Chapter 7 | The Tale of Two Kingdoms

Princess Edmerka of Leutefloss was angry, so angry her poor nurse Olka didn't know what to do with her but leave her alone in her room to rage. "I don't want to marry some petty lordling, I don't want to enter the Sister's Temple, I just want to do what I want to do!" she screamed at no one. "I'm tired of being shut up in this place! I want out, Out, OUT!!" The sound of broken crockery followed Olka down the hall.

She ran to the king's chambers and prostrated herself at the feet of King Fredrik. "Begging your pardon, your majesty, but I just don't know what to do any more! The princess is so willful. We try to do everything she asks, but nothing satisfies her! She keeps saying she wants out of the castle!"

King Fredrik pinched the bridge of his aquiline nose and sighed. "Out? What does she mean by that? I've offered to let her join the Sister's Temple if she doesn't mean to marry."

"I believe," said his queen, "she wants to see something of the kingdom other than the view from her window. Isn't that right, Olka?" Olka nodded. Fredrik looked at his pretty young wife, demurely embroidering beside him. "Perhaps, dear," she said, "you should give her what she wants. Send her off somewhere, let her see a bit of the kingdom before she settles down. Surely there's a visit she can make to some noble or other. Perhaps one with an eligible son or two?" She put down her needle and took Fredrik's hand, tracing her fingers on his palm. "All this noise and bother--it makes it difficult for us to concentrate on...things...don't you agree?"

Fredrik did agree indeed, and soon the princess found herself bundled off to her stepmother's family near the western border with Tremont. She rode in a fine carriage, with Olka beside her and a contingent of guards to keep her safe on the two-day journey. "At least she's only sulking," said Olka to the captain of the guards when they stopped for the night at an inn.

But as they came near their destination on the second day, the princess saw smoke rising from a widening in the road. She craned her head out of the carriage window and saw ahead of them a Traveler encampment, its bright caravans in a half-moon around a campfire. "Stop!" she cried. "You will stop at that Traveler camp! I wish to have my fortune told!"

"Oh, your highness, but we're almost to your mother's people!" said Olka.

"She is not my mother and you will stop!" shrieked Edmerka.

The captain of the guard grimaced and called a general halt. Edmerka climbed down from the carriage and swept into the encampment.

An otherwise handsome but cross--eyed young man with rusty hair gave a low bow. "And what would a beautiful young lady like you want with humble Travelers, miss?"

"Everyone knows Travelers can see the future," she said imperiously. "I wish to have my fortune told."

"Are you very sure that's what you wish?" said a creaky old voice from the doorway of a red caravan. Edmerka looked up. It was the oldest crone she'd ever seen, toothless and bent.

"Yes, of course I'm sure!" she answered testily. The old woman beckoned her into the caravan and shut the door, offering the princess a seat at a tiny foldout table attached to the caravan's side.

"Now, my dear," said the old woman, "let's see what the cards say." She took out a battered deck of cards and began laying them out on the rickety little table. "First, your card. Ah, how fitting. The Princess of Fire. Bad--tempered, spoiled, bored and spiteful."

"How dare you!" said Edmerka.

"Oh, I dare in all things, miss, for Travelers have nothing to lose," cackled the old woman. "Shall I continue? Your challenge card: My, my. The Bloody One. Uncontrollable impulses, lasciviousness. The enemy to watch for: The Prince of Water. A ruthless, evil man. The helper to appeal to: The King of Air. Courageous, fierce and loving. Your journey card: The Jailer. Choices taken from you, confinement. The action to take: The Princess of Air. Revenge, aggression, fearlessness. And your outcome: The Lovers. Hm! That's easy. A marriage.

"Well!" finished the crone. "A bumpy road to the altar for you, child! What questions have you for me, eh?"

"An arranged marriage! Is that what you see? Father is going to force me into marrying one of his beastly wife's brothers!"

"I can't rightly say that's what's to be, my girl. I can only point out the path you're walking down." The princess arose in a swirl of skirts and turned to go, her face dark with anger. "Hold, pretty one! You've yet to cross my palm with payment."

Edmerka turned on the old woman and stomped her foot so hard the caravan swayed. "If you think for one moment I'm paying you for that fortune, you are very mistaken!" She climbed out into the encampment.

