Infinite Blue Heaven - A King and A Queen (6 page)

She was dressed in crimson silks, with yellow tracings and a veil of blue. Very often, as with the previous girls, the hair is initially covered or tied into plaits or a ponytail but hers was simply knotted on one side of her pretty face. I smiled, simply at the sight of her.

She was tall and elegant but still quite full-bodied. As she came to kneel before me, for a moment, she pulled aside the silk, revealing her belly-button to show me she was not shy. I guessed she was not more than eighteen.

“Dance for me.” I said to her. I left the simple words hanging ambiguously in the air. I would let her do whatever she felt necessary, to please me. There was no music and she did not call for any.

She smiled at me. It was a clear, almost innocent smile. I suddenly recalled the fresh breeze in the mountains among the Blue Pines. She reminded me of someone, a lover but I couldn’t remember which.

She moved around the compartment, examining objects as if she was a guest. She moved in time with imagined music but subtly and took care to make sure the soft light showed all aspects of her beauty. As she moved occasionally, she would wipe her brow, to feign cooling herself. As she lifted and studied objects, almost unnoticed, she would loosen or remove one of her silks. It was all very innocently done, almost as if she was unaware of her growing nudity. Then, when she was near me, to my left, she removed her silver girdle and I could see her full breasts for the first time. They were fuller than the second girl’s and their weight gave them a sensual swing as she moved. She leaned over something and her breasts swung forward, their nipples hardening. I looked at her firm belly and lovely long legs. She was quite beautiful. Then she untied her hair and arranged its thick, luscious curtain around her face. She turned away from me and as she walked, her ample bottom swaying, she untied the skirt and continued to walk. Her stride and her bottom’s rhythm was not broken as she became naked.

She turned and lay on the floor facing me. She rolled over and over to the side of the tent and back again to the middle before crawling towards me. When she finally reached me, I took a long draft of red wine and she started unfastening my breeches, pulling out my thickening cock. She touched it with the tips of her lips and then gently, licked the side of it. There was a sensual laziness in her eyes, almost as if she didn’t care what she was doing but felt a duty to do it. As if she were doing a household task. Her innocence, combined with a motherliness, was compulsive. After a few moments, she stood up and turned away from me. She bent over to pick up a bronze ornament and stayed there, her large bottom simply waiting to be touched. I pulled down my breaches, took hold of her hips and entered her. It was a lazy thing and seemed inevitable as I gently rocked back and forth, inside her. When we parted, I was satisfied and she smiled as she dressed and left.

I dressed and left to find Meth.

“May I see all the girls, together?” He looked concerned.

“Certainly.”

All the girls were brought before me in the outer, larger compartment and I looked at all forty of them. It was as I feared. They were not, collectively, of a high standard. The third girl was the best but I surmised, even given the broad scope of men’s tastes, there were not more than five who would be sought after. The third girl smiled at me.

“Meth. We must speak alone.” It would insult him to talk of his choice before others.

A woman brought us more red wine and we sat to talk.

“The women you have are a varied selection, it is true, but I feel we need more of the younger women for this task.” I was choosing my words very carefully. Meth was capable of being blunt, though, when the need arose.

“They were a job-lot, as it were. I got them for a good price but if the girls are not pleasing to you, we must look further!”

“Indeed, I have an idea. I know of a place we can get thirty-five girls of the same standard as your five best, quickly. But first I will need your help. I will send Geb back to Parat but first I must test him. He is not long known to me and I must be sure I can trust him. Not only are
we
vulnerable here but the princess is also vulnerable. I will ask Geb to spar with me in a short while but I want your men to stay away. I am aware that normally they would love to watch such a spectacle.”

“Ah. Alright. May I watch?”

“Very well but please appear drunk, too drunk to handle a sword.”
“I understand your meaning.”

I left the tent and called on Geb. I announced my findings.

“I have been testing the whores of the camp and found them wanting for my task. Only one of them was any use. A blonde. Like the princess, she has a lovely mole on her hip but on the right, not the left.” This was in fact false but I wanted to test whether Geb would protect the honour of the princess. Later, I would find out if this piece of gossip had traveled, or not. Geb just nodded.

“It is my custom, Geb, when on campaign to exercise with my sword. Will you join me?” I quickly stripped to the waist and stepped away from the tent, with my sword, Geb following. He had belted his sword on, as befits a Palace Guard accompanying his King.

I stood in the sand, on the edge of the lantern light, going through some set pieces, grunting expressively.

Meth sidled up, wine goblet in hand. Slurrily, he encouraged me.

After a few minutes I beckoned to Geb

“Do you care to spar with me, Geb?”

He looked awkward. It was not usual for a soldier to spar with the King. There were dangers involved.

“It is alright. I am almost certainly a better swordsman than you.”

Still he was reluctant.

“Only if you command it, Sire.”

“Very well. I do command it.”

He unsheathed his sword, straight, broad and glinting yellow in the lantern light and took a stance.

The swords rang at the first clash. I did not move as fast as I could.

“Come on Geb,” called Meth.

If he wanted to kill me, if he had any ambitious pretensions to power at all, now would be the time for Geb. I knew he was intelligent enough to see that. There was apparently nobody to protect me and the Guards might well be loyal to him. We exchange blows and parries and danced around in an increasingly dangerous dance, the sand flying in our faces, as our boots skidded. I was a little the worse for the drink and I could see that Geb was a little more moderate a man than I. His eyes studied my moves, closely and intensely. A fierce pride shone in his blue eyes.

I nicked his forearm, deliberately, drawing a thin skein of blood.

“Lord!”

“Come on Geb. You are not trying!”

“I cannot harm you, Sire!”

