Chapter Nine



THE STORY SO FAR



Immediately after her escape from Hell Island, a feat none had previously though possible, Roberta and her loyal follower Paula had been captured by bandits. At the bandit lair, Roberta had been ritually flogged at the behest of the female sage, Philippa, in order to collect enough of her blood for the wise old woman to use in order mystically  to divine Roberta‘s guilt or innocence. This oracle had pronounced the wronged Roberta an innocent woman. The pair then left the robbers’ hideout and started out on the long journey back to the Royal Palace and a confrontation with the real villains, who continued to menace the King’s life and the security of the realm.

On the way Roberta was involved in a number of adventures. Her first two had brought her a total of three severe floggings, despite the great services she had performed in ridding two communities of deadly enemies, the so-called Lord Gerald and the brutal mercenary fighter Rodrigo.

Roberta’s continuing nudity, an asset when a member of the King’s Golden Guard, was a painful liability out in the world of ordinary folk, increasingly terrorised by a rabidly puritanical group called the Ladies’ League for Truth and Decency.

Here begins:-

ADVENTURE NUMBER THREE



"Twenty five"

Swish, CRACK!

"No more, Roberta. Please!"

"Twenty six"

Swish -  Crack!

"I'll never step out of line again, Mistress Roberta, my love! Honestly!"

"Twenty seven"

Swish - crack!

Paula held her peace thereafter - for several reasons. For one thing, she was going to get as many strokes as Roberta wanted to give her, laid on with all of the enraged fighter's prodigious strength and that was that! What was the point of crying out and disgracing herself further?  Roberta was, rightly, somewhat pissed off with her these days. And, let's face it she thought,  it wasn't that bad! Now that her bottom was so much raw meat she was quite getting into it, and in a big way!

**************

"Fifty!"

Swish - crack"

"LOVELY!! LOVELY!!! More, more! Give me more!

"Sorry, you fucking pervert! I'm too tired for any more today!"

*********

A week had passed since Roberta had left the last village, in possession both of a stick to beat Paula and yet another extremely sore back. When, bit by bit, she had got Paula to tell her all that had happened to her while her Mistress was either working her butt off or being immured in a stinking dungeon, Roberta had blown her top and in a big way!

The caning she had just administered was the third so far and the longest. It would not be the last. Roberta’s anger was as incandescent as ever! As soon as Paula had healed up she would get another. It was not so much the little girl's living it up while her Mistress was going through yet more pain and grief.

Roberta was more than happy to collect all the pain and let Paula live in comfort. It was the way she had surrendered her body to so many men on the nights  after the fight that had truly disgusted Roberta. The thought that she had been locked up down below while the little tramp had been betraying her like that made her truly livid.

She mounted Paula's horse and spurred it into a trot, Paula, her arse still throbbing painfully and her soles sorer and sorer on the rough stony ground, ran barefoot and naked beside her. The little assistant was barred clothing for another week. Those nice fine garments that Paula had acquired recently with money Roberta had earned by the sweat of her body were stowed away in a saddle bag and there they would stay until the miscreant had spent a few frosty nights under the stars. And it was getting nice and chilly at nights.

It was the cold rather than the caning that really got to Paula. As indicated above, the stick gave her more pleasure than pain after the first few strokes. It was the cold at night and Roberta's continuing anger and denial of her body to her that caused the real pain. Men had been great fun for those few wild nights, but Roberta was better than all the men in the world and she hungered for her already. She hungered for a return of her affection and for the feel of her warm and strong body against hers.

And then, the very next day, Paula woke up in the morning to find herself covered in furs and her clothes laid out for her to wear. Roberta might have a furious temper, but her rages, so terrifying while they lasted, didn't usually last that long. As far as the former Golden Guard was concerned, all was forgotten and forgiven. They breakfasted, eating fish that Roberta had caught and cooked while Paula still slept, and resumed their journey, Paula astride her horse and wearing all her finest clothes and naked Slave Roberta walking swiftly beside her.

“Will my Mistress forgive her Slave for caning her and stripping her?” asked Roberta at mid day when they had stopped to water and feed the horse, as well as themselves. Roberta had killed a deer and they had dined well.

