The Iron Princess

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Naked.’

  ‘Well, yes.’

  ‘I can chat without being naked.’

  ‘You’re naked now.’

  ‘Yes,’ Nareel agreed, ‘but I’ve seen both of you without clothes before. We’ve lived together for quite some time. Ayah barely wears anything when she’s dancing.’

  ‘This is true,’ Ayah said, nodding. ‘I never could’ve done that before I met Xian. Travelling with her was an education.’

  ‘Close friend, was she?’ Suyin asked. She was wearing a smirk.

  Ayah felt her cheeks heating, but she kept her voice steady. ‘Eventually. For a week, just before I left. That was educational as well.’

  ‘Think you’ll see her again?’

  ‘I think so. I don’t know when, but she’ll find me again at some point. She’s interested in how I get on with the Arts.’

  ‘Are you sure she’s not just interested in you?’

  ‘Maybe. Xian’s an enigmatic sort of woman. It’s really hard to figure out just exactly what she wants.’

  18th Day, First Marita.

  Things were a little slow for a Sky Day at first. On the other hand, it was their first day rather than, as was usually the case, their second. As the afternoon went on, the crowd grew as people concluded whatever personal devotions or arrangements they might have and moved on to the entertainment portion of the day. Everyone loved the weekly holiday and this one was the day before the festival.

  There was more happening in the circus than usual. Some of the dancers were out among the crowd performing acrobatics and juggling. Taravel had bought in extra ale and cider barrels as well as various seasonal foodstuffs. Ayah ended up on a stand selling a variety of local pastries known as houndstooths. Ayah had only the vaguest idea why they were called that. They were vaguely shaped like a tooth, but she would have said ‘horn’ would be better. They had spiced, preserved apple as the filling. All in all, there seemed little connection to hounds, which did not, as far as Ayah was aware, particularly like apples. Despite the incongruous name, she had to admit they tasted quite good and they sold like, well, hot pastries.

  Jun and Nareel were still walking the grounds, though both of them were now occasionally called in to fight opponents in the challenge ring. Nareel was the only Water Form proponent in the circus and Istollam had far more people than anywhere else south of the Great North Wall who had learned that Form. Nareel had been showing Ayah some of the basic moves and principles of Water Form, but Ayah was not anywhere near ready to take on someone who really knew what they were doing.

  Jun in particular would stop by Ayah’s stall every time he walked past. Ayah did not really mind that: Jun was a handsome young man and Ayah had considered taking him to bed a number of times in the past few weeks. She had not because there was next to no privacy in the circus. They both shared tents with other people and Ayah did not especially want her private life to become part of camp gossip. Of course, everyone knew she had slept with Yaena, but everyone knew that Yaena slept with any new girl who was in the least willing. Jun was another matter. But he did seem interested.

  ‘You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an outfit like that before,’ he said, indicating Ayah’s deerskins with a vaguely waved finger.

  ‘This kind of thing was all the rage a couple of centuries ago.’

  ‘It must’ve been warmer back then. Isn’t it cold having all that skin on display?’

  ‘Perhaps it was and I’m not cold. I learned how to warm myself with my qi, though the sun is actually quite warm today. Anyway, are you saying you don’t like me having all this skin on display?’

  He held up his hands in surrender. ‘I think I’d be a pretty poor male if I did.’

  Ayah grinned at him. ‘Good. That’s what I like to hear.’

  19th Day, First Marita.

  The Festival of Growth was as big in Istollam as anywhere else on the Plains, but there was something different about it which took Ayah a little while to pin down. She stood at her pastry stand and watched the people going past. She sold pastries, of course; the houndstooths remained popular.

  It took a little over an hour before Ayah spotted the primary difference between here and Saventi or Omashi. Then it took her a little longer to work out what it meant. The citizens of Istollam were not really Plains people. The residents of the towns and villages out on the Western Plains, no matter how much some tried to be cosmopolitan and adopt city fashions, were closer to the land than the city dwellers. Outside the city walls, the festival was a semi-religious event. There was laughing, singing, drinking, and dancing, but it was there to celebrate the start of the growing season and beseech the spirits for a good harvest come autumn. In the city, the festival was an excuse to get drunk.