“Oh come on now. A small nick, won’t do me no harm.” I smiled as I noticed myself slip into the common slang of my forefathers. I lunged for him, touching his belt, and let the sword fly from my grasp. I let out an exclamation of horror.

Geb stood and sheathed his sword. He bowed. I waited until he looked up and met his eyes. I could see no realisation there that he had been tested.

“Geb. As I told you, we need more women. I want you to ride to Parat tonight. Go to the House of the Blue Lantern on Fourth Street and ask for Demetine. Tell her the King needs thirty-five of her best whores. Tell her we need them for three months. It is for the honour of the country but I will agree a fair price with her in gold when I come to Parat in a few days’ time. She knows me and she knows she will get a fair price. Take three hours to prepare now and then take your most trusted Lieutenant. Return here with the women by dawn, the day after tomorrow. Oh yes and please leave a note at the Palace for the Princess, telling her I will be three days late.”

“Yes, Sire.” He bowed and was gone. I turned to Meth.

“I haven’t been to the House of Blue Lantern since I was a boy and then, usually in disguise, but it always had the best whores.”

Meth laughed. “You are a cunning old fox. Now let us go and truly relax.” He slapped me on the back, as we walked back to the tents. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement in the darkness, one of the camp guards moving just beyond the lantern-light. Their site was particularly keen, spending as they did, much of their time in the clear desert nights, away from city and town lights. I smiled to myself.

In Meth’s luxurious tent, we played chess for a few hours. It was already after midnight and I was tired but we had much to talk about. At about two and a half hours after midnight, I finally retired.

The men, Meth’s and my own, spent most of the next day practicing sword-play and exchanging techniques, while Meth and I planned the campaign. I had told Meth where he needed to be at noon, forty days from thence. He looked up at the rising yellow orb of the sun, squinting, and then shielding his eyes with his hand, his leathery face crinkling in thought.

“This is the route we will take. We will go to Tiwa Oasis, arriving there, I would guess, at a leisurely pace, in ten days time. After a rest there for seven days, we will turn due north and look for a small oasis, the Hahshma, roughly half way between Tiwa and the mountains. It is marked on our deerskin maps but I do not know anyone who has seen it. It would be a legend among my people if it were important. As it is, it is of minor importance, as we never go this way. That is the problem.” He smiled. “I will need to think of a very good reason to be there, in case we are met by the enemy.”

I knew Tiwa, it was roughly north east of our present camp. I could not immediately think of a good reason for Meth but in any case it would be better if he thought of it. We sat in silence, my hand flipping a pebble, as he thought. Our hard shadows were close around out squatting bodies as the sun slowly rose higher. At last, he cleared his throat.

“Of course it would be easy to say we had heard of his army and were traveling to trade with him but this would make him too suspicious. No, I think we will say that we have stolen women from Parat City, from the House of the Blue Lantern and are running from your Guards. Do any of your men know what the reason is for your visit?”

“No. I have not told them yet. Nor will I, probably. However, Geb knows something and he, and perhaps others, will have overheard us speaking at the feast last night. It is not safe to assume they do not know what we are doing.”

“Hmmph. This is a danger. They may squeal if tortured and even if not!”

“Then we must tell them. They know the penalty for traitors.”

“Very well.” He did not look at all happy. “Of course, there is another benefit of this story, it will whet their appetite for the women. Hmmm.” He paused. “There is another matter, which will arise from all this, should we be successful.”

“Yes?”

“You have, no doubt considered that, since we are a southern tribe, from outside your country, showing our allegiance to you in this way will strengthen your standing in the eyes of your enemy. They will think twice before another invasion. But, it may weaken my standing with my southern clients, those who are not of a friendly disposition towards you….”

“Go on.” I knew Meth was a practical man and although he had a strong grasp of politics, they merely offered a means to an end for him. His tribe were often, wrongly perceived as nothing more than tradesmen or businessmen but in fact loyalty to their tribe came first. He was leading up to something.

“It would be good, in such a situation, to have somewhere safe to spend the winter months. Presently, we need to keep moving in case we anger the local populations but if we had a small parcel of land…” He looked at me for assignation. I smiled.

“Perhaps the area from the hills to our camp. From the river’s mouth, two miles west, to an area five miles east?”

I smiled. “It shall be so and a mile of the land within the hills, just so that you can grow orchards for your delicious grapes.”
“Ah!” He clapped his hands, half out of glee, I fancied.

We both laughed and after we finished, I spoke. “What happens if you miss the northern Oasis?”

“You mean the Hahshma? It is of little consequence. We will have enough water to reach the mountains, if need be. We have traveled much further in hard times.”

“I have thought of another problem. What if the women talk?”

“Hmm. Yes, that is a good one.”

I could see this was becoming like an elaborate game of chess for Meth.

“We will offer them a choice. If we win, they will each gain their freedom and two gold coins.”
“Expensive but effective. I agree.” Two gold coins was more than a year’s wages for most men.

The rest of the day, for us, was spent in leisure, watching the men or talking tactics. In the evening, again there was a feast with dancing and singing. I retired early. I was woken by Meth, just before dawn.

“Geb is here.”

I pulled on my under-breeches and pushed aside the tent-flap. Among clouds of dust, drifting over the tents, I saw the horses and a large group of women being led away. Geb had been standing with his back to me but swung round as I stepped out.

“Sire!”
He looked absolutely exhausted and there was a streak of blood on his cheek.

“Where is your Lieutenant? Didn’t you need other men.”
“Sire. We were ambushed. He and the other men, we brought five, stayed behind to let us escape. I know not, yet, whether they are alive.” He bowed his head.