Manon and Belle Pt. 09

The medics were busy fussing over Poppy and Jen, who had been released from their restraints and laid flat on stretchers. Manon kept trying to sit up and see to them, but was held back by Belle and an increasingly annoyed medic. "Lie still damn you woman," she said, as she tried to get a wound dressing on the side of Manon's head.

"Take them to the hotel," Eric said, "service lift, people will direct you."

"But sir, they need hospital and," the medic shut up quickly at a sharp gesture from Eric.

"What they need trooper is for you to obey orders. There's a full field unit there, and the doctors to go with it, now move." Eric said sternly.

"So, Eric?" Manon asked, "how is retirement?", or at least tried to.

Manon didn't really hear the reply, as she rather lost her grip on the world at that point. When she recovered, still lying on her back on the floor, Belle was anxiously holding her hand, and Claire was cradling her head in her lap.

"Oh miss!" Belle said, "please lie still."

"Nonsense, it was just a scratch," Manon replied, thickly. The medic who was fussing at her side, sat up and with a wry grin, held up Manon's jacket which had been cut off her. The side facing her was soaked with blood, from the neck down the arm, all the way to the hem.

"Oh, well a slightly leaky scratch then?" Manon said. "Really I feel fine," she said, suddenly hissing in pain at something or other the medic did.

"You've a serious concussion ma'am and a nasty cut on your head," the medic said, "So I'll thank you to lie still and behave." Grumpily Manon complied.

Manon got really annoyed when they wanted to take her back to the hotel in an ambulance carriage, only subsiding when Sir James glared at her. She was able to insist that her girls all came with her though, much to the annoyance of the medic accompanying her.

Belle sat by her side on the bed in the ambulance, the four girls squashed up on the other bed, and after checking that Manon was alright, the medic huffed in annoyance and went to join her colleague on the drivers bench.

As they slowly returned to town, Manon was able to establish that Belle and all four girls were physically fine, though in various degrees of shock. Poppy and jen had been taklen off in a different ambulance, but Belle told her that the medics siad they would be fine.

Melissa had a nasty black eye and bruise across her face and shoulders, but the medics had already given her field aid, and she insisted that she wasn't that uncomfortable, and brushed aside Belle and Manon's thanks for her help. Beth gathered her up and sat the girl on her lap, cuddling her, and Manon grinned seeing the way Melissa snuggled into the girl's embrace.

"Fi, I saw you working on unlocking everything, you did very well," Manon said.

"Told you," Claire said, pulling an embarrassed Fi into a quick one armed hug.

"So anyone of you picked up who all these folk are?" Manon asked.

"Duke's household in some manner," Belle said.

"Yeah," Claire added, "I was chatting with the medics monitoring Poppy and Jen miss, they are military of some sort for sure. It was all that one could do not to salute Eric when he told him off," she said giggling.

"Belle dear, when we get to the hotel, I need you to see to something for me," Manon said.

"Yes miss, of course," Belle said.

"I want you to see that all these girls get a turn with the healers. I can't undo what I did to them, but I can see that it is promptly healed. Anyone gives you any trouble, just tell them I'll shoot them if they don't."

Belle grinned, "yes miss."

"I'd do it myself, but I suspect that Sir James is going to play mother goose, and I won't be allowed out for a day or two," Manon added. They must have given her something, because Manon started to yawn a lot, and soon fell asleep.

She woke up, in her bed in the hotel. As she slowly took stock, she felt good, but tired, thirsty and hungry, exactly as you'd expect if you had been healed by a magus, which she must have been.

Carefully touching the side of her head, she found it was sore, but no worse. Manon was naked under the covers, but felt clean and felt fresh, so someone had bathed her as she slept.

Looking over, she saw Belle was sitting in a chair next to the bed, dozing. Belle was dressed in a clean outfit, and looked good, if a little tired. Peering down the bed, Manon saw that Fi and Claire were curled up on either side of her, by her legs and feet.

They were both naked, and looked damp and had wet hair, but still had their chains on.

"Morning Miss," Manon heard Beth say, realising she was standing leaning on the closed door to her room. Beth too was still in her restraints, though they'd been loosened. The weight of them didn't seem to her bother much, if at all.

