Paladin's Oath

by M. H. Johnson

  Jess felt her cheeks flush with sudden heat, smiling with surprise at the girl who had planted herself so close to Jess, gently squeezing her hand even as mischievous brown eyes smiled into her own.

  “That is for being a defender of a woman’s virtue. And for spanking that Nicolaus most soundly for our benefit.”

  “Onnika!” her mother hissed, gently pulling her daughter back. Her gaze at Jess, however, had thawed and she seemed to be viewing her in a new light. “Jess, it is a marvelous gift, and I will see to it that our gardener transplants it with the tenderest care. Our flower beds will be all the more vibrant for the cross-pollination, I’m sure.”

  Jess nodded formally. “I am glad you like the gift, Lady Turnsby. And I bid you the most happy and joyous of birthdays, dear Onnika. Congratulations on reaching your majority.”

  Onnika blushed and grinned. "Oh, I love it, dear Jess. But no need to trouble the gardeners, Mother. You've trained Karine and I well enough in herbal lore. Come, Jess. Let us go to the greenhouse with this most exquisite gift, and you can show me how best to replant it."

  “But you haven’t finished opening all your gifts!” her mother exclaimed, to which Onnika gave a warm, forgiving laugh, taking in the great dining hall entire with her gentle smile.

  "Truth be told, my friends, my mind is all but dizzy with food, wine, and your most excellent company. 'Twould be a far better gift, were I to receive your most excellent presents on the morrow with a clear head, better able to appreciate the thoughtfulness and care each and every one of you have put into these delightful presents. Wouldn't you all agree that is for the best?"

  Onnika smiled once more and nodded at her own words as if it were a forgone conclusion, receiving a number of hesitant nods. "Now, as these precious, fragile cuttings really should be placed in the greenhouse as soon as possible, doing so right now would allow me to preserve this delightful gift as well as clear my head. And I shall allow our champion of the evening to accompany me and assure my safety while assisting me with the replanting, without going out alone into the dangerous dark. Agreed, Mother?"

  Without waiting for an answer, Onnika firmly took Jess’s bemused hand and led her away from the cluster of womenfolk, even as Jess dragged the planter on its silver roller behind them.

  "By the gods, I'd never thought I'd be done with them," Onnika confessed to Jess as they left the great dining hall, heading towards an elegant staircase. The birthday girl took hold of the fine filigreed banner as she spun around on the well-burnished oaken staircase, seeming to glow in the warm flickering lamp light. "Thank you for rescuing me, Jess," she whispered. Her eyes were teasing as she gazed intently at Jess, and for some reason, Jess felt herself starting to blush. "Hurry, pick up that planter and come up the stairs with me. I know you're strong enough, and we must move quickly before Mother realizes I'm not heading outside, and I don't need a chaperon to access the conservatory upstairs!"

  With that, she darted up the stairs and Jess quickly followed, planter in hand.

  Jess found herself being led down a long corridor, admiring the artwork as they made their way down the lushly appointed hallway, stands showcasing exotic glass figurines and sculptures alternated with paintings of arboreal landscapes gazed at by ancient relatives hanging in filigreed frames on opposing sides of the grand hallway. Bouquets of flowers had been artfully placed below each of the landscapes, giving the hallway a floral air.

  One portrait in particular gave Jess pause. “This boy looks just like you,” Jess remarked, gazing into the beautiful countenance of a lad of about fourteen summers, so graceful and elegant a pose that had she been a bit younger Jess could imagine her heart racing for his smile. The boy was dressed smartly, though he looked to be quite frail, grinning warmly in the portrait, a book held before him, the title denoting it a tome devoted to the wizardly arts. His coloring, hair, and the shape of his jaw mirrored Onnika’s perfectly. They were clearly related, cousins at the least, if not twins.

  “That’s Josiah,” Onnika said softly, and Jess detected a faint note of sad wistfulness in her tone. “Mother always claimed he was a cousin, but everyone knew he was my half-brother.” She chuckled slightly. “Father was a bit of a rake, back in his day. Mother and he used to have such rows. I never understood what it was about until I was older.”

