by Kami Bryant
“She is in her old chambers,” I sighed. Beau set me down and ran down the stairs of the dais and started running up the spiral staircase behind the throne. I reached over with my tentacle, wrapped around his middle and brought him back down. “No,” I said. “You will stay here with me.”
“Juniper, I need to see her.”
“She is fine. The automatons say that your child is a son. I knew she was singing that stupid song wrong.”
“A son?” he asked. And grinned again at me. “My son. Juniper. I need to see her right now. Please, let me go.”
I set him down in front of me and then I said to him, “You are going to stay here with me and we can rule over Mirovia together.”
“Juniper?” he asked.
“We can be a family again,” I said. “You, me and your child. We can be happy.”
“Juniper,” he said quietly. “Please let me see Emberlyn.”
“Why?” I asked him. “I already told you, she is fine. The automatons are taking care of her. She is getting all the food and nutrition that the growing fetus needs. They are both perfectly healthy.”
“Okay, but I doubt she is too happy to be locked in her chambers. She doesn’t need to get all worked up and upset, that could be bad for the baby.”
I had to agree with him on that. A mother’s emotional state could upset her unborn child and Emberlyn was known for her hysterics.
“What are you planning, Juniper?” he asked me.
“Why do you love her so much? She did so many bad things. Under the enchantment she was heartless and emotionless, and she turned to cruelty. Just because someone can’t feel anything, doesn’t mean that their first instinct is to become cruel. There are other thrill-seeking behaviors to try to spark an emotion. There must be a propensity for cruelty within her. I have seen her tie you up and beat you in your sex play.”
“Juniper, you shouldn’t watch that, it is private.”
“Why do you like that so much?”
“Juniper,” sighed Beau and he walked across the throne room and collapsed into a nearby overstuffed chair.
“I could give you what you want,” I shyly began.
“What do you mean, Juniper?”
“Once the baby is born, I could eat her and then I would have all her memories,” I whispered.
“I won’t let you do that,” he answered.
“Why?” I asked him. “I would have all her memories. I would know exactly what you like.”
“But you wouldn’t be her,” answered Beau. “It isn’t her memories that define her.”
“I could put the enchantment on your heart and take away your memories of her.”
“That would be cruel, Juniper,” he answered. “If you take away my memories, I wouldn’t remember you either.”
“Do you love me?” I asked him.
“Of course, I do, Juniper.”
“But you love her more,” I said, and he just sighed. “Why do you choose her? For years we lived together in Traetan. We fought monsters together. We went on adventures together. And I sacrificed myself for you. I brought you here and she was no longer the Emberlyn that you remembered, but still you wouldn’t give up. How could you love a cruel, angry queen that tortures people for fun?”
“She wasn’t herself, you know that.”
“Don’t you think that you loved the person that she used to be, and you wouldn’t let go of the memory of her? Isn’t she different now? She isn’t the sweet and gentle Em from your memories. I have watched her; she is a bitch.”
Beau laughed at that. “Yes, she is a different person now and I love her still. I loved her when we grew up together. I loved her when she was living at the Forsaken camp with us screaming at everyone. I love her now.”
“And you love how she dominates you and ties you up and whips your back.”
“I told you, Juniper that is private.”
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“I know you don’t,” he answered.
“Then explain it to me.”
CHAPTER TWO
After I found Beau in the puddle of Bonelich snot, I brought him to my stone and thatched roof home. The home that I had grown up in with my parents. I now slept in their bed and I gave Beau the trundle bed that was mine. He was much too big for it, but it was all I had.
He had been tortured before Braxen Xarraz had thrown him into the portal to Traetan. Beau had burns on his chest and he was covered in bruises. His nose looked broken and he was bleeding from a deep cut on the left side of his face. Still I could see his beauty. I was very excited when I brought him to my home. It was dangerous, of course to bring a stranger into my home. He was easily twice me height, but he was a stranger to these parts. And he needed help.
I drew him a bath of squaw laurel and pedunculate lace flower, to ease his pain and accelerate the healing of his many hurts. I then went back to tend to his bleeding face. His eyes were closed as he soaked in the bath. Of course, he was too big for it and as he laid down to soak his shoulders in the water, his legs from the knee on were stretched out of the bath and hooked over the edge of the tub. He did look a lot better when he was clean, and he smelled better too. The only male I had ever seen without clothes was my father. This human male was large all over and I was impressed as I gazed at his nudity. He didn’t know that I was there until I started to dab at his ruined cheek and then he jumped up in the bath, splashing water on me and the floor. He wrapped his hands around his crotch to hide it from me and he went a little crazy trying to get me out of the room.
Inside I laughed at his antics but on the outside, I played dumb. The more he threw himself around in the bath, trying to protect his modesty, the more of an eyeful I got of his naked flesh. It was a lot of fun. He didn’t know anything about my species or my customs. I guess he thought that I was a savage to his cultured society. Finally, I left the room, but I did get a last long look at his naked ass before I did.
