Mistress of the Air Ch. 40

Realising their travels were finally over, the whole party was tinged with sadness when The Corseted Domme docked onto the mooring mast at the Howden Airship Station. It had been a fun-filled and action-packed adventure and everyone was sorry to see it come to an end. Lady Sally's submissive gentlemen were effusive in their praise of their mistress and appreciative of the magnificent escapade she'd provided them with.

They had been subjected to all manner of dastardly and perverted incursions into their bodily orifices, but that was, of course, precisely what they had signed up for. They had also experienced explosions, crashes, wild bears, daring rescues and shoot-outs, which they had not signed up for, but which had only added to the excitement of the adventure. Only last night the bishop had found a last sliver of copper lodged in his backside from the exploding boiler.

"It has been an honour and privilege to serve you on your airship, mistress," announced the duke, echoing the sentiments of them all.

"Hear, hear," the banker, judge and bishop called in unison.

"It has been a wonderful adventure," said the banker.

"We did wonder if we would get back to England alive," added the judge. "But I wouldn't have missed it for anything."

"Why, thank you. That's most kind of you. But you should show more faith in your mistress. Come now, it went entirely to plan. Was there ever any doubt that Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester would not prevail?"

"None indeed, mistress," replied the bishop.

The four gentlemen were the first to disembark and go their way, the duke having arranged for his carriage to meet them at the airfield. Frau Linguzh left with them, the duke having promised to show the dwarf the sights of London before returning her to Lady Sally's care.

The Corseted Domme was greeted by a flotilla of horse and carts, commissioned to carry Lady Sally's luggage back to Rudston Hall. She stayed on board to direct the operation with meticulous care. Cook supervised the removal of the kitchen utensils and what remained of the uneaten food and drink. Victoria looked after the trunks and hat boxes containing her mistress's wardrobe. Lady Sally took responsibility for the boxes of her dastardly steam and electric powered devices, whilst Borghild was already returned to her crate. She would be kept at Rudston Hall as a permanent tool for inflicting erotic punishment. The captain was in charge of packing Clarissa, his automaton co-pilot, and for ensuring the airship was left safe and secure. The crew remained on board to assist with carrying everything down the mooring mast into the waiting carts.

They started with the bronze statue. This was lowered carefully from the airship's hold into the largest and strongest cart available, pulled by several shire horses.

"My statue will look simply magnificent in the courtyard of Rudston Hall," commented Lady Sally.

This was followed by the tiles for her Turkish bath and her trunks of shopping from the bazaar in Istanbul. The bulkiest items having been unloaded first, the contents of the kitchen came next. This was overseen by cook who ordered the crew around, insisting she did not want any of her saucepans 'dinted' by careless handling. Cook was the next to leave the airship, needing to get back to Rudston Hall to prepare dinner for Lady Sally.

"And have you enjoyed your airship adventure, cook?"

"No I ain't, milady! Next time you goes on travels, you can count me out. I ain't ever worked in such conditions... and as for them explosions!"

Lady Sally arched an eyebrow and rolled her eyes, "You seemed to manage perfectly well, cook. I recall your roast boar the other night was especially fine."

Cook grunted, though she was obviously pleased with the compliment, before stomping off to accompany the cart carrying the kitchen utensils.

Victoria supervised the unloading of the trunks for Lady Sally's wardrobes, which he'd lovingly packed over the last couple of days. Whilst she was doing that, Captain Wyndham checked the airship was left in good working order by ensuring the air bags were left fully inflated.

He hung from the top of the mooring mast with a team of rigger-men. They were grasping a massive hose in an attempt to thread it into the slit at the cone of the airship. They were finding it hard work as the rubber pipe was wobbly and unwieldy. They had their hands gripped around it but were experiencing enormous difficulty getting it into the hole. The captain gave an order to blast hydrogen through the hose to make it stiff. The tactic worked, and once the hose was rigid, it was easier to penetrate the hole in the tip of the airship. Once threaded into the frame of the airship it was attached to the air bags for the hydrogen tank to inflate them.

Soon everything was ready. The crew was dismissed and Lady Sally, Victoria and Captain Wyndham were the last to leave The Corseted Domme.

Victoria was close to tears, "It's been totally marvellous. It's been such a pleasure to serve you, madam."

"Thank you, my maid. That is, of course, how it should be, Victoria."

The captain was no less emotional about parting though he showed it somewhat less, "It has indeed been a privilege and honour to pilot The Corseted Domme and to be a part of your travels. It has been a fantastic adventure with a remarkable lady and I shall never forget it... or you."

"Oh, thank you captain, your comments are most kind and appreciated," she said leaning forward to give the captain a heartfelt hug.

Lady Sally slung her lightning blunderbuss over her shoulder and the three of them set off to disembark from the airship for the final time.

They descended the steps of the mooring tower in reflective and companionable silence. They tramped along the airfield heading for Lady Sally's charabanc and her chauffeur, who was waiting. Curiously, there were two other official looking, black cars parked alongside her vehicle.

They were prevented from reaching the perimeter of the airfield, and the charabanc, by two men, one in a black suit and bowler hat, the other in the uniform of the British Empire airship fleet.

The former introduced himself as Mr Blenkinsop-Smythe, from the Ministry of War and his companion as Lieutenant Digby from the Ministry of Aviation.

"Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester?" asked the representative from the Ministry of War.

"Yes indeed, that is me," replied Lady Sally in a tone of complete indifference.

"Have you any idea of the trouble you have caused?"

"I have an inkling, yes."