  Onnika shrugged her creamy shoulders, and Jess felt her breath hitch, suddenly embarrassed as a warm flush gently tingled through her. “Uncle Lessel took him in, and raised him as his own. Loved him like a son. Not so strange, Josiah being his nephew, and he never able to have any children of his own.” She sighed sadly, and Jess could see her eyes begin to mist over. “Karine and I used to play with him, and he was the sweetest companion to us. Always kind, ever thoughtful. Never hesitated to play the games we enjoyed, or accept our teasing with gentle good humor. Always had presents for us from the city.”

  Onnika sniffled and rubbed her eyes. Jess touched her shoulder in gentle sympathy and Onnika took the opportunity to wrap Jess’s arm around her, holding her close. Jess smiled, and kissed Onnika’s head in gentle sisterly sympathy, promising herself it was nothing more than that.

  “He passed away about six months ago, to a wasting illness,” Onnika whispered. “Uncle Lessel wouldn’t even let us attend the funeral. I was so angry about that, you know. I still am, I guess.” She sighed, forcing herself to smile. “I still miss him, you know. He was supposed to bring me the most wonderful gift for my birthday, he was so enthusiastic in the letter he had written.” She laughed. “Supposedly our uncle had found some mithril artifact in his explorations.” She shivered delightfully. “I’ve heard that stuff is the most perfect of metals. Indestructible, and can only be harvested from realms of dream and nightmare.” She gazed into Jess’s eyes animatedly. “You’ve been to the Shadowrealms, haven’t you, Jess? Have you ever found a mithril artifact? Do you know what it looks like?”

  Jess grinned. “Indeed I do. I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered gently into Onnika’s ear, causing her to shiver excitedly. She then took Onnika’s hand and gently placed it upon her chest. Onnika gasped, and her face began to flush.

  "Jess!" she paused then, tilted her head, and felt the mail links under Jess's attire. Jess lifted up her doublet and Onnika gasped in awe at the brilliant play of color, as Jess's exposed links flashed in the lamplight illuminating the hall. "Is that truly mithril? By Justice, I bet it is!" Onnika's eyes were filled with awe and wonder, and she gave Jess an impish grin, pulling her new friend's hand gently, leading her once more to the greenroom, but not before planting a more than friendly kiss on Jess's lips, causing her to blush

  “I like the landscapes,” Jess managed at last, to which Onnika laughed gently, turning around to catch Jess’s gaze with her own.

  “I like the view before me,” the birthday girl teased, causing Jess’s heart to skip a beat as Onnika led the way onward, laughing lightly, before coming to a door at the end of the hallway, opening it slowly, unshuttering the silvery-white orb in the center of the room with a single twist of a pulley by the door. Jess smiled, appreciating the efficiency of the design, her talented eyes quickly making out the arcane silvery blue strands of power that anchored and maintained the spell, the room suddenly full of light easily as bright as the full moon. She looked up to note the many fine panes of glass making up the roof overhead.

  "It only serves to supplement the sun on cloudy days or in the deeps of winter," Onnika confessed, rubbing against Jess as she shut the door and, with a sultry glance, locking it. "It's also good if one wants to spend time in the garden at night." She locked gazes with Jess, smiling. "Thank you again for defending the honor of all womankind. That Nicolaus is a louse and a cad. Would you believe he had the gall to try to persuade my mother to give my hand to him, of all people?" Onnika shuddered. "He was speaking to me as if I were a piece in a game of Trade! He was offering father unlimited use of his shipping fleet, saying they'd then be ‘family', as he put it. Then, when father hesita
ted, he started mentioning fishing routes and having influence with the king!" Onnika sighed. "So distasteful. It is only because he does have influence and his fleet is useful to Father that he was even allowed to attend my gala. I made it quite clear to Mother and Father, however, that I would have nothing to do with that, how did you put it? Rat faced man!"

  Her laughter tinkled like gentle bells and Jess found herself entranced by the girl's patter, noting with some bemusement how Onnika always found a reason to brush against her, or place a fingertip to her arm or shoulder. "He doesn't know when to quit, either. He's now trying to convince my mother to allow a union between me and Armond! His nephew, though a bit of a cad, can at least be charming and I suppose he's attractive enough, as my sister thinks. But to be quite frank, I'm just not interested."

