So a Couple, a Goblin and a Troll Walk Into a Swamp... - Chapter 0

Chapter 0 - Making Plans in Crisis

At just twenty-five years of age, Franklin was doing rather well for himself. Like most young men, he had been conscripted to fight for his feudal liege lord on plenty of occasions and he performed well on all of them. Scarred on his forearms from his earliest days before he had shimmering, silver plate and mail like he had now, the man was also undeniably handsome despite his ignoble birth amidst the peasantry. Sporting fairly common wood-brown hair that he kept short as was the custom, he also had glinting azure eyes while standing just over six feet tall.

As if his looks alone weren’t enough to earn him any woman he wanted, Franklin had earned riches and lands from all of his hard work fighting for his king. Gifted just recently with a stout keep and estate surrounding it, the knight was poised to have one hell of a life building this place up and expanding the realm that he lived to serve. Very aware of his wealth and skill as well as his growing reputation as a prodigy, Franklin still loved something more than anything gold could buy.

Laying beside him on his bed this evening was his five foot tall, red haired and freckle specked wife - Margaret. Much like her husband, she was gifted with a natural beauty that pissed so many of their peers off. Never having been arrogant about her beauty, there were times when she let her ass-length hair get knotted and a mess. Today wasn’t one of those days however, and her hair was tied up nicely in a very complicated series of buns and knots that her handmaid had tied for her.

Both she and Franklin were in their expensive black, silken undergarments and were about to start fooling around, but a commotion was coming from the servants quarters. As this was very out of the ordinary, they both got out of bed and started dressing in their everyday clothes.

Franklin huffed, “It’s probably one of the new guys messing up tomorrow’s breakfast prep. I told the head chef to-”

Before Franklin could finish speaking, he heard very loud screaming and people begging for mercy followed by the sounds of metal clattering on stone. Immediately realizing that they were under attack by at least a handful of invaders, he cursed under his breath knowing that the only way people could get this deep into his castle was subterfuge. He also understood that this sort of attack was calibrated to strike where it mattered most and remove him from existence, winning without pronounced bloodshed. But he did not share that bit with his wife.

“To me Margaret, we need to use the secret exit. This isn’t right. We’ll head to the barracks so that we are completely protected!”

Because of the tone of his voice, Margaret obeyed Franklin, knowing that he was confident in his decision to flee.

Ordinarily with combat right on the horizon, Franklin would have geared up fully in an armor set so protective that it would have taken a man with his combat experience to even harm him. However, with the sounds of conflict growing louder as the invaders continued to fight their way to his room, he could only don some chainmail and leathers before grabbing a torch. Franklin did manage to grab his bastard sword to ensure that if there was battle to be had, he wouldn’t be toothless.

Margaret had quickly slipped on one of her elegant, flowing and patterned red gowns that cost more than a horse. Once she was dressed, she moved to the smallest bookcase in their room and removed a book from the top shelf. This trigger caused the entire bookcase to slide to the right, and opened the hidden exit to their room. With it revealed and the sound of fists banging on their bedroom door, the duo fled into the dark, cold passage.

Since neither Franklin nor his wife had ever actually needed to use this secret passage, they were hopeful that the spies or whoever worked with their invaders weren’t privy to its exit. Sprinting down the dark tunnel as the bookcase moved back into position, they were just barely able to see the shape of the downward spiral they had to traverse. Doing so much less carefully than the pair would have liked, they did manage to get to the end of the tunnel. Fumbling for a handle, Margaret found the metal bar and turned it. Then she pushed open the door, revealing the very bright night sky to her and her husband. Unfortunately for them both, they wouldn’t have the time to enjoy the sky’s serenity.

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All around them the lightly fortified castle town was on fire. No seriously deadly blazes were raging, but plenty of fires could become that before long. The worst part of all of this, was that the barracks was on fire from its northern rooftops all the way to its southernmost. Perhaps the only fortuitous thing that Franklin would find tonight was his second in command giving orders to a retinue of soldiers just outside of the blazing barracks.

