by M H Ryan
They watched closely together as the battle ensued. By the end, she had taken the eye and jumped out the window with Barkly in arms.
“See?” she said, pausing the video.
“I saw a lot,” Soto said. “I see plenty still.”
“Are you flirting with me?”
“Yes,” Soto said. “I mean, no, I would never and you should know Barkly is new to this sort of thing, if you know what I mean.”
“I got that impression and he hasn’t been shy about telling me either. What about you? Are you new to that sort of thing?” She gestured to the paused projection of her jumping through the window.
He swallowed and looked at her chest. She folded her arms, pushing her chest together and out.
“Women like you don’t exactly exist where I come from so, yeah, new for me too. Are we even compatible?”
She moved to face him and got close enough that her chest touched his. “I think we’d fit very well together.”
“You’re very beautiful,” Soto said and then shook his head. “I can’t do this. I’m here to get my friend back.”
“Do you really think he wants to leave here? Leave me?” she asked and rubbed his shoulder. “You know, ever since I got interrupted, I’ve been thinking of hands touching me, lips kissing and a tongue moving over me.” She moaned as she ran her hands over her chest and down to her thighs. “Do you ever have the urge to be with someone, not for anything but the enjoyment of each other’s bodies?”
“Yeah,” he croaked out.
“Does Banana help you with these urges?”
“Who?”
“Princess Banana?”
“She… she isn’t that kind of girl. No one here is. But where I am from, I’ve had girlfriends. It’s been a long time.”
“So you know what to do with this,” she slid her hand over his crouch, feeling the swollen manhood in his pants.
“I do,” he said, grabbing her around her waist and pulled her against him. “How are you doing this to me?”
“Don’t think about it.”
He kissed her neck, running his tongue on her soft parts, working his way up to her ear. He kneeled as he ran his hands along her chest and then down below her lingerie. His hands went under her dress and slid up her bare skin, past her stomach until he was cupping her breasts.
She grabbed his hands and pulled them out from her dress. He looked up, drunk on her with his mouth open. Dang, these boys were thirsty for her. She wondered if there was something more to it than just an attraction. They reacted to things in this world differently than anything or anyone else. She wondered if there was something about her they were responding to. Well, she only had to look at a mirror to see many of the things that were causing this reaction, but it seemed so passionate, so quickly. This Soto would probably stick his hand in that lava drip if she commanded it. Holy shit, was she, her body, her blood like a commanding rod for these two aliens?
“You want me to stop?” Soto asked.
“What is it you find so attractive about me?”
He laughed and stood. “Everything. I’ve never felt this way around someone before. My blood boils for you. My hearts pounding. The way you feel on my hands and my mouth. I want to give you pleasure.”
“You just met me.”
“Attraction isn’t a thing that takes time. It’s like lightning and you struck me, Princess. I haven’t felt this since I awoke in this world. It’s like a blindfold has been ripped from my eyes. If you feel one ounce of what I feel right now, tell me.”
“I do,” she said and it wasn’t far from the truth. She felt an instant connection with Soto and wanted to explore that long body of his.
They moved toward each other and she embraced him. Taking her turn, she ran her tongue over his neck as she ran her hand down his shirt and into his pants. He smelled so clean and nice that she wanted to taste him. She kneeled down, unbuttoned his pants and yanked them and his underwear down to his ankles. His member stuck out and she worked it with her hand before sinking it into her mouth. He moaned and grabbed her horns as she moved in and out, working him with her hand and mouth.
“Oh my God,” Soto said.
“Warn me if you’re going to…”
“I will,” he whispered.
The door opened and she was about to shoot a fireball at Pop Master, but it was Barkly at the door. Soto never even looked in his direction. He appeared to be lost in his own world with her. She kept her mouth on Soto as she stared at Barkly.
She wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but then moved his hands into his pants, touching himself. So, he liked to watch as well. These boys were made of the same clay and she’d give him a show.
Then tomorrow when the army came, they’d all be ready to fight it together.
Chapter Eight
The door opened and the clatter of metal filled the room, waking up Bowsette. She hated when Pop Master woke her like that.
“What the hell, Pop?”
“I wanted to inform you there is an army from the Grand Kingdom marching toward the castle.”
“Already?” she groaned and slid to the edge of the bed, nearly stepping on Barkly.
He had slept on the floor near Soto. She kicked Barkly and stirred him awake. He spotted Pop and grabbed a sheet trying to hide his privates.
Then she got her first good look at Pop and saw he was wearing the old Trench Royal Guard arms. A black suit of armor with her great, great grandfather’s face on the chest. He also had a large weapon on his back. A pole about two feet longer than he with a fork at the end of it.
“What the hell are you wearing?” she asked.
“It is my duty to protect you at all costs,” he said.
“The army’s here?” Soto asked, collecting his clothes. “We need to get out of here.”
“Tell me there’s a back door, right? We can get out of this?” Barkly asked.
“No, there is no way out of this. We have to face this,” Bowsette said.
“Let me talk to her. Maybe I can sort this out,” Barkly said.
