesses that I lead knew some of them, the ones that have accesses in our temple. Kali's priestesses had their own secrets including the Ride To Heaven. But in the last few hours we have found a couple of passages that neither group knew about, one obviously disused for years.

This room was the meeting place for my priestesses. It is very old, under the original fort, and we think it was made by the architect for himself, just in case the then ruler was displeased with him. That archway..."

Ambika pointed to one that seemed exactly the same as the other two,

"...leads to a tunnel that goes right outside even the newer buildings. It has obviously been extended several times because the workmanship changes. The far exit is close to the bottom of a cliff by the river but well above any flood level. From the outside it looks just like natural stone. There are spy holes to check that no one is close by when you open that door."

We heard stairs creaking through one of the archways. A red-skirted priestess entered. She was one of those who had mounted me before I took the Ride To Heaven. She bowed to me. I returned her bow.

"Prince Harold," she said, "I am Kalini, one of Kali's followers. I regret to say that we have met before."

"Welcome Kalini," I said, blushing. "I recognise you but will forget our previous meeting. Now I greet you as my friend."

"She didn't?" Banni said in a stage whisper.

"She did," Ambika replied.

Kalini tried to keep a straight face, but failed as Banni and Deepal started giggling. She started giggling too.

"I'm sorry," she said eventually when she stopped giggling. "We think we have found roughly where King Vishaladeva is held. Ambika suggested the stables. They are nearer our temple than hers so we spread ourselves around the open rooms, and watched from a couple of spy holes for anything unusual happening.

There was a sudden uproar and people rushing around, a few moving more purposefully in the direction of the stables. I think it must have been caused by your disappearance. We heard Lady Sadhna shouting angrily, but she was too far away for us to hear what she was shouting, except something about 'idiotic drunken sluts'. It didn't help that one of the elephants was continually trumpeting.

I went as close as I could get to the stables and I looked from an upper window into the stable yard. The trumpeting elephant had broken out of its stable, with a chain still attached to its leg. It is a male, on heat, and trying to find a female. It started charging the door of a female elephant's stall.

Some of the mahouts were trying to restrain it, unsuccessfully, when the lad Hasit came into the yard. He tried to cross it to a small doorway. I'm sorry, Hamsa and Tamira, but Hasit was trampled by the elephant."

"I am not sorry at all," Hamsa said emphatically. "He was Lady Sadhna's pet and she was turning him into a very nasty copy of Lord Mohan. She wanted him to be Mohan's successor. That would have been disastrous."

"We knew that Lady Sadhna used Hasit as a messenger," Kalini continued, "but hadn't suspected he was important enough to send to check on the King. I think that was what he was trying to do when he was killed."

"Is there any way of getting beyond the stable yard without passing the elephant?" I asked.

"There might be, Prince Harold," Kalini answered, "but we are not sure. There was a passageway under the stable yard. It isn't secret, but the far end has collapsed. If the obstruction isn't too large, we might be able to dig through. No one has bothered to clear the passage, because it is easier to walk across the yard -- except when there is a sex-mad elephant in it."

"We ought to get there and see if we can clear a way through, before Lady Sadhna's people get past the elephant," I said.

"We?" Kalini asked, "We can. You can't, Prince Harold. Most of Lord Mohan and Lady Sadhna's people are searching for you. The passageway is not secret, nor the way to it."

"She's right," Hamsa said. "We can't risk you being captured again. The King is the last, but most important, asset that Lady Sadhna and Lord Mohan hold. You'll have to stay here."

I looked at the chest with the pile of saris. Tamira noticed.

And we couldn't disguise you as a woman," Tamira said. "You are too tall."

"You wouldn't get more than a few yards beyond a secret passage, Prince Harold," Kalini added. "Although few people usually notice servant women, nor priestesses, there are far more women dressed as servants who aren't, and almost all the priestesses are wandering around. Everyone is becoming suspicious of everyone else."

"That goes for you too, Lady Hamsa and Lady Tamira." Kalina said. "We have overheard suspicions raised about your role in Prince Harold's escape. It would be safer if you stayed here with Prince Harold."

"What about Banni and me?" Deepal asked.

"You too. You are known as your mistresses' friends as well as handmaidens. You are less likely to be sought after, but you could be. You might be tortured to reveal where Prince Harold and your mistresses are."

