Faerie's Champion

by M. H. Johnson

  Rulia’s guarded features softened as she took a deep breath. “Nothing, my dear Jess. What you said had just caught me by surprise, is all.”

  Jess blinked. “That I enjoyed your sweet touch?”

  Rulia gave Jess a fierce kiss that she returned with renewed vigor. "Not that, my sweet poppet. Come now, let's see how well you enjoy my touch, now that I know your wondrous mysteries a bit better than when I first caught your enchanting gaze."

  Jess’s grin turned impish. “Round two, then. Let us see who emerges victorious. First one who cries out must submit to the victor’s every naughty whim.”

  Rulia laughed throatily. “You are on, beautiful one. Let the contest begin.”

  And with heady delight, Jess engaged in a most enjoyable contest of wills and sensual bliss that set her mind ablaze, burning away all the uncertainties, doubts, and unanswered questions that plagued her, allowing her spirit to drift free upon roaring waves of pleasure crashing into the quivering flesh of her body, as over and over again they strove to best each other, until at last, entwined in each other's arms and crying out in unison, they drifted off into a deep contented sleep.

  12

  "Bloody hells, what's wrong with this door?" Jess began to emerge from her delicious doze, yawning like a contented cat upon the down-stuffed mattress she was splayed across, quilts long since tossed aside, gentle sunlight caressing her eyes even as the frustrated grumblings of another played across her ears. She was lost in that sweet drowsy state for some moments before it clicked that though she felt safe and in good hands, the voice she had heard was not her sister's.

  With a sudden intake of breath Jess blinked herself to full wakefulness, the events of the preceding day flashing across her mind's eye. She found herself gazing upon a grumbling Rulia, dressed in a simple dress of ocean blue that contrasted with her golden hair quite nicely, Jess thought. Rulia's beautiful features were caught in frustrated puzzlement, however, her strong physique straining against the door handle, lush lips pouting in a grumbled curse.

  Jess felt her cheeks flush hotly; she wanted to take that fierce northern princess into her arms once more as every delicious detail of the night before and the things they had done played before her mind’s eye. When the object of her desire flashed Jess a sheepish smile, Jess couldn’t help but look down at the bed covers in sudden embarrassment.

  “You’ll have to forgive me, Jess. It appears I can’t let you free just yet. This stubborn door is completely stuck! Damned southern architects can’t even account for doorways big enough to handle moisture soaked doors.”

  This caused Jess to give her friend a curious look. She knew that the northernmost baronies considered themselves a nation apart, but hadn't been aware it had become so well defined a prejudice, even if only expressed in times of frustration.

  Rulia flashed her friend an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, my dear Jess, I appear to have quite lost my temper with this door. Temper and civility alike. I was hoping to allow for a discrete exit for you before morning classes start, but the door, I fear, has other plans for us."

  Jess shook her head slightly, smiling gently at Rulia's admiring gaze even as she stretched and yawned before getting up and with a sigh of reluctance, putting on her dress from the night before, regretting that she couldn't slip into a comfortable tunic and tights like she used to. Yet she knew this was one of the unspoken requirements of this academy. No one had cared what she chose to wear at Highrock, once she had proved herself a warrior worthy of their respect, and the first rule of attire for a Squire of War was clothing that did not restrict movement.

  "By the gods, I'd rather be wearing a boy's leathers than this damn dress," Jess sighed softly as she yawned her way to Rulia's side, receiving a gentle kiss on the cheek by way of greeting as she posed to examine the door.

  "Good morning, my Jess," Rulia said softly, smiling, for all that her kiss was chaste. "Thank you for keeping me warm last night. I despaired of ever finding a decent pillow friend that I could trust, in this nest of vipers."

  Jess flashed the girl by her side an affectionate smile, impulsively giving her new lover a warm hug. “Careful Rulia. If we do this too often, I’ll really start to fall for you.