“Dude,” Soto said. “I saw what Cupcake saw, she’s not going to be all cool with you.”
“I can tell her I was drugged… we both were,” Barkly said.
“That will make it worse,” Soto said.
“Guys, shut up. The three of us can handle whatever army is out there,” she said. “We don’t need to run.”
They looked at each other but didn’t respond.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bowsette said. “You aren’t going to help me?”
“It’s not that we don’t want to help you but after the last war, we made a pact that no matter what, we wouldn’t kill again,” Soto said.
“Plus, Cupcake is reasonable, when she’s calm, so we can just talk with her.”
Bowsette closed her eyes in frustration. “She’s a mean little bitch that will do the wrong thing every time. You two know her. She’s not going to take my surrender, she wants to kill me.”
“We don’t know that,” Barkly said.
“Okay, I tell you what. I will see if I can reason with Cupcake first, okay? Let’s see how that goes. Maybe she’s this peace-loving being you think she is and will totally not want to kill me.”
“I’m not sure about—” Soto said.
“Yes, please,” Barkly interrupted. “She has shown mercy before.”
Bowsette got her clothes on as the boys continued to argue with each other about what to say. They were naïve but an essential part of her plan and one that had little chance of success without them.
It wasn’t too surprising they weren’t going to fight with her, at least not yet. She sighed in disappointment as she slid on her fighting clothes. Nothing like the dress she wore to the Cupcake’s party, these were functional and fireproof. Something they used to be able to make but now was lost in the memory of those that weren’t around anymore. She pulled over the white shirt with a low neckline and then the black slacks that formed over h
er ass in the best possible way. She looked back and brushed a bit of lint off her backside. Then she opened the box with her family crest on it and pulled out the bracelets of power. Dark leather bands that had metal spikes running all the way around them. She pulled two of them up past her biceps and then the other two around her wrists. Finally, she pulled the collar out. Her mother had given it to her for her fifteenth birthday. A sign a woman was ready to fight for the kingdom. Since she missed her chance last time, as she placed the collar around her neck, she made a vow to her mother to fight now.
She felt the smooth spikes her on her neck and the power in them coursed through her. She wouldn’t become anything like what Barkly and Soto could become, but this made her stronger than most. Apparently, her little fashion show hadn’t gone unnoticed because Barkly and Soto were still half naked, staring at her.
“What?”
“You’re perfect,” Barkly said.
“What he said,” Soto added.
She rolled her eyes. “Focus, we have an army at the doors, remember?”
She took a few things from her desk drawer and then rushed out the door. Barkly and Soto were close behind her with Pop Master clanking and clattering behind them with the sound of a trashcan being dragged behind an angry Choktoo.
Bowsette reached the front door and looked out the stained glass window. There they were alright, a full Royal Army at her doors. She turned to the boys. She had a few things to get through to them before she stepped out those doors and what could be her death. The greatest quests were worth dying for though and if none of this worked, she didn’t think she deserved to live. The Trench Kingdom would have flowers.
Chapter Nine
“We can’t kill, my princess, I am sorry,” Soto said looking at the blue Huckle Berry in his hand.
Barkly stared at the one in his hand as well. “How did you… we haven’t seen these since, well the last time we were here.”
After the aggression, Cupcake had put a ban on the Huckle Berry and had all crops destroyed. She was sure they didn’t like the idea of such power available to anyone. With that power, they might even pose a threat to the more unnatural guardians Cupcake had acquired. Fortunately, Bowsette had a few set aside just for the chance that this moment would happen. What she hadn’t counted on were these two men that had ravaged the seven kingdoms would become passive.
“I’m not asking you to kill, but if your belief in Cupcake’s mercy doesn’t pan out, we should have a backup plan, right?”
“I don’t like myself when I’m on these,” Barkly said.
“I hear ya, I’m not myself on these. I swore this stuff off.”
“I’m not going to force you to do anything,” Bowsette said, getting annoyed by them. “If you have such faith in the princess’s willingness to forgive, then they won’t be needed, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Barkly said.
There was no more talking about this. She had made a commitment and now everything would depend on what happened in the next few minutes.
She pulled them over to the front door, looked at each of them in the eyes and kissed their cheeks in turn and opened the front door.
“Stay back and wish me luck,” Bowsette said and rushed out the door.
The old Trench castle had a staircase a hundred feet long but now there were about ten steps past the front columns, making sure to stick a recording eye on the column as she did. She stopped at the top step and glanced back at the boys. They stood a few feet out from the front door and looked as if they were about to throw up.
The army before her was a mixture of the white and red uniforms, but at least it was just men. They obviously didn’t have time to bring up the Recktfuls or Volgards. That made things a bit easier, but there were probably three hundred soldiers before her. Many with guns, most with swords, daggers, and other bladed weapons. Hundreds of eyes glared at her, but it was two blue ones that got her attention the most.