Melissa's head suddenly popped into view by Beth, looking a bit sleepy and startled, "morning miss," she said too. Manon thought she must have been sleeping on the floor, which turned out to be right, she had a nest of blankets at Beth's feet, and had been dozing there.

That started everyone awake, and there was a chorus of 'good mornings' and 'how are you's' before Manon smiling at them all was able to quiet them down. Manon was very pleased to see that none of her girls had any obvious signs of injury, and that all the signs of the punishment she'd given them had gone.

"Miss, can we get you anything?" Belle asked. "Tea and something to eat, I'm starving," Manon said. "What time is it anyway?"

"Just before 10 in the morning miss, you slept around the clock," Belle said.

"Then I need information too, starting with Poppy and Jen, how are they?"

"Doing fine miss, they are asleep, in the other room with a medic keeping an eye on them," Belle said. "Miss anything else can wait until you've eaten, there's loads of people want to talk with you."

"They'll have to wait, or get past us," Beth said, "and that isn't going to happen."

"Well breakfast then? Is your prisoner at least allowed that?" Manon said laughing.

"Yes miss," they all chorused, and burst out laughing. Melissa, just about decently dressed in a shirt and bloomers, slipped out of the room, followed by Beth. Shortly Manon heard Beth's slow deep voice saying something, after which there was silence, and Beth returned.

"They agree it was a good idea for them to wait," she said smugly.

"Who've we got out there then? Manon asked.

"Oh medics of course. Sir James, Eric. Ruby crew and their captain want to see you too, to thank you, though there's bad news there too," Belle said.

"Oh?" Manon asked.

"Well, turns out Poppy and Jen weren't just taken on the street somewhere like we thought," Belle said. "When the Ruby was attacked a fire was set. The girls were taken in all the confusion."

"Miss, the Ruby was badly damaged, the dock authorities had her towed out and beached downriver, for fear the fire would spread. She's pretty much a wreck from what I heard uncle James say. Still, good news is that no one was killed or seriously hurt, just a few burns and the like."

As Manon digested that unwelcome news, there was some loud knocking on the door, and after a moment a reluctant Beth allowed a medic in. She fussed and prodded at Manon, who was surprised by how tired she was feeling, given she'd only just woken up.

The medic brusquely told her that was to be expected, the healing in itself was tiring to the patient, but the concussion though mitigated, had the same effect. Manon was not at all happy when the medic said that she was going to be convalescent for at least two weeks.

Telling everyone in the room to see that Manon rested, the medic bustled out.

Manon was going to protest, but instead had a nap, falling comfortably into a doze as her girls fussed around her. She woke up in time to be fed a light lunch, and was feeling much better, and more alert. Belle reluctantly agreed to allow her to move to the sitting room, where people could come and see her.

She was allowed to look in on Poppy and Jen, who were in the suite's other bedroom. They were both asleep, looking much better than when Manon had last seen them, but after a brief glimpse Belle led her away.

Belle made all the other girls stay in the bedroom while she got Manon settled in a chair. She covered her legs with a blanket and her shoulders with a shawl over her nightdress, making Manon feel like she was an old lady.

Sir James and Eric were her first visitors, Belle wouldn't allow more than two people in at a time.

"So, what is the state of play?" Manon asked.

"We haven't found Cecile yet. I was looking forward to finding out everything she knew," Sir James said. Manon smiled grimly, Sir James was adept at interrogations, and from the old briefings she recalled on Aquitaine, Manon knew they had a reputation for being persuasive as well. So if they found Cecile, Manon was quite sure it wouldn't take long to get everything that she knew from her.

"The network that they are part of runs further into Europe than we suspected, that much is clear is so far from the paperwork. The buyer for the orphanage girls seems to be in Marseilles, we are about to follow that up."

"Several of the guards are German, or were before you and Belle got at them," Sir James said frowning. "From Dusseldorf according to some of the paperwork we found, for all the good that will do us."

Manon nodded, slightly regretting the action as her head instantly throbbed at her. She knew the many petty German states were a nightmare politically, even those that weren't in the French's pocket, so they'd get no cooperation following that lead.