  She then turned her expressive brown eyes to gaze fondly into Jess's own. Jess felt her cheeks flush even as her heart skipped a beat. "I have a confession, Jessica. There are people at this gala that I find far more appealing than either Nicolaus, or Armand." With that Onnika gently caressed Jess's cheek with her palm, laughing playfully before spinning away from a bemused Jess.

  “Now, my dear champion, we are friends now, after all, wouldn’t you say? You sinking your hands deep into soft loamy earth to make me smile with delight at your sweet presents, and I confessing my troubled heart to you.” She grinned teasingly, and Jess nodded, enjoying the friendly banter.

  "Excellent! Come, take off your gloves and let's take care of these beautiful plants. I know, let's place your gift right here." At which point she took Jess's hands, seeming to examine them with minute care. "Truly a warrior's hands. So strong." She gently cupped Jess's hand and put it to her own cheek, blushing and gazing up at Jess, who found her breath starting to hitch, a warmth spreading through her as she gazed at Onnika's teasing brown eyes. "I love the strength of your hands, Jess. I wonder, are they complemented by the softness of your lips?"

  And a dazed Jess saw Onnika slowly lift her lips up for a kiss, and she let her, the girl’s arms gently bringing Jess’s head down to meet her own. Onnika’s lips tasted tart, their soft warmth causing delicious shivers to race through Jess's body as a delightful tingle coursed through her most feminine regions. She felt her breath hitch and turn ragged. Without even realizing how it happened, she found her arms around Onnika’s back and she started kissing a giggling Onnika fiercely, passionately, scolding herself to be gentle. For her strength was now a terrible thing, and in her arms was a precious flower she dared not break.

  “Jess, be my knight!” Onnika whispered teasingly, as they broke from their passionate kiss. Her cheeks were flushed and she appeared to be glowing with excitement. She slowly took Jess’s hand and slipped it under her dress, and Jess felt a fierce ache shudder through her, slipping out of her tights so Onnika could caress her as well.

  Their lips locked, and they laughed and moaned as they kissed each other fiercely, pleasuring each other with gentle, teasing strokes, causing their breaths to hitch in concert as their bodies shuddered. Trembling with the excitement of their fiercely bitten back cries, they continued to caress and tease each other, building upon endless waves of pleasure before at last releasing the tension in a glorious crescendo, and even as Onnika shuddered with delight, Jess cried out to her sweet young lover's playful touch.

  She kissed Onnika fiercely, and held her close. “I want to taste you.” Jess’s words were a hungry growl.

  “Then do so, my knight,” Onnika whispered, gazing at Jess with passionate desire.

  And Jess lifted her young lover's dresses and teased the moist blossom that lay within, drinking deep of its sweet nectar as Onnika, unable to contain the depths of her pleasure, cried out in ecstasy.

  "My knight possesses a weapon finer than any man's sword," Onnika teased, breathless and panting sometime later, as she kissed Jess contentedly, snug in her arms. "They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but I say the tongue is the mightiest weapon of all!"

  Jess laughed, full of a happy tingly warmth, sated and content, cuddling her still dressed lover close. She gazed fondly into Onnika’s eyes, admiring the graceful beauty of her high cheekbones, tender brown eyes, and at the moment, sweat drenched hair. Onnika grinned. “Like what you see?”

  “Very much so.” Jess kissed her lover gently on the lips.

  “Don’t do that, you’ll make me hungry again!” Onnika laughed, shifting position so Jess could hold her comfortably. “I can’t believe we just did that!” she said with some bemusement.

  Jess laughed. “Neither can I, especially after scolding myself to behave with a table full of handsome men ogling me.” She winked. “I suppose my resolve melted in the arms of the most beautiful girl in all of Turnsby.”

  They held each other for a time, both smiling at their own inner thoughts. “Onnika?”

  “Yes, Jess?”

  “I know we’ve known each other only for a few hours, but I think I really like you.”

  Onnika’s laugh was low and sensual. “After savoring my bud so intently, I would hope you would like the beauty of my flower!”