“You are the Mistress, Roberta. You are the glorious woman I have worshipped for so long ever since I saw you running with the King’s carriage. Those fools at the village might have forced me to call you my slave, but we both know better than that!”

“I think, for the purposes of the journey, with you clothed and riding a horse and me naked and on foot, it makes sense if others think of me as the slave, Paula! That way my nudity might not get me into quite so much trouble! And this pretence will be easier to make convincing if we live the situation every second of the day. So, I repeat my question. Will my Mistress forgive her slave for her gross insolence in caning and stripping her?”

“If my Slave will promise to cane her Mistress from time to time, then I forgive her for stripping me. The caning was wonderful after the first few strokes. As far as that is concerned, there is nothing to forgive!”

They finished their meal and Paula ordered Roberta to kneel so that she might mount her horse more easily. It was a very long way up for such a tiny girl and Roberta‘s strong young back was a great help, especially as the intelligent Slave rose with Paula on her back and elevated her to the saddle! It was a lot easier for Roberta by this time.  Paula had stood on her raw and bleeding back after her last whipping and it had been days before Roberta had healed enough not to gasp in pain as those boots ground into her  torn flesh..

**************

“I see a small settlement ahead, Slave!” said Paula anxiously. She was higher up than Roberta, who was running by her side as she kept the horse trotting. The exercise was good for Roberta’s legs and the Slave was enjoying the chance to stretch herself. Paula had been keeping her doing this cracking pace for two hours now and sweat was pouring off her, despite the frosty weather.

“What does my Mistress propose we do? Make a detour?”

Roberta knew what would make most sense. Keep well away from towns, especially towns where the Ladies’ League for Truth and Decency was strong! Roberta wanted no more floggings just yet. Unlike Paula, whose backside was already craving for more lovely swishy strokes, she was quite happy to postpone her next whipping indefinitely - for ever, even! There was more to life than a succession of severe whippings - or ought to be!

“What would the Slave do - if she weren’t a Slave?” Paula sounded uncertain. Authority was all very well, but not when important and rather tricky decisions were to be made!

“The Slave has no idea. The Slave does not have ideas above her station. The Slave is a good and humble Slave!”

Paula cursed under her breath. There was no need to play this game quite so much by the book! Roberta would know what to do. She did know, but was letting Paula decide. The mistress thought the matter over for a few minutes and then decided a little tentatively.

Paula recollected those days in that cosy little cottage with the Mayor making sure she lacked for nothing. It would be nice to stay in a comfortable inn, especially  now that the frost seemed to be a permanent feature of life on the open road!

“We go to the town and hope there is a nice warm inn with plenty of food and wine to warm me after all this cold. I’m fucking perished! It’s OK for you, Slave. You’re not human! If you were human you’d be blue, not a healthy pink! And let’s give this horse his head! Come on, Slave! Move that lazy butt! What do you think I feed you for?”

This time it was Roberta who cursed  Paula for playing the game of Slave and Mistress a little too much for real! After two hours of jogging, she was more ready for a rest than a hectic sprint! But she kept up the increased pace until the outskirts of the small community were reached.

Two elderly people, a man and his aged wife, came out of the first cottage. They stared at the utterly naked Roberta, wearing not even her weapons any longer - these were in Paula’s safe keeping nowadays. The woman saw the red marks around Roberta’s ankles where her flesh had been seared by hot metal not very long since. This was a former prisoner, whose shackles had but lately been struck off her felon‘s body! Could it be the fearsome warrior who had slain the mighty Rodrigo? There had been mixed reports about Roberta, but the balance was unfavourable.

“Is there a good and comfortable hostelry in your town?” asked Paula, looking very imperious on her fine horse, despite her diminutive size. The villagers in the last port of call had fitted her out superbly.

“We have two inns, Mistress. One is for low types and very rowdy and disreputable The other is a little further past the first and is well fitted for a great lady like yourself!”

“A great lady! Did you hear that, Slave!” giggled Paula as she spurred her horse to complete the rest of the journey.

Roberta smiled. Paula looked so pleased with herself to be thus addressed and she could see why the old couple had been impressed. Paula looked like a queen these days! It was fortunate, though, that the couple had not been able to see her still bruised and liberally striped backside!