"Ouch!" Banni said. "We wouldn't enjoy that. We'll stay and look after Prince Harold, and our mistresses."

"That sort of looking after?" Ambika asked. "I think I should stay too. I might be needed to act as the contact point because the others can't leave here."

"That's a good idea," I said. "Ambika could be our messenger."

"Then I'll leave you now," Kalini said. "If we can get a dozen or so priestesses down under the stable yard we should be able to work out whether we can clear the passageway, or whether it is completely impassable."

Banni held out the bottle of drugged wine.

"Take this, Kalini," Banni said. "It is drugged. If you can persuade the King's guards to drink it..."

"And this," Ambika said, handing over her knife. "You might need to cut the King free of his bonds."

"You trust me with your knife?" Kalini was surprised.

"And with the King's life," I said. "You are our friend."

Kalini nodded as if she couldn't believe it. She left the chamber.

"Well, Prince Harold," Banni said. "All we have to do now is wait. While we are waiting, we five of your friends are 'looking after' you. I think we need another demonstration of how favoured you are by the Goddess. We do, don't we?"

The other four nodded. I sighed.

"It seems that I have been outvoted. What Princess Lisa would say..."

"You know what she would say," Ambika answered. "Enjoy yourself!"

"And I haven't enjoyed you properly," Hamsa said.

"Nor have I," said Ambika, "but Ladies take precedence over Priestesses".

They dragged the mattresses to make a large bed, spread saris over it and pushed me to the centre.

Ambika lifted her flowing skirts and lowered herself towards my face. Banni and Tamira undressed my lower half. My lips and tongue were already deep into Ambika's welcoming yoni when Hamsa lowered herself to slide my lingam into her yoni.

As they synchronised their thrusts Ambika's skirts sometimes allowed me to see above me. Deepal was standing behind Ambika and caressing her breasts. Banni was doing the same to Hamsa. Tamira had one hand on Ambika's shoulder and the other on Hamsa's. As they were on the downward stroke she pushed down too.

Tamira soon saw they didn't need her help. She moved behind her handmaiden Banni, stripped her to the waist, put her hands on to Banni's breasts, and her head over Banni's shoulder. Banni turned to meet Tamira's lips.

Ambika was the first to reach her orgasm. Deepal increased her breast massage as Ambika screamed her enjoyment, suddenly silenced with Deepal's mouth. Hamsa was shaking with her ecstasy and I was feeling battered but enjoying the attentions of two women.

I had to prove that I was 'favoured by the Goddess' so I held back even as their movements became more frantic. Eventually Ambika then Hamsa slowed and stopped. Ambika slid backwards, resting behind my head which was still hidden under her skirt. Hamsa lifted the hem and looked down at me.

"Are you ready again, Harold?" She asked.

I nodded. I wasn't sure I could speak.

Hamsa and Ambika swapped positions and my trial began again. The two women became excited much quicker this time and I was able to hold on until they had finished. They climbed off. Tamira claimed my slick but still erect lingam. Banni and Deepal pressed their naked breasts around my head, each trying to get a nipple between my lips.

As Tamira worked herself up to frenzy I managed, with the help of my hands, to get two nipples, one each from Deepal and Banni, into my mouth and suck. Even then they didn't stop competing to see how much of a breast they could cram in.

I was concentrating so hard on trying to breathe with a mouth full of breasts that were sometimes covering my nose, that Tamira wildest movements were not likely to make me reach my own climax. Eventually Tamira was satisfied. She sat back.

"What now?" she asked. "He's still erect."

"He won't be," Banni said. "He might have proved that he is favoured by the Goddess, but I am favoured by men. Let me at it."

Tamira climbed off me. The other four women pressed their naked breasts against any part of my body they could reach. Banni brought her head close to my hips, opened her mouth, and took my lingam deep inside. Her head began to bob up and down. I soon believed her. She was 'favoured by men'!

Even so, my erection had been so used that it took Banni at least five minutes to produce the final reaction she wanted. All six of us rested in a heap of entwined bodies.

...

While I, and we, recover, Jane will continue her account.

...

JANE

When Harold told us about his capture and rescue, I'm sorry -- I had to giggle. Harold may be 'favoured by the Goddess', but he does get himself favoured by women far more than I would appreciate if I was married to him. Lisa is more forgiving. She has to be!