  “Oh, but I do,” Jess crooned, turning Onnika around to kiss her again, and Onnika kissed her back, passionately.

  “Jess?”

  “Yes, my beautiful damsel?”

  "We really have to stop. Our mothers will get suspicious if we're away for too long."

  "Of course you're right." Treacherous fingertips were caressing a trembling Onnika once more, even as their kiss grew long and lingering.

  “Oh gods, Jess! Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop. Touch me. Right there.”

  Jess's laugh was sultry as she continued to torment her young lover before bringing her once again to the heights of ecstasy, then crying out herself, as a blushing Onnika teased Jess in exactly the same way Jess had teased her.

  Sometime later the flushed pair found themselves fully dressed, giggling as they broke the stems of the cook's special herbs, rubbing them on their clothing, hoping to mask the smell of their passion.

  "Okay, I think we're presentable again." Onnika's warm grin made Jess's heart sing. She impulsively hugged her passionate young lover close. "No, Jess. We have to get to our beds! I'll tell Mother I'm not feeling well, and she'll leave me be. Hopefully the basin will be full, and I can wash up. Otherwise, I'll have to sneak to the bathes."

  “I can meet you there,” Jess playfully whispered.

  Onnika blushed adorably, Jess found. “No, silly! We really must behave now. I don’t want to have another fight with my mother about this again.”

  Jess quirked an eyebrow. “I’m not your first?”

  Onnika flushed but her smile was one of bemusement. “Sorry, Jess. Oh gosh, was I your first?”

  Jess's smile was almost sad. "I was a Squire of War, Onnika. None of us were innocent, not for long. Not in the ways of the bedroom, most especially not in the ways of death. The things we did, that we had to do?" Jess shuddered, shaking any number of memories away. "I will reveal no confidences, but, let me put it this way: On our off days we drank and caroused and did whatever we desired with each other, and no one said a word. No one dared to."

  Her gaze turned suddenly wistful. "I had a lot of close friends, girls and boys both, brothers-in-arms I would have died for, and they me. But none of them, not a one, saw me as anything like a future wife." Her smile turned sad. "They loved me as a loyal sister of the blade, knowing I would guard their back, hold their secrets close, that we could wash away the horrors of the killingfields in each other's arms. But would they ever see me as an innocent blushing maiden fit to marry? Not a chance in hell.”

  Her laughter was rueful. “It wasn't that they disparaged me, more like the difference between a prized lapdog a fine lady might keep exquisitely well groomed and use to warm her hands and feet on cold winter nights, and a hound trained for war. You might love them both in separate ways, but never would a lord think of bringing that blooded beast to his bed, as much as he would dearly welcom
e his hound when the chaos of battle was imminent.”

  Jess blinked and shook her head. “Did that make any sense?”

  Onnika sighed and held her close. “It does, Jess. It truly does. They saw you as a shieldsister, and one they would not hesitate to fight beside, against all odds. But they and their families envisioned them marrying a delicate flower, not a rose standing tall and proud, armed with thorns as well as the richest petals.”

  Jess nodded. "As it was, no Squire who had fought by my side could possibly see me as a delicate flower to protect and cherish, and few other students who were not Squires even had the courage to approach me. So though I didn't lack for companions after a hard week's training, my heart still ached for someone who would cherish me as their angel. Someone who could forgive the fact that I was no innocent to bed or battlefield, and still want to marry me.”

  Jess closed her eyes tightly, feeling hot tears trickle down even as her heart raced, trying desperately hard not to cry, amazed to hear herself bare her soul to a girl she had known for only a handful of hours.

  She did let loose a single sob when Onnika gently kissed her cheek and held her close.

  "It's all right, Jessica. You are a beautiful, wonderful girl. The right man will come along, who will see what an angel you are. And if he can't appreciate that you'd make a beautiful wife, and give him many strong children clever enough to survive life's trials, then that idiot isn't worth your time in the first place!" Onnika chuckled softly. “And as for love, well, be careful, Jess, or I just might fall in love with you myself.”

  Jess blinked open her eyes, gazing tenderly at a suddenly shy Onnika.