Because of the continuing discomfort in her rear quarters, Paula was glad to be helped down by her Slave. Leaving Roberta to hold the reins, she went into the inn. The owner was waiting for her, rubbing his hands and smiling subserviently. He knew who Paula was and who her companion was, also. This lady had much to spend and he was grateful she was going to spend it here - for times were hard lately!

He showed her to the finest room and she looked around appreciatively. Very nice indeed! This would do her very satisfactorily for a few days!

Having had her belongings taken up to the room, she made sure that the fine horse was stabled. Roberta was taken to the blacksmith’s to have a fresh manacle fitted  - to one leg only. - and with a very short chain.  Then she was secured to the iron rail which enclosed the public fountain. Because of the waterlogged nature of the ground in this low lying area the cellars were flooded and unsuitable. So Roberta got to stay above ground and in the fresh air. (And in the freezing cold!).

Happily for the Slave, the Ladies League for Truth and Decency were not strong in this particular town. The place was dominated by red blooded men who appreciated the sight of a pretty woman and were fascinated by Roberta,! Drooling with unsatisfied desire, they lined up to examine her - at a safe distance, for she looked pretty angry to be ogled and they knew her reputation!

Long after Paula had dropped off into a nice deep slumber, cosseting her body  between freshly laundered and lavender scented sheets in a lovely warm room with the affectionately purring hotel cat for company, the men hung around and admired the tethered Slave, gloriously naked and out in the continuing cold.

They all averred that none had laid eyes on such a cunt before - not in all their born days. They all agreed that it was a veritable joy to behold. Oh! To be the one to insert his eager member into that passage of delight! Oh, to be the lucky man to taste the sweet juices that oozed from out of that sweet cave of love! Tough luck, guys! No man ever had, or ever would! Finally they drifted off to their homes and their less than pulchritudinous wives. At last, Roberta was able to snatch a few hours sleep herself.

It was exciting to be shackled again! She was beginning to like this game. Before she drifted off into a shallow and chilly sleep, she shook her leg and heard the chain clink and rattle. This was fun! Paula and she must go on playing this game!

*****************

Paula woke up an hour after sunrise. The darling cat was still sleeping and she slipped carefully out of bed in order not to wake her.

Looking out of the window she saw that Roberta was awake and being appraised by a couple of men, both of them on their way to work in the fields. Roberta looked oddly happy. Could it be that she liked sleeping buck naked in the freezing cold? Obviously she did! But Paula preferred her nice warm bed and the company of the darling adorable pussy cat!

The cat had started to move. Now that the warmth from Paula’s body was no longer coming up through the bedclothes she was aware that it was time get on with things! Out there were birds to be caught and killed, mice to be played with and put to a grisly death, milk to be drunk, fish to be eaten and - above all - shit to be expelled from her lithe and furry body onto some proud gardener’s lovingly tended borders. Another day! She stole gracefully downstairs and was allowed to exit the building. After some thought she decided on shitting in the Mayor’s garden this morning. She’d never liked the bastard and when he angrily threw things at her, he always missed! That creep was fucking pathetic!

*******************

Paula ate eggs, bacon, freshly baked rolls and a whole bunch of grapes for breakfast. Afterwards she drank several cups of incredibly aromatic coffee. She had always wondered, heretofore, why coffee always seemed to smell so much better than it tasted. This incredible brew tasted a hundred times better than it smelled! And it smelled pretty good!

She looked up and saw a very important looking man crossing the room. If it were not for the tethered but still formidable Roberta’s jealousy, she would have fancied him! The man stood over her and coughed with extreme delicacy and politeness. He looked a real toff! And to think that she had once been a mere maid and now she was being deferred to by men like him!

“Are you the owner of the Slave in the square, madam?” he asked.

“I am. I was told that she could be left there overnight, so long as she was securely shackled.”

“Indeed, Madam! No problem! But we wondered if she might be the same mighty warrior who recently killed that over the hill drunken bum Rodrigo?”

“My Slave is the very same woman. No one, male or female, can fail to be defeated by my obedient and loyal Slave. So watch out!”

“Just as you say, Madam!”

Paula continued to eat her delicious breakfast. The sweet cat, having crapped over the Mayor’s prize tulips and dug them up in a ritual burial ceremony, wrapped her sinuous body around her sweet ankles.