  Rulia grinned at that, giving Jess a fond squeeze back. “You know as well as I that our parents will expect us to marry suitable boys, one day. Casual discrete dalliances are all we can ever afford to have, and we are both lucky to find the fairer sex worthy of courting. Girls who attempt dalliances with boys outside the expected mold all too often end up ostracized and shunned, let alone if, Justice forbid, they are quickened with child by a cad they never see again.” She gently stroked Jess’s hair. “No, my beautiful warrior queen, for ones such as you and I, sweet midnight dalliances that fade to nothing more than warm memories as we greet our future husbands with the day is all we can ever hope to have.”

  Jess shivered, Rulia's words having a strange, chilling effect on her.

  “What is wrong, dear Jessica? I can feel your shiver. Is all well? I’m sure we’ll figure out how to pop open this door soon enough.”

  Jess forced herself to smile. “No, nothing is wrong.” She gently kissed Rulia’s enfolding arm. “In fact, there is much that is right with the world at this very moment that I am glad to be a part of.” Though the phrase ‘warrior queen’ did echo disconcertingly through Jess’s mind even as she gave the door a careful look. “I think, my dear Rulia, that it's all in the handle.”

  Rulia brushed back her thick mane of golden hair even as she indulged Jess with a bemused shake of her head. "I'm afraid not, Jess. I've been struggling with that stupid door for quite some time. I tried jiggling the handle, the lock, doing all I could to finesse it open. It won't budge. I'm afraid our next step is to… by the angels above, Jess, how did you do that?" Rulia's warm gaze turned to awe as a grinning Jess managed to open the door with a gentle shake of the handle and thumb notch.

  "It's all in the wrist," Jess winked playfully, inspiring a throaty chuckle from her new pillow friend, even as the door swung wide.

  “I am amazed.” Rulia gave a wry shake of her head. “I spent a quarter glass trying to open that bloody thing!”

  Jess just smiled. “I sort of have a way with wood.”

  Rulia whistled. “Indeed.”

  Jess yawned. “It's still ridiculously early. I’m off to freshen up and change. I’ll see you for breakfast, perhaps?” She gazed back at her new friend almost tentatively. Much to her relief, Rulia gave a warm nod.

  “I would love to, Jess. I’ll stop by your table today, and if the sniping fools who have condescended to allow me their company up until now have a problem with it, well, a pox on them, I say!”

  Jess flashed a grin. “That’s the way of it!” Giving her friend an impulsive hug without regard for any students passing by, Jess found herself in better spirits than she had felt all week, even whistling a bit of a merry tune as she made her way back to her own quarters, refusing to let people's scrunched eyes or covered ears or pleading demands for her to stop whistling, for mercy's sake, to dampen her spirits one bit.

  Her sister, looking a bit bedraggled and the worse for wear, did not share Jess’s bountiful optimism when she greeted Jess's cheerful knock on their door.

  “Well, I’m glad one of us had a good time.” Apple shook her head with frustration. “Where the hell were you, Jess? You didn’t leave me any message or note or anything, so I had no idea if you had gotten injured, or lost in some eerie dimension of Shadow, or if you had just decided to forsake your promise to Mother and Father and said, 'the hell with it all,' and ran away!”

  Jess blinked, a bit stunned by the outburst, suddenly feeling a great leaden ball of guilt squeeze her gut, as her sister looked close to tears. “I’m sorry Apple, I wasn’t really thinking about, well, you know. In any event, please don’t worry, I’m feeling great!”

  "I'm glad one of us is," Apple shot back waspishly. "While you were obviously off indulging yourself doing
I don't even want to think about what, save to say you have another girl's perfume on you, I'm here worried sick, afraid something might have happened! And why is it you get all the indulgences anyway? I meet one guy who I think finally might be interested in me for me, and is not all enamored by my larger than life, half crazy Delving sister, and of course he turns out to be a bloody monster!"

  Seeing her sister start to tremble, Jess gently gathered Apple into her arms and held her close as her sister heaved and sobbed against her chest. Softly, Jess shut the door behind them, knowing well the door wouldn’t open to anyone who wasn’t family.

  “Why weren’t you here last night?” Apple sobbed against her sister's shoulder. “It was bad, Jess. I had no one to talk to or to hold me, just horrible nightmares!”

  “I’m sorry, Apple. I didn’t realize.”