"You won't pay me?" cried the old woman, clambering after her.

"No!" yelled Edmerka, not even bothering to turn around. "Captain! Prepare to be on our way!"

"Stop!" ordered the old woman, throwing a handful of something acrid on the fire. The flames rose up, and a silver smoke threaded its way quickly through the princess's escort. Every one of them froze but the princess and the Travelers, who gathered menacingly around her.

"I ask you again, girl. Will you pay me?" said the old woman.

"No," the princess repeated stubbornly, though she was frightened.

"I give you one last chance for payment, if not in coin then in kind. Kiss my son, and we'll be quits." The cross--eyed young man gave a smile just one tooth shy of a leer.

Edmerka shuddered in disgust. "Absolutely not!"

The old crone chuckled. "Princess Edmerka--oh, of course I know who you are, child--you are a stubborn girl, and brave in your way. It is your downfall now, and will be your salvation later. For you have insulted the wrong Traveler, my dear! I am the Queen of the Travelers, and one way or another, you will pay!" As the princess stared at her in shock, the woman took on a strange appearance. She was both old and young at once, a withered, screeching crone from one angle, and a beautiful, implacable woman from another.

The Traveler Queen spit in her hand, cupped it, and shouted something through it that Edmerka didn't understand. The captain of the guards came to at once, looking around him wild--eyed and frightened.

"Captain!" cried the princess. "Rally your men and deal with these impudent thieves!"

"Are you talking to me?" said the captain in a shaky voice. "Captain? I don't remember! Who are you? Where is this place?" The captain stumbled backwards, turned and fled in terror.

One by one, the guards all panicked and plunged after him into the woods, knowing only that they had to get away from the encampment as soon as possible and nothing else. Even Olka took off after them, fat legs flying, and Edmerka was left alone with the Travelers.

"And so your payment begins, your highness," said the Traveler Queen.

The Travelers took the carriage, the horses, and the princess's fine clothes. They even took her stockings and her hairpins, leaving her struggling to cover herself with her hands and long hair. "Take everything," she spat, "they're only things, and one day my father will string all of you up before the castle gates for this!"

"A brave and foolish child indeed," said the Traveler Queen, and she threw another handful of herbs on the fire; silvery smoke quickly encircled the princess like a cage, then swirled into her as if her skin were drinking it up. The princess gasped and quaked and felt strange all over.

"This was foreseen long ago, child, but I had no idea I'd enjoy it quite this much," said the Traveler Queen. "Because you would not pay us, not even with a kiss, you shall kiss anyone who wants you from now on--and more than that. Anyone who desires you may have you, and you shall not only be powerless to resist, you shall return their desire."

Indeed, as the spell wove its way into her, Edmerka's brave front began to crumble. There were a dozen Travelers circling her, and she could feel desire for her in all of the men and not a few of the women as if it were her own for them. She began to shake, and then to cry. "I'd rather die," she sobbed. "Just kill me!"

"Kill you?" said the Traveler Prince. "That seems a bit harsh for refusing to pay us, don't you think?" The Travelers all laughed.

"That a princess should be reduced to this! What will become of me?" she cried.

She wept so pathetically that the Traveler Queen finally took pity. "Very well," she said. "I cannot lift the spell, but I can make it a bit easier on you. If you give your maidenhead willingly to my son, I will make you forget who you are. It won't change anything, but perhaps believing yourself to be just an ordinary girl instead of a princess will make it less shameful and easier to bear."

Edmerka reluctantly agreed. The Queen licked her finger, and to the princess's disgust traced a little figure on her hip; it glowed silver and then faded to nothing. The rusty--haired young man took her by the hand to his caravan as the rest of the Travelers hooted. "Hush," she heard the Queen scold behind her, to her surprise. "It's difficult enough for her."

There was little space inside the caravan, and the young man settled on the bed to watch her. She was aware of his eyes, his hands, his breathing. The princess faced him but kept her eyes on the floor.

"My name is Connin. I won't hurt you, I swear," he said.

"I am already wounded beyond healing," she answered shakily. "How willing must I be?"

"Willing enough. Come." Connin took her hand and gently pulled her down beside him. "Don't fight it. Let it take you where it will. I know you feel it inside you--how much I long to touch you."

