The Old Friends of Emma Elphinstone

"Justifiedly!" George snarled.

Emma shrugged and smiled. "As you wish, I am sure. But I should warn you, this attitude does little for you in this place. Several of my libertine friends sometimes find it quite amusing to seduce and corrupt Company men who fall into their hands, but your attitude of unmitigated contempt and ownership is most unappealing... Audrey, dear, have no fear; your husband is safe from any pirate woman's attentions. But George – if you wish to dip your wick in the near future, you are going to have to revise your idolisation of your wife."

The two prisoners stared at Emma, stunned, as she turned a cold smile toward Audrey. "Which brings us on to other secrets," she continued. "However, first, excuse me – the day is already hot, and my throat is dry." She stood up and went to a nearby table, which was set with a clay water-jug and three glasses. She poured herself a glass of water, and stood toying with the ribbon bows on the front of her gown for a moment. "Ah, Audrey – what have you not told your husband?" she said, then turned, holding her glass. The two prisoners gasped at that moment, as Emma had in fact unfastened her gown, which now fell open at the front. Emma was wearing a leather armoured corset underneath, but nothing else, and her breasts were thus bared.

"Audrey's secret is very simple," she said casually. "She wishes to be respectable – to justify your adulation, I suppose, George – and yet, she desires you. And when I saydesires," she added carefully, "I mean that she would doubtless like to see you without that foolish nightshirt, to jiggle her titties in your face, and to have your cock buried in her cunny. However, I fear that she was less than clear about these details in her own mind before she lately fell into bad company."

"So you believe that she is a whore much like yourself?" George sneered.

"Let us say that I believe that she is as much of a whore as I am myself."

"And how can you know such things?" George asked, unaware that Audrey, from just behind his back, was casting desperate and imploring looks at Emma.

"I should have known from our former times together as friends," Emma answered, "but I was an ignorant girl myself in those days. Her way of looking at you, and of speaking of the prospect of marriage with you, was quite intense and distinctive. Even then, I thought that she was... impassioned. And these last few days, I have been able to observe the way that she casts glances at your buttocks.Thatreally is quite vulgar. Also, when I helped her bathe yesterday..." Emma smiled and nodded at Audrey, whose expression was now terrified, "I was able to observe that the merest mention of yourself induced physical palpitations in her."

"So you mistake my sweet wife's love for lust," George said.

"I do not make the mistake of thinking of them as two utterly separate things," Emma replied with a shrug. "But really, I can only observe. The person who can say best how Audrey regards you ... is of course Audrey. And for reasons of my own, I wish that she would say precisely that, to you." Emma drew breath. "And so I will leave you. But please, do stop behaving as such pompous idiots. My new colleagues will wonder how I can regard you as my friends." She moved to beside Gregory, and kissed him on the cheek, her bare breasts brushing his arm as she did so. "However, I suppose that I cannot compel you, and I have piratical duties to perform. So I wish you good morning."

With which, she moved to the door and knocked on it three times. After she and Gregory had both given passwords, it was opened from without, and they left the room.

Outside, she, Gregory, and the pirate-woman on duty in the corridor exchanged quiet laughter, and then Emma turned, alone, and entered the adjacent room.

"Good morning, Emma," said Sergeant Tarani quietly, looking up from a device with a double eyepiece.

"Good morning, Sergeant," said Emma, similarly softly. "You continue monitoring me in person, I gather."

The sergeant shrugged. "I am curious, and such activities as these are pleasantly trivial when compared to matters of fire and blood or of logistics, such as are my usual business."

"I understand," said Emma, moving to a second eyepiece. A third lensed device was being attended to by another pirate, who made no comment.

"Your old friends were evidently shocked beyond measure," the sergeant murmured. "They have said and done nothing so far."

Emma peered into the eyepiece. "I do seem to have paralysed them," she admitted. Audrey was still seated on the bed, she saw; George was on a chair, facing her.

"Perhaps flaunting your breasts in that way was too great a shock?" Sergeant Tarani suggested.

"I judged that they both need to bestimulated," Emma explained. "They need to recognise their own erotic yearnings in the concrete, not the abstract."

"You are being subtle, then."

"I suppose that you expected me to seduce George?" Emma replied.

"That seemed to be a possibility."

