Chapter One

 

The flickering light of the torch danced over the taut, naked body of Lady Alindir sin Taris, Lady in Waiting to the Princess Royal. Her wrists were spread wide and bound to a wooden cross-beam with thick ropes and her head twisted fearfully from side to side between her tightly stretched, aching arms. She knew that she was in serious trouble, as this was far too elaborate for a simple rape - and as she was taken within the Royal Grounds, her kidnapper must have known her status, if not her identity. She heard a noise behind her. "Who are you? Why have you done this? I am Lady Alindir and any harm to me will be severely punished."

Without warning, liquid fire blazed across her back, and she heard the hissing crack of a horse whip. Lady Alindir was not a warrior or a serf from the fields and therefore was a stranger to intense pain. She screamed high and shrill, and her legs twisted and kicked frantically, inflicting even more pain on her shoulder joints.

A harsh, sinister chuckle was the only reply to her demands. The heavy footsteps of a man in boots echoed in the chamber and a large, powerful looking figure moved into Lady Alindir's field of vision. "Are you indeed? Any man should be terrified at having offended someone so important as you."

The whip hissed out again, but this time across her chest. Lady Alindir was not without courage. Knowing that the blow was coming, she managed to stifle her reaction and uttered only a low, sobbing moan. The man now stood directly in front of her, and she writhed in shame at being seen naked in this manner.

"Unfortunately for you, I am not any man. My master has instructed me to obtain certain information from you, and I must obey. I bear you no ill will. If you will give me what I need, your death will be quick and painless."

"What do you want to know?" she asked. She had already guessed that it must have something to do with the Princess, and her heart quavered, for she was bound by her oaths and her loyalty to the King not to betray such secrets. But she had grown up in Castle Iron, and she knew that few could ever maintain their silence under torture, but her honour demanded that she try.

"It is rumoured that Princess Tiradir intends to travel to the south. I need to know the exact date and the composition of the party that is to go with her."

"You would harm the Princess?"

"That need not concern you. Answer me or suffer."

Lady Alindir shook her head angrily, spreading her unbound hair across her sweat damp shoulders. "I cannot. Do your worst traitor, I shall not betray my Princess."

Major Zindar reached out a leather gloved hand and gently touched her forehead. "We both do what we must." The whip sang, filling the stone walled room with its vicious hum and the screams of a loyal woman.

Lady Alindir held out for two hours, and it was only when a heated iron was pressed between the cheeks of her bloody and whip marked buttocks did she finally break, shrieking her betrayal at the uncaring walls.

Major Zindar nodded in satisfaction. "Your information matches what my other spies had told me, so I am inclined to believe you."

His dagger flashed, and Lady Alindir saw her life blood dripping from the neat wound in her chest just before her heart stopped beating.

 

Chapter Two

 

General Karindir sin Taris, sworn commander of the Iron Kingdom's Northern Army and loyal servant of his Majesty King Orondar Taris, shook her head and laughed at the equestrian antics of Tiradir, Princess Royal and sometimes pain in the arse. As a warrior though, she fully agreed with the abandonment of the ridiculous side saddle for women.

Karindir recalled that the stirrup had only been introduced to the cavalry, and shortly after that to the rest of the Kingdom's riders, about ten years ago - after long having been disdained by the Kingdom as a degenerate perversion of the Jade Empire. She knew that even so, there were many, both men and women, who maintained that the idea of women riding astride a horse to be indecent. It was not until Queen Linndir herself appeared in public using stirrups, that the devices were finally accepted as appropriate for use by ladies of quality. Naturally, serfs of both sexes had been riding bareback and astride ever since work horses and oxen were domesticated. Saddles and stirrups for commoners were still a rare luxury, used mainly by those belonging to the wealthier merchant classes and successful mercenaries.

However, Karindir still thought that Princess Tiradir tended to take her enthusiasm for riding to the extremes, having taught her horse to rear up on two legs on command and often prone to galloping across the fields standing upright on her stirrups and waving to all and sundry.

"Princess, your mother will have me trampled by oxen if you fall and break your neck," shouted General Karindir, who was attending upon the Princess in her capacity as Commander of the Royal Guard.

Tiradir laughed and waved at her friend.

General Karindir knew that although she was high spirited, the Princess was also fully aware of her responsibilities. Her parents had been unable to produce a son, so one day she would sit on her father's throne. Karindir knew the prospect made Tiradir simultaneously proud and terrified. The trip to the south was part of her training. She could not properly rule people that she had never met, so she was going South to meet the Lords, lesser nobility as well as the commanders of the Central and Southern Armies.