“Hi, sweetheart! Have a good shit?” she asked solicitously.

“Meow!”

****************

Roberta was hungry! And with hunger came anger. While that selfish bitch Paula was taking her time over breakfast, she was fucking starving out here in the square.

“Come on, you cow!” she muttered viciously.

Roberta contented herself with a loving contemplation of all the details of Paula’s next caning! It was going to be the most protracted and brutal yet! She’d show the little minx! But even this supremely satisfactory sadistic fantasy was not sufficient to stave off the hunger pangs for long!

When food was finally brought over for her it was so horrible that she almost puked. The only thing that relieved the monotony that long cold day was being allowed to go the toilet!

****************

Paula had been at the hotel for just over a day and it was morning again. The sweet little pussy cat had performed her morning toilet and wreaked great havoc upon the Mayor’s prized garden. The angrily aimed boot had missed by a mile - as always! Pussy was very happy today! Now that she had cleansed  her body of impurities, it was time to check out that very nice guest who had so kindly allowed her to sleep on her bed the last couple of nights.

Paula saw Pussy and cried out in sheer joy.

“Darling sweetie-pie! How are we this lovely morning? Let’s go and see Slave Roberta! Come on, darling!”

Paula picked up the purring cat and wandered over to the square where Roberta was shackled.

“Good morning, Mistress! What a sweet little cat! Before I was selected to join the Golden Guard, I was given a gorgeous little kitten. It would have grown up to look just like that angelic darling! Where did my Mistress find her?”

 “It is the hotel cat, Slave Roberta. Are you well this morning?”

“I thank my Mistress for her concern. I am very well, except for the men folk of this place who crowd around at night to inspect my cunt!

“You can’t blame them Slave Roberta! It is a pretty exceptional cunt! I often masturbate about it myself! I hope you are a good girl and spread your legs for them to get a good look!”

“Of course, Mistress! Are we moving on today, Mistress Paula?”

Roberta wasn’t too optimistic! She saw a certain kind of look in Paula’s eye! She was going to be here a day or two yet!

“No! I like it here! And poor pussy would be so sad if I left her. Wouldn’t you, sweetheart?”

“Meow!”

“So your poor old Slave gets to stay here, I suppose! Have a nice few days, Mistress!”

“Thank you, Roberta! I intend to! Pussy and I are going to have a ball!”

“Mistress!”

Paula was just going back to the hotel, fondling the pussy.

“What is it now, Slave!”

“Can’t you find some work for me? That money isn’t going to last for ever. Not the way you spend it!”

“Mind your own lowly business, Slave! And don’t be so fucking rude! It’s all taken care of - or will be!”

Paula went back to her room, depositing the cat on her bed where she immediately fell fast asleep (the cat - that is!).

She counted her remaining money. There was absolutely loads and loads of it! Silly stingy Roberta with her careful peasant upbringing! This would last for six months at the rate the pair were spending it! After all, Roberta hardly spent any and she was so good with her bow and arrow that they ate for free most of the time! But the Slave did have a point. It was NEVER possible to have too much money! And the mighty Slave would start going to seed if left where she was. Hard and back breaking work must be found for her.

Before she had time to think any further on the subject there was a knock on her door. She shouted to whoever it was to come in.

It was the hotel keeper and two others. The cat looked up briefly, recognised her beloved owner, and went back to sleep. He came in with the two others and stood respectfully until Paula asked them to be seated.

“I hope you are enjoying your stay with us, Madam?”

“Very much. Your cat is such a darling!”

“She’s called Suzie! She’s very popular around here, except with the mayor!”

“Any way, I don’t suppose you came to pass the time of day! What can I do for you?”

The taller of the two gentleman spoke first.

“It’s about your strong Slave. We would like to hire her for maybe as long as a week or two. We are not the richest people, Madam, but could afford twenty gold pieces for two weeks’ hire.”

“What exactly do you want her to do? She can fight and she can lift and carry. At the last place we stayed at she cleared an entire grove of trees inside two weeks. Then she fought and killed Rodrigo. She was wonderful that day!”

The taller man explained what Roberta was to do.

