Her Lethal Seductress

HMS Corona

She woke up with a terrible headache, surrounded by hordes of people. Someone yelled, “she is waking up! She is waking up!”

A man with broad muscular shoulders, a white shirt, black high pants and boots walked up to her. “Miss, do you need help in getting up?”

“Who are you? Where am I?” Scarlet got up and rubbed her temples. The splitting headache was making her nauseous. There was a lingering stench in the atmosphere.

The man c****d an eyebrow. “You don’t know? Weren’t you told?”

She shook her head. The movement made her nausea worsen so she quickly stopped.

The man let out a whistle, “you are under the deck on a convict ship. You have been out for 2 days now. In about 3 months we will reach there. Get ready for a long haul.”

She couldn’t take it any more. The knowledge of where she was, the environment, the stench… She burst out into uncontrollable sobs.

The man looked at her startled. He sat down next to her, “you are young! I thought you just looked young.” The sounds of her sobs filled up the damp room. “You are the only woman on board. What did you do to get transported like this?”

He sat awkwardly waiting for her to answer. Others in the area were watching her too. But no one approached. She suspected this strong-looking man was behind the blanket of safety that she felt.

When she could control her sobs she narrated her story to him. 

He patted her back, “tough luck miss. I have been talking to people here. Most of us here have been wrongly accused of something. The banged-up constable must have died. I hope your family is alright.”

Hearing about her family brought her tears back. “They don't know. I don’t know if they know. I wasn’t allowed to contact them. I don’t know what to do.”

“They must have been really mad at you!” He shook his head in disapproval. “It will soon be time for supper. You must freshen up. The water closet is in that corner.” He pointed to the far right-hand corner.

She nodded.

The food was served on time. That evening she couldn’t sleep. Within a few days, she was able to come to terms with her fate.

She later came to know of the name of the man who she had first spoken to. Albert Jones was wrongfully accused of stealing a Lord's heirloom. He was given the harshest punishment because he was an ordained knight. When she thought back, his clothes did look out of place on that ship. Then again, she had been too engrossed in her own misery to notice that.

In the three months that they took to reach the shores of New South Wales, Albert saved her from r**e by a fellow prisoner.

He became her friend and they agreed to meet each other after their term of punishment was complete. Both were to serve 1 year in prison but they would be in separate prisons.

He had agreed to teach her sword fighting. Albert had learnt sword fighting from his father who had been a ‘real’ knight. He did not consider himself a knight. For him the mere title meant nothing.

Scarlet liked him and looked forward to meeting him after a year.

****

Meanwhile in India, at around the time Scarlet’s full rigged iron hulled ship, HMS Corona, touched the Fremantle docks, Panna and Jonathan had grown in money and power. Jonathan went by the name Nath. He did not want his name to sound Christian. Those were difficult times. India was a colony of Great Britain and all over the country, people were protesting as the British Crown tried to dominate all the princely states and small monarchies to gain absolute and complete control of the country that was recently annexed from the British East India Company.

Nath's work dealt with the government, the British Raj. He had created important friendships with the Firangis that helped him forge documents in exchange for money.

Panna couldn’t meet people. Her Visha Kanya powers would render them either fatally ill or dead. So she had to remain hidden. They had managed to create a fortress of their own in a dense forest at the foothills of the Himalayas, in the Kangra valley, not far from Delhi. Away from the busy towns, in the seclusion of the lofty mountain passes, Panna would practice her rituals every month and still keep an eye on her business out of Delhi.

Panna traded in weapons. She was smart and she knew all about weapons. Jonathan had hired a manager for her. She got all the work done through the manager.

The manager knew that the boss was a woman, but he had never met her.

In about 300 years she had made sure that she was independent and she loved every bit of her independence. But she was lonely, very lonely! 

She knew she could never have a companion. She did not complain about her fate, about her immortality. But she did complain about the fact that she was destined to be alone.

If only she would meet the person she saw in her dreams last evening! She sighed as she looked at the distant snow capped mountains through the window of her bedroom. She had felt a connection to those blue eyes.

****