Knowing this situation was grim, Franklin grabbed his wife by the wrist and sprinted towards his men. “What’s the situation Adam!” Franklin shouted at the stocky fellow who was wearing his full plate uniform.

“We’re not sure just yet, sir. I sent a group of twenty men to protect you but they were all cut down the moment they entered the castle. We were assembling a second rescue squad when all the fires started! Explosions too.” Adam spoke with a clear and collected voice that served to make Margaret calm down. The man’s tone also made his superior relax some, despite the chaos all around them. Calm but quickly spoken were Adam’s words,  “I hate to say it sir, but our best bet is to flee. They were clearly here for your head, and with it still on your shoulders, we could get the king’s aid to retake this place. This is my counsel for our situation - a situation that is growing worse by the minute.”

“Then so be it. We’ll flee into the swamplands and send runners to the king for aid. Obviously I’d like to be leaving with more provisions but it is what it is.” Franklin then took lead and ran in front of his men, encouraging them to form up around Margaret in particular while they fled towards the river.

Unlike most keeps, the one that Franklin was gifted had been built next to a massive and fast flowing river, rife with alligators and snappers. This body of water halted the expansion of the man’s kingdom in this direction because of its size, but also what it kept on its other side. Plenty of unsavory beings and tribes were located where Franklin was choosing to flee, but with his castle surrounded and the stable burning down, their best bet was to escape by ship.

As it was night and the invaders sacking his castle town thought they had him where they wanted him, nobody was pursuing the group. Numbering at less than twenty, the pack of retainers and man-at-arms certainly wouldn’t have been enough to snuff out the chaos that the town had been submerged in.

Approaching the docks outside of town that weren’t wrapped in the castle town’s white stone walls, the entire group boarded the largest trireme that was docked. Then all the men sprinted below deck to grab oars and began rowing. Franklin went to the stern of the ship so that he could take control of its rudders, steering it into a commonly traversed waterway inside of the dangerous swamp region.

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By the time the boat was well on its way into the wetlands, Margaret had scouted the ship. “There are no one-man boats, Franklin. We won’t be able to send runners until we’ve found materials to make our own. This one’s just too large and we have to dock it in the shipyard if we want to reuse it to sail into the swamps again.” She told her husband, who only sighed out of frustration while his men worked hard below deck to send him to safety.

“It’s not a problem.” Franklin said as he pulled back the silver chainmail wrapping his arms. He was wearing many of his expensive rings which caught the moonlight shining down on them. The gems in the jewelry that he wore were worth enough to buy nearly anything he wanted. “I’ll sell all of this junk to a band of mercenaries then. We’ve enlisted trolls and goblins from these border countries before. There shouldn’t be a problem getting them to help once again.” Franklin was confident. He never cared much about wearing expensive things like emerald laden rings, but he was thankful that he didn’t take them off tonight.

Margaret also pulled up her dress to show off the bracelets she wore around her lower legs. As usual, she was wearing lots of expensive rings too, though she had removed her earrings for the night back at the castle. “Oh, they’d never see that sort of attack coming! I think it is a lovely idea dear.” To most, Margaret remaining calm while she spoke in this situation would have seemed absurd. However, no slouch herself, she had been on the fields of battle many times, hauling away the dead or wounded. This resilience, more than her beauty had won Franklin over when they first met.

As the two took in the lunar lit leaves on the trees surrounding them, Adam sprinted up to the top deck so that he could go over the finer details of what had happened with his superior.

“Alright. The men below are all set to keep us rowing at a steady pace. As Lady Albright mentioned, there are no other vessels aboard this one. Because of that, you have me and my men’s full support for locating and hiring a mercenary group large enough to reclaim what is rightfully yours. I have the displeasure of telling you that through word of mouth amongst my men, Roland Wellsworth was the brigand who raided our town and tried to assassinate you, sir.” As Adam spoke, loud yelling could be heard from the town they were all fleeing.