"You've caused major diplomatic incidents wherever you've gone. We've received complaints from the Austro-Hungarian Empire of insults to the Princess Labiastein, from the Prussian Empire for attacking their airship fleet, from the Russian Empire for blowing up the Alexander column, from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for breaking into his harem, and from the Italian Empire for blowing up a villa at Pompeii. Our diplomatic service has been on twenty-four-hour alert whilst you've been on your expedition causing mayhem across the continent. We've had to use all our diplomatic skills to prevent war being declared."

"I don't know what you are fussing about, Mr Blenkinsop-Smythe. The Princess insulted me by serving coffee at tea time. The Prussians tried to capture my airship, so I had no option but to defend myself. I confess my collaboration with the Russian anarchists was perhaps a moment of drunken rashness, but a revolution has long been overdue in that backward empire. And I merely rescued an innocent young girl from a life of sexual slavery at the hands of the Sultan. The destruction of an ancient monument was regrettable, but entirely necessary as a matter of self-defence. Besides, it's a poor do when a Lady of the realm and strict dominatrix cannot have adventures!"

Mr Blenkinsop-Smythe looked accusingly at Lady Sally, "You've also defied an order of the government of the British Empire, and assaulted a soldier of the British Army."

Captain Wyndham reddened. That was his doing though he had apologised.

"I do not believe you have the power to take the property of an English Lady, sir."

"But we do. I have here," he said, waving a signed and sealed letter from the Minister of War before her eyes, "an order for the requisition of your airship. Lieutenant Digby has been ordered to fly her back to the Saffron Walden Airship Base with immediate effect."

Lady Sally was defiant. Her eyes blazed, and she thrust her breasts out, "The Corseted Domme is a vehicle for pleasure. I will not have her used for the purposes of war. She is my property and I will do what I wish with her."

As she was speaking she slipped the blunderbuss off her shoulder into her hands.

"I'm sorry Lady Sally, but the order to requisition your airship is official. I'm going to have to order you to surrender her, by force if necessary."

"I assure you that won't be necessary," said Lady Sally as she swivelled around, raised the sight to her eye and aimed at the mooring tower and The Corseted Domme.

Captain Wyndham looked on aghast. Surely, she wouldn't?

The brass muzzle was directed at its target, and Lady Sally gently squeezed the trigger. There was a sizzle and fizz from the wires within the barrel as the electrical circuits sprung to life, and then a blaze of blue light shot across the sky towards The Corseted Domme. The light hit the top of the mooring tower where the hydrogen tanks and hose feeding the airship's air bags met. At the exact point where there was several hundred square feet of hydrogen in close vicinity.

The captain knew what it meant. He'd seen airship explosions before. He wasted no time in leaping on top of Lady Sally and pushing her onto the grass, sheltering her with his body to protect her.

"Not again, captain," she gasped as his weight squashed her breasts against the ground.

The others hadn't anticipated and were slow to react. They stood immobile, frozen in expectant silence before the inevitable blast. It took an age as if time had been suspended. Then the explosion set off with a deafening roar which thundered across the airfield, audible for miles around. A fireball shot several hundred feet into the sky. The debris from the airship and mooring tower flew through the air. There were shattered girders of duralumin from the fuselage, clusters of burning wood from the gondola, and shards of torn silver-coated linen from the airship's covering. One piece of material, still etched with the word Domme, was carried by the wind and landed miles away. Years later it was sold at auction for thousands of pounds, being the only part of Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester's famous airship to survive the explosion intact.

Luckily, they were on the perimeter and out of the reach of the flying metal but they couldn't escape from the cloud of soot, dust and grime which billowed across the airfield. The men from the Ministry looked shocked and dazed. They stood there for ages until the cloud had settled or dispersed. They were covered in a layer of thick, black soot, their faces like singers in a minstrel show. Victoria, who hadn't responded quickly enough, was also coated in grime. Her white blouse and petticoats, clean on that day for disembarkation, were blackened with a thick layer of soot.

After getting up, the captain's back was coated with a layer of dust, but other than that he had not fared too badly. He reached out a hand and pulled Lady Sally up from the ground. She nonchalantly flicked a piece of grass from her velvet dress and pulled back a single strand of hair that had fallen out of place. She looked completely unperturbed, the skin of her face as elegantly pale as it ever was.

"Really, Victoria, look at you. How can you possibly serve as my maid in that state!"

"Sorry, madam," she mumbled, too covered in grime to even consider contesting the justice of her mistress's reprimand.

She turned to the two men from the Ministry. "Well, that's settled then. I told you I would never surrender The Corseted Domme," she pronounced triumphantly.

"But your airship..." gasped Captain Wyndham, "your beautiful airship!"

Lady Sally shrugged, "Well, my view is that the age of the dirigible is coming to an end. The Corseted Domme was the finest example of airship technology in the world. We shall never see her like again. She will go down in legend. Ah well, I suppose I shall have to find another project to amuse me. I understand the technology of submersibles is advancing."

She marched towards her charabanc with her maid and airship pilot in tow. The men from the Ministry of War and Ministry of Aviation were too shell-shocked and dumbfounded to stop her.

Before climbing into her vehicle, she caught Captain Wyndham with her piercing gaze, "You know, you are welcome at Rudston Hall anytime. It will be a pleasure and honour to receive my airship captain. You will visit me, won't you?"

"Thank you, Lady Sally, and yes, of course I'd love to visit."

A wry smile spread across the captain's lips as Lady Sally's charabanc roared away leaving him covered in a layer of dirt.

THE END