And she did. It was as if she was the one who longed to touch him, to strip his clothes away and feel his skin against hers, to feel his mouth on her breasts-- "Then be about it, Connin," she said, closing her eyes. "I want to get this over with."

Fingers brushed her curtain of hair back over her shoulders, and traced feather--light along her collarbone. They slipped up her neck to cradle her face. She felt his breath on her face, and then he kissed her. No man had ever kissed her before. His lips were softer than she'd expected, and she leaned into him, wanting more in spite of herself.

"Your cheeks are on fire," Connin mumbled between kisses. "They will burn through my hands."

"I'm ashamed," she gasped as he pulled her closer and moved his mouth to her neck. He gently bit her, and she moaned aloud as he sucked at her skin.

"There's no shame in being enchanted," he answered, pushing her back on the bed. "Though shame is overdue in your life, princess." He stopped any response she might have made with his tongue, pushing it deep into her mouth as he covered her body with his. He unfastened his leggings and tugged up his tunic with one hand, and she felt something hard against her thigh. He ended the kiss. "What do you know about lying with a man?"

"Nothing," she confessed. "I've never--ah!" He was licking and sucking at her nipples. "I've never even seen a man unclothed! Oh!"

"Give me your hand," he said in a low voice. He wrapped her fingers around his length. "That is a man, that's what a man feels like." Edmerka gripped him convulsively, thrilled and nauseated at the same time as he pushed into her fist. It was overwhelming, the hardness in her hand, the smell of him, the beard brushing her breasts--all this unfamiliar maleness.

She wriggled beneath him, not even entirely sure why, or what she hoped would happen. She just knew she had to move, to feel more of him moving against her. She felt lascivious, helpless, horribly alive. When his fingers slipped between her legs she knew what it was her body wanted, and she cried out in want and humiliation.

"Do you feel that, little princess?" he murmured in her ear. "I do. Your sex is dripping for me. Have you ever touched yourself there? No? Here." His thumb brushed against her clitoris. She took in a deep, shocked breath. All of her emotion and sensation condensed in that little spot. He brushed it again, languidly circling it as she clutched at him, at the coverlet, at the air. He chuckled low in his chest and latched onto her nipple, still stroking her.

"What's going to happen? Something--oh--what--oh! Amma! Help me! Ahhh!" Connin pushed a single finger inside her, and Edmerka came for the first time in her life.

"Ah, that was lovely, your highness, so lovely," he growled, pulling his cock out of her hand and centering himself between her legs. "This--will--hurt--for a moment. Aaahhh," and he slowly pushed his way in. She trembled and gasped to feel his hardness inside her, and then cried out when he broke past her maidenhead and buried himself in her completely.

Her flushed face was a perfect war of emotion: Overwhelming, unseemly lust and melting pleasure, fighting pure fear and horror. "Mine, princess," he whispered in her ear, "just this once, you are mine. Then you shall be anyone's." He began thrusting into her then, pinning her beneath him as she bucked and sobbed; he kissed her brutally, taking her cries into his mouth. She moved her hips in time with his, unable to control herself, until she felt the tension build unbearably inside her. She tore her mouth away from his, threw her head back and screamed as the ecstatic pulse flowed through her, stronger than before, and she came.

Connin bellowed in answer, pounding himself into her for his last few thrusts until he collapsed atop her. "Oh, such a gift you've given me, you don't even know it," he panted, but she couldn't hear him. The conflicting emotions had been too much for her; she had passed out completely.

He stroked her cheek regretfully. "I'm sorry for this, little one, but it had to be." Reaching to a shelf above the bed, he took up a tiny vial. He uncorked it and knelt between the princess's legs, gently scraping her maiden blood into the vial and corking it again before he stashed it back up on the shelf.

Connin fastened himself up and jumped down from the caravan. "It's done," he told his mother.

"The horses are hitched, we're ready to move," the Traveler Queen replied. "Let's go."

The Travelers took the road leading away from the princess's former destination until they came to a fork. One road led back to Leutefloss Castle and King Fredrik; the other led deeper into the forest and over the border into Tremont. They took the forest road until they were well inside Tremont's borders, not far from the only cottage for miles. They carried the unconscious girl out of the caravan and laid her in a clearing. And there they left the Princess Edmerka, naked and sleeping in the moonlight.