Taking in his right hand man’s words, Franklin Albright sighed heavily as he was familiar with that man and his antics. “Got it. I shouldn’t be surprised, he said he’d do this after I exiled him. He’ll pay when I return. I’ll have his head on a spike!” For the first time since being roused from his bed Franklin sounded genuinely angry.

It was after he showed this fiery emotion that Margaret sidled up against him, pressing her soft, demure assets into his body. Even though he was wearing chainmail, he could feel the passion and love soaking into him from his wife’s body. This quickly relaxed him and allowed him to focus on steering the large vessel. Beaching this thing was sure to be the end of them all if it wasn’t done at a settlement of some kind.

“From most recent reports sir, there are several troll tribes we could pay to help us.” Adam stated while staring at the couple. His words were very to the point, as was his personality - which was why he was chosen for his job by Franklin. “First up, the all female tribe of mud trolls. When we sent an emissary to them, he came back with his dick chaffed. Apparently these women are actually gorgeous, but they literally live in mud. They also aren’t fighters, though we could exploit their appearance to form a sort of ruse on par with whatever one was used against us tonight.”

Swallowing hard when he wasn’t replied to, Adam offered up the second option. “Second, we have, ahem. The Lady Flayers... Who are at constant war with the aforementioned mud trolls. They’ve been at war for many centuries and neither side has inflicted casualties on the other. It’s worth mentioning that The Lady Flayers are all under four feet tall and obsessed with sex, but they just can’t get any.” Slowing his speaking, Adam continued. “Mayhaps not the best sort of things to ally ourselves with when half of the New Caltian’s population is female. And uh, Lady Albright is with us as well.”

Noting the discomfort this option brought his leader, the commander of New Caltian’s city guard sped on to the last and most viable option. “That brings me to my personal favorite of the trolls nearest our settlement. A yet unnamed band of oafish yet strong bodied and semi civilized river trolls. Filthy beasts to be sure, but that only serves to make them a better option in my opinion. Nobody wants to fight something that’s eight to nine feet tall and stinks of swamp ass.” As succinctly as he spoke previously, Adam finished up his report and stood at attention in his plate armor. 

As resolute as ever, Franklin held his wife close. “Aye, the last one is the best. You’ll direct me towards them then and we’ll beach this ship on their territory. Once I can see what I am working with, I’ll decide whether or not we’ll have to take some of the men on foot deeper into the swamplands. I want to make sure that we hire enough soldiers for this to be an easy, clear cut retaking of our city.

Despite the situation, which nobody was thinking could be that serious since they were a part of a huge kingdom, Franklin desired intimacy with his wife. Margaret had been teasing him right before they heard the invaders enter their castle. With the gravity of their situation not settling in just yet, Franklin made an effort to get some 'alone time' with her on deck.

Franklin said, “Say, Adam. I know the river is straight for a couple miles yet. I’ll call for you when I need your directions but for now, I’d like you to keep the men’s morale boosted with your presence beside them. Also, inform them that there won’t be any sleeping until we’ve made landfall.”

"Yes sir." Adam obeyed, turned and went down the stairs into the ship.

With just enough distance to travel before his right-hand man would be needed again, Franklin, the impromptu captain of the trireme, brought his spare hand to his wife’s shoulder and pushed down on it. This provoked a sultry purr from Margaret’s lips as she sank into a kneeling position, removing bits and pieces of Franklin’s loin armor as she did so.

“That man really is too… uptight.” Margaret said quietly enough so that only her husband could hear her.

“He is, but that’s the sort of man you want in his position. Imagine where we’d be right now if I had some idiot on staff who was getting his flute polished by someone while on duty.” Hinting further at what he wanted, Franklin was pleased that his wife would oblige him while he performed his simple task of sailing down a mostly straight river.

“You’re quite right! How long do you think it will be before the king sends reinforcements? How long until word gets around that the man you exiled came back to claim what's yours?” Showing a slight bit of weakness and worry, Margaret asked these things and waited for answers to fill her ears before she’d move her lips to her husband's clothed bulge.