Cupcake stepped forward and reached near the bottom of the steps. She wore a pink shirt that seemed puffy and moved in the light breeze. Her pants were blood red as were her shoes. She had her hair pulled back into a no-nonsense ponytail. The one thing Bowsette noticed that was missing from her attire was the Commanding Rod. Most Curious.
“Shall we talk about your surrender?” Cupcake said.
Bowsette’s gaze narrowed and she walked down the steps. She looked down on the pretty princess, but Cupcake showed no signs of fear. She was a woman of steel, but her eyes betrayed her as they narrowed, showing the rage that she was sure was flowing through her like the mighty Zig river.
Up closer to Cupcake, she spotted the different items on her than when she was at the party. She wore several bracelets of different colors and a few rings. She also wore a necklace that had a large, flat, white stone on it. Power trinkets much like Bowsette’s collar and bracelets, but she had no idea what they did or enhanced. The boys were right, she had spent time collecting and upgrading herself.
“Hello, Princess,” Bowsette said. “Great party yesterday. Sorry I had to bail early.”
“Don’t even try to talk to me like we know each other,” Cupcake whispered through gritted teeth.
“You’re right, we don’t know each other, but we do know those boys up there,” she glanced back at them.
They stood watching a few steps back from the top step and out of range of whispers.
“I know what you did to them,” Cupcake said. “What? You think we didn’t have eyes recording everything. It took a while, but we found the moment you slipped something in Barkly’s drink. Unfortunately, this knowledge came a little late for Soto and I’m sure you did the same despicable thing to him.”
“No, I only freed them from the Commanding Rod. Sucks not having your power over them doesn’t it? Almost like they have a mind of their own now?”
“You idiot. You have no idea what they are and what you gave them does to them. Do you know how many things we’ve tested on them? Many times with incredible results? They can be very dangerous for us all if you don’t know what you’re doing,” she whispered and glanced back up at them.
“I heard about your experiments,” she said. “And I think I know better than anyone how dangerous they can be.”
Cupcake took a deep breath and looked back at the Trench. The hundred foot high cliffs were hiding most of the morning sunlight, but the light line was edging down the cliff, bringing more light onto the condition of the Trench.
“You will surrender to me,” Cupcake said. “We are not without compassion and we will hold elections to select a new ruler for your kingdom. Of course, we will have to approve the candidates, someone from the Grand Kingdom will most likely be selected. We will have to punish the Trench Kingdom in the short term, for political reasons, but those can be eased over time and in a generation, we believe we can have prosperity here.”
“So generous. And if I don’t surrender?”
“We will have no choice but to assume your kind is unfit for civil living and cut off the Trench from the rest of the world. At least that’s what most will hear when in reality, we know of a way to block the lava flows and it won’t take long for these trenches to fill to the top with molten rocks. Nature taking care of the unnatural.”
“So you’re open to genocide now, Cupcake,” she asked. “Is that what they taught you in princess school?”
“Please, don’t lecture me. It’s in your power, right now, right here to save your people.”
“What about them?” she nodded back to Barkly and Soto.
“Don’t worry about them.”
“I do and will. We’ve made a connection.”
She laughed and the shook her head, looking to the sliver of sky showing high above. The sound of her laughter echoed through the trench.
“You fucked them?” she asked, nodding her head.
“We did a lot more than that. We talked all night and I think they love me.”
“Oh my goodness, Princess, please
. They love your body. They love your sex and now that you’ve doled it out like cheap sour cream, you think they want seconds? In weeks, they won’t even remember you exist.”
“I’m sure your Rod will see to that.”
“This is getting boring,” Cupcake said, but she sure didn’t seem bored. “Surrender now or I will use the full force of the Royal army.”
“You actually liked him, didn’t you?” She glanced back at Barkly.
“You are so foolish and naïve of this world. Do you think our shores are safe for no reason? Do you have any ideas what I keep at bay? Your uncle did. He understood very well what is at stake here and by polluting them with your sugar-flavored poison, you have put all of us in grave danger.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you had reached an age, you would have been told by your elders what is coming—”
“This is just a trick. The Commanding Rod doesn’t work on me or them anymore. Your powers are fleeting, Cupcake, and soon, I will be the one at the gates to your castle.”
Cupcake laughed. “You think they’re going to save you, don’t you?”
Bowsette didn’t answer.
“As men, they couldn’t save you even if they wanted to. They are weak,” she whispered.
“I won’t surrender to you,” Bowsette said loud enough for her voice to bounce around the Trench.
Many of her people were watching through their windows. She didn’t think they would help and she hoped they didn’t. This was going to be settled by two weak men, for better or worse.
“Last chance,” Cupcake said, taking a few steps back and touching the pink wand at her side.
The clatter of soldiers raising their guns echoed around the Trench. Cupcake eyed the men behind the guns. Bowsette took her time, making eye contact with as many of them as she could. Then she spotted a yellow hat in the line. Shit, Banana was there as well. That made things harder.
“What will it be, Bowsette?” Cupcake asked.
So, this would be the moment. Either this was the first real step toward taking back what had been taken from her or she would die on the steps of the alternate Trench Castle.