by Jane Price
“I apologize for their lack of hygiene. That type of behavior is usually not acceptable.” The two men hung their heads and sniffed at their arms, shaking their heads to get rid of the smell. “Perhaps you would like the chance to ride in the caravan, so that you may be rid of their horrific smell.” The woman, without turning around, thought for a moment, but continued walking.
“No sir, I would much rather walk. However, thank you for the invitation.” She sped her pace up and ducked away into a side alley that was too small for Victor’s cart. She waved at him as she became smaller and smaller and shouted back at him, “better luck next time, Prince.” The two men turned and looked at him and asked if he wanted them to follow her.
“No, don’t scare her away. She is the most delicate bird I have ever met.” Victor bit his lip and every thought he had ever had about another woman escaped him. “I must have her.”
******
Victor’s mother came storming into his room, his two guards trailing after her pleading her to stop. As she entered the room she spun around facing the two men and held up her finger to get them to stop their squabbling. They immediately stopped talking and in the shrill voice that she only used when she was truly angry, a voice that Victor had only ever heard used on himself and his father, she began her assault.
“You two scroungy dogs would do well to remember who I am. I am the Queen and that comes with privileges. One of those such privileges is that I do not have to listen to anything that fattened pigs like yourself have to say. I go where I please, do you understand?” The two men stood with their mouths open and looked at Victor for some kind of direction. He merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Victor’s mother continued to look at them and followed their eyes to Victor.
“You do not need to ask for permission to understand. Get out of here.” The two men bowed and muttered their apologies under their breath as they made their way out of the room. Victor forced the smile off of his face because he could tell that his mother was incredibly frustrated, but he couldn’t understand why. He hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary for his usual actions. So he waited to see what she had to say.
“Did you have the Spy Master track down a woman from the town, you silly naive boy?” Victor sat up in his bed and stared at her confused. He had done this countless times before trying to find out things about the various women, or their significant others, in the town. Why had this one gotten her so riled up?
“I did, but mother honestly, he hasn’t even told me what he has found out yet. Why are you so angry?” She began to pace the room and closed the door to his room. She then walked across the room and closed the shutters on the window just to be sure that absolutely no one could bother them while they had this discussion. Victor’s mother sat on the edge of the bed as he leaned in. She lowered her voice as she spoke.
“Victor, the Spy Master sent his men but they went missing. It’s why he hasn’t found anything out about her. Who did you send him to find information about?” She stared at him intently, reading his face for any sort of clue, but he honestly had no information. He had only given him the small amount of information he had known. Where he had seen her, the color of her hair and that was it.
“Mother, I don’t know. She was just a girl. She had beautiful hair and she didn’t seem to care much for me, but I needed to know who she was so I could-”
“So you could what, you fool,” his mother snapped at him. “You and your father never think through your actions. You just come up with a dumb decision and act upon it.” She stood up and began pacing the room again. “At least he has a kingdom to show for it, you just had two men killed.” Victor stood up and pulled on his clothes while his mother’s back was turned.
“I understand your frustration, but I can fix this.” She spun around and charged towards him, wagging her finger the whole way.
“You will do no such thing. Do you think that two trained professionals made a mistake? Think about what you would do if you went after them. What are you thinking?” Victor sat back down on the bed and swore under his breath as his mother continued to berate him. She was right, there was nothing he could do. But he could certainly still try.
******
Night fell early in the winter and he knew that he would need to plan for the cold weather. He usually wore furs, but he knew that there were never any peasants in the town wearing furs so he would need to wear layers rather than that. He searched through his various cabinets of clothing hoping to find something that would work well.
After layering up in dark clothes he reopened the shutters that his mother had closed earlier in the day and locked the door so that no one could get in while he was gone. He didn’t need to worry too much because he knew that no servants would bother him until he first made his way down into the central quarters. They had once wandered into his room while he was still sleeping and nearly caught the business end of a sword for that decision.
Victor made his way back to his window and gracefully made his way out on the ledge where he began his descent down the side of the castle. It was a slow trip because he wanted to make sure that he was silent as well as safe. There would be nothing worse than getting discovered sneaking out of his own room as an adult just to go looking for a woman. That’s something he could never live down.
He made his way into town after the slow descent and as he approached a large square, nearby where he initially saw the woman with the shining hair, he pulled up his hood and waited, doing his best to spot her. He noticed a lot of things while he stood there. For one thing, these people didn’t have much, which surprised him. For the amount of excess his family had, these people had so little. He watched as a few street vendors sold “rat on a stick,” and even the rats seemed underfed.
He watched as children ran together in small packs, as if there were no authority figures in their life. Their faces covered in caked on dirt and their clothes torn. He was shocked to see them split off into different groups and beg amongst the people that stood around and spoke in hushed tones. He even heard these people mocking his family name. In any other circumstance he would have spoken up and defended himself and his family, but he knew that he must stay secret.