  Oh, and there was the fertility aspect. It was common in many places for young women to seek out sex with strangers on the night of the festival. It was said to give the spirits an idea of what the humans wanted in the way of fertile crops and to be lucky. That kind of thing had not happened much in Avrilatha because there were rarely any strangers about. Here in Istollam, it seemed that the locals went looking for their stranger quite early and did not necessarily wait for night to consummate the relationship. Ayah spotted one girl, a buxom brunette with sparkling eyes, with three different men through the course of the afternoon.

  All in all, it seemed that Istollam treated the Festival of Growth as an excuse to take the day off and spend it drinking and screwing. Nareel seemed more than usually displeased by it all.

  ‘They have forgotten the meaning of this festival,’ she said at one point when she had stopped to talk to Ayah at the pastry stand. ‘In the tribes, the entire community comes together to pray for fruitfulness across the whole of nature.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ayah replied, ‘but you rely on nature to provide your food. You hunt it or gather it up from the wild. You can’t grow crops on the tundra. In my village, this was about crops, pigs, cows, and a little bit about humans. In the cities, they’re all at least one step divorced from where their food comes from.’

  Nareel shook her head. ‘They have forgotten that the spirits exist. The only spiritual experience any of these people will have is the kind that comes from the rapid thrusting of body parts into someone else’s body parts.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound too bad to me.’

  ‘It’s not. It can be very pleasurable. That’s not my point, however.’

  Ayah flashed Nareel a smirk. ‘I think you lost some of the moral high ground there.’