"In my ignorant youth, I might have done so, if I had possessed the faintest understanding of my own desires." Emma said as she adjusted the eyepiece focus. "Now, however, while I might play the whore for amusement, I truly have no desire for George to treat me as one with sincerity. And it would most likely prevent my achieving... Ah!" She interrupted herself and looked up from the eyepiece with a thin smile. "The vents, I think."

The third pirate operated a small mechanism that quietly opened a set of vents, high on the wall, between the two rooms, and from now on the pirates all fell silent, as sound could carry easily through the division.

"...truly believe the temerity of that whore?" they immediately heard George demanding.

"She has changed considerably since we knew her," Audrey said. "However, there is another issue."

"And what is that?"

"Was she correct?" Audrey asked flatly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Did she assess you correctly, George?"

"Good God!" Emma heard George literally gasp. "How can you ask such a question?"

"Please answer me, George. Have you visited ... have you been impure?"

There was a pause. Peering through the concealed periscope, Emma saw George stare at Audrey for a moment, then look away. "It appears that any denial that I make would be irrelevant," he replied at length. "Clearly, if you allow yourself to be influenced by that brazen harlot's implications, you will not be convinced by anything that I say to the contrary."

There was another, even longer pause, during which Emma watched Audrey staring at George. At length, she looked away and down at her hands where they rested in her lap.

"I see," Audrey said quietly. "How often?"

"Pardon me?"

"How often did you visit whores, George?"

The next pause was the longest of all. Then, when he finally replied, George seemed to be speaking through quiet, hoarse sobs.

"Four times," he said simply.

"I see," Audrey said. "Thank you for –"

"Four times," George repeated, interrupting her. "The first time, I needed to know how it would be. By the fourth, I knew full well that I needed to expel my lusts. On that last occasion, I chose a blonde girl, and told her to call herself by your name..."

"Good God, George!" Audrey said. Emma wondered if it was the first time in her life that she had taken the Lord's name in vain.

"I am sorry, my love!" George rose from the chair and instantly threw himself on the floor at Audrey's feet. "I am a foul beast. I am unworthy of you..."

"Did your father indeed take you?" Audrey interrupted.

"Huh?" George was startled. "Oh. No. My uncle. On the first two occasions."

"It seems that Emma is indeedclever," Audrey commented.

"I am so very sorry," George moaned from the floor. "I deserve your hatred."

"Good God, George!" Audrey repeated, and then she knelt down beside him where he lay face down. "You are a stupid, greedy, whiningchild! I could... I should... Oh, damn that witch for understanding you!"

And with that, she raised her hand wildly, and brought the flat of it down, slapping George hard on the buttocks. It seemed to Emma that Audrey's verbal anger was overflowing, and now sought physical expression.

"Oh," Audrey murmured, clearly startled by what she herself had done.

"You are correct," George moaned from the floor. "I deserve only punishment."

"Really!" Audrey cried. Then she raised her hand and slapped him again. "Child!" Another slap. "I thought you a finemanto marry!" A fourth blow, and then she seemingly realised what she was doing, and knelt still, gazing at her hand as she held it shaking in front of her.

"Yes," George said, rolling onto his side to look at her. "I deserve your hatred..."

"Oh lord, George," Audrey said, now looking at him. "What is to become of us?"

George gave no reply, and Audrey now looked at him. Then she lowered her hand slowly, and moved her fingertips across the front of George's nightshirt.

"What is that, George?" she asked quietly, and Emma saw that her hand had paused below his waist.

"That?" George, mumbled. "Oh, that..." It seemed that he could find no words he wished to use.

"Is that... Yourpenis?"

"Yes," murmured George.

"Lord," Audrey said, and Emma saw that her fingertips were moving to delineate the shape beneath his nightshirt. "So a woman must... And now, you areexcited?"

"I am a beast!" wailed George. "I feel such horrible lusts!"

"I see," said Audrey, rising to her feet. "Well..." She sat down on the bed. "And now, we have very little choice!" she added abruptly.

"What do you mean?" George asked, looking at her from the floor.

"You have, you say,horrible lusts, and are now excited," Audrey said, "and our marriage will not be legal until they are slaked, as I understand this. And worse, that... thatdamnedEmma Elphinstone understands us, and will doubtless continue to mock us so long as we continue on our previous way."