  Apple took a long shuddering breath, stepping away from Jess, only lightly punching her arm. “You’re such an idiot,” she sighed. “Anyway, I know you’re not Mother but, well, some nights it's nice to have someone who is family close by, you know?”

  Jess nodded in silent accord. “Of course, Apple. If you need me to stay here at night, I will. You only have to say so.”

  Apple took a moment to collect herself before giving her sister a bemused shake of the head, wiping away the last of her tears. “No, Jess. I don’t want you to feel like you need to babysit me. I know how hard it is for you here. Believe me, I know how these girls can be. Mother expects so much of me here, and even I find these self-centered bitches a bit trying at times!”

  Jess let loose a surprised chuckle at that. “And here I thought you loved games of intrigue.”

  Apple shrugged. "Well, it is more interesting than you and Father and Geoff going on and on about integrity, honor, and being men and women of your word, with no tolerance for deception, always being concise and clear in your meaning." Apple sighed. "In truth, life and politics are a bit more complicated than that, Jess. As Mother knows all too well, and frankly, Geoff should as well, as he will become baron one day, and so must know how to take the measure of both his allies and his enemies." Apple gave a sad shake of her head. "Who do you think has Father's back, pulling strings unseen, when our neighbors are seeking to forge an alliance against us? Who do you think was busy smoothing ruffled feathers and helping to forge alliances of our own, after you revealed to the kingdom entire your ability to reforge links between a noble and her land through the Rite of Primacy, a gift long thought extinct, that could have thrown the whole kingdom into turmoil? Think about it, Jess. If you have the ability to sanctify a noble's right to rule a given fiefdom, or could grant it to another at your whim, no noble's rule is safe if there is the slightest concern over where your fealties lie."

  “But Apple…”

  Apple shook her head, abruptly cutting Jess off. "No ‘buts,' Jess. You and I both know that you're perfectly happy swinging your sword and traipsing off to have wild adventures in the realm of dreams, when you're not tending to your garden. The trick was convincing the Noble Council entire that if those ‘ridiculous rumors' about you rediscovering the ancient art of Claimance were true, then you were the last person in the realm who would even care for power, let alone seek to wrest it for yourself. A lot of alliances and agreements were forged, Jess, offers implied and promised, just to keep our lands from being wrested from us entire, and all of us sent to the stockade."

  Apple shivered. “Truly, Jess, I don’t think you can fathom how precarious our position was. And had Mother not been one of the best players of the game of politics in Erovering, and had Father not been so unabashedly honest and straightforward, I can only imagine the position we would be in now.”

  Jess’s gaze turned fierce, and it was as if she could feel currents of terrible power coalesce alongside her fury. Long dormant, catalyzed to life by the very thought of her family being put in peril. Dark, hideous power, whispering bleak promises of awful retribution for anyone who dared to cross her, did she but grab hold of sweet madness once more.

  "Had anyone attempted to strike at our family, Apple, I would have destroyed them. No more games. No more following the rules. I would have shown them such savagery they would all have begged for mercy. And I would have shown them none! I would have wiped them clean off the map!" Her words echoed strangely, and Jess imagined she could feel a cold wind blowing through their chambers, for all that they were snugly sealed.

  For some strange reason, her sister was shaking. Deathly pale, her voice sounded tinny, far away. "Stop it, Jess! Stop doing that!"

  Jess blinked and took a deep breath, and it was like she snapped back into the moment, noting how cold their room had become, with an odd trace of sulfur in the air. “Apple, what’s wrong?”

  Apple just looked at her in shocked disbelief before bursting into tears. “You, Jess! Don’t do that, okay? Whatever you just did, don’t do that again! It's like you don’t even look human anymore.”

  Shamefaced, Jess stared at her feet. “I don’t know what I did, Apple, but I’m sorry.”

  Apple took a deep, shuddering breath. “That’s the thing,” she said, “if someone threatened our family, I have no doubt, no doubt at all that you could and would do terrible things to them. Heaven knows how many of our enemies you would butcher before they finally stopped you. But that’s the point. Mother used her influence, so our backs wouldn’t be pressed against the wall! So we would never be put in that horrible situation.” Apple, composure recovered, gazed thoughtfully at Jess. “And that’s why we are here now. So I can practice the skills Mother taught me, and forge alliances with this generation, while you are put on display, so to speak, so that everyone can see you are no mad would-be tyrant. Just an idealistic young girl who’d rather be a knight than play games of intrigue, and thus are a threat to no one.”