About an hour had passed and he was planning his return back to the castle when he heard the children all cheer and run towards an alleyway. He turned and saw the woman he had been seeking. He stood and watched as she pulled out loaves of bread from under her cloak and quickly tore them apart, handing out the different pieces to the children who would scamper off to protect their piece of bread as they ate it.
She sat with a few of the smaller girls and did a few sleight of hand tricks for them as they ate and they laughed together. Victor noticed that every time the girls would look away the woman he pined after would look around sadly at the other people, almost trying to will them into helping in some way, but they all just walked past, unaffected by the sight of these small children who were clearly struggling in ways Victor had never experienced.
So, some time passed and the children all began to regroup and started making their way back to wherever they each called home and the red haired woman stood and began to walk away into a nearby alley. Victor snapped to attention and made his way into the alley after her, doing his best to catch all of the quick, sporadic turns that she was making. He thought he was doing a good job of trailing her until he turned a corner and found himself staring down an empty, dark lane. The last thing he heard was a laugh. Then the world went black.
******
Victor had woken up in a few interesting situations. There was the time he had woken up tied to a bed surrounded by women, their breasts offered a comfortable alternative to a pillow. It took him awhile but he was able to wriggle his way free that time. He had made sure that they hadn’t tied them too tight so that he would be able to break out if he needed to get out before they woke up.
However, this time whoever had tied him up didn’t use the velvet bands that he was used to,
they had used an incredibly rough rope. They also hadn’t left him much room to move around. It was as if they wanted to keep him there and not let him get out. He took a moment and stopped struggling and tried to look around and get an understanding of his surroundings. He slowly turned his head and saw the two men shackled in the corner that he recognized as the two of the spies from the Spy Master.
He went to call out to them and noticed that his mouth had been gagged. However, he was still able to scream out a muffled few words towards the two men. They attempted to open their eyes but they were swollen shut and bleeding. Victor saw that and began to struggle more fiercely. If they were willing to do that to two underlings of the King, there is no saying what these people would do to the crowned Prince.
Just as he thought this the door in the corner of the room slammed open and he immediately pretended to be asleep. He was hoping that maybe if he wasn’t awake, they wouldn’t bother him. Victor was wrong, very wrong. The first man that had walked into the room made a beeline for the wooden bed that he was tied to. As Victor laid perfectly still trying to control his breathing the man reached down and firmly slapped him across the face.
“Wake up, Prince.” Victor could handle being slapped. In fact, he had even asked for it a number of times in bed. However, he didn’t like the tone of the man’s voice when he said “Prince.” There was so much hatred and disgust in the way he said it. “It’s time for the fun to begin.” He slapped him again and began untying the rope on his wrists and ankles. As soon as the rope was undone on his wrists Victor snapped up and grabbed the man by the throat and began to throttle him.
“You had better watch your tone when you speak to me, you sorry excuse for a man.” With the gag in his mouth it came out rather muffled, but he felt that his eyes got the message across. The man struggled to get away from his grasp, but couldn’t break free. The other man that had walked into the room laughed as his compatriot struggled and cheered Victor on as he began to see the color drain from the man’s face. At that moment a third person burst into the room and their demanding voice caused everyone to freeze.
“Just what in the hell is happening here?” Victor didn’t release the man, but loosened his grip slightly so that he was able to regain a bit of breath. However, the other man who had been laughing snapped to attention and turned towards the door saluting as he did so. “Put your hand down, you buffoon.” The man slowly lowered his hand as the person walked into the room.
A hand came swinging in and slapped at Victor’s hand causing him to release the man’s throat. The man fell to the floor gasping and clutched at his bruised neck. Victor looked up and found himself staring up at the woman he had been following. He reached out to touch her and he watched as her eyes also seemed to light up. Her eyes quickly darted to her two soldiers in the room and she gently pressed his arm back down onto the bed.
“That’s enough of that.” She held on to his hand for a moment and turned back around and looked at the man that was standing at attention and the man that was still sitting on the floor. “Take those two to the questioning room. I need time alone with the prince.” The man who was crumpled on the floor stood up and they both bowed in unison, ushering the two spies out of the room. Victor yelled for them through the mouth gag, but the woman placed a finger to her lips to quiet him. As they left the room she finished untying his ankles and removed the gag.
“What are you going to do to those men, they are my men and I will see that no more harm comes to them.” The woman laughed and extended her hand. “What is this?”
“A handshake. My name is Meredith and I am one of the leaders of the uprising.” Victor sat dumbstruck and looked back at Meredith without speaking. She looked down at her hand and back at him. He awkwardly reached out and shook her hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, truly. I understand that this is a bit awkward, but I’ve admired you ever since we were young.” Victor found his voice as she said this.