In the next room, the three pirates exchanged smiles.

"What do you propose?" George asked, slowly raising himself from the floor.

"Oh God, George," Audrey sighed, and used both hands to draw the front of her nightdress up to the level of her thighs, "do what you must. Pretend that I am the whore who you paid to pretend to be me, if it helps you."

George paused for one moment. Then, wordlessly, he climbed onto the bed, as Audrey clumsily parted her thighs to accommodate him. He pulled his nightshirt up to the level of his waist, and Emma smiled to herself as he found herself admiring his trim buttocks at the same moment as Audrey gasped at what she was seeing. Then George began aligning himself with his wife's loins, and through the periscope, Emma glimpsed Audrey tentatively reaching down with one hand to assist him.

Then George gave a convulsive thrust, followed by a gasp which mingled with a moan from Audrey. At once, he paused. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"I have suffered much worse," Audrey replied. "This feels at least... somehowsatisfying,I suppose. What else do you do now?"

"I will finish in a moment..." George began.

"No!" Audrey told him. "I assume that you wish to at least savour the moment. And I suppose that I am curious as to what the likes of Emma claim to feel... How long did you continue with your whores?"

"Some minutes," George muttered.

"Very well. Close your eyes and pretend that I am one of them, if you wish."

Squinting through the periscope, Emma could not see if George did close his eyes, but she could see that Audrey was gazing over his shoulder with a thoughtful expression as George thrust steadily – and by Emma's assessment, clumsily – into her. He did last a few minutes, but eventually his thrusts grew frantic, and then came a climactic pause and a soft groan. A moment later, he removed himself from her, hastily rearranging his genitals and pulling down his nightshirt. Audrey lay quite still, her nightdress still somewhat disarrayed, and Emma glimpsed the blonde curls of hair on her loins.

"Did I hurt you?" George asked after a while.

"Not badly," Audrey said, sitting up, replacing her nightdress a little more modestly, and reaching down to caress his face with a fingertip. They remained in silence for a while, and then Audrey spoke again.

"I fear that you may think that you did worse than hurt me," she said.

"What do you mean?" George replied quickly.

"I told you," Audrey said. "I fear that Emmaunderstandsus. That pirate whore understands my desires better than I understand myself."

"Oh," said George, and frowned. "But that is surely just an immodest impulse. You are not like her..."

"What I am is bad enough," said Audrey. Then she added, "Sit up, George."

George obeyed without comment, then Audrey kissed him, lightly, even affectionately. "My darling, you were correct," she told him. "When we lower ourselves to the level of such as Miss Elphinstone, we must be punished." And then she twisted around, crawled across the bed, and laid herself over her husband's lap.

"What is this?" George asked, puzzled, as Emma fought to restrain a full-throated laugh.

"Punish me, George," Audrey commanded. "Punish me as a naughty girl who cannot restrain her filthy impulses!"

Then, with a gesture perhaps remembered from the nursery, she drew up the back of her nightdress, baring her buttocks. Emma found herself reflecting that Audrey's life of high-status ease at least gave her figure a certain pleasing roundness there. Meanwhile, uncertainly, George raised his hand.

"Must I do this?" he asked.

"Yes!" Audrey answered. "Do you wish to be married to a whorish woman? Beat these impulses out of me!"

George brought his hand down. It was not in fact a very hard blow, but it produced a resounding noise from Audrey's naked flesh. Audrey gasped. "Again!" she commanded, and George obeyed. A third and fourth blow followed, with Audrey's reaction becoming more shrill each time. When Audrey demanded a fifth blow, however, George paused.

"What is it?" Audrey asked.

"I cannot do this!" George said. "You are not a wicked woman!"

"And yet," Audrey said, wriggling atop his lap, "you respond to me as to a whore."

George said nothing as Audrey looked up at his face for a long moment. Then, she lifted herself up from him, twisted around, and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"Oh, George," she said, "must I convince you of my wickedness by obeyingEmma?"

She plucked at her nightdress nervously, gazing at its hem, as George gazed at her. Then she sighed, reached down, and slowly removed the dress, pulling it high over her head before letting it tumble to the floor. George gasped, and gazed fixedly at her ripe young breasts.