“Well, all things considered, King Alfred won’t hear about this for at least a week. We are on the outskirts of his kingdom, but he put me and the soldiers with us here because this sort of event was likely. If not Roland then some unforeseen force from out here in the wilds. I’m in this position because I’m the sort of man that can handle it. By the time our reinforcements show up, they’ll drop their weapons to help us rebuild. Then more songs will be sung of my exploits, only this time, I’ll let everyone know that without your willingness to part with treasured objects adorning your body - we’d have never had a chance.” Franklin’s words made Margaret swoon audibly, but they also secured her services. Feeling her lips on the silk underwear he was wearing, Franklin sighed, then felt his cock and balls flop out of his small-clothes.

Fortunately for everyone aboard this ship, it was a rather warm night. Had it been chilly, Franklin may well have been uncomfortable. Shortly after his lightly furred and flaccid manhood was exposed, Margaret’s lips wrapped around its entirety - balls, cock and all. With all of his manhood being teased, warmed and thoroughly wetted, Franklin didn’t take long to get fired up. After mere seconds of his beloved’s affection he was stiff and ready to roll. She accommodated his cock as it grew to its full seven inch length and then went to work on it, sloppily.

For a few minutes Margaret humped her freckled, pale face into her hubby’s crotch while he steered the ship. She continued to suck the head of his cock and lick the stiff shaft, while also tonguing his balls as best she could. Working her tongue under his foreskin, she was set to make Franklin burst, but he somehow endured her efforts. Eager to make her husband climax, Margaret worked her hands up his exposed crotch and under his armor, massaging his slightly sweaty body. The air around them was humid which was to be expected, so they both had a bit of sweat building up across their forms, though this didn’t deter her.

“Franklin, sir. Are you still good!” Adam shouted.

A quick glance around showed that he was still below deck, but possibly on to what they were doing.

“A moment! Margaret’s steering while I take a leak!” Franklin lied, though nobody would be any wiser since the sound of flowing water was ever present because of the twenty some men rowing.

Putting his hand on his wife's head was a sign that he was ready to blow. Franklin’s legs began to stiffen as she upped her game even further. Sucking and licking all across his shaft, Margaret looked up at her husband with passionate eyes. It was this visage of his beautiful wife with his cock between her lips that finally pushed Franklin over the edge, as she knew it would. 

Keeping her partner’s cock locked inside of her mouth, Margaret assaulted his member with her tongue and throat. Seed poured out of Franklin’s manhood as he grunted loudly, making the men below deck think he was having the piss of his life. So pent up after not having a chance to drain his balls earlier in the day, Margaret had to swallow the hot cum being spewed into her mouth, lest she risk it firing out of her nose. A moment later, her husband finished draining his virile orbs and stepped back so that he could withdraw himself from his wife’s mouth.

Margaret stood up and embraced her man with a caring hug as she licked her lips and swallowed residual goo.

Franklin hugged his wife tightly. “I love you hun. And that’s why I want you to head down into the captain’s cabin and have a good rest. Me and the men will have a lot to handle. We’re all going to be tired too, but we’re going to do what we have to do. By the time you wake up, I want to have this ship beached in a safe haven.” Franklin pecked his wife on both cheeks.

“You always give me the easiest jobs wherever we go. There’s no reason I couldn’t be down there helping the men row, or steering this ship while you sleep. Maybe you should see if Adam will do all the hard work for you and you could come to bed with me?”

Amused by his wife’s offer, Franklin had to laugh and shake his head from side to side. “Sorry dear, but I didn’t get possession of one of the newest border castle cities by slacking off. I need to be here for my men so that they know they’ve got a trustworthy and responsible man at the helm. They also need to see that I treat my wife right, no matter what situation we find ourselves in. Now, run along and get some rest. I’ll wake you when we land, assuming the beaching doesn’t do it.”

Franklin was adamant here, and Margaret wasn’t going to contest his wishes. Without further ado, Margaret slipped to the front of the ship and down a small flight of stairs. She shut the door on the only room aboard with a loud clunk.

With Adam approaching from behind, Franklin was quick to button up his breeches and make himself proper so that he could interface with his subordinate normally.

Continued in Chapter 1

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