“I’m sorry, what?” Meredith began to walk around the room, inspecting various features as she spoke.
“Every time you and your father would ride through the town. Your father took great care to make sure the city always looked peaceful.” Meredith picked up a piece of bread from one of the plates that had been near the two men that were tied up. “He used to send the Royal Guards ahead of you and usher away any beggars or orphans.” Victor shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing.
“No, that can’t be true. My father is cruel, but he cared for his kingdom. I know that to be the truth.” Meredith threw her head back and laughed. Victor was frustrated by this, but had no real recourse.
“Oh, Victor. You saw it with your own eyes tonight.” She turned and looked at him, smiling. “I know you were there watching me with the children.” Victor blushed. He had thought he was being so careful. He thought that he was completely unseen, and yet she had been the one that was waiting for him so she could knock him out. He instinctively reached up to massage the spot on the back of his head. “Oh, I’m sorry about that. I went a bit hard.” Meredith walked across the room and came face to face with Victor. “Let me take a look.”
Victor turned slightly on the bed so that Meredith was able to get a better look at his head. Her fingers gently played along his scalp and massaged the knot on the back of his head. Victor felt his eyes closing because of how gentle she was being. She chuckled and stopped, grabbing him by the sides of his face. She leaned in and kissed him, their lips interlocking and eyes closing. She stood, kissing him for a moment and pulled away.
“Let’s get your mind off of that bump, shall we?”
******
Meredith leaned in again and kissed Victor as he adjusted himself once again on the edge of the bed so that he had a better angle. She fit herself in between his legs and her hands tangled themselves in his hair as they got more and more intense with the kissing. Their tongues lapped against each other and their lips became almost as if they were connected together.
Victor broke away and began to kiss Meredith’s neck, his hands shifted from his sides and made their way to her back where he began unfastening the straps on the back of her shirt. The loosely tied strings fall gracefully and he pulled the soft fabric off over her head. When he removed the shirt he came face to face with her breasts.
They were like two small porcelain mounds and Victor couldn’t help but reach out to grab them. As he did so, Meredith’s head fell back and she moaned for him to slow down. She took her hands out of his hair and grabbed his hands and placed them back on her hips. Victor wasn’t used to being told that he couldn’t have something. He had become so comfortable with just taking everything and a woman telling him he couldn’t have her body was a new experience. One that he quite liked.
So, with his hands on her hips he continued to kiss her neck and felt her body slowly become covered in goosebumps as his lips lapped at her slightly sweaty skin. He tasted the salt on her skin and wanted more so he continued to kiss her and made his way towards her nipples where he had just been shooed away from. But, his old mentality kicked in and he couldn’t help but try. As he neared her supple breasts she reached up again and lifted his chin so that he was eye to eye with her.
“Not so fast, lover boy. I’m not like the other women you’ve been with.” She began to caress his face and playfully twirled his hair around her finger. “I know what you do to women you sleep with. You love them,” she stopped playing and backed away. “And you leave them.” Meredith pushed him back onto the bed and picked up her shirt so that she could put it back on. Victor sprang forward and grabbed the shirt from her hand so that they were both struggling to try and get a hold of it.
“You don’t know me. I know what the people must think. But I have never sought out a woman before.” With a strong tug he pulled the shirt from her grasp and held it behind his back as she reached out for it. “I want nothing more than to be with you.” Meredith stopped making grabs for the shirt and took a step back, her hands firmly plan
ted on her hips.
“You don’t even know what you’re implying, prince.” Victor held the shirt out as a peace offering and Meredith tentatively reached out to grab it. Victor allowed her to take it, but held his hands up to stop her from putting it on.
“I know exactly what I’m implying.” Victor took a step forward and Meredith dropped the shirt to the floor. His hands grabbed and cupped her butt and he lifted her into the air, their lips connecting for a kiss as he turned and walked back towards the bed with her in his arms. Meredith giggled as they walked.
Victor stood her up so that she was standing next to the bed and turned her so that she was facing the bed. With one hand he bent her over at the waist so that her ass was sitting out prominently. His other hand went to work at unfastening her belt and pants. She bent over patiently and with both hands he slowly pulled her pants down over her ass so that her pussy and ass were out. Without hesitation, even before the pants hit the floor, Victor began to eat her out.
His tongue teased at her lips and clit as Meredith’s hands darted for the bed and for something to grab onto. Her fingers curled up in the small fur that was laid across the bed and she moaned loudly. Victor lifted his hands up and spread her ass cheeks so that he had better access, his tongue lapping at her pussy. With his fingers he began to probe and tease her asshole as well.