"You see?" Audrey said. "Whorish. Vile."

She rose on her knees and clumsily pressed her breasts against George's face. Then, she moved them with an uncertain motion of her shoulders.

"Oh, hopeless," Emma murmured quietly. "I do wish that I could give her instruction injiggling."

George, however, seemed less unimpressed by the gesture. Reaching up with both hands, he grasped the naked breasts and fondled them, perhaps just hard enough to be uncomfortable. Audrey reacted by moving a little to straddle his hips, and moaned in the back of her throat. George in turn pulled at his night-shirt, gathering it up, and Emma was able to discern that his erection was once again restored. Then he grasped Audrey's hips and again aligned himself to her. She used a hand to place him precisely, and then she sank down at the same moment that he thrust upward.

Audrey gave a quiet, extended, wordless cry, and wrapped her arms around her husband, pressing his face to her. "Whorish!" she declared. "Whorish! Whorish! Treat me as I deserve!"

George paused, then made a series of upward thrusts, groaning softly as he buried his erection deep inside his wife. She responded with a soft "Oh," followed by moans of "Yes!" with each thrust as her breathing grew deeper. After a moment, she threw her head backwards, and Emma saw that her wide-eyed gaze seemed unfocused. Suddenly, she gave a loud "Oh!" and released her embrace on her husband, falling backwards until he caught her.

She began saying George's name softly, but now he seemed distracted, lifting her up from the bed by pure strength as he gathered his legs under him. Then he pushed her over onto her back while remaining against and inside her. Audrey was left precariously half on the bed, her head and shoulders far over its edge, but held secure by her husband's weight on her loins. He commenced a vigorous thrusting, pushing her further off the bed until she put her hands to the floor, giving herself a little support until George, with a wordless growl, thrust deeply inside her, then gasped and lifted himself back and away from her.

Audrey scrambled back to a more secure position on the bed, and gazed once more at her husband as he curled around his crotch. "Oh, George..." she said.

"Oh God, Audrey," he said. "Are you well?"

"I am well, George," Audrey replied, clearly forcing herself to a degree of calmness.

"You sounded... You... I amsorry, my love!" George declared.

"George, my darling," said Audrey, "that waspleasure."

"Pleasure?"

"Emma... She... Sheimpliedto me that women might experience some pleasure in the act. Well, you heard her implications," said Audrey. "I fear that she was quite truthful with us." Audrey sighed. "Yes, I must acknowledge my own whorishness," she muttered sadly.

"I cannot think that of you!" George declared. Emma decided that he was recovering his priggishness along with his breath, and wondered how he might eventually be cured.

"Then you must punish me for it as you see fit," said Audrey, rolling over to lie face down. She shifted her hips slightly, moving her naked buttocks left and right. "As before," she added.

"It is I who should be punished!" George cried.

"As you wish," said Audrey, a little petulantly as it seemed to Emma. "I fear that we both perhaps suffer from a perversegreedfor guilt. But if our marriage can only be completed by sin, then it must also involve chastisement, I suppose."

"Oh, God!" George cried.

"Be calm, my love," Audrey said, and sat beside him. She drew him to her, and nestled his head against her naked breasts. "We have done nothing illegal, after all, and our union is now consummated. If we cannot resist repeating the process, that is between ourselves, and little more than others will, I suppose, presume..."

They fell still and silent for a while, until Emma leaned back from the periscope and signed for the vents to be closed. Then she drew breath, and found herself grinning broadly at the other two pirates present.

"That must be accounted a success," Sergeant Tarani allowed in a quiet voice. "Indeed, you seem to have achieved more than expected. Or did you somehow anticipate that mutual taste for punishment?"

"No," Emma admitted. "Though I did wonder how matters might develop between those two fools." She relaxed her shoulders and looked thoughtful. "However, perhaps we should arrange the delivery of breakfast. I think that they are finished for now, and they must be in need of refreshment." Then she went back to the eyepiece. "And I confess I shall be interested to see if Audrey remembers that she is naked when there is a knock on the door..."

Audrey and George saw little more of their old friend in the next few days, although Emma made occasional brief visits to their prison. They began bathing together, refusing any offers of attendants, and took to rising late and retiring – to sleep, they announced – early. But there was little else that they could do, perhaps, until various messages reached their captors.