Karindir reflected that it was an indication of the wealth and power of the Iron Kingdom that it could afford to maintain three standing armies. She knew that the Jade Empire only had one, although in truth, that one army was a third larger than the Kingdom's three combined, in terms of manpower. However, half of the Empire's army consisted of slaves, and Karindir knew that Tiradir, along with most of the nobility of the Iron Kingdom believed that in the event of a real war, the slaves would run or even revolt. Karindir was more familiar with the Empire and was not quite so certain. She rode up to the Princess, and the two of them trotted together towards Castle Iron, the home of the King and the most formidable fortress in the Kingdom.

Karindir leaned over in her saddle and said, "We leave for the South tomorrow. I suggest that you check that your ladies have packed everything you will need or want. This is not a Royal Grand Tour, so replacements for essentials will be limited."

Princess Tiradir sighed. "I know, I know, we have to show everybody how steady and capable I am and that I am fit to rule. Lady Glindir had been driving me mad for weeks with tales of political and military wisdom."

***

The next morning King Orondar and Queen Linndir stood side by side in the main courtyard of Castle Iron. It was cold, and the harsh northern winds whipped across the top of the castle walls with a mournful howl. The coming cold weather was one of the reasons that the Princess's southern trip had been scheduled at this time when the north of the Kingdom gradually froze to a halt.

"Make us proud daughter. Let them see their next true Queen," Orondar said with his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

The Queen hugged her daughter and kissed her cheeks. "Come back safely daughter."

Tiradir laughed. "You two sound like I am being wed of to some old ogre. I will charm them with my wit and beauty, and those that I cannot charm I will terrify with my iron will." Gazing across the courtyard at the glittering ranks of her troops, Tiradir felt a surge of confidence.

The King turned to the Royal Tutor. "I hope that she did not sleep through all of your lessons Lady Glindir."

The blue eyed beauty that was the Royal Tutor smiled and bowed to the royal couple. "We shall soon discover how well I have done my duty, Your Majesty."

Tiradir mounted and after a final wave to her parents, rode to take her place in the column. The Princess's party consisted of thirty Royal Guard light cavalry troopers, General Karindir, her batwoman, four Ladies in Waiting and the Princess herself. A small train of commoners handled the transport, laundry and cooking. There were no luxuries such as a carriage or large pavilion. The whole point of the exercise was to show that the Princess was not just a coddled maiden fit only for weaving and the bedroom. Tiradir would ride at the head of her troops.

 

 

Chapter Three

 

Queen Linndir stood framed by the light of the bedroom window, rendering the thin silken shift that she wore almost transparent. She had married the King at a young age, and now at thirty-five, her figure was still something to inspire young knights to poetry. Iron Kingdom women trained to fight, serving as garrison troops when their men were away. Constant exercise and weapons training kept her body tight and sleek.

Watching from the royal bed, King Orondar was inspired to other, less philosophical things than poetry.

"She'll be fine. She has been well taught and Karindir will not allow anything to happen to her. On the other hand, if you keep standing like that, I may expire from the strain." He pointed at his upright lance, which had made a large tent out of the sheets.

Linndir turned to look at her husband, exposing one long thigh.

Orondar groaned and clutched dramatically at his heart.

"Husband, how many times must I tell you not to bring your weapons into our bed," she said, obviously enjoying her ability to stimulate her royal spouse.

"My guardsmen tell me that my lance lacks polish. I was just wondering whether you could help me with it."

Settling on the bed, Linndir reached out for the offending object. Grasping it in her fist, she pumped the linen wrapped object up and down briskly, enjoying the feel of the rigid shaft in her hand.

The King jumped. "By the Gods woman, I said polish, not grind into a toothpick," he said in mock anger and swatted his wife's buttocks with a work hardened palm. The feel of her bottom only served to add further stiffness to his cock.

Linndir chuckled and twitched her stinging bottom. "Mayhap I spend too much time inside Castle Iron and have ignored my field training."

Orondar pulled her down to lie beside him and wrapped his muscular, scar covered arms around her. They kissed deeply as his hands slid down her back to grip the firm curves of her rear. His fingers dug in, kneading her flesh almost roughly.

Linndir gasped and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. "It has been a long time. All these gatherings and secret meetings. I could almost wish that you had a mistress so that I could be jealous and seek a lover."

"Well I am here now, and I if I were not such a simple and guileless man ..."

"Ha!"

"... I would begin to suspect that you are looking for a beating."

"And who would dare to lay rough hands on the Queen?"

"You mean like this?" Orondar said, reaching up with one hand and squeezing her breast hard enough to leave marks.