I had watched him and Emberlyn during their love making. My species had the same kind of parts, though I was smaller. Beau was so large and hard when he entered Emberlyn’s body. It did look painful but from the moment I had seen him naked, I began to wonder what it would be like between the two of us. It looked painful and maybe impossible, but it still excited me thinking about it. My mother, of course had explained to me what she and Father would do at night, when their bodies were entwined with one another’s’. I after all slept in the same room at night as they did. I wasn’t a stranger to it. But I was the last of our species after Mother and Father were gone. I would never find a suitable mate. When I absorbed the memories of Dhuklai, I was shocked at all the different ways of sex. Dhuklai had been a very adventurous lover.
“Why do let her tie you up?” I asked Beau from the Mirovian throne. He still sat in the overstuffed chair, his arm thrown over his face.
“Because I like it and she likes it too,” he answered with a grin.
“Why?”
“Juniper, I really don’t want to discuss this with you. What a man and woman do behind closed doors is private.”
“I have never had a lover,” I said.
“I know that,” he said blushing.
“Would you be my lover?” I asked him feeling extremely bold.
“No,” he answered at once.
“Why?” I asked him. “I know that I am much too small for you to insert your penis into me, but I have watched other things that Em has done to you with her mouth and that you have done to her.”
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” shouted Beau. “Juniper, what part of ‘that is private’ don’t you understand? God!!”
“And with your fingers,” I added.
“Jesus Christ,” he answered.
“You could have done that to me when we slept in the same bed.”
“Juniper! Listen to me! No!”
“Why?”
“I don’t think of you like that,” he answered. “We are friends, not lovers. And I am loyal to Emberlyn.”
“Not anymore,” he answered.
“But Emberlyn has only been with you. Why is that?”
“Are you saying that Em should have more lovers?” he asked getting mad. “We are loyal to each other. We will never be with anyone but each other.”
I could see how possessive he was of her and I thought that could be a good way to break them up. Except that Emberlyn was pregnant. I don’t think she was feeling very sexually adventurous right now. And even if I could break up their relationship, that didn’t mean that Beau would immediately turn to me for comfort. He was already mad at me for kidnapping his pregnant mate.
But I was curious, so I asked him, “What would you do if you found Emberlyn in bed with another man?”
“I would kill him,” he said automatically.
“Would you punish her?” I asked him.
“No,” he said.
“Why not?” I asked him.
“I would be mad at her, but I would never hurt her, and I would forgive her. I am not just going to stop loving her because you want me to, Juniper.”
“Even after all that we’ve been through?” I asked him
“Even then,” he answered.
I first started training Beau like my mother had trained me, but since he was such a bigger person than I, he was more adept at a different kind of weapons. He had experience with plasma protoblasters and protorifles, but I also taught him the sword.
At first, our training was basically him exercising a lot and building huge muscles on his thin lanky frame. He could lift me in one hand over his head. He felled trees and built a new bed for himself. I was training him to fight Zorow Shade and to storm Aminth and Myrinth’s castle. I still hadn’t given up hope that my parents were still alive somewhere in their castle, though I knew it was stupid to think that. I hated that Mother had left me behind when she went to find Father. She didn’t take me because I was weak. I wasn’t strong enough or good enough a fighter to watch her back. I would be a hardship, since she would have to keep me safe, so she left me behind.
I needed weapons and armor for Beau, so we went to visit a dwarf blacksmith that was supposed to be the best armorer in all of Traetan. The protoblasters and protorifles were easy enough to trade for, but the sword and armor had to be a custom fit for Beau.
The dwarf, Golmul Orcfall wanted a Phoenix feather in payment, so Beau and I set out on our first quest. Our first of many in Traetan. A phoenix fights with magical fire and a phoenix feather can be used to make many fire proof items. Armor that could even resist dragon fire. It is a very valuable thing to have. A phoenix does not take kindly to having its feathers plucked out and will immediately roast you with its magical fire, but like all birds, phoenix drop their feathers and maybe, if a phoenix likes you, a feather can be given as a gift.
I was so scared. I wasn’t strong, just like Mother said. I could throw the hatchet and I knew the bow, but mostly I just led the way and then hid behind Beau’s huge muscular form when there was trouble.
I told Beau that the best way was to either find a phoenix feather or have one given to us.
“What would a phoenix want for a feather?” he asked me. I had no idea, so then he said, “Well let’s find out.”
“You want to just go to the phoenix and ask it what it wants for a feather?”
“Of course, why not?”
“A phoenix is a bird. They live in an aerie high up on the tops of cliffs. How do you expect us to get up there?”
“Climb?” he asked. “You can fly, right?”
“Yes, I can fly. But I can’t fly up that high. The oxygen is thin that far up.”
“Well, they have to come down for food, right?”
“I guess.”
“So, we climb up as far as we can and stake out the phoenix’ hunting ground. Easie peasie.”