"We are organising sureveillance of the orphanage in London, and will try and get someone on the inside, for a while at least. The Dumains were meticulous record keepers, which has been helpful. Their records show a number of English slave girls over the last 5 years that they have shipped all over europe, all listed as 'english girls ordered'.

"How many?" Manon asked.

"Twenty three," Sir James said. "Four or five, every year, in pairs or a group of three." Manon hissed in anger, she couldn't manage to keep totally silent.

"None of them have matching records showing how they were acquired. The most recent entries were just last week, for three girls, to be shipped to Marseille."

"So that was for my three then," Manon said.

"That was my conclusion," Sir James said. "One other thing. The payments for all the shipments were not only oddly generous, but all came through the same Bank, in Locarno Switzerland. So it looks as though it was the same buyer or buyers, even though deliveries over the years went all over."

"So we aren't going to get any information from there then?" Manon said. "Can I get copies of the reports? Please?" Manon wheedled.

"When I get them, I'll see you are copied in. I'm not having you go off on some hunt of your own though, leave this to me to follow for now," Sir James said sternly. "None of the destinations the girls were sent to are friendly to us, and some are downright hostile. Can't have you causing diplomatic incidents by tearing up the locals."

"And the slaves at Dumain?" Manon asked, keen to change the subject before Sir James made her promise not to follow it up. Which of course she was going to, somehow.

Eric took that one. "Are still being assessed. Most really are legally slaves, but we've found a significant number who are branded, but who have clearly been taken illegally. That's going to be difficult," he said unhappily. "Slavers Guild won't be happy either, as it's morle evidence that their brands are circulating in criminal hands, depsite all they do to prevent it."

Manon nodded. It didn't matter if someone was taken as a slave illegally, not once they were branded. At that moment whoever they had been, and whatever they owned, all vanished, legally it was much the same as if they had died. The slave was a different person to whoever they had been before, in every way.

Their families or loved ones could take them back, even free them. In practice that very seldom happened, or worked out even if they did return. The shame attached to having been a slave easily poisoned old relationships, and often the slaves themselves refused to return or even just manumission, so that their old family never even got asked to take them.

Many a romance or adventure novel featured such stories, they were a cliche for a good reason though. Manon had been very fond of the Romeo and Juliet story when she was a young teenager. Though she'd rather despised the ending. Romeo having eventually found and rescued Juliet after she'd been captured and enslaved, by as it happens Romeo's own family, had whisked her away to live happily ever after.

By her late teens Manon was quite sure that Juliet was wasted on Romeo, who was clearly a drip, and if it had been up to her the story would have had Juliet taken by some powerful mistress and kept as her loving sex slave. Someone like Manon in fact.

"Did I really see Travers with you Eric? And what about the Ruby?" Manon asked.

"The Ruby is finished I'm afraid," Eric said. "It would cost a lot more to repair her than she's worth, even if it's possible and the Captain could afford it. And yes that was Travers. The Captain, the mate and some other crew were there as well."

"They provided the long boat that blocked the river exit. They were more than a little angry, and wanted their stolen crew back. They made short work of the guards at the dock, it was most impressive."

"Before I go," Eric said, "First your guess about the hospital was right. It wasn't the doctors, but the Dumains were paying for some hospital records to be passed to them. So any lone patients, those without next of kin and so on, became possible kidnap victims."

"It was sheer bad luck that you went there. We found her record at the Dumain house, Poppy Jenkins, so we think it tipped them off about her. And then of course they found Jen as well. Both like your three from the orphanage."

"As to why they regarded Poppy and Jen as runaways, we can't say. At least not yet, though perhaps London may shed some light on it," Eric said as Sir James nodded.

"And finally, my lord Duke is very grateful for your assistance clearing out these vipers. Sir James tells me that you are going to have to rest for at least two weeks," he said smiling as Manon muttered impatiently.

"So, there is a house just south of here, the Chateau Helene, which if you would accept the Duchy's hospitality, is to be your home while you stay with us, and has recently become the Duke's property. I believe it was owned by the Dumain family? Anyway, it is being cleaned out and made ready for you and your entourage."

Manon managed to thank him graciously, not easy when you are grinding your teeth together with impatience, while Sir James just grinned at her evilly, enjoying her discomfort.