  Nareel returned a frown. ‘Perhaps I did. Yes.’

  ~~~

  ‘So, what do you think of this outfit?’ Ayah asked as she unhooked her cloak and let it drop to the bed of the wagon. She had told Nareel that she would be late back to their room long before she had gone to change for her dances. Whether Jun had known it beforehand, he was going to get lucky tonight. Ayah was quite determined about it. Technically, he was not a stranger, but she did not know that much about him…

  Jun, kneeling half out of the opening in the wagon’s cover, took his time looking over Ayah’s largely unclad body. ‘As before, I’d be a stupid man to say I don’t like it. The deerskins are more… earthy, wilder. And they leave more to the imagination. Then again, I’ve seen you dance in that outfit.’

  Ayah flashed him a grin. ‘There’s not really enough space for dancing in here.’ He was using one of the passenger wagons. He had a couple of candles sitting on the benches down the sides and his bedroll occupied much of the space between them. You could just about stand up under the cover, if you were Ayah’s height. Jun had to bend his neck, hence the kneeling.

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘Not vertically anyway.’ Reaching behind her back, she pushed on the metal holding her bodice in place. The catch disengaged and she slid out of the garment, dropping it onto her cloak. She heard Jun’s breathing hitch. Good reaction. ‘Did you think I came back here with you to chat?’

  ‘No, not really.’ He c
rawled in properly and turned to tie the opening closed. When he turned back, she had unhooked the skirt at her right hip, dropped it on her cloak, and was stepping out of the tiny scrap of red cloth which covered her pubic mound and not a whole lot more. She straightened and smiled as he stared. Her skin was darker in the light from the candles. Shadows flickered over her as she shifted her weight, spreading her legs, and lean muscle moved under tanned skin. There was a look in her eyes that sent a thrill through his body and straight down to his balls. Hot. Needy.

  ‘Take off your clothes,’ she said, her voice soft. ‘I want you’ – she pointed her right index finger at his chest – ‘in here.’ Her hand lowered, swinging down to rest over her sex. Her finger slid down between her labia and pressed inward. She let out a little moan, her eyes stuttering shut.

  Jun needed no further invitation. Ayah could hear him struggling out of his clothes, but she kept her eyes closed and worked her finger inside her. She hoped it looked suitably sexy, but she was doing it mostly to keep herself worked up and wet. Jun was going to be her first man and she wanted it to be good. It would be a terrible shame if her first was a mess. Well, mess was probably quite likely, if some of the things Xian had said were not just teasing, but Ayah did want to enjoy her first experience with a man. She wanted him to enjoy it too.

  Spirits! When had her last period been?! Her finger paused as that potential disaster reared its head. No, she should be good. Tomorrow she would go out and get some herbs her mother had told her about to be sure, but she should be good. She pushed a second finger into herself, curled them as she drove them in, and let out a soft moan.

  Without warning, a tongue slid over her labia and slick fingers. She really hoped it was Jun’s. She slid her fingers free and sighed as she felt him begin to lap at her clitoris. Her fingers slid into his curly hair, pressing his mouth against her. He pressed his lips to her and sucked and the throbbing which had settled between her legs spiked into a sudden burst of intense pleasure.

  ‘Lie back,’ she said, opening her eyes. He moved away from her, lying down on the blanket, and she straddled his legs. He was young, eager, and already erect. Was that thing going to go inside her? There was only one way to find out. She shifted forward and lifted up and reached down. Taking him in her hand, she steered him to her entrance. She looked down at him, smiling with what she hoped was confidence and suspected came across as nervousness. Then she pushed down, taking it slowly. Her eyes widened as she felt herself stretch wide for him; this was not like it had been with Xian’s fingers. Xian had a few tricks that Jun was unlikely to know, of course, but this was… Her behind hit his thighs and she sat there, feeling the length of him filling her. ‘Oh, that feels good.’

  ‘It gets better,’ Jun replied.

  ‘I hope so.’ Ayah lifted again, still taking it slowly. The second drop sent a deeper thrill through her and, confidence growing, she gained speed. She heard Jun moan and his hands gripped her hips. Encouraged, she began to rotate her hips as she slid up and down his length with gay abandon. One of her hands lifted to cup a breast, teasing at the nipple. The other hand went down between her legs and she began to play with herself as she rode him. Her head fell back on her neck. She was in heaven.

  ‘Can’t… hold on.’

  ‘Just… just a little… longer.’ She could feel him inside her, pulsing, swelling.

  ‘Don’t think I–’ He cut off, clamping his hands over his mouth to supress the sound. His back arched, pushing him into her as he exploded inside her. Not quite what she had wanted, but… Her fingers moved faster and despite the strangled noises he made as she did so, she bucked up and down on him another couple of times, and then she was joining him, her teeth gritted to avoid screaming.

  She fell forward, catching herself before she smashed her face into his. She grinned and squeezed her inner muscles. He whimpered. ‘Not perfect,’ she said, ‘but I’m told young men recover quickly. You’ll have time to make it up to me.’

  It was weird, but Jun had an expression like a mouse which had just discovered it was now the favourite plaything of a cat.

  20th Day, First Marita.

  Ayah set out to find a Water Form teacher the next morning. Nareel came along with her because Nareel knew enough about the Form to be able to tell a good teacher from a bad one. Suyin came along to see more of the city and for something to do. Jun joined them as soon as they walked out of the boarding house. He was wearing a slightly stupid grin and had about him the air of a favoured puppy. Suyin found that very humorous, though she did her best to conceal it. Nareel seemed to be amused too, but she was generally quite laconic and showed few signs of finding anything funny.

  Finding schools teaching Water Form was not especially difficult. They advertised on posters dotted around the city and they had large signs outside their establishments. Finding one Ayah could afford was another matter. The bigger schools were expensive. Nareel did not seem to be too worried about that, however.

  ‘These places are not proper schools anyway,’ she said as they walked away from another one. ‘They do not teach Water Form. They teach how to behave in a polite school.’

  ‘I don’t see that as a problem,’ Jun said. ‘I was taught how to behave in a school.’

  ‘Because you learned Metal Form,’ Ayah told him. ‘It’s really necessary when you’re learning how to use something that could cause real wounds. Metal is the only Form which teaches etiquette as part of the basic curriculum.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Water Form is the chosen art of seamen and those who live on the tundra,’ Nareel explained. ‘It is only in the cities that formal schools exist. For most, the skills are passed down through the generations. I learned from my grandfather, a master of the Form. I admit that I have a long way to go before I am as good as he is.’

  ‘I expect he’s been doing it longer,’ Suyin said.

  Nareel gave her a smile. ‘Much longer.’

  When they stopped for lunch just before midday, Ayah was no further forward in her search for a teacher. On the other hand, the lamian place they found was good and fairly cheap. ‘I thought this was going to be easy,’ Ayah commented around a mouthful of mutton and noodles.

  ‘It is easy to find a teacher,’ Nareel replied. ‘It is harder to find a good teacher. Obviously, I am prejudiced, but I think this is the wrong place to look. To find a true teacher of the Form, you must find a tribesman willing to teach you.’

  ‘And freeze parts of your anatomy off in the cold?’ Suyin asked. ‘That has to be a last-ditch effort.’

  ‘The cold is one thing. Getting a tribesman to train someone from outside… That is quite another.’

  ‘Well, for now that isn’t an option anyway,’ Ayah said. ‘I’ll try looking again tomorrow. Maybe down by the docks. That might be a good place to try.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Nareel agreed, though she did not sound especially confident.

  25th Day, First Marita.

  A week of searching had got Ayah precisely nowhere. The formal schools were either too expensive, or they were more inclined to teach people how to look good at fighting rather than be good, or both. There were better places with a more vocational curriculum, but Ayah was not after learning to be a fisherman or a crewman aboard a trade ship. It would take a year or more to learn even the basics of the actual Form that way, but she would be able to find work at sea afterward.

  ‘It’s depressing,’ she said as the four of them ate lunch before the circus started up. They had not bothered searching since it was Sky Day, but the four of them had wandered around the city for a while anyway, getting a better idea of the place they would call home for another month.

  ‘Spar with Nareel,’ Jun suggested. ‘I’ve seen her fighting. She’s pretty good.’

  ‘Acceptable,’ Nareel countered. ‘However, I am not a teacher.’ Then she gave a shrug. ‘Not that I would mind someone to spar with and I suppose you would learn something.’

  ‘Okay,’ Ayah said, nod
ding. ‘We’ll try that and I’ll keep my eyes open. We’re heading up to the City of the North after this. Maybe I can find someone there.’

  ‘Maybe…’

  ‘And if all else fails, I’ll walk into the tundra and see if I can find a spirit willing to teach me.’ Nareel looked at her with a deadpan expression and Ayah gave a shrug. ‘Well, it didn’t exactly work like that with Wood, but it’s not that far off.’