“My daughter has been kidnapped by robbers who have taken her to their camp in the woods. I cannot afford the ransom they have demanded. There isn’t that much money in the whole town! We think there a dozen of them and we know where they are camped. Your Slave is a former |Golden Guard. We could see that without being told, but her fame has spread far and wide these last weeks. I can promise you our eternal gratitude as well as the money, which is very little, but all we can afford. Will you help us?”

Paula frowned and then replied.

“I’ll be frank with you, gentlemen. Roberta is not really a slave. In fact she is my Mistress. When she was in the Golden Guard I was an auxiliary and her special helper. It just seemed  to the two of us that it would be prudent for her to act the part of Slave in the hope that her perpetual nakedness might not be punished so badly.

Wherever we go she gets horribly flogged for her nudity which is a badge of honour for her as a Golden Guard. I’ll have to ask her if she will do it. I hardly think her answer is in doubt. Your daughter will be saved and she will save her And I can‘t imagine it taking her as long as two weeks. What’s more, I am sure she would flay me alive if I accepted a penny from you!”

The group went over to the square. As Paula had guessed, Roberta readily agreed to help to the fullest extent of her powers. Her manacles were removed and she and Paula conferred.

“I want to come as well, darling! Unless you think I’d only be in the way!”

“You stay here and keep furry little Suzie company! I’ll take two of the men with me. Any more would be too many. Goodbye, darling Paula! It won’t be long!”

******************

A couple of hours later, the little group were looking down at the bandit encampment. Roberta recognised the leader. His name was Alfonso and she had clashed with him once in her first year. Most of his gang had been killed or captured but he had escaped after a brief duel with a hard pressed Roberta who had been unable to stop him getting away. She had needed to be in six places at once that day - luckily for Alfonso!

“Is that her” asked Roberta of the young girl’s father. “The fair haired girl tied to the stake?”

“Yes. That is my Ethelberta. Poor child! She looks so frightened!”

“They appear not to have harmed her. You say it was the day before yesterday, a few hours before we arrived?”

The distraught father nodded.

“There are too many of them to make a frontal attack. Those aren’t ordinary bandits, but trained fighters. I know the type! I will go and challenge their leader to fight me for her. Don’t worry! I recognise him and know he won’t turn down a fight! Not him! Go home, both of you! I’ll bring your daughter to you in the morning! I think I may have to be their guest overnight if I know anything about Alfonso‘s hospitality! Get along home. I’ll get you daughter back!”

The father and his friend left, wondering just how wise it had been to enlist the help of this naked woman who seemed to know the bandits and who was known to be a fugitive. But something about Roberta spoke of honesty and straight dealing.

Making sure that the two men had indeed gone home, Roberta strode into the robber camp.

“Well, Alfonso! It’s been a while since we last met! Taken to kidnapping poor young women, have we. Nice! I don’t think! I have a suggestion for you!”

“Hello, Roberta. You look more wonderful than ever, despite the many scars you have collected since we last had the pleasure! I am terribly sorry to hear about you troubles. We have no quarrel with you. Have some wine with us and leave.  Unless, of course, you care to throw in you lot with us. You’d be very welcome and be my deputy!”

“No. I want Ethelberta to come with me. Will you release her for old time‘s sake?”

“You are joking, Roberta! Who is to make us? You are armed and deadly, but so are we. How will you make me let her go?”

“I’ll fight you for her. Or are you reduced to being a miserable coward as well as a kidnapper? Once I respected you, rebel though you were, but now you make me ill just looking at you! Fight me and if I win, she goes free!”

“I accept. You know me well enough! Never turn down the chance of a good, hard fight! And you always give people that - good old Roberta! But I choose the weapons - right!”

“Right!”

Alfonso went over to a group of his men, all with their weapons trained on Roberta and ready to pierce her naked body with a dozen arrows if their leader gave the order. They all laughed heartily and Alfonso came over to Roberta.

“I hear that your back has tasted deeply of the lash these last years since we met on the field of battle! You will be tasting the whip’s far from gentle kisses today! We fight with whips, Roberta! Still keen or will you go with my blessing and leave the ransom negotiations to us and the villagers?”

“Of course I accept. Let’s get on with it! Will you strip to make it a fair contest?”

“No. I’m not as stupid as I look, my fine friend! You chose to be naked, Roberta, not I!”