We traveled to the tallest mountain of Traetan and found a herd of mountain goats living there. We climbed as high as we could and made camp in a shallow cave. We saw the phoenix fly in the sky and grab a goat and carry it up to its aerie. The phoenix was enormous. It stood as tall as Beau and its wingspan was probably two Beau’s end to end. It was amazing. It was made of fire and magic, its plumage red and gold. We watched until one day as it was diving to grab a goat in its talons, Beau spoke to it.
“Hey!” he called. “Hey Phoenix!! Could I ask you for a feather, please?”
I think Beau shocked the thing more than anything. It probably didn’t get much company up here. The phoenix curiously watched Beau as he waved his arms wildly at it. Then the phoenix came in for a landing. Beau quickly backing away from its fiery wings.
“What?” asked the phoenix.
“I was wondering if I could have a feather, please?”
“Why, would I give you one of my feathers.?”
“Well, I don’t know. What would you like in trade?”
I think the phoenix was mostly confused and amazed by Beau. “What could I possibly want?” asked the phoenix. “I live for a thousand years and then I grow old, lay an egg and die. And then the egg hatches in a burst of flame and I am reborn.”
“You are the phoenix chick?” asked Beau curiously.
“Yes.”
“I have noticed that there aren’t any other phoenix flying around here,” mused Beau.
“Of course not. There is only one of me. I live for a thousand years. I grow old, lay an egg, die and am reborn from the egg in a ball of fire and then I live for another thousand years.”
“Forever?” asked Beau.
“Of course,” said the phoenix.
“Alone?” he asked.
“Of course,” answered the phoenix.
“Sounds lonely,” said Beau. “Haven’t you ever wanted another you to chat to?”
“That is ridiculous,” answered the phoenix. But then the enormous bird of fire and magic seemed to be considering the question. “Hmmm,” it said. “Interesting.”
“Maybe,” said Beau. “You grow old, you lay your egg but then you don’t die and then you are reborn from the egg in a ball of fire and now there are two of you. Two phoenix. Phoenixes?” asked Beau.
“What would keep me from dying?” asked the phoenix curiously.
“Well I don’t know. Juniper? What other than a phoenix lives forever?”
“A vampire?” I answered.
“Of course,” said the phoenix. “A vampire. Wait here,” and then the phoenix flew off to the top of the mountain and higher and higher until it seemed to fly into the sun itself.
“Wow,” said Beau. “Don’t look directly at the sun,” he said to me. “It will burn out your eyes.”
Then the phoenix returned with a large glass bottle the size of Beau’s hand, clutched in its talons. Beau took the bottle and then yelled and put his hands into the snow. “Hot,” he said.
“I made glass by taking sand into the sun,” said the phoenix. “Then I shaped it into a bottle. I also made a cap to the bottle,” said the phoenix proudly. “Fill the bottle with vampire blood, return it to me and I will give you a feather. It should be cool enough for you to touch now,” said the phoenix.
I gave him a blanket from our pack and Beau wrapped up the bottle and carefully placed it back into the pack. Then he thanked the phoenix and we made our way down the mountain.
“Are you out of your mind?” I asked. “A vampire isn’t going to just let you fill a bottle like that with its blood. Not willingly. Do you intend to kill a vampire now?” I asked him.
“Well, I guess we will figure that out when we get there. Where will we find a vampire?” he asked me.
“Drinking someone’s blood?” I answered. “Looking for victims? To drink their blood?”
“And where would a vampire look for victims?” he asked me grinning widely at me.
I thought about it for a while and then answered, “a cantina.”
“Perfect,” said Beau. And that led to our second
quest.
CHAPTER THREE
“Don’t you remember all the fun we had?” I asked Beau. “All the quests we went on. I thought you were insane when you started talking to that phoenix. How did you even come up with that idea?”
“You mean that the phoenix was lonely, and might want a companion? No one wants to be their only kind in the world and alone.”
“I am the only one of my kind,” I whispered to him.
“I am sorry, Juniper. I wish we had been able to find and rescue your parents.”
“It was stupid of me to think that they were alive. To hope that they were alive.”
“Of course, you wanted your parents to be alive. Look at what happened to Emberlyn when her mother was murdered?”
“I thought when we came here, and you saw what she had become, that you wouldn’t want her anymore.”
“That isn’t love to just give up on someone when things start getting rough.”
“Do you think she would be the one to back you up when you went to see a phoenix? Or a vampire? Or a dragon? Who was there at your back, keeping you safe and healthy?”
“You were, Juniper. No one is questioning your loyalty to me.”
“What is it that you love about her? Why? Can you just explain it to me?”
“She is strong, dominant and fearless. She forgot herself but now she is back, and I love her even more.”
“She isn’t fearless. She was a coward to give up her memories because she couldn’t just face and mourn the loss of her mother.”
“I said she has changed, Juniper. She would never do something like that again. Pain is part of life and also it is part of love.”
“Why does love have to hurt so much?” I asked him with black shadowy tears falling out of my eyes? Why?”
“To make it that much more precious, maybe,” Beau whispered.