  ~~~

  Suyin moved through the steps of the Sword Dance with a grace and speed born of long years of practice. It was almost like a form of meditation to her. She could almost drift off and let her muscles take her through the sequence of moves. Almost.

  As she turned to bring her sword up for one of the various clashes of metal which punctuated the dance, her eyes scanned across the crowd. She was turning again before what she had seen began to process through her brain and she recognised one of the men in the audience. That was not entirely unusual: people returned to see the show again sometimes, though it was more common with the fire dancers.

  What bothered Suyin about this man was that he had paid particular attention to her. Well, she was a very pretty girl, but he had not seemed to be concerned about that. There had been no lust in his eyes. There was none there now, nor in the eyes of the two men sitting on either side of him.

  She let her eyes linger on the trio briefly as she performed another turn and strike. They were talking among themselves. There was no way she could tell what they were talking about, but a cold chill sped down her spine as the possibilities ran through her mind.

  Had they recognised her?

  Did they have reason to recognise her?

  Suyin focused her attention on the dance. Suddenly, the moves she knew so well took all of her concentration to get right.

  ~~~

  Ayah moved through the steps of the Fire Dance, letting her body do the moving as her mind sank into a state of meditation. She did not give the absolute best performance that way, but most of the men in the audience were only interested in the lithe movements of half-naked women, not in how well the dance was performed. Technically, Ayah’s dance would be perfect. It would simply lack some of the ‘customisation’ she could do when she paid attention to the audience.