on you in your chains I had a need. Because of it I gave you away.' He gestured testily. 'Fifty thousand pounds… to any of us now it is a bagatelle.' I clinked my handcuffs and looked bright and attentive. 'It is the oil. Since I sold you the oil has flowed from beneath my desert. I am richer than your King or your Queen.' He gave the sigh I knew so well. 'Where there is oil there comes the jackals, Their leader is Ashad.'
'He is in London, lord.'
'Ah yes! He is indeed! He is in England for you.'
'Only for me? But Master-'
'This Ashad is a fox as well as a jackal. He had become aware that you possess my love. How he knows does not matter. He knows! He believes that with you as hostage he can wring concessions from me for his tattered Communists.'
'Me?' I was askance. 'For me-'
'Do not dissemble, child. I have loved you from the moment Lotta marched you before my eyes. As a father perhaps… but a father's love is strong.'
'My lord-' My voice broke. I was crying. He must have pressed a bell. When Lotta came his order was terse: 'Her handcuffs: remove them.' When she had gone with the steel bands warm from my flesh I was trembling, 'Master… may I?' The sheik Inman Azzam held out his arms.
'I think you get bathed and perfumed tomorrow, darling.' Yola knelt in her chains and eyed me with amusement.
'What are you doing back in this dungeon wearing those pretty trifles? They belong in a Pasha's bedroom.'
'I can't take them off, darling. They handcuffed my hands behind my back again.'
'You mean they actually took them off for awhile! I wish I could be so lucky.'
'You will be tomorrow.'
'Why not today?' I felt a traitress. 'They seem to feel you don't have the right attitude.'
'I take it you have?' I moved up within the radius of her chain. 'Strip me, darling.' For a moment I thought Yola would angrily refuse. But, sulkily, she used her fettered hands to take from me all that Lotta had used for my adornment. Naked, I felt less guilty. Impelled by the same longing for beloved flesh we sank to the stone and, once again, tangled ourselves in each other's chains, Our mouths wet and seeking.
'I'm a decoy, darling,' I explained afterwards, 'Azzam believes Ashad's men will come and try to get me back. They know I'm here, but they don't know about the half dozen soldiers. Azzam says they can pick Ashad up anytime. It's the others they want most. They're dangerous types. They're out there somewhere, sort of hovering.'
'Hmmmm! Wouldn't someone like to kidnap me out of my own dungeon! Phemie darling, I'm tired of being chained up down here.' I was still on ticklish ground. Azzam had told me more.
'Darling-' I choked on what I found hard to tell. 'It isn't just Ashad,' Yola knew instantly. 'No, Phemie, no! Not you!'
'He's going to take me back with him,'
'And you're willing!' Her voice was pure heartbreak.
'I don't have anything to say about it. He has a private plane and I'll be loaded on board in a big wicker basket, tightly bound, of course.' I let a giggle slip by, 'It's probably the same basket they used on me that other time, I'll be gagged too. He said it will save me the agonies of decision, About screaming, that is.'
'You don't sound too put out about it.'
'Darling, you know Azzam, I think I love him in a daughter-like way, In fact I know I do…' I tugged fretfully at my handcuffs. They're useful at such times as an expression of frustration. I wished ardently it was someone else who would say what had to be said, 'But that isn't the crux of the problem. He's going to take you along too.' It was the deepest dungeon silence ever. Yolanda broke it with an emphatic and outraged 'No!' I did a bit more clinking, and hoped I looked as unhappy as I felt. 'I don't think you'll have anything to say about it either.'
'But it's… it's… nuts! And by their code and standard it's dishonest. I paid money for you.'
'He mentioned that. He says he could easily give you a million for me if he was leaving you here. But he says it's not possible to buy a slave from a slave.'
'What century does he think he's in!'
'He spoke of that too. He says the oil has created a whole new morality. The ones who have it possess unlimited power. He is quite sure that even if the authorities know he has taken you — I suppose abducted or kidnapped is the word. He says they won't do a thing. They won't want to offend him. He says it's going on all over that part of the world,' Yola gave a tremendous sigh of impotence. 'Oh damn! Damn these chains and damn this dungeon. I'm sure Azzam is a decent old fart in his own Arabian way but he's got delusions of grandeur. He's misjudging things, and one of the things is me. I'm not a slave, I'm the wrong type. Can't you tell him what a rotten slave girl I'd be for him?'
'I've already told him, darling. He says I love you too much to be able to judge. But anyway, he seems convinced that any girl, if she's properly dealt with, gets to be like me sooner or later.'
'What he means is if you whip her enough?' I was constantly squirming. Trying to explain Azzam seemed to put me on his side against my darling. 'Well, I suppose so, but there's these chains too. He thinks being held captive the way you are is bound to affect your feelings.'
'He couldn't be more right! If I'm ever given a chance I'm off to the police. What sort of an idiot does he take me for!'
'I don't think you'll be given the chance, Mistress. I know I won't. He says it's kinder if we don't have chances.'
'And is this your reward for being a nice little slave, to be tossed in here with me, handcuffed so you can't scratch a tickle?'
'Azzam says we're good for each other. He wants us to be together.'
'Oh Phemie!' Yola looked at me piteously. 'He can get away with it, can't he! Oh damn, damn and double damn!' Furiously she fought the chain to the wall as though she believed it might break. In telling this story of me, I come now to an odd mixture of farce, and sadness and laughter. It has been said that a man cannot serve two Masters. I found it true that a girl cannot serve a Master and a Mistress. It's just not possible! The chasm between Yolanda and the Sheik Inman Azzam was so wide I could see only vistas of pain for my darling if that chasm was bridged. I had the temerity to expostulate with my Master about Yola's unsuitability for the role in which he had cast her, and was instantly sent to find Lotta and request her to beat each of the soles of my feet five times with a thin cane. I have never known such agony. Receiving it I understood why she had tied me so tightly. When I was freed I was a very subdued little girl who realized how infinitesimal was her capacity to influence events. I hadn't intended to show my feet to Yola. They hurt when I walked, but in a dungeon you don't do much walking. But when the poor darling let go a burst of frustration and demanded that, with my influence at Court, surely I could do something! I let her see what the cane had done. We both cried together and felt better. I did get a promotion. My handcuffs got changed from back to front. In the front they were purely symbolic. I wore them with immense panache, But they were all I did wear. After Yola had stripped me in the dungeon no one thought it worth the trouble to dress me again. I didn't mind. I know I'm nice naked, and I've got sort of used to it. Jennie was a surprise. She was in the cell with the barred front and barred door. This means that anyone inside is like a goldfish in a bowl. Anyone can get a good look at you and there's nowhere to hide. Lotta sent me down there on some pretext and there she was.
'So you were here all the time!' That was my greeting. She sounded jubilant. Before I could say a word, she demanded: 'Get me out of this mess.' Jennie was naked, and a very well constructed naked too! Her hands were tied palm to palm at her back and her elbows bound tight together with rope. I could see it hurt. I held up my hands and grasped a couple of bars. Seeing my handcuffs she also took the trouble to notice me. 'What are you running 'round like that for'?' she demanded. 'And those things on your wrists… '
'I'm a prisoner too.'
'Come off it, ducks, yer on the wrong side of bars.'
'Miss Harding is a prisoner too.'
'Oh her! Is this all part of that fool game you two play?' At that point I was joined by Lotta. I was glad to see her.
'She one of Ashad's?' she asked bluntly.