"It will be ready from tomorrow onwards, when and if you are allowed to travel," Eric said. Bowing he left quietly.

Sir James looked at Manon for a bit, and Belle came and sat by her. "Too close girl, if that shot had been an inch over, you'd be dead," he said to Manon.

Manon shrugged, he was right, but there wasn't anything to say, and Belle was already so upset that she was gripping her hand so tight it hurt. If she got more upset, the medics would be mending Manon's broken fingers next.

"Now, I've some news for you. First, we are going to need you back in London, there's things going on there that I need you for. There's no great rush, so you can enjoy your holiday, but I'd like you back in London well before Christmas."

Manon was a little suspicious of this generosity, as that left her what remained of summer and all of autumn. Meaning that whatever it was that Sir James wanted her for, it was likely messy, but not apparently urgent, which made it odder still. If he had wanted to say more, he would have, so Manon let it be, though the curiousity was burning her.

"The house is lovely, you'll like it I'm sure," he said. "Manon, please? Just rest, spend some time with your girls, or whatever it is you want to do? I doubt this business with the slave trading ring is over, and we are going to need you fit and well in London."

"Now," he went on, "let me tell you about what we are going to do about the Ruby, and Captain Harris. I might need your help to persuade her."

An hour later, Belle hustled her Uncle James out of the door, and let the girls join Manon in the sitting room. Beth, Fiona and Claire were still in their chains, or back in them anyway. They and Melissa were all wearing loose cotton shorts, of the sort some women liked to sleep in, and matching white cotton vest like tops.

Claire and Fiona seemed to be a great deal more at their ease than they had been, Beth was just typically calm. Melissa though was quiet, at least compared to how she'd been when first Manon saw her.

Manon watched Beth and Melissa, who were rather obviously getting close to each other, which worried Manon now that her plan for Beth appeared as though it might work anyway.

"Belle?" Manon asked quietly, nodding at Melissa and Beth. "Are those two involved?"

"Not entirely sure miss, though I'd say it's obvious they want to be? They shared a bed, Beth put a mattress in your room and blocked the door, and Melissa curled up with her," she said laughing. "I can put a stop it to miss? They've no business doing anything with each other without your permission."

Manon nodded, as Belle was correct. Normally if a slave of Manon's had any form of sex without her express permission, they'd have been punished severely. "Leave them Belle, there's nothing normal about this situation. I'm not inclined to spend energy on disciplining them for taking comfort with each other."

"I think I'd like to go and lie down again Belle? Come with me for a bit please?" Manon asked.

Belle forestalled Beth coming to help, and picked Manon up in her arms, carrying her into the bedroom, where she settled her in bed. She lay alongside Manon, on top of the covers.

"What do you know about the house Belle dear?" Manon asked.

"Little more than what you just heard miss. It's in the middle of it's own vineyards, that's the only other thing I know, and it's bordered by a canal. Uncle James and Eric said that the canal was used by the Dumains to move slaves, the illegal ones I mean."

"Belle, ask Claire, Fiona and Beth to come in for a moment please, I need to ask something. If I'm going to have to stay at the house for a fortnight, I want to know how they see that," Manon said.

"Miss, they were asking me about that last night, I mean about what you would want from them now. And again this morning miss," Belle said. "I don't know what they are thinking, but I told them they should just talk to you."

"Thank you dear, that was quite right of you. Well let's see if they have something to say then?" Manon said.

Belle went and brought them in. Melissa came too, and stood with her back to Beth, leaning back on to her with Beth's arms wrapped around her. Claire and especially Fiona just looked nervous.

"So, I am it seems going to be in Bordeaux for another two weeks? You know about this and the house that we have been loaned?" Manon asked.

"We do miss," Claire said.

"So, what I want to know is this? When you took the deal to be my slaves for a week, which ends in four days, it was when I thought Belle and I would be leaving Bordeaux by then. So, what do you girls want to do? I'm not going to be able to deal with you as I would like for a few days it seems."

"You can stick to the original timing of course, or, you could delay a decision until Belle and I have to leave for home, and stay on trial with us for the extra ten or so days," Manon told them. "I will of course stand by my deal with you, no matter what you decide."