Pantry

"Dad! Stay here and let us back in. We need to rescue her."

Anna was out the door followed by Petra, Tracy and I. I had no idea what she meant to do, but she needed help. We dashed through a few confused naked and stained people. Wayne was still clutching his damaged balls as Lady Bowen hit him around the head with her heavy handbag. Dean was just watching apparently aghast.

Anna jammed the bucket on Wayne's head. She started beating the bucket with the loose chain. She had dropped the handcuffs. Tracy retrieved them. She and I brought Wayne to the ground. I wrestled the handcuffs on to him, pulling his hands behind his back. He was moaning as Anna and Tracy rolled him into the purple moat. Dean and the other naked attackers retreated as a group of Vikings appeared. I had to scramble down to the edge of the moat to drag Wayne out before he drowned.

Anna picked up the key of the handcuffs from where I had dropped it. She waved it in front of Wayne's eyes before deliberately throwing it into the moat. She and Tracy took the loose chain and tangled it around Wayne's thrashing legs as he swore at them.

Lady Bowen rearranged her clothing.

"Can someone tell me what is happening?" she asked in a calm voice.

"This is Wayne, convicted rapist, and escaped prisoner," I said. "He and his brother were trying to take revenge on these two women for giving evidence that led to his conviction. I think his attempt has failed."

Tracy was sitting on Wayne's chest. Anna was using the bucket to pour purple water from the moat over Wayne's head as he spluttered. His swearing had stopped as he tried to keep from drowning. Gently I took the bucket out of Anna's hands.

"I think you've won, Anna," I said.

In the distance we could hear police sirens.

+++

The aftermath took most of the night. Wayne was taken away in a police van still wearing Anna's handcuffs. His whole skin was stained by potassium permanganate as were most of the naked attackers. None of the attackers had even managed to cross the moat. The fire hoses and water pistols had deterred every attempt.

All the audio and other equipment had been confiscated by the police pending prosecutions. Several drug dealers had been arrested. The video streamed to the website had identified the dealers very clearly.

In the great hall the Vikings and the great and good of the local community shared beer and sandwiches. The fire chief and station commander were the heroes of the wall defence but Anna and Tracy were the night's real heroines. They had humiliated the man who had abused them.

Most of us had some small stains from potassium permanganate but the naked attackers were marked for weeks. The edited video of the failed attack was a hit on the web. Those who were marked as attackers were dismayed to find that they had been assisting a convicted rapist.

The hints given to Tracy via her friend had come from Dean. He had been appalled by what Wayne had done and the evidence given at Wayne's trial. He had to help his brother but hadn't agreed with trying to kidnap Anna and Tracy. He was convicted of drug dealing but had a community sentence.

The moat stayed purplish brown for weeks.

+++

On Saturday evening Anna and I were comparing the stains on our skin. I was kissing every one of hers I could find. When we went upstairs to her bedroom she decided that now was the time for a display of the 1950s dresses Helen had bought for her. We didn't get beyond the first one. I was burrowing under her bouffant petticoats to kiss her naked crotch. It took weeks before she had tried on every one of those dresses and during those weeks Anna and I decided we were inseparable.

We had repelled naked invaders together. Now we were naked, together, in bed every night.

*

Author's Note:

This story was written in May to July 2016 and is set in 2015. So-called legal-highs became illegal in England and Wales on 25 May 2016.