by Viva Fox
While he may not be able to find the strange fruit that they called “pineapple,” even though it didn’t taste of pine or apple, and from what he could tell had nothing to do with either of those fruits, there were a few benefits that he still got to appreciate every day. Namely, the way that the townsfolk, and the women in the town, treated him. Because his father ruled with an iron fist and had the largest army to date, there was no threat of invasion from the neighboring kingdoms. What that meant for Victor was that he was under no expectation to marry the daughter of another king.
Every woman in his father’s kingdom knew this and thus did everything they could to win the favor of Victor so that they would be chosen as his bride and climb out of poverty into the heights of luxury. This manifest itself in a number of ways and every few days Victor would enter into town to see what kinds of treasures he was able to get from his last name. Usually when he would enter into the lower wards the women would flood to the street and offer him food or drink to come into their homes. He would walk between the houses and wait until something caught his fancy, whether it was the cooking, or the daughters, of the women.
He left nearly every time completely satisfied, with a full stomach and an empty sex drive. He remembers in particular the woman who threw open the windows and showered him with petals as he walked by. It caught him by surprise and upon looking up he saw the well-endowed breasts of twins, their mother actively jostling the two girls to show just how lively they were. Victor had chosen that house and might have chosen one of the girls to take as his wife, but their mother was overbearing and he knew that he must take into account the fact that she would have never made herself scarce.
Victor thought back on that moment frequently when his lessons in the neighboring kingdoms drag on for hours, or worst yet when he is forced to learn about history with the Master. He would think back on how their supple breasts felt in his hands and how their lips worked in tandem across his cock and his own mouth. Both women’s’ hands documenting every crease in his body for closer examination later. He could feel their soft, moist pussies on his tongue and felt them on his cock while he daydreamt. However, he had but a memory, because as he was taught, he could not show particular interest in a single family unless he was serious, as the townsfolk would then shun him if he went back on them for any reason. So, he had kept his distance.
However, as his caravan rode through town this time he was struck by the beauty of a girl who walked down the middle of the path. He could only see the back of her head, but her hair was bright red and caught the light, shining like crystal in the midday sun. She had a shapely figure and her dress tugged and pulled at all the right areas. Victor had noticed that in the High Court women had begun to wear much larger dresses, but found it to be unattractive and preferred when people wore clothes that fit their body. As they approached, Victor ordered his caravan to slow down and he called out to the girl.
“Miss, are you aware that you’re impeding the caravan of Prince Victor.” He said it with a smile and a few other of the passing townspeople stopped to watch as this played out. The woman stopped and tilted her head, but didn’t turn around. She merely responded by shouting back at him over her shoulder.
“I am aware of no such thing, sir. However, I am aware that your men need to bath more, they smell worse than the meat at market.” Victor looked at the two men who were standing guard in front of him. He leaned forward and sniffed them, shocked by just how awful they really did smell. He had never noticed because his caravan had been stocked with lavender and other plants to keep out the smell of the peasants. But it seemed like he should be saving them from his own men.
“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 ushe
r 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.