  Jess's grin was sardonic. "So no one cares that I am sick to death of these silly lessons in Machiavellian intrigue, to say nothing of ungodly boring needlework and bookkeeping, as long as I don't run away from the school?"

  Apple nodded. “No one really cares about the needlework, Jess. It's just an opportunity to gossip with our peers and come to understandings and agreements, while our hands are kept busy. The fact that you don’t even realize its purpose is actually quite comforting. Your utter disdain for the subtle art of innuendo is bloody obvious to everyone, which is fine, because it really does look like you couldn’t give a donkey’s hindquarters about establishing your own secret set of alliances to set as a foundation for a power grab in the future.”

  Jess blinked. “Honestly, Apple, the very idea hadn’t even occurred to me. That’s what you girls are gossiping about while I’m trying to figure out those bloody stitches?”

  Apple barked a very unfeminine chuckle at that, unable to help herself. “Exactly my point, Jess! You are like a caged animal that just wants to be free to hunt on the prairie once more, and couldn’t give a fig for the complexities of modern life, so to speak. It's reassuring for those who’s real job is to monitor you and report on your actions, even if the rest of us are expected to learn those very skills. For you? If your only focus is figuring out the bloody needlework, I think that suits everyone else just fine.”

  Jess gave her sister an affectionate hug. “I love you, Apple, and I’m sorry I left you so distraught. I’m also sorry things didn’t work out the way we would have hoped between you, and, you know.”

  Apple sighed, giving her sister a squeeze back. "It's okay. It's not your fault I'm still having nightmares. Gods above, Jess, it's only because of you that I am alive to have them at all." Apple began to shiver. Jess held her close and soothed her.

  "Relax. Maybe we can skip classes today and just walk amongst the gardens. Gods above know how much work it will take, bringing that sorry affair back into harmony, but perhaps we can work on it together, if you like. I swear, I have been doing my best to avoid the garden and the sorry excuse for an herbalist who oversees it, because I fear I shall find myself calling her
all sorts of foul names, especially if she dares to condescend to me just because I am a student. But perhaps if we are both there, you can pacify her while I attempt to salvage the poor drooping things. Of course, we don't have to go to the garden if you don't want to. We can just relax and take our ease this morning, if you prefer, Apple," Jess gently suggested.

  Smiling, Apple shook her head. "It's okay, Jess, really. My friends, or perhaps I should say potential allies, since the word friendship seems to be frowned upon around here, are expecting me. I know how much you love flowers, and I doubt anyone would object to you majoring in herb lore here, as you did at Highrock." Her sisters bemused gaze turned pointed. "And I have no doubt that you can exert a certain measure of self-control, Jess. If you are unable to find common ground with the mistress of the garden, simply ask to be assigned a plot of land that will fall under your care. If your charges flourish, all will see the validity of your techniques, and with your skill, I have no doubt you shall have any number of admiring students and professors before too long, if you can keep a cool head about you in the meantime.

  Jess blinked. "You know something, Apple? That's not a bad idea. Not at all. I just went to the classes they assigned me, and it's driving me insane. Perhaps I should emphasize an interest in plant lore, and make something of that garden."

  Apple grinned. “Just tell the headmistress what you are interested in and where you plan on being. I can hardly see them objecting to your puttering about the plants, and I doubt they will worry about you fomenting rebellion amongst the wisterias.”

  Jess flashed a knowing grin. “You’d be surprised. Those wisterias are on good terms with numerous strong species of hardwood. Powerful allies indeed.”

  Apple laughed. “Of course. Just let me know when you won’t be here, okay Jess? And for heaven's sake, whatever you do, just don’t run off. Okay?”

  Jess nodded solemnly. “Unless Malek pulls me deep into the Dreamrealms on some secret mission, I seriously doubt I’ll be going anywhere.”