Roberta was handed a whip, the lash of which was twelve feet in length and Alfonso was given one of equal size. She removed her sword belt and bow. Roberta stood before her foe, unarmed except for the whip. It felt good to be wielding one for a change! As a Golden Guard she had rarely been on whip duty, but  frequently on the receiving end!  

Alfonso wore breeches and a leather coat which it would take Roberta many good hard  and well delivered cuts to penetrate. She, as ever, wore nothing but her skin! And she was unhappily aware that the said skin was about to be cut to ribbons. She wasn’t looking forward to the next few minutes! But the sight of the terrified girl, hardly more than a child, was enough to make her refuse to even think about backing out. The men backed away, none of them anxious to be sliced with the biting flying leather thongs when the fight was under way!

Alfonso struck first and Roberta ducked, feeling the breeze as the wickedly tapering thong missed her by less than an inch. Roberta struck back and saw a tear appear in the jacket. A good start!

She was less successful at evading the next effort from Alfonso and her muscular upper arm, midway between elbow and shoulder, bled from a slight nick as the whip flashed at her, too quick for her to avoid completely. Gritting her teeth in anticipation of more pain to come she moved in close and aimed three hard blows at the robber’s shoulders. She got the whip to land on the same spot each time and got through the material with the third. Roberta  had the satisfaction of seeing him bleed and hearing him cry out in pain. But she was bleeding herself after three  minor cuts and one very, very major one.

Next time she aimed for his face and missed! He aimed for hers and missed. From then on both fighters concentrated on the body, which provided a bigger target and one easy to hit, as both fighters began to find out! For a painfully long time the stood toe to toe and exchanging more than twenty hard blows. For minutes nothing was heard save the cruel swishing and hissing of the whips and the sound of leather on clothing and leather on flesh. Roberta was cut open all over her exposed body but she reduced his coat to bloody shreds and he began to cry out in pain as she pressed home her attack, seemingly oblivious of the pain she must be suffering.  Roberta, as ever, made not a sound. After five minutes of this Alfonso stepped back and raised his hands in a gesture of defeat.

“Take her, Roberta. My God, you are a tough one! Stronger than any man I have ever met and not made from flesh and blood but the finest steel! Will you stay overnight with us? Your wounds need dressing. I have really cut you up! Why  you aren‘t lying in a pool of blood I can‘t imagine! You aren‘t human!”

Roberta shook her head.

“Thanks for the kind offer, but I must get the child home. If you had seen how desperate her father was to see her again, you’d not keep her from him a minute longer than necessary. Try to find a more honourable way to earn you and your band a living, Alfonso! You’ll all feel the cleaner for it, even if you are poorer!”

The girl was released and Roberta took her by the hand and led her home to her grateful father. The citizens crowded round to congratulate her on her bravery. Then Roberta , who had lost a frightening amount of blood and was already deathly pale, fainted.

She woke up next day to find herself in bed and covered with sheets. Her body was covered in bandages and she struggled to free herself from then. She was a Golden Guard! She must remove this covering at once. Then she fainted again.

Paula heard the commotion and came into the room where her friend lay. She saw Roberta’s distress and gave a crisp instruction to the physician tending her.

“Take off her bandages. She will go berserk if you don’t. Every second she wears those dressings is a disgrace to her. The air on her skin will heal her soon enough! She has suffered worse than those wounds in her time and never had bandages for them!”

Roberta was unwrapped and her dreadful wounds left to the air to heal them. She lay naked on the bed and fell into a deep sleep from which she did not awake for forty eight hours.

The heroine amazed everyone except Paula by the speed of her recovery. As the little girl had predicted, Roberta angrily refused all offers of money, but the insistence of the grateful father finally wore down her resistance. They were the guests of the townsfolk for three weeks and by the time they were ready to leave, her wounds had all healed. But the scars on her belly, breasts, thighs, arms and shoulders would never disappear.

“Funny, isn’t it, darling!” said Paula as she accompanied her friend on the way out of the town, after bidding Suzie a very tearful farewell. She had come to adore that cat!

“What is funny?”

“The first place we come to where they accept your nudity and you still get whipped!”

“I’m not laughing, Paula! And I think it‘s time for your next caning!”