Linndir moaned and ripped the sheet off of her husband's loins. She slid down his body and sucked the tip of his shaft into her mouth. Already rock hard, his knob quivered with energy between her lips. She licked and stroked him with her tongue, covering it with her saliva. Then, with the growl that would be the envy of a lioness, she sprang up to straddle his hips.

"It is said that in some lands, impertinent wives are impaled on a shaft as punishment," Orondar said with a grin.

"Then indeed you should punish me My Lord."

Orondar pushed his hips upward, driving his cock into his wife with the same accuracy as he displayed on the battlefield with his lance.

Linndir smiled widely and pulled off her shift, tossing it to the floor. She took hold of his hands and lifted them to her bare breasts as she slid down his shaft, filling her body with his hardness. She gripped his cock with crushing force, the muscles of her cunny squeezing him like a fist.

Orondar loved her ability to hold and stimulate her partner's cock using only her inner muscles. The pressure on his cock was exquisite and Orondar grunted, resisting the urge to come right there and then.

She arched her back and braced her hands on his hips. "Do it My Lord. Do it hard," Linndir whispered.

The sound of Orondar's hand striking his wife's quivering breast was shockingly loud, and was followed immediately by Linndir's groan of pleasure.

She lifted her hips and slammed them down again, violently impaling herself. Another slap was matched by another thrust of her hips. Again, and again the pair of powerful bodies slammed, wrestled and thrust in the golden light of the candles.

His fingers gripped her nipples hard as she bounced up and down, her flow of love juices painting his loins with glittering liquid. Her hair fell to cover their faces as she pressed her breasts into his hands and the sound of their frantic breathing filled the room.

Orondar groaned and his body stiffened.

"Are you coming my darling? Are you ready to fill me with your seed?"

Orondar nodded, his teeth clenched in effort.

"Then you know what to do my love. Bring me with you on your flight," Linndir said, pushing herself upright and preparing herself.

Orondar reached down between their bodies. His fingers delved into the wet forest of her loins and gripped her clitoris like the jaws of a small wild beast. As he began the final strokes that would bring him to a climax, he crushed her pearl between his fingers, squeezing with a firm, steady pressure.

Linndir screamed and threw her head back, shouting her pain and her blazing climax to the rafters.

At the same time, Orondar released a gusher of seed to fill her passage with its slippery force and all of his senses were flooded with light and energy.

She stiffened as if struck by lightning and then suddenly collapsed on her mate, quivering and panting, and completely spent.

As Orondar luxuriated in the warmth of his wife's body and the glow of his climax, he marvelled at the strange way that their relationship had developed. Originally a political union of the houses of Blood Taris and Blood Haron designed to strengthen the royal dynasty, their wedding night had been stiff and formal, although not hostile. Their relationship had worked well enough, with Linndir showing a sharp tactical mind and a willingness to perform her daily duties as Queen. However, the same could not have been said of their sex life. Linndir had sex with her new husband as was expected of a dutiful wife, but Orondar sensed that she found little joy in it. He was not inexperience with women and he tried everything that he know to make their lovemaking enjoyable for her, but something always seemed to be missing. Then one night, in frustration he struck out at her, almost accidentally hitting her breast. He was horrified at this action and started immediately to apologise, expecting disgust and anger from his dutiful wife. To his surprise, there was indeed a glint of flame in her eyes, but instead of anger, she looked at him with a strange anticipation.

She brought her hand up and gently touched her breast. Then she reached out and took his hand and led him to the bed. They made love for the first time that night, Linndir demonstrating a passion that Orondar had not suspected that she possessed. As they lay together, hot, limp and satisfied, she confided in him her secret. She had discovered years ago that she required to experience a certain amount of pain during sex in order for her to experience passion. She had told no one for fear of being seen as strange and when she married Orondar, she feared most of all that he would not understand and would be frightened away.

"I was afraid that you would misunderstand and think me some trollop who needed a thrashing before she would spread her legs," Linndir whispered.

"As a warrior, I have seen and experienced the fine line separating pain and exhilaration, rage and joy on every battlefield and training ground. Who am I to cast a critical eye upon the needs of others. If a little roughness in our play will bring you to our bed with the fire that you have shown tonight, I should be dancing with glee to have discovered your little secret."

Linndir hugged her husband, finally giving herself totally to him.

From that night on, the page boys that attended outside the royal bedchamber often wondered at the strange and sometimes alarming sounds that came from that room. However, the wide grin on their King's face and the satisfied glow that came from their Queen in the mornings assured them that